Charlotte Blogs

Perry Tuttle enjoyed a long career as a college and pro football player. His years in the close-knit fraternity of competitive sports gave Mr. Tuttle a unique glimpse at understanding ethnicity. Now, as a chaplain, inspirational speaker and storyteller, he wants to share his experiences in bridging racial gaps in understanding. Tuttle has written a tell-all guidebook called What White People Want to Know About Black People but Are Afraid to Ask. We won’t be afraid to ask Mr. Tuttle some deeper questions about who he is and what he wants to say.
Guest
Perry Tuttle – Chaplain for the Charlotte Bobcats, motivational speaker and author

• Perry Tuttle’s website
• Event  |  Perry Tuttle appears at Carolina Place Mall on Dec. 11th. More info.
• Amazon  |  What White People Want to Know About Black People but Are Afraid to Ask by Perry Tuttle

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

Part One: Elizabeth Strout
Local author of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction joins us today. Based in New York, Elizabeth Strout is a member of the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte, and comes to Charlotte to teach a few times a year. While she’s in town we’ll sit down and talk about writing, winning the Pulitzer, and of course about her book of short stories, Olive Kitteridge, all of which centers on the title character who is a forceful, powerful and also flawed woman.
Guest
Elizabeth Strout – Author of three books including Olive Kitteridge and faculty member of the Masters of Fine Arts Program at Queens University of Charlotte

• Amazon  |  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Part Two:  Yankee Tavern
From the Freemason mysteries of our Founding Fathers to the secrets of the JFK assassin and, more recently 9/11, conspiracy theories have always had a place in American culture. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte’s latest production, Yankee Tavern, explores conspiracy theories through the comic pen of playwright Steven Dietz. Mr. Dietz, Director Dennis Delamar and actor Tom Scott join us to talk about the production.
Guests
Steven Dietz – Playwright, Yankee Tavern
Dennis Delamar – Director, Yankee Tavern
Tom Scott – “Ray” in Yankee Tavern

• Yankee Tavern plays Nov. 18th – Dec. 5th at Actors Theatre Charlotte. More info.

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

We’ll talk about globalization and its effect on the American economy with Daniel Griswold from the Cato Institute. Griswold believes that globalization is misunderstood and is wrongly blamed for many of the economic woes our country is experiencing. We’ll talk about the politics, myths and reality of trade and globalization.
Guest
Daniel Griswold – Director, Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, Author of Mad Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization

• Amazon  |  Mad Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization by Daniel Griswold.
• Event  |  Daniel Griswold speaks Nov. 18th at noon at the Hilton. More info.

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

Today, we’ll look at how the military and other large organizations manage diversity. A representative from Fort Bragg will share the Army’s policies regarding religious and cultural diversity. We’ll also hear from a Muslim Imam who was a military veteran and member of the Charlotte City Council and from a local resident who grew up in an Islamic country but now calls Charlotte home. They hope to provide understanding on faith, culture and diversity in the military, government and corporate worlds.
Guests
Osama “Sam” Wazan – Retired Executive of a Software Company, Muslim
Nasif Majeed – Imam, Former City Council Member and military veteran
Ltc. Rafael Boyd – Program Manager, XVII Airborne Corps, Equal Opportunity Office, Fort Bragg

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

An educator with strong North Carolina ties comes back to the area to talk about his experiences in his 50 years as an educator and his thoughts on raising a generation that cares. Bruce Stewart is a founder of the North Carolina School of the Arts and just recently retired from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC (where President Obama’s daughters attend.) We’ll talk with him about his thoughts on education and how parents and educators alike can encourage students to be socially responsible citizens.
Guest
Bruce Stewart – A founder of North Carolina School of the Arts and recently retired Headmaster of Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC

• Event  |  Bruce Stewart will speak at Myers Park Baptist Church Tuesday November 17th at 7pm. More information.

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

Earlier this week we said goodbye to Mayor Pat McCrory and his era of leadership in Charlotte. Today we welcome incoming Mayor Anthony Foxx to the program. We’ll talk to him about his campaign, his new job and his vision for the future of Charlotte.
Guest
Anthony Foxx – Incoming Mayor of Charlotte

• Anthony Foxx’s website
• Charlotte Talks  |  Mayor Pat McCrory Exit Interview
• Charlotte Talks  |  Mayoral Debate between Anthony Foxx and John Lassiter
• WFAE News  |  Foxx: Time to change psychology of Charlotte (Q&A)

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman believes that “teachers are the most important school-based factor in academic success.” To help that chance of success in the Charlotte region, area educators are embarking on a new endeavor to help public school teachers strengthen their professional development and increase their effectiveness in the classroom. The Charlotte Teachers Institute is the first of its kind in North Carolina and one of only a handful around the U.S. CTI has been formed as a partnership between UNC Charlotte, CMS and Davidson College that offers seminars on subjects that the teachers have chosen. We’ll find out how the project came to the region and what leaders hope will come from it.
Guests
Ann Clark – Chief Academic Officer for CMS
Dr. Joan Lorden, Ph.D. – Provost, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UNC Charlotte
Jeff Joyce – National Board Certified Teacher at Northwest School of the Arts
Dr. Ann Fox, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies Concentration Coordinator at Davidson College

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

Part One: South Pacific
On this Veteran’s Day, we take a closer look at a Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical based on James Michner’s writing about World War II in the South Pacific. The first revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific takes a fresh look at that period in our history. We’ll meet the star and director.
Guests
Carmen Cusack – Nellie in South Pacific, (also Elphaba in the U.S. tour of Wicked)
Bartlett Sher – Director of the revival of South Pacific

• South Pacific is at Belk Theater November 10th – 15th. More information.

Part Two: 38th Evacuation Unit
We remember Veterans, specifically veterans from WWII’s Charlotte 38th Evacuation Unit today. Not all veterans are in the midst of the combat. Some serve behind the scenes, in makeshift hospitals, working to save the lives of others. We’ll meet two nurses from the World War II 38th Evacuation Unit out of Charlotte, NC and talk about their experiences, which has been made into a documentary film called If They Could See Us Now. The director of that film also joins us. 
Guests
Chris Hudson – Director of the film If They Could See Us Now
Martha Pegram Mitchell – Nurse in the 38th Evacuation Unit from Charlotte in WWII

• More information about If They Could See Us Now

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show

On Election Day last week, for the first time in 14 years, Pat McCrory was not on the ballot as a candidate for Mayor of Charlotte. Anthony Foxx, the winner of that election, is now gearing up for his term as Mayor of the Queen City. As Mayor McCrory packs up the boxes in his uptown office, we talk with him about his decade and a half as Mayor, politics and we’ll ask about his plans for the future.
Guest
Patrick McCrory – Outgoing Mayor of Charlotte

• Charlotte Talks  |  Charlotte: On the Way to Becoming…?

Click here to add and read comments

Listen to Show