Social Issues | CONVERSATIONS LIVE with VICKI ST. CLAIR

Feb 21: Renegade MD – Dr Susan Partovi with Stories From the Streets

February 21, 2024

Dr Susan Partovi walks where many fear to tread

Renegade M.D. with author Dr. Susan Partovi

Renegade, pioneer, crusader, inspirational – just a few of the words used to describe our amazing guest today. Dr. Susan Partovi has dedicated her medical career to helping the impoverished, under-served, and homeless – people who, ordinarily, have no access to a caring doctor or medical resources.

We discuss her memoir Renegade M.D.: A Doctor’s Stories From the Streets where Dr. Susan shares stories of her own life, her career, and the people she meets on the streets. We hear why homelessness is not the black and white situation some would like us to believe, and learn why many – because of severe mental illness – aren’t capable of making rational decisions, let alone helping themselves.

With the number of Americans experiencing homelessness soaring above 680,000, Dr. Susan Partovi highlights real problems, shares real stories, and recommends real solutions to the growing problem across the country.

Meet Dr Susan Partovi

Dr. Susan Partovi is an internationally recognized expert in the field of street medicine, and a cofounder of HEAL – a nonprofit that brings medical students and services to Haiti. Dr. Partovi is the medical director of Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles and her just released debut memoir is Renegade M.D.: A Doctor’s Stories from the Streets.

Memoir, Non Fiction, Self-help, Social Issues

Jan 31: You’re Doing Great (And Other Lies Alcohol Told Me) with Dustin Dunbar

February 1, 2024

From the pain of alcohol addiction to the joy of living

You’re Doing Great (And Other Lies Alcohol Told Me) with author Dustin Dunbar

Dustin Dunbar had it all. A beautiful wife, two adorable baby girls, a doctorate in psychology, and property around the world. He drank socially for 20 years, happily believing every lie alcohol advertisements tell us … how whisky beer and doing shots are an integral part of being a real man … how drink eases pain … makes you freer, more fun, more popular. But eventually, and despite of being a TV ‘shrink’ and ‘coach’ to others, he too became addicted to alcohol.

Today Dustin shares his journey, challenges, recovery, and most importantly, solutions to overcoming alcohol addiction for good, and living an empowered, fulfilling, joyous life.

About Dustin Dunbar

Dustin Dunbar overcame his addiction to alcohol at the age of 48 and has since been helping others overcome theirs. He is a coach at WeAretheAFR.org, a non-profit online community helping others with alcohol addiction and raising consciousness. Dunbar’s true passions are spending time with his two young daughters, writing, and sports. His new book is You’re Doing Great! (And Other Lies Alcohol Told Me).

Children's Fiction, Fiction, Social Issues, Writers on Writing

Jan 24: Award Winning Author Veera Hiranandani with Amil & The After

January 24, 2024

Companion novel to Newbery Honor winning The Night Diary

Following the phenomenal success of The Night Diary, Veera Hiranandani returns to Conversations Live to discuss the much anticipated sequel, Amil and The After.

We discuss how Veera’s upbringing influences the kind of stories and subjects she chooses, and the multidimensional characters she writes about. She shares how she incorporates social issues like the partition of India, refugee life, loss of a parent, feelings of not belonging and seeking connection, relationships, and love into her storytelling. And we learn how she approaches the writing of such difficult topics to keep them accessible and entertaining for young readers. (8 – 12 years old)

Amil and the After with author Veera Hiranandani

About Veera Hiranandani

Veera Hiranandani is the award-winning author of several books for young people. Her most recent middle-grade novel, How to Find What You’re Not Looking For, received the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award, the 2022 Jane Addams Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2022 National Jewish Book Award. It was also named a Best Children’s Book of the Year by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, Bank Street College, and Brightly. Veera’s Newbery Honor winning, The Night Diary, also received the 2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award, the 2018 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature, and several other honors and state reading list awards. The Night Diary was chosen as a 2018 Best Children’s Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Amazon, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews.

Memoir, Non Fiction, Social Issues, Women's Issues

Aug 02: Lisa Cornwell – Troublemaker

August 2, 2023

A Memoir of Sexism, Retaliation, and the Fight They Didn’t See Coming

Podcast: Troublemaker with author Lisa Cornwell

Why are women who stand up for themselves labeled as troublemakers?

Sports journalist and TV host, Lisa Cornwell, says she’s always stood up to bullies and those in authority who push people around and get away with it. Today we discuss Lisa’s memoir Troublemaker and some of her challenges with the Golf Channel/NBC Universal and her fight to balance the scales.

What can other women – and people in general – learn from her experience? Plenty. But most of all Lisa says: “I want it to empower women who’ve been silenced out of fear of losing their jobs to speak up and to do it loudly. As Elie Wiesel so poignantly once said, ‘Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”’

About Lisa Cornwell

A respected voice in the golf field, Lisa Cornwell spent seven years as on-air host and reporter for Golf Channel. Before that she worked in similar roles for the Big Ten Network and local affiliates. Lisa is a four-time Arkansas Women’s State Golf champion, a twp-time AJGA first-team All-American, a two-time All-State basketball player, and in 1992 was named the Arkansas Female Athlete of the Year. She was recently inducted into the Arkansas Golf and Arkansas Sports Halls of Fame. She co-wrote her memoir Troublemaker with professional writer, author, musician, Tucker Booth.

Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

May 22: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends with Nicole Perlroth

March 22, 2023

The Cyber Weapons Arms Race – What You Need to Know & Do Today!

This is How They Tell Me the World Ends with Author Nicole Perlroth

If you think cyber attacks won’t or can’t impact you, Nicole Perlroth joins us today to say they can, they will, and they probably already have whether or not you know it.

Nicole Perlroth’s new book shares untold stories of the cyberweapons market, the most secretive, invisible, government-backed market today. We discuss how the US is involved. How and why Russia plagued Ukraine with cyber attacks before they attacked on land. And the single, most important thing you can do, to protect yourself and your data.

About Nicole Perlroth

Nicole Perlroth was the lead cybersecurity, digital espionage, and sabotage reporter at The New York Times for a decade, where her work was optioned for film and television. She’s a regular lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Today, she increasingly prefers life off the grid. This Is How They Tell me The World Ends is Nicole’s first book, and a New York Times bestseller.

Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

Feb 15: The Least of Us with Sam Quinones

February 15, 2023

True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth

Sam Quinones, The Least of US

Journalist, Sam Quinones, first traveled across America to report on the opioid epidemic that’s ravaged so many people’s lives.

Since then synthetic drugs have become an even bigger problem. So Quinones hit the road again, to examine a new generation of what he calls magic-bullet drug traffickers and a painkiller more than 100 times more powerful than morphine.

We talk today about the crisis being caused by fentanyl and methamphetamine, and the counterfeit pills causing thousands of deaths. Sam also shares stories of hope — of how ordinary Americans across the nation are uniting to fight the drug epidemic in their own communities to make a difference.

About Sam Quinones

Sam Quinones is a journalist, storyteller, former LA TIMES reporter, and the author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including The New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. Quinones’ new book is The Least of US: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth.

Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

Apr 27: Why We Fall For Hype with Gabrielle Bluestone

April 27, 2022

How Con Artists, Grifters and Scammers are Taking Over the Internet – & Why We’re Following

Gabrielle Bluestone shares her insights into why scammers do what they do, and why – despite overwhelming evidence calling them out – we blindly believe what we’re told without researching the source. She says we are at “the natural end of a society primed to trust their own emotions over objective, verifiable facts.”

From celebrities to politicians, to the little-known, we discuss why we get sucked into their spiel. Where social media and influencers factor in. The rise of cancel culture, where seemingly harmless messaging and soundbites create images that can make or break reputations and campaigns. Why Fyre was the greatest festival that never happened. Where greed plays a role. And why you shouldn’t trust cosmetic surgery photos because even they are often digitally altered.

About Gabrielle Bluestone

A journalist and licensed attorney from New York, Gabrielle Bluestone’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Observer, Sunday Times Magazine, and more. She’s the Emmy-nominated producer of Netflix’s documentary Fyre. And the associate producer of Different Flowers, winner of the 2017 Kansas City FilmFest Festival Prize.

Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

NOV 24: Pulitzer Prize Winner Eric Eyre with Death in Mud Lick

November 24, 2021

Why a town called Kermit with only 382 residents prescribed 12 million pills in 3 years.

In Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic, journalist Eric Eyre set out to expose the mysteries, tragedies, and government corruption behind the opioid crisis in West Virginia.

Eric joins us to share stories from the investigative research that took him to counties at the heart of the opioid crisis—small rural counties with the highest overdose rates in the United States. We discuss the importance of strong independent journalism, and community journalism in particular. Eric also shares the concept of sustained outrage and how even tiny actions can make a huge impact.

About Eric Eyre

For more than 20 years, Eric Eyre was a reporter for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. His series of investigations into massive shipments of opioids to West Virginia’s southern coalfields was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2017, and led to his book, Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic.

Environment, Memoir, Non Fiction, Science, Social Issues

OCt 06: Dr Samantha Montano & Disasterology–Dispatches From the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis

October 6, 2021

“At the start of every disaster movie, is a scientist being ignored.”

Dr Samantha Montano became passionate about studying disasters after spending years in New Orleans, working with various nonprofits on recovery efforts, related to Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Disaster.

Disasterology is part memoir, part expert-analysis. Dr. Montano shares insights on how climate crisis impacts what we call ‘natural disasters’. She discusses how media, politicians, and communities can hinder and help in such disasters. Why disaster resilience is the responsibility of every citizen. And what happens to those left behind after networks turn off their cameras.

About Dr. Samantha Montano

Dr. Samantha Montano has a B.S. in Psychology, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Emergency Management. She is currently an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. She’s been interviewed in the New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times, and published in the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, among others. Dr Montano is the author of Disasterology: Dispatches from The Frontlines of The Climate Crisis.

Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

JUN 16: Gabrielle Bluestone with Hype (& Why We Fall For It)

June 16, 2021

How Scammers, Grifters, & Con Artists are Taking Over the Internet – & Why We’re Following

Gabrielle Bluestone says we are at “the natural end of a society primed to trust their own emotions over objective, verifiable facts.” She joins us to share insight into why scammers do it, and why – despite the availability of myriad resources – we blindly believe what we’re told without verifying facts.

From celebrities to politicians, and the little-known, we discuss why we get sucked into their spiel. The role of influencers and social media. How messaging and soundbites create images that can make or break reputations and campaigns. Why Fyre was the greatest festival that never happened. Where greed plays a role. And why you shouldn’t trust cosmetic surgery photos because even they are often digitally altered.

About Gabrielle Bluestone

Gabrielle Bluestone is a journalist and licensed attorney from New York whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Observer, Sunday Times Magazine, and more. She’s the Emmy-nominated producer of Netflix’s documentary Fyre. And the associate producer of Different Flowers, winner of the 2017 Kansas City FilmFest Festival Prize.

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