Look back through historic quotes from comedians and pundits and you’ll find lots of jokes about congress. Which tells us one thing. The workings of our government have always been a source of frustration. SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, an assistant professor of Public Policy and Politics at the University of Virginia and the author of Echo Chambers: How Partisan Communication Took Over Congress, joins host Steve Fisher to discuss How Congress is Working...Or isn’t.

One of the first rules of journalism is to not become part of the story. But nothing’s been said about letting the story become part of the journalist. That’s Kara Kavensky, host of the podcast Record Scratch with Kara and author of the new book, Tell Me About Joy, about the time an interview of a World War II vet turned into a mission for Kara. One that would have a profound effect on both of them. She joins host Steve Fisher to Tell Us About Joy.

Friends. No, not the TV show. Our actual friends. Do you ever wonder what made you friends in the first place. Or what they bring to your life? Jessica Ayers, an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Boise State University, has been looking into those question and says there’s more to friendship than meets the eye. She joins host Steve Fisher for Lifeslices: The One About Friends.

We cherish our democracy. We the people. But for it all to function properly, we need information and for that, we have the media. Penn State University media studies professor Matthew Jordan joins host Steve Fisher to answer the question, Is our media serving our democracy?

Elton John said, “Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.” He should have added, Or in the case of dementia, put themselves back in. Music stimulates our senses, our imagination, our emotions. And perhaps our health. Karen Chan Barrett, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, joins host Steve Fisher to explain The Power of Music.

Pianist, violinist, composer, performing artist, recording artist, filmmaker. Jennifer Thomas has been playing piano and violin since the age of 5. The other talents she discovered in the years since. Now, Thomas has won multiple awards and nominations, not to mention fans all over the world. Once inspired by the works of others, she’s the one now doing the inspiring. She joins host Steve Fisher to talk about her life and career.

For the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930s, more Americans are leaving the country than are looking to settle here. Reasons vary, including the divisive politics, deteriorating healthcare and cost of living, among others. If you’re one of those people looking for the greener grass of other geographical locales, there are many things to know. Doug Oas has lived overseas and helped others doing the same. He joins host Steve Fisher to share some things to need to know for Escaping America.

Many, including journalists, pundits, scholars and everyday citizens have noticed similarities in rhetoric and policy between Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler. Is it an accident? A coincidence? Hyperbole? Rabbi Henry Jay Karp doesn’t think so and wrote a book about it, titled, “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Is a Price We Cannot Pay.” Rabbi Karp joins host Steve Fisher to explain why we can't afford to turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the political noise.