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Seg. 1: School Boards 101. Seg. 2: Pop Music As American Literature

Segment 1: School boards matter. Here's why.

Even if you don't have kids, school board elections can have a profound impact on the community. We look at how schools are governed, what school board members actually do, and where to find information about candidates.

Segment 2, beginning at 30:56: Two local music critics team up to examine pop music.

Pop music helps us understand the political moment. But are those lessons always fully understood? In this conversation, we look at trends in pop music over the past few decades and how both the lyrics and the sound can be argued as examples of American literature.

  • Danny Alexander, JCCC instructor and associate editor of Rock & Rap Confidential
  • David Cantwell, pop and country music critic, contributor to New Yorker and Rolling Stone Country
People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.