Spectrum

Lara Stemple and her colleagues are leading the charge to change perceptions of sexual victimization and more accurately account for the gender of sexual perpetrators. Stemple is the director of Graduate Studies at the UCLA School of Law and is the director of the Health and Human Rights Law Project. Two recent studies have blazed the way. The first was published in April of 2014. It was co-written by Stemple and Ilan Meyer. “The Sexual Victimization of Men in American: New Data Challenge Old Assumptions” was published in the American Journal of Public Health. When assessing five different federal surveys from 2010 to 2012, the research team concluded that sexual victimization of men in America was about equal to the prevalence found with women. This first research work also showed women are perpetrators at much higher rates than commonly believed. That finding was the foundation for a second research work for the peer reviewed journal Aggression and Violent Behavior. “Sexual Victimization Perpetrated by

Andrew Alexander, former ombudsman for the Washington Post and former Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers, states that the media have epic struggles ahead in covering our new President Donald Trump. However, he believes media should attack their jobs “fearlessly” and traverse this uncharted media landscape with impartiality and gusto. Alexander notes that there has always been an adversarial relationship between the President and the media covering him. But, this time there are notable differences and the gulf appears wider. Given President-elect Trump’s social media prowess, he can bypass traditional media and go directly to his 15 million followers with messages and comments. Past Presidents have not utilized social media in such a pervasive way. As a result, some people rely less on mainstream media and more on tweets and posts from the President himself. Also, there are more media outlets today that ever in our history and fake news is threatening people’s ability to discern truth from fiction.

Linda Tirado, author and activist, has for the past three years written and spoken around the globe about what it’s like to be poor in America. She now talks truth to power and explains why many poor people voted for Donald Trump to tear down the Washington “Establishments” of both parties. Linda started her journey from the depths of poverty three years ago in October 2013. It began with an angry response to a poster on Gawker.com. The posting turned into an online essay “Why I Make Terrible Decisions or Poverty Thoughts” and it has now been read by over 20 million people. Tirado became a viral sensation and encountered the slings and arrows that go with instant fame. Many supported her and applauded her for her honest examination of poverty from the inside out and others criticized her both personally and for her views. She emerged from the conflagration with a book contract. In October 2014, her book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America was published and has emerged as an extremely meritorious b

Valerie Lefler is a young entrepreneur and innovator. Nationally, she is launching an “Uber-like” service for rural American that works together with existing transportation services and supplements options for rural residents. Lefler is the Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Mobility Now, Inc. – currently headquartered in Nebraska. The demand for her services has exploded over the past year. She currently is crisscrossing the country. She recently visited Ohio to assess the viability of bringing her services to this region. She met with groups, non-profits and governmental units who are planning the future of public transportation in this area. Lefler offers a service that can provide 24 hour vehicle service using independent contractor drivers who have passed rigorous security checks. Their vehicles also meet critical standards for safety. While visiting, Lefler took time to talk with SPECTRUM’s Tom Hodson about her company and her service. There is considerable interest in transportation in rural region

The rhetoric being espoused by candidate Donald Trump and some of his surrogates during the campaign caused fear and trepidation within several groups of people in America: such as immigrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and African-Americans. Now that Trump has won the election and has become President-Elect Trump how do some of these groups feel about his ability to lead? Will their group be targeted for Presidential scrutiny or for negative actions to be taken by Presidential appointees? SPECTRUM endeavored to find some answers from members of two of these communities. We spoke with delfin bautista* -- the director of the LGBTQ Center at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and an African-American mother and judge – Judge Gayle Williams Byers from South Euclid, Ohio in the southeast corner of Cuyahoga County near Cleveland. delfin claims the LGBTQ community is currently confused, dazed and in a state of frustration. Many, according to delfin, have a defeatist attitude and are girding themselves for regress

Many more men than women are likely to become innovators or entrepreneurs. Why is that? Some experts say that there are fewer women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics programs in colleges – commonly called STEM programs. And, there are fewer women in STEM professions overall. Therefore, there are fewer innovators in high tech industries. Other experts argue that venture capital groups and other investors looking for startup companies are dominated by men and therefore, women innovators are often overlooked or passed over. Some experts claim that there is a paucity of women entrepreneurial role-models and that discourages other women from pushing a new idea or concept. Other women report that the entrepreneurial workspace is often a hostile work environment for women. Spectrum talked with four women to get their perspectives. Three work directly with female innovators and entrepreneurs and one has lived a life of an entrepreneur by running her own corporation. Jennifer Simon is the Executive

The Presidential campaigns of 2016 have been dominated by the use of social media to convey messages and to lambast opponents. Social media usage has not only increased but in this campaign, more and different audiences are being targeted. In 2012, social media primarily was aimed at Millennials. However, in 2016, social media, generated by candidates, is being directed to all supporters, opponents, and the media alike. Three noted experts on campaigns and social media gathered this week to talk with Spectrum about this phenomenon and the explosion of political social media in 2016. Dr. Jerry Miller, a professor the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, is an expert in candidate image creation. Dr. Karen Riggs is a professor in Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University and is the director of the Social Media Certificate Program. Dr. Laeeq Kahn teaches in the Media Arts and Studies Department but also heads The Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab as part of the Scripps College of

Some are calling the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians the “Apocalypse World Series.” Both teams are not used to being the post season spotlight and most assuredly they are unfamiliar with winning the World Series…WHY? – Well, both teams supposedly have been under curses for over 50 years. Brian Corbin, the real-time correspondent at Wrigley Field for mlb.com, explains Chicago’s malady. The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and they have been under the “Curse of the Goat” since 1945. In 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner Bill Sianis brought his pet goat Murphy to Wrigley Field for good luck. Because of Murphy’s stench, fans complained and Sianis and Murphy were banned from the ballpark. Sianis, in a fit of rage, proclaimed that the Cubs would win “no-more,” according to Corbin. And, they haven’t. The Cubs have come close but something unforeseen always seems to happen to jinx Chicago quest. Corbin describes, in the podcast, some of the unusual circu

Veteran political observer and world renowned economist Dr. Richard Vedder analyzes Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented attacks on Republican high-ranking officials during a campaign and the intraparty fights led by the GOP’s presidential candidate. Vedder, a long-time Republican and fiscal conservative, said this type of intraparty chaos is unprecedented. “It is unique,” Vedder says. The only election close to this was when former President Theodore Roosevelt bolted from the GOP in 1912 to form the Bull Moose Party and challenge incumbent GOP President William Howard Taft, from Ohio. Both lost to the Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Vedder claims that Trump sees himself more as a “populist” than a Republican. He is going after blue collar white voters regardless of party. His base crosses party lines. He, therefore, doesn’t care about the GOP “elite.” Trump hopes to add to that base with GOP loyalists who also are angry with the Republican power elite, Vedder says. Vedder says that this election is unique, not only

A new book claims that nearly 84,000 black and brown lives are lost each year in the United States due to health care disparities and unconscious racial and ethnic bias in the health care professions. Dayna Bowen Matthew just released a new book Just Medicine – A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care published by the New York University Press. She claims that African Americans and Latinos suffer from unconscious racial and ethnic biases by physicians, institutional providers and even the patients themselves. This implicit bias often leads to unintentional stereotyping and disparate care from Caucasians. Matthew is a lawyer, law professor and health-care analyst. She is a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and the Colorado School of Public Health. This year she also is in Washington, D. C. as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow. She also has co-founded the Colorado Health Equity Project. Matthew claims that unconscious and unintentional racism is t

In an era when young men often feel “entitled” in sexual matters and sexual assaults on college campuses are rising, Dr. Andrew Smiler tries in his new book, Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy, to aim straight talk to young teenage boys. He tries to establish personal responsibility early in a boy’s development. He felt that no one was talking directly to teen boys about relationships, sex in a technological age and what puberty and adolescence means in the 21st century. “There was no other book that I found that was written specifically for teenage boys,” Dr. Smiler says. Therefore, I targeted a specific audience.” Dr. Smiler is a licensed therapist and an expert on boys, men and masculinity. He has been featured in the New York Times and has written for the Huffington Post, Shriver Report, Everyday Feminism and the Good Men Project (featuring issues of sexually abused men.) He is the associate editor for the Journal of Psychology of Men and Masculinity and served as President of the Society f

As the presidential polls tighten and September nears an end, SPECTRUM gets a political update from a non-partisan expert on American politics and elections. Kyle Kondik, author of a new book – The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (published by the Ohio University Press) -- speaks about what each candidate needs to do to win in the last month of the campaign. Kondik noted the unique nature of this race. Donald Trump needs to win traditionally Republican states but also needs to win some states that were previously won by President Barrack Obama. He needs to not only win regular Republican votes but also must grab Democrats or Independents who feel disenfranchised, according to Kondik. He is spending a great deal of time in traditionally Democratic areas. Hillary Clinton needs to hold the states won by President Obama but also draw to her campaign educated Republicans and especially college educated Republican women, Kondik adds. Kondik places states into four groups to watch as predictors of the out

Dr. Amina Hassan, an independent historian and award-winning public radio documentarian, recently authored a new book Loren Miller—Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist, published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Loren Miller was an attorney who also practiced journalism and owned his own newspaper, the California Eagle, one of the longest running African American newspapers in the west. He also was deeply involved with the L.A. Sentinel. As a journalist, Miller was an outspoken advocate for civil rights issues and as an attorney, he worked with noted attorney Thurgood Marshall on key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and he also represented minority groups in California. Miller worked against internment of Japanese American citizens in World War II. He helped integrate parts of the U. S. Military and the Los Angeles Fire Department. He also defended Black Muslims and took on issues facing the Latino population in Southern California. The son of a slave, Miller was originally raised in a bi-

There are only two black women in the nation who hold statewide elective executive offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Spectrum wants to know why. Although there are numerous women of color elected to state and federal legislative offices, the numbers don’t translate to statewide executive offices, according to Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, senior scholar at the Center for American for American Women in Politics. She points to several reasons for this paucity of statewide public officeholders of color. First, she says legislative districts are usually more minority based than statewide populations – therefore, making it easier to win in a select district. Secondly, she notes that black women may have fewer campaign resources available than white women and men, thereby limiting spending amounts in campaigns. Also, the majority of black women candidates are Democrats, according to Sanbonmatsu, and Republicans recently have been making greater strides in controllin

Why do powerful and famous men sexually act-out, often repeatedly, in ways that most people find inappropriate and that are risky to their careers and families? Why do they risk it all? We see headlines and inevitably ask those questions. SPECTRUM spoke with two experts to try to find the reasons. Dr. Steven Gold is a psychology professor at Nova Southern University and is the founder of the highly regarded Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. Christopher Anderson is the Executive Director of the national advocacy organization MaleSurvivor, a group benefitting men who have been victimized by sexual abuse. There is definitely a linkage between power and the sexual escapades we have seen repeatedly in the headlines involving numerous men such as Pres. John F. Kennedy, Pres. Lyndon Johnson, Sen. Gary Hart, Pres. Bill Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Tiger Woods and Congressman Anthony Weiner – to name a few. Our experts say that high-achieving men often have a form of narcissism and certainly a feeling of e

Paul Chimera, a 1971 Ohio University journalism graduate, is a writer, teacher, journalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Spanish artist Salvador Dali. In March, Chimera’s latest book about Dali was published – Dali and His Doctor: The Surreal Friendship Between Salvador Dali and Dr. Edmund Klein. Chimera became interested in this friendship after the widow of Dr. Klein contacted Chimera and told him of a special relationship between Dali and Dr. Klein. Dr. Klein was a skin cancer researcher and expert. He was contacted by Dali to treat some type of skin condition. Over the next eight years (1972-1980), the pioneer in surrealism and the pioneer in medicine met and worked together, according to Chimera. Each time they met Dali would make a drawing or a sketch for Dr. Klein. Klein did not charge Dali a fee and Dali repaid him with original drawings. The drawings were signed and dedicated to Dr. Klein, whom Dali called his Guardian Angel. The drawings were all kept in a safety deposit box at

Pauline Frederick was a broadcasting pioneer. She was the first woman to be heard as a reporter for network radio in the late 1940’s as she covered the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals. She was the first woman reporter to appear on network television covering the 1952 political conventions and her career in broadcasting spanned over three decades. She covered the founding of the United Nations, Fidel Castro’s first trip to the United States, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis among other major events. In addition to being a network radio and television reporter from the 1940’s through the 1970’s, Frederick ended her career by joining a fledgling radio network in the late 1970’s called NPR. Ms. Frederick’s career has been brought to life in a new biography, Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War, written by Professor Marilyn Greenwald of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. The book, published by Potomac Books, was released just last month in January

Christopher Anderson is the executive director of a national organization called MaleSurvior – an organization dedicated to assisting and advocating for men who have suffered some form of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of males is a major issue and it often is under-reported, according to Anderson He notes that, at least, one out of every six American males are sexually abused before they reach the age of 18. Some statistics have the number even higher. Often males do not come forward and disclose their abuse for fear of the ramifications of disclosure. This often results in lifelong battles with self-esteem, problems with intimacy and relationships, addiction issues, PTSD and other forms of self-loathing and sometimes self-destruction. Anderson, himself a survivor of sexual abuse, heads MaleSurvivor which is dedicated to helping men with issues originating with abuse. MaleSurvivor has a new website – www.malesurvivor.org which features discussion boards and chat rooms where survivors can talk with one another a

Sonja Williams has always loved music and that led her to award-winning public radio shows. She now is a professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University and just penned her first book. She has amassed an amazing body of work in broadcast and print since receiving her master’s degree in Communication from at Ohio University. During her career Williams has received three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards for Significant and Meritorious Achievement for groundbreaking music programming and audio documentaries for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and the Smithsonian Institution. She created a 26 part audio documentary called Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions, Black Radio: Telling It Like it Was and NPR’s Making the Music with Wynton Marsalis. Williams talks with Spectrum's Tom Hodson about her early days in radio and how she was able to marry her love for music with her passion for audio storytelling. Williams has now turned her car

Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, founding Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Dr. Rober S. Litwak, Vice President for Scholars and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center give their assessments of the multi-national nuclear agreement with Iran -- on its one-year anniversary. The agreement, according to Litwak, is meeting its intended purpose of keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But, the agreement has not addressed the internal human rights violations escalating in Iran. It was not intended to do so, according to Litwak. However, there is general misunderstanding of the general public about the extent and terms of the agreement. The nuclear accord is a 15 year agreement that was limited to releasing embargoed Iranian funds in exchange for Iran not developing nuclear weapons and appropriate safeguards. The agreement did not address human rights concern. While the U.S. and other countries are focusing on the limitations on nu