As Charlotte County prepares to celebrate its centennial this Friday, April 23 we meet publisher and historian, James Abraham, to talk about his new book “Century: A People’s History of Charlotte County” that expands upon existing historical accounts by providing a narrative and historical overview of some of the lesser known people and moments that shaped the county’s history since its founding.

A feature story in the April issue of National Geographic magazine highlights the importance of a network of public and private lands that runs throughout the state called the Florida Wildlife Corridor — and the crucial role it plays to help ensure Florida wildlife’s long-term survival. It features stunning photographs of the endangered Florida panther. Our guest today spent more than five years working to collect those images.

Over the past year or so the term critical race theory has begun entering the public discourse. Former-president Donald Trump described it as "divisive and un-American propaganda," and Governor Ron DeSantis’s proposed civics curriculum would explicitly exclude CRT in Florida. We get an overview of what critical race theory is and where it fits into academia with Dr. Ted Thornhill, Director of the Florida Gulf Coast University Center for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, and Associate Professor of Sociology; and Dr. Victor Ray, Assistant Professor of sociology at University of Iowa.

We conclude our series of conversations with speakers from the Naples Discussion Group’s 20-21 schedule by talking with Dr. Darrell Slider, Professor Emeritus in political science at University of South Florida. His presentation on Friday, April 9 explored the challenges facing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime in these times of great change, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

It's Parkinson’s Awareness Month, so we’re talking with two people working to help those with the neurodegenerative disease here in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ramon Gil is a neurologist at the Parkinson’s Treatment Center Of Southwest Florida, and Mary Spremulli is a medical speech-language pathologist and owner of Voice Aerobics Speech Language Therapy in Punta Gorda. We also meet one of her clients, Mike Davidson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s five years ago.

Nearly 500 students are now participating in the “Students & Seniors: From Our Nest to Theirs” program at Florida Gulf Coast University. Students earn service-learning hours by writing letters, and creating cards, videos, poems, stories, and works of art, which are then distributed to seniors living in care facilities in Lee and Collier Counties.

We bring you an episode of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories with singer/songwriter Bill Metts, who performed on Arts Edition just last month with fellow singer/songwriter Bruce Gallant. The duo perform at venues around SWFL and Bill is co-founder and vice president of the non-profit Hope By Song, which helps people whose stories of loss, abuse, addiction, homelessness, PTSD have not been heard by inspiring them to tell their stories through song.

Throughout Ernest Hemingway’s life he had a number of famous residences, including in Cuba, and in Key West where he lived for about a decade from the late 1920s to the late 1930s. We get a sense of his time in The Keys with author, poet, and publisher Arlo Haskell. He’s executive director of the Key West Literary Seminar and grew up in The Keys surrounded by Hemingway’s influence and legacy.

We meet the creators of the "One True Podcast" which explores all things related to Ernest Hemingway, his work, and his world. It’s hosted by Dr. Mark Cirino, professor of English at University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana; and produced by Dr. Michael Von Cannon, instructor in the Department of Language & Literature at Florida Gulf Coast University.

In conjunction with the “Forgotten Florida: Photos from the Farm Security Administration” up now at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch in Collier County the museum conducted a “Forgotten Florida Teen Photo Contest” for students in Collier County to express their lives during the global pandemic. We’re joined by the winner of that exhibit, Marco Island Academy sophomore Kathryn Barry; and the Immokalee Pioneer Museum’s manager, Brent Trout.