Us & Them

Dimitri Mugianis has an undying love for drug addicts.  He's a former junkie who's been clean for a decade. Now he feels a calling to help other addicts -- "my people," he calls them -- by using unconventional “shamanistic” treatment methods.

Anne Kelly always felt like she was born into the wrong body. She began life as a man, but is now transitioning into a woman. She’s got the looking like a woman part down. It’s the sounding like a woman thing that’s harder than she expected.

In 1969, James “Shack” Harris became the first African American quarterback to break the color line in the NFL.

How 27 hours of being snow-bound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike helps Trey file a report to the Keystone State’s “Office of Lessons Learned.”

Veteran journalist – or “cultural anthropologist” – Scott Carrier speaks with people fleeing war-torn Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries as they seek refuge in Europe.

Some feel there’s an attack on this sacred holiday. Others are bothered that this religious holiday has blurred America’s church/state separation. But is this really a war?

With acts of terrorism in Paris and San Bernardino, some Americans are suspicious of Muslim neighbors and immigrants. Warranted fear or paranoia?

Would Americans vote for an atheist president? A recent poll says no way. In this episode, a social psychologist tells us why this might be. 

Jesus said, “Love your enemies." Today’s politicians ask God to bless America, but in the same breath, they call their political opponents "enemies." Labels help us organize the world along fault lines, but is this the best policy?  In a polarized America, is it possible to love our enemies?

Not that long ago, you could get locked up for being gay. A West Virginia man tells Trey about being sent to a mental institution for violating the state’s sodomy laws.

Can we reconcile different versions of history? Two American foreign correspondents of color fly from Kenya to Louisiana to report on an unfinished civil war back home.  

A recent photo essay depicting Appalachians has stirred controversy in that region.  Some locals feel violated when outsiders come into their communities snapping photos.  Are these shutterbugs depicting reality or reinforcing stereotypes?  

When conservatives and liberals fight about school curriculum, the disagreements aren't just about science and history. Even math has been a battleground in the culture wars. Trey talks with historian Christopher Phillips.

Lots of American school districts have fierce fights over what kids should learn in school, but nobody fights like Texans. And no citizens have had a bigger impact on what goes into public school textbooks than Mel and Norma Gabler.

The Supreme Court says you can't have organized prayer in public schools. But most Americans don't agree with that call -- and some people are still finding ways to make sure public school children have a chance to hear about God.

Two men with strong opinions about evolution and climate change are willing to lay their money on the line.

The Condederate flag and the song "Dixie" -- two enduring Old South icons that make us wonder if the war ever ended.  

The chair of the University of Minnesota's program for Sexual Health Education tells Trey most sexual health instruction focuses on adolescents and that maybe adults might also need some instruction.

Despite all the fuss about sex education in America, students get precious little of it.  Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian, tells Trey how Americans spend more time arguing about what kids should learn about human sexuality in schools than they actually do teaching anything about it.  

If you give money to panhandlers, are you helping them or hurting them? And do they really need help? People have strong opinions. We try to separate the facts from the ideology.