The Common

Latest Episodes:

Rewind: Rethinking home ownership in Chinatown Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Housing prices in Boston's Chinatown have been surging for decades, resulting in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the city. That's why housing advocates with the Chinatown Community Land Trust have turned to an alternative model for home ownership that helps working-class and immigrant residents stay in the neighborhood. WBUR reporter Simon Rios joins The Common to break it down.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Bigger, faster, more toxic — Poison ivy is thriving Jun 19, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Poison ivy seems to be booming, and researchers think climate change could be to blame. As carbon dioxide levels increase and temperatures warm, this toxic vine is not only getting bigger and growing faster, but the plant's oil, which causes allergic reactions in about 80% of the population, is becoming more plentiful and increasingly potent.

In this episode, WBUR Senior Health and Science Reporter Gabrielle Emanuel joins The Common to discuss the troubling tie between human-caused climate change and the rise of poison ivy.

Think you know poison ivy? Test your knowledge with Gabrielle's poison ivy quiz!

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Elizabeth Amador decodes government bureaucracy, one post at a time Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

This is a story about how social media can be used for good.

Elizabeth Amador is an activist and community leader who uses Instagram to help Spanish-speaking residents navigate local government bureaucracy to get the help they need.

In her posts and live streams, she answers questions about everything from obtaining rental and food assistance to getting a driver’s license for her audience of nearly 17,000 followers. And she does it all in her free time.

Amador sits down with host Darryl C. Murphy to talk about her experience running her Instagram account, and the persistent information gap that necessitates its existence.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Fighting a loneliness epidemic, one connection at a time Jun 17, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

In May 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory sounding the alarm on what he calls the “devastating impact of the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States.”

A growing body of research ties loneliness to an increased risk of health conditions including heart disease, stroke, dementia and even premature death, making it, by many measures, a public health concern.

In this episode, WBUR Senior Health Reporter Priyanka Dayal McCluskey joins The Common to talk about two Boston-area-based programs that aim to combat loneliness through fostering friendships and human connection.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: The TikTok creator searching for Boston's best take-away Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Boston-based content creator Keonte Henson, also known as @atstayathomedad, has built a following on TikTok and Instagram with his humorous, real-talk approach to local restaurant reviews. Often recording from the driver's seat of his parked car, Henson reviews Greater Boston food options with a focus on casual eateries, take-away spots and budget-friendly options.

Keonte Henson joins The Common to talk about how creating food-related content has helped him connect with Boston since his 2022 move to the area.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: MassDOT's new voice for accessibility Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Earlier this month Governor Maura Healey appointed four new members to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board of directors. One appointee is researcher, writer and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School Dr. Lisa Iezzoni, who will represent the "consumer voice" for MassDOT.

Dr. Iezzoni is the first member of the disability community to serve on the department's board, despite the fact that that about one in four of American adults have some kind of disability.

Dr. Iezzoni joins The Common to discuss accessibility across the state's transit systems, a well as her goals for this new position.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Venezuelan migrants find home again in Massachusetts Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Over the summer, 50 Venezuelan migrants were dropped off on Martha's Vineyard in a political stunt made by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. The new arrivals were met with national media attention, and an outpouring of aid. However, as WBUR's Cristela Guerra reports, migrants from Venezuela have been finding their way to Massachusetts for years, finding the help they need among the Venezuelan community that is already here.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Sorry, your gas stove really is bad for you Jun 11, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

No, the government is not coming for your gas stove. At least not this second. But your stove could have implications for the health of your household (gas stoves are the top trigger for pediatric asthma in the state, for example), as well as our environment. WBUR Climate and Environment Correspondent Barbara Moran joins The Common to discuss alternatives, as well as safety tips, for cooking with gas.

Subscribe to the Cooked newsletter.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: Reducing poverty without displacement in Upham's Corner Jun 10, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

A study from Common Good Labs, a data science firm based out of Pittsburg, and the Brookings Institution has identified nearly 200 neighborhoods across the country that have done the seemingly impossible: Increase neighborhood wealth, without pushing out the original residents. One of those neighborhoods is Boston's very own Upham's Corner in Dorchester.

Common Good Labs partner Rohit Acharya joins The Common to break down how Upham's Corner did it, and how the neighborhood can be used as a model for other communities.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

Rewind: A poet and a saxophonist walk into a lounge Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives.

Tucked underneath the bustling Cambridge Common restaurant near Porter Square is the Lizard Lounge, a longtime gathering place for Greater Boston's poetry scene. Since 1998, the venue has hosted a weekly event that combines curated poetry performance with live, improvisational jazz. The venue celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, and the retirement of Jeff Robinson, the leader behind the musical stylings that accompany this iconic poetry night.

WBUR's Cristela Guerra joins The Common for more on Robinson's legacy, and what's next for the Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam.

Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.