December 2019 – Page 2 – WITF Smart Talk Podcast

Football is arguably America’s favorite sport.

While Americans still love to watch football, in the past 15 years there has been a marked decline in the number of kids taking up the sport. According to a recent New York Times report, high school participation in tackle football has fallen more than 10 percent since 2009.

What is causing the drop in player interest? Experts cite many reasons but say that concerns over head injuries top the list. Researchers have determined that repeated hits to the head, like those common in football, can lead to a disorder called CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a progressive degenerative condition that can affect mood, behavior and thinking.

WITF Transforming Health reporter Brett Sholtis appears on Smart Talk on December 3, 2019.

The risk for developing CTE is so significant that activists are now pushing to ban tackle football for children under 12 and limit the number of years a person can play the sport.

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss the recent WITF Transforming Health report on local High School football injuries is reporter Brett Sholtis.

Also, the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving is also known as Giving Tuesday. The movement began in 2012 to encourage people to “do good.” Whether that is to help a stranger, demonstrate generosity, or make a financial donation, Giving Tuesday is now a global movement.

Joining Smart Talk on Tuesday to highlight Giving Tuesday and global connections in Central Pennsylvania are Scott Reichenbach, president of Hope Walks and Shelton Taguma, executive director with Forgotten Voices International.

Scott Reichenbach and Shelton Taguma appear on Smart Talk on Tuesday, December 3, 2019.

Note: WITF participates in Giving Tuesday every year. PA Post is WITF’s newsroom with a statewide focus on government and public policy. This year, PA Post is participating in the NewsMatch campaign for the first time. The goal is to raise $20,000. NewsMatch, like the name says, will match that. And thanks to the Philadelphia-based Wyncote Foundation and a generous local couple, each contribution to PA Post is matched three times. Go to support.papost.org to make a tax deductible donation.

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In 1994, in the span of 100 days, unimaginable carnage occurred in the African nation of Rwanda. Between April and July inter-tribal tensions exploded into civil war following the assassination of the Rwandan President.

Violence quickly escalated and before it was over an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

The violence also caused an unprecedented “flight of humanity,” with more than one million people displaced from their homes and into neighboring countries.

Twenty-five years later, the world is reflecting on the genocide that killed one in ten Rwandans.

Appearing on Smart Talk Monday to discuss the anniversary are Her Excellency Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United States of America, Dickinson College President Margee Ensign, Ph.D, and Dickinson College student and Rwandan native Nelly Teta Ntwali, class of 2022. Dickinson College is hosting a panel discussion on the Genocide Monday at 7 p.m. at the Schlechter Auditorium.

Justin Kocis

Dickinson College President Margee Ensign, Ph.D, and Dickinson College student and Rwandan native Nelly Teta Ntwali, class of 2022, appears on Smart Talk, December 2, 2019.

Also, when Chris McDougall agreed to take in a donkey from an animal hoarder, he didn’t think it would be that big of an adjustment to family life.

But the donkey, named Sherman, was in much worse shape than he realized. So, Chris took on a radical donkey rehabilitation program designed not only to heal Sherman’s body but to heal his mind, too. He found the best way to soothe a donkey is to give it a job, and so Chris decided to teach Sherman how to run.

Joining Smart Talk to introduce Sherman the donkey and the life-changing power of animals is the best-selling author of Running with Sherman, The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero, Christopher McDougall.

Running with Sherman, The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero, by Christopher McDougall, is the WITF December Pick of the Month.