First hour: Author Justin Martin on the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted
Second hour: What can we learn from countries' different pandemic responses?
How much do you know about American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted? Many of the parks you may have visited are his design. Rochester is one of only four cities in the United States for which Olmsted personally designed an entire park system. Olmsted was a pioneer in many ways: he was an abolitionist, a Civil War hero, an environmentalist, and a journalist. 2022 marks his 200th birthday, and a cities across the country are celebrating the occasion with events, concerts, lectures, and more. In Rochester, the Highland Park Conservancy hosts Justin Martin, author of “Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted.” Martin joins us for the hour to discuss Olmsted’s life, work, and impact, and we discuss the latest in local efforts to resurrect Olmsted’s historic Children’s Pavilion in Highland Park. Our guest:
- Justin Martin, author of “Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted”
Then in our second hour, New Zealand has been the country often held up as the model for pandemic response. The country’s restrictions each time there has been a surge in cases have enabled New Zealanders to enjoy the kinds of freedoms that other countries did not have during the first pandemic year. Meanwhile, recent lockdowns in China have led to unrest among citizens. The country’s restrictive measures have caused food shortages, delayed medical care, shipping being shut down, and even fencing being erected around residents’ homes. What can we learn from different public health and government approaches for mitigating the spread of the virus? Our guests discuss those questions and share their experiences:
- Theodore Brown, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history and medical humanities at the University of Rochester
- Mike Johansson, social media strategist now living in New Zealand
- Hairong Shang-Butler, Ph.D., native of China, and associate professor and director of international TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester
