We recorded this interview at the beginning of basketball season 2025.

Do you ever notice the referees in big-time basketball games?

Do you ever wonder about their lives...their families...the constant travel... and what it's like to be jeered and taunted by unhappy fans? Find out in this interview with Division I basketball referee Justin Porterfield. And... by the way... he's a 2000 Emory & Henry graduate with a degree in Mass Communications.

Odeliya Matter grew up within yards of her Palestinian neighbors. She didn't ever meet any of them, but she learned about the Palestinians in school, at home, and in the community. She was told that they were dangerous and they wanted to kill Jews.

Then Odelyia met a Palestinian man while doing volunteer work with refugees in Lesbos, Greece. She found great commonality with his story and the story of her relatives who had to flee the persecution of Jews.

In this episode of This Conversation, you'll hear what came next for Odelyia and the emotional toll it has taken. You'll also hear the reasons Odelyia says she's optimistic in her role as a peace activist. She holds additional titles such as lobbyist, Program Associate for Middle East Policy, and Friends Committee on National Legislation.

This episode is a chat with Tarah Taylor about how we make our cars go -- and the full spectrum of energy possibilities -- from gas and electric to hydrogen and propane. Taylor is Economic Development Director of Southwest Virginia's chapter of Virginia Clean Cities.

Princeton History Professor Dr. Sean Wilentz shares his views on Conspiracy Theory, one of his areas of expertise.

Wilentz is author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln as well as No Property in Man: Slavery and Anti-slavery. He is a well-known political commentator and his writing on music has earned him two Grammys.

In this conversation, Wilentz compares historical examples of conspiracy theories that challenged our political and governmental systems. The Red Scare in the McCarthy era. Q-Anon today.

What is the best way to examine information that seems suspect?

After 30 years as President of the United Mine Workers of America, Cecil Roberts is retiring at the end of October 2025.

We asked him for an overview of the coal industry in SW Virginia and surrounding areas. He's clear that things are not like they used to be.

How has the number of miners changed? How much coal is there? Where is it sold? How have Trump tariffs affected the sale of coal?

Roberts also reviews his career and describes what he feels are his major accomplishments on behalf of coal miners -- sometimes as a result of strikes.

Democrat Cindy Green is running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in the Nov. 4 election. She is challenging Republican Delegate Israel O'Quinn who has held the seat since 2011.

Topics include campaign financing, issues related to potential cuts to Medicaid, Virginia's Clean Energy Requirement Act that requires 100% clean energy in the state by 2050, Green's view on proposed Virginia Constitutional Amendments that (1) guarantees access to abortion and (2) overturns a previous Constitutional Amendment banning same sex marriage.

Unfortunately, her opponent's campaign reported that Del. O'Quinn was unable to find 30 minutes during the month of October to answer questions on this program.

He spoke to This Conversation in March of 2024 when he was proposing a bill that would allow utilities to raise rates on consumers to pay for the proposed development of a small modular nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia. Here is a link to that interview: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/f746ac61-8702-4ac5-86ec-604739053f0a/

Haile Ferrier spent her early years in Emory, Virginia, home of WEHC-FM and This Conversation.

Host of the show Teresa Keller goes into groupie/biggest fan mode in the conversation with Haile Ferrier.

Haile reviews her time in Emory and her early theatre experiences with Barter Theatre. She traces her short and VERY successful career from Elon University through a role in the national Broadway tour of Dear Evan Hansen and other shows until being cast in Masquerade.

The style of the show is a first in New York -- an intimate, immersive experience. The show has secrets.... but we weren't at liberty to reveal them.

The conversation is lively, and we hope will be fun for listeners.

Dr. Rob Jones has just returned from Sri Lanka where he was doing battle with a mountain of plastic on the beach of the Indian Ocean.

Hear about his organization Parley Oceans Plastic.

What are his signs of hope in conquering the plastic problem?