Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 // Forbes Avenue,Interviews
This week on Forbes Avenue, we aired a March 4 interview with Matt Jordan, Lead Community Organizer at Casa San José, an agency that supports Pittsburgh’s Latino community.
We talked about some of the issues immigrants face when confronted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Jordan compared ICE activities in Pittsburgh with their activities in other cities, and he discussed at length what Casa San José staff members do to help people at risk and what Casa San José volunteers do to help. We also discussed, in a non-lawerly way, how ICE activities may or may not be legal and how ICE activities are sometimes aimed at intimidating whole neighborhoods.
In the course of the conversation, Jordan mentioned several agencies or initiatives that can help people with Immigration issues:
Listen to the interview: Matt Jordan, Casa San Jose
Credits:
Abriana Bensch, interviewer, researcher
Richard Gordon, interviewer, researcher, audio engineer, audio editor
Recorded: March 4, 2026
WRCT Debut: March 24, 2026
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 // Forbes Avenue,Interviews
The WRCT Forbes Avenue team recently visited the main gallery of the Hunt Institute For Botanical Documentation on the CMU campus to preview the current exhibition, To Make A Prairie: Pollination and Human Understanding. Senior Curator of Art Carrie Roy and Curator of Art Lydia Rosenberg explained that the artworks and specimens in the exhibition demonstrate an unusual intersection of science and art.
The exhibition includes artworks and specimens from the 18th to the 21st century, allowing a viewer to see how people’s understanding of pollination — of both plants and pollinators — has increased over time. Unusual flora and fauna are represented: the exhibition includes a specimen of a bat that pollinates cacti, a pressed plant from 1829, a Darwin Orchid preserved in alcohol, and over 40 artworks that demonstrate how early observation of the relationship between plants, pollen, and the world has transformed into scientific understanding.
Besides, many of the artworks are gorgeous or intriguing!
The Hunt Institute For Botanical Documentation is located on the fifth floor of the Hunt Library on the CMU campus. The exhibition is free and open to the public Tuesdays – Fridays 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. through June 30.
Listen to this episode: Carrie Roy & Lydia Rosenberg
Kate Smigie, interviewer, researcher
Richard Gordon, interviewer, recording engineer, audio editor
Recorded: March 11, 2026
WRCT debut: March 17, 2026
Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 // Forbes Avenue,Interviews
This week on Forbes Avenue, we aired part of a conversation with science fiction author John Scalzi. Scalzi is known for his humorous and approachable fiction that ranges from space operas (his Interdependency and Old Man’s War series) to near-future fiction (his Lock-In and Dispatcher series) to standalone novels that are both humorous and thought-provoking (e.g., Red Shirts, Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain).
In this portion of our 2022 conversation, John discusses some of his writing strategies, some of his non-fiction writing, and his thoughts about blogging — whatever.scalzi.com has been a going concern since 1998. You’ll enjoy John Scalzi’s engaging remarks!
Listen to John Scalzi (part 1)
Richard Gordon, interviewer, researcher, recording engineer, audio editor
Recorded: August 25, 2022
WRCT debut: February 17, 2026
