Say More

Say More

Big ideas and big debates, explained through intimate conversations with the compelling personalities who shape them. AI and biotech. Higher education and health care. Climate and sustainability. Politics and the media. Culture and culture wars. Hosted by Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung.

Episodes

December 18, 2025 25 mins
Globe business columnist Larry Edelman says if we do have a recession in 2026, it won’t be a crash - more like air leaking out of a big balloon. This week on Say More, host Shirley Leung gets a vibe check on the economy with the author of the Globe’s popular Trendlines newsletter. Larry says consumer spending is up, the numbers are not bad, but the vibes are not great. Email us at saymore@globe.com.  Sign up for Trendlines here.
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Writer Gish Jen recently had a revelation about her novels: her characters often talk to the dead. But in her most recent work, Bad Bad Girl, the dead talk back. In this book, Jen fictionalizes real details of her mother’s life, immigrating from China to the US in the 1940s and raising a big Chinese American family. The result is an exploration of a fraught mother-daughter relationship, and the elusive grasp of the American Dream. ...
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As Americans, we are at our best when we’re engaged with the world - confident and curious. So says Marco Werman, the long-time host of public radio program The World, based at GBH here in Boston. Recent cuts to public media funding mean programs like The World are in trouble, with fewer resources to tell deep stories about the complexities and diversity of our planet, and less awareness about America’s place in it. This week on Sa...
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Recording LIVE from Globe Summit, Shirley Leung talks to Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen about what makes his company stand apart. Activism has been part of the ice cream company’s DNA since launching with Jerry Greenfield four decades ago. While it may turn some customers away, it’s a worthy price to pay staying true to your values, says Ben. Now, Ben is working to #FreeBenAndJerry’s from large corporate owners to try to return ...
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Globe columnist Kevin Cullen has written countless stories about veterans, but one recent story was the most powerful he’s ever told. This week on Say More, Cullen talks to Globe’s Opinion Editor Jim Dao about one Boston veteran who spent decades finding peace after a devastating experience in Vietnam. Cullen talks about his own motivations for telling these types of stories, and his grief and anger about the treatment of veterans ...
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When we think of middle class life, several things come to mind: owning a home, stable childcare, food in the pantry, a sense of security. But as the rich get richer in Massachusetts, the middle class is falling further behind, and making ends meet is no longer a given. People are angry, and politicians seem to be waking up to the crisis. Say More host Shirley Leung talks to the Boston Globe’s Money, Power,Inequality team about the...
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When New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was asked in a debate which democratic politician was most effective, he answered, “Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.” Wu and Mamdani are both young, progressive and unapologetically ambitious about their visions for their respective cities. They both captured vast coalitions and are being watched closely by the rest of the country, to see if progressive ideas can really translate into policy. Wu ha...
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Today, we’re sharing the first episode from My Home Fronts , a podcast from journalist Romy Neumark. My Home Fronts is a four-parts documentary podcast series tracing the student founder of "Jews for Palestine" at Harvard during the Gaza war - and the generational gap it reveals within American Jewish families. Episode 1, "Meeting Violet": An unexpected encounter between Israeli journalist Romy Neumark and student activist Vi...
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The Israel-Hamas war took place more than 5,000 miles away from here, but you wouldn’t know that from the intensity of protests happening on US college campuses. Israeli journalist Romy Neumark works at Harvard University, and was curious to understand her own blind spots about how Israel is perceived in Jewish American homes. In Neumark’s new podcast “My Home Fronts,” she attempts to detangle a complex web of values, worldviews an...
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After years of lobbying, Massachusetts has convinced toy company Hasbro to move its global headquarters from Rhode Island to Boston. Massachusetts is the historic home of many iconic toy companies, like Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, and now, Hasbro joins Lego for another era of toy making. The question is, should we really be celebrating stealing business from our little neighbor to the south? Say More host Shirley Leung talk...
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October 16, 2025 28 mins
The exact causes of autism are unknown - but you wouldn’t know that from listening to President Trump and his health secretary RFK Jr., who recently announced Tylenol was to blame. The science behind the announcement is not solid - but more troublingly, it falls into an old pattern of blaming mothers for autism, which creates a culture of stigma, says Maura Sullivan, CEO of The Arc of Massachusetts, an advocacy group for people wit...
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The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has announced a major reshuffle of its American Revolutionary War galleries. The goal, it says, is to tell an ‘inclusive’ story of America’s founding. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Trump has threatened the Smithsonian over similar moves. Globe editorial page editor Jim Dao talks to Ethan Lasser, curator of American Art at the MFA, about the museum’s plans and the threat of government censorship....
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This is a re-run of the first episode of our series "The C-Word" which originally aired May 1, 2025. Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung is generally open about her personal life. But this is the first time she is talking publicly about her own experience with breast cancer. She was treated in Boston hospitals and underwent a mastectomy. Like so many others, she will spend the rest of her life getting tested to make sure she st...
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President Donald Trump wants Harvard to cough up at least $500 million. Longtime Harvard professor Steven Pinker says it's extortion. And Harvard should do it anyway. Globe columnist Carine Hajjar, filling in for host Shirley Leung, talks to Steven Pinker about caving to the Trump administration and where to draw the line. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
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The Market Basket board of directors fired its CEO, 'Artie T.' Demoulas, on September 9th after a very public - and very nasty - succession battle. Host Shirley Leung and Globe Business Reporter Jon Chesto get into the messy family dynamics and how other New England business dynasties manage to make it work. Email us at saymore@globe.com. Check out more about the detailed family history of Market Basket on The Globe:https://www...
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September 11, 2025 17 mins
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu trounced challenger Josh Kraft in Tuesday’s preliminary election for Boston mayor. What makes Wu so successful? And can she be a model for Democrats nationally? Say More host Shirley Leung talks to Boston Globe politics reporter Emma Platoff and columnist Joan Vennochi about the ‘Trump effect’ on the mayoral election. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
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September 4, 2025 29 mins
It's perhaps never been more exhausting to be a mom. In her book, "Repair with Self-Care: Your Guide to the Mom's Hierarchy of Needs" author Leslie Forde calls on moms to find to put themselves first and prioritize their own health and well being, even when things are busy. Leslie Forde joins host Shirley Leung on today's episode of Say More.
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Today, we’re bringing you the third and final installment of The Outlaw Ocean podcast’s investigation into the shadowy work of the Libyan Coast Guard. The podcast looks into efforts to capture and detain migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the hopes of a new life in Europe.  This week’s episode describes how members of the Outlaw Ocean team were arrested and detained in Libya while they were investigating its network of mig...
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More than 50 million people make their living working offshore on the two-thirds of our planet covered by water.  Today, we’re bringing you episode two from the second season of “The Outlaw Ocean,” a podcast from the Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalism non-profit that investigates human rights, forced labor, and environmental concerns on our planet's seas. Today’s episode picks up where last week’s episode left off, so if you mis...
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More than 50 million people make their living working offshore on two-thirds of our planet covered by water.  The non-profit Outlaw Ocean Project is dedicated to exploring human rights violations, forced labor, and environmental problems that plague the world’s oceans. Over the next few weeks, we’re bringing you a three-part story from the second season of The Outlaw Ocean podcast.  Today, in part 1, Outlaw Ocean explores the eff...
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