Author: WBEZ Chicago

What does it mean to be a “top-ranked” medical school? Many of the schools withdrawing from the long-standing rankings system say those rankings perpetuate inequities in medical education that then spill over into medical care. Reset talks with Dr. Vineet Arora, assistant dean at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, and Hannah Priddy, a fourth-year medical student at University of Chicago, about how to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in medical schools.

Independent artists have it harder than ever, and big streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music pay less than a penny per listen. So how can you give back to the person behind that song on repeat? Musician Sen Morimoto, DJ Shane Bradley and Vocalo Host Stephen Bekoe join Reset to talk about how to find new music without streaming and how to support your favorite artists.

We’re only a few weeks away from Chicago’s mayoral election, COVID-19 public health emergency declarations are set to end in May, and Beyoncé is coming to Chicago. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with WBEZ editor Alden Loury; Lorraine Forte, head of the editorial board for the Chicago Sun-Times; and Maxwell Evans, reporter for Block Club Chicago.

We’re taught from a young age that fatness and weight gain are inherently unhealthy. But research shows being fat is not itself unhealthy, and anti-fat bias is immeasurably harmful to our health. The Health At Every Size framework of care presents solutions. Reset digs into the barriers larger-bodied people face in medicine — and how that impacts every other part of their lives with Dr. Kate Johnson, interim chair of psychiatry at Loyola University, and Mikey Mercedes, writer and doctoral student at Brown University’s school of public health. Then Reset talks to Evette Dionne about her new memoir Weightless and confronting medical fatphobia.

The Sun-Times is celebrating its 75 years of informing Chicago-area readers this week. Since January 2022, it has been part of Chicago Public Media alongside WBEZ and Vocalo. Reset talks with Sun-Times staffers Neil Steinberg and Stefano Esposito about the paper’s past, present and future.

Ready for some hip-hopera? Reset talks with Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, director, dramaturg and co-book writer for The Factotum, a fresh spin on The Barber of Seville that takes place on the South Side of Chicago and highlights diverse voices and diverse life experiences in a way that’s often missing from the genre of opera.

There are currently no federal U.S. laws that protect people from weight-based discrimination, and only a handful of cities and states have such laws on the books. Reset talks to professor Esther Rothblum and advocate Brandie Solovay about why this discrimination persists and how to address it.

After a tumultuous few years, the Chicago Reader moved to non-profit status in 2022. A six-month nationwide search for the right person to lead the new organization led to tapping a homegrown talent with experience at the Better Government Association and other Chicago-based organizations. Reset checks in with the former publisher and the publisher-to-be who starts in mid-February.