Breast Cancer, Gynecology, Dress Code, Georgia Gold Rush, Rats

Good news: breast cancer death rates dropped by nearly 40 percent in the last three decades. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosis for U.S. women. Skin cancer’s first. But there is bad news. Black women continue to die at a higher rate than whites, especially in the South. But some states have eliminated the racial disparity in breast cancer deaths. These are recent findings by the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society. Carol DeSantis is Director of Breast and Gynecological Surveillance for the organization, and our guest.

Modern gynecology was largely born in the antebellum South -- because some of this country’s first gynecologists conducted experiments on enslaved women.  This history is explored in a new book, “Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and The Origins Of American Gynecology.” Our guest is author Deirdre Cooper Owens, an Assistant Professor at Queens College in New York.

Atlanta Public Schools are considering a dress code to ban clothing considered “distracting.” At Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, two fifth-grade girls appeared to say the language of the code unfairly targets them, and not boys. They both wore leggings, which would be against the proposed rules. Earlier this year, Rome High School adopted a similar dress code. More than 1,700 people signed an online petition against it. We spoke to an organizer of that petition. Fifteen year-old Chloe Tilton brings us a commentary.

An exhibit at the University of Georgia highlights items from the state’s gold rush. Wright State Environmental History Professor Drew Swanson calls the era an ugly chapter of Georgia’s past, rife with environmental damage in the North Georgia mountains, and a driver of the forced eviction of Cherokee people. Drew Swanson joins us to talk about gold’s lasting legacy

Savannah attracts a whole lot of tourists. And, if you believe pest control experts at Terminix, an over-supply of rats. Terminix recently named Savannah the most rodent-infested city in America, overtaking Atlanta, which has seen its fair share of rodent woes. When Atlanta was still tops for rats, we invited Jason Chapman, vice-president of sales at Peachtree Pest Control to talk about why the city found itself home to so many rodents.

 

Tags: georgia gold rush  rats  dress code  gynecology  Breast cancer  OST Full Show  Athens  Atlanta  Georgia  Savannah