There’s no denying the popularity of Taylor Swift. Can’t say the same about a somnolent English lit class. But a mashup of Tay Tay and Shakespeare? Now that’s a “Fearless” idea. <\/p>\n
So goes the rising popularity of a University of South Florida class treating pop songs as poetry and lyrics as literature. One of the instructors tells us how the course has the “Eyes Open” of students who have enrolled. <\/p>\n
But before that, a USF security expert joins the show to discuss the risks, ripples and local effects of a possible U.S. military strike on Iran. What\u2019s triggering the tension \u2014 nuclear ambitions, street protests or something deeper?<\/p>\n
Iran out of time?<\/p>\n
(0:00) Talks are still on tap. At the same time, the USS Gerald R. Ford is heading toward the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group. Amid Washington\u2019s \u201cgunboat diplomacy,\u201d we unpack the military buildup, President Trump\u2019s demands, CENTCOM\u2019s involvement and what a strike could mean at home.<\/p>\n
GUEST:<\/p>\n
Arman Mahmoudian, research fellow at the Global & National Security\u2018So High School\u2019 in college<\/p>\n
(21:03) Fans may think they know Taylor Swift \u201cAll Too Well,\u201d but now there\u2019s a USF class teaching critical analysis of her works. The instructors \u2013 all Swifties \u2013 started it to get students excited about literature. Is today\u2019s pop icon tomorrow\u2019s Jane Austen or Lord Byron?<\/p>\n
GUEST:<\/p>\n
Jessica Cook, USF English literature professor
Art that rises through concrete<\/p>\n
(36:09) In this 2025 interview for Black History Month, Studio@620 co-founder Bob Devin Jones explains why art is more than protest \u2014 it\u2019s joy, refuge and resistance \u2014 and why creativity should be consumed daily.<\/p>\n
More than a month \u2013 a mission!<\/p>\n
(40:32) Speaking with WUSF in 2023, middle school teacher Larr\u00e9 Davis said Black history belongs in daily classroom conversations \u2013 not just February \u2013 reminding students that kings, queens and innovators shaped the world long before bondage in America.<\/p>\n
\u2018Economic Empowerment Day\u2019<\/p>\n
(43:33) Candy Lowe started the Tampa Black Business Bus Tour 20 years ago as a way to support her tea shop and other businesses in Tampa. She said the tour not only exposes the participants to places they might not know about, but it also encourages them to spend money at each one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s no denying the popularity of Taylor Swift. Can’t say the same about a somnolent English lit class.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-166048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}