Big Daily Blend

It's World Contraception Day and acclaimed Director/Producer Vaishali Sinha (Made in India and Ask the Sexpert) joins Big Blend Radio to talk about her documentary "Give It A Shot," which follows the decades-long global race to develop the first reversible male contraceptive since the modern condom.
At the center of the story is 83-year-old Indian researcher Dr. Sujoy Guha, who has spent nearly 50 years on the technology, alongside a US-based team working toward the same goal.
Vaishali shares the personal story behind the film, why men currently have only three contraception options compared to more than fifteen for women, and why she believes this conversation matters now more than ever — including for reproductive rights in the US.
Watch the trailer and find screenings near you: https://www.giveitashotfilm.com/  

This shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Historic Jefferson Highway" Show is packed with news from the road. As always, the show features Roger Bell, Co-Host and President of the Jefferson Highway Association, along with host and producer Lisa D. Smith.
Fresh home from the Crossroads of America Centennial Conference in Joplin, Missouri, Roger shares the highlights. The conference marked 100 years since Joplin was promoted as the crossroads of the Jefferson Highway and Route 66, and brought together Route 66 Association members, tourism bureaus, travel writers, classic car clubs, and vintage trailer owners from every state and province on the route.
Hear about CeCe Otto's highway songs, Daniel Hershberger's 1920s tourist camp, 20-year-old Model T enthusiast Ian Borges camping in full period style, a trivia championship, and the pre-conference tour's surprise stop at the tiny post office in Opolis, Kansas. Plus, meet Flat Stinky, the conference's new travel companion.
Roger also announces the 2027 Jefferson Highway Association conference, the association's 14th, coming to St. Cloud, Minnesota, July 19–21, 2027, with a possible post-conference run north toward Itasca State Park, Bemidji, and beyond.
Lisa then announces the launch of the Jefferson Highway Travel Guide, a new monthly digital guide debuting October 1 and publishing the first of every month. The first issue is ad-free and celebrates the members and partners who helped make it happen, with haunted history along the highway, a directory, events, a Google Map for everything featured, and a new column called "The Notables." spotlighting a notable person born that month from each region of the route.
Learn more about the Jefferson Highway Association: https://jeffersonhighway.org/ 
Plan your journey with the Jefferson Highway Travel Guide: https://www.jeffersonhighwaytravelguide.com/ 
Subscribe to the Jefferson Highway Dispatch: https://jeffersonhighwaydispatch.substack.com/ 
The Big Blend Radio "Historic Jefferson Highway" Podcast airs every 4th Thursday. Follow the show at https://jefferson-highway.podbean.com/ 

As America celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson has been claimed, reshaped, and rejected by every side of the political divide. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Way Back When" History Show, Lisa D. Smith talks with historian Francis D. Cogliano, professor of American history at the University of Edinburgh. He is co-author with Peter S. Onuf of "Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours" (Liveright, 2026).
This isn't a typical biography. Built from years of teaching seminars for American school teachers, the book's three essays, "Generations," "My Country," and "The People," look at Jefferson in his real historical context. Frank explains how Franklin Roosevelt and Donald Trump each invoked Jefferson toward very different ends. He talks about why the political left has largely stepped away from him this century, and how Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty" came at the expense of enslaved people and Indigenous nations.
The conversation also goes to the heart of the book. Jefferson believed that "the earth belongs to the living." He thought the Constitution should grow with the country, and that every generation must confront its own challenges instead of being held back by the past. Frank shares the story of Jefferson's lukewarm reaction to Madison's Constitution. He also discusses the powerful slave trade clause Congress deleted from Jefferson's draft of the Declaration, and why Jefferson is "America writ small." Lisa brings in the kitchen table conversations the book sparked, including Jefferson's failings on women and the questions that still surround Sally Hemings.
For Big Blend, the conversation hits close to home. The historic Jefferson Highway, the 1915 auto trail from Winnipeg to New Orleans, was named for Jefferson because it runs through the Louisiana Purchase.
Frank also talks about teaching American history from Scotland and the Whiskey Rebellion podcast he co-hosts with fellow historian David Silkenat.
RESOURCE LINKS:- Thomas Jefferson Survives: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324098072 - Francis D. Cogliano: https://franciscogliano.com - Check out more history and culture interviews in the Big Blend Media House: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/history-and-culture 

Happy World Car Free Day! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, travel journalist Terri Guthrie kicks off a new series exploring Amtrak's Mardi Gras Train, joined by Knox Ross, Chairman of the Southern Rail Commission.
Terri just rode the full route herself — from New Orleans, through coastal Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama — and shares what stood out most about slow train travel along the Gulf Coast: the wide seats and legroom, alligator sightings from the window, and the walkable hotel scene waiting at every stop. Knox walks through how the route came back after two decades without Gulf Coast passenger rail service post-Katrina, the Mississippi-led push to fund it, and why it's become one of the highest-rated customer service trains in the entire Amtrak system, with 150,000 riders in its first year.
Along the way: the best places to stay near each station, why downtown Mobile is quietly having a food-and-culture renaissance, what's in the café car, and the Facebook community of Mardi Gras Train superfans already planning their next trip.
This episode kicks off Big Blend Radio's new Mardi Gras Train series — stay tuned for upcoming episodes diving deeper into Bay St. Louis and Mobile.
Links & Resources- Amtrak Mardi Gras Service: https://www.amtrak.com/mardigras - Southern Rail Commission – Mardi Gras Service: https://www.southernrailcommission.org/amtrak-mardi-gras-service 
Listen to Terri's New Orleans Episodes:- The Roosevelt: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/the-roosevelt-new-orleans - Travel New Orleans: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/travel-new-orleans-with-terri 
Keep up with Terri's Podcast & Digital Podcast Magazine at   https://www.travelwithterri.com/ 

It's Fall Y'all in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana! 
Big Blend Radio host/producer Lisa D. Smith is joined by Natalie Roblin of the Avoyelles Commission of Tourism, filling in for regular co-hosts Wilbert Carmouche and Mary Guillory, who are at the Jefferson Highway Conference in Joplin, Missouri. Together they explore why fall is one of the best times to visit the Centre de la Louisiane.
Natalie shares the story of how Marksville got its start with a broken wagon wheel (hence Broken Wheel Brewery), what's happening at Paragon Casino Resort and the Fox Theater, and how fall in Avoyelles is marked by food: home-cooked church dinner plates on Sundays, cochon de lait, sweet potato harvest season, boudin, barbecue, and even gas station breakfasts you won't forget.
Then it's time to roll the windows down. Explore Bunkie Trade Days, Griffin's, Hoover's Five and Dime and the retro full-service gas station along the Jefferson Highway; learn about National Hunting and Fishing Day at the Outdoor Education Center in Woodworth; and discover the Solomon Northup Trail, the Louisiana Colonial Trail, the Zachary Taylor Parkway, and the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. 
Natalie also shares outdoor favorites including the Big Bend Museum and Sarto Old Iron Bridge, the Big Bend loop (LA 451), Spring Valley WMA, the Tunica-Biloxi Nature Trail, and Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge, plus a Louisiana music playlist of swamp pop and Zydeco.
Events mentioned: National Hunting and Fishing Day (Sept. 26, free, 8:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Woodworth); Couillons of Comedy at the Fox Theater in Marksville (Oct. 3); Bunkie Trade Days (Oct. 3); church dinner plates and fairs throughout the parish in September and October.
Plan your visit: https://TravelAvoyelles.com  Events page: https://TravelAvoyelles.com/events     Last Month's Fall Event Episode: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/fall-in-avoyelles-parish-louisiana-2026 
New episodes of the Travel Avoyelles Podcast air every 3rd Sunday at 6pm CST on Big Blend Radio. Listen: https://travel-avoyelles.podbean.com/  

Today we're rethinking everything we thought we knew about Mary Cassatt. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "World of Art" Podcast, host Victoria Chick and Lisa D. Smith welcome Mary G. Morton, curator and head of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art, to talk about her new book, "Cassatt Reconsidered," out this November from Getty Publications.
2026 marks the centennial of Mary Cassatt's death (born May 22, 1844, died June 14, 1926), and Mary Morton makes the case for an artist who was bold, modern, and uncompromising. Cassatt's images of mothers and children are an extraordinary part of her work, but they're only part of the story. Mary explains how a narrow label took hold and what the fuller picture looks like.
In this conversation:- How Cassatt built a career at a time when the École des Beaux-Arts did not admit women, and why selling her work mattered- The business-minded family that shaped her, and the role of dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in packaging her as "the painter of mothers and babies"- Why her maternity pictures were a realist break from the sentimental versions painted by men- Why the National Gallery holds the best Cassatt collection in the world, and why seven of its 12 oil paintings can't leave the building- The centennial exhibitions in Chicago, at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, in London, and in Boston- The cover painting, and how a woman's portrait that defies conventional beauty became the face of the book- Why the National Gallery belongs to all of us, and what a first visit to a great museum can do for a life
MORE: - Get the Book: https://shop.getty.edu/products/cassatt-reconsidered-979-8887120508 - Victoria Chick: https://victoriachick.com/ - World of Art Podcast: https://worldofart-victoriachick.podbean.com/ - Southwest Regional Museum of Art & Art Center: https://www.southwest-art-museum.org 

Happy Global Company Culture Day! 
Company culture isn't what's written on your website or printed on a poster — it's how your people feel walking in the door on a Sunday night. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Supervision Matters" Podcast, HR and organizational culture expert Rita Sever joins Lisa D. Smith to break down what culture actually is, how it's built (and eroded), and why it has to be intentional from day one.
Rita walks through the three components of a healthy culture — Mission, Vision, and Values; how the work gets done; and how people are treated — and shares the story of a NASA janitor who told President Kennedy he was "helping put a man on the moon."
Rita is the author of two books — "Supervision Matters" and "Leading for Justice." 
Links:🌐 Rita's website: https://supervisionmatters.com 📖 Supervision Matters Digital Podcast Magazine: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/supervision-matters-magazine 🎙️ Supervision Matters Podcast: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/supervision-matters-podcast-with-rita-sever 

For World Patient Safety Day, this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Quality of Life" Show welcomes author Kenitra W. Dominguez to discuss her debut memoir, "Because I Deserve It: What Chronic Illness Taught Me About Finding My Voice in the Healthcare System" — out now.
In 2021, a routine eye exam led Kenitra to an ER visit and, the next day, a diagnosis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) — a rare, incurable neurological condition. In this conversation, she talks with host Lisa D. Smith about what that diagnosis took from her, the racial and gender bias she encountered navigating the healthcare system, and the practical tools she built along the way: how to assemble a care team, how to prepare for a doctor's visit, how to request your medical records, how to ask for workplace accommodations, and how to trust your own instincts about your body.
Kenitra W. Dominguez is the founder of Bay Equity HR, sits on the Advisory Board of the California Black Women's Health Project, and holds a master's in Work Law and Social Justice from UC Law San Francisco. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, HuffPost, and Teen Vogue.
Book (out now): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX3131XK