A Radio Maine topic
These conversations are with people whose work is the careful use of language and the deliberate work of ideas: an editor shaping a manuscript into a book, a historian recovering Maine's Irish archives, a philosopher who teaches children to take big questions seriously, a curator deciding which paintings hang next to which, and a cross-cultural communicator who has trained executives in two languages and three cities. What connects them is the conviction that language shapes what is possible to think and to do.
5 episodes · 14 resources referenced
Featured in this topic
If you only have time for one or two from this topic, start here.
Featured · Episode 295
Beryl Cui on cross-cultural communication, language, and what it means to teach English as more than grammar. After a decade coaching executives in corporate language training in Beijing, Cui moved to Maine and built a practice that treats language as trust, mindset, and relationship. She blends that work with a lifelong practice of Chinese calligraphy.
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Featured · Episode 272
Dr. Jana Mohr Lone, founder of the Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington, on raising thinkers: what happens when children are invited to take big questions seriously, and why that work belongs in schools and in families.
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Featured · Episode 254
Art historian Tosca Ruggieri on curatorial work inside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and the hidden stories a curator brings forward through exhibition choices.
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February 24, 2026
is a Cross-Cultural Communication Trainer and English Instructor who moved from Beijing to Maine to begin a new chapter. In this episode of Radio Maine, Cui joins Dr. Lisa Belis...
December 28, 2025
is an award-winning author, educator, and the co-founder of the Manuscript Academy and Manuscript Wishlist, joining Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore creativity, resili...
November 30, 2025
executive director of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share her lifelong mission of helping children explore ...
September 21, 2025
is an independent art historian and the founder of Art with Tosca, where she brings museum collections to life through storytelling, guided tours, and lectures. Based just outsi...
June 29, 2025
esteemed historian and author, joins us from New Harbor, Maine to share his deep knowledge of the state’s often-overlooked past. With a career rooted in archival work and a pass...
Books, organizations, teachers, and projects mentioned across these conversations. A starting point for following a thread further.
Portland Art Gallery · The Portland Art Gallery · University of Maine · Manuscript Academy · National Gallery of Art · Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization
Beijing · Colorado · Japan · New Zealand · Pearl Harbor · South Korea
In Episode 295, Beryl Cui, a cross-cultural communication trainer who moved from Beijing to Maine after a decade coaching executives, discussed teaching English as more than grammar, framing language as trust, mindset, and relationship. She blends that expertise with her lifelong practice of Chinese calligraphy.
Episode 272 with Dr. Jana Mohr Lone, who leads the Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington and has written several books on the subject. The conversation describes what happens when children are invited to examine big questions openly, and how that work belongs in schools and families.
Episode 228 with Dr. Gerard Gawalt, a historian and archivist formerly at the Library of Congress, walks through the Maine Irish Heritage Center in Portland and the archive now stewarded in the former St. Dominic's Church.