July 12th, 2023: Comes the Floods

Today we are arriving on shores after being underwater. The recent rains have lead to dams breaking, riverbanks overflowing, and hundreds if not thousands of acres of farmland being awash in several feet of water. After the February and May frosts, this is a gut wrenching third punch in a growing season that has already been a struggle. We speak with the farmers and organizers at Grow Food Northampton, CISA, MDAR, and State Senator Jo Comerford about the effects of the flooding and what comes next. After spending 3 years in sanctuary in Northampton, Irida Kakhtiranova is back at home, and the pirogi business that she started while in exile, P’frōgi, is thriving at local stores and a growing number of farmers markets. We speak with her about her ongoing pursuit of citizenship, the unforseen setbacks of that pursuit, and what makes a good dumpling. And the word nerd, Emily Brewster, resident wordster and senior editor at Merriam Webster, tackles a reader question from John Dionne about "irregardless". Though this word is much reviled, it is very much real and in the dictionary, which sparks a larger conversation about the evolution of certain prefixes.