Episodes From 2021

The Common Good: An Exploration of Health, Law, and Ethics

Through interviews with experts and deep dives on a variety of subjects, host Leigh E. Rich examines health care, history, philosophy, and law in relation to our present times and the past (as well as our possible futures).

These Common Good conversations consider the nature of health, justice, and morality … and how we should live our lives in relation to others.

Click here to listen to episodes from 2021

December

  • Yellow, red, blue, and black paint splatters across a many-windowed building. (Photos © FreeImages/melodi2 and 1234)
    The Artful Good (pt. II, December 31, 2021)
  • A woman looks at paintings of flowers in an art museum. (Photos © FreeImages/zaido and Berkeley)
    The Artful Good (pt. I, December 24, 2021)
  • A vaccine needle pokes into a bottle that's sitting on a smoke-covered bridge leading into an unknown future. (Photos © FreeImages/borge and asifthebest)
    The Fate of a Mandate (December 17, 2021)
  • A watercolor of a tree bending in the wind, with its leaves floating to a verdant ground. (Image © Pixaby/Prawny)
    Bending in the Wind (December 10, 2021)
  • A black-and-white photo of a woman staring out the window of a train. (Photo © FreeImages/Andy1966)
    The Road to ‘Roe’ (pt. II, December 3, 2021)

November

  • A statue of a woman is woven through a circuit board. (Photos © FreeImages/Weber VanHeber and Luis Rock)
    Gendered Tech (November 26, 2021, encore)
  • The novel coronavirus hovers a washed-out, snowy forest scene. (Photos © FreeImages/Penny Mathews and Karol Wiszniewski)
    Winter Is Coming (November 19, 2021)
  • A dock extends into the Low Country marsh. (Photos © FreeImages/Roger Kirby)
    A Sea Change (November 12, 2021)
  • Cover of the Book "This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism" by Ashton Applewhite.
    This Chair Rocks (November 5, 2021)

October

  • The sun shines over the Moldova River and an image of the country's outline and flag. (Photo © FreeImages/Danilevici Filip-E.)
    Navigating Moldova’s Past and Present (October 29, 2021)
  • Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah is designed in the neo-Gothic style. (Photos © Congregation Mickve Israel)
    Challah, Halacha, and Humor (October 22, 2021)
  • Part of a cartoon drawing of a world map, where the compass sends rays of sun over a hamlet of houses. (Photo © FreeImages/Zumberto _)
    Making a Case for Citizenship (October 15, 2021)
  • A need, thread, and buttons sit on top of a quilt. (Photo © FreeImages/Julia Freeman-Woolpert and Brano Hudak)
    Sewing Identity (October 8, 2021)
  • The Twenty Year War by photographer Beau Simmons and Army Rangers Dan Blakeley and Tom Amenta
    The Twenty Year War (October 1, 2021)

September

  • Individual vines creep across the globe, separating the United States from other parts of the world. (Photos © FreeImages/Flavio Takemoto, barun patro, and Robert Proksa)
    Parsing the Isolationist Path (September 24, 2021)
  • A graduation cap casts a shadow on the Constitution. (Photo © FreeImages/Maria Amelia Paiva Abrão)
    Desegregating Higher Ed (September 17, 2021)
  • Golden pills spill out of a big capsule, as face masks fade to the background. (Photos © FreeImages/Chris Holder and pidsmannen)
    Keeping Up With the Coronavirus (September 10, 2021)
  • A door and hallway inside the U.S. Supreme Court leads back to the Court's exterior steps and pillars, which are scaffolded for repairs. (Photo © FreeImages/David Lat)
    Abortion in America (pt. I, September 3, 2021)

August

  • A scale weighs the Earth. (Photos © FreeImages/Pontus Edenberg and Edu Wagtelenberg)
    Window on the World (August 27, 2021)
  • Two dice sit in front of a sandstone-esque petroglyph of an explorer overlooking a foreign landscape. (Photos © FreeImages/Maria Kaloudi and Dora Mitsonia)
    Risky Business (August 20, 2021)
  • Masks lie on a cobblestone road that stretches into the distance. (Photos © FreeImages/Luiz Renato D. Coutinho and Coronavirus Stock)
    Viral Variations (August 13, 2021)
  • A closeup of a baby grasping the hand of the older person holding him. (Photo © FreeImages/Iwan Boin)
    For the Ages (August 6, 2021)

July

  • Climbing ropes veil Mount Everest. (Photos © FreeImages/Pål Anders Martinussen and Tom Romig)
    Lessons From Everest (July 30, 2021)
  • Calhoun and Whitefield squares in Savannah. (Photos © The Center for Jubilee, Reconciliation, and Healing)
    Squaring History (July 23, 2021)
  • The Texas flag hovers over the capitol in Austin and a winding Texas river. (Photos © FreeImages/Brian Nunnery, Steve, and Zandikrat)
    The Texas Landscape (July 16, 2021)
  • A statue of a woman is woven through a circuit board. (Photos © FreeImages/Weber VanHeber and Luis Rock)
    Gendered Tech (July 9, 2021)
  • A prison fence hovers over the U.S. Constitution. (Photos © Constitutional Accountability Center and FreeImages/Jonathon Hayward)
    The Constitution and Capital Punishment (July 2, 2021)

June

  • Dominoes in the shape of a question mark hover over a precarious suspension bridge. (Photos © FreeImages/Scouts Caslu and Eva Schuster)
    Uncertainty in Uncertain Times (June 25, 2021)
  • A camouflaged military helmet rests atop a desk, next to law books. (Photos © FreeImages/Peter Skadberg, Sarah Vaughan, and Gerhard Höllisch)
    Military Law and Ethics (June 18, 2021)
  • The shadow of shipping containers hovers over the Bogibeel Bridge in India and a ship at sunset. (Photos © FreeImages/Brad Burton, Utpal Deka, and Athewma Athewma)
    Operation Seafarer Vaccination (June 11, 2021)
  • A wooden Zen statuette sits atop a crystal pyramid against a backdrop of wispy, green plants. Photos © FreeImages.com/Marcelo Gerpe
    Hands-On Healing (June 4, 2021)

May

  • The novel coronavirus hovers over a bottle of hand sanitizer and several face masks. Photos © FreeImages.com
    Vax and Masks and More, Oh My! (May 28, 2021)
  • Exploring The Orville, edited by David Kyle Johnson and Michael R. Berry
    Exploring The Orville (May 21, 2021)
  • A statue of a supplicating man in the shadow of a stained glass window featuring a woman comforting a crying child. Photos © FreeImages/Alexander Hayes and kslyesmith
    Compassion and Complex Politics (May 14, 2021)
  • The Senior Citizens, Inc., logo hovers on top of one of the large trees in front of its newly expanded facility in Savannah.
    Serving Our Seniors (May 7, 2021)

April

  • The feet of seniors engaged in yoga, with different colored rolled up yoga mats nearby. Photos © People photo created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com and FreeImages/taf ng
    Seasoned and Strong (April 30, 2021)
  • A nutrition label hovers over a salad full of colorful vegetables. Photos © FreeImages.com/Bob Smith
    What’s Cookin’ (or Should Be)? (April 23, 2021)
  • Some students gather at an outdoor concert, while others navigate college campus to get to class. Photos © Georgia Southern University and FreeImages/Afonso Lima
    Growing Away to College (April 16, 2021)
  • The Savannah Country Day School hornet beats back the novel coronavirus.
    Going to Class During COVID (April 9, 2021)
  • The Savannah Bananas logo takes a crack at the novel coronavirus. Photos © Savannah Bananas and FreeImages/Chris Collins and Dyana By
    Striking Out COVID (April 2, 2021)

March

  • A beach in Brazil is covered with the Brazilian flag. Photos © FreeImages/Jose Boaventura de Freitas, Ivana De Battisti, and aschaeffer
    COVID in the Land of Brazil (March 26, 2021)
  • Syringes deliver a vaccine while an image of the coronavirus looms in the background. Photos © FreeImages/Michaela Kobyakov and Nick Winchester
    Vaccines, Variants, and Vanquishing COVID (March 19, 2021)
  • Images of Ireland and four leaf clovers. Photos © FreeImages/Brian Lary, Rob Gonyea, and Bill Davenport
    Sharing of the Green (March 12, 2021)
  • On a background that resembles both a sunflower and the sun, program manager Stephanie Irwin poses at a baseball game with two Camp Sunshine kids. Photos © Camp Sunshine Savannah and FreeImages/Joonas Lampinen
    A Place in the Sunshine 2.0 (March 5, 2021)

February

  • Football players ready for a play as the sun streams through the clouds. Photos © FreeImages/Patrick Ng, Matthew Bowden, and Jennifer Marr
    Muscular Christianity (February 26, 2021)
  • The five areas that make up the social determinants of health, per the CDC's Healthy People 2030
    Health Inequities in COVID Era (February 19, 2021)
  • Moss-strewn trees hover over a copy of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"
    Southern Evolution (February 12, 2021)
  • Coronaviruses fade to the background on a young girl's arm whose bandages indicate she has had the vaccine. Photo © FreeImages.com/Paul de Bruin
    Gab on the Jab (February 5, 2021)

January

  • Writing implements make their way into a first aid kit, highlighting how many physicians in human history also have been writers.
    Musings From Medicine (January 29, 2021)
  • Rehab and Release (January 22, 2021)
  • Depictions of Addiction (January 15, 2021)
  • Painting by Savannah Simmons, 2020, for the cover of "The 21st Century and Its Discontents"
    21st Century and Its Discontents (January 8, 2021)
  • Photos of a young girl on the map of the world and a plant sprouting out of concrete. © FreeImages/Bob Smith and José A. Warletta
    Sing of the World (January 1, 2021)