Davisville

Schism is an old word, meaning two sides with strong opinions breaking apart. The term might now apply to the United Methodist Church, a denomination of 13 million members worldwide that faces dis-unifying over gay rights. Brandon Austin, pastor of the Davis Methodist congregation, talks about the dispute, why it matters to people who might never give a thought to church, how to wrestle with the question of which traditions to keep and which to discard, and the choice of the Davis church to align with the pro-LGBT “reconciling” movement more than 20 years ago.

High school’s an interesting time. You’re exiting childhood, not yet an adult, you’re trying to figure out who you are, while fitting in, while going your own way, and your classmates are suddenly attractive in ways they weren’t just a few years before. And you’re trying to set yourself up for college or a job, while under pressure to achieve. Whatever high school means to you, when it’s done … you move on. Until enough years have passed and you hear from a classmate that your class is having a reunion! Want to come?

On today’s Davisville, my guests are reunion organizers from two Davis High School classes that are having significant anniversaries this fall and summer: Cindy Cooper Evans (left) from the Class of 1969, and Margaret Bridge from the Class of 1999. We talk about the reunions, what they enjoy about them, how classmates and their attitudes toward the high school years change as they get older, and what advice they’d have for their high school selves.

Ryan Collins started working for the city of Davis as homeless outreach services coordinator in August 2017. He has contacted approximately 300 homeless people in Davis since then, he says, and has helped about a third of them find permanent shelter. This would have reduced the homeless population of Davis … except that a greater number has fallen into homelessness. On today’s Davisville we talk with Ryan and with Paul Doroshov, deputy police chief for Davis, about Ryan’s job working one-to-one with the homeless, how his work fits into the larger set of services and strategies that respond to homelessness, the city’s plan to hire another person whose job will be similar to Ryan’s, and how the role of the police has evolved since Paul joined the Davis Police as a patrol officer 30 years ago.

The Beatles were so huge that even now, 49 years after they broke up, former Beatle Paul McCartney’s shows can still sell out stadiums. The band sold hundreds of millions of records, and helped change the culture in large parts of the world. How much do they still matter, when only 30 percent of Americans are old enough to have any memory of them as an active band? Today we talk about the Beatles with Dr. Rebecca Plack, who teaches “Introduction to the Music of the Beatles“ to approximately 200 students at UC Davis, and Jerry Yen, one of her students and a fan of the band. (A correction: In the program I say Ringo Starr will turn 80 this year. That won’t happen until 2020.)