I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen, wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm Greta Johnson. It is August in the year 2022. And somehow we are still dealing with a global pandemic, let alone the fact that monkeypox is now a thing. We're going to talk about it today. You probably heard last week that the CDC changed their COVID guidelines. School is also starting

back up across the country. So we thought now would be a great time to check in with Dr. Emily

Landon. We like to call her Nuredette's resident epidemiologist, but her real job is that she

is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago. Emily, welcome back.

Well, I'm thrilled to be here.

Thrilled to have you. Okay, so obviously we have a lot of COVID questions. Wait, wait, wait.

How can you have COVID questions? It's over. It's like even more over than it was the last time we talked about it. I'm picking up on a little bit of sarcasm from you, Emily.

That was all sorry.

Okay, but I do think we should start with monkey pox because the U.S. is officially calling this a federal public health emergency.

I have a friend who texted me last week.

He's got it.

It sounds horrific.

This is something that is largely affecting gay men and queer folks. So as always, you know, we asked listeners

if they had questions for you. And one of the people we heard from is Hannah. Let's take a listen

to their message. I am dying to pop my, you know what, to Beyonce's new album.

But I'm a bit nervous reading that monkeypox can be transmitted through aerosols like COVID and through possible skin-to-skin contact.

...