Each year, the Cleveland Humanities Festival examines a topic from a wide variety of angles. Past topics have dug into nature, immigration, and truth. This year, the concept is wellness.

Events at the festival this year include lectures about intermittent fasting, sleep, and waste reduction, but organizers have also included events focusing on financial wellness, the mental health of teenagers, essential oils, and even poetry workshops.

To begin Thursday's "Sound of Ideas," we'll discuss some of the events featured at this year's festival, which is organized by the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University.

Later in this hour, we'll preview a free film screening and panel conversation hosted by MetroHealth and Creating Healthier Communities about the maternal and infant mortality crisis happening in Cuyahoga County and across the country.

And, did you know Akron once had a neighborhood called "Old Dublin?" We'll learn about the history of Akron's Irish enclave, ahead of St. Patrick's Day.

GUESTS:
- Michele Tracy Berger, Director, Case Western Reserve University's Baker-Nord Center
- David Olawuyi Fakunle, Assistant Professor of Public Health at the Morgan State University School; "The Lion's Side"
- Rachel Durci, Financial Wellness Coach; "How to Build a Healthy Financial Life"
- Shawnee Benton-Gibson, Co-founder and CEO, Spirit of a Woman
- Dr. Heather Rice, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Cleveland State University
- Kabir Bhatia, Senior Arts Reporter, Ideastream Public Media