What we have here is a failure of imagination.

Talking about politics without talking about politics.

Hi friends,

This is my first post in a long time. Kiddo goes back to school for senior year today, and our country is falling apart. I took the time over the summer to keep my sanity with partial success, and now I’m back. In the Spring, we thought a lot about how to talk about politics without talking about politics. So, now I’m here to discuss major themes in America’s past, present, and future without directly discussing (too much) the day to day political situation. Many of this season’s podcasts will be recorded live on this platform, and everything will be available on video and audio.

My content is always free. But life isn’t. If you can afford it, please consider a paid subscription.

So how do we explore our world without talking about electoral politics? We look for themes and values.

Updated podcast cover.

Past: History matters. The way we remember the past, and the way we tell stories of what happened to whom, is tremendously significant in the present. The Trump regime wants to make slavery seem pleasant and change the Smithsonian. The regime is also waging war on higher ed to change our understanding of history, science, and truth. Underneath all of this, MAGA and the Trump regime are consolidating power. They aim to control what people understand, what they know, what they remember, and what they envision. So I’ll be talking to historians about stories that have already been mostly erased, and also about the whitewashing of history.

Present: Those of us who pay attention are inundated by the daily outrages. I don’t think we’re numb, but it’s sometimes hard to see past troops on the streets enough to think about freedom and values. There are already lots of folks on this platform, You Tube, and other places who report and analyze the regime and its actions every day. Instead, I want to talk about how we defenders of freedom frame our situation. I plan to highlight good independent investigation and journalism, and dig into how popular culture shapes America. I also intend to talk about fighting fascism: who is doing it, who is effective, and where we should be placing our time, attention, and treasure.

Future: If we eventually want to build the country we dream of, we’re going to need imagination, vision, creativity, and love. It may take a long time to get where we want to be, and there will be horrors on the way. But to achieve the future we seek we’re going to need people to think deeply about what we are FOR. How do we want to build our society? Where do we find people with empathy, with imagination? How do we support all the good work that organizers and activists on the ground are doing? Are there tools or platforms, or different ways of thinking about politics that we need to dig into? I’ll be talking with people who think about the future of a lot of different things: higher ed, public health, public safety, and all the pieces of society the Trump dictatorship is breaking every day.

So buckle up folks. And please share this with whomever you think will enjoy these conversations. I’m hoping to talk about issues in a different way than the daily news, or regular politics, or even conventional wisdom. And I invite you along for the ride.

Shameless plug for my other gig.

I am the co-founder and faculty member of B.Cognition Labs, a leadership development and growth accelerator program that is based on human-ing better. What that means is that we teach people skills to connect, collaborate, and get better at putting the human side first at work.

We’ve worked with the Boston Library Consortium, NERCOMP, and the Oberlin Group of Libraries. If your organization is interested, let me know.

I’ll occasionally link to my co-founder’s newsletters on what we do. If this isn’t your cup of tea, you can scroll right by. If it’s interesting in any way, please be in touch and spread the word. www.bcognitionlabs.com