How can progressives win in rural US? CHLOE MAXMIN & CANYON WOODWARD, DIRT ROAD REVIVAL

Written on July 14th, 2022
When the American electoral system was created, over 95% of Americans lived in rural communities. Today fewer than 20% do. The 20 senators from the 10 most populous states – home to half the US population – make up only a fifth of the US Senate. When, the solution to minority rule, exemplified by the Senate filibuster and the radical 6-3 Supreme Court, is to vote  – then finding a successful way to connect with, win over, and represent rural voters is more essential than ever. CHLOE MAXMIN, a progressive, has won two elections to the state legislature in rural Maine. In DIRT ROAD REVIVAL, she and campaign manager CANYON WOODWARD share their approach to reversing the slide of rural voters to the GOP.

When the news is fast, furious, stressful-JON KABAT ZINN, COMING TO OUR SENSES: HEALING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD THROUGH MINDFULNESS

Written on July 8th, 2022

When the news is fast, furious, and stressful – radically destructive Supreme Court rulings, mass murders, Omicron variants, Russia’s war on Ukraine, inflation, climate crisis, etc. –  here’s my 2005 conversation with JON KABAT ZINN, best-selling author of WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE about his book, COMING TO OUR SENSES: HEALING OURSELVES AND THE WORLD THROUGH MINDFULNESS. Kabat-Zinn is as responsible as anyone for mindfulness going mainstream. Over 200 medical centers and clinics nationwide and abroad now use his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.

How did the 60s lead to both 1973 and 2022? KEVIN BOYLE, THE SHATTERING: AMERICA IN THE 1960S

Written on July 2nd, 2022
1973 looms large as we live out the 50th anniversary of the Watergate Hearings and Roe v Wade. Let’s look at the fears and forces in response to ‘60s changes that fueled the long Christo-Authoritarian march to a Supreme Court forcing minority rule on America. In my recent conversation with KEVIN BOYLE about his book THE SHATTERING: America in the ‘60s, he reminds us how generations who’d lived through the Depression and WW II, facing an enemy with nuclear weapons, would cling to a newly found and highly valued sense of security – and how the the challenges and changes of the 60s threatened that security. 
 

FOR SAMA (2019) Oscar-nominated doc – civilians under Russian fire in the siege of Aleppo, Syria

Written on June 24th, 2022
As we witness Russia’s targeting of civilians in Ukraine, here’s my 2019 conversation with directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts of the Oscar-nominated documentary, For Sama, and with Dr. Hamza al-Kateab, who ran the last hospital in East Aleppo. The film takes us inside the long siege by al Assad and the Russians. In the course of the film, Waad al-Kateab falls in love, marries, and has a baby – all as bombs fall around them. You can learn more and watch this remarkable film at forsamafilm.com  

What if a stroke strikes you or a loved one? JILL BOLTE TAYLOR, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT

Written on June 14th, 2022

Five weeks ago my wife suffered a stroke. She’s fine physically, but has language challenges and some processing issues. She improves every day and our connection is stronger than ever. Daily life is punctuated by moments of joy and others of crushing frustration. I share with you my recent conversation with JILL BOLTE TAYLOR, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, who in 1996 at the age of 37, experienced a stroke that left her unable to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took Taylor 8 years to recover all physical, emotional, and thinking abilities. She’s author of the bestselling MY STROKE OF INSIGHT: A BRAIN SCIENTIST’S PERSONAL JOURNEY and her TED talk of the same name has been viewed 27 million times.