Conversations with Charlie Dyer

The focus of much of our attention in society and culture continues to put the spotlight on “bad boys.” We embrace and revile them at the same time. From criminal behavior to the glorification of acting out in movies and TV, “boys will be boys” is still the easy way we brush broad strokes across all boys and what it means to be a boy. Why are we stuck with this two-dimensional image and not talking about the complex reality of boy’s lives? In this episode we have a conversation with Dr. Adam Cox, author of Cracking the Boy Code: How to Understand and Talk with Boys.

Everyone has good ideas but few of us rarely act on them. Why is that? I’ll bet you can think of at least one example right now of that “one that got away” because…well…why was it that it got away from you? What’s been stopping you from pursuing that inspiration that seems to come out of nowhere? Why did you dismiss it or just ignore it? Did you think you’re not smart enough and that only natural-born geniuses have what it takes to rise above us mere mortals? That kind of thinking is deeply ingrained in our culture and Allen Gannett, author of The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, says it’s all just a big fat myth.

Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new—conspiracy without theory. And this new kind of conspiratorial thinking has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. Are we living in a golden age of conspiracy theories? Russell Muirhead, author of A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy says these theories are not only thriving — they’re also getting more absurd, less substantive, and harder to refute.

Do you ever feel crushed under the weight of your own expectations? Do you often lose sleep ruminating over a tiny mistake or worrying about what someone else thinks of you? Do you run yourself ragged trying to do it all at home and at work, with a smile and not a hair out of place? Have you ever passed up an opportunity – a new relationship, new job, or new challenge – because you’re afraid you won’t immediately excel at it? For you, is failure simply not an option? In a book inspired by her hugely popular TED Talk, Reshma Saujani, author of Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder, says you’re not alone and she challenges women to look at their lives through a new lens.  

Meredith May, author of The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees, was five when her parents split up and she suddenly found herself in the care of her grandfather, an eccentric Big Sur beekeeper who made honey in an old military bus in the yard. As they bonded over the art of beekeeping, she discovered that everything she needed to know about life and family was right there before her eyes… in the secret world of bees.  

Today’s children are becoming increasingly depressed with the world around us as catastrophic global warming is already baked into the climate system and they face a future entirely unlike that of their parents. How can we maintain hope and make a difference in the face of overwhelming evidence of the climate crisis? Harriet Shugarman, author of How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change: Turn Angst into Action, helps parents explain the climate crisis to their kids, overcome overwhelming fear, and find hope to galvanize positive action.  

Liberal and progressive frustration, grief, and alarm over former President Donald Trump's destructive political agenda and behavior have prompted mounting disdain for his supporters and other conservatives. This reaction is contributing to political polarization and unwittingly serving to strengthen Trump’s hand as he sows divisiveness and hatred. Erica Etelson, author of Beyond Contempt: How Liberals Can Communicate Across the Great Divide, is going to show you how to communicate respectfully, passionately, and effectively across the political divide without soft-pedaling your beliefs.

When she was six-years-old, Dr. Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, had a realization — she was white. This new awareness came after an innocent conversation with a fellow student at school, followed by confusion and shame after a teacher’s anxiety-induced response left her with the knowledge that there was something loaded about race — but with no idea what it was. Children today have those same realizations. For parents and teachers knowing how to respond to those realizations — and the inevitable questions about our racially unjust society they raise — is essential. 

American musical theater conjures images of bright lights and big cities, but its lifeblood courses through local and amateur productions around the country. Our guest, Stacy Wolf, examined the widespread presence and persistence of musical theater in United States culture as a live, pleasurable and participatory experience. She traveled from Maine to Hawaii, visiting schools, performance festivals, summer camps, outdoor theaters, community theaters and dinner theaters, where she interviewed over 200 practitioners and spectators, licensors and administrators. She’s here to illuminate musical theater’s enduring power as a joyful activity that touches millions of lives. 

Click to get more information and to order her book:

BEYOND BROADWAY: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America

With Donald Trump winning the presidency and all the media attention fixated around the idea of a celebrity being our president, there’s been many words used to describe his rise to power like historic, unprecedented, groundbreaking and on and on but he’s not the first person or even group of people to use their celebrity status for political gain as we learn from our guest, Nancie Clare. That happened nearly 100 years ago in 1923 not surprisingly right here in Southern California, not Hollywood, but Beverly Hills.

Click to get more information and to order her book:

THE BATTLE FOR BEVERLY HILLS - A City’s Independence and the Birth of Celebrity Politics