In this episode, Nicole docks the conversation, asking what the American Dream really promises...and to whom.

Brett and Nicole unpack the myth of individual success, tracing how race, class, and history shape who gets to dream and who gets left behind. They talk about the emotional and existential debts of chasing fulfillment through capitalism, the tension between visibility and belonging, and what it means to build a life beyond meritocracy. It’s a reflective and grounded conversation about reimagining success, community, and the dreams, or perhaps the credit or debts, we inherit.

Nicole’s Notes 

• How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by Manning Marable

• How Racism Takes Place by George Lipsitz

• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

• Utopia by Sir Thomas More

• Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm

Brett’s Notes 

• The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America by Margot Canaday https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691149936/the-straight-state?srsltid=AfmBOoo-gj_IPV9bLJ0JAkyCc9rk_BXXG99fyiuwvWuHwsUPQs3__YLw

The Doc to Dock Podcast is produced by Dr. Nicole Mayberry and Dr. Brett Goldberg. Original music written and composed by Matt Bogdanow. Podcast artwork designed and illustrated by André Gonzalez.

For more or find us on https://linktr.ee/doctodockpod and follow the show at @doctodockpod on Instagram and YouTube.