How We Build This

May Boeve is joined by Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, about the power of youth-led organizing, the fight for democracy, and what it will take to usher in a new era of American politics. Joining from a college campus in Michigan just days before the midterms, Aru reflects on Sunrise's evolution from climate protests to electoral organizing, and why young people are uniquely positioned to imagine a radically different future.

Together, May and Aru explore the possibility of a new Green New Deal era, emerging grassroots resistance to AI data centers and corporate power, and the lessons of Minneapolis, where Aru witnessed extraordinary neighborhood solidarity in response to ICE operations. This is a vital conversation about organizing, imagination, and the courage to hope for something bigger.

Wondering how to support a fair and democratic midterm election?

Sign up at stvote.org/howwebuildthis to find a way to plug in with Seed the Vote and the How We Build This community.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

With the midterms just one week away, May Boeve returns with her second Movement Dispatch, offering a personal reflection on the final stretch before Election Day and the power of grassroots organizing. May shares why she's focused on action rather than election predictions, highlights Seed the Vote's last-minute canvassing opportunities, and reflects on lessons from Brazil's election. She also explores shifting political attitudes among young men and the extraordinary work happening behind the scenes to safeguard voting, from neighborhood patrols and faith communities to legal protection and election monitoring. And in a surprisingly moving final story, May recounts her first triathlon, a friendship that launched her into climate activism, and a magical coincidence involving the number 350. It's a dispatch about uncertainty, collective action, and finding hope in the most unexpected places.

Resources & Take Action

Protect the Vote: Explore the 2026 Election Risk Heat Map from Voting Rights Lab, an interactive resource tracking election risks and emerging threats across the country.

Volunteer with Seed the Vote: There's still time to get involved! Join the How We Build This delegation and explore volunteer opportunities at stvote.org/howwebuildthis.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with Julianna Glasse, author of the forthcoming book, This Is What Happens When Women Read, about leaving high-control religion, reclaiming her mind, and helping other women find freedom. Julianna shares her journey from Christian pop singer and high-profile evangelical figure to a writer, scholar, and organizer working with women around the world who are questioning the systems that have shaped and constrained their lives.

Together, May and Julianna explore indoctrination, patriarchy, evangelical politics, the courage it takes to leave, and the transformative power of books, women’s circles, and intellectual freedom. Julianna reflects on the moment her then husband condemned her hidden books with the words, “This is what happens when women read,” and how that moment became a doorway into liberation and a new life. The conversation is both intimate and political, asking what becomes possible when women trust their own minds, gather together, and refuse to stay inside systems built to silence them.

Wondering how to support a fair and democratic midterm election?

Sign up at stvote.org/howwebuildthis to find a way to plug in with Seed the Vote and the How We Build This community.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, about what it means to build an organization designed to meet the moment. Leah reflects on the origins of Indivisible after Trump’s 2016 election, when she and Ezra Levin turned their experience as former congressional staffers into a guide for regular people to organize locally and push back. A decade later, Indivisible is still evolving, helping people move from frustration into leadership, from PTA skills to school board fights, from local organizing to mass mobilization. 

Together, May and Leah dig into the terrain of 2026: institutional collapse, the role of No Kings, and the two-track challenge of both winning elections and protecting the conditions under which those elections can take place. Leah explains why early voting is a crucial anti-sabotage strategy, why movements sometimes need a disciplined “coalition of no”.

Now is the time to sign up at stvote.org/howwebuildthis.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

In this special episode of How We Build This, May Boeve talks with Emily Lee, executive director and co-founder of Seed the Vote, about how volunteers can play a decisive role in protecting democracy and building long-term movement power. Together, they launch the first-ever How We Build This delegation, inviting listeners to sign up for canvassing shifts in key races across the country at stvote.org/howwebuildthis.

Emily traces her path from environmental justice work in Bay Area communities to electoral organizing with the Chinese Progressive Association, San Francisco Rising, and Seed the Vote, where she learned a core lesson: facts and evidence matter, but without organized political power, they are not enough. 

This is more than a conversation. It’s an invitation. You, the supporters of How We Build This are being asked to help recruit 100 people to volunteer with Seed the Vote this cycle. Whether you can travel to knock doors, bring a friend, ask someone in a swing state to sign up, fundraise, phone bank, or support behind the scenes, Emily’s message is clear: you do not have to do everything. Pick one thing, and do it.

Sign up now at stvote.org/howwebuildthis.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with Cayden Mak, publisher of Convergence Magazine and host of Block and Build: Roadmaps for the Left, about movement media, online organizing, and what it would take to build an internet that actually serves people instead of tech oligarchs. 

Cayden traces his path from early internet message boards to trans organizing, marriage equality canvassing, 18 Million Rising, and Convergence’s work publishing “organizers on organizing.” Together, May and Cayden explore the lessons and limits of digital-first activism, and why movements need slower and more trustworthy information infrastructure.

Plus: Cayden’s hot tip for surviving movement life, get an offline hobby, keep showing up, and let it build community!

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with author Michael Pollan about the surprising ways writers can help spark movements. Pollan reflects on how his work on food systems and psychedelics moved him from journalist to reluctant advocate, and what it means to use storytelling to make vast systems feel human, urgent, and changeable. Together, May and Michael explore the food movement’s cultural impact, the power and limits of “voting with your fork,” unlikely cross-partisan openings around pesticides and ultra-processed food, and the emerging politics of attention in an era of social media, AI, and Trump’s command of our consciousness. Along the way, Pollan makes the case for pleasure as an underrated political force.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve speaks with Gergő Hajdu, a Hungarian community organizer, digital campaigner, and co-founder of aHang, about the long struggle to defeat Viktor Orbán after 16 years of authoritarian rule. Gergő traces his path from grassroots Roma organizing to building Hungary’s largest nonpartisan pressure group, combining digital organizing, local chapters, primaries, small-donor support, and face-to-face voter conversations. Together, May and Gergő unpack the lessons U.S. movements can draw from Hungary’s breakthrough: endurance, message discipline, and the importance of reaching persuadable voters without getting pulled into authoritarian distractions. 

Plus: Gergő shares why poetry helps him stay connected to the soul of Hungary.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with Sara Haghdoosti, Iranian-American novelist, and Chief of Program at MoveOn.org, about the fight to build an anti-war politics strong enough to stop wars before they start. Sara traces her own path from protesting the Iraq War as a young Iranian Muslim growing up during the War on Terror to organizing for a foreign policy rooted in safety, accountability, and collective liberation. Together, May and Sara unpack the escalating conflict with Iran, the long shadow of Iraq and Afghanistan, the movement lessons from Gaza, and why the anti-war movement may be more powerful than people realize. 

Plus: Sara shares her love of book recommendations and her newest soothing hobby: wood whittling!

Dig Deeper: An article by Ben Rhodes titled "An American Reckoning" about Robert McNamara’s failure to reckon with the exceptionalism that led the United States into the Vietnam War contributed to fifty years of foreign policy failures. 

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement! 

May Boeve talks with Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, about the multiracial working-class insurgency reshaping American politics in real time. Together, May and Maurice unpack recent progressive victories from New York to Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California, and what they reveal about a broader populist realignment already underway. Maurice also reflects on what movements need now: recruiting people into real work, becoming gracious winners, and building a bigger “we”.

Plus: Maurice shares how meditation helps him stay grounded, humble, and ready for the fight.

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod

Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!