In the Season Two finale I talk to (un)common good media founder and podcast host pauli reese about painting and in particular how it invites us to experience the divine. We get into our checkered evangelical upbringings and our complicated journeys out of them. We also talk about what it means to have private versus public experiences of engaging with the spiritual and much, much more.

Content from this episode:

More info about Black Bottom tribe
Balikbayan box episode of 99% Invisible

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we talk to ux writer and Strategic Writing for UX author Torrey Podmajersky about existential dread and, in particular, the dread that comes from having the same conversation over and over and over and over...

We get into how sometimes these conversations are practice and how sometimes they're ways to avoid the *real* conversation we have to have if we ever stop having this conversation over and over, the ways we try to define progress, why do some people prefer authoritarianism, and much, much, more.

Recommended content from this episode

Website
Real Rent Duwamish

Movies
RRR
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Books
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Podcast
Content Strategy Insights

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we speak to Sheryl Cababa, Chief Design Officer at Substantial and author of the new book, Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, about ube, the Filipino flavor that has been appropriated by American dining and all that entails. We get into how responsibility for change gets pushed down to individuals and away from corporations, how identity gets mixed up in the diaspora experience, the difficulty of framing major systemic change in a way that actually gets shit done, and much, much more.

Recommended content from this episode:

A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times - book by Meron Hadero

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we speak to Saskia Videler, Content Architect at City of Antwerp, about globalization. We discuss what it means to look at things from other cultures' points of view, how we treat refugees, the cost of the English language taking over the world, and much, much, more.

Referenced in this episode

Workshop
Stopping the Cycle of Oppression

Book
Closing the Loop by Sheryl Cababa

Twitter
Saskia Videler

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we speak to Dayana Kibilds, Strategy Director at Ologie, about different barriers to higher education beyond sheer cost and into areas of communication. How hard is it to even know how to apply if you don't read at a graduate level already? We get into the very assumptions baked into higher ed, why it isn't always a great idea to emulate the big players in a space, and how major demographic shifts should also be shifting our approach to recruiting students yet somehow...aren't.

Resource from this episode: Rating colleges by economic mobility

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we speak to Dana Rock, director of experience design at Pickle Jar Communications about awe; what experiences induce it and what it means for us going forward. We get into the notion of building a web that highlights sharing experiences over sharing opinions, how WEIRD our notions of self are, and the very nature of consciousness itself.

Recommended content from this episode:

Books
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman
Why Buddhism Is True by Robert Wright
The User Illusion by Tor Nørretranders
Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed
The WEIRDist People in the World by Joseph Henrich
Speaking and Being by Kübra Gümüsay

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

In this episode we speak to content designer Amy Grace Wells about expectations. Diagnosed only a few years ago with ADHD, Amy is reconsidering the expectations she and others have of herself. We get into how our expectations form, how identity and power influence expectations, and when "should" is and isn't a useful concept.

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

On the first episode of our second season, we speak live in front of a studio audience to writer, artist, speaker, and content strategist Malaika Carpenter about leadership and all the different ways we can define it. We also get into Indigenous values, who gets to be defined as a leader, and...you know...slavery.

Recommended content from this episode:

Movies/TV
Homicide: Life on the Street

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

Content warning: This episode deals explicitly with sexual violence, especially from the 23 minute mark to the 28 minute mark and from the 54 minute mark to the end.

We talk about sex with Marta Rusek, who identifies as autistic, bisexual, and passionate about ending domestic violence. How do we learn about sex? Why are we so afraid of it? What does a sex-positive world look like? And much, much more.

Referenced in this episode

Twitter
Dr. Timaree Schmit

Movies
The Fifth Element
Auntie Mame
Silence of the Lambs
Basic Instinct
Out of Sight
The Last Duel
13th
To Kill a Mockingbird

TV
Euphoria
Bridgerton
When They See Us

Video
Transfigurations - Gender Outlaws in the Bible

Theater
To Kill a Mockingbird

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander

Content warning: This episode contains discussions of trauma and suicidality. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has concerns about suicide, one resource is the National Suicide Hotline which you can learn more about here: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

In this episode we talk to designer, researcher, business owner, and mom Melissa Eggleston about trauma. How should it inform design? What is a B-Corp and how can they make it easier to for companies to behave in a way that is more trauma-informed? How do we need to attend to our own trauma before we can help others? And much, much more.

Recommended content from this episode:

Books
Deep Work  by Cal Newport
The Empathetic Workplace  by Katharine Manning

Websites
Solutions Journalism Network story tracker
Good News Network
BBC News
Al Jazeera
Resources for Trauma-Informed UX Design
AO3 (Archive of Our Own)
B Lab Global Site

Podcasts
Brené Brown with Dr. Shawn Ginwright on The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves

Movies
The Breakfast Club

Our intro and outro music is "Humbug" by Crowander