On the Lean Out podcast, we’ve talked a lot about the haves and the have nots. Our guest today has another way of thinking about this: he calls it the front row of America and the back row. The front row is in power; it values education, credentials, and consumerism. But the back row values different things – things like family, faith, and place. Chris Arnade is a writer and photographer who covers poverty and addiction. He’s the author of Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America. His new project is walking the world and documenting it on Substack – and he’s recently roamed the streets of Ukraine. He’s here today to talk about the strange, surreal moment we are in, and how the back row/front row tensions play into it. Chris Arnade is our guest, today on Lean Out.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

There are a lot of things that we don’t talk about in our society right now. And one of those things is fatherhood. The role of fathers – and the power of their presence, and care – is not explored that often, or in much detail. But our guest on the podcast this week says that needs to change. Shaka Senghor is a tech executive, a New York Times bestselling author, a former fellow at the MIT media lab, and a leading voice on criminal justice reform. He’s also a former inmate, having served nineteen years in prison, seven of which were in solitary confinement. Shaka’s new powerful book is called Letters to the Sons of Society: A Father’s Invitation to Love, Honesty, and Freedom – and it is written to his two children, and to the children in our world at large. Shaka Senghor as our guest, today on Lean Out.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

If you're a regular listener of Lean Out, you know that Tara is pretty concerned about the state of the left. Her guest today has concerns of his own. Ben Burgis is a philosophy professor, a columnist for Jacobin magazine, and host of the Give Them An Argument podcast. His recent book, Canceling Comedians While the World Burns, is a brilliant critique of the contemporary left. Ben Burgis makes the case for a smarter, funnier, and more strategic left - that's today on Lean Out.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

In today’s media environment, there are often a lot of unanswered questions. Because narratives are so powerful, and because the media is so polarized, there are often pieces of information that don’t quite fit with any given story. For example: that Trump managed to increase his support among Black voters in the 2020 election, particularly Black men. What happened? Tara's guest on the podcast today has one possible answer. Jason L. Riley is a conservative commentator in the U.S. He’s a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His latest book is The Black Boom, and he joins Tara today to make the case that the lives of working-class Black people improved significantly under Donald Trump's economic policies.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

Given the state of the world right now, it’s probably fair to say that a whole lot of us are currently lost in a downward spiral of doomscrolling, utterly overwhelmed by the news. But Tara's guest on the podcast today says things have been bad like this for some time – that, in fact, our civilization is in a form of decline. Andrew Potter is an associate professor at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He’s a former editor-in-chief of the Ottawa Citizen, a former public affairs columnist for Maclean’s Magazine, and a former director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. His latest book is On Decline: Stagnation, Nostalgia, and Why Every Year is the Worst One Ever. He joins Tara today for a surprisingly upbeat conversation about the state of our country, and of our world.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

With the violence in Ukraine dominating headlines, the world is feeling dark — and uncertain. So today on the podcast, we’re going to spotlight a story of hope. Chris Hedges is a former war correspondent for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He’s also a Presbyterian minister and a bestselling author. In his latest book, The Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, he tells a remarkable story that highlights both the evils of mass incarceration and the capacity of the human spirit to overcome. Hedges has been teaching inmates since 2010. In The Class, he chronicles one group’s powerful journey writing a play — and how healing it was for the twenty-eight students involved, who were serving a combined 515 years behind bars. Chris Hedges is Tara's guest on today’s episode of Lean Out.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

The world has gone mad. In recent weeks, many people have reached out to say they feel overwhelmed by how divided we are. Many feel like the mainstream media is not doing a good enough job at digging into the complexity of the issues we’re facing, and that it is failing to reflect the full spectrum of views and experiences out there. Today's guest has thought deeply about the challenges facing the media. Mónica Guzmán is a Seattle journalist. She’s also a director at Braver Angles, a grassroots organization that works to address polarization -- and a former fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Mónica is the author of a new book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. She joins Tara today on the podcast to talk about the book, and the overlooked superpower that she says we all need to rediscover – the magic of a good conversation.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

The trucker convoy protest in the capital has dominated the news for the past few weeks, with many Canadian commentators expressing shock and disbelief that the country is experiencing such a forceful wave of populism. But at least one person is not surprised at all. Jeff Rubin is an award-winning Canadian author. He’s the former chief economist at CIBC World Markets, and a former Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. His latest book is called The Expendables: How The Middle Class Got Screwed By Globalization - and it has turned out to be quite prescient. On today's episode, Jeff Rubin joins Tara for a deep dive into the economic conditions driving the current unrest. 

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

As we all think through the class tensions that have surfaced in Canada, it’s a good time to take a closer look at an ethos held by many of those shaping the dialogue. This group of decision-makers and opinion-shapers, which includes the media, is often referred to in leftist circles as the professional managerial class. Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine, has recently published a fierce and funny polemic on the PMC, titled Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class. In her conversation with Tara, Liu touches on everything from mommy bloggers to land acknowledgements — and argues that we must insist on viewing society’s struggles through an economic lens.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

This week — as our culture finds itself embroiled in numerous debates around speech — Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama has published a brilliant new book that provides a historical perspective. Jacob is the founder and executive director of Justitia, a human-rights think tank based in Copenhagen. Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media is a deeply-researched, engaging, and humane title that grew out of Clear and Present Danger, Jacob’s podcast project on the global history of free speech. Here, in his wide-ranging discussion with Tara, Jacob touches on everything from Athenian democracy to Orwell and Mandela — and makes the case that censorship is not a good solution to the societal tensions we are living through.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com