Lean Out with Tara Henley

Many of us grew up reading classics from the great Judy Blume, from Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Blume, now in her eighties, is famous for writing about childhood and adolescence with humour and heart. This week, my guest on the program has published a remarkable book documenting her life story.

Mark Oppenheimer is an American journalist and author. He’s the editor of the online religion and politics magazine ARC. His latest book is Judy Blume: A Life.

Mark Oppenheimer is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

In recent years, the world has become an increasingly unstable place. My guest on the program today says that Canadians have adopted a “precarity mindset.” And now, roughly nine out of ten Canadians believe this uncertainty is here to stay — that it is, in fact, the new normal.

Eddie Sheppard is executive vice president at Abacus Data. His analysis for Abacus is From Crisis to Condition: The Psychology of Canadian Uncertainty.

Eddie Sheppard is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

One of the problems with increased polarization is that everything gets politicized, including simple acts of charity. My guest on the program today is an American journalist who’s been tracking this trend in liberal and leftist circles. He’s published an essay making the argument that helping your neighbour is an affirmation of our shared humanity — not a “radical act of resistance.”

Ryan Zickgraf is an American journalist and a columnist at UnHerd. His Substack newsletter is The Third Rail.

Ryan Zickgraf returns to the program, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

If you follow the news in this country, you know that Canada is currently grappling with a number of crises, from housing to mental health. And yet much of our attention is focused on the United States and on Donald Trump. My guest on the podcast today has just published an essay about this. She argues that, much like in a dysfunctional family, the media’s fixation on Trump is a distraction from looking at deeper issues.

Amanda Ripley is an American journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. She is the co-founder of Good Conflict, a media and training company that helps people reimagine conflict. (You can watch Good Conflict’s latest story here).

Amanda Ripley returns to the program, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

Canadians who write books, or cover books, or read books will know that something is wrong with our literary industry. But a new book documents just how far off the rails publishing has gone. My guest on the program today is the author of that book, and he says our fundamental problem is an erosion of national identity.

Richard Stursberg is a Canadian author and media executive, and the former head of English services for the CBC. His new book is Lament for a Literature: The Collapse of Canadian Book Publishing.

Richard Stursberg is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

This week on the Lean Out podcast we are taking a look at the chaotic summer of 2020, and the impact of that unrest on mainstream journalism. My guest on the program today has a new interview with the former opinion editor at The New York Times, James Bennet, who was famously ousted by a staff revolt. My guest says that now is a good time to think through how that historical moment — and its activists — has shaped our journalism.

Harrison Lowman is a Canadian journalist. He’s the managing editor of The Hub and a former producer of this podcast.

Harrison Lowman returns to the program, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

We live in an age of economic precarity and journalists are not exempt from this. My guest on the program today has written a powerful Substack essay about his path from foreign correspondent to Uber driver, and how his troubles have helped him to forge a sense of solidarity with the people he drives to work.

Steven Scherer is an American journalist and a former Canadian bureau chief for Reuters.

Steven Scherer is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

Men and women don’t seem very happy these days. They are dissatisfied with dating, polarized politically, trash talking each other online, and both marriage and fertility are on the decline. What is responsible for this rift between men and women? My guest on the program today has been mulling this question over, and she says we might want to reconsider some of the assumptions of feminism — starting with the idea that marriage and family are “a trap.”

Larissa Phillips is an American essayist and the founder of the Volunteer Literacy Project. With her husband, she runs the Honey Hollow Farm in upstate New York.

Larissa Phillips returns to the program, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

The popularity of identity politics, and the subsequent fallout from this ideology, is something that we’ve tried to unpack and understand on the Lean Out podcast. My guest on the program today has published a viral essay on the impacts of this moment on Millennial white men. He argues that an entire generation was shut out of certain professions and found themselves in a society that was “deliberately rooting against” them.

Jacob Savage is an American writer. His latest essay, for Compact Magazine, is The Lost Generation.

Jacob Savage is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

With the new year now upon us, we are going to continue our conversation about the state of feminism, and how we might begin to think and talk about women’s lives in ways that are more productive. My guest on the program today is a frequent commentator on modern feminism, and she says the central archetypes of our current moment — the girl boss on the left and the trad wife on the right — are both reductive and untenable in today’s world.

Elizabeth Grace Matthew is an American writer, and the author of the Substack newsletter Restoring American Adulthood.

Elizabeth Grace Matthew is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.

Lean Out with Tara Henley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com