In fall of 2024, we were joined by Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz to discuss what modern democracy looks like at the national and local levels, its issues and trends, and how we participate in it as citizens.

This spring, we were joined by Charlotte Norsworthy Varnum, Executive Director of The Red & Black and program coordinator for the Certificate of News Literacy at UGA, to discuss the news. Listen as we discuss media consumption, news organizations, and how to find important information amid all the noise.

This space exists to normalize conversation in abnormal times. I think it’s necessary for us sometimes to relearn how to have a conversation about difficult subjects. One of those difficult subjects is mental health, especially when we’re 10 months into a pandemic that has reshaped much of our daily life and taken away so many of our routines. I think most of us at this point know someone at this point, including ourselves, whose mental health has suffered as a result of the changes brought on by the pandemic, including isolation, loss of work, and ongoing uncertainty. For this episode I had the pleasure of talking with Katie Chapin. Katie is a licensed master social worker who works at an inpatient rehabilitation program here in our town of Athens, Ga. She graciously agreed to sit down with me and discuss what working in the mental health world has looked like for her over the last few months. Join us as we discuss mental health in a global pandemic. This is Normal Talk.

This space exists to normalize conversation in abnormal times. This week we will hear from Krystle Cobran. Krystle is a lawyer, a teacher, a facilitator, and now the inclusion officer for Athens-Clarke County. Krystle was one of the first people to lead a Normal Talk back when we did these events in person (thanks coronavirus). That first conversation centered on how to talk about race, an important subject then and paramount now as more and more people are aware of the realities of racial injustice and yet find themselves without the vocabulary or tools to talk about it. Join us as Krystle and I discuss, once again, how to talk about race. This is Normal Talk.