Sanity

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Alan Khazei builds movements. First, it was expanding service through City Year, which later became the brainchild for AmeriCorps (which has facilitated 1.2 billion hours of public service!). Then it was expanding social entrepreneurship through Be the Change. Now Alan is spearheading the group Democracy Entrepreneurs, which just hosted its first Democracy Entrepreneurship Summit at the Harvard Kennedy School. Inspired in part by seeing his own family divided by the 2016 election, he’s working “to get underneath what is going on in our democracy” and to support organizations in this space.

In this episode, Alan talks about the importance of service — "not as a Democratic idea or a Republican idea... but as an American idea," about his work to expand service opportunities with Presidents George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and about his hopes for the future of Democracy Entrepreneurs.

• Alan’s Boston Globe op-ed, The rise of the democracy entrepreneurs, Nov. 2018

• Democracy Entrepreneurs on Twitter

• National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service Interim Report

• McCain, Obama find common ground on national service, CNN, Sept. 2008

• John McCain understood the common call to service that makes America truly great: John Bridgeland and Alan Khazei, Cleveland.com, Sept. 2018

• Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus? Searching for a better way to cover a campaign, Peter Hamby, Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, Aug. 2013

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Lauren Leader is the co-founder and CEO of All In Together, a non-partisan organization on a mission to help women regardless of party affiliation engage in the political process. Her book, “Crossing the Thinnest Line,” highlights those crossing dividing lines of race, gender, culture, and political party to build a more united nation. With partners like Gretchen Carlson and founding sponsors like Deloitte, Boeing and EY, All In Together helps women on both sides of the aisle maximize their impact.

In this episode, Lauren joins Sanity to talk about All In Together, share some unique thoughts on the role of mentorship, and reflect on bipartisan relationships that have led her to understand and respect different perspectives (I.E.: Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court).

• Learn more about All In Together here.

• The Gretchen Carlson Leadership Initiative

• The Global Gender Gap Report 2018, World Economic Forum

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Ericka Andersen is a conservative author, speaker, and podcast host (#WorthYourTime) who is living proof that we can disagree with each other but still respect those with opinions different from our own. Through lived experiences and bipartisan friendships, over the years Ericka transformed from being a very partisan person to someone who sees that few issues are black and white. She is the rare, refreshing thought leader who makes a concerted effort to read about different perspectives, and has even shifted her thinking on issues like criminal justice reform as a result. Ericka is passionate about tackling the stigma of addiction and her first book, “Leaving Cloud 9,” is about her husband’s journey overcoming a childhood of poverty, trauma, and mental illness.

• Subscribe to Ericka’s Podcast, Worth Your Time

• We Disagree. I Still Respect You., Patheos, March 2018

• How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes, NPR, Aug. 2017

• Champion Women Profiles

• Opioid Overdose Crisis, NIH, January 2019

  
  

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In the 1980s, Jonathan Perman worked on Capitol Hill for a Republican Senator from Illinois...he was a Democrat...and that was not entirely out of the ordinary. Increasingly frustrated by partisan gridlock in Washington, in 2016 Perman teamed up with the Bipartisan Policy Center to create the American Congressional Exchange. The program matches pairs of Republican and Democrat Members of Congress and facilities visits to each other's districts. Combining his passions for politics and travel, his hope is to help build trust in Congress. It's already working -- bipartisan legislation has resulted from ACE's work that has been signed into law.

• Learn more about ACE here.

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Ryan Bernsten, an American playwright and Oxford grad student, is in the middle of a cross-country journey covering all 50 states. Over the past few months he's attended a Trump rally the night before Election Day, chatted with mayors of big cities and teeny-tiny towns, stayed with 21 different families, and enjoyed crab cakes, ice cream, and other American delights. Our conversation focusses on Ryan's unexpected takeaways, social media vs. the real world, and the kindness of strangers from across the aisle that he's experienced along the way.  You can follow along at 50StatesofMind.org.

• Despite a year of bad news, most Americans remain optimistic about 2019, PBS, 12/28/18

• 50 States of Mind Instagram

• United States Conference of Mayors

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In the fall of 2016, former journalist Erin Ruberry set out to create In Better News, a newsletter that highlights acts of kindness from Americans across the country. Her own optimism is infectious. Erin built an online space focussed on the Good joins Sanity to talk about her mission to make the internet a happier place (and to talk about the one and only Dolly Parton!).

• Subscribe to In Better News here.

• Learn about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library here.

• The Real Roots of American Rage, The Atlantic, January/February 2019

• Hundreds brave the cold to honor Vietnam veteran who died with few known family members, Omaha World Herald, 11/228/18

As the co-founder of moveon.org, momsrising.org, and Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades is a progressive activist whose main mission these days is to bridge strengthening political. She made headlines when she hosted a Living Room Conversation with Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party movement. In this episode, Joan talks about what she’s learned about finding common ground in a tense climate, about benefits of outdoor walking meetings, and about her bipartisan TED Talk, “Free yourself from your filter bubbles,” which received 1.2 million views.

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On June 25th, 2018 in Old Saybrook, CT, Red Hen restaurant owner Shelley Deproto started her morning with a stream of online threats targeting her restaurant. The night before, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had been asked to leave an entirely different, unaffiliated Red Hen restaurant in Virginia. Overnight, Shelley became the focus of national media attention. Her Yelp review dropped from a 4.5 to a 2. But she refused to get political, and instead shared her positive message about kindness and pursuing one's passion even amidst a divisive time.

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If you think Thanksgiving meals are getting tenser across the country, look to Dr. Keith Chen’s research for concrete proof. After experiencing increasingly partisan conversations both at work and at family gatherings, Chen was inspired to quantify and measure partisan divisions in part to start a conversation about what we can do to rectify them. By analyzing over 21 billion pings of smartphone data, Chen and his co-author, Ryne Rohla, found that in 2016, families that celebrated Thanksgiving across partisan lines cut their meals 30 to 50 minutes shorter than those who stuck with company with similar political beliefs. Chen is an Associate Professor of Economics the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

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Following the 2016 election, Sherri and Larry Athay set out to spread some peace, love and happiness in their small Connecticut town by way of opening a rubber duck shop. Their number one seller? The Trump Duck. We happened upon Essex Duck earlier this summer and became smitten with their quirky collection of thousands of ducks, notably those likening George Washington and Abe Lincoln (!). It’s 2018. The world is a strange place.

• Duck Jokes that Will Quack You Up (Please note #15)

• Duck Ramps Appear at U.S. Capitol, but Not Everyone Is Pleased, New York Times, 5/16/17

• Sampling of Presidential Ducks: Lincoln, Trump (+ Rosie the Riveter)

• We have a national Rubber Duck Day. More on that.

• There’s no national Ostrich Day, sadly. However, Bird Day appears to be a very real thing. May 4th. Mark your calendars.