Over 44 million people in the US have student debt, according to the Federal Reserve. The class of 2017 owes, on average, nearly $30,000 in student loans, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. This kind of debt can be a huge weight on young college graduates. So what can you do when student loans are the "new normal"? Grace and Erica sat down with Bob Hildreth, founder of the Hildreth Institute, a new nonprofit fighting for debt-free college. He shared his knowledge about the student debt crisis and what could help to end it.

Professor Emeritus Andrew Bacevich, a veteran of the Vietnam and Gulf wars, has spent his academic career writing about American imperialism. He gave a well-regarded university lecture in 2007 about the "illusions of managing history," arguing for the contemporary relevance of 20th c. theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. In this episode we explore his career and intellectual evolution. He articulates a rather profound dissent to the employment of American military power, and discusses how Niebuhr's The Irony of American History impacted his worldview.

Dr. Bacevich is also the author of works such as Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country and America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, among others. In this interview we heavily reference a work he edited and contributed an article to, The Long War. We are very grateful to Dr. Bacevich for his time.

For a further exploration of Reinhold Niebuhr see our episode with Rev. Julian Cook. If you are interested in having conversations like these you can find out about applying at bu.edu/htc and finding Common Thread under the programs tab.

William McKeen is the a professor of journalism and author of 7 books, one of which includes "Outlaw Journalist," a biography of gonzo journalism maverick Hunter S. Thompson. McKeen helps paint the broader picture of Hunter S. Thompson from his childhood, the beginning of his career, into his later years. Here he discusses not just who Hunter S. Thompson was to the world, how he contributed to literature and journalism, but who Hunter Thompson was to himself. We try to make sense of Thompson’s story, a rebel and lifelong political dissident, a walking contradiction—gun-toting, America-loving, yet fiercely, wildly on the side of liberal reform in the 60s and 70s.

Lawrence O'Donnell is the host of MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and the author of the new book Playing With Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics. We speak with him about his book, the enduring relevance of that election and its effect upon modern day journalism. Mr. O'Donnell is also the author the 1983 book Deadly Force: The True Story of How a Badge Can Become a License to Kill, a writer and producer of the TV drama West Wing and former Capitol Hill aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

If you're interested in having conversations like these, please see http://www.bu.edu/thurman/programs/the-common-thread-podcast/ for more info on The Common Thread and how you can potentially join the team.

In the first part of our conversation with Brother Larry, University Chaplain for Community Life, we discussed the phenomenon of protestantization. Here we look at the case study of Confucianism that he addresses in his work. First, we take you through a crash course on the development of its ideas. Then, we talk about how protestantization may change the tradition. We also briefly address other religious traditions in the latter part of this discussion.

We would like to thank Brother Larry for his time and insight.

If you're interested in having conversations like these, please see http://www.bu.edu/thurman/programs/the-common-thread-podcast/ for more info on The Common Thread and how you can potentially join the team.

Lawrence Whitney, better known on campus as Brother Larry, is the University Chaplain for Community Life. His academic work is in comparative theology, focusing on Christianity and Confucianism.

In this episode we discuss Protestantization, a phenomenon that affects non-native traditions within democratic-capitalist societies. This episode takes us through the historical development of Protestantism and Protestantization. Part II in the series will address the case study of Confucianism––first, we will look at its historical development in China and East Asia, then how it might change in a Protestant context.

We would like to extend our thanks to Brother Larry for generously spending time with us discussing his work.

If you're interested in having conversations like these, please see http://www.bu.edu/thurman/programs/the-common-thread-podcast/ for more info on The Common Thread and how you can potentially join the team.

Steven J. Mandile is an Iraq war veteran who was injured at the age of 27. He came home with Traumatic Brain Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and a spinal cord injury. He couldn't find help in the army medical system, and the Veterans Administration prescribed him 57 drugs over 5 years, including 9 opiates. He found his way out when he found cannabis, which allowed him to get off powerful opiates like fentanyl.

This is story of transformation. Listen to hear how Mr. Mandile became an activist, sleeping outside of the State House and rallying communities to support legal cannabis. He has founded Veterans Alternative Healing Inc. and is working to make sure veterans and communities of color have access to the legal market, and access to the business side of the industry as well.

Please see his organization's website: https://vahinc.org/services

And "like" their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/veteransah/

Radio Boston host Meghna Chakrabarti's career has coincided with one of the most fast-paced periods of change in the journalism industry. She began her career in the years where the post-9/11 world took shape, and has since seen field transform as it adapts to new media. On this episode, we talk with her about making decisions in the modern newsroom, about how she discovered her craft, and how one can begin to make sense of the information landscape. We would like to extend a thank you Ms. Chakrabarti for sharing her time with us. We encourage you to tune in to 90.9 or go to WBUR's website to find Radio Boston and other programs.

“BU’s 30 Under 30” is a Boston University bi-weekly podcast featuring a panel of the brightest Boston-area scholars under the age of thirty (30). Panelists represent a wide array of disciplines and specialties, and offer insightful, relevant, and in-depth analysis of current events, politics, education and community life within a 30-minute timeframe. Presented by the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and co-hosted by Crystal Castro and Julian Cook. We apologize for the last minute of the conversation being cut off due to recording problems.

What do we get for our foreign aid money? Even the cynic can admit that some part of our foreign aid is given to ease human suffering, but we also must consider the power foreign aid projects over the recipient nation states and how it advances US national interests. We sat down with Professor Henry Pascoe, an american professor at IE (Instituto Empresa) in Madrid, to discuss his work on how foreign aid works as an informal enforcement mechanism for international counterterrorism treaties. We look at the logic of states entering these agreements and the strategies recipient and donor states employ to get what they want out of these interactions.