Danielle Allen is a professor, author, and former candidate for governor in the state of Massachusetts. Her books include "Justice by Means of Democracy," "Our Declaration," and "Talking to Strangers," as well as a report called "Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century." This idea, reinventing our democracy or renovating it, has occupied Danielle for decades. As you'll hear, Danielle has a wide range of thoughts from the micro to the macro and from procedural to cultural about what we can do to improve how we govern ourselves and strengthen the institutions we count on to help with this audacious project.

Why do we welcome some animals and plants into our lives, while we reject others? In this episode, we explore the boundaries of fear and belonging in relation to the other living creatures we share this planet with. Our guests are Wendy Bingham, a cattle rancher; Erica Berry, author of the book Wolfish; and Bobby Fossek, who works on ecosystem restoration, among many other things. This conversation was recorded in Pendleton, Oregon in May 2024.

Built nearly overnight during World War II, Vanport was the second-largest and most integrated city in Oregon until it was destroyed by a flood in 1948. Remarkably, the meaning of Vanport continues to deepen and expand, thanks in large part to the annual Vanport Mosaic Festival. In this episode we hear from Laura Lo Forti, Laveta Gilmore Jones, and Kelly Bosworth, three people whose lives are wrapped up in Vanport and the Vanport Mosaic Festival and whose work has helped show so many of us how our lives, too, are part of what Vanport means to Oregon.

In this episode, we talk with Anis Mojgani, who served as Oregon's Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2024, about the complex relationship between poetry and politics. Recorded live in Portland in January 2025, this conversation between Anis and host Adam Davis examines the unique role of the governor-appointed laureate and the nature of what makes something—a poem or a piece of art—"political." Anis and Adam also read several poems that they'd selected for the evening, and Anis responds to questions from the audience.

In this episode, we talk with Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor to President Barack Obama and current host of Pod Save the World, about the ways that everyday citizens can understand and engage with our complex global system. Drawing on his eight years in the White House and his work since as an author and podcast host, Rhodes identifies pivotal moments that have shaped our current international landscape and offers a surprisingly human perspective on diplomacy, while reminding us that individuals have more agency in shaping history than we might believe.

We talk with Manu Meel, whose organization, BridgeUSA, works on getting young people to think and talk across political differences. Manu and BridgeUSA are making a bet on democracy—a bet relies on Manu's sense that most people, most of the time, do want to talk with and listen to each other.

Adam Davis talks with Leigh Van der Voo and Emily Harris, two deeply experienced Oregon-based journalists who are working together, along with John Schrag, on Uplift Local, a new organization striving to empower communities through high-quality, community-first reporting and partnerships that close news gaps and disrupt misinformation. As you'll hear from Lee and Emily, Oregon and the nation are facing a range of serious challenges when it comes to news, and we're also in a moment that's full of opportunities.

This month, we honor the legacy of Barry Lopez, who passed on Christmas Day, 2020. This episode is a rebroadcast of one of The Detour's first episodes. It features a conversation with Barry, and then a reading and conversation with Debra Gwartney, Barry's wife, and, like him, a writer.

Barry was a renowned author and essayist known for his deep attention to landscapes and communities across the globe. From Arctic Dreams to Horizon, his works transformed how we see the world around us and remind us of our intrinsic connection to the natural world. As we mark the anniversary of his death, We reflect on Barry's continuing impact—on how he intertwined justice, nature, and humanity in ways that remain essential today.

A conversation with Dahlia Lithwick, who has reported on, written about, and devoted much of her life to understanding the United States Supreme Court and the justice system more generally. Dahlia is deeply knowledgeable about the culture of the court and the character of its rulings, and she's deeply attuned to the relationship between justice and democracy. And she's quick and funny, too, which seems important when you're talking about something as heavy as justice—especially because justice is so often invoked, demanded, and yearned for.

In this episode of The Detour, we talk with Eli Saslow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, who has written heartbreaking, beautiful, deeply researched, and deeply empathetic stories about the challenges Portland and many other cities have been facing. And about some of the people living these challenges and trying in difficult circumstances to overcome them.