The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

At this week's Round Table, Kris, Madeline, and Vanessa spoke with one of our fantastic YVote alums, Meril Mousoom, now a sophomore at Macalester College. Meril has been involved in activism since they were 13 years in ever evolving ways, coalescing in their investment in youth lobbying. While lobbying doesn’t tend to be centered by youth activists, Meril shared how satisfying it is to work on something with small deliverables that contribute to larger movements. The most exciting initiative Meril is working on lobbying for is a Senate bill sponsored by Elizabeth Warren to create a Commission investigating the atrocities of Indian Board School. We also discussed how to deal with discouragements in activism and as a lobbyist, and the importance of focusing on community care, making sure methods to promote outcomes aren’t exploitative. Meril underscored that part of being an activist is coming to terms with tradeoffs, and navigating tensions and contradictions–for example, in Meril’s current work for a Quaker organization despite being an atheist and despite their antipathy for things churches have done and despite their concerns about shortcomings of white liberalism that plays out within it. The key is finding the right role for oneself within activism–and knowing that it can and should evolve.  As Meril notes, the best thing about activism is that there’s always people trying to find solutions.  Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Kenisha, Kris, Madeline, and Skyla spoke with Cindy Trinh, creator of @activistnyc, a documentary photo project about activism and social justice movements in New York City. Cindy is a photographer, visual journalist and activist who is passionate about social justice and human rights. Their photography comes from a place of wanting to connect with people and places through the art of visual storytelling. Cindy’s work has been published and featured extensively by popular media, and they have exhibited at numerous museums, galleries and art spaces throughout New York City.

We spoke about growing up feeling and being different; the challenges of choosing creative careers in first gen immigrant families; the life of a lapsed lawyer—and how radicalizing law school can be!; the toxic illusion of the American Dream; and the restorative power of taking pictures and working at the intersection of photography, activism, and social change. Oh, and we also talked about how badly society is failing young people and the lost art of just having fun. We were INCREDIBLY inspired by Cindy and know you will be too. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Ava, Madeline, and Maya spoke with Tim Fish, Chief Innovation Officer of National Association of Independent Schools, which works with 2000 private schools nationally. Prior to this, Tim was a headmaster, which informs his lens on leadership and student learning—as does his experience as the father of four kids! Despite 32 years of experience now, Tim’s work is still fueled by his experience as a brand new teacher who didn’t know anything and found himself staring at an empty file cabinet and trying to figure out how to fill it. He initially thought his job as an educator was to talk as much as possible but learned over time that it is to listen and to create conditions within which learning can be constructed. Tim describes his pedagogical philosophy as “structured agency,” within which teachers give back the power and provide students with voice and choice in order to promote self-determination and self-direction. He shared a core conundrum of caring educators wanting to help—and hating seeing students struggle—but recognizing that the learning comes in the struggle. We talked about differences (and similarities) between independent and public schools—and whether the absence of standardized testing promotes more creativity; what innovation looks like within the seemingly traditional and entitled culture of independent schools; what’s working in innovation–and the preconditions for it; and how well high schools are–or aren’t–providing youth for college. We think you’ll get a lot out of this episode. Thanks for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Kris, Madeline, and Maya spoke with Bill Fulton of The Civic Canopy. Bill’s vision for the Civic Canopy was sparked by his experience watching the Berlin Wall come down while he was in college and being inspired by the possibilities for civic transformation across divides. He defines his work to connect civic life and improve communities through the Canopy over the last 25 years as a manifestation of never outgrowing college and the generative possibility of ‘what if.’ The Canopy’s work is rooted in investment in what it takes for diverse groups of people to come together and work productively. Bill describes this approach as a Community Learning Model, getting the right people at the table (or under the canopy…) and having them dream together of a shared outcome. He is a strong proponent that diversity doesn’t need to tear us apart; it can make us stronger under the right conditions.  While very real divides exist, he feels the media exacerbates them, and that when relationships are forged that enable us to see one another’s common humanity, true common ground can be forged. While we are hardwired to be afraid of difference, we ALSO have a competitive advantage to be collaborative, underscoring the value of creating ways to manage the tensions. We talked about the pros and cons of social media, the danger of echo chambers, and what it takes to pull towards the center, where it can be hard to stand. The Round Table is trying to create a container within which to do this and we appreciate you joining us in the journey. Thanks for listening!

At this week’s Round Table, Kris, Collin, Kenisha, and Skyla spoke with Claire Thomas, attorney, consultant, professor and clinical director practicing immigration law and researching global migration, statelessness, human rights, and empowerment for women and girls facing poverty and gender-based violence. Claire recently returned from a Fulbright in Mexico, during which she interviewed asylum-seekers, government officials, and immigration experts to learn about and share cross-cultural best practices in asylum and refugee law. We talked about the challenges of immigration policy which, in Claire’s words, is “a big jumbled mess” and which Claire’s work focuses on the humanitarian side of. Much of today’s immigration policy stems from treaties signed after the horrors of WWII and is predicated in very outdated language and concepts—many other countries are more modern and inclusive. A toxic blend of Misinformation, racism, and outdated laws interferes with progress. We have a true humanitarian crisis because the Mexican border has been closed to asylum seekers since March 2020, making it impossible for anyone to come through and forced those in peril to wait in dangerous Mexican border cities for years. We talked about the dangers of the “close the door behind you” mentality, gender based violence and the deadly absence of gender-based grounds for asylum in the US, what to do about ICE, the hugely disparate treatment of black and brown refugees, what and how the Biden administration is doing on immigration, and what can teens our age do to actually facilitate change in the short and long term. Most importantly, we spoke about how we can open the eyes of those l who have a misconstrued view of what the immigration process is and who immigrants are. We hope this podcast can be part of that process. Thank you for listening!

At this week’s Round Table, Kenisha, Madeline and Maya spoke with two alums of Next Generation Politics: Frank Yang, now a rising junior at Georgetown University, and Isaiah Taylor, a rising sophomore at Baruch College. Frank and Isaiah both identify as Conservative–and as a minority in their respective communities both in high school and in college. In our time of hyper-partisanship, we were excited to speak with both of them about how they came to forge their political beliefs, what it’s been like to hold and express “less popular” views (at least among our generation), the state of political discourse on campuses and in classrooms, what drives young people AWAY from the Republican Party (and what, if anything, can reverse that), and the benefits of heterodoxy. At a time when the governors of liberal states like Maryland, Massachusetts and Vermont are Republicans and governors of conservative states like Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana are Democrats, it’s clear that nothing is entirely fixed. Thank you for listening!

It's a GREAT time to catch up on some of our podcasters' favorite episodes, like

Enjoy and look forward to sharing our newest episode with you on Thurs, July 28!

At this week's Round Table, Kenisha, Madeline and Skyla spoke with Rich Tafel, Managing Director of Raffa Social Capital Advisors and Director of the American Project, a new effort to bring together leading thinkers to imagine new solutions to America’s broken political system. Tafel is also pastor of Church of the Holy City in Washington DC, where he is launching a spiritual entrepreneur hub. Prior to this, he created the Log Cabin Republicans and authored "Party Crasher: A Gay Republican Challenges Politics as Usual," (Simon & Schuster); directed the adolescent health programs of Massachusetts; and served as Assistant to the Minister at Harvard University’s chapel. Rich is a transformative leader at the intersection of faith, politics and social impact and his experiences and insights wowed us. We talked about Rich’s eclectic background (he’s  never had a job that existed before he had it…), how political campaigns around gay rights and AIDs have informed his sense of strategy, the complexity of cultural translation work, his desire to provide a language middle America can understand politically (if you want to make change, you need to bring middle America along…), how his faith and principles of inclusion guide his practice, and so much more. W Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Kenisha and Madeline--and new podcasters Ava and Skyla-- spoke with Dr Zackory Kirk, an educational leader, thought-fanatic, and determined voice in innovative media. Dr Kirk knew he wanted to be an educator since he was a child, heeding what he refers to as “a special call to be a resource for the generation that comes after us.” His educational approach is grounded in helping people think more deeply about, and question, what THEY believe– he feels the real goal of education is to always have a choice filled life. His philosophy is grounded in “other care” more than self care: he knows he’ll be ok but others may not be–and his servant-centered heart is focused on trying to make sure they are. Dr Kirk fears that too often people can be too focused on what’s easiest and best for them rather than for our country, our democracy, and our civilization, which is what drives him–and, frankly, most of us podcasters. Growing up in rural poverty and a subpar education, Dr Kirk Doesn’t believe education is the great equalizer but believes it’s a step TOWARDS equalization, which he doesn’t believe will happen in his lifetime but hopes it will in ours. His faith grounds him: he notes that we are living during a time in which it’s hard to do good all the time and often easier to go low but he continuously remember that his job is to do good and empower, particularly through what he calls “micro-influence.” Dr Kirk’s perspective on our times really inspired us: he noted that there are moments in history where we step back, like now, but our society will ultimately move forward in the direction of progress such that our generation will be better than that of any adult alive today. Here’s to it.  Thank you for listening!

At this week’s Round Table, Inica and Madeline spoke with Jade Zaroff, founder of Entertainment for Change. Jade was raised as a performer and from an early age recognized that being an artist is being an observer of life. She’s long asked herself questions like “why don’t we care about the planet? Why do we treat people differently? How can we use art intentionally to tell stories using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to help people work for change?”  This led Jade to found Entertainment for Change, blending the arts, business, and entrepreneurship, and to trademark the term “Impact Artist,” which she was shocked to discover didn’t exist. Last year Jade launched the Impact Artist curriculum for 100 youth ages 9-17 at French Woods summer camp to great acclaim and she’s continuing to grow it. We loved hearing about the innovative programming she’s created and talking about change and success more broadly. Change is very personal for Inica these days. This week’s podcast was her last, after three great years being with you weekly as a podcast host. As she heads off to Barnard College this fall, she look forward to joining you as a fellow listener of The Round Table. Thank you for joining us!