The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Kenisha, Madeline, and Vanessa talked about the complexities involved in reflecting on and celebrating Thanksgiving (and many holidays), building on last year’s #RedefineThanksgiving episode. We engaged with a panoply of important questions: Is it OK to celebrate Thanksgiving? Should we be changing how we celebrate based on what we understand about the historical roots--and should Native Americans be the ones reshaping the tradition? Should we be celebrating native people, or native suffering? How do we appropriately honor the historic legacy--and debunk false ideas--within and beyond classrooms? How can we walk the fine line between celebrating a holiday that has sentimental value for many of us without belittling very real historical suffering and exploitation? Are the ideals of gratitude and cooperation worth celebrating symbolically even if they’re not rooted in historic precedent? Is what the holiday has come to mean in America today more important than whatever happened 300 years ago? Does repeated reflection on the oppression Native Americans faced in fact draw attention AWAY from current issues, honing our focus on past wrongs instead of present ones? But what are the dangers of overlooking historical atrocities? And, perhaps most importantly, how do WE as individuals acknowledge all the baggage and still have a good time this holiday, given that coming together for celebration is so important—more this year than ever in the wake of Covid? Madeline reminded us that there’s nothing we can do about the past, it’s how we look at things moving forward that matters, and the deeper and more diverse education we can provide on these fronts, the better. We hope this podcast is part of that education. Thank you for listening!

At the week's Round Table, Kenisha, Inica, Jack, and Madeline spoke to Sam Laskin, a sophomore at Dartmouth College who is the Head of Growth and Outreach for the Left-Middle-Right, a student-run multi-media publication aiming to elevate the civil discourse in a time of division and extreme political polarization. Every week, LMR publishes three political perspectives on a single issue to expose their audience to content they wouldn’t seek out themselves. LMR is committed to countering misinformation, exaggerated or partial truths, and non facts by providing articles from varying perspectives to ensure people are getting information from a variety of sources rather than just hearing from far right or far left.  Further, LMR’s articles are labeled yes, no, and maybe rather than Democrat, Republican, and Center to avoid knee jerk responses. This is also responsive to what LMR’s founders hear from fellow college students about not necessarily having preconceptions about politicians and appreciating nuance and individuality. LMR wants to make people more aware without having to choose sides or perceive of things or people as bad just because we disagree--a refreshing change to media that amplifies extremes and makes us seem more divided than we are. This is a critical component of helping readers think about our biases and how we can set them aside to build the solutions our country needs. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Erina, Kenisha, Jack, and Madeline spoke with Sandra Sirota, Assistant Professor in Residence in Human Rights and experiential global learning with the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut. As teens, even though we have a passion for justice, we typically don't know or understand our basic fundamental human rights and how they can be violated, which is essential to live our best lives. Human rights education can help us comprehend many issues our society faces, such as the impact structural racism has had on our systems for years. Professor Sirota emphasizes that youth social justice is crucial, and young people should use our voices to work to create necessary changes in our world. As teens, we can use advocacy as a way to dive into the world of making social change. Sandra emphasized three key pieces of human rights education: what you learn, how and where you learn (with dignity) and what it’s for--that is, how you take action to create transformation. She is launching a 3-year program to further explain how human rights education impacts people from all over the world and why social justice movements are important for youth. We can’t wait to learn from the results. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Kenisha, Jack, and Madeline spoke with ​​Alexander Cooley, the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College and Director of the Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe at Columbia University, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year! Professor Cooley helped us understand international politics and historic domination by the US by drawing an analogy to Walmart that we won’t soon forget. Change can come from places we don’t expect and things that seem dominant can be toppled—like Amazon superseding Walmart. So what went wrong? Professor Cooley talked us through the many variables. We talked about the War on Terror, the illiberalism of most international orders, the CNN effect and how the rise of global media has mitigated it, the benefits and limitations of international rankings, and American hypocrisy—along with the role of technology in making the gap between rhetoric and reality  more apparent. Professor Cooley helped us understand how states are social creatures that, like all social creatures, want to project certain images. He helped us recognize that the United States can’t be all things to all countries; we have to be principled and to think about priorities and not be in constant competition with everyone else. All politics is about power but also about trade offs and figuring out what we are willing to give up to advance what we care most about. Thank you for joining us!

How can you make meaningful change in politics if you don’t have the resources and networks to do so? Well that won’t be a problem if Nick Guthman, the founder of Blue Future, achieves his vision. At this week’s Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline sat down with Nick to talk about how to empower and equip youth change makers in their own communities. Blue Future is a youth progressive political action committee striving to provide youth with the resources, knowledge, networks, skills, confidence, and support to join and create social and political movements. Nick was inspired to launch Blue Future through his own experience as a teen activist, both in terms of what worked for him and barriers to engagement that others face, especially coming from more under-resourced backgrounds. Interested in learning more about Blue Future & the impact they’re making on elections? Interested in learning about the training process for youth? Tune in, you don’t want to miss this one. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, and Madeline discussed the TV show that’s taken the world—and our podcast—by storm: Squid Game. Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or, perhaps, in North Korea…) you’ve undoubtedly heard about Netflix’ most successful series ever. We were reeled in just like the rest of the world and were eager to discuss with each other--and our listeners--what does it mean, and what are the implications for our lives? The show is both very in your face AND very symbolic. We found it somewhat thrilling to watch—and deeply unnerving to reflect on societal implications. How should we engage with the social commentary? How much is it a parable for capitalism and the state of affairs in South Korea--and beyond? Is the lesson that greed and desperation will trump decency and humanity--or the opposite?  Our conversation got deep and dark at points, as we wondered whose squid game are WE in? And does it ever end? Please note: there are spoilers galore in this episode so you won’t want to listen if you haven’t yet watched the show or plan to. But if you’ve watched it or are gore-averse, listen in and let us know what YOU think. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline sat down with leaders of the National History Academy. President and co-founder Willam (Bill) Sellers noted that there are many STEM programs, business programs, and law programs over the summer, but not history programs. That’s what inspired him to start the National History Academy: to give a voice to history and create academic opportunities for students to discuss our country’s history. Guest Katie Smolar, a former teacher who is currently the director of educational programs for the National History Academy, underscored the need for entities like National History Academy to help students expand their historical and civic knowledge, since many textbooks have been outdated since SHE was in high school. Additional guests Ben Kellerhals & Dominique Castanheira, two past National History Academy scholars, shared how their love of history was nurtured by the National History Academy--and how they discovered the community they’d been looking for-- and are now pursuing college coursework in history. From case studies to field trips to debates, we  discussed the challenges facing America. Throughout the episode, we discussed how we must rethink the way we teach history and civics and encourage thought, discussion, critical analysis, and interaction with others. History isn’t just learning names and dates, it’s also about putting yourself in historical situations and taking the diverse knowledge you learn from all kinds of different people to bring it back to your communities. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Erina, Inica, Jack, Madeline, and Kenisha decided to not have any guests In order to discuss our perspectives on how it’s been adjusting to the environment of in-person school. We discussed both our pressing concerns about the role the pandemic has played on the school system alongside the utter pleasure of meeting classmates after a year in remote learning. Through this pandemic, we agreed that we all have changed so much and gained new profound interests. But much was lost as well: family members have passed, friendships are gone, connections between people have been lost, school was no longer something to look forward to. Most students’ mental health declined as the need for social interaction is vital for our teenage lives and we were deprived of it. As in-person instruction has resumed, we asked each other hard questions:. Is going back to school worth it in a pandemic? How can we follow guidelines when it is sometimes physically impossible to do? Is the joy of going back to school worth it if the cost is a few positive Covid cases? In short, in this podcast episode, you’ll hear our takes on being back in school. Thank you for listening!

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline spoke with Carolyn Sufrin, MD/PhD and an assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Director of the Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness in Incarcerated People program; and who serves on the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Dr Sufrin worked as an OB GYN in a jail for 6 years. Fun fact: imprisoned folks are the only population who legally have guaranteed healthcare stemming from a Supreme Court case in 1976 in which not providing healthcare was deemed cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of the 8th amendment. Sadly, this guaranteed provision does NOT translate into quality--there is LOTS of neglect and getting screenings, getting ADEQUATE care, getting abortions, and getting appropriate medications are hard to come by in prison. Unfortunately, getting unnecessary surgeries isn’t--Carolyn told us about myriad women in CA who have been unnecessarily sterilized. 

Carolyn was influenced by reproductive rights activism she did in high school, and seeing the potential of medicine to activate social justice. She was further influenced by the field of reproductive justice, which centers black women whose experiences have been devalued and diminished, and contextualizes these violations within a broader human rights framework. As a first year Resident in Medical School, she was called to support the delivery of a baby by a woman who was SHACKLED TO THE BED--and her career path advocating for health care for incarcerated women was set. Through her work today, Carolyn looks at both statistics AND stories to get behind stereotypes. There are 218,000 women behind bars today, the majority btw 18-45, and 60% of whom are mothers responsible for children. The impact of incarceration is not just on women but families and communities. Further, as we know, there are profound racial disparities in incarceration that don’t track w crime rates due to people having suffered from structural and systemic forces that have impacted them and the crimes they’ve committed, along w racism within the criminal legal system. We were so inspired by Dr. Sufrin and we know you will be too. Thank you for joining us!

At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline spoke with David McCullough of the American Exchange Project (AEP) AEP is a first-of-its-kind, free exchange program in which you stay in your own country. That’s right, you don’t need a passport to experience different cultures given the diversity of America and how deeply​​ the political landscape varies in different regions. Based on his own experiences and conversations with some of the best thinkers about bridging divides in America, David recognized that one of the best ways to learn about different people and places is to experience them directly and so he cooked up this way to expand young people’s perspectives by traveling, exploring, and learning more about the United States before they head into college. We talked about how the American Exchange Project came to fruition, what’s been successful--and what’s been challenging, and how David hopes to build out AEP in order to create the generational change we need. David reminded us that rather than worry about ‘saving America’, young people can and should start with kernels of connection that can be forged by having fun, communicating with one another, and being the teenagers we are. Sounds good to us. Thank you for listening!