Do you find yourself afraid or angry when you think about the divide on our political and cultural landscape? Do you wish you could engage with people on the "other side" but find those conversations turning into visceral arguments that just make that gap seem wider? Do you find yourself avoiding conversations with and maybe even drifting away from loved ones and friends on that "other side"? Do you think that, maybe, figuring out how to bridge these divides might be really important?

Tania Israel has done a lot of thinking and study on how to engage with and find common ground with people who hold beliefs that may differ vastly from our own. And as her offering to the needs of the time, she's giving workshops on doing just that - "Going Beyond the Bubble: How to Have a Dialogue across the Political Lines." In this conversation, her thoughts on the importance of curiosity and listening, embracing the diversity in the range of values in this country, how we can all stand up for the most vulnerable, and how all that might just be how we can save democracy.

What do we gain when people defy what society and tradition claim they should be and do? Where would we be today if women of the past hadn’t dared ignore the boundaries of the “norm”? How would things evolve if we embraced wherever we’re at—including aging—with boldness? What do you think about if you’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean in the middle of nowhere?

Hear from the captain and crew of Sistership 2017 (all women, over fifty). Sistership 2017 is the second edition of the first-all women’s team to undertake the Race to Alaska (R2AK), a gnarly, 750-mile, people- or wind-powered boat race from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska, over open ocean; through shipping lanes and then remote, difficult-to-access waters; with the possibility of treacherous conditions and some amazing wildlife and scenery. The start gun will fire at 5 am on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Sistership hails from Ventura, California, and their journey is a message—women and girls, you can do anything; be proud of your accomplishments; and delight in growing older, as each stage you’re in can be a marvelous stage of life.

What lessons can we learn from the indigenous-led movement at Standing Rock to resist the Dakota Access Pipeline? How can we ensure the stories those in power don’t want told are heard? If those stories aren’t shared and acknowledged and acted upon, is history bound to repeat itself? How can we all be water defenders and add our logs to the campfire that’s now burning? Hear from Myron Dewey of Digital Smoke Signals, whose coverage at Standing Rock brought live aerial footage to the world, showing human rights violations and desecration of tribal lands largely ignored in the media, along with 12-year-old Liliana Monge and her father, Roberto Monge, who traveled to the camp at Standing Rock from San Luis Obispo, California. With Marcus Lopez of KZAA lp, a newly forming independent radio station in Santa Barbara, California, that wants to help those stories get heard.

Can privilege inhibit the capacity to empathize? Can we entrust billionaires to make policies that serve us all—that promote equity? With voices from the April 15, 2017, Tax March and a review of social psychologist Paul Piff’s experiments on how having lots transforms our actions, this is a conversation about how the wealthy play by different rules, what that might be costing US taxpayers given the new administration’s proclivities, and why that means we as a people have to fight every day for all of us to be heard and protected. Hear a few ideas on getting involved from Santa Barbara, California, marchers and speakers, Maricela Morales, Sean Tucker, and Cathy Murillo. And learn about SB 562, a bill that just might ensure health insurance for all—at least in California, to start.

Are they like me? A glimpse at protests—the April 15, 2017 Tax March and demonstrations in Venezuela—and how that question plays a role for demonstrators, responders, observers, and policymakers. With clips from a speech by Maricela Morales, executive director of CAUSE.

Why stories? Stories slow us down; minimize risk; connect us; help us feel less lonely or "abnormal"; bring light to shadowed places; make science accessible; help decision makers feel the real effects of their choices; and capture the truths of diverse experiences, solutions, struggles, and joys. Screenwriter, singer, actor, storyteller Mariangélica Duque on storytelling; her move from Bogotá, Colombia, to Santa Barbara, California; and creating story in a new place