This is our unabridged interview with Quincy Byrdsong.How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems?In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle.In this episode, Dr. Byrdsong discusses how such cases as the infamous Tuskegee syphilis trials have allowed racism and...

How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems?In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle.In this episode, Dr. Byrdsong discusses how such cases as the infamous Tuskegee syphilis trials have allowed racism and classism to persist in healthcare systems, and what...

This is our unabridged interview with Jerry Mitchell.In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases.In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work, from the discovery of sealed spy records which reveal government involvement in racial murder, to...

In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases.In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work, from the discovery of sealed spy records which reveal government involvement in racial murder, to interviews with klansmen who made threats on his...

This is our unabridged episode with Clay Hobbs.What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them? After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and began planning accordingly. In today’s intimate episode, Lee shares several conversations with Clay in...

What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them? After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and began planning accordingly. In today’s intimate episode, Lee shares several conversations with Clay in the last year of his life. The friends discuss...

Our guest today says that for 50% of our lives, we are not paying attention to what we’re doing.In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us are coming to terms with the fact that our capacity for paying attention is laughably weak. Our work, mental health, and relationships suffer because of it. But what if there was a tried-and-true way to change this, something like “push-ups for your brain?”Neuroscientist Amishi Jha has dedicated her career to studying this question, and the...

Our guest today says that for 50% of our lives, we are not paying attention to what we’re doing.In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us are coming to terms with the fact that our capacity for paying attention is laughably weak. Our work, mental health, and relationships suffer because of it. But what if there was a tried-and-true way to change this, something like “push-ups for your brain?”Neuroscientist Amishi Jha has dedicated her career to studying this question, and the...

This is our unabridged interview with Rabbi Shai Held.“I think part of what it means to live in an honest way with a religious tradition is to live with its ragged edges.”It’s not unusual to assume that one of religion's prime functions is to give us answers. But what if some of life’s hardest questions weren’t meant to be answered, but rather perpetually asked?In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held, author of the book, "Judaism is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life,” exemplifies this...

“I think part of what it means to live in an honest way with a religious tradition is to live with its ragged edges.”It’s not unusual to assume that one of religion's prime functions is to give us answers. But what if some of life’s hardest questions weren’t meant to be answered, but rather perpetually asked?In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held, author of the book, "Judaism is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life,” exemplifies this possibility, engaging the messiness and joy of life...

This is our unabridged interview with Pete Enns and Jared Byas.“It was our curiosity about the Bible that is now leading to conclusions that are no longer welcome in these institutions.”Pete Enns and Jared Byas host The Bible for Normal People, a podcast which is loved by some, lambasted by others. They started it as a way to have honest conversations about the Bible, for folks both religious and non-religious -- conversations that cost them both previous jobs at religious institutions.In...

“It was our curiosity about the Bible that is now leading to conclusions that are no longer welcome in these institutions.”Pete Enns and Jared Byas host The Bible for Normal People, a podcast which is loved by some, lambasted by others. They started it as a way to have honest conversations about the Bible, for folks both religious and non-religious -- conversations that cost them both previous jobs at religious institutions.In this episode, they discuss the complexity of the Bible, and what...

This is our unabridged interview with Stanley Hauerwas (Part II).“This is my life. I want no other.”Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal opponent of gun ownership. Many think him to be a liberal, but he disavows liberalism. Others call...

This is our unabridged interview with Stanley Hauerwas (Part I).“This is my life. I want no other.”Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal opponent of gun ownership. Many think him to be a liberal, but he disavows liberalism. Others call him...

“This is my life. I want no other.”Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal opponent of gun ownership. Many think him to be a liberal, but he disavows liberalism. Others call him conservative, but his extreme dislike for evangelicalism and...

This is our unabridged interview with Jeffrey Rosen.“In many ways, we're living in the founders’ nightmare,” says Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center. “All of the founders thought that we could not govern ourselves as a democracy unless we first achieved self-government as individuals.”For Independence Day, Rosen shares how the "pursuit of happiness" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is defined differently than our contemporary notion of the word. It...

“In many ways, we're living in the founders’ nightmare,” says Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center. “All of the founders thought that we could not govern ourselves as a democracy unless we first achieved self-government as individuals.”For Independence Day, Rosen shares how the "pursuit of happiness" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is defined differently than our contemporary notion of the word. It includes a life in pursuit of self-mastery as what would...

This is our unabridged interview with Emi Nietfeld.“When I was 13, I went to the psych ward for the first time,” recalls Emi Nietfeld.After a childhood spent in manipulative therapy, institutional facilities, foster care, and even times of homelessness, Emi got into Harvard, and then went on to get a great job at Google. This is the classic American rags-to-riches story, of someone overcoming misery to find success and happiness, right?Not exactly. “Those perfect human interest stories are...

“When I was 13, I went to the psych ward for the first time,” recalls Emi Nietfeld.After a childhood spent in manipulative therapy, institutional facilities, foster care, and even times of homelessness, Emi got into Harvard, and then went on to get a great job at Google. This is the classic American rags-to-riches story, of someone overcoming misery to find success and happiness, right?Not exactly. “Those perfect human interest stories are fictions,” she says. “We really do expect people to...

This is our unabridged interview with Charles Duhigg.How do you form a good habit? How do you change a destructive one?“It's up to us to decide which…habits that we wish to embrace,” says Charles Duhigg, author of the longtime bestseller "The Power of Habit." In this episode, he explains how to tackle new and old habits in an empowering way. Plus, Duhigg discusses his new book "Supercommunicators," in which he shares how to understand the type of conversation you're having with someone and...

How do you form a good habit? How do you change a destructive one?“It's up to us to decide which…habits that we wish to embrace,” says Charles Duhigg, author of the longtime bestseller "The Power of Habit." In this episode, he explains how to tackle new and old habits in an empowering way. Plus, Duhigg discusses his new book "Supercommunicators," in which he shares how to understand the type of conversation you're having with someone and how to show them your listening—hint, it’s not with...

“​​We started the public desegregation of the nation,” says Reverend James Lawson, “and we did it without hating anybody.”In this episode, the man who Martin Luther King Jr. called friend, mentor, and the very conscience and architect of the Civil Rights Movement, Reverend James Lawson, discusses the United States’ past and present, and what it took to organize a whole population across the country to fight back without throwing a punch. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Reverend...

Juneteenth celebrates the day that the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was given in Texas, officially making slavery illegal in the U.S. But what factors led to the worldview that condoned slavery in the first place, and how might those factors still be affecting the country today?Martin Luther King Jr.’s attorney Fred Gray discusses his work against segregation in the South, particularly in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Yale professor Willie James Jennings describes the...

What has the power to change our minds about the world? In John Blake’s case, it was a surprise encounter.“I knew I had a white mother,” says award-winning journalist John Blake. “Her name is Shirley, and her family hates black people… that's all I knew.”At age 17, John Blake’s father casually asked him if he’d like to meet his mother for the first time. Three days later, he found himself in the waiting room of a hospital. “The meeting is nothing that I expected,” he recalls. “It's incredibly...

John Blake’s father was Black. The mother he never knew was white. The two met in Baltimore in the 60’s when interracial marriage was illegal.“I knew I had a white mother,” says the award-winning journalist. “Her name is Shirley, and her family hates black people… that's all I knew.” At age 17, John Blake’s father casually asked him if he’d like to meet his mother for the first time. Three days later, he found himself in the waiting room of a hospital where he uncovered a long held family...