Aspen Ideas to Go

Latest Episodes:

Runaway Slave: A Story of Triumph, Survival, and Resistance Mar 27, 2018

Show notes

A young, courageous African American woman risked it all to gain freedom from America’s First Family in the late 18th century. Ona, or “Oney,” Judge escaped George Washington’s Philadelphia mansion after years of serving as a seamstress for the famous founding father. There’s little written about Judge. Historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar stumbled on Judge’s story by chance when she discovered a runaway slave advertisement. “I remember sitting back and saying, ‘Who is this Ona Judge and why don’t I know her?’” Dunbar went on to write Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. In this episode she speaks with Michele Norris, founder of The Race Card Project and executive director of The Bridge at the Aspen Institute, about what Judge’s story can teach us about racial injustice and gender inequality.

Listen to the episode Why We Need to Talk About Race from Aspen Ideas to Go. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

Living a Moral Life Mar 21, 2018

Show notes

For centuries the human race has been grappling with how to live a moral life. In this conversation we hear from scholars who think deeply about moral philosophy and helping others. David Brooks suggests that, “We have words and emotional instincts about what feels right and wrong,” yet questions the criteria we use to “help us think, argue, and decide.” New Yorker author Larissa MacFarquhar profiles a number of do-gooders whose deep, even extreme moral commitment leads as frequently to criticism as to admiration. Columbia philosophy professor Michele Moody-Adams believes that we find our best selves through serious self-examination and constant scrutiny. And Stanford political philosopher Rob Reich engages us all in deep exploration of these questions.

Listen to the episode Taxation and Investigation from Aspen Insight. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

What's Possible When Young People Speak Up? Mar 14, 2018

Show notes

Throughout history, young people have been at the center of activism: the Civil Rights movement, Black Lives Matter, the labor movement, and now gun violence. What barriers do young people have to overcome to get adults to listen? What tactics must they employ to get people in power to take them seriously? We hear from young student activists working on issues of racism, inequity, and transgender rights. One recent movement, the #MeToo effort, has mobilized people across the globe in a short period of time. In the second part of the show, Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women's Law Center, speaks with journalist Jay Newton-Small about how to keep the energy of #MeToo going.

Listen to our episode Inequality and Opportunity. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

The Nature of Evil: Paul Bloom and Graeme Wood Mar 06, 2018

Show notes

Why do people do evil things? We hear from Yale psychologist Paul Bloom and journalist Graeme Wood about the nature of evil. Bloom studies morality in babies, children, and adults. Wood immersed himself in ISIS, readings the terror group’s propaganda and conversing with its members, in order to write the book The Way of Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State. Graeme explains that ISIS members aren’t crazy but are driven to do horrific evil deeds, like murder and rape. Why do they carry out these evils? And what about smaller-scale evil acts like cheating a lying? Is it enough to define evil as having a sense of right and wrong? Bloom and Wood’s conversation touches on philosophy, religion, and politics.

Listen to our episode Coping with Disappointment, Setback, and Crisis. Find Aspen Insight's latest episode, This Land Is Our Land. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

Is Gun Violence a Public Health Issue? Feb 28, 2018

Show notes

The debate around gun laws is resurfacing in the wake of the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Can America’s shared sorrow inspire a consensus that gun violence should be tackled as a public health issue? For years former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has labeled gun deaths this way. “Whenever you have large numbers of people who are dying for preventable reasons,” he says, “that constitutes a public health crisis.” Murthy is a supporter of gun laws. In fact, his confirmation in 2014 was delayed a year because of his stance on the issue. In this episode, he speaks with Judy Woodruff, managing editor of the “PBS Newshour,” about what he thinks needs to be done to prevent another mass shooting.

Listen to our episode, The Opioid Tsunami. Learn more about Spotlight Health. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

How History's Mistakes Guide Today's Leaders Feb 21, 2018

Show notes

Historian Jon Meacham has written extensively about the presidency, with acclaimed books on Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt, and most recently, George H. W. Bush. What does his research into these presidents suggest about the nature of the office? What might we learn from the past about the current state of politics, the White House, and perhaps more broadly, democracy in America? He speaks with John Dickerson, co-host of "CBS This Morning."

Find the Aspen Insight episode, "Finding Meaning in Your Work" by clicking here. Listen to the latest episode of our sister podcast Aspen Insight. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith Feb 13, 2018

Show notes

US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith says her true self comes out in her work. Poetry, she says, helps her wrestle with dark, sometimes unresolvable questions. In this episode she reads new and old work that examines subjects like death, the afterlife, nature, and African American history. Smith is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light, and three books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars. Her book Wade in the Water is due out this spring. She was appointed the 22nd US Poet Laureate in 2017. She’s the first laureate appointed by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

Find the Aspen Insight episode, "Living the Creative Life" by clicking here. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

Why We Need to Talk About Race Feb 06, 2018

Show notes

If you’re white and middle class, you were probably raised thinking that discussing race was impolite. Color blindness was seen as a virtue. But in truth, color blindness is an insidious form of racial oppression, says Ford Foundation President Darren Walker. In this episode, Walker and Jeff Raikes, former CEO of the Gates Foundation, speak with Michele Norris, director of The Bridge at the Aspen Institute, about how color blindness affects social policy.

Find the Aspen Insight episode, "What Would MLK Say About Today's America" by clicking here. Discover more about the Aspen Institute program The Bridge. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

Norman Lear & Khizr Khan: Understanding American Values Jan 31, 2018

Show notes

Norman Lear is the prolific television writer and producer of stories about diverse American life—among them “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” and “Maude”—as well as a lifelong political and social activist. Khizr Khan is a Pakistani American lawyer, speaker at the 2016 Democratic Convention, and parent of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 during the Iraq War. Born 28 years and 7,000 miles apart in Connecticut and Pakistan, today they are united as American citizens, friends, and agents of change. Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson joins them to discuss pressing questions of our time.

Find the Aspen Insight episode, "Speaking Up" by clicking here. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

What's Driving Our Political Polarization? Jan 23, 2018

Show notes

Trust in civic, religious, and academic institutions is at an all-time low in America. But this phenomenon did not, as some Americans might believe, begin when President Trump was elected. It has been on the decline for decades, and while it has been falling, individualism and tribalism have been on the rise. And these tribes — tied to each other with ever fewer common threads — are moving farther and farther apart in almost every measurable way, from geography to politics to economic and educational achievement. Where do we go from here? Can any of this trust be restored, and what does this all mean for our communities and our democracy? Author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart Bill Bishop speaks with former Congressman Mickey Edwards. Edwards is a vice president of the Aspen Institute.

Find our companion episode, "The Best Sports Town in America" by clicking here. Follow our show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook at facebook.com/aspenideas. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com.

aspenideas.org

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Aspen Ideas to Go

Related Podcasts

1

2

3

4

5

6