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My Smart Roommates — Education
My Smart Roommates

My Smart Roommates is an intellectual garage band. My roommates at Princeton were impressive – Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude Ph.D.s (except me). Today they are the recent European Human Rights Commissioner; a biologist running a conservation non-profit; a Slavic literature professor; an expert in classics, antiquity and monasticism; and a political scientist – a doctoral dream team. Many of us entered college with high-minded goals; My Smart Roommates are still at it. Hosted by Jack Weiss. Connect with us: www.facebook.com/pages/category/Podcast/My-Smart-Roommates-215288375882635/

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Latest Episodes:

Migration Crises in Europe, with Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks Jan 18, 2019

Show notes

Nils Muiznieks served as the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, from 2012-18. In this episode Nils explains the roots of the dramatic migration and refugee crises that impacted Europe during his tenure and still affect global politics today. Nils is joined in conversation with Indiana Professor Emma Gilligan and Brandeis Professor Dave Powelstock.

Discussed in this episode - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), www.unhcr.org; Nils Muiznieks, Human Rights in Europe: From Crisis to Renewal, https://rm.coe.int/human-rights-in-europe-from-crisis-to-renewal-/168077fb04; Babara Honigmann, “Zohara’s Journey”; Jeremy Harding, Border Vigils; Gulwali Passarlay, The Lightless Sky.

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Everyday Ethics Jan 04, 2019

Show notes

“Everyday Ethics and Globalization,” Professor Emma Gilligan’s upcoming book, launches a discussion about how to make individual choices about the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the non-profits we support. Featuring Mace Hack of The Nature Conservancy and Professors Dave Powelstock and Dan Caner.

Discussed in this episode: Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think; Peter Singer, The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically; Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.

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Early Monasticism and the Modern Academy Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

A chance encounter with a Bulgarian exorcist named Dmitri led Professor Dan Caner to decades of scholarly inquiry into the roots of monasticism and asceticism during late antiquity/early Christianity. Dan provides an overview of his work which leads the roommates to a discussion of parallels in the lives of modern academics. Featuring Professors Dave Powelstock and Emma Gilligan and former European Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks.

Discussed in this episode: Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov; Stories and Sayings of the Desert Fathers; William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain; W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge.

Not discussed but essential: Daniel Caner, Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity.

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Language, Consciousness and You Nov 23, 2018

Show notes

Professor David Powelstock’s scholarship in nineteenth-century Russian poetry has led to his current work about the inner experience of self and the literary roots of contemporary concepts of selfhood. This episode features fascinating exchanges between Dave and Professor Dan Caner, an expert in late antiquity, on the evolution of literature and consciousness and the perspectives of writers and readers from the classical world to the Romantic movement. Dave gets into your head as we explore the connections between thought, the written word, and the inner world. Also featuring Professor Emma Gilligan and Nils Muiznieks.

Discussed this week: George Orwell, Politics and the English Language; George Lakoff and Mark Johnsen, Metaphors We Live By; Richard Wilson, Inciting Genocide with Words; Longinus, On the Sublime.

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How To Talk About Climate Change - Mace Hack, Nature Conservancy Nov 09, 2018

Show notes

Mace Hack directs the Nature Conservancy in Nebraska. Like a country doctor making the rounds, Mace travels the state listening to and speaking with ranchers and farmers, finding common ground on resource and environmental issues. A biologist with years of field work studying zebras in Africa and wild horses off the coast of North Carolina, Mace’s talents as the great explainer of the natural world are joined in conversation with Professors Dan Caner, Emma Gilligan, and Dave Powelstock. Many care deeply about climate change; Mace has unique insights into how to persuade the skeptical and achieve sustainable conservation outcomes.

Discussed this week: www.ipcc.ch - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the best source for current information on global climate change; www.globalchange.gov - US government site, relevant for climate change impacts to the US broadly and the region you live in; Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North, Mark C. Serreze; The All New Don't Think of an Elephant! George Lakoff; Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnsen.

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European Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks (2012-18) Oct 23, 2018

Show notes

Nils Muiznieks grew up in the US the child of Latvian emigres; his parents spent seven years in displaced persons camps as teenagers after World War II and made their way to California. Nils majored in politics at Princeton and got his Ph.D. in political science at Berkeley. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Nils decided to make his life in Latvia. A scholar, government official, and human rights expert, Nils won a European-wide election and became the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In this episode we learn about Nils' amazing story and the human rights challenges he tackled during his six-year term. Featuring Indiana Professor Emma Gilligan and Brandeis Professor Dave Powelstock.

Discussed this week - Czeslaw Milosz, The Captive Mind; Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century; Anatoly Adamishin and Richard Schifter, Human Rights, Perestroika, and the End of the Cold War; Andrei Sakharov, Alarm and Hope; “Human Rights in Europe: From Crisis to Renewal?” Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 2018; Special Issue (Fall 2009), Open Society News, Eastern Europe: Where Do Open Societies Stand 20 Years Later? https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/opensocietynews_11052009.pdf

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