Madgecast S1E11 - We Will Not Go Away / Welcome to Your Every Day

This week's podcast has it all! There's a little bit of me talking a little bit about how the shit show that is America right now is triggering AF. And then there's an interview with my new pal Katie Farnan, one of the leaders of Indivisible Front Range Resistance, in which we discuss:

• the Indivisible principles and methodology
• the role of self-care in making the movement sustainable -- this is my favorite recent article about it
• one fundamental difference between left and right (it's not just that we are smart and they are dumb)
• Katie's inspiration recommendation: a video of singers flooding the Utah State Capitol building. GOOSEBUMPS!!

You can subscribe here, and thanks for listening / leaving me a review / dropping a line to say hi. Helpfulness is my goal here, so if there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to holler at me <3

Madgecast S1E10 - Shit Is Complicated But Glossing Over It Isn't the Answer

This week we talk about a known bug in the human brain called the Fundamental Attribution error, and why insisting on ideological purity is a mistake. The answer to complexity isn't to shut it out or deny it; it's to develop our capacity for handling it:

• The Folly of Purity Politics is an interview with Alexis Shotwell, author of a new book called Against Purity. She argues that purity isn't an attainable goal for anyone, and our attention is better spent on trying to understand and navigate the real-world complexity around us (hat tip to Lisa Rokusek for sharing this)
• Ideological purity is verrrrrrrry close to fundamentalism, and here is an interview where Issac Asimov talks about the danger of it

As always, you can subscribe to the Madgecast here, and I would love to hear your thoughts in a comment below or via email at belesscrazy at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, xox.

Madgecast S1E9 - White Women: Let's Love Solidarity More Than Our Privilege

Intersectionality: it's not just a fancy word made up by progressives to drive nice white women crazy. It describes the way that different forms of oppression intersect and can't really be divided in how they show up in the lives of individuals and groups.

• This is the video from Robin DiAngelo, coiner of the phrase White Fragility, showing us how racism underpins almost every aspect of our lives, even/especially if we are not aware of it. It's about an hour long, and it's worth every second of your time.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates on why the abolitionist and suffragists broke apart
• A superhelpful post I read on Luvvie Ajayi's Facebook page, written by Leah Roberts Peterson, on what do with the confusion and upset we will definitely feel as we learn to confront our own privilege
• Intersectionality primer: So You Wanna Be An Intersectional Feminist? Amazing resource here, check it out!

You can subscribe to the Madgecast here, and please feel free to drop me a line at belesscrazy at gmail dot com, or leave a comment below, to let me know what you are thinking about.

Madgecast S1E7 - How To Become An Activist

This week's podcast is about

• A simple 3-step process for becoming an activist, or re-engaging with activism
  • Step 1: Find a way in
  • Step 2: Show up
  • Step 3: Keep showing up
  • Why it's good to be a satisficer rather than a maximizer when looking for a way into activism
  • If you are looking for an organization you can vibe with, this Jezebel article lists a ton of activist groups and what they are working on.
  • Indivisible: A Practical Guide For Resisting A Terrible Person's Agenda

The important thing is to just get started.

Let me know what you are up to in the comments or via email (belesscrazy at gmail dot com). And if you want to subscribe, leave a rating, or write a review, you can do any of those here.

Thanks for listening, xox

Madgecast S1E5 - Why Don't You Run For Office?

Show notes

• Alex Steffen's outstanding story on the Carbon Bubble: Trump, Putin and the Pipelines to Nowhere
• Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resisting Donald Trump, all about how to work with and influence our legislators
• Introduction to Gerrymandering, with good reference links
• The GOP's Attack On Voting Rights Was the Most Under-Covered Story of 2016
• Are you Ready to Rumble Run?
• MJ's research on how diversity in decision-making leads to better decisions:
  • How Diversity Can Drive Innovation (Harvard Business Review)
  • How Diversity Makes Us Smarter (Scientific American)
  • We're Making the Wrong Case for Diversity in Silicon Valley (Harvard Business Review)
  • Raising the Bar (Podcast)

Subscribe to the Madgecast on iTunes here, and thanks as always for listening <3

Madgecast Episode S1E2 - What Would Olamina Do?

In which I talk about

• How to process feeling like I NEED TO DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!
• Octavia Butler, brilliant author and apparent psychic (Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents)
• And why it's super important that we not abandon "identity politics" in an attempt to win more racist votes

Here's some links for you, too

• You can subscribe to my podcast via iTunes by clicking here
• The essay by Timothy Snyder that I discussed originally appeared on Facebook here and here's the same essay on a non-Facebook site
• Ijeoma Oluo's work is fantastic, on her site The Establishment, and on her Facebook live videos
• This post-election episodes of Another Round and Smartest Man in the World podcasts returned my life to me

Let me know what you think! Xox

Madgecast Episode S1E1 - Holding It Together

I started a podcast today, to get some thoughts out on how I'm holding it together in the space after this fucking bananas election. If you get a chance to listen, let me know what you think? Xox