Finding Inspiration Through Podcasts
As we start these weekly write-ups, I’ve been thinking about what I want to share. Of course, I’ll share things that are going on in the classroom and on campus at large, but I wanted to take the opportunity in this first issue to share a few things that brought me joy this summer. More specifically, I wanted to share some of what has brought me joy about being back in the classroom and back in community with all of you.
If you know me, you know that I’m a huge auditory and verbal learner. I adore podcasts and audiobooks as a primary way of consuming new information. This summer, three things came across my radar that I wanted to share with you all as adults.
On Being with Krista Tippett
A podcast I come back to often is On Being, hosted by deep thinker and theologian Krista Tippett. Canaan and I listened to a recent episode together this summer where Krista was in conversation with Jason Reynolds around the topics of hopelessness, the virtue of stamina, and showing grace to ourselves.
This conversation was breathtaking and felt particularly important for how we show up in community, especially in these times. It is radical in its warmth and truth. It’s not a conversation you can walk away from without thought or movement.
Jason Reynolds is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books for children and young adults. From 2020–2022, he served as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Among many honors, he has received the Newbery, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Awards and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2024. He is also on the faculty at Lesley University in the Writing for Young People M.F.A. Program.
You can listen anywhere you get podcasts or on the On Being website:
Jason Reynolds: On Hopelessness, the Virtue of Stamina, and Showing Grace to Ourselves
Jason Reynolds
Armchair Expert: Experts on Experts
Another podcast I listen to often is Armchair Expert, and in particular, their Wednesday episodes called “Experts on Experts.” The last two episodes have stayed with me, and I believe they hold staying power for our community as well.
Marc Brackett
Marc Brackett was a recent guest. You may recognize Marc from his written works, Dealing with Feeling, Permission to Feel, and RULER. Marc Brackett is a psychologist, professor, and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
The conversation revolves around why avoiding emotion is harmful, how precisely naming a feeling changes what you can do with it, and why the best emotional allies listen instead of trying to fix. This conversation is vulnerable and open-hearted. It serves as an invitation toward understanding and compassion while also providing tools for moving into action and practice.
Marc Brackett
Chris Young
Chris Young was the most recent guest on the podcast, and his story and his work have incredible importance and power behind them. Chris is the author of the recently published book The Wound Is Where the Light Enters, a compilation of the memoir he began writing during his time in prison.
Chris was pardoned from two life sentences in 2023 by President Trump and speaks radically about how family is a verb, how hope is a drug worth taking, and how freedom begins with imagining beyond your circumstances.
These conversations span Chris’s life and represent so many other life stories in which socioeconomic status, capitalism, and our prison system were built to—and continue to—cause harm in our communities. Chris speaks powerfully about what it might mean to imagine something beyond those systems and circumstances.
Chris Young
One note: The first part of the Armchair Expert podcast is the interview and conversation, while the second part is a time of chitchat with the co-hosts. I’m mainly pointing you all toward the interview portion.
I hope you find something here that stays with you, challenges you, or simply brings you a little joy. I’m grateful to be back in the classroom and, perhaps even more so, grateful to be back in community with all of you.
With care and consideration,
Cara Beth