Kyle Emile talks to strangers. A lot. In cities across the country, and now around the world. His group, Free Intelligent Conversations (FreeIC for short) is on a mission to bridge divides one conversation at a time. The approach is simple: hold a sign bearing “Free Intelligent Conversation” in a high foot traffic area. What happens next is unscripted and magical and gets people talking in ways we could all benefit from in 2019. Because talking to strangers not only offers a mood boost, but can change our world views.

And they’re not alone in their thinking. NPR published an article this summer entitled, “Want To Feel Happier Today? Try Talking To A Stranger.” Malcom Gladwell’s latest book is titled, “Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know.”

Kyle first started Free IC in 2012 as a college student. While the pulse of the nation has changed since then, Kyle says that the ease and flow of facilitated conversations with strangers has remained equally rewarding. In this episode, Kyle discussed what he’s learned as he’s grown his idea to have a foothold in over 50 cities world wide.

Episode Notes:

• Signs of Resistance to the Woke Gangs War on Reason, The Australian, June 2019

• Free Intelligent Conversation Website

• Free Intelligent Conversation | Kyle Emile | TEDxAndrewsUniversity, May 2015

• “Free Intelligent Conversation” as a Pedagogical Tool, Heterodox Academy, August 2018

• FreeIC Manifesto, July 2017

  
  
  

Often the only person of color in her childhood classrooms, stand-up comedian Karith Foster spends a lot of her time speaking at universities such as Stanford and Oberlin about taboo subjects in a constructive way. She hates labels and the boxes they can put us in, which is why her take on diversity training actually focusses on “INversity” – meaning inclusion and introspection – mixed with a healthy dose of humor.

In this episode, Karith talks about what it was like to transform a hostile audience in a jam-packed hall at Oberlin into one welcoming of different perspectives. We also discuss her work as an on-air radio personality on the controversial Don Imus In the Morning show following his comments about the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University and her appearance in the documentary “Can We Take a Joke?,” which garnered support from strange bedfellows such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Charles Koch Institute.

Karith believes firmly that people from across the political spectrum have good ideas, and the fact that “just because you are not on that side does not mean you shouldn’t think it’s a good idea too” is “insanity.” Unsurprisingly, in Karith’s words, she often feels “like a political alien.” We hope she felt right at home here at Sanity!

Episode Notes:

• Review: ‘Can We Take a Joke?’ The Answer Appears to Be Not Anymore, The New York Times, July 2016

• Policing humor is not funny — keep the offensive comedy coming, The Chicago Tribune, September 2016

• Comedians 'appalled' by humorless college students, Campus Reform, July 2016

• Are Students Humorless, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 2016

• The High Priest Of Heterodoxy, Tablet Magazine, July 2019

• The art of defying stereotypes | Karith Foster | TEDxLincolnSquare, May 2017

• KarithFoster.com

In our latest episode, Steven Pinker, a Harvard University cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, sheds light on the quest for human progress, the Enlightenment period, and the importance of maintaining – and burnishing – our democracy. 

Pinker is the author of “Enlightenment Now,” a book that dedicates its pages to the great many advances we’ve made as a society and the reasons world is actually getting better, not worse. Bill Gates calls it his “new favorite book of all time.” It’s not all roses, but Pinker’s belief system — one based on data and fact — is grounding when applied through the lens of examining today’s political polarization. His optimism for the future is both encouraging and informative. Expand your mind and have a listen.

Episode Notes:

• Ideas Beyond Borders

• Why translation matters for the Arab world, The Arab Weekly, Jun. 2019

• 2004’s Time 100: Steven Pinker, Time Magazine, April 2004

• ‘Reason is non-negotiable’: Steven Pinker on the Enlightenment, The Guardian, February 2018

• Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web, The New York Times, May 2018

• CNN Holds Morning Meeting To Decide What Viewers Should Panic About For Rest Of Day, The Onion, July 2014

• One thing to change: Anecdotes aren’t data, The Harvard Gazette, June 2019

• Why are we so Pessimistic?, Brookings, June 2019

• Top Harvard Psychologist Steven Pinker: Go Ahead and Get Emotional in Negotiations, Inc. Magazine, July 2019

• StevenPinker.com

Human rights activist Faisal Saeed Al Mutar is a survivor of the Iraq Civil War, of being placed on an al-Qaeda death list by a high school classmate, and of the murder of his brother. Faisal escaped Iraq and eventually made his way to the United States in 2013. A firm believer that education and a free flow of ideas across the world can combat extremism, he founded Ideas Beyond Borders in 2017 in an effort to prevent extremism before it takes root.

Ideas Beyond Borders has established a range of international programs to empower individuals with knowledge often suppressed by authoritarian regimes and dictatorships. For example, they've translated millions of words into Arabic to encourage diversity of thought, including books by Steven Pinker (who also serves on their board), Sam Harris, and others. They’ve also partnered with Arabic & Kurdish Wikipedia and have reached millions online. According to Ideas Beyond Borders, just 0.6% of content on the internet is available in Arabic, and in the past year more words have been translated into Spanish than the number of words translated into Arabic in the past 1,000 years.

Ideas Beyond Borders is changing this, one word at a time.

In this episode we talk with Faisal about his personal journey, the work Ideas Beyond Borders is doing to combat extremism, his thoughts on polarization in the United States and around the world, and his favorite American holiday. (Hint: it’s right around the corner! )

Episode Notes:

• Ideas Beyond Borders

• Why translation matters for the Arab world, The Arab Weekly, Jun. 2019

• Why Students Protested Event Analyzing Islamism, New Ideal, Jun. 2019

• Faisal Al Mutar Fights Radical Islam with Western Bestsellers, Reason, Sept. 2018

• Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar and Dave Rubin Discuss Politics and Religion, Nov. 2015

• Iraqi refugee works to make life safer for secular humanists, Washington Post, Dec. 2013

Uriel Epshtein is the executive director of the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI), an organization that seeks to revitalize the political center by educating the American public about liberal democracy. Raised by Soviet Union refugees who lived in Israel before immigrating to the United States, Uriel’s family instilled in him a lifelong passion for reconciling people's perceptions of “the other."

In this episode we speak with Uriel about RDI and it’s spirited efforts to increase civic awareness and education and about the Peace and Dialogue Leadership initiative at Yale, an effort Uriel founded as a student to help bridge the civil-military divide. Connecting West Point cadets with college students at Yale, PDLI’s programming includes an annual eye-opening trip to both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Episode Notes:

• The political center is fighting back, The Washington Post, April 2018

• Garry Kasparov Says We Are Living in Chaos, But Remains an Incorrigible Optimist, The New Yorker, Dec. 2018

• Diverse lineup of thought leaders to discuss future of democracy, The Hub, March 2019

• The Renew Democracy Initiative

• Peace and Democracy Leadership Initiative, Yale and the World
  

For four years, Washington's Secretary of State Kim Wyman was the only Republican to hold statewide office across the entire West Coast. You could say she knows a thing or two about working across the aisle. In this episode, Secretary Wyman shares insight on election security (and what it was like keeping Russian hackers out of WA in 2016), mail-in and paper ballots, her bipartisan reddit thread with Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, and the uniqueness of overseeing institutional libraries in WA prisons and state hospitals.

Episode Notes:

• Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman Talks Election Security, Voter Turnout, King 5 News, Aug. 2018

• Student Voter Registration Challenge 2018, June 2018

• What We Know About the 21 States Targeted by Russian Hackers, The Washington Post, Sept. 2017

• More States Should Follow Washington and Vote by Mail, The Seattle Times, Nov. 2018

• It Looks Like Any Other Graduation—Except These Graduates Earned Their Degrees in Prison, CNN, May 2019

• Reddit AMA, Secretaries of State Steve Simon (MN) and Kim Wyman (WA), Sept. 2018

  
  

  
  

Did you ever stay quiet in a college classroom in fear of rustling feathers?

If so, the Heterodox Academy wants you to know you’re not alone. Founded in 2015, Heterodox is a non-partisan network of over 2,500 academics across the country that are committed to welcoming a diversity of viewpoints in the classroom. They’re fighting the good fight to promote constructive disagreement (not antonyms!) at institutes of higher learning.

We spoke with their executive director, Deb Mashek, about their important work and about two elements that are critical to learning: discomfort and challenge. Mashek herself is a former college professor and spent 13 years as a Professor of Psychology at Harvey Mudd College. Inspired by the 2016 election, she developed a course entitled I’m Right; You’re Wrong. In this episode, Mashek shares some of her experiences in the classroom and offers a fun take on how secret decoder glasses can help us get in the right frame of mind to understand each other!

Episode Notes:

• Heterodox Academy Campus Expression Survey

• A New Leader in the Push for Diversity of Thought on Campus, The Atlantic, Feb. 2018

• A Movement Rises to Take Back Higher Education, Wall Street Journal, Jun. 2018

• Do universities have a self-censorship problem?, Washington Post , Apr. 2019

  
  

Morris P. Fiorina is a political scientist like few others: he’s an optimist. Fiorina grew up in rural Pennsylvania and worked in steel mills to put himself through college. A professor at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Fiorina has spent much of his life studying the American electorate. In this episode, he busts political myths, explains the difference between sorting and polarization and offers a reassuring perspective on today's political climate. 

Episode Notes:

• Surprise: Voters Aren't More Polarized than Ever, Only Pols and Media Are, Reason, February 2018

• Polarization Is Not the Problem, Stanford Magazine, May 2018

• Unstable Majorities: Polarization, Party Sorting, and Political Stalemate, Morris P. Fiorina, Amazon Link

• Palo Alto woman sparks furor by berating man wearing MAGA hat, The Mercury News, April 2019

• Is America more politically polarized than ever? Not quite, Chicago Tribune, September 2018

• Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction, Samara Klar & Yanna Krupnikov, Amazon Link

Since the fall, the McCain Institute has used its #MavericksNeeded campaign to stand up against injustice and defend the dignity of all people.

Following President Trump’s latest round of tweets about Senator McCain, the institute released a fact sheet about the Senator’s legacy to set the record straight.

In this episode, we sit down with Ambassador Kurt Volker, Executive Director of the McCain Institute and former US Ambassador to NATO, to discuss Senator McCain’s legacy as well as the work the Institute is doing to get more citizens engaged and In the Arena.

Episode Notes:

• The Facts About John McCain, McCain Institute

• McCain Institute counters Trump criticisms with fact sheet about senator, The Hill, 3/20/19

• Munich Security Conference Agenda and Attendees

In journalist Jenna Lee’s words, it’s all too easy to feel disgusted reading and watching the news these days. That’s why the former Fox News co-anchor is on a mission to produce a refreshing, customer service-centered alternative: SmatHER News. The non-partisan platform is working to be a source consumers can not only trust, but also enjoy.

After seven years at Fox and a decade in New York City, Jenna moved to Texas with her family and launched SmartHER News. Every morning, Jenna reports the news via Instagram live for thousands of engaged followers. But unlike her days at Fox, Jenna’s new “set” often features her two toddlers, breakfast cooking on the stove, and a coffee mug in hand. It’s an honest take on reporting and real life – and one look at her followers’ real-time comments tells you her authentic style is resonating.  

Jenna joined Sanity to talk about the importance of customer service in news (something she learned while working as a waitress), the humility of starting something new, the excitement of presenting at SXSW, and her vision for creating less toxic, more facts first news.  

Episode Notes:

• SmartHERnews.com

• Instagram

• American Women Inspire A SmartHER News Revolution @ SXSW

• SmartHER News 3/27/19 Take on Jessie Smullet (“…few, if any of the city's 373 shootings, 60+ murders or 1,500+ aggravated assaults have received even a fraction of the attention of this case.”)

The bright and bubbly Katie Fahey of Grand Rapids, Michigan wanted to do something that captured the energy of the 2016 election that people from across the aisle could actually unite over. Sound impossible? Not to Katie. What started as a Facebook post about taking on gerrymandering in her home state led to hundreds of thousands of Michiganders joining her in the fight. It sounds a like a movie: strangers meeting at warehouses in the middle of the night to make clipboards; three feuding sisters -- an Independent, a Democrat, and a Republican -- reconnecting over the cause; veterinarians doing research in the middle of the night; and thousands of people signing petitions at highway rest stops on Thanksgiving day. Listen to Katie share about how the heck she made it all happen.

Episode Notes:

• Voters Not Politicians

• A Grassroots Call to Ban Gerrymandering, The Atlantic, Sept. 2018

• Making a Difference in 2018, The New York Times, Dec. 2018

Alan Khazei builds movements. First, it was expanding service through City Year, which later became the brainchild for AmeriCorps (which has facilitated 1.2 billion hours of public service!). Then it was expanding social entrepreneurship through Be the Change. Now Alan is spearheading the group Democracy Entrepreneurs, which just hosted its first Democracy Entrepreneurship Summit at the Harvard Kennedy School. Inspired in part by seeing his own family divided by the 2016 election, he’s working “to get underneath what is going on in our democracy” and to support organizations in this space.

In this episode, Alan talks about the importance of service — "not as a Democratic idea or a Republican idea... but as an American idea," about his work to expand service opportunities with Presidents George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and about his hopes for the future of Democracy Entrepreneurs.

Episode Notes:

• Alan’s Boston Globe op-ed, The rise of the democracy entrepreneurs, Nov. 2018

• Democracy Entrepreneurs on Twitter

• National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service Interim Report

• McCain, Obama find common ground on national service, CNN, Sept. 2008

• John McCain understood the common call to service that makes America truly great: John Bridgeland and Alan Khazei, Cleveland.com, Sept. 2018

• Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus? Searching for a better way to cover a campaign, Peter Hamby, Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, Aug. 2013

Lauren Leader is the co-founder and CEO of All In Together, a non-partisan organization on a mission to help women regardless of party affiliation engage in the political process. Her book, “Crossing the Thinnest Line,” highlights those crossing dividing lines of race, gender, culture, and political party to build a more united nation. With partners like Gretchen Carlson and founding sponsors like Deloitte, Boeing and EY, All In Together helps women on both sides of the aisle maximize their impact.

In this episode, Lauren joins Sanity to talk about All In Together, share some unique thoughts on the role of mentorship, and reflect on bipartisan relationships that have led her to understand and respect different perspectives (I.E.: Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court).

Episode Notes:

• Learn more about All In Together here.

• The Gretchen Carlson Leadership Initiative

• The Global Gender Gap Report 2018, World Economic Forum

Ericka Andersen is a conservative author, speaker, and podcast host (#WorthYourTime) who is living proof that we can disagree with each other but still respect those with opinions different from our own. Through lived experiences and bipartisan friendships, over the years Ericka transformed from being a very partisan person to someone who sees that few issues are black and white. She is the rare, refreshing thought leader who makes a concerted effort to read about different perspectives, and has even shifted her thinking on issues like criminal justice reform as a result. Ericka is passionate about tackling the stigma of addiction and her first book, “Leaving Cloud 9,” is about her husband’s journey overcoming a childhood of poverty, trauma, and mental illness.

Episode Notes:

• Subscribe to Ericka’s Podcast, Worth Your Time

• We Disagree. I Still Respect You., Patheos, March 2018

• How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes, NPR, Aug. 2017

• Champion Women Profiles

• Opioid Overdose Crisis, NIH, January 2019

  
  

In the 1980s, Jonathan Perman worked on Capitol Hill for a Republican Senator from Illinois...he was a Democrat...and that was not entirely out of the ordinary. Increasingly frustrated by partisan gridlock in Washington, in 2016 Perman teamed up with the Bipartisan Policy Center to create the American Congressional Exchange. The program matches pairs of Republican and Democrat Members of Congress and facilities visits to each other's districts. Combining his passions for politics and travel, his hope is to help build trust in Congress. It's already working -- bipartisan legislation has resulted from ACE's work that has been signed into law.

Episode Notes:

• Learn more about ACE here.

Ryan Bernsten, an American playwright and Oxford grad student, is in the middle of a cross-country journey covering all 50 states. Over the past few months he's attended a Trump rally the night before Election Day, chatted with mayors of big cities and teeny-tiny towns, stayed with 21 different families, and enjoyed crab cakes, ice cream, and other American delights. Our conversation focusses on Ryan's unexpected takeaways, social media vs. the real world, and the kindness of strangers from across the aisle that he's experienced along the way.  You can follow along at 50StatesofMind.org.

Episode Notes:

• Despite a year of bad news, most Americans remain optimistic about 2019, PBS, 12/28/18

• 50 States of Mind Instagram

• United States Conference of Mayors

In the fall of 2016, former journalist Erin Ruberry set out to create In Better News, a newsletter that highlights acts of kindness from Americans across the country. Her own optimism is infectious. Erin built an online space focussed on the Good joins Sanity to talk about her mission to make the internet a happier place (and to talk about the one and only Dolly Parton!).

Episode Notes:

• Subscribe to In Better News here.

• Learn about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library here.

• The Real Roots of American Rage, The Atlantic, January/February 2019

• Hundreds brave the cold to honor Vietnam veteran who died with few known family members, Omaha World Herald, 11/228/18

On June 25th, 2018 in Old Saybrook, CT, Red Hen restaurant owner Shelley Deproto started her morning with a stream of online threats targeting her restaurant. The night before, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had been asked to leave an entirely different, unaffiliated Red Hen restaurant in Virginia. Overnight, Shelley became the focus of national media attention. Her Yelp review dropped from a 4.5 to a 2. But she refused to get political, and instead shared her positive message about kindness and pursuing one's passion even amidst a divisive time.

If you think Thanksgiving meals are getting tenser across the country, look to Dr. Keith Chen’s research for concrete proof. After experiencing increasingly partisan conversations both at work and at family gatherings, Chen was inspired to quantify and measure partisan divisions in part to start a conversation about what we can do to rectify them. By analyzing over 21 billion pings of smartphone data, Chen and his co-author, Ryne Rohla, found that in 2016, families that celebrated Thanksgiving across partisan lines cut their meals 30 to 50 minutes shorter than those who stuck with company with similar political beliefs. Chen is an Associate Professor of Economics the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Following the 2016 election, Sherri and Larry Athay set out to spread some peace, love and happiness in their small Connecticut town by way of opening a rubber duck shop. Their number one seller? The Trump Duck. We happened upon Essex Duck earlier this summer and became smitten with their quirky collection of thousands of ducks, notably those likening George Washington and Abe Lincoln (!). It’s 2018. The world is a strange place.

Episode Notes:

• Duck Jokes that Will Quack You Up (Please note #15)

• Duck Ramps Appear at U.S. Capitol, but Not Everyone Is Pleased, New York Times, 5/16/17

• Sampling of Presidential Ducks: Lincoln, Trump (+ Rosie the Riveter)

• We have a national Rubber Duck Day. More on that.

• There’s no national Ostrich Day, sadly. However, Bird Day appears to be a very real thing. May 4th. Mark your calendars.

Following the 2016 election, Philippa Hughes realized she didn’t know a single Trump voter and set out to change that by hosting small bipartisan dinner parties – “Blueberries and Cherries” – at her home. This in part led to the creation of “A (GOOD) AMERICAN,” an art show sponsored by American University School of Public Affairs and The Pink Line Project that examines the immigrant experience and celebrates what it means to be an American. For Sanity’s first live episode, we traveled to Washington D.C. to help kick off a 50-person bipartisan dinner party celebrating the art exhibit at the Heurich House Museum with the show’s brainchild.

Episode Notes

• Watch Philippa’s TEDxAmericanUniversity here.

• Learn more about A (GOOD) AMERICAN here.