Podcasts about harvard humanist

Jesmyn Ward, the two-time National Book Award winner, has returned with a new novel about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War. Let Us Descend, an Oprah's Book Club pick, describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. In Let Us Descend (the title inspired by a line in Dante's Inferno) the protagonist Annis is sold by her father, a white slaveowner. In the face of unspeakable circumstances on her way south, Annis seeks comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. She soon opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. The tale explores themes of family separation, belief, and the harsh history of chattel slavery in antebellum America. While Annis leads readers through the descent, Ward's work aims to be a story of rebirth and reclamation. Jesmyn Ward received her MFA from the University of Michigan and is currently a professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She is the author of the novels Where the Line Bleeds and Salvage the Bones, which won the 2011 National Book Award, and Sing, Unburied, Sing, which won the 2017 National Book Award. She is also the editor of the anthology The Fire This Time and the author of the memoir Men We Reaped, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Ijeoma Oluo is a writer, speaker, and internet yeller. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race and, most recently, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Her work has been featured in the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among many other publications. She was named to the 2021 Time 100 Next list and has twice been named to the Root 100. She received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award and the 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington. Buy the Book Let Us Descend: A Novel The Elliott Bay Book Company

Ijeoma Oluo's #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want To Talk About Race (book tour event at Town Hall in 2019), offered a vital guide for how to talk about important issues of race and racism in society. In Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, she discussed how white male supremacy has had an impact on our systems, our culture, and our lives throughout American history. But now that we better understand these systems of oppression, the question is this: What can we do about them? In her new book, Be A Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World — and How You Can, Too, Ijeoma Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change in our structures. Looking at many of our most powerful systems — like education, media, labor, health, housing, policing, and more — she highlights what people are doing to create change for intersectional racial equity. She also illustrates how readers can find their own entry points for change in these same areas or can bring some of this important work being done elsewhere to where they live. Oluo aims to not only educate but to inspire action and change. Join us at Town Hall for a discussion on how to take conversations on race and racism out of a place of pure pain and trauma, and into a place of loving action. Ijeoma Oluo is a writer, speaker, and internet yeller. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race and, most recently, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Her work has been featured in the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among many other publications. She was named to the 2021 Time 100 Next list and has twice been named to the Root 100. She received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award and the 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington.   Michele E. Storms is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU of Washington), former Deputy Director of the ACLU of Washington, and previous Assistant Dean for Public Service and executive director of the William H. Gates Public Service Law program at the University of Washington School of Law. Preceding those roles she served as a statewide advocacy coordinator first at Columbia Legal Services and later at the Northwest Justice Project where over a combined five-year period she coordinated civil legal aid advocacy in the areas of family law, youth and education, housing, elder law, Native American and right to counsel issues. She was also previously on faculty at the University of Washington School of Law where she founded what is now the Child and Youth Advocacy Clinic and taught several other courses. In addition to her service on numerous boards and guilds both locally and nationally, Michele served on the Washington State Access to Justice Board for six years and the board of One America. Michele is concerned with equity and justice for all and has dedicated her professional and personal attention to access to justice, preservation of freedom and democracy for all and ensuring that all humxns safely reside in the “circle of human concern.”   https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/book/9780063140189    

Jason and Brett talk to Ijeoma Oluo (Be a Revolution) about actionable steps for making social change, the importance of diversifying where you get your information, doing your own research, outlining a blueprint for being the catalyst of change.Ijeoma Oluo is a writer, speaker, and internet yeller. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race and, most recently, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Her work has been featured in the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among many other publications. She was named to the 2021 Time 100 Next list and has twice been named to the Root 100. She received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award and the 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington.**BOOKS!** Check out the list of books discussed on each episode on our Bookshop page:https://bookshop.org/shop/gaysreading | By purchasing books through this Bookshop link, you can support both Gays Reading and an independent bookstore of your choice!Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content! Purchase your Gays Reading podcast Merch! Follow us on Instagram @gaysreading | @bretts.book.stack | @jasonblitmanWhat are you reading? Send us an email or a voice memo at gaysreading@gmail.com

It's no surprise that fair, equitable, and respectful practices bolster engagement and motivation in the workplace. Being inclusive is, quite simply, the right thing to do. But we're notoriously bad at it. Why? As Ruchika Tulshyan explained in her new book, Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work, inclusion doesn't just happen: it takes attention, awareness, and regular practice. It takes real work, and there isn't a simple 5-step plan for building a suddenly and permanently inclusive organization. But we can make regular progress toward inclusion and diversity, starting now. Tulshyan took us to the specific intersection of gender and racial bias, as experienced by women of color in the workplace. She explained the importance of using leadership privilege for good by exposing bias (women of color have more to lose by speaking up), and why the popular concept of “leaning in” doesn't work (but dismantling structural bias does). Tulshyan offered best practices that encourage leaders and organizations of all kinds to promote inclusion and diversity. It's possible, she argued, by creating psychological safety and trust, and through continuous practice. Tulshyan is joined in The Great Hall by author Ijeoma Oluo, who penned the forward for the book, for the launch of Inclusion on Purpose. Ruchika Tulshyan is the founder of Candour, a global inclusion strategy firm. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and Harvard Business Review. As a keynote speaker, Ruchika has addressed audiences at organizations like NASA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and U.S. Congress. Ruchika is on the Thinkers50 Radar list and Hive Learning's Most Influential D&I Professionals. She is a former business journalist who is now regularly quoted as a media expert in outlets like NPR, The New York Times, and Bloomberg. In addition to Inclusion on Purpose, Ruchika is the author of The Diversity Advantage: Fixing Gender Inequality in the Workplace (2015). Ijeoma Oluo is author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, So You Want to Talk About Race, and Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Her work on race has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Oluo was named one of the most influential people of 2021 on the TIME 100 list, has been twice named to the Root 100, and earned numerous awards for her work, including the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award and 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award. Buy the Book: Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (Hardcover) from Elliott Bay Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle. This event is sponsored by The Boeing Company.

Want to learn more about Black Nonbelievers, and how to support our work? Mandisa Thomas will discuss the organization's mission, why BN is needed, and how you can contribute. Black Non-Believers is celebrating their 10 year anniversary! Watch their anniversary video here: https://youtu.be/nMRAtsDE1og Mandisa Thomas is the Founder and President of Black Nonbelievers. She currently serves on the Boards for American Atheists and the American Humanist Association, and facilitates the Morrow, Georgia chapter of Recovering from Religion. Mandisa has been the recipient of the following awards and recognition: - 2020 - Harvard Humanist of the Year (along with Sikivu Hutchinson and Ijeoma Oluo) - 2019 - Freethought Heroine (Freedom from Religion Foundation) - 2019 - Backbone Award (Secular Student Alliance) - 2018 - Person of the Year (Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association) Hosted by Eric Wells, the RfR Support Group Director, and Kara Griffin, RfR Helpline Agent. Recorded on August 2, 2021. For RfRx comments, inquiries & topical questions, email us at RfRx@recoveringfromreligion.org. Any time you are struggling with religious doubts or fears you can connect with a trained RfR Helpline agent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To chat online go to http://www.recoveringfromreligion.org. To talk over the phone, dial: (844) 368-2848 in the US & Canada +3 4505 2402 in Australia +20 3856 8791 in the UK +27 11 043 5323 in South Africa Peer support is also available through local support groups. These groups offer monthly in-person meetings as a place to express doubts, fears, emotions & concerns about religion you wouldn't normally feel comfortable expressing in a religious community. Find your nearest support group at https://www.meetup.com/pro/recovering-from-religion If you are in need of professional help, we can offer the Secular Therapy Project to provide options to connect with a professional therapist. All therapists have been thoroughly vetted by our organization and offer only evidence-based and non-religious treatment. Connect with them at http://www.seculartherapy.org. RfR has an immense collection of well-curated resources available as you go through your journey, including resources for mental and physical crises, working with relationships, issues stemming from specific religions, coming out stories, and much more. Head to https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/resources for these helpful resources. Subscribe to the RfR Blog: https://medium.com/excommunications --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/recovering-from-religion/message

On this episode we talk with Dale McGowan about his personal journey being an Atheist, navigating a multi-faith relationship and what he thinks Atheists often get wrong about religion. Dale is the editor and author of several books on nonreligious life, including Parenting Beyond Belief, Raising Freethinkers, Atheism for Dummies, and In Faith and In Doubt. He was named Harvard Humanist of the Year for his work in support of nonreligious parents.

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo talk with Jeff Haley and Dale McGowan, authors of "SHARING REALITY: How to Bring Secularism and Science to an Evolving Religious World." Jeff T. Haley is a scientist, lawyer, and inventor. He has argued before the U.S Supreme Court, and founded and directed the nonprofit that led Washington state's successful medical marijuanainitiative. He is currently the founder and CEO of OraHealth, which sells his patented healthcare products through 30,000 pharmacies worldwide. Dale McGowan is the author and editor of numerous books, including Parenting Beyond Belief, In Faith and In Doubt, and Atheism for Dummies. In 2008 he was named Harvard Humanist of the Year for his work in nonreligious parent education. Religions are a natural outgrowth of the intuitive ways of knowing that evolved with human culture. Though many people continue to find value in religious identity and community, intuitive knowledge has been eclipsed by a more effective way of knowing-the scientific way. A better way of relating religion to politics called secularism is gradually replacing theocracy. Once you understand and accept the scientific way of knowing and this preferred relationship of church and state, you become agnostic and secular-even if you continue to identify with and participate in religion.As Jeff T. Haley and Dale McGowan argue in this volume, this isn't some abstract dream-it's happening right now. Religions are in a continuous state of evolution, changing beliefs, values, and practices over time. All religions, includingChristianity and Islam, can evolve to accept the scientific way of knowing and secularism, becoming agnostic and even atheistic without losing their essential value. Haley and McGowan explain how you can help this natural process, sharing reality with your friends and family in a way that encourages religions to embrace the best of humanity'S knowledge and values.The only reason I celebrate ANYONE'S faith is if it is "light" and "loose" and full of doubt and uncertainty and love and connectedness and empathy. And I only do that because in this chapter of human history it's the best thing I can do to further the demise of all nonsense forged out of fear, childishness, death-anxiety, and the need for extant meaning, aka religions. See, even if there is a "god" or something of the sort, no human should ever bow the knee to it, nor would a good god want that. The best practice of ethics, morals, virtue, etc. is to ignore god and attend to reality--your neighbors, problem solving, conflict resolution--all the stuff that plagues us and makes life difficult. The day that we stop looking to the heavens to fix us or to save us or to create a new place for us to exit this mess, is the day that we put on our big-person pants, roll up our sleeves, and get busy living and loving the facts, what it means to be human, and the honest resolution of real problems. All notions that take our eyes off reality and onto untruths contribute to our problems, not solve them. And for those too imprinted with religion to embrace that, consider this: after we forsake god and actually love one another and fix things, any god worth her salt will still say, "well done good and faithful servant," because if his ego is too fragile to share the "glory" then fuck him! Now I also want to say something about pedagogy. Pedagogy simply means the function or work of a teacher. Now, nobody likes a smarty pants. But lets ask ourselves why? It could be argued that often the reason people don't like people who know something they don't and want to pass it on is insecurity or jealousy, which are not virtues I feel it must be said. On the other hand, when the student is ready the teacher arrives. Which implies that, like what Jesus said, that trying to teach someone unsolicited advice can backfire. It also has the potential of cutting into their freedom to figure it out for themselves, which knowledge that's hard earned and self-determined always has a more indelible and lasting effect on the learner. It's odd isn't it? My therapist is a wise, old sage who is extremely skilled and self-disciplined in NOT giving me the answers to my problems. Because he knows the value of me figuring it out for myself. He's told me that client after client beg him to "TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" And in his wisdom, he won't. And yet our schools are filled with teachers telling kids what they don't want to hear. What's the balance? You know the phrase, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink?" Often, we focus on the "can't make them drink" part; but think about the first part: we CAN lead people to water and sometimes we should. It goes back to what Jesus said, doesn't it? We should assess the person we're engaged with whether they seem to be a candidate for the truth we could endow in that moment. Otherwise, we're being presumptuous, are we not? For those of us who love to set people free with truth, for those of us whose lives have benefitted SO greatly from truths we've discovered and we want to do is share this or that truth with them, for those of us who see our loved ones sabotaging their own lives by believing lies, we owe to ourselves and everyone in our lives to exercise some age-old wisdom and self-control and truly discern the moment whether it's pregnant with pedagogical possibility, or that person will only resent the impartation and experience it as condescending. It will be lost on them and it will backfire. Often they will double down on their self-deception just to spite you. Similarly, our guests today, Jeff and Dale have taken a similar high road when it comes to the religious hegemonic stronghold Christianity has over America. Instead of the firebrand atheism, which has its place, they've chosen to play nice with their fellow Americans who identify as Christian. They, like the mission of the podcast, seek to oil the wheels of the natural evolution of religious culture and slow, gentle deconstruction that truth will inevitably have on untruths. We taped this conversation on October 21st, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode or more through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits:"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack JohnsonThe segue music on this episode is recorded by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NY City subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. If you would like to contact our guests directly, you can reach jeff@haley.net and dale@dalemcgowan.com parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog      

A live show and interview with Dr. Joe Gerstien from Massachusetts, with host Monica Richardson. Please join us live and in the chat room for any questions and comments. Joseph Gerstein was the Founding President of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Self-Help Network, Inc., d/b/a SMART Recovery in 1994. He introduced Rational Recovery into the Greater Boston area, then oversaw its spread throughout Massachusetts. In 1994, he participated in the creation of the new non-profit entity: SMART Recovery. Subsequent to his term as President, he was elected Treasurer, a post he held until elected President again for 2017. Dr. Gerstein has at various times served on the Boards of 10 non-profit organizations. He has served on a variety of Committees of SMART Recovery. Dr. Gerstein practiced Internal Medicine and Pain Management at a Harvard-affiliated hospital and served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine on that Faculty for almost 30 years. In 1987 he formed Mount Auburn Community Independent Practice Association, the most successful such entity in Massachusetts, which now has over 500 physicians and 70 employees. For the last 10 years of his career he also served as Medical Director or Senior Vice-President of Tufts Health Plans, a non-profit HMO recently rated #1 in the US by US News & World Report. While there, he sued TAP Pharmaceutical on behalf of the Federal Government under the False Claims Act, achieving a guilty plea and fines and rebates of almost $1 billion to the Treasury. 2 years ago he served as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University related to his experience in the Tufts positions. Dr. Gerstein has personally facilitated over 3000 SMART Recovery meetings, almost 800 in prisons. Dr. Gerstein and his wife received the American Humanist Association's Humanist Pioneers Award for their work in SMART Recovery and Dr. Gerstein was recently named Harvard Humanist of the Year

A live show and interview with Dr. Joe Gerstien from Massachusetts, with host Monica Richardson. Please join us live and in the chat room for any questions and comments. Joseph Gerstein was the Founding President of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Self-Help Network, Inc., d/b/a SMART Recovery in 1994. He introduced Rational Recovery into the Greater Boston area, then oversaw its spread throughout Massachusetts. In 1994, he participated in the creation of the new non-profit entity: SMART Recovery. Subsequent to his term as President, he was elected Treasurer, a post he held until elected President again for 2017. Dr. Gerstein has at various times served on the Boards of 10 non-profit organizations. He has served on a variety of Committees of SMART Recovery. Dr. Gerstein practiced Internal Medicine and Pain Management at a Harvard-affiliated hospital and served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine on that Faculty for almost 30 years. In 1987 he formed Mount Auburn Community Independent Practice Association, the most successful such entity in Massachusetts, which now has over 500 physicians and 70 employees. For the last 10 years of his career he also served as Medical Director or Senior Vice-President of Tufts Health Plans, a non-profit HMO recently rated #1 in the US by US News & World Report. While there, he sued TAP Pharmaceutical on behalf of the Federal Government under the False Claims Act, achieving a guilty plea and fines and rebates of almost $1 billion to the Treasury. 2 years ago he served as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University related to his experience in the Tufts positions. Dr. Gerstein has personally facilitated over 3000 SMART Recovery meetings, almost 800 in prisons. Dr. Gerstein and his wife received the American Humanist Association's Humanist Pioneers Award for their work in SMART Recovery and Dr. Gerstein was recently named Harvard Humanist of the Year

Listen to Joseph F. Gerstein, MD, FACP, SMART’s founding President, share ideas and examples of how to use the SMART tools to get through the Holiday Season -- enjoyably and with as little stress as possible.  Dr. Gerstein will also spend some time discussing the fundamental importance of motivation in the recovery process and ways to enhance that, and he will introduce an interesting phenomenon observed in study of the change process. It will be a wide-ranging conversation with lots of interesting food for thought. Dr. Gerstein was just awarded the 2016 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award “for his work over the last 25 years as the founding president of SMART Recovery, which we view among the greatest examples of community service in the history of modern humanism.”  As a practicing internist, He helped establish SMART Recovery and became its founding president in 1994. He has facilitated over 3,000 meetings and counting, with over 800 in correctional settings.  We are honored to have him, and we are so pleased to be able to share this very special Holiday podcast with you.  SMART Recovery depends on your donations! Please visit SMART Recovery or Click the Donate button below. © 2016 SMART Recovery®.  Music created and copyright 2016 Donald Sheeley with unlimited use as is donated to SMART Recovery.

In this episode, Chris Johnson, author of the book A Better Life and producer of the movie with the same title, talks about his experience creating these works and what it means to have “a better life.” Chris is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker. He received his undergraduate degree in film production (along with a minor in religious studies) from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. His photography has been seen in various outlets, including The New York Times. He has spent the last three years working on A Better Life, traveling across the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, and other countries. Apart from his own film and photographic work, he has also collaborated with artists and directors in various roles and capacities from assistant director and stage manager, for theatre, film, and print. For the book and film of A Better Life, he interviewed many prominent atheist figures such as Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Dan Dennett, Derren Brown, Pat Churchland, Julia Sweeney, Penn & Teller, and many more. He has given talks on atheism and his work at the Humanist Community at Harvard, New York Society for Ethical Culture, PA State Atheist/Humanist Conference, Sunday Assembly - New York, the Atheist Community of Austin, Freedom from Religion Foundation Annual Conference, and more. In addition, he has also been a guest on various podcasts and TV shows such as The Humanist Hour, Atheist Airwaves, The Phil Ferguson Show, The Atheist Experience, and Pivot TV's TakePart Live.

Dale McGowan has edited and co-authored Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, the first comprehensive resources for nonreligious parents. He writes the secular parenting blog The Meming of Life, teaches nonreligious parenting seminars across the United States, and serves as executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a 501(c)(3) humanist charitable and educational foundation based in Atlanta. In September 2008 he was named Harvard Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University. In this interview with D.J. Grothe, Dale McGowan talks about raising freethinking children who are steeped in the values of science and humanism. He confronts some of reasons why some nonreligious parents may continue to raise their children in a religion, including moral education, identity and community. He describes trends within the scientific rationalist and humanist movements to provide secular community, which he argues are being driven by freethinking families. He talks about ways that church is increasingly becoming replaced by secular communities, and how churches are increasingly becoming more like secular community centers, as opposed to worship centers. He argues that raising freethinkers is the opposite of indoctrinating children in atheism, secular humanism or skepticism, emphasizing that "freethinking" is an approach to knowledge as opposed to a worldview. He also argues that parenting should not be focused on the value of inquiry and scientific skepticism, but on wonder, mystery and awe. He talks about the dangers of inculcating elitism among freethinking children. He explains why teaching about religion to freethinking children is important. He addresses ways of confronting death and the meaning of life with freethinking children, including how highly unlikely it is that any of us even exist. He talks about alternatives to lying to children about heaven, including facts from physics about the atoms in our bodies having existed since the beginning of the universe, and how such scientific truths may take on mystical pantheistic meanings. He talks about new social science research on happiness, and how it relates to and informs secular parenting. And he cautions that applying the best social science to parenting shouldn't mean that we make our children our next science project. Also in this episode, Michael Blanford, founder of the Skeptical Society of St. Louis and coordinator for the Life Science Lab for the St. Louis Science Center, shares an audio essay about the awe of science for children and why freethinkers should be more emotionally engaged when celebrating evolution as the story of life.