Podcasts about heartland a memoir

It's expensive to run for any elected office—something that's reflected in the highly educated, wealthy individuals who make up most of our representatives. Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, joins Violet Lucca to discuss the potential outcome of the midterm elections. With voting, abortion, and the economy on the line, will the “blue wave”—itself a reductive term—be reversed? They discuss outsider candidates, issues impacting rural voters, and Smarsh's own experience of being asked to run for Senate—and why she decided not to. Read Smarsh's essay: https://harpers.org/archive/2022/11/in-the-running-sarah-smarsh-almost-running-for-office-kansas/ Subscribe to Harper's for only $16.97: harpers.org/save This episode was produced by Violet Lucca and Maddie Crum, with production assistance from Stephanie Hou.

Ali Velshi is joined by Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D – U.S. Virgin Islands), Joyce Vance, Former U.S. Attorney, Nancy Northup, President & CEO for Center for Reproductive Rights, Dara Lind, Immigration Reporter, Jacqueline Alemany, Congressional Investigations Reporter, Daniel S. Goldman, Former House Impeachment Inquiry Majority Counsel, Caleb Silver, Editor-in-Chief at Investopedia, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History at NYU, Stephanie Land, New York Times Best-Selling Author of ‘Maid', and Sarah Smarsh, Author of ‘Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth.

In today's podcast, Sarah Smarsh discusses her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth which is a 2018 National Book Award finalist and a 2022-2023 NEA Big Read title. Smarsh discusses her family background in rural Kansas, intergenerational poverty, and the difficulty of recognizing the impact of class in America. We also talk about her decision to tell the story of her family against a broader background of systemic inequality and of public policies that impact and shape the lives of rural working poor. In this conversation, as in the book, Smarsh combines sharp socioeconomic insights with the deep psychological understanding that comes from a lived experience in poverty.  

In today's podcast, Sarah Smarsh discusses her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth which is a 2018 National Book Award finalist and a 2022-2023 NEA Big Read title. Smarsh discusses her family background in rural Kansas, intergenerational poverty, and the difficulty of recognizing the impact of class in America. We also talk about her decision to tell the story of her family against a broader background of systemic inequality and of public policies that impact and shape the lives of rural working poor. In this conversation, as in the book, Smarsh combines sharp socioeconomic insights with the deep psychological understanding that comes from a lived experience in poverty.  

We’re living in a politically divided pandemic. We look to our leaders hoping for some understanding beyond politics. Understanding of the complexity of everyone’s lives. For many of us, there is someone who understands. Who gives us hope. But sadly, she’s not running for president. She’s been described as the most powerful, least political feminist in the world. That person is Dolly Parton. There’s a new book out by award winning writer Sarah Smarsh . In her writing and journalism she explores class and rural people. We talked to her for “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth”. The new book is out, just in time to give us some hope. It’s called “She Come By It Natural – Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs”. Check out WNYC's podcast "Dolly Parton's America". It's described as the story of a legend at the crossroads of America's culture wars.

Sarah Smarsh is a journalist based in Kansas. Her first book was Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth (2018), was a National Book Award finalist. Her new book, She Come By It Natural, deftly combines a biography of the indomitable, vexing figure of Dolly Parton with a family memoir and a story of coming of age as a feminist. Laura and Adrian talk to Sarah about feminism, commodification and the way Parton's body has been read and received. They talk about Hollywood and Pigeon Forge, about country music and growing up in the 1980s.

Michelle chats with Whitney Kimball Coe, director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies and the leader of the Rural Assembly, about the upcoming Rural Assembly Everywhere Festival, and with three presenters at this landmark event including, Kathleen Sebelius, former HHS Secretary, Benya Kraus, co-founder of Lead for America and Executive Director of Lead for Minnesota, and Norma Flores Lopez, chair of the Child Labor Coalition’s Domestic Issues Committee and an activist with Justice for Migrant Women.   Rural Assembly Everywhere is a free, five-day (October 26-30) streaming virtual conference/festival, where you can tune in at any time to find out what’s happening in this critical time in rural America, Coe explains. The festival includes “main stage” keynotes from various authors and thought leaders, including Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, Dr. Richard Besser of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Rural Everywhere will cover vital issues and headlines from The Daily Yonder, such as the rural vote in the 2020 elections, and racial justice in rural America. Breakout sessions will focus on more specific issues, including climate change, resiliency, and developing the next generation of rural leaders. Also, Coe notes, there will be a happy hour every day, at which attendees can network with other attendees. To register for this can’t miss virtual festival, visit ruralassembly.org. The major rural health issues today, according to Sebelius, include access to providers and hospitals; the promise of telemedicine to provide that access in, for example, specialty care and mental health; how resiliency in rural America can attract new providers and residents; and access to fast broadband, especially in education and health. Kraus, who will be facilitating a conversation with author Sarah Smarsh at the Everywhere event, discusses her rural outreach efforts in Minnesota, her relationship with immigrant and other entrepreneurs in Waseca, and the inspiring experience of “working your way back home.” At Lead for America, she explains, potential rural contributors can be matched with rural communities to earn two-year fellowships to enable them to bring best practices back to their hometowns. The Justice for Migrant Women, Lopez says, protects and advances rural and migrant women’s rights through education, public awareness, and advocacy. Rural America is not all white, as some politicians believe, but is actually diverse, and her organization tries to make sure that rural women are truly heard. In this election year, that means getting out the vote, she notes. Migrant farmworkers are essential works, she adds, and while they are starting to get more recognition, that doesn’t mean they’re getting needed workplace protections, such as overtime pay and the right to organize.  

Kansas writer Sarah Smarsh's 2018 book, "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth," was a New York Times best-seller and a finalist for the National Book Award. It earned her high-profile invitations, such as introducing civil rights icon Dolores Huerta at the 2019 Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. "It's been very humbling to know that folks who kind of have their hands on the levers of power saw something worth reading in the book," Smarsh said. Her new book is about a very different but perhaps more powerful figure: "She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived her Songs," is out this week from Simon & Schuster. "I was raised by women who didn't go to college, they never studied feminist theory, but they embodied feminism's tenets, even if they were averse to the term because it had been somehow weaponized by, you know, political forces," Smarsh said. "And it struck me that Dolly Parton was a was a perfect model to explain that."

In this episode, Ryan is joined by four of his WT colleagues: Dr. Alex Hunt, Dr. Tim Bowman, Dr. Ashley Pinkham, and Dr. Christopher Macaulay. Together we discuss Sarah Smarsh’s bestselling 2018 book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth. Smarsh was born in 1980 and grew up poor in southern Kansas, the daughter of generations of wheat farmers on one side and generations of teenage mothers on the other. Her memoir, a National Book Award finalist, reads as a corrective to the mystification of the struggles of the rural working-class in America. It is also a rhetorically complex work of literature, written as a letter to the unconceived daughter Smarsh promises herself she will never deliver into a life of poverty. The episode begins with a discussion of the panelists’ initial reactions, both critical and celebratory, followed by a more focused discussion in which they draw on their unique perspectives as scholars of literary studies, history, developmental psychology, and political science. Over the course of the conversation, we talk about a range of issues, from where the book fits into the tradition of Great Plains literature, to what it says about rural America’s ambivalent relationship with the two-party political system, to how we might imagine using this book in a college classroom in the Texas Panhandle.

Writers Tara Westover and Sarah Smarsh grew up in rural parts of the mid-section of America and chronicled the stories of their childhoods in best-selling books. While the books vary in emphasis, structure, and theme, both writers agree that people in the Heartland are easily stereotyped by the national media and politicians. “There’s a real gulf between the story we tell ourselves about a country and those conflict- and ratings-driven conversations in New York City studios, and what happens on-the-ground in local communities,” says Smarsh. They tell James Fallows, author of Our Towns, about what needs to change to eliminate these damaging stereotypes. Smarsh and Westover also describe how they’re using their platforms to address some of the most complex challenges that rural communities face today. Smarsh is the author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Riches Country on Earth. Westover wrote the book, Educated. The views and opinions of the podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.

SPECIAL EPISODE: We chat with the one and only Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth.   Additional links/info below... Sarah's Twitter page and website  Sarah Smarsh, Scribner Books, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth  The Homecomers (podcast) Twitter page   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Rural America and the 2020 ElectionGuest: Sarah Smarsh, Author of “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth”Rural America helped Donald Trump win the presidency and could give him another four years in office. Kansas author Sarah Smarsh says the prevailing story of what rural America is –who the people are, what they want, why they voted for Donald Trump –is largely wrong. Autopsy of a Wrongful ConvictionGuest: John Hollway, Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School2,482. That's how many people over the last 30 years have spent time in prison–an average of 8 years –and then been exonerated of the crime because it turned out they were innocent. 2,482 people. How do mistakes like that happen? Or maybe it's not mistakes –it's outright misconduct on the part of cops or prosecutors? Increasingly, cities around the country are setting up task forces to uncover wrongful convictions –and in a few cases, when they do, another task force comes into figure out what went wrong. Seniors Are at Higher Risk for SuicideGuest: Yeates Conwell, MD, Director of Geriatric Psychiatry, Co-Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, University of RochesterAs Baby Boomers reach their golden years, the risk of suicide among seniors is a growing concern. Americans 85 years and older have one of the highest suicides rates of any age group.National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Seagulls Have Some Redeeming QualitiesGuest: Sarah J. Courchesne, Associate Professor of Natural Science at Northern Essex Community College, Co-Coordinator for the Gulls of Appledore Project with the Shoals Marine LaboratorySeagulls can be really annoying. They steal your French fries. Poop on your beach towel. Harass your kids. The pesky birds have become such a problem in a New Jersey city that officials spent thousands of dollars this month on hawks, owls, and falcons to scare away the gulls. But maybe it's time we stop hating on them so much - Sarah Courchesne has been studying seagulls for the past 11 years, and she says we're missing how amazing these creatures are. How One Fungus Could Wipe Out the Banana as We Know ItGuest: Randy Ploetz, Professor of Plant Pathology at the Tropical Research & Education Center, University of Florida in Homesteadfungus that has been wiping out banana plantations in Asia and Australia has finally crossed the ocean to Latin America –where we get most of our bananas. The Colombian government has declared a national emergency. And scientists are scrambling to figure out how to protect the world's bananas.  Tackling Mental Health, Finding Hope on Social MediaGuest: Caroline Kaufman @poeticpoison, Author of “When the World Didn't End”Caroline Kaufman started posting raw, personal poetry on Instagram when she was a freshman in high school. At first, she did it anonymously under the handle @poeticpoison. Then her poems went viral and her following grew to over a hundred thousand. Teenagers, in particular, connected with her short, powerful poems about struggling with mental illness and thoughts of suicide, learning to cope with heartbreak and be kinder to herself. Six years later, Caroline Kaufman is attending Harvard and publishing her second poetry collection –the first came out last year was called “Light Filters In.” Her latest is “When the World Didn't End.”

Sarah Smarsh, author of the bestseller "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth," and Ken Ward, Jr., investigative journalist for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and recipient of the 2018 MacArthur “Genius” Award, share a conversation about media misrepresentations of rural people, and what they see as the real concerns of those living in the country. They were keynote speakers at the Life in Rural America Symposium held in Charleston WV on May 21, and organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NPR, and Harvard School of Public Health.

As a journalist and author, Sarah Smarsh has built her career around examining socioeconomic class. In 2018, her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth became a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award.  Sarah grew up outside of Wichita, Kansas, and spent much of her childhood on her family's farm. The Farm Crisis during the 1980s led to her family leaving farming behind, and her dad, Nick, had to find work elsewhere⁠—first, he worked locally on construction crews; now, he puts up buildings for fast food chains in far-flung places like Mississippi and Texas.  In this audio essay, Sarah interviews her dad about the changes he's endured throughout his lifetime, and about how, at 63, he thinks about his future as someone who builds things with his hands.  This episode is part of Death, Sex & Money's 2019 Maternity Leave Lineup. 

It’s not just economic inequality, the gap between rich and poor people, that’s growing wider in America. Spatial inequality, the gap between rich and poor places, is growing too. The most obvious example of spatial inequality is the decline of rural areas and the rise of cities. Can rural America be saved? And is urban America obligated to do the saving? Journalist Eduardo Porter and author Sarah Smarsh weigh in.  Eduardo Porter is an economics reporter for the business section of The New York Times, where he was the Economic Scene columnist from 2012 to 2018. He is the author of ‘The Price of Everything’ and is working on an upcoming book called ‘American Poison’.  Twitter: @portereduardo Sarah Smarsh is the author of ‘Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth’, which became an instant New York Times bestseller and was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award. She has covered socioeconomic class, politics, and public policy for The Guardian, The New York Times, and many other publications. Twitter: @Sarah_Smarsh The Hard Truths of Trying to ‘Save’ the Rural Economy: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/14/opinion/rural-america-trump-decline.html Country pride: What I learned growing up in rural America: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/06/country-pride-kansas-rural-america-sarah-smarsh America’s Worsening Geographic Inequality: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/10/americas-worsening-geographic-inequality/573061/ The Contribution of National Income Inequality to Regional Economic Divergence: https://academic.oup.com/sf/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/sf/soz013/5418441 The Economic Innovation Group’s 2018 Distressed Communities Index: https://eig.org/dci Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week proud Kansas native Sarah Smarsh (@Sarah_Smarsh) joined Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) to discuss her new book Heartland: A Memoir of Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth. From not knowing you’re poor, to feeling shame about your social class, Sarah Smarsh covers what growing up white and working class is like. Next, they discussed the intersection of public policy and private life, and why accurate media portrayal of poverty matters. Sarah ended by adding onto the call for representation amongst journalists and other media figures: “If we don’t know who we are, and we’re just going by these reductive and simplistic narratives, then how can we ever solve the problem?” Thanks to our sponsors! ZipRecruiter finds qualified candidates FOR you. Its powerful matching technology scans thousands of resumes to identify people with the right skills, education, and experience — and actively invites them to apply to your job. So, you get qualified candidates fast. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at this exclusive web address: ZipRecruiter.com/friends Using millions of real women’s measurements, ThirdLove designs its bras with breast size and shape in mind for an impeccable fit and incredible feel. ThirdLove’s team of expert Fit Stylists are dedicated to helping you find your perfect fit. If you don’t love their product, returns and exchanges are free and easy. Go to THIRDLOVE.com/FRIENDS now to find your perfect-fitting bra… and get 15% off your first purchase! Article is an online-only furniture copy. By eliminating the layers of traditional retail, Article is able to keep prices low and quality high.  No showrooms, no sales people, just savings. ARTICLE IS OFFERING OUR LISTENERS $50 OFF THEIR FIRST PURCHASE OF $100 OR MORE. TO CLAIM, VISIT ARTICLE.com/FRIENDS.

This past week, the Carver College of Medicine hosted its 12th annual Examined Life Conference. Our featured presenter, journalist and memoirist Sarah Smarsh, grew up in a family of farmers and teen mothers in Kansas. Her family, laborers trapped in a cycle of poverty, made the kinds of choices that poor people must make in rural America--whether to eat or seek medical attention, for instance. Decades of inattention--and scorn--from politicians and the media have widened this class divide, and have sent the inexorable message that their voices don't matter. Ms. Smarsh's recent book, Heartland: A Memoir of working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, tells the tales of her family's struggles with poverty, addiction, workplace injuries, and family violence that many economic and political elites don't have the background or will to truly understand. Though Ms. Smarsh has managed to escape that cycle, she has retained her citizenship in--and love for--that largely unexplored country, and offers a deep look at what it's like to be poor in the wealthiest and most powerful society on the planet. Our executive producer Jason T. Lewis, Rob Humble, Gabe Conley, Teneme Konne, and Christopher Portero Paff talk with Ms. Smarsh about what the working poor are facing, how our willful lack of understanding shapes our perceptions of their struggles, and why it's crucial that medicine encourages and welcomes them as providers.

Sarah Smarsh, author of the new book "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth," joined Shorenstein Center director Nicco Mele for a conversation on how the media covers rural America. This Shorenstein Center Speaker Series event was recorded October 1, 2018, at Harvard Kennedy School. Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com. 

This past week, the Carver College of Medicine hosted its 12th annual Examined Life Conference. Our featured presenter, journalist and memoirist Sarah Smarsh, grew up in a family of farmers and teen mothers in Kansas. Her family, laborers trapped in a cycle of poverty, made the kinds of choices that poor people must make in rural America--whether to eat or seek medical attention, for instance. Decades of inattention--and scorn--from politicians and the media have widened this class divide, and have sent the inexorable message that their voices don't matter. Ms. Smarsh's recent book, Heartland: A Memoir of working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, tells the tales of her family's struggles with poverty, addiction, workplace injuries, and family violence that many economic and political elites don't have the background or will to truly understand. Though Ms. Smarsh has managed to escape that cycle, she has retained her citizenship in--and love for--that largely unexplored country, and offers a deep look at what it's like to be poor in the wealthiest and most powerful society on the planet. Our executive producer Jason T. Lewis, Rob Humble, Gabe Conley, Teneme Konne, and Christopher Portero Paff talk with Ms. Smarsh about what the working poor are facing, how our willful lack of understanding shapes our perceptions of their struggles, and why it's crucial that medicine encourages and welcomes them as providers.

Host Cyrus Webb welcomes author Sarah Smarsh to #ConversationsLIVE to discuss her journey that led to the writing of HEARTLAND: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth.

Author Sarah Smarsh on her book "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country in the World." Lee Cheng and Fred Gedicks of BYU discuss af?rmative actions in American higher education.