Podcast appearances and mentions of leonard pitts

Diverse Voices Book Review hosts Hopeton Hay and Amanda Moore discuss their favorite novels of 2024 that were featured in author interviews. For Hopeton, his favorite novels were 54 Miles by Leonard Pitts, Jr., Guide Me Home by Attica Locke, and Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat. Amanda's favorite novels were Flores and Miss Paula by Melissa Riverro, Skin & Bones by Renee Watson, and What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Twitter - @diversebookshay Email: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com 

Dr. Gee and Leonard Pitts discuss bringing American history to life in order to reclaim the role of Black people in the development of the nation. Both men share the power of story to display the experience of the Black community in history and today. Leonard speaks to the Black experience through journalism, academic scholarship, commentary, and historical fiction. Hear how the details of his writing inform a long-standing missing perspective on history, including complicated characters that reveal the trauma and hurt of the Black community in American history. Read Leonard Pitts novel 54 Miles alexgee.com Support the Show: patreon.com/blacklikeme Join the Black Like Me Listener Community Facebook Group

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Leonard Pitts Jr., author of the novel 54 MILES. Continuing with characters from his earlier work, THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDDER, set during World War II, "54 Miles" is a historical novel that unfolds during the crucial weeks of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 in alabama. The story revolves around characters grappling with past trauma. Pitts delves into the challenges of weaving these characters' stories into the larger tapestry of the Civil Rights Movement. He also explores the intricacies of interracial relationships during the era of Jim Crow laws and the complex emotional dynamics within the families of the characters.The author of five novels, Leonard Pitts, Jr. was a journalist for more than forty years, including a long tenure as a nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald. He is the winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, in addition to many other awards.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Twitter - @diversebookshay Email: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com 

Woodbridge High School's Walter P.J. Gilefski Media Center has a chance to sit down with authors Lora Chilton and Leonard Pitts to discuss their latest historical novels. This experience was courtesy of Biblion Bookstore, The History Festival in Lewes, and Delaware Humanities.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. is back with a preview of his new historical novel, “54 Miles”, about the Civil Rights Movement.

Gun violence in the United States—the country with the highest gun ownership per capita—is an entrenched public health issue that impacts Americans across demographics and geographies. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 327 people a day are shot in the US, and 42,654 die from gun violence each year. Since the 1990s, Texas firearm-related homicides rose 66% and suicides involving firearms rose 40%. The Austin American-Statesman stated that Texas topped the list of gun related deaths in 2021, and in 2022 we witnessed the catastrophic mass-shooting in Uvalde leaving 19 children and two teachers dead at an elementary school. In the spirit of Dr. King's commitment to address critically important justice issues and create a more equitable society through engaging in nonviolent tactics, this event provides space to learn more about the public health impacts of gun violence, and to delve into our collective responsibilities to address this critical epidemic. The event will feature keynote speaker David Hogg, Co-Founder of March For Our Lives, followed by a panel of local public health researchers and organizers including Dr. Jeff Temple, Dean of Clinical Research in the School of Behavioral Health Science at UTHealth Houston; Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, Pediatric Trauma Surgeon at UTMB; Karlton Harris, Executive Director of The Forgotten Third; and Kimberly Mata-Rubio, who recently ran for mayor of Uvalde after her daughter was killed in the Robb Elementary School Shooting. The program featured a temporary memorial installation on the Plaza by Sandeigh Kennedy exploring the impacts of gun violence in 2023, contemplative music by DACAMERA Young Artists and poetry by Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez. Local organizations addressed gun violence in Houston and Texas were onsite after the event to share information about how to get involved in gun violence prevention efforts. About the Annual MLK Birthday Observance In 1979, The Rothko Chapel started the annual MLK Birthday Observance to connect the contemporary implications of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy to the ongoing struggle for civil and human rights, captured through artist Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk. This sculpture, located on the plaza adjacent to the Chapel, is dedicated to Dr. King. Recent presenters have included Civil Rights Freedom Singer Rutha Mae Harris, artist David Banner, columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., environmental justice leader Dr. Robert Bullard, MacArthur Fellow Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra, and photographer Devin Allen.

A friend rotated my brain toward the subject of fame.He aimed my eyes in a new direction when he said, “Do you remember that thing you sent me 10 or 15 years ago?”I gave him the same blank look that you would have given him.He continued, “It was that thing Leonard Pitts wrote about being ‘the Man.'”I recovered it from the Random Quotes database at MondayMorningMemo.com, handed my phone to him and told him to read it out loud. When he was finished, we laughed together like two little boys who heard someone fart in church.Here it is:“I've got nothing against fame. I'm famous myself. Sort of.OK, not Will Smith famous. Or Ellen DeGeneres famous. All right, not even Marilu Henner famous.I'm the kind of famous where you fly into some town to give a speech before that shrinking subset of Americans who still read newspapers and, for that hour, they treat you like a rock star, applauding, crowding around, asking for autographs.Then it's over. You walk through the airport the next day and no one gives a second glance. You are nobody again.Dave Barry told me this story once about Mark Russell, the political satirist. It seems Russell gave this performance where he packed the hall, got a standing O. He was The Man. Later, at the hotel, The Man gets hungry, but the only place to eat is a McDonald's across the road. The front door is locked, but the drive-through is still open. So he stands in it. A car pulls in behind him. The driver honks and yells, “Great show, Mark!”The moral of the story is that a certain level of fame — call it the level of minor celebrity — comes with a built-in reality check. One minute, you're the toast of Milwaukee. The next, you're standing behind a Buick waiting to order a Big Mac.”– Leonard Pitts, January 14, 2008There is something about laughing with a friend that soaks into your heart and redirects your thoughts.I woke up the next morning thinking about fame, and how easily it comes and goes.I thought about Bill Cosby and Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. And then my computer told me “Joe the Plumber” had died. Remember Joe the Plumber? He became a celebrity in 2008 when he asked Barack Obama a question. We learned later that his name wasn't Joe and he was never a plumber, but his perspective resonated with a lot of Americans.And then it hit me: Andy Warhol was a painter, but what we remember about him was his colorful comment about each person receiving “15 minutes of fame.”I could feel the freight train of curiosity gaining momentum in my mind, so I had to quickly decide whether to grab a handrail, swing aboard and see where it would take me, or spend the rest of the day regretting having missed the chance.I didn't want to live in regret, so I grabbed a handrail and was yanked off my feet into a noisy, rattling railcar.When my eyes had grown accustomed to the dust and the half-light, I found the following 19 statements carved into the wooden walls of that railcar. These statements were signed by Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Depp, Erma Bombeck, Tony Bennett, Emily Dickinson, John Wooden, Gene Tierney, Jack Kerouac, George Michael, Eddie Van Halen, Sinead O'Connor, Fran Lebowitz, Michael Huffington, Lord Byron, Arthur Schopenhauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Clive James, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Davy Crockett.But not in that order. I'm not going to tell you who said what, because I don't want your reactions to be influenced by your memories of those people.“Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.”“Fame is the thirst of youth.”“Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.”“Fame comes and goes. Longevity...

I've been chatting with Howie Klein every week for probably at least 10 years now, and always look forward to the insights he brings, even if we don't always agree. I can't wait to talk with Howie today about two main topics that are in the news right now. First up, the long-awaited changing of the guard in the House Democratic leadership. We'll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. And speaking up ugly, the mess in dealing with the contract negotiations between the railroad workers and the 14 unions who represent the workers. Before Howie joins in at the midway point of the hour, I have a few words to share regarding the rise in antisemitism and other bigotry, racism and hate brewing in the right wingnut political space. And I'll share Leonard Pitts' latest column, which everyone who cares about what's happening should read.

This week Adam hits it off with Leonard Pitts (the brilliant Dana Gould), a fourth generation groundskeeper for the Usher family, who shares his relationship woes and some family secrets in this House of Usher themed episode. For more with Dana check out an extended interview while supporting the show over on our Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/myneighborsaredead You can find Dana next at: The Comedy Club Of Kansas City November 3rd-5th - https://www.thecomedyclubkc.com/ or online at: https://www.danagould.com/ or https://www.youtube.com/c/hangingwithdoctorz ________________ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @MyDeadNeighbors Instagram: @MyNeighborsAreDead Email: MyNeighborsAreDead@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/myneighborsaredead Merchandise: TeePublic Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Tonight on the Last Word: Gov. Kathy Hochul says New York will be a safe harbor for Texas women. Also, President Biden holds private meetings with Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Plus, New Hampshire State Rep. William Marsh discusses joining Democrats over Republican vaccine opposition. And police are reinstalling Capitol fencing ahead of the pro-January 6th rally on Saturday. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Leonard Pitts and EJ Dionne also join Lawrence O'Donnell.

Plus... Julie Pace on her vision for the future of The Associated Press; how Rep. Nunes is using the courts to bully press; Ken Burns on Muhammad Ali's enduring legacy, and the dangers of partisan echo chambers. Ayesha Tanzeem, Leonard Pitts, Jr., Spencer Ackerman, Michael Daly, Laura Edelson, Liz Mair, David Folkenflik, Julie Pace and Ken Burns join John Avlon. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Welcome to the Your Money Hour Podcast with Dakota Grady! Today I am interview two guests. Leonard Pitts, serial entrepreneur in Greenville, SC & Pamela Adams whom is an Interior Designer & Community Advocate in Greenville. Leonard & I discuss: 1. His story to entrepreneurship 2. Our journey to visit his various businesses 3. One tip to inspire you to pursue your dreams In the second segment, Pamela & I talk about: 1. Equity Justice Initiative (EJI) 2. Atrocities that occurred in Greenville, SC 3. Call to action Tune into the Your Money Hour Podcast to hear the interviews & add value to your life! Tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Dakota Grady has resources to help you maximize your money to level up your life! Visit dakotagrady.com for financial coaching, Financial Hope (paperback, e-book, & audiobook), & course (The Dakota Grady System). Need to file back taxes or amend a tax return? Visit theatdoc.com to get the help that you need! **I do not have the rights to this music. ** --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychoanalysis

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Neil Altman's White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020) is a slip (80 pages including references and the index) of a book that reads as both addendum and antidote to some of the literature aimed at waking white people (Ta-Nahesi-Coates' “dreamers”) up to the realities of racism. I say antidote as some of that literature (the work of Robin Di Angelo and Ibram X. Kendi come to mind) seems to depend on commands from the super ego to shed the scales from white eyes. On finishing Di Angelo's White Fragility (which was required reading last summer) I felt both paranoid and ashamed and had to wonder how self-policing was going diminish my racism? Altman's book intervenes precisely in this potentially deleterious cycle arguing that anti-racist thinking that relies on “should” and “oughts”, are potentially doomed to fail. By attacking the defenses rather than softening them, such efforts run the risk of hardening the racism they set out to transform. Humans hate. Freud tells us it is our first feeling. Undeniably, hating can fill us with great and solidifying pleasure. Racism is one form of hatred. When acted on, it can and does destroy lives. Fully loaded with white privilege, white people are apt to act on our racism, and also to shudder, deny or dissociate when encountering our racist thoughts and feelings. When confronted with our racism and its impact, with our awareness that we in fact rely on denigrating stereotypes to feel a little better about ourselves, states of mortification (deathliness) emerge that do no one any good. Such a state is a purely narcissistic one where the other has been snuffed out. If you are white, as I am, you have likely found yourself more than once tossing the hot potato of your own racism as far away as from yourself as you can. And some part of you feels weakened by being this way but it is practically an involuntary reflex. Thinking about this reflex, Altman employs Melanie Klein's thinking about what it means to be human, which highlights our ineluctable destructiveness. If hate is a human feeling, not one to be gotten rid of but rather one to be accepted and contended with, there may be a way for us to take responsibility for being hurtful, for being racist. Hating hate or hating our racism can maintain the status quo. In fact, hidden hateful feelings seek justification and become reified, rather than being fleeting—as all feelings truly are. Altman highlights the difference between making reparations based on guilt versus the descent into guiltiness. Guilt implies that one is interested in our impact on others because we know that in living, we will hurt many people along the way. Guiltiness, which we can see in white virtue signaling around racism, has much more to do with returning the self that has harmed to its happy and perfect place without addressing the harm done. While white people are primed, particularly in an American context, to say and do horrible and hurtful racist things, it is the disavowal of the destructiveness that perhaps does, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the most harm in the end. Altman quotes the journalist Leonard Pitts who captures the experience of white negation succinctly, writing, “If people who hate you would stand up and declare it you would not have to go through with your day on guard against the world.” The refusal to take responsibility for the harm we do—and Altman makes the strong point that whiteness can be defined as an identity that is principally based on dehumanization—keeps white people on the run from reality. When we depend on delusions to shore us up, a part of us knows we are in real bad shape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Welcome to the Your Money Hour Podcast with Dakota Grady! Today I am joined by serial entrepreneur Leonard Pitts in Greenville, SC. The interview took place at one of Leonard's businesses, Wholy Smoke Family Restaurant. Leonard & I toured each of his business that started with visiting his video gaming bus. The bus has cutting edge technology & various consoles for gamers to enjoy! The next stop was at his recreation center facility, Brookside Recreation Center, in Mauldin, SC. Leonard shares his vision of owning the center & the story of the death of his sister in relation to swimming. Later, we ate lunch (at did the podcast!) at Wholy Smoke Family Restaurant. The restaurant is family friendly & even has vegan meal options (for us vegans!). In addition to the business tour, Leonard talks about his inspiration for becoming a business owner & the steps he takes to start a new venture. Tune in to hear about the rest of the tour & learn about Leonard's other businesses. You don't want to miss this episode! dakotagrady.com (personal finance) theatdoc.com (accounting, tax, & business advisory solutions) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Trudi Daniels (@TrudiDan) & Marc Fellhauer (@MarcFell) are here today! Robbie Robertson from The Band joins us, the WeWork cult, Bisco's gentlemen's club, too many COVID-19 docs coming, new Alaska audio, and we answer the age-old questions about farts.Guess what? We have brand new Alaska Thunderf**k audio!Politicians are too similar to Televangelists. Nancy Pelosi doesn't need your lecture when it comes to Tara Reade and Joe Biden.Repeat after him: Drew wants more and he's not a baby!Drew takes us down a tour of The Band as we wait for Robbie Robertson to call in & watch Trudi sweat it out.Drew's forensic accountant obsession began with Sammie Davis Jr's need for one.Drew has started reading 'The Ox: The Authorized Biography of The Who's John Entwistle'. I love The Who.U2, Elton John and many more are jumping on the T. Rex tribute.Robbie Robertson finally connects to talk about the great documentary Once Were Brothers. Check out Alaska Thunderf**k's badass hits including "Anus" and "Heiiiiiiiii"!Roger Hodgson of Supertramp is not a fan of toilet humor. Farts? Yes or No?The Osbourne family is still using Ozzy to get on TV and keep their careers going (Sharon gets a pass) and Parks and Rec comes back for one questionable quarantined show.Trudi has a theory that Harrison Ford is trying to plane crash his way out of a relationship with Ally McBeal.Where is all the money being raised for COVID-19 go?Vice did a piece on WeWork and Adam Neumann showing what a cult and house of cards the company was before it's IPO filing.There's a new story everyday with Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler. This time, Jay has to tell Kristin she doesn't need ANOTHER home. Cue ADAM!BREAKING NEWS: It looks like Drew may finally get refunded for his Tigers tickets, but only for April and May.We check on the fart poll (Yes is winning) and find a conspiracy that BranDon's infamous 'Fart 32' is actually Paula Abdul's fart.Costco is ready to get back to normal, but don't forget your mask.How many Coronavirus documentaries are being made right now? Too many.Britney Spears burned down her gym somehow... but she looks fantastic working out in the new one.Prince Harry's "life is in shambles" since Meghan entered and turned it upside down.The NCAA may finally let some players make some money. OJ Simpson breaks it down for us.Meanwhile the NBA is looking to finish their season at Disney World!Eminem took out an intruder in his house while his security slept.BranDon's childhood bestie, David Hartman, does still exist and will eventually be reunited with BranDon after the Coronavirus crap. Drew recaps his daily 97.1 The Ticket listening.No Filter Sports has a new episode out and it includes an interview with Dave Bing and info on Denny McLain's dating profiles.Bisco's is the premier gentleman's club in Emmett despite some of their Google reviews.More 1-Star reviews are coming in for our show. Stop being mean and leave us a 5-star review.Some people are saying that the Lansing protests are getting played out.Will Justin Amash being a third-party candidate for President hurt Trump, Biden or neither?Texas beauty salons have some serious security.Leonard Pitts will not "die of stupid", but some commenters seem to hope he does.

The Eye of the Storm in the tower at Wizard Academy, under construction in 2009. We are feeling unsettled again.And when I say we, I don't mean me, I mean all of us. Unsettled feelings are ominous. We are acting as though we have heard the four notes of the Dies irae, that ominous musical phrase* that has signaled impending tragedy for the past 800 years. Being thus unsettled, we are making big decisions with too little information and those decisions will have consequences. Unsettled lions like you and I are dangerous.I'll not speculate on the specific causes for our feelings of unsettlement, for I suspect we have many different reasons. We were first unsettled on 9/11 when we saw the unhappenable happen. We became unsettled again in 2008 when we were betrayed by Enron and Worldcom and Bernie Madoff and subprime mortgages. I agree with what Leonard Pitts wrote in 2006.“We often talk about Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in terms of failures: failures of intelligence, failures of planning, failures of communication. But these catastrophes were first and foremost failures of imagination. Did we know that a major hurricane could destroy New Orleans? Yes: it was even part of the tour guides' spiel. Did we know terrorists wanted to bring down the World Trade Center? Yes: they made a credible attempt in 1993. And what did we do with what we knew? Nothing. Some disasters, I think, are so big and so awful they are literally beyond our power to conceive. So, we dismiss them out of hand, retreat to the ‘knowledge' that a thing can't happen because, well, it just can't.” – Leonard Pitts, July 6, 2006 Leonard Pitts was obviously feeling unsettled when he wrote that. We feel unsettled when our beliefs are crushed.“Belief is about collecting ideas and investing in them. Faith is about having your ideas obliterated and having nothing to hang onto and trusting that it's going to be all right anyway.” – Barbara Hall I appreciate Barbara Hall's perspective. Tragedy is the arrival of the unexpected bad. Serendipity is the arrival of the unexpected good. I say we should begin looking for the unexpected good. What do you say? To prepare for the unexpected bad is to be cautious, and there is nothing wrong with that. But to anticipate the unexpected good is to be hopeful. And that's okay, too, isn't it? “If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe in it… Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a [person] needs to believe in the most.” – Hub McCann, Secondhand Lions I write these words to you because I'm seeing solid people make dicey decisions because they are feeling unsettled. They are changing what they can because they are feeling frustrated by what they cannot change. I believe in miracles, but most miracles happen slowly. “There's magic in the world. There is. People will tell you there isn't—they just want you to get back to work and be quiet and not ask questions. These are people who don't know where to look, or who were not blessed with eyes that could see magic. Magical eyes. If you have them, develop them.” – Tennessee Williams Do you still believe in miracles? Do you have eyes that can see sparkling magic in the air all around you? Serendipity is the arrival of the unexpected good. I think I hear it twinkling just ahead. Roy H. Williams

Each week, twice a week, millions of readers seek Leonard Pitts' insightful and passionate voice. His highly-anticipated column is syndicated in more than two-hundred newspapers across the country, including The Miami Herald. Pitts' conversation with Mitchell reveals how he selects his stories, and sometimes, how they select him. Pitts will also talk about and read from his latest novel, The Last Thing You Surrender. This episode of The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan was recorded at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. Host: Mitchell Kaplan Producer: Carmen Lucas Editor:  Lit Hub Radio Links:  https://booksandbooks.com/ https://lithub.com/ http://www.leonardpittsjr.com/index.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local News Chat: Oshkosh Leaders & Sturgeon Stories (0:00)Your Take on Trash Dumped on Lake Winnebago, Fine (20:27)Leonard Pitts Jr on Conversations About Race in America (37:58)Nonpartisan Redistricting with Jay Heck, Common Cause (59:47)The Takeaway: All-or-Nothing Thinking Derails Debates (1:32:49)

Local News Chat with Karen Schneider of the Oshkosh Herald (0:00)Charlie Sykes on the Fight Over the Future of Conservatism (17:36)Leonard Pitts on the Importance of Words and Toxic Politics (35:49)Professor Podair recaps 6th CD Debate & U.S.-Saudi Relationship (55:35)The Takeaway: You Can't Hide from the Facts Forever (1:24:38)

Happy Tuesday podcasters! Check out my interview with Ron Stallworth and Leonard Pitts, Jr. + special guest and good friend Anthony Williams. Make sure to leave us a review and let us know what you think!

How long has it been? 5 years? 10 years? An eternity?! No, it’s only been one year but damn if it doesn’t feel like longer since Trump took the oath of office. Today, we take a look back at the previous year and digest the lowlights and lowest lights of Trump: Year 1. We begin the show with the eloquent, Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts, to get his perspective on the roller-coaster of a year. Then we move onto business-whiz CNBC contributor Ron Insana, and from there we go to the resistance with Scott Dworkin, leader of the Democratic Coalition against Trump. Finally we are graced famed actor and activist Ron Perlman, and no, he didn’t ride in on a Harley and break my legs… Start your engines and lets ride!

"Freeman" by Leonard Pitts, Jr. follows three main characters at the end of the Civil War. Tilda, a former slave woman freed by the end of the war. Her estranged husband, Sam Freeman, who had been a slave but managed to escape to the North. And Prudence Kent, a White woman from Boston whose father was wealthy. Through these three characters, we get very different perspectives on the time. I enjoyed "Freeman". It was an emotional roller coaster that had me in my feelings at quite a few points. The book was a quick read and I was able to finish it in about a week or two. Visit NoireHistoir.com for show notes and video.

I'm honored to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. to the program. In addition to his award-winning syndicated columns which originate with the Miami Herald, he also writes acclaimed novels like Freeman and Before I Forget. In this episode we discuss his latest novel, Grant Park, in which a newspaper columnist and his editor are already having a horrible day when they become entangled with two white-supremacist, wannabe terrorists.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts' new book, Grant Park, explores the last four decades of U.S. race relations through the interconnected stories of two Chicago journalists: Malcolm Toussaint, a celebrated black columnist, and Bob Carson, his unassuming white editor. The night before Election Day in 2008, Toussaint sneaks an incendiary, racially charged column into the paper, defying his editors' wishes, and then promptly disappears. The next morning, with Toussaint nowhere to be found, Carson is fired. Toussaint has been kidnapped off the street by a pair of white supremacists who scheme to bomb Barack Obama's Election Night rally in Grant Park. Carson, furious and determined to confront Toussaint, must also deal with the sudden reappearance of his lost love, a fellow former peace activist now working for the Obama campaign.Leonard Pitts' column appears in the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of the novels Freeman and Before I Forget, the memoir Becoming Dad, and Forward From This Moment: Selected Columns, 1994-2009.Recorded On: Monday, October 19, 2015

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts' new book, Grant Park, explores the last four decades of U.S. race relations through the interconnected stories of two Chicago journalists: Malcolm Toussaint, a celebrated black columnist, and Bob Carson, his unassuming white editor. The night before Election Day in 2008, Toussaint sneaks an incendiary, racially charged column into the paper, defying his editors' wishes, and then promptly disappears. The next morning, with Toussaint nowhere to be found, Carson is fired. Toussaint has been kidnapped off the street by a pair of white supremacists who scheme to bomb Barack Obama's Election Night rally in Grant Park. Carson, furious and determined to confront Toussaint, must also deal with the sudden reappearance of his lost love, a fellow former peace activist now working for the Obama campaign.Leonard Pitts' column appears in the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of the novels Freeman and Before I Forget, the memoir Becoming Dad, and Forward From This Moment: Selected Columns, 1994-2009.

Freeman takes place in the first few months following the Confederate surrender and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Sam, a runaway slave who once worked for the Union Army, decides to leave his safe haven in Philadelphia and sets out on foot for the war-torn South in search of his wife Tilda. Meanwhile Sam's wife is being forced to walk at gunpoint with her owner and other slaves from Mississippi to Arkansas. A third character, Prudence, is a fearless, headstrong white woman of means who leaves her Boston home to start a school for former slaves in Mississippi.Leonard Pitts, Jr. won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his twice-weekly syndicated column which appears in more than 200 newspapers, including the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of the novel Before I Forget and the memoir Becoming Dad.  Recorded On: Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Total Tutor will interview Denise Murray and her daughter Daija Green. Daija is in high school and has created a mobile phone ap. We will discuss how she started to develop it. Next, The Total Tutor will interview Phillip Anthony. The topic will be how to get through college in this tough economy. Also, I will interview author Leanord  Pitts. We will discuss his book Freeman. Last, I will interview Erin Mchugh author of One Good Deed. .

Host Hopeton Hay interviews Leonard Pitts about his new novel Freeman. Freeman chronicles the attempt by a former slave living in Philadelphia to reunite with his wife in Mississippi shortlay after the end of the Civil War. He travel nearly 1000 miles to find his wife he hasn't seen in 15 years. Leonard Pitts is a Pulitzer Prize winning syndicated newspaper columnist.

We stay too busy to think big thoughts. This frantic busyness, this voluntary slavery to the merely urgent is preferred, I think, because big thoughts make us realize that we are much smaller creatures than we like to pretend. “We often talk about Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in terms of failures: failures of intelligence, failures of planning, failures of communication. But these catastrophes were first and foremost failures of imagination. Did we know that a major hurricane could destroy New Orleans? Yes: it was even part of the tour guides' spiel. Did we know terrorists wanted to bring down the World Trade Center? Yes: they made a credible attempt in 1993. And what did we do with what we knew? Nothing. Some disasters, I think, are so big and so awful they are literally beyond our power to conceive. So, we dismiss them out of hand, retreat to the ‘knowledge' that a thing can't happen because, well, it just can't.” – Leonard Pitts, July 6, 2006   America's largest mortgage companies and accounting firms were engaged in fraud; such massive fraud that it nearly toppled our national economy; but the Justice Department and the SEC chose to look the other way and pretend that everything was fine. British Petroleum drilled deeper in the ocean than they could control and our safety inspectors just crossed their fingers and joined in the pretense that nothing would go wrong. A Japanese power company built a nuclear reactor on a known geological fault and their safety inspectors crossed their fingers as well. I agree with Leonard Pitts. We're often foolish children, crossing our fingers and retreating to the ‘knowledge' that a thing can't happen because, well, “It just can't.” When authorities tell us we're being reckless, we cry out against “government interference” and vote the bastards out of office. Then, when finger crossing doesn't shield us from disaster, we blame the government agency that “failed to do its job.” But those aren't big thoughts. Those are just some of the little emergencies we talk about to avoid thinking big thoughts. Buckminster Fuller was a thinker of big thoughts. He called our planet Spaceship Earth because he was fully aware that seven billion of us are crammed on a tiny speck of dust circling an 11,000-degree fireball that flies at 252 times the speed of a bullet through a limitless vacuum. Bucky muttered, “Sometimes I think we're alone (in the universe.) Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering.” Bucky spoke truly. Intelligent life exists beyond our little planet or it does not. And either way, the thought is staggering. Will you take a few moments to be staggered by that thought or will you just turn up the volume of the television? Another big thought is the thought of God. If Charlie Darwin was right, our species resulted from the biological equivalent of spontaneous combustion. But Aiden Wilson Tozer pondered the same big thought and muttered, “All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him.” Darwin was right or Tozer was right. Either way, the thought is staggering. Thousands of you are annoyed with me right now for bringing up these big thoughts. But in my defense I offer one last question: Doesn't this annoyance prove my opening paragraph? Last week I wrote about me. This week, as promised, I wrote about you. Perhaps next week I'll write about business and it will be valuable enough that you'll choose to overlook the fact that I occasionally seem to have no feel for the boundaries of polite society. I probably ought to work on that. Roy H. Williams

Have we mentioned Dan's going to be a grandpa?Soup Smorgasbord?Mail Bag:One from Mike: Why we like children.One from Becky: Blonde jokes.Two from Earl:1) Suggests a new segment on the show "To F-ing bad"?2) Commentary on a Leonard Pitts article.One from Peter: Trading bibles for porn in San Antonio.The Rest of the Show:1) Iran's Ahmadinejad calls Sept 11 big fabrication.2) Toyota moves past apologies, aims for sales. To early?3) ACORN workers cleared in New York City prostitute video.4) Pennsylvania man dies during storm when 911 calls unheeded.

Leonard Pitts reads from his new novel, Before I Forget.In this novel from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, Mo Johnson, a faded soul star of the '70s with early-onset Alzheimer's, takes his 19-year-old son on a cross-country road trip to visit his estranged father. This in-depth anatomy of black fatherhood is a brilliantly plotted multigenerational road story spanning rural Mississippi in the '40s, South Central L.A. in the '50s, the '70s soul music scene, and present-day L.A., Vegas, and Baltimore.Leonard Pitts writes for the Miami Herald. He is the author of Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.Recorded On: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

When Samuel Langhorne Clemens began to write, he adopted the pen name Mark Twain, a common shout among riverboat pilots on the Mississippi river. When Sholem Rabinovich began to write, he adopted the pen name Sholem Aleichem, a common Yiddish greeting whose most accurate translation would be, “Peace be unto ya'll” or “Peace be unto youse.” Mark Twain gave us Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a celebration of everyday river life in 1800s America. Sholem Aleichem gave us Tevye the Milkman and Fiddler on the Roof, a celebration of everyday Jewish life in 1800s Russia. Both men had similar styles of writing and both were known for their audacious wit. Either might have said, “A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction.” (But in this case it was Sholem Aleichem.) One might assume the Russian writer adopted the trademarks of the American Mark Twain to become an East European version of that famous humorist and philosopher but that assumption would be incorrect. When Sholem Aleichem came to the United States in 1905, Twain sought him out and confessed that he considered himself to be “the American Sholem Aleichem.” When Sholem Aleichem died in New York in 1916, 100,000 mourners gathered at his funeral. Instructions were left for his family and friends to “select one of my stories, one of the very merry ones, and recite it in whatever language is most intelligible to you.” “Let my name be recalled with laughter,” he added, “or not at all.” These annual readings of the wit, audacity and rich philosophy of Sholem Aleichem have continued each May to the present day, and in recent years have become open to the public. Sholem Aleichem said things few men dared to say. And he made a difference in the culture of his day. Leonard Pitts is another man like Sholem Aleichem. A columnist syndicated by the Miami Herald, Leonard Pitts first came to my attention on July 12, 2001, when Pennie handed me our newspaper and pointed to a scathing review of the just-released movie, Baby Boy. Midway through the review, Pitts began firing word bullets aimed with the precision of a champion marksman: Everybody should have a white man. Even white men should have a white man.Because when you have a white man, nothing is ever your fault. You're never required to account for your own failings or take the reins of your own destiny. The boss says, “Why haven't you finished those reports, Bob?” and you say, “Because of the white man, sir.”I'm not here to sell you some naive nonsense that racism no longer exists. One has only to look around with open eyes to see that it continues to diminish the fiscal, physical and emotional health of African-American people. All of us are obligated to raise our voices in protest of this awful reality.But black folks are also obligated to live the fullest lives possible in the face of that reality. To live without excuses.Leonard Pitts works hard to understand the perspective of America's white majority. Are you willing to work to understand the perspectives of America's Black and Brown minorities?  Are you willing, as a white person, to speak up to your white friends as boldly as Leonard Pitts spoke to the black community? Will you, as part of a cultural minority, work to understand the actions of those who frustrate you? Will you listen and contemplate and use wit and humor to open the eyes of those who don't see clearly? If so, I want you to apply for a scholarship to https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=104 (become one of Wizard Academy's World Changers) for 2008. We're going to approach this racism thing from a whole new direction. Aroo. Roy H. Williams

In January of 2004 I launched a public presentation: Society's 40-year Pendulum. Audiences from Stockholm to Sydney to Vancouver to Myrtle Beach will recall my statement, “2003 was the first year in a 6-year transition from the Idealist perspective to the Civic.” 2008 will be the sixth and final year of that transition. Labels like Baby Boomer and Gen-X and Soccer Mom assume a person's outlook is determined by when they were born. This is a very foolish assumption. Look around and you'll see that Baby Boomers aren't Boomers anymore. Most have adopted an entirely new outlook and are becoming part of what's happening now. By the end of 2008 there won't be a Baby Boomer left in America. The last, reluctant holdout will finally admit that Woodstock is over, Kennedy is dead, and the Idealism of the 60's was a wistful dream. In their 1993 book, Generations, Strauss and Howe asserted that western society swings from an Idealist outlook to a Civic perspective and back again with the precision of pendulum. And at the bottom of each arc, the new views introduced by that generation's youth will be adopted by the adults within 6 years of the tipping point. 1963 introduced the Idealist outlook we associate with “Baby Boomers.” 1968 was the final year of that transition. By 1969, everyone in America, regardless of their age, was seeing through rose colored lenses. http://mondaymemo.wpengine.com/newsletters/1963-all-over-again (2003 was 1963 all over again), but this time we're headed in the opposite direction. 2008 will be the last year of our transition to a Civic perspective. Here's what to remember when selling in 2008: 1. Efficiency is the new Service. Your customer is saying, “Quality and price and quick, please. I've got things to do. Thanks.” Service and selection still matter, but not nearly so much as they once did. Inefficient organizations built on high-touch “relationship” selling will decline. Today's customer is magnetically drawn to efficiency. This attraction will increase over the next few years. 2. Authenticity is essential. Listen to the street. “Being cool” has become “Keepin' it real.” Naiveté is rare today. Your customer is equipped with a bullshit detector that is highly sensitive and amazingly accurate. And the younger the customer, the more accurate their bullshit detector. When selling, remember: If you don't admit the downside, they won't believe the upside. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Leonard Pitts gave us an example of “keepin' it real” when he opened his syndicated column recently with the following lines: I've got nothing against fame. I'm famous myself. Sort of.OK, not Will Smith famous, or Ellen DeGeneres famous. All right, not even Marilu Henner famous.I'm the kind of famous where you fly into some town to give a speech before that shrinking subset of Americans who still read newspapers and, for that hour, they treat you like a rock star, applauding, crowding around, asking for autographs.Then it's over. You walk through the airport the next day and no one gives a second glance. You are nobody again.Dave Barry told me this story about Mark Russell, the political satirist. It seems Russell gave this performance where he packed the hall, got a standing O. He was The Man. Later, at the hotel, The Man gets hungry, but the only place to eat is a McDonald's across the road. The front door is locked, but the drive-through is still open. So he stands in it. A car pulls in behind him. The driver honks and yells, “Great show, Mark!”For the record, I consider Leonard Pitts to be one of the greatest living writers in the world today. http://mondaymemo.wpengine.com/?ShowMe=Greatest_Living_Writer (Read his column) and see if you don't agree. 3. A Horizontal Connectedness is replacing yesterday's vertical, social hierarchy. Labels like “white collar” and “blue collar” sound almost racist today. The new American dream isn't about pulling ahead and...

Mail Bag:Patrick on Freedom Fighter versus Insurgent.Earl sends in a Leonard Pitts article.Unnamed Listener.A pro Bush letter to the editor.Baghdad is without electricity.The Rest of the Show1) Japan leader dismisses U.S. call for apology to WWII sex slaves.2) Smokers International Airlines.3) FBI withholds information that would have cleared 4 men.