Some months ago, Tara discovered a podcast that gripped her from its very first episode. That podcast is Banished, from Substack’s Booksmart Studios , and it is a deeply thoughtful and nuanced look at the rising tide of censorship and intolerance. Its host is a remarkable academic who is fiercely committed to open inquiry. Amna Khalid is an historian and a professor at Carleton College. She is a prolific writer of essays, often with her colleague Jeff Snyder, on the big issues of our time — incl...
Jun 01, 2022•32 min
Many of us have had the feeling over the last few years that things were just not adding up, that the narratives in the mainstream media simply were not making sense. Well, my guest on the podcast today had that experience earlier than most, years back, with online feminism – and it sowed the seed that became her most recent book. Meghan Daum is an essayist and the author of six books. She’s a former opinion columnist with the Los Angeles Times, and the host of weekly interview podcast, The Unsp...
May 25, 2022•31 min•Ep. 22
How free is Canada as a country? It’s a question that Tara's guest on the podcast today tackled in a book, back in 2020. He concluded that our freedom was actually pretty precarious. Philip Slayton is a Canadian lawyer and a former dean of law at Western University. He’s also a former president of PEN Canada, and a bestselling author. His latest book is Nothing Left To Lose: An Impolite Report on the State of Freedom in Canada . Philip joins Tara today for a lively, state-of-the-nation conversat...
May 19, 2022•38 min
“We’re liberated, and we’re miserable.” That’s a title of a chapter in Chrisine Emba’s new book, Rethinking Sex: A Provocation – and one a lot of people can relate to. The Sexual Revolution held lots of promises of freedom and liberation, but in many ways it just hasn’t delivered. We’re in the midst of a sex recession, marriage is in decline, and a recent Pew survey found that nearly half of American adults say that dating has gotten harder for most people over the last 10 years. Women know this...
May 11, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 20
When Antonio Michael Downing set out to write his memoir, he gave himself some written instructions: “Tell it plainly, let the sweet be sweet, let the sour be sour, let the truth ring its own bell.” This led to his critically-acclaimed book Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming. In it, the Canadian author and musician recounts his childhood in Trinidad, and what he learned about humanity adjusting to life in various cities and towns in Ontario, in Brooklyn, New York, and out on tour. Anton...
May 04, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In the fall of 2015, Tara's guest on the podcast today had just arrived at Yale. He was an Air Force veteran, working-class, a former foster child. So, when a massive crisis erupted over emails about Halloween costumes and campus "safety," he was a bit perplexed. Rob Henderson is a PhD student in psychology at Cambridge University, and a rising academic star. He writes a popular newsletter on human nature, psychology, and social class at Substack, and has been published in The New York Times and...
Apr 28, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Does every human being deserve to have love in their life? The American prison system – through its policies – often answers that question with a “no.” But the human instinct to seek out companionship, affection, and care runs deep. And every year, some of the roughly 2 million people behind bars fall in love with people on the outside. And the way the prisons treat these bonds says a lot about the state of mass incarceration. Brooklyn writer Elizabeth Greenwood spent five years reporting on rom...
Apr 20, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 17
On the Lean Out podcast, we’ve talked a lot about the haves and the have nots. Our guest today has another way of thinking about this: he calls it the front row of America and the back row. The front row is in power; it values education, credentials, and consumerism. But the back row values different things – things like family, faith, and place. Chris Arnade is a writer and photographer who covers poverty and addiction. He’s the author of Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America. His new pr...
Apr 13, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 16
There are a lot of things that we don’t talk about in our society right now. And one of those things is fatherhood. The role of fathers – and the power of their presence, and care – is not explored that often, or in much detail. But our guest on the podcast this week says that needs to change. Shaka Senghor is a tech executive, a New York Times bestselling author, a former fellow at the MIT media lab, and a leading voice on criminal justice reform. He’s also a former inmate, having served ninete...
Apr 06, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 15
If you're a regular listener of Lean Out, you know that Tara is pretty concerned about the state of the left. Her guest today has concerns of his own. Ben Burgis is a philosophy professor, a columnist for Jacobin magazine, and host of the Give Them An Argument podcast. His recent book, Canceling Comedians While the World Burns, is a brilliant critique of the contemporary left. Ben Burgis makes the case for a smarter, funnier, and more strategic left - that's today on Lean Out. You can find Tara ...
Mar 30, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In today’s media environment, there are often a lot of unanswered questions. Because narratives are so powerful, and because the media is so polarized, there are often pieces of information that don’t quite fit with any given story. For example: that Trump managed to increase his support among Black voters in the 2020 election, particularly Black men. What happened? Tara's guest on the podcast today has one possible answer. Jason L. Riley is a conservative commentator in the U.S. He’s a columnis...
Mar 23, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Given the state of the world right now, it’s probably fair to say that a whole lot of us are currently lost in a downward spiral of doomscrolling, utterly overwhelmed by the news. But Tara's guest on the podcast today says things have been bad like this for some time – that, in fact, our civilization is in a form of decline. Andrew Potter is an associate professor at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He’s a former editor-in-chief of the Ottawa Citizen, a former public af...
Mar 17, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 12
With the violence in Ukraine dominating headlines, the world is feeling dark — and uncertain. So today on the podcast, we’re going to spotlight a story of hope. Chris Hedges is a former war correspondent for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He’s also a Presbyterian minister and a bestselling author. In his latest book, The Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison , he tells a remarkable story that highlights both the evils of mass incarceration and the capacity of th...
Mar 10, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The world has gone mad. In recent weeks, many people have reached out to say they feel overwhelmed by how divided we are. Many feel like the mainstream media is not doing a good enough job at digging into the complexity of the issues we’re facing, and that it is failing to reflect the full spectrum of views and experiences out there. Today's guest has thought deeply about the challenges facing the media. Mónica Guzmán is a Seattle journalist. She’s also a director at Braver Angles, a grassroots ...
Mar 02, 2022•30 min•Ep. 10
The trucker convoy protest in the capital has dominated the news for the past few weeks, with many Canadian commentators expressing shock and disbelief that the country is experiencing such a forceful wave of populism. But at least one person is not surprised at all. Jeff Rubin is an award-winning Canadian author. He’s the former chief economist at CIBC World Markets, and a former Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. His latest book is called The Expendables: How ...
Feb 24, 2022•27 min•Ep. 9
As we all think through the class tensions that have surfaced in Canada, it’s a good time to take a closer look at an ethos held by many of those shaping the dialogue. This group of decision-makers and opinion-shapers, which includes the media, is often referred to in leftist circles as the professional managerial class. Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine, has recently published a fierce and funny polemic on the PMC, titled Virtue Hoarders:...
Feb 16, 2022•29 min•Ep. 8
This week — as our culture finds itself embroiled in numerous debates around speech — Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama has published a brilliant new book that provides a historical perspective. Jacob is the founder and executive director of Justitia, a human-rights think tank based in Copenhagen. Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media is a deeply-researched, engaging, and humane title that grew out of Clear and Present Danger, Jacob’s podcast project on the global history of free spee...
Feb 09, 2022•29 min•Ep. 7
It’s been called a pandemic within a pandemic. On today's episode of Lean Out, we dive into the opioid crisis in North America - and why it's underreported. Journalist Travis Lupick joins Tara to discuss his new book, “Light Up the Night: America’s Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival,” which tells the story of two women, both drug activists who’ve made a huge mark. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com
Feb 03, 2022•23 min•Ep. 6
Today on a special bonus episode of Lean Out, Tara speaks with lawyer, author, and broadcaster Jamil Jivani - who goes public about his recent firing from his radio show, and talks about why he thinks diversity of thought is such an important principle in media. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com
Feb 03, 2022•38 min•Ep. 5
If you’ve noticed during the pandemic that you have brain fog, that you can’t read, or concentrate, you are not alone. Many people are struggling with this loss of focus – and Tara's guest on the podcast today says that’s been years in the making. He argues that our attention did not just collapse – that it was stolen from us – and that this development has major implications for society. New York Times bestselling author Johann Hari is here to talk about his new title, Stolen Focus: Why You Can...
Jan 26, 2022•42 min•Ep. 4
The lab leak theory has been in the news again, following Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform releasing a letter with more details on a February 1, 2020 call between Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins and expert scientists, discussing the pandemic’s possible origin. It’s a story that Toronto’s Elaine Dewar has been following for some time. The investigative journalist wrote a book on the topic during the city’s endless months of lockdown, following the trail through news repor...
Jan 21, 2022•37 min•Ep. 3
Free speech is not particularly fashionable these days. Indeed, this summer NPR’s On the Media dedicated an entire episode to the topic without interviewing a single defender of free speech. With free speech skepticism on the rise, the new book Free Speech And Why It Matters could not be more timely, or more important. British comic Andrew Doyle initially found fame with his hilarious social justice warrior Twitter parody, Titania McGrath. But he’s since become known as a crusader for free speec...
Jan 19, 2022•35 min•Ep. 2
Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor at Newsweek, is Tara Henley's guest for the inaugural episode of the Lean Out podcast. If you follow media, you know that Newsweek’s opinion section is home to some of the most robust debate in America’s mainstream media. Now, Batya Ungar-Sargon has published a powerful book, Bad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy . For anyone puzzling over the woke press, this lively conversation helps make sense of the phenomenon. You can find Tara Henley on...
Jan 18, 2022•27 min•Ep. 1
