Lois Jenson’s courage and tenacity have made her a historic figure in the battle against sexual harassment. She was the lead plaintiff in the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit -- a case that inspired the 2005 movie North Country. I spoke with her in 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, for an in-depth Wavemaker Conversation . I’ve decided to repost the conversation now, for historical context, in light of the release of She Said , the new movie about Harvey Weinstein. Jenson wa...
Nov 28, 2022•48 min
My conversation with Elie Wiesel -- Holocaust survivor, author, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize -- was recorded in 2013 for the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum. Our wide-ranging conversation includes memories of his childhood village in Hungary, his experience in the Nazi death camps, and his reflections on humor and friendship. The Nobel Committee, when awarding Wiesel the Peace Prize, stated: "Wiesel is a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atoneme...
Sep 29, 2022•36 min
The former Hardball anchor on the upcoming midterms; Trump vs. DeSantis; who to watch if Biden doesn't run; the power of humor in politics; and more … In his recent memoir, This Country , Chris Matthews shares an old rule of politics: the shape of the field decides the winner. I sat down with Matthews this month for a Wavemaker Conversation about the shape of the field as we head into the 2022 midterm elections and look ahead to 2024. We also look back at his life before MSNBC — including his ye...
Aug 21, 2022•42 min
The latest climate change developments make it feel like we are on a runaway train that will flatten the dreams of our children. With this episode of Wavemaker Conversations , I hope to play a small part in slowing down that train. My guest, Spencer Glendon, is a former Partner at the trillion-dollar investment firm, Wellington Management. His work there centered on topics ignored in the world of finance but with potential for a seismic impact. Twenty years ago, when the Chinese economy was rela...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 31 min
With the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing, I’m bringing one of my favorite sports conversations out of the archives -- my conversation with legendary hockey maven Stanley Fischler. He has written more than 90 books on the sport. The backstory: In 2013 I stumbled upon the thrilling Stanley Cup finals between the Blackhawks and Bruins with my daughter, who was nine at the time. We were riveted. But we couldn't follow the puck. The action was too fast. And she had so many questions, which I ...
May 26, 2022•39 min
In September 2022, The Buxton School, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, is becoming a smartphone-free campus. No smartphones at all. Not for students. Not for teachers. Not for administrators. In this Wavemaker Conversation with Buxton's Director Emeritus, Franny Shuker-Haines, we discuss the tipping point (there was more than one) for this bold leap. For parents, teachers and students who are listening, this may help you assess whether you'd like a 24/7 smartphone-free campus in your future. I'll...
May 14, 2022•48 min
In order to help us process the horror being inflicted on Ukraine, and the courage exhibited by its people and president, I have reached out to Kevin Powers. Powers, author of the highly acclaimed war novel, The Yellow Birds, is a veteran of the Iraq War, who has used his powers of prose and poetry to help us feel what is almost beyond our imagination. In this conversation, through his personal stories and reflections, I think he helps inspire us to live a more meaningful, impactful life in a wo...
Mar 25, 2022•30 min
A rare opportunity to hear Dr. Sanjay Gupta unplugged — removed from the rush of breaking news. In my recent conversation with the neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent, we discuss the latest science on keeping your brain sharp — well into old age; how he weighs risk and reward; the remarkable story of the brain surgery he performed during a sandstorm in Iraq to save the life of a Marine — when the proper tools were not available. We also discuss his latest book on the pandemic - Worl...
Mar 07, 2022•55 min
Spreading the spirit, and hard-earned wisdom, of Prof. Loretta J. Ross on "Calling In the Calling Out Culture" - her inspiring alternative to canceling.
Mar 05, 2022•51 min
Searching for New Year's inspiration, I spoke with Daniel Pink about his new book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward — paired with what legendary psychotherapist Dr. Irvin Yalom told me about how he uses regrets of the past to help people live a more regret-free future. Actionable intelligence for 2022.
Dec 24, 2021•37 min
This is my conversation with Rachel Held Evans – RHE – from 2012, after the publication of her A Year of Biblical Womanhood, a provocative and entertaining account of her experiment living the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible. Evans died on May 4th, 2019 at the age of 37. Through her blog, books, and conferences, she built a large following challenging conservative evangelical thought on issues of women in church leadership, LGBTQ inclusion, and more. In our conversation, ...
May 06, 2019•28 min
This is the story, and backstory, of a workshop on feminism, led by men, for men, in an all-male prison. The Feminist on Cellblock Y is an immersive and memorable CNN documentary shot inside a California state prison. In this episode, we speak with the two inspired journalists behind the doc – CNN’s Emma Lacey-Bordeaux and Cocomotion Pictures founder Contessa Gayles. With a cameo from President Obama, who made news last week on the very subject at the heart of Cellblock Y.
Mar 01, 2019•35 min
What is your superpower? Is it writing, speaking, communicating with power? It could be if you listen to this conversation with Joseph Romm, author of How To Go Viral and Reach Millions: Top Persuasion Secrets from Social Media Superstars, Jesus, Shakespeare, Oprah, and Even Donald Trump. This episode is like a short master class. If you want to get the most out of it, I advise you start by listening to my October 29th episode, featuring one of the greatest speeches you’ll ever hear: Admiral Wil...
Feb 08, 2019•27 min
@YahooSports Senior NFL Writer and Hall of Fame Voter Terez Paylor joins me in Atlanta for a Super Bowl seminar and Football 101 combined – making it the perfect prep for those across the football spectrum: from super-novices to those who follow the NFL all year – all in under 25 minutes. Paylor’s show on Kansas City’s 610 Sports Radio & Radio.com has been a destination for Chiefs fans. Even though his Chiefs missed this Super Bowl by one drive, Paylor got over the heartbreak long enough to ...
Feb 01, 2019•24 min
Yoka Verdoner was separated from her parents when she was only 8 years old. Now 84, her life story is a window into the trauma that has been inflicted on so many migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border of the U.S. I spoke with Yoka over the summer, at the height of those separations, after she'd published a piece in The Guardian that was widely shared. Her story has urgency again, following last week's news that the Trump Administration's "zero-tolerance" policy has ...
Jan 25, 2019•31 min
A Charlottesville, VA jury today convicted a white supremacist of first-degree murder for killing Heather Heyer. He intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors at the “Unite the Right” rally for neo-Nazis and white nationalists. A week after that rally, in August 2017, I visited Charlottesville to speak with Henry Abraham. Abraham, now 97, spent his Jewish boyhood in Nazi Germany. He tells stories of anti-Semitism and how his mother made his survival and life in the United Sta...
Dec 07, 2018•25 min
America is hungry for the voice of an honorable leader. So Wavemaker brings you the voice of Retired Admiral William McRaven, former Navy SEAL and Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. He was the architect of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. This episode features McRaven’s viral University of Texas commencement address: 10 memorable lessons from Navy SEAL training for those “who want to change the world” – aka the “Make Your Bed” speech. It’s 20 minutes of uninterrupted inspirati...
Oct 29, 2018•21 min
Environmentalists don’t vote. At least not nearly as much as the general population. They have a turnout problem. By Nathaniel Stinnett’s estimate, 10.1 million registered voters who consider climate change or the environment as one of their top two priorities, sat out the 2016 presidential election. An even larger number stayed home for the 2014 midterms. But for Stinnett, those big numbers mean a big opportunity. Right now, his Environmental Voter Project is targeting 2.4 million environmental...
Sep 05, 2018•35 min
Jane Alexander’s illustrious acting career was launched in 1968 by her breakthrough performance in the Pulitzer Prize winning play (and later movie) The Great White Hope. She then took the political stage as Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts, when the NEA was on the political right’s hit list. She and her husband had virtually all their money stolen by an accountant who did a convincing job acting like their friend. And now, after dozens of movies and TV shows, including Kramer ...
Jul 08, 2018•31 min
Standup comic Pete Dominick joins me to dissect Michelle Wolf’s routine at the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Why now? Because this Sunday, May 27th, Wolf’s new series, The Break, debuts on Netflix. That’s just as good an excuse as any. Dominick, with Wolf as a launching point, helps make us all more astute observers of the art of comedy. Among the issues we discuss: using the P word, punching up versus punching down, and what it was like being in the room during Wolf’s speech. Pete ...
May 26, 2018•32 min
Here is Michelle Wolf’s entire performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Most people have only heard clips. Here is all of it – 19 minutes and roughly 50 jokes – unedited. This is the beginning of a broader mission on Wavemaker: exploring the deeper significance of comedy – from ancient Greece to the 2018 mid-term elections and beyond. What’s funny? Why? Can comedy enable Americans of divergent political perspectives to laugh – together? Should that even be its goal? Those are just ...
May 12, 2018•23 min
There’s a new surge of military veterans running for Congress. And they’re split about evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Do veterans have a competitive edge over those who have not served in the military? Are they better equipped for the job? Can they help bridge the hyper-partisan divide? This Wavemaker episode begins looking for answers with Jeremy Teigen, veteran, professor, and author of the new book Why Veterans Run: Military Service in American Presidential Elections, 1789-2016....
Apr 27, 2018•27 min
Some people recognize potential threats to our democracy before others. My guest, Barbara Simons, is one of those people. 15 years ago, not long after the infamous “hanging chads” threw the Bush v Gore vote count into turmoil and computerized voting became the new rage, Simons, a computer scientist, and some of her colleagues, concluded that in order to protect the integrity of the vote count, we would have to move to paper ballots – everywhere. Simons became a co-founder of VerifiedVoting.Org, ...
Mar 23, 2018•30 min
Introducing former Army Sergeant Matt Martin, author of “I’ve Been Shot In Combat. And As A Veteran, I’m Telling You: Allowing Teachers To Be Armed Is An Asinine Idea.” Since writing it two weeks ago for his new hometown’s website, CharlotteFive.com, Martin’s story has been viewed more than 2-million times on Facebook. “When I saw the news flash of another school shooting,” he said of the Parkland massacre, “I couldn’t help but think of the firefights I had been involved in and how these student...
Mar 07, 2018•37 min
Introducing Saru Jayaraman. Millions of Americans caught a glimpse of her at this year’s Golden Globes, where she was Amy Poehler’s guest – recognized for her role in the battle against sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. Jayaraman, who was accepted to Harvard at the age of 16 and said no thanks, is the co-founder and President of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Her organization's extensive research into the restaurant industry has documented pervasive sexual harassment. I...
Feb 07, 2018•27 min
Lois Jenson is a historic figure in the battle against sexual harassment – the lead plaintiff in the field’s first class action lawsuit. As one of the first four women miners in a northern Minnesota mine, Jenson shares what one judge called the “record of human indecency” that she and the other female miners endured for many years – extreme harassment, including one miner grabbing her crotch while other miners watched and laughed. As you’ll hear, it would get even worse than that. The company fa...
Jan 26, 2018•48 min
Astrophysicist Sara Seager joins me for a conversation about her leading role in the search for earth-like planets outside our solar system. When she began her search as a graduate student – not just for any “exoplanets” as they’re called, but planets that may have just the right atmosphere to support life – she was greeted with plenty of “no’s.” Not anymore. Our conversation about her search led to insights on creativity, resilience, parenting, and the importance of sleep and free time doing no...
Jan 12, 2018•38 min
Mary Koss has been on a 40-year quest for justice – “to understand why women are hurt and how we can stop it.” As a young professor, with a PhD in clinical psychology, Koss was asked by a more senior male colleague to join him on a study that proposed “to have women that he employed sit and wear different sizes of padded bras, while they interacted with male college students.” What that colleague proposed to do afterwards, which you’ll hear at the beginning of this episode, would have made some ...
Dec 27, 2017•35 min
Professor Louise Fitzgerald is a pioneer in sexual harassment research. At this moment, when women who have broken their silence have led to the downfall of so many prominent men, I speak with Fitzgerald about how to assess the continuum of acts – ranging from bad to horrific – that have made the headlines. She also shares stories of harassment happening under the radar, including the extreme vulnerability of women in low-income housing to predatory landlords, and a case she is working on in whi...
Dec 13, 2017•35 min
This conversation will help make your children (and you, too) better writers. Last time Jack Gantos was on Wavemaker Conversations, he shared his unforgettable journey to a terrifying prison sentence in a federal penitentiary and then to a prolific writing career. Now, with his new book, Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories, his goal is to help young writers who find the blank page terrifying. The book is written for 3rd grade and up. That includes all of us. Al...
Nov 30, 2017•35 min
