Aspen Ideas to Go

The way friends talk to one another can either bring them closer or create distance. When it comes to women’s friendships, author Deborah Tannen says women talk more often (than men), at greater length, and about more personal topics. Men’s friendships tend to be more focused around activity. Either way, friendships between women, men, and women and men can be gratifying…and complicated. Tannen ta...

Millennials shoulder a lot of stereotypes. They’re called entitled and in need of instant gratification. They’re not committed to their work and expect a work-life balance at their very first job. Do these labels actually define them? Are they really any different than the generations before them? In this lighthearted and informative conversation, organizational psychologist Adam Grant and inspira...

Mary Robinson ’s book, Climate Justice , records the stories of people experiencing effects from climate change first-hand. They’re not staying silent. From Malawi to Mongolia, people are waging a battle for climate justice, many of them women from poor communities. Robinson, the former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, believes climate change is one of the most press...

What if we could turn back time and reverse extinction? Famed writer, biologist, and environmentalist Stewart Brand is attempting this with an organization he co-founded. Revive and Restore is building a tool kit for genetic restoration that would allow the rebirth of species, like the woolly mammoth. Brand says the absence of these animals has left a gap and reviving them will re-enrich the entir...

Economists who have researched happiness over a lifetime find it starts to decline after adolescence and noticeably dips when people enter middle age. How can we avoid the middle age blues and feel purposeful later in life? Arthur Brooks , behavioral economist and American Enterprise Institute president, uses eastern and western philosophies, classical music, and the latest research to give usable...

A recent blockbuster article by journalist Jane Mayer examines close ties between the White House and Fox News. The piece, published in The New Yorker , spurred the Democratic National Committee to choose not to allow Fox to hold any of its presidential debates. In this broad conversation, Mayer touches on the Fox News article, another piece on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and her book D...

Christian Picciolini went to his first white supremacist skinhead meeting at age 14. A lonely and bullied child, he was quickly swept into the movement and eventually became a leader. In this candid conversation, he speaks with journalist Matt Thompson about why he decided to leave the skinhead movement and turn his life around. Picciolini now helps people disengage from hate groups through an org...

The truth is under assault in America, according to Marty Baron , executive editor of The Washington Post . By labeling the press as the opposition party and calling into questions facts, President Trump is subverting the role of free and independent news, says Baron. Baron talks with Brian Stelter , host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” about how his journalists are operating in a fake news atmospher...

Kate Bowler and Elaine Pagels both teach religion, write about religion, and have experienced immense hardships. In this frank and funny conversation, they explore why people still seek ancient religious teachings in our modern age. In moving and relatable moments, they explain how they overcome loss, illness, and isolation. Pagels is the author of The Gnostic Gospels and Why Religion?: A Personal...

The latest World Happiness Report puts the United States in 18th place, behind all the Scandinavian countries, Costa Rica, Canada, and others. The report, issued annually by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, looks at income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust, and generosity. Another happiness list from National Geographic puts Boulder, Colorado in first place...

Nearly two decades ago, author Colson Whitehead began thinking about writing about the Underground Railroad. “I remembered when I was a kid, I first heard those words…I thought it was a literal train beneath the earth,” he says. He put pen to paper and the result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad . In it, the historic secret network of safehouses for runaway slaves beco...

When Americans elected their first black president more than a decade ago, some questioned whether the country had transitioned into a post-racial era. But today race is a more prominent and intransigent problem than ever. As the US grapples with issues like identity politics, the Travel Ban, a wall on the southern border, and Black Lives Matter, writers Jelani Cobb and Wajahat Ali question the li...

When your dog wags its tail or welcomes you home, what are they thinking about? How do they perceive you and the world around them? Two canine cognition scientists, Alexandra Horowitz and Brian Hare , share what dogs know, understand, and believe. This field of research is growing and these scientists are gaining valuable insight in the minds of America’s most popular pet. Show Notes Listen to The...

Should rules govern demeaning, disparaging, and degrading speech directed at certain groups? How can we resist hate while protecting free speech? Nadine Strossen , longtime president of the ACLU, says hate speech, as painful as it may be, is justifiably protected. Instead of censoring hate speech, she advocates fighting it with free speech. In her conversation with Conor Friedersdorf , staff write...

Young people tend to say “LOL” and “like” a lot. Business jargon — such as “What’s the ask?”— is surfacing in boardrooms. Is the English language deteriorating before our ears? Linguist and author John McWhorter pushes back, saying these modern terms are examples of language evolving. Words’ meanings have always changed and those shifts will continue. “Language is like clouds,” says McWhorter. “If...

What does it take to rock climb one of the world’s hardest routes at night in the bitter cold? Tommy Caldwell , an accomplished climber, says he summoned focus, drive, and endurance to summit Yosemite’s nearly vertical 3,000 foot Dawn Wall. He completed the climb with partner Kevin Jorgeson in January of 2015. Since then, he’s written a memoir, The Push , that chronicles the climb and the life exp...

What qualities make a good leader? Are leaders born with these attributes or can they be learned? In her seventh book, Leadership in Turbulent Times , presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin writes about the lives of four presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Though their backgrounds were different, these men shared a powerful ambition a...

The number of college students dealing with stress, depression, and anxiety is growing. Psychology professor Laurie Santos noticed it in her Yale classroom and set out to change the campus culture. Her course “Psychology and the Good Life” is the most popular class in Yale’s 300-year history. In this episode, she talks about her efforts to infuse wellness into her students’ lives. She gives a cras...

Imam Khalid Latif is New York University’s first Muslim chaplain. In this political and cultural moment, he says students deal with issues around race and religious intolerance. “A lot of identities in the United States are seen through the prism of racialized identities.” In his interview with WAMU’s Joshua Johnson , he talks about Islamophobia, building interfaith bridges, and the role of religi...

Shira Stutman is senior rabbi at a historic synagogue in Washington, DC that’s doing innovative things. The ‘Sixth & I’ is a non-denominational, non-membership, non-traditional Jewish synagogue. Talks, concerts, and comedy shows are held there with a goal to enlighten and inspire people to live more meaningful lives. In her conversation with “1A” host Joshua Johnson , Stutman describes how rel...

Can faith help unite us in divided times? How are religious leaders navigating divisions inside and outside their places of worship? Adam Hamilton ministers to about 20,000 Methodists in and around Kansas City. He says he’s determined to mend the deep divisions he sees in his congregation. He speaks with guest host Joshua Johnson . Johnson hosts “1A,” a national news/talk radio show produced by WA...

Why is it that we think boys are good at math and girls are more empathetic? Or that boys can’t focus in the classroom and girls are obsessed with relationships? These sometimes damaging gender stereotypes have become part of our culture, but are they backed up by science? Neuroscientist Lise Eliot says our default assumption is that our gender differences are hardwired, but that’s not the case. I...

The clothing industry is a top polluter, but some companies are working to be kinder to the environment. The CEOs of Patagonia and Eileen Fisher talk about their shared value of social consciousness. Rose Marcario and Eileen Fisher delve into why a holistic approach, one that goes beyond a single company and its bottom line, is essential to doing business that’s good for everyone. They give tips o...

The African elephant, the world’s largest land mammal, is threatened by poaching, human development, and climate change. As director of the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services Branch of the UN Environmental Program, Max Gomera advocates for the elephant. Ensuring elephants and other animals thrive is important for the human species. In this episode, Gomera talks about improving the relationship b...

Rising sea level and contaminated fresh water could make an island paradise in the Indian Ocean uninhabitable. The effects of climate change on the Maldives are difficult to ignore. Maldivian climate activist Thilmeeza Hussain says these changes are impacting everyday life for the 400,000 people who live there. Will Maldivians become climate refugees? How can this island nation be saved? Hussain i...