In the Meanwhile

When the news starts looking like a haunted carnival (panic at 6, Prozac at 11), who are we supposed to trust? This week, Nora and Marcus grab the scalpel and dig into our media's open wounds with writer/editor Maggie Mertens and journalist/therapist Sarah Stuteville. They talk billionaire capture of news, the gutting of public media, and "toxic empathy"—which, to be honest, is just what people sa...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus debrief a joy-sparking night with Stacey Abrams before wading into America's latest authoritarian cosplay. They're then joined by Kashana Cauley—TV writer, comedian, and author of The Payback, a razor-sharp novel about debt, policing, and survival told with humor as cutting as it is honest. She talks about why gallows humor is both a shield and a call...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus tear into the clown-car chaos of American public health: vaccine policy whiplash, Trump's acetaminophen-ass-head-of-men moment, and RFK Jr. running HHS like a crystal-healing Etsy shop. Then they call in Yale epidemiologist and longtime AIDS activist Gregg Gonsalves, who's been in the trenches since ACT UP. He reminds us: public health has always been...

Whelp, here's the episode where we finally ask: democracy or dystopia, which one needs fewer bunkers? Marcus and Nora open on a week so wild it made "Make America Boring Again" sound visionary, then dive in with Douglas Rushkoff (creator of Team Human , and author of Survival of the Richest ). We unpack why tech billionaires keep fantasizing about escape hatches, Hawaii compounds, New Zealand bunk...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus speak with the one and only Tricia Rose: cultural critic, Brown professor, and professional breaker of lazy narratives. We get into "metaracism" (aka the system isn't broken, it's working as intended), why stories move policy more than charts, and her interactive project Way Outta No Way that makes systemic racism visible without putting you to sleep....

This week, Nora and Marcus sit down with Renée Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, to talk about a grim reality we're supposed to pretend is normal: gun violence that's killing kids every day while politicians offer therapeutic platitudes and zero legislation.  But here's the twist—Hopkins and her team have actually made progress on this issue. While the rest of the country cycles...

This week, Nora and Marcus take listeners on a wild ride through America's collapsing systems, plus the unlikely origin story of this very podcast: part DIY zine, part serendipity, part awkward poetry class with an ex, and a Town Hall conversation that revealed GoFundMe has effectively become our national healthcare system… just with nicer branding. Along the way, they dig into Nora's groundbreaki...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus chat it up with Dr. Daudi Abe about America's hottest commodity: ignorance, which is now streaming in a classroom near you! From states rebranding slavery as "involuntary relocation with benefits" to classrooms streaming PragerU like it's the Disney Channel, we dive into how the powerful weaponize misinformation to keep us confused, divided, and buyin...

The broligarchy isn't just cringe, it's deeply dangerous. This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sit down with Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI, to unpack how artificial intelligence isn't changing the game—it's rigging it in favor of authoritarianism. McQuillan breaks down how Silicon Valley has found its perfect dance partner in far-right movements, and offers a crucial blueprint fo...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus catch up with Seattle's most unexpected threat to billionaire brunch politics, Katie Wilson. She's a longtime organizer, transit rider, and Americano-splitter who went from dragging mayors in public comment to becoming the mayoral frontrunner herself. Her game plan? No hedge fund sugar daddies, no donor call lists, just a Google form, a ground game, a...

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus speak with The Bitchuation Room's Francesca Fiorentini — comedian, journalist, and professional thorn in the side of fascists everywhere. She breaks down why comedy is doing the job cable news is too scared to touch, why billionaires are basically rich toddlers with Wi-Fi, and how the left can stop doomscrolling and start building real power. From Pal...

In this scorching episode of In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sweat it out—literally and metaphorically—as they sit down with disability rights advocate and policy powerhouse Matthew Cortland. With razor-sharp clarity and raw honesty, Matthew unpacks how Trump's so-called "big, beautiful" budget is actually a legislative wrecking ball aimed at Medicaid, Medicare, and the people who need them most...

This week, Nora and Marcus sit down with Gabriel Teodros, MC, poet, educator, organizer, and community time traveler, to talk about how we carry grief, make art, and stay human when the world's on fire (sometimes literally). Gabriel takes us from losing his home in a blaze to creating From the Ashes of Our Homes, his most personal album yet. And along the way, he unpacks what it means to do "love...

What if everything you've been told about Palestine was only half the story, and the half that kept power comfy? This week on In the Meanwhile, Marcus and Nora talk with Palestinian American scholar Karam Dana, whose new book doesn't just unpack the crisis in Gaza—it shreds the whole suitcase of sanitized narratives we've been fed for decades. With the precision of a professor and the fire of some...

Synopsis: This week on In the Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sit down with journalist Schuyler Mitchell to unpack how we went from "defund the police" to cities doubling down on militarized crackdowns: complete with riot gear, surveillance drones, and bipartisan gaslighting. Drawing from Mitchell's Truthout exposé on the LAPD's long history of unchecked brutality, the conversation explores how both Tr...

Dean Spade joins Nora and Marcus for a conversation about how our relationships show up in our activism, politics, and everyday life. Mentioned in the episode: Love in a F*cked Up World by Dean Spade | Love in a Fucked Up World Podcast | Mutual Aid by Dean Spade | Facing Collapse Together study group | Movement Memos: Bizarre and Dangerous Utopian Ideology Has Quietly Taken Hold of Tech World | Pi...

In this episode, Nora and Marcus wade into the bizarre right-wing war on empathy—where Elon Musk, JD Vance, and others claim that caring about other people is a threat to civilization itself. But beyond the absurdity, they trace how empathy has been weaponized, misunderstood, and hollowed out—from Clinton-era politics to today's culture wars. Together, they ask: How should we show up and care in a...

Mentioned in the episode: So the No Kings March Happened. What Next? (Marcus Harrison Green, South Seattle Emerald) Erica Chenoweth Follow us on Social: https://www.instagram.com/inthemeanwhilepodcast | https://bsky.app/profile/inthemeanwhile.bsky.social   *Nora and Marcus' work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.  Music: No...

In this episode Nora and Marcus dive headfirst into the dystopian text thread we're all living in: ICE raids in broad daylight, masked agents snatching people off the streets, media complicity, and the federal government going full "authoritarian starter pack." But rather than stew in our fear, today's guests offer pragmatic lessons about what we face and what can be done. Professor Angelina Godoy...

Five years after a global pandemic, historic protests, and social rupture, where are we now—and what have we forgotten? In this episode, Nora and Marcus Harrison Green dive into the lingering impacts of 2020, from fractured families to the backlash against empathy itself. With humor, honesty, and a touch of John Mayer fandom, they explore how we hold memory, process grief, and dare to vision somet...

Welcome to the premiere of In the Meanwhile—a podcast for anyone trying to survive the slow-motion apocalypse without losing their soul (or their sense of humor). Professor Nora Kenworthy and journalist Marcus Harrison Green kick things off with a candid, funny, and heartfelt conversation about what it means to live through this messy in-between era—where the old world is collapsing, the new one i...

The old world is collapsing. The new one hasn't arrived. And in between? There's grief, confusion, burnout—and the possibility for something better.  Welcome to  In The Meanwhile , a weekly podcast hosted by public health scholar Nora Kenworthy and journalist Marcus Harrison Green.  No hot takes. No empty platitudes. No easy hope. Just real talk about how we hold onto our humanity, build something...