Ellie 2.0 Radio

This week’s idealist is the Rev. William Barber, II, a 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient for his work in organizing North Carolina marginalized communities into a political force that unseated Pat McCrory as governor; the Big Interview is with 22-year-old Nick Alm, who founded Mossier MN.org to promote LGBTQ entrepreneurs in Africa as a way…

The theme this week is “befriending the untouchables” and in Block A, I talk about two white high school students who befriended the “Little Rock 9”—black students who sought to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957; The Big Interview is with Fr. Harry Hartigan re: his work at MN’s Moose Lake facility…

Ellie’s Talking Head show re: the interplay of hope and idealism. I feature Daryl Davis, a black man whose mission in life has been to convert Klu Klux Klan members from hatred of “Other” to acceptance; Block B is about loss of hope and political hope; in Block C, I share about launching my first…

This week’s theme is “Thinking Big.” Block A highlights Jose Antonio Vargas, a young idealist, journalist, author and documentary director who is championing the rights of undocumented immigrants; The Big Interview is with Mark Goulston, a MD-neuroscientist who is trying to change the world by making us better listeners; and in Block C, I talk…

Our theme is “Changing the World.” Block A is a discussion of “Beware (of) Rich People Who Say They Want to Change the World,” (www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinio…-fake-change.html) and the concept of “Fake Change”; the Big Interview is with a real idealist—Cathy Heying of the Lift Garage; and in C Block, I talk about wrestling with the decision…

This week’s theme is how idealism fuels philanthropy. My A Block is about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—the largest in the world; the Big Interview is with Vanessa Tennyson, a transgender woman who transitioned from high level executive to philanthropist/entrepreneur/3:00 a.m. telephone crisis counselor for LGBTQ people; and in my C Block, I share…

Our theme this show is the intersection between the media and Idealism. I speak about Rachel Maddow’s rise from morning radio host in rural Massachusetts to MSNBC mega star; the Big Interview is with Chad Larson, KTNF station owner and “optimistic idealist”; and my C Block relates to how my daughter’s idealism and political activism…

This week is an Ellie’s Talking Head Show—there is no Big Interview. Our theme is the intersection of education and idealism, so we’ll first talk about Jane Elliott, the Riceville, Iowa teacher who wanted to teach her third grade class about discrimination. In 1968, just after Dr. King’s death, she imagined and created the “Blue…

Block A commemorates the 49th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival and the idealist—Max Yasgur—who made it possible; The Big Interview is with Emily Hunt Turner, an activist-idealist, who founded Four Square, an initiative to give formerly incarcerated humans a second chance; Block C: The challenges of getting out my message about the…

This week’s theme is the intersection of idealism and religion. Block A: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Protestant minister who resisted the rise of Hitler and Nazism and paid for that with his life; Block B, The Big Interview: Zen Buddhist teacher Bussho Lahn, about the similarities between Idealism and Buddhism—both require an awakened heart; Block…

This show’s theme is politics—how it sometimes works with idealism but sometimes not. Block A: Minnesota’s own Paul Wellstone and how he came to fight for those who lack voices; The Big Interview: Richard Painter, candidate for U.S. Senate, and what fueled his need to speak up against greed; Block C: Why I don’t enter…

Our theme is “standing up for those who lack voices.” Block A: Ralph Lazo, a Latino teenager who, as a show of support for his Japanese friends, voluntarily interned himself at the Manzanar interment camp during WWII after the U.S. gov’t dislocated 100K persons of Japanese ancestry. Block B: an interview with Jenny Schulz, founder…

First expanded length show! Block A: Jerome Smith, a Freedom Rider who spoke truth to power when he was part of an informal meeting between Robert F. Kennedy; Block B: An interview with Stephanie Glaros of Humans of Minneapolis; Block C: My desire to do more to help make the world a better place and…

Re-airing of the Montgomery Ala live show from 2/5/18.

Block A: How each of us has some degree of idealism as part of how we approach the world; Block B: My first real shot at being an idealist—getting hired to found a legal access nonprofit.

Block A: Leonard Riggio, the founder of Barnes & Noble and father of mass book retailing. Riggio understood that paperback books represented a way to allow middle class people to assemble libraries; he also subscribes to the theory that a single book can change one’s life; Block B: My experience in encountering people who are…

Block A: James Meredith, the first African American to attend Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, and his persistence; Block B: My persistence in learning how to “write like a human” (as opposed to writing as a lawyer) and writing/launching my book, Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change (2013).

Block A: Jackie Robinson, the all-American hero who broke the color barrier in professional baseball; Block B: My own experiences in encountering racism.

Block A: My first attempt to do good in the world by establishing a nonprofit in Cedar Rapids—and how I failed; Block B: Remembering that on this Memorial Day, we all need to do our best to reclaim America’s authenticity and values.

Block A: Zora Neale Hurston, a writer who’s grandparents on both sides were slaves; Zora wrote about living as a black person in the first half of the 20th century. She interviewed and wrote about Cudjo Lewis, the then last person living who had been brought to America as a slave; Block B: My recent…

Block A: Dr. Megan Coffee, an under-the-radar idealist who has dedicated her life to improving medical conditions in Haiti; Block B: How I’ve heard that my message about human inclusivity isn’t always received well.

Block A: The work of Harry and Bertha Holt, who founded the first international adoption agency following the Korean war; Block B: My own story as an adoptive parent to two Korean-born girls and my gratitude for the work undertaken by the Holts.

Block A: Johan Van Hulst and others saved 500-1000 Jewish children and babies from Nazi concentration camps and certain death; he believed that the risk to his own life was worth it; Block B: How my human inclusivity trainings have sparked compassion from others.

Block A: Commemorating the life of Linda Brown, the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court Decision, Brown v. Board of Education; Block B: The price of being an idealist.