Palm Court Podcast

What was it like when the Pei Dorms were new and the Uplands were untamed? We get into the heritage of the physical campus, crime novelist John D. MacDonald as NCF president, the lost Ringling dauphin, dream architecture, disco, and the occasional tasteful nudity in a remote Florida outpost.  Ballyhoo: a tiny swordfish.  Lovejoy’s Guide Tom Todd with Dallas Dort and President Elmendorf Landmark Ho...

Mike, Megan, and Grant catch up with Libby Harrity as she kicks off her studies at Rutgers Law School in Newark. We hear tales from Hampshire College recorded before its closure was announced. But mostly , we hear what Libby's been up to and what she's looking to do next. Show Notes Since we recorded this episode, Hampshire announced it would be closing.  LSAC: Law School Admission Council Raiders...

There’s more than one New College documentary out there! We chat with Celi Mitidieri, the Ringling filmmaker of two short docs showing the takeover from the inside, along with several New College alums, main characters of the latest film. They explain how their cohort engaged in the fight for the right to party, how transfers affect culture, and the importance of maintaining a community with real...

An alum, documentarian, and friend joins us to talk about First They Came For My College, as well as a personal story of coming from a Catholic, all-boys, military academy, wearing a saber on mass transit, Hawaiian shirt reputations, supervising Shark Week, alumni connections with the Avatar franchise, and what it’s like to turn 300 hours of student-shot footage into a 105-minute film.  The traile...

We catch up with former Film Pharaoh Eugene Lowe, along with Tom Ronca and Suzanne Clayton to talk New College films: finding them, watching them, showing them, and making them … both back in the day and touring the festival circuit now. Get your hot Oscar picks right here! Also, a surprise visit from the Madrid metro, a gas-leak power outage, and Ernest Borgnine playing Timothée Chalamet.  La Str...

The Palm Court Podcast returns for Season 3, diving deep into the history and future of student journalism at New College! Hosts Mike Palmer, Grant Balfour and Megan Cytron welcome the Old School Catalyst crew: former faculty advisor Maria Vesperi and former student editors Isaac Tellechea and Sophia Brown. They are also joined by a recorded contribution from former Catalyst editor Gaby Batista. T...

It's a wrap on season two of the Palm Court Pod. Hosts Mike Palmer, Megan Cytron, and Grant Balfour reflect on the past year and discuss what's to come for New College and the podcast itself. We reflect on a year of change, both geopolitically and personally. We started the pod with the idea that New College was the "canary in the swamp," and as New College went, so might higher education in the U...

This episode of the Palm Court Podcast features an engaging conversation with Dr. Eric Schickler, a New College alum from the class of '87 and the coauthor of Partisan Nation⁠: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era. Eric shares his unique journey and insights into political science and the current state of higher education. Plus there's plenty of new details about the...

Jeb Lund joins Mike, Megan, and Grant to talk about his work in journalism at places like Rolling Stone, The Nation, and GQ, among others and on It's Christmastown, his popular podcast about Hallmark Channel movies. We learn how Jeb wound up at New College, how his thesis about British cryptography in World War 2 got turned into pulp, and how he wound up covering the Alt Graduation Event for The N...

Join Mike Palmer, Grant Balfour, and Megan Citron, along with "friend of the show" Joanne Dramko, for a captivating conversation with New College of Florida (NCF) alumni and NCAA Board Members Monica Lewman Wulf and Stuart Clarry. This episode offers a delightful mix of personal stories and reflections on the New College experience with a focus on Alumni Engagement. Monica shares the details of he...

The Palm Court Podcast presents an emergency Oscars 2025 episode devoted to the Gene Hackman situation! With Suzanne Clayton, Palm Court's Oscars predictions oracle, Mike, Megan and Grant prognosticate on the Oscars and reminisce about past Oscars shared in a Whatsapp Group Chat, including the infamous Will Smith slap of Chris Rock. Clayton, a five-time winner of the Palm Court Oscar pool, offers...

Join us for our annual Oscars preview! We're diving deep into the 2025 Academy Award nominations with a panel of film enthusiasts. We're discussing the snubs, the surprises, and the sure-to-be winners. From Best Picture to Best Supporting Actor, we're dissecting it all.   We're also sharing our personal Oscar memories and trivia. Did you know that a screenwriter once won an Oscar nearly 40 years a...

Step into the world of New College in 1968-69—a time of radical possibility, political upheaval, and unapologetic experimentation. Mike, Grant, and Megan are joined by a group of alumni who lived it and were recently reunited, decades later—Max Reif, David Ross, Andy Roman, David Adams, Tom Weislocher—after a cache of evocative photos from the era unleashed a powerful torrent of memories and feeli...

 In this episode of Palm Court Podcast, we talk with journalist Kathryn Joyce about the state of public education in Florida. Joyce, an investigative editor at In These Times and author of two books on the Christian right, discusses her background and interest in the right-wing political movement’s influence on education. Her recent article, The New College Gambit, chronicles the New College story...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, hosts Mike Palmer, Grant Balfour, and Megan Cytron interview Fay Clayton, a member of New College's charter class of 1964. Clayton shares her experiences as a pioneering student, her connections to the college through her family, and her journey from a farm in New Jersey to becoming a prominent litigator. She reflects on the unique educational environment...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, hosts Mike Palmer, Megan Cytron, and Grant Balfour are joined by Dr. Amy Reid, a long-standing faculty member of New College, former Board of Trustees member, and recent collaborator with PEN America. We discuss the impact of recent political upheavals on the college, Dr. Reid's extensive contributions to the institution over 29 years, and her reflections...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, hosts Mike Palmer, Megan Cytron, and Grant Balfour engage with Miles Iton, a New College graduate with a multidisciplinary background in philosophy, hip-hop, and entrepreneurial education. Miles shares his compelling origin story from almost attending Howard to thriving at New College, where he helped establish the Black Student Union and organized commun...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, hosts Mike Palmer, Megan Cytron, and Grant Balfour sit down with Dr. Mike Campbell to explore his deep-rooted connection to New College. Mike, an alumnus and former faculty member, admistrator, and board member, details his academic journey and professional career, which moved him from student to working to in the counseling center, teaching, becoming hou...

Libby Harrity, former student senate president at New College of Florida, joins Mike, Grant, and Megan to share her first-hand experience of the hostile takeover and the on-the-ground resistance it sparked, which ultimately resulted in her (forced) exodus to Hampshire College after a very public clash between administrators and student protestors. Now a fourth-year thesis student, Libby gives us a...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, we sit down with Jono Miller, a New College stalwart with a 54-year relationship to the campus. We explore Jono's origin story, from discovering New College in a catalog to wading into Sarasota Bay with John Morrill. He shares his experiences in student activism, environmental advocacy, and shaping the college's landscape. We delve into Jono's ongoing eff...

Captain Jonathan White ('87) joins Mike, Grant, and Megan to share his origin story, in which he leaps straight from Lynchburg, Virginia's cradle of the religious right into a volatile time and place in New College history. We return to the story of the "Lorax Rebellion" student protest with a different perspective on how it came to be and the ways the destruction of the native grove represented a...

In part two with Merlin Mann, the free-wheeling conversation picks up speed with the appearance of a special guest (code name: Lando, real name: Christian Pérez), discussing the cultural and creative passing of the baton and DIY inspiration between different New College generations. Merle pays homage to writing coach Jan Wheeler (who he was somewhat paradoxically referred to thanks to the interven...

Merlin Mann (NCF '86) joins Mike, Megan, and Grant for an entertaining spiel on his days at New College in the late 80s, including another facet of the story of the Lorax Rebellion tree-hugging protest that led to 43 arrests, including his own. It was a tumultuous time in many ways and Merle shares his trials and tribulations navigating it as an RA, student government rep, and member of the founda...

This week, Susan Hirshberg joins the Palm Court Podcast to guide listeners through the twists and turns of her fascinating life story, which she sums up in the most quintessential New College way: "My life journey always made sense to me, even if it's never made sense to everybody else." She opens up about the positive and negative aspects of her New College experience, including her innovative se...

In this episode of the Palm Court Podcast, we are joined by Steven Walker, Education Reporter at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, who has been on the ground covering the “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida. Just as the battle for the Sarasota School Board was heating up, Walker arrived, excited to step into his first job after graduating from the University of Florida Journalism School and wo...