The Facing Project

J.R. Jamison is joined by journalist Mike De Socio, an Eagle Scout and adult volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, whose new book dives into the history of the Scouts, exploring its tangled past with inclusion beginning in the 1970s, all the way through landmark policy changes in the mid-20teens that opened up Scouting for all. 

J.R. Jamison is joined by Colonel Bree Fram and Dr. Liz Cavallaro, whose latest book examines the experiences of 100 LGBTQIA+ leaders in business, academia, nonprofit, entertainment, and government and how crucible moments, such as coming out and code switching, have prepared them to be better leaders. The trio also discuss how organizations can create safer and more welcoming work environments. 

J.R. Jamison is joined by journalist Mark Hertsgaard, whose latest book unpacks the histories of segregation, violence, and systematic oppression toward Black Americans through the lens of the largest mass shooting in New Orleans’ history that ultimately led to his friendship with Deborah Cotton and a lesson on empathy. 

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with Vietnamese poet and novelist Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai—author of the international bestsellers The Mountains Sing and Dust Child–to talk about writing the American and Viet Nam war from Vietnamese perspectives and how volunteering for international peace organizations has influenced how she tells stories. Photo Credit – Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, photo provided. This Dreamscap...

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with filmmaker Colin Askey, who directed the PBS documentary Love in the Time of Fentanyl, and the two are joined by Sarah Blyth and Trey Helten from the Overdose Prevention Society, the harm reduction organization featured in the film that brings people in from the streets and saves lives by providing a safe and welcoming place to use drugs. Photo Credit – Colin Askey,...

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with author, actor, and activist Sara Sharpe to talk about radical love and empathy, and the organization she founded called The Letters Project, a bridge-building organization that provides space for an ongoing series of love letters from her—a liberal, left-leaning woman—to a conservative, right-leaning friend. Photo Credit – Sara Sharpe, photo provided. 

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with Julio Vincent Gambuto—author of Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, a book about taking back our time, attention, and purpose in a post-pandemic world. The two explore Julio’s feature film, Team Marco , that follows the life of a boy who’s always plugged in until his grandpa makes him play outside. Photo Credit – Julio Vincent Gambuto, photo provided.

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with FRONTLINE filmmaker, producer, and journalist Ursula Liang to talk about her latest film Two Strikes , a documentary short that follows the two strikes law in Florida that put a former West Point cadet struggling with PTSD and alcoholism in prison for life without the possibility of parole. The two also explore how to tell authentic stories through print and film....

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with GLAAD award-winning journalist Samantha Allen—author of Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States , and the novels Patricia Wants to Cuddle and the forthcoming Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet . Photo Credit – Samantha Allen, photo provided. [00:00] Introduction [01:00] Writing Unexpected Plot Lines and Finding Community with Award-winning Author Samantha Allen

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with Hollywood screenwriter, author, and producer Abdi Nazemian, who was born in Iran in the 1970s and at age two became an immigrant during the 1979 Iranian revolution. Today, he uses his identity and story as a gay Iranian-American to help build empathy and understanding, penning such works as his award-winning young adult novel Like A Love Story and associate produci...

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with award-winning middle-grade and young adult author Leah Johnson to talk about writing authentic stories for kids, the harmful effects of book banning in America, and the founding of Loudmouth Books—her banned titles bookstore in the heart of her hometown. Photo Credit – Provided by Leah Johnson.

Host J.R. Jamison sits down with filmmakers Josh Sabey and Sarah Perkins, directors of The Abortion Talks (2022), to explore civil discourse across major ideological divides. They’re joined by Reverend Anne Fowler and attorney Fran Hogan, two women profiled in the film on opposite sides of the abortion debate, who met secretly for six years to find common ground and ways to work together after the...

Ten years ago, six acres of abandoned lots in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore were transformed into an urban farm, and today the American Farmers Bureau Federation has rated it as one of the top 10 innovative farms in the country. But there’s more than food being grown in Park Heights; they’re growing community and investing in the future. Join host J.R. Jamison as he shares stories fro...

Ahead of her debut memoir hitting shelves in October, J.R. Jamison sits down with Brittany Means to discuss the power of the human spirit—and the written word—to combat the most harrowing of childhood memories.   Hailed by Jeannette Walls (author of The Glass Castle ) as “Gut-wrenching but at the same time triumphant,” Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways untangles the web of Means’s most painful memo...

Evictions are a tale as old as time, and will continue as long as there are landlords and renters; but not every eviction is equal. In this episode, J.R. Jamison shares two stories from individuals who have faced eviction in different ways; the first from a man who has experienced homelessness due to job losses, and a judge who says that sometimes the landlords are right, and sometimes they’re wro...

Ahead of her latest book hitting shelves worldwide, J.R. Jamison sits down with #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Glasgow to discuss writing for young adults, and the themes of teenage depression, addiction, and self-harm that are often covered in her sought-after novels ( Girl in Pieces; You'd Be Home Now; How to Make Friends with the Dark; The Agathas; and the forthcoming The Night i...

J.R. Jamison travels to Cyprus to explore the historical and cultural past of the island that led to the 1974 Turkish invasion and, ultimately, the Green Line—a demilitarized buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force that divides the island to this day.   Later, he’s joined by Demetris Hadjisofocoli, a former Cypriot refugee and founder/CEO of the Center for Social Innovation,...

Humans are hardwired for empathy through mirror neurons, but time, culture, and climate determine if empathy grows, remains neutral, or worse—leads to anger or distress. On this episode of The Facing Project, J.R. Jamison will explore empathy through two stories: one from a woman in Indiana who teaches kids empathy through theatre, and the other from a woman in Ohio who found it by loving her tran...

Ahead of its nationwide theatrical release, J.R. Jamison sits down with the producer and director of Van Jones’s documentary, The First Step , to discuss Jones’s attempts to bring people together across party lines to pass landmark criminal justice reform, while finding himself under fire from all sides. Later, the trio discuss filmmaking, storytelling, and why it’s more important than ever to cre...

Jealousy is an emotion that everyone has experienced at one time or another, but if not controlled jealousy could lead to other feelings and actions such as embarrassment, depression, codependency, low self-esteem, or even anger. But with jealousy being such an innate emotion, how does one turn it off or use it for good? J.R. Jamison explores that question as he shares the story of two women in Ea...

It’s the time of year when most of us will gather to give thanks, clinking our seasonal beverages over plates of food; but that won’t be the case for nearly 34 million Americans who are food insecure. But how is that even possible when the United States is one of the richest countries in the world? On this episode of The Facing Project, J.R. Jamison will explore that question as he shares the stor...

Grief has long been known to be psychological, but scientists now know that grief is also physiological and can impact brain function, gut health, the cardiovascular system, and breathing. But does grief also have the ability to change our bodies in positive ways? On this episodes of The Facing Project, J.R. Jamison shares the stories of two women who experienced profound grief — one from a mother...

Think for a second about the last time you forgave someone. Was it hard? How did it make you feel? Or what about the person you forgave? J.R. Jamison shares the stories of two women — one who forgave the man who paralyzed her son in a car accident, and another who forgave her once absent mother and abusive brother. Later, he is joined by Dr. Robert Enright, who was named by TIME magazine as the le...

Did you know that nearly 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with some type of cancer during their lifetime? That’s shocking, right? So, this got us curious about life with and after cancer — or in other words, the stories of those still deep in their fight and those who made it through to the other side. This time on The Facing Project, J.R. Jamison shares the stories of an oncologist and two canc...

J.R. Jamison shares the stories of three women from rural Kentucky whose lives have changed forever due to addiction: one from a sister who fights each day to win back her brother; another from a pharmacist on the front lines of the opioid epidemic; and one from a young mother who abused pain pills after the death of her child. Later in the show, J.R. is joined by Kyle Brewer, the Peer Specialist...