The Liz Cast

In December 2024, my first book -- The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching -- was released. There's an audiobook of that available, but in this new series, I share some of the deeply personal stories that informed the book in my own voice.  Buy The Present Professor from the University of Oklahoma Press .  The audiobook is available from all major audiobook vendors and pr...

I'm back with another installment of What Liz Has Been Reading Lately, featuring Thomas King's excellent book, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America , and Michael Lewis's latest book, The Premonition . Both are definitely recommended! To find out more about Thomas King, check out this profile from CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/books/thomas-king-is-hopeful-that-his-...

In this week's episode of What Did Liz Read This Week? I talk about Aubrey Gordon's book What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat and Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste . Y'know. Some light reading. Aubrey Gordon formerly wrote exclusively under her internet handle Your Fat Friend. She's a fat activist and co-host of the incredibly popular podcast Maintenance Phase, along with Michael Hobbes. Is...

This week, I talk about key insights from the second half of Kim Scott's revised edition of Radical Candor: How to Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity . See the four quadrants that undergird Scott's arguments here: https://www.radicalcandor.com/our-approach/ And read more about Kim Scott here: https://www.radicalcandor.com/ I also share thoughts from Angela Y. Davis's 2003 book, Are Pr...

It's been a long time since my last episode, mostly because COVID sucks and my anxiety has been spiraling for a while. But I'm back! And starting what I hope will become a regular (or semi-regular) Sunday offering -- a short episode each week (ish) recapping what I've been reading that week. This week, I talk about key insights from the first third of Kim Scott's revised edition of Radical Candor:...

This is the fifth in a special series of "covid convos" -- conversations with women about how they've been navigating the coronavirus over the last few months. In this episode, I talk to Gaytha in Dallas, Tex., about how working from home and taking care of her three-year-old daughter Blanche has had a positive impact on her family. Gaytha has learned that "work-life balance" is something that's b...

This is the fourth in a special series of "covid convos" -- conversations with women about how they've been navigating the coronavirus over the last couple of months. In this episode, I chat with Stephanie about how her work as an event coordinator at a retreat center in Monteagle, Tenn., has changed since March. (Hint: It's A LOT.) We also talk about a wellness retreat she's planning in July 2020...

This is the third in a special series of "covid convos" -- conversations with women about how they've been navigating the coronavirus over the last couple of months. In this episode, I chat with Rachel, who has weathered -- along with covid-19 -- a tornado and a bee infestation...! While it's been a topsy-turvy couple of months, she reflects back on this time with refreshing perspective and equani...

This is the second episode in a special series of "covid convos" -- conversations with women about how they've been navigating the coronavirus over the last couple of months. In this episode, I chat with my fabulous friend Amanda, a single mom of two curious and energetic kids (both under 10, eeps!), who have been keeping her on her toes during this quarantine life. She talks about missing hugs, r...

Covid Convos with Katie S. Hall & Julie B. I'm kicking off a special series of "covid convos" -- conversations with women about how they've been navigating the coronavirus over the last couple of months. In this first episode, I chat with two dear friends while we escaped to Savannah for a responsibly-planned retreat, Katie S. Hall and fellow teacher Julie B. Find out how the three of us have been...

What if one question could change your life? Author Jen Louden has been helping women care for themselves and achieve their creative goals for decades. Her latest book, Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What's Next  is out April 21st. Listen to this episode to hear why life wants you to get your bother on, what Jen calls the alien invaders , the why bother canaries , and the time monsters , and...

Yogi Sho Higuchi (E-RYT) generously allowed me to share this 35-minute yoga nidra practice with you, in the hopes that it might bring you some peace in this challenging time of social distancing and stay-at-home quarantining. Listen anytime you want to calm your mind and soothe your nervous system. Along with two dear friends, I attended one of Sho's Yoga Nidra trainings in New York City last Sept...

As all of higher education, basically, prepares to move its operations online, our students are struggling with life challenges, anxiety, and pressures. In this rapid-response episode, recorded hastily on the precipice of my own classes starting March 23, I talk to two students and a support center professional about things faculty should keep in mind as we make this seismic change. A few resource...

After seeing Glennon Doyle (and her wife, Abby Wambach) on book tour earlier this week, I wanted to share something that I can't stop mulling over, from an audience question about body image. A few things from this episode: Buy her book! It's available using this link (which supports this podcast): https://amzn.to/3b4vGgP (I read from her chapter called "erikas") Find alllllll the body image resou...

Chris Emdin says, "You can't teach who you don't love. You can't teach who you don't respect." I couldn't agree more. In this solo episode, I rant about where my mind is vis-a-vis my teaching lately. I'm ready to start a revolution. Who's with me? Brene' Brown's actual quote, which I somewhat butcher in this episode: "Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don't belong. Y...

Four women, including host Liz Norell, gather to discuss their different relationships to mental health. Topics discussed include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, taking medication for mental health, side effects of doing so, stigma/shame, addiction, dealing with doctors, and more. You'll hear in this episode Andrea (who deals with anxiety and depression), Amanda (who deals with bipolar diso...

A former student, Mikaila, stopped by to talk to me while she was home on her summer vacation. This conversation has stayed with me for every moment since we talked then... and I'm so proud to share it with you now. My big takeaway: BE KIND. TO EVERYONE. ALWAYS. Spread love, not hate.

Joined by friends and fellow political junkies Scott Foster and David Mabry, we dive into the hottest topic around right now -- IMPEACHMENT ! Three normal (well, normal-ish) people, talking politics. If you want more politics talk, let me know! A few resources we recommend: Scott/Liz recommend  "Predisposed," by John Alford, John Hibbing, and Peter Smith (https://amzn.to/2ojxY8w); "The Religious M...

Two former students, Colin McCormick and Itzel Garcia, were visiting just before classes started up again in August. I hustled them into a recording studio and made Colin tell me about his incredible experiences this summer. While Colin studies international relations at DePaul University in Chicago during the school year, he makes a compelling case in this conversation that to REALLY understand w...

Welcome to season 2 of my podcast, which I've renamed The Liz Cast. Why the change? Mostly because I wanted to widen the circle of topics I can talk about ... because it's just becoming TOO hard not to talk about politics, books, travel, etc. In this very brief re-introduction to my podcast sphere, I preview some of the episodes to come in this season. If you'd like to be on the pod, let me know!...

Do you ever cringe when the topic of money comes up in conversation? (Not that it does often, because YES ... we ALL cringe...!) In this solo episode, I do some deep diving around my own stories about and relationship with money. Here are some resources I brought up in the episode: The Chattery: 2019 book club at The Chattery: https://www.thechattery.org/bookclub The Becoming Me Project: https://w...

If you listen to this in real time, I'm currently at a week-long writing retreat in Taos, New Mexico! Eeps! In this solo episode, I talk about the project I'll be working on while away, why I care about it so much, and then dish up a whole lot of brutal honesty as I process the many ways I might sabotage my own success. Here are some resources I mentioned in this episode: Jen Louden's homepage: ht...

In this solo episode, I talk through realizing that teaching yoga just isn't filling my bucket anymore... and how guilty, afraid, and sad that I feel about that. Check out Katie Hall's yoga offerings in Murfreesboro, TN: http://katieshall.com/ Buy Elle Luna's book, The Crossroads of Should & Must: https://amzn.to/2lkxnC3 Get in touch and let me know what you're thinking! liznorell@gmail.com ||...

Matt was feeling kind of run down and had some weird bruises, so he went to his doctor ... and very quickly his life went sideways as he began treatment for leukemia. In this conversation, he shares that story with us, with all its ups and downs. Be sure to check out bonus content at www.liznorell.com/ep22/ for photos that share some of the funnier moments of his treatment adventure. Sign up to be...

Heather Staples is a pediatrician in Houston who shares her measured and sage advice on how to manage our fears about our kids' health. She recommends seeking the advice of your own medical care team whenever you have specific fears, but she gives us some good perspective on some of the more common fears of parents -- fears, by the way, that she shares as a parent herself. Heather also shares a gr...