Struggle to Understand

Welcome back. Today’s episode features two returning guests:  Xavier Bonilla and Angel Eduardo. Xavier has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here. Angel is an Advisory Board member and Director of Messaging and Editorial for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR). In addition, Angel is a co-host of the FAIR perspectives podcast with Melissa Chen and a columnist at the Center For Inquiry. This conversation is a marathon - both in length and subject matter. Trying to construct a cohesive summary of the contents would require a laundry list of subjects that would only add to the impressive run-time of this conversation. But a few highlights include a rather lengthy conversation about fandoms - including a rather protracted discussion of Star Wars and its fandom. We also discuss, as we did in prior conversations, topics surrounding identity, representation, and the role of art in constructing meaning and the truth. As the podcast comes to a close, we discuss some elements of identity politics and the pitfalls that may befall those who argue that demography is destiny, particularly among Latino voters in the United States. It was wonderful having Xavier and Angel back on to give their shared perspectives on salient topics in our seemingly never-ending cultural quagmire. I hope you enjoy our marathon conversation! Xavier can be found on Twitter @xaverbonilla87. Angel can be found on Twitter @StrangelEdweird Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode, I speak with Brian Earp. Brian is the Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford and is currently finishing a joint Philosophy and Psychology PhD at Yale University. Given Brian’s wide experience, this conversation traverses a wide range of topics. We first speak about graduate school: its promise, problems, and our experiences with it. We then transition into a discussion about ethics and social science, taking up what’s been called the replicability crisis in social science as well as some of the perennial questions within the subfield of bioethics. The combination of these two elements leads us to a topic that is close to Brian’s heart: circumcision. We speak about male and female circumcision, why the latter is often called female genital mutilation but the former is rarely spoken of at all, as well as some of the myths and bad science that surround this topic. As you will see toward the end of our conversation, we seemingly have just begun to explore some of these topics when the reality of time intervenes in our conversation. Brian was tremendously gracious with his time and I hope to speak with him again soon, picking up from where we left off here. Find Love and Other Drugs here. Brian's other work can be found here. He can also be found on Twitter here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Matt Dinan and Andrew Moore. Matt has a PhD from Baylor University and is an associate professor in the Great Books program at St. Thomas University. Andrew has a PhD from Western University and is an associate professor in the Great Books program also at St. Thomas University. We explore what is a liberal arts education and how it relates to the “great books” of the Western intellectual canon, the purpose of engaging with the great texts produced by human civilization, and ultimately why liberal arts education may be understood as an education in a kind of friendship. Liberal arts education can be defined both broadly and narrowly and this episode highlights how important it is to understand both facets of liberal arts and how, ultimately, the goal is facilitating people to live a more fully human life. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

Today’s episode is the next in an on-going series I am doing on this podcast on collectibles and community. In this episode of that series, I speak with TMReviews who has a YouTube channel called “TMReviews.” On this channel, TM reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Like others who engage in this kind of review and commentary, he deals some with official products but also with unlicensed or third-party products. We discuss how his frugal youth gave him a desire to own certain kinds of collectibles, how he left collecting during his teenage and college years, and why he ultimately returned to collecting. We then discuss why he started his YouTube channel and the problems and promise that have come with it. Finally, we turn to what he considers the most important element in collecting: the community. We speak to how he sees his role within the collecting community, specifically among Transformers collectors, but also how he has gone about cultivating his own community through his YouTube channel. I will repeat here, again, the central argument of this series because it becomes more clear with each subsequent discussion: popular culture and the collectibles that have been developed around them are centerpieces for developing community. TMReviews can be found here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

Today’s episode is the next in an ongoing series I am doing on this podcast on collectibles and community. In this episode, I speak with TMan978 who has a YouTube channel called “TMan978.” On this channel, TMan reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Like others who engage in this kind of review and commentary, he deals some with official products but also with unlicensed or third-party products. We discuss how he started out collecting as a young man and how that has continued into his adulthood, how he came to being a collectible reviewer, and the importance of collectibles to him and the community he’s developed around them. We end our discussion by discussing YouTube, the challenges that people often face when dealing with certain kinds of comments and with starting their channel, but also the positive aspects of building an online community around shared common interests. Ultimately, as I’ve said before, popular culture and the collectibles that have been developed around them are centerpieces for developing community. This discussion further illustrates that central point. Find TMan's YouTube channel here. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here. Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

This is an episode in an on-going series on liberal arts education. In this episode, I speak with Jonathan Marks. Jonathan has a PhD from the University of Chicago and is a Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus College. We explore what is a liberal arts education and how it relates to the “great books” of the Western intellectual canon, the conflicts that have arisen from the “battle of the books” both in the 1990s and Jonathan’s new book “Let’s be Reasonable: A conservative case for liberal education.” Our discussion is a bit broader here than the first episode in this series but this broadness helps illustrate one of the benefits that comes from engaging in this form of pedagogy and participating with this ever-evolving canon of authors and works. Find Jonathan's book here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

This episode is the first in on-going series on classical liberal arts education and the importance that it may play in the contemporary university. In this episode, I speak with John Peterson. John has a PhD from the University of Dallas, where he is the Manager of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts. There he oversees the administration of the Humanities, Classical Education, American Studies, and Leadership programs and he is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Humanities and Graduate Director of American Studies at the University of Dallas. We explore what is a classical liberal arts education and how it may differ from what falls under the banner of “liberal arts” education today in many universities. We also speak to the role that such an education may play in our contemporary universities as well as the challenges that this pedagogical approach faces from competing pedagogical approaches. Our conversation serves as a terrific introduction to classical liberal arts education pedagogy and is a great launching point for this on-going series. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Henry Paik who has a YouTube channel called “Paik4Life.” On this channel, Paik reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Like others who engage in this kind of review and commentary, he deals some with official products but also with unlicensed or third-party products. We discuss how he came to being a collectible reviewer, the importance of collectibles to him and the community he’s developed around them, as well as a little bit of “behind the scenes” discussion about how the business side of these collectibles actually operates. We end our discussion with an exploration of why this particular era of popular culture is so defined by nostalgia and what that might mean about what we are currently valuing and not valuing. Ultimately, as I’ve said before, popular culture and the collectibles that have been developed around them are not just vapid materialism or trinkets to fill shelves; they are centerpieces for developing community. Find Paik here, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

I speak with Jon Carney. Jon is the director of bands at New Palestine High School, a suburb of Indianapolis. Jon as a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s in Tuba Performance and Literature. We speak about the importance of music education in public education, the role that music can play in lives, and the importance that music plays in fostering a sense of community. Perhaps the most important element that we discuss is the topic that should always be the main concern for education: the kind of person we want to develop through our curricula. Jon’s approach to music education, while certainly deeply concerned with the technical aspects of proficiency, also takes into consideration what skills are necessary for developing, and living within, a community. This was an excellent conversation that illustrates how integrated our educational structures should be and how, perhaps too often, we do not teach across the curriculum nearly enough. Here is my conversation with Jon. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Bobby “Skullface”. Bobby has a YouTube channel where he reviews collectibles and provides discussion and commentary for the community that has developed around those collectibles. Primarily, his work deals with what are called third-party figures,  Third party figures are those that are not made by the owner of the intellectual property nor officially licensed products. When Bobby says that he is known best for his evaluation of Third Party collectibles, he is often reviewing high-end products that appeal to a particular group of collectors but ones that are not produced by Takara-Tomy nor directly licensed by them. With this in mind, we discuss what draws Bobby to these “nerdy” things, why that ultimately led him to creating a YouTube channel, and the relationship his family has with collecting in general. I also want to highlight one important element about collecting that is too often overlooked by those who do not collect – the collectibles serve a function, often a mixture of nostalgia and completionism, but are also a means to an end, specifically, the creation of a community. We end our discussion by turning to community and the importance that cultivating and participating in a community is for living a good life.  Bobby can be found on YouTube , on Twitter, or on his podcast, Nerd Rage Radio.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Scott Johnson, a high school science teacher who lives in Plainfield, Indiana. Scott has been a science educator for nearly 20 years with nearly a decade of that educating advanced and ambitious students in his anatomy and physiology courses. We speak about how he came to the teaching profession, what lessons he has learned from his experience as a classroom teacher – both positive and negative, and then turn to a conversation about how our educational systems often too often do not provide the kinds of outcomes we desire from them. In tandem with this, we discuss his experience of teaching through COVID, the constraints and opportunities the pandemic forced upon him, and how he believes the experience has made him a better teacher – and his students into better students. Given the centrality of public education in our lives today, we often become mired in discussions on how to fix teaching, fix teachers, fix schools, etc. but rarely spend enough time speaking to those who have dedicated their lives to seriously helping others improve their lives through education. As we discuss toward the end of this discussion, public educators have to teach the public and, In this way, they are civil servants engaging with a serious civic duty. Perhaps if we spent more time trying to understand what kinds of citizens we want to live with, and less time with what kind of workers we want to hire or what kind of consumers we want to fill our marketplace, we might be able to better tackle the challenges that come with teaching an increasingly diverse student population. Maybe this will better help us understand the public facet of public education a bit better and may, by extension, improve our collective lives as well. Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

I speak with Angel Eduardo, a staff writer for idealist.org and a columnist for the Center for Inquiry, who is also a musician, photographer, and designer who lives in New York City. Angel has a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts and Creative Writing so we spend time discussing the role of arts in how we communicate and also the art of communicating, specifically using a term he coined, star-manning. As Angel will explain more fully, star-manning is an extension of the intellectual exercise of steel-manning someone else’s argument; that is to say, to present an argument in its strongest form to deal with it in the most serious way. The conversation then turns to something that is far closer to my heart: superheroes. Angel has a particular affinity for the DC character Superman, so we speak at some lengths about the importance of such characters for kids and then how those same characters continue to have meaning well into adulthood. Both facets of this conversation, the art of communication and then communicating through the arts, are vital pieces for engaging in a shared life together. This conversation exemplifies both facets well and I hope you find it to be meaningful. Angel's work can be found here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Alex Priou, who teaches at the Herbst Center at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Alex has a PhD from Tulane University and his research focuses on Plato and the Pre-Socratics. This is the first conversation on my podcast that is dedicated to political philosophy and some of the questions inherent to the study of political philosophy. To that end, we spend quite a bit of time exploring questions like: what is political philosophy? Why study the liberal arts? Why take up questions of Platonic political philosophy? We also spend quite a bit of time exploring Leo Strauss and his impact on the way that we think about political philosophy and perhaps how this tradition can help us address the pressing questions of our time. Alex is a fantastic interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Alex, along with two of his friends and colleagues, has a podcast that can be found here. Alex's writings can be found here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Alex Priou, who teaches at the Herbst Center at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Alex has a PhD from Tulane University and his research focuses on Plato and the Pre-Socratics. This is the first conversation on my podcast that is dedicated to political philosophy and some of the questions inherent to the study of political philosophy. To that end, we spend quite a bit of time exploring questions like: what is political philosophy? Why study the liberal arts? Why take up questions of Platonic political philosophy? We also spend quite a bit of time exploring Leo Strauss and his impact on the way that we think about political philosophy and perhaps how this tradition can help us address the pressing questions of our time. Alex is a fantastic interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Alex, along with two of his friends and colleagues, has a podcast that can be found here. Alex's writings can be found here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Alex Priou, who teaches at the Herbst Center at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Alex has a PhD from Tulane University and his research focuses on Plato and the Pre-Socratics. This is the first conversation on my podcast that is dedicated to political philosophy and some of the questions inherent to the study of political philosophy. To that end, we spend quite a bit of time exploring questions like: what is political philosophy? Why study the liberal arts? Why take up questions of Platonic political philosophy? We also spend quite a bit of time exploring Leo Strauss and his impact on the way that we think about political philosophy and perhaps how this tradition can help us address the pressing questions of our time. Alex is a fantastic interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Alex, along with two of his friends and colleagues, has a podcast that can be found here. Alex's writings can be found here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Iona Italia. Iona has a PhD in literature from Cambridge University and is an editor at Areo Magazine and currently lives in London. We speak about her background, both personally and academically, including her experience living in multiple countries and how that has shaped her worldview, how to be a good writer and issues that emerge from academic training, the humanities and the Enlightenment, and the importance of literature in our lives. Iona is a charming and humorous interlocutor and it was a joy to spend this time with her.  Her podcast, Two for Tea, can be found here. Her writings at Areo, here and her book here.  You can find her on Twitter @ionaitalia. Her website is here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

In this episode, I speak with Iona Italia. Iona has a PhD in literature from Cambridge University and is an editor at Areo Magazine and currently lives in London. We speak about her background, both personally and academically, including her experience living in multiple countries and how that has shaped her worldview, how to be a good writer and issues that emerge from academic training, the humanities and the Enlightenment, and the importance of literature in our lives. Iona is a charming and humorous interlocutor and it was a joy to spend this time with her.  Her podcast, Two for Tea, can be found here. Her writings at Areo, here and her book here.  You can find her on Twitter @ionaitalia. Her website is here.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

Today, I speak with Xavier Bonilla, who has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. We speak about a wide range of topics including reacting to the seditious mob invading the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, then transitioning to conversations about political centrism, how to find meaning in a world that seems so often to be meaningless, and questions of how to explore themes and narratives in films or other elements in popular culture. Xavier is an excellent interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here. His piece on Centrism can be found   Xavier can be found on on Twitter @xaverbonilla87.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

Today, I speak with Xavier Bonilla, who has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. We speak about a wide range of topics including reacting to the seditious mob invading the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, then transitioning to conversations about political centrism, how to find meaning in a world that seems so often to be meaningless, and questions of how to explore themes and narratives in films or other elements in popular culture. Xavier is an excellent interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here.  Xavier can be found on on Twitter @xaverbonilla87.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support

Today, I speak with Xavier Bonilla, who has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor of psychology in Maryland. We speak about a wide range of topics including reacting to the seditious mob invading the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, then transitioning to conversations about political centrism, how to find meaning in a world that seems so often to be meaningless, and questions of how to explore themes and narratives in films or other elements in popular culture. Xavier is an excellent interlocutor and this conversation was a joy.  Xavier is also the host of a podcast called "Converging Dialogues" which can be found here. His piece on Centrism can be found   Xavier can be found on on Twitter @xaverbonilla87.  Introductory music was written by Alex Yoder. Find him here Please consider supporting the podcast here and following it on Twitter. Thank you for your support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/struggletounderstand/support