Interviews By Topic

Chicago skyline

A hundred years ago, the poet Carl Sandburg turned Chicago into an American icon. He called it "The city of broad shoulders" a gritty...More

refugees

Quan Barry is an award-winning poet and novelist who founded the website ASPHODEL.INFO, which is dedicated to publishing a new poem each week in response to current events.More

Magazines on coffee table

When you hear "poet", what kind of person comes to mind?  Emily Dickinson in her white dress? Robert Frost in the snowy woods, with...More

Black Lives Matter sign

Anger can separate us into partisan camps, but it can also inspire people to work together to achieve amazing things. Michael Eric Dyson knows this firsthand.More

Tea Party Flag

Brendan Steinhauser was watching Rick Santelli on Squawk Box, listening to the CNBC editor’s now-legendary rant following the 2009 bailout of the financial sector that ended with his call for a “Chicago Tea Party” outside of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Steinhauser thought it sounded like a good idea.More

Angry person

Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett runs a lab where she studies emotions and says that if you pay attention, everyday anger can be a source of wisdom.More

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Writer Pankaj Mishra traces the roots of contemporary political rage back to a surprising source: the 18th century Enlightenment.  More

Boy screaming

Could we, as a nation, be addicted to anger? That’s what science fiction writer and astrophysicist David Brin thinks. In fact, he wrote an open letter to addiction researchers and psychologists, asking them to investigate America’s epidemic of self-righteous indignation.More

Glitched woman

Siri Hustvedt on developing voices on new platforms, all while coping with old-fashioned sexism. More

Women online, under attack

Facing the costs to being a victim of online harassment, where’s the law when you need it?More

Duca V Carlson

A Teen Vogue editor finds herself arguing with Tucker Carlson. And then it gets worse.More

Roxane on Twitter

Writer Roxane Gay talks about tackling her trolls and “writing to the point of uncomfortability.”More

Mingyur Rinpoche

In 2015, Mingyur Rinpoche completed a four and a half year wandering retreat, an experience that nearly killed him. He told Steve Paulson about the incredible journey, and the meditative insights he learned along the way.More

Candle

Psychologist Clark McCauley has studied terrorist groups and lone actor extremists for years. He says in many cases, it's not ideology that inspires terrorists — it's social bonds.More

the face of god

Can psychedelics help you find God? Clinical psychologist Bill Richards thinks so. More

Black hole

Psychedelic drugs show remarkable promise for treating addiction and end-of-life anxiety.More

deep blue

Katherine MacLean describes her work as a skilled guide to a psychedelic trip. More

trippy mountain

Desperate for help with his PTSD, Dan Kasza took a strange brew of frog venom and ayahuasca.More

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