In the Meanwhile
In the Meanwhile
Podcast Description
No hot takes. No empty platitudes. No easy hope. Just real talk about how we hold onto our humanity, build something better—and maybe even laugh along the way.
Bring snacks. Bring questions. We’re figuring this out together.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on societal challenges, civic courage, and personal growth, with episodes exploring topics such as the aftermath of the pandemic, immigration enforcement, and collective endurance in a divided society. Examples include profound discussions on civic bravery in the face of ICE raids and the psychological impacts of 2020 on families and communities.
No hot takes. No empty platitudes. No easy hope. Just real talk about how we hold onto our humanity, build something better—and maybe even laugh along the way.
Bring snacks. Bring questions. We’re figuring this out together.
This week Nora and Marcus start where all great late-stage-capitalism horror stories begin: Trump’s “golden age of affordability,” $10 lattes, and a Starbucks bear cup that looks like it escaped from Dollar Tree on work release. From there, they dive into the Epstein files, congressional clownery, and the ongoing revelation that the powerful are exactly as gross as we always suspected.
Then historian Peniel Joseph shows up to draw from his new book Freedom Season. He walks us through why 1963 was a hinge year for civil rights, how backlash is baked into progress, and what today’s fights over voter suppression, book bans, and basic human dignity owe to that era’s coalitions and courage. Nora and Marcus then close with a tender closing reflection on grief, family, and remembering our way toward a better future.
Mentioned in the episode:
It’s never too late to tell a family member you love them. Until it is. | Nora’s grandfather’s NYT coverage of March on Washington
Books by Peniel E. Joseph:
Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights Revolution | The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. | The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century | Stokely: A Life | Dark Days, Bright Nights From Black Power to Barack Obama
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Read Nora and Marcus’s Books:
Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise
Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.
Logo by Nikki Barron.
Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.
Nora and Marcus’s work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.
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