Critical Currents
Critical Currents
Podcast Description
Democracy thrives on open dialogue, diverse perspectives, and the courage to engage across differences. As we bear witness to social, political, and cultural ruptures that threaten to pull us apart, how can we still find common ground? How can we truly listen to each other and nurture our sense of solidarity?
Critical Currents explores the discourses, movements, and cultural shifts shaping democratic life and collective action today. In an era of uncertainty, this podcast cultivates thoughtful dialogue and a deeper understanding of the forces that bind—and divide—us.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores discourses, movements, and cultural shifts affecting democratic life and collective action, focusing on themes such as political divides and the role of art in social justice. An example episode features Lynne Thompson discussing her journey as a poet and how her work addresses political tensions and cultural heritage.
Democracy thrives on open dialogue, diverse perspectives, and the courage to engage across differences. As we bear witness to social, political, and cultural ruptures that threaten to pull us apart, how can we still find common ground? How can we truly listen to each other and nurture our sense of solidarity?
Critical Currents explores the discourses, movements, and cultural shifts shaping democratic life and collective action today. In an era of uncertainty, this podcast cultivates thoughtful dialogue and a deeper understanding of the forces that bind—and divide—us.
In this spring episode of Critical Currents, best-selling author and journalist Rosecrans Baldwin joins hosts Dani Taylor and Ziyan Xie for a wide-ranging conversation. Baldwin bridges gaps by recording and retelling stories that bind people within an intersubjective urban horizon. Since moving to Los Angeles, he has become entangled with its contradictions, its mythologies, and its shifting textures. Drawing from his own obsessions and recurring motifs—the city as narrative, as psyche, and as a “city-state,” in his words—Baldwin reflects on the heart of his creative practice: articulating the voices and everyday truths of others. The episode is witty, poignant, chaotic, and sharp, as Baldwin keeps the conversation pulsing with surprising anecdotes and hard-won insights. What emerges is a compelling lens for tuning into, and acting within, our contemporary urban lives—caught, as ever, in the push and pull between disaster and hope.
MENTIONED:
Jonathan Gold (1960-2018)
Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir by D.J. Waldie
Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles by Rosecrans Baldwin
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Critical Currents is a collaborative production of the Wende Museum, Thomas Mann House, and dublab, with episodes airing from the heart of Downtown Los Angeles at the dublab studio. New episodes release monthly throughout the spring and fall, available on all podcast platforms.
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Disclaimer
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