We end 2023 with a wonderful conversation with Dr. Carter Berry discussing her work at her organization, Brownicity and her work as an author. We discuss her recent work, "Teaching for Justice and Belonging: A Journey for Educators and Parents" and how it lays down the steps for the "how-to" of implementing such initiatives in ones classroom. It wa…

Navigating the Ethical Horizons of AI with Prof. Casey Fiesler Join us in a thought-provoking conversation with Professor Casey Fiesler from the University of Colorado - Boulder, as we delve into the intricate intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, technology, and the world of education. We look into the role of AI in education and gain i…

We have our 5th Coffee Chat and part 3 of our conversation with Professor Stephen Mulkey. We chat about warming in the North Atlantic and its impact on ocean currents, changes in hurricane systems, geoengineering projects and why fossil fuel companies support them, how global agriculture will have to change in the face of our current climate crisis…

Check out our past episodes at: aoapodcast.com Here is part 2 of 3 of our Coffee Chat conversation with Professor Stephen Mulkey. We chat about the concept of degrowth and how it fits in addressing climate change, the current state of carbon capture technology, and end with the Amazon Rainforest. Be on the lookout for part 3 of 3! Some articles wer…

In this Coffee Chat we have a familiar guest back on, Professor Stephen Mulkey. We discuss current climate change issues, we work to clear up some confusion on 'wet bulb temperature' and dive deep into one of Professor Mulkey's new course: Communities and Climate Change. We discuss how climate justice and community-based initiatives play a vital ro…

We have finally gotten around to sharing the second half of this wonderful conversation with professor and environmental scientist Stephen Mulkey. This is our second Coffee Chat (CC) and we are hoping to post more of these in addition to our episodes. We talk about divestment opportunities, teacher tips (really for all levels), and the future of sc…

*****In the conversation we cover sensitive topics such as child sexual abuse.**** Dr. Audrey Clare Farley rejoins the pod to discuss her new book Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America.In the early 20th Century a set of quadruplet girls became instant celebrities. Like many childhood stars the story b…

Addressing food insecurity in schools was actually one of my main focuses as a first year teacher many years ago as an environmental educator. I was overly enthusiastic and naive about the promise of schoolyard vegetable gardens solving all food insecurity among the 10+ million children living in hunger in the US. Years later it is still a focus of…

Stephen Kinzer returns to discuss the coverage and lack of debate on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Bringing his well-earned experience to bear Stephen calls attention to the realities of war and the need for a rational conversation about a peaceful end to the conflict. We also discuss the existential risk of nuclear war and the US's lack of m…

Writer and historian Aaron Leonard comes back on the show to talk about his latest book Whole World in Uproar - Music, Rebellion and Repression 1955-1972. In the interview we talk about state repression of The Beatles, FBI files on Dylan's girlfriend and why Phil Ochs and Jefferson Airplane deserve attention as radical artists of the 60's. Along th…

Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, joins the conversation to discuss his new book Resisting Apartheid America: Living the Badass Gospel. We get into what it means to push back against received narratives and roles for the sake of our neighbors as well as the …

Dennis Baron joins the conversation to discuss his forthcoming book ""You can't always say what you want: The paradox of free speech" (Cambridge Univ Press, 2022)" and the state of free speech in today's America. We get into conversation about all things free speech from government interference with social media companies to the impact of a changin…

Tune into a fun conversation with author and professor Renee Hobbs. Renee first got on our radar with he recent book and winner of the 2021 PROSE Award, "MIND OVER MEDIA: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age." We discuss her book and how she first got into media literacy. This conversation helped reframe how I saw "screen time" and how my student…

We are happy to share with you an engaging conversation for your Thanksgiving Break! In this episode we had the privilege to chat with keynote speaker Principal Kafele. We cover how schools can better support their administrators, specifically their assistant principals, so they can better support their schools, what it means to push for equity in …

The justification for war is as endless as the long and virtually unbroken record of war in the US. Is there another way to understand the destruction of Ukraine and the potentialities of direct US or NATO military engagement with Russia? Does it make sense to continue funding a war instead of forcing a peace deal? Is it too late to give peace a ch…

Are we in a new reformation? It sure seems that way. With everything on the table as far as faith, spirituality, along with political unrest and the increasing hollowing out of capitalism's promises, can psychedelics help birth what's next? Dave Barnhart, a pastor, author, teacher, church planter and mental health counselor joins to offer his exper…

After learning about the healing potential of oft-maligned substances, particularly in a therapeutic setting, today's guest found a gap in accessibility in Alabama and he did something about it. Kenton Bartlett is a Psychedelic Therapist here in Birmingham, AL. We got to talk about the movement to reintroduce life-changing medicines from Ketamine t…

Nearly 600 days into coal miners here in Alabama taking a stand for their rights and the wellbeing of their families against the Warrior Met Coal company, the fight continues. Haeden Wright has stepped up as a leading voice within the Brookwood coal mining community. Haeden Wright is UMWA Auxiliary Locals #2368/#2245 President, Alabama SDEC HD 49 R…

Paul Bowers, a writer with a substack called Brutal South (that you should follow immediately). He joins to discuss his recent piece Debt holds the whole thing together. We discuss Biden's $10,000 student debt relief plan, the morality of debt and the collective imagination we might find if we embraced an ethic of Jubilee. Paul's recommended organi…

Dr. Lauren Turek joins to engage in dialogue and debate about our proxy war in Ukraine. We talk propaganda, the morality of sending tens of billions of dollars to a military w/a Nazi battalion and why its so hard to give peace a chance!

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seager and Sis Cunningham, among many others, were the targets of the House of Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) from just before WWII to just after. Aaron Leonard discusses this history and the redbaiting aftereffects still alive and well nearly a century later. Order Aaron Leonard's book: The Folk Singers and the Bureau: …

Ok we've established that the CIA is and has always been an institution that has been up to no good. We've also discussed the fact that Wild Bill Donovan was more than ready from the beginning to use religion as a tool for spycraft both domestically and abroad. This week we complicate matters with the story of the missionary-turned-spies in Germany…

Is nothing sacred? When it comes to American exceptionalism, at least religious practice sure isn't. As Dr. Michael Graziano discusses in this episode, right from the beginnings of the CIA, part of the strategy to advance American interests around the world was the co-opting of religion. The conversation touches on the overthrow of Mossadegh in Ira…

We are excited to kick off our second season of episodes with a conversation with author and lecturer Alfie Kohn. This was a shorter conversation but we covered a lot of ground. Like many of our other conversations here, I think everyone from parents to students, teachers to administrators, and activists to policy makers can get something out of th…

Since at least the early Trump days a curious thing has happened among the liberal/left. Instead of reviling the FBI and viewing it as a tool to enforce Capitalism these same government spooks have become heroes. The bizarre trend goes on with the recent raid of Trump's files in Mar a Lago. Since when is the left supposed to be allied with the DOJ …

Union organizing is in the news for the first time in many of our lifetimes. Christian Smalls and the Amazon Labor Union has inspired workers at Starbucks, Chipotle and brought into focus the traditional unions like the Warrior Met coal miners on strike in Brookwood, Alabama. But what if all of these workers got together - all of us - in the states…

Legendary journalist Stephen Kinzer discusses his 2019 book Poisoner in Chief: Stanley Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control. As it turns out, the CIA is not to be trusted and, yes, US intelligence has a long and unbroken history of torture. But, no, there's not really such a thing as mind control. A decade or so of MK Ultra proved as much. …

Here we wrap up our second Coffee Chat and the second half of our conversation with professor and environmental scientist Stephen Mulkey. We touched upon advice for both students and teachers in the environmental world, the uncanny beginnings to the International Center for Tropical Ecology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the plastic indus…

This is a fun conversation that touches upon Stephen Mulkey’s original motivation to pursue this path, how he has navigated academia in the face of climate-change denial, and how the youth can help shape the future of environmentalism—both as students and activists. Mulkey has been active in the environmental science realm in almost every aspect. T…

Dr. Daniel Williams, Professor of History at the University of West Georgia and author of several books including Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade and the recently released The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship joins Casey to discuss the recent Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) fallout f…

Dr. Brendan J. Payne joins to discuss his book Gin Jesus and Jim Crow: Prohibition and the Transformation of Racial and Religious Politics in the South from LSU Press. Brendan traces the prohibition debate through the lens of Baptist and Methodist traditions, in concert with the progressive voices of the day who successfully lobbied for the 18th Am…

Dr. Kathryn Gin Lum discusses her forthcoming book from Harvard University Press Heathen - Religion and Race in American History. The conversation includes not only historical context of Christianity's heightened focus on dehumanizing outsiders with the "settling" of America but also contemporary examples of this phenomenon. As usual, we attempt to…

Dr. Kathleen Wellman stops by to discuss her book Hijacking History: How the Christian Right Teaches History and Why It Matters. The subject matter, for Casey, is deeply personal, being taught in Christian schools with Abeka Book curricula from junior high school to graduation. History, in the world of right-wing Christian education is...shall we s…

Audrey Clare Farley joins the conversation to talk about Evangelicals and their longstanding connection to something called "positive eugenics" (looking at you Dr. Dobson). Dr. Farley wrote an article in Religion and Politics on just this topic. It's surprising, shocking, and, well, interesting, if we're being honest! We also talk about her recent …

Fran Quigley, the author of Religious Socialism: Faith in Action for a Better World (Orbis Books) joins the conversation to discuss the long history of socialism in religious communities. In this conversation we focus on the legacy of socialistic Christians (predating the term by 1700 years or so) going all the way back to the book of Acts and the …

Holy shit. Russia has invaded Ukraine. The borders of a sovereign nation (ahem. in Europe) have been compromised for the first time since WWII. Is Putin Hitler? Is Zelenskyy Superman? The narrative around Ukraine is so hysterical that even war criminal Condoleezza Rice - with a straight face - is denouncing preemptive war. The US's role in this? Wh…

Part 2 of 2 Dr. Aaron Griffith discusses his book God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America. Aaron and Casey discuss the influence of 20th century Evangelicals (a la Billy Graham and a little Johnny Cash) and the rise of the carceral state in the US. We get into the particulars of the developing focus on individual rede…

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. In the decades that have followed his legacy as a leader, an orator, a thinker and an all-around badass has been well-established. Although, let's be real, there's always more to say. Dr. Biko Mandela Gray joins the conversation to discuss Malcolm X's theological de…

Part 1 of 2 Dr. Aaron Griffith discusses his book God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America. Aaron and Casey discuss the influence of 20th century Evangelicals (a la Billy Graham and a little Johnny Cash) and the rise of the carceral state in the US. We get into the particulars of the developing focus on individual rede…

Freddie deBoer, prolific writer, Marxist scholar and influential voice of the American left, sits down for a chat. Typically in political discourse we spend endless time and energy taking shots at opposing political parties. Let's be honest, it's fun and really easy. Sometimes even cathartic. The only problem is that a myopic critique of "the other…

Dr. Maureen H. O'Connell joins the conversation to discuss her new book Undoing the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Antiblackness. We talk about the history of racism and antiracism through the prism of her hometown Philadelphia. In the course of our dialogue, we get into what it means to engage in the work of repentance that goes beyo…

How can the Christian Left engage more fully with the broader US Left, particularly when it comes to foreign policy? What do the prophets have to say to us today about whistleblowers like Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning? What big questions does the broader US Left have for the Christian Left? Daniel Bessner, Assistant Professor i…

Kat Armas joins the conversation to discuss her recently released book from Baker Publishing, Abuelita Faith. We talk about Liberation theology, Womanist theology and the need for the church to hear from the women who have lived out their faith and theology amongst us in the past. Kat is also an excellent example of a woman engaged in all aspects o…

Dr. Lauren Turek, associate professor of history at Trinity University, joins to discuss her 2020 book To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence of Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations. Our conversation ranges from US Cold War policy (and why, oh why Evangelicals lobbied against peace/détente in the face of nuclear catastrophe…

Ryan Cagle, pastor, spiritual director and founding organizer of Jubilee House in Walker County, Alabama, joins Casey this week. Ryan tells us about mutual aid efforts deep in the rural South and what it means to build solidarity among our neighbors regardless of political affiliation. Our conversation is yet another effort on Public Theologians to…

In this last episode of 2021 we end the year with internationally-acclaimed speaker Ken Shelton on the topic of technology in schools. We cover so many more topics and Ken provides us with several real-world examples that I think anyone in education can appreciate. Whether you are an administrator, educator, parent, or even student I think there is…

This was a fun episode as we got a chance to speak with someone who has been contributing to Age of Awareness for years. I actually discovered the insights and works of Sarah Mock on medium.com about five years ago. Now, she is a best-selling author with her recent book "Farm (and Other F Words): The Rise and Fall of the Small Family Farm." This wa…

Rebroadcast of last year's Thanksgiving episode with Phil Nellis. We talk Abraham Heschel, Eugene Peterson, the necessity of tending to our souls, slowing down and leaning into the rhythms that Sabbath offers. This is our last broadcast of 2021! We've got some great guests lined up for 2022! In the meantime, wander back through our old shows, check…

Dr.s Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead join the conversation to discuss their research on Christian nationalism. Is Christian nationalism synonymous with white Evangelicalism? What is the difference between civil religion and Christian nationalism? Why does anybody listen to David Barton? Also we get into questions of power. Who benefits from Chris…

Casey reads from/promotes his substack post "Stolen elections: two can play this game." Back to normal programming next week! Follow Casey's substack Rate/Review on Apple Podcasts Support us on Patreon and win a book! Music: Orbach Art: Phil Nellis