Episodes

  • Encore Single Studies: Global Dimensions & Interdisciplinary Discourse

    Encore Single Studies: Global Dimensions & Interdisciplinary Discourse
    Jun 25 2024
    The emergence of Single Studies as a discipline is both a welcome advancement in education and research and an acknowledgment of the millions of circumstantially single people and those who are single by choice. The ever-present and growing demographic of single people has long been subjected to a lack of understanding and pronatalist-driven, status-quo social stigmatization and discrimination through exclusion from equal rights and public policy considerations. This has led to inequitable and adverse social, economic, and political outcomes and unmeasured impact on single people. Joining the show today to discuss these matters and more, are Dr. Geoff MacDonald, Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, and Dr. Elyakim Kislev, senior lecturer in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the Hebrew University, specializing in relationships, technology, loneliness, and singles studies. We will also share details of the 3rd International Singles Studies Conference, which will be held in person in Boston and virtually via Zoom on July 5, 2024, which they co-chair with Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani. Tune in to this in-depth conversation to learn more about the work of Dr. MacDonald and Dr. Kislev, and the upcoming conference!
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    1 hr
  • Encore DEI & Race: Moving Beyond Good Intentions to Meaningful Impact

    Encore DEI & Race: Moving Beyond Good Intentions to Meaningful Impact
    Apr 23 2024
    In this episode, we will discuss how to implement authentic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. What is required to move from the intentions toward racial equity and with DEI initiatives to actualize meaningful impact? We are honored to have Malia Lazu as our guest, to address this question, and much more. Ms. Lazu is a tenured strategist in diversity inclusion, and author of From Intention to Impact: A Practical Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (MIT Press, February 2024). Ms. Lazu will share key insight, including her framework and process for moving from intention to impact, and how to move beyond transactional initiatives, to authentic, transformative racial equity, within the workplace. She will also address some of the key barriers faced by companies, which limit the potential impact of DEI work. Ms.Lazu will outline the stages DEI implementation and how to optimize this process to navigate beyond intentions, share ways to build belonging with communities, and the importance of creating Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and internal equity goals. Tune in live to learn more about what this means for our community, and beyond!
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    1 hr
  • Encore Menopause in Focus: The Embodied Experience of Postmenopause

    Encore Menopause in Focus: The Embodied Experience of Postmenopause
    Apr 16 2024
    Tune in to the first episode in our new series, Menopause in Focus. In this series, we will discuss the range of menopausal onset and experiences, at different life stages, the missing and missed conversations prior to menopause, and the emerging awareness of the menopause in the workplace, and beyond. We will also delve into postmenopausal experiences, aging, and advocacy, which shares the lived experiences and impact of the symptoms and stages of menopause. We are grateful to have this conversation on the embodied experience of postmenopause, with the vibrant Stella Duffy. Stella is a psychotherapist, currently completing a doctorate in Existential Psychotherapy. Stella has been postmenopausal since chemotherapy for her first cancer in her mid-30s, and has a special interest in life after menopause, as a conversation sadly lacking in the prevalent current discourse. Join us for this in-depth conversation with Stella. She will share her personal and professional experiences, in meaningful and thought-provoking ways, reflective of her vast, diverse background and profound creativity.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Next Practices in Mental Health-Bringing Nonparents into the Room

    Encore Next Practices in Mental Health-Bringing Nonparents into the Room
    Oct 23 2023
    In this episode, we will examine the presence of pronatalist influences throughout the mental health profession, from leadership and institutions to research and training. Within these critical roles and educational spaces, the mental health profession largely obscures the lived experiences of people without children. Given these influences, what is the impact on people without children, both as clients and practitioners in mental health? To help us navigate this conversation about what is needed to create greater inclusion and understanding of the needs of people without children, we will be joined by Katie Maynard. Katie is an experienced licensed Clinical Social Worker, who is advancing innovative and meaningful change in the mental health space, through her work with clinicians, to expand their competency with therapy that is affirmative of childless and childfree people. Join us for this relevant, insightful conversation!
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    1 hr
  • Encore: America the Experiment: How It Works & Why It Doesn't

    Encore: America the Experiment: How It Works & Why It Doesn't
    Dec 31 2024

    Today we will delve into the complex and often incongruent ways the United States works and why it doesn't. To what degree do we know how the country is supposed to work as voters and nonvoters in the upcoming US presidential election? What makes us care and not?

    William Cooper offers rich insight into the key drivers and less-examined ways of how the political landscape in the US has been shaped. His 2024 book, "How America Works...and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the US Political System" is an opportunity to make sense of the American political landscape. He will share historical implications of what we experience today, and which Constitutional provisions have guided the country in the best and worst ways.

    William Cooper's work addresses what guides our political system alongside the embedded traditional central to America's story.

    We will discern recent developments, that have led to and created a tumultuous political environment, ahead of the 2024 election, including the shifting role and influence of the Supreme Court. We will speak in-depth about the threat of extreme polarization, what this means for us right now, and what we might expect going forward.

    Tune in to gain more insight into the political workings of the American Experiment and what this means for you as we near Election Day 2024.

    WILLIAM COOPER is an attorney, author, and national columnist. His writings have appeared in hundreds of publications globally including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, CNN, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun, Dallas Morning News, Chicago Sun-Times, Toronto Star, Jerusalem Post, and Huffington Post. He lives in Northern California.
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    47 mins
  • Encore: What Does it Mean to be Childless in a Child-Centered Society?

    Encore: What Does it Mean to be Childless in a Child-Centered Society?
    Dec 24 2024
    In our premiere episode, we will discuss the experience of being involuntarily childless in a pronatalist world, through personal experiences, and the need for change. Our guest for this episode is Hilary Fennell. Hilary is an award-winning programme maker and journalist with extensive experience of working in television and radio as a series producer and director. In her ground-breaking radio documentary, Childless, Hilary Fennell explores the realities and dynamics of being involuntarily childless in a child-centered society. Her voice as a childless not by choice woman, is interwoven with the stories of six other women. Each of the women speak to their diverse journeys in coming to terms with living a life without children. Currently, it is estimated that one in five women in Ireland will not have a child, by the time they reach age 45. It is further estimated that only 10% of these women are childless by choice (child free). Childless, focuses on the other 90% of women, who represent an often less represented group. This group is often silenced by the taboo nature of this topic, which remains today, despite the number of women living without children, not by choice. Further, these statistics do not include other genders. A majority of countries primarily track the parental status of women only. Societies have become obsessed with motherhood and the idealization of human reproduction, supported by pronatalist rhetoric, which is reinforced through policy, in the workplace and socially. Hilary navigates the social, physical and emotional impact of childlessness throughout her documentary, with skillful artistry and a full heart, amidst the shadows of grief, a call for social change, and the lightness of learning to live a full and meaningful life. Please join us to learn more about her incredible radio documentary, and the issues that matter most to those who are living without children, involuntarily.

    Hilary Fennell is an award-winning programme maker and journalist with extensive experience of working in television and radio as a series producer and director. Her work runs the gamut from current affairs to arts and human interest and has been in competition at many festivals worldwide. Hilary has worked in both the Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ and the independent sector.

    As a journalist, she been interviewing and writing for various national media for over twenty years.

    She is also a recognised fiction writer, recent prizes include The Sean O'Faolain Short Story Competition.

    Hilary also lectures in Broadcast Production at the National Film School at IADT and does presenting and voiceover work.

    She originally graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an honours law degree (LL.B, Bachelor in Laws) and qualified as a barrister from The Kings Inns Dublin (BL, Barrister-at-Law).

    See hilary@hilaryfennell.com
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    54 mins
  • The Jailer's Reckoning: Mass Incarceration in America

    The Jailer's Reckoning: Mass Incarceration in America
    Nov 19 2024
    The United States incarcerates more people than any other industrial democracy in the world. Why is this the state of America, and what are the social, economic, and political costs? Today's guest is Kevin B. Smith, author of The Jailer's Reckoning: How Mass Incarceration is Damaging America. He will share in-depth perspectives from his research, ranging from the differential treatment of inmates to the extreme impact on individuals, communities, and states. In this landmark book, Kevin B. Smith explains that the United States became the world’s biggest jailer because politicians wanted to do something about a very real problem with violent crime. That effort was accelerated by a variety of partisan and socio-demographic trends that started to significantly reshape the political environment in the 1980s and 1990s. How did serving time behind bars become a normalized social experience, affecting a majority of Americans directly or indirectly? Join us for this candid, revelatory discussion on the realities of incarceration in America.
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    42 mins
  • The Greensboro Massacre: Contested History & Truth in Narrative

    The Greensboro Massacre: Contested History & Truth in Narrative
    Nov 12 2024
    What does it mean to tell the truth in America? How can truth be discovered through missing narratives and overlooked history? Whose narratives are accounted for and not, who is held accountable, in the face of foundational racial injustice and violence in the US? Today we will be in conversation with Aran Shetterly, author of Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City's Soul (Amistad, October 2024). Morningside delves deeply into the event and its immediate aftermath, delivering an intimate account of an overlooked chapter in American history and showing why the Greensboro Massacre is such an important and relevant case study in proximity to our present. Tune in live for this in-depth look at the legacy of the Greensboro Massacre, the Civil Rights to Human Rights movements, and what this means now.
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    55 mins