Episode 95: Why the Gun?

“When my kids started preschool, the teachers had to take away all the fake bananas because all the boys would pick them up and pretend that they were guns. Boys find sticks to play swords and anything that looks like a gun to shoot. It’s just inside of them. It’s who they are. ”
— Dean Norris
“Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror.”
— Eliot Spitzer

As Americans, we are often faced with news stories regarding mass shootings, fatal accidents and attacks involving guns. The issue has been heavily politicized, discussed and argued, but as a result, we have stopped thinking about why the gun appeals to so many. That's why we spoke with Alex Piper this week, to theorize about the ubiquitous weapon's appeal and relationship to humanity. We discuss the gun as a means of freedom and independence, both personally and politically. As a product of design and engineering, is the gun most powerful as a symbol? Why do some regard guns with fear while others relish and appreciate the gun as a tool?

Episode 94: A Friendship of Mutual Challenges

“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
— Abigail Adams

In a more personal episode, we spoke with Leland Holcomb this week to discuss friendly challenges we have shared with one another for the past two years. Whenever we catch up, we make it a point to push each other to try new activities, adopt foreign perspectives, and to move past our comfort zones. We describe some of our favorite challenges, the impact they've had and how we think challenges like ours could be applied to the lives of others.

Episode 93: The Milgram and Zimbardo Experiments

“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.”
— Stanley Milgram
“I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?”
— Philip Zimbardo

In the mid-twentieth century, social psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo conducted very influential and prominent experiments in the field which have had long lasting implications in our understanding of morality, independent decision making and perceptions of power over others. Though dated, each experiment lends to a discussion of dehumanization, which is rather common in our world today. This week, we welcome Naomi Ali to discuss some of the conclusions of both studies and how they might not be as black-and-white as some people might believe. How might the data be misinterpreted? What role did bias play in either experiment? Are people as helplessly suggestible as the studies might conclude?

Episode 92: "Yesterday, I Graduated"

“I can see, too, despite the illusion in the mirror that I am singular, the composite of souls who have had a hand in mine. I am not the solitary figure reflected back at me, I am penned and shaped by all of them, by you. The people who have not only written my story but those who have helped me to tell it. They have given me the words and the feelings behind them. They have given me everything. My home has not been a place or a time but the people who have kept me.”
— Kip Clark

With my graduation yesterday, there are some thoughts I feel compelled to share. What I have learned, what the past four years have given me and the role they will play in the greater scope of my life. These are words to myself, for those who have given me the feelings and thoughts to express them. - Kip Clark

Episode 91: "Today, We Graduate"

“Old Kenyon, we are like Kokosing,
Obedient to some strange spell,
Which urges us from all reposing;
Farewell, Old Kenyon,
Fare thee well.

And yet we are not like Kokosing,
Which beareth naught upon its swell
But foam of motion’s own composing;
Farewell, Old Kenyon,
Fare thee well.”
— An excerpt from the Kokosing Farewell, one of Kenyon's traditional songs.

Today, as we graduate, we say goodbye to Kenyon College, where this podcast began and where so many voices and thoughts have been recorded in the past two years. To honor our graduating class and to demonstrate the variety of experiences and perspectives, we asked for written submissions from our fellow seniors, which we read aloud. As this episode posts, we are walking across the stage, receiving our diplomas and swimming in the endless tides of memories, feelings and thoughts both nostalgic and forward-looking. Our thanks to our wonderful listeners, as well as to those who contributed to this composite of narratives. To the graduating Class of 2016: Congratulations! - Kip and Caroline

Our thanks to Alex Piper, Thomas Loughney, Chace Beech, Lucy Evert, Marie Laube, Timmy Broderick, Jinexa Nuñez, Gabe Brison-Trezise, Sam Whipple, Katy Santa Maria, Annaliese Milano, Lucy Iselin and Anna Yukevich for their submissions.