Episode 109: "How Do You Get Your News?"

“47 percent of a group Pew identifies as “consistent conservatives” say Fox News is their main source of information on government and politics. “Consistent liberals” rely on a mix of sources including CNN (15 percent), NPR (13 percent), MSNBC (12 percent), and The New York Times (10 percent). Pew also found that 44 percent of consistent liberals on Facebook claim to have blocked, hidden or unfriended someone whose posts they disagreed with, compared to only 31 percent of consistent conservatives and 26 percent of all Facebook users.”
— Justin Ellis of Nieman Lab on October 21, 2014.
“Facebook now has a fifth of the world — about 1.3 billion people — logging on at least monthly. It drives up to 20 percent of traffic to news sites, according to figures from the analytics companySimpleReach. On mobile devices, the fastest-growing source of readers, the percentage is even higher, SimpleReach says, and continues to increase.”
— Ravi Somaiya of The New York Times on October 26, 2014

With the various tools and technologies available to many of us in the twenty-first century, how have our habits related to the news changed? Many studies show shifts between among media such as radio, television, online publications and print. How do younger generations behave differently than their older counterparts? This week, we react and respond to a 2014 New York Times article entitled "How Do You Get Your News?" Are there more traditional, socially-minded methods which have been discarded in favor of more convenient and fast-paced alternatives? We examine our own habits and discuss the trends and preferences we observe around us.

Episode 108: Mass Shootings in America

As a troubling pattern appears to have emerged, we have long felt it would be necessary to discuss the recurrent issue of mass shootings in the United States. Though there is tremendous controversy surrounding the solutions to the problem, the greater issue draws widespread concern and doubts about our nation as both a political and social entity. This week, we welcome Alex Piper to share some of his perspectives after working with Everytown for Gun Safety, as well as his opinions on the larger issue as portrayed by mass media. Are there solutions to the stalemate in dialogue? Are there cultural factors which allow for these incidents in the United States in particular? How does one cope with the tremendous emotional weight associated with such tragedies and also contribute to the larger conversation or effort?

Episode 107: Appreciating Strangers

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”
— William Butler Yeats
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
— Tennessee Williams
“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
— Barack Obama

In an ever-growing and interconnected world, a glimpse outside of our social groups and inner worlds can remind each of us of the vast oceans of strangers in our world. Some consider this idea with understandable fear, but this week Olivia Sanabria joins us to help explore this conception of "the stranger". In what ways is it a mental framework with which to maintain a clear and digestible worldview? Is there are respectful and acceptable manner in which to approach those we would like to know but do not yet? What can our beliefs about those who are strangers indicate about our own perspectives and opinions? To our listeners: How do you define strangers? What is your protocol when interacting with strangers and do you tend to avoid such interactions?

Episode 106: For Non-Gamers — Gone Home

“Pick up a can of soda in Gone Home, spin it around and you’ll find a fully detailed nutrition label. Pick up anything else in the house that serves as the game’s setting and you’ll find a comparable level of detail. From the coffee mugs to the diverse styles of handwriting across every interactible piece of paper, nothing feels generic.”
— Charles Onyett, IGN, November 15, 2012
“Historically games haven’t done a very good job at recreating what it’s like to inhabit a specific time and place. [Gone Home] is cut out all the things that turn the scenery into a backdrop - combat, puzzles, large worlds, etc. - and instead placed the setting in the foreground. Exploring its relatively small but astonishingly detailed manor in 1995 is the game’s central mechanic.”
— Jeffrey Matulef, Eurogamer, November 15, 2012

This week, Phoebe Lewis returns for the second entry in our series "For Non-Gamers". She played through the critically-acclaimed success, Gone Home - a narrative exploration of a fictitious Oregonian family set in the summer of 1995. Because of her limited exposure to gaming as a pastime, we asked Phoebe about her initial impressions and discuss the similarities between the game, films and books which all contain similar storytelling elements. We also discuss the biases about gaming which this title helps disprove and how Gone Home helps model games as multimedia experiences and not as narrow entertainment. In what ways does this title illuminate first person experience as conveyed in video games? How do we conceive of the decorations and items in our houses as extensions of our families and our lives?

Episode 105: Alternative Genius

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
— Ernst F. Schumacher
“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
— Albert Einstein
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that
without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.”
— Pearl S. Buck

Because intellectual capability is often a marker of individual value and aptitude, the title of "genius" is a highly complimentary term. But in what ways do we label others and their work as genius only to gloss over nuance and complexity as a result? Are there ways in which each of us possess genius but deny ourselves that pride in the face of more overt and compelling examples? This week we welcome Sam Graf to discuss the idea of alternative genius and it what ways in might expand our conventional definitions of genius. Are there moral components to demonstrating one's genius? Does the genius have an obligation to share their gifts and talents with their society?