For this "Summer Friday" we've put together some of our favorite conversations this year:

• Eddie Glaude, Jr., Princeton professor and the author of We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For (Harvard University Press, 2024), argues against waiting for "heroes" to do the work of seeking justice and safeguarding democracy.
• Dame Louise Richardson, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, talks about research into and strategies to reduce political polarization in the United States, especially in this fraught election year.
• Egg freezing as a method to extend fertility for women became more accessible (though still quite expensive) and popular in the past decade or so. Anna North, senior correspondent for Vox, where she covers American family life, work, and education, reports on whether the industry oversold women, as data now show having a baby through the process is no guarantee.
• Tracie McMillan, journalist, former managing editor of City Limits and the author of The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America (McMillan, 2024), traces the financial impact of historical benefits not afforded Black Americans on her own family and that of four others.
• Rhaina Cohen, producer and editor of NPR's Embedded and the author of The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center (Macmillan, 2024), shares stories of people who have made life partners of friends, upending current expectations that spouses would be our closest relationships.

These interviews were polished up and edited for time, the original versions are available here:

Don't Wait for the Heroes (May 17, 2024)Is There Any Way to Reduce Political Polarization in the US? (Jul 25, 2024)The Complicated Reality of Egg Freezing (May 6, 2024)White Privilege in Dollars & Cents (Jun 7, 2024)In Praise of Deep Friendship (Feb 13, 2024)