Matthew McConaughey just keeps livin. In his new memoir, Greenlights, you hear how. Through the trials and tribulations, speed-bumps and roadblocks, the Oscar-winning actor has remained unwaveringly optimistic and full-hearted. Today he joins us to share selected scenes from his life, on-screen and off. We start with the whirlwind year of 1992 (3:15) before moving into lessons learned from the late Joel Schumacher (13:02) and his idol, Paul Newman (18:07). He also candidly reflects on his rom-com decade (28:34), how his parents' on-again, off-again marriage impacted him (34:17), the McConaissance, from Mud to True Detective to Killer Joe (40:05). Then, before we go, he shares his hopes for the future–his and ours both (51:00). 

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Resmaa Menakem is a trauma specialist and New York Times best-selling author. His latest book, “My Grandmother’s Hands”, focuses on the historical and racialized trauma carried in our bodies and souls, from one generation to the next. As we try to heal, Resmaa joins us to talk about the dangers of white comfort (4:15), the “supreme standard” of the white body (10:03), his personal experience with generational trauma (14:33), the communal horror of racial injustice (19:10), his healing work with soldiers in Afghanistan (24:26), how black people have become habituated to soothing white bodies (36:10), and the illusion of allyship (40:19). 

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At the end of a historic week, who better to provide perspective than Noam Chomsky? Today, he unpacks the 2020 election (5:25), the virtues of the Green New Deal (9:00), the perceived “radicalism” of Leftist proposals (14:21, 18:03), the need to better educate and organize (20:24), the upside to higher taxes in a democracy (24:56), compassion in the pandemic (35:26), and how Americans can move forward from our failures (40:03). 

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On today's show: two dispatches from inside the medical community and Silicon valley, respectively.

First we're joined by Justin Rosenstein, the man who led the team behind the Facebook like button. Now the co-founder of Asana, he breaks down the influence that social media has had on society in this critical time. Rosenstein serves as the whistleblower against Facebook on Netflix’s recent documentary hit “The Social Dilemma”. Today he talks about how social media platforms have handled the 2020 election vs. the 2016 election (3:20), why big tech companies have ignored the negative effects social media might have on society (10:23), the human price of today's economic system (17:38), and his vision for the deep structural changes ahead (30:27).

Then, on the back end, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, joins us for the fourth time to update us on the latest uptick in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the United States. Dr. Jha talks about the politicization of the pandemic (40:33), the psychological toll the pandemic is taking on healthcare workers (45:15), his thoughts on how the president has dismissed the severity of the virus (51:10) and a realistic timeline of finding a cure (54:54).

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With the art world in flux, writer and critic Antwaun Sargent (The New Yorker, NY Times) joins us this weeks. We discuss the turbulence inside museums across the country (3:20), the potential (creative) silver-lining of this pandemic (7:44), the impetus for his new book, Young, Gifted and Black (11:00), and how Instagram (sort of) democratized photography (17:30). Plus, Antwaun unpacks our culture’s recurring fetishization of firsts with black excellence (23:04), and why the the art world is in desperate need of reshuffling (28:56). Before we go, a virtual exhibit of selected pieces from YGB. Follow along at talkeasypod.com/antwaun

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Writer/director Radha Blank joins us! We talk about taking back control of her voice in her debut film, now available via Netflix, The 40-Year-Old Version (6:04), the catharsis of rapping under the moniker Radhamus Prime (11:11), the experience of coming out as an artist to the world (20:52), the personal family archiving within the film itself (26:56), the importance of portraying a different version of Black life on screen (34:25), and why she needed to make a love-letter to New York City. (41:02)

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Growing up Black in this country, Angela Davis taught Rep. Ilhan Omar that you must be “internally liberated to fight for external liberation”. As the first Somali-American elected to Congress, Omar has routinely fought for that external liberation. She joins us today, from Washington, to discuss the passing of George Floyd and her father (5:55), the challenge of making police reform a bi-partisan issue in Congress (11:18), the valuable mistakes made in her first term in the House (15:44), her refusal to “assume the posture of the good immigrant” (21:25), how she's handled the personal, xenophobic comments from President Trump (24:55), why she continues to reinvest in the youth (32:10), and what she hopes America will look like in the years ahead (40:15).

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The illustrious author, poet, and playwright, Claudia Rankine, joins us with the release of her latest book, Just Us: An American Conversation. We discuss the conversations (3:12) and relationships (24:12) that comprise Just Us, the problem with color-blindness, a personal shift in perspective following her cancer diagnosis (16:53), how history remains present for black people (27:29), and why we must repeatedly unpack what privilege looks and sounds like in this country (40:26). To close, Claudia reads a timely and moving excerpt from Just Us (52:52).

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