Speak Easy: How To Citizen 🎙

How To Citizen, S3 E4: Move Slow and Fix Things (with Esra’a Al Shafei)

Baratunde Thurston — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 20:42:25 GMT

My dear Insiders!

Here’s episode four of our tech season of How To Citizen without all the ads.

I first saw Esra’a Al Shafei speak at the Personal Democracy Forum conference in NYC so so many years ago, and she was hilarious. She spoke the truth about tech with so much energy, she was impossible to ignore. What I really love about this conversation is tha…

How To Citizen, S3 E3: Public Parks and Re-creation (with Eli Pariser)

Baratunde Thurston — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 23:21:21 GMT

My dear Insiders!

Here’s episode three of our tech season of How To Citizen without all the ads.

We made a promise to ourselves that we wouldn’t repeat the work of other outlets and make this season all about problems. In fact, that’s been our promise for all our seasons and is in the DNA of the show. So after the first two episodes give us historical con…

How To Citizen, S3 E2: A Podcast-Sized History of Tech (with Scott Galloway)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 13:44:07 GMT

Hello again Baratunde Insiders!

This is the second episode of our tech season of How To Citizen without all the ads.

I’ve been listening to Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on the Pivot podcast for years, and it’s one of the few I listen to every week. Their show stopped me in my tracks earlier this year when Scott channeled some of the spirit of our show…

How To Citizen, S3 E1: Baratunde’s Tech Origins (with Belinda Yvonne Thurston)

Baratunde Thurston — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:28:39 GMT

Yo Baratunde Insiders!

We are back with exclusive goodies for you for the next several months since How To Citizen is back in your podcast apps. We’ve dropped three episodes publicly, and release one a week on Thursdays. For you my dear insider, I’m gonna do one a day this week to get you caught up on the already-released episodes, then I’ll get these to…

Comedians Who Read the Newspaper (with Hari Kondabolu)

Baratunde Thurston — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 18:23:43 GMT

Special Note to Paying Subscribers:

Hi again.

It feels like mere minutes since I last reached out to you. This is the final episode of our second season. We decided to have fun with it, literally. I brought on one of my favorite and most funny humans: Hari Kondabolu. I wanted to end the season on an up note and highlight someone I consider to be a “model …

Baratunde Reflects on Season Two

Baratunde Thurston — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 18:17:57 GMT

Special Note To Paying Subscribers

My dearest insider, hi!

I’m briefly back from the road and gonna upload the final two episodes of season two for How To Citizen! It’s been quite a ride. With this 11th episode, we tried something very different: I’m the guest! I look back at the first 10 episodes and make more sense of everything we have learned. My prod…

In People We Trust (with Aisha Nyandoro)

Baratunde Thurston — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 03:39:47 GMT

Special Note to Paying Subscribers,

As I mentioned in last week’s email, this was the most joy-filled interview I’ve ever conducted. Aisha is incredible, and her proposal is quite simple: ask people what they want. When it comes to helping the poor, we often take an extremely patronizing attitude. We impose terms and conditions on aid. We assume people w…

Not Another Patchouli-Soaked Co-Op (with Jamila Medley)

Baratunde Thurston — Mon, 31 May 2021 18:58:19 GMT

Special note to paid subscribers,

Super special intro before the special intro. I posted this last week without including the ad-free mp3! My apologies. I’m out a lot filming the America Outdoors show, and had just recovered from day of surfing. Now that my head is back on straight, I’m actually uploading the mp3 this time and will delete the previous po…

Working 5 to 9 (with Ai-jen Poo)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 20 May 2021 20:06:09 GMT

Special note to paid subscribers,

Hi. You’re on the inside now! Which means you’re getting this latest episode of How To Citizen with Baratunde without the ads, and with this extra bit of commentary.

I remember meeting Ai-jen Poo many years ago after watching Alicia Garza (one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter and fellow leader of the National Dom…

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Broadband (with Bruce Patterson)

Baratunde Thurston — Fri, 14 May 2021 20:50:11 GMT

In 2021, quality home internet is non-negotiable; it’s something we all need. Our entire economy, along with almost all other aspects of our lives, relies on access to the internet. This is why many people argue that the internet should be treated as a public good, and operated as a public utility, instead of run by a handful of corporations that leave …

Don’t Be an A**hole (with Marie Estrada)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 06 May 2021 07:00:00 GMT

In a future where we depend increasingly on Amazon, the fates of many small businesses hang in the balance. In this episode, Baratunde learns about a new model to help local small businesses compete with the online ease of ordering from Amazon. He speaks with whiskey distiller Marie Estrada, a small business owner who has pushed through the hurdles of t…

But They Make It So Easy! (with Stacy Mitchell)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 07:00:00 GMT

Our extreme wealth inequality isn’t just caused by economic exclusion; we are also struggling with the concentration of corporate power. Simply put, most of our money flows directly into the pockets of a few wealthy individuals. This week, Baratunde learns how it’s possible for Amazon to receive one out of every two dollars spent online. He speaks with …

Land Without Landlords (with Noni Session)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:00:00 GMT

Imagine a land without landlords or racialized displacement. Sounds too good to be true. The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative [EB PREC] is fighting for this future. Baratunde sits down with Executive Director Noni Session and learns how EB PREC is reclaiming their community, and building local ownership through real estate.

Guest: Noni Session …

Ownership Is Key (with Sam Polk)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 07:00:00 GMT

Everytable founder, Sam Polk, wants to change the way we do business by not only creating jobs, but going a step further to create wealth-building, ownership opportunities through a social franchise model. In this episode, we follow Sam’s journey from Wall Street tycoon, to nonprofit connoisseur, to social entrepreneur, and how he found himself with a n…

Why Is Our Economy So … White? (with Heather McGhee)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 07:00:00 GMT

This week, author Heather McGhee breaks down the driving force of American economic exclusion via the swimming pool. Baratunde asks Heather about all she has learned traveling across the country to write her book, The Sum of Us. They explore the roots of wealth inequality, the true cost of racism, and why Americans have a zero-sum worldview - meaning pr…

It’s All Greek to Me! (with Astra Taylor)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 07:00:00 GMT

In Season One we asked ourselves, what does it mean “to citizen”? How do we show up and stand up for our community? Coming off the heels of January 6th, 2021, Baratunde starts Season Two by taking a step back with the question, “How can we citizen with so much division?”. In this episode, we speak with author and filmmaker Astra Taylor who takes us back…

Introducing: Season 2 of How To Citizen with Baratunde

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 21:11:00 GMT

How do we wield our collective power for the many, not just the few, in order to live together even with our differences?

We feel the dangerous divisions within our democracy daily: the pandemic response, racial oppression, and political violence. In season two of How To Citizen with Baratunde, we focus on ground zero for these divisions: money, capitali…

To Be Less Polarized, We Must Humanize (with Esther Perel)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Baratunde ends Season One focused on the state of our relationships, a key pillar of how to citizen, and thus the health of our society after the most contentious election in modern history. In conversation with world-renowned relationship expert, Esther Perel, they discuss how to repair relationships in this moment, and how choosing to listen and human…

Unwavering Kindness as Our Pandemic Response (with Dr. Michael Osterholm)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Baratunde reflects on Election Day and contemplates the record set this week for positive COVID cases recorded in a single day. He speaks to his trusted source for all things pandemic response, Dr. Michael Osterholm, and learns about the "pandemic of kindness" that Dr. Osterholm hopes will be more contagious than the virus in the coming weeks. Dr. Oster…

Flexing Our Civil Resistance Muscle (with Jamila Raqib)

Baratunde Thurston — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Baratunde wrestles with how to handle rising political violence in the U.S. by learning from a leading steward of strategic nonviolent action. Jamila Raqib, executive director of the Albert Einstein Institution, shares lessons on the superiority of nonviolent approaches to change, options for defending democracy against authoritarianism, and tips on wha…