Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Local news outlets are a crucial piece of democracy. Journalists for local papers attend town hall meetings and school board meetings and zoning meetings and committee hearings and THEN THEY REPORT ON THEM. If the government or other entities that serve the public are up to shenanigans, or not fulfilling their duties, journalists are who bring that to light, and who report the full spectrum of a story and not just what one side wants people to know. Sadly, local journalism has been decimated over the last 15 years, and it got even worse over the pandemic. Let's talk about easy--some free, some not--ways to help keep our small local news outlets open.

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This week on the podcast is all about finding comfort and coziness. It’s just the time of year–and that time in the world at large as we round the corner on 2 years of a pandemic with a spike in cases. Let’s use this s-h-i-t show as an opportunity to embrace feeling cozy, whaddya say?

Today’s big idea is that seeking coziness is more than just a comfort measure–it’s a survival mechanism that boosts all aspects of health.

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Why are podcasts such a big thing? And can listening to them–and/or creating them–make you a better person? These questions are what we’re going to dig into today, and so much more (like how to find new podcasts to listen to and what to think about if you’re starting to dream about starting one). Who can help us cover all these topics? Arielle Nissenblatt, founder of Earbuds Podcast Collective and community specialist at the podcasting platform, SquadCast. Arielle is like the Pied Piper of the podcasting community, especially on Twitter, where she shares tons of great ideas and tips for listeners and creators alike. I try not to fangirl, but I was nervous!

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Imagine that your emotional wellbeing is a see-saw. On one side are all the negative emotions, and on the other are the positive emotions. We tend to not focus on the positive emotions that much, and that's a darn shame because they have SO MUCH to offer in terms of refilling your well, making you more resilient, and just feeling more alive. Luckily, you can build and broaden your experience of them... and we'll start to unpack how today.

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Consuming wellness content is kinda like that board game for kids Chutes and Ladders. It starts off like a ladder Take these steps to get your health to a better place. It’s cool, you’re learning things, getting ideas, trying them out in your own life, hopefully enjoying some tangible evidence of feeling better.

But you can also be moseying along and then boom, fall down a chute into some pretty hairy spaces. For example, falling pray to conspiracy thinking. Today I look at why that is and how you can keep your wits about you.

More resources:

Maintenance Phase, "The Wellness to QAnon Pipeline"

Conspirituality podcast

Dr. Timothy Caulfield

Abbie Richards

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