Audio

Feeling Through Trauma - Bessel van der Kolk

“In the culture people talk about trauma as an event that happened a long time ago. But what trauma is, is the imprints that event has left on your mind and in your sensations... the discomfort you feel and the agitation you feel and the rage and the helplessness you feel right now.”

Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk is helping people with post traumatic stress disorder focus less on talking about their stories, and more on how their stories feel, how they sound, look, or smell.

You can also hear van der Kolk's extended interview, including more on yoga and the neuroscience of trauma.

Brian Kane on Acousmatic Sound

What role does sound play in Franz Kafka's fiction?

Cintra Wilson on Critique of Fame

Cultural critic Cintra Wilson thinks American’s fascination with fame is a grotesque, crippling disease. She tears into it in her book “A Massive Swelling.”

Dangerous Idea: Alternative Currency

Douglas Rushkoff's Dangerous Idea is alternative currencies.

Charles Monroe-Kane on Baby Boomers

Charles Monroe-Kane is tired of hearing Baby Boomers wax nostalgic and he tells us why.

Future Families - Stephanie Coontz

And what about our social future? Family life has seen a lot of change in the past 50 years. What might the future hold?

Professor of history and family studies, Stephanie Coontz weighs in on the forces shaping American families.

You can also check out her recent New York Times articles about the true history of American families and working mothers.

Douglas Coupland on "Getting" Irony

Douglas Coupland says only twenty percent of people are hard-wired to “get” irony and the rest take everything at face value.

Ben Greenman on Blurbs

Ben Greenman is the author of a book called “Superbad: Stories and Pieces.” One of the stories it contains is called “Blurbs” which is nothing but a collection of blurbs.

Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.