First hour: Jackie Augustine, founder of BluePrint Geneva
Second hour: Debating Friends
In 2015, Jackie Augustine lost her bid for mayor of Geneva by just 14 votes. Then, she dusted herself off and launched a 501c3 called BluePrint Geneva, designed to create new solutions for old problems. The organization has worked on environmental and economic justice, from composting to a food cooperative. She joins us to discuss why it can be so difficult to see old problems in new ways -- and how to pull together diverse groups to make change.
- Jackie Augustine, founder and executive director of BluePrint Geneva, and member of Geneva City Council for 16 years
Then in our second hour, are you a fan of Friends? The megahit show just had its long-awaited cast reunion. In a piece for the Atlantic, Megan Garber writes that the special treats the nostalgia of the original series as "a kind of absolution." She says, "Friends, after all, has not just failed to age well; it showed its failings even when it was young. Its jokes are sometimes homophobic; its plots are occasionally cruel; its cast, and its world, are almost entirely white. The show is popular, and it is, as a separate proposition, beloved. But the affection tends to come with an asterisk. Many other series have similar problems, and use their versions of a reunion or reboot to acknowledge that the world has moved forward around them. The Friends version, instead, goes out of its way to change the subject." This hour, we talk about the original series, the reunion, and how to evaluate a show like Friends both now and in the context of its time. Our guests:
- Irene Kannyo, freelance writer and editor who covers tech and culture
- Deanna Spiotta, communications specialist and singer/songwriter
- Amanda Chestnut, artist and educator
- Douglas Jay, contributing writer for the political commentary website Balloon Juice
