The Horizon Story with Norma Wong

The Horizon Story Podcast

Will we choose humanity? Interdependent, thriving, emergent? The Horizon Story with Norma Wong explores, questions, and shares insights, skills, strategies, and practices to navigate today’s challenges while keeping our eyes on the horizon.

  1. 5d ago

    S2E5: In Collapse, The Fundamentals Matter

    When everything needs attention, how do we decide where to begin and where needs are greatest? Pay attention to the fundamentals. In this episode, Norma Wong lays out a roadmap for focusing on basics and talks fundamentals with Executive Producer Na'alehu Anthony and guest Ariel Jacobson - what they are, how to execute them, and  how an interdependent world shapes them. In this episode: Affordability as the word of the year, and maybe the decadeIs migration a choice in an interdependent world?Why Europe is reversing its stance on damsThe hidden industrial weight of AI and data centersWorking at scale - the household, the community, and what neither can do aloneFind us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

    S2E5: In Collapse, The Fundamentals Matter

  2. Jul 23

    S2E4: Don’t Wait For Systems Change (The Spam Musubi Rule)

    We rely on systems every day without really thinking about them: the banks that hold our money, the rules that keep our food safe, the agencies meant to help when things go wrong. These systems are so familiar that we hardly notice we're choosing to trust them. In this episode, Norma Wong and Ariel Jacobson talk about all things systems: why they're designed to be steady and reliable and what happens when the world starts changing faster than systems can handle. They also discuss why even the most well-meaning people who want to serve their community should stop relying on systems.  In this episode: Why systems are designed for stability, not speed, and how that shapes what we can expect from themWhat it means that we no longer live in a cash economyWhy good intentions aren't enough when systems have to work at scale, uniformly, in a fast-changing worldThe three to five competing worldviews fighting over what the future should look like, and why none can reach critical massThe Epstein files as a case study in what happens when trusted systems meet bad actorsAre all systems broken? Not yet, but the pressure on systems is showingWhy most fixes to broken systems make them more rigid instead of more flexibleIs representational democracy still worth holding onto?Find us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

    S2E4: Don’t Wait For Systems Change (The Spam Musubi Rule)

  3. Jul 15

    S2E3: The Future Is Ours To Determine

    Is our future pre-determined?  Is there only one story possible–just the extension of what happened in the past, and what is happening right now? What are the stories in our head and heart that tell us what we should do today? How we should act, who we should be? In this episode, Norma and guest Ariel Jacobson trace those questions from the family dinner table to a lifelong question of what it means to “do your part” — and ask what it takes to write a different story about the future: one that isn't waiting for someone else to decide who we become. In this episode:  A different perspective on karmaNorma's relationship with the U.S., and how "ambivalent" stopped being enoughThe habitual traps that compress the possibility of new futuresEvery day practices for staying engaged without being consumedAn important lesson that 3-7 year olds can teach adults about telling storiesFind us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

    S2E3: The Future Is Ours To Determine

  4. Jul 9

    S2E2: A Useful Crisis- Finding the Interval In Which Change Is Possible

    In this episode, Norma sits down with Season 2 guest Ariel Jacobson to unpack what makes crisis useful and what crisis teaches us about the possibility for change. Norma and Ariel share stories from Maine, Detroit, Hawaii, and beyond, real examples of communities that met their moment when the interval opened. IN THIS EPISODE 危机, the Chinese word for crisis, and what it teaches us about the possibility for changeWhy readiness matters more than reaction: knowing what to do and what we want before the interval opensBuilding the team and the "we" we want to move with, rather than waiting to figure it out aloneA reading from Norma's book, When No Thing Works, chapter four: "Threshold"Find us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

    S2E2: A Useful Crisis- Finding the Interval In Which Change Is Possible

  5. Jul 2

    S2E1: How Do We Know If We Are Living Through Collapse — and What Happens Next?

    What do we do about this state of collapse? The more we accept and understand the state we're in, the more agency we have. The signs are everywhere and the evidence keeps mounting, but naming collapse is only the first move. The harder question is what we do once we've said it out loud. And what becomes possible when we stop bracing against the breakdown and start trying to make sense of it? In this first episode of the second season, Norma Wong speaks with Executive Producer Nā'ālehu Anthony to explore the question. In this episode: How do we know we're in collapse, and what are the indicators?The importance of observationClimate change and how it relates to this momentImplementation failure as a sign of collapseWhy the typical assumptions in systems advocacy no longer holdWhy we should focus on leaping instead of rebuildingHow the ingenuity of communities is an essential part of this momentREFERENCED When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, Norma WongFind us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

    S2E1: How Do We Know If We Are Living Through Collapse — and What Happens Next?

  6. Jun 11

    Episode 7: Everybody's Got a Manaʻo- Norma Wong on Isolation, Division, and Waging Peace (Season 1 Finale)

    Everybody's got a manaʻo—a thought, a belief, a way of seeing the world. In the Season 1 finale, the questions come from many listeners, and the manaʻo from one: Norma Wong.  The tables turn as Executive Producer Naʻalehu Anthony and guest Nan Stoops pose a series of challenging questions to host Norma. Together they explore the anxiety and isolation of this moment, the pull of othering and identity politics, and the role of creativity in finding our way back to each other. And finally, Norma takes on the question on all of our minds: is peace possible? In this episode: Mental health, young people, and the quiet epidemic of isolationHo'okipa: what it means and why it matters nowThe case for defiance: refusing to be dividedThe importance of creating small thingsIs peace possible?Resources for this episode: Story of the LeiStand with MinnesotaFind us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

  7. Jun 4

    Episode 6: 1+1 Is Always More Than Two

    What if the most important element is missing from the periodic table? What if understanding that element could improve your strategy and help you take bigger, bolder leaps? In this episode, Norma sits down with guest Nan Stoops to get gloriously wonky, digging into chemistry, math, and the core question of this episode: what is the Human Quotient, and why might it determine whether we, as a species, make it fruitfully to the other side of this collapse?  In this episode: Did scientists actually get the periodic table wrong?Why 1+1 is always more than twoWhat separates knowledge from wisdom?Why leaders and strategists should account for the Human Quotient (and what happens when they don't).Awake versus woke What does it look like to spread a useful contagion?Referenced in this episode: Scientific American, April 2026. Jeffrey Brandzburg, Limerick on InfinityWhen No Thing Works, page 80Who We are Becoming Matters, chapter 7Find us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

  8. May 28

    Episode 5: Do You Have the Guts to Evolve?

    We're living through a moment that demands more than business as usual. So what does it actually look like to interrupt old habits, make consequential choices, and pivot? If evolution begins with us, how do we rise to meet these conditions instead of retreating into what's familiar? Norma and Nan dig into the nature of courage, habit, and what it really takes to grow. In this episode: Identifying our habits & why interrupting them is an act of courageThe gift of not taking yourself too seriouslyWhat community organizer Grace Lee Boggs understood about revolution (and why it still matters). What it actually takes to evolve (and why most of us resist it)Referenced in this episode: Starre Vartan, The Stronger SexThe Boggs Center Find us: thehorizonstory.com | Substack | YouTube | wherever you get your podcasts If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who's ready to hear it. And if you'd like to help keep this work going, consider becoming a supporter of the show. Support the show

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About

Will we choose humanity? Interdependent, thriving, emergent? The Horizon Story with Norma Wong explores, questions, and shares insights, skills, strategies, and practices to navigate today’s challenges while keeping our eyes on the horizon.

Information

  • Creator
    The Horizon Story Podcast
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Horizon Story with Norma Wong
  • Show Website
    The Horizon Story with Norma Wong

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