The Braver Angels Podcast Braver Angels Media

April Lawson Kornfield interviews Annette Ritter about what it means to be working class in America, how she sees regular people engaging politics, and how her own journey through trauma and addiction led her to become an addiction recovery counselor. Annette shares openly and with great insight about what it will take to bring people—all people—together to bridge the divide.
Annette is an addictions counselor trainee, a graduate of Maryland’s Allegheny College, and a We the People's Project leader at Braver Angels. She lives with her husband, three cats, and a red slider turtle in beautiful western Maryland.
Twitter: @braverangels, @AprilALawson

At a time of deepening polarization and social division, it's easy to become discouraged, disillusioned, and depressed. In this special roundtable episode, Braver Angels leaders Ciaran O'Connor, John Wood Jr., April Lawson Kornfield, and Monica Guzman come together to discuss how they keep the faith in our work and in each other. The group also discusses the recent abortion decision by the Supreme Court and what it means for Braver Angels' efforts to bridge the divide.
Help us build a house united by supporting our work: www.braverangels.org/support-us 
Twitter: @braverangels, @ciaranjoconnor, @AprilALawson, @JohnRWoodJr, @moniguzman 

As the U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court weigh in on gun rights and gun safety, Americans remain bitterly divided on the right to bear arms. Is it possible to bridge this divide on the level of shared values? What can we learn from one another’s lived experiences that influence our thoughts and feelings about deadly weapons? What are the tradeoffs between gun rights and public health, and how do we navigate them as fellow Americans?
 
Ciaran O'Connor convenes Mark Beckwith, a longtime gun safety activist, and Wilk Wilkinson, a strong gun rights proponent, for a passionate, emotional conversation. Mark and Wilk don’t see eye to eye, but they do see each others’ hearts. This discussion is a testament to what’s possible when we speak fully, freely, and without fear—with charity for all and malice toward none.
 
Twitter: @braverangels, @ciaranjoconnor

Monica Guzmán and Daniel Acosta-Rivas share intimate stories about growing up in their respective Hispanic contexts and the diversity of the Hispanic world. They offer riveting insights on why the Hispanic community is underrepresented in organizations like Braver Angels and why Venezuela’s population may, shockingly, be less divided than America’s, illustrating the unique power of its approach to bridge-building. 
Daniel, originally from Venezuela, currently lives in Washington, D.C. and works for Stand Together. He is a recent graduate of American University, where he founded the Students for Free Expression chapter. Mónica Guzmán is the director of digital & storytelling at Braver Angels and the author of the bestseller I Never Thought of It That Way.
Twitter: @braverangels, @moniguzman, @AprilALawson
 

Manu Meel and the students of the cross-partisan campus group BridgeUSA are the vanguard of the civic bridge-building movement nationwide. 
What characterizes the 20-year-olds who are working across the divide to save American democracy, and what is the theory of change that defines the bridging/depolarization movement writ large? Does this work imply a centrism in defense of the status quo? Or is it an effort to establish a new type of political "center" that's not about political ideology at all? BridgeUSA co-founder and CEO Manu Meel tackles all of this and more with Braver Angels national ambassador John Wood Jr. 
Learn more about BridgeUSA’s work at www.bridgeusa.org, and follow them on Instagram at @BridgeUSA_.
Twitter: @braverangels, @JohnRWoodJr, @manumeel1, @BridgeUSA_ 

April Lawson Kornfield hosts two thoughtful young people—Zoomers, as they're sometimes called—for a conversation about depolarization, campus culture, and what it would take to bring more youth into the bridge-building movement. Isaac Humrich is a rising sophomore at Arizona State University and the incoming president of the Arizona State College Republicans. Ope Tukuru, a recent graduate of the University at Albany, just finished his internship with the media team at Braver Angels.
The guests offer surprising insights about friendship, which stereotypes about their generation are unfair and which ones hit the mark, and how it feels to be coming into adulthood amidst a pandemic, intense social justice movements, and a political world that feels increasingly unstable.
Twitter: @braverangels, @AprilALawson, @IsaacHumrich