Growing Down: A Progressive Integral Podcast

Frayed. That's the word I think of when I think of how I left Growing Down. Growing Down was last published in 2020. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that time. Here is an update of cohosts Jeremy and Ryan: Jeremy is engaged in other projects but is up for reunions now and then. Ryan has created a wonderful political podcast "Meta-Ideological Politics" with Nate Coffman that deserves a listen to. 

As for me, I was not ready to let Growing Down, or GD, go because I believe the panel of thinkers we interviewed are the foundation for future integral politics. I want to build upon their insights. 

There are two subjects for the episode. The first is closure.  I am not certain of the future of Growing Down, but I do know that the idea that birthed GD is still very needed today. Before giving up on it, I wanted to explore the subject of political engagement. Growing Down was my political engagement-at least, how I measured it. Without this political outlet, I found myself disinterested in the current political narrative. 

There was a wonderful satirical sitcom in the 80's called "Not Necessarily the News". As a child, I watched it with joy to watch some of the world leaders make comedic faux pas' over and over. If anything, it made politics fun. To the skeptics that say politics can't be fun I say this: you are probably right. But -- 

Let's try. 

I asked Canadian metamodernist Brent Cooper (and past interviewee of GD) to cohost to help me unravel some anxiety I have about the future of politics and this podcast: How do politics fit into our lives? How can we transcend the left/right spectrum?  Is direct democracy a good thing? How can we stay politically engaged when all we want to do is quit? And --

Should we quit? Not necessarily. 

Be a working class hero and donate a $1 to Brent's project: https://www.patreon.com/abs_tract

Brad Kershner is a school leader and independent scholar, and the author of Understanding Educational Complexity: Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership. His research, teaching, and writing cover a wide range of interdependent topics, including education, leadership, parenting, race, technology, metamodernism, integral theory, meditation, complexity, and developmental psychology. You can learn more about his work and access recordings of his guided meditations on Patreon.

ashby goodrum (preferred pronouns: they/we/us) works as an advanced practice nurse in primary and maternity care settings with significant experience as a bedside nurse/psychopomp and in midwifery. Some of their research and clinical interests include gender affirming care, birth equity, palliative care, cultural trauma and healing centered engagement, and transformative justice. ashby lives in Portland, Oregon which rests on traditional village sites of multiple indigenous tribes – such as the Multnomah, Clackamas, and Tualatin – who were among the land's first human caretakers.

Books mentioned: 

Thomas Hubl - Healing Collective Trauma

Karen and Barbara Fields - Racecraft

ashby mentioned:

Isabel Wilkerson - Caste

Resmaa Menakem - My Grandmother's Hands

also: Danielle Allen, Anthony Appiah, Mariame Kaba

could also add:

Albert Murray - Omni-Americans

Carlos Hoyt - The Arc of a Bad Idea
For a deeper understanding of transgenerational trauma (a reading list):

Mariame Kaba and  other transformative justice resources

http://mariamekaba.com/publications/ 

https://survivedandpunished.org/building-accountable-communities/

https://transformharm.org/

Michael Yellow Bird expert on neurodecolonization and indigenous mindfulness

https://vimeo.com/86995336

Karen Murphy explores how to prepare the way for civic healing 

https://onbeing.org/programs/karen-murphy-the-long-view-ii-on-who-we-can-become/

Ruha Benjamin on “New Jim Code" - range of discriminatory designs that encode inequity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JahO1-saibU

Ruth Wilson Gilmore on racial capitalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CS627aKrJI&t=4s

Robin D.G. Kelley  on how capitalism has been racial from the beginning 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ZwK2Zlw1U

Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_Rn8InPCo&feature=emb_title

David R. Williams on how racism makes us sick 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzyjDR_AWzE&feature=youtu.be

"How to Unlearn Racism" Scientific American article

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c0151be1137a6764abd89da/t/5f7276d98f12fd4b48de2efc/1601337050346/How+To+Unlearn+Racism+-+Scientific+American+October+2020.pdf

Psychology of Radical Healing Syllabus  

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c0151be1137a6764abd89da/t/5f4acedcaf548851802d0a8a/1598738150128/Radical+Healing+Syllabus.pdf

ReRooted Podcast with Francesca M. Maximé

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-26-the-shift-from-fear-to-love-with-james-doty-md/

Maia Szalavitz on addiction as a learning disorder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XsbxM1jGnY

Sarah Peyton, facilitator and neuroscience educator 

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-41-unconscious-contracts-with-sarah-peyton/

bell hooks, groundbreaking cultural critic and author

http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/

Andres Bernal returns to Growing Down to discuss the current political landscape and how the principles of MMT can create a new framework for how we view money. Integral Politics advocates for a new paradigm that transcends the left/right binary. What might a new society look like if the conversation shifted from "How are you going to pay for it?" to "How can we create a flourishing society?" 

John Dupuy, the author of Integral Recovery, reflects on how politics and addiction intersect. As a country, we may be experiencing a dark night of the soul. The opioid crisis highlights a wound in our country that we must be brave enough to face. Can an integral practice provide a clue to addicts and non-addicts alike to how we can flourish into our best self, community and country? 

Class is in session! The co-hosts of Growing Down sit front row as Rabbi Michael Lerner shares insights from his new book Revolutionary Love and his rich history of activism for social rights. We were honored to be in the audience and we hope you feel the same. 

Excerpt from Revoltionary Love:

"We seek a new bottom line that judges our institutions, our economy, our political lives, our legal system, our cultural institutions, our educational system, and every aspect of our society as productive, efficient, or rational to the extent that they maximize our human capacities to be loving, generous, and caring toward each other and the Earth, ethically and environmentally responsible, and committed to social, economic, and environmental justice; and to the extent to which they promote joy, playfulness, compassion and empathy, self-acceptance, humor, and aesthetic creativity, health and thanksgiving for life in all its forms, love of learning science and literature, repentance and forgiveness, treatment of all human beings as embodiments of the sacred and not just instrumentally as means to our own ends, and a response to the universe and our planet Earth that is filled with awe, wonder, and radical amazement (rather than seeing them only as "resources" to fill human needs). " -Rabbi Michael Lerner

Eileen Reavey of the National Popular Vote campaign joins co-hosts Ryan and Matt to discuss the history of the electoral college and the movement to create an interstate compact that would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the the most popular votes. Join us to discussion its importance to democratization politics. 

In this episode of Growing Down, David Loy, Buddhist teacher and author, shares his views on how Buddhist teachings can be applied to the spiritual and ecological crises of today's age. He advocates for a dual activism for the modern Boddhisatva, or Ecosattva: one of spiritual practice and social engagement. Can Buddhism provide an insight to integral politics by shifting the narrative from "good vs. evil" to one of "delusion vs. "awakening"? Please join us for this wonderful discussion. 

You can find David Loy's work at: http://www.davidloy.org

The Growing Down podcast is honored to be joined by Bruce Alderman. Bruce is an adjunct faculty in the College of Psychology at John F. Kennedy University (JFKU). He received his master’s degree in Integral Psychology, with an emphasis on Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, from JFKU in 2005. Bruce is the founder of Integral Stage, a new YouTube and podcast series featuring conversations integral thinkers and media creators.   

More about Bruce: https://www.jfku.edu/faculty/bruce-alderman/ 

Publications:   Alderman, B. (2018). Sophia speaks: An integral grammar of philosophy. In S. Esbjörn-Hargens & M. Schwartz (Eds.), Dancing with Sophia: Integral philosophy on the verge. Albany, NY: SUNY.  

Integral Stage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaA4zkLRnR3lGm8Y7c5Tvdw 

Integral Post-Metaphysical Spirituality: https://www.facebook.com/groups/470435939720069/ The Integral Stage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/442764176469520/

In this episode, the Growing Down podcast interviews David Hartful Jr., to talk about the protests and riots erupting in America, following the murder of George Floyd by police, from the perspective of Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics. David is a researcher and founder of Black Leadership Analysis, (https://blackleaderanalysis.com), which explores leadership practices in black communities through Spiral Dynamics, Integral Theory, and practices of self-realization.   

• David’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvH7ICAx2fzym-2ykAlNVPw  
• Dr Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: https://blackleaderanalysis.com/2018/01/02/zenju-earthlyn-manuel/  
• Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar:  https://blackleaderanalysis.com/2018/02/02/dr-bhimrao-ambedkar/

Growing Down co-hosts percolate recent interviews and attempt to integrate their diverse meanings (from changing public perception around more creation, MMT, evolving value systems, and other themes that have emerged on the show).