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David Ignatius is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post, where he has covered the Middle East and the CIA. We discussed his newest book, The Paladin: A Spy Novel, which was released in early May. I also asked David about the future of media and journalism amidst the rise of “fake news,” cyber warfare, and international, geopolitical relations after COVID-19. David also explains the CIA slang phrase “lemon squeezer.”

Kaiser Kuo hosts The Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China. I sat down with Kaiser to discuss China’s relationship with the liberal international order, the often adversarial American media coverage of Chinese foreign policy, and its most recent management of the coronavirus outbreak. We also talked about his experience starting Tang Dynasty, the first heavy metal rock band in China.

Karen Chee is a comedian and writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. In this episode, I sat down with Karen to discuss her path from studying History and Literature at Harvard to working with Seth Meyers. She also reflected on the thrill of writing jokes for Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh at the 2019 Golden Globes and pondered the liberal nature of political satire in America.

Shamus Khan is a an American sociologist and professor at Columbia University. I sat down with Professor Khan to discuss his book Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School. As all conversations often do, we digressed into an interesting discussion about college admissions and the meaning of “meritocracy” today.

Cameron Koffman is a 22-year old candidate running to represent District 73 in the New York State Assembly. If he wins, he would become the youngest New York assemblyman since President Theodore Roosevelt. We discussed his personal upbringing and the most salient issues of this election, among them congestion pricing, retail vacancies, and diversity in education. We also talked about his journey from Yale to fundraising nearly $500,00 since late October, as he prepares to take on longtime incumbent Dan Quart in June.

Reed Alexander is an American actor, journalist, and current student at the Columbia Journalism School. We sat down in the studio to talk about his journey from playing Nevel Papperman on Nickelodeon’s iCarly to writing hard-hitting news. We also discussed the state of journalism, truth, and objectivity in the 21st century.