Lean Out with Tara Henley

EP 242: Leah Libresco Sargeant: Rethinking Feminism

In the United States right now, a group of feminists is taking stock of the movement — where it is at and where it’s gone wrong. Our guest on the program this week is one of those feminists. Her new book argues that our problem is we’ve bought into an idea of radical autonomy, which is not possible for human beings. It is, in fact, disconnected from physical reality. Leah Libresco Sargeant is an American writer. She runs the Substack newsletter Other Feminisms [https://www.otherfeminisms.com/] and her latest book is The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto. [https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268210335/the-dignity-of-dependence/] You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

EP 241: Laurie Woolever on Addiction, Recovery - and Anthony Bourdain

This week on the Lean Out podcast we are shifting our focus from the political to the personal. Our guest on the program has written a remarkable memoir about her time in the food world, her story of addiction and recovery — and what she learned from her years collaborating with the late Anthony Bourdain. Laurie Woolever [https://lauriewoolever.com/about] is an American writer and editor. Her latest book, a New York Times bestseller, is Care and Feeding: A Memoir [https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780063327603/care-and-feeding/]. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

EP 240: Jason Mangone: Inside Trump's America

As tensions mount within the United States — and between the United States and Canada — it has never been more important to understand each other. Our guest on the program this week is the head of a depolarization non-profit and his latest research paints a nuanced and complex portrait of Trump voters and the cultural attitudes and policy positions that energize them. Jason Mangone [https://beyondmaga.us/] is the executive director of More in Common U.S [https://moreincommon.substack.com/]. Its latest report is Beyond MAGA: A Profile of the Trump Coalition [https://beyondmaga.us/]. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

EP 239: Mark Oppenheimer on the Life and Times of Judy Blume

Many of us grew up reading classics from the great Judy Blume, from Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Blume, now in her eighties, is famous for writing about childhood and adolescence with humour and heart. This week, our guest on the program has published a remarkable book documenting her life story. Mark Oppenheimer [https://www.markoppenheimer.com/] is an American journalist and author. He’s the editor of the online religion and politics magazine ARC [https://arcmag.org/]. His latest book is Judy Blume: A Life [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/734817/judy-blume-by-mark-oppenheimer/9780593714447]. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

EP 238: Eddie Sheppard on Canada's Precarity Mindset

In recent years, the world has become an increasingly unstable place. Our guest on the program this week says that Canadians have adopted a “precarity mindset [https://abacusdata.ca/2025-election-precarity-mindset/].” And now, roughly nine out of ten Canadians believe this uncertainty is here to stay — that it is, in fact, the new normal. Eddie Sheppard [https://abacusdata.ca/team/eddie-sheppard/] is executive vice president at Abacus Data. His analysis for Abacus is From Crisis to Condition: The Psychology of Canadian Uncertainty [https://abacusdata.ca/from-crisis-to-condition-the-psychology-of-canadian-uncertainty/]. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com