Let’s Try That Again

Beyond Wellness, Toward Well-being: In conversation with Liz Bucar

We’re obsessed with “wellness.” But are we actually well? In this episode, I sit down with Liz Bucar, author of the newly released “Beyond Wellness,” a book that challenges the modern wellness industry and the assumptions we make about self-care and so-called spiritual practices such yoga, mindfulness, sound-baths, cleansing diets, and more. Somewhere along the way, wellness became something we could buy, optimize, and even perform. But, as Liz argues, feeling better isn’t always the same thing as being well. We talk about the rise of the “spiritual but not religious” identity and what gets lost when we disconnect spirituality from religious traditions, community, and ethical responsibility. What if thinking more seriously about faith, ritual, and meaning could actually help us build better worlds—not just better routines? This conversation invites us to look a little closer—not just at how we take care of ourselves, but at the systems, values, and stories shaping what we call “wellness.”

The Cost of Going Green

What does it actually mean to “go green”? We often imagine a future powered by clean energy, electric cars, and renewable technologies. But beneath that hopeful vision lies a more complicated story—one that unfolds deep underground. In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Ernest Scheyder, author of The War Below, a book that takes us into the global race for the minerals that make our green future possible. From lithium and cobalt to rare earth elements, these resources power the very technologies we celebrate as sustainable. Scheyder invites us to pause and ask harder questions: If clean energy depends on mining, who pays the environmental and human costs? Can a transition be truly “green” if it relies on extraction that harms communities and ecosystems? This conversation challenges us to rethink sustainability—not as a simple solution, but as a complex ethical dilemma. Perhaps going green isn’t just about changing what we consume, but about confronting the unseen systems that make our consumption possible. To learn more about Ernest Scheyder's work please visit his website: https://www.ernestscheyder.com/

The Myth of "Making It"

A warm welcome to 2026! What better way to start off the new year than with busting some myths. A lot of us start off the year with making some resolutions - usually around self-improvement / self-optimizing, telling ourselves that this is the year we're going to finally do That Thing, reach that goal weight, get that raise, MAKE IT - and there's nothing inherently wrong with any of that. However, what my guest in today's episode is asking us to question is how are we, as individuals and as a society, defining "success"; what does "making it" or "having it all" even mean, especially for women? As the former executive editor of Teen Vogue, Samhita Mukhopadhyay was intimately familiar with what it meant to put in 12-hour days at work, sacrifice time with family & friends, ignore one's needs - all in an effort to "live the good life." But she soon realized that the cost of this so-called success was much too high. In her book, "The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning," Samhita Mukhopadhyay traces the origins of some of the myths around "having it all," "leaning in," and "hustling," and argues for a collective reimagining of workplace culture.  To learn more about Samhita and her work please visit her website at https://www.samhitamukhopadhyay.com/

The questions children ask x the lies we tell ourselves: In conversation with Sarah Manguso

In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with one of my favorite authors: Sarah Manguso. Her critically acclaimed 2024 novel, "Liars," was a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. It's a novel that explores the collapse of a marriage from the perspective of Jane - a wife, mother, and an artist. We have a conversation about "Liars," particularly Sarah's views on motherhood & marriage in the second half of this episode. The first half of our discussion centres on her latest book, "Questions Without Answers," a book of philosophy written in collaboration with hundreds of children and illustrated by the award winning New Yorker cartoonist, Liana Finck. It consists of one-line questions - ranging from the delightful and hilarious, to the poignant and poetic - asked by young children, which Sarah collected over the years after putting a call out on social media in 2021 asking parents and care-givers: What's the best question a kid ever asked you?   As a society we seldom take children seriously, viewing them as incomplete, incompetent, adults-in-progress. In writing this book, Sarah wanted to challenge the popular description of children as "adorable idiots," and instead portray them as they are: insightful, inventive, intelligent, curious, kind, funny, and - yes - even philosophical.

Buddhist Violence: in conversation with Vajra Chandrasekera

In this episode I have the privilege of speaking with the brilliant writer, Vajra Chandrasekera, where we discuss his award-winning fantasy novel, "The Saint of Bright Doors." The story revolves around a boy named Fetter – who has certain gifts (he can see other worldly beings that are invisible to the rest of us, he doesn’t have a shadow, and he can defy gravity at times) - and is trained by his mother to become an assassin from when he is a young child. His one and only target is his father, who happens to be a well-known religious leader, known as The Perfect and The Kind.  There are so many layers to this story but the one I am most interested in addressing in my conversation with Vajra is the theme of Buddhist violence. When we think of Buddhism or Buddhists we tend to imagine a pacifist people, monks meditating, Mindfulness!, people practicing loving kindness & compassion. Indeed, these are important aspects of Buddhism, and I would argue, of all religions. And when we hear of "religious violence," perhaps the last group of people we might think of are Buddhists or Buddhist monastics. However, this is the community - specifically the activities and beliefs of the radical Sri Lankan (Sinhala) Buddhist nationalists, that is being highlighted in "The Saint of Bright Doors." In addressing the themes of state violence, ethno-nationalism, genocide, communal resistance, and the people and the power structures – both the visible and the invisible - that shape us, Vajra Chandrasekera's work reminds us that Buddhist violence isn’t just the stuff of fantasy. To learn more about Vajra and work please visit his website at vajra.me Information about the Sri Lankan civil war was drawn from an article written by Nithyani Anandakugan in the Harvard International Review: https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/