A Millennial's Guide to Saving the World

After an incredibly meaningful and successful five years, I’ve decided to end the podcast. Thank you for all of your support, time, and trust. I’m off to begin a new chapter, and I’ll hope you’ll continue to follow along.To stay in touch, subscribe for free at anyakaats.substack.com.Song featured: “A Better Son/Daughter” by Rilo KileySign up for the MGSW book club here.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Ian MacKenzie is a new paradigm artist who’s been tracking the global emergence of imaginal culture for the past 15 years. From the desert of Burning Man to the heart of Occupy Wall St, Ian has amplified the voices of visionaries, artists and activists who have been working toward planetary system change. He is the co-director of The Village of Lovers, as well as the host of The Mythic Masculine podcast and co-founder of The School of Mythopoetics. Ian and I speak about masculinity, community, elderhood, Eros, trust, and the vital, yet challenging work of turning ideas into action.Find Ian at ianmack.com, and on Instagram and FacebookSongs featured: “Mountain to Move” by Nick Mulvey and “Feed Your Horses” by Gregory Alan IsakovSign up for the MGSW book club here.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Peter May is an alchemist, a Grammy award-winning musician, a tree whisperer, a firefighter (and firemaker), an athlete, an architect, and an all around fascinating human being. Peter and I discuss how his love of ecology first developed as a kid living outside Detroit on Lake St. Clair, and how this passion later influenced almost every aspect of his life. From his multiple careers in natural building, native permaculture, sustainable landscape design, and land management, to helping produce and create a Grammy-award winning album with Paul Winter, to the creation of E3 Ecologic, a Crestone-based ecological nonprofit, it’s hard not to be inspired by Peter’s dedication to following a path dedicated to holism, intuition, and shameless curiosity.Find Peter May at windhorsealchemy.com, and e3ecologic.orgSongs featured: “Awaken and Allow” by Shannon Lay and “Woods Rose and Evening Primrose” by The Sonic ApothecaryJoin myself and Christopher Ryan + Cameron and Melayne Shayne in Montana this summer for the 2023 Sex at Dawn Retreat, August 20-25. To apply, click here.Sign up for the MGSW book club here.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Sarah Jones and her husband Michael are fourth generation potato farmers in Hooper, CO. Their farm, Jones Farms Organics, is paving the way in the San Luis Valley (the nation’s second largest fresh potato growing region in the U.S.) for regenerative and sustainable farming practices. In addition to helping manage day to day operations at the farm, Sarah has also recently transformed a local gas station and café into a neighborhood whole-food eatery, and helped to bring Marguerite Humeau’s 160-acre earthwork “Orisons” to life by convincing her in-laws to donate an unused/fallow circle-pivot to the project. Sarah and I discuss the unexpected and humbling path life sets forth for us when we stop getting in our own way, and how fulfilled and grateful we feel to live in a place where dreams can so easily become a reality.Find the Jones Farm at JonesFarmsOrganics.com, and on InstagramSongs featured: “Without You” by Sjors Mans, “Appaloosa Bones” by Gregory Alan Isakov & “Happiness Does Not Wait” by Ólafur ArnaldsPoem that I read: “To Be Of Use” by Marge PiercySign up for the MGSW book club here.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Kelly Moody is a critical ethnobotanist, philosopher, teacher, writer, and podcast host. After growing up in rural southern Virginia on her grandmother’s tobacco farm, Kelly’s interest in plants and ecology never left her. She received a B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies, and then left Virginia to travel cross-country, studying herbal medicine, land tending, ecology and botany. In the summer of 2020, she hiked the Colorado Trail documenting plants on foot and made notes on wild food and medicine gardens found along the old Ute pathways. Kelly and I discuss what it means to approach fields like ethnobotany, archeology, and anthropology both holistically and with a critical lens, rethinking relationships between people and plants, and questioning the ways we’ve explored, preserved, and defined “ecology”, “nature”, and “wilderness”. We also speak about the limits of capitalism, and reimagine a future in which infrastructure and capital could work toward ecological regeneration instead of against it.Find Kelly at OfSedgeAndSalt.com, on Instagram, on Substack and listen to her podcast The Ground Shots Podcast, available on Substack and all streaming apps.Songs featured: “Feet Keep Moving” by Natural Self & “Desert Dove” by Holly ArrowsmithSign up for the MGSW book club here.Join myself and Christopher Ryan + Cameron and Melayne Shayne in Montana this summer for the 2023 Sex at Dawn Retreat, August 20-25. To apply, click here.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!Become a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Jules Evans is a philosopher, journalist, and author, whose work centers around the interplay between rational and ecstatic states of consciousness. Currently, Jules is leading the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project - researching psychedelic harm reduction, ethics, and integration. Jules and I speak about our shared disillusionment with Western spiritual wellness culture, the role discernment plays in realm of mystery, and why it’s dangerous to be overconfident about ones “truth”. We discuss how Western religion has always been both a belief system and a business structure, inexorably interwoven with wellness, medicine, and an individualistic approach to self-improvement and healing, and explore how the burgeoning industry of psychedelic therapy may be following in those same footsteps.Find Jules at PhilosophyForLife.Org, on Twitter, Instagram, and on SubstackSongs featured: “Meet Me In the Woods” by Lord Huron & “I Wanna Get Better” by BleachersSign up for the MGSW book club here.Join myself and Christopher Ryan + Cameron and Melayne Shayne in Montana this summer for the Sex at Dawn retreat, August 20-25. To apply, click here.Attend the Orisons art opening on July 29th int he SLV! Get the info here.Come hang out at the Crestone Energy Fair September 16th & 17th! Here is the link for more info.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

George Whitten, along with his wife Julie, own Blue Range Ranch (also known as San Juan Ranch) located in the high desert of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Originally pastoralists, George and his family have been ranching on the same land for well over a century, and have been practicing regenerative agriculture and holistic land management since 1893, long before either of those terms even existed. Sam Schmidt, a New York City-area native, joined the ranch in 2020 through an apprentice program, and is now the Assistant Ranch Manager, alongside his partner Noelle. George, Sam and I speak about the rise and fall of industrial agriculture, the challenges of making a living from land stewardship, what it means to bridge the divide between environmentalism and agriculture, and how taking a regenerative and holistic approach to the land also means applying those same principles to our relationships and communities.Find Blue Range Ranch at bluerangeranch.com, on Instagram, and learn more about the ranch’s apprenticeship program here.For those local to Crestone and the SLV, check out my article about Blue Range Ranch in the June edition of The Crestone Eagle.Songs featured: “El Jardin” by Hermanos Gutiérrez & “The Universe” by Gregory Alan IsakovSign up for the MGSW book club here.Join myself and Christopher Ryan + Cameron and Melayne Shayne in Montana this summer for the Sex at Dawn retreat, August 20-25. To apply, click here.Come hang out at the Crestone Energy Fair September 16th & 17th! Here is the link for more info.How to support the show:Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunesBecome a paid subscriber on SubstackVisit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Erin is a professional writer who’s currently studying to get her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Erin is also one of my closest friends, and my former Whore Rapport co-host. Since ending Whore Rapport last fall, Erin and I both felt that there was more to say about our decision to stop the podcast. We speak about the animate, sacred nature of identity, the challenge of overcoming projections and idealizations, and the dangers of leaning too far into intellectualization to the point where it becomes a defense. We also talk about our evolving and deepening relationship to the archetype of the Whore, and discuss what it means to live and love from a place of sacred devotion. Songs featured: “Path 5 (delta)” by Max Richter & Grace Davidson and “You Want What You Can’t” by Natalie TateSign up for the MGSW book club here.Learn more about advaya and their courses here. Join myself and Christopher Ryan + Cameron and Melayne Shayne in Montana this summer for the Sex at Dawn retreat, August 20-25. To apply, click here.How to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Jenny is a certified astrologer, holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures, a B.A. in Classical Philology, and has studied ancient civilizations and languages for over 25 years. She’s also a trauma-informed coach, spiritual guide, and one of my dearest friends. Jenny returns to the podcast (for the fifth time!) to discuss the upcoming ingress of Saturn into Pisces. From learning how to manifest our wildest dreams, to practicing responsible spirituality, to finding safe, structured containers to manage chaotic emotional and spiritual realms, to integrating death, grief and loss into our everyday lives, we discuss why this transit is so significant and meaningful for each of us.Find Jenny at Amalthea.guide, on Instagram and download her Akashic Records self-study course at akashictraining.comSongs featured: “Inside” by East Forest and “Human” by Alex SerraGet access to the “Spiritual Bypassing” worksheet that Jenny mentioned in our conversation by clicking here.Hear me talk more about my own Saturn return here and here.Sign up for the MGSW book club here.How to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

William Keepin and Cynthia Brix are co-founders of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International. William, a climate scientist and physicist who also trained in clinical psychology with Stanislav Grof began GERI thirty years ago under the name “Gender and Ecology” in an effort to expose and heal the hypocrisies of working to end the exploitation of Mother Earth without simultaneously addressing the exploitation of women and the feminine. Over the years, GERI has evolved into an international program that brings people together from all walks of life to resolve the gender divide through honest and compassionate discourse, somatic work, and mindfulness practices. GERI prioritizes cross-cultural perspectives, and is inclusive of all gender identities, sexual identities and welcomes people of all ages and spiritual beliefs. Their book, Gender Equity & Reconciliation: Thirty Years of Healing the Most Ancient Wound in the Human Family is available now.Find William and Cynthia at grworld.org, and on Instagram, Twitter and FacebookWilliam & Cynthia’s Book Recommendations: Think On These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti, Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, and Cave in the Snow by Vicki MacKenzieSongs featured: “Above All Else, Be Kind” by AJIMAL and “Meet Me There” by Nick MulveyApply to present or teach at the Crestone Energy Fair in September or get more information about attending by clicking here.How to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month and get access to bonus content, a community book club, and more: anyakaats.substack.com Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

For the past few months I’ve found myself in a deep internal dialogue exploring the nature of my desires, my relationship to will, and my capacity for action. In the face of difficult choices, divergent interests, or upon reaching a fork in the road, how do we decide which path to take? How do we tell the difference between “trusting the timing” and rest/reflection vs. laziness and avoidance? How do we confront the grief of not being able to “do it all?” In this episode, I explore all of these questions, and share an epiphany I had that’s been helping me to move through the complexity of honing in on my desires in order to take authentic action. I also share some big news relative to Chris Ryan and my community project in Crestone, CO, and also speak about how I see A Millennial’s Guide to Saving the World evolving in the coming months and years.Song featured: “In Praise of Home” by RuraJoin our book club by clicking here.Follow Chris and my community project, The Crestone Conglomerate on Youtube and on InstagramHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Ridge has spent the last decade living and traveling nomadically on horseback, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. He is an expert in primitive skills and wild foods, and possesses a level of bravery and commitment to core values that I find extraordinarily impressive. In our conversation, Michael shares about the events that led him to his current life on horseback, and outlines what his day-to-day has looked like, season by season, for the past ten years. We discuss civilization, technology, authenticity, grief, ecology, and community, and Michael outlines the the logistical, psychological, spiritual and emotional tools necessary to live the kind of life he’s chosen. This conversation is by far one of my favorite episodes of the podcast, and deserves more than one listen.Find Michael on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.Here is a short video about Finisia Medrano, Michael’s teacher -Songs featured: “And You Don’t Even Know You Hurt Me” by Nick Murphy, “Fertile Ground” by Evan Fraser, Vir McCoy, Rising Appalachia, and Chloe Smith, and “Wandering Nomad” by Cody FrancisHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to contribute financially, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Johanna Hoffman is a designer, urbanist and strategist exploring the ties between design, planning, fiction and futures. She’s the founder of Design for Adaptation, a studio using strategic planning, interactive storytelling and speculative design to survey the impacts of potential futures and spur proactive adaptation. Her new book is called Speculative Futures: Design Approaches to Navigate Change, Foster Resilience, and Co-Create the Cities we Need. Johanna and I talk about strategies to make the intangibility and overwhelm of the future more personal and inspiring, and how we can integrate grief into shifting narratives. We discuss how national mythologies translate into the creation of different landscapes, the pros and cons of modern cities, and how important it is to give ourselves permission to lean into our creativity, imagination, and confidence in order to manifest big ideas. Johanna’s book recommendations: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Viral Justice by Ruha Benjamin, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and the work of Eric Klineberg, Ursula Le Guin, Stuart Candy, and Octavia Butler.Find Johanna at johannahoffman.com and on InstagramSongs featured: “The Fear” by Ben Howard and “Let Me Down Easy” by Gang of YouthsHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Téo Montoya is a Human Design Analyst, Metamodern Myth Mender, Indigenous Futurist writer and multimedia artist. His work focuses on synthesizing cosmological and spiritual systems, myths, archetypes, and modalities to find ways of supporting an emerging world in crisis through human development, ecological literacy, and reciprocity with our communities and more-than-human kin. In other words, Téo and I have a lot in common. We speak about our complex relationships to both Human Design and Astrology, and the importance of questioning the nature of “belief” when it comes to working with archetypal systems. We also discuss mythology, individualism, the collective crisis of meaning, grief, identity, ecology, masculinity, Metamodernism and so much more.Téo’s book recommendation: The Four Shields: The Initiatory Seasons of Human Nature by Steven Foster and Meredith LittleFind Téo at archaicremnant.com, on Instagram @teomontoya_ and listen to his podcast Indigenous FuturesSongs featured: “A Prayer of My Own” by Nick Mulvey and “You Get What You Give” by New RadicalsHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Van is an educator and practitioner in dance, healing and spirituality with over 20 years of experience. He integrates Eastern and Western modalities to create a holistic dance education, centering on how dance can enlighten our perspectives on life and how we interact with society. Van reaches beyond dance and choreography by focusing his work on human development through fusing dance, spirituality and healing practices. Van and I recorded this conversation in Athens, Greece where I spent two weeks participating in his Contact Beyond Contact facilitators training course. We speak about Van’s unconventional journey in discovering dance, his desire to unify his multidisciplinary interests, and his work using movement and dance not just as performance, but also as a healing modality for our body, mind, heart, and spirit.Find Van at UnitySpace.org, and on InstagramInterested in signing up for the CBC Facilitators Training Course? Find the info here and email cbc@unityspace.org using code “CBC_Anya”Songs featured: “Passage” by Garth Stevenson, “Rest (Acoustic)” by Leif Vollebekk, and “De Ushuaia a La Quiaca” by Gustavo SantaolallaFor some beautiful visual representations of Contact Beyond Contact: Visit my SubstackHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Deborah Eden Tull (who goes by Eden) is a Zen meditation and engaged dharma teacher, public speaker, author and sustainability educator, as well as the founder of Mindful Living Revolution. She trained for seven and a half years as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery and has taught engaged dharma for over 20 years. Her new book, Luminous Darkness, explores what it means to embrace, navigate and learn from the unknown. Eden and I discuss how “endarkenment” is different than enlightenment, and how balancing both light and dark in our lives can provide a radical path to wholeness. We discuss everything from embodiment to dark nights of the soul, light pollution, the suppression of femininity, our collective disconnection from the earth, and the complexities of power, dominance, hierarchy.Find Eden at deborahedentull.com and on InstagramEden’s Book Recommendations - Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki & Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmermerSign up for Retrograde with Intention here - We start September 17th, but registration will remain open through September.Songs featured: “Heat & Dark” by Luca Fogale and “The Fruitful Darkness” by Trevor HallHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Whitney returns to the podcast to discuss how paradox, polarity and nuance show up in astrology, and how to best utilize concepts of “good” and “bad” to provoke self-awareness. How can nuance be used to both invite and prevent growth? How can we assess when duality is helpful vs. when it isn’t? Whitney and I provide an overview of concepts such as malefics & benefics, sect, dignities and debilities, aspects, and retrogrades, to discuss what’s both helpful and unhelpful about seeing something as “positive” or “negative". We also discuss the archetype of Mars, and the upcoming Mars retrograde in Gemini. Our course, Retrograde with Intention, returns  September 17th, and is a group container to support your growth, awareness and transformation over the course of the upcoming Mars Rx transit.Sign up for Retrograde with Intention here.Songs featured: “Tumbleweed” by Puscifer and “Born Under A Bad Sign” by Albert KingHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Kimberly Ann Johnson is a somatic experience practitioner, sexological bodyworker, author, podcast host, and doula. She returns to the podcast to speak about the turmoil of the past couple years, and recounts the journey that led her to co-author Reckoning with Stephen Jenkinson. We speak about our mutual experience feeling alienated from the “wellness” community during Covid, and the great loss and betrayal we felt from those who pitted individualism and “personal sovereignty” against community and social responsibility. We also touch on the importance of becoming conscious of our biases, cultivating humility and nuance especially in times of heightened emotion, the risks of overvaluing the hero’s journey, and what we can do to make ourselves worthy of elderhood.Purchase a copy of Reckoning by Stephen Jenkinson and Kimberly Ann Johnson here.Find Kimberly on Instagram and on her website KimberlyAnnJohnson.comSongs featured: “Ballad Of A Thin Place” by RF Shannon and “Baby Hallelujah” by KonradsenCheck out this live performance of “Baby Hallelujah” by Konradsen - How to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes* Become a paid subscriber on Substack* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener-supported project. If you find this content valuable and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Stephen is a culture activist, teacher, author, and co-founder if the Orphan Wisdom School. His work centers around grief, elderhood, community, and is rooted in knowing history, being claimed by ancestry, and working for a time we won’t see. Stephen and I speak about how a lack of generational connection and transmission has provoked deep rupture and brokenness. We discuss the difference between communities and collectives, the danger of individualism and personal “sovereignty,” and how grief is an inevitable outcome of true “awakening”. We also touch on guru/student relationships, societal misconceptions about power and privilege, how to cultivate belonging as a state of being, and the devastating effects of living in a culture that has traded grief for grievance.Purchase a copy of Reckoning by Stephen Jenkinson and Kimberly Ann Johnson here.Songs featured: “Invocation” by Nights of Grief and Mystery, “The Future” by Leonard CohenHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!* Become a paid subscriber on Substack.* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener supported project. If you find this content valuable, please consider becoming a paid supporter for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe

Mónica Guzmán is an author, journalist, and bridge builder. She is the Director of Digital Storytelling at Braver Angels, a nonprofit working to depolarize America, and author of the book “I Never Thought Of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times”. Móni and her parents immigrated to the US from Mexico when she was a teenager. Móni is a liberal, but her parents voted for Trump… twice. Our conversation focuses on the importance of curating connection to those we disagree with, and the practice of maintaining curiosity about ideas and opinions we don’t understand. We speak about how to prioritize trust above “truth,” the polarizing role of the media, and the danger of getting sucked into ideological silos. Móni explains how it is possible to remember that we are all smarter and more capable than what they want us to believe, but only when we make space for and reclaim vulnerable conversations, and a connection to one another.Mónica’s book recommendation: The Collected Essays of Ralph Waldo EmersonFind Mónica on Twitter, Instagram, and ReclaimCuriosity.comClick here to learn more about Contact Beyond Contact.Click here to sign up for the Sex at Dawn Retreat this September in Montana, hosted by Chris Ryan, Cameron & Melayne Shayne, and me! (Only two spots left).Songs featured: “Moving” by Eskimotion, “Back to You” by Benjamin Gordon, and “Going Home” by ÁsgeirHow to support the show:* Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!* Become a paid subscriber on Substack.* Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on InstagramA Millennial's Guide to Saving the World is a reader and listener supported publication. If you find this content valuable, and have the means to donate financially, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for only $5/month. Get full access to Dirt Road Dispatch at anyakaats.substack.com/subscribe