Introducing the newest thing in higher (and we really mean higher — like look UP) education: The Flying Pig Academy. A dream of The Village Square (with support from Florida Humanities) for many years, it's finally aloft. The division in American society is big and seems impossible at times to address. 

The Flying Pig Academy is kind of an insider's how to.

This Flying Pig Episode: Politics are a mess, the American electorate is fed up. So what do we do about it? Way too many of us doom scroll through the latest political news from the comfort of our couch in the suburbs. Rightly disturbed that younger generations of Americans don't understand civics, way too many of us aren't practicing civics that would have direct impact on the communities, states and nation where we live. We've become political hobbyists and it's fueling the demand for performance art in our elected leaders.

Mentioned: Eitan Hersh on the dangers of political hobbyism.

Miss the first Flying Pig Academy Episode? Find it here.

The second in the series, after "Location, Location, Location" is an homage to our intellectual hero (and lucky for us, our friend and colleague) Dr. Jonathan Haidt who - literally - wrote the book for Pigs With Big Dreams. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

Here are the rest of our Flying Pig episodes:

• Carom Shots: Why Working Upstream From Conflict is So Powerful OR how to become a civility pool shark
• Criss Cross Applesauce OR Complexity Changes Everything
• Core Catalyst Model OR What Old Trees Have to Teach Us About Rebuilding Civic Life