Best Christine Alexander Podcasts (2025)

1
Joanna Macy, In Memoriam — Beauty and Wisdom and Courage (and Rilke) to Sustain Us 50:57

Play Pause

1d ago50:57

50:57

This rich, gorgeous conversation will fill your soul. The singular and beloved Joanna Macy died at home at the age of 96 on July 20, 2025. She has left an immense legacy of beauty and wisdom and courage to sustain us. A Buddhist teacher, ecological philosopher, and Rilke translator, she taught and embodied a wild love for the world. What follows is…

1
S10 Ep2: Imaging the Past—2025—Rebecca Lim 48:06

2d ago48:06

48:06

Greg Johnston chats with Rebecca Lim, an award-winning Australian writer, illustrator, editor and author of over twenty books. Her work has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and the Queensland Literary Awards. Her CYA novel, Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky, was shor…

1
Only Bad People Have Bad Politics. Right? 31:14

9d ago31:14

31:14

Americans are constantly arguing about politics—on the internet and at the family dinner table. But we rarely change one another’s minds, and we often emerge from those disagreements feeling frustrated and distrustful. Host Alex Lovit is joined by research psychologist Keith Payne to discuss the science behind the political divide and how the psych…

1
Ross Gay — Hope Portal, Episode 7 10:19

13d ago10:19

10:19

Ross Gay is a poet, community gardener, and teacher who brings another way of wisdom to the conviction that we have to know what we love and what delights us. And that we have to tend to that as fiercely as to what is broken and what we’re called to make better, what we’re called to make more just. Knowing what we love and knowing how to take delig…

1
Joy Harjo — The Hope Portal Ep. 6 17:09

20d ago17:09

17:09

Our teacher this time is the extraordinary Joy Harjo. She is a musician, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and she’s also former Poet Laureate of the United States. From the beginning of her life, from childhood and even before, she has carried and retained a sense of space and time and life that is so much vaster than present…

1
S10 Ep1: Imagining the Past—2025—Natasha Lester 41:09

22d ago41:09

41:09

Greg Johnston chats with Natasha Lester, a New York Times bestselling author. Her novels The Paris Seamstress, The French Photographer, The Paris Secret and The Riviera House, have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world. The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard was long-listed for the 2024 ARA Historical Nov…

1
Sewing School, with Ryliss Bod | Episode 91 37:13

23d ago37:13

37:13

The founder of the Sewing and Design School in Tacoma, Washington, talks about how she caught the teaching bug and how she shares her love of sewing with a diverse group of students from around the country.

1
The US Doesn’t Have Fair Elections. What Can We Do? 38:38

23d ago38:38

38:38

Voting rights are the foundation of democratic governance. But recent changes in elections policies have disenfranchised millions of Americans, and the voting gap between White and minority voters is continuing to expand.Host Alex Lovit is joined by Sean Morales-Doyle. Morales-Doyle is the director of the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the …

1
Joanna Macy — Hope Portal, Episode 5 12:03

27d ago12:03

12:03

Our teacher and inspiration for this session is Joanna Macy. What she embodies is a wild love for the world and a fierce hope that rises irrepressible from that. And she carries and lives an important reminder to us that when we love, we will also know pain, and we will know grief that can feel too awful to bear. When we talk about the muscle of ho…

1
Episode 182: Favorite Red-Flowered Plants 52:55

1M ago52:55

52:55

Turn up the garden heat with a dose of bold, confident color Red flowers—love ‘em or hate ‘em — add an undeniable fiery look to gardens. The hue stands out brilliantly against the predominant greens of most landscapes, which makes red flowers an instant focal point. For many gardeners, red blooms are the heartbeats of their beds and borders, radiat…

1
Ocean Vuong — Hope Portal, Episode 4 11:29

1M ago11:29

11:29

If hope is to be defining and forceful in the world we have to remake ahead of us, we must also speak hope into being. Ocean Vuong is a fascinating and singular person. The sweep of his work is about bearing witness to the other side of violence and the possibility of joy while taking nothing away and continuing to bear witness to the fullness of w…

1
S9 Ep9: Imagining the Past—Summer/Autumn Season—2025—Ally Burnham in conversation with Kate Mildenhall, Gina Cole, and Jennifer Mills 58:17

1M ago58:17

58:17

Does time run in a straight line? Is history needed to give context to a futuristic novel? Can traditional cultures be highlighted through melding speculative and historical fiction together? What limits should be placed on a genre when encompassing past, present and future? All these questions and more will be explored by Ally Burnham with authors…

1
Learning US History Is about Hope, Not Shame 30:53

1M ago30:53

30:53

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed joins host Alex Lovit to discuss Juneteenth’s history and the transformative potential of reckoning with our country’s complex past. Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard, where she teaches both his…

1
Naomi Shihab Nye — Hope Portal, Episode 3 9:15

1M ago9:15

9:15

In these next few sessions, we investigate some orientations and ways of being that are companions to hope. If hope is a muscle that can be exercised to become stronger and more supple, these qualities might be thought of as fascia, or the tendons — complementary ligaments that make the whole viable and sustainable. The wonderful poet Naomi Shihab …

1
Walter Brueggemann, In Memoriam - When the World We Have Trusted In Is Vanishing 1:06:25

1M ago1:06:25

1:06:25

The great Christian scholar of the biblical prophets died on June 5, 2025. Yet, in the lineage of the prophets who called humanity to face its hardest realities, this profound, warm, and timeless conversation is a stunning offering straight into our present. “The amazing contemporaneity of this material," Walter Brueggemann says to Krista in this c…

1
adrienne maree brown — Hope Portal, Episode 2 13:43

2M ago13:43

13:43

adrienne maree brown shines a light on an emerging ecosystem in our world over and against the drumbeat of what is fractured and breaking. She works with the complex fullness of reality to move towards a wholeness of living. In exploring the idea of hope — the meaning of it, the practice of it — it feels important to begin with someone who works to…

1
S9 Ep8: Imagining the Past—Summer/Autumn Season—2025—Cecilia Rice in conversation with Leah Kaminsky, Sue Williams, and Alison Booth 52:33

2M ago52:33

52:33

How does an author's profession (outside their role as a novelist) inform their books? Cecilia Rice will explore with Leah Kaminsky (a doctor), Alison Booth (an economist and academic) and Sue Williams (a journalist) whether switching ‘right and left’ brains impacts their research and writing. What led them to historical fiction? And what strengths…

1
An Historic Clothing Collection, with Kiki Smith | Episode 90 36:49

2M ago36:49

36:49

Learn from Kiki Smith, director of the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection, about what's in the collection and how it has attracted attention.

1
Trans Kids Are Under Attack. That Hurts Everyone. 36:41

2M ago36:41

36:41

Who should make decisions about what kinds of health care American minors can receive: their parents and doctors, or their state governments? A growing number of states are claiming the right to ban gender-affirming health care for minors—but only if the person being treated is transgender. This month, the Supreme Court will decide if those power g…

1
Krista Tippett — Hope Portal, Episode 1 13:58

2M ago13:58

13:58

Beginning today, and for the next six weeks in the On Being podcast feed and Substack, we’re opening a reflection/course experience curated by Krista and drawing upon her conversations with several visionary humans: adrienne maree brown, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Joanna Macy, and Ross Gay. Together, they extend rich and actionable i…

1
Sarah Longwell: To Defend Democracy, Stop Talking about “Democracy” 36:29

2M ago36:29

36:29

Pro-democracy progressives are their own worst enemy when it comes to recruiting conservative Americans to their cause. In part two of our conversation, political strategist Sarah Longwell offers suggestions for how to connect with anti-Trump conservatives. Her ideas draw on what she hears from voters in her frequent focus groups, as well as on her…

1
Episode 181: Plants You Can’t Kill 1:14:47

2M ago1:14:47

1:14:47

It’s worth finding a few stalwarts that will survive almost anything When plants are done in by pests, diseases, or bad weather, it is hard not to take it personally. But on the positive side, each plant that shuffles off this mortal coil does offer an opportunity to add something newer and better to our garden. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, an…

1
Roberta Bondi — What is Prayer and How to Begin 33:33

2M ago33:33

33:33

Buried treasure from the On Being archive! Krista writes of this conversation from the earliest pre-history of On Being: In the years in which I was on a whole new spiritual and intellectual adventure that changed the direction of my life — years which led to the creation of this show — I befriended a delightful, brilliant, straight-talking theolog…

1
S9 Ep7: Imagining the Past—Summer/Autumn Season—2025—Diane Murray in conversation with Alexandra Joel, Belinda Alexander, and Christine Wells 50:26

2M ago50:26

50:26

Fine art, luxury jewellery, espionage, royal scandal and danger. Alexandra Joel, Christine Wells and Belinda Alexandra are expert in interweaving the intrigue of past lives into novels set in cities such as Paris, New York and Cairo. Diane Murray asks what inspired their stories, what methods they use to tease out their mysteries, and the challenge…

1
Sarah Longwell: The Republican Party Has Abandoned Its Principles 35:19

2M ago35:19

35:19

How did one of our major political parties abandon its principles? And what do voters make of that shift? Host Alex Lovit is joined by Sarah Longwell—a political strategist who broke from the Republican party when it acquiesced to Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. She went on to cofound a media outlet (The Bulwark) and an advocacy organization (Def…

1
Episode 251 - Elisabet Barnes and MDS The Legendary 2025 1:40:06

2M ago1:40:06

1:40:06

Elisabet Barnes is a 5x participant at MDS The Legendary and a 2x champion. In 2025, Elisabet returned to the Legendary with different goals, different perspectives and to experience the race without the pressure of the podium. Her last MDS participation was 2017. A great deal has happened in the last 8-years, Covid for one and of course, a change …

1
Yochi Fisher and Loaay Wattad–On Seeing the Trauma of the Other 1:36:34

2M ago1:36:34

1:36:34

This episode emerged from a private gathering in The Hague in the fall of 2024 with a small group of people who live in Israel — both Jewish and Palestinian, Jews and Palestinians who continue to share life. We’re pleased to invite you now to overhear this particular conversation, with the permission of all involved. It centered around the matter o…

1
Jason Reynolds and Kessley Janvier — On Being Young In America 1:11:43

3M ago1:11:43

1:11:43

A heavy complexity is on the shoulders of the young of our species in these years — humans growing up in this time. At the same time, from the digital revolution and AI to the ecology and society, they have wisdom and instincts in their bones that will be essential if we are all to flourish and not merely survive this century. In November 2024, the…

1
Diving into a Design Challenge, with Debby Spence and Michelle Loggins | Episode 89 39:31

3M ago39:31

39:31

Sewing garments for design competitions calls for imagination, problem-solving, time management, and enthusiasm for turning obstacles into learning opportunities. Two winning designers share their strategies for success.

1
Diane Ravitch: What’s Democratic about Giving Tax Dollars to Private Schools? 36:23

3M ago36:23

36:23

Public schools are essential for democracy—and they’re under attack. But the very policies that are being championed as their salvation may have a catastrophic impact on American education for generations. Public education advocate and historian Diane Ravitch unpacks how school choice policies like vouchers and charter schools are dangerous for dem…

1
David Bornstein — On Our Lives with the News 54:53

3M ago54:53

54:53

A calming and helpful conversation for making sense of the very story of our time, and how that is coming to us and being powerfully shaped through media and journalism. The theory of change of journalism as it came out of the 20th century, David Bornstein says, is that shining a light on what is going wrong — what is dangerous and dysfunctional, c…

1
S9 Ep6: Imagining the Past—Summer/Autumn Season—2025—Kim Kelly in conversation with Judy Nunn. 48:23

3M ago48:23

48:23

Author Kim Kelly interviews Judy Nunn on her love for historical fiction which have encompassed stories across diverse eras from colonial periods, WW2, the Cold War to more modern times. Her most recent novel, Showtime, features a showdown between rival entrepreneurs in 1880s Melbourne with comedy, tragedy, passion and betrayal; economic depression…