In this episode, we explore what it means to educate young people in a time of deep civic division. Students are growing up surrounded by polarization, yet schools remain one of the few places where people are still asked to learn and engage across differences.

Joining the conversation is Colin Woodard, Director of Nationhood Lab at Salve Regina University's Pell Center and a New York Times best-selling author. Nationhood Lab examines the stories Americans tell about identity, belonging, and what holds the country together—and how those stories shape the health of our democracy.

We discuss how historical settlement patterns continue to influence regional divides in the United States, affecting trust, community engagement, and perspectives on major issues. Woodard also highlights the importance of social capital—the relationships and shared spaces that help communities function and thrive.

For educators, this conversation connects directly to the work happening in schools every day. Classrooms are not just places where history is taught, but where students learn how to listen, disagree, and build community. They are spaces where young people begin to understand their role in civic life.

Despite the current climate, there is also reason for hope. Research shows that Americans still share strong agreement around core democratic ideals, including those found in the Declaration of Independence.

This episode invites educators to reflect on the stories students are inheriting, the communities they are helping to shape, and the role schools can play in fostering a more connected and thoughtful civic future.

Key Topics:

• Teaching during a time of polarization
• Nationhood Lab and the study of American identity
• Regional divides and their historical roots
• The role of social capital in community health
• Schools as spaces for civic learning and belonging
• Shared democratic values in a divided nation

Guest:
Colin Woodard
Director, Nationhood Lab at the Pell Center
New York Times best-selling author

https://www.nationhoodlab.org/

If creativity, curiosity, and connection matter to you, this episode is a good one to queue up for Father's Day weekend.

This week, we welcome back writer and researcher Brian Boone for a conversation about trivia, fandom, and why the facts we collect are often connected to the people, places, stories, and memories we care about most.

Brian writes across genres, but his work has a throughline: he knows how to make research feel playful, surprising, and deeply human. In this episode, he shares why "trivia is not trivial," how curiosity can become a bridge between generations, and why his latest book may be the kind of Father's Day gift that starts a conversation rather than simply fills a shelf.

Listen in for a conversation about the joy of knowing odd things, the communities that form around shared interests, and the way small facts can carry big meaning.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why trivia can be a form of connection
How research becomes storytelling
The fandom surrounding Brian Boone's work
Why curiosity matters across generations
How a book of trivia can become a thoughtful Father's Day weekend gift
Why the things we remember often say something about what we value

Featured Guest:
Brian Boone, writer, researcher, and author

Learn more:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Brian-Boone/2137715445

Award-winning author Aida Salazar joins us to discuss Stream, her new middle grade novel in verse featuring Celi and Elio, two teens sent to rural Mexico after a viral catfishing incident exposes how much of their lives has been shaped by screens.

Salazar describes Stream as part of an unintended loose trilogy that began with The Moon Within and continued with Ultraviolet. In this new standalone story, she brings Celi and Elio together for a summer without internet, electricity, or running water. What begins as exile becomes something more complicated: a return to land, body, culture, family history, and the question of what young people are taking in through their digital streams.

The conversation moves through the book's layered title, from the literal stream to the social media feed to the inner stream of consciousness. Salazar also talks about writing young people without condescension, why story can help teens make sense of mistakes, and how fiction can offer parents and educators a less preachy way into conversations about digital life.

She opens up about the craft of writing in verse, including the "split screen" structure of the book, where Celi and Elio occupy different sides of the page. For Salazar, voice is built through word choice, rhythm, and punctuation. Verse gives her a way to access the inner life of young people with precision, music, humor, and white space.

This episode also explores embodiment, attention, and creativity. Salazar reflects on visiting the land in Mexico where her mother and ancestors were born, describing a powerful moment of physical connection to place that helped shape the novel. She speaks about writing in service of children, working in artistic communities, and why creativity belongs to everyone, not only people who call themselves artists.

About the Book:
Stream follows newly graduated eighth graders Celi and Elio, who are sent from Oakland, California, to the same rancho in Mexico after their parents become alarmed by their screen use. In rural Mexico, Celi helps her tías in a healing clinic while Elio works to rehabilitate a river. Slowly, both characters begin to shed parts of their online selves and reconnect with nature, culture, family, and their own inner lives.

The novel is a standalone story connected to Salazar's earlier verse novels The Moon Within and Ultraviolet.

About Aida Salazar:
Aida Salazar is an award-winning author and arts activist whose work explores identity, justice, culture, and belonging. Her books include Ultraviolet, an ALA Pura Belpré Honor Book; The Moon Within, winner of the International Latino Book Award; Land of the Cranes, winner of the Américas Award; and the Caldecott Honor picture book Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter. She lives in Oakland, California, with her family of artists.

In This Conversation:
Aida Salazar discusses:

• Why Stream became part of an unintended trilogy with The Moon Within and Ultraviolet

• How social media, puberty, crushes, shame, identity, and selfhood intersect for young people

• Why adults need compassion when talking with teens about digital life

• How story can help young readers think through mistakes without feeling lectured

• Why she writes in verse and how poetry gives access to the "interior landscape" of emotion

• The craft decision to place Celi and Elio on different sides of the page

• How a visit to ancestral land in Mexico shaped the book's attention to body, place, and healing

• Why creativity is not reserved for professional artists

• Her forthcoming picture book Sana Sana and a future verse novel connected to Ultraviolet that explores AI

For Educators, Parents, and Caregivers:
This conversation offers a useful way to think about screen life without panic or oversimplification. Salazar does not frame young people as careless or broken. Instead, she asks what they are absorbing, what they are performing, what they are longing for, and what kinds of stories might help them reclaim agency.

For educators, Stream also makes a strong case for including middle grade and YA fiction in professional learning spaces. The book gives adults a way to re-enter the perspective of young people and talk about technology, embodiment, culture, and attention through story rather than lecture.