Reckonings
35 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 137 ratingsUPDATE: Reckonings is on indefinite hiatus. To pick up where the show left off, follow Stephanie Lepp on Twitter: @stephlepp
ABOUT THE SHOW
How do we change our hearts and minds?
What moves us to shift our political worldviews, transcend extremism, and make other kinds of transformative change?
Reckonings is an exploration of how we look in the mirror, and grow from what we see.
Stories have included that of a tough-on-crime prosecutor who revolutionized his understanding of our criminal justice system, a former Facebook executive who's since devoted his life to tackling technology addiction, and a perpetrator and survivor of sexual assault who managed to work through it using restorative justice.
If you're new to the show, start with this quick intro: bit.ly/1VypoeX
Then go for any of these episodes — Beyond Goliath, A Journalist Reckons With Truth, or A Survivor And Her Perpetrator Find Justice: reckonings.show/episodes
Reckonings is produced by Stephanie Lepp.
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Episodes
Trump concedes. Fake news?
December 18, 2020 19:30 - 5 minutes - 5.72 MBFor the last episode of Reckonings, none other than: Donald Trump. This episode is part of Deep Reckonings — a series of explicitly-marked deepfake videos that imagine Mark Zuckerberg, Brett Kavanaugh, and other public figures having a reckoning. Here, an imaginary Donald Trump concedes the 2020 election. Watch the video and access the transcript: www.deepreckonings.com/trump Want to see Trump give a real concession speech? Tweet: .@realDonaldTrump here's some actual fake news. Only you...
#29 || DEEP RECKONINGS
September 16, 2020 18:42 - 6 minutes - 6.26 MBIf Brett Kavanaugh, Alex Jones, and Mark Zuckerberg had a crisis of conscience, what would they say? Reckonings presents Deep Reckonings — a project that uses deepfakes to take Reckonings in a *fictional* direction, and imagine public figures having a reckoning. Watch the full series and learn more about the project: deepreckonings.com This is the last Reckonings episode for a while, and maybe...the last episode.
#28 || How To Tackle Trump's Lies
June 23, 2020 12:58 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBHow do we cover the communications of a president who lies, especially when those lies can be fatal? The traditional rituals of journalism don't really work with a president who doesn't tell the truth, and so, what can we do instead? Reckonings presents Infinite Lunchbox on the topic of how to tackle Trump's lies — aka *post-truth jujitsu*. NOTE: Infinite Lunchbox is better viewed than heard — watch this episode on YouTube: bit.ly/posttruthjujitsu Show Notes: • Jay Rosen on switching to...
#27 || How do people change?
June 16, 2020 13:33 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBHow do we change our hearts and minds? What moves us to shift our political worldviews, transcend extremism, and make other kinds of transformative change? That's the $64 million dollar question that gave birth to Reckonings. And that's the question I explore with lessons learned *from* Reckonings -- in this bonus episode with Inflection Point's Lauren Schiller. Check out additional interviews featuring yours truly: reckonings.show/press.html Connect: • Inflection Point — a show about h...
#26 || Biden, #MeToo, and Growing in Public
June 09, 2020 12:47 - 14 minutes - 14 MBJoe Biden stands accused of sexual assault. And the Democratic Party leadership, which had been loud in its support for #MeToo, is suddenly……..silent. But, is it possible to support Biden's candidacy without abandoning #MeToo? Can we take Tara Reade's allegation seriously while deeming Biden a worthy candidate for president?? In this bonus episode of Reckonings -- alas, no -- we're not doing a restorative justice dialogue between Joe Biden and Tara Reade. What we're doing is being introduc...
#25 || Beyond Goliath
August 08, 2019 20:04 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MBHe built Facebook’s business model. Then he went on to become the President of Pinterest. And then he realized: he was addicted to his phone. And later: he was complicit in his own — and all of our — addictive relationships with technology. How does an architect of Facebook’s business model grapple with the impact of what he built? What is he doing to help us renegotiate our relationship with technology? This is the odyssey of Moment CEO Tim Kendall. SF BAY AREANS: Tim Kendall and Stepha...
#24 || How to turn a monster into an apologist
July 17, 2019 00:00 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MB'In writing this apology, I moved him from monster to apologist…and in doing that, he lost power over me.' That's Eve Ensler, talking about her recent *masterpiece* of a book, The Apology. In it, she imagines the apology her father never gave her for the abuse he inflicted on her as a child. It echoes the imaginary Pope in Reckonings episode #22 — except that Ensler did it for her own father. Ensler was recently interviewed about the book by Lauren Schiller on Inflection Point, and their...
#23.5 || Where is Reckonings going?
June 11, 2019 17:03 - 8 minutes - 7.71 MBLet's take a quick peek behind the curtain on a few things, including the question: where is Reckonings going?
#23 || An uncommon conversation about clergy sex abuse
May 21, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBShe was sexually abused by her Catholic school teacher, a former nun. As a young priest, he sexually abused boys in his parish. Buckle your seat belts for an *uncommon conversation* about clergy sex abuse. Enormous gratitude to the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (https://nacrj.org), and to The Gilead Project (https://gileadproject.org) -- a 501(c)3 devoted to healing and preventing sexual abuse.
#22 || An imaginary reckoning with Pope Francis
February 24, 2019 21:03 - 6 minutes - 6.5 MBIf the Pope had a reckoning, what would it sound like? And then after you listen.....if you're curious *why* this was made, go to episode #23.5 and scroll to 01:18 for an explanation.
#21 || A survivor and her perpetrator find justice
December 03, 2018 22:03 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBSameer met Anwen freshman year. He was into her, and they started seeing each other. Then one night, after a fraternity party, Sameer convinced Anwen to come home with him — which is when he coerced her into sexual activity. Their senior year, Anwen invited Sameer into a process of restorative justice. This story features *both* Anwen and Sameer, talking about how they worked through sexual assault using restorative justice. What does it sound like for a survivor to get her needs met? Wh...
#20 || A journalist reckons with truth
September 21, 2018 05:57 - 44 minutes - 41.3 MBAlternative facts. Fake news. How are journalists grappling with this moment?? Dive into one journalist’s reckoning with truth.
#19.5 || Behind The Mic
May 01, 2018 21:37 - 7 minutes - 7.06 MB'Behind The Mic' is a series of short pieces I produce periodically, to bring you behind the microphone and reveal a bit of what’s going on back here. This time, I’m pulling the curtain on three things: a new creative adventure, the *kinds* of change Reckonings is interested in, and how to bring you more stories more often.
#19 || How will we become majestic elephants?
March 24, 2018 00:00 - 59 minutes - 55 MB‘I could have been a left-wing guerrilla in Columbia. Whatever would have grabbed me at the right time, I was ready for.’ What ended up grabbing Frank was neo-Nazism. What ended up grabbing Jesse was jihadi extremism. What do we see when we look beyond ideology? This episode was produced with generous support from the Gen Next Foundation (www.gennext.com), which leverages a venture philanthropy framework to build paradigm-shifting social ventures with a wide footprint of impact. Their part...
#18 || The defection of a Roger Ailes warrior
January 04, 2018 21:14 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MB"Very earlier on, Roger called me Ailes Junior. He told my dad, 'I've never met anyone more like me than Joe.'" As the protégé of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, Joe Lindsley was closer to the man who built Fox News than any Fox executive. He helped write Ailes' speeches, sat next to him at executive meetings, and went to church with his family on Sundays. What moved the ambitious twenty-something to abandon the conservative media titan? For a deeper dive into his epic odyssey, check out Jo...
#17 || A paid climate skeptic switches sides
October 31, 2017 10:42 - 41 minutes - 38.7 MB'I can say to climate skeptics on the right, 'I used to believe what you believe. Hell, I wrote your talking points, and for 20 years, I was there! But let me tell you why I'm not there anymore.'' As the head of the Cato Institute’s climate and environmental policy shop, Jerry Taylor was a leading spokesperson for climate skepticism. He waged TV battles against climate activists on the likes of CNN, NBC, and Fox, and says he won all of them. And yet, he's the only paid climate skeptic who's ...
#16 || Two teens overcome bullying
September 10, 2017 04:20 - 30 minutes - 28.7 MB'When I'm angry and I don't know how to get it out, I take it out on other people. I call people names, I say they're ugly, I talk about the way they dress. And when I get into fighting mode, I just start swinging.’ When she was in high school, Halley built a reputation for herself as a bully. So did Chris, who even bullied his teachers, going so far as to break one teacher's jaw. Why do we bully? And what moves us to stop?
#15 || From health insurance spin doctor to truth teller
July 05, 2017 23:35 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MB'I was getting people to make decisions based on misleading information that could have life or death consequences.' That’s Wendell Potter, the former head of public relations for CIGNA. As the executive spin doctor for one of the biggest health insurance companies in the country, he was responsible for concocting tales that enabled CIGNA to deny coverage, discredit critics, and otherwise cast the corporate health insurance machine in a positive light. That was until the numbers in his sprea...
#14.5 || Behind The Mic
June 13, 2017 00:29 - 9 minutes - 9.37 MB‘Behind The Mic' is a series of short pieces I produce periodically, to share what's going on behind the scenes. This time, I'm bringing y'all behind the microphone on two things: 1) an event Reckonings hosted back in December, inviting voters to take a post-election stroll in each other’s shoes (short video: bit.ly/2s7OuGD), and 2) the wondrous reason the show has been on hiatus. With that, Reckonings is BACK, and the next episode is imminent…
#14 || When her daughter became her son (and vice versa)
December 24, 2016 00:00 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MB'You have all these plans, all these dreams, and then it hits you: my daughter's no longer a daughter, she's a son.' In struggling to accept her daughter as a transgender man, Rita DiNicola had to surrender dreams of wedding dress shopping and biological grandchildren. Similarly, in accepting her son as a trans woman, Catherine Hyde had to reckon with the fact that — as a tomboy from a young age — she'd always wanted, and believed she'd gotten, a son as her only child. Together, Rita's and C...
#13 || Navigating wealth within cross-class relationships
September 13, 2016 16:13 - 58 minutes - 54.3 MB'I was taught that money is not something you talk about, because once people know you have it, you’ll get taken advantage of.' Like many young members of the 1%, Michelle inherited immense wealth at an early age. In a separate but parallel tale, so did Abe. For many years, they didn't talk about their wealth or know what to do with it, and ultimately denied its existence. Being involved in cross-class relationships only thickened the plot. Then Michelle and Abe discovered Resource Generatio...
#12 || A conversion on climate change
June 21, 2016 16:44 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB"When my son said, 'dad, I'm gonna vote for you, but you're going to clean up your act on the environment,' it wasn't a threat. It was my son saying, 'dad, I love you, and I want you to be what you can be.'" The force that propelled then-Republican South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis to shift his position on climate change was, indeed, love. His son and family created a safe environment for him to explore the possibility of changing his views, and loved him unconditionally through what he ...
#11 || The fracture of a fundamentalist worldview
May 24, 2016 16:42 - 34 minutes - 32.1 MB'I don't know if I can convey how comforting it is to believe that you possess the secret to how everything in the universe works. And as a consequence, we had this amazing bonus: we were going to heaven and everyone else was going to hell.' That's how Chris Ladd describes his upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian home in East Texas. But that sense that he possessed the secret to how everything in the universe worked? Well, it eventually cracked, shifting his views on women's rights, homo...
#10 || An unlikely friendship transforms the gun debate
May 03, 2016 15:17 - 37 minutes - 35 MB"What really blinds people on both sides is thinking that it's either or: either we do nothing and put up with the horrendous tolls of firearm deaths and mass shootings, or we take all the guns away." That's public health expert and former CDC research director Mark Rosenberg, speaking to one of America’s most polarizing issues. Our country's fierce gun debate pits "both sides" against each other — proponents of stricter firearm regulation against gun rights advocates. But when it comes to f...
#9 || Defecting from the Donald
April 26, 2016 18:21 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MB"One of my co-workers said, 'Trump supporters are without exception the worst people I've ever met, they're almost sub-human.' And I'm standing there thinking, you know, we're friends, but I think I'll keep my mouth shut." That's Alex Mamach, a young white Chicago native who grew up in a poor and diverse suburb of Chicago. He gives voice to why millions of Americans support Donald Trump: because Trump speaks to his marginalized constituency in a way that neither party has done in decades. An...
#8.5 || Behind The Mic
April 25, 2016 21:19 - 4 minutes - 4.33 MBThere's so much that goes on behind the microphone, and I'm going to start bringing you back here. This is the inaugural 'Behind The Mic' piece, stay tuned for more. For this first one: what is Reckonings, and why did I create it?
#8 || Transcending a lineage of violence
January 21, 2016 21:15 - 34 minutes - 32 MB"I called myself a Karma King, because I was distributing the shit that had been given to me." The finale of Season 1 features Daniel Gallant, a former violent extremist turned anti-violence activist, counselor, and scholar. Violence is what he experienced growing up, what he became a perpetrator of, and what it has been a phenomenal feat for him to overcome. Today, Daniel is the founder of anti-violence organization Exit Canada, and a J.D. candidate at Thompson Rivers University. May we t...
#7 || Emergence of a conscientious objector
January 13, 2016 21:57 - 36 minutes - 34 MB'I realized that my excuses for justifying war had nothing to do with what we were trying to achieve. I justified war because I wanted to believe that the things I’d done were right, and that my fellow soldiers hadn't died in vain.' Those are the sobering words of Afghanistan war veteran and conscientious objector, Brock McIntosh. Through his experiences in Afghanistan, he lost faith in the Afghanistan war, and then in war altogether. Growing up, McIntosh had taken his ideological cues from ...
#6 || From addiction to recovery and beyond
January 05, 2016 19:20 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MB'My mantra back then was I hate my life...My mantra now is I love my life.' Paige Sargent is a singer and song-writer, who once struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction. The destruction of her addiction was vast and damaged every part of her life — especially her relationships, and in particular, her relationship with her mom. It is then, perhaps, little surprise that her recovery process has both been inspired by and yielded deeper, more loving relationships. Hear Sargent speak, pray, a...
#5 pt. 2 || The conscience of a public intellectual
December 23, 2015 16:46 - 28 minutes - 26.7 MB'What I regret is not being aware of the extent to which what I was pronouncing as right or wrong for the world was motivated by my own personal issues.' So admits Glenn Loury, prominent academic economist and one of the nation's foremost black intellectuals. Loury's story is expansive, involving drugs, sex, politics, and religion. Most distinctly of all, it's an odyssey of worldview transformation, swinging from the staunch neoconservative right to a more nuanced, progressive position on th...
#5 pt. 1 || The conscience of a public intellectual
December 23, 2015 16:42 - 32 minutes - 30 MB'What I regret is not being aware of the extent to which what I was pronouncing as right or wrong for the world was motivated by my own personal issues.' So admits Glenn Loury, prominent academic economist and one of the nation's foremost black intellectuals. Loury's story is expansive, involving drugs, sex, politics, and religion. Most distinctly of all, it's an odyssey of worldview transformation, swinging from the staunch neoconservative right to a more nuanced, progressive position on th...
#4 || Revelations of a tough-on-crime prosecutor
December 15, 2015 19:45 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MB'I went through 4 years of college, 3 years of law school, and a 2-year judicial clerkship without ever really thinking about the way our criminal justice system functions.' That's the admission of Preston Shipp, a former tough-on-crime prosecutor for the state of Tennessee. Tune in to find out what drove him to leave his role as a prosecutor, and shift from 'cog in the wheel' of the criminal justice system to advocate for criminal justice reform.
#3 || Mother of an ISIS militant
December 08, 2015 22:10 - 29 minutes - 27.6 MB"He wanted a purpose." Those are the words of Christianne Boudreau, whose son Damian left Calgary for Syria, to join ISIS. She raised him Christian, but he was convinced by Islamic State recruiters to take up jihadism. Damian kept his activities hidden and Boudreau knows there's little she could have done, still she can’t help but ask ‘what if…?’. Damian was eventually killed fighting in Syria. Today, Boudreau coordinates Mothers for Life, a global network of mothers working to prevent jihad...
#2 || White-collar criminal turned whistleblower
December 01, 2015 21:59 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MB'The top executives from Enron, WorldComm, and ADM — we went to jail for narcissism.' Mark Whitacre was the FBI informant in one of the biggest price-fixing cases in US history, against global food conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland. While undercover, he was convicted for embezzlement, lost his whistleblower immunity, and spent almost a decade in federal prison. Whitacre is played by Matt Damon in the film The Informant!, and today, spreads his story of redemption and second chances.
#1 || Drug cop turned drug war critic
November 17, 2015 07:55 - 28 minutes - 27 MB"When you call something a war, everyone believes that they're a warrior." Neill Franklin is a former Maryland State Police Major, who oversaw 17 drug task forces. Take a ride on his journey from narcotics agent to vocal critic of the drug war and Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).