https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MBT-015-Yiayia-Thea-Kay-2-11-23.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadOn February 11th, 2023 I sat down with my Yiayia (Grandmother) Sophia Manta and Thea (Great Aunt) Kalliope Phillips for a much-awaited followup podcast from the episode I recorded with them back in 2019. Last week, Kay passed from pancreatic cancer. She lived a beautiful 92 years full of …
Episode 014 – Dr. William Howell
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MBT-014-Final.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download Dr. William Howell is the Chair of the Political Science Department at The University of Chicago and a scholar of the American presidency. He studies not presidents, but the structure and powers of the presidency itself, as well as how those powers have been twisted and reshaped by …
Episode 013 – Dr. Thomas Talhelm
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MBT-013.1-Final.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download How does the culture that we grow up in shape our priorities in life and ability to perceive the world? Where do the psychological differences between cultures come from in the first place? These are the kinds of questions pursued by Dr. Thomas Talhelm, Assistant Professor of Behavioral …
Episode 012 – My Yiayia Sophie, Thea Kay & Aunt Jenine
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/MBT-012-Yiyia-Kay-Edit.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download The MonkeyBuddha Tapes is back, and more wholesome than ever! On January 13th I baked a loaf of bread, drove over to my Yiayia’s house and joined her, my Thea Kay and Aunt Jenine for a wide-ranging conversation about family history, the American Dream, and where to find …
Episode 011 – Dr. Mark Hansen
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MBT-011-Mark-Hansen-Final.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download The MonkeyBuddha Tapes has arrived in Chicago! Last week I sat down with Dr. Mark Hansen, the Faculty Director for the University of Chicago’s MAPSS Program, former Dean of the Social Sciences Division, and “one of the nation’s leading scholars of American politics.” I was delighted to …
The MonkeyBuddha Galleries Are Now UP!
It woulda been nice to post monthly galleries of Kasiisi photos as they came in over this past year, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I got to enjoy the bittersweet task of sifting through the many photos I took last year after returning to the states and remembering all over again what a beautiful country …
Basically A Time Machine
And with a light drizzle and 32 hours of travel, my fellowship came to an end. I’m currently sitting in the home I grew up in upon a blue recliner that we’ve had for as long as I can remember, steeped once again in the all-too-familiar coziness of Illinois and feeling really fucking far away …
Episode 010 – Moses Musinguzi
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MBT-010-Final.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Moses is the headteacher of Kasiisi Primary School where he’s tasked each day with providing a quality education to over a thousand students with a staff of around 20 teachers. We get into the challenges faced in such a context, the tradeoffs of balancing formal with informal …
Excellence and Domain Specificity
When I received my first formal lesson in evolution during high school biology, I could not wrap my head around the idea that every species was adapted to be the very best it could be at filling its niche. It seemed self-evident to me, an Animal Planet lover since age five, that some animals were …
Episode 009 – My Dad
https://monkeybuddhadiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MBT-009-Final.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download When my dad and I were planning the itinerary for our week-and-a-half in Rwanda and Uganda, I made sure to stick “Record a dope podcast” on there. The trip was an interesting chance to watch my dad, whose perspective on things makes up a chunk of my …