Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Bridging the Partisan Divide with David Greene

In a live taping of Left, Right & Center, David Greene, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur debate media bias ahead of the presidential election.

KCRW’s weekly politics show, Left, Right & Center, takes on the tough, polarizing issues that Americans struggle to have conversations about. Host David Greene invites guests with a wide range of political views to create provocative discussions that can bridge the left/right divide. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur joined Greene to debate media bias, political satire and free speech in the context of current events. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the three discuss the Israel-Hamas war, protests on U.S. college campuses and the way mainstream media covers these events. When it comes to free speech versus hate speech, who gets to decide where the line is drawn and how speech is characterized? They also examine examples of journalists skewing perspectives to favor certain candidates in elections and reflect on various forms of political satire and their cultural impact, including that of Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and Saturday Night Live. 

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Unpacking True Crime with Patrick Radden Keefe

In a live taping of The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast, Keefe and a panel discuss the genre's enduring popularity – and its problematic aspects.

The appetite for true crime is more insatiable than ever, but audiences, authors and podcast producers are also grappling with the ethics of the genre. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of books including Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family and Say Nothing: A True Story of Memory and Murder in Northern Ireland, has made a career out of telling nuanced stories about unconscionable acts and the people who commit them. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Keefe got on stage to speak with Alexandra Schwartz, Naomi Fry and Vinson Cunningham, co-hosts of The New Yorker podcast Critics at Large, about his work, the state of true crime and what it's like to write about terrible things. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Keefe shares his process and his approach to the genre. Rather than dwell on gory details, he seeks to understand the underlying circumstances that lead people to commit crimes. He discusses the role of the journalist in this work, the challenges of adapting this kind of writing for the screen and what he’s learned from past stories, including “The Oligarch’s Son,” an article he wrote for The New Yorker about the sudden death of a London teenager, which he’s currently expanding into a book.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

The Past and Future of American Democracy

In a live podcast taping, historian Heather Cox Richardson debates the nation's founding and the state of democracy ahead of the 2024 election.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, points out a central tension in American history: The founding fathers penned the idea of equality before the law, but as white male property owners, they could always have meant to exclude some people from participating in their new government. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Richardson got on stage to dig into this tension with Celeste Headlee, host of Slate’s  Hear Me Out podcast. The two debated the founders’ intentions, the country’s consistent struggle to live up to its ideals and how this fraught historical context impacts the current state of American democracy.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Headlee and Richardson discuss the American story and the American dream; how some of these narratives help drive the MAGA movement; the bitter war of ideas taking place in our country and what gives each of them hope despite it all.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Good Economic Data and Bad Economic Feelings

The Journal co-hosts Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson tackle the gap between bright data points and bad vibes with political correspondent Molly Ball.

Data suggests the U.S. economy is performing well, but many Americans don’t feel that way. How will those feelings influence the 2024 election? 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, co-hosts of the podcast The Journal, took the stage with Wall Street Journal senior political correspondent Molly Ball to dig into this strange economic picture and its political implications.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Linebaugh, Knutson and Ball note how economic performance can swing elections, even when that performance is due to factors outside of elected officials’ control. They examine the unique drivers of the current economic picture, from pandemic recovery to inflation. They also debate the ways the economy might impact the Biden/Trump rematch, especially compared to other key issues, such as foreign policy, reproductive rights or political polarization.   

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024.  

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Laughing at Hollywood and the U.S. Supreme Court

Lindy West, Meagan Hatcher-Mays and Guy Branum rank Hollywood celebrities and Supreme Court justices in a lighthearted take on pop culture and politics.

New York Times bestselling author Lindy West and democracy expert and “recovering lawyer” Meagan Hatcher-Mays have been best friends for 25 years. Their podcast, Text Me Back!, celebrates that friendship through lively discussions of pop culture, politics, the paranormal and more.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, West and Hatcher-Mays took the stage with comedian and actor Guy Branum for a raucous, gossip-filled dissection of both Hollywood celebrities and the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the three laugh their way through Branum’s hot takes on his famous colleagues, from Natalie Portman to Chelsea Handler to Ludacris. They then rank the Supreme Court justices from best to worst and give them snappy taglines in the style of the Bravo television franchise The Real Housewives of New York.  

Along the way, the trio delve into serious political issues, too, from voting and reproductive rights to the entrenched power dynamics of the nation’s highest court.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024 and contains some strong language.  

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Reporting on the Crisis in the Middle East

Tug of War host David Rind and international correspondent Nada Bashir dig into how the war in Gaza has changed the Middle East and the world.

Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, host David Rind and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir got on stage for a live taping of Tug of War. They discussed Bashir’s reporting in the region – and the unique challenges of covering an unfolding war with decades of context. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Rind and Bashir explore the horrors taking place in Gaza and the many impacts the war is having on the rest of the region and the world. They discuss the international media’s heavy reliance on Palestinian journalists, as few other reporters have access to Gaza; what many media outlets get wrong and the impact of bias on all sides; and what Bashir will take with her as she continues her work.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024.  

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

 

Welcome Back to the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast.

This year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you. 

To help launch this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast (formerly Crosscut Talks), host Paris Jackson sat down with events director Jake Newman to chat about this year’s approach to the festival, some of the luminaries who attended and what we can expect to hear in the coming weeks.   

In this short kickoff episode, Newman points to a few guests he’ll be eager to hear from, including author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell, historian Heather Cox Richardson, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir. 

A new episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast will air every Monday, beginning May 13. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Marc Summers on Double Dare and His Last Meal

The television host shares his ideal last meal and serves behind-the-scenes details from Nickelodeon and the Food Network.

Marc Summers, best known for his role as host of the 1980s Nickelodeon game show Double  Dare and host of the Food Network’s Unwrapped, actually launched his career doing magic tricks.

Summers shared this fun fact, and a whole lot more, with Rachel Belle, host of Your Last Meal — a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast — during a live taping at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in May. 

Another fun fact: Your Last Meal is now a Crosscut podcast! New episodes will be released every other Thursday. Learn more, listen and subscribe here. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Belle and Summers dig into the actor’s lifetime love of show business, how he snagged the job hosting the beloved Nickelodeon show (plus what that legendary slime was really made of), and why Summers decided to share his OCD diagnosis in the late 1990s. 

This conversation was recorded May 5, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Psychedelics and Our Mental Health

Research shows the drugs can be effective in treating depression and substance-use disorders — but there’s still much we don’t know.

Psychedelics are moving back into the mainstream. According to a growing body of medical research, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ketamine can have a profound impact on people struggling with mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress and substance-use disorders. 

As a result, legal barriers are beginning to fall away. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy,” for example, accelerating its path to approval, and recently released draft guidance for all clinical trials with psychedelic drugs. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation among science journalist and author Carl Zimmer, palliative and rehabilitative care physician Dr. Sunil Kumar Aggarwal and University of Washington psychiatry professor Dr. Nathan Sackett about the rapidly emerging field of psychedelics in psychotherapy.

They discuss these drugs’ specific effects on the brain, explain their use in clinical practice and in current research and explore some of the bigger questions raised — from the challenges of practicing medicine in a legal gray area to the nature of human consciousness. 

This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Tackling the Biodiversity Crisis

Pollution, habitat loss and climate change all threaten wildlife and their ecosystems. Conservationists discuss what we can do to help.

Wildlife numbers are plunging worldwide. From toxic waste to invasive species, deforestation to rising temperatures, threats to the survival of our planet’s millions of plants and animals are causing scientists to warn of a sixth extinction.

It’s estimated that roughly a third of the world’s species have become endangered or gone extinct in the past 500 years. And as the climate crisis continues to escalate, many more will be forced to adapt.

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, environmental journalist Michelle Nijuis, Conservation Northwest senior policy director Paula Sweeden and National Wildlife Federation chief scientist Dr. Bruce Stein unpack the reasons we’re facing such a crisis and what we can do to mitigate it.

The panelists’ proposed solutions range from federal legislation to backyard gardens—and ultimately make the case that the biodiversity crisis is inextricable from the climate crisis.

This conversation was recorded May 4, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.