Introducing the Outsider/Insider Podcast

Friends:

I’m proud to be announcing the release of the first three episodes of Outsider/Insider, a podcast that my good friend, coauthor, and MIT colleague Ray Reagans and I have been working on since the fall of 2023, in the context of the crisis on campus (MIT and in many other universities) in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of Israel on 7 October, 2023.

A lot of work went into these episodes of Outsider/Insider and the ones that follow and there was a steep learning curve, which we are still in the process of proceeding along that curve. A lot of tremendously valuable input from friends and colleagues has also shaped this, for which Ray and I are deeply grateful.

Ray and I by no means think that we’ve found ‘the’ diagnosis of what went south last fall (and continuing, hopefully trending better), and we certainly don’t think we’ve hit upon a cure-all treatment. We do think we have some useful insight to share based on what we’ve learned together. And what’s great about it is that the conversations we have— including (after episode 3) with some wonderful colleagues— often generate the kind of insight about our lives that put smiles on our faces instead of the kinds of faces that are more associated with the aftermath of 10/7. We also hope that the conversations we have remind us of what American universities excel at such that they can inspire us to keep our eyes on the prize. Yep we’re in the ‘let’s make lemonade out of lemons’ business!

But I haven’t even said what the podcast is around, have I? For that, you should check out the introduction to the podcast— called Outsider/Insider— on the podcast’s Substack site. Links to episodes are there too.

You can also find episodes on Spotify.

And soon, it will hopefully be on Apple podcasts too. Why isn’t it there yet? Because tech monopolies suck at customer service, dontchaknow?