Bertrand Cooper is a writer and education professional based in Los Angeles. Drawing on twenty six years of deprivation and a Master's in Education Theory and Policy, his writing explores the depictions of poverty in society.

Who Actually Gets to Create Black Pop Culture?, by Bertrand Cooper

I Escaped Poverty, But Hunger Still Haunts Me, by Bertrand Cooper

The Failure of Affirmative Action, by Bertrand Cooper

Is it Possible for Black Creatives to Exploit the Poor? w/ Damon Young & Bertrand Cooper - Bad Faith podcast

Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life, by Karen and Barbara Fields

Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class (2007) - Pew Research Center

The Devastating Effects of Concentrated Poverty, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Architecture of Segregation, by Paul Jargowsky

Neighborhood Income Composition by Household Race and Income, 1990 - 2009 - Stanford

Black Boy Fly, by Kendrick Lamar (YouTube)

Identity Theft, by Zaid Jilani

Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks - SNL (YouTube)

Roger Ebert Speaks Out at a Better Luck Tomorrow Screening - YouTube

1,000 True Fans, by Kevin Kelly

Inequality Is High Within the Black Community, by Bertrand Cooper

Follow Bertrand on X: @_BlackTrash

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Salomé Sibonex is a writer, artist, and co-founder of The Black Sheep, a publication that frees people to take the path less traveled. She's given talks at FreedomFest and LibertyCon on how creative freedom allows us all to forge our own path—if we dare.

The Black Sheep

Ground News gathers news coverage from around the world, empowers free thinking, and makes media bias explicit. Subscribe through my link at https://check.ground.news/Next for 15% off your subscription.

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 113: Freethinkers Only, Please, with Meghan Daum
• 107: We’re Getting “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” All Wrong, with Chloé Valdary
• 100: When Victimhood is Leveraged for Personal Gain, with Andrew Boryga
• 44: The Unresolvable Tension of Overlapping Identities, with Tomiwa Owolade
• 39: Black Culture Is Not a Monolith, with Bertrand Cooper
• 38: Curiosity Is a Skill We Can Learn, with Mónica Guzmán
• 36: True Inclusivity Requires Moral Courage, with Irshad Manji
• 12: How Tragedy Can Lead to Growth, with Ayishat Akanbi
• 3: A Challenge to Move Beyond Racialized Identities, with Inaya Folarin Iman
• 2: Expanding What It Means to Be American, with Zaid Jilani

Follow Salomé on X: @SalomeSibonex
Follow Salomé on Instagram: @SalomeSibonex

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Harrison Duran is a field paleontologist whose popular social media accounts document his preparation and excavation in the American West. His videography and storytelling convey the work and skill required by paleontology, as well as its significance to our understanding of the natural world. Species which he has excavated and prepared include Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus rex.

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 111: The Hidden Forces Driving Our Online Behavior, with Steve Rathje
• 104: The War for Critical Minerals and Our Electrified Future, with Ernest Scheyder
• 97: Climate Change Comes for Small-Town America, with Jonathan Vigliotti
• 89: Harnessing the Revolutionary Power of Nuclear Energy, with Nick Touran
• 71: Rescuing Animals From the Brink of Extinction, with Forrest Galante
• 70: Making Extinction a Thing of the Past, with Ben Lamm & George Church

Follow Harrison on TikTok: @duranosaur
Follow Harrison on Instagram: @duranosaur

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Where We Go Next will be back to its regularly scheduled programming next week. Until then, enjoy this re-release of Episode 68, with the brilliant Richard Reeves.

Reeves is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and writes for a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, the Guardian, National Affairs, The Atlantic, Democracy Journal, and Wall Street Journal. His book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It, shows how the basic social structures defining masculine maturity and success have been shattered, and how they can — and must — be reinvented.

Episode 68: Episode Link & Show Notes

The Where We Go Next Sampler Platter:

• 110: The Mounting Evidence That COVID-19 Leaked from a Lab, with Alina Chan
• 105: Religious Cults, Fringe Science, and the Need for Belief, with Ross Blocher & Carrie Poppy
• 101: Uncovering the Hidden Truths in Political Memoirs, with Carlos Lozada
• 89: Harnessing the Revolutionary Power of Nuclear Energy, with Nick Touran
• 81: Mining Universal Truths From Personal Stories, with Sarah Hepola
• 74: Going to Space, Reusing the Entire Rocket, and Flying Again in 24 Hours, with Andy Lapsa
• 71: Rescuing Animals From the Brink of Extinction, with Forrest Galante
• 63: Choosing Between a Drowning Child and a New Pair of Shoes, with Jay Shapiro
• 60: The Unknown History and Surprising Benefits of Fasting, with Steve Hendricks
• 58: Making Andrew Yang a Household Name, with Zach Graumann
• 40: Great Writers Must Be Vulnerable in Public, with Andrew Sullivan
• 39: Black Culture Is Not a Monolith, with Bertrand Cooper
• 37: A Better Way to Police Communities, with Peter Moskos
• 30: How to Resolve Intractable Conflicts, with Amanda Ripley
• 27: How to Make the Internet Accessible for Everyone, with Jennison Asuncion
• 25: A Robust Defense of Free Speech, with Greg Lukianoff
• 23: Children Need Freedom to Grow Independent, with Lenore Skenazy
• 21: Defending the Rights of the Incarcerated, with Samuel Weiss
• 12: How Tragedy Can Lead to Growth, with Ayishat Akanbi
• 9: The Widening Gap Between the Wealthy and Working Classes, with Rob Henderson

(This list could have easily been made with 20 completely different episodes, 3 more times)

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Nancy Rommelmann is an investigative journalist, columnist, and author - most recently of To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder. Her work appears in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reason Magazine, and her Substack, Make More Pie.

Sarah Hepola is the author of the bestselling memoir, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, the Atlantic, Texas Monthly, and Salon. She is a staff writer at the Dallas Morning News.

Together, Nancy & Sarah host the Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast.

8. What Do Women Want? - Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

The Things I’m Afraid to Write About, by Sarah Hepola for The Atlantic

On John Wayne Gacy, Actor Michael Chernus, and Why We Do the Work We Do - Make More Pie (Nancy's Substack)

Was Alice Munro An Art Monster?, by Meghan Daum

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 115: Spaceships, Silicon Valley, and Psilocybin, with Ashlee Vance
• 110: The Mounting Evidence That COVID-19 Leaked from a Lab, with Alina Chan
• 108: Investigative Journalism Is in Jeopardy, with Nancy Rommelmann
• 105: Religious Cults, Fringe Science, and the Need for Belief, with Ross Blocher & Carrie Poppy
• 104: The War for Critical Minerals and Our Electrified Future, with Ernest Scheyder
• 101: Uncovering the Hidden Truths in Political Memoirs, with Carlos Lozada
• 100: When Victimhood is Leveraged for Personal Gain, with Andrew Boryga
• 91: Free Speech Isn't Just for People We Like, with Kat Rosenfield
• 81: Mining Universal Truths From Personal Stories, with Sarah Hepola
• 65: Untangling Partisan Narratives and Fixing Political News, with Isaac Saul
• 40: Great Writers Must Be Vulnerable in Public, with Andrew Sullivan
• 33: The Struggle to Stay Heterodox in a Tribal World, with Meghan Daum

Follow Nancy on X: @NancyRomm
Follow Sarah on X: @sarahhepola
Follow Sarah on Instagram: @thesarahhepolaexperience

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Carissa Carter is a designer, geoscientist, and the academic director at the Stanford d.school. She's the author of The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data, and teaches design courses on emerging technologies, climate change, and data visualization. Her work on designing with machine learning and blockchain has earned multiple design awards, including Fast Company Innovation and Core 77 awards.

Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the creative director at the Stanford d.school. He has overseen everything from books to workspaces to digital products and initiatives focused on the future of learning and design. He co-wrote the book Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration and teaches courses in design communication. His work has been featured in museums from San Jose to Helsinki and in publications such as Architecture + Urbanism and the New York Times.

Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future

Stanford d.school (The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design)

Stanford 2025 - YouTube

Ground News gathers news coverage from around the world, empowers free thinking, and makes media bias explicit. Subscribe through my link at https://check.ground.news/Next for 15% off your subscription.

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 111: The Hidden Forces Driving Our Online Behavior, with Steve Rathje
• 102: The Art and Technique of Directing Actors, with Judith Weston
• 99: How to Reset and Retrain Our Brains, with Tali Sharot
• 92: Bayesian Thinking and the Future of Artificial Intelligence, with Max Sklar
• 88: Pursuing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in Education, with Daniel Scoggin
• 72: A Self-Help Book for Societies, with Tim Urban
• 52: The Amazing and Optimistic Future of Augmented Reality, with David Rose
• 49: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You, with Jenara Nerenberg
• 47: A New Philosophy of Progress and Why We Don’t Have Flying Cars, with Jason Crawford
• 27: How to Make the Internet Accessible for Everyone, with Jennison Asuncion

Follow the Stanford d.school on X: @stanforddschool

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Ashlee Vance is a feature writer at Bloomberg Businessweek, host of the innovator-focused travel show Hello World, and the New York Times bestselling author of two books: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, and most recently, When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach, which was the inspiration for his new HBO documentary Wild Wild Space.

Wild Wild Space - Trailer

ashleevance.com

Ground News gathers news coverage from around the world, empowers free thinking, and makes media bias explicit. Subscribe through my link at https://check.ground.news/Next for 15% off your subscription.

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 83: Building Autonomous Vehicles to Clean Up Outer Space, with Trevor Bennett
• 78: The Final Frontier Fire Sale: Chronicling the Pioneers Commercializing Space, with Ashlee Vance
• 74: Going to Space, Reusing the Entire Rocket, and Flying Again in 24 Hours, with Andy Lapsa
• 70: Making Extinction a Thing of the Past, with Ben Lamm & George Church
• 64: An Electric Vehicle With 1,000 Miles of Range That You'll Never Need to Charge, with Steve Fambro
• 54: Growing Healthier and Tastier Seafood in a Lab, with Justin Kolbeck
• 13: Nuclear Energy Can Save the World, with Nick Touran

Follow Ashlee on X: @ashleevance

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast

Jonathan Turley is a law professor, columnist, television analyst, and litigator. Since 1998, he has held the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School. He has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, representing members of Congress, judges, whistleblowers, five former Attorney Generals, accused spies and terrorists, journalists, protesters, and workers at Area 51. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and has worked as a legal analyst for CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox.

The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

jonathanturley.org

Ground News gathers news coverage from around the world, empowers free thinking, and makes media bias explicit. Subscribe through my link at https://check.ground.news/Next for 15% off your subscription.

If You Liked This Conversation, You'll Probably Like These Episodes of Where We Go Next:

• 95: The Government Is Seizing Innocent People’s Property, with Billy Binion
• 91: Free Speech Isn't Just for People We Like, with Kat Rosenfield
• 90: In Defense of an Eternally Radical Idea, with Greg Lukianoff
• 65: Untangling Partisan Narratives and Fixing Political News, with Isaac Saul
• 45: Filming the News as It Happens, with Ford Fischer
• 25: A Robust Defense of Free Speech, with Greg Lukianoff

Follow Jonathan on X: @JonathanTurley

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Email: michael@wherewegonext.com

Instagram: @wwgnpodcast