Though the book on which “American Fiction” is based was released in 2001, it felt timeless for writer/director Cord Jefferson:

“When I finished reading it, I was just astounded. The material itself, just about the racial politics around culture and of being an artist in America—these are issues that I've been discussing with my friends and discussing with myself for 20 years now. The thing that’s very clear is that all these issues are still pertinent to today’s world, unfortunately, and there’s still a lot of relevance to this book.”

Following the screening, Deadline’s chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on KCET’s Must See Movies, moderates a Q&A with director/writer Cord Jefferson.

American Fiction Q&A

Terry from Franklin, Indiana, recalls a moment of confusion when she was working on a horse farm in south-central Pennsylvania. She asked a co-worker, "Are we going to let the stallions out today?" The co-worker responded, "No, they're already in." Terry says the conversation devolved into “Who's On First?” routine, because Terry didn’t understand that in that part of the United States, where the dialect is heavily influenced by German, let can mean “leave.” Other expressions heard in that area include leave the horse go or leave the book sit, all reflecting the multiple meanings of the German verb lassen. http://waywordradio.org

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The rare adjective finifugal describes someone “averse to endings” or “wishing something could go on forever,” whether it’s a book, a beloved TV series, a podcast, or anything else you don’t want to end. It comes from Latin finis, “end,” and fuga, “flight.” http://waywordradio.org

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Ekphrasis is the literary device of depicting a visual work with a verbal description. A new anthology, Ensnaring the Moment: On the Intersection of Poetry and Photography, gathers the ekphrastic poetry of more than 100 poets writing specifically in response to photographs. Edited by art critic Leah Ollman, this collection treats poems as gateways into images, and images as doorways into memory. In the poem “Things that Lose by Being Photographed” by Rebecca Lindenberg succinctly conjures a winter scene with moonlight sugaring snow, two people dancing slowly, and a penny-colored dog shifting paws in the cold—a moment captured in a photograph that becomes a tender meditation on ordinary beauty. This poem is shared with permission of the poet. http://waywordradio.org

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To describe something tiny or insignificant compared with something vast, you might reach for phrases like a drop in the ocean or a drop in the bucket. In Mandarin, there’s an equally picturesque phrase that translates as nine cows, one hair. Imagine nine large, shaggy oxen and then just a single hair among them. Now that’s tiny! http://waywordradio.org

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A Southern California resort for nudists—or naturists, as some prefer to be called—had a recent change of management, and residents received a notice that the place will now become a textile park. The word textile is often used in that community as an adjective to distinguish between those who prefer clothing and those who make a habit of going without. http://waywordradio.org

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A 1905 letter from Virginia Woolf offers comfort to anyone who lacks confidence in their own work. As a young, would-be writer, Woolf herself expressed doubt about her own abilities. It would be another 23 years before she published her groundbreaking essay, “A Room of One’s Own.” http://waywordradio.org

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Oo-ee! Quiz Guy John Chanesk’s brain-teaser is all about irregular plurals involving double O’s and double E’s. Since the plural of foot is feet and goose is geese, he says, surely this means that the plural of boot must be . . . wait, what? http://waywordradio.org

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What does “community” actually mean? Is community something we achieve or is it something we practice? Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei are partners, parents, and community practitioners, living and working in small town rural America. Claire is the rector of a small Episcopal church and Austin is a community organizer with the 50+ year-old statewide nonprofit, SOCM. Their daily lives are a whirlwind of tending to relationships and building muscle for faithful community engagement in their small town. With humor, candor, and wisdom honed by years of deep listening, they offer insights about the tensions and opportunities that arise when we acknowledge how intertwined we are with one another. 


This episode is worth watching on The Leader’s Way YouTube channel! In this interview, Austin and Claire model what it looks like to engage in thought-partnership and parenthood, passing their youngest child, Ardy, between them as they respond to host Whitney Kimball Coe’s questions about how we do the thing we call “community.”  


Learn more about The Rev’d Claire Brown: https://www.revclairebrown.com/ 

 
Learn more about Austin Sauerbrei’s new graphic novel, Trouble! At Coal Creek: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2529-trouble-at-coal-creek 

“Have You Met the Community?” with Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei

For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits past interviews with technology pioneers Bill Moggridge, Jason Kottke, Anil Dash, and Kevin Kelly. These excerpts reflect on how technology emerged, how it shapes the way we live, and how these early thinkers imagined the future unfolding.

20th Anniversary celebration with technology pioneers Bill Moggridge, Jason Kottke, Anil Dash, and Kevin Kelly

In this episode, we are unpacking how effective COP30 really was, did the promises match the expectations and  where did world leaders deliver or fall short . COP 30 was held in Belém, the gateway to the Amazon. From extreme heat and climate-driven floods and fires to the political symbolism of choosing the Amazon over Rio, the setting shaped everything. 

The expectations were high this year. Brazil promised a ‘forest-first COP,’ with more youth engagement, significant inclusion of indigenous communities and major moves on finance and fossil fuels. Our host Simon Chin Yee, from UCL’s School of Public Policy and one of our guest Elena, Climate Reality Project Central and Eastern Europe, both of whom attended COP30 shares their biggest takeaways from Belem.

Our other guest, Susannah Fisher, is a leading researcher and author whose new book on climate adaptation, Sink or Swim, was published in August (Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sink-Swim-world-changing-climate/dp/1399414054/). In this episode, she explains why adaptation is a crucial part of the COP agenda and why it can’t be overlooked.

The episode also features the recent National Emergency Briefing on climate, and its important call to action to sign their petition to ask the government and all public service broadcasters to hold an urgent televised briefing so that everyone understands the profound risks this crisis poses to themselves and their families.
https://www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-keir
 
Credits:
Date of episode recording: 28th Nov 2026
Duration: 39:38
Language of episode: English 
Presenter: Professor Mark Maslin and Dr Simon Chin-Yee
Producer: Adam Batstone

Guests:
Susannah Fisher – Author and Principal Research Fellow at Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sink-Swim-world-changing-climate/dp/1399414054/
Elena-Alexandra Miron – Central and Eastern Europe Regional Organiser, Climate Reality Project.

American Fiction Q&A

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