Director Sean Mullin reveals that he is interested in pursuing stories that are driven by the inherent conflict between perception and reality. Because of this, when he was asked if he wanted to tell Yogi Berra's story, he leapt at the opportunity. Yogi's off-the-field persona overshadowed everything he accomplished on the baseball diamond — as both a player and a manager. Sean's intent was to investigate this discrepancy by weaving together an emotionally engaging portrait of an American icon. Ultimately, his goal is for audiences to laugh a little, learn a little, and maybe even tear up a bit — all while recognizing that Yogi was one of baseball's all-time greatest players, despite society's unwillingness to view him as anything other than a caricature. Following the screening, Deadline's chief film critic Pete Hammond, also seen on KCET’s Must See Movies, moderates a Q&A with director Sean Mullin.

It Ain't Over Q&A

In South Louisiana, Clifton Chenier (1925-1987) grew up hearing his father play a style of music known as La La at house dances held in Black French Creole communities. It had a percussive and syncopated sound, played in spare combinations of an accordion and a washboard used to scrub out a rhythm. After picking up accordion as a curious teenager, Chenier soon brought into this sound the rhythm and blues that dominated radios and jukeboxes, crafting a new style that would be called zydeco. In the 1950s, he recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess, and joined national package show tours with stars like Little Richard and Etta James. A decade later, Chenier was quietly settled in Houston, the big stages seemingly behind him. But one rainy Saturday night at a Houston neighborhood bar, Chenier’s cousin Lightning Hopkins introduced him to Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, where zydeco and Clifton Chenier would find a new home and champion.  

King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco is a 4 CD/6 LP retrospective box set assembled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chenier’s birth. The set features a chronology of Chenier’s landmark work with Arhoolie and other labels, alongside a healthy dose of previously unissued gems. The 160-page book includes photos, posters, and other graphic artifacts from the Strachwitz Collection and deeply researched liner note essays by Grammy award-winning writer Adam Machado, public folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and longtime Louisiana journalist Herman Fusilier, along with a moving personal remembrance by Clifton’s son, Zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. The set is the first release on Arhoolie since the label became a part of Smithsonian Folkways.  

With music and storytelling and abundant visual imagery, this set demonstrates Clifton Chenier's life as a transformative artist -- from his earliest days practicing in the barn back home, to his reign as the undisputed King of Zydeco. 

Clifton Chenier - "Calinda (Live from Austin City Limits)"

Clifton Chenier - "My Mama Told Me" (Live)

Alisa from Memphis, Tennessee, shares a story about her mother emerging from sedation after a significant head injury. Her mom’s first words were Let’s get down to brass tacks. The phrase means “Let’s get to the point” or “Let’s get down to business,” but where did it originate? Word historian Pascal Tréguer notes on his website Word Histories that an earlier version of the phrase was to come right down to the brass, which referred to the brass studs on coffins—in other words, to come right down to the essentials, or to a point as fundamental as the finality of death. http://waywordradio.org

1666-Caller-Alisa-Brass-Tacks

Poet and priest Spencer Reece joins Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi for a moving conversation about the power of poetry as an act of remembrance, as a response to violence, and as a culture maker and culture keeper. Listen to Father Reece offer spontaneous recitation and remind us of the ways poetry can bring us closer to the Divine.   

Host: Brandon Nappi

Guest: Spencer Reece

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


65: Poetry Holds Us Together with Spencer Reece

In this episode, we explore a subject that’s deeply important to us as educators: the role of climate in the classroom. How are schools and universities placing climate change at the heart of learning—not just in science lessons, but across the whole school experience?

We look beyond the curriculum to discover how educators are fostering sustainable living and embedding green practices into everyday school life. From encouraging active travel and connecting students with the natural world, to making conscious, eco-friendly choices part of the school culture, we’ll share inspiring examples of how teaching can shape a greener future.

We’re thrilled to welcome three inspiring champions of climate education:
🌱 Jenny Wilson – A passionate advocate from the Green Schools Revolution, Jenny is actively involved in the Teach the Teacher initiative. She collaborates with schools in underserved communities, empowering students to create their own Climate Action Plans and become agents of change.

🌍 Will Wale – A student at LSE and the outgoing Youth Focal Point for Sustainability and Climate Change at the Department for Education, Will brings a wealth of experience. He’s worked closely with young people, educators, civil servants, and ministers to advance climate and sustainability education across the UK.

🏫 Professor Nicola Walshe – Pro-Director of Education at UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, Nicola is also the co-founder and Executive Director of the UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education. Her work focuses on transforming how climate education is delivered in schools nationwide.

Date of episode recording: 4th August 2025
Duration: 00:42:16
Language of episode: English 
Presenter: Professor Mark Maslin and Dr Simon Chin-Yee 

Guests:  
Jenny Wilson, Green Schools Revolution https://www.greenschoolsrevolution.uk/
Will Wale, LSE student and Youth Focal Point for Sustainability and Climate Change at the DOE
Nicola Walsh, Professor and Pro Director of Education UCL IOE and CoFounder and Executive Director of UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/ucl-centre-climate-change-and-sustainability-education
 
Producers: 
Adam Batstone
Caitlin Mullin

Season 5, Episode 9 - Climate in the Classroom: the green revolution in schools and universities


In this episode, we talk about the importance of sociology to Annie Ernaux’s Nobel-Prize-winning literary project, specifically focusing on the influence of Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of ‘habitus’. Our special guest, Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London, introduces the concept, explaining what Bourdieu hoped to achieve by coining a new term to designate the idea of a collective disposition or class sensibility. Together, focusing on the opening of The Years (2008), Ernaux’s magnum opus, we consider the ways in which the book’s treatment of self, class, and nation can be read as ‘applied Bourdieu’. 

Our philosophical starting-point is a chapter by Karl Maton entitled ‘Habitus’ and published in Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, ed. Michael Grenfell, 2012. 

Our literary focus is on pages x-51 of Annie Ernaux’s The Years in Alison L. Strayer’s translation (Fitzcarraldo, 2018).

Hosts: 

Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor of English at University College London.
Alice Harberd, PhD student in the Philosophy Department at University College London.

Guest: 
Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London.

Keywords: 

#AnnieErnaux #TheYears #LesAnnées #NobelPrize #Literature #Autofiction #contemporaryculture #sociology #PierreBourdieu #aesthetics #philosophy #philosophyofmind #theself #interdisciplinarity #contemporarywriting #RachelCusk #Outlinetrilogy #class #habitus #subjectivity #sharedsubjectivity


Season 2, Episode 1  - The Sociological Self, with special guest Prof. Clare Carlisle

In this episode, Onya speaks with Mara Stoll (UCL MSc Prosperity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship) and theologian Dr. David Dark about how hermeneutics, the art of interpretation, can transform social entrepreneurship. Together, they unpack why understanding our own assumptions and a community’s lived reality is key to avoiding well-intentioned missteps. Discover how applying hermeneutic principles can help founders slow down, listen deeply, and co-create ventures that truly fit the people they are meant to serve.

Date of episode recording: 2025-09-01
Duration: 00:41:27
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Dr Onya Idoko
Guests: Mara Stoll and Dr David Dark
Producer: Manolo Fournier
Podcast owner: Victoria Howard


Slow Down and Listen: Hermeneutics for Social Entrepreneurs

In celebration of 20 years of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits one of the show’s most endearing traditions—the very first question. For years, she’s opened each conversation with a playful, deeply researched inquiry: something personal, unexpected, and revealing. In this special anniversary episode, listeners will hear some of Debbie’s favorite first questions and the illuminating answers they inspired.

Surprising First Questions

In this episode, we discuss Annie Ernaux’s The Years alongside, an article by Prof. Lucy O’Brien entitled ‘Shameful Self-Consciousness’. Shame, according to this paper, is a feeling which arises when we become conscious of ourselves as diminished by another’s appraisal of our social value. Prof. O’Brien joins us in the studio to discuss Ernaux’s frequent portrayals of shame in The Years and to consider how well they fit the theory outlined in her paper.
 
Hosts: 
Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor of English at University College London.
Alice Harberd, PhD student in the Philosophy Department at University College London.
 
Guest: 
Lucy O’Brien, Richard Wollheim Chair of Philosophy at University College London.

Season 2, Episode 2 The Shamed Self, with special guest Prof. Lucy O’Brien

Dwight Zscheile is a professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary, and his wife, Blair Pogue, is a priest and canon for vitality and innovation in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. They join Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi for a conversation about their joint passion for engaging the innovative ways the Church is renewing its commitment to community and communion by meeting people where they are.  Brandon talks with Dwight and Blair about their new book, Embracing the Mixed Ecology: Inherited and New Forms of Christian Community Flourishing Together, which unpacks the theological language of “mixed ecology,” and how this language can help us imagine what is possible in our church communities.

Host: Brandon Nappi

Guests: Dwight Zscheile and Blair Pogue

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


It Ain't Over Q&A

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