Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom – MacArthur Genius award winner and brilliant chronicler of our times – unmasks the American stories that got us to this place—and explains, with amazing precision and clarity, how we can imagine our way out.

We discuss:

- How the MAGA story broke through and became the winning story;

- How money hijacked democracy;

- The little-known history of the Black Panther party of the American South;

- Why Responsibility is Freedom;

- How to frame and reclaim the American story through radical humanity: art, truth, creativity, and community.

Join us for this riveting, smart, funny conversation about power, hope, and writing a freer future.

About Tressie:

Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is a professor and principal investigator with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NY Times columnist, and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Her work has earned national and international recognition for the urgency and depth of its incisive critical analysis of technology, higher education, culture, media, class, race, and gender. Recent accolades include being named the 2023 winner of the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize by Brandeis University for her “critical perspective and analysis to some of the greatest social challenges we face today,” the recipient of the 2025 Thomas Wolfe Prize, and a 2025-26 National Humanities Center Fellow. Her most recent book, THICK: And Other Essays was listed as one the 30 best nonfiction books of the last 30 years by the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Two books are forthcoming with Random House Books.

Follow Tressie:

@tressiemcphd on Instagram

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social on Bluesky

Follow We Can Do Hard Things on:

Youtube — @wecandohardthingsshow

Instagram — @wecandohardthings
TikTok — @wecandohardthingshow

Identity in a Digital Age | Guest: Mary Harrington | 11/7/25

The Auron MacIntyre Show

Outro

The AI-powered Podcast Player