Finally, the Podcast from Fertik

Pano Kanelos is one of the very most important public intellectuals in America today. He is the Founding President of the University of Austin, a past President of St. Johns, a touchstone of Liberal Arts education, a noted Shakespeare scholar, and a passionate cook of Hellenic cuisine. Listen to hear his vision of what modern life in America, and what higher education, can and should be. Join me for one of the most wide-ranging and fascinating conversations in the history of the Finally podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Sara Mauskopf is a successful Founder and CEO in Silicon Valley. A devoted entrepreneur, wife, and mom of three, she was faced with her husband’s surprise cancer diagnosis shortly after the birth of their first child. More lately, Sara, who has spent years championing diversity and inclusion, has found herself shocked by the silence and even antisemitism and anti-Israel posture of the “hard left.” We catch her at a time of introspection and reflection. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

What is actually happening on America’s college campuses? Is free speech equally curtailed by the Left and the Right? What about in K-12? In this interview with Lukianoff, a left-wing lion and advocate of what he calls the six (not five!) rights ensconced in the First Amendment, we learn how he arrived at his startling conclusions, what the seminal moments were in Cancel Culture, some peculiarities of Connecticut, the impact of the decline in Gifted and Talented K-12 programs, the freedom of association case he thinks FIRE ought to have won, and the impossibility of choosing among his precious children and pizzas. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Michael Fertik interviews Steven Fox, the Artistic Director of New York’s Clarion Choir, Music Direct or the Washington National Cathedral, and one of the world’s most celebrated conductors of his generation. This is a very intimate interview with Grammy-nominated. We address music, politics, perfectionism, where inspiration comes from in the arts, the happiness and unhappiness of the artist and of performance, the book Steven read thirty years ago that continues to be instructive, the classical compositions and manuscripts he (re)discovered during his life, his lengthy experience in Russia over twenty years ago and what it tells him about Putin, and if, ever, he has time to be silly. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

In this candid interview, Nancy Jacobson addresses head-on the criticism that No Labels is going to be an unintentional spoiler in 2024, the three proposed methods by which the exact composition of a No Labels Presidential ticket will be decided, why she’s against Trump, her preferred cream cheese, whether she has a problem with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and her belief that her efforts have recently come under pressure from a secretive, wealthy left-wing cabal she believes is influenced by a mysterious entity known as Arabella. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

In this personal and revealing interview, Bill Browder and I cover the very intimate story of his persecution by Vladimir Putin's government, what exactly happened to Sergei Magnitsky, his real opinion of Elon Musk, where he thinks Putin will be in ten years, Bill’s preferred pizza slice, and the signal time when, a decade ago, I witnessed a death threat leveled against him in public by an extremely senior Russian official at a conference we both attended. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

In this intimate interview with Martha Minow, the distinguished professor and leading legal scholar talks about the first Amendment, the “preconditions for a constitutional democracy,” the democratic deficit in the American project, her fondest memories from her tenure as Dean, the impact of her famous father Newton on her own life, why the jury is no longer out on the Internet’s early wishful thinking about future of “citizen journalism,” that infamous “vast wasteland” of American television, the ancient internecine battle of Rugelach vs Babka, why she’s a “hopeful pessimist,” why she’s bearish on the United States and very bearish on the Biden Presidency, and what she really thinks about Donald Trump.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

In which I profess and explain my love for Cotton and Increase Mather, one of whom loved Cheever's ancestor. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com