The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane

Why are so many people so angry, outraged and resentful these days? While there’s a lot to be ticked off about, it’s not healthy to feel aggrieved all the time. It affects our sense of wellbeing, our relationships with other people — and it’s not good for our democracy. New York Times columnist Frank Bruni has been exploring our culture of complaint and joins us this week to discuss his new book, The Age of Grievance. He writes that “the blame game has become the country’s most popular sport and victimhood its most fashionable garb.” While he is critical of the left, especially college campuses that focus on trigger warnings, political correctness and microaggressions, he says nothing compares to the dangerous grievances that fueled the January 6th insurrection. This episode, a conversation about why humility is an antidote to grievance.

Jamie Wyeth comes from a family of artists. Besides his famous father, Andrew Wyeth, there is his grandfather, illustrator N.C. Wyeth. Jamie, like his family, has strong ties to the Brandywine River Valley and to rural Maine. And while he inherited his family’s gifts, he has carved out his own artistic vision. It hasn’t always been easy. In this edition of The Connection, a conversation with Jamie Wyeth about his journey to find his place in the world, the ghosts that haunt him and why he thinks painting is an odd thing to do. Also joining us is filmmaker Glenn Holsten, whose new documentary is “Jamie Wyeth and the Unflinching Eye.” His previous film about Andrew Wyeth was featured on PBS’ American Masters.

Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket when you were a kid? Do you still have it today? Childhood possessions are filled with memories and meaning so we hold on to them for many years. In this hour we explore the uniquely human behavior of owning things and why we become attached to our belongings. We’ll look at how they connect us with a person or experience and become part of our identity. And we’ll talk about the downsides of having too many possessions – there are more than 50,000 self-storage facilities in the country filled with our overflow. Our guest is psychologist Bruce Hood author of Possessed: Why We Want More Than We Need.

Americans are losing faith with their religious institutions and traditions. That’s a major finding in the latest report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). A quarter of Americans now call themselves religiously unaffiliated citing the clergy sex abuse scandals and teachings against the LGBTQ community as the reasons they no longer believe. On the other hand, most Americans identify as Christian even as the country becomes more religious diverse and fewer Americans attend religious services. In this hour of The Connection, we look at “religious churning” in the country and the role religion, especially Christian Nationalism, is playing in our politics this election season. Our guest is Robert P. Jones, founder and president of PRRI and author of several books including, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy.

That gut feeling is telling you something…directing you toward a decision but you can’t pinpoint precisely why. That’s our intuition talking and there’s more truth to it then we previously understand. Psychologist and neuroscientist Joel Pearson has been studying intuition and putting it to the test in his lab. He joins us to explain where gut instincts come from, when we should trust them and how we can use them to make better choices. Pearson is the author of the brand new book, The Intuition Toolkit.

Millions of people share their lives with dogs, opening their homes and hearts to their canine companions. It’s a partnership that goes back thousands of years. We love and care for them, feed and groom them and they give us joy, loyalty and what feels like unconditional love. Today we examine the dog-human connection from both perspectives and look at what makes it so unique and fulfilling. Our guests are Alexandra Horowitz who studies dog cognition at Barnard College and is the author many dog books including, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know, and Our Dogs, Ourselves, and Clive Wynne, who heads the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University and is the author of Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You.

Acclaimed primatologist Frans de Waal died last week. His studies of the great apes — chimps and bonobos — changed our understanding of our primate cousins and ourselves. De Waal showed that primates are smart and compassionate, cooperative and competitive. They have complex relationships and cultures, just like our own. For years, Frans de Waal directed Emory University’s Living Links Center and authored many books popularizing his findings that primates and human are not all that different. Over the years, he was also a frequent guest on Marty’s previous show, Radio Times, and this week we listen back to some favorite conversations.

You don’t have to be a comedian to try improv — or get up on a stage in front of a bunch of people. The principles of improv apply to daily life, too. They can help us become more positive and spontaneous, more open and willing to take risks, and help us connect with others. In this episode, we learn how to improv, about its psychological benefits and how to apply the skills to our life. Our guests are Jennifer Childs, co-founder and artistic director of 1812 Productions, Dannagal Young, communications professor at the University of Delaware and member of Philadelphia ComedySportz, and Clay Drinko, educator and author of Play Your Way Sane: 120 Improv-Inspired Exercises to Help You Calm Down, Stop Spiraling and Embrace Uncertainty.

Psychotherapist Esther Perel joins us for a conversation on love and intimacy. Perel is one of the country’s most well-known relationship therapists with an almost rock star status. She’s the bestselling author of Mating in Captivity: In Search of Erotic Intelligence and State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, and has a hit podcast. We’ll talk with Perel ahead of her national tour, about what she’s discovered in her years counseling couple’s about love and desire and how to sustain an intimate relationship in a time of conflict, anxiety and upheaval.

“What if friendship – not marriage – was the center of life?” That’s what Rhaina Cohen asks in a new book, The Other Significant Others. With fewer people getting married or marrying later in life, high divorce rates and a loneliness epidemic, maybe it’s time to rethink the value of our friends. University of Maryland psychologist Marisa Franco has been studying adult friendships for years. She’s found that these relationships can be some of the most sustaining but are often overlooked. In this episode, we’ll talk about our closest non-romantic relationships and how they enrich our lives. And, need advice making new friends? We’ll cover that, too.