Ep.92 – ‘Mean Girl’: Parasocial Influence, Spilling the Tea, & Red-Flag Reminders for ‘Org’ Apostates

“My mouth is a fire escape. The words coming out don't care that they are naked. There is something burning in here.” ~ Andrea Gibson (RIP 🙏🏽💕) It's time I spoke to the 'mean girl' label. It's been tossed around a bit too liberally for my taste, so I've decided to risk the high-road backlash and tell you what I’ve really been thinking and feeling. Am I a mean girl? I'll let you decide. I kick things off with an excerpt from a...

Precious No More: No Kings Los Angeles & ‘Conferencing’ Post Cult Recovery

I'm finally back with another episode of Subject To Change where I share about my recent travels to Los Angeles. Not much to say as a lead-in, this episode speaks for itself. Patrons can listen to the audio (or WATCH to experience what I experienced through photos and video footage) from the L.A. No Kings protest. In the second half of the episode, I share about my experience at a women's conference in the days just prior... my first real foray...

Ep.91 – Beyond The Binary: A Critical Look at Gender Essentialism | Solo Episode

Yep, it’s time for another solo episode! Today’s release includes excerpts from a May bonus drop over on Patreon, where I take a critical look at gender essentialism — the socially reinforced belief in a fixed gender binary. Two days ago, I recorded a new intro, adding in some personal stories. I share why my girliest school photo is the cringiest, about the time I shaved my head in the early aughts, and the name of the book that had me...

Parasocial Relationships – Empathy & Influence In A Digital Age

Hey y'all. I'm back with another episode of Subject To Change. A parasocial relationship is the one-sided connection we feel to a leader, influencer, or public figure whom we’ve never met in person (and/or with whom we've had limited contact). Thanks to the internet, parasocial interactions are more common than ever, and they can influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In this episode: I describe the parasocial bond, how it develops,...

ENCORE – Social Control: Gaslighting, Victim Blaming, & Tone Policing

This week on TDP… an encore presentation of an episode I dropped almost two years ago. Ep.59 is ripe for a reboot because fascism has come for America and much of what I speak to in this drop has become an everyday norm. I re-recorded the intro to reflect our current reality, and I hope you listen to the end, where I take a closer look at tone policing and why it works to silence us. (The right knowledge can help us to beat them at their own...

The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence & the ‘cult’ure series backstory

Some of you may be relieved to hear that today's release will turn our attention away from current events, circling back to a 'cult'ure series topic that is yet-unfinished. I recorded the bookend portions of this episode a couple of weeks ago, just as I was wrapping up my first term of graduate study at ASU. I was still actively recovering from Covid, but I sat down to press record anyway. I was feeling fired up and eager to share some recent...

Ep.86 – Hive Mind Paralysis & How We Break Free

I'm back. Because silence isn't an option right now. In this episode, I share how graduate study / critical inquiry into leadership and social psychology is helping me make sense of an upside-down world. Groupthink, aka hive mind, isn't just a 'culty' thing. For better and for worse, conformity happens everywhere along the political spectrum. I speak to how unspoken "display rules" keep us from speaking up, then make the argument that...

Welcome to The Next Chapter: I share where this work is headed in 2025

I'm back with another solo episode to share what's next with this work & why I hope you'll stick around as we take this work to whole new depths in 2025. December 13, 2024 >> Welcome to The Next Chapter In this episode, I share: What's next for me & this work. It's time to flip the whole top-down hierarchy on its head. The open question that I've been sitting with since the 'cult'ure series wrap and the investment I'm...

The Science of ‘Hope’ & How to Hold Onto It in the Face of Anxiety

It's only six days until the U.S. Presidential Election and I don't know about y'all, but this week I've been nibbling at my nails quite a bit. So I decided to share what's in my heart + offer up what I hope will be an uplifting, impromptu examination of the relationship between this thing we call 'hope' and the anxiety of living in uncertain times. This is a really special episode for me because I'm circling back to lessons that I learned...

DD#61 – The Empty Husk: Belief, Indoctrination, & Healthy Alternatives

Hey friends. Once again, I'm coming to you solo with a new episode of Deconstructing Dogma, because our examination of how to make meaning without making a gd-mess is far from over. And in this week's release, I'm sharing more personally about my own journey with spirituality and ontological inquiry. dd #61 - The Empty Husk: Belief, Indoctrination, & Healthy Alternatives In the first few minutes of this episode, I share some...