This week is part two of our conversation with John Sommers-Flanagan, director of the Center for the Advancement of Positive Education at the University of Montana’s Phyllis J. Washington College of Education.

John and Justin pick up where they left off last week talking about how lying and parenting intersect, the concept of confirmation bias and the risks of AI-generated content and building relationships with AI.

Check out John’s blog here.

Today’s guest is John Sommers-Flanagan, director of the Center for the Advancement of Positive Education at the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education. John is transitioning to this role after a long tenure as professor of counseling at the University of Montana.

John and Justin talk about good faith, the erosion of trust in institutions and confirmation bias. Within the good faith concept, the two discuss intentional acts of kindness as a counter-balance to negativity and bad faith.

This is part one of a two-part series. Tune in to part two next week.

This week we’re speaking with Sarah Vowell, an author with Montana roots of many bestselling books. She’s a historian, actor, journalist and a regular contributor to This American Life. Sarah recently contributed an essay to Michael Lewis’s edited volume, Who Is Government?

In this conversation Sarah talks about highlighting Pam Wright, an archivist at the National Archives, for Who Is Government? Pam fought to digitize and make archives accessible to the public, something that was not necessarily the case for a rural Montanan. Sarah shares her perspective on the role of government agencies and civic services in solving problems and preserving history.

Read Who is Government here:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/who-is-government-the-untold-story-of-public-service-m[…]mpaignid=22224636854&gbraid=0AAAAACfld427udycKa9ljQn9DFiOXG518