Episodes

Every day since October 7th, our hearts have been breaking. The unconscionable terrorist attack on Israel killed so many innocents. And yet, in the Israeli response, many times more innocents in Gaza have been killed. Across the region, children and civilians are suffering and dying unnecessarily. To help us understand the situation on the ground in Gaza and Israel and the role of aid organizations, I’ve invited Abby Maxman on the show. Abby is the President and CEO of Oxfam America.

We hear about mass shootings all of the time. They dominate our news for a couple of days, and then we move on, doing nothing. Sometimes, in our local news, we might hear about a local shooting which kills one or two or three people. But what we rarely hear about is the constant background of gun violence that takes place in our country every day when about 120 people die from gunshot wounds, and about 200 are shot and survive. People like Ethan Song, a teenager who was accidentally shot and kil...

It’s Halloween week, and we thought we’d cap off spooky season with a look back at some of the scariest stories we’ve covered over the years here at Sorry Not Sorry. So sit back, turn on all the lights, and prepare to be terrified.

The world feels very hopeless right now. This week's episode is a piece of magic that we hope makes it easier, even if just for an hour. We're revisiting one of our very favorite episodes with one of our very favorite people. Kwame Alexander joined us in 2021 to discuss his book "Light for the World To See: 1,000 Words on Race and Hope." His poetry, his words, and his spirit lifted us then, and we hope they will lift you now.

The Republican Party is in chaos. The far-right GOP in the House of Representatives is at the mercy of the extreme right GOP in the House. Matt Gaetz and a handful of GOP extremists ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and holds the entire government hostage. It doesn’t have to be this way. Over the years, we’ve had a number of Democratic members of the House on the show. Today, we’ll revisit just a few of those interviews and show the possibility of what could be, if we oust the chaos-makers in the GO...

This shouldn’t shock any woman in the world: most medical research is based on male bodies. The effects of that reach out across our societies, leaving women behind not only in medicine but in so many other parts of our cultures. Cat Bohannon is working to change that—painting a picture of the evolutionary history of women in her stunning new book “EVE: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution.” Cat is a researcher and author with a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the evolution...

Nefarious groups, driven by hate, are challenging books in school and public libraries at an unprecedented pace. To discuss the problem, what's being done about it, and the state of this year's Banned Books Week, we've invited American Library Association President Emily Drabinsky on the show.

The United States imprisons more of its population than any other nation on earth. We also incarcerate more people than any other nation. This reality, combined with the conditions and injustices inherent in those statistics, has driven a growing movement for prison reform. Colleen Eren has looked inside that movement in her new book “Reform Nation: The First Step Act and the Movement to End Mass Incarceration,” and she joins us to discuss.

46,000 - That's the number of Americans who die every year from gun violence. More than double that number are shot but survive. Fred Guttenberg knows the toll of that devastation more than most: his daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland, FL mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. He joins us to talk about President Biden's new effort to close the background check loophole, the effect of racist and extremist politicians on gun violence, and more.

It is no secret that there are different standards for Black families than for white families in the United States. Our guest this week, Dr. Esau McCaulley, has a new memoir titled How Far to the Promised Land that explores these differences and the effects they have on our nation. Esau is an Associate Professor of the New Testament, the author of several books, and a contributing columnist for the New York Times. How far to the Promised Land is now available.

Student debt is a crushing burden to millions of families in the United States. Recent efforts by the Biden Administration to relieve some of the burden for some borrowers were dashed by the Supreme Court. To help put it in perspective and fill us on what can be done about this issue, we've invited Natalia Abrams back on the show. Natalia is the founder and president of the Student Debt Crisis Center.

The world is full of hate. Alyssa certainly sees a lot of it sent her way online—but people who hold less privilege see so much more. That hate, always present around us, has taken some of the joy out of being human. Our guest this week is trying to fix that. Kai Cheng Thom is the author of several books, including the newly released “Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls.”

Our guest this week is Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Senator Blumenthal is right at the heart of legislative initiatives that are so important for our nation, whether it’s regulating the role of AI, protecting kids online, or protecting kids offline in efforts to reduce gun violence. He's also been able to work across the aisle on critical initiatives in this incredibly polarized time, because he believes being effective is more important than being partisan. In this episode, we get...

One of the things Alyssa has been very open about is her mental health. We have stigmas in our culture which not only affect those who struggle with mental health conditions, but also new and exciting treatments for those conditions, like psychotropics and wearable technology. Dr. Dave Rabin helps people face these stigmas. He is a board-certified psychiatrist, neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and inventor who has studied resilience and the impact of chronic stress on our lives for over 15 years. D...

We live in a time where right-wing politicians and activists are stoking anti-trans fear and hate for political gain. Around the country, legislators are enacting laws which prevent trans youth from receiving gender-affirming care, putting them and their families at risk. Our guest this week, Kate Brookes, is raising a transgender daughter. Her new memoir, Transister, brings us into her world in an unflinching and unvarnished way.

2023 has been a tumultuous year in the House of Representatives, to say the least. Kevin McCarthy barely won the speakership and has been chained to the whims of the furthest extremes of his party. The theatrics of McCarthy and the GOP have often overshadowed the important work sitting before Congress —issues that affect us all. California Congressman Ro Khanna is focused on those issues, and he joins us this week to discuss them.

One of the things that makes Alyssa angriest is when she sees men denying the scope of our national sexual violence epidemic by claiming that there are many false reports of sexual assault, and therefore victims cannot be trusted. In their stunning documentary Victim/Suspect, reporter Rae de Leon and director Nancy Schwartzman dig into cases where women were charged with filing false reports but insist they were telling the truth. What the investigation showed about police conduct when investiga...

Once again, the Supreme Court ended its term with monumental decisions which will affect the way millions of Americans are able (or not able) to do important things in their lives. As usual, we covered many of those issues over the past year, and in this episode we revisit that coverage to contextualize the importance of the court's decisions and efforts to reform the court.

We live in dangerous times. Zealots on the extreme right are working to ban books which actively teach our history, particularly around civil rights and racial justice. That’s why it’s so important to remember and share our history on these issues. Our guest today is Samuel Freedman. Samuel is a journalist, author, and Pulitzer-prize finalist. His new book, Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights, is now available.

It’s hard to believe we have to say this in 2023, but across the nation, right-wing forces are banding together at all levels of government to ban access to books in schools and libraries. Florida, in particular, has been a hotbed of these bans under the dubious leadership of Ron DeSantis. Our guests this week are suing to make sure literature remains accessible. Nadine Farid Johnson serves as the Managing Director of PEN America Washington and Free Expression Programs, and Ashley Hope Perez is ...

Fighting sex trafficking is a cause that we are passionate about at Sorry Not Sorry, and our guest this week has made it her life’s work. Ruchira Gupta is a former journalist and founder of Apne Aap, an NGO that works to end child sex trafficking. She’s the author of the acclaimed new novel I Kick and Fly which is based on her experiences. Praise for I Kick and Fly: "In I Kick and I Fly, Ruchira Gupta has given young readers an irresistible story, and also one that could save lives. This book ...

This week marks a year since the Supreme Court's immoral and dangerous Dobbs decision. Unless you’ve been hiding with your head in the sand, you know that abortion rights are under threat in the United States, where many people now have little or no access to abortion healthcare. The Catholic Church has been a driving force in that charge to deny women and pregnant people the right to control our own reproduction—but there are those within the church fighting to change that. To discuss, we’ve in...

Just a few hours before George Floyd was murdered, Christian Cooper was birdwatching in Central Park when he was the victim of a white woman who attempted to weaponize race and policing against him. The video of the event went viral, and luckily Christian was able to leave the area before police arrived, and is here with us today. His new book, Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World, is now available to order. “Christian Cooper’s book is every bit as wondrous...

It’s no secret that there are huge cultural and structural barriers which prevent many people in the United States from accessing education. These barriers are even higher when it comes to those who are incarcerated. And yet, there is good evidence that shows that obtaining an education makes huge differences in the lives of the incarcerated. To discuss, we’ve invited Mneesha Gellman on the show. Mneesha is the founder and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which makes college available ...