Rick and Forrest are joined by award-winning journalist Michael Krasny for a Being Well episode focused on how to stay curious, navigate times of transition, and relate to the modern media landscape in healthy ways.
They use Michael’s recent experience with “retirement” as a jumping off point to explore how we can embrace change and stay curious before diving into a conversation focused on the modern media landscape. Topics include bothsides-ism, navigating challenging conversations, and finding the balance between what “knowing mind” and “don’t know mind.”
About our Guest: Michael Krasny is the long-time host of the KQED Forum, and has interviewed some of the most prominent figures of the past 50 years, including Maya Angelou, Caesar Chavez, President Jimmy Carter, Carl Sagan, and President Barack Obama. Since retiring from the Forum, Michael has started his own podcast: Grey Matter with Michael Krasny.
Key Topics:
- 0:00: Introduction
- 1:45: What’s helped Michael navigate the transition to a new phase of life
- 3:45: Michael’s shift in identity post-KQED Forum
- 5:45: Curiosity and ‘usefulness’
- 8:10: Preparing for interviews
- 11:10: How Michael became an interviewer
- 14:10: Shakespeare characters, the anxiety of influence, and corporal punishment
- 23:10: How the function of media has changed over time
- 26:05: Bothsidesism and offering balanced viewpoints
- 30:40: ‘Always don’t know’, and not being captured by our strengths
- 33:45: Overpreparation, anxiety, and the role of an interviewer
- 38:20: The value of spacious conversation vs. discourse through sound bytes
- 40:30: Recap
