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KQED's Forum

Finding Beauty and Meaning on an Anxiety-Fraught Election Day

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a grueling campaign season, Election Day has arrived. Here at Forum, we asked ourselves what we would want to hear on an anxiety-inducing day. To that end, we’ve brought together a panel of thinkers including Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, Jenny Odell, an artist and author who has thought deeply about nature and time, and Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor, who has written about awe and wonder. We’ll talk with them about how they find beauty, discovery and meaning in the face of worrying times, and hear from you: What is keeping you grounded today? Guests: Jenny Odell, author of "Saving Time: Discovering A Life Beyond the Clock". Odell is also the author of "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy" Tracy K. Smith, poet; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University - She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for her book, "Life on Mars." She is the author of five poetry collections, including "Such Color," "Wade in Water," among other volumes Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley -Keltner is the author of "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life." He served as a consultant on the Pixar films, "Inside Out" and "Inside Out 2". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, forum listeners. It's Alexis. Did you hear that forum is launching a video podcast? It is true.

0:07.0

Each week we'll drop a video recording of a recent forum episode on the KQED News YouTube channel.

0:14.0

We can't wait to bring you into the studio for our conversations on Bay Area Culture, California News, and beyond.

0:21.2

Our first few episodes are out now.

0:23.1

Just visit YouTube.com

0:25.0

slash KQED News to see it all.

0:28.0

That's YouTube.com slash

0:30.3

KQED News.

0:32.4

Greetings, boomtown.

0:33.8

The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming.

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Xfinity combines the power of internet and mobile.

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So we've all got lightning-fast speeds at home and on the go!

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Learn more at Xfinity.com.

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Restrictions apply. Exfinity, Internet required.

0:46.5

Actual speeds vary.

0:48.8

From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal. Here we are, all of us. We've made it through this wild election season, and today is the day.

1:11.6

Millions have already voted. Many millions more will go to the polls.

1:15.6

There's not much left that anyone can do but wait.

1:18.6

Wait to see what direction this country will find ourselves pointed in.

1:22.6

Here on the show, we're human too, and we have our share of election anxiety.

1:26.6

So we search through our guests looking

1:28.5

for the voices that we might want to hear on this strange day so today poet tracy k smith artist jennie odell

...

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