Culture is in part what we do. It is also the meaning we make on the stories we tell about who we are and where we're going.

It's built through our experimentation towards our values. And it's an invitation, a process through which we change.

A new vision for a world more just requires spaces for each of us to practice who we will be now.

In today's episode, Phil Agnew talks cultural work and the process of transforming masculinity and mailness away from domination and exploitation.

Phil Agnew is an educator, strategist, writer, trainer, and cultural critic. He co-founded Dream Defenders in 2012 and was a senior advisor to Bernie Sanders on his most recent campaign.

And at present, he is an organizer with Black Men Build. Phil and I had a full conversation on leadership, culture, and patriarchy. And it was a tender and revealing exchange. I hope you enjoy the episode.

So Phil Agnew, I just want to say that I am really, really grateful that you're here. You know, we've wanted to have you on the podcast for a long time.

So it just feels like a gift that you're here and that you're helping us kind of round out this season.

But thank you, first and foremost, for saying yes to being in this conversation. We're grateful.

Deeply appreciative. Everything, like you said, in this due time. And I do feel more ready than I maybe was when you all asked to be in dialogue.

You know, so I'm excited. I'm really excited.

Thank you for saying yes.

You know, I think about you as one of the most, from my perspective, one of the most poetic, yes, but also galvanizing voices of our generation and this iteration of movement.

You have a way of speaking, but also it's kind of extending your heart out through your words, what you care about through your words.

And that's really why I wanted you to be here to just take us into that space a little bit.

But I wanted to ask you the first question that we start off every podcast with is a question about location helping us kind of figure out where we are.

We're trying to assemble voices that we feel like have some idea, some indication, some premonition about where we might go from here.

And so I want to ask you Phil, how would you describe where we are when you look around? What do you see?

That's a really, really good question. I feel confused about it often.

I feel confused about my place in it. I, you know, not to over personalize it, but I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago.

I don't know that something happened. I don't know when it happened and it's not just about me being old or older.

I'm turning 36 and 11 days, but it's something happened with time and it's sped up really, really quickly.

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