If you're tuning in from Texas, keep listening. We're going to talk about what they don't want you to hear.

In this episode of GDP, we're talking about academic censorship, in particular the case of Texas A&M banning Plato's Symposium. We bring in Platonic expert Eli Diamond to tell us exactly what is being banned: an erotic booze fuled drama of debauchery and perverse behaviour that also serves as a foundational text in understanding the nature of love, beauty and desire while providing a foundation of Western philosophy, ethics, and human psychology. So what makes studying this so dangerous? Tune in to find out.

Dr. Eli Diamond teaches at Dalhousie University and King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is considered by many to be the GOAT of classics. His first book, Mortal Imitations of Divine Life: The Nature of the Soul in Aristotle’s De Anima, was published in 2015 by Northwestern University Press in the series “Rereading Ancient Philosophy”. Details about the book can be found here. The focus of his current research is Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy.

Is there a future in Global Development? Will the U.S. be at the forefront of it? When it comes to the life saving services provided by USAID around the world, who will pick up the pieces? The answer is not clear, but Dennis Vega has seen this transformative moment in global development from the front lines. He joins us today to discuss what's going on, how deep the impact is, and to remember the moral good of development will continue...but maybe not how it has occurred in the past.

Dennis Vega is President & CEO of Pact. He has nearly two decades of experience in international development and nonprofit management. Most recently, Dennis served as the Acting Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources at USAID, overseeing operations for its 13,000-person workforce across more than 100 countries. Prior to that, he was Chief of Staff of USAID. Previously, Dennis served as Interim President and CEO as well as Chief Operating Officer of America’s Promise Alliance - a youth development coalition founded by General Colin Powell, leading the organization’s engagement with America’s young people, particularly through the Covid-19 crisis. Throughout his career, Dennis also held a number of positions at the U.S. Department of State and USAID during the Administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and the University of Texas at Austin. Dennis joined Pact in 2024.

Could honey bees best explain how sanctions are supposed to work? To prevent bloodshed, sanctions are meant to to take down an opponent by a collective effort. That's how bees do it? How do we do it? In this episode we learn a lot about bees and draw some sticky connections and analogies to current global politics.

Alex Pedersen is the past president of the Limestone Beekeepers’ Guild and currently a beekeeper in the Kingston Ontario area. Alex got her start in beekeeping as an undergrad through apiculture classes at the University of Guelph. She spends her spare time in the garden tending to the bees, supporting local beekeepers, and providing education about pollinators to local community groups and schools. In 2022, Alex was named a national “Volunteer of the Year” for her dedication to Science Rendezvous, a national organization encouraging children and their families to engage with and enjoy science, for her beekeeping displays with the Limestone Beekeepers’ Guild.