The problem of homelessness in the United States has reached epic proportions. But how can we understand such a complex issue affecting so many different kinds of people? Writer Alison Owings decided to take on the challenge by exploring the memories of one man, Del Seymour. Del’s story is one of triumph and redemption. He went from living on the streets of San Francisco to becoming known as Mayor of the Tenderloin, the city’s neighborhood with the largest homeless population. Del earned this title not just because of the jobs he created through the Tenderloin Walking Tours, but because of thousands he helped to build new lives through the work of Code Tenderloin. Join me on June 2nd for a conversation with Alison Owings about her book Mayor of the Tenderloin: Del Seymour’s Journey from Living on the Streets to Fighting Homelessness in San Francisco.

The challenge of any documentary director with a mission is to make the viewer care. What makes the 2026 Oscar award winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin resonate so powerfully is the love and honesty that inspires it. This is a production that showcases the unvarnished horrors of Putin’s militarization of Russia following the start of the war in Ukraine through the eyes of one man, Pavel “Pasha” Talenkin. A school teacher in a small town in the Urals, Pasha is the definition of a Mr. Nobody. His superpower, however, is his camera. He is the school videographer. Inspired by his deep love and attachment to his school and community, Pasha uses his camera to document Putin’s efforts to militarize Russian youth through the school system following the start of the war in Ukraine. From the Soviet-era industrial backdrop of the town of Karabash to Putin’s efforts to harness the spirit of sacrifice from the Great Patriotic War, memories function on multiple levels in this film. I had the opportunity to discuss the documentary with former guest and Penn State Professor of Rhetoric and Visual Communication, Katya Haskins. Katya’s book, Remembering the War, Forgetting the Terror: Appeals to Family Memory in Putin's Russia, is now available in paperback.

The horrors Russia has been inflicting on Ukraine have sadly become a familiar sight on the daily news. Far less attention has been paid to the consequences of the war for the Russian people. This is the subject of the 2026 Oscar award winning documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin. It is the story of an ordinary teacher who risks everything to show the world how the war and Putin’s education policies are destroying the lives of Russia’s youth. To discuss the documentary Katya Haskins will be returning to the podcast. A graduate of Moscow State University who witnessed the final years of the Soviet Union, Katya is a professor of rhetoric and visual studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Remembering the War, Forgetting the Terror: Appeals to Family Memory in Putin’s Russia. Join me and Katya Haskins on May 5th for a conversation about the documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin.