Professor Nora Kenworthy and journalist Marcus Harrison Green introduce In the Meanwhile.

Welcome to the premiere of In the Meanwhile—a podcast for anyone trying to survive the slow-motion apocalypse without losing their soul (or their sense of humor). Professor Nora Kenworthy and journalist Marcus Harrison Green kick things off with a candid, funny, and heartfelt conversation about what it means to live through this messy in-between era—where the old world is collapsing, the new one isn’t here yet, and the group chat is full of existential dread.

Born out of pandemic grief, political exhaustion, and the need to build something meaningful, this first episode explores what it means to live through a time of collapse without becoming a monster, how to hold onto your humanity when the headlines hit harder than your therapist’s out-of-office reply, and why Bob Ross might be the spiritual leader we don’t deserve but need right now.

Five years after a global pandemic, historic protests, and social rupture, where are we now—and what have we forgotten? In this episode, Nora and Marcus Harrison Green dive into the lingering impacts of 2020, from fractured families to the backlash against empathy itself. With humor, honesty, and a touch of John Mayer fandom, they explore how we hold memory, process grief, and dare to vision something better in a nation that feels like a group project where half the class didn’t show up. This is an episode about collective endurance, radical imagination, and finding joy, however strange or small, while still stuck in the “meanwhile.” If you’ve ever wondered why things feel both over and still happening then this one’s for you.

In this episode Nora and Marcus dive headfirst into the dystopian text thread we’re all living in: ICE raids in broad daylight, masked agents snatching people off the streets, media complicity, and the federal government going full “authoritarian starter pack.” But rather than stew in our fear, today’s guests offer pragmatic lessons about what we face and what can be donehere’s the twist, there’s still hope. They’re joined by Professor Angelina Godoy, a human rights scholar, who breaks down how U.S. immigration enforcement is veering into the territory of international crimes, and Principal Jamie Cook describes how her, whose small-town school community mobilized to free detained students and take a stand against ICE. It’s a moving, unflinching conversation about civic bravery, the power of everyday people, and what it truly means to show up when the stakes are high and the fear is real. Listen in and get inspired. 

In this episode, Nora and Marcus wade into the bizarre right-wing war on empathy—where Elon Musk, JD Vance, and others claim that caring about other people is a threat to civilization itself. But beyond the absurdity, they trace how empathy has been weaponized, misunderstood, and hollowed out—from Clinton-era politics to today’s culture wars. Together, they ask: How should we show up and care in a time of polycrisis? Is empathy even enough? Or do we need something deeper—like solidarity, discomfort, and the hard, daily work of being human with one another?