While Sarah’s on summer break, Beth talks with writer and urban planner Angie Schmitt about giving yourself permission to feel lighter about the news this summer, then digs into what’s gone wrong with how American cities and neighborhoods are built for kids — from car-dependent suburbs to vanishing teen hangouts.
Topics discussed:
- Taking an emotional break from the news without checking out entirely
- ICE shootings, cabinet confirmation hearings, and the Iran war
- Why car-dependent neighborhoods limit kids’ independence
- The nationwide school bus driver shortage
- Disappearing teen hangouts and rules around unsupervised kids
- How lawsuit-aversion backfires on children’s wellbeing
- Rebuilding civic infrastructure — rec leagues, public pools, community schools
- Book recommendations: Shiloh and The Sheep Detectives
Join us in Minneapolis on August 29th for a live show and after party — details and tickets at pantsuitpoliticsshow.com
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Pantsuit Politics is a podcast for real conversations that help us understand politics, democracy, and the news - while still treating each other like thoughtful human beings. We take a different approach to the news; our political analysis blends hard facts with important social and cultural undercurrents so you don’t miss the big picture. Over years of discussing everything from abortion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we established basic rules of engagement, which we describe in our books, Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019). Listeners describe us as “America’s political therapists” and “our trusted, smarter friends who can help us make sense of the world.”
