Today’s guest is John Sommers-Flanagan, director of the Center for the Advancement of Positive Education at the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education. John is transitioning to this role after a long tenure as professor of counseling at the University of Montana.

John and Justin talk about good faith, the erosion of trust in institutions and confirmation bias. Within the good faith concept, the two discuss intentional acts of kindness as a counter-balance to negativity and bad faith.

This is part one of a two-part series. Tune in to part two next week.

This week we’re speaking with Sarah Vowell, an author with Montana roots of many bestselling books. She’s a historian, actor, journalist and a regular contributor to This American Life. Sarah recently contributed an essay to Michael Lewis’s edited volume, Who Is Government?

In this conversation Sarah talks about highlighting Pam Wright, an archivist at the National Archives, for Who Is Government? Pam fought to digitize and make archives accessible to the public, something that was not necessarily the case for a rural Montanan. Sarah shares her perspective on the role of government agencies and civic services in solving problems and preserving history.

Read Who is Government here:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/who-is-government-the-untold-story-of-public-service-m[…]mpaignid=22224636854&gbraid=0AAAAACfld427udycKa9ljQn9DFiOXG518

Today is our May edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society.

This month, Bryce and Justin talk about time. They discuss it as a scarce resource and consider how to make the most optimal decisions regarding allocation. They parse …