Meredith for Real: the curious introvert

Dr. Jason Brennan is a Flanigan Family professor at Georgetown Business School who agrees that democracies outperform most historical alternatives, but suggests that some form of Epistocracy (meaning the rule of the knowledgeable) could be worth experimenting with. In other words, the more of an informed voter you are, the more weight your vote carries. He covers why democracy may not be as bullet proof as we believe, what the practical applications of epistocracy could look like, education’s disappointing impact on informed voting & the right and wrong way to become a more informed voter.

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Former ecstasy dealer, Jason Edwards, tells his story of what led to prison, the types of people you find there & the mindsets that can pull you in & lift you out. You’ll also hear about the day he walked out of prison, how he won over the trust of his boss & now owns a million-dollar business. Stay to the end where he shares his message to prisoners, their family members & naysayers.

This episode originally aired February 17 & 24 2020 in a two-part series. 

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 37: FROM EAGLE SCOUT TO INMATE

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This episode is a relaxed hybrid conversation/interview with Scott Johnson, the host of What Was That Like, a true crime fan favorite with over 10 million downloads. 

Scott recently invited me to co-host a weekly segment on his show, so I this episode is an introduction to him and a behind the scenes from both of us on what it takes to make a great podcast. 

You’ll hear how Scott vets his guests, Podcaster pet peeves, what episodes we’ve recorded, but Not aired, topics too taboo for our shows & how podcasting has changed our mi...

If you watched the Netflix special (un)well, you may have seen Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Rachel Bernstein, in the episode on Tantric Sex. She is a mental health professional specializing in cult psychology, manipulators & systems of control. In this episode, we discuss what defines a cult, who is most vulnerable to cult recruitment & a gut-wrenching listener question. She also tackles Scientology, gangs & Jehovah’s Witnesses & even MLMs.

This episode originally aired on November 16, 2020.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 134: HE VOTED OBAMA & JOINED THE KKK: THE HOW & THE WHY (PART 1)

At age 38 and only 8 weeks of training, Merry Morgan Holotik Henderson became 1 of the 4,700 people to summit Mt Everest & 1 of the 605 women. She shares how she went from non-athletic theatre nerd to mountaineer & what you don’t know about what it takes to get there. She shares what she learned about sherpa culture, how cerebral edema can cause your brain to deceive you & how it’s never too late to start at the bottom.

This episode originally aired on March 3, 2020.

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What exactly is considered "sexless"? What are we counting as sex? What would cause someone to not want to have sex all of a sudden?

These are all questions I unpacked with Xanet Pailet. She was a successful healthcare lawyer married to an attorney with two children. She lived in a beautiful home in NYC as well as a sexless marriage. At age 45 and no sex for over 15 years, she considered sex as something she was just done with. 

Now she is a full time intimacy educator with a fulfilling sex life. You’ll hear abo...

Dr. Loretta Breuning is a PhD researcher & author. Since becoming unconvinced by prevailing theories on human behavior, she has researched everything from monkeys to the mafia. Now she’s not only helping people hack their brain, she’s shedding light on how the altruistic outlook may be popular, but ultimately damaging.

In this episode, she explains WHY we believe that if we are unhappy something is wrong, how simply “getting back to nature” can backfire, the problem with happiness studies & (this is important) how to start your own happiness plan.

If you liked this episode, you’ll a...

The highlight of teenage Tony Dushane’s existence was the short car ride with his crush as they were dropped off to preach door to door. In this episode, he shares the negative impact purity culture within the Jehovah’s Witness community had on his family, the awkward moments he can laugh at (& made a film from) & the advice he would give if he had a teenager.

This episode originally aired July 5, 2021.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 191: DISENTANGLING FAITH FROM RELIGIOUS TRAUMA

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The message given at every commencement speech is, “Go into the world & make an impact!” This makes anyone who gone on to lead an ordinary life to feel like an extraordinary disappointment. 

Dr. Brandon Warmke is an Associate Professor & philosopher at Bowling Green University who believes that living a quiet life is not an underachieving consolation prize. 

In this episode, he shares the dangers of moralizing, are Christian missionaries performing helpful service or performing pathological altruism, filters over formulas, the case for solitude, voting vs volunteering and bad versions of curiosity.

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By the time she was twelve, Carissa Phelps had run away from home, dropped out of school, and fled blindly into the arms of a brutal pimp. After years of being trafficked, she was able to escape, graduate from UCLA with a law degree and an MBA, and become an attorney working to help at-risk youth & end the infrastructure behind human trafficking.

She shares names of corporations listed in lawsuits for supporting trafficking, how she was trafficked and escaped, the trafficking ecosystem & the unexpected ways we all may be supporting trafficking.

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