We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments
Society & Culture
For the past 24 years, renowned Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist and book review editor Tony Norman has written about the most pressing issues of the day, proving to be an important and eloquent voice of truth.
Tony began his journalism career covering pop culture, eventually serving as the Post-Gazette’s Pop Music and Culture Editor. He is a former editorial board member at the Post-Gazette, and is the current vice president of the board of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
He has modestly described himself as “a distracted former political science major,” but he is so much more than that.
Tony shares stories of his early days as a pop culture writer in the ‘90s, including the David Bowie/Nine Inch Nails show that changed his career; his reception as the Post-Gazette’s first Black columnist; and the column he wrote that most moved him – and cemented his decision to “always be on the side of the underdogs.”
The era we are living in “feels different than any other I’ve lived through, like positive change is possible,” Tony tells host Grant Oliphant. “We are seeing a revolution in attitudes.”
He is writer in a time when there is no shortage of things to write about, and his words are trying to help fuel the revolution toward justice.
“We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Grant Oliphant, and produced by the Endowments and Treehouse Media. Theme & incidental music by Josh Slifkin. Guest image by Kurt Weber/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Guest inquiries can be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.
Love Canal’s accidental environmentalist Lois Gibbs on the movement she sparked & what today’s activists need to know to save our world (S01EP17)
What the Eyes Don't See: Mona Hanna-Attisha & Flint’s lead water crisis. (S01EP16)
The 45 Words that Define Us: Max King on a First Amendment under fire, why we let rights slip away & how we can save them (S01E15)
Environmental justice superhero Mustafa Santiago Ali and the Hip Hop Caucus are shifting minds and votes one community at a time. (S01EP14)
Born for Storms: Angela Blanchard was a rock during Houston’s Hurricane Harvey & now she’s out to change the world for good (S01EP13)
New Power: Author Henry Timms explains what it is, how to get it & why it’s changing our hyper-connected world. (S01EP12)
Brick by brick: Steve Shelton got his second chance & now he makes certain others have a shot at their own redemption (S01EP11)
Spinning our moral compass: Rabbi Ron Symons on why centuries-old traditions may be the secret to navigating race, wage & immigrant issues. SE01E10
R2-D2, Illah & Ethics: How robotics & AI genius Illah Nourbakhsh was inspired to use his superpowers for good SE01E09
Circles of love: Tammy Thompson draws on her own remarkable journey in her work to break poverty trauma cycles (S01EP08)
Humor, Rap, Poetry & Love: the New Muslim Cool of Hamza Perez (S01E07)
A Story of Two Wilsons: Janis Burley Wilson grew up in an arts-loving family in playwright August Wilson’s hometown, and now she leads his namesake Center for African American Culture. (S01E06)
From Miami to the Midwest: Change Agency’s Betty Cruz has made it her life’s work to make her city a welcoming place for immigrants. (S01E05)
Center for Coalfield Justice’s Veronica Coptis and her fight for one rural America county’s environmental justice (S01EP04)
Actor/writer David Conrad’s long journey home, identity of place, and the key role artists play in shaping our future (S01 EP03)
Kazakhstan candy, a Wisconsin dairy farm, PBS and innovative investigative news: the fantastic journey of PublicSource Exec. Director Mila Sanina (S01EP02)
Post-9/11 vets' unique role in a more perfect union w/ Nick Grimes of Veterans Breakfast Club (S01EP01)
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