Do you ever watch the news or read newspapers ((which not many people do) and wonder about how the stories being told today seem so much different than they used to? Do you wonder how we’ve gone from Walter Cronkite being the trusted figure he was to journalists being perceived as untrustworthy and anything but objective and fair? I sure have.

My guest for this episode, Jonathan Clarke, is a writer and Emmy Award-winning journalist who has worked in broadcasting, communications and marketing for more than 35 years. He specializes in News Analysis, Strategic Communications, Multiplatform Writing, Broadcast and Print Journalism, Voiceovers, and On-Camera Talent.

We're gonna break it all down and then some. Join us.

I remember when I was a kid that we'd sometime encounter people who just seemed to go off for no reason, and my mama would lean in an tell us, "That one woke up with hell in 'em this morning!"

These many years later, I think of what she said because it seems a whole lot of people are waking up that way. The social graces we once took for granted in terms of how we treat other have fallen away and been replaced with an anger and argumentativeness that's always on. How'd this happen and what, if anything, can we do about it?

Well, that's what we're getting after today in my conversation with Jeannette, who spent a decade as an investigative reporter, then another as staff writer for a city magazine, winning multiple national awards. She is now a staff writer for The Common Reader, a journal of the essay, and her work has twice been cited in

Jeannette spent a decade as an investigative reporter, then another as staff writer for a city magazine, winning multiple national awards. She is now a staff writer for The Common Reader, a journal of the essay, and her work has twice been cited in Best American Essays. She majored in philosophy and has a doctorate in American studies. She majored in philosophy and has a doctorate in American studies.

In a world where the constant pursuit of the "grind" is celebrated as the best way to define one's worth, Keith Levy, a wildly successful, now semi-retired executive whose portfolio of professional achievements can be considered gold standard, begs to differ. Levy has worked hard and reaped the rewards that arose from those efforts, but doesn't define himself by his work, but by his growth as a human being and ability to use what he's learned to provide for his family and his community. He's known plenty of success, but his greatest success, he'll tell you, is in realizing the value of living a significant life that not only changed how he exists in the world but encourages others to find the personal path that allows them to do the same.