A quick glance at the headlines any given morning probably gives all of us a similar feeling: powerlessness.
Just this week, gas prices have skyrocketed (again), the GOP held a midterm convention where they threw thirsttrap photos of Hasan Piker on the Jumbotron, Heather Cox Richardson unlocked a new level of fascist hell in her most recent Substack, and an Anthropic researcher quit, warning that “[t]he people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Hey there, Secular FAM! Have I mentioned lately how much I love public libraries? OUR public libraries? Since becoming a grandmother, I am once again a regular at OUR local libraries. No matter where you live in the Valley, a local PUBLIC library exists somewhere nearby.
I’m nostalgic for kindness, decency, and empathy. I’m a child of the 70s, and Fred Rogers and Kermit the Frog set the tone of my childhood. I remember when Mr. Hooper died, and the cast of Sesame Street turned it into a lesson about death and grieving. I remember when Mr. Rogers shared his pool with the Black police officer, Officer Clemmons.
Now these two examples of just being a decent fucking human being would be considered “woke” by many.
Join us Friday, June 19 at noon/PST as we welcome journalists Hope Pisoni and John Washington to discuss license plate hate in Arizona.
Since 2012, the AZDOT has sold “In God We Trust” license plates; money from every purchase goes to fund an Arizona-based anti-LGBTQIA+ hate group. These two reporters took a deep dive into political license plates in AZ and around the country. Read their reporting here.
Hope Pisoni is an investigative reporter at Uncloseted Media and a proud trans woman. She has investigated anti-trans pseudoscience, hate groups, incarceration and more at Uncloseted, and has written about student activism, housing and video games for Washington Square News, City Limits and The A.V. Club, respectively. Her work has been picked up by local outlets in seven states as well as by long-running publications like GAY TIMES and The Washington Blade. Read Hope’s work here.
John Washington is a staff writer at Lookout, where he covers the border and immigration as well as the statehouse. He is also an award-winning translator and author. His latest book, How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention, will be published by Haymarket Books in July 2026. He writes a newsletter, Lit & Border News.
Last night, I put a reminder on my phone, telling me to watch the entire video of President Obama and NYC Mayor, Zohran Mamdani reading and singing to a preschool class somewhere in New York. I had seen a few clips of it, and even sent some to my daughter to show to my grandson since they sang one of his favorite, absolute BANGERS, “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Hey Secular FAM! The world is moving at lightning speed, so today I’m leaning into that vibe.
I celebrated my fourth anniversary with Secular AZ at the end of last year, and I swear, this spring has been the busiest on record. This year, Secular AZ has been at dozens of in-person street fairs, festivals, and home tours, tracked hundreds of bills, spoken at countless events, and collaborated with stakeholder groups in Arizona and nationally. We also do our best to track the most problematic governing bodies in the state, like the PUSD governing board and the Mohave County Board of Supervisors.
Donald Trump is not a big thinker, but his 2016 presidential victory presented a grand opportunity for people who are, and it set off a radicalization and reconfiguration of the American conservative intellectual world. In Furious Minds, Laura Field chronicles the rise of the New Right—the network of academics, public intellectuals, and influencers who provide ideological fuel to Trumpism, and to Vice President JD Vance. Perhaps above all else, the MAGA New Right is engaged in a vast culture war against modern liberal pluralism. Field will discuss what inspired her to write the book and provide an overview of the ideological radicalization that is shaping contemporary politics in American and around the world.
Laura K. Field is an associate with the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, and visiting scholar in residence at American University. A political theorist by training, she holds a PhD in government from the University of Texas at Austin, and has held faculty positions at Rhodes College in Memphis, Georgetown University, and American University in Washington, DC. In addition to her academic work she has written for The New Republic, Politico, The Bulwark, Le Monde, The New York Times and The Atlantic. Her book Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right is now out with Princeton University Press. She lives in Washington, DC.
Please join us on April 3 at noon (AZT) as we welcome Eoin Higgins to discuss his new book, Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left.
Every year, we get a year further away from memory, and not just our personal memories, but our collective memory. Turns out, in an individualistic society, we struggle to share more than just our toys, there are those among us who deny our collective memories.
Please join us on March 13 at noon (AZT) as we welcome back Tia Levings to discuss her new book, I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma.
Tia Levings is the New York Times Bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, her memoir of escape from Christian Patriarchy. She writes about the realities of religious trauma, evangelical patriarchy, and the Trad wife life, decoding the fundamentalist influences in our news and culture.
Her work and quotes have appeared in Teen Vogue, Salon, Newsweek, and the HuffingtonPost. She alsoappeared in the hit Amazon docu-series, Shiny Happy People. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, she is mom to four incredible adults and likes to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. Find her on social media @TiaLevingsWriter. Her second book, I Belong to Me, releases May 5, 2026.
Hey hey, Secular FAM! 2025 is almost in the rearview mirror, and I for one cannot wait to let the figurative door hit it in its ass. I’ve been bidding an aggressive adieu to every single year since 2016, but this year of our lordT, 2025, can really go f*ck itself.
Please join us on March 13 at noon (AZT) as we welcome back Tia Levings to discuss her new book, I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma.
