Please join us on May 15 at noon (AZT) as we welcome Laura Field PhD to discuss her new book Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right.
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.
Eoin Higgins is a journalist based in New England. He is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.”
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 also appeared 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.
Join us November 15 at noon AZ time as we welcome Kate DeMeester-Lane, Pima County Librarian.
She’ll discuss why it’s so important to share stories that center BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, fight disinformation, and the essential task of providing and protecting access to information that people use to make important decisions. As libraries come under increasing fire from those who would censor history, disenfranchise and muffle the voices of marginalized communities, and spread mis- and dis-information, here’s one library system that’s fighting back.
Knowledge is power. Click here to watch this presentation on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.
Kate DeMeester-Lane graduated with her Master of Arts in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from University of Arizona in 2003, and has worked in libraries for over 20 years. She is currently the head of library collections and technology for Pima County Public Library.
Andra Watkins is a survivor of Christian Nationalism; author of the bestselling Substack How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life; NYT bestselling author of the memoir Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace; seen in Newsweek, Salon, Resolute Square and others; and lives between Charleston, South Carolina and San Sebastián, Spain.
Tia Levings is the New York Times Bestselling author of the memoir A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy. She writes about the realities of Christian fundamentalism, evangelical patriarchy, and religious trauma, and is quoted in Salon, the Huffington Post, and Newsweek. She also appeared in the hit Amazon docu-series, Shiny Happy People. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, she is mom to four incredible adults and likes to travel, hike, paint, and daydream. Find her on social media @TiaLevingsWriter. Her second book, The Soul of Healing, releases with St. Martin’s Press in 2025.
See more about Tia and A Well-Trained Wife
Join us on June 14 at noon (PST) for special guest Athena Salman, Arizona Campaign Director for Reproductive Freedom for All. She’ll talk about the current (lack of) reproductive rights in Arizona, the abortion ban, the AZ Abortion Access act and more.
Click here to watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.
Athena Salman came to Reproductive Freedom for All from the Arizona House of Representatives, where she was a fierce advocate for access to reproductive health care, including abortion, since she was first elected in 2016. In 2023, she established the Arizona Repro Table, a coalition of partners in Arizona working together to protect and advance reproductive rights. Athena was honored as a Secular AZ “Secular Star Lawmaker” many times.
Join us on July 26th at noon for special guest Jessica Edmonds, FNP AAHIVS, the President and Clinical Director of Gamut Health, for a discussion of the importance of gender-affirming care.
click here to watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.
Jessica is a licensed family practice nurse practitioner (FNP), certified as a gender care provider with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and as an HIV specialist with the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM). She recently launched a telehealth practice focused on gender-affirming care, HIV prevention, and HIV management called Gamut Health (
Click here to learn more about Gamut Health). Prior to this, she worked with the Transgender Health Program of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, one of the largest FQHCs in California.
Jessica is originally from Indiana where she worked with Mosaic Health and Healing Arts, Indiana’s first family medicine practice to be openly accepting of LGBTQ+ patients. In 2017, she presented on gender care at the Sigma Theta Tau International Conference in Indianapolis. Jessica’s passion for this work was really ignited during graduate school; while attending Indiana University South Bend (IUSB), she was instrumental in ensuring the incorporation of transgender and gender diverse healthcare into the curriculum for nurse practitioners and into undergraduate nursing curriculum.
Join us on April 5 for special guest Gretchen Sisson, Ph.D., author of Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.
Gretchen Sisson, Ph.D., is a qualitative sociologist studying abortion and adoption at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. Her research was cited in the Supreme Court’s dissent in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and has been covered in The Washington Post, The Nation, All Things Considered and Consider This, New York Magazine, VOX, and other outlets.
More about Dr. Sisson: https://www.gretchensisson.com/
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.
Join us on March 28 at noon (AZ Time) for special guest Jaclyn Friedman, Founder and Executive Director of EducateUS.
Join us on April 5 for special guest Gretchen Sisson, Ph.D., author of