How To Not Lose Your Sh!t

On September 27th, in a high school auditorium near Cleveland, Heather Cox Richardson spoke to a group of nearly 1,000 Red Wine & Blue members. She and Katie Paris talked about the midterms, what's at stake, and what gives Heather hope.

This wasn’t your typical political event. It was a room full of real conversations, real connections, and people ready to make a difference in their communities. Red Wine & Blue has thr...

Climate journalist Emily Atkin is a pessimist. Or maybe she's a realist. Or maybe she's actually hopeful? One thing's for certain: she's not going to stop calling out tech and oil company billionaires or the politicians who are in their pocket.

This week, Katie and LaFonda had a fascinating conversation with Emily about the environment and whether you need to be an optimist to work for change. Emily started her Substack, Heated, bac...

This week, Red Wine & Blue founder Katie Paris and our Director of Distributed Organizing Missy McGinnes joined Allison Gill on The Daily Beans to talk about the midterms, friend-to-friend organizing, and how you can join or start your own RWB Network group.

It was such a great conversation that we wanted to share it here! You can expect more bonus episodes as we get closer to election day.

Romance novels are already political, but one that features two campaign staffers and ends with a call for its readers to run for office is *definitely* political. This week, we were joined by Kate Stayman-London, the author of a new book called See You Next Tuesday. She's worked for many campaigns herself, including as lead digital writer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, so she knows the ins and outs of the...

On June 13th in Philadelphia, Red Wine & Blue founder Katie Paris did something she'd never done before: give a TED talk. Three months later, her speech on breaking the old D.C. rules about politics is finally available for everyone to watch!

Today on the podcast, Katie was joined by her TED coach, Kelly Stoetzel, along with Stacy Kunkel, our Deputy Program Director in PA who was on the ground at TED Democracy. They chatted abou...

Are you worried about voting rights going into this year's midterm elections? We are too.

But just being worried doesn't fix the problem. In fact, if we let it make us lose our sh!t, that worry can keep us from taking real action to protect our rights.

Luckily, Stacey Abrams is *the* expert on all things voting. She joined us a few weeks ago for a virtual event where she helped us understand how extremists are trying to take away our...

Today we're getting back to our local organizing roots with Karen West, the leader of a Red Wine & Blue Network group in Pennsylvania. She recently held a talent show and raised $2000 for a local charity that helps immigrants and refugees -- which for an organization of their size, means more than their year's operating budget!

It would be inspiring enough to see Karen organize a creative event to benefit immigrants in her commu...

Red Wine & Blue is all about taking the "ick" out of politics. We believe that the best way to improve this country is to build community and listen to our neighbors rather than out-of-touch politicians or influencers who just want to make us mad.

Our guest this week, Bennett Rea (aka Cookin' With Congress), is doing something a little different. We couldn't stop laughing about how he's putting the "ick" *back* into politics.

But...

This week, we were lucky enough to sit down with Sara Wiles: a mom, entrepreneur, political activist, and content creator. Whether it's reaching millions of people on Instagram or door-knocking for a local candidate, Sara is using her time and energy for good.

In an age where "influencers" are often (rightfully) dismissed as shallow or opportunistic, Sara is doing the real work and making a serious difference. She shared how the per...

We're continuing the theme of women in the South fighting for democracy this week, and Red Wine & Blue Network leader Carrie Dix is such an inspiration. She lives in Georgia, surrounded by Republican voters, but she's connecting hundreds of other women with political actions that matter... and, just as importantly, with one another.

It's hard feeling isolated with no one who shares your values, but as we discuss in this episode,...

Amanda Nelson has become a political powerhouse without really meaning to. After Trump's second inauguration, she started posting online as Amanda's Mild Takes, sharing stories from history alongside Trump's failures and losses. Now, she has almost 2 million fans.

What was so striking, however, was just how many of her perspectives were shared by Red Wine & Blue! Amanda emphasized the importance of local politics and relational ...

While presenting at TED Democracy last month, Katie Paris met a fellow presenter named Danielle Roberts. Danielle calls herself an "anti-career coach" and is all about dealing with burnout, finding a better balance, and how to follow our passion. Katie had such great conversations with her at TED that we knew we needed to bring Danielle to the pod to share those conversations with our community.

And Danielle didn't disappoint! She g...

Kristin Du Mez's book Jesus and John Wayne changed the way that America sees evangelicals. It even inspired many evangelical women to leave the church, giving them words for the gender inequalities they'd felt all along.

Our guest host Aimee Saunders, a Red Wine & Blue organizer in Pennsylvania, is one of these women. She grew up in the evangelical church and did everything that was expected of her: submitting to her h...

When Julie joined us on our Heather Cox Richardson event this month, she shared how she's supporting immigrants by taking groups of friends to Spanish-speaking restaurants in her town. Heather was so excited about the idea, and Julie was such a ray of sunshine, that we knew we needed to bring her on the podcast!

Julie's a Spanish teacher in Omaha, Nebraska, but she doesn't stop at teaching the language. She shares cultural informati...

Allison Gill has lived a lot of lives. She's a Navy veteran, a PhD, a comedian, a whistleblower at the VA, and a podcaster. And we actually consider all of that public service -- even the comedy -- because boy do we ever need a good laugh right now. If we don't laugh, we're liable to cry.

Here at Red Wine & Blue, we're officially announcing a partnership with Allison Gill and the community that has rallied around her podcast, Th...

Last night, we were joined by historian Heather Cox Richardson to celebrate America's 250th birthday -- not with a UFC fight or a poorly-planned "Great American State Fair," but by talking to each other about how we can move this country closer to our ideals. 

Together with Heather, we reflected on our history, celebrated the people who impacted our nation, and acknowledged the work needed to live up to our values. Heather shar...

This week, the podcast is coming one day late… but it’s for a very good reason! Our favorite historian Heather Cox Richardson is joining us tonight to talk about reclaiming America as we head into our 250th Independence Day.

America’s 250th celebration should be a time to reflect on our history, celebrate the people who impacted our nation, and acknowledge the work needed to live up to our ideals. Instead, the cur...

Today is the four-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision -- the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade and with it, our constitutional right to abortion care.

But women across the country have been fighting back: marching, calling their legislators, and sharing their personal abortion stories. Places like Ohio have even put laws and constitutional amendments on the ballot to enshrine abortion rights in their state.

Doctors and...

Last year, political journalist Zerlina Maxwell did something that most of us only dream about: she moved to Sicily.

She’s been speaking truth to power for years as a radio and TV host but after losing her mom and seeing Trump elected for a second time, she knew she had to make a change. And now that she’s living full-time in Italy, she’s seeing America more clearly than ever.

She’s still hosting her radio sho...