Thinking in survival mode. Why Scholē IRL?

On our first (pre-episode) of the season, we (Sarah and Ira) share some thoughts about why we started our podcast Scholē IRL, and what is at stake in trying to make a space for thinking together in and out of collapsing university ecosystems.

But let’s face it, we’re thinking in survival mode.

Sarah talks about her journey in and out of academia, to self-identifying as a para-academic, while Ira talks about how he is situated within the university, but how hard it is to keep the lights on in a burning building. Together, we talk about what it means to make space, both internally and externally, for scholē, for thinking for the sake of thinking, and how this led us to make a podcast where we ask para-academic organizations how they are making new possibilities for people to continue to learn and think together.

Huge thank you to Devon Church for making music available from his album All That’s Solid Melts Into Air. Check out more of his music here.