Choose To Be Curious

I’ve been wanting to do a show about curiosity and community engagement in urban planning for a long time. Amber Wiley's  Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital is a fascinating, densely-researched look at how Black Washingtonians drove urban planning and design policy for public education. The book is, as one reviewer put it, “a stirring lesson in how the built environment records the hopes and frustrations of its society.” What role does -- or might -- curiosity play in all of that? Amber Wiley: https://www.ambernwiley.com Theme music by Sean Balick; "Home, Home At Last" by Warmbody, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Lady Borton has spent many years living and working in Việt Nam, providing relief service during the war and collecting stories and history ever since-- trying to make sense of the era, the place, the people -- before the stories are lost to time or erasure. She wrote me, “Because I don't know and don't assume I know, I ask odd questions." A curiosity practice, to be sure! Lady is pictured with her long-time friend and colleague Le Hoai Phuong. Theme music by Sean Balick; “Lakeside Path" by Duck Lake, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Do you have a sense of purpose? What does that mean to you? And what place does curiosity have in finding and living one's purpose? There's a lot of research going on around purpose. Purpose Commons is moving that research into practice -- and focusing it on youth. Purpose Commons: https://www.purposecommons.org Theme music by Sean Balick; “FasterFasterBrighter” by Ray Catcher, via Blue Dot Sessions.

As the world's largest online information resource, Wikipedia knows a thing or two about how our curiosity shows up. I wondered: as our information landscape changes, how does Wikipedia adjust? And our curiosity? Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Chief Advancement Officer at Wikimedia Foundation, joined me to reflect on what's worked and the importance of making time for curiosity. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Theme music by Sean Balick; “The Envelope” by Aeronaut, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Art Cullen is the editor and co-owner with his brother John of the Storm Lake Times Pilot, a weekly newspaper in that Northwest Iowa county seat – a town of about 12,000. He has a lot to say to and about the people and place he clearly loves, and mourns.  A place he knows so well, and yet still wonders at and about. Storm Lake Times Pilot: https://www.stormlake.com Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: https://icecubepress.com/2025/05/03/we-crapped-in-our-nest/ Theme music by Sean Balick; “Weathervane" by CloudCover, via Blue Dot Sessions.

I don't know about you, but sometimes the curiosity just isn't there. So I "fake it until I make it"-- I act like like I'm curious. I behave in curious ways, in hopes the feelings will follow. Wouldn't it be nice if there were an app for that? Enter The Humane Space. Lauren Henkin created the lifestyle company and first-of-its-kind app to help people find greater meaning in life through curiosity, wonder, and awe. The Humane Space: https://www.thehumane.space Photo of Lauren Henkin by Leslie Swan Photography LLC. Theme music by Sean Balick; “Glass Beads” by The Balloonist , via Blue Dot Sessions.

Chronolog is a way to generate time-lapse images of Earth, powered by your camera -- and your curiosity.Used by organizations worldwide to monitor the environment and inspire our stewardship of our natural resources, this nifty citizen science effort capitalizes on our casual interest. Pretty clever. Chronolog: https://www.chronolog.io Theme music by Sean Balick; “A Catalog of Seasons” from Migration, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Teacher Micaela Pond felt called in yet another direction following the first election of Donald Trump. She soon emerged as a formidable community organizer. I asked her to reflect on curiosity in the work of fighting authoritarianism through community action. WOFA: https://wofava.org Theme music by Sean Balick; “Spunk Lit” by Love & Weasel, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Yvonne Marchese is the lovely and effervescent host of Late Bloomer Living a weekly podcast devoted to redefining what's possible in midlife and beyond. She's a self-described age agitator, play instigator and believer in do-overs on a journey of discovery around that aforementioned play -- which brought her, as it can, to curiosity. Late Bloomer Living: https://www.latebloomerliving.com Theme music by Sean Balick; “Are We Loose Yet” by BodyTonic via Blue Dot Sessions.

Ep.#314: "Curiosity is the thing that drives you to figure out who you really are," with jimmy Hatch by Lynn Borton

Kids are learning machines! But how do they do it? Cognitive scientist Elizabeth Bonawitz is helping us understand how children learn to learn and what role curiosity has to play in those processes. From dinner placemats to trading stickers for science facts, she finds creative ways to get at the heart of this most human of mechanisms. Computational Cognitive Development Lab: https://ccdlab.hsites.harvard.edu Theme music by Sean Balick. “Cradle Rock" by Nursery, via Blue Dot Sessions.

How does an emergency department doctor manage the chaotic swirl of unknowns that show up at their door every day? What are they to make of the needs that emerge from the complex socioeconomic soup in which we all swim? Is curiosity a tool of choice? And are there lessons the rest of us might learn from an ER doc’s hard-won experience?  Milwaukee ER doctor Chris Ford replies with a resounding "Yes!" Check out Dr. Chris Ford's podcast, Pulse Check Wisconsin: https://pulsecheckwi.com Theme music by Sean Balick. ”Cases to Rest” by Bodytonic, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Malka Ranjana Kopell and Palma Joy Strand are co-founders of Civity, a word they created to describe a culture of deliberately engaging in relationships of respect and empathy with others who are different. They offer tools and trainings to help us all do just that. No surprise, curiosity plays an important part, but not just any curiosity... Civity: https://www.civity.org Theme music by Sean Balick; "Town Market" by Onesuch Village, via Blue Dot Sessions.

...there was just too much goodness here, so I made the hard choice to move the analogies and lovely final reflections to an added clip. Theme music by Sean Balick; "Town Market" by Onesuch Village, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Sommelier and wine consultant Alicia Towns Franken embodies a tantalizing combination: wine --as another in my periodic series on curiosity and our senses--and an actual boots-on-the-ground effort to encourage and enable curiosity where barriers have long existed. Wine Unify: https://www.wineunify.org Theme music by Sean Balick; “Down by the Bank” by Barstool, via Blue Dot Sessions. Photo Credit: Cary Wilton

Curiosity gets a lot of credit for success. For me, that raises an interesting inverse question: what about curiosity and failure? Who better to invite into that conversation than Samuel West, creator of Museum of Failure, a collection of failed products and services from around the world. Museum of Failure: https://museumoffailure.com Theme music by Sean Balick. “The Rampart” by Castle Danger, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Research tells us that by leaning into externally-focused curiosity – “what do I notice that the world needs?” – and internally-focused curiosity – “How might I be able to contribute?” – we can find meaning and a sense of purpose in our lives. We can find what lights us up. Estee Levine did just that. She got curious about where her passions might fill some of the gaps in her community and she set out to do something with that information. She created CheapNFreeDC, an Instagram account that features destinations and activities that are (you guessed it!) cheap and free in and around Washington, DC. It's a celebration of people, creativity and community. Follow Estee Levine on Instagram @ CheapNFreeDC. Photo's featured artist is Reggie “Art” Gillumo, on Instagram @ artgillumo Theme music by Sean Balick. "UpUpUp and Over” by The Balloonist, via Blue Dot Sessions. Estee is shown in front of a mural by Reggie "Art" Gillumo: https://www.artgillumo.com

I’m taking a little break in December. Call it some curiosity R&R — curiosity respite & re-airs. I’ll get a production break, and my radio audiences will continue to enjoy uninterrupted listening, thanks to Pacifica Radio Network, with four great C2BC Classic re-airs. We'll be back with a great lineup starting January 1st. Of course, I don’t want you to miss out, so here’s a peek at what my radio audiences will be getting in case you'd like to listen along. Maybe you’ve heard these episodes before, maybe not. They're a wonderful sample of curiosity in action. I hope you enjoy them. And for those of you nice enough to subscribe and actually read this post, some vaguely-related pictures to repay your loyalty. :) Thanks, as always to Sean Balick for our theme music. "The Little Powder" and "Night Light" by Nursery, via Blue Dot Sessions.

"Slow down to the speed of wonder." ~ John Muir Laws This is an episode about nature journaling, but Jack would be the first to say: it isn't about the journal, it's about the journey. He's developed interdisciplinary programs that combine art with science and train us to observe the world with rigor and joy -- strengthening our capacity to be intentionally curious. John Muir Laws: https://johnmuirlaws.com Theme music by Sean Balick; other music by Sketchbook, via Blue Dot Sessions. Visit the episode webpage here: https://lynnborton.com/2025/11/27/curiosity-nature-journaling-with-john-muir-laws/

I couldn't fit everything in this week, so here is what Jack Laws and I drew from the Big Jar of Wannabe Analogies. #analogy Episode webpage: https://lynnborton.com/2025/11/27/curiosity-nature-journaling-with-john-muir-laws/