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Min Matson shares Walt Shjeflo’s story in the first person at Make America Dinner Again. (Maykel Loomans)

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At ‘Make America Dinner Again,’ Bridging Political and Racial Divides

A lot of us are told not to talk politics at the dinner table. Especially if your guests fall on different sides of the political spectrum. We reprise reporter Bianca Taylor’s story from 2017 about a movement called Make America Dinner Again that breaks this rule, in a big way. We also see how “MADA” has expanded over the last couple of years.

UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World

In educator and author Michele Borba’s new book, she cites 72 different studies of incoming college freshmen over the last 30 years that reveal this startling trend: American kids’ empathy has plummeted 40%. That’s faster than any other group of kids in the world. And narcissism is up 58%. We hear about Dr. Borba’s nine-step program to help parents cultivate empathy in children.

When You're a Journalist, and Your Grandpa Doesn’t Trust the Media

After the 2016 election, a lot of people were struggling to understand opinions different from their own. Some were wondering how to break out of their echo chamber and talk to people who come from really different backgrounds. So all year long, we ran a series called Start the Conversation. The idea was to bring together people who sit on different sides of a political or cultural divide to talk about the issues that are important to them. One of our favorites is a conversation between reporter Lacy Jane Roberts, and her grandfather, Tom Tyler, who lives in Bozeman, Montana. He joined Lacy from a radio studio there. Lacy, of course, works in journalism; her Grandpa doesn’t believe the media can be trusted.

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An Unusual Friendship That Began at the Grocery Store

Sometimes people from really different worlds come together by chance. That's what happened to Paul Barnett and his friend Armando Rivera. They met in the 1980s at a grocery store in the Central Valley. Armando is deaf, and he taught Paul how to sign. They've been friends ever since.

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