I saw someone on TikTok ask (rather vulgarly) that we just have, for once, a week that is … precedented. And I mean, yes. Could we?

Well, not this week. The shooting. The convention. The running mate. The president with COVID. The ominous election.

And then Bob Newhart died, too.

So we decided we need — and that you might need, too — an hour to figure out where to find hope even in the face of all this.

GUESTS:

• Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his new album, from the Noah Baerman Trio, is Live at the Side Door

• Susan Clinard: The owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio in Hamden, Connecticut

• Azar Nafisi: The author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

• Benjamin Perry: Minister of outreach and media strategy at Middle Church and the author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter

• Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.