The Smoker Bench episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 10, 2025 · 31 MIN

The Smoker Bench

from THE CHAIR

Dr. Holly Swyers was my professor at Lake Forest College of Sociology & Anthropology (SOAN). Our relationship developed when I decided to double major in American Studies & SOAN and I would have to take a number of required classes taught by them. It was the beginning of so many conversations and discussions. This one is no different talking about identity and education.Their Bio:Holly Swyers earned her PhD in anthropology at the University of Chicago for her work on how American high school culture sets the terms and conditions by which young people understand their connection to the American nation-state. Her work was inspired by her experiences working for the Center for Collaborative Education in New York City in the 1990s. Her later work has continued to focus on U.S. culture. She researched the way community is formed and maintained in the U.S. for her book Wrigley Regulars: Finding Community in the Bleachers, published in 2010. In recent years, she has led "The Adulthood Project," a team-based ethnographic project investigating American adulthood. This project seeks to contextualize apparent trends in education, career building, and marriage and family life within U.S. history, tracing changes in the experience of race, class, and gender and contrasting them with the continuity of "productive citizenship" as the measure of adulthood. She also created the “Beyond Political Divides” project, an exploration of ideas from people across the U.S. political spectrum. Now a full professor at Lake Forest College in Illinois, Swyers is developing a project to explore the changing landscape of U.S. families.THE CHAIR (S1/Ep79) — The Smoker BenchI’m Your Host Dreme. I’m a Black woman, an educator turned tech entrepreneur but still an educator. Building a platform called THE CHAIR is a Black and Brown centered tech platform dedicated to supporting people on their hair journey. You can design hairboards, connect to hair stylists, and share hair care tips all in one space for a more joyous and streamlined experience.Send us Fan MailHost & Exec Producer:  Dreme Flynt, M.Ed, MBAEditor: Lila Woodbridgehttp://www.lilawoodbridge.com/Music Creators: Your Host Dreme & Seoul (@xSeoulMusicx) Learn More About THE CHAIR:Join THE CHAIR Community for FREE:http://thechair.kinsta.cloud/Join THE CHAIR Newsletter for FREE: https://growinghands.wpengine.com/newsletter/ Commercial Credits: Visionary: Your Host DremeAnimator: Ahmad Merhi https://amerhifilm.com/film Voice Actor: D. Ruff (@d_ruff3),  The Poethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAH2cqo64U My Book:From Nowhere & Everywhere: Captured Emotions of a Beautifully Broken Love StoryMy explorations through poetry, diary entries and photography as a Black woman, an educator in Guangzhou, China.Website -  https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/j...

Dr. Holly Swyers was my professor at Lake Forest College of Sociology & Anthropology (SOAN). Our relationship developed when I decided to double major in American Studies & SOAN and I would have to take a number of required classes taught by them. It was the beginning of so many conversations and discussions. This one is no different talking about identity and education. Their Bio: Holly Swyers earned her PhD in anthropology at the University of Chicago for her work on how American hi...

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The Smoker Bench

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This episode was published on August 10, 2025.

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Dr. Holly Swyers was my professor at Lake Forest College of Sociology & Anthropology (SOAN). Our relationship developed when I decided to double major in American Studies & SOAN and I would have to take a number of required classes taught by them....

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