Episode 2069: KEEN ON America featuring Bobi Conn
Bobi Conn’s life is an American story. Growing up in a desolate Kentucky holler, her father a drug addicted outlaw who abused her mother, Conn has reinvented herself as a successful writer and mother. But for all Conn’s unflinching honesty about her brutal upbringing, she remains proudly America - both in her love of the Kentucky land and her unwillingness to demonize rural America. Her American spirit, inherited from generations of poor folk scratching out a living on the land, is a defiant optimism and offers hope that America can once again reinvent itself in the 21st century.
Bobi Conn was born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, where she developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. After struggling as a single mother, she worked multiple part-time jobs at once to support her son and to attend graduate school, where she earned a master’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 2492: Daniel Bessner on how Trump is a natural outgrowth of FDR
Episode 2491: Richard Kreitner 0n 6 Jews, 7 Opinions and the American Civil War
Episode 2490: Stephen Witt explains the rise of NVIDIA and its relentless CEO Jensen Huang
Episode 2489: Gianna Toboni on whether Death Row Prisoners have the Right to Die With Dignity
Episode 2488: Diane Coyle on Measuring the Good Life
Episode 2487: Keach Hagey on Sam Altman's Superpower
Episode 2486: Bethanne Patrick on how our Facebook generation has gotten the Gatsby we deserve
Episode 2485: Paul Rice on why Tariffs are dumb
Episode 2484: David Masciotra on how every day has become April Fools Day in Trumpian America
Episode 2483: Peter Wehner on the ethical darkness that has fallen upon America
Episode 2482: Is AI really about to change the publishing industry?
Episode 2481: Jonathan Rauch on The Resistance to Trump 2.0
Episode 2480: Dr Andy Lazris on how Big Pharma controls the American healthcare system