In part 2 of our conversation with Bill Kopsky, Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Bill gets personal — starting with the moment a Yell County cattle rancher sized him up in a Walmart parking lot and told him flat out he didn't know anything about hog farms. That story, and what came from it, captures something central to how the Arkansas Public Policy Panel works: relationships, storytelling, and finding the human stakes beneath the political ones. Bill also unpacks a striking fact about Arkansas rental housing law — or rather, the lack of it — that may surprise you, and he explains how powerful special interests have managed to block what most Arkansans actually want. He offers a candid assessment of where Arkansas politics is headed, with both frustration and genuine optimism, and closes with a challenge to listeners: Arkansas doesn't suffer from too much ideology — it suffers from too little participation.

Join Glen and April as they talk with Bill Kopsky, Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, who says he planned to stay a couple of years but has spent 30 years with the organization. Bill traces the Panel's origins back to a remarkable group of mothers who launched it during the civil rights era, and he explains how it evolved into a statewide force for community organizing across economic, racial, and environmental justice issues. You'll hear why Bill thinks partisan polarization is largely a Capitol building phenomenon — and why the communities his organization works with tell a very different story. He also dives into a high-stakes battle playing out right now over Arkansans' century-old right to put measures on the ballot directly — a fight that's ended up in federal court, and that 80% of voters across party lines say they care about. If you've ever wondered whether ordinary citizens can actually move the needle on problems that have plagued Arkansas for generations, Bill has some answers — and some homework for you.

In this third & final part of our On The Other Hand podcast conversation with Elizabeth Henry-McKeever, Priest at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal church in Little Rock, we move from the pews into the public square — and into some of the thorniest questions Christians face today. What is the church's role in promoting the common good, and why does Elizabeth believe Christianity is actually most effective when it's operating on the margins rather than the center of power? April presses on the uncomfortable tension between genuine service and evangelism, and Elizabeth doesn't dodge it. She talks about the diversity within Christianity that often gets drowned out, why moderate and progressive Christians need to find their voices, and how to have real conversations with people whose views feel miles away from your own — including what underlying fears often drive those views. Along the way, she shares her thoughts on the separation of church and state and where she still finds hope for common ground. It's a candid conversation that doesn't offer easy answers, but it does offer something rarer: a thoughtful Christian leader willing to wrestle with the questions out loud. Listen in to hear where she lands.

In this second part of our On The Other Hand podcast conversation with Elizabeth Henry-McKeever, Priest at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal church in Little Rock, we venture from the beehive to the pulpit — and find more in common between the two than you might expect. Elizabeth draws surprising parallels between her work as a beekeeper and the life of a Christian community: how a hive cares for its most vulnerable, how new colonies form, and what bees might teach us about belonging. From there, she opens up about something far trickier than tending bees — tending a congregation through an era of political polarization. How does a priest preach honestly without turning the pulpit into a partisan platform? Elizabeth shares her approach, including why she starts with scripture rather than opinion, how she navigates disagreement within her church, and the difficult moments when respectful parting becomes the most loving option. She also recounts a memorable congregational debate over women distributing communion that reveals how faith communities can hold deep disagreement without severing relationship. Along the way, April reflects on diversity as a source of beauty — setting the stage for Part 3, where we'll turn to the role of Christianity in government and the harder question of what "common good" really means when we're working alongside people who see the world very differently. Tune in to hear what the bees know that the rest of us are still figuring out.

In this first part of a three-part conversation with the Reverend Elizabeth Henry-McKeever, Priest at St. Michael’s Episcopal church in Little Rock, Glen and April explore with Elizabeth the winding road that led her from high school healing prayers to ordination—with a detour through non-profit communications and fundraising along the way. Elizabeth reflects on what it means to create genuinely welcoming spaces for people of all faith backgrounds, introduces us to St. Michael's countercultural founding story (1968, and proud of it), and makes a compelling case that doubt isn't the enemy of faith—it may be the very thing that keeps faith honest. A thoughtful conversation for anyone who has ever wrestled with big questions and wondered whether that wrestling was a problem or a gift.

The headline version of Arkansas politics is division. The reality, according to AR Senators Clarke Tucker and Jonathan Dismang, is considerably more cooperative — it just happens behind the scenes. In Part 2, both senators describe how they navigate governors of either party (honesty about disagreements, focus on genuine overlap), why the appearance of dysfunction owes more to safe seats and hyper-partisan primaries than to actual legislator behavior, and how they set multi-year goals shaped by constituent feedback rather than election cycles. Clarke's approach: be upfront about where you'll disagree, then focus energy on the substantial overlap that remains. Jonathan underscored that the real work happens before anything goes public; quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiation is where durable agreements are built. Their closing message is optimistic and concrete: Arkansas is trending in a positive direction, civic engagement matters, and local journalism is not optional for a healthy democracy. Getting involved — in your community, across political lines — is where hope actually lives.

In Part 2 or our conversation with Dr. Kevin Heifner, local physician, writer and community activist, Kevin opens up about what genuine bridge-building actually looks like from the inside. He's enthusiastic about Braver Angels and its contributions, but he's equally blunt about what doesn't work: "performative peacemaking" — the kind of conflict avoidance that mistakes niceness for progress. Real dialogue, Kevin argues, requires sincerity, integrity, and the courage to engage difficult differences rather than paper over them. Then comes a moment of refreshing self-disclosure. When Kevin reached out to friends to brainstorm how to connect across political and social divides, he realized — mid-call — he had been operating under an unconscious bias. Hear from Kevin about this moment of honest self-reckoning, a process he says is essential before any meaningful conversation can happen with others. The episode also touches on religious diversity, the surprising common ground found between thinkers as different as Robbie George and Cornel West, and what it might take to build a more inclusive Arkansas — though Kevin is candid that he doesn't have all the answers. A conversation marked by humility, hard questions, and genuine hope.