About

Progressivism is supposed to be about winning the debate, but lately has switched to stigmatizing and censoring it. I know, because I’ve been part of the problem: as reporter and hype man for prestigious institutions, I helped push discourse into dogma.

It’s not what I’d envisioned as an idealistic Brown grad moving to New York to become a public interest journalist under my hero Bill Moyers. But the market for substance was in steep decline, and I ended up an all-purpose flack across Columbia sugarcoating dubious scholarship and weaving luxury narrative on demand.

Is there a way to turn that amoral experience back to the common good, and encourage the conversations I used to squelch? That’s what The Ivy Exile is about, rekindling debate and rescuing the movement from itself.

Inevitably I’ll be branded a conservative, but I still consider myself an old-school liberal like my ’60s activist social worker parents. At the end of the day, what could be more progressive than critiquing the establishment?

While this outlet is inherently political, I’m really more interested in the social and cultural contexts fragmenting our public consciousness—how otherwise impressive elites could so readily become such pious reactionaries. As such the content shall vary, spanning reflections, reminiscences, reviews, interviews, etc. For the foreseeable it’ll be free to read, but please subscribe!

I’ve spent most of my career invisibly behind the scenes, so this is all very much a work in progress. Hoping for a meaningful exchange among those of us seeking what is true rather than what’s convenient.

About The Exile:

Until recently a longtime writer and editor for Columbia University, a Brown policy grad previously with Bill Moyers on PBS. Uncovering my secret identity doesn’t take long, will leave to online sleuths.

Follow on Twitter at @TheIvyExile or write at ivyexile (at) protonmail (dot) com