Pulled Up Short is a podcast that aims to create moments of being “pulled up short”—experiences of surprise and curiosity when we encounter an idea, text, or experience that challenges our ways of thinking and deeply held assumptions about the world.
Each episode features a different insight, with each one asking us to entertain the possibility of a different worldview and re-examine some of our presuppositions.
Pulled Up Short Trailer
Stanton Wortham
Are you interested in piquing your curiosity and reimagining the world anew… in only 35 minutes? Tune into “Pulled Up Short" where the conversations explore the insight and its implications for how you might change your understanding of or stance toward some aspect of experience.
In the News
Have we lost touch with our most important sense?
January 2023
In our current era of the pandemic and of social distancing, we are confronted with the challenges of prolonged periods without contact. In this episode, Richard Kearney claims that the basic human need for touch has never been so prevalent as it is today.
Pulled Up Short, season 2
November 2021
In the second season of “Pulled Up Short,” podcast guests address deeply held or unquestioned positions—on fate, individuality, social class, and more—and the possibility that they may be incomplete or distorting.
What is the complexity in simplicity?
August 2022
Everyone has heard the mantra: keep it simple. Why make something more complicated than it needs to be? In this episode, expert psychologist Howard Gardner reflects on the complexities inherent in simplicity via the global uptake of his famous theory of multiple intelligences.
Do witches exist?
October 29, 2021
His definition of witchcraft—not defined by pointy hats or Halloween—might challenge you to consider not only whether witches exist, but whether you could be a witch as well.
What if we are not alone in the universe?
August 2022
The possibility of extraterrestrial or beyond human life is a common theme in popular culture. However, in this episode, Andrea Vicini asks us to seriously entertain what an encounter with the Other might help us learn about our own humanity.
Lynch School dean launches podcast
March 19, 2021
Should six-year-olds be allowed to vote? “Pulled Up Short” engages guests in unique conversations that encourage inquiry and openness to new ideas.