The first time I ever heard of Michael Brooks was when I heard directly from him. I’d been writing for Jacobin part-time for only a few months, and nobody was paying much attention to what I had to say. Except for, apparently, Michael. Would I come on his show to talk about an article I’d written?

I was anxious: it was the first time I’d been asked to publicly discuss my political writing. I considered trying to weasel out of it, reasoning that everything I had to say was already in the article itself. That was the point of the whole exercise, to include a limited number of words and ideas and by definition exclude all the rest. I thought I’d said my piece.

Michael thought otherwise. On air, he put me instantly at ease, and guided me steadily through a conversation about my article that touched on the most substantial and insoluble questions beneath the surface of what I’d written. Afterwards, he sent me a note of thanks and encouragement. And then he invited me back over and over until, without having noticed the shift, I wasn’t anxious anymore, and had begun to look forward to his invitations to talk about not only the content but the political implications of my writing.