Episode 51 - Big Ideas Series | B.W. Powe: In Medias Res

Podcast Episodes

Episode:

51

guest episode

January 20, 2026

Big Ideas Series | B.W. Powe: In Medias Res

Humanities in Education

Media Ecology & Education

Pedagogy

Philosophy

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In the debut of the Big Ideas sub-series, host Jason Buccheri sits down with renowned author, poet, and scholar B.W. Powe for a wide-ranging conversation on education, media ecology, and the cultivation of the “poetic being.”

B.W. Powe—a student of Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye—bridges the gap between deep academic tradition and the urgent challenges of our media-saturated present. A former high school dropout turned York University professor, Powe shares his unique journey and his philosophy of “awareness practice.” He challenges the traditional, goal-oriented classroom, proposing instead that teaching should be an “alchemy” of mutual mentorship and “degrees in decoding.”

In an era defined by what Powe calls “anti-information,” this episode offers a blueprint for recovering depth, slowness, and attention. From the prophetic visions of McLuhan to the visionary tradition of Canadian culture, this conversation provides essential insights for educators, media ecologists, and anyone seeking to remain “live and aware” in the electronic cosmos.

About The Guest

B.W. Powe

B.W. Powe is a poet, author, musician, and teacher, a Professor of Literature. He is the co-founder of Stream Elsewhere Press, a small all-Canadian independent publishing venture. He has published 16 books, including Mysteria, Ladders Made of Water, The Charge in the Global Membrane, Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye–Apocalypse and Alchemy, Where Seas and Fables Meet, Towards a Canada of Light, Mystic Trudeau, and These Shadows Remain. He has been teaching in the English and Humanities Departments at Toronto’s York University for many years. He is the recipient of three major awards: The Media Ecology-Marshall McLuhan Book of the Year Prize (2021), York University’s Research and Innovations’ Award (2021), and the Medium and the Light Award for Achievements in Writing and Teaching (2022). He teaches courses on Visionary writers and poets, and on Media Ecology and Literary Ecology. He divides his time between Canada and Spain. Powe was educated at York University and the University of Toronto; and he was writer-scholar in residence at the University of Catalunya in Barcelona over a period of three years. His upcoming books include A Book of Lost Titles and Inward River: James and Lucia Joyce.