About PolisPandit – Your Critical Thinking Home

I’m John Polonis, and PolisPandit is where I hope to inspire more critical thinking.

I am a lawyer with experience from interning in Congress to working at a commodities trading firm and at one of the largest financial institutions in the world. I am also a husband and father who loves to document my experiences, not only to preserve memories, but to inspire others. I tell these stories through writing and filmmaking, and this site serves as my central hub.

PolisPandit combines the Greek ‘polis’ (city-state) with the Indian ‘pandit’ (teacher) – reflecting my aim to bridge different perspectives through storytelling and critical thinking. While I don’t claim to be a guru, I strive to share experiences and insights that connect us all.

We are in the midst of a critical thinking crisis where misinformation, disinformation, and soundbites have prevailed in a social media fueled ecosystem. We must be more intentional about developing critical thinking strategies, and my goal is to promote them here at PolisPandit. Some of those include:

• Political analysis that scrutinizes issues regardless of ideology;
• Legal analysis that applies facts to law in objective and critical ways;
• Financial analysis that promotes financial literacy so readers can think critically about the economy that impacts their daily lives;
• Cultural takes that attempt to bridge our differences and bring some levity to the world, whether through food, travel, or art (warning: I will still be critical!)

Join our weekly newsletter to get exclusive stories, thoughtful analysis, and the application of critical thinking to everyday life. You can also find more great essays at our sister publication on Medium, The Political Prism. See you in the stories!