I will summarize our current understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes, and emphasize the underlying relationship between these two populations. I will pose several of the most fundamental shortcomings of our current models and then examine how they may be addressed by what we have learned from observations in the local universe of the effects that massive stars and supermassive black holes have on their surroundings. I will do my best to give a "physicist-friendly" talk that minimizes jargon and stresses the basic underlying physical processes.