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Gene-edited foods, mental health stigmas, banned books, the red bathing suit, creepy fissures, saying y'all, Nellie Bly.
Every time I’m shopping online I’m reminded of the saints who walk among us - people who leave detailed reviews of products they’ve purchased. The best are the ones for clothing, especially if they include what size they bought and they talk about how the clothing fit them. Reading those reviews has definitely saved me from ordering the wrong size or the wrong item altogether! Do you think podcast reviews hold the same weight? Has a review on Apple Podcasts ever been the thing that convinces you to listen? Or maybe it’s the reviews sprinkled all over many places – like recommendation newsletters, a random tweet, the rare TikTok feature. When it comes to deciding whether to spend your time or money on something, it never hurts to check the reviews for reassurance.
This week’s podstack
A CRISPR Bite - The First Bite
Sometimes it takes a little extra motivation to make dinner at the end of the day and usually that motivation comes in the form of a podcast. Even better when it’s a food podcast! If you like the way Gastropod blends food and science to teach us more about what we’re eating, you’ll love A CRISPR Bite. Lauren Crossland-Marr is a food anthropologist (hello cool job!) on a mission to help us understand what’s going on with gene-edited food. If you’re wondering what the difference is between gene-editing and GMOs, she gives you an explanation in this first episode! Through her interviews with scientists and food experts, this episode gives you all the background context and history of how our food is being modified, but also critically examines this process. Is it good? Is it bad? That’s kinda up to us to decide as Lauren takes us to different farms and labs around the world to learn about how gene-editing is being applied to different foods. They manage to fit so much information into this episode in only 20 minutes, and I found myself immediately going to the next one to find out what’s been happening with tomatoes. It’s fascinating and feels almost like science fiction!
Braaains - You’re Not Alone: How Stigma Hurts Everyone
In honour of Mental Illness Awareness week Braaains is doing a special series about mental illness, the barriers that can block your journey to good mental health, and how stigmas, diagnoses, and disclosure are represented on film and television. In this episode with Amie Archibald-Varley, they discuss how harmful stigmas are, the actual difference between mental health and mental illness, and how you can support someone or allow others to support you. As is the case for many of their episodes, they’re great at analyzing the ways stigmas are reinforced or perpetuated by how mental health and mental illness are portrayed in movies and TV. By being continuously exposed to narratives that don’t show what acceptance and support can look like, it makes it harder to recognize in our reality. Heather and Sarah bring so much heart and honesty to this show, it’s impossible not to get sucked into the interviews and feel inspired by their dedication to helping end the stigmas. (transcript)
Borrowed - All for a Library Card
Brooklyn Public Library’s new series on banned books opens with a powerful episode that lets you hear from people fighting against book bans in their communities. From a teacher who lost her job for taking a stand, to an independent bookstore owner in the same area who worked to provide resources so that kids could still access books with representation that reflected them. This series gives you a look at how books are being banned, what people are doing to fight back, and what it means for the future of censorship in the US. The image of several teachers being moved to tears during a staff meeting where they learned of the new book policies at their school takes this issue from something you hear in the headlines to a scary reality. This is also banned books week, featuring lots of resources and actions you can take. I followed this one up with Obscured’s episode about intellectual freedom in prison and the lack of access that incarcerated people have. (transcript)
In Retrospect - Pamela Anderson & That Iconic Red Swimsuit
If you’ve been even slightly fascinated by the Taylor Swift effect lately, you should travel back in time and learn more about the Pamela Anderson effect. Her red bathing suit on Baywatch wasn’t just an iconic wardrobe choice, it was the catalyst for many plastic surgeon’s paychecks, it was mentioned in broadcast deals for international syndicators, and it actually holds nice memories for Pamela today. But the dark side to all of that, for Pamela specifically, is how it also lead people to see her as an object or a physical thing that people were owed. The lack of boundaries you’ll hear in this episode are so gross. I love a good analysis of pop culture and media, and that’s exactly what Susie and Jessica are serving up on this show. And Jessica has a lot of first hand experience speaking with Pamela, including baking Christmas cookies with her!
I appreciate that right from the start, Anna Bogutskaya is open about the fact that the intention of this show is to creep you out. Each episode features something written specially for the show and dares you to listen to something that might scare you, thrill you, or maybe just make you uneasy. This first episode takes place near Longyearbyen, Svalbard, where winter is long and dark, so that alone scares me. This character is somewhere near Longyearbyen, measuring fissures and keeping records. It’s a very isolating job and it seems like sometimes the character is losing a grasp on reality… like ending up outside with no boots or socks on. An uneasy feeling builds slowly and makes it all the more unsettling. Is this person not alone? Or completely lost from reality? Something is not right and something has happened that the character is not fully conscious of. The pacing and sound design of this episode will have you looking over your shoulder to check if the sounds are from the show or you’re not alone. Lauren shared this one in Tink’s Slack and it was a great start to spooky month.
The Broadside - How y'all conquered the world
In a compelling 20 minute episode, this gave me a greater understanding and appreciation of the study of language and how something seemingly simple as the word “y’all” spread from it’s Southern roots to being said all over the world. What works so well in this episode is the way you are met with analysis by a linguist who studied the evolution and spread of y’all, then you get to hear about its presence and cultural growth through hip hop music. It helps give us a plural for a group of people that is very useful and flows smoothly in our conversations, but there’s definitely more to it. This quote from Antonia, assistant professor of American Studies at the UNC-Chapel Hill, so perfectly highlights why learning more about language matters – “I think people should become as aware as they can about the origins of language that they're using, to understand that language has history. And to know that language is embedded in power relations, so that all kinds of Black slang is adopted by non-Black people, and that's a form of appropriation. And it could be a form of domination, that could be a form of emptying out the meaning that language has among Black communities, and treating it as though it doesn't have a history”. I can’t believe this is only the first episode of the show, I’m already so hooked on the structure and style of it. They’re highlighting stories from the heart of the American South and showing why they matter, regardless of where you live. (transcript)
A Race Around the World - Episode One: How Fast Can A Woman Go Around the World?
The story of Nellie Bly is one so impressive it’s hard to believe it actually took place in the 1800s. She was breaking down gender barriers and forging her own path before that was anywhere even remotely close to the norm. As a natural storyteller who always knew she wanted to work and be fiercely independent, Nellie made a name for herself as an investigative journalist. I’m getting so caught up in how much I love Nellie’s story that I’m neglecting to tell you about this podcast! The first episode introduces you to Nellie and her impressive career and personality through narration and dramatic re-enactments. But the series as whole is all about the race between Nellie and Elizabeth Bisland, to see who can go around the world in under 80 days. It’s wild that this actually happened and this is such a great way to learn about it. It has a playful production style, with scripting and structure that make it really fun to listen to.
More sweet treats
I tried this hack for cleaning airpods and it actually worked pretty well! Try at your own risk.
How many of these new podcasts have you already listened to?
I can’t stop thinking about how Google’s sneaky search and Amazon’s monopoly are impacting our online shopping experiences.
Next I’ll be making mini toasts.
Thank you for reading! If you listened to something this week that made your heart sing, your imagination wander, or your brain ponder, I’d love to hear about it!
Hello Devin! It is a rare Podstack where I don't go and put multiple of the episodes in my play list (the play list I will never ever finish).
I keep putting in food science/history episodes and not getting around to listening to them, but I did listen a Proof episode this week, The Case of the Snail in the Ginger Beer, which was wonderful, and talked about an incident that changed food manufacturing law. Excellent storytelling with some recreated scenes.