Podcast clubs
Anti-dread climate Qs, Shelley Duvall, good bread, kindest beer vendor, how to capitalism, swimming, buffets and noise.
Do you have other people in your life who you talk to about podcasts? Either because they listen in general or because you both listen to the same show? I have a few people in my life who I share this experience with and I love it! I’m also lucky to have Tink’s slack channel, where some fantastic (and hilarious) discussions have been happening as we all react to the same episode of a show. It’s such a special feeling to connect with someone over what you’re reading, watching, or listening to and has made me really appreciate the invention of book clubs. Podcast Brunch Club brings the book club experience to podcasts. And then there’s the trend of podcasts starting their own book clubs, which feels like a funny twist/exploration of the same concept! Wait, are re-watch podcasts also a result of desiring the same type of connection? Whether they be at a big scale or just amongst your group of friends, I hope even more of those things can happen. This is how my brain spirals as I think about our interactions with and consumption of podcasts!
This week’s podstack
The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast - Do my recyclables actually get recycled?
I listened to three episodes of this show in a row! With the short episodes that are super focused on specific questions, it makes it really easy to soak up information about all the climate chaos that might be causing you some dread. Do personal actions actually make a difference? What are we actually supposed to be doing with our recycling? Together Caleigh Wells and Candice Dickens-Russell are seeking out the experts and answers that make sense of the things that might be overwhelming you about the climate crisis. Not having the answers or not knowing which answers are accurate can just add to those feelings of overwhelm and doom, so having it all spelled out in this fun and easy to listen to format is so valuable!
Texas Twiggy - The Texas Twiggy
Sometimes it’s nice to just get lost in someone’s life story. Not an investigation, just a thoughtful retelling of the events that made someone who they are. And that’s what this series does for Shelley Duvall. Host and creator Emma Lehman is adamant about this being a tribute, not an investigation. As a fan of Shelley’s work, she wanted to create something that celebrated her life and work, without being an invasion of privacy. Balancing that line of privacy, she speaks with family, friends, and people who worked with Shelley to learn more about her. It’s highly researched, but flows so well with archival interviews and soft music, I found myself listening to four episodes in a row because it so effortlessly drew me in.
Lecker - What Is Good Bread (Good Bread #1)
What begins as a romantic ode to the best parts of bread quickly rises to a much more technical, but fascinating exploration of the key ingredient to good bread - the wheat. That grain can make or break the quality of a loaf, even if only the seasoned professionals can tell the difference. Good bread has always been made, but now there are some serious technological advances that give people very specific details about the quality and characteristics of the grain as it’s being processed. The conversations throughout the episode feel like a push towards and a pull away from those changes, trying to find the process that feels right to each baker. Bakers can adapt to changes in the wheat easier than machines, which might be a less wasteful and more artisan approach we still need. Also, did you realize that flour has different flavours?! Like host Lucy Dearlove also experiences, it’s wild to hear this ingredient talked about in such a fresher way than we might be used to. It’ll give you a really granular appreciation for bread production. And the next episode - What makes an Instagram-able loaf of bread? - continues that debate.
What’s It Like To Be… - A Stadium Beer Vendor
The career of a baseball stadium beer vendor is full of so much heart, emotion, and most importantly, connections. As host Dan Heath says in the episode, a job can be as good as you make it out to be, and Howard Hart made is job good by being kind and getting to know people. It’s one of the more transactional jobs someone can have, but Howard tells stories of people who he still exchanges letters with, who bought his wife tickets for the last game ever played in Memorial Stadium, and difficult conversations with people who he refused to over-serve. I found myself tearing up several times throughout the episode, because of how wholesome and grateful Howard was for a job that he loved, even though his family didn’t think it was good enough. It’s a simple conversation between host and guest, but it becomes so special through the unique stories you get to hear. (transcript)
Mina AF - Growing Your Own Wealth with Tori Dunlap
I haven’t stopped thinking about some of the things Tori Dunlap and Mina Starsiak Hawk discussed in this episode. Tori is the author and host of Financial Feminist and she’s dedicated her life’s work to educating people about how to spend, save, and grow their money. Did you know that many of our thoughts or perception of money are formed by the age of 7? That feels so wildly early! But how we see our parents interact with money really influences us. And that’s not even the part of the episode that stood out the most. It’s Tori’s thoughts on participating in capitalism. Like she points out, capitalism these days benefits very few people (something I also realized in this series from Today, Explained). It’s a frustrating system to be part of, but she’s trying to balance working with the system, in a way that doesn’t harmfully exploit others. By doing that, she has now attained enough wealth that she can help others learn how to do it too. It’s this idea of not being able to opt out of capitalism, but still making something positive happen as a result. That perspective felt refreshingly hopeful to me and I’m grateful to Mina’s insightful interview skills for pulling these gems from Tori’s bank of knowledge.
Physical Capital - Why Do We Swim?
This episode starts off with such poetic scripting and beautiful montage-style sound design that it automatically makes you feel invested in swimming as a sport and an experience. This perspective is given by host Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, the first Black woman to swim for Great Britain. You hear her story of becoming a swimmer, after getting past fears of it as a child, and what hooked her on it. Beyond that, it’s both an appreciation for and a critical analysis of this activity. Why do we do it? Who gets to do it at a professional level? What needs to change? The science of how water and swimming can positively impact our brain made me want to go hang out by the lake and listen to more.
Mobituaries - Things I Wish Would Die
The end of buffets? The end of standing ovations and excessive ‘wooing’? An analysis of exclamation use? Beyond the obvious things like violence, poverty, disease – what things do you wish would just die? Mo Rocca has at least three that he’s pretty passionate about. He’s joined by experts to explain how each one became so popular and that either reassures Mo or makes him further question humanity. His final thing he’d like to die is noise and he’s joined by a professor who studies what sensory experiences were like throughout history, which feels like a niche of history I’d love to learn more about. Their discussion around how noise has evolved was definitely my favourite part. Imagine a time when thunder was the loudest sound people had ever heard? Or exploring a new place and hearing sounds you’d never heard before, without much context to understand what they might be?
More sweet treats
When audio and illustration team up for a creative explorative collaboration.
I loved this nostalgic and detailed timeline of podcasting’s boom (starts around 14:30).
We need better support for transcripts.
What are cozy vegetables?
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!