The Pod Piper: April 10th, 2021
THE LIST
I’d love to hear a Still Processing episode on the cultural significance of any word, but after starting with this word I’m not sure anything could top it. Jenna and Wesley are so thoughtful, always, but this one gets pretty personal in a way I am sure I don’t fully understand. I’d also love to hear Wesley in conversation with Mike Pesca about the reasons behind Pesca’s (seemingly open-ended?) dismissal, though with each passing day of silence it feel like some sort of NDA may prevent such a thing from ever happening.
For years I confused Peter Sarsgaard for Alan Tudyk. I’m not sure exactly why, but I remember it having something to do with Tudyk’s iconic turn as Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball. None of that has anything to do with this episode, though, which paints Sarsgaard as a contemplative polymath who vacillates seamlessly between acting in movies and experiencing all the joy that life has to offer. Maybe it really hit home because I heard this in the midst of working an altered schedule to care for my child during the day while moonlighting as myself doing my day job.
Does a founder of a dating app have to have an insanely compelling romance in order to be successful? Maybe not, but the interweaving of trials and triumphs in love and business make for a captivating hour of podcasting with a man who’s experienced it first hand.
Like most people, I’ve heard this smash hit from the Canadian darkpop artist all over - mostly in 20-30 second snippets. As it turns out, the song’s synthy nostalgia belies some incredibly despairing lyrics. Nevertheless, I gained a new appreciation for The Weeknd while growing even more baffled about his popularity. Something with this many layers doesn’t usually resonate with the masses, right? Or maybe it just speaks to the power of an infectious musical theme to overcome anything in its path.
Many things have been lost to the pandemic, and I think we’re on the cusp of realizing that some loss is for the best. I caught this not long after hearing the Should This Exist? episode about alternate standardized testing. We could have a different world, we really could. I shudder to think about the retrospectives in the distant future heralding the opportunity for change we squandered in and around 2020.
A podcast about socialism from NPR?! (Insert obvious comment from your favorite conservative relative) Like so many things, this concept is hardly what anyone assumes. I kept thinking of the Mondragon Corporation for weeks after listening to this - not as the pinnacle of business that all should strive to attain, but as a fascinatingly large manifestation of an alternatively way of doing things. We. Could. Have. A. Different. World.
HONORABLE MENTION
Slate's Working - "How Does Neil Gaiman Work?"
Factually with Adam Conover- "Why "Critical Thinking" Can't Beat Misinformation"
SOMETHINGS NEW
For A Better World
From Fair World Project (a “non-profit that advocates for fair trade policies that supports small-scale farmers, artisans and workers by promoting organic and fair trade practices and transparent third-party certification”), this show has a gimmick I endorse: viewing the world of food production by devoting an episode to each ingredient in a product. This first season tackles the KitKat bar and the various hurdles/moral compromises we implicitly make each time we bite into those delectable airy chocolate wafers. From the origins of the product and the communities that make these confections, up through dissecting the corporate chess match to mislead consumers with lip service, it’s a holistic take on how that chocolate arrives in your hand. This approach is obviously advocating for the side of the worker, and it would be nice to have someone from the corporate overload PR office at least attempt to defend themselves. But as far as branded content goes, this seems pretty hard to root against.
How to Citizen with Baratunde
I first came into contact with Baratunde Thurston as host of the now-defunct podcast “Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race.” It was the place to go for thoughtful discussions on matters of race in America before Still Processing hit my ears, and I credit the success to Thurston’s warm but frank nature as a host. Five years later, he is heading up How to Citizen with Baratunde - a podcast recorded in front of a live Zoom audience complete with special guests and audience questions to round out each show. Topics span a broad swath of justice issues, centering on community organizers and grass roots efforts to bring about a more equitable society. While guests are often specialists, they also tend to be regular folks who saw a need in their world and leveraged a certain skill or life experience to act for change in their community. And that’s the point - to highlight how anyone can turn citizen into a verb. Excellent listening for contemplation, but also for action as each episode comes with some (non-required) homework assignments.
I'm Not A Monster
It’s not often that the BBC makes a podcast featuring a person from the city where I work, but I guess midwestern moms don’t often find themselves in Syria living in the Islamic state. From the start it felt a little too sensationalized, though guess that’s somewhat unavoidable given the facts of the story. There are certainly moments when reporter Josh Baker finds a balance of empathy and hard-hitting journalism, though those are greatly overshadowed by the overreliance on shocking audio excerpts. Yes, hearing a child spew ISIS propaganda does serve to heighten the stakes of the story. The plight of children who are swept up in the wake of decisions they cannot control is truly heartbreaking. But replaying the same clips repeatedly really negated their power, and distracted from the question at the heart of the series. It remains compelling: did an average mom from Elkhart, Indiana really not know she and her husband were joining the caliphate? Sadly, we are given neither a tidy conclusion nor a satisfactorily salient level of perplexity by the time the series ends.
From Fair World Project (a “non-profit that advocates for fair trade policies that supports small-scale farmers, artisans and workers by promoting organic and fair trade practices and transparent third-party certification”), this show has a gimmick I endorse: viewing the world of food production by devoting an episode to each ingredient in a product. This first season tackles the KitKat bar and the various hurdles/moral compromises we implicitly make each time we bite into those delectable airy chocolate wafers. From the origins of the product and the communities that make these confections, up through dissecting the corporate chess match to mislead consumers with lip service, it’s a holistic take on how that chocolate arrives in your hand. This approach is obviously advocating for the side of the worker, and it would be nice to have someone from the corporate overload PR office at least attempt to defend themselves. But as far as branded content goes, this seems pretty hard to root against.
How to Citizen with Baratunde
I first came into contact with Baratunde Thurston as host of the now-defunct podcast “Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race.” It was the place to go for thoughtful discussions on matters of race in America before Still Processing hit my ears, and I credit the success to Thurston’s warm but frank nature as a host. Five years later, he is heading up How to Citizen with Baratunde - a podcast recorded in front of a live Zoom audience complete with special guests and audience questions to round out each show. Topics span a broad swath of justice issues, centering on community organizers and grass roots efforts to bring about a more equitable society. While guests are often specialists, they also tend to be regular folks who saw a need in their world and leveraged a certain skill or life experience to act for change in their community. And that’s the point - to highlight how anyone can turn citizen into a verb. Excellent listening for contemplation, but also for action as each episode comes with some (non-required) homework assignments.
I'm Not A Monster
It’s not often that the BBC makes a podcast featuring a person from the city where I work, but I guess midwestern moms don’t often find themselves in Syria living in the Islamic state. From the start it felt a little too sensationalized, though guess that’s somewhat unavoidable given the facts of the story. There are certainly moments when reporter Josh Baker finds a balance of empathy and hard-hitting journalism, though those are greatly overshadowed by the overreliance on shocking audio excerpts. Yes, hearing a child spew ISIS propaganda does serve to heighten the stakes of the story. The plight of children who are swept up in the wake of decisions they cannot control is truly heartbreaking. But replaying the same clips repeatedly really negated their power, and distracted from the question at the heart of the series. It remains compelling: did an average mom from Elkhart, Indiana really not know she and her husband were joining the caliphate? Sadly, we are given neither a tidy conclusion nor a satisfactorily salient level of perplexity by the time the series ends.
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