🪞 Black Mirror for your ears 😱 a pop star goes to battle 👩🏻🎤 an improper bow 🤴🏻 the internet troll is Mom 👩💻
🍭 👂 You're in for a treat! 🌈 🤸♀️
Bonjour!
Today is Monday, November 22. There are 197 days until I go on my next Disney cruise. In case you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter: this is better than “Black Mirror for your ears,” a pop star goes to war, and an epilogue episode of a show I loved here.
This week we’re getting to peek into the listening life of Devin Andrade, a digital content producer by day and the co-founder of Two Market Girls, a vegan lifestyle brand that includes a blog,YouTube channel, and podcast. Her work in digital content production spans many mediums, but more and more of her projects involve as much podcasting as possible. She also produces various independent audio pieces in her spare time, including two trailers that were selected in this year's My RØDE Cast competition. She's currently a finalist in iHeart Radio's Search For the Next Great Podcast contest, where she's pitching the pilot of a true crime show about food mysteries and histories.
The app I use: I'm a bit of a creature of habit, so I've been using Spotify for the majority of my listening the last few years. It helps that my brother hasn't kicked me off his premium plan, but I'm really itching to find something to organize my queues better. I'm too easily overwhelmed by a chaotic queue and trying to keep track of all the shows I have on the go for different listening moods. I am having fun using Goodpods these days! I really like having somewhere dedicated to sharing awesome episodes I've heard, so I'm starting to treat that feed like my greatest hits with at least one new episode a day. It'll be cool to scroll back a few months from now and be reminded of all those gems!
Listening time per week: At least 7 hours, but the best weeks are when I'm pushing 14-20. Since I produce a lot of different content, sometimes I have to give up listening time to things like video editing, but even then I still try to sprinkle it in throughout my days.
When I listen: I used to do the majority of my listening in the car while commuting, but ever since WFH started I've discovered my favourite combo is cooking with a great podcast on. Sometimes I'll spend a Sunday afternoon just baking and binging a series. For me, it's the perfect balance of having something to do, but still being able to give enough of my attention to the show that I can fully appreciate it. Those are sometimes food themed shows like Gastropod or Unforked, but lately it's been a lot of cooking along to Not Past It, Chameleon, Nice Try, or Fall Angel. There might be a theme here, but grocery shopping is also a favourite listening time for me. Dead Eyes keeps making me laugh in the produce section!
How I discover: My family likes to joke that I never read (because they never see me holding a book), but I read the heck out of podcast newsletters! Lauren is constantly filling my queue with great shows, as are Earbuds Podcast Collective, Podcast Review, Inside Podcasting, 1.5x Speed, Podyssey, Bello Collective and Hark. And I loooove coming across really well crafted tweets or threads about episodes/shows that people are excited about. I am forever grateful to anyone who takes the time to share a podcast they're loving.
Anything else? The podcasting community on Twitter is the best. I love connecting with people there and learning about everyone's experiences listening to and creating podcasts. If that sounds like the same kind of stuff you're into, I'd love to connect with you! Amongst the podcast tweets, I love me some Ted Lasso, food, and memes. Finally, I gotta sneak in a little self-promo for the pilot episode of my show Crimes Against Food. If you're a true crime junkie or a foodie, I think you'll really enjoy these investigations into food and I'm excited to produce more episodes! The pilot episode investigates the psychological manipulation of boxed cake mixes and the things Betty Crocker isn't telling you. Stay tuned to my Twitter (@7ShadesofDevin) for more info soon!
xoxo lp
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👋q & a & q & a & q & a👋
Reema Khrais
Reema Khrais is the host of This Is Uncomfortable. Follow her on Twitter here.
How did you get introduced to the podcasting space?
It kinda happened by chance! I’d been working as a radio reporter for Marketplace when they held an internal podcast pitch competition. At the time I was a general assignment reporter, covering everything from immigration policy to the retail industry, and I realized I kept gravitating towards human interest stories; I was more interested in talking about people’s emotions and motivations, than getting an expert on the line. So, I pitched a podcast where I could basically do that. At first, the podcast was called “Adulting” (very glad we didn’t go with that!) because I wanted to focus on younger people’s experiences with money/economy, but we quickly broadened the lens once we started piloting the podcast.
This Is Uncomfortable relies heavily on storytelling, why did you decide to go that route with it?
I love storytelling! But to be honest, at first, I wasn’t totally sure of that direction. During the piloting phase, Hayley Hershman, a producer at Marketplace, and I spent months testing out a few different formats. I tried talking to professor/expert types and we considered interviewing celebrities, but none of that felt quite right. I really wanted the show to feel relatable. And I didn’t want us to get lost in the world of personal finance just because the podcast is about money.
I was far more interested in the emotional side of money, how this thing we rarely talk about dictates our choices and relationships. So, we just decided to really focus on people’s personal stories as a way of exploring larger societal and structural issues -- and also just featuring intimate conversations about money we don’t typically hear!
What do you hope the show does for people?
I hope this show challenges people to think more deeply about their own relationship with money. Money can reflect our values and how we want to organize our life, but our relationship to it is also shaped by things beyond our control, like our upbringing and systemic disadvantages. So, by thinking of our personal relationship to it, I hope it also encourages people to think more critically of larger, systemic problems like wealth inequality and discrimination.
I also hope it just gets people talking more about their money! I think there’s a tendency to be polite and diplomatic when it comes to certain topics around finances, but that’s just holding us back and creating unrealistic expectations.
I loved “Why Don’t You Fix Your Teeth” but was it uncomfortable to record? How did you get Ryanne to open up?
Yes, there were definitely uncomfortable moments! For context, this episode featured one woman’s experiences growing up with “bad teeth” and how that impacted the financial trajectory of her life.
Our producer, Peter Balonon-Rosen, did really phenomenal work on this episode. He met Ryanne through Redditt and pre-interviewed her, before scheduling an interview for the podcast. Between me and Peter, we probably talked with her for at least five hours, trying to understand her experiences, which I think helped her gain our trust.
But, really, most of our interviews take that long. After a producer pre-interviews the person, we usually do one long interview that can last anywhere from two to four hours. Then, after we write the first draft of the script, we usually do a follow-up interview to fill in any gaps. We often joke on our team that a good interview can feel like a therapy session because the guest is often connecting dots in real time. It’s a patient process.
Anyway, I digress! So, with Ryanne, I think the most uncomfortable moment was when she decided to take off her dentures during the interview. None of us anticipated she was going to do that, and I’m not sure she did either. She feels too embarrassed to even do that in front of her husband. But she felt compelled and empowered in that moment to be totally real and vulnerable. So, on second thought, it was more of a beautiful moment, than an uncomfortable one.
How can storytelling help people with their relationship to money?
It can make people feel less alone. We frequently get emails from listeners telling us they felt seen listening to an episode, especially if we’re touching on a sensitive topic like financial infidelity or financial abuse, which rarely get talked about. Actually, more and more, our episodes feature listeners sharing stories they were inspired to talk about openly after listening to the podcast.
Is there a type of money story that you like to talk about the most?
I love money stories between couples. People don’t usually talk openly about their marriages, let alone about how they manage their finances, so I’m always SO intrigued when a couple willingly and eagerly shares their experiences with us. One of my favorite conversations was with Lindsay and Chris from season four -- they talked about how money impacts the balance of power in their relationship, and didn’t hold back.
🚨If u only have time for 1 thing🚨
When I heard that the new show Limited Capacity was being called ”Black Mirror for your ears,” I was skeptical. Like okay. SURE we’ll see about that. (What does that even mean?) But in fact I think that description undersells Limited Capacity a(n ONLY) 6-episode fiction show about “strange and twisted ways we interact with the internet.” I listened to the first two (1. When fitness influencer Gigi leaves for a trip, Zoe is recruited to be a full stand-in for Gigi’s life; 2. Edie and her corporate coworkers discover they have dangerous powers in their Zoom meetings) and bits from both of them have been seeping into my thoughts all day. They’re dark and the kind of funny that will hit you later in the day/week. This was simply the most fun I’ve had listening to a podcast in a very long time. Run, do not walk, to your local Limited Capacity store and pick up two episodes. (Believe it or not, they’re free.)
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💎BTW💎
🎙️When huge, earth-shattering stories happen in the news, what other stories become overshadowed by them? Hosted by Bijan Stephen (The Verge, The Believer,) Eclipsed is a new weekly narrative history podcast that shines light on lakes gone missing, pop stars going into battle, and other stories that have been hidden in the shadow of another event. On episode one, we are taken back to July 20, 1969, which you may know was the date of the moon landing, but you may not know it was also the date Australian pop singer Cathy Wayne was killed on stage while performing for troops in Vietnam.
🎙️After more than four years (and a Quibi show, and the entirety of The Nod,) Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings are bringing back For Colored Nerds. The first episode is a re-introduction to Brittany and Eric, where they’ve been, and why they’re back on FCN. The second episode is a chef’s kiss episode with Jay Ellis of Insecure. Listening, I was reminded of the huge hole in my heart that was made by the loss of The Nod. Brittany and Eric are back doing what they do best, really well. Jay talks about getting the role of Lawrence, what it was like when the world seemed to magnetize toward his story, and why he’s a depiction of a Black man in media we don’t always see. The world feels better with FCN back on the air.
🎙️Ree-arrr reeee-arrr reeee-arrrr (that is a siren noise.) The trailer for Caper, a non-violent true-crime podcast that whisks you around the globe to tell some of the most exciting heist stories, has landed. From Studio Ochenta (MIJAAA) it’s the kind of true-crime you will like if murder-y true-crime makes you feel icky, the kind of true-crime that puts story first. If you are familiar with Ochenta, you know it will be fantastic. Set a reminder for November 24, when the first episode drops. (Full disclosure: I’m working on this show.)
🎙️Misrepresented is setting the record straight on the people, places, and things in South Asian history that we’ve gotten wrong, completely reframing how we look at world history. The Durbar Incident unwinds a juicy scandal that took place in 1911, when the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda insulted King George V when he was being named King-Emperor of India by, in front of 100,000 spectators, not wearing enough jewelry and bowing improperly. It might seem tiny but was an act of dissent that signaled the beginning of the end of British rule in India. The British played down the incident, many Indian people didn’t even know it happened. Misrepresented is taking a full look back at that day in 1911, and what role it played in the future of Indian history.
🎙️I don’t think everyone loves listening to live events on a podcast, but Snap Judgment released a bouquet of stories from a live event that felt so warm and alive, I felt like I was on the edge of my seat in a big arena with a cheering crowd. One story about a boy and his grandfather scaring away the monsters under his bed, another about a family car ride that turned out to be an unexpected celebration, and a story about one girl and thousands of girl scout cookies that felt like a moving church sermon. The theme of the episode is gratitude and I am grateful for Snap Judgment.
🎙️Your new best friend Alison Rosen is the host, along with Tod Perry, of a new show from Upworthy called Upworthy Weekly, which is a roundup of weird news items, kind of like The Scroll Down. It’s the kind of stuff you want to talk to your friends about. And Alison and Tod feel like funny friends. Alison was the very first person I interviewed for this newsletter. I LOVE HER. And I’m so glad I get to hear even more of her every week.
🎙️On Feeling Seen, Jordan Crucchiola and co-hosts (love how they’re not really referred to as guests) talk about the movies that have characters that they identify with on an extra personal level. This is a great way in to talk about film in a new way, but the conversations were even more thoughtful than I would have imagined. This is not another movie podcast. This is Emily VanDerWerff talking about identifying with Midsommar’s Dani as a trans woman who who knows what it’s like to have a second puberty and be confronted with issues of trauma and identity, and to witness the casual cruelty men display in front of women when they don’t know women are listening. This conversation made me want to rewatch Midsommar with new eyes.
🎙️I’m Not a Monster has returned with an epilogue episode that stopped me in my tracks. The entire show idea was born when journalist and host Josh Baker was injured by an ISIS truck bomb in Mosul, Iraq. It was there he heard about the American family who was trapped in ISIS. That story is revived as Matthew returns to check in on the family he was staying with when the the Islamic State group struck their home. They’re not just physically rebuilding themselves, they are dealing with mental issues I had never quite considered. Matthew was unlucky but lucky. He got out. One kind of fighting has ended, while another, incomparably difficult to quell, lingers for the people in Iraq. Hearing Matthew tell the family he has thought of them every day since the attack was a moment I almost cannot believe I got to hear.
🎙️Every time I hear a story from Elna Baker, I know I’m in for something good. (She tells one of my favorite stories ever on RISK—you’ll die laughing.) Her story on This American Life, growing up Mormon and then joining the rambunctious comedy scene in New York, was funny and touching in ways I had not expected. Elna’s mother disapproved of her drinking alcohol for a comedy show but didn’t know how to tell her this in a way she would listen, so she created digital personas and made online comments from different New York City characters (one a lawyer!) saying how terrible it was that Elna was stooping so low to be in comedy. It gets to the heart of what I imagine what it must be like to be a mother who isn’t feeling heard but is desperate to connect with her child. And as for the drinking advice, it turns out Elna’s mom was right. Drinking is, as it turns out, bad. (Please listen to the whole thing.)
🎙️God Eric, stop reading my brain thoughts, you seem to be bringing on all of my favorite people for your show Follow Friday! This Friday ROCKED because he hosted Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson, the hosts of Endless Thread, another of my favorite shows. (IT’S TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE.) I loved hearing the tables turned on Amory and Ben, and they had some really thoughtful follow recommendations, plus they bring on a lot of knowledge about memes. (Thanks to their excellent season on them.) Follow Friday is a joy and listening to it I always feel treated when I listen.
🎙️City of Women has been releasing little tinies, snapshot moments from the fascinating lives of women. First of all, I love this experiment and I think more shows should do it. (City of Women was previously longer, more labor-intensive episodes.) But these minis are just as good as the full-features, in fact the tininess of them makes them feel like treasures that you can listen to over and over, truly cherish, spend time analyzing each frame. A recent story is about a woman on a bus, trying to have a private moment, and how human nature attacks other human beings in very seemingly normal spaces. All that in like 5 minutes, you guys. It’s poetry.
🎙️On The Trouble with Jon Stewart, Jon discussed gun violence and domestic abuse with his head writer Chelsea Devantez. This is personal to Chelsea, she opened up about her own experiences with it on Celebrity Book Club. (I loved that episode, by the way. Chelsea explains how she rebuilt herself, it’s a story that makes me feel empowered to do, like, anything.) This week I also listened to Chelsea’s episode with Brooklyn 99’s Melissa Fumero about Mary Tyler Moore’s memoir After All, which perfectly illustrates how complicated the lives of famous women can be. Mary appears at times strong, at times disappointing, at times funny, at times tragic, and you feel for her. This podcast is great because Chelsea takes these books seriously and proves that they need to be read with scrutiny. What’s lies between the lines on the pages? What was left unsaid? What are these women trying to tell us?
🎙️[Chelsea’s fiancé] Yassir Lester was the storyteller on Storytime with Seth Rogen, to tell about a joke he made that went too far, and ended up getting him fired from a job he liked. This show always has great stories, but it’s the sound that blows all other storytelling shows out of the water. Richard Parks III is the producer.
🎙️On Lovett or Leave It, Solomon Georgio announced he’ll be launching a podcast in the winter about small town gossip—not the big celebrity kind that makes the news, the kind that is happening to real people in their communities. I like this idea, celebrity gossip is gross and uninteresting. But I do love gossip.
🎙️Believe Her promised to “turn true crime on its head” with a story where the victim survives. I wasn’t sure what to make of this, but after finishing up the last episode, I can tell you that it delivered. It’s one story about a woman married to an abusive monster who surely would have killed her, and what happens when instead of becoming another statistic of women killed by their partners, the victim kills their partner first. After initially being sentenced to 19 years in prison, a new judge found her to be the legitimate victim of domestic abuse, and reduced the sentence. A victim, but still a murderer. The last episode asks us to examine the question I know I was asking the whole time—what should Nikki have done? But that’s not the right question to ask. The treatment of Nikki proves that in the court system, “the only good victim is a dead victim.” This story isn’t unique, and it has certainly flipped true-crime on its head. A big number of women in prison for killing their partners have similar stories. And how many of them deserve a second chance?
🎙️Nick Quah was on Culturally Relevant to talk to David Chen about the business of Hot Pod and why he decided to sell it to Vox Media. I don’t think you can assume anything about Nick or the way he thinks, and here we get a wide open look at where he has been mentally for the past 18 months or so, and what it’s like to transition from the owner of a company to a staff writer. You also get an interesting look at the newsletter business—how losing paid subscribers (especially during a global pandemic) isn’t just economically stressful, it can be a knock to your sense of self-worth.
🎙️A few podcast episodes I listened to this week were holding hands, and I think you should listen to them together. First Chelsey Weber-Smith’s excellent American Hysteria episode about the self-esteem movement, which is so hard to describe, but Chelsey outlines the history and the impact it had on 80s kids. They later followed up with an episode debrief with Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed of You Are Good, which gets you to think more specifically about how the self-esteem movement impacted your life. Finally, this all felt directly related to a conversation Sarah Marshall had with Emma Berquist about true-crime on You’re Wrong About. I know it seems like a stretch, but everything Alex, Sarah, and Chelsey are talking about feeds into each other. Our need for true-crime isn’t all that far off from our need for positive self-esteem. We’re experiencing a national self-soothing.
🎙️Arielle Nissenblatt spotlighted This Week in Culture in her newsletter and podcast.
🎙️I love you!