🦀 Endless crab, gardening tweets, Venus, Christmas Vacation 🎄 Cam and KarenLee Poter 🍆
💌Podcast The Newsletter is your weekly love letter to podcasts and the people who make them.💌
Bonjour!
This week we’re getting to peek into the podcast app and listening life of Justine Paradis, producer/reporter at Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio.
App you use: Overcast
Listening time per week: I’m trying to be pretty careful with my attention these days, maybe to a fault. I’m a podcast producer, so I spend a lot of my time listening to interviews or drafts, or searching for pieces that could work on Outside/In, the show I work on. Sometimes I don’t feel like I have a ton of energy for listening in my free time. So my podcast listening really varies to anywhere from zero hours to maybe 8-10 hours a week.
When you listen: I listen when I’m doing something else: gardening, driving, crafting, doing chores, running. I need to be doing something to be a good listener. Like many have observed, now that we don’t have commutes and are basically stuck at home, my listening time is dramatically shortened.
How you discover: I’m kind of a binger: I get stuck on a certain sound or idea or maker and will listen to everything that person has made, and then I look for what inspires them.This year, I’ve found that in my free time, I really crave media that makes me laugh, so You’re Wrong About’s Diana series (also quite heavy at times, obviously) and Reply All. I’m also into Dharmapunx NYC, which explores ideas of psychology and then applies them to a Buddhist meditation practice.
When I’m choosing what to listen to, I think it’s a balancing act for me to let myself off the hook and just follow what’s making me laugh, but also to push myself to try to find room for work that might require my full attention and emotional engagement, but ultimately are deeply nourishing and inspiring. Sophie Townsend’s Goodbye to All This and Sharon Mashihi’s Appearances were wonderful. I also loved Constellation Prize by Bianca Giaever. I keep thinking about something Giaever said in the show, that maybe we don’t really talk about God on public radio or in podcasting. Again, I work on Outside/In, a show about science and the natural world, and I think a lot about how to bring other idea worlds that we’re also in relationship with into that space, like spirituality, love and relationships, conflict, identity, and race and equity. I recently produced a piece on how trees represent identity and conflict in Israel/Palestine, for instance. Through reporting that piece, I stumbled across “Jerusalem Calling” from Kerning Cultures, a great listen about a 1930’s radio station in Israel/Palestine, told with lots of lovely archival tape and personal history.
xoxo lp
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Cam and KarenLee Poter
Cam and KarenLee Poter are the mother/son duo behind the podcast Sex Talk With My Mom. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Kindly introduce yourselves, and tell us about Sex Talk With My Mom.
KLP: Hi! I’m KarenLee Poter, a podcaster, YouTuber, Tik Toker, and author encouraging people to be confident and express themselves.
Cam: I’m Cam Poter, a 31-yr-old comedian, founder of the sex-positive podcast network, Pleasure Podcasts, and co-host of the podcast Sex Talk With My Mom.
My “sexually-liberated” mom has never had a problem sharing about sex and relationships – two subjects I’ve never fully grasped. Realizing our differences, my mom and I decided to team up to create Sex Talk With My Mom. For the past five years, we’ve had a weekly sex talk that often devolves into a discussion of all the things most people would not want to talk about with their parents. Our aim is to help listeners open up these uncomfortable conversations and offer a laugh along the way.
Tell us about Pleasure Podcasts.
Cam: Pleasure Podcasts is my family of incredible sex podcasters! We’re ten shows with the common goal of opening the conversation around sex and enhancing listeners’ pleasure. Our hosts range from sex educators and therapists to adult filmmakers and storytellers, so we have something for everyone! Also, if your readers are excited about working at the intersection of sex and podcasting, we’re expanding Pleasure Podcasts’ Ad Sales team! Anyone can apply through this job listing!
What's your favorite thing about making the show?
KLP:Laughing uncontrollably - it happens a lot. Also, having a positive impact on our listeners’ lives is definitely one of my favs
Cam: Oof – I’ll give you the top three: 1) Meeting a smart, sweet, and thoughtful community of Sneaky Freaks from around the world who want to go on this journey with us every week; 2) Exploring uncomfortable topics with the insightful and hilarious guests we bring on the show; 3) LOL-ing all the time with my mama!
What are your listeners like?
KLP: We call our listeners “Sneaky Freaks.” They can be early 20s to late 60s. Some identify with me and some Cam. There’s something for everyone.
Cam: The fricken best! They’re quirky, smart, super thoughtful Sneaky Freaks!
What would your late husband / dad think about the show? Was he as funny as you two are?
KLP: I think he would be proud, but he’d probably never come on since he was an introvert. He WAS WAY FUNNIER THAN BOTH OF US!
Cam: He was much funnier than us, but more private. If he were around today, he’d probably be very supportive and want no involvement.
🚨If u only have time for 1 thing🚨
Ear Hustle ran a really tough episode, The Trail. It’s the story of a violent rape, and a conversation with the attacker that opens up a frustrating conversation about accountability and what forgiveness means—to the forgiver, to the forgive, to the sister of the forgiver, to a girl listening to a podcast episode about the forgiver. The response of the victim is shocking and makes the story even more of a mind fuck—she says the rape gave her more faith in human nature. A certain percentage of me wishes I didn’t listen to this, but a bigger percentage of me is so glad I did. This story starts out hard and does not get easier. Proceed with caution.
💎BTW💎
🎙️If you listened to the Ear Hustle podcast episode I semi-recommended above, you may need this: This is Love’s Cheers is about a 72-year-old old man whose tweets about gardening go viral on a daily basis. There is nothing more lovely. I’m not sure if it’s helpful or not to know that while terrible crimes are occurring around the glob, Gerald Stratford gardens on. It is comforting but also confusing. (Man that Ear Hustle episode fucked me up.)
🎙️Man, it’s a shame that According to Need is coming out after most people have written their Best Podcasts of 2020 roundups, because I think it should be on all the lists. I’m enjoying every second—each episode could be a podcast itself, and all together, it’s telling the story of huge things we’re getting wrong about homelessness. There’s a moment in the episode The Hotline that stopped me (a 211 operator gets a call from a homeless woman seeking help—she realizes it’s her cousin) but something said in the episode The List completely blew my mind. It starts with the whole idea of “according to need.” If you’re homeless, you can register to be put on a list. You fill out a profile that basically lets the government know how screwed you are—have you only been living in a car for two months? Or have you been on the streets for years, and you have a mental illness or AIDS? Those with more problems get the help first. Because of white privilege, white homeless people are usually way more fucked up than POC. It’s so much harder to be homeless if you’re white, so if you find yourself on the streets it probably means you have been through many more hardships. Being Black and homeless is more normal—very healthy, adjusted Black people are homeless. So they don’t get the immediate help. I didn’t explain this very well, so I made a Hark clip where you can hear the host of the show Katie Mingle explain it well. (It’s only about two minutes long.) The Hark app will be available in early 2021, but if you’d like to try it out now, let me know and I’ll send you a code.
🎙️Brought To You By…has ended, and ran a final episode where people called in to talk about brands that had an important impact on their lives. I cannot believe how sad I am this show is ending. If you would have told me that Business Insider was going to start a podcast about brands that tugged at my heart strings and taught me new things and made me laugh aloud, I would’t have believed you. These beautifully done episodes always found completely strange, often touching moments in brand stories, bringing out the humanity of the brands, reminding us that they were built by flawed, funny, hopeful people. I have been listening to this show since it began in 2018 and will miss the host Charlie Herman. (Re)visit some of my favorite episodes—Pan Am in Vitnam, All That Jazzercize, The Marlboro Women, Donald and Ivana's Affair (with Pizza Hut), Sears: There Was More For Your Life, and Kentucky Fried Christmas.
🎙️It wasn’t too long ago that it seemed there was only room for one female rapper on the scene, at a time. (We give Black women about 3% of the space and recognition they deserve, so I guess it’s not surprising!!!!) Why were people OBSESSED with pitting Nicki vs Cardi? Switched on Pop has an episode about the changing landscape of hip hop, and some Black female rappers that are finally getting some attention. Producer Bridget Armstrong shares tracks from Megan Thee Stallion, Tierra Whack, Rico Nasty, Flo Milli, and CHIKA.
🎙️The Secret Room’s The Last Kiss was a ride that you kept thinking was over, but it wasn’t. Until it was. Penny grew up with an atrocious childhood (that included conversion therapy) but found solace, and love, in a friend named Rachel. The two were driven apart, Rachel’s parents didn’t approve of her being gay. Rachel saves Penny, but Penny is unable to save Rachel back. Ben is the most gentle, comforting interviewer who doesn’t hold back his emotions of the story. I was left with a tinge of sadness for quite awhile after I listened, but it was an incredible episode. This is just the kind of episode that would make the casual listener want to hear more, or join The Secret Room’s Patreon, The Secret Room Unlocked, which offers bonus content for each story. I don’t think you can listen to Penny’s story and not want to hear more.
🎙️Web Crawlers has an amusing episode about that one time Red Lobster lost over three million dollars during an “Endless Crab” promotion. This is one of those stories that on its surface seems so silly but what lies beneath is actually pretty interesting. The debacle had serious consequences for Red Lobster, the CEO, and the company’s stock, leaving everyone to wonder…yeah this is a terrible idea. But how did it happen and what exactly is it about humans that makes them unable to handle an endless crab buffet?
🎙️Passport took us to Disney World this week, with the host of one of my favorite Disney podcasts, Carlye Wisel of Very Amusing. Neil and Andrés ask Carlye about Disney World myths and what it’s like to work at the park. The three of them do a great job painting Disney World as a magical, all-encompassing world full of secrets to unlock, that you definitely want to stamp in your passport. (But not right now. Yes, I saw this news and this and I am unhappy and am not taking any questions about it.)
🎙️Wild Thing’s Laura Krantz talked to quantum astro-chemist Clara “Queen of Phosphine” Sousa-Silva, one of the scientists behind the recent study that found Phosphine on Venus. Clara has been obsessively studying Phosphine for years—so much, in fact, she thought it was too niche and her knowledge would never come in handy. But then scientists found it on Venus. Where there’s Phosphine, there’s something that MADE the phosphine. That could be a life form. Clara gets INTO IT and makes Phosphine sounds awful. It’s known for killing stuff and the few people who have smelled it say it smells like “garlicky, fishy death.”
🎙️Flash Forward has a really fun episode that pairs nicely with the Wild Thing episode above. It also explores the new news from Venus, with fiction segments and by looking more into the future. (Our new friend Clara QOP Sousa-Silva makes an appearance.) The science stuff can get confusing but Rose puts it best: “if you find Phosphine on a planet, it may be a bio-signature coming from someone’s farts.” Ethics and colonization are addressed in this episode, too. One of the biggest problems we have when thinking about aliens on other planets is assuming they are exactly like us—that they communicate like us, or would be hostile to us if we met them. WE ARE THE HOSTILE ONES. There is a chance they are watching us right, “tsk-tsking” us for going to war and not giving a shit about each other in general. They might be scared of us.
🎙️Why Are Dads? had a glorious episode on Christmas Vacation that studies the fatherhood of Clark Griswold. They totally nail it, putting Clark’s story into context of the 1990s world the movie came out in. In the movie, Clark is a kid to an adult-like son, a son and a son-in-law, a husband, and a child, all rolled into one, and his do-or-die approach to creating what he perceives as a perfect Christmas reveals a lot about toxic masculinity and flawed heroes. Christmas Vacation is a Father’s Day movie, too.
🎙️America Hysteria’s Chelsey Weber-Smith was on Public Intellectual to discuss conspiracy theories and moral panic. If you liked Chelsey’s Your Wrong About episode, Killer Clowns, you’ll love it. Chelsey’s show is amazing but there is something electric about hearing them talk to other sharp people, and Chelsey and Jessa are a match made in heaven.
🎙️On American Hysteria, Chelsey interviewed Snap Judgment’s Glynn Washington about his experience growing up in the Worldwide Church of God and hosing Heaven’s Gate, and how cults are able to bring in well-meaning people. Because of their own experience as a seeker, Chelsey is able to pull some great stuff out of Glynn.
🎙️On Servant of Pod, Nick Quah (Vulture, Hot Pod,) Sarah Larson (staff writer at The New Yorker who writes about podcasts) and Rebecca Lavoie (co-host of Crime Writers On) gave their picks for the best podcasts of 2020. (Both Nick and Sarah raved about Floodlines) I was psyched to hear Nick recommend one of my favorite shows of the year, something I wrote about for The Bello Collective—Jamie Loftus’ My Year in Mensa.
🎙️Morgan Jerkins, author of This Will Be My Undoing and (and Tink client!) was on Terrible, Thanks for Asking to talk about how she traced her past for her new book Wandering in Strange Lands. The book tells Morgan’s story and the story of The Great Migration, the very thing that made her ancestry so complicated. It’s difficult to trace your family, to truly understand who you are, when your family has been displaced. But Morgan did the work to figure it out and you have to listen to everything she came back with. (Better yet, read the book.)
🎙️Amanda Knox and Christopher Robinson tackled a difficult topic on Labyrinths. They talk to two parents whose son was convicted of attempted child rape as a part of a Net Nanny sting, but Chris’ parents say he didn’t do anything and that the way we target child sex offenders is out of control. What happens when someone gets wrapped up in the justice system? What happens to their family? Nobody knows better than Amanda Knox. This is a conversation people are afraid to have, as evident from this episode of This American Life. There’s another powerful episode about it on Ear Hustle. On today’s episode of Lolita Podcast, Jamie Loftus goes there, with total hesitation. And Amanda and Christopher seem to know the dangerous territory they are wading in. As the episode fades at the very end, you hear Amanda say, “I hope nobody threatens to kill us, now.'‘ Amanda and Christopher dropped another episode, a few days earlier, in response to the fact that Rudy Guede, the man who probably killed Amanda’s roommate in Italy, was freed from jail.
🎙️The Big Ones covers big moral dilemmas comedically, and the episode with Vanessa Bayer asks: Would You Help Your Husband Cover Up The Accidental Murder of His First Wife? The idea is taken from one of my favorite books (and now a movie) Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. This prompt always allows reveals fun things about the guests, how they think, what their daily lives are like, and what they care about. Hosts Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci are hysterical. They use improv and back and forth to weigh the moral dilemma of the unnamed woman in Rebecca and to point out how actually ridiculous the story’s plot is.
🎙️The Stacks talked to Ijeoma Oluo about her new book, White Male Mediocrity, and what it felt like to have her book So You Want To Talk About Race on the New York Times Bestseller list for 24 weeks in a row in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. (It didn’t feel totally great!) And also: who is she writing for? How does she meet the needs of the people she knows who will be reading her books?
🎙️The first season of Tenfold More Wicked (“chilling campfire stories of true crime”) is called “All That is Wicked,” and focuses on Edward Rulloff, a brilliant academic who murdered four members of his family in 1845. His brilliance saved him—notable people like Mark Twain and Horace Greeley argued that he was too intelligent and valuable to be executed for his crime. All That Is Wicked takes its time telling this story with rich narrative storytelling and investigative reporting. It really is unlike any other true-crime show—it’s visual, it’s informative, and the sound really takes you to this imaginative place in your mind, even though it’s based on truth.
🎙️I love you!