🙊 Sad monkeys 🪞 “Is that what I look like?” 🔥 steamy Disney 🎤 Eurovision 🌎 garbage therapy 🗑️ hot goss 👄
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Bonjour.
Today is Monday, May 22. (My cruise was a blast.) In case this newsletter is too long, a twist on an already extremely twisty show here, shipping gets wild here, look at how many problems words cause here.
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Bianca Giaever
Bianca Giaever is a filmmaker and the host of The Believer’s Constellation Prize. She had a film in college called “the Scared is scared,” and now her life’s work is to make a second thing that is equally beloved before she dies. She’s been freelancing in film and radio, and during the pandemic she was full time for The New. York Times Audio team. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow The Believer on Twitter here.
Describe the new season of Constellation Prize in ten words or less.
Are you there God? It’s me, Bianca.
Now you can have more than 10 words. Tell us about the letters.
It’s a story told through letters, exchanged between me and the writer / activist / environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams. We made a pact to go walking at night for two weeks, and write each other a letter (which we read in audio) after every night walk. I was awestruck that she was writing to me every day, and terrified that I would mess up this great opportunity.
A major theme in our correspondence was the cyclical nature of belief and doubt. Terry is, in my eyes, a very optimistic person. Faith comes naturally to her. I, on the other hand, am quite skeptical. I want to believe, but I’m unable to shake my skepticism, which is the source of my unhappiness. So there’s a tension in our correspondence — I want to be like Terry, and yet I’m constantly falling short. I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way I can stay true to my skeptical side, but also believe in something that will help me get through difficult times, and bring meaning to my life.
How is it different from the first season?
In the first season each episode stood on its own, and featured a different character. This season has an entirely different structure. The first three episodes are a really long preamble to the fourth episode, which is an explosion of characters.
How did you start working with Terry Tempest Williams?
I recount the story of how we started working together in Episode 1. It began with a semi-canned email from a publicist, and blossomed into an art project that consumed years of my life.
How are you and Terry like, how are you different? What do you both bring to the table?
Terry has a lot of faith, and has created her own system of faith outside of traditional religion. So she has a lot to teach me and other people. Meanwhile, I am willing to spend two years slavishly turning a bunch of random letters into a coherent narrative structure. In short, she is effortlessly brilliant and efficient, and I’m willing to grovel for years until I have a listenable podcast.
What did making this show teach you about yourself?
I’m really slow at making podcast episodes, and when I finally finish I’m scared to release them.
Fill in the blank: You will like Constellation Prize if you like ______.
You will like Constellation Prize if you like On Being, traffic cones, The Ethics of Ambiguity, reading other people’s diaries, squirting whipped cream directly into your mouth, sordid love affairs, and being seen walking with the LRB under your arm.
Can you tease something about the new season? What’s something we can look forward to?
Mandy Patinkin has a brief cameo. He plays Tolstoy.
How have you changed as a podcaster and person since season one?
Like everyone, I lived through a PANDEMIC. This podcast is set in the pandemic times, and it’s one small contribution toward processing what on earth we just went through, and are still going through.
Did any podcasts serve as inspiration?
Appearances by Sharon Mashihi, 365 Stories I Want to Tell You Before We Both Die by Caveh Zahedi, and Rumblestrip by Erica Heilman are constant sources of inspiration. And always Joe Frank.
Are there any rules you think all podcasts should adhere to?
My friend Erica (Heilman) told me that when she worked at PBS New Hour their motto was “Dare to be boring.” I think this is a great rule. Podcasts are too afraid to be boring and this prevents them from taking risks. And even when they’re trying not to be boring, they end up boring anyway. So why not embrace it?
Who is this season of Constellation Prize for?
It’s for anyone who is interested in faith, and appreciates poetry. But disgruntled atheists are probably my target audience.
What’s a podcast you love that everyone already loves? What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about?
The answer to both of these would be Rumblestrip. I’ve been a longtime die hard fan. I’m not sure if it’s been “discovered” by now or not.
Hot take: If you don’t have time to wash your clothes, airing them out on a chair kinda works.
Self-care tip: I have a ton of cavities, I love Hot Cheetos and Domino’s, and old bananas frequently smush all over my audio gear so I am not the best person to ask.
🚨If u only have time for 1 thing🚨
Blind Plea, Lemonada’s new true crime story, starts with such a strong sense of place I think it’d be impossible not to be sucked in. The setting is Shelby County, Alabama, where in the late 1970s, a woman shot and killed her abusive husband. Forty years later her own grandson would be shot by his girlfriend, Deven Grey, while he was trying to kill her. She was fighting for her life and is the subject of Blind Plea. Much like Lemonada’s magnificent Believe Her, this is a story about a domestic abuse victim who didn’t die. Unlike the subject Believe Her Nikki Addimando, Deven doesn’t have much to fight for defense-wise. At twenty-five years old, she chose to go with a Blind Plea deal, something almost unheard of that requires the defendant to plead guilty without knowing the sentence, all to avoid her life being in the hands of a majority white jury trial in the South. The first few episodes are a whirlwind—Deven’s story, how it was twisted by her boyfriend’s other girlfriend and what happens when we don’t deal with generations of trauma. These first episodes is one of the best first episodes of anything I’ve ever heard, and a bonus episode released over the weekend shares audio of Deven right after she murdered her boyfriend, explaining in detail exactly what happened, and of Deven waiving her Miranda rights. It’s gutting.
oh hey
🎙️Good Tape is a new print magazine about podcasting for audio professionals, creators, and their fans. Founded by Dane Cardiel, former founding member of Simplecast and current VP of Creator Partnerships at Gumball, Good Tape will feature work by the country’s foremost journalists and artists, answering the industry’s most pressing questions while also asking more. Artistically, Good Tape will follow a long tradition of revolutionary media — from the underground presses of the 60s to the punk zines of the 80s — and will carry this legacy forward in celebration of a new era of podcasting. To pre-order the first issue of Good Tape, please visit goodtape.com.
✨Sign up for my June 5 Podcast Marketing Radio Bootcamp class.
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✨Arielle Nissenblatt spotlighted Is My Child A Monster? A Parenting Therapy Podcast in her newsletter and podcast.
💎BTW💎
🎙️Remember that Shania Twain song “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” all about how men are vapid for caring what they look like? It always seemed so ridiculous to me because lots of women (like Shania Twain) do care what they look like. Mark Pagan’s beloved podcast Other Men Need Help is back for a new season “That’s What I Look Like?” which is giving voice to that feeling that men have about how they look. Mark is taking six men, six photographs, to tell stories about masculinity and physical intimacy amongst some men. First, meet Danny, a man once blessed with beautiful hair who is devastated to see that it was thinning in a photo of himself. We get into Danny’s darkest thoughts and life-altering shame about his baldness and you have to imagine the rich life he could have led if he were not worried about that. But I’m a woman, I get it. I’m a woman. I’m allowed to get it. I love the idea of using photos to give men the chance to talk about feelings and can’t wait to hear about the next photo. Listen here.
🎙️The fact that Butt Out, Baby does not have a production schedule is killing me, but on the plus side, the feeling of seeing it in my feed is so good I wish I could bottle it up and sell it. I think if more people were listening, Ellie Gordon-Moershel would be able to put out episodes on a more regular basis. So this is actually on us. Anyway, I’m enjoying it taking its time. I have so much time to think about and relisten to each episode. The Dirty Debrief on Scene 4 (Johnny blowing into Kellerman’s…like the wind) reveals things in the script that are nearly invisible to people just watching along, and breaks down the trope of the bad boy. Ellie also gets super transparent about marketing an indie podcast. So here’s where I’ll say…if you’re vibing with this show, reach out to Ellie and set up a promo swap, or consider writing about her or dropping an episode into your feed! Listen here.
🎙️Hi-Phi Nation is a show that makes me argue with myself. It uses storytelling, narrative journalism, and interviews to explain big philosophical ideas from everyday life, law, science, popular culture, and strange corners of human experiences. The episode Living in a Zoopolis is about a future society that philosophers envision where wild, domesticated, and denizen animals have full political and legal rights and what that would look like. It goes back to medieval Europe to see how animals were put on trial for breaking the law (and how they obviously had a great sense of humor) to juxtapose our feelings about animals now. Opponents of animal rights and I agree that animals have agency. Does that mean they have moral responsibility and that they could be found guilty or innocent in court? This is an episode about rascally rats but also about power. When was the last time an animal held power over you? What power do we hold over them? Am I a cat owner or a cat caretaker? (Monty would tell you I’m a cat personal assistant. When he pooped on my husband’s socks last night, who do you think cleaned it up?) Listen here.
🎙️Those of you who are still following Crypto Island may have noticed that PJ Vogt recently announced a new show and teased the first of it last week in the Crypto Island feed. The new thing is called Search Engine and promises to reveal answers to things you can’t just look up on the internet. The teaser episode is about whether or not monkeys are sad at the zoo. Animals obviously have emotions, and every time I find a new article that proves it I think “I already know this, duh obviously” but then end up in a puddle of tears picturing a whale swimming back to high five the fishermen who have freed her from a net. (This is the example that made me cry in this episode of Search Engine.) It’s frustrating that the answer to “are monkeys in the zoo sad?” is “sometimes,” but it also makes a lot of sense. They also, like us, have sophisticated senses of humor, a wealth of emotions that vary between individuals, and can be ruthless, methodical serial killers. (Please see above re: Hi-Phi Nation.) The one thing they don’t seem to do is worry too much about things before they happen. I need Lexapro for that. That famous PJ chuckle is back with a great concept and a philosophical extension of his previous work. Listen here.
🎙️There Are No Girls on the Internet is back with a new season called Present Future, which explores how women are mapping out a better, brighter tech future today. This week Bridget dropped a tight interview with Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation specialist, formerly of Biden's now defunct Disinformation Governance Board. Nina resigned from the board after she became the target of a pretty big and intense right wing smear campaign where Fox News, Bill Maher and others falsely claimed she was the head of Biden's "ministry of truth." It’s relevant because last week, Nina announced she is suing Fox News for defamation, which connects to larger Fox News lawsuits. This story is a punch in the stomach. A woman wants to be a public servant to help make the internet safer, but is driven away by a reputational digital smear that had her entire family under attack (something that generally does not happen to men,) the very cause she is fighting. Now the board she was on is gone and she is, too. This whole thing went down when she was 8.5 months pregnant, which was jarring information to hear after I listened to this episode of Unexplainable about what happens to our brains when we are pregnant or caring for kids. That episode is about new dads crying over dog food commercials. Imagine Nina, a theater-loving geek who used song to spread awareness of disinformation—something she was slandered for, in fear of her life, her family’s life (she had to ask her brother to have hid kids block their social media accounts) while she was giving birth and nursing a brand new baby. Listen to Bridget’s incredible interview here.
🎙️Fangasm is the comedy podcast that brings us the most ridiculous fan-fiction stories on the internet—TV, book, and movie characters “as they find themselves outside of their storylines and sometimes inside of each other.” Previous seasons have covered Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, but the Disney one is getting my attention. Ursula goes on a date with Michael Scott from The Office (in the midst of the writer’s strike, this one was unfortunately written by Chat GPT and it’s pretty good) and we find Jafar in bed with Jasmine. More Disney villain fan-fiction will be rolling out in the next three weeks. Listen here.
🎙️Helen Zaltzman dedicated two episodes of The Allusionist to Eurovision, the international song competition organized annually by the European Broadcasting Union that took place last week. Historian Dean Vuletic compares it to the Champions league in football, which similarly unites and divides Europe, just not in the same way. The songs sung are all in different languages, which has posed some problems. Which words are allowed? Do certain languages have unfair advantages? Why do all the English-speaking songs keep wining? Which countries are allowed to sing in English? There’s a rule that all songs must contain lyrics, but as Helen points out, maybe that rule should be changed. To quote her, “Look at all the trouble words cause!” Start here.
🎙️Each year for Shavuot, Unorthodox ("the universe's leading Jewish Podcast") publishes an annual Conversion Episode, sharing stories of people finding their way to Judaism. This year, they talk to showrunner Courtney Hazlett, who wrote an article for Tablet called “Don’t Call Me a Convert,” and talked about people who struggle to answer the question “Am I Jewish enough?” and how for many Jews, conversion is an ongoing process of making choices every day. And, drumroll please, they announced that Joshua Malina (of The West Wing and Scandal, as well as a host of the podcasts The West Wing Weekly and Chutzpod) will be a new co-host. Over the years, Unorthodox has become required listening across diverse Jewish communities worldwide, and has also become assigned listening in rabbi-led conversion classes. I’m not Jewish, and I think it’s a blast, plus I always learn something. Arielle was on a recent episode, if you want a place to start. Listen here.
🎙️Longtime readers will remember that my mom and I had a heated and public argument on Judge John Hodgman about my mom’s insistence that I flush her ashes down the toilet in Walt Disney World when she dies. I could not forward this episode of What Was That Like? fast enough. Tricia tells the story of her Disney-loving Dad, and what she and her family did with ashes after he passed, and it’s a much better idea that my mom’s plan. Distributing ashes in Walt Disney World is funny (and illegal) but this story ended up being so sweet, and highlighted why scattering ashes in the park is meaningful even for an atheist like Tricia, who found meaning in remembering her dad though the process. She did it not just for her dead dad, but for her own closure, and for her mom and sister. She also offers tangible tips for how to make it happen. (She turned a water bottle into an urn and sprinkled ashes in multiple places with her hands.) I was taking notes. 👀 Listen here.
🎙️The Ear Hustle team spent an entire week collecting their garbage—every single piece!—for a week, then came together to dig through all of it to discover what it can teach us about ourselves. Each collection of garbage bags was a treasure trove of revelations. Nearly everyone had some sort of breakthrough about themselves looking back at what they consumed. I guess you could call it garbage therapy. This isn’t a topic that needs to be completely reserved to Ear Hustle, other podcasters could join the challenge. (In fact, they are asking you to, and have provided a Trash Challenge User Guide.) It was a great way to get to know about Earlonne’s diet, Nigel’s nightly popsicle (and her organization! Her trash collection was beautifully curated!) and the difference between what we consume inside and outside of prison. Inside, Reggie notices how many snack bags he’s plowed through, that he’s been eating junk for no reason. Just to eat. He remembers being a kid and going to his refrigerator at home and seeing nothing there. Adult Reggie is finally able to kid Reggie, and this is the moment that has been sticking in my mind, “it’s okay. You have food now. And it will always be there. You don’t have to hoard it or eat just to eat.” Listen here.
🎙️Happy 100 episodes to 90 Minutes Or Less Film Fest. To celebrate they’re covering Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) with special guest BBC Radio's top film critic / YouTube star Ali Plumb. I love how Sam Clements is curating a fictional film festival for people just like me, whose favorite kind of movie is one that’s 90 minutes or less. Listen here.
🎙️If you’re tired of waiting for Normal Gossip episodes, it’s Jonathan Van Ness to the rescue! Jonathan devoted an episode of Getting Curious to gossip with Dr. Meltem Yucel, who gets into the nitty gritty about the different kinds and how it serves us. I think in some way, it also explains why Normal Gossip is so crucial. I guess what I’m saying is, I’d love an extremely meta/niche episode of Getting Curious called “Why Did Normal Gossip blow up?” about the hole it has filled in our hearts and what about the format makes it so listenable, featuring Jonathan, Kelsey McKinney, Alex Sujong Laughlin, and Dr. Yucel. Listen to Getting Curious here.
🎙️I know you think you’re Courtney Kocak’s Podcast Bestie, but I am! (😜) Courtney had me on to talk about podcast marketing, and it was extra fun because Courtney is one of the best podcast marketers I know. My biggest podcast marketing tip is: watch what Courtney is doing! We got into all of my favorite things, including a unique way we could get Podcast Bestie featured in Apple Podcasts’ New & Noteworthy. (Apple, are you listening?) I also give a great wedding tip that will make you hundreds of dollars. Call me Sweet Mama Swap. Listen here.
🎙️When I met Angie Griffith at Podcast Movement in Vegas I was starstruck. I always listened to her show and share my favorite episodes with the Tink team. I was surprised to learn she even knew who I was, and we linked up so that I could help her relaunch her show…new name Podfluencer Society. We also linked up to do edibles and get so drunk (I share a very funny story about that in the interview.) It’s a long one but Angie is so smart, I was taking notes from her. Love her vibes, this was a great fit for me. Listen here.
🎙️Arielle Nissenblatt is running an internship with four high school students, teaching them everything she can about what goes into making a podcast. Lucky guys. Check out their show Slapstick Sports, where Ben, Noah, Aidan, and Joey cover a full range of topics in the world of athletics—the latest game and referee controversies, or questionable trades with your favorite teams. Listen here.
🎙️The cast of Jury Duty, including the show's subject Ronald Gladden, joined Tom Scharpling on an episode of The Best Show. Listen here.
🎙️I love you!
📦 From the Archives 📦
[From January 20, 2020] I was so excited to see that You Must Remember This is releasing a special series Make Me Over, a special 8-episode series that invites 8 writers to contribute stories in the You Must Remember This style, all dedicated to exploring the intersection of 20th century Hollywood and the beauty industry. The first episode, from Megan Koester, is about Molly O'Day and Hollywood's first weight loss surgery. It's a heartbreaking story about a talented actress who was pretty much destroyed by the pressure to be thin and the extreme things she did to keep her job as an actor. Karina Longworth's fingerprints are (fortunately) all over this episode, it feels very You Must Remember This. It's well-done and tackles a part of history I was completely unaware of. Listen here.
Today we’re getting a look at the listening life of New York based advisor, curator, and overall artist advocate Emily McElwreath, host of The Art Career, a space breaking barriers by letting you sit in on candid, straightforward conversations with leading art professionals.
Describe your show in ten words or less. Conversations with art icons of our generation.
Who is it for? Anyone who is interested in the arts.
Which episode to start with? Start at the beginning with episode 1 , Season 1, Marilyn Minter or Cheryl Strayed for the season 2 finale!
Favorite listener interaction: My favorite poet Eileen Myles. Big time fangirl here!
Dream guest: Maggie Gyllenhaal for so many reasons
Would love to be a guest on: Dear Chelsea!
Dream partnership: Everlane, Converse, Airbnb, Squarespace
If I could force one person in the world to listen to my podcast it'd be: A NYT writer
What do your parents / kids / family think you do? Pagan worship in my backyard
Really enjoyed your interview on Podcast Bestie podcast. You always inspire me to think out of the box when it comes to podcast marketing and promotion.