Culture Study Podcast

This all started with my desire to do a Paul Mescal episode. A listener suggested we ask Caroline O’Donoghue — author of The Rachel Incident, host of Sentimental Garbage, noted Irish person — to be co...

12 Mar 20251h 11min

If you’re a historical romance person, all I need to say is: Sarah MacLean is here, and she is answering all the questions. If you’re not a historical romance person, I’ll spell it out a little more: ...

5 Mar 202554min

Last month, I published an interview in the newsletter with Dana Miranda about “budget culture” — and it became one of the most popular (and discussed) interviews I’ve done since I first launched the ...

26 Feb 202559min

I love old movies — but I didn’t always! In fact, I needed many years of directed classwork to fall in love with them. But if you’re not in the mood to pause your life and take on significant graduate...

19 Feb 202551min

What makes something Dad? Is it pleated Dockers? A worn baseball cap? Asking (again) if you’ve checked your oil? Incompetency in the domestic sphere paired with competency outside of it? I’ve long lov...

12 Feb 202559min

I know a lot about historic Hollywood feuds. I could do an entire episode just on the magazine covers featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds circa 1959. But to do any episode on...

5 Feb 202550min

We’re at the point where we know a bullshit attempt to commodify our burnout when we see it. No one’s buying the self-care spiel the bath bomb companies are selling us. But the rhetoric of self-care h...

29 Jan 202548min

I grew up skiing at a mid-size mountain in the middle of Idaho. I wasn’t ever an athletic kid, but skiing — it made me feel fast and really good at something. I loved it: the routine, the long slog to...

22 Jan 202558min