Author Qian Julie Wang joins us to tell the story of her childhood in an undocumented family, how the experience shaped her life, and how she now views the American Dream.
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Why we find pleasure in pain
Paul Bloom joins us to discuss why we sometimes seek out pain — in everything from scary movies to marathons.
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How bad ideas spread
We’ll be joined by a journalist who writes about the changing media landscape, a linguist who explains how cults use very specific language to recruit new members, and a researcher who says bad ideas are parasites that infect our brains.
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Why People Obsess Over Pakistani Mangoes
Food writer Ahmed Ali Akbar joins us to discuss the backchannels of importing fruit, the lengths people will go to, and the customs bureaucracy that keeps foods from reaching American shores.
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Beyond Biology: Rethinking What Makes A Family
Susan Golombok, director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge and a professional fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge, joins us to talk about the outdated ideas we have about creating a happy home and the variety of parents out there who are thriving.
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The words we need that don’t exist
John Koenig joins us to discuss his work coining new words and phrases that he hopes will perfectly capture the nuance and beauty of specific moments in our lives when the words we have at our disposal fail.
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How the Muslim diaspora shaped the West
Omar Mouallem discusses his travels to 13 mosques across the Americas trying to understand what it means to different people to be Muslim.
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Generational differences are made up
Bobby Duffy joins us to discuss why labels put on generations aren’t as fixed as we’re taught to believe.
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The challenges – and joys – of raising a trans child
The writer and producer of the “How to Be a Girl” podcast talks about raising a transgender child, and how she’s grown in her approaches to gender and sexuality.
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Does reality TV understand Black women?
Bethonie Butler covers television and pop culture for The Washington Post, and she joins us to discuss the stereotypes these shows often play into, and if progress is being made on television.
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She Couldn’t Pray The Gay Away
Julie Rodgers joins us to discuss how religion has shaped her life, from coming out in a conservative evangelical household, to now, as she works to bridge LGBTQ communities with the church.
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What your nose knows
Journalist Jude Stewart joins us to talk about how our sense of smell shapes our world from art to history and reveals the surprising science behind it.
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