Culture - Think

Why The Thing We Want Most Is Nothingness

February 3, 2021 Culture, Health, Science and Technology

Kyle Chayka joins us to discuss the barriers we put up to isolate ourselves from the world, why that’s caught on as a health craze, and how that disconnect might link to a more pessimistic outlook on life than we’d like to acknowledge.

Is America Really A Christian Nation?

February 3, 2021 Culture, Education, History, Politics

Boston University professor Jay Wexler joins us to talk about religious rights in the public sphere beyond Christianity, Judaism and Islam and how they fit into a country that increasingly disavows religion altogether.

From Enslaved To Congress: The Life Of Joseph Rainey

February 2, 2021 Culture, Politics, Race/Identity

Bobby J. Donaldson is director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research at the University of South Carolina, and he joins us to profile a man who was born enslaved before being elected to Congress in the wake of the Civil War.

The Slow Demise Of The Death Penalty

February 1, 2021 Culture, Current Events, History, Politics

Maurice Chammah is a staff writer for The Marshall Project, and he joins us to talk about his in-depth look at capital punishment and how the execution of a person affects many lives.

Trained To Defend, Trained To Kill

February 1, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Politics

Rachel Monroe joins us to discuss the specialized world of shooting schools that advertise themselves as the gatekeepers of the Second Amendment and offer master classes in personal defense.

What The World Demands Of Deaf People

January 29, 2021 Culture, Health, History, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

Jaipreet Virdi, assistant history professor at the University of Delaware, joins us to talk about her research into medicine’s long legacy of promised hearing cures and why science has yet to achieve a universal solution.

Why Guys Need More Friends

January 28, 2021 Culture, Health

Boston Globe staff writer Billy Baker joins us to talk about his realization that, at 40, his full life was missing a cadre of close buddies and how that lead to his quest to rebuild those intimate connections outside work and family.

David Sedaris’ Greatest Hits

January 28, 2021 Culture, Literature

David Sedaris joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his essays on family, falling in love, relationships, aging, and the weird ways life’s struggles make us all the more rich.

What Drives Indian Parents To Push Their Kids

January 27, 2021 Culture, Education, Race/Identity, Sports

Pawan Dhingra is a sociologist and Professor of American Studies at Amherst College, and he joins us to discuss the rise of the competitive student, the industry of tutors and activities built up around the idea, and how class and social status play into the phenomenon.

Is Appropriation In Art Always Wrong?

January 26, 2021 Culture, Language, Literature, Race/Identity

Paisley Rekdal, Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Utah and the state’s poet laureate, joins us to discuss the places where identity intersects with politics, and why it’s important to confront the language we use when defining cultures.

Where Do You Go For Advice – Novels Or Self-Help?

January 26, 2021 Culture, Education, History, Literature

Beth Blum, assistant professor of English at Harvard University, joins us to discuss how classic authors talked to audiences about themes of self-actualization, and how writers today still draw from that well of tips and tricks for better living.

An illustration of a computer screen with a capital letter "Q"

QAnon: A Game That Plays People

January 21, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Politics

Reed Berkowitz, director of Curiouser LLC, a media, fiction and games research group, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how QAnon could be thought of as “a game that plays people.”