A major political party in a major swing state bets on a new leader: a total political outsider. How does that work out for them? Prologue: In 2022, Michigan Republicans ran anti-establishment candidates who claimed the last presidential election was stolen. And they lost big. Now, the state party regroups and must decide whether to … Read more820: It Wouldn’t Be Make-Believe If You’d Believe In Me
(Wharf Cat) While it was difficult for shoegaze-influenced bands in the U.S. to stand out in the early nineties, Boston’s Drop Nineteens made a blip on the radar thanks to their debut, Delaware. Over thirty years after that release, the much-beloved cult act picks off right where they left off with an equally approachable sound … Read moreMusic Review: Heavy Light – Drop Nineteens
Clare Malone is a staff writer for The New Yorker, where she covers the media. Her latest article is ”Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Emotional Truths.’” “You’re going to work a lot of hours if you want to be successful, and you’re probably not going to make as much money as your dumb friend from college does. You’re … Read moreLongform Podcast #553: Clare Malone
Janet Fitch is an author and teacher of fiction writing. A profile on her site says she is “the author of the #1 national bestseller White Oleander, a novel translated into 24 languages, an Oprah Book Club book and the basis of a feature film, Paint It Black, also widely translated and made into a 2017 film, and an epic … Read moreWriting from Personal Experience: Janet Fitch on using the deep parts
When you realize that help is not on the way, what do you do next? Prologue: Saddam Sayyaleh’s job right now is trying to get trucks filled with aid into Gaza and he knows it’s nowhere close to what’s actually needed. (10 minutes) Act One: Tim Reeves runs a hospital in rural Pennsylvania, and he’s … Read more817: The Cavalry Is Not Coming
( Jagjaguwar) Nearly three years after releasing their beautiful and sprawling double album Nobody Lives Here Anymore, Cut Worms (the project of Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Max Clarke) returns with another collection of sunny pop songs steeped deep in classic rock tradition (sweet harmonies, simple melodies, touches of folk and country spun into the arrangments.) What makes … Read moreMusic Review: Cut Worms – Cut Worms
Susan Glasser, the former editor of Politico and Foreign Policy, writes the “Letter from Washington” column for the The New Yorker. Her most recent book, written with Peter Baker, is The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021. “There’s a great benefit to leaving Washington and then coming back, or frankly leaving anywhere and then … Read moreLongform Podcast #565: Susan B. Glasser
Addictive behavior can interfere with our creative life “I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.” – Frida Kahlo During her life artist Frida Kahlo “underwent a total of 35 surgeries, including bone grafts, and became addicted to pain killers and … Read moreAddiction and Creative People
During the highest turkey consumption period of the year, we bring you a This American Life tradition: stories of turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds—real and imagined—and their mysterious hold over us. Prologue: Ira Glass talks with Scharlette Holdman, who works with defense teams on high profile death row cases, and who has not talked to … Read more816: Poultry Slam
Music Reviews (The Hives AB) Time can be unkind to a band like the Hives. Despite not releasing an album in 11 years, the Swedish rock band has stayed active without pause, presumably considered by most to coast on their early 2000s success. But no one can accuse them of ever running out of gas, … Read moreMusic Review: The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons – The Hives