Culture Study Podcast

FIRST THINGS FIRST: IF YOU NEED HELP ADDING YOUR SUBSCRIBER-ONLY FEED TO YOUR PODCAST PLAYER, JUST CLICK HERE! When people around my age tell me that no one else their age has time to hang out, I have a go-to response: you need intergenerational friends! Older friends, younger friends, friends at a different (and often more flexible) life stage than you — it rules. I cherish my intergenerational friendships, and I'm thrilled to have Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer on the pod to talk about the legendary intergenerational friendship that inspired his new novel, Villa Coco, and help answer all your questions on cultivating these relationships in your own life. This episode will make you grateful for your existing age-spanning friendships and get you excited to make many, many more. Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode: Ollie. Feed the Obsession. Go to ollie.com/culture and use code CULTURE to get 70% off your first box! Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code CULTUREPOD for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD. Get 15% off your first order of cleaning products by going to Blueland.com/CULTURE Get 40% off select Lola Blankets products at Lolablankets.com by using code CULTURE at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. Show Notes: Go buy Villa Coco right now: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9780385551977 Follow Andrew Sean Greer on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/asgreer/?hl=en We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about: THE NEXUS OF LLMS/A.I. AND CREATIVITY: A.I. Boosters argues that LLMS can free us for more creative endeavors — or "facilitate" our creative work. THOUGHTS???? (This one's with the brilliant Vauhini Vara, whose work grapples with these questions in a way I've never seen before). Hopefully this piece on how A.I. keeps wasting my G-D time will spark some questions on your end. WOMEN'S FITNESS INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. As our co-host Zoe Rom puts it: "Women are told they need to do fasting, creatine, lifting, fueling, and recovery differently than men. Sometimes the science backs it. More often the "different" is a marketing mechanism: invent a gendered problem, sell a gendered protocol, collect the markup." What's going on here? Where have you seen it, what pisses you off about it... take this wherever you'd like. HOW HAVING A FAMILY BECAME SO DAUNTING (and DIFFICULT). Anna Louie Sussman is coming on the pod to talk about her incredible new book on the feeling of "impossibility" when it comes to contemporary family. We can talk about fertility, cost, equal partnership, affordability, safety, climate grief, so many things. Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I LOVE IRISH LITERATURE. And like so many of you, I love the work of Maggie O'Farrell – so when I heard her new book was very Irish (set in the aftermath of The Great Hunger in the late 19th century) I wondered if she'd be willing to come on the pod to do one of our favorite things here on Culture Study: offer very specific book recommendations. Stay tuned for a delightful conversation that will add a solid half dozen books to your TBR list. Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode: Go to https://zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a free gift with your first purchase! Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! If you’re in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table or bed, head over to https://www.article.com/ Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. Show Notes: You can buy Maggie O'Farrell's new book Land here: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9780593320648 Links for the 30+ books we recommend are available for paid subscribers. We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about: THE NEXUS OF LLMS/A.I. AND CREATIVITY: A.I. Boosters argues that LLMS can free us for more creative endeavors — or "facilitate" our creative work. THOUGHTS???? (This one's with the brilliant Vauhini Vara, whose work grapples with these questions in a way I've never seen before). Hopefully this week's piece on how A.I. keeps wasting my G-D time will spark some questions on your end. WOMEN'S FITNESS INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. As our co-host Zoe Rom puts it: "Women are told they need to do fasting, creatine, lifting, fueling, and recovery differently than men. Sometimes the science backs it. More often the "different" is a marketing mechanism: invent a gendered problem, sell a gendered protocol, collect the markup." What's going on here? Where have you seen it, what pisses you off about it... take this wherever you'd like. HOW HAVING A FAMILY BECAME SO DAUNTING (and DIFFICULT). Anna Louie Sussman is coming on the pod to talk about her incredible new book on the feeling of "impossibility" when it comes to contemporary family. We can talk about fertility, cost, equal partnership, affordability, safety, climate grief, so many things. Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode is juicy, and it does have gossip — but I admit that it's actually less about specific juicy gossip and more about why we love juicy gossip... gossip about celebrities, gossip about extended family, gossip about our coworkers and frenemies and reality stars and even random people involved in high drama. We love reading gossip, whispering gossip, talking shit about people who gossip too much (or not enough)... gossip is a primary means of making sense of the world, and we should all talk (and think) about it more. Nichole Hill, host of the fantastic podcast Our Ancestors Were Messy, joins me to do just that. Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode! Get 40% off select Lola Blankets products at Lolablankets.com by using code CULTURE at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! If you’re in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table or bed, head over to https://www.article.com/ Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/CULTURE Ready to upgrade your eyewear to something functional, fashionable, fun, and affordable? Head to goodr.com/CULTURE to claim $10 off your first order. Show Notes: Listen to Our Ancestors Were Messy! Learn more about Nichole's work Nicole references the episode on Paul Robeson, which you can find here My chapter on Dorothy Dandridge is in my book Scandals of Classic Hollywood Dandridge on the cover of Life Magazine: We also reference the episode on Oscar Micheaux, which is so wild Nichole's co-host on that episode = Dr. Ray Christian We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about: WOMEN'S FITNESS INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. As our co-host Zoe Rom puts it: "Women are told they need to do fasting, creatine, lifting, fueling, and recovery differently than men. Sometimes the science backs it. More often the "different" is a marketing mechanism: invent a gendered problem, sell a gendered protocol, collect the markup." What's going on here? Where have you seen it, what pisses you off about it... take this wherever you'd like. WHITE LADY HAIR! Cultural critic Sarah Mesle will be joining us to talk about her new book Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us About Power, Pleasure, and Complicity. If there's a white lady whose hair interests you, I guarantee you it interests Sarah, too. We can talk about specific celebrity/actress haircuts but also specific styles/trends. I cannot wait for this one. INTERGENERATIONAL FRIENDSHIP with Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less (and Villa Coco, a new book with an intergenerational friendship at its center). You can ask questions about how to find intergenerational friends, how to sustain those friendships, what people seem to love so much about them, wherever your heart takes you. Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why is weird spelled like that? Why is yacht pronounced like that? Why is a firefighter a person who fights fires... but a pickpocket is neither a pick nor a pocket? We're so lucky to have linguist Colin Gorrie on the pod to talk about the "disaster" of English spelling and the history you can unearth in pretty much every English word. This one's such a nerdy delight — if you found yourself enraptured by our episode on accents, you're gonna love this one, too. AND GREAT NEWS: WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!Celebrate your number one valentine, your greatest love, your dog! Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit.Go to wildalaskan.com/CULTURE for $35 off your first box of premium, wild-caught seafood.Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code CULTUREPOD for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD.Get 15% off your first order at Blueland.com/CULTUREShow Notes:Subscribe to Colin Gorrie's newsletter, Dead Language Society, hereI personally really love 'Dog' is a Weird Word (you can find all the Weird Word editions collected here)Listen to our episode on The Ridiculously Interesting World of American Accents! I reference Wound Man — here's my interview with the art historian on the historical representations of him A very weird 1818 illustration of a pickpocket Just for fun, a map of Europe with place names in the dominant language of the placeWe're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS (with Sara Petersen, of course) Dark academia — the trends, the themes, the popularity, whatever you want (for an episode with R.F. Kuang!) Getting into Gaming as AN ADULT (and especially as a woman or non-binary person) (with Keza Macdonald, author of the new history Super Nintendo) Conversion Therapy (how it affects people late into life, how it still exists, etc. etc.) Your Parent(s) Died — How Do You Deal with All This PAPERWORK and bureaucracy??? (with death doula Becky Robison) What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!) KID INFLUENCERS — what happens when your parent puts you on camera before you can really consent? Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segmentAs always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: Just gonna be real basic here and ask... What did you learn from this episode? So many tidbits and delightful explanations!

How does an audiobook narrator know how to pronounce everything? Do they have editors? How many books can they do a year? What differentiates the live voice from AI — and how do they get paid (vs. how should they get paid)? And why are so many beloved books read by Julia Whelan? WELP, FRIENDS, GOOD NEWS, WE GOT JULIA WHELAN TO COME ANSWER ALL THESE QUESTIONS. This is a conversation about mechanics and production flows and vocal health... but it's also a conversation about how we conceive of and compensate artistic labor. This one's gonna stick with you — it's certainly stuck with me. AND GREAT NEWS: WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best sellers Trial Pack or the NEW plant-based trial packCozy up with your pup this season! Go to ollie.com/culture and use code culture to get 60% off your first boxTake your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use promo code CULTURESTUDY today for 10% off your first orderOneSkin is making it even easier to stay consistent with your skincare routine with 15% off when you use code CULTURE at oneskin.co/CULTUREShow Notes:Follow Julia Whelan on Instagram here and find out more about Audiobrary hereAn interview with Julia about the Audiobrary modelThe episode of romance podcast Fated Mates featuring Julia Julia Whelan named Spotify's Top Audiobook Narrator for 2026To give you a sense of how many books Julia has narrated, you can see 432 of them listed over at Audible (she's narrated more than 500) We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS Dark academia-- the trends, the themes, the popularity, whatever you wantHow to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!) Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segmentAs always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What did you learn about audiobook production from this ep — and how are you going to think differently about audiobooks moving forward?

"Family-friendly society" sounds SO BORING but listen: it's what we all want. It's what singles and elders want, it's what parents and partnered people without kids want, it's what KIDS WANT. A society that takes all of us — and our needs and capacities — seriously?? That considers all of us, in whatever scenario we find ourselves, AS A FAMILY? When we announced that we were doing this episode, we got a ton of questions asking us to also consider people who weren't parents in their 30s and 40s, and yes, of course, team, I would never approach this topic without thinking expansively about it — as in, expansively enough to include me, and our beloved co-producer Melody, and all of our various family configurations. I would only do an episode with expansive questions like yours with someone (with tremendously policy experience) who understands "family-friendly" expansively. So listen in as Elliot Haspel and I imagine a better (and possible!) family-friendly world.AND GREAT NEWS: WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!Get 15% off your first order of high-quality, refillable cleaning products at Blueland.com/CULTUREWake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code CULTUREPOD for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPODCozy up with your pup this season! Go to ollie.com/culture and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your first box!Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to: https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTUREShow Notes:Find out more about Elliot's work here — and buy Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All hereSubscribe to Elliot's truly excellent newsletter, The Family Frontier, hereA pretty fantastic write-up of the 1971 Comprehensive Childhood Development Act (and its failure) by the Institute for Research on PovertyMore on "the curb-cut effect"Elliot cites a now famous maxim from the former mayor of Bogotá mayor, Enrique Peñalosa: "children are a kind of indicator species, if we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for everyone.”"70% of children under the age of 6 have all available parents in the workforce" Elliot cites Elissa Strauss's book When You Care — here's my interview with herOnly 13.9% of US workers were part-time in December 2024 — compare to the EU numbers here!!!Chamber of Mothers! The AMAZING coconut-miso-ginger curry I mention in the Wild Alaskan ad! We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCHHow to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)Wedding culture (especially the more, uh, cult-like or obligatory components) What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!) For our next Culture Of Place: Puerto Rico!Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segmentAs always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What did this conversation make you want the MOST? What feels like it could be possible in our lifetimes, and what still feels intractable?