1: The Elephant In The Pickle Jar

In this inaugural edition of A Special Place In Hell, Sarah and Meghan kick things off with an explanation of how to pronounce (or not bother pronouncing) their names. From there, they ponder their 20-plus year age difference and do not think about the fact that Meghan is technically old enough to be Sarah’s . . oh never mind. They then commence with in-depth discussions of three recent pieces of media content. The first is Ryan Grim’s treatise in the Intercept about the epidemic of personnel meltdowns at progressive nonprofit organizations. (As a nonprofit leader herself, Sarah found this very interesting, as well as deliciously vindicating.) They move on to What Is A Woman?, the documentary by Daily Wire correspondent Matt Walsh, who pokes fun at jargon-spewing ideologues while asking a fundamental and seemingly simple question no one can answer. The film is a powerful shot over the bow in the battles over gender ideology, but does it trip over its own right wing agenda and undermine itself with sexist stereotypes? Finally, the ladies deliberate over Sunday’s very long New York Times Magazine article about debates within the field of medicalized gender transition in young people, a subject they’re both already obsessed with. Other highlights:  * Meghan explains to Sarah the connection between J. Jill clothes and the progressive nonprofit world. * Meghan makes a reference to Christopher Guest movies and Sarah doesn’t know what she’s talking about.  * Meghan sings one line of Steely Dan.  * Sarah wonders if breaking out of the gender ideology cult--er, “community” is analogous to leaving the Muslim faith.  * Sarah reveals her mother’s “nickname” for her father. Links: The Elephant In The Zoom by Ryan Grim, The Intercept  What Is A Woman? film by Matt Walsh, The Daily Wire The Battle Over Gender Therapy by Emily Bazelon, The New York Times Magazine

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aspecialplace.substack.com/subscribe