In April, journalist and author Clive Thompson set out to bicycle across the entire country — 4,150 miles total — as part of the reporting for his next book on “micromobility.” He documented his trip in real time online: 70 days on the road, broken up by a brief return trip home. Here we discuss what micromobility is and why this ride was so important for him to do, plus some ups and downs of the journey and what cycling across the country does to someone physically, mentally and emotionally.

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State Senator Zellnor Myrie is the first generation American son of Costa Rican immigrants and a native Brooklynite who represents the district that includes Prospect Lefferts Gardens — where he grew up and currently lives. Today he joins the podcast to talk about life in Flatbush, possible solutions to the city’s housing crunch, illegal guns, the concerns of his constituents, the state budget mess and why it matters, and on a personal note, the effect of being pepper sprayed by NYPD during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Naturally, we also talk about Jay-Z.

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Now in its 25th year, Tanoreen is a James Beard nominee and a Michelin Bib Gourmand-winning restaurant. It has spawned two excellent cookbooks. It has been featured on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate," and it has been named one of the best restaurants in New York City by Bon Appétite. Rawia Bishara, who emigrated to Bay Ridge from Nazareth with her family when she was 18, opened Tanoreen in 1998 as a way to express her heritage and to honor her mother. Rawia’s own daughter, Jumana, later came on board as a partner, and today the two work closely to oversee all aspects of the daily operation. Just about any time you eat at Tanoreen, you are guaranteed to see Jumana at the door or Rawia roaming the floor, chatting up the customers. Today we talk about the first 25 years of Tanoreen — and what the next 25 might look like.

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Singer, songwriter, DJ and producer Eli “Paperboy” Reed has spent a lifetime mining the deep vein of Americana — from soul to country to gospel. He has put out eight albums of his own over the past 20 years, including last year’s “Down Every Road,” a funky tribute to Merle Haggard. He has mentored and produced the group The Harlem Gospel Travelers, and released a long-buried recording by Cleveland blues musician Fred Davis that was actually recorded by his father 50 years earlier. And this fall he will be putting out a compilation of his 45s called “Hits and Misses: The Singles.” He’s teased that with an amazing soul cover of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades,” of all things. Today he joins us to talk about his life in music.

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Two weeks ago NPR’s Tiny Desk online video series broke the internet with a bombastic performance by New Orleans rapper Juvenile. The man who produced that viral segment is NPR Music's Bobby Carter. If you’ve seen the viral Anderson .Paak or Usher or Mac Miller Tiny Desk shows, you have Bobby to thank for those, too. In a special live episode of the podcast we spoke with Carter at BRIC’s Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series in the Prospect Park bandshell earlier this month about what makes a good Tiny Desk show, who his dream performer would be and why the Tiny Desk Contest is so important. We also talk about how that Juvenile set came to be.

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This week we are joined by a legend, an empress, an icon of reggae. In an industry dominated by male voices, Marcia Griffiths is about to enter her 60th year as a trailblazing vocalist, songwriter, performer and collaborator. You may know her from early hits like “I Feel Like Jumping,” or her work with the great Bob Andy. She also collaborated with another important Bob — as a Bob Marley backup singer with the I Threes trio. And if you’ve ever done the Electric Slide, you have Marcia Griffiths to thank for that, too. Her 1983 hit “Electric Boogie” gave birth to the global dance phenomenon which simply refuses to quit. And, thankfully for us, Marcia Griffiths herself refuses to quit. She will be performing as part of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! summer concert series in Prospect Park on July 15.

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Leah Goodridge is a tenants’ rights attorney who serves on the New York City Planning Commission, where she is the first and only tenants’ rights attorney. Born and raised in Brownsville, she lives in Bed-Stuy where, like anyone else in Brooklyn can tell you, the rent is too damn high — and newcomers are consistently pushing historic, legacy families out. On June 21, the city's Rent Guidelines Board voted to increase rents on New York City’s rent-stabilized apartments — Goodrige herself has been a member of the rent guidelines board, so we’ll talk about that. We’ll discuss what the planning commission does and what she sees as her role on that body. And we’ll talk about the idea of professionalism: Goodridge wrote a widely circulated essay for the UCLA law review called "Professionalism as a Racial Construct."

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Roddy Bottum and Joey Holman are a couple of regular guys with regular dad bods. And they’re a couple. As Man on Man, they make music that tackles themes of love, intimacy, sex, queer culture and quirks. But above all, they make music that rocks, which has been an anomaly in mainstream queer culture since, well, always. Their second album, “Provincetown,” came out last week. Like their self-titled 2021 debut, the duo deploys humor, heavy riffs and introspection on songs with titles like "Showgirls," "Piggy" and "Gloryhole."

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The question of home is a driving force of Stacey Mei Yan Fong's new book “50 Pies, 50 States,” out this week. The book is also, as the title suggests, a pie cookbook — an ingenious one at that. In 2016 Fong undertook a wildly ambitious project to design a pie recipe for every state in the union, and dedicate each pie to someone special from that state. She would also travel to as many of the states as possible to absorb the culture, cuisine and folklore of each region. The dedication part is as important as the pies — a deliberate exercise in giving her loved ones their flowers while she can.

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You or someone you love probably reads a lot of romance fiction. Which means that you or someone you love has probably read a book by Sarah MacLean, a New York Times best seller with 19 novels and novellas under her belt. But do not call what she writes “bodice rippers.” MacLean, a Washington Post contributor and host of the popular romance fiction podcast Fated Mates, is one of the leading progressive feminist voices writing historical fiction today.

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