Call Your Girlfriend

It's been a week. Amid uprisings and violent police suppression, we turn to Mariame Kaba. Mariame is a longtime police and prison abolitionist, educator, and organizer who has been doing the day-in, day-out work of activism and opposing state-sponsored violence since the early 2000s.

If you've been wondering: what's police abolition? what's prison abolition? why not simply reform or defund police departments? how do I commit myself to racial justice? what does a post-police future look like? is there room for hope?

...this episode is for you.

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The inimitable Maurice Harris joins us to discuss his creative origins, how he started using flowers in art, being a small business owner in the time of corona, and his new show Centerpiece.

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In the second of two parts, we discuss Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden with Vox's Laura McGann who spoke with Tara when she came to her in 2019 with a different complaint about abuse of power in Biden's Senate office. Plus, how Biden makes progressives complicit in his pattern of non-consensual behavior, why you may or may not vote for him, and how we can be re-center survivors in our discourse.

Links:

Laura McGann on reporting out Tara Reade's allegations

Tarana Burke's tweets

Rebececa Traister on the Biden Trap for women politicians

Stacey Abrams' Biden endorsement

AOC's Biden comments

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Throughout public life, Joe Biden has claimed to stand for women. His long career from the Senate to the Vice Presidency to presumptive Democratic nominee can paint a very different picture. In the first of two episodes, we discuss key moments that give us pause about Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

1991: Biden mishandles Anita Hill's testimony during Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings as chair of the Senate Judiciary committee. 

1994: Biden uses the Violence Against Women Act as character witness, a shield from backlash against his treatment of Professor Hill. VAWA was situated within the crime bill and tended to focus on training law enforcement and judges, stopping short of addressing the broader scale of violence women confront.

2016: Speaks at the United State of Women conference to a packed room of gender equality advocates, among them untold numbers of survivors, and us, describing his work on the Violence Against Women Act and recounting numerous instances of violence against women in borderline lewd, graphic terms.

2019: Announces his campaign and calls Anita Hill. Professor Hill was not impressed with his apology and shared some pointers for how he might make amends.

Throughout his career: inappropriately grabs, touches and hugs women in congressional offices and the campaign trail.

Links:

Biden's role in the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991

Violence Against Women Act in 1994

Biden speech at the United State of Women in 2016

Lucy Flores on Joe Biden kissing her head in 2014

CYG Episode 33: Low Key Creep in 2015

Joe Biden "just likes giving hugs"

Biden's non-apology to Anita Hill in 2019

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From snakes to ocean waves to people's unstated political ideologies, we talk about our fears. Plus, journalist Eva Holland on how fear lives in the body and her new book where she unwinds trauma, phobia, and grief.

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What allows people to endure and try again? In the first of a series tackling big ideas that are helping us get through these deep-feeling quarantimes, we talk with Lulu Miller about a scientist who lost everything - again and again - and somehow was never fazed. Plus, Amina's love of country music, and how friendship is a beautiful unexplained anomaly in an often-selfish world.

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The U.S. Census is underway and - if you just started snoozing, gently nudge yourself awake. This once-a-decade opportunity to be counted. Why? As Jeri Green of the National Urban League tells us, the Census is used to determine everything from how Congressional seats states get to federal funding for student loans, and much more. And now you complete it online. It's especially important for people from marginalized communities to get counted. Go to My2020Census.gov to fill out the quick and easy from and tell your besties!

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The legendary Fran Tirado is here to tell us what to watch and where we can stream it.

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We talk with national treasure Samantha Irby about her hilarious and confident writing about all of her foibles and insecurities. From dealing with money and contracts, to love, her white stepchildren, and her fondness for TV's Judge Mathis, Sam is the antidote to all of our cooped-up sadness right now. Her latest book, Wow, No Thank You is out now.

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Our book is finally available (for pre-order at least)! Aminatou and Ann discuss the making of Big Friendship, writing in a single voice, and the vulnerability in a deep creative partnership. Plus, how to support your local indie bookstore, and even more reading recommendations from Emma Straub. And we talk with Adeline Dieudonne about her novel Real Life, just translated to English, and Ashley Woodfolk about her new YA novel about a friend breakup, When You Were Everything.

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