What happens when the "move fast and break things" start-up philosophy comes for infertility treatments? Exactly what you'd expect: cut corners, bad service, aesthetically pleasing offices that can't seem to stop churning staff, upsells backed by dubious science, and more. This week, journalist Jackie Davalos joins the pod to talk about her reporting on IVF start-up Kindbody, breaking down why so many of these women's health start-ups give us the ick... and also answer all your questions about sketchy IVF business practices. I cannot tell you how much I learned from this episode — and how wild it is to have this corner of health care remain this unregulated.

If you're not in the right place to listen to other people's complications with IVF, feel free to skip this episode — but if you want to get pissed about how difficult, weird, and opaque the process can be, definitely listen to this episode.

Finally, a special thanks to Culture Study reader & listener Shawn Wen for making this episode happen.

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!

• Get 50% off your purchase of a new night guard at shopREMI.com/CULTURE

• Head to ZBiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use the code CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off

• If you’re in the market for a new sofa, dining table, or bed, check out the beautiful options at Article.com

• Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a doctor you love today

• Go listen to IVF Disrupted

• You can find in-depth descriptions of all the episodes here [IN GENERAL, IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SOURCING, THEY'RE ALLLLLLLL RIGHT THERE IN THE PODCAST]

• You can follow host Jackie Davalos (in her new French bakery era) on IG here

• 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!)

• Writing Queer Historical Romance (with Cat Sebastian)

• 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 segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: This is a space to share how the more unregulated (or business-minded) components of IVF manifested in your own experience — or just to talk about what pissed you off the most from this episode.

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!

• Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best sellers Trial Pack or the NEW plant-based trial pack

• Cozy up with your pup this season! Go to ollie.com/culture and use code culture to get 60% off your first box

• Take 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 order

• OneSkin is making it even easier to stay consistent with your skincare routine with 15% off when you use code CULTURE at oneskin.co/CULTURE

• Follow Julia Whelan on Instagram here and find out more about Audiobrary here

• An interview with Julia about the Audiobrary model

• The episode of romance podcast Fated Mates featuring Julia

• Julia Whelan named Spotify's Top Audiobook Narrator for 2026

• To 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)

• New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS

• Dark academia-- the trends, the themes, the popularity, whatever you want

• How 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 segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For 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?

If you don't make your living creating content online, you probably think of yourself as the furthest thing from an influencer — a designation that has developed the same slightly dirty connotation as being a celebrity, especially a celebrity like Paris Hilton, back in the 1990s. But influencers have cultivated and refined a mode of existing online that has filtered down into the way so many of us navigate online spaces: in the way you craft your profile on LinkedIn, in your font choice for a pic of your houseplant on IG, in the TikTok your coworker cajoles you into making on a slow day at work. The subtle way that influencer vernacular has entered our lives.....that's INFLUENCER CREEP.

Sophie Bishop coined the term to talk about the ways that influencer behaviors (specifically: self-branding, performance of authenticity, constant optimization) were codifying and re-setting online norms, and joins me to answer all your typically excellent (and complicated) questions about the performance of self and work online.

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!

• Get 40% OFF select Lola Blankets products by going to LolaBlankets.com and using code CULTURE at checkout

• Go to shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE  at checkout for 50% off

• Save 20% off Honeylove at honeylove.com/CULTURE

• If you’re in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table, or bed, head over to Article.com

• Find out more about Dr. Sophie Bishop's work here

• Buy Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity, and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture here

• Just another example of a weird workplace tok where everyone's awkward

• The Atlantic piece about getting bullied for adopting dogs online

• Sophie references Brooke Erin Duffy's work on authenticity

• Sophie references Jodie Dean's work on communicative capitalism

• In case you don't know who Bama Morgan is (and here's her TikTok)

• Silly Pink Shoes on Instagram!

• New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS

• For our next Culture Of Place: Puerto Rico!

• How 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)

• 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 segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: What sort of influencer creep have you noticed in your feeds... or in your own behavior?

"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!

• Get 15% off your first order of high-quality, refillable cleaning products at Blueland.com/CULTURE

• Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code CULTUREPOD for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

• Cozy 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/CULTURE

• 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 here

• Subscribe to Elliot's truly excellent newsletter, The Family Frontier, here

• A pretty fantastic write-up of the 1971 Comprehensive Childhood Development Act (and its failure) by the Institute for Research on Poverty

• More 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 her

• Only 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!

• 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 MUCH

• How 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 segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For 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?

This episode is the result of years of listener requests: how did dating get SO bad, and how can we possibly make it better? Melody and I have been out of the dating game for a hot minute, but we knew that the combination of your excellent questions + an excellent co-host [Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox's Explain It All who is, importantly, currently dating] + sociological discussion of how dating has historically functioned (and why it no longer functions that way) could lead us to something that manages to be at once cathartic and hopeful (and educational for anyone who hasn't tried to date in the last decade).

We answer your questions on "informational intimacy," how long is too long to chat (before setting an actual date), optimization culture, and whether or not it's weird for someone to run your Hinge account (I LOVE THIS QUESTION).....plus bonus content on how to actually meet people off the apps. You don't have to be dating to love this episode, but if you are — let's go after it in the comments.

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!

• Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a doctor you love today

• If you're in the market for a new sofa, dining table, bed, or filing cabinet, peruse the beautiful and long-lasting offerings at Article.com

• Get 15% off your first order of Pre-Alcohol at zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY using code CULTURESTUDY at checkout

• Get 50% off your purchase of a new night guard at shopremi.com/CULTURE, using code CULTURE

• Follow Jonquilyn on Instagram here

• You can find all episodes of Explain It To Me here

• Listen to Jonquilyn's episode of Explain It To Me on Cuffing Season

• Melody found this super-interesting article: Men Are Just As Picky As Women About Who They’d Date—If They’re the Ones Being Pursued

• Jonquilyn mentions the Netflix show THE LATER DATERS

• I mention my interview with sociologist Corinne Low re: figuring out what you actually want in terms of a future life (before finding a partner)

• 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 MUCH

• How 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!!

• 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 segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: Tell us your dating frustrations! What's changed, what annoys you, what strategies have worked?

Is there something in your life that you do — with some sort of regularity, and without direct compensation — that you find tremendously satisfying? Something you do just because you like it? CONGRATS, YOU HAVE A HOBBY. And here at Culture Study, we love to talk about hobbies — how to find them, how to keep them, and how to deal with the seemingly ceaseless push to monetize them. Listeners have been asking for a hobby episode for years, so for the New Year, we asked two great hobbyists — Doree Shafrir and Elise Hu, of the beloved podcast Forever35 — to come on and answer all your hobby questions, including: How do I find time to hobby when I'm a parent? How do I figure out my hobbies now that I finally have time to myself? How do I keep myself from BUYING ALL THE STUFF every time I find a new hobby? How do I keep a hobby from becoming a chore? We can't wait to hear your own thoughts on these questions in the comments.

ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES 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!

• If you’re in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table or bed, head over to Article.com and explore the options

• Go to wildalaskan.com/CULTURE for $35 off your first box of premium, wild-caught seafood

• Save 20% on comfortable, supportive undergarments at honeylove.com/CULTURE

• Give the gift of softness this holiday season with Lola Blankets. For a limited time, our listeners are getting a huge 40% OFF their entire order at LolaBlankets.com by using code CULTURE at checkout

• Go listen to Forever35!! And follow Doree on Instagram and Elise on Instagram

• Read Doree's tennis newsletter, Courtdate

• I love Doree's celebration post from nationals:

• Listen to Elise's previous appearance on the podcast talking all about "Sephora Teens"

• Read my post about The Unexpected Benefits of Starting a Small-Scale Dahlia Farm with Your Friends

• Doree's IVF podcast

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• How incel culture and slang pops up in the mainstream

• 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 MUCH

• How 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)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: TELL US ABOUT YOUR HOBBY! Or tell us how you've made your hobby a joyful part of your life.

It's BONUS EPISODE TIME! While everyone else is listing their favorite movies and albums and television shows in their end-of-year wrap-ups, Melody and I opted to make up random (but wonderful) categories and force the other person to come up answers. Favorite Internet Dog! TikTok that made you cry! Best Practical Thing You Bought Yourself + Best Extravagant Thing! There's a lot more but I won't spoil them for you other than to say if you need a little very low stakes delight in your life right now, this episode is for you.

And free subscribers — I realize sending this to you is a total tease, but maybe also incentive to become a paid subscriber and join in the deeper levels of weirdness. You get ad-free episodes, the bonus advice-time segment every week, and these bonus episodes, which come out every 2-3 months. Just click here to become a paid subscriber.

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• 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 MUCH

• How 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)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

I don't remember when I first noticed Eldest Daughter content popping up in my various social media feeds, but like so many millennials, I loved a meme that seemed to REALLY SEE ME. Why yes, I am a consummate planner who somehow holds at least six people's yearly calendars in my head at once! Why yes, I am a perfectionist! WHY YES, I AM AN ELDEST DAUGHTER!

Does Eldest Daughter discourse give Eldest Daughters a means to communicate their (sometimes contradictory) feelings about their familial and societal roles? Or is it a way for Eldest Daughters to lean into their own martyrdom complexes? And how does being the immigrant eldest daughter compound your Eldest Daughter-ness? We got Eldest Daughter Ifeoma Ozoma to come on the show and help me (Eldest Daughter) and Melody (also Eldest Daughter, duh) answer all your questions — and work through our own changing relationship to the Eldest Daughter Discourse. (And yes, there's a reason this one's coming out during the holidays, the best/worst time to be an Eldest Daughter)

ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES 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!

• Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/CULTURE

• Get 15% off your first order of cleaning products by going to Blueland.com/CULTURE

• Try Beam's Dream Powder for up to 40% off at shopbeam.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE

• Head to Zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use the code CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off

• Ifeoma Ozoma is an eldest daughter and also A TOTAL BOSS (TRULY)

• At the end of the episode we talk about her advocacy with Niños and Neighbors — you can read more about it here and join their mailing list/donate here

• The Eldest Daughter Club on IG (218k followers!)

• The study I referenced re: stress during pregnancy and hormones in eldest daughters comes out of UCLA — you can find more about it here

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• 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 MUCH

• How 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)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

Sometimes I wish I could just have the intro paragraph to an episode be GAAHHHHHHH THIS ONE WAS SO FUN! So this is my version of that: telling you that I wish it could be that, and then also telling you that we go deep on so many components of the global spread (and embrace) of Korean pop culture. We go into the calculated political elements, the uncanny elision of North Korean stories, and why so many of the Korean narratives resonating with American audiences are ones crafted by Korean-Americans. This is a really effusive and loving episode that also manages to have some very real talk about why kids dressing up as characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters is not yellow face. IT'S SO GOOD, and I know we're gonna have a great discussion about it.

ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES 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!

• Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

• Head to Graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use code CULTURESTUDY to get 10% off your order and get cooking this holiday season with some fresh, delicious olive oil!

• Visit moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the new plant-based trial pack.

• Go to shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to receive 55% off  your new nightguard PLUS a free foam gift.

• GO LISTEN TO BIG KOREAN ENERGY!!! And then go find out a lot more about The Mash-Up Americans

• Subscribe to The Mash-Up Americans newsletter for updates

• Really cannot recommend Episode 1 highly enough — it puzzle pieces so well with what we talk about for each of these questions

• A good secondary listen: our episode with Elise Hu about the Sephora Teen Freakout and my interview with Elise re: her book on K-Beauty

• We also reference this episode on The Irishification of Pop Culture with Caroline O'Donoghue

• REP SWEATS

• THE KOREAN VEGAN!

• R.O. Kwon's appearance on Big Korean Energy

• Susan Choi's Flashlight, Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, Lisa See's Island of Sea Women

• I try to remember the name of Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

• Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• 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 MUCH

• How 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)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

Do you need an episode that's the equivalent of a big, deep, inhale and exhale? GREAT NEWS, TEAM, WE HAVE THE EPISODE FOR YOU. Journalist and urban birder Ryan Goldberg joins me to talk about the recent spike of interest in birding (particularly amongst young people), but we go a lot deeper than "wow seems like millennials are taking up old people hobbies." We talk about the intergenerational magic of birding clubs, bird list gamificiation (and how to avoid it), and how apps like Merlin have changed birding culture. But the real heart of this episode is what makes people fall in love — and stay in love — with a hobby that's really, at heart, about listening. I'm not a birder, so this episode will be accessible to anyone in my shoes (or who's birding-curious) — and if you are a birder, get ready to nerd out. I hope your blood pressure drops a few points while listening, because my mine sure did while recording.

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!

We're experimenting with producing our own (moderately polished) transcripts. They'll be uploaded here within 24 hours of publishing.

• Take the guesswork out of your dog's well-being. Go to ollie.com/culture and use code culture to get 60% off your first box!

• Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CULTURE and use the code CULTURE to claim your free 3-piece towel set and save over 40% OFF.

• Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissy and use CULTUREPOD to get an additional 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

•  Get an exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/CULTURE, promo Code CULTURE

• Buy Bird City here!

• Learn more about Ryan's work here — also noting two upcoming events (learn more on his website)

• An Eastern Towee in action (with its call!)

• A lovely birding guide to Central Park

• Join the Brooklyn Bird Club!

• All about the Merlin app

• Black Birders Week!

• Feminist Bird Club

• The Macaulay Library of Bird Songs

• The hungover birdwatcher

• WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOG

• Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

• The Wild Largely Unregulated World of IVF (and IVF Bureaucracy)

• Audiobooks!!! (with MVP audiobook narrator Julia Whelan)

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• 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 MUCH

• PEOPLE'S NAMES and what they signify (and how it changes with time)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here