Embodied

Food and sex have been deeply intertwined in our cultural imagination for millennia. Anita talks with a cultural historian who has combed through centuries of sex and food chronicles to understand what makes that connection so strong. Plus, Puerto Rican chef Manolo López shares a Valentine’s recipe and his favorite sexy food.

Meet the guests:

- Rachel Hope Cleves is a historian, a professor at the University of Victoria and the author of “Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex"

- Manolo López is a Puerto Rican chef and storyteller

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In the hours and days following President Donald Trump’s re-election, online searches about leaving the U.S. surged. Historically, most folks who have considered a move haven’t taken action, but Tina Strawn is an exception. Anita talks to her about why, as a queer Black woman, she left America in 2020 in search of freedom. Tina answers listener's questions about expat life and shares why she encourages everyone to ask themselves: what would it feel like to be free?

Meet the guest:

- Tina Strawn, the author of “Are We Free Yet? The Black Queer Guide to Divorcing America”

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Anita is committed to self-improvement but skeptical of self-help. She brings her qualms and questions to the experts: Kristen Meinzer, a podcaster who has lived by the rules of more than 50 self-help books, and Beth Blum, a scholar who's traced the genre back to its roots. Plus Sondra Rose Marie, a former self-help fan, shares how the industry has failed her as a woman of color.

Meet the guests:

- Kristen Meinzer, pop culture commentator and podcast host, shares what she learned from following the rules of over 50 self-help books

- Beth Blum, Harvard humanities professor and author, talks about the long history of the self-help industry, and how it's changed over the decades

- Sondra Rose Marie, writer, talks about why she started following a self-help guru...and what events made her leave

Dig Deeper:

Kristen's podcasts How To Be Fine and Daily Fail

Beth's book "The Self-Help Compulsion"

Sondra's Medium article on self-help

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Please note: This episode originally aired January 5, 2024.

Updates: The latest season of Kristen Meinzer’s podcast “How To Be Fine” is all about the loneliness epidemic and friendship quandaries.

Sondra Rose Marie is now the editor and owner of the digital magazine for LGBTQ+ women called Tagg Magazine.

Anita finds a lot of ASMR videos to be deeply relaxing, but she doesn't get the well-hyped/well-documented 'brain tingles.' Why? She puts the question to a physiologist who's been exploring the science of ASMR for the past decade. Plus, she meets an ASMR artist who's entranced hundreds of thousands of people with her medical role play videos and a woman who turned to the world of Boyfriend ASMR to heal her broken heart.

Meet the guests:

- Craig Harris Richard, ASMR researcher and professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, digs into the data on what we know about ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response

- Semide, an ASMR artist, talks about the emotional work in her content creation and the parasocial relationships she forms with viewers

- Laura Nagy, filmmaker, writer and podcaster behind the 2021 Audible Original podcast “Pillow Talk,” shares how ASMR content helped her to open up to being vulnerable again 

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Check out Craig's ASMR podcasts: “Sleep Whispers” and “Calm History”

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Please note: This episode originally published March 15, 2024.

Update: Dr. Craig Richard is a co-author of a new seminal paper highlighting the research agenda for ASMR.

How does selling sexy online affect your offline relationship with sex and your body? Anita poses that question to two creators: Paris Bush, who in four years on Only Fans has become one of the site’s top earners, and Maxim Lupin, who says that online sex work is the profession that best supports his mental and physical health. 

Meet the guests:

- Paris Bush creates content that runs the gamut from nude and spicy to spoofy and comical

- Maxim Lupin creates content that focuses on kink and sex ed

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It's been half a century since the psychedelic era, but some baby boomers are returning to the drugs of their youth — not for rock and roll, but to confront aging. Writer Abbie Rosner re-experienced mushrooms in her 60s, and she tells Anita about her subsequent investigation into why other boomers are taking psychedelics to grapple with aging. Plus, a medical professional shares what it’s like to facilitate these experiences for her peers.

Meet the guests:

- Abbie Rosner is a writer who shares her own experience and the stories of other baby boomers, which she plans to publish in a book called “ELDEREVOLUTION: Psychedelics and the New Counterculture of Aging”

- Dr. Crystal Dawn is a physician who's board-certified in family medicine and provides ketamine-assisted therapy

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There are few things that are certain about 2025, but one of them is that at some point, you’ll be called upon for advice. Anita talks to Meghan Keane, the founder of NPR's Life Kit and author of “Party of One,” about how to give good advice. Meghan shares her personal journey to striking the balance between overthinking, venting and actually getting to the root of a problem. Plus, she sits in the hot seat to answer some big questions from our listeners.

Meet the guest:

- Meghan Keane is the author of "Party of One: Be Your Own Best Life Partner" and the founder and managing editor of NPR's Life Kit

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As a child of two immigrants, Anita has a tumultuous relationship with the question: "Where are you from?" So, too, do many third culture kids — people who spend a significant number of their developmental years living in places that are not their parents' homelands. She talks with two third culture kids — one 35 and one 12 — and their moms about growing up between cultures and how they’ve built identity and relationships along the way.

Meet the Guests:

- Rayla Heide, a senior narrative designer at Blizzard Entertainment, talks about establishing cultural identity as a third culture kid and the grief and joy involved in moving around in childhood

- Madeleine Maceda Heide, an international school leader and modern elder as well as Rayla's mother, shares the advantages of being a third culture kid and the ways she helped their family feel at home wherever they lived

- Phuong Tran, and international journalist and communications consultant for overseas non-profit organizations, talks about her and her son's recent move from Thailand to North Carolina, and what they gained and lost in making that transition

- Kaden Tran, a middle school student, talks about why moving to the US didn't meet up with his expectations and how its impacted his friendships

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Please note: This episode originally published November 10, 2023.

Update: Rayla Heide is now the Franchise Narrative Director on a new game in development at Scopely.

Anita hands over the mic to Embodied’s intern, Nina Scott. After listening to our episode about food and cultural identity from a couple of weeks ago, Nina started talking to her friends about how their family recipes help them feel connected to their heritage. She shares some of those conversations and reflections. 

Meet the guests:

- Sari Ghirmay-Morgan, Nina’s friend who is of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage

- Rebecca Wu, Nina’s friend who is of Chinese and Taiwanese heritage

- Britney Watson, Nina’s friend who is Caribbean heritage

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Anita has heard one resounding truth from her friends who lost a parent in early adulthood: That death was the biggest thing that has ever happened to them. She meets two people who've built specific communities around their grief on the internet and a writer who experienced losing his dad twice. 

Meet the guests:

- Liz Zorn, photographer and model, talks about the sudden loss of her father and how it's changed her views on the afterlife 

- Naomi Edmondson, grief educator and space holder, shares how the experience of losing two mother figures in her 20s inspired her to create a community group for Black folks who are grieving 

- Jeff Dingler, author and journalist, explains how he lost his father twice: first to mental illness when he was 14 and then to death when he was in his 20s 

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Please note: This episode originally published September 8, 2023.

Dig deeper:

Tough Times Guide

Naomi’s grief resources

Liz’s YouTube video, “What no one tells you about losing a parent”

Jeff’s Insider piece

Jeff’s piece about his mom