Explain It to Me

According to the Eviction Lab, about 7.6 million Americans every year face the threat of eviction, and a disproportionate number of those threatened are Black women. This week, host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with New America senior writer and editor Julia Craven to discuss why this disparity exists and what policies could help end evictions for everybody. It’s the first of a special series this month entitled “Black women and ...” that examines the ways policy particularly impacts Black women. 

Read More:

Eviction Is One Of The Biggest Health Risks Facing Black Children 

Eviction Tracking System | Eviction Lab

Evictions: a hidden scourge for black women - Washington Post

TANF Policies Reflect Racist Legacy of Cash Assistance

Evictions and Infant and Child Health Outcomes - PMC 

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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It’s an election year, and there are so many different policy discussions we could be having: affordable child care, housing, health care, you name it. Based on how the campaigning has gone so far, though, it seems that hard policy debates and discussions won’t get much — if any — airtime. So, how about we have that discussion? Today on The Weeds: the economic policies we should be talking about. 

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Americans’ Working Years Need a Better Ending — Bloomberg 

Kathryn Edwards on TikTok (@keds_economist) 

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We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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The Earth was its hottest in recorded history in 2023. Our winters are shorter, our summers hotter, and our natural disasters more extreme. It’s dark. But maybe it doesn’t have to be. Hannah Ritchie is deputy editor at Our World in Data and author of the book Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet. On this week’s episode of The Weeds, she talks with host Jonquilyn Hill about how the world has never been sustainable, why scientists shouldn’t advocate for policy, and ways to balance optimism and realism when it comes to stopping climate change.

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Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet — Hannah Ritchie

Hannah Ritchie fights climate doomerism with facts — Vox

What If People Don't Need to Care About Climate Change to Fix It? — NYT   

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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To no one’s surprise, former president Donald Trump handily won the Republican Iowa caucuses this week. Despite his recent bout of legal trouble, he still has the backing of a dedicated voting base. But at times, his base feels more like stans than supporters. This week on The Weeds, host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with Vox culture writer Aja Romano to discuss the origins of fandom, the toxicity of stan culture and online harassment, and how we’ve trained politicians to be performers first. 

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The “Dark Brandon” meme — and why the Biden campaign has embraced it — explained 

Zhang Zhehan is a deepfake: fandom conspiracy theories are getting worse — Vox 

What Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Tour Tells Us About Trump’s Appeal — Politico 

2024 campaign: Trump rallies aren't even about politics at this point — Slate 

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Harvard and elite institutions like it have been in the news a lot lately. Following the outbreak of war in Gaza, three university presidents — Liz Magill, Claudine Gay, and Sally Kornbluth — testified in a congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus. And since that hearing, two of those three presidents have resigned from their posts. But the criticism of inadequate responses to antisemitism — and the accusations of plagiarism — are just the tip of the iceberg. Weeds host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with the Atlantic’s Adam Harris to discuss. 

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An Existential Threat to American Higher Education — The Atlantic  

Republicans are weaponizing antisemitism to take down college DEI offices — Vox 

The State Must Provide: Why America's Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—and How to Set Them Right (Hardcover) | Loyalty Bookstores 

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Erica Huang, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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2023 was a big year for unions. WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes brought Hollywood to a standstill, and the UAW made historic gains for nearly 150,000 of its members. But despite all of the commotion around unions, membership is still way down from its peak — and has been steadily declining since the 1950s. Was the past year a sign of an upcoming resurgence in the labor movement? Weeds host Jonquilyn Hill talks to journalist and organizer Kim Kelly to find out. 

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More in U.S. See Unions Strengthening and Want It That Way 

Labor unions aren't “booming.” They're dying.

The UAW Strike May Have Finally Set Us Up for a General Strike

Fight Like Hell: The Untold History Of American Labor

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Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Erica Huang, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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Nearly four years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and years after school reopenings, schools still face a major challenge: Students aren’t showing up. An estimated 14.7 million students didn’t show up regularly in the 2022-23 school year and were “chronically absent.” As data rolls out, states are realizing that they can’t address chronic absences without strategic plans to target it. Today on The Weeds, Vox reporter Fabiola Cineas explores what chronic absenteeism is, how it affects children's learning in both the short and long term, and what strategies have a proven track record of getting kids back to school. 

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Why so many kids are still missing school - Vox

Read more from Fabiola Cineas 

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Credits:

Fabiola Cineas, guest host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Erica Huang, engineer

Colleen Barrett, fact-checker 

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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It’s hard to get Americans to agree on any topic these days, but a majority of them do agree on one thing: The country is in a mental health crisis. Young people in particular are struggling, and Vox senior health correspondent Dylan Scott wanted to see what is being done to help them. He found the work of Sherry Molock, a researcher and retired pastor, who is running a suicide prevention pilot program out of Black churches in New York State. Today on The Weeds: The current mental health crisis and the story of one researcher’s long pursuit of good, empirical data. 

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How Black churches could lead the way on teen mental health - Vox

More reporting from Dylan Scott

Lifeline.org

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Credits:

Dylan Scott, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director

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Most of us love a bargain, but when it comes to our wardrobe, there’s a high cost for those cheap clothes. Fast fashion has taken the world by storm, with brands having tens of thousands — if not over a million — designs available at any moment. The consumption comes at a cost: the factory workers making those outfits are often underpaid and working in terrible conditions, and some countries have literal mountains of synthetic clothing filling their landfills. This week on The Weeds, host Jonquilyn Hill talks with Vox deputy editor Izzie Ramirez and author Elizabeth Cline about the scope of fast fashion, and how we got here in the first place.

Read More:

Buy Less Stuff - Vox 

Why you shouldn’t shop at fast fashion retailers like Shein - Vox 

Your stuff is actually worse now - Vox 

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion

The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good 

Submit your policy questions!

We want to know what you’re curious about.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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This episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel originally ran in early November. Patel and former President Barack Obama discuss AI and the future of the internet. They talk about President Biden’s recent executive order on AI, the First Amendment, democracy, and if the government could – or even should – regulate social media.

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