Have you talked to a parent recently? Are they...okay?

From textbook bans to health food trends, there’s a whole culture of fear and political propaganda that preys on new parents, convincing them that just buying this or just voting for that will keep their children safe. But how do you know if something is a moral panic or a legitimate concern?

Brittany is joined by Karen Leick, author of Parents, Media and Panic through the Years, and Cynthia Wang, Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University to sift through the differences.

(0:00) The burdensome anxiety of modern parenting
(2:01) How parental fear & shame impacts children
(4:26) How perceived threats shape parental behavior
(10:31) The emotional impact of parental fears on kids
(13:13) How to know a real vs. perceived threat in modern life

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No disrespect, but...when President Trump threw a Great Gatsby-themed party for Halloween, it kind of missed the point of the book. And, it's not just Trump. A quick search online, and you'll see a lot of people increasingly misinterpreting other famous books.

Are people just bad at reading? Are we just laying our own biases on top of classic texts? Or is something else going on?

Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book of the Day, and writer-critic Princess Weekes join Brittany to dissect novel interpretations of literary fiction. They look at what these re-interpretations say about our current moment: from what we want from a book to how books lose meaning online.

(0:00) Why 'The Great Gatsby' gets misread
(6:07) How 'Lord of the Rings' became a Christian Nationalist text
(12:46) Literary Interpretation vs. Media Literacy
(16:34) The rise of BookTok
(19:28) The consequence of missing the point of a book

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Have you picked up a couple weights recently? Started walking, or jogging, or doing pilates? So have a lot of other people.

You see the fitness Instagram accounts and gym tips all over TikTok, but how does exercise culture fit into our broader culture? And how does more enthusiasm for exercise square with the focus on fitness in our politics? Brittany gets into it with  Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s Explain it to Me podcast, and Shelly McKenzie, author of Getting Physical: the Rise of Fitness Culture in America.

(0:00) Americans are obsessed with exercise right now. Why?
(2:36) What exercise does for mental and financial health
(5:59) How exercise became a status symbol for young people
(10:13) Why gyms are seeking women over 65
(12:57) Why JFK and Trump both politicized fitness
(16:33) What the government and its citizens have in common: body shame?

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The word "fascism" is being thrown around a lot right now. Does it capture our current cultural and political moment?

Nearly 50% of Americans have associated President Trump with "fascism." Trump himself has used the word against his own opponents. Others have used the word to denounce skinny-tok as "body fascism." But why are Americans so willing to use the word? And is its ubiquity making it lose its meaning?

In this episode, Brittany is joined by Nicholas Ensley Mitchell, a professor of education and policy at the University of Kansas and author of "On Bigotry: Twenty Lessons on How Bigotry Works and What to Do About It." He explains how Black Americans mapped the blueprint for fighting fascism in America, and questions whether the word "fascism" fits our current moment.

(0:00) How 'Fascism" solidified 'American' identity
(5:32) Why 'Fascist' is a useful word for the right and the left
(12:45) Why the civil rights movement is a model for fighting fascism
(17:39) Is *this* a better word than 'fascism' for this moment?

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Spanish artist and musical chameleon Rosalía released her latest album, Lux, today. The single, "Berghain," seems like a return to form. Operatic vocals, grand instrumentals, beautiful visuals -- the album is primed for critical praise. But for those who are hyperaware of Rosalia’s transformations -- from flamenco songstress to Afro-Caribbean queen -- they have other questions about this evolution. Brittany is joined by writer-critics Bilal Qureshi and Michelle Santiago Cortés to unpack Rosalía’s “church girl era,” and the complicated nuances of Latinidad in music.

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Does your phone feel like a blessing or a burden? Either way, there's probably a lot you can learn from new phone bans.

Many K-12 students are going phone-free - but not by choice. In over half the country, there are now restrictions on cellphone possession and use in class. The goal is to increase student focus and enhance learning...but when you think about school shootings, phones have been a big part of parents' safety plans for their kids. So are phone bans the best solution? And what do these policies teach all of us about the role phones play in our lives?

Brittany is joined by David Figlio, professor of economics at the University of Rochester, and Kathy Do, Assistant Project Scientist at University of California Los Angeles to find out.

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What does ‘socialism’ mean to a generation that grew up with COVID… not the Cold War? How have the compounding effects of college protests, financial insecurity, and student loan debt shaped a culture? 

This is… The ABCs of the Culture Wars. For the next few weeks, Brittany breaks down the history, subtext, and evolving meanings of the buzzwords you hear all over the news and social media. Today we're talking about the S-word: Socialism. And why the word has gained new meaning for a younger generation looking for relief. 

Brittany is joined by Axios senior politics reporter Holly Otterbein and head of Teen Vogue’s politics section, Lex McMenamin.

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Is hunger in America a choice?


This week, over 40 million people worried about losing their SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown. But with Thanksgiving just around the corner, who's hurt most by hunger? And why do some believe that if you’re hungry, it’s your fault? Brittany gets into it with Poonam Gupta, research associate at the Urban Institute, and Maggie Dickinson, associate professor at Queens College and author of Feeding the Crisis: Care and Abandonment and America's Food Safety Net. 

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For longtime fans of this show, here's a name you know: Sam Sanders. Before Brittany, Sam was the host of It's Been A Minute, and recently Brittany ran into Sam at an event. The two got to talking and came up with an an idea...what if Brittany came on Sam's new show, KCRW's The Sam Sanders Show? And then...what if they brought all of you longtime IBAM fans the podcast multiverse event of the season to this feed?!

That's how we got here.

In this special bonus episode, Sam, Brittany, and Tre'vell Anderson rank the best spooky season films of all time and talk through their pop culture hot takes. 

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What can we all learn from stories of men trying to find friends...and failing?

Men in real life - and in the movies - are trying to figure out how to be friends. There's been a lot of talk alleging lonely men are the cause of cultural tensions, and Hollywood has caught on (despite a similar number of women saying they are lonely, too!). Several films this year depict how society leads men into fraught, messy friendships. So, what can we all learn from toxic (or good!) friendships between men?

Brittany is joined by NPR arts and culture reporter Neda Ulaby and IndieWire awards editor Marcus Jones to dig into it.

(0:00) We're all obsessed with lonely men...why?
(3:12) 'Friendship' and how to deal with being rejected
(8:17) 'Twinless' and how friendship is kinda romantic
(13:43) 'Lurker' and how real life relationships are parasocial too
(17:55) What male friendships can teach us all about being more vulnerable

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