Pippa and Karina talk to an entire chorus of Karens and break down the memeification of this now-infamous first name, from the baby boom to Black Lives Matter. Women weaponizing their whiteness have never been so easily called out-but how did one of the most popular baby names of the mid-century come to represent the biggest villain of 2020?

Thank you to all Karens who we spoke to this episode: Karyn Guenther, Karin Freeman, Karen Burgess, Karen Stowe-Spektor, Karen Williams, Karen Gray, and Karen K Ho.

For further reading, we recommend checking out the NYT article "How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror" by Charles M. Blow; the book They Were Her Property by Stephanie Jones-Rogers; and the SNL "Baby Shower" skit for good measure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Karen: Calling cops and naming names

Language moves fast and Word Bomb is here to help. Unpacking one explosive word per week, hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta talk to experts and dive deep into lived experiences to share stories the dictionary doesn't tell you.

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TEST WAV PODCAST

Well into the second year of the pandemic, is "resilience" really what we need to be cultivating? Pippa and Karina are joined by Julie S. Lalonde, a women's rights advocate and author of the memoir "Resilience Is Futile." Together they tackle the trap of resilience, and why it shouldn't be doing all the heavy lifting in the face of real systemic problems. They also touch on disaster studies, brain plasticity, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time to reevaluate resilience

What sets a cult apart from a religion? Is it a harmless groupthink, or something much darker? And why are cults having such a moment right now, from pop culture to politics? Pippa and Karina drink the Kool-Aid and venture deep into wild, wild country with the help of Marianne Boucher, author of the graphic novel 'Talking to Strangers: A Memoir of My Escape from a Cult.'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is our culture getting more culty?

What a difference capitalization makes: Pippa and Karina dive into the hotly debated and deeply personal terminology around being Deaf/deaf. They're joined by deaf podcaster Caroline Mincks to break down the spectrum and diversity of the deaf and hard-of-hearing experience, and why words matter when labeling members of this community. Along the way, they touch on the cochlear implant debate, sign language, person-first language, and "deaf gain." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deaf or deaf? Capitalizing a community

When and how do we decide that someone can't make their own decisions? As the "grey wave" of aging baby boomers approaches, ,capacity, has become an all-important metric. Pippa and Karina speak to Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of seniors' advocacy organization CanAge, to break down mental capacity assessments for seniors, as well as the capacity of our health care system.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Karen: Calling cops and naming names

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