Now That We Think About It Podcast

Hi everyone —

This episode will blow your mind!

We welcomed Jésabel DC to talk about the agency we have in humanizing technology and making it work for and with us, rather than become victims of the way it was designed.

Jésabel, a tech anthropologist and digital organizer, has been working with people of all ages to help them reframe their relationship with technology, in order to enhance its possibilities whilst safeguarding and honoring the vital space that is not digital, with which we are losing contact.

With her, we talked about AI, how schools can become proactive in empowering young generations to use it ethically and mindfully, about notification settings, taking chances on creativity and standing out in a competitive business environment of too many AI-generated emails, to achieve our goals, the success we are after, and a human connection that goes beyond selling a product.

This episode will open your mind, it will raise questions, it will make you re-think everything you think you know about the digital world and our interaction with it.

Enjoy and follow Jésabel’s amazing work here:

Jésabel on Instagram

Jésabel on Substack

ps. Allison and I will be taking a summer break. We will see you at the end of summer with new episodes and new amazing guests. If you miss us, you can listen to every episode on our brand new website (as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Audiobrary).

Have a beautiful summer,

Alice & Allison

Support the Show

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin and check out our brand new website.

If you love Now That We Think About it, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and if you are interested in advertising or sponsoring an episode of our podcast, reach out HERE.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

Hello friends! When I first listened to the audiobook of Byron Lane’s first novel, A Star is Bored, I was going through a rough time, feeling like a lone, raw-nerved being in a big tough world. Byron’s novel made me feel less alone. There’s a vulnerability and sensitivity to his writing — an admission of humanity — that shines out like a beacon to other sensitive souls. I know you’ll hear his kindness and generosity in this episode too.

Our starting place is Byron’s essay, The Insult that Changed My Life, from his Substack newsletter, Byrontology, and our conversation expands from there, covering everything from the concept of mutualism to sharing more than intended in a conversation that’s set up as small talk.

We hope you’ll enjoy listening to this conversation. We absolutely loved getting to talk with Byron!

xo Allison (and Alice)

P.S. We’re taking a few weeks off for summer vacation, but we’ll be back soon with brand new episodes!

Follow Byron

ByronLane.com

Byrontology on Substack

Byron on Instagram

Read Byron’s Books - A Star is Bored and Big Gay Wedding

Byron on YouTube

Support the Show

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin and check out our brand new website.

If you love Now That We Think About it, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and if you are interested in advertising or sponsoring an episode of our podcast, reach out HERE.

Thanks for listening! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

Hi friends, happy Monday —

Today, Allison and I talked to our friend, author and journalist Carrie Courogen, about our love for magazines. Carrie, with her fifteen-year editorial career at Condé Nast, shares with us the longing and the love for the art of magazines, but also adds to the conversation such an experienced insight of the editorial world that only someone who loves it like she does can provide.

This episode, however, isn’t just about nostalgia.

We discuss what happened, what has gone wrong (spoiler alert, it’s greed) and what are the possible scenarios the world of magazines faces in the present and near future.

From Vanity Fair to The New York Review of Books, Sassy, Glamour, Seventeen, Sunset and Good Housekeeping, we share our stories, our favorite reads, what we loved about the advertising on a magazine (do you remember perfume samples?), and our creative hopes for the future of this beloved art form.

You can read more about Carrie and her writing on her website, HERE and on her Substack, HERE

Carrie is the author of the recently-published Miss May Does Not Exist

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin and check out our brand new website.

If you love Now That We Think About it, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and if you are interested in advertising or sponsoring an episode of our podcast, reach out HERE.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

Hi everyone —

In this episode, Allison and I discuss the complicated and multi-faceted topic of AI. And this is me writing — Alice — not the AI software embedded in the system that we use to record this podcast.

We decided on the topic after Allison realized AI had completely manufactured a quote from a previous guest on the podcast, Pete Mulvey, as well as fabricated two entire false careers for herself, through the new AI feature on Instagram.

As always, our conversations don’t come from a place of absolute knowledge, rather from a place of inquiry, so to spark conversations that we hope you will all be having in your community of friends, family, co-workers, neighbors.

We are including a couple of very useful links to do your research and know more about the environmental impact of AI, and about the power we all have in re-sizing its in our lives:

AI Resist List

Data Centers by Erin Brockovich

Duck Duck Go

Please, email us (or comment here) and let us know what your experience has been with AI, what you think of it, and whether something similar to what happened to Allison has also happened to you, or someone you know.

xo

Alice & Allison

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

Hello friends! I’m so excited for this week’s podcast. We have Amy Allen Clark with us to talk about Summer Reading. You may know Amy as MomAdvice or as the host of the Book Gang Podcast (and if you don’t already know her, trust me, you’ll love her!). I first met Amy when she selected The People We Keep for the MomAdvice Book Club and she invited me on her podcast. I loved every minute of our conversation! And when Home of the American Circus came out, getting to go back on the Book Gang Podcast to talk with Amy was one of my favorite moments of the book release.

Amy is so special and full of genuine enthusiasm for books. She takes book recommendations seriously, and puts so much thought into how she chooses books for her podcast and reading guides. Her Summer 2026 Reading Guide is on sale now and it’s spectacular! And she was so kind to join us and talk about some books to look out for, and just the joy of summer reading in general.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a reading slump or decision paralysis when it comes to books, Amy’s got you! And you’ll love listening to her author interviews (and the spoilers episodes she does for her Patreon subscribers).

We hope you find your next great summer read! And we’d love to know what you think about summer reading. Do you have great memories of reading books on beaches or on your back porch? Did your local library have a summer reading program? What’s on your TBR pile this summer? Email us at [email protected] to let us know!

Happy Summer Reading!

xo Allison (and Alice)

Follow Amy

MomAdvice.com

Book Gang Podcast

Book Gang Patreon

Amy on Instagram

Book Lounge Podcast by the Libby app

Books Mentioned

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Top of the World by Ethan Joella

These Heathens by Mia McKenzie

The Calamity Club by Catherine Stockett

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Good Life for Less by Amy Allen Clark

Strangers - Belle Burden

A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick

Famesick by Lena Dunham

Skin Contact by Elisa Faison

All the Women in My Brain by Betty Gilpin

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlyle

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

Where the Girls Were by Kate Schatz

The Reservation by Rebecca Kaufmann

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by Little Leaf Design: Better Websites; Easier Process. Little Leaf was born out of a passion for design and the belief that every business deserves a beautiful, easy-to-use website. Ashley is more than just a web designer; She’s your dedicated partner and mentor as you embark on the journey of creating your site together. Her goal is to enhance your business through an outstanding online presence. She’ll translate all the nerd speak into concepts you understand and design a website that is user-friendly, gorgeous and reflects your brand and business needs. Ashley has designed sites for professors, lawyers, copywriters, non-profits, many small businesses, and authors, including me. She’s easy to work with and great at taking her client’s chaotic ideas and translating their brand into a website, with all the best webtools. So if you need a website, head to LittleLeafDesign.com to learn more about working with Ashley.

We have Peter Mulvey on our podcast this week, and I’m beyond delighted to share this episode with you. I first saw Peter play on the Ithaca College campus in 1997. I’ve been a fan ever since and know for certain that I’m a more aware, thoughtful person because I’ve spent almost thirty years listening to Peter’s music, going to his shows, and reading his newsletters and social media posts, where he shares so much about the way he makes sense of the world. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a kind, wise, witty folk singer’s catalog of songs to rely on through those fractious late-teen years all the way through mid-life (and beyond). Of course, The People We Keep was influenced by my love of Peter’s music, but the way he absorbs art, politics and humanity and turns it into music has influenced me as a creative person in general. I think you’ll find him inspiring too.

Peter’s songs take on the full breadth of human experience. And some of those experiences are reactions to the injustices of our country and culture — like the song Smell the Future from his 1995 studio album, Rapture, about the Rodney King verdict and the Los Angeles riots, or the weighty, yet delightful, Jesus Wants to Take Your Guns Away, and the song/community project Take Down Your Flag, about the 2015 murders at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. In true protest song form, Peter invited other musicians to write additional verses to Take Down Your Flag, and has compiled a playlist of over 200 musicians performing and adding to the song he started, including Peter Yarrow, Pamela Means, Lori McKenna, Patty Larkin, Keb' Mo', Tod Weidner, Mark Erelli, and Ani DiFranco.

Throughout this episode, we dive into the experiences and inspirations that fed into the writing of Take Down Your Flag and Peter’s other protest songs. In the conversation, Peter says, “My path into protest song has always been an emotional and immediate and visceral path. And I don’t in the moment (of writing them) think of them as protest songs,” which is extremely helpful insight for all of us who feel disturbed by the injustice surrounding us, affecting us, hurting our friends and neighbors. We don’t have to know every political angle of a moment to feel something and turn our feelings into art that may help change someone else’s heart and mind, or make like-minded people feel less alone.

And even thought it’s not a protest tune, I want to leave you with one of my all-time favorite songs. When I first heard On the Way Up, back in 1997, I felt like if I listened to this song enough it might fix something broken in my heart. And you know what? I think it did.

Let us know in comments or email, what you think about this episode? What’s your favorite protest song? Who inspires you? If you’re an artist of any kind, what do you want your art to reflect?

Thanks again to Ashley at LittleLeafDesign.com for sponsoring this episode. If you have a book coming out, a Substack essay or a newsletter, an album or a creative project, or a small business you’d like to promote, and you are interested in sponsoring an episode of Now That We Think About It, please email us at [email protected] for more information.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

xo

Allison (and Alice)

Links

Peter Mulvey’s Website

Peter on Instagram

Peter on Tour with Floyd Mercantile

Peter on Patreon

We also discussed the song Shirt from the album Kitchen Radio

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by the Bookish Nomad. (https://www.youtube.com/@Bookish_Nomad) After 25 years as an Emmy-nominated Art Director and Production Designer on shows like Grace & Frankie, Amy Lee Wheeler found herself navigating a film industry stalled by runaway production. When a major home repair emptied her savings, she rented her house, packed her car, and drove across fifteen states to reconnect with friends and family she hadn’t seen in over a decade, including her godmother and mother, both battling dementia. Bookish Nomad is the vlog she made along the way. It’s unpolished and personal, but posting what she learned about the people she meant to stay close to felt worth talking about. Follow along on YouTube, or find her writing at DeRailed on Substack.

Hi friends!

I am so happy that Allison Larkin and I are sharing this episode today!

This is Alice writing, and our guest on the show for this episode is the amazing Leanne Citrone (that you can follow here Leanne Citrone ). With her, we talk about pivoting in life, as in the skill to say yes and be open to curiosity and learning — seeing everything as a stepping stone for what comes next, ultimately redefining failure.

I have learned so much from this talk, both when we had it, and when we edited it. In fact, revisiting the experience of Allison and Leanne, a little older than me, really helped me see how free I can become, once I finally let go of old ideas about the many ‘should’ and ‘should not’ of life.

So I hope that you will all get something out of the honesty and the vulnerability we all showed in this talk: cancer, professional life, food, success, and the reminder that is all about the journey. We never know what an event in our life is teaching us for the events and adventures to come.

Thanks again to the Bookish Nomad for sponsoring this episode. If you have a book coming out, a Substack essay or a newsletter, an album, a creative project, or a small business you’d like to promote and are interested in sponsoring an episode of Now That We Think About It, please email us at [email protected] for more information.

Support our show:

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

*affiliate links

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by Cassandra Dunn Editing Services. Cassandra has over 20 years of professional copy editing experience and an MFA in creative writing. She’s a traditionally published author, and she’s been specializing in developmental edits and book doctor services for 13 years. Her clients’ books have won awards and received starred Kirkus reviews. She works in all genres and she’s here to help you make your project the best that it can be. So if you have something you’ve been working on, or even if you have something that’s just starting and you want to know if you’re on the right track, you can send Cassandra an email and start the conversation about how to take your writing to the next level.

This week, inspired by a New York Times article delving into the stuff six New Yorkers are keeping in their storage units, Alice decided to discuss our relationship with stuff. It’s a fascinating conversation, because Alice and I have very different relationships with keeping things and letting them go.

While I have a hard time letting go of things that hold meaning or memories — especially the things I’ve personified (see Walter, below). And Alice sometimes feels weighed down by belongings, and finds some freedom in a good closet purge.

Although, we both share a love of things with unknown (or partially known) histories attached. Alice has a beautiful antique notebook that Ben gave her as a gift, that belonged to someone in the 1800s.

And I have a recipe box from an unknown woman, found in an antique store, packed full with correspondence and recipes.

And while I don’t have any particular collections anymore, Alice collects miniature food magnets from Italy that are absolutely delightful.

This was another conversation where we came in thinking it would be kind of a simple topic, and then we realized just how many areas of life and memory and self-identity is connected to our relationship with stuff. Do you have a storage unit? Do you keep things to avoid making decisions about letting them go? Do you collect something? Are you someone who hangs on to objects or would you rather have a clean slate? We would love to hear about your relationship to your belongings. Please send us an email at [email protected] and let us know what you think about owning stuff. We may use your message on a future episode! (Let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous).

We hope you enjoy this conversation!

xoAllison & Alice

Thanks for reading! This podcast is public so feel free to share with a friend!

Thanks again to Cassandra Dunn Editing Services for sponsoring this episode. If you have a book coming out, a Substack essay or a newsletter, an album, a creative project, or a small business you’d like to promote and are interested in sponsoring an episode of Now That We Think About It, please email us at [email protected] for more information.

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

*affiliate links

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by Little Leaf Design: Better Websites; Easier Process. Little Leaf was born out of a passion for design and the belief that every business deserves a beautiful, easy-to-use website.

Ashley is more than just a web designer; She’s your dedicated partner and mentor as you embark on the journey of creating your site together. Her goal is to enhance your business through an outstanding online presence. She’ll translate all the nerd speak into concepts you understand and design a website that is user-friendly, gorgeous and reflects your brand and business needs. Ashley has designed sites for professors, authors, lawyers, copywriters, non-profits, and many small businesses. She’s easy to work with and great at taking her client’s chaotic ideas and translating their brand into a website, with all the best webtools. So if you need a website, head to LittleLeafDesign.com to learn more about working with Ashley.

In today’s world of ‘whatever-we-want-with-a-click’, many have lost touch with where our food comes from and when food is grown, where, and by whom. If you’ve ever wondered how to reconnect with the roots of the food you eat while promoting sustainability, this episode is for you. We have invited my friend Andrew Raffaele of Orto Farms to share the profound impact of urban farming on local communities and cultural heritage.

Andrew is the visionary behind Orto Farms, a non-profit urban farm located in Northeast Los Angeles. With a mission to relieve poverty and educate the community about sustainable agriculture, Andrew’s work is rooted in his personal experiences and cultural Italian heritage. His unique approach not only focuses on growing food respecting the seasons and the many varieties of it that we have lost, because of the corporations that chose profit over cultural value, but also on restoring the community’s connection to its culinary roots.

Learn more about Orto Farm and follow Andrew here

And if you are interested in CSA boxes, these are the ones that Allison and I use. We look forward to hearing about yours, and about the produce and/or the obstacles you encounter in your community.

Fresh Farm to You Use code ALIC5982 for $15 off your first produce box.*

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by Audiobrary, Julia Whelan’s audiobook platform, which is home to a beautifully curated collection of audiobooks (and our podcast)! You can buy or rent audiobooks on Audiobrary.com to listen on the Audiobrary app. Every Audiobrary production was written by humans, performed by humans, and edited by humans, and everyone involved is paid fairly for their work. So not only do you get great stories, well told, and brilliantly performed, but you can feel good about supporting an ethical business. Rent or buy your next great read on Audiobrary!

My friend Deborah Blake is a witch. In the literal sense. Deborah has been practicing witchcraft for over thirty years. She writes books on witchcraft and adding magic to your everyday life. And together with artist Elizabeth Alba has created Tarot and Oracle decks. She also writes magical fiction and cozy mysteries. Deborah is full of kindness and wisdom and makes a point of sharing what she knows through her books and classes.

Last year, I took Deborah’s class on The Wheel of the Year, and it changed the way I think about and plan around the energy of life, reminding me that different seasons come with a different sense of purpose, responsibility, and celebration. Deborah also taught me how to periodically pause, reflect, and plan for the next season. No matter your beliefs, this understanding of how to work with our connection to nature and each other is a valuable, nurturing lesson, and I’m thrilled that Deborah took the time to join me and Alice to talk about The Wheel of the Year.

Whether you’re a witch, a skeptic, or a curious observer, this conversation will be fascinating, delightful, and truly fun. I’m so happy to share this episode with you. And we can’t wait to hear what you think! Email us at [email protected] and let us know what you think about this conversation!

xoAllison & Alice

Thanks again to Audiobrary.com for sponsoring this episode. If you have a book coming out, a Substack essay or a newsletter, an album or a creative project, or a small business you’d like to promote, and you are interested in sponsoring an episode of Now That We Think About It, please email us at [email protected] for more information.

Links

Deborah Blake

Follow Deborah on Instagram

The Cranky Crone

Deborah on Patreon

Truehearts Collective

A Sampling of Books and Decks by Deborah Blake *

A Year and a Day of Everyday Magic

Everyday Witch’s Book of Deities

Wickedly Unraveled: A Baba Yaga Novel

Doggone Deadly

Everyday Witch Tarot

Everyday Witch Oracle

Support the show by using our affiliate links!

Force of Nature, Planet Friendly, Toxic-free Cleaning*

Our Bookshop Store*

Follow us Alice Carbone Tench & Allison Larkin

If you love this podcast, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nowthatwethinkaboutit.substack.com