Public Intellectual

From pearl clutching "think of the children" to terfdom to the reign of momfluencers, we've decided to get sentimental about the nuclear family again. This can be seen as heavily on the left ("social reproduction," my god) as on the right. Cameron Steele, writer and editor and mother, and Jessa, barely any of these, discuss the way we have decided to stop thinking about families and create halos around motherhood.

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Between Underground Railroad, Handmaid's Tale, Promising Young Woman, Them, and many others, we are asked to consume stories of trauma and images of torture as our entertainment. Trevor Beaulieu from Champagne Sharks and Jessa discuss how we got here, whether we can blame Jonathan Safran Foer, Adorno (?!), and why setting your story against the backdrop of an atrocity doesn't make it deep.

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Colombia has once again called for a general strike and taken to the streets in protest. Government officials have resigned, proposed tax law reform withdrawn, and still people protest. Protestors have been murdered and disappeared by police, the president is giving speeches in English. Nicolas R. Melo explains the complicated history that tells us what is going on now, and why soccer might ultimately be the thing to bring it all down.

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The cancel culture discourse has been noisy lately, but what is it about this moment that makes it uniquely terrible to be a public person? To be on social media or to write or create, to say things out loud at all? Writer Cameron Steele joins Jessa to talk about surveillance, why everyone except those fully off the grid are justifiable targets for public rage (it is because of Gawker, kinda), and why reply guys should be relabeled circle of sycophants.

support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

There was a rumor circulating on social media that Joe Biden was only going to allow US citizens four pounds of beef per year. People lost their minds. Food writer Alicia Kennedy and I pick apart the anxieties of meat eaters, why 'vegan' has become 'plant-based', and how the shift in omnivore and veg culture has shifted in the last few years.

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Phoebe Maltz Bovy, writer of the essay "Straightness Studies," introduces us to the Tragedy of Heterosexuality. Can queer theory save the straights or are we/they doomed to be trapped in power imbalances and sexual suffering and bad interior decorating decisions forever?

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Every few days or so, a conversation restarts on Twitter: books that are difficult, books that are assigned in school, books that are designated classics, are bad. And publishers, critics, and audiences that support so called "difficult" literature are disappearing. Mauro Javier Cárdenas, author of the new novel Aphasia, and Jessa discuss this change in the literary world and sing the praises of the difficult writers they adore.

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The luxury housing boom is -- hopefully -- over, so what comes next? According to Diana Lind, author of Brave New Home, it's rethinking the single family home. We explore other options, from multi-generational housing, co-living, housing coupled with services, and we ask why Americans are so afraid of public housing.

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Previously released as a bonus episode available only to patrons, following Britney Spears's statement that she felt "torn apart" by the NYT doc that is fueling her revival we thought it best to give it a wider release. Topics considered: a reassessment of the dark first decade of the century, treating Britney Spears like Q, the public likes it when our celebrities die, and stop trying to rehabilitate Paris Hilton, and more!

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While many conservative commentators have been in a panic about the pandemic's baby bust effect, they rarely look past personal choice to see the real reasons people are not having children. Fertility is a deeply felt personal issue, but it exists within a larger context and that context is filled with poisonous plastic. Dr. Shanna Swan, author of the new book Countdown, explains how chemical companies have been allowed to poison the whole country and the ruinous effects it has on fertility and health.

Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellecutual

http://jessacrispin.com