The holidays are hard for me, so I'm constantly looking for things to occupy myself in a way that suits me. Last year, I started buying jigsaw puzzles. Someone on Twitter posted a puzzle that was a collection of erotic pulp fiction and I thought “well, surely that was made for me!” It was great until I adopted my cat, who liked to sit on top of the puzzle and pull at it. But my special guest today may convince me to get back into them!

Rachel mentions the NYT Guide to starting crossword puzzles, the Queer Qrosswords collection, and her Buzzfeed piece on puzzles. Her favorite puzzle producers are Galison, Mudpuppy, and NY Puzzle Co (especially ones by Jim Golden).

Indulgence

Nichole recommends showing off.

Guest

Rachel Wilkerson Miller is a Senior Editor at Vox and the author of The Art of Showing Up: How to Be There for Yourself and Your People and Dot Journaling: A Practical Guide. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, BuzzFeed, VICE, and Huffington Post, and she’s been a guest on NPR, the Today show, and Good Morning America. Find out more about her at rachelwmiller.com

Sponsor

- Dipsea is offering a 30-day free trial when you go to dipseastories.com/thisisgood!

Find Us Online

- Twitter: @ThisIsGoodPod

- Instagram: @ThisIsGoodPod

- Merch: thisisgoodpod.com/merch

- Patreon: thisisgoodpod.com/patreon

- Nichole: @tnwhiskeywoman

- Multitude: @MultitudeShows

- Email: [email protected]

Production

- Producer: Eric Silver

- Editor: Brandon Grugle

- Executive Producers: Amanda McLoughlin and Nichole Perkins

- Theme Music: Donwill

- Artwork: Jessica E. Boyd

About The Show

Nichole Perkins wants people to stop feeling bad about feeling good, and This Is Good For You lets you know you are never alone in what you like. Every episode, Nichole explores something that people love—whether it’s needlepoint, watching bad movies with friends, or cowgirl exercise classes—and asks experts and devotees why it makes them happy. She ends each show with an Indulgence: a recommendation listeners can enjoy with no remorse. There’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure when you learn to love it freely! To find out what’s good for you, listen to new episodes every other Friday.

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