Hello, hello! Earlier this week, we invited you all to send in some rants you guys had in mind, and for today’s Letter to the Podcaster, we look at your submissions and talk through them. 

Plug in your headphones and relax as we talk about how doing the bare minimum is okay sometimes! We discuss how this notion is especially true for those days you haven’t been feeling great on, and it certainly applies to the fact that we’ve been living in a freakin panorama for almost 2 years. 

Happy Sunday you gentlefolks! As always, we have three, very interesting, under-the-radar news stories to share with you all. The first is a run-down on why gas just KEEPS getting pricier (Al Jazeera), the Monkey Queen of Japan in trouble of losing power (NYTimes), and CIA dispels foreign conspiracy of “Havana Syndrome '' (NBC, Washington Post). Hope you enjoy the episode!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! In light of the nearing end of college application season, we are joined by a friend of ours, Madeleine, who is a current senior in high school. We talk about what we thought helped us through the process and also what harmed us. From topics such as when to start essays, what to do when you hit the "submit" button, and how getting feedback has its pros and cons. 

Why does our new year's resolutions always become desolations? Is it because we lack motivation? Is it because we aren't strong willed enough? Or is it because we don't actually want to try? Yeah, you made a plan, you set short term goals, and everything else, but what's the point of all that if you don't even believe that you will achieve it. Join Claire and Ceci discussing three points from a mentor's blog post (link here), our personal successes and failures, and how we think you can *actually* make it. 

Happy Holidays, everyone! As always, we have three, very interesting, under-the-radar news stories to share with you all. The first is about the Philadelphia fire that resulted in 12 casualties (6ABC, ABC); the second is about a really weird fish that washed ashore near San Diego (Los Angeles Times); and last but not least, the third is a story is about Canada’s success in banning conversion therapy (NPR). 

COP26, a global climate change convention, ended on November 12 with lots of goals and agreements. In today’s Page Six, we analyze those goals and agreements and try to see whether COP26 was as productive and successful as we had hoped it to be. 

Welcome back and happy holidays soon! Join us for our discussion about three, under-the-radar news stories. Today, we talk about how the Wikileaks founder could now be taken by the US for leaks of military documents (Al Jazeera, Fortune), how Redditors troll Kellog’s job applications in solidarity with strikers (NPR, The Hill), and how billionaires Bezos and Brandon officially received their astronaut wings (Flying Magazine, NYTimes)

What would it be like if Ceci and Claire never met until now? For today's Letter to the Podcaster, we ask each other questions like it’s our first time seeing each other.