The American Age

010 - For this week's note the hosts discuss the late Betty White. Her decades long career lasted through so many changes in American culture that it's worth pausing to remember her contributions.

201 - In response to Episode 200, the hosts play a game called “one degree of white supremacy.” Steven and Seph sent Travis a list of major headlines. Travis claimed that with one Google search he would find a connection between that story and the problem of “white supremacy”--regardless of the story. Tune in to hear the results.

009 - The hosts return to their annual theme: Unlucky Days. Those days between Christmas and New Years seem to flow outside of normal time. They run together. Time is indistinct. As 2021 comes to an end, the hosts reflect on uncertainty.

200 - The hosts reflect on 200 episodes of The American Age. What have the learned? How have they changed? Favorite episodes, the artifact of "the podcast," what is valuable about a nation of ideals, all of this and more is discussed.

008 - Is Covid a plague of the unvaccinated? Is populist ideology killing the vaccine hesitant? According to a recent article by NPR's Daniel Wood and Geoff Brumfiel the answer to both of those questions is, yes. The hosts react to this story and explore empathy fatigue, compassion, and what statistics can and can't show us.

199 - The hosts pickup their conversation from last time and discuss the aspirations and the limits of affirmative action. From there they think through the various ways we succeed and fail at taking care of ourselves. Paradoxically, because there are so many available “tools” to take care of ourselves, it often feels like another item on the to do list, instead of the thing that makes the doing possible.

007 - The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict landed with a partisan thud. Some saw the judgement as an example of systemic racism, while others saw a righteous verdict for a heroic teen. The truth, of course, is that neither of these overly stark, flat assessments tells us much about what happened in Kenosha and why. The hosts offer their notes on one of the most talked about legal cases of 2021.

198 - The hosts work through the value and the limits of decorum. What does it mean to maintain or transform a shared civic space for political or personal reasons? How do we pay attention to other people’s feelings and still manage to articulate the difficult things that are important to us? Is a MAGA hat performance art?

006 - This week's Note has the hosts contending with the scope and influence of social media on American public discourse. Is it a good idea that so many people are empowered to talk so much? They wrestle with Ian Bogost's article "People Aren't Meant to Talk This Much" in The Atlantic, and offer their point of view on the role of social media.

197 - The hosts discuss Jenny Zhang’s recent Gawker article, “Identity Fraud.” The history of race hustling is discussed, as is what it means to have power. How can you tell the difference between someone holding on to hurt, and someone hurting? Is “woke” a white performance, or is it a way to be more inclusive and caring about others?