The Media Narrative

Your host goes solo in an episode recorded about two days before the Midterms. It's a quick one, mostly to share several great stories, columns, and radio or podcast work by people who are focused on the ways that media and politics interact in America under Trump. Listen and visit the website for a list of links to that work, along with a suggestion for music at times when you need a break from politics.

Related LinksNew York Magazine article on young people likely to not vote

Longform interview with Elizabeth Kolbert on the state of environmental policy

Ezra Klein interview with Jay Rosen on how the media might be damaging politics

Politico Column by Jack Shafer on hitting the mute on the "president's boombox"

Yochai Benkler's Network Propaganda and how it was Fox, not Russia that turned the 2016 election

On the Media examines mid-term coverage examines mid-term coverage

Nels Cline's Musical Life in Five Guitar Riffs

Rachel and Vilray "Do Friends Fall in Love" featuring Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive

Gretchen Rubin is a one-woman media empire. She has published several books, many of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Her award-winning podcast has been downloaded more than 40 million times. She’s also conquered several other new media spheres, ranging from her blog and buzzing, video-rich Facebook presence to a new online course. In addition, she’s been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and hung out with the Dalai Lama.

All of these accomplishments prove the value readers and consumers have found in Rubin’s work. Her last four books—and the rest of her output—have focused on habits, human nature, and happiness. She combines scientific research with observations of others’ lives and her own in an approach that is accessible and actionable. Rubin’s most recent book, The Four Tendencies, proposes that everyone fits into one of four personality profiles and that understanding this can open possibilities for self-improvement.

In our conversation, Rubin talks about the evolution of her writing career (5:30); how she responds to happiness skeptics (8:30); her own productivity habits and practices (12:45); the four personality tendencies (18:30); and the benefit of non-digital news consumption (26:00).

Boston-based pianist and songwriter Rick Berlin recently published The Paragraphs, a revealing and funny memoir of a life's journey that included dropping acid at Yale in the 1960s and encounters with the likes of Meat Loaf, Frank Zappa, and Patti Smith. But rather than dwell on his brushes with fame, Berlin focuses his series of linked essays on self-knowledge, making art, and a life devoted to the power of friendship and community.

In our conversation, in addition to mentioning some of the legends who have inspired him, such as Spalding Gray, R.D. Laing, and Nick Cave, Berlin discusses his process for writing, editing, and publishing his book (5:00); the connection between writing poetry and writing songs (15:00); abandoning full scholarships from two Ivy League graduate programs (17:00); his early career releasing music on major labels (21:30); rediscovering his musical spark later in his career (26:30); the Jamaica Plain Music Festival (30:00); and his reflections on love and relationships (34:00).

You'll also hear excerpts from two of his songs, Berlin Airlift's "Hunger Strikes," and a song from one of his solo albums, "I Think I'm Fallin'."

Mu-Chieh Yun and Iliana Panameño founded We, Ceremony in 2015, years after they met in Boston as elementary school students. As women of color who had experienced marginalization and prejudice, they wanted to create a digital storytelling platform that celebrates and empowers other women of color.

Since launching, We Ceremony has featured dozens of women through profiles and interviews, fostered a robust social media presence, published an ebook, and hosted a series of public forums. Yun studied art history and social and cultural analysis at New York University and Panameño, who earned a master’s in social work at Boston University, works as a community organizer in Everett, Massachusetts.

During our conversation, they talk about the We, Ceremony origin story and its aims (1:30); provide a few highlights from their Spotlight interview series (8:10); their answer to an overloaded question about fixing the world’s problems (14:00); their preferred media sources, which include Quartz, The Nation, and the podcasts Still Processing and Code Switch (20:30); and the future of We, Ceremony (24:20).

Brooklyn-based theater director Hal Brooks has long had a focus on stewarding new plays. In this episode, Brooks talks about working with playwrights such as Don Delillo, involving audiences in the development of new plays, and Rachel Maddow's storytelling rabbinical qualities.

Brooks has been artistic director of the Cape Cod Theatre Project since 2012 and associate artistic director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference since 2010. Among the plays he has directed on and off Broadway are Delillo's Valparaiso and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. He was the Artistic Director of the Obie Award-Winning Pearl Theatre Company. He is a lecturer in theater studies at Yale University.

The songwriter, performer, and multifaceted artist Nona Hendryx refers to herself as a "grazer." She says this because her wide-ranging interests in music taste and technology are also characteristic of her approach to art and life in general.

Hendryx's open-minded ethic comes through during this interview, as she talks about her work in music, education, radio, activism, and other spheres. She uses the term "modern pencil" to stress the importance of analog thinking in a world filled with advanced technology, and as she touches on these topics, she mentions important influences and figures such as Alan Watts, Hank Shockley, Laurie Anderson, and Shakespeare.

As a member of and songwriter for LaBelle, Hendryx captivated listeners with hit songs like "Lady Marmelade" in the 1970s. In her career, Hendryx has collaborated not only with Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash (originally as Patti LaBelle and Bluebells), but also with artists such as David Byrne, Prince, and Keith Richards. At the same time, Hendryx has been productive in a several other fields, including theater, dance, and children's literature.

We begin the conversation by talking about the way that art and science interact and end it by talking about and listening to one of Hendryx's originals, "Temple of Heaven." (Thanks to Nona Hendryx and Righteous Babe Records for permission to use the song in this podcast.)

In this solo podcast episode, your host, Rob Hochschild, talks about the Podcast Movement conference, his goals for podcasting, and a personal story that led directly to a career path of journalism, communications, and podcasting. There's also a number of podcast recommendations in the show—and additional ones listed below—for all of you who are hungry to discover great audio content.

In this episode, you'll learn about some highlights and takeaways from PM18, in Philadelphia, and hear how your host's childhood memory of learning about the Holocaust led to a lifetime of asking questions.

The following are a selection of shows represented at Podcast Movement 2018:

Musician Carolyn Wilkins has had an impressive career as a jazz pianist and bandleader, but she was compelled to apply her creative talents in a new direction—writing—after her family griot died. She not only learned why her grandfather left his high-ranking position in Eisenhower’s Labor Department, but uncovered a number of other revelatory stories about her family’s past and made connections to how these ancestors contributed to her own identity.

In this episode, Wilkins talks about beginning her family research (4:30); achievements by members of the Wilkins family (9:00); a great grandfather who was both “very brilliant” and a “serial womanizer” (12:00); discovering unknown relatives through ancestor research (17:30); identity through learning family history (22:30); the relationship between Wilkins’s music and writing (25:00); reasons for her grandfather’s resignation from the federal government (29:00); and J. Ernest Wilkins Sr. role on the first U.S. Civil Rights Commission (31:30).

When historians talk about the importance of 1968 in U.S. history, Boston isn't necessarily the first city that they discuss. But thanks to a new book by Ryan H. Walsh, readers have a chance to learn about some of the ways the national tumult manifested in Massachusetts. Walsh's primary focus is on Van Morrison and how he spent several pivotal months of his young career working on a set of songs while living in Cambridge. But the book, Astral Weeks: A Secret History, also tells the story of a cult leader, a media scene that seemed as influenced by psychedelics as it was truth telling, and a long list of characters and strange events.

During our conversation, Walsh talked about the significance of Astral Weeks (1:30); reasons behind Van Morrison's decision to move to the Boston area (6:00); Mel Lynam and the Fort Hill Community (10:45); the flopping of the Bosstown Sound (19:00); Walsh's process of researching and writing the book (22:45); the Van Morrison Controversy (24:00); recording sessions in New York for Astral Weeks (26:00); the quest for the Catacombs live recordings (27:30); Boston's place in 1968 history (33:00); and Walsh's interviewing process (36:00).

In the second part of a conversation with journalist/editor/podcaster Julio Ricardo Varela, he talks about covering the controversy around estimates of deaths relating to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (1:00), challenges of being a journalist during the Trump era (15:00) media reports around the Junot Diaz sexual allegations (19:30); balancing hard news and humanity on the In the Thick podcast (25:00); and advice for the next generation of journalists (30:00).