Vox Quick Hits

Not all mother-daughter relationships are sunny and cheerful. Vox book Critic Constance Grady recommended a few novels that unpack complicated dynamics in clever, original ways.

Ask a Book Critic is an exclusive series from Vox Quick Hits. New episodes every other Wednesday and you can read the column here. 

If you’d like Constance to recommend a book for you, email [email protected] with the subject line “Ask a Book Critic.” The more specific your mood, the better!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of people felt overworked before the pandemic. Now, well, you can imagine. American work culture has become increasingly untenable for many people. It's basically impossible to keep up with the demands of work and the rest of life, which is especially true for parents, even when we’re not living through a pandemic. The past year has exposed America’s problem with work culture, and pushed working parents to their limits. Is there a way we can fix this? Vox’s Anna North is here to explain.

References: 

Read Anna’s story about work culture and pandemic parenting here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Vox Quick Hits archive (Feb. 19, 2021): Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson and critic-at-large Emily VanDerWerff recommend Minari.

Minari is the story of Korean immigrants Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica (Yeri Han) who move their two small children (Noel Kate Cho and Alan S. Kim) from California to Arkansas in pursuit of Jacob’s dream of farming. But Jacob and Monica’s marriage is on the rocks, a circumstance that doesn’t improve the way they hoped it would when Monica’s mother (Yuh Jung Youn) comes to stay with them.

Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Munyurangabo, Lucky Life) and set in the 1980s Ozarks, Minari feels deeply personal. It’s both a family drama seen through the eyes of a Korean American boy and a moving tale of love and loss in the American heartland, exquisitely told.

Read Alissa's review of Minari here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We asked if you still had vaccine questions, and you did. We found answers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zack, Alex, and returning guest Jen Kirby talk about the potential for a “bloodbath” in Myanmar. Since the military deposed the democratic government in a February 1 coup, pro-democracy protesters and armed ethnic groups have risen up against the junta. They’ve been met with extreme violence, leading to more than 500 dead and concerns from experts that a broader civil war is coming. The Worldly crew explains how this horrible situation came to be, what may come next, and what — if anything — the international community can do to stop a Syria-like crisis.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York is the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana, but President Joe Biden won’t budge. This means that it’s possible to become a billionaire or a convicted felon for selling weed in the US.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Vox Quick Hits archives (Jan. 21, 2021): A preview of Vox columnist Anne Helen Petersen's conversation with sociologist Rachel Sherman about Sherman's research into the anxieties of wealthy people and their desire to be seen as "middle class." Her work exposes the flawed stories we tell ourselves about who qualifies as middle class and who qualifies as "good" in the US.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vox's Worldly host Zack Beauchamp talks with author and New Statesman editor Emily Tamkin about the life and legacy of George Soros. How did a Hungarian billionaire philanthropist become the No. 1 boogeyman of right-wing nationalist movements on both sides of the Atlantic? They unpack the meaning of the smear campaign against him, and the inherent contradictions of a wealthy man trying to use his influence to make societies more democratic.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s infrastructure week in America. President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to spend trillions on bridges, roads, housing, and clean energy to prove it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Vox Quick Hits archives (Jan. 27, 2021): “Manifesting,” or the practice of thinking aspirational thoughts with the purpose of making them real, has never been more popular: From late March to mid-July in 2020, Google searches for the term  skyrocketed 669 percent; “shut up I’m manifesting” was among the defining memes of 2020. Vox's Rebecca Jennings joins host Meredith Haggerty to explain what manifesting is, who's doing it, how it works, and how it doesn't.

Read Rebecca's story here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices