Tara Henley, journalist and author of Lean Out: A Meditation on the Madness of Modern Life , joins Bridget for a free ranging conversation about starting her career as a hip-hop critic, the transcendence of music and live music in particular, how quickly humans can adapt to anything, and how having colon cancer in her 20s taught her at a fundamental level that life is out of our control. They discuss how the pandemic made us reevaluate our priorities in the age of hyper capitalism, their experiences working in restaurants, how journalism used to be a working class profession, and why she left mainstream media when she saw things becoming more extreme and the woke point of view became the only voice in the room which meant only telling one small part of every story all the time. They also cover how her letter of resignation went viral, why being critical of our institutions is the job of journalists and this has gotten lost, how Twitter plays an outsized role in group think, and why ultimately, journalism is about being willing to change your mind. Check out Tara's substack at tarahenley.substack.com. 

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Jennifer Briney, host of the Congressional Dish podcast, sits down with Bridget to talk about her mission to read the bills and laws passed by Congress, to find out what is being done with our taxes, explain what is hidden in bills over 1000 pages long, and to create a community of people who were interested in Congress’s effect on our lives. They cover how living abroad during the US invasion of Iraq got Jen interested in how the media was covering the war, how she started looking for media that would tell her the truth but couldn't find it so she started watching CSPAN, and her shock at hearing things discussed on the House floor that she thought would be massive scandals but weren’t even being discussed in blogs, all of which led her to starting the podcast. They discuss how the "bosses" for both parties are really multi-national corporations, how in lockstep both parties are when it comes to war, the impossibility of leaving your bias at the door and how she deals with it, and why she's enthusiastic because independents like herself are making a living in media and not toeing the corporate line.

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Chris Williamson, host of the Modern Wisdom podcast, sits down with Bridget to talk about how he got where he is. They cover his start as a nightclub owner, model, and reality TV star, why he always tried to get himself into a position where people needed him for something, how he didn't think he was worth that much unless he was offering people something else in return, and the existential crisis that led him to realize he wasn't the person he was pretending to be. They also discuss doing something that you genuinely believe in, why it's very difficult to not feel like your self worth is gauged by the way that people respond to your work, the danger of audience capture, the state of today's man, why we should be pedestalizing motherhood, the UK's particular culture around success and people that do different things, and why you should always ask the question, "Why am I doing this?"

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Bridget sits down with Sarah Haider, writer, activist and podcaster, for a wide ranging conversation covering Sarah's thoughts as an ex-Muslim on the reaction of the Progressive left when you criticize Islam, how little the lived experiences of those who disagree with the woke orthodoxy matters, why she thinks Western feminism died a while back, her experience immigrating from Pakistan as a child, what she observed growing up in a lower class neighborhood, and how her activism and speaking out against Islam was a form of social death for her parents. They also discuss Sarah's ambivalence about the value of putting yourself in a group, why it affects your intellectual honesty, whether we can claim any kind of community outside of religion and faith, the unraveling of community in America, and why supporting young, working mothers should be a priority in our society. Check out Sarah's writing on her substack Hold That Thought . And don't miss her podcast with Meghan Daum, A Special Place in Hell. 

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Ariel Pink is an American musician, singer, songwriter and indie rock icon. However, his attendance at the January 6th Trump rally at the White House - an event he would like made very clear in its distinction from the violence at the Capitol hours later - led to his subsequent cancellation among fellow musicians and fans alike, being dropped from his music label, and left him looking around bewildered, wondering what happened. He and Bridget talk about how the rules have changed on everyone, why you should have to be pro United States to be eligible for President, why he believes he's more liberal than anyone that cancelled him, his theory about the last election, what keeps him grounded, what his plans for the furture are, and why he'd rather be put in jail and serve some time than be cancelled, because there's no expiration date to it.

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Mediated Series - Part 4:
Published in 2005, Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live In It , became Bridget's bible for understanding the changing media landscape and how it is affecting our society and behavior. Now she sits down with author Thomas de Zengotita for a multi-part series discussing the book chapter by chapter. 

In Part 4 Bridget and Thomas discuss the extent to which children are fluent in mediated culture, the speed with which slang spreads, how the process of curating their social media profiles is kind of publicly inventing who they are, and how people can feel a kind of nostalgia for times they never lived in because they've lived in it representationally. They also cover the verbing of words, like "adulting," and how when you verb a word you're displaying the fact that you are aware of yourself as playing the role, how we've moved from risk-averse to risk-less world and there's an entire economy around taking away all risk, the value of psychobabble, when you need to watch out for the curmudgeon factor, how misery is enhanced by online comparisons of your own life with other lives, and why Thomas is more optimistic now than he was 20 years ago.

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Bridget and Cousin Maggie sit down to celebrate the 200th episode of Walk-Ins Welcome. They marvel at the fact that they've been consistent with a project for 4 years, take stock and look back on how far they've come, reminisce about the Days of Soup and Toast and why turning down $10k at her brokest was a good lesson for Bridget, and ponder the invisibility cloak that seems to surround all things Phetasy (though it's probably a blessing in disguise). They also discuss Bridget's upcoming sober anniversary, new projects that were recently launched, all the projects still to come if they ever find time, the original Phetasy website and why they might have missed out on the chance to make billions, the "Why" behind Phetasy that keeps it all going, and what Bridget's superpower would be if she had to pick just one.

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Comedian and political commentator Lee Camp drops in for a conversation about his political awakening, why we should turn off all mainstream corporate media, working for RT America before it was shut down, seeing independent media and voices being purged from the internet, and what we do when the culture has lost faith in all news outlets. They also discuss where Lee gets his news, America's prison state, the real reason behind the war on drugs, whether Congress is owned by corporations, how the Democrats are not really a left-wing party outside the US, and his views on capitalism. For more information on his comedy, show and podcasts, check out him out here: https://leecamp.locals.com/.

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Comedian Nimesh Patel sits down with Bridget to talk about his new comedy special Thank You China , how he got started in comedy, how TikTok was vital to his career, how everyone's selling out everywhere they go, why a degree in finance did him no good, and his writing gig for Chris Rock at the Oscars. They also cover the grind of feeding the algorithm, learning to step away, why you have to be Zen about social media, why healthcare jokes are so universal and popular, the travesty of the health care system in this country, his many cousins who are doctors, growing up with a big family, surviving cousin roast battles, comedians complaining they can't talk about anything anymore, and how for better or for worse, China knows all about you.

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Greg Lukianoff (The Coddling of the American Mind , Unlearning Liberty ) sits down with Bridget for a conversation about free speech on college campuses, how social media sped everything up and created the trend of cancel culture, how much worse things have gotten since Coddling was published, and how people just lost their minds since Covid hit. They discuss how deeply messed up it is to tell people they're more fragile than they are, how the victimhood mentality is undermining cognitive behavioral therapy, the decline in college attendance, Greg's work with FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) and why they're seeing an uptick in their caseload, how people are always talking about a "pendulum swing" but that's not how history works, and why you have to care about what's going on at elite colleges because it's going to mess up the rest of society downstream.

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