e69. So, let’s talk about Puerto Rico…

A couple of weeks ago, many Americans were surprised to turn on the news and learn that protests had seemingly suddenly erupted on the island of Puerto Rico demanding the resignation of the governor. This went on for several days until the governor relented and stepped down and then the story all but vanished from…

Call for Comments: On Puerto Rico

People take to the Las Americas Highway in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 22, 2019 on day 9th of continuous protests demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló. – (Photo by Eric Rojas / AFP)ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images From Katya: We have another serious episode in the works. On July 18th, Puerto Ricans began protesting in…

e67. Social Justice Knitting

Back on June 23rd, a popular social network took a bold stance for 2019. It decided to pronounce all support of Donald Trump or his #MAGA campaign as hate speech and white supremacy and for the most part ban it from its network. Oddly enough the network that took this stance wasn’t Facebook or Twitter.…

e64. Mythologizing the Founders

If you live in the United States of America, then this week is Independence Day, the day when we patriotically celebrate the greatest of our heritage and the foresight of a bunch of men in breeches, wigs and stockings decided to create a perfect nation… or so we tell ourselves. If you live outside the…

Call for Comments: unRavelrying Social Justice Networks

Ravelry.com From Katya: So this one is off the beaten path for the podcast but very much in my wheelhouse. Regular listeners have heard me plug my instagram feed with the caveat that it’s mainly sewing and knitting-centric. One of the biggest parts of the online knitting world is a website called Ravelry. Ravelry is a…

Call For Comments: Mythologizing the Founders

From Hannah: Last year for the fourth of July, VoxPopcast recorded a show based on Captain America’s mythos and how it ties in with patriotism and nationalism. This year, I thought that we might want to consider the way that we’ve mythologized the “founders” of America to the point of superhero status. (I mean, some…

Call for Comments: Poverty Shaming

From Hannah: According to a new Bankrate Survey, just over a quarter of Americans will not being going on summer vacation this year (while twenty-two percent are on the fence). Sixty percent of those respondents are forgoing vacation because they can’t afford it. Those who are going on vacation are spending an average of $1,979…

e51. So What Is Subculture Anyway?

We’ve been talking a lot about subcultures on our last couple of episodes. And the terms comes up a lot on the internet — usually negatively — to refer to everything from hipsters and punks and goths and geeks to Republicans and Democrats to Christians and Muslims to … uh… MAGA hat wearers. Often if…

Call For Comments: Hipsters and Bikers and Goths, Oh My!

From Mav: A couple weeks, I saw a fun article floating around social media about a man who complained when he saw his own photo being used for an article about an MIT study that about why “all hipsters look alike” because of how insulting it was to say that… only to later find out…

e48. Political TV and Nostalgia

In the current age of Trump, we’ve noticed a peculiar trend. People yearning for the days of an earlier president… a great orator… a wise statesmen with decorum… a calming presence on television. Not Barack Obama (well, maybe he too). We’re talking about Jed Bartlet, fictional president on television’s The West Wing. Of course, he…