The Harper’s Podcast
When I began working for Harper’s Magazine in June 2018, I launched a podcast that aimed to match the magazine’s distinctive style and quality. Needless to say, that self-imposed mandate is extremely daunting, but I’ve done my best to stick to it. My hope is that The Harper’s Podcast reaches those who didn’t realize they were fans of Harper’s. It also gives authors a space to discuss their work in a way that other shows don’t give space to. As someone on iTunes wrote, “Ah! A podcast where people still talk about books!”
“The DIY Submariner” and “After the Titan,” with Matthew Gavin Frank.
Notes: It just so happened that a story about amateur-built submersibles went online the day after the Titan went missing. (Harper’s print production schedule is two months ahead, so there was absolutely no sense of being on the news. But there we were.) Making this coincidence even stranger is the fact that Frank’s story primarily focuses on his anxieties about riding in an amateur-built sub, and having his fears dismissed by members of amateur sub community. (They consider themselves experts…even though they figured out how to build crafts on their own/within this network.) One was recorded before the Titan, and the second is after. Very interesting listening.
“A Posthumous Shock,” with Will Self.
Notes: This one was wild. Somehow he ended up condemning academia and I suggested that he watch the new Dune. Lots of fun.
“The Anxiety of Influencers,” with Barrett Swanson.
Notes: Barrett, essayist and English professor, spent a week inside a TikTok collab house that its shadowy VC funders referred to as “an influencer university.” Wisely, Barrett’s approach was empathetic (and his analysis materialist) rather than merely snarking on the boys for 9k words. His article is essential reading for anyone who’s “too old” to understand TikTok, and our discussion about the piece—which argues that fame on TikTok is just our economy writ large, and that we’re all getting sucked into performing ourselves on platforms owned by billionaires—is, I daresay, really important.
“Complexity,” with Hari Kunzru.
Notes: This was recorded shortly after the U.S. Capitol riot, so while the conversation is shaped by that event, we’re ultimately focused on the mechanisms of belief that shape our reality, and lead us to misunderstand the universe (in politics and in science). I’ve followed the evolution of QAnon since 2015, and it was a pleasure to speak with Kunzru about conspiracy theories and the rest.
“Making Meaning,” with Garth Greenwell.
“The Pessimistic Style in American Politics,” with Thomas Frank.
“Body Language,” with Alex Marzano-Lesnevich.
“The Call of the Drums,” with Jacob Mikanowski.
Notes: A breakdown of Turanism, an increasingly popular counterfactual telling of Hungary’s origins that’s been promoted by Viktor Orbán.
“Going to Extremes.”
Notes: This is a 30 minute narrative podcast that expands upon Ann Neumann’s story about “mercy killings”: deaths of elderly and ailing patients that are facilitated by their caregivers, who then attempt to take their own lives. Ann and I traveled to the home of Philip Benight, a man who assisted in his wife Becky’s suicide, but survived his own attempt and was arrested for murder. I chose to focus on Philip and Becky’s love for each other, and then brought in issues of medical care and death with dignity toward the end of the episode. Anyone should be so lucky to have a love like theirs.
“The Death of New York City,” with Kevin Baker and Jeremiah Moss.
Notes: When I first moved to New York City, I religiously read Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, a blog that chronicles the closure of local institutions and changes that have made the city less hospitable to non-billionaires. (It was how I learned to be a New Yorker—but not one of those annoying ones.) Kevin Baker’s essay, which charts the same sad homogenization in NYC, resonated with me and many other people, even those who lived outside of New York. This happening everywhere around the world, but we don’t have to accept a return to a second, lamer gilded age.
The Film Comment Podcast
I launched The Film Comment Podcast back in 2015, and hosted it for nearly three years. At first, I wanted to do as little speaking as possible and let the experts lead; I was intimidated. (Also, I knew I was not good at it.) But after hosting week after week, I realized that the podcast didn’t have to be in the same serious tone the print magazine used. The films, books, and concepts we discussed were often complicated, arty, and obscure, so I tried to demystify and entertain without dumbing things down. I’m quite proud of the work I did, even if it took me a while to figure it out.
“Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Voices,” a narrative podcast with Nellie Killian, Farihah Zaman, and Sierra Pettengill.
“David Bordwell’s Reinventing Hollywood,” with David Bordwell and Imogen Sara Smith.
“Twin Peaks: The Return,” with Dennis Lim.
“Lucrecia Martel’s Zama,” with Ester Allen and Dennis Lim.
“Movie Gifts,” with Michael Koresky, Nick Pinkerton, and Aliza Ma.
“Art of the Real 2017,” a narrative podcast with Rachael Rakes, Michael Koresky, and Genevieve Yue.
“Terrence Malick,” with Shonni Enelow and Nick Pinkerton.
“Steve Bannon,” with Will Menaker and Jeff Reichert.
“Women in New Hollywood,” with Molly Haskell and Margaret Barton-Fumo.
“Carte Blanche,” with Michael Koresky, Ashley Clark, and Nick Pinkerton.