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What makes us change – or not change?

Change happens to all of us – but what actually happens to us when we change, and how does that change stick? Sometimes there isn't a clear answer, but Benoit Denizet-Lewis, associate professor at Emerson College and author of the book You've Changed: the Promise and Price of Self Transformation, tried to find out what makes change happen. He followed bullies who became Buddhists, gay atheists who became straight evangelicals, political party switchers, people in personality disorder therapy, and prisoners seeking parole.
Brittany is joined by Benoit to find out how change happens to us – and how we understand personal transformation in our culture.

(00:00) What makes change happen to us?
(02:29) When your friend changes - and you don't recognize them anymore
(05:47) Can we intentionally change our core personalities?
(11:38) How social media shapes our understanding of change
(18:17) Parole hearings and the performance of change in the prison system
(21:11) Should we spend time trying to change ourselves, or trying to change the world?

For more episodes about how we change or how to make it happen, check out:
This is your summer of self-love
Free will and the cult of "high agency"
How to survive a millennial midlife crisis

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What does freedom mean today?

Happy Juneteenth! For those not in the know, today commemorates when U.S. federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed – a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, Juneteenth has been celebrated all over the country, especially in Texas and across the South, where Juneteenth parades, cookouts, festivals and pageants happen every year. Two weeks from now, the country will celebrate the Fourth of July – and its 250th anniversary. For many Black Americans, there’s always been a tension between these holidays – and their two different ideals for what it means to be free. As voting rights protections are rolled back and Black history is being scrubbed from government websites, what does freedom look like for Black Americans today?

To get into it, Brittany is joined by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College.

For more episodes about the quality of Black life in America, check out:
Jesse Jackson & the end of the civil rights superhero
Is the economy slowing? Ask Black women.
What to expect when you're expecting racism

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Where do queer people gather?

In honor of Pride Month, we're looking at those sanctuary spaces where LGBTQ+ people can celebrate, strategize, and simply exist…especially amidst a hostile political climate and lackluster feelings about corporate Pride.

Brittany is joined by Erik Piepenburg, author of Dining Out, First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants and Diners, and Lucas Hilderbrand, author of The Bars are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After to bring us out of the bars and into diners, crafts circles, book clubs, and other third spaces where queer folks are finding community and joy.

For more episodes queer life? Check out these episodes:

In search for a safe space to cry
The Pride month vibes are off, but there's still hope.

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Generative AI has been creating race-based content, and the results are...uncomfortable.

Brittany’s been getting served a lot of AI generated videos of older Asian men, who seem to be feng shui experts of some kind, espousing the benefits of having a “lazy wife” in your household. But it doesn’t stop there. Today’s guest, Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls on the Internet and author of the audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, has been ringing the alarm about AI generated videos featuring Black women. Some are AI slop, while others perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Black women -- and there’s a market for it.

Bridget joins the show to get into how generative AI has skewed perceptions around race, gender, and privilege online.

Bridget's first audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, is available for pre-order now from LoveAtFirstPrompt.AI and comes out July 14th from Simon & Schuster. 

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What’s bringing Gen Z to the theaters?

Backrooms and Obsession are two recent horror films that have done massive numbers – and their success has been driven, in large part, by Gen Z. Even beyond these films, Gen Z is now the largest moviegoing audience, according to a couple of recent surveys. But what’s bringing the short-form video generation to theaters? And what makes a movie… a Gen Z movie?

To get into it, Brittany is joined by Sam Adams, staff writer at Slate, and Reanna Cruz, entertainment journalist and critic.

(00:00) The Gen Z movie moment
(03:47) Obsession vs. Backrooms
(11:06) What's bringing Gen Z to movie theaters
(15:04) Doomer vibes and digital worlds: what makes a movie a Gen Z movie
(21:40) Will we see more Gen Z movies after Obsession and Backrooms?

For more episodes about where film or Gen Z culture, check out:
Gen Z is afraid of sex — and for good reason
Women deserve revenge. Do they get to have it?
Onscreen cannibalism and our hunger for love

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