[Note: I've updated this item to clean up the format.]
The Atlantic recently recommended five podcasts in its daily newsletter to subscribers, and I was struck by the fact that three of them had a gay connection. Here they are (all descriptions are from The Atlantic):
Great Lives, "Alvin Hall Chooses James Baldwin" (BBC)
The great joy of James Baldwin's prose is its rhythms, so he's the perfect subject for a podcast episode. This 2015 episode of the BBC's long-running biography series Great Lives explores his life and work, and provides a great introduction to his unforgettable voice. If you love biography, the Great Lives archive is a treasure chest. (Note: We'll be discussing Baldwin's final novel, Just Above My Head, in February.)
It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, "Brandon Taylor Wrote 'Real Life' and 'Filthy Animals' for His Queer, Black Friends" (National Public Radio)
Sam Sanders' delightful show has been a great mix of humor, thoughtfulness and existentialism. In his recent interview with the writer Brandon Taylor, Sanders poses the oh-so-small questions: "Do we ever really like our lives? And do we ever really like our friends?" I couldn't help but smile listening to their easy banter, and I loved hearing Taylor explain his artistic philosophy: to write stories that will make the people he loves laugh, cry, and feel seen.
Short Wave, "The Mysterious Ice Worm" (NPR)
This is a PSA: Ice worms--worms that live inside glaciers--are real, and a recent episode of NPR's daily science podcast is here to tell you about them. Everyone needs a break from the wear and tear of the pandemic, and for me, delightful natural-world-facts podcasts have been an absolute saving grace. I honestly recommend all Short Wave episodes, which cover topics as diverse as discrimination in health care for transgender people and whether your cat actually hates you. But this ice-worm joint is a great encapsulation of what a science podcast can do: inform, delight and make you wonder about important real-life issues such as why ice worms get fatter over winter.
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