Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchTonya Harding Part 1
Sarah tells Mike the story of a world-class figure skater who worked at a mall potato restaurant. Digressions include “Sleepless in Seattle,” mall wa…
6 years, 9 months ago
The Stonewall Uprising
“Humans aren’t good at remembering what got us where we are.” Mike tells Sarah how a turning point in the gay rights movement became an immediate con…
6 years, 10 months ago
Kitty Genovese and “Bystander Apathy”
“Once you tell a story incorrectly once, you can’t control where it goes.” Sarah tells Mike how The New York Times turned a suburban murder into an u…
6 years, 10 months ago
Sexting
“We’re uncomfortable with the evidence that teen girls have sexual agency.” Special guest Amy Hasinoff tells Mike and Sarah how a moral panic became …
6 years, 11 months ago
The American Taliban
“He’s been punished even more than the American prison system can aspire to punish anyone”: Mike tells Sarah how John Walker Lindh became a terrorist…
6 years, 11 months ago
Exorcism
"It just seems like capitalism masquerading as religion": Sarah tells Mike how a horror movie resurrected a ritual and established an industry. Digre…
6 years, 11 months ago
Homelessness
“We want stories that don’t exist in systems”: Mike tells Sarah what happened when Utah set out to solve one of America's most intractable problems. …
6 years, 11 months ago
Dan Quayle v. Murphy Brown
“Why did we make fun of Dan Quayle for misspelling the word ‘potato’ when we should have made fun of him for arguments like this?” Mike tells Sarah h…
7 years ago
Elián González
Mike tells Sarah how a 5-year-old kid transformed a city, divided a political party and (maybe) determined a presidential election. Digressions inclu…
7 years ago
The Preppy Murder
Sarah tells Mike how an aspiring rich kid became an emblem of a world he didn't belong to. Digressions include drill teams, prep schools and eating d…
7 years ago