Incandescently Furious

10/16/20 - We contemplate a VC-backed startup for women who need to scream into pillows. A brief discussion of the Supreme Court nomination of the latest Judge Who Must Not Be Named. Fortunately, Rebecca Traister's work on the political power of women's anger is always timely, as we revisit our 2018 interview with her (and the unfortunately still-relevant fury of the Kavanaugh nomination).

Transcript below.

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Producer: Gina Delvac

Hosts: Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman

Theme song: Call Your Girlfriend by Robyn

Composer: Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs.

Associate Producer: Jordan Bailey

Visual Creative Director: Kenesha Sneed

Merch Director: Caroline Knowles

Editorial Assistant: Laura Bertocci

Design Assistant: Brijae Morris

Ad sales: Midroll

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister is on sale now.

Go deeper with books by and about these incredible angry feminists:

Flo Kennedy: her public access show archive

Vivian Gornick: all of her books

Rosa Parks: At the Dark End of the Street

Anita Hill: Strange Justice

Rose Schneiderman: her 1911 speech at the Metropolitan Opera House after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

This episode is all about comfort in challenging times and staying true to yourself. We talk with a paragon of creating cozy feelings, Jenny Han, the author behind the book and Netflix series To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

Is it childish to call people Best Friends? Who holds the various keys to our hearts and identities? And what dreams of the past and future are getting us through the pandemic? Aminatou discusses travel, religion, finding ourselves and how we use coded language to find our people with Jedidiah Jenkins.

We discuss the inauguration celebrity parade, the fallacy of calls for "unity," Melania's caftan, Bernie's mittens, and "We will be back in some form."

We’re reading fiction, nonfiction, essays and anxiety-producing novels.

The new year has already been more of a lot. Amid so many challenges, here are the practices, advice, and rituals we're bringing with us into 2021.

Crawling to the finish line of 2020, we catch up and reflect on what parts of our pandemic routines we may keep as we move into 2021.

As cases spike in the U.S., we talk to one of our favorite consent experts, sex and dating coach Myisha Battle, about how to have the COVID talk with friends, family, and potential romantic prospects.

How do you get more deeply involved in a cause you care about? Especially when it's an issue as challenging as homelessness? We talk with Melissa Acedera who practices mutual aid through Polo's Pantry, a mobile food bank in Los Angeles.

We are enjoying this slow season, grateful for what we have and opening our wallets for those who experience food insecurity. In the first of two episodes about food justice, we discuss our Thanksgiving feels and talk with Ebony Derr, financial manager at the Okra Project, which nourishes Black trans people with meals and community. Plus, our favorite Thanksgiving movies, what we're eating, and flashpoint feelings around okra (the food itself).

Purging our archives, mailing care packages in lieu of clothing swaps, confronting our own consumerism, who we imagine perusing our estate sales, secret talents, and some delightful things we're watching (including cults and sexy chess of course).

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won. We break away from our stress puzzling to celebrate this win. While there's so much work to be done, seeing Kamala on stage Saturday night was very moving. We revisit our 2018 interview with then Senator, now VP-elect Harris. And we are pleased to announce this officially breaks the CYG curse of only highlighting candidates who do not ultimately win!

As we await final results, we share our election week feels and discuss some of the racist scams that undergird the American electoral system - like the Electoral College itself - with Heather McGhee, author of the forthcoming book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Plus, the local gains, newly minted officials and old timers (like Nebraska's Ernie Chambers) who are giving us hope.

The Guerrilla Girls have been resisting sexism and racism through art for the last 30 years. An anonymous collective of gorilla-mask bedecked agitators, their campaigns have ranged from protests to posters, billboards, and museum interventions. With style, humor, and collective action, they call attention to issues rich and powerful institutions would rather side-step. All the members take pseudonyms after dead women artists. We talked with founding members Frida Kahlo and Käthe Kollwitz about the body of work collected in a new book: Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly.

Activists and artists were waking up each day in anger and despair after Trump's election. Alongside actions and demonstrations, groups started forming around the country to gather, protest, and sing. In the first episode about the art of resistance, we listen to the voices (spoken and sung) of two choirs: the Resistance Revival Chorus in New York City and Community Chorus in Los Angeles.

We contemplate a VC-backed startup for women who need to scream into pillows. A brief discussion of the Supreme Court nomination of the Judge Handmaiden. Fortunately, Rebecca Traister's work on the political power of women's anger is always timely, as we revisit our 2018 interview.

In this latest season of the pandemic, we're trying to find joy where we can: guava cocktails, vintage golf clothes, journaling, repetition, boredom, and the future.

We're managing our election anxiety and getting out the vote. Does phone banking, text banking, and making a voting plan really move the needle? We find out with Crooked Media political director Shaniqua McClendon.

Do you need something to read (and take your mind away from doom-scrolling)? We talk with Nessa Rapport about her novel Evening and Alice Wong, editor of the anthology, Disability Visibility.

How can we create change from within institutions? We talk with longtime civil rights activist, Pramila Jayapal, who was elected to Congress in 2016 about her work with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pushing for change within the Democratic Party.

We're engulfed in crises: caregiving, police violence, employment, and an election. These may feel like unprecedented times, and yet, some of our favorite guests have been experts and activists who tackle these issues.

What does attraction mean, specifically for people who don't experience sexual attraction? Angela Chen joins us to talk about her book Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society and the Meaning of Sex.

Friendships that stretch into years and decades hold a special place in our lives, and require special tending. As we conclude our Summer of Friendship series, we hear about your big friendships that have gone the distance.

We often see people don’t have time for friends as life gets busier: Hint hint, it’s capitalism and patriarchy making you feel that way. And we interview author Mia Birdsong on building the communities and relationships we actually want, rather than those we’ve been told to want.

Difficult patches, communication breakdowns, and periods of estrangement are part of a LOT of important relationships, and friendships are no exception. We discuss our breakdown and why we had to go to therapy to start fixing it.

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free. Her latest is Intimations.

Race plays out differently in every friendship. And not all interracial relationships involve a Black person and a white person, but ours does.

We stretch when we grow with, and in response to, a friend. But it can be hard to figure out: How do you know how much to give to a friendship—and take from it?

We did not write a “female friendship” book, but we are indeed two women. And our friendship has been both strengthened and threatened by the ways we communicate.

Days away from the release of Big Friendship, Aminatou and Ann share key definitions from the book and read a passage about a very challenging time in their friendship.

We learn about young Aminatou and Ann from Faith and Bridget, our high-school besties—who both remain close friends today.