Nerdette WBEZ Chicago

This week, we’re sharing some of the best new music out this summer! Our friend Kristen Kurtis is the assistant music director and Morning Show host at WXPN in Philadelphia. We asked her to bring us some fun and maybe even a little angry songs to rock out to this summer. You can find this collection of “joyfully defiant” songs below or listen along on our Spotify playlist.

Want to add to the playlist? Send us an email at nerdettepodcast@gmail.com or a dm on Instagram!

“Hater’s Anthem” by Infinity Song
“Change Shapes” by Lauren Mayberry
“Sometimes” by Mannequin Pussy
“Suffer” by Pillow Queens.
“Cartagena” by Reyna Tropical
“Broken Man” by St. Vincent
“The Feminine Urge” by The Last Dinner Party
]]>

Our April Book Club pick is Marie-Helene Bertino’s second novel 'Beautyland.' It tells the story of Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, just as the Voyager I spacecraft launches from Earth in search of extraterrestrial life. As a child, Adina learns she herself is an alien, and her mission is to send her observations about humanity to her supervisors via fax machine (it is the ‘80s, after all). With that conceit, Bertino paints a gorgeous tapestry of what it means to be human, filled with poetic descriptions of the utterly mundane. This book is full of love, longing, and curiosity.

We are joined by two expert readers: Mira Jacob, the author of the novel ‘The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing’ and the graphic memoir ‘Good Talk,’ and Molly McGhee, whose novel ‘Jonathan Abernathy You are Kind’ was our January Book Club selection! We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Marie-Helene Bertino in the feed first.
]]>

This week, we are taking some time to reflect on the past *11 years* of Nerdette by listening to two of our all-time favorite interviews. First, Greta and Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King) bond over their shared love of corgis. Then, poet Ross Gay tells us about 'The Book of Delights,' a collection of essays about finding delight everyday.

We also want to let you know that Nerdette’s last episode at WBEZ will be May 28. Thank you for all of the love and support!

]]>

This week, senior Reset producer Meha Ahmad and journalist Araceli Gómez-Aldana join us to unpack the week. We get into friendship breakups over Taylor Swift, a new airline for dogs and Olympic fashion.

Then, Maura Cheeks tells us about her debut novel Acts of Forgiveness. The book imagines a world where the U.S. government awards cash reparations to the descendants of enslaved people.
]]>

This week, our friends Dan Pashman, host of 'The Sporkful' podcast and author of the new cookbook 'Anything’s Pastable,' and Helen Rosner, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the newsletter 'The Food Scene,' go all in on food in another round of our favorite game: Burden or Delight.

Plus, producer Anna Bauman adventured to Indianapolis this week to see the total solar eclipse. We listen to what it was like to stop and wonder at our sky.
]]>

We are unpacking the week that was with Amory Sivertson, host of the WBUR podcasts Beyond All Repair and Endless Thread, and Kristina Lopez, producer of Glamorous Trash. We discuss the reasons why women need more sleep than men, age gap relationships and “Stick Nation.”

Then, Vulture film critic Alison Wilmore tells us about why women in action movies all seem to be doing the same particular stunt. She dubs it “killer gams.”
]]>