Relationscapes: Exploring How We Relate, Love, and Belong

Blair Hodges
  • 0.0 (0)
  • RELATIONSHIPS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

How do we learn to love, relate, and belong in a changing world? Relationscapes brings award-winning journalist Blair Hodges into conversation with today’s most insightful writers and thinkers to explore relationships, gender, sexuality, race, ability, and culture—with ideas that inspire deeper connection and a more humane life.

  1. MINI EPISODE: The Sitcomification of Holly Brown

    2D AGO

    MINI EPISODE: The Sitcomification of Holly Brown

    Holly Brown loves TV sitcoms. Growing up, her own family looked like the prototype for must-see TV: a charismatic dad who worked on a top sitcom in Hollywood, siblings and a mother filling the other familiar family roles. Until it all started to fall apart. As though the writers were playing some kind of sadistic joke. And as her father was dying of cancer, he revealed a secret no one had told her—Holly and her siblings had five-year-old twin half brothers. Holly joins Blair to talk about her genre-bending new podcast, Everybody Knows But Me, which blends memoir, investigative storytelling, with fake sitcom scenes of her life complete with wisecracks and laugh tracks. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Fellow Traveler Episodes Dead Dads Club, with Maddie Norris About the Guest Holly Brown is an LA-based stand-up comedian, a podcast person at Tink Media, and also the host and creator of a new darkly comedic narrative podcast called Everybody Knows But Me.

    46 min
  2. The Slow-Motion Inevitability of Becoming Yourself (with Kevin James Thornton)

    MAY 12

    The Slow-Motion Inevitability of Becoming Yourself (with Kevin James Thornton)

    Kevin James Thornton built a massive audience singing absurd stories from his evangelical past in an auto-tune style on TikTok. But underneath the humor were years of loneliness, secrecy, religious fear, and the slow unraveling of a series of lives he thought he was supposed to live.  Kevin talks about growing up in a "super fundamentalist" church in Indiana, youth-group purity culture, heartbreak, trying to escape being gay, coming to terms with himself, comedy, and why it’s never too late to start over. Kevin’s new memoir is Big Baby: On Endings, Beginnings, and An Interdimensional Cat. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Fellow Traveler Episodes Painfully Funny, (with Paul Scheer) Surviving the "Cure" of Conversion Therapy (with Lucas Wilson) About the Guest Kevin James Thornton is author of the book Big Baby: On Endings, Beginnings, and An Interdimensional Cat. He has built a devoted following of nearly 3 million fans across TikTok and Instagram with his hilarious, heartfelt, and occasionally cringey stories of self-reflection. Since launching his “It Was the 90s” tour in 2021, he has performed to sold-out crowds across the US, UK, Europe, and Canada for five consecutive years. In 2024, he was a headliner at Netflix Is a Joke Fest in Los Angeles. His debut comedy special, Be Yourself, is available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

    1h 15m
  3. Navigating Mixed-Race Family Dynamics (with Samira Mehta)

    APR 28

    Navigating Mixed-Race Family Dynamics (with Samira Mehta)

    Why do racist comments from loved ones cut more deeply than overt racism from strangers? What makes it so difficult to name harm when it comes from someone who cares about you? And how do you respond when good intentions don’t match real impact? Samira Mehta says growing up in a mixed-race family showed her how love and harm can coexist in complicated, often invisible ways. Through personal stories—about food, family expectations, code-switching, and cultural belonging—Mehta gives voice to the constant negotiations navigated by mixed-race people. Samira Mehta is author of The Racism of People Who Love You: Essays on Mixed Race Belonging. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  About the Guest Samira K. Mehta is the Director of Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) was a National Jewish book award finalist. She is also the author of a book of personal essays called The Racism of People Who Love You (Beacon Press, 2023). Her latest book, God Bless the Pill, examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception.

    1h 22m
  4. The Obvious Reason Men's Reproductive Health Has Been Overlooked (with Rene Almeling)

    APR 14

    The Obvious Reason Men's Reproductive Health Has Been Overlooked (with Rene Almeling)

    We talk a lot about women’s reproductive health. We rarely talk about men’s. But that gap isn’t just cultural—it’s built into science itself. In this episode, Yale sociologist Rene Almeling explains how modern medicine ended up with an entire field devoted to women’s reproductive systems—and no real equivalent for men. From a failed 19th-century push for “andrology” to today’s emerging research on sperm and health, we trace how this imbalance took shape. Along the way, we look at what new science is starting to reveal: how age, smoking, and environmental exposures can affect sperm—and why most people have never heard about it. We also explore how cultural assumptions about gender have shaped everything from medical research to the way we describe fertilization itself. If reproduction involves two bodies, why has only one been under the microscope? Find the answers in Rene Almeling's book, Guynecology: The Missing Science of Men's Reproductive Health. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Show Notes List of sources. Fellow Traveler Episodes List of episodes. About the Guest Guest information....

    49 min
  5. MINI EPISODE: She Lets Joy Be Her Compass (with Bailey Buckles)

    MAR 31

    MINI EPISODE: She Lets Joy Be Her Compass (with Bailey Buckles)

    She thought there would always be more time to explore—until a routine hike nearly killed her. In this mini episode, Bailey Buckles recounts how a sudden, life-threatening infection drove home the fact that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. It was an especially powerful moment, because as a transgender woman of color in America, she hadn't always wanted to stay alive.  From climbing mountains to showing up online as her full self, Bailey strives to live with greater urgency, purpose, and joy. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Show Notes Bailey Buckles, "At 38, I Still Felt Like I Was Getting Started. Then I Nearly Died," (Mar 12, 2026). Bailey Buckles, "Is This New, or Just Newly Felt," (Jan 25, 2026).   Fellow Traveler Episodes Recovering Queer Black History for Everybody (with George M. Johnson) How to Support Trans Youth (with Ben V. Greene) About the Guest Bailey Buckles is a trans content creator in Colorado who loves the outdoors, her partner, her dog, and living life. Follow her here, and at her Substack.

    34 min
  6. Tumbling Through the Mother-Daughter Multiverse (with Sarah Labrie)

    MAR 17

    Tumbling Through the Mother-Daughter Multiverse (with Sarah Labrie)

    If you lost touch with reality, how would you even tell the difference? That's the question Sarah Labrie had to confront after her mother was found on the side of a Houston freeway in the midst of a schizophrenic break. And she also wondered, "Am I next?" In this candid conversation, Sarah discusses growing up between extremes of adoration and abuse, witnessing a parent’s mental illness, struggling with perfectionism, and looking for healthy relationships, until the weight of her own artistic ambition almost brought her to mental collapse. We explore parallel worlds—of mother and daughter, of friendship and rupture, of the selves we become, the selves we might have been, and the selves that might yet be out there, somewhere. We're talking about Sarah's memoir, No One Gets to Fall Apart. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Show Notes Walter Benjamin's Arcades project, as told by Wikipedia. Fellow Traveler Episodes "Coming of Age in a Cult and Beyond," with Guinevere Turner "Healing From Family Trauma," with Mariel Buqué About the Guest Sarah LaBrie is author of No One Gets to Fall Apart: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 2024), a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the Writers League of Texas Book Award. She's also a television writer whose credits include Minx, Blindspotting, Made for Love, Love, Victor and Beauty, a Beauty and the Beast prequel for Disney+. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell and the Austin Film Society. Her work has been performed at the Apollo Theater and at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Learn more at sarahlabrielivesinlosangeles.com.

    1h 16m
  7. How Dogs Domesticated Humans (with Laura Hobgood)

    MAR 10

    How Dogs Domesticated Humans (with Laura Hobgood)

    Dogs didn’t just become our companions. They helped make us human. They've been by our side for tens of thousands of years, helping us herd and hunt, migrate, heal, grieve, fight war, imagine the afterlife, and more.  Religion and environmental studies scholar Laura Hobgood joins us to explore the long, complicated co-evolution of humans and dogs—how humans have loved, used, protected, and sometimes harmed them in return. Her book is called A Dog’s History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans. Whether you love dogs, miss one deeply, or have never thought much about them at all, this episode will change how you see our oldest animal partner. Even if you aren't a dog person, you're still kind of a dog person! Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.  Show Notes Check out Grumpy's grave here. Pat Lee Shipman, "The Woof at the Door," on the child and dog in a cave.  "Do dogs go to heaven?" Glad You Asked podcast. About the Guest Dr. Laura Hobgood is co-chair of the Environmental Studies program and past chair of the Religion program at Southwestern University. She also holds the Elizabeth Root Paden Chair in Religion and Environmental Studies. Hobgood received her Ph.D. from St. Louis University and her M.Div. from Vanderbilt University. She is author of A Dog’s History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans.

    1h 9m
  8. MINI EPISODE: What a Good Boy, with Steven Page

    MAR 3

    MINI EPISODE: What a Good Boy, with Steven Page

    Some songs take decades to reveal what they’re really about. Back in the 90s when 20-year-old Steven Page wrote “What a Good Boy,” he understood it as a plea to ease up on restrictive gender expectations that harmed boys and girls. But as he performed it over the years, he realized it was about much more than that. The stirring anthem has become a greater exploration of gender identity and sexuality, a perennial wrestle against a binary world's hostility to people who don't fit the mold—trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, gay, or otherwise. Page, a founding member of the smash-hit band Barenaked Ladies now enjoying his solo career, has spent much of his life writing songs to explore vulnerability, humor, grief, and joy, a signature blend of comedy and tragedy. In this discussion, Page reflects on how "What A Good Boy" came to be, and what it's like to have his creation become part of someone else’s becoming. Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org. But you'll want to hear this one! Show Notes A.R. Moxon, The Reframe Steven Page, "Where Do You Stand?" Steven Page, "White Noise" Barenaked Ladies, "What a Good Boy" David Friend, "Steven Page project takes political turn with new album," Toronto Star (Sept. 21, 2018) Fellow Traveler Episodes Nonbinary Thinking (with Eris Young) The Challenges of Parenting Trans Kids (with Abi Maxwell) A Haunted Trans Story (with Kyle Lukoff) What The News Isn't Telling You About Trans Teenagers (with Nico Lang) Black and Beyond the Binary (with KB Brookins) How to Support Trans Youth (with Ben V. Greene) The Incredible Brain Science About Sex and Gender (with Daphna Joel) Recovering Queer Black History for Everybody (with George M. Johnson) About the Guest Steven Page is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founding member of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Since going solo, Page has released five albums, he performs with groups like the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and he publicly advocates on issues including mental and behavioral health. He has three sons and lives in New York with his partner, Christine Benedicto. I'm not sure if he has any dogs or cats, and I forgot to ask him. Join his Patreon at patreon.com/c/stevenpage.

    39 min
See All (78)

Trailer

About

How do we learn to love, relate, and belong in a changing world? Relationscapes brings award-winning journalist Blair Hodges into conversation with today’s most insightful writers and thinkers to explore relationships, gender, sexuality, race, ability, and culture—with ideas that inspire deeper connection and a more humane life.

Information

You Might Also Like