podcast diaries, no.1

29 May, 2026

I'm a big podcast listener and want to start sharing some of my favourite episodes in an effort to keep the conversation going after I'm finished listening. You'll learn pretty quickly that I'm especially interest in pop culture and news podcast, so if you have any recommendations, I'm always interested in expanding my horizons! .𖥔 ݁ ˖

Co-op City, 99 Percent Invisible

I'm always learning new things from 99PI, but this one especially is such a reminder on how 1) urban planning movements are complicated and 2) worker's unions can be so powerful. A worker's union built Co-op City! That's the power of people coming together to make change and to secure rights for their community--in this case, they're securing access to affordable housing for generations to come.

In the episode, they also talk about the rocky journey to get there. It's also a reminder that "good urbanism" historically comes at the cost of bulldozing neighbourhoods, often targeting majority Black and other racialized communities. It's a reminder that everything is nuanced and we always have to try to do better. We can't just push for progress at any cost. Someone I know recently joked about how some neighbourhoods NEED a little gentrification and, oh boy, I'm still thinking about that. That's a harmful, oversimplification that I could write a whole zine about but I'll just leave it there.

Read more about Co-op City.

Taylor Tomlinson isn't Settling, So True with Caleb Hearon

I don't always love podcasts without a script or agenda but I love So True because Caleb Hearon just has so much chemistry with everyone he brings on. I don't even have to know the guest very well to have a good time listening to their episode.

This episode with Taylor Tomlinson is especially good because I love their discussion about boundaries. It's fun and silly (I was holding back my laughter while listening to this in the office) but so genuine. I'm such a fan of Caleb. I appreciate how he doesn't hide his politics and is so willing to have hard conversations. He's just so cool, confident, and everything I want to be!

Will the backlash against AI turn violent?, The Guardian's Today in Focus

Oof - this is such a good episode but it made me feel like I was living in a dystopian future. Welcome to 2026, I guess.

This episode is about the attack on OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman's home and what this means for the wider, non-violent population of AI haters. Most haters aren't scheming to burn down the personal homes of the tech bro oligarchs that won't stop pushing AI, but what is the logical next step? How do we push back against AI in other ways, that are more targeted and strategic? I don't know, but I do recommend the book How to Blow up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm.

It's a good read if you're interested in this sort of thing.

oh, yep, that's fake too, Shameless

The hosts on Shameless talked about the Baldoni and Lively case as the situation developed and part of their discussion was about how cruel the internet was towards Lively. It came out later that the cruelty was (in part) fabricated by Baldoni's team. It's so insidious and horrifying that someone's PR approach is to incite hate against their supposed "opponent."

It feels like we're living in a dystopian reality (here we go again) where tech companies control online narratives and have the power to sway public opinion however they'd like. I mean, this was happening 10 years ago (!!!) in the American 2016 election and it's been happening ever since, but I'm still so surprised to learn how prevalent and powerful social media really is.

The harvesting of Facebook users' personal information by third-party apps was at the centre of the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, exposed in 2018.

The consulting firm, now defunct, worked for Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign in 2016, and used personal information from millions of US Facebook accounts for the purposes of voter profiling and targeting. (Source: BBC)

I want to leave Instagram, my most used social media platform, when I hear about things like this, but there's such a high switching cost. I still love some of it, and especially with my zine projects, it can be a valuable tool for publicity and connection, but I see myself moving off it in the next few years.¹

So, on the other hand...what's up with Geese?

Earlier this year, I started seeing Geese, the band fronted by Cameron Winter, EVERYWHERE online. I tried listening to them and they're just not my cup of tea. That's okay, but I was confused when I started asking a few friends in real life if they'd heard of them. At first, people said no and I assumed I was just on a different algorithm. That could be true, but this podcast episode talks about how Geese (and seemingly every other musician right now) is using paid digital marketing campaigns to simulate virality and steer the digital conversation towards them.

Its a slippery slope because this method is just advertising, but it also has creepy and concerning implications if people are weaponizing these tactics for things outside of the music, podcast, and TV industries. Or even within them! What does this mean for pop culture? How can we determine what "popular" is if everything online is fake and fabricated? What is culture? The hosts on Shameless have some good conversations about this all in their podcast and I'm definitely interested in learning more.