Backtalk

Latest Episodes:

Backtalk: Who Gets to Make Mistakes? Dec 14, 2018

Show notes

This week, Dahlia and Amy round up some of the big hits of bad takes. From Lena Dunham's letter from the editor where she admits to lying to protect a rapist to a weird piece dissecting Ariana Grande's "thank u, next" music video, who gets to make mistakes over and over again? Writers get the brunt of the backlash, but how much responsibility should the editor take when they're the ones who click "publish"? Amy vs. Dahlia wants you to weigh in on the best winter flick! Amy can watch "Home Alone" every year and Dahlia loves Nora Ephron's classic "When Harry Met Sally." Who do you wanna chill with more? Kevin or Sally? Text "winter" to 503-855-6485 to let us know what you think!

Backtalk: Mind the Wage Gap Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

This week, Dahlia and Amy talk about what real allyship can look like in Hollywood and beyond. Recently, Porter magazine hosted a roundtable with Gabrielle Union, Gina Rodriguez, Ellen Pompeo, and Emma Roberts where Pompeo called on white folks to do better and Rodriguez brought up the issue of pay inequity. Who gets uncomfortable in these conversations and does it create real change? And, as promised, Amy's fave pop culture moment is this the Black Mirror-esque anti-Amazon ad. In this week's Amy vs. Dahlia, we're hashing out the holidays: Are you Bah! Humbag! or Merry Everything? Text "Holiday" to 503-855-6485 to let us know what you think!

Popaganda: The Pumpkin Spice Must Flow Nov 22, 2018

Show notes

At the end of summer, when the super hot days get rarer, the signs of fall appear: reddish leaves, leather jackets, people talking about football, and pumpkin spice lattes. Like death and taxes, the pumpkin spice latte seems inevitable, and it takes up an incredible amount of space in the public consciousness. So yes, we're succumbing to the siren song and devoting a whole episode to the PSL.

So why are we so obsessed with pumpkin spice? And why is it so easy to hate on the drink and the people who consume it? How did this assortment of spices from the Indian subcontinent become the hallmark of basicness, and what can its autumnal popularity tell us about capitalism, misogyny, and the need to belong?

On this episode, we have a special guest! Backtalk's Amy Lam reads an excerpt of a spicy ode to squash. In our first segment, you'll hear from Tiffany Midge, a poet and humorist who wrote "An Open Letter to White Girls Regarding Pumpkin Spice and Cultural Appropriation." After that, you'll get the specialty coffee barista's perspective from Adam JacksonBey. Then you'll hear from Rebecca Jennings, a consumer reporter for Vox who wrote about the backlash to pumpkin spice and what it all means. Finally, Sasanka Jinadasa chimes in to remind us of what we lose when we're so hyper focused on the meaning behind a latte.

Popaganda: The Fight for the Middle Ages Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

On this episode of the show, we'll be talking about the Middle Ages: that period in European history that most of us learned about through Game of Thrones and Robin Hood. We think of it as racially homogenous, rigidly gendered, and brutish, but scholars like the ones Soleil talks to in today's show have more nuanced interpretations. And yet, white supremacists within the alt right are attempting to claim the Middle Ages for their own political ends. What is the truth, and why does it matter?

First, you'll hear from Dr. Tory Pearman on the lives and public perception of people with disabilities in Medieval Europe. Then, Dr. Dorothy Kim elaborates on the connections between the alt right and Medieval Studies and what scholars like her are doing to take back control over the field they love.

Backtalk: Thank You for Voting—Next! Nov 08, 2018

Show notes

This week, Dahlia and Amy update on the latest horrifying policies the Trump administration are hoping to force into law. Beyond the midterm elections, the monsters in the White House are working overtime to push through harmful legislation, including limiting gender to being recognized to what one is assigned at birth, an end to birthright citizen, and more terribleness. In this week's Amy vs. Dahlia, we're debating the worse fake politician: Veep's Selina Meyers or Idiocracy's President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho! Text "Politician" to 503-855-6485 to let us know what you think!

Popaganda: The Devil You Know Nov 01, 2018

Show notes

This episode is all about how cool the Devil is, especially for people of marginalized genders and sexualities. The devil is all over popular media, not as a straight symbol of absolute evil, but as something a little more nuanced and approachable—and sometimes even a little queer. Is this a sign of the end times and the moral degradation of humanity? Or does the character's appeal to young people speak to a greater rejection of good vs. evil binaries?

To find out, Soleil spoke with two experts. First, you'll hear from Megan Kennedy, the executive director of Utah's Religious Education Series, on the political side of evil. Then you'll hear from Holly Lyman Antolini, the rector at St. James's Episcopal Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on what it means to disregard the idea of absolute evil. We hope you enjoy the show!

Backtalk: Let's Take Refuge in Horror Oct 25, 2018

Show notes

This week, Dahlia and Amy get creepy and ghouly about screen horror (as opposed to the horror of our everyday lives). In this Halloweeny episode, we dig into the role of horror film and TV and how it helps us cope with our lived realities. We've also got a Petty Political Pminute starring our least favorite ventriloquist dummy, Jared Kushner. In this week's Amy vs. Dahlia, we're debating the metaphor of the Haunting of Hill House: Is it all about childhood trauma or white supremacy? Text "Haunting" to 503-855-6485 to let us know!

Rebecca Solnit Talks Women, Activism, and Anger with Andi Zeisler Oct 23, 2018

Show notes

Even if you've never heard of Rebecca Solnit, you know who she is. It was Solnit's 2008 essay at the blog TomDigest that identified the concept we know today as mansplaining. ("Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being.") But long before Solnit became a patron saint of the extremely online, she was an activist, a historian, a mapmaker, and a prolific author of books on a dizzying breadth of topics: the history of walking (2000's Wanderlust); the motion-photography pioneer Eadweard Muybridge (2004's River of Shadows); the emerging evidence of climate change (2018's Drowned River); and ambient cultural misogyny (2015's essay collection Men Explain Things to Me).

Solnit's new book of essays, titled Call Them By Their True Names: American Crises (And Essays), connects the Trump administration, economic inequality, Indigenous history, police brutality, and gentrification gracefully, tying them together with meditations on American exceptionalism and the importance of precise language that gets right down to the lived facts of politics. Call Them By Their True Names doesn't boil over with long-simmering ire on behalf of democracy and social justice, but rather deploys Solnit's trademark precision, dry wit, and enduring optimism toward an absorbing whole. All the more reason to get her on the phone to talk about the role, and the necessity, of anger in a world that tosses up fresh outrages at least once a day.

Popaganda: Will Veganism Save the World? Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

On this episode of the show, we'll be talking all about veganism and the politics of eating plants and meat. Is it possible to reduce it to a diet or wellness thing, or is it inherently political? What is the connection between industrialized meat production and patriarchy? And why does Western culture conflate eating meat with masculinity, and what does that have to do with climate change?

Soleil will talk to two folks about the place of veganism in politics. First, you'll hear from Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat and a recent cookbook, Protest Kitchen, on masculine anxieties around meat-eating and the progressive case for veganism. Then, Alicia Kennedy, a food and spirits writer and host of the Meatless podcast, on the complex relationships all people have with their own food choices.

Backtalk: What Are We Supposed to Do Now? Oct 11, 2018

Show notes

This week, Dahlia and Amy are tired, depressed, and angry—what are we supposed to do with all these awful feelings? In the wake of the Supreme Court confirmation for Brett Kavanaugh, we're thinking about who gets to display feelings and what it tells us about where our feelings belong. Mostly, we feel rage, but it isn't enough and we're thinking about what productive anger can look like. And in this week's Amy vs. Dahlia, we want to know what's more annoying about feminist marketing: all the vaginas or the faux self-care? Text "Marketplace" to 503-855-6485 to let us know!

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