The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Latest Episodes:

The gift of getting old May 20, 2021

Show notes

Vox’s Sean Illing talks with Max Linsky, host of the new podcast 70 Over 70, which features intimate conversations with people over 70 years old. They discuss Max’s relationship with his aging father, the sometimes desperate search for wisdom, and the contradictions inherent in embracing life, while accepting the inevitable reality of death.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox

Guest: Max Linsky (@maxlinsky), Host, 70 Over 70 podcast; co-founder, Pineapple Street Studios

References:

70 Over 70 on Apple Podcasts
Arthur Schopenhauer, “On the Sufferings of the World” (1913)

Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.

Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by:

Producer: Erikk Geannikis
Editor: Amy Drozdowska
Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey
VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Freedom, and what it means to have a body May 13, 2021

Show notes

Vox's Anna North talks with author Olivia Laing about her book Everybody: A Book About Freedom. Through the surprisingly connected lives of artists, activists, psychoanalysts, and sexologists, they discuss the different ways our bodies are persecuted, imprisoned, and policed — and the ways our physical selves can be liberated.

Host: Anna North (@annanorthtweets), Senior Reporter, Vox

Guest: Olivia Laing, Author

References:

Everybody: A Book About Freedom(Picador, 2021)
The Lonely City(Picador, 2017)
“Wilhelm Reich: the man who invented free love” by Christopher Turner (The Guardian, July 8, 2011)
Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (1978)
“Overlooked No More: Ana Mendieta, a Cuban Artist Who Pushed Boundaries” by Monica Castillo (New York Times, Sept. 19, 2018)
Agnes Martin, 1912–2004 (MoMA)
Philip Guston, 1913–1980 (MoMA)
“Cloudbusting” by Kate Bush (1985), music video dir. by Julian Doyle

Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.

Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by:

Producer: Erikk Geannikis
Editor: Amy Drozdowska
Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey
VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are we so worried about Satan? May 06, 2021

Show notes

Vox's Sean Illing talks with Sarah Marshall, co-host of the You're Wrong About podcast, about the Satanic Panic of the early 1980s. They discuss America's penchant for moral panics, why the country latches onto outlandish stories, and what the Satanic panic and its echoes today say about America's collective psyche.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Interviews Writer, Vox

Guest: Sarah Marshall (@Remember_Sarah) Author; host of the You're Wrong About podcast

References:

You’re Wrong About, “The Satanic Panic” (May 2018)
“Why Satanic Panic never really ended” by Aja Romano (Vox, March 31)
“Michelle Remembers and the Satanic Panic” by Megan Goodwin (The Revealer, Feb. 4)
“There’s a bear in the woods” (Ronald Reagan campaign ad, 1984)
The McMartin preschool trial
“Baseless Wayfair child-trafficking theory spreads online” by Amanda Seitz and Ali Swenson (AP, July 2020)
The Mann Act (a.k.a. “White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910”)

Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.

Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by:

Producer: Erikk Geannikis
Editor: Amy Drozdowska
Engineer: Paul Mounsey
VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How to be wrong less often Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Vox's Dylan Matthews talks with Julia Galef, host of the podcast Rationally Speaking, and author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't. They discuss how we can overcome the ways our own minds deceive us and change the way we think to make more rational decisions.

Host: Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), Senior Correspondent, Vox

Guest: Julia Galef (@juliagalef), Author; host of Rationally Speaking podcast

References:

The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don'tby Julia Galef (Apr. 2021)

Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.

Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by:

Producer: Erikk Geannikis
Editor: Amy Drozdowska
Engineer: Paul Mounsey
VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The complicated history of wildlife conservation Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

Vox environmental reporter Benji Jones talks with journalist and author Michelle Nijhuis about her book Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction. They talk about the history of the conservation movement and its many characters, the standout successes and ugly truths, and why, even with millions of species under threat, there's still reason to hope.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How to replace everything in the industrialized world Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

Climate writer and Vox contributor David Roberts talks with Jessika Trancik, Associate Professor at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at M.I.T. They discuss many aspects of the vast undertaking to remake our world in response to the realities of climate change. They survey the technologies and innovations that are being deployed in this effort, and talk about what sorts of policy initiatives would be best-suited for the road ahead. While we might feel like our future will be full of sacrifices we're asked to make, Trancik explains that now is the time to shape a world in which we could live more equitably, efficiently, and comfortably.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patricia Lockwood's big, beautiful internet brain Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Writer and Vox contributor Anne Helen Petersen talks with poet and novelist Patricia Lockwood about the experience of being extremely online. They discuss Lockwood's book No One Is Talking About This, writing and religious upbringing, the parts of life perfectly suited to the internet, and the human experiences that glitch the system.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who is the real George Soros? Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

Vox's Worldly host Zack Beauchamp talks with author and New Statesman editor Emily Tamkin about the life and legacy of George Soros. How did a Hungarian billionaire philanthropist become the No. 1 boogeyman of right-wing nationalist movements on both sides of the Atlantic? They unpack the meaning of the smear campaign against him, and the inherent contradictions of a wealthy man trying to use his influence to make societies more democratic.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Introducing Unexplainable Mar 27, 2021

Show notes

Unexplainable is a new podcast from Vox about everything we don’t know. Each week, the team look at the most fascinating unanswered questions in science and the mind-bending ways scientists are trying to answer them. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

Learn more: vox.com/unexplainable

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unexplainable/id1554578197

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0PhoePNItwrXBnmAEZgYmt?si=Y3-2TFfDT8qHkfxMjrJL2g

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The border, explained by someone who knows it intimately Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

Aarti Shahani, NPR journalist and host of WBEZ podcast Art of Power, talks with investigative journalist and author Alfredo Corchado about the US-Mexico border. Trump's actions created a new urgency for the political establishment to better understand the border, and Biden's challenges there continue to grow. Corchado, a former child farmworker and a Mexican-American with identities on both sides of the border wall, discusses the reality, politics, history, and future of the border.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected