Bestest Friend and I are doing a podcast project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighteenth day of the month is "Winner."
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Here's the best of what I've listened to recently.
Kuper Island, CBC
Kuper Island is the story of one of Canada's residential schools for indigenous students. The trauma experienced by students at the school is examined through the lens of four students and their stories. The interviews are powerful, and the long-term consequences are not glossed over, but are examined and brought out into the light for everyone to see. I generally think Connie Walker's reporting on residential schools, particularly Finding Cleo, are the gold-standard on the topic of residential schools, but surely Kuper Island deserves to up near the top, too.
(I think this goes without saying, but this is a hard listen. Child abuse, sexual assault, and suicide are topics.)
"Cooking with Gas" from 99% Invisible, Stitcher
Gas stoves are bad for indoor air quality and this simple fact has become the basis of another sticking point in the culture wars. What's the deal with gas stoves and how did we get to this point? I had no idea Big Gas was just as bad as Big Tobacco in terms of keeping information from/straight up lying to the public about the dangers of their products.
(Also, when my mom was a child, her nightgown caught fire when she was using a gas stove. She had bad burns over 50% of her body and missed a year of school while she underwent skin grafts and other surgeries. Gas stoves should seriously be illegal, for safety, health, and environmental reasons.)
Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto, Crooked Media
This wasn't quite as good as Crimetown or The City, but this is a solid entry into the examining of a city's internal politics type of podcast. Adelanto is a city in California's Mojave Desert, but it's not doing as well as its neighbors. Journalist David Weinberg embeds himself in the city to see if marijuana can save its future.
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What's good in your earbuds?
Aha! Finally someone agrees with me! I've always been afraid of gas stoves but people are always trying to convince me that they're better (we have electric.) Your mom's story is exactly what I'm afraid of, but I didn't realize it also affects indoor air quality- but it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm just plugging along here with my running podcasts!
Gas stoves are bad. The science is basically irrefutable at this point. I've always been scared of them because of my mom, but now I know that they're not safe at all, and I'm going to be more outspoken about it.
DeleteMusic. I just listen to music (or my kids fighting). I might get back on some podcast train in the fall, but I find it very hard to fit them in to my current life/schedule/routine.
ReplyDeleteJust listen to music and skip the podcasts. It's probably better for your mental health!
DeleteI'm so sorry about your mom's stove accident--how terrible and how traumatizing! People who cook love to talk up gas stoves, and their reasons always seemed arbitrary. So yes, electric stoves continue to heat after they're switched off, but couldn't you move the pot?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the roundup--Kuper Island sounds brutal and necessary. Giving it a listen.
The interviews with the survivors in the Kuper Island podcast are so powerful. I hope you get something out of it.
DeleteThere used to be a snobby things about gas stoves being superior to electric, and I never bought into that. Give me a good flat top electric stove and I'm good. So I'm having a bit of schadenfreude over the downfall of gas. Surprisingly a lot of the Airbnbs that I've stayed at on my trips have had them.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Gas stoves are terrible. I'm so glad we didn't have a gas stove when we moved into our house!
DeleteThe story about your mom and the gas stove is horrifying! We do have a gas stove in our house. Basically anything that was renovated in the early aughts has a gas stove - so our last house had one, too. Interestingly, our daycare (that we are leaving) had their electric stove go out and they decided to replace it with gas which we found odd because they seem to try to come off as "green" or "environmentally aware"? Plus, switching to gas extended the stove replacement due to all the work and the inspections and such. So it probably added 3 weeks to the process, and the stove had actually not been working for MONTHS at this point (which none of us parents were aware of until a teacher confided in us - they were using an illegal propane stove top thing instead which had been noted by the inspectors as a violation and yet they continued to use it). Well this is becoming quite the rant about our daycare... Glad it's our last week there.
ReplyDeleteI will have to listen to that residential school podcast. The stories are so horrifying but I feel like I have to listen to things like that to understand what people have gone through.
If we had a gas stove, I'd have it converted to electric. I'm a bit paranoid because of my mom's experience and it's easier to go from gas to electric than vice versa, as your daycare provider's experience shows. The issues with increased respiratory illness (in a COVID age!) are just too great for me to overlook, too. I do think that there are gas stove defenders who think it "cooks better" and you can "control heat" more accurately, but modern electric stoves are pretty amazing. I feel like this gas stove thing might become my newest soapbox.
Delete(Argh. The more stories you write about this daycare, the angrier I get on your behalf. I am so glad you were able to find a new place!)