Radio Atlantic

When Jenisha Watts, a senior editor at The Atlantic, went home to Kentucky to interview her family, she was “looking to get rid of the shame.” She had a son now, and she wanted to be able to tell him the truth about her upbringing—both the good and the bad. But she was not quite prepared for what Jenisha the journalist would dig up about Jenisha from Kentucky. This episode of Radio Atlantic was produced by Jocelyn Frank and edited by Claudine Ebeid. It was engineered by Rob Smierciak and fact checked by Michelle Ciarrocca. The managing editor of Atlantic Audio is Andrea Valdez.  If you or someone you know are looking for support please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 The Atlantic's September 2023 cover story "I Never Called Her Momma," was written by Jenisha Watts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making small talk can be hard—especially when you’re not sure whether you’re doing it well. But conversations are a central part of relationship-building. Radio Atlantic is pleased to share this episode of How to Talk to People. The social scientist Ty Tashiro and the hairstylists Erin Derosa and Mimi Craft help describe what it means to integrate awkwardness into our pursuit of relationships. This episode is hosted by Julie Beck, produced by Rebecca Rashid, and edited by Jocelyn Frank and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Rob Smierciak. Music by Tellsonic (“The Whistle Funk”), Ryan James Carr (“Botanist Boogie Breakdown”), and Arthur Benson (“Organized Chaos,” “She Is Whimsical”). Click here to listen to additional seasons of The Atlantic’s How To series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All of a sudden it seems like everyone knows someone who has tested positive for COVID. Are we back in a wave? How bad could it get? How effective will the new vaccine be? What do we actually know about COVID now that we didn’t before, and will it protect us? We talk to Atlantic science writers Katie Wu and Sarah Zhang about all the questions you are trying to avoid about Covid this summer and fall.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Texas will join the 20 or so other states that have passed laws restricting access to medical therapies and procedures for transgender children. But there are thousands of young people in Texas who identify as transgender. We talk to one teenager who describes herself as just a “normal semi-popular girl,” about her and her family’s decision to leave Texas as a result of the government’s actions.  Also: If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, submit feedback at theatlantic.com/listener-survey. We'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The front-runner for the Republican nomination did not show up at the debate, but in the sharp exchanges between the leftovers, a lot was revealed about the future of the party. Atlantic staff writers McKay Coppins, reporting from the debate, and Elaine Godfrey talk about why newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy pops, why Ron DeSantis doesn’t, and why Nikki Haley, despite coming across as a reasonable truth-teller, doesn’t stand a chance. Also: If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, submit feedback at theatlantic.com/listener-survey. We'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Megan Rapinoe speaks with Atlantic staff writer Frank Foer. The retiring soccer star discusses her detractors, the U.S. team’s role in the global game, and taking penalty kicks. Also: If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, submit feedback at theatlantic.com/listener-survey. We'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people, especially those dealing with long COVID, suffer from fatigue. But not common, everyday tiredness—it’s more like a total body crash that can be triggered by the smallest exertion, something as simple as taking a shower. It’s serious, and yet many doctors have a hard time taking it seriously. Ed Yong, a former staff writer at The Atlantic whose reporting on COVID won a Pulitzer Prize, explains how people with fatigue can feel, and what experts actually know about the condition and how to treat it. Read Ed's story on fatigue, long COVID, and ME / CFS here: "Fatigue Can Shatter a Person" If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, submit feedback at theatlantic.com/listener-survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael spent years fighting isolation, depression, and despair. Then he met Sam.  If you’re having thoughts of suicide, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or the Crisis Text Line. For that, text TALK to 741741. This episode of Radio Atlantic was reported and produced by Ethan Brooks and edited by Theo Balcomb and Jocelyn Frank. It was mixed by Rob Smierciak and fact-checked by Yvonne Kim. The executive producer of Audio is Claudine Ebeid. The managing editor of Audio is Andrea Valdez. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. women’s team has been the dominant force in soccer for a decade, although you wouldn't necessarily know it from their performance in the Women’s World Cup so far. As fans, we want them to win. But there’s no drama in dominance. For women's soccer to truly become a global sensation, the U.S. needs worthy rivals. In this episode we talk to Tobin Heath and Christen Press, both members of the most recent U.S. World Cup teams, about whether it would be better for global women’s soccer for the U.S. to lose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of people are plagued by the feeling that society used to be better, that neighbors were more helpful, that strangers once talked to you. Some people channel that belief into political action, as in the Make America Great Again movement. A new study explains why the sense that people and the culture have gotten worse is a psychological illusion. This special episode features Julie Beck, the host of How to Talk to People. Subscribe and discover a full season of great episodes waiting for you! This episode was produced by Becca Rashid. Editing by Jocelyn Frank. Fact checked by Isabel Cristo. Engineering is by Rob Smierciak. The executive producer of Audio is Claudine Ebeid. The managing editor of Audio is Andrea Valdez. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marriages today are much more flexible than they used to be. Women’s roles have changed. Gay marriage is legal. More and more people aren’t choosing marriage at all. And yet the American wedding has hardly changed at all. If anything, it keeps getting more elaborate, more luxe, more wedding-like. In this episode, we talk to Xochitl Gonzalez, who wrote a confessional for The Atlantic about her years as a luxury wedding planner, about why we keep perfecting on what is essentially a nineteenth- century artifact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For months, more than a thousand researchers and technology experts involved in creating artificial intelligence have been warning us that they’ve created something that may be dangerous. Something that might eventually lead humanity to become extinct. In this Radio Atlantic episode, The Atlantic’s executive editor, Adrienne LaFrance, and staff writer Charlie Warzel talk about how seriously we should take these warnings, and what else we might consider worrying about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A heat dome in Texas. Wildfire smoke polluting the air in the East and Midwest. The signs are everywhere that our children’s summers will look nothing like our own. In this episode we talk to the climate writer Emma Pattee about how hot is too hot to go outside, and what summer camps of the future will look like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who leads a private army called the Wagner Group, attempted what many have called a coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Technically, it failed. But the fact that he managed to challenge Putin and leave the leader shaken and panicky is profound. Atlantic staff writers Anne Applebaum and Tom Nichols explain this week’s wild turn of events in Russia and the door those events opened.  Further Reading: Tom Nichols: The Coup Is Over, but Putin Is in Trouble Anne Applebaum: Putin Is Caught in His Own Trap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we just too impatient for America’s famously leisurely national pastime? Hanna Rosin asks staff writer Mark Leibovich whether the changes MLB is making to baseball this summer could help him, and the rest of us, fall in love with baseball all over again. Interested in the changes baseball’s making? Read Mark’s article on how Moneyball broke baseball—and how the same people who broke it are back, trying to save it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court is about to issue a set of rulings on affirmative action in higher education. If it goes as expected, universities will no longer be allowed to consider race in admissions. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, host Hanna Rosin talks to Adam Harris, an Atlantic staff writer, who covers the issue and has written about the cases. They talk about how the backlash against affirmative action began almost as soon as the effort started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta spent long stretches of the past year talking to CNN’s then-CEO Chris Licht about his grand experiment to reset the cable giant as a venue more welcoming to Republicans. In a major profile of Licht, Alberta documented the many disasters along the way, culminating in Licht’s ouster from the network this week.  In this episode of Radio Atlantic, host Hanna Rosin talks to Alberta about the rise and fall of Licht, and what it means for the media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Politicians, pundits, and even the surgeon general have been highlighting the risks that social media poses to young people’s mental health. The problem is real—but is it as serious as those caused by cigarettes or drunk driving, and what can be done about it? Host Hanna Rosin talks to the Atlantic tech reporter Kaitlyn Tiffany about what the research actually shows regarding teens and social media.  “It creates this frustrating moment where legislators want to do something now. And I bet the surgeon general’s report will make that more intense. But the research isn’t quite caught up. In order to know what to do, you have to know more precisely what the problem is.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Hanna Rosin talks to Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg and staff writer Anne Applebaum about their trip to Ukraine, their interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, why continued American support is necessary, and why flagging attention doesn’t matter.  Applebaum, who has covered the war from start, clarifies the confusing but potentially critical recent developments. Background: Read Goldberg and Applebaum's latest article The Counteroffensive and see the battlefield drones and drone workshops they talk about in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now, we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Today we’re introducing Radio Atlantic, The Atlantic’s flagship podcast, with a new host: senior editor Hanna Rosin.  Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise using clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about how they think about certain ideas.  The national conversation right now can be chaotic, reckless, and stuck. Radio Atlantic aims to bring some order to our thinking—and help listeners be purposeful about how they unstick their minds. New episodes come out Thursdays starting May 25, wherever you find your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices