Be There in Five

This week, Kate investigates Elf on the Shelf: cute Christmas tradition or late-capitalist nightmare? After a simple Instagram question turned into hundreds of responses about surveillance capitalism, invisible labor, and performative parenting, she started to unpack what this manufactured tradition reveals about millennial parenting, Christmas magic, and the mental load of the holidays. Can it ju...

This week, Kate's peer pressuring you to listen to an episode about the DARE program in the 90s and how it made every fifth grader in America incredibly wary of adults wearing trench coats. From winning essay contests and meeting Darren the Lion to interpretive dance performances and questionable field trips, listeners' stories did not disappoint. This episode also explores the program's history,...

This week, Kate has Nora McInerny back for their tradition of poorly recapping The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. They do a better job this time of actually talking about the show, and after catching up on Nora's Groupons, they go through the main SLOMW storylines while drawing parallels with the current legendary season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Enjoy!   Order Kate's NYT Bestselling bo...

A casual late night monologue, gabbing about things on Kate's mind, including but not limited to: Hilary Duff's new single "Mature" Speaking of age gaps, Kat Stickler and John Mayer dating?? Celeb plastic surgery content Danielle Bernstein's wedding, which turned out was the engagement party Shay Mitchell's new company selling SHEET MASKS TO THE CHILDREN Performing beauty rituals in front of young...

This week, Kate's trying something new during her off week: a Fall/Halloween-themed mashup episode pulling together some of her favorite topically adjacent clips from the past 7+ years of Be There in Five. Includes segments from Make Your Christian Brothers Autumnal, Ween Pics, Spooky Snorkel, and Wicked Witch of the Midwest, covering foliage conspiracies, cozy chasing, how Claire ate the muffins,...

This week, Kate is joined by friends of the pod (Nora McInerny and Caroline Moss) for a delightfully chaotic convo about DWTS that starts with Groupons, the jewelry heist, millennial dentures, car shopping, and more. Then, the second half of the episode, seasoned fans Kate and Caroline share their favorite DWTS lore and celeb gossip with newcomer Nora, and they dissect the current season: who coul...

This week, for part 2 of our hobbies series, Kate reads listener emails about pursuing new hobbies as an adult and their profound impact on personal fulfillment, mental health, and community building. Ranging from arts & crafts to whale watching, canine nosework to online sleuthing and beyond, the Beths share heartfelt anecdotes about the simple pleasures and unexpected connections they've found t...

A stream of consciousness about TS12 with Kate after she had a couple days to let it marinate. Back to hobbies next week. :) Enjoy!   SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book,  One in a Millennial   here ! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for up to 20% off! And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, make sure to let t...

This week, Kate and her guest Carmen James (@thegoodcarmablog) chat about all things related to adult hobbies. The first half is Kate musing about nostalgic hobbies, sharing her own recent ventures, and the importance of finding identity and joy in leisurely activities. Then, Kate and Carmen discuss a variety of topics, e.g., finding community through crafting, why hobbies feel fraught for millenn...

A nostalgic deep-dive into the last era of millennial optimism, when we got to figure out who we wanted to be before the algorithm told us who we already were. Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book,  One in a Millennial   here ! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS who make producing an independent show possible. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or...

This week, Kate answers listener texts and voicemails. She snorkels left chest logo polo critters of yesterday and today, organizes mall chain restaurants into experiential tiers, power ranks Gatorade flavors, and explores a world where the Cullens' immortality problems are simply solved by homeschooling. Yep, that's the episode. Enjoy!  tiers of mall chain restaurants,  Order Kate's NYT Bestselli...

This week, Kate brings in a friend of hers and a friend of the pod, Lucy Carey (aka @lucyontheground), for an in-depth discussion about the series "The Summer I Turned Pretty" [ALERT: the TV series version, they aren't book experts]. They explore the cultural phenomenon of the series, its massive viewership, intense stan-dom, the love triangle, and complex character dynamics between Belly, Conrad,...

This week, Kate listened to a two-hour football podcast and lives to tell the tale. In this podcast episode about a podcast episode, Kate obsesses over a 30-something woman and her boyfriend existing and being normal, which surprisingly turned out to be the best entertainment of all. She recaps Taylor Swift's unprecedented appearance on New Heights, where we learned about TS12: The Life of a Showg...

This week, Kate's interviewing Lee Tilghman, also known as @LeeFromAmerica, who was one of the very first major wellness influencers on social media. To her nearly 400k followers, she shared daily updates on everything from skincare and sleep hacks to smoothie bowls, travel tips, and workout routines, and her sponsorships netted an income of over $300k a year. On the grid, her life seemed perfect....

This week, join Kate and Caroline Moss as they chat through a variety of topics, from nostalgic summers that turned shitty to off-broadway dreams becoming realities in the big city. They discuss things like the Coldplay couple, Labubus, the importance of a modern-day Girls rewatch, the likability trap, Gen Z's relationship to social media, the attention economy, and, most importantly, Caroline sha...

This week, join Kate as she returns to form (2+ hour early BTI5-style rambling) by going through an old PowerPoint she found on her computer about Taylor Swift's evolution from diary-style songwriter to mythological storyteller through increasingly complex literary references. From "Love Story" fairytale princess to The Albatross and Cassandra the cursed prophet, how has Taylor deliberately writte...

This week, Kate starts by talking about water table culture, Le Creuset mystery boxes, and attempting to reclaim her adult hobbies, then she's joined by Katie Gatti Tassin (Money with Katie, Diabolical Lies) to talk about her book Rich Girl Nation, which analyzes the unique experiences women have with money and discusses a variety of fascinating cultural, economic, social and financial intersectio...

This week, Kate reviews America's Sweethearts season 2 on Netflix and tells the tale of how last year's Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders episode became one of BTI5's biggest hits— and biggest headaches. When current DCC members flooded her TikTok comments defending themselves against former teammate Victoria's mild birthday party observations, Kate found herself thunderstruck by cheerleader drama she n...

This week, Kate is joined by Nora Princiotti (host of Every Single Album, author of Hit Girls) to talk about the women who built pop's shiniest decade, like Taylor, Britney, Avril, Ashlee, Beyonce, and beyond. First, they tackle the news that Taylor Swift now owns her masters, then discuss some thoughts about Reputation TV and TS12 clownery, and it doesn't take long for Kate to interject and defen...

This week, Kate tries a tri-deep dive connecting Addison Rae's evolution, Y2K's one-hit wonders, and the overlap of both TRL and Tiktok's pop generations. Through Addison's candid interviews about stepping away from constant content creation, Kate explores how the machine that once discarded the forgotten pop girls of the early 2000s is long gone... or is it? Kate argues that while social media pr...

Join Kate on all eight of her days trying to Eat Pray Love. Back to reg programming next episode. Enjoy! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book,  One in a Millennial   here ! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Check out  loveamika.com/bethereinfive for my favorites. And for May they are giving my listeners a one-time use code for 15% off your first order through th...

This week, Kate is joined by her sister Kelly for a classic nostalgic crowdsourced ep with big yearbook staff energy. Listeners submitted their tales related to graduation, senior week, prom, senior pranks, local traditions gone awry, and so much more. Enjoy! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Did you know all of your favorite podcasts, including Be There in Five are on Amazon Mus...

Kate's having a rough week, so she called in reinforcements (Nora McInerny) to help her discuss the new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, but not before they discuss other pressing pop culture topics like the new pope. Enjoy! For May Amika is giving my listeners a one-time use code for 15% off your first order through the end of May. Just go to loveamika.com/bethereinfive and use code BE...

This week, Kate unpacks the art, science, and history of gossip with Kelsey McKinney (from the beloved podcast Normal Gossip and author of NYT bestselling book You Didn't Hear This From Me). They explore a variety of angles for this topic, such as how dismissing gossip as "women's talk" has historically been a tool of patriarchal control, religious institutions, or corporations, etc., and how goss...

This week, Kate delves into Katy Perry's career decline, but not before being wrongly accused of a crime she didn't commit, and the exchange unfolds in real time for listeners. She also reviews how space is, like, shockingly close, and how Blue Origin girl bossed too close to the moon and may have landed on earth, but the faux feminist PR machine didn't land with the gen pop. She also snorkels thr...