Happy To Be Here

The My So-Called Life rewatch begins! Greta Johnsen and Kristin Meinzer discuss episodes 1 and 2 with Ronald Young, Jr. They talk about the nostalgic power of the series, how the pilot holds up as a pilot, and the extreme angst of it all.  SHOW CREDITS Creator and host: Greta Johnsen Co-host: Kristen Meinzer Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg Composer: Andrew M. Edwards Tile art: Lou Lovisek See P...

In a very special miniseries, Greta joins forces with podcast host Kristen Meinzer to unpack every single episode of the 1994 ABC teen drama My So-Called Life . In this episode, before they begin their rewatch, Kristen and Greta discuss the cultural impact of the show with New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum . Then, Greta talks to her best friend Marty , who binged the show with her when they were...

Consider this episode a friendly nudge to stop giving everything 100% all the time. It's the 87% Club, and you're invited! Greta talks to two dear friends about perfectionism, trying too hard, and embracing rest. Guests are art activist and author Shannon Downey , aka Badass Cross Stitch , and Ellen Wessel, Greta's laziness accountability coach . SHOW CREDITS Creator and host: Greta Johnsen Senior...

Book Riot ’s Liberty Hardy and NPR’s Andrew Limbong share some of the books they’re most excited to read this year. (Here's the full list of books , along with about 20 others!) SHOW CREDITS Creator and host: Greta Johnsen Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal Show art: Mac Maclean See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice...

This week, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran and pop culture writer Margaret H. Willison share their favorite news stories of the year. From real-life magicians to ficiton demon hunters, and museum detectives to Da Pope, there's plenty of good news to go around. SHOW CREDITS Creator and host: Greta Johnsen Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal Show art: Mac Ma...

This week, professional pastry chef Faith Fedash stops by host Greta Johnsen's kitchen to make pumpkin pie cookies. (Find the full recipe for the cookies here !) SHOW CREDITS Creator and host: Greta Johnsen Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal Show art: Mac Maclean See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/...

Welcome to Happy To Be Here, the show for the perpetually curious! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

As y’all probably know, we’re calling this the “goodbye for now” episode of Nerdette because it’s our last episode while we’re employees at WBEZ. So, we thought it was the perfect time to call up Nerdette co-creator Tricia Bobeda and Nerdette Recaps co-host Peter Sagal to play our favorite game, Burden or Delight. Then, we hear from YOU about what Nerdette has meant to you for the past 11 years. W...

May’s Book Club selection is the fabulous short story collection ‘Table for Two’ by Amor Towles. It was amazing to get to talk to Amor in front of a LIVE audience in Chicago a few weeks ago. Since we were only able to share about half of that conversation in the podcast feed, we decided to bring you more from our chat and dive even deeper into the book! A programming note – this is our second to l...

This week, we ask voracious reader Liberty Hardy to rave about the best books coming out this summer. Liberty is the host of the Book Riot podcast ‘ All the Books! ’ She and Greta trade their top picks. Here are the titles in the order that they’re mentioned in the episode: ‘ Fire Exit ’ by Morgan Talty (6/3) ‘ The Ministry of Time ’ by Kaliane Bradley (5/7) ‘ The Stardust Grail ’ by Yume Kitasei...

This week, cookbook author and leftovers lover Tamar Adler joins us to answer YOUR questions on cooking, hosting and eating. Tamar is the author of ' The Everlasting Meal ' and ' The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z .' She also writes the newsletter “ The Kitchen Shrink ,” where she regularly gives out culinary advice. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...

This week, we are bringing you a special LIVE edition of Nerdette Book Club!!! The great Amor Towles, author of ' A Gentleman in Moscow' and ' The Lincoln Highway ,' joined us in front of a live audience at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago to discuss our May Book Club selection, his most recent book ' Table for Two !' It’s a collection of six different short stories set in New York City and a nove...

This week, we’re sharing some of the best new music out this summer! Our friend Kristen Kurtis is the assistant music director and Morning Show host at WXPN in Philadelphia. We asked her to bring us some fun and maybe even a little angry songs to rock out to this summer. You can find this collection of “joyfully defiant” songs below or listen along on our Spotify playlist . Want to add to the play...

Our April Book Club pick is Marie-Helene Bertino’s second novel ' Beautyland .' It tells the story of Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, just as the Voyager I spacecraft launches from Earth in search of extraterrestrial life. As a child, Adina learns she herself is an alien, and her mission is to send her observations about humanity to her supervisors via fax machine (it is the ‘80s, afte...

This week, we are taking some time to reflect on the past *11 years* of Nerdette by listening to two of our all-time favorite interviews. First, Greta and Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King) bond over their shared love of corgis. Then, poet Ross Gay tells us about ' The Book of Delights ,' a collection of essays about finding delight everyday. We also want to let you know that Nerdette’s last ep...

This week, senior Reset producer Meha Ahmad and journalist Araceli Gómez-Aldana join us to unpack the week. We get into friendship breakups over Taylor Swift, a new airline for dogs and Olympic fashion. Then, Maura Cheeks tells us about her debut novel Acts of Forgiveness . The book imagines a world where the U.S. government awards cash reparations to the descendants of enslaved people. See Privac...

This week, our friends Dan Pashman, host of ' The Sporkful ' podcast and author of the new cookbook ' Anything’s Pastable ,' and Helen Rosner, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the newsletter ' The Food Scene ,' go all in on food in another round of our favorite game: Burden or Delight. Plus, producer Anna Bauman adventured to Indianapolis this week to see the total solar eclipse. We li...

We are unpacking the week that was with Amory Sivertson, host of the WBUR podcasts Beyond All Repair and Endless Thread , and Kristina Lopez, producer of Glamorous Trash . We discuss the reasons why women need more sleep than men, age gap relationships and “Stick Nation.” Then, Vulture film critic Alison Wilmore tells us about why women in action movies all seem to be doing the same particular stu...

Our April selection is Marie-Helene Bertino’s gorgeous and entrancing novel ' Beautyland.' It’s about Adina, who realizes she is actually an alien disguised as a young girl living in Philadelphia. Her task is to send reports on humanity back to her home planet via fax machine. The novel is tender, full of heart and weird in the best possible way. Listen to this spoiler-free interview with the auth...

We're on Spring Break this week so we're bringing you a podcast that we think you'll love from our friends at The Culture Study Podcast. Get ready for a deep conversation into the world of A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the 'romantasy' genre as a whole! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our March book club pick is Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel ‘ Martyr! ’ It’s about Cyrus, who was born in Iran and moved to the midwest as a child after his mom died. She was one of the victims of the real-life event where the United States Navy shot an Iranian passenger-plane out of the sky reportedly by accident. The book picks up when Cyrus is in his 20s in Indiana and he’s struggling in more ways th...

This week, two of our favorite guests, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran and Not Sorry Productions faculty member Margaret Willison, stop by to play a game of Burden or Delight. We discuss wide-legged jeans, sourdough starters and a few other unhinged topics. Plus, we are super excited to introduce an upcoming segment with chef and cookbook writer Tamar Adler! She is bringing her expertise to...

This week, senior correspondent at Vox Alex Abad-Santos and Bridget Todd, host of the podcasts ‘ City Cast DC ’ and ‘ There Are No Girls on the Internet ,’ spill the tea on Kate Middleton’s photoshop debacle, a proposed TikTok ban and the World Banana Forum. Plus, Noel Fielding stars in the new Apple TV+ comedy series ‘ The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin .’ You may know Noel as the s...

We unpack the week with Ronald Young Jr., host of ‘ Weight For It ,’ and Arionne Nettles, head of Northwestern’s audio journalism program and author of the upcoming book ‘ We Are the Culture: Black Chicago's Influence on Everything .’ We chat about the fallacy of airplane mode, tweens at Sephora and the popularity of owl ring bearers. Plus, author Xochitl Gonzalez tells us about her new book ‘ Ani...

Nerdette Book Club’s March selection is ‘ Martyr! ,’ the first novel from poet Kaveh Akbar. Our team chose it because it is vibrant, incisive and the perfect combination of devastating and funny. Listen to this spoiler-free conversation and read along with us! Then, send us a voice memo with your thoughts on the book. We’ll be back on the last Tuesday of the month with a spoiler-filled discussion....