The Daily Whatever

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We had the incomparable Füsun Aydın on this morning, ostensibly to talk about sex work in Amsterdam. But because she is amazing and an incredible writer, we spoke as much about writing and language as we did about anything else. We started by talking about Füsun’s most recent story, about the silence, absence, and mourning of early mornings. It’s a deeply felt and vividly rendered piece, which, ac...

Huge thanks to Shane Yirak for joining Dana DuBois and me on The Daily Whatever Show this morning! We spoke about the way the conversation around all issues in this country get framed, and how that frame is often right-wing and biased against any left-leaning perspectives. We spoke about the Overton Window , and Shane’s latest article: Not to be missed, I brought up my friend Grey Galaxie ’s recen...

Ugh, it was SO AMAZING to chat with KiKi Walter today, my cheeks still hurt from smiling so hard. Thanks to everyone who joined us for this fabulous conversation about writing memoir and personal essays, and how storytelling can help move the world. And especially thanks for being such an engaging chat this morning: Robin Wilding , Jo , Karen Marie Shelton , The One Minute Daily Boost , Leena Mari...

Welcoming Carlyn Beccia to The Daily Whatever Show was a bit of a dream come true for me. I’ve long been a fan of her writing and was eager to meet the woman behind the clever words in all those sex and politics stories I’ve been reading on Medium and Substack. To our great delight, Carlyn exceeded our (already very high) expectations, and after we resolved a few technical hurdles, we had a fascin...

It was so great to welcome The Momster back to The Daily Whatever Show , and to meet baby Grace! We didn’t realize how much we needed some baby time in our lives till we saw her cute face, and especially as we discussed a heady topic like how to integrate work into our full-to-overflowing lives. Thank you Karen Marie Shelton , The One Minute Daily Boost , Marney , Sheryl , Robin Wilding , The Bath...

So Dana DuBois and I were planning to talk about our most recent essays. But then with the Epstein press conference starting halfway through our typical podcast time, we decided to cut our time short, and to shift topics to talk about things to know about this historic press conference. Please know we don’t change our programming or timing lightly. This was an exception—and a worthwhile one. It wa...

This morning, we had the chance to meet the amazing Margaret Williams, MS, ACC , who joined us to talk about her journey, her work as a coach, and how to stay centered in a time of ceaseless change and political news overload. Margaret, thanks so much for joining Dana DuBois and me on The Daily Whatever Show ! Please go subscribe to Margaret so we can get her to her November goal! We hit 90 paid s...

Happy September! We love the transition to autumn so much. But summer isn’t quite done for us. See, we’ve got Summer Pledge Drive goals, and we’re getting really close to meeting them—but we’re not quite there. As of this writing, we’re at 89 paid subscribers for GenXy , and we’re so grateful for each and every one. Our goal is 100 paid subscribers by the 21st night of September (the official end...

There are lots of amazing ways to spend a Saturday morning of a three-day weekend, but talking with Stephanie Drury might be our new favorite. We knew we’d discuss her social media take-down of Mars Hill church back in the day and the rise of her popular Stuff Christian Culture Likes social media identity. But it was so much more. Today’s show covered the grief of losing one’s parents to the Evang...

It was an absolute joy to host Samantha Paige (she/they) for today’s Fucked-up Friday. Huge thanks to Accidentally Sideways™ , Alex the Defender , Adrian , Angie , Artings & Inklings , ✨🌸Aurora🏳️‍⚧️✨ , Beth Cruz , BJ Roberts , Brain of J-Hawk (he/him) , Bud Jones , Jeanne Elbe , Caro Henry , Carolyn Maietta , Carrie , Cat , OldHenCharlie , C Wallis , cynmac , Damon Kenner , Dana DuBois , Dorie...

Holy cow. HUGE THANKS to everyone who helped us hit 80 paid subscribers as part of our genXy Summer Pledge Drive !! To express our thanks, we give you “Freaky Thursday.” Dana DuBois and Lawrence Winnerman awoke this morning and had magically switched bodies! And Karen Marie Shelton was here to interview us all through it. Learn secrets from our 46-year friendship, like about how Lawrence secretly...

Whenever Melissa Corrigan, she/her joins us for The Daily Whatever Show, we know the conversation will run deep. Today we dove into Christian nationalism, so yeah—we plunged in, heads first. Christian nationalism isn’t just an abstract threat; it’s a movement reshaping politics, education, and even our sense of community in America. Melissa, with her research and advocacy background, didn’t waste...

Well, goddamn. So a gay dude, a bi dude, and a pansexual dude try to get into a podcast to talk about sexuality, and what happens? Substack crashes. Won’t let any of us start the Live or join one. What the actual fuck? Thanks to Nick Paro and Restream, we did it anyway! Thanks, Nick! For today only, The Daily Whatever was hosted by Sick of This Show . 😁 And thanks to Dana DuBois who had another t...

Y’all. Real talk, we could not have been more honored and happy to welcome longtime friend and all-around brilliant person Ariel Meadow Stallings to the show today. We talked about ALL THE THINGS—too much to legit summarize here. Please watch the recap, and if you want to know more about Ariel, check out her links: * Ariel’s consultancy, Offbeat Empire * Offbeat Empire’s AI offering * Ariel on Bee...

The very best part of Substack is meeting amazing writers who feel like best friends. That’s how we both feel about Ally Hamilton . We first met Ally when she commented on Dana DuBois ’ viral essay, “ Middle-Aged Men Keep Ogling My 16-Year-Old ,” offering her firm-yet-empathetic wisdom to a troll who in no way deserved it. What she shared in today’s podcast about her experiences with men while gro...

Huge thanks to our incredible guest for today’s Fucked-up Friday, the amazing Ellie Leonard ! If you’re not already subscribed, well, you totally should. Like, right now. Then come back and finish reading this… OK—now let’s jump into this week’s Fucked-up Friday! Here were today’s fucked-up stories for the competition: * Ellie: MAGA’s Cracker-Barrel Meltdown Because while the world is melting down...

It’s always a pleasure when Mr. Troy Ford joins us all the way from Sitges! Today we chatted about the first three months of his novel, Lamb: a novel in snapshots , being released in the world. He shared his successes, his favorite reviews, and his plans for a sequel (!!). We also chatted about the potential overturning of Obergefell, and how Europeans DGAF about what’s happening in the US, even a...

As much as Lawrence Winnerman and I love podcasting—and we really, really love podcasting—our first creative love is always writing. So each week, we aim to dedicate at least one The Daily Whatever Show to talk about our latest stories. This week we each shared one (a sci-fi one for Lawrence, and a personal essay for Dana, as per usual). Then we opened up the show to other writers to come on and s...

Why is everyone talking about GenX these days? It’s hard to keep up with the recent onslaught of think-pieces about our overlooked generation, but today’s special guest Jonathan Small has done a damn good job at it. First the Wall Street Journal wrote about how we’re getting passed up for CEO roles . And Jonathan responded . Then the New York Times responded to the Wall Street Journal and called u...

Thank you BJ Roberts , KB 🙋🏼‍♀️🧩🔍⚖️✨ , Brandon Ellrich , Brushy 🐺 📚 , Jeanne Elbe , Carrie , OldHenCharlie , Damon Kenner , Dana DuBois , @dunn647 , EBS , Mike Gagne , Elizabeth Newman , Frederic Poag , Gayety , Marney , judyth Watson-Remy , Karen Marie Shelton , Kevin , Kim Taylor , Kostadenos Priskos , Jo , Leo McChaser , Rich Kagan , The Momster 🧷 , Linda Low , The One Minute Daily Boos...

It’s a lovely way to end the week by sharing the good news. We opened the show gushing about Taylor Swift. Not only the announcement of her new record— The Life of a Showgirl drops October 3rd!!!!!—but also her two-hour podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce to announce the release. They’re a charming couple. She’s brilliant. And we agreed, the best part of it all was watching Travis and Jason demons...

Thank you Wendy🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🌈 , Maria , Nick Paro , Craig Nixon , Kelly Aster , BiffBiff , Polly Walker Blakemore , Jeanette Wain , The One Minute Daily Boost , 🌀BentButTrue , Lawrence Winnerman , Dana DuBois , Patrick Hanley , Musings on Interesting Times , Victor Cardenas , Dr. Andy , Jennifer Winningham , Christiane mccafferty , Robin Wilding , Lisa Gonzalez , MorganX , Karen Marie Shelton , tec...

We always have an amazing time when The Opinionated Ogre comes to visit at The Daily Whatever , and today was no different! Thank you GenAlbertWilliams , Karen Marie Shelton , Polly Walker Blakemore , MorganX , Dana DuBois , Lawrence Winnerman , Tee Ree , Life in The Upside-Down , Jo , The Bathrobe Guy 👘 , Robin Wilding , Damon Kenner , Kate , Lynda Blake , L Peters , Meghana Raipur , Jane Hendri...

Huge thanks to Sophia Kelly Grace and Melissa Corrigan, she/her for joining us in our last Restream for an amazing conversation. Thank you R.V. Hughes , Lisa Jensen , Brandon Ellrich , Carol Ann Power , OldHenCharlie , cynmac , Dale Scaringi , Damon Kenner , Dana DuBois , Dan Houghton , David Caffrey , Gatto Sospetto , IncredibleHulka , julie elder , Karen Marie Shelton , Kimberly Finix , Kostaden...