Clashists

CLASH: CAN THE STARS SAVE US FROM OURSELVES? This week we sit down with certified astrologer and tarot master Ciera Autumn to ask SO MANY QUESTIONS.We tackle Astrology 101 (birth charts! rising signs! why you are the way you are!!), touch on the transatlantic clash between how the U.S. versus France treats astrology, and dig into how you can actually use astrology to navigate life’s bigger clashes — like change, identity crises, career pivots and relationship catastrophes. We straddle the line between science and spirituality, ask why some people ride the wave of chaos while others (ahem, Gabby) absolutely white-knuckle it, get the useful explanation of Mercury retrograde we’ve ever heard (no, it’s not just about your ex texting you) (but it's also a little bit about your ex texting you!!) • Listen to Ciera's podcast, The Stars Made Me Do It, here: https://open.spotify.com/show/6vul1u7O6MdGE0Be0bpILp• Get in touch with Ciera for a reading, here: https://cieraautumn.com/

CLASH: THE CHANGING NOTION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN "AMERICAN". Today we dissect what the heck being an "American" even means — starting allll the way back at pre-pubescence. From Dani's early days idolizing various aspects of American culture with one foot in and one foot out, to Gabby's lame a** midwestern ignorance, we chat about our evolving perceptions, and embodiments, of "Americanness". What kinds of clashes did key cultural events, crises, and international immigrations spark? And how did moving to Paris turn us into unsolicited ambassadors of a country we barely understand ourselves? Don't worry - we absolutely spend half the podcast discussing Bad Bunny.

CLASH: WATCHING YOUR CITY CHANGE. Today’s Clash is a big one: watching the city you love….change. And in front of your eyes, no less. We’re joined by journalist, author, and podcaster Lindsey Tramuta—Paris resident of 20 years—to talk about the strange whiplash of seeing your home evolve in real time. From the changing attitudes of new Parisians to the growing American infusion of food, fashion, and culture (WE'RE SORRY), we get into the city’s personality shifts—and, maybe most importantly, how we're all navigating the increasingly small stools at "modern" coffee shops.Read Lindsey's substack, The New Paris Dispatch hereListen to her podcast, The New Paris Podcast hereCheck out more of. Lindsey's work hereA few additional links:The Atlantic, What if Our Ancestors Didn't Feel Anything Like We DoDecoder Ring, Is Culture Stuck?Articles of Interest, Knockoffs@goodgoodgoodcoNeedle & Skein story here

CLASH: AGING. Today we’re joined by the author of The Cut’s essay on wtf a 30 year old looks like, Claire Lampen, to unpack what actually happens when women get older—and why it makes us so dang confused. From the never-ending plastic surgery discourse (what even is the "mid face"), to why the less controllable we become- the “uglier” we suddenly are (so strange!! wonder why!!??), the strange mix of insecurity & confidence that come from making big life changes later in life, and what dating feels like when you’re being perpetually perceived during peak physical changes (see: bad). It's full of clashes & complicated & we're confused!!! And it shows!!

Hi all! Your OGs D & G were long overdue for a lil' mailbag catchup to answer all the qs we get on a weekly basis: from "how did you two meet" to "how did you two meet"? JK JK JK (though we do get asked that one a lot). Spoiler alert: Dani went viral on TikTok for saying she buys a baguette every day & ppl had ~thoughts~.Don't worry, though, we also touch upon some other hard hitting subjects, like: "Marry / F / Kill: NYC, Paris, London", how to make friends in a new country (tip: social media might be a necessary evil my friends!!!), what we consider the biggest sacrifices of living abroad (see: fun dating), a few tips for pushing through cringe & starting new projects, and a handful of our neighborhood favs (see: places w/ giant blocks of butter).

CLASH: LIVING AMIDST HISTORY. This week on the podaroo, we talk with Cat Byers—historian AND author of the upcoming book Morgue AND most importantly our very smart and thoughtful friend!!!We chat about the mental clash of going from living a "normal" life to realizing you're living on top of centuries upon centuries of juicy history and how studying the stories of past deaths can be a surprisingly effective way to learn about life—both others' and your own.And of course it wouldn't be a true Clashists ep if we didn't wind our way through the twisted tunnels of life's inevitable career changes—from Cat's food styling past (think: mashed potatoes as ice cream and glued-on sesame seeds) and why she was once convinced she hated history.It’s an episode about the past not as a museum piece, but as something you’re constantly tripping over—and about pushing yourself off proverbial life cliffs, even when that leads you to...well, death.Check Cat out on:Instagram @heymorguegirlHer blog (Gabby's personal obsession!!): https://www.catbyers.com/blogLinktr.ee for some great other pods she's been on!

CLASH: HOW TASTE CHANGES. What happens when you live enough lives that your palate can’t keep up? This week we sit down with Caitlin Gunther— New Yorker in Paris, author of The 75 , and writer for pubs like The New York Times, Wash Post, Harper's Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler, Eater, Bon Appétit & more! — to trace the many shockwaves of a life lived in reinvention: from law school at Cornell, to a life-altering lunch at Septime, to unglamorous gigs in global kitchens, and an eventual transition to food writing in Paris. We ask: what happens to your sense of taste—food, style, people, ambition—when life keeps on ... well ... keeping on? Does it remain a constant, or does the whiplash of change recalibrate what we crave??Don't worry, we leave plentyyyy o' room for unhinged friends, fashion identity crises, painful breakups, and (maybe most importantly!!!) cheesy ramen & Cheez-its.** excuse some audio issues in this ep - we're workin' on it <3Read The 75 here: https://caitlingunther.substack.com/Find more of Caitlin's video interviews on her IG, here!: https://www.instagram.com/caitlintgunther/?hl=en

CLASH: HUMOR ACROSS BORDERS. This week we’re joined by comedian Sarah Donnelly—an American double agent who’s been doing stand-up in France for 13 years. We get into the big questions, like: Is French humor actually more sophisticated, or do they just say it with an accent? Can the French actually make fun of themselves (because… could’ve fooled us)? Which swear words hit in both English and French? And MOST importantly — how is one EVER brave enough to do stand up in the first place?!?!See more of Sarah!Instagram: @sarahdcomedyYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarahdcomedyHer famous Picard TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahdcomedy/video/7343192174512672032?lang=enThe Prisonic x Monoprix collab: https://www.monoprix.fr/lookbook-prisunic.html

CLASH: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN "COOL". Today we're talking about the slow, creeping horror of realizing that the things you once thought were cool…aren’t. Maybe you aged out of them. Maybe you matured. Maybe you moved zip codes and discovered that being “insanely busy" or “performatively confident” or a "relentless partier" doesn’t translate outside your original habitat. It’s the life clash of having to retire your old identity badges and admit that some of your personality was realistically a ... regional trend.All that, plus we’re snacking on some AMERICAN-LY sweet (*wink, wink* — see our IG) treats as a form of cultural regression.

Today on the pod: we interrogate the cultural pinnacle of Passport to Paris in a playful ~petite ep~. Questions we ask ourselves include but are not limited to: which parts of the movie actually hold up 26 years later? Which aspects are now painfully dated?? And which were never true? Why does everyone speak a mystery language? How do they make headscarves look like high art? Should we be trying quail eggs? And maybe the singular most crucial question—are more cowboy hats the answer to Parisian stranger energy? Spoiler alert: no probably not but stick around anyways.

CLASH: AMERICANS ABROAD. Today we're joined by actor, writer, filmmaker, and new-ish Paris resident—Clark Moore—to tackle our most oft-heard accusation: that Americans in Paris are inherently annoying. From casting ourselves as the city’s main character, to treating Paris like a personal art incubator, and the well trodden theater-kid-to-Paris-pipeline, we explore the behaviours that grind the gears of outsiders & locals alike.Are we just as insufferable as the incessant rumours say, or, well .... are y'all just jealous?? Come at us baby. Years of Parisian "c'est pas possibles" have thickened our skin.Referenced:Bloomberg's "Revisiting Paris Syndrome in the Smartphone Era": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-24/revisiting-paris-syndrome-in-the-smartphone-travel-eraGateway guy theory: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOb3f2BkRaa/Where to find Clark!Clark's Substack, Wistover: https://clarkmoore.substack.com/Read his essay in the first issue of the new literary magazine, Souvenir: https://www.souvenir-paris.com/@mrclarkmoore on IG

CLASH: FRIENDSHIPS ACROSS LIFE CHANGES. Being in your 30s is WEIRD. Some would even say it’s peak time for life’s biggest ~culture clashes~. Your friend group suddenly starts to splinter—one falls in love and moves to farmhouse upstate, another has a baby and starts coping with the dreaded "witching hour", and the other is still out until 2 a.m. lighting shots on fire on a Wednesday ("leave me alone" -Gabby). In this episode, your fav duo is talking diverging timelines, mismatched milestones, and whether friendship can survive when everyone seems to be living a significantly different reality. Also: "Snack & Spiral" is back, and unsurprisingly a seasonal flavor of Bret's chips plays a starring role.Vogue: Why Is It So Hard to Maintain Friendships From Your 20s in Your 30s?The Cut: Our friendship survived bad dates, illness, marriage, fights. Why can’t it survive your baby?

Y'all we are SO excited to be back with you again after a way way too long hiatus. But here we are for Season 2 of Clashists!! One of us grew a human being inside their body and the other continued to strike out on Hinge. We'll let you guess which was which. We recap our fav things we ate, bought, and obsessed over this past summer (and, well, early fall) and catch-up on some ~cultural~ happenings—namely how the heck they just dropped (??!) that jewel-laden crown, and why you should just shut up already about Belly's Sacre Coeur view. Love you, missed you.

CLASH: HOW LANGUAGE IMPACTS PERSONALITY. Does your vibe actually shift when you swap languages? Is French really the sexiest language? Is the fear of looking like an idiot thwarting our impending fluency? This week, Gabby and Dani are joined by linguist and language wizard Beatriz Lopez to unpack the wild (and painfully exhausting) subject of bi- (and tri) lingual brains. We get into whether speaking French actually rewires your personality (spoiler: sort of), why flirting feels smoother en français, and whether French actually deserves its rep as a hard-to-learn language—or if we're just A+ whiners. Come for the sociology, stay for the existential crisis.

CLASH: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Today on the pod: culture shock meets bedroom talk—we’re diving deep with Jessamy Holland, a psychosexual and relationship therapist based in Paris. She helps Dani & Gabby break down everything from the thrill and heartbreak of international dating, to navigating intimacy across cultural norms, to the quirks of French‑vs‑American expectations around sex, communication, and romance. Can she solve the dilemma of why Gabby despises dating French men? Or why French partners struggle with the word "sorry"? Only time (or, you know, this episode) will tell. Plus - tacos, Percy Pig gummies, and...brie + sugar??No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model: https://www.amazon.com/No-Bad-Parts-Restoring-Wholeness/dp/1683646681Saving Sex and the City 3 Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5yHlD9lmwJavFz83AjI5yrTiktok of the girl @ Charli XCX reading her breakup text: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdyJp58r/

CLASH: SINGLEDOM. Today is a very special day, because today we have one of our favorite people on the pod - Sutanya Dacres!! Sutanya has created a far-reaching community of readers, listeners and diners under her Dinner for One umbrella, in which she encourages single women to reclaim their tables and their stories. While Dani has been barred from the exclusive single supper club, Gabby has had the recent privilege of getting dumped — allowing her special access. Sutanya walks us all the way from her Jamaican roots, to her first mayonnaise experience (spoiler alert: it wasn't her "her type of taste"), to her stint in the suburbs, and eventually her whirlwind email-based romance — and heartbreak — at the hands of a French man that upended her life and plopped her down in the "studio" with us today. We touch on the difference between integration and immersion, the problems with online "dating coaches", how to cope post breakup and so so so much more (namely: cake).Find Sutanya's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Dinner-One-Cooking-Paris-Saved/dp/0778333035 (or at Shakespeare & Co!)Find Sutanya online here: @dinnerfor.oneAdditional references:Lauren Collins' book: When in French: Love in a Second LanguageLauren Collins' New Yorker article on El Mordjene: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/09/how-a-hazelnut-spread-became-a-sticking-point-in-franco-algerian-relationsKate Kassin's Bon Appetit article on ice cream: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/best-ice-cream-desserts-restaurants-2025?srsltid=AfmBOootHkI-JdcniSkHaQG8wqaQVFu59ox8GXq60pb600TGCV2oZty5Ice cream references: JJ Hings, @kevglaceNikita Wallia's "thinking out loud" Substack: The Rise of the TikTok Oracle

We had to hop on the ~*~viral~*~ propaganda-we're-not-falling-for trend. Whether it's French men's falsely "romantic" reputation, French pharmacy fails, croissant chaos or attacks on snacks - Dani & Gabby are coming in hot today with the Paris propaganda they absolutely refuse to get behind.

🎶 LET'S GO BACK, BACK TO THE BEGINNING 🎶 (IYKYK) Happy to report that we've acquired a lot of new friends recently so we're re-running our DEBUT EP! This is the ep in which we discover how awkward it is to talk TO each other while talking FOR someone else, and navigate just how much eye contact a social arrangement like that entails. Always nice to go back to your roots and remind yourself where you came from. Keeps us humble!!! Love y'all and see you next wk with a spankin' new ep.

CLASH: LIVING THROUGH LIFELONG CULTURE SHOCKS. It's our first guest & we COULDN'T be more excited!!!!! Clashes abound in this one 🚘! Matt tells us all about his early life in the Philippines and what it was like to come to the US as a kid — from the unique joys of childhood Costco sample scouring to the iconic gondolas in Vegas' Grand Canal Shoppes. We dig into baby's first culture shocks, the upsides/downsides/necessity of rule-following as an immigrant, the joys of NYC as an "outsider", and Matt's relationship with France today. BONUS: he schools us on the legacy (and mystery) of ~ Chartreuse ~.• Matt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattortile/?hl=en• Matt's book: The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I've Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance: https://a.co/d/5oQFSX8• The great CN Traveler piece he references: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/french-asian-paris-ro-kwon

CLASH: MANNERS ACROSS CULTURES. One question we get constantly as certified idiots abroad: “Are Parisians rude?” To which we’d like to counter—are we?? A big shock since moving countries has been the realization that our manners don't translate. Whether we're talking about the French's distain for small talk, their proclivity for directness, or an aversion to smiling — we discuss how our more American traits are often ~unwelcome abroad~. In an attempt at intellectualism, we put on our history hats (do historians wear hats?) to make a valiant, questionably accurate attempt to trace where our cultures diverged—and how these unspeakably different definitions of “polite” came to be. As always, the conversation devolves — this time into a truly unhinged rant re: sneezing & a spiral prompted by our mutual disgust for LinkedIn culture. Also, Dunkin' Donuts launched in Paris???!More materials:• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer: https://amzn.eu/d/bS96Ls8• @vin_dealer (our new fav wine influencer): https://www.instagram.com/vin_dealer/• Overcompensating (on Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0GZX4440MSC23NHW3P0BSQB1TE/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r