Culturally Determined

Leigh talks about her new novel, a modern gothic with a satirical edge about an unemployed Millennial journalist who becomes the manager of a hype house for Gen Z content creators — one of whom goes missing. Aryeh and Leigh also discuss whether the internet is bad now.Recorded September 3, 2025LINKSLeigh's new novel, "If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You"https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Seeing-This-Its-Meant/dp/0593983645Profile of TikTok star William Whitehttps://www.inverse.com/input/culture/will-white-tiktok-fandom-gen-x-middle-age-women-drama/ampJia Tolentino's review of Elizabeth Gilbert's new bookhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/all-the-way-to-the-river-love-loss-and-liberation-elizabeth-gilbert-book-reviewLeigh's Substack, "Attention Economy"https://leighstein.substack.com/Follow Leigh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighstein/Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gina Tron discusses "Suspect," her recent memoir about her childhood growing up as an outsider in a small Vermont town and the bad teenage joke that led everyone to think she was planning to be a school shooter.Recorded Feb 20, 2025Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSGina's book,"Suspect"https://www.ginatron.net/suspect/Gina's websitehttps://www.ginatron.netFollow Gina on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ginatron.bsky.socialFollow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh and Phoebe discuss Bluesky, the newly popular Twitter alternative—and how Phoebe's mild critique of the site went mega-viral. Aryeh explains why he finally, finally quit Twitter. Is Bluesky for anti-Trump social media "refugees," or a retirement home for posting addicts? And are people on there actually nice?Recorded December 20, 2024Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSPhoebe's piece, "The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-problem-with-bluesky-it-wont-broaden-our-horizons/Aryeh and Phoebe's May 2023 episode about Twitterhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twitter-taught-us-it-was-okay-to-be-weird-with-phoebe/id981282353?i=1000611578059Montreal man dies after leaving hospital following six-hour waithttps://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article612894.htmlPhoebe's piece, "Does this book read as too parochial—or too ‘Zionist’? The pitfalls of Writing While Jewish"https://thecjn.ca/opinion/zibby-vs-philip/Waikiki Wanda says Bluesky is hospice for postershttps://bsky.app/profile/wanda.bsky.social/post/3lcmbzupslk2vPhoebe's Substackhttps://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/Feminine Chaos podcasthttps://femchaospod.substack.com/Bonjour Chai podcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonjour-chai/id1555600279Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.socialFollow Phoebe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phoebebovy.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks with writer Hannah Gold about her reported essay in Harper's on the literary festival celebrating Philip Roth's 90th birthday, which was held in Newark, New Jersey last year.Recorded December 5, 2023Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSHannah's piece, "Your Mind’s in the Hands of Everything: Letting Go of Philip Roth"https://harpers.org/archive/2023/12/philip-roth-newark-your-minds-in-the-hands-of-everything/Aryeh's interview with Laura Marsh on Blake Bailey's Roth biographyhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culturally-determined/id981282353?i=1000519264087Follow @togglecoatFollow @aryehcw.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks to Kiki Freedman, the co-founder and CEO of Hey Jane, the leading virtual reproductive and sexual health care clinic.Recorded July 16, 2024Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSHey Jane websitehttps://heyjane.com/KFF on the Comstock Act and abortionhttps://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-comstock-act-implications-for-abortion-care-nationwide/Follow @kgfreedmanFollow @HeyJaneHealthFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel discusses his recent Harper's cover story, "The Life and Death of Hollywood," which focuses on the economics of entertainment as private equity and streaming have changed the industry.Recorded May 24, 2024Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSDaniel's piece, "The Life and Death of Hollywood"https://harpers.org/archive/2024/05/the-life-and-death-of-hollywood-daniel-bessner/Max Read on the piecehttps://maxread.substack.com/p/one-weird-trick-for-fixing-hollywood-6f0Sean Clements's podcast, "Subtitles On"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/subtitles-on-with-sean-clements/id1694805292Daniel's podcast, "American Prestige"https://www.americanprestigepod.com/Follow @dbessnerFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks to Jon Kimball, co-host of the podcast Election Profits Makers, about political prediction markets, Trump's VP options, the beauty of city skylines, the sorry state of the social media site formerly known as Twitter, whether Gen Xers have the worst politics, and more!Recorded April 26, 2024.Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSElection Profits Makers podcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/election-profit-makers/id1136826256Aryeh's 2021 interview with David Reeshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-the-waves-of-prediction-markets-with-david-rees/id981282353?i=1000545531373Sarah Miller on Gen Xhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.htmlAryeh's interview with Sarahhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hating-gen-x-while-being-gen-x-with-sarah-miller/id981282353?i=1000628237579Follow @jonkimballFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kerry Howley talks about her book "Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State," named one of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by the New York Times.Recorded November 14, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSKerry's book, "Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State"https://www.amazon.com/Bottoms-Up-Devil-Laughs-Journey/dp/0525655492/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Kerry's 2017 profile of Reality Winnerhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/who-is-reality-winner.htmlThe titular Monster Energy videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntfUA6TmLsJorie Graham's poem, "Overheard in the Herd"https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148785/overheard-in-the-herdKerry's piece, "Ginni and Clarence: A Love Story"https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas-marriage-love-story.htmlFollow @KerryHowleyFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

B.D. McClay — essayist, critic, and scholar of Taylor Swift Studies — helps Aryeh understand the biggest cultural phenomenon of the year. Recorded November 5, 2023Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSB.D.'s Substackhttps://notebook.substack.com/B.D.'s essay on illness, "The Bad Patient​"https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-bad-patient/B.D. on "1989 (Taylor's Version)"https://notebook.substack.com/p/1989-revisitedAryeh's interview with Kaitlyn Tiffany about her One Direction bookhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-fangirls-remade-the-internet-with-kaitlyn-tiffany/id981282353?i=1000570796480On the Q of the Gaylor communityhttps://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/oyqehq/music_fan_blogging_big_reputation_how_one_taylor/?share_id=f2GVW57klA4suITkuxi6ZKobe Bryant on Taylorhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUa_RegHjgTed Gioia's open letter to Taylorhttps://www.honest-broker.com/p/an-open-letter-to-taylor-swiftThe Taylor fan who went to jail for refusing to serve in the IDFhttps://www.teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-fan-account-twitter-creator-israeli-military-prisonClare Coffey on Taylor and Bruce Springsteenhttps://notebook.substack.com/p/miss-americana-and-the-heartbreakSteven Hyden on Taylorhttps://uproxx.com/indie/ask-a-music-critic-when-will-taylor-swift-popularity-fade/Boswell the dog on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/life_of_boswell/Follow @bdmcclayFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah discusses her recent New York Times essay, "Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er)." Why are young people lumping together Boomers and Xers? Why do so many Gen X writers spend time railing against "woke" ideas? Is Elon Musk more defined by being Gen X or by being a billionaire? And why do Xers find Millennials so annoying?Recorded September 14, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSSarah's NYT piece, "Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er)."https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.htmlSarah's NYT piece on not having kidshttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/style/new-friend-children-conversation.htmlChuck Klosterman's book, "The Nineties"https://www.amazon.com/Nineties-Book-Chuck-Klosterman/dp/0735217955Big Fun, "Teenage Suicide, Don't Do It"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO3WEfBIPvMSara's Substack, "The Real Sarah Miller"https://therealsarahmiller.substack.com/Follow @sarahlovescaliFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Historian Jeremy Dauber talks about his new book, "Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew," which is part of the Yale Jewish Lives series. He discusses Brooks's Brooklyn childhood, his Borscht Belt years, writing on "Your Show of Shows" and working with Carl Reiner, his move to Hollywood, why parody was his main genre, and his comedic legacy.Recorded July 18, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKS:Jeremy's book, "Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew"https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Brooks-Disobedient-Jewish-Lives/dp/0300244274Brooks's Oscar-winning short film, "The Critic"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PramR5oxn50Follow @JeremyDauberFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Dederer talks about her new book, "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma," a blend of cultural criticism and memoir in which she thinks deeply about the work of great artists who were also horrible people.Recorded July 24, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSClaire's new book,"Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma"https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Fans-Dilemma-Claire-Dederer/dp/0525655115Claire's 2017 essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?"https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/20/art-monstrous-men/Follow @aryehcw Follow @ClaireDederer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Art critic Kristian Vistrup Madsen discusses his essay on the 2000s, "Chains Or Whips? The Cruel Decade And Its Aftermath," in which he draws connections between Abu Ghraib, reality television, and Britney Spears to reflect on the culture of the Aughts.Recorded July 12, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSKristian's essay, "Chains Or Whips? The Cruel Decade And Its Aftermath"https://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/chains-or-whips/NBC on viral video of 2002 high schoolhttps://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/videos-high-school-life-decades-stir-nostalgia-debate-rcna77590Kristian's websitehttps://kristianvistrup.dk/Follow @aryehcw  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Lipstein discusses "The Vegan," his new novel about a hedge fund founder who has an unusual moral awakening after a dinner party prank he pulls goes disastrously awry. The novel considers artificial intelligence, Brooklyn mores, our relationship with animals, psychiatry, responsibility, and more.Recorded July 7, 2023LINKSAndrew's new novel, "The Vegan"https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Novel-Andrew-Lipstein/dp/0374606587Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetFollow @ailipsteinFollow @aryehcw  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author Tom Bissell discusses his recent essay in Harper's, "Time Is a Violent Stream," about embracing Stoic philosophy after the death of his father. Why is Stoicism so useful during a time of crisis? What do contemporary popular books about Stoicism get wrong? Why do online reactionaries love Marcus Aurelius? Plus: Is Stoicism just for men?Recorded May 8, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSTom's piece, "Time Is a Violent Stream: On losing a father and finding Stoicism"https://harpers.org/archive/2023/05/meditations-marcus-aurelius-stoicism/Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"https://a.co/d/dOqIhZcWard Farnsworth's book, "The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual"https://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Stoic-Philosophical-Users-Manual/dp/1567926118Donald Robertson's book, "How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius"https://a.co/d/7hCE19NFollow @aryehcw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ross discusses his recent essay disputing that Trump and MAGA are on the wane. Is MAGA even separable from Trump himself to begin with? How do the dynamics of the 2024 GOP primary differ from those of 2016? Plus: Critiquing reactions from both left and right to the subway killing of Jordan Neely.Recorded May 9, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSRoss's Substackhttps://rossbarkan.substack.com/Ross's piece, "MAGA Is Here to Stay"https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/maga-is-going-nowhereRoss's piece, "The Tragedy of Jordan Neely"https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/the-tragedy-of-jordan-neely?r=ptxtu&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=postAryeh's podcast with Raina Lipsitzhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rise-of-a-new-left-aryeh-cohen-wade-raina-lipsitz/id981282353?i=1000597298657Follow @rossbarkanFollow @aryehcw  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Self-described "Extremely Online" writer and podcaster Phoebe Maltz Bovy joins Aryeh to ponder whether Twitter is finally really and truly dead. Phoebe talks about how she lost her bluecheck before it was cool, Aryeh explains why he's not eager to join the Twitter knockoff Bluesky, and they wonder whether anything could ever replace the site's mixture of usefulness, humor, chaos, and derangement. Plus: Aryeh shares how sad he gets when no one likes his cute cat pics.Recorded May 1, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSWilly Staley's piece, "What Was Twitter, Anyway?"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/magazine/twitter-dying.htmlPhoebe's podcast, "Feminine Chaos"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminine-chaos/id1542656235Phoebe's podcast, "Bonjour Chai"https://thecjn.ca/series/bonjour-chai/Phoebe's newsletter, "Close-reading the reruns"https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/Follow @bovymaltzFollow @aryehcw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Novelist and Internet activist Cory Doctorow discusses "enshittification," the term he coined for how online platforms start out great but gradually become nightmarish for users. How can we fight back against the forces of enshittification? Cory suggests some federal policies that would put power back in the hands of regular Americans. Plus: What made Twitter a once-thriving platform, and what will happen to it now?Recorded March 16, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSCory's piece, "The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok"https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guysCory's book, with Rebecca Giblin, "Chokepoint Capitalism"https://chokepointcapitalism.com/Cory's new novel, "Red Team Blues"https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/redteambluesCory's forthcoming book, "The Internet Con"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721311/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow/Cory's site, pluralistic.nethttps://pluralistic.net/Follow @doctorowFollow @aryehcw  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Sommer talks about his new book, "Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America." Why didn't January 6th deflate QAnon? How has conspiracy thinking changed the GOP? Is the "cabal" that Q believers see themselves fighting against just…capitalism? Plus: Do Fox News hosts believe their own nonsense?Recorded March 23, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSWill's new book, "Trust the Plan"https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Plan-Conspiracy-Reshaped-America-ebook/dp/B08XQRX3XQWill's 2018 appearance on "Culturally Determined"https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/53218Will's piece, "Meet the ‘Ghost’ Woman Fox Relied on for Voter Fraud Claims"​​https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-ghost-minnesota-artist-fox-relied-on-for-voter-fraud-claimsWill's podcast, "Fever Dreams"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fever-dreams/id1558716930Follow @willsommerFollow @aryehcw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist Nicky Woolf discusses his podcast "The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome." What really caused the strange symptoms afflicting American diplomats in Cuba? What, if anything, do loud crickets have to do with it? Is the whole thing simply a mass delusion? And why hasn't Biden acted to undo the damage Trump did to Cuba?Recorded March 17, 2023LINKSThe Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sound-mystery-of-havana-syndrome/id1662594800The new Culturally Determined Twitter feed, @CulturallyDethttps://twitter.com/CulturallyDetFollow @nickywoolfFollow @AryehCW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.