Totally Classic

Is there a Transfemicide Emergency in Chicago? Is there a Trans Genocide, ongoing? Is one being planned? In part two of exploring this question, with curiosity, reason, emtpathy and nuance, Andy & Brendan ask the questions behind the questions, hold the claimants to their own standards and try to understand both the inflow and outflow of these claims. Is Lily Wachowski correct when he says JK Rowling is funding a Trans Genocide? Is Rowling, as he claims, a "literal nazi?" Does absolutist or extreme language benefit anyone? The speaker? The hearer? Trans-identifying persons? Or does it cause harm to all of the above? It is ethical or unethical to speak in this manner? Is it... most relevantly... TRUE? recorded on 9/16/2026

Sparked by politicians and comedians alike this week, the Transfemicide Emergency Declaration by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the podcast comments by Margaret Cho converged to create a curiosity: are we living through anything like a Trans Genocide or even an epidemic of anti-transgender bias? Is there anything to this or is it pure rhetoric? Is that rhetoric appropriate or inappropriate? Ethical or unethical? Do we save the G Word for particular circumstances or is it an inevitable consequence of the normalization of Godwin's Law? What do YOU think? And Why?

This week, Andy & Brendan are joined by Brandon Peele - author and facilitator of purpose-centered leadership and communities - to press further into whether The Matriarchy is underserved in the bumper sticker and T-shirt "Smash ______" category:) They dig into the differences between belonging & conformity, between feminine and masculine energies, and between the arguable strawman of Patriarchy & steelman of Matriarchy.  We didn't smash the Patriarchy... BUT will the Matriarchy survive?  What do YOU think?

This week, Andy & Brendan use Christopher Nolan's recent adaption (the space that launched a thousand thinkpieces) of Homer's The Odyssey to examine whether the archetypal hero Odysseus is, indeed a hero or, as some of those thousand think pieces have posited, not a hero at all, perhaps a villain?  What makes a hero? What unmakes a hero? Does storytelling require contextual interpretation, in the cultural/moral setting it was composed in? Do mores shift definitions of foundational concepts? How do different cultures classify HERO? Is Odysseus a cultural hero type or a universal hero type? And has Nolan provided the keys to his own undoing, in the striking translation liberties he took?  Joining the thousands of years tradition of analyzing Homer's work... is two best friends doing a podcast.  What do you think about this question? And, most relevantly, what can you prove or disprove about either answer? 

In the inevitable companion piece to "Should We Smash the Patriarchy?" Andy & Brendan look at how one would coherently define modern society (with especial focus on the U.S., where they live) and what does that mean, in terms of net harm or net benefit? Are we living in a Matriarchy? If so, for how long? 1970s? 1990s? And is this novel or a reverse of the speculative global queering of the Agricultural age? Having achieved Gender Parity across positive and negative outcomes (pay gap, education gap, domestic violence) 30 or so years ago, we certainly have to ASK this question as often if not MORE often as the previous inquiry... But WHAT ARE the answers? What do you THINK? recorded on 7/14/26