It's Been a Minute

She's America's sweetheart, but she just might be America's superhero as well.

The American cheerleader has become one of the nation's most cemented symbols of femininity, girlhood, and youthful power. But how does paying attention to the real life experiences of cheerleaders tell a different story about America's history of education, race, and gender? Brittany is joined by Dr. Natalie G. Adams, editor of The Cheer Reader, and contributor Dr. Amira Rose Davis to find out.

Interested in more conversations on sports and gender? Check out these episodes:

Would you let your kids play football?
The strange politics of Pilates

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We’re in an era where everyone can be a celebrity. And that’s okay! 

For the past ten years, Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, hosts of the podcast Who? Weekly, have dissected the celebrity landscape. From the declining power of A-List celebrities to the rising power of influencers, the duo have investigated how fame and power have shifted over the last decade. They’ve asked the question: ‘Who gets to be famous?’ And discovered, ‘ well, nowadays, anyone.’ I Want to Be Famous: When Everybody and Nobody Is a Celebrity is their new book where they explore what they've learned about the ephemeral nature of fame, celebrity, and our collective obsession with reality television.

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Census data about race can be incredibly important – but we might lose it.

The Trump administration has proposed to stop asking people in the U.S. about their race and ethnicity in the upcoming 2030 census. But what's the point of getting rid of these questions? And what makes the narratives around our nation's demographics so fraught?

To get into it, Brittany is joined by Russell Contreras, senior race and justice reporter at Axios, and Hansi Lo Wang, a correspondent at NPR who covers voting rights and the census.

For more episodes about policy and culture, check out:
Bacteria is taking over the food pyramid
Is your city shaped by yuppie taste?
Don't get got by big MILK

(00:00) Understanding the Trump administration's census proposal
(02:58) Will the government stop collecting data on race?
(05:34) What we use race data for
(10:04) The proposal to stop counting some non-citizens in the census
(14:42) How shifting categories might change census data
(20:52) Who's afraid of America's changing demographics?

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Palestinians are challenging the narrative one story at a time.

Editor-in-Chief of The Key, Sara Yasin, wants us to rethink what she calls ‘it’s complicated' journalism. As more young people are exposed to the destruction in Gaza -- outside of traditional media outlets -- Sara wanted to provide a space where Palestinians can speak freely about what’s going on around them.

Enter: The Key, an online publication that focuses on “analysis, interviews, essays, reviews and reportage about Palestine.” Sara joins the show to get into The Key, what ‘fairness’ looks like for mainstream media in this moment, and how power informs framing. 

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Some of life's hardest lessons are learned in high school.

In Jocelyn Bioh's Broadway play, School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play, the ladies of Aburi Girls' Boarding School live these hard lessons through their friendships, feuds, and the upcoming Miss Ghana 1986 beauty pageant. But what does a play about teenagers in the 80s have to tell us about gossip, girlhood, and how it feels to not be chosen for reasons out of your control? Brittany is joined by playwright Jocelyn Bioh and director Whitney White to find out.

Want more conversations on theater and culture? Check out these episodes:
'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' gets 10s across the board
Has Broadway lost its way?
Tony nominee Jocelyn Bioh puts braiders centerstage
Cole Escola literally changes history in 'Oh, Mary!'

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NPR Privacy Policy