Summer Listens: Podcasts from the New School Community

9 min readJul 29, 2020

Too much screen time lately? We have just the fix. Give your eyes a break and learn something new by listening to these podcasts hosted by New School community members.

ALUMNI PODCASTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

Glynn Pogue, MFA Creative Writing ’17, is a co-host of Black Girls Texting, a podcast that explores current events, relationships, and navigating NYC as young Black women. Pogue, a writer based out of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, co-hosts the show with Chelsea Rojas and Sade Parham, and, together, they unpack the conversations held in their group chat.

“The straight forward simplicity of the title is a play on the idea that, yes, Black girls can make magic but, as human beings, we also do the everyday; Black Girls Work, Black Girls Cook, Black Girls Laugh, Black Girls Travel, Black Girls Live, Black Girls Text.” — Black Girls Texting

Cheyenne Davis, MA Media Studies ’20, created the podcast Weighted Words as a way to address the sentiments of plus sized women in the Media industry. From everyday people, to social media influencers, to models and even a Pro-Domme, Davis creates a space where guests can be comfortable and provide honest responses to questions pertaining to their identity and representation in media.

Imani Darden,MS Urban Policy ’14, created the Forward 40 podcast as a platform to highlight the experiences of women of color in the non-profit and social enterprise sectors and to inspire younger women considering these fields. Each of the podcast’s 40 episodes features a new voice, a new story, and shares insight from women across these industries.

“I wanted to elevate our collective voices because I was tired of that voice being drowned out and overlooked. We aren’t a monolith yet there are shared experiences in our journeys. We are resilient. We are badass. We are phenomenal.” — Imani Darden in an interview with the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment

Native New Yorker and journalist Ali McPherson, BA Journalism & Design ’19, hosts the podcast Saucy but Sweet with Ali McPherson, a no-filter, bi-weekly discussion on all things culture, romance, sex, and everything in between. Recent episodes include topics from the dating scene during COVID-19 to the underrepresentation of Black voices and talents in the media.

Pennie Anassi, MA Media Studies ’20, hosts the podcast For Your Thoughts with Pennie Anassi, a nonjudgmental space where psychology, pop culture, & self meet. The show takes a humanistic & empathetic approach towards the discussion of mental health, hip hop, pop culture, addictions, relationships, family, spirituality, and life itself.

Rina Grob, BA Theater ’14, is the host of Ms Informed, a weekly podcast keeping listeners informed on the latest trends and topics from a feminist perspective. Their latest episode focuses on Britney Spears, hysteria and, “can we please stop calling everyone crazy.”

Joe Lombardo, PhD Politics ’18), hosts The Scholars & Iron Podcast, an exploration on the relationship between physical strength and intellectual fortitude. The podcast provides dialogues among elite level athletes and scholars who prove that it is possible to build strength physically, as well as intellectually.

Coming soon: Pineapple Street Studios Producer Josh Gwynn, MS Media Management ’16, is co-hosting Back Issue, a podcast that tells the stories behind formative moments in pop culture. Back Issue looks back at some of the “moments that shook us, that changed us” and reckons with some of culture’s biggest questions, from “How did we let this happen?” to ‘Why do we still love this?” Because nostalgia is more than just a feeling.

Peri de Christina, MM Voice ’19, co-hosts the podcast Thrilled to Announce which follows tow opera singers as they invite you into their “strange lil industry.”

Patricia Herrera, MS Nonprofit Management ’04, co-hosts the Spanish podcast Es lo Que Hay, a podcast “conducido por dos mujeres apasionadas por el mundo y con hacer lo que mejor que podamos con lo que hay ¡Así las cosas!”

Matt Wasowski’s, MFA Creative Writing ’06, podcast Wallet Voyeur is all about money and reveals exactly how much money regular folks make at regular jobs around the world. Listen along with Matt as he explores why money is still such a taboo subject even though it’s arguably the most important thing to consider when making the majority of our decisions.

FACULTY INSIGHT FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Lang Faculty Natalia Petrzela’s new podcast Welcome to Your Fantasy provides an inside look at the world of 1980s male exotic dancers. It shows how two men — an immigrant from India, and a children’s TV producer from New Jersey — transformed a seedy strip club off the 405 freeway into a global phenomenon, and how paranoia and greed turned Chippendales into a hotbed for drugs, corruption and murder. In addition to Welcome to Your Fantasy, Petrzela is also co-host of Eugene Lang’s Past Present Podcast with historians Nicole Hemmer and Neil Young to discuss what’s happening in American politics and culture today.

NSSR faculty Simon Critchley’s podcast Apply Degger is a long-form, deep dive into the philosophical work of german philosopher Martin Heidegger. Each episode presents a key concept in Heidegger’s philosophy, and, taken together, lays out the entirety of Heidegger’s book Being and Time for people who are curious, serious, and interested, but simply don’t have the time to sit down and read the 437 densely-written pages of the book.

“These are not Ted talks. In many ways, they are the opposite. They are slow, clear, and intimate explorations of Heidegger’s ideas in Being and Time.” — Simon Critchley

For decades, Parsons faculty Neil Goldberg has jotted observations about the everyday and the overlooked onto index cards. He’s got thousands of them. In his podcast She’s a Talker, he lets the cards prompt conversations with his favorite fellow New Yorkers — artists, writers, performers, and beyond. Each guest has a wild imagination and balances humor with vulnerability.

PROGRAM-, CENTER-, AND INSTITUTE-SPECIFIC PODCASTS

The Zolberg Institute for Migration and Mobility’s new eight-episode series, Entry Denied, explores the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. Co-hosted by University Faculty and Zolberg Institute Director Alex Aleinikoff and National Public Radio’s Deb Amos, the podcast provides a comprehensive discussion of the origins, content and implications of Trump policies, told by leading journalists, migrants, and academics.

The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis’ Retirement Equity Lab (ReLab) hosts Reset Retirement, a podcast that shares a new approach on retirement advice. Hosted by Teresa Ghilarducci, NSSR’s Irene and Bernard L Schwartz Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis, the podcast features stories about what it’s like to save for retirement in a system that only works for the privileged few and how everyday life events can derail even the best laid plans.

Healthy Materials Lab’s new podcast, Trace Material, explores the intersection of our lives and the lives of the materials that surround us. Produced by the lab’s Ava Robinson, Alie Kilts, and Burgess Brown, each season digs into a material you might find in your interior environment to discover what it can tell us about our history, our culture, and our bodies.

The Center for New York City Affairs hosts the podcast Feet in 2 Worlds, a project that helps bring the work of immigrant journalists from communities across the U.S. to public radio and online news sites. The Feet in 2 Worlds podcast covers a range of topics from journalism ethics and activism to arts and culture, while also sharing personal stories of immigrants in the U.S. that center on connecting family, identity, history, and food.

The MPS Fashion Management program’s podcast, Retail Revolution, features experts in omni-channel fashion retailing with a focus on problem-solving, customer engagement and innovation. Each episode features in-depth conversations with guest experts in omni-channel retailing with myriad perspectives: technology, consumer engagement, data analytics, merchandising and more.

“What I see moving forward is a fashion retail industry that is more deeply engaged in the issues of today and much more deeply invested in the collective well-being of society.” —Parsons faculty Timo Rissanen, Retail Revolution, Season 2, Episode 5

Public Seminar’s Exiles on 12th Street is a podcast about art and ideas that brings artists, writers, and thinkers from Greenwich Village to wherever you are in the world. Hosted by NSSR faculty and historian Claire Potter, like Public Seminar’s goals as a whole, the podcast is dedicated to informing debate about the pressing issues of our times and creating a global intellectual commons. In addition, Public Seminar senior editors and New School faculty Julia Foulkes and Mark Larrimore host New Histories, an exploration of The New School’s past launched during the university’s centennial celebration in 2019.

The student-driven Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs’ podcast The New Context provides an international and comprehensive lens on topics ranging from politics and policy, to media and tech, to the arts while elevating student work. The podcast features interviews with faculty who discuss some of today’s most pressing issues.

FOR THE MUSIC LOVERS

In addition to podcasts, The New School community is made up of numerous musicians, singers, and songwriters.

College of Performing Arts faculty and Chief Curator and Inaugural Composer-in-Residence of the Philip Glass Institute Lisa Bielawa hosts Broadcast from Home, a series of work created in response to the coronavirus crisis. Broadcast from Home is a large-scale work open to contributions from the public that will evolve and premiere in sections, with the hope of, when group gatherings are possible again, performing the whole piece live to memorialize this moment in time.

Or, fire up Spotify and tune in to The New School’s account for playlists featuring LION BABE (Eugene Lang College ’11), Ausli Hue (Parsons School of Design ’17), Sufjan Stevens (MFA Creative Writing ’00), Chelsea Wolf (MFA Creative Writing ’18), and Rebecca Zola (The School of Jazz + Eugene Lang College ’17).

Relive the 2020 Commencement Ceremony with a playlist featuring all the music from this year’s virtual celebration, or listen to hours of music by alumni of Eugene Lang College featuring Morgan Saint, X Ambassadors, Jerry Paper, Lisa Kalil, and more.