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Over the weekend, it was inaccurately reported that Iran disbanded its morality police. V explains what really happened. They’ll also talk about the power of adding new words to the English lexicon, official or not. Then, two guests join to discuss how we can make the holiday season healthy AND happy. We learn the steps to take to protect ourselves from the current “tripledemic” of respiratory illness, courtesy of immunologist Dr. Zach Rubin. Then food connoisseur Kerry Diamond cooks up suggestions for holiday hosts, no matter the budget or occasion.

Big thanks to the Cherry Bombe team for recording Kerry and V’s conversation at their Hell’s Kitchen studios. Check out their other great work on the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast, including episodes guest-hosted by V!

Follow Dr. Rubin at @rubin_allergy on Instagram and TikTok, and get tips from Kerry and her culinary crew at @cherrybombe on Instagram.

Keep up with V on TikTok at @underthedesknews and on Twitter at @VitusSpehar. And stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

V Spehar, Kerry Diamond, Dr. Zach Rubin

V Spehar  00:00

Hey friends good news, we asked, you responded, We are going to make a once a week banger show as opposed to breaking the week into two episodes with one episode being like all the headlines and one being the interviews. This way, you’ve got a longer show to enjoy more time in between commercials. And we can go a little deeper with the experts you most want to hear from. Now, there will be some times when an important topic comes up, and we’ll give you an extra minisode. This is a win win for everyone. And I’m really excited for this new format. So again, we will have our once a week banger long episode on Tuesdays. And then we’ll have all those little minisodes popping up on Fridays, but like, honestly, we’re gonna throw them in when we need to. So make sure that you’re following that you’re subscribed to the show and you have auto downloads on so you don’t miss a thing. I love you guys, thank you so much for making the show better each week with your voicemail feedback. Okay, cue the music. It’s Tuesday, December 6th 2022. Welcome to V INTERESTING, where we break down the viral and very interesting news you might have missed.

V Spehar  01:15

I’m V Spehar. And today, what will the Respect for Marriage Act actually do and what won’t it do? Plus all the ways words are changing and also changing us. Then we’re talking holidays. What do you need to keep your family safe during the so called tripledemic, and once you do, what delicious dishes are you going to be serving? We’re joined first by Dr. Zach Rubin. And then we’ll chat with the queen of the food world Kerry Diamond. All that today’s V INTERESTING from Lemonada Media. Let’s be smart together. Speaking of being smart, let’s be media literate together for a moment, shall we? And this one’s really gonna blow your mind. The New York Times biffed a headline this weekend and it caused a huge stir online with the people at the center of the revolution in Iran, New York Times said in big bold letters Sunday morning, quote, Iran abolishes morality, police after months of protests. They even had a quick link in their app that read quote, morality police abolished. And even I’ll admit, I jumped out of my chair and ran to the desks to be like, oh my god, good news. We’re doing it. Iran is becoming more free. But my good sense. And the fact that I had not yet done my hair, so I wasn’t exactly camera ready, caught up with my enthusiasm. And I said, You know what, let me just take a beat. This seems too good to be true. So I reached out to my sources in Iran, and at Middle East matters. And at the Iranian diaspora collective all folks, we have talked about a bunch in past episodes. And I was like, Is this for real? And a resounding no, came back. And I felt my heart sank for the people of Iran. And then my heart started racing, knowing that we had to beat the New York Times headlines reach, which was already starting to spread on tick tock, so they got it wrong. Here’s what we do know. At the time of publication, no Iranian officials had confirmed that the morality police had been abolished or even changed. The rumor came from a press conference where Iran’s Attorney General said the morality police, quote, have been shut down from where they were set up. He also said that the country’s hedgehog laws were, quote being reviewed, both claims have been denied by Iranian state run media. The situation in Iran is complicated. Reporting on it requires a scholarly level of competence and the history of the regime, the culture of Iran, a master’s degree in US Iran relations over the past century, and a PhD in propaganda, and babies. Those are all things that none of us have. So in lieu of that, to keep it simple. Just do this until the women of Iran and mass confirm this is happening. question it. The Iranian people are not looking for reform, like for the Islamic State to somehow be a little bit nicer, but stick around. That’s not what they want. This is not a compulsory hijab protest. It’s a revolution. The Iranians don’t want the Islamic State reformed. They want them replaced. And my sources can be yours too. I want you to read these things directly. So follow Middle East matters and the Iranian diaspora collective and check my TikTok and Instagram every Tuesday when we have updates from trusted, vetted correspondents in Iran, giving the update on the revolution for that week. We can do this together. We can stay the course and we can trust the women of Iran to give us the update It’s that we need.

V Spehar  05:04

Now let’s talk about something a little different. I V Spehar take you Lemonada listeners as my lawful partners in learning, because that’s right babies. We’re talking about marriage. We are specifically talking about the Respect for Marriage Act. This legislation was just approved in the Senate and it could be passed in the House as soon as this week and then signed into law by President Biden, since 2015. Marriage for all genders has been federally protected. But this protection came in the form of a single Supreme Court decision which we know those can be overturned. I mean, we just saw that happen with Roe v. Wade this summer. Justice Clarence Thomas actually wrote in his opinion that he thought the court should revisit the ruling that legalized same sex marriage. That ruling was Obergefell v. Hodges, which required all states to recognize same sex marriage, it wrapped up years of challenges brought against the 1996 defensive Marriage Act or DOMA, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. DOMA denied rights to all other pairs by letting states refuse service to queer couples, even if their marriage was legitimate in another state. And surprise, it was signed into law by a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton signed the defensive Marriage Act big Yikes. As I said, the Obergefell ruling invalidated most of DOMA back in 2015. But recently, advocates have wanted more secure protections for marriage. the Respect for Marriage Act, though, not quite what they had in mind. For one, it will only kick into effect if the Supreme Court decides to reverse Obergefell or another related case called US v. Windsor. Until then, those rulings stand. It does not create a constitutional protection for marriage. It simply says, Hey, you guys, remember how at one time there was a law on the books that said, marriage is between a man and a woman only? Yeah, okay. Well, we’re gonna strike that from the record that’s gone now. But where it falls short is, let’s say the Supreme Court does overturn Obergefell. Okay, this act would not require all states to license gay marriages, it would just require them to recognize them. With this new law, a state could refuse to license gay marriages in the first place. But it did have to honor the rights of people who got married already, or who got married elsewhere. And I’m going to tell you guys, it’s going to be a mess. Okay, we had something like this pre 2015, when it was legal to get married in Massachusetts, but wasn’t legal in a lot of the other states. So you’ve got somebody who lives in like, I don’t know, Florida, let’s say, and they fly up to Boston, and they get married and they’re all happy. And then they go back home to Florida, and Florida can’t really tell, are they real married? Are they just Boston gay married? Like, how do we treat these folks now? It’s a mess. It’s a mess. And how can people afford that? Why are we putting this extra burden on folks who want to get married to say, okay, well, you have to go to a liberal state to get married. But when you come back here, we’re not sure how we’re going to treat you. Why should they have to go through that? That’s not fair. Marriage is a civil contract. It’s an agreement with the state and the federal government, a promise that you’re going to do certain things. And in return for doing those certain things, you get certain privileges, you get rights. These rights include gay people’s legal connection to their children, as well as social security and Medicare benefits they get through their spouses. Another point of contention is the religious exemption of this bill. Under the Respect for Marriage Act, religious organizations can refuse to perform or celebrate a marriage that goes against their beliefs. So a venue owner could legally turn down a couple that wanted to use its converted wedding warehouse, or its barn or some like banquet hall for any reason they can say this is against my religious beliefs. And the language of this bill is incredibly vague.

V Spehar  09:00

It does not specify whether religious groups or individuals can turn away couples if they’re providing external services for a wedding like photography or flowers. The classic case of the homophobic wedding cake baker, or worse, what happens when a county clerk wants to claim religious exemption to issuing a government document like a marriage license, or change of name form, or a property deed to a queer couple? It doesn’t clarify what these groups will have to do after the actual marriage happens. We’ll church affiliated foster and adoption agencies be able to turn away queer couples. Do parochial schools have to hire queer teachers? We are not sure. And believe it or not legal experts say that’s largely true of existing laws. Those kinds of rights to discriminate based on religion are unclear across the board. So the act as it stands, has a lot of holes in it right. And slimy to think that this is the best we could do to protect something so critical. Congress had to add several people Vision’s to get enough Republican support to pass it. So for now, the Respect for Marriage Act is better than nothing, I guess. But I can’t help but feel it actually benefits the freedom of religion exemptions over the freedom to marry who you love in the first place. Getting married is a huge thing for a lot of different people. It can make life death, medical treatment and parenting way less complicated and marriage pays to. SCOTUS originally ruled against DOMA way back because a woman named Edith Windsor was charged almost $400,000 in estate taxes after her wife died. Their decades long marriage wasn’t recognized at the federal level. So she took it to court. And there’s also you know, love. Being in love is great. I love my wife infinitely it’s a wonderful thing. Being married is delightful. I suggest everybody try it at some point in your life, sharing your life with somebody absolutely rocks and honestly truly what is gained from denying someone love denying someone the right to get married to the person they want to share their life with? How’s that a negative to anybody? Sure, getting married is a big expensive decision. But it’s one that everyone deserves to make, because it can make a lot of things a lot better.

V Spehar  11:09

The Respect for Marriage Act is just one thing that Congress is trying to push through in the coming weeks because my friends, these politicians are spur renting towards the finish line. Here in the United States, we’ve entered into what is called a lame duck session in government. It’s the period of time after politicians are elected in November, but before they’re sworn in the following January, and the name might sound strange. But here’s the idea. Sitting officials who recently lost elections are staring down their last few weeks in office, they realize that they’re about to lose their power, so they scrambled to make it to the finish line the way a duck would if it was wounded in trying to run away. Don’t ask me, I didn’t make up this term. It comes from colonial times. But delaying the start date for incoming officials does give folks currently in office time to wrap up their business, even though other workers who are fired from their jobs aren’t usually given the same courtesy anyway. Politicians who are about to be ousted no longer have the same accountability to the people who elected them. Naturally. They’ve taken some pretty extreme measures during these sessions in the past. In one month’s time. At the end of 1974, Congress passed the entire Safe Drinking Water Act and figured out how they were going to implement it. And that same time, they also approved Nelson Rockefeller as Gerald Ford’s VP and denied Nixon’s right to keep his presidential tapes and papers. In 1998. The House voted to impeach Clinton in the 11th hour, and in 2018, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin worked overnight to pass legislation that would limit the powers of their incoming Democratic governor. Presidents take advantage of this time too often to make pardons. Many have made some controversial moves, like when Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, or when Trump pardoned several people who pled guilty in the Muller investigation. And then there was James Buchanan, who basically just let states secede from the United States before Abraham Lincoln took office. The calendar works in these guys favor, they don’t have to answer to anyone. And honestly, why wouldn’t they take advantage of it. And considering control of Congress will soon be split between Republicans and Democrats. Experts think our current lawmakers are about to do some scrambling of their own.

V Spehar  11:33

For one, they’ve got to fund the government. The current budget is up on December 16. So the sitting lawmakers have to agree on funding before then. And that includes deciding on how they feel about a proposed $38 billion in additional aid for Ukraine. Other final priorities for the Democratic Congress will be to approve a military funding bill as well as to reform the electoral Count Act. The military bill is pretty standard. It’s been approved every year for the past 60 plus years. But this year, Congress is way behind schedule on making it happen. As for the Electoral College, Congress is trying to firm up the voting process and leave it less susceptible to interference and the timing is critical. Many of the Republicans that supported are about to leave office. So Will Congress manage to hit their main goals we will have to see but history is technically on their side, even if time isn’t. And it’s not just congress that’s nearing the finish. It’s officially December Can you believe it? I know. Which means it’s time for all those year-end lists. The biggest cultural moments of the year the most played songs of the year. And not to be outdone, Merriam Webster’s Dictionary just put out the word of the year. And this time that word was gaslight, wasn’t it? No, it wasn’t we I just gaslit myself that’s the example that’s what gaslighting is. The organization said gaslight was searched at every single day of 2022, and I believe it, it was a hell of a year friends. This is one way that Merriam Webster captures what’s going on in the English language. In addition to continuing to update the dictionary itself. The team is constantly adding new words and new meanings which they just did in the recent weeks. To be eligible, a word needs to be used over a long period of time and in many different places, not just for a few months, not just in your hometown, it can’t just be like a quick trend. One of the new words that made the cut is greenwash like to make something appear environmentally friendly. We also got laggy, meaning delayed and side hustle as in work you do in addition to your main job. Ultimately, what all these changes in choices reflect is human behavior. People come up with new words, or they use old ones in new contexts. You can see that playing out in these new entries. Like look at the word yeet. The rise of that word can be attributed to various viral videos made by young black folks, which was first used on our favorite defunct social platform Vine. Communities of black people have long coined such words and phrases that later become popular sayings, often without credit. We also have the word pwn, spelt pwn, which originated in video games circles. Other words come from a specific industry and then people repurpose them into more generic context, like the new entry of sub variant.

V Spehar  16:25

Well, communities on their own had the power to turn cringe into an adjective changes to language come from the top down to it was really just in the last year that Mark Zuckerberg tried to convince us to say meta instead of Facebook, and the World Health Organization just recently issued an edit to the name of an illness. What we had been referring to as monkey pox will now be called M pox. The organization says the new name is less likely to be seen as dehumanizing or racist. You might be thinking, wow, these changes are really coming from all different directions. And you would be right. At least when we’re talking about American English, where there is no designated group to oversee it, as opposed to the French who have a whole council that standardizes pronunciation and grammar. The council updates and publishes a centralized French dictionary, which the government then republishes as an official document, there’s a group in England that does similar work for British English. In the absence of that, in the United States, lots of groups have historically stepped in to shape and document the English language, like dictionaries for words, and style guides for grammar. But languages are alive and constantly evolving. So maybe what’s official doesn’t matter as much as some people think it does. I mean, unless you’re playing Scrabble, we just got the newest edition of the Scrabble dictionary, which is like the Bible of legal words you can play. And apparently you can now play the word zoodle. And that’s like 17 points. So remember that for this holiday season, when you’re trying to avoid your family and you break out the Scrabble board to try and redirect the conversation. zoodle 17 points. It’s a win. Like language, something that’s constantly evolving is social media. In recent weeks, there’s been chaos. And lots of people are figuring out where else to go online now that the promise of some digital platforms feels like it’s slipping. After Elon Musk bought Twitter fired tons of staffers and changed the rules. Lots of users reported jumping ship as a place for discourse or news. It’s feeling less legitimate. The same could be said for Facebook. Excuse me, I’m sorry. Meta, right? That’s what we’re supposed to call it meta. And its constant pursuit of building a virtual world. Users really are not into the metaverse. Neither are the people tasked with building it. Leaked memos describe how the company’s internal Metaverse app is super buggy and that employees hardly use it themselves. This is all happening in the context of other digital things losing their value as well. FTX the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, just collapsed, didn’t hear about it, probably because we don’t have the money to invest in Bitcoin. I am with you on that. But there are $8 billion that can’t be accounted for. So where are people finding meaning digitally? And what is the future of crypto? Social media sites like Mastodon and hive have seen their number of users jump in recent weeks. Another site is called post and it is specifically trying to bridge socializing and news the way that Twitter and Facebook have been doing for so many people. Whether any of these take that is yet to be seen. But with the new signups being reported across these apps, it definitely looks like people want a digital space they can trust and believe it or not, people are still using crypto technology. They’re just being a little more careful. Cryptocurrency has definitely lost a lot of its value in hype, but there are still uses for the blockchain technology that crypto is based on. Like, do you guys remember NFT’s the sometimes ugly digital artwork that people have bought from people like Justin Bieber. Even in recent days, NFT art has continued to sell for huge dollar amounts, like Twitter, it is unlikely that crypto will ever truly die. Twitter has become really important for many users, especially journalists, and even experts who are disappointed by the big FTX bankruptcy scandal. I don’t think crypto technology is going anywhere either. People believe in these systems; people feel like they need them. And folks will likely keep using the digital products they’ve come to love, even if it’s not the most popular move.

V Spehar  20:35

Now, friends, not everything happens online of course, which is why it’s important to know what to expect when you gather with folks this holiday season. That means etiquette and cultural trends, but also health and safety. And we’ve got you covered on both fronts. Right after the break. We’re talking with Dr. Zachary Rubin, the fun and fact filled immunologist that you might know from his TikTok he tells us everything we need to know about RSP COVID and flu season. Then once we’re all suited up and safe this winter, we’ll be joined by the fabulous Kerry diamond of Cherry Bombe magazine and radio cherrybombe to dish on Trending food drink and hosting a FET your family won’t soon forget. And my favorite thing, the hottest holiday gifts of 2022. She also tells the delightful story about how her journalism career accidentally included having to sort adult magazines, so you won’t want to miss it. It’s a great conversation with a dear friend of mine. We will have that when we get back from the break.

V Spehar  21:51

Welcome back friends. When I’ve been thinking about this holiday season, I’ve unfortunately been thinking about the risk of gathering together in person. Lots of people have been thinking about this because everyone’s getting sick, like left and right. I’ve been like sick three times in the last two weeks. COVID is circulating and there are several other illnesses that are affecting people. Right now. There’s the flu, which this season is putting more people in the hospital than usual. And then there’s RSV, which is another respiratory virus. Yet many folks are still hoping that this December will be their first normal holiday gathering in years. So I wanted to talk to an expert, my favorite allergist and pediatrician Dr. Zack Rubin. Dr. Rubin is a board certified doctor and he’s built a big following on tick tock giving easy to understand information about illness. Dr. Rubin’s got the facts you need to head into the next few weeks so you can feel prepared and protect your holiday health. First, let’s start with the status of COVID in the United States. Right now. COVID numbers are rising a bit. But experts predicted this and they say that the caseload won’t be as bad as it was in the previous two COVID winters. Dr. Rubin says there’s still cause for concern though, specifically because COVID continues to mutate. And because there are other diseases circulating in our communities at this time.

Dr. Zach Rubin  23:07

The bigger issue right now is its COVID-19. But it’s also other viruses that are surging as well including RSV, and influenza. And so that’s why you’re hearing all over the place this idea of something called the tripledemic, where there’s just a huge surge in respiratory viral transmission amongst children and adults at this time.

V Spehar  23:28

If you get RSV it infects your lungs, nose and throat, you probably get a sore throat and a cough and probably some congestion. For most people in most age groups, it ends there. And it’s fairly mild, though other people can have more severe cases where it’s super hard to breathe. Similar to COVID. There are two groups that can really struggle with RSV.

Dr. Zach Rubin  23:49

These younger kids under five are at higher risk, and the elderly as well. So this is not just a matter of children, but approximately 60 to 120,000 adults over the age of 25 are in the hospital due to RSV, and about 14,000 adults pass away from RSV. So it’s not just a matter of children being affected, but it’s adults being affected as well.

V Spehar  24:10

Kids health can be harder to read than older adults since they can’t articulate how they’re feeling. So here are the symptoms of RSV. The Dr. Reuben says to look out for in kids.

Dr. Zach Rubin  24:20

So, a lot of it is signs of dehydration where they’re not drinking as much. They’re not urinating as much their skin looks a little bit dry. They’re not acting quite appropriately, they’re a little bit more tired than usual or signs of respiratory distress where they’re breathing fast. They’re sweating, their noses flaring in and out they may be grunting, or their chest is kind of crunching in a way that we call retractions. All of these aspects would definitely require immediate medical attention if those issues occur.

V Spehar  24:50

We know COVID, we know the flu, but for lots of people this is the first time RSP has been on their radar, or it’s the first time it’s been this bad since you probably had RSV as a child. And it likely wasn’t that noteworthy at the time. Naturally, the big question on everyone’s mind is why now?

Dr. Zach Rubin  25:08

We don’t fully understand why there has been this surge, particularly earlier in the season than usual. So we were seeing RSV cases. If you look back at 2021, we were seeing in the springtime and into the summer, which is a little unusual, usually you start seeing RSV cases in October, it starts to peak somewhere between December to February, and then it Peters off in May for the majority of the country. But since the pandemic, there’s been a shift in the seasonal patterns of RSV, and influenza as well. And that could be to do to several things. So yes, we’ve taken off masks and other parts and there’s some more exposure. That’s partly true. But we’re also testing for RSV, more than we ever have before. So we’re identifying it. It’s not a new virus. It’s been circulating for a long time. We’ve known about it for decades.

V Spehar  25:58

Like Dr. Rubin said, the RSV surge could be due to a lot of things. Fortunately, the science is clear on how it spreads. RSP spreads in the same way that other seasonal illnesses do through fluids and dirty surfaces, sneezes and coughs can carry droplets of the virus. And those can also stick around on surfaces like doorknobs or countertops. So if you’re like, what do we do? How do we protect ourselves from RSV. Think back to all the public health practices we’ve used these past few years because they are about to come in handy. Most of them will work for RSV, and they’ll help protect you from COVID and the flu to it’s a win-win. Because remember, tripledemic.

Dr. Zach Rubin  26:36

There’s some things we think about in terms of COVID mitigation strategies that many people have pretty much stopped doing. But I think we should consider doing wearing a mask can help reduce transmission. There’s a reason why we didn’t see any flu or RSV, pretty much right in the beginning of the pandemic, because we were physically distant wearing masks, really looking at hand hygiene, all of those principles will still help significantly reduce transmission. It’s just that everybody has been tired of wearing masks and doing these things. And that’s understandable. But when we see these surges, I think people need to think what think back at what has worked with COVID. And what we know definitely worked with influenza and RSV in the past, we should really adopt wearing a mask in indoor public spaces right now. And especially before a major holiday, if you want to consider unmasking at that time, it’s not as feasible. Unless you’re healthy, right? And so if you wear a mask religiously for several days before major events, you’re less likely to come in to bring in these germs that could affect people who are at risk of severe disease.

V Spehar  27:40

And Dr. Rubin says, make sure you’re updated on your vaccines, all of them updated. COVID boosters are called by valence boosters and are available all across the country, I already got mine and I didn’t even get sick. This time, it was a lot easier than the original COVID vaccine, even these are built to protect you against both the original version of COVID and a newer form of COVID that has evolved. That’s why it’s called bi-vaillant, and get a flu shot. While you’re at it. For RSV, there isn’t a vaccine yet. So approach it the way we approached COVID. In the early days, take other steps of prevention, like wearing a mask and washing your hands, stay away from somebody if they have a runny nose and stay home if that person is you. If you’re someone who is more vulnerable to respiratory illness, these illnesses can be really, really dangerous. Prioritize prevention for everyone’s sake, especially for your own. But let’s imagine that you’ve done everything you can to protect yourself and your loved ones. And a young one still gets RSV. What does the treatment look like for kids? What can they expect?

Dr. Zach Rubin  28:39

We basically give supportive care at this point, right? So we watch out for signs of respiratory distress, we try to make kids comfortable by giving humidified air, by suctioning out their nasal passages. Whether it’s using a bold suction or nasal saline rinses, if there’s a fever, we give them fever reducing medications based on their age and their weight. We work on adequate hydration, focus on fluids, fluids, fluids, because as they’re breathing a little bit more quickly, and they’re having a lot more nasal secretions, they’re prone to dehydration.

V Spehar  29:12

The tools are there, my friends, but it takes time for someone to recover from a strong respiratory illness. They need resources and attention. Meanwhile, our healthcare system is having a hard time accommodating the surge, especially for the kids under five who are getting really sick. The number of pediatric hospital beds and ICU beds has been declining over the past 10 years since Dr. Rubin. So there’s

V Spehar  29:33

Really smart folks have come up with ways to make illnesses survivable for the majority of people. But we’ve got to do our part to keep the case numbers as low as possible. We’ve got to make sure medical teams have enough resources and don’t get overwhelmed. Prevention is key, hygiene is key testing is key. Does this sound familiar? Yes, it’s called Public Health. And we’ve gotten to know it really well over these past few years. So let’s be careful about COVID. And let’s do what we can to protect ourselves against the flu and RSV. Now, once you’ve got that all in place, you deserve to think about all the fun stuff. And after the break, we’re going to have a ton of fun. I’m sitting down with editor and culinary connoisseur, Kerry Diamond. We’re going to talk about the holidays how she became an expert in the food world and which Popstar is influencing our table spreads this season. All that more right after the break. Today we have a very special guest who has been a friend of mine for several years. She’s the creator and editor in chief of Cherry Bomb where she combines food, fashion, beauty and feminism in a beautifully designed by annual magazine. She also interviews your favorite culinary personalities and chefs as the host and creator of radio Cherry Bombe. And that’s just the on the paper bio. Okay, Kerry, curious journey to this place started somewhere folks might not have expected Staten Island, which is also where I got my start. So you got to watch your mouth when you talk to us, okay, she’s a journalist. She’s an editor, a trend spotter and entrepreneur. But you did get into the editorial world in a really big way notoriously at Women’s Wear Daily first, which was a daily fashion newspaper. What was that like? I can’t even imagine a daily fashion.

Dr. Zach Rubin  29:33

So there’s less beds to take care of these kids. There’s less staff is over 300,000 health care workers left the field back in 2021. So there’s less people to take care of them. So all these issues compound upon it. And there’s a concern that COVID-19 may cause immune dysregulation even in young children. There’s concerns that this virus can mess with kids and their adults and adults immune systems to the point that but they’re not fighting off infections quite as well. It makes you wonder about why are we having this chronic cough that’s occurring, right? Or these other lingering effects that can include how our immune system functions. So all of these issues compounded together, is making this tripledemic a real problem for a lot of people.

Kerry Diamond  32:14

One of my big internships during college was at the Staten Island Advance. And it was great. And it was a paid internship, which was amazing. So I was interning there. And the loveliest human being was the fashion editor, a woman named Elaine […] who, sadly is no longer with us. But Elaine was just this incredible character. She would be singing, she was glamorous. She was all these wonderful things. And I would stop by her desk every now and then. And she just had piles of this newspaper and I would look and I said what is that? And it said WWD on the front page. And she said, Oh, that’s Women’s Wear Daily. It’s a daily fashion newspaper. And I was like, oh my gosh, there’s a daily fashion newspaper. This is so wildly exciting. So when I was in I did a semester abroad in Paris and happen to become friends with the Paris bureau chief over there came in very handy years later, this week spend a whole episode on this, I wound up working at a travel magazine that was more or less a front for a porn operation. I know we’ll talk about that off. I just didn’t know. I got this job. I don’t want to say the name. It’s probably on my LinkedIn. But I got this job. And it turned out that the company also owned this massive porn operation under a different name. They published every porn title except Penthouse in Playboy. And I needed to go find some back issues of the magazine I was working for and they’re like, oh, it’s in the mailroom was like where’s the mailroom? I’ve never been to the mailroom, so I get sent up to the mailroom. And I walk in and there are photos of the guys who work in the mailroom, they’re polaroids taped on an hour tacked to the wall of the guys with nude strippers on their laps. Right? This was in the 90s. But I was like, this isn’t right. There’s something wrong with this. So I’m like, ah, Hi, where are the back issues of blank magazine? And they said, oh, you have to walk all the way in the back. It was like the hallway from The Shining. It just never ended. And it was just stacks and stacks of porno. I go back downstairs with my magazines, which ironically, I think we’re for the Marriott family. I go down and grab my friend Dave would help who had kind of gotten me this job. And I’m like, why didn’t you tell me this? And he said, oh, you didn’t know. It’s like how would I know? They don’t tell you what human resources on your first day. There’s not even a human resources department. So yeah, so I spent the next however many months trying to get the hell out of there. There was also a huge thing with the 1-900 phone line.

V Spehar  34:57

The 90s was a kinky time.

Kerry Diamond  35:01

A whole floor dedicated to those phone lines.

V Spehar  35:05

I can only imagine. I do think it’s still there.

Kerry Diamond  35:09

I could find some articles in the New York Times about some shenanigans they got into when they moved into online. So I spent every waking moment every Thursdays and Sundays when the New York Times would come out and you had to circle the ads and the help wanted section. There was no whatever job boards there are online, there was no online, and I just circled everything. And every week, Women’s Wear Daily had openings. So I just applied for every single one, until they finally called me back. And then I didn’t get that job. And then they called me six months later and offered me a job. And that’s how it all started.

V Spehar  35:45

And what was your first piece at Women’s Wear Daily?

Kerry Diamond  35:49

Was probably a piece it was a very big moment for the indie beauty scene. Bliss had launched Tony and Tina hard candy, Urban Decay brands like that it was very much a moment for these very cool indie brands. And I was the luxury Beauty News Editor. Except there were other people already covering luxury Beauty News. So when I say luxury beauty meaning things like Estee Lauder, Lancome Clinique brands like that, so I had to find my own niche. And it kind of made sense that I gravitated toward that because that was just what I loved. Personally, I love indie music, I loved indie fashion, I loved indie cinema. So, yeah, I started writing about those brands. And then all the big companies started investing in those brands. So it became a very hot niche to be covering.

V Spehar  36:40

Is this like the first time you could say like, okay, I kind of trend spotted that. And then must have been very exciting, though.

Kerry Diamond  36:49

It was, I also made as part of my beat these brand new websites that we’re launching, because ecommerce had never been a thing before. But then around ’98, ’99, 2000 things like makeup.com makeup alley, so I started writing about those, and everyone was like, who cares? And I was like, it’s so interesting. And that’s definitely something that carried throughout my career everywhere. I love the sort of underdogs slash indie slash alternative thing.

V Spehar  37:20

Yeah, it makes sense to me, because I definitely every time I’m like, okay, what’s cool, let me see what Kerry Diamond has on our Instagram what’s going on? And that’s something that’s still driving you today to find like these new trending giving platform to folks who wouldn’t otherwise maybe hit the magazine or the news or something? We’re gonna skip quite ahead in Karis journey. She did a stop at Harper’s Bazaar, she was the PR behind some of the biggest Makeup how to artists, like Michelle Phan, and she worked with coach on major campaigns. So what was the day that you were like, okay, I’ve had the success. I know what’s going on. In the swim of fashion and beauty now fuck it. I’m going to start a magazine about women in the culinary world, which is something that feels like would have been an uphill climb in the get go, like, not a lot at that time going on for women in the culinary world that was super positive. Like, what was that day like?

Kerry Diamond  38:11

You think a print magazine about women in the food world would be an uphill climb? Really, why?

V Spehar  38:17

Because of the gods of food, obviously.

Kerry Diamond  38:21

So I was at coach when I when I had the idea for Cherry Bomb I while I was at Lancome started dating a chef, great guy, Rob Newton. He said to me, do you want to open a restaurant? I was like, Sure. How hard could that be, famous last words. We opened several places; it was so fascinating. But because I had never worked in restaurants, you know, I do not recommend owning a restaurant before you work in a restaurant, you might want to work in a restaurant first. So Rob, and I opened our first place. And he might disagree with this, but I kind of became his assistant for certain things. There were a lot of food events back then. And I would always, you know, be the one to like, sort of talk to the folks and book it. And you would always say, well, who else is participating? And I always noticed there were no women, but it was also and I would point that out to them. And they would always say to me, do you know any? to like, ha, let me think. So I you know, this is kind of swirling through my head and not a lot of people know this story. But originally, the magazine I was going to do was a magazine for my restaurant and annual magazine. My restaurant was seersucker, the one in Brooklyn. Not the one on the West Coast. And it just morphed into this magazine about women and food. I did not I didn’t envision this as a company or something that would be more than a few issues of the magazine. I really thought it was just going to be a very specific project for a very specific time. Because after you know I opened the restaurants when I was at Lancome and then I moved to coach opened some more restaurants, but had the idea well I was coach. Well, you were still working on your cherrybomb. And then I kind of had to resign because I had too many, too many side projects.

V Spehar  40:09

How long have you been making the magazine.

Kerry Diamond  40:13

The first issue came out in May of 2013. So next year is our 10 year anniversary.

V Spehar  40:17

How many issues have you done?

Kerry Diamond  40:19

Our 20th just came out, Erin French is on the cover. She’s the chef, founder of the last kitchen up in freedom, Maine, beautiful place. Beautiful story behind that. But 20 was a big milestone. I mean, some of you might know this, but it’s not a print magazine world we live in right now. But we did things differently from other magazines. You know, our magazine is not a pamphlet, sadly, it’s on beautiful paper. We printed in Rhode Island with this at this family owned printer called Meridian. And they do beautiful work for galleries and they do Ansel Adams, you know, posters and all this gorgeous work. And we’re so proud of how the magazine looks. And we publish a lot of first time writers. We’ve published a lot of seasoned writers we have gorgeous recipes, beautiful photography, it’s a magazine I’m very, very proud of. And I do think we do a nice job of spotlighting established people in the industry as well as up and comers. You might not have heard of.

V Spehar  41:19

What is important to you about keeping to make that print magazine?

Kerry Diamond  41:24

I love magazines. And it’s a point of differentiation for us. And it’s just so special. And I do see this with a lot of the people we cover. They’ve never been in a magazine. They’ve never held a magazine with their picture. And it’s just so special. And I find printed things so special. I find books, I love magazines. I love posters. I love albums. So I guess I’m a little bit of a throwback in that sense.

V Spehar  41:51

There’s just too much digital right now we need to like be tangible with something. What are some of the folks that you’ve had in the magazine that you’re most proud of?

Kerry Diamond  41:59

There’s someone I want to talk about who’s in the brand new issue who just blows my mind. And if I had to pick some people of the year, she might be my Person of the Year. Her name is Jenny Wynn, and she’s the founder of a sports bar. And it’s called the sports bra. And it’s based in Portland, Oregon. And the whole idea behind the sports bra is that it 100% focuses on female sports. Oh, wow. All the TVs are tuned to female sports. All the memorabilia is female sports, lots of the beer and spirits and foods all not all of it. But a good percentage of it are sourced from female producers. And it is such a brilliant novel idea. I hope to God she franchises it or figures out a way to have one in every city in this country. Because I just think it’s a great idea.

V Spehar  42:50

I mean, if we could just take all the twin peak restaurants and all the Hooters restaurants, and we could make those into sports bras. I feel like it’s an easy transition Kerry, we just flip them over. I would love that.

Kerry Diamond  43:03

But can’t you see that in every city? Absolutely. And their family friendly. Like you can actually bring kids for like, there are certain hours that are family friendly. And I don’t know, I just think it’s such a genius idea. But that’s something so tangible. Like you see what led to that, and the change that that represents. And stories like that are the things that I really love sharing.

V Spehar  43:28

Now, some of the favorite cover girls on cherrybomb have been like Drew Barrymore. What was she like in real life?

Kerry Diamond  43:35

Drew is amazing. We had so much fun we shot Drew and her culinary pal on her show. Pilar Valdez. It’s like she’s just like a ray of sunshine. What you see is what you get with Drew, there’s no, that’s not like a facade that she puts on for the public.

V Spehar  43:52

The other realist cover girl of course, Martha Stewart. What’s Martha like, you’ve known her for a long time, day, night and day. But Martha Stewart.

Kerry Diamond  44:00

night and day, the Martha, you’ll like this story. We actually shot Martha for the cover. Literally the day after the 2016 election. I was so confident that Hillary was going to when I went to bed early, and woke up the next morning thinking it’s a brand new day. We’re gonna go shoot Martha Stewart. This is amazing. And I woke up really early because you know, it’s Martha Stewart you have to be ready for sure. One thing about Martha if you if you are not super organized and efficient, forget it. She has no time for that. So you really have to be on your game. So wake up early. And I see I have like about 8000 texts. And I started looking at my text messages. And I just can’t believe what’s going on. I just can’t believe it. And I didn’t have anyone to talk to you because it was like five in the morning. So I called my girlfriend Alex in Paris and I was just like, I can’t believe what’s going on. I think I was sobbing. I got an Uber had to go to the Martha’s studios where we were shooting it. He must have thought, like my dog had died. I was just bawling. I get there. We’re all crying. Not Martha. Martha is not there yet, but we’re all crying and with her longtime publicist, Susan […] comes in and Susan is like, You girls have to pull it together. And Martha is so fast. I mean, she’s such a pro and so fast. She knows all her poses. She came in we did the cover, and then we went back to cry.

V Spehar  45:43

Typically I would call you in a panic and ask like, Oh my God, what do we serve? What’s Trending? What’s cool, what’s not cool? But since I have this show, now, we’re gonna be spilling the tea for everyone so that everybody looks just as good as you do this holiday season. First off, though, are we expecting another small holiday at home? Or do you think folks are going to go big in 2022?

Kerry Diamond  46:01

I think it’s all of the above. They want to see people they want to see friends and family if they can. And that’s it’s gatherings of all sizes.

V Spehar  46:15

Now if you are going to see somebody it is customary and it is right to bring them a little gift and I am such a geek for this like I never miss if you invite me to your house, I will bring you a gift because I just I love that whole experience of being the gift giver of like the thoughtfulness of it. And growing up my mom would like always give the host the official candle right it was like a candle gift. It was the 90s what is an appropriate host gift if folks are traveling?

Kerry Diamond  46:42

Oh, if folks are traveling. Yeah. Oh, that’s a tough one. I mean, it’s different. Local and traveling are two totally different things. It needs to be a good candle. Not everybody has the same taste in fragrances.

V Spehar  47:01

What’s a safe scent?

Kerry Diamond  47:02

Like a white flower? Or maybe something citrusy? There’s a brand I love women owned jewelry brand actually called Cat bird that’s based in Brooklyn. Oh, and they make the most beautiful candles. You know, travel well is a jarred spice. And you might be like that’s not very sexy, but yes, it is. Because I’m going to recommend a brand called diaspora. And […]  is on our cover. She was one of our cover stars. I think that was the entrepreneur issue. She has this beautiful spice line called diaspora. And she sells them in sets. She sells them individually, but they are sourced from individual farms in India and the surrounding area. And she puts so much thought into the sourcing of these products. They’re a little bit more expensive than what you might buy in the grocery store. But they are beautiful and worth the money. I’ve bought a lot of her spices over the years now. And it’s perfect and it’s portable, and it’s thoughtful.

V Spehar  48:03

I love that. Now, the best part of the whole experience in the holidays is for me the […]. I was a former caterer. I’ve never eaten a full meal in my life like I just like all the little picky stuff. Now what do you think is going to be the trending order of this year?

Kerry Diamond  48:18

I think it’s so important to have a crudity situation. It really can be anything it can be any beautiful vegetables that are in your market of you know, broccoli is always easy love broccoli, carrots that I cut myself rainbow carrots, red peppers, yellow peppers, radish but brown radish little device of not everybody loves radishes. Fennel, ooh, again, not everybody loves it, but I love raw fennel, you know, there’s so many different things that you can use, pea pods, I mean, really, the whatever your supermarket has that looks nice you can use and then you can kind of do anything for a dip again, like I’m not a super snob about these things. If you want to put ranch dressing and a little ramekin if you want to do some hummus. And I’m suggesting that you have some veg out there because it is so easy to not have anything vegetal. During the holidays. You can go from one party to the next and be like you know what, I haven’t had a single green thing in a while.

V Spehar  49:20

We do turkey and ham sometimes. We also on Christmas Day do mixed up big stuffed shrimp and filet mignon because that’s literally the only thing my mom knew how to cook when she was 19. She married my father. And so we still have it as like that was her big fancy meal and so she’ll do that but on the turkey do you brine or not brine?

Kerry Diamond  49:38

Well, I don’t make the turkey and I don’t think my mother’s ever Brian’s a turkey and her entire life but I am so in love with […] right now. She’s one of the stars of the Big brunch on HBO max. And she has a terrific thing on Instagram about dry brining. She is very into the dry brine. So she’s got this two part Super short super informative Instagram series on dry brining and then how to cook and based and do all that with your turkey and I highly recommend that folks go check out her Instagram.

V Spehar  50:12

I will have to check that out because honestly I’m a Briner and it’s such a hot okay now is makin she’s a Christmas. Is that a holiday item for you? Yes or no?

Kerry Diamond  50:22

Mac and cheese is a 365 day a year thing.

V Spehar  50:25

This is why we’re friends. Sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie?

Kerry Diamond  50:30

I could go either way. I like pecan pie.

V Spehar  50:33

Whoa, okay. Yeah, we have not allergies in my house. So we’re not going to. I know my blessed wife Natalie allergic to everything but just I haven’t had a peanut in probably three years and it’s been the best three years of my life. I find though as I get older the sweet potato pie is more what I gravitate toward is like little more savory pumpkin pies like real sweets. How are you handling allergies when you’re hosting a party? Do you ask folks ahead of time?

Kerry Diamond  50:57

Oh yeah, you always should. I think today there’s no excuse not to and hopefully folks who have allergies feel comfortable now. I mean, that’s what hospitality is all about. You know you want to take care of people and make them feel welcome and not left out.

V Spehar  51:10

What is the food trend we should leave and holidays past.

Kerry Diamond  51:13

Food by mean people?

V Spehar  51:16

Yeah, if your parents don’t accept you, they don’t get any turkey this year. That’s it. We’re not just sitting around with Uncle Larry listening to him to say crazy stuff to us this holiday season we’re leaving the racist homophobic terrible uncle’s in the past.

Kerry Diamond  51:30

I think if there’s a food you love, there’s no shame in it. You don’t have to be totally on trend of the moment if it’s you ordering a pizza. So be it.

V Spehar  51:39

I love it. Now one other thing I love about a holiday is the maximalist that you can take with it and I am like super corny. I have the turkey shape salt and pepper. I have like the Santa Claus stuff. Everything’s like very 1950s Excessive candy canes, and just colored lights. I’m a colored lights on the tree type person. Nostalgia is back right now. What is rocking even years later, rocking around the Christmas tree, if you will.

Kerry Diamond  52:05

I was trying to think of something interesting and timely for you V for this holiday season. And I was thinking color themes. And I was like, Okay, what could be a modern color theme, and I was like, I know we’re gonna base it on Taylor Swift’s new album, I think you should do shades of Maroon and lavender. that would go purple wintry Burgundy’s, lilacs, things like that. That’s I’m saying have a Taylor Swift holiday. That’s what’s

V Spehar  52:33

Okay, because my next question was going to be what should the classy people do but obviously maroon and lavender Christmas holiday season. Thank you saying Christmas because we grew up in Catholic school. And that is just really, it never leaves you people. It never leaves you.

Kerry Diamond  52:46

If you want to know what the classy people are doing. I would look at Athena Calderon’s. She’s an ice woon. And she is just so amazing. I’ve never seen more beautiful tablescapes than when I went to her house. And this is actually a good tip. She used all fruits and vegetables and gourds and things as her tablescape. And there wasn’t a single thing that you can throw away. And that’s why I have some problems around the holiday with just the relentless gifting and all the things get thrown in the garbage. That’s why I love a food gift for the holidays. I love something that you can really put to use and not just put in the closet and never use. So I do like the idea of a tablescape that incorporates you can even have a beautiful bowl of apples. You can have some gourds you can have you know, just use your imagination. You can go outside and cut some, you know if I mean I know this sounds very precious. I don’t have a backyard so I can’t do this. But if you do live somewhere where you can go clip something off of an evergreen. Yeah, you know, do that.

V Spehar  53:46

The zero spirit movement is growing and so many fewer people are drinking alcohol now than in years past. What do you do for folks who aren’t into alcohol?

Kerry Diamond  53:55

There’s so many options today. I mean, there’s this great, it’s not a liquor store. It’s sort of like the anti-liquor store. It’s called boisson. And they’re expanding rapidly across the country. They have collected every interesting zero proof mocktail mixer situation. And if they’re not in your town, maybe just go to their website, you know, for some inspiration to see some of these brands. But it really is, it’s a mocktail moment.

V Spehar  54:24

It is, I’m enjoying it.

Kerry Diamond  54:26

I am too. And I’m shocked that more restaurants haven’t embraced the mocktail menu. And I’m always disappointed when I go somewhere fancy and I say what, you know if I happen to not be drinking that evening and I say oh, what kind of cocktails Do you have? And they say to me, Well, what we can make you anything. And I’m like, well, the chef doesn’t say that to me. Why does the bartender say that? So I think everybody should have mocktails on their menus, but I also love kombucha. I think Kombucha is a fun alternative, although I think there can be a little bit of alcohol and kombucha but, you know, it’s a fun alternative to some darkling wine.

V Spehar  55:00

We use a lot of the El Guapo bitters, which is a woman owned company down in New Orleans. Christa love, and you just do a little, that little soda water, little tonic, something like that. It makes you feel refreshed, it makes you feel like you’re having something a little special, but you don’t have the hangover. And there’s not this like competitive drinking that the millennials were driven to or like mommy wine culture, I feel like folks are coming so far out of that now, and they want to be present. And maybe that’s, you know, post pandemic, something good that came out of it, we want to remember the things that we’re doing. For the folks who do enjoy alcohol, what’s maybe some more like unusual wines or grapes that folks could think about bringing to start a conversation.

Kerry Diamond  55:39

Yeah, I mean, everyone, there’s such an obsession with natural wine, as you know, and natural wines, orange wines. And there’s still so much confusion about that. I love a pet net, which is a sparkling natural wine. And those are total conversation starters. You just want to be careful how you converse with folks about that, because you might get some eye rolls and that sort of thing. But I just think it’s such a fun, fascinating category.

V Spehar  56:04

I know something somebody else doesn’t know. I always bring his […] because it only grows in like the Finger Lakes in the Hamptons. And it’s so New York, and I like just absolutely think I’m better than everyone when they’re like I’ve never heard of that grape. I’m like, oh, haven’t you.

Kerry Diamond  56:21

I do love when there’s a story behind something or you know, I know the person behind it. That’s always fun. But, you know, I’m not a wine snob, I confess, I will still buy wine sometimes based on what the label looks like.

V Spehar  56:36

Okay, best wine. If you have Trader Joe’s wine shop near you. It’s a coat around. And it’s called pontificates. And it’s literally six bucks, and it drinks like some of the best wines I’ve had. And I mean, I was like James Beard, like I had some nice wines. We had some nice wine. Trader Joe’s it slaps like there are some times when that that makes perfect sense for people. One of my favorite spirit brands is Durham distillery, which is out in North Carolina. And she does beautiful like after dinner cocktails just like nice little Mocha, a little sip or a little something good. But any chefs we should follow for holiday cookbooks?

Kerry Diamond  57:08

Oh my gosh, well, I know has a cookbook. So that is always cause for celebration when there’s a new Iron a cookbook out. It’s a big cookbook moment. I mean, Claire Safavids has a brand new dessert cookbook out there is this family that has a cookbook out the Lange family. It’s called the walks of life you might be some people might be familiar with their website. But we actually got to meet Caitlin and Sarah, the two daughters who are part of the walks of life. And I was trying to think of like really fun original gifts. I wouldn’t just buy a cookbook although if that’s what’s in your budget, that’s totally fine. But you know, you could put together a fun gift set like oh yeah, the walks of life cookbook with something like you know, fly by Jinx. Different you know, all the different fly by jing products. They’re crunchy chili situation, I go through a lot of those. And something from, you know, another Sister Act. They’ve got all these sorts of starter sauces for different things that that you might want to make in your walk or whatever your vehicle of choices. But you know, put some imagination into it. You could do the walks of life cookbook. You could do an arm some starter pack, you could do the fly by jing sauce, maybe get a walk for them even. I mean, and that’s a great gift. And you could do that for under $100.

V Spehar  58:32

Before we say goodbye. What is something you want folks to know about the current state of the culinary world?

Kerry Diamond  58:37

Oh, gosh, it’s so exciting right now. And there are so many wonderful people doing wonderful things, support them however you can. I mean, if there’s a small restaurant in your neighborhood and you haven’t gone to it yet, I would definitely go check them out. Give the gift of food for the holidays. It’s a great gift and you know people will use it.

V Spehar  58:55

Absolutely. And where can folks find you?

Kerry Diamond  58:57

You can find me usually in a recording studio. Like today, you can find us at cherrybomb.com We’re going to have some really fantastic gift guides. So if you are looking for some ideas, or want to find some female owned businesses, we’re going to have lots of them for you to discover on cherrybomb.com.

V Spehar  59:14

Kerry, it is always such a fun time spending time with you. Thank you for finally giving me the chance to let you be on my show. Kerry, you guys don’t know this but gave me my break in podcasting when she let me guest host on radio cherry bombs. If you go back into the archives, you’ll get to hear me chat with Don Burrell, who was a top chef contestant and Olympian, the chef at the Margaritaville Times Square which was a personal highlight for me and of course Sara Moulton who, as a Food Network fame and used to be Julia Child’s assistant really fun network doing really cool stuff. Thank you so much for being here, Kerry.

Kerry Diamond  59:46

Thank you, V.

V Spehar  59:49

I am so grateful to my friends Dr. Rubin and Kerry Diamond for sharing their knowledge and their passion for making people’s lives more festive this holiday season. Also special thanks to Radio Cherry Bomb studios for letting us record our interview with Carrie in house. It was such a blast to meet the bomb squad and spend that special time together. Be sure to tune into next week’s episode where we dig into the headlines you care most about. We’ll also have rich for Rich Ferraro of GLAAD; fun fact we went to high school together you are not gonna want to miss this trip down baby gate lane. Leave me a voicemail at 612-293-8550, follow me at under the desk news on Instagram TikTok and YouTube and guess what friends? There’s more V INTERESTING with Lemonada Premium subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content, like extras for my conversation with OBGYN, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln. She talks about dedicating her new book let’s talk about down there to her sons and how it’s opened up conversations with them about reproductive rights. Subscribe now in Apple podcasts.

CREDITS  1:00:56

V INTERESTING is a Lemonada Media Original. Our producers are Rachel Neel, Xorje Olivares, Martín Macías, Jr. And Dani Matias. Executive Producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Mixing and Scoring is by Brian Castillo, Johnny Evans and Ivan Kuraev. music is by Seth Applebaum. Please help others find the show by rating and reviewing wherever you listen and follow us across all social platforms at @VitusSpehar and @UnderTheDeskNews, also, @LemonadaMedia. If you want more be interesting, subscribe to Lemonada premium only on Apple podcasts.