It's Been A Minute With Sam Sanders

Guest host Ayesha Rascoe is joined by NPR senior editor Barrie Hardymon and Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast, to talk about banned books. They talk about why it's important for kids to discover books freely, even if that means starting a hard conversation with them. They also discuss their favorite — and least favorite — books that often show up on banned book lists.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What better gift to give this holiday season than the gift of... advice? And solicited advice at that! For this episode, Sam is joined by Jenée Desmond-Harris, Slate's Dear Prudence advice columnist, to help answer everything from how to deal with a partner's overbearing adult daughter to a boyfriend's recent conversion to becoming a Swiftie (read: a fan of Taylor Swift) to the group dynamics of the Thanksgiving prayer in an atheist household. Happy holidays, everybody.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A lot of consumers are worried about supply chain delays this holiday season — but there are also other issues to watch out for when shopping. Guest host Ayesha Rascoe talks about the hidden costs of holiday consumption with The Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull and The Washington Post retail reporter Abha Bhattarai. They discuss the potential downfalls of buy now, pay later services and where online shopping returns really go. Then, they play a game of Who Said That? To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Why do we feel shame for sincerely enjoying something that others don't like? That's one of the big questions tackled in Rax King's new essay collection Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer. She talks to Sam about her love of the band Creed, The Cheesecake Factory, and Jersey Shore, and embracing the things that others consider bad taste. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Now that more people are getting comfortable flying again, it's about time to remind ourselves that, oh yes, flying was sometimes terrible in the Before Times, too! And in 2021, that's still the case — if not more so — with cascading cancellations, staffing and plane shortages, and outbursts from passengers. Sam chats with Natalie Compton, travel reporter at The Washington Post, about the state of the airline industry heading into the holiday travel season... and how to get through it. Plus, author Jamal Jordan discusses his book 'Queer Love in Color,' and what it means to photograph and document queer intimacy. They're also joined by TV producer Hassan Williams for a game of Who Said That? You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choi

The global pandemic has spawned a different type of epidemic, one of an entirely different nature: a nostalgia outbreak. Longing for 'simpler times' and 'better days', many of us have been turning to 90s dance playlists, TV sitcoms, and sports highlights. We're looking for comfort and safety in the permanence of the past, or at least, what we think the past was. But, when it first appeared, nostalgia itself wasn't considered a feeling; it was a deadly disease. In this episode from our friends at NPR's Throughline podcast, Laine Kaplan-Levenson traces the history of nostalgia from its origins as an illness to the dominating emotion of our time. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Pol

Sam talks to Slate staff writer Mark Joseph Stern about the Supreme Court hearing challenges to the Texas abortion law and what it all means for Roe v. Wade. Plus, comedian Jo Firestone and her student Nicki Cochrane talk about their new comedy special, Good Timing with Jo Firestone. They also play Who Said That? To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In this episode from our friends at NPR's Code Switch podcast, Kat Chow chats with former host Shereen Marisol Meraji about her memoir, Seeing Ghosts. After her mother died when Chow was 13, her family rarely discussed how to handle their loss. Chow says she wrote this memoir as a way to talk with her mother about that grief, her navigation of identity and her family's history. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow this weekend, Sam chats with climate experts Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and writer, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, senior climate reporter with the podcast 'How to Save a Planet.' Together, they answer listener questions about everything from how to talk to your kids about global warming... to how to deal with all of this existential dread.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In this special bonus episode, Sam joins Switched On Pop co-host Charlie Harding to talk Cyndi Lauper. Many fall for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun," but Sam's favorite song is the slow burner "All Through The Night," save for one moment: the synthesizer solo. For Sam, this solo never fit in. Charlie investigates the source of Sam's musical malady and uncovers how the '80s got its groove. Hear Sam on another episode of Switched On Pop making the case for why Labrinth's "Sexy MF" should be a modern classic here. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Author and host of the No Skips podcast Shea Serrano gets obsessive about things — movies, basketball, and now, rap. In Hip Hop (And Other Things), he dives into Cardi B's explosive 2018, the early days of Missy Elliott's career, and the 1995 Source Awards, which he says remains — to this day — one of the biggest nights in rap history.You can follow us on Twitter at @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Sam chats with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson about why dysfunction in the Democratic Party is putting the big "Build Back Better" spending bill in Congressional limbo. Plus, The New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Felix on Succession, representations of class on TV, and why the plethora of shows about white people being terrible (Succession, The White Lotus, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, Hacks ... you get the idea) are so addictive. Then, they are joined by The New York Times metro reporter Jazmine Hughes for a game of Who Said That? You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jermain Charlo was an Indigenous mother who went missing in Montana in the summer of 2018. Relisha Rudd, an 8-year-old Black girl, went missing in Washington, D.C. in March 2014. Neither has been found. Unlike Gabby Petito, these cases didn't grab national headlines. Connie Walker, host of Stolen: The Search for Jermain, and Jonquilyn Hill, host of Through the Cracks, join Sam to discuss why cases of missing Black and Indigenous people don't get the same kind of attention from media and law enforcement. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Sam revisits his 2020 conversation with comedian and Nailed It! host Nicole Byer on her coffee table book: #VeryFat #VeryBrave: The Fat Girl's Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini. They talk about home goods, drunken bravery, and learning to love yourself. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Latino artists like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira ruled the pop charts. But who was that so-called "Latin Explosion" actually for, and what were the business considerations behind it? In the third part of our series exploring crossover in pop music, we examine how this supposed boom turned out to be more of a marketing creation, which evaporated when digital streaming entered the picture. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Sam interviews women's work and economic justice writer Meg Conley about the documentary series LuLaRich and how vulnerable people still get sucked into multi-level marketing schemes because their shape mirrors the American economy. Then, Harvard Ph.D. candidate and Mormon Studies Fellow at the University of Utah Janan Graham-Russell joins for a game of Who Said That?You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On the 35th anniversary of Janet Jackson's first No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, we look back at Control, her career-defining album that changed the trajectory of pop music in the late '80s and '90s. In the second episode of a three-part series exploring crossover in pop music, we look at Jackson's musical and cultural legacy over the years. We also reconsider how Jackson was vilified after her Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance, and why. You can follow us on Twitter at @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

How much has really changed in U.S. immigration policy since President Biden came into office? After seeing graphic images of Haitian migrants being chased by law enforcement on horseback and a recent rejection of an immigration reform bill in Congress, The Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Dickerson breaks down the long history uniting Democratic and Republican administrations when it comes to enforcing immigration policy. She also plays Who Said That? with her friend and senior producer of NPR's Life Kit, Meghan Keane.You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Soul Train was first nationally syndicated in October 1971, there was nothing else like it on TV. It became an iconic Black music and dance show — a party every weekend that anyone could join from their living room. In the first episode of a three-part series exploring crossover in pop music, we break down the lasting influence of Soul Train on our culture with Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America. We ask: Why has there never been another show like Soul Train since it went off the air? You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ever since the pandemic hit, life has been split into two timelines: before the pandemic and after the pandemic. But when will the "after" truly be after? Or will some version of the coronavirus be around... forever? Sam talks to The Atlantic staff writer Katherine Wu about continuing to live with some version of COVID-19. Plus, Sam talks to playwright Heidi Schreck and actress Cassie Beck, who are currently in rehearsals for the upcoming tour of the Broadway play What The Constitution Means to Me. As live theater returns, they talk about what the last 18 months have been like and how theater has changed for the long term.You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy