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It's Been a Minute

It's Been a Minute

NPR 1039 Episodes Aug 21, 2026

Brittany Luse explores the hidden forces that shape our tastes, behaviors, and identities, from politics and pop culture to technology and health. The show helps listeners understand and navigate a complex society, winning the Best Pop Culture Podcast award at the 2025 Signal Awards. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Episodes

'The Pitt' star Sepideh Moafi on being limitless
'The Pitt' star Sepideh Moafi on being limitless Aug 21, 2026 1431 Sepideh Moafi wants you to get raw with your emotions.Season 2 of HBO Max’s original series, The Pitt, brings a new doctor into the fold: Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi. An Iranian-Iraqi attending physician, she brings empathy and discipline into the chaotic ER that viewers have come to love. While she ruffled some feathers at first, her commitment to her fellow doctors and patients has made her a fan favor
Broadway has a labor issue
Broadway has a labor issue Aug 19, 2026 1366 It seems like no one on Broadway is happy.Actors are buckling under the weight of the eight-show week, producers aren't making their money back, and audiences are getting tired of paying astronomical ticket prices to see celebrities on stage. Is Broadway in danger of taking its final bow? To find out, Brittany is joined by Broadway sensitivity specialist Ann James, and entertainment lawyer and bus
Are influencers in their flop era?
Are influencers in their flop era? Aug 18, 2026 1835 The cultural supremacy of the influencer seems to be waning. For nearly a decade, they’ve become a fount of cultural commerce, affecting how to live, what to buy, and who to follow for advice. But a backlash – against everything from expensive shopping hauls to the very persona that built an influencer's brand – is leaving many questioning their cultural relevance. So what’s going on with influenc
Don't be THAT person at the music festival. Here's how
Don't be THAT person at the music festival. Here's how Aug 17, 2026 1106 Have some people forgotten how to behave at music festivals?Summer is peak music festival season, and that means many of us are braving huge crowds and sweltering heat to see a bunch of artists we love in one place. But is there a decline in social decorum in these concert settings? From using phones to being in the front row to navigating crowds, our friends at Pop Culture Happy Hour are sharing
People are struggling financially. Even on TV.
People are struggling financially. Even on TV. Aug 14, 2026 1418 Welcome to the age of ‘Broke TV.’It seems like the days of prestige TV shows about the wealthy elite have been replaced by the vocal majority: the downwardly mobile.New Yorker TV critic, Inkoo Kang, noticed that her favorite shows so far this year all focused - in some respect - on the people whose lives have been financially squeezed beyond recognition by the very elite we used to enjoy watching.
What's with all the testosterone talk?
What's with all the testosterone talk? Aug 12, 2026 1371 Do you have what it takes to be "High-T?"Service members are about to find out, as Defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military will be screening men for low testosterone, a hormone found in both women and men that supports bone mass development, red blood cell production, energy levels, and more. It's an important marker of overall health in men, but will it push the United States m
Who really counts as ‘working class’?
Who really counts as ‘working class’? Aug 11, 2026 2413 What does it mean to be ‘working class’? It’s a term that we hear often (especially around election time), but more specifically, who are we actually talking about? According to labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, host of the Optimist Economy podcast (@optimist_economy), the working class is a group of people who have the least amount of pay, benefits, and protections in the labor market. In thi
Is your city shaped by yuppie taste?
Is your city shaped by yuppie taste? Aug 10, 2026 1911 You might be more influenced by yuppie taste than you’d think.Back in the eighties – when pop music drowned in synths, the volume of everyone's hair was set to loud, and neon was in vogue – a new age dawned: the era of the yuppie. “Yuppie” comes from the acronym “YUP” – which stands for young, urban professional. Think Patrick Bateman from American Psycho or even Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the Ci
What's a pathway to freedom? Reading.
What's a pathway to freedom? Reading. Aug 7, 2026 1384 How has literature changed your life?For poet and lawyer, Reginald Dwaye Betts, books meant freedom. After getting sentenced to 9 years in adult prison at 16, Dwayne felt a sense of hope and possibility whenever he was reading.  Upon his release he founded Freedom Reads, an organization that builds libraries within prisons across the country to provide a physical space where those incarcerated can
The questionable new ways to surveil your friends
The questionable new ways to surveil your friends Aug 5, 2026 1561 Would you pay for an app that might encourage your worst impulses?Some users are asking themselves the same question as Meta rolls out Instagram Plus, a new suite of features that promises users the opportunity to 'deepen your relationships.' But what do these features say about the way we interact with each other online, and how might they reflect our deepest anxieties back at us? To find out, Br
Abortion access is limited. Is Hollywood to blame?
Abortion access is limited. Is Hollywood to blame? Aug 4, 2026 2135 Have our favorite shows and movies shaped the way we think about abortion?Hollywood has a huge impact of how we understand abortion. It can drive a plot, like in Dirty Dancing, or inspire conversations about who gets abortions, like in the television series Maude. It can also be dramatized – turning a common medical procedure into something good, bad, or anything in between, depending on who is te
Are you "just a girl" ... or are you a baby woman?
Are you "just a girl" ... or are you a baby woman? Aug 3, 2026 1351 “Baby woman” is the girlboss’s Wario. “Baby woman” is a term coined by Shannon Keating in a piece for The Cut to describe a particular kind of affect some women have: it’s not just girlishness, but also some abdication of adult responsibility. And Shannon’s seen some baby women behavior out in the culture, from Lena Dunham to Amanda Batula. But what drives some women to be baby? And what do they g

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