Episode 439

with Ijeoma Oluo, Jill Lepore, and The Bengsons

Host Luke Burbank and Elena Passarello make some small wishes for the future; Jill Lepore, historian and staffer at The New Yorker, tells us about the first American company to predict voter behavior through the use of computers; writer Ijeoma Oluo envisions a future free from racism and sexism in her book Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America; and indie folk duo The Bengsons spread a little hope with their viral hit "The Keep Going Song."

Ijeoma Oluo
Writer

Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker, and Internet Yeller. She’s the author of the New York Times Best-Seller So You Want to Talk about Race. Oluo’s work focuses primarily on issues of race and identity, feminism, mental health, social justice, and the arts. Her most recent work Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America dissects white supremacy in America and the dangers of white male power. Website • Twitter

Jill Lepore
Staff Writer at The New Yorker

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, her many books include the international bestseller These Truths and This America. Her most recent book is If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future.

The Bengsons
Indie Folk Duo

Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo. Their theater work includes Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Know Theater, Z Space, US Tour), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (ATL’s Humana Festival), and more. Abigail Bengson has appeared on HBO's High Maintenance and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Website • Twitter • Spotify