Podcast appearances and mentions of jennifer senior

In this Write Big session of the #amwriting podcast, host Jennie Nash welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jennifer Senior for a powerful conversation about finding, knowing, and claiming your voice.Jennifer shares how a medication once stripped away her ability to think in metaphor—the very heart of her writing—and what it was like to get that voice back. She and Jennie talk about how voice strengthens over time, why confidence and ruthless editing matter, and what it feels like when you're truly writing in flow.It's an inspiring reminder that your voice is your greatest strength—and worth honoring every time you sit down to write.TRANSCRIPT BELOW!THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:* Jennifer's Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross: Can't Sleep? You're Not Alone* Atlantic feature story: What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind* Atlantic feature story: The Ones We Sent Away* Atlantic feature story: It's Your Friends Who Break Your Heart* The New York Times article: Happiness Won't Save You* Heavyweight the podcastSPONSORSHIP MESSAGEHey, it's Jennie Nash. And at Author Accelerator, we believe that the skills required to become a great book coach and build a successful book coaching business can be taught to people who come from all kinds of backgrounds and who bring all kinds of experiences to the work. But we also know that there are certain core characteristics that our most successful book coaches share. If you've been curious about becoming a book coach, and 2026 might be the year for you, come take our quiz to see how many of those core characteristics you have. You can find it at bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz.EPISODE TRANSCRIPTJennie NashHi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast. This is a Write Big Session, where I'm bringing you short episodes about the mindset shifts that help you stop playing small and write like it matters. This one might not actually be that short, because today I'm talking to journalist Jennifer Senior about the idea of finding and knowing and claiming your voice—a rather big part of writing big. Jennifer Senior is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2022 and was a finalist again in 2024. Before that, she spent five years at The New York Times as both a daily book critic and a columnist for the opinion page, and nearly two decades at New York Magazine. She's also the author of a bestselling parenting book, and frequently appears on NPR and other news shows. Welcome, Jennifer. Thanks for joining us.Jennifer SeniorThank you for having me. Hey, I got to clarify just one thing.Jennie NashOh, no.Jennifer SeniorAll Joy and No Fun is by no means a parenting book. I can't tell you the first thing about how to raise your kids. It is all about how kids change their parents. It's all like a sociological look at who we become and why we are—so our lives become so vexed. I like, I would do these book talks, and at the end, everybody would raise their hand and be like, “How do I get my kid into Harvard?” You know, like, the equivalent obviously—they wouldn't say it that way. I'd be like; I don't really have any idea, or how to get your kid to eat vegetables, or how to get your kid to, like, stop talking back. But anyway, I just have to clarify that, because every time...Jennie NashPlease, please—Jennifer SeniorSomeone says that, I'm like, “Noooo.” Anyway, it's a sociology book. Ah, it's an ethnography, you know. But anyway, it doesn't matter.Jennie NashAll right, like she said, you guys—not what I said.Jennifer SeniorI'm not correcting you. It came out 11 years ago. There were no iPads then, or social media. I mean, forget it. It's so dated anyway. But like, I just...Jennie NashThat's so funny. So the reason that we're speaking is that I heard you recently on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, where you were talking about an Atlantic feature story that you wrote called “Why Can't Americans Sleep?” And this was obviously a reported piece, but also a really personal piece and you're talking about your futile attempts to fall asleep and the latest research into insomnia and medication and therapy that you used to treat it, and we'll link to that article and interview in the show notes. But the reason that we're talking, and that in the middle of this conversation, which—which I'm listening to and I'm riveted by—you made this comment, and it was a little bit of a throwaway comment in the conversation, and, you know, then the conversation moved on. But you talked about how you were taking a particular antidepressant you'd been prescribed, and this was the quote you said: “It blew out all the circuitry that was responsible for generating metaphors, which is what I do as a writer. So it made my writing really flat.” And I was just like, hold up. What was that like? What happened? What—everything? So that's why we're talking. So… can we go back to the very beginning? If you can remember—Jess Lahey actually told me that when she was teaching fifth and sixth grade, that's around the time that kids begin to grasp this idea of figurative language and metaphor and such. Do you remember learning how to write like that, like write in metaphor and simile and all such things?Jennifer SeniorOh, that's funny. Do I remember it? I remember them starting to sort of come unbidden in my—like they would come unbidden in my head starting maybe in my—the minute I entered college, or maybe in my teens. Actually, I had that thing where some people have this—people who become writers have, like, a narrator's voice in their head where they're actually looking at things and describing them in the third person. They're writing them as they witness the world. That went away, that narrator's voice, which I also find sort of fascinating. But, like, I would say that it sort of emerged concurrently. I guess I was scribbling a little bit of, like, short story stuff, or I tried at least one when I was a senior in high school. So that was the first time maybe that, like, I started realizing that I had a flair for it. I also—once I noticed that, I know in college I would make, you know, when I started writing for the alternative weekly and I was reviewing things, particularly theater, I would make a conscientious effort to come up with good metaphors, and, like, 50% of them worked and 50% of them didn't, because if you ever labor over a metaphor, there's a much lower chance of it working. I mean, if you come—if you revisit it and go, oh, that's not—you know, that you can tell if it's too precious. But now if I labor over a metaphor, I don't bother. I stop. You know, it has to come instantaneously or...Jennie NashOr that reminds me of people who write with the thesaurus open, like that's going to be good, right? That's not going to work. So I want to stick with this, you know, so that they come into your head, you recognize that, and just this idea of knowing, back in the day, that you could write like that—you… this was a thing you had, like you used the word “flair,” like had a flair for this. Were there other signs or things that led you to the work, like knowing you were good, or knowing when something was on the page that it was right, like, what—what is that?Jennifer SeniorIt's that feeling of exhilaration, but it's also that feeling of total bewilderment, like you've been struck by something—something just blew through you and you had nothing to do with it. I mean, it's the cliché: here I am saying the metaphors are my superpower, which my editors were telling me, and I'm about to use a cliché, which is that you feel like you're a conduit for something and you have absolutely nothing to do with it. So I would have that sense that it had almost come without conscious thought. That was sort of when I knew it was working. It's also part of being in a flow state. It's when you're losing track of time and you're just in it. And the metaphors are—yeah, they're effortless. By the way, my brain is not entirely fogged in from long COVID, but I have noticed—and at first I didn't really notice any decrements in cognition—but recently, I have. So I'm wondering now if I'm having problems with spontaneous metaphor generation. It's a little bit disconcerting. And I do feel like all SSRIs—and I'm taking one now, just because, not just because long COVID is depressing, but because I have POTS, which is like a—it's Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and that's a very common sequela from long COVID, and it wipes out your plasma serotonin. So we have to take one anyway, we POTS patients. So I found that nicotine often helped with my long COVID, which is a thing—like a nicotine patch—and that made up for it. It almost felt like I was doping [laughing]. It made my writing so much better. But it's been...Jennie NashWait, wait, wait, this is so interesting.Jennifer SeniorI know…it's really weird. I would never have guessed that so much of my writing would be dampened by Big Pharma. I mean—but now with the nicotine patches, I was like, oh, now I get why writers are smoking until into the night, writing. Like, I mean, and I always wished that I did, just because it looked cool, you know? I could have just been one of those people with their Gitanes, or however you pronounce it, but, yeah.Jennie NashWow. So I want to come—I want to circle back to this in a minute, but let's get to the first time—well, it sounds like the first time that happened where you were prescribed an antidepressant and—and you recognized that you lost the ability to write in metaphor. Can you talk about—well, first of all, can you tell us what the medication was?Jennifer SeniorYeah, it was Paxil, which is actually notorious for that. And at the top—which I only subsequently discovered—those were in the days where there were no such things as Reddit threads or anything like that. It was 1999… I guess, no, eight, but so really early. That was the bespoke antidepressant at the time, thought to be more nuanced. I think it's now fallen out of favor, because it's also a b***h to wean off of. But it was kind of awful, just—I would think, and nothing would come. It was the strangest thing. For—there's all this static electricity usually when you write, right? And there's a lot of free associating that goes on that, again, feels a little involuntary. You know, you start thinking—it's like you've pulled back the spring in the pinball machine, and suddenly the thing is just bouncing around everywhere, and the ball wasn't bouncing around. Nothing was lighting up. It was like a dis… it just was strange, to be able to summon nothing.Jennie NashWow. So you—you just used this killer metaphor to describe that.Jennifer SeniorYeah, that was spontaneous.Jennie NashRight? So—so you said first, you said static, static energy, which—which is interesting.Jennifer SeniorYeah, it's... [buzzing sound]Jennie NashYeah. Yeah. Because it's noisy. You're talking about...Jennie SeniorOh, but it's not disruptive noise. Sorry, that might seem like it's like unwanted crackling, like on your television. I didn't really—yeah, maybe that's the wrong metaphor, actually, maybe the pinball is sort of better, that all you need is to, you know, psych yourself up, sit down, have your caffeine, and then bam, you know? But I didn't mean static in that way.Jennie NashI understood what you meant. There's like a buzzy energy.Jennifer SeniorYeah, right. It's fizz.Jennie NashFizz... that's so good. So you—you recognized that this was gone.Jennifer SeniorSo gone! Like the TV was off, you know?Jennie NashAnd did you...?Jennifer SeniorOr the machine, you know, was unplugged? I mean, it's—Jennie NashYeah, and did you? I'm just so curious about the part of your brain that was watching another part of your brain.Jennifer Senior[Laughing] You know what? I think... oh, that's really interesting. But are you watching, or are you just despairing because there's nothing—I mean, I'm trying to think if that's the right...Jennie NashBut there's a part of your brain that's like, this part of my brain isn't working.Jennifer SeniorRight. I'm just thinking how much metacognition is involved in— I mean, if you forget a word, are you really, like, staring at that very hard, or are you just like, s**t, what's the word? If you're staring at Jack Nicholson on TV, and you're like, why can't I remember that dude's name?Multiple speakers[Both laughing]Jennifer SeniorWhich happens to me far more regularly now, [unintelligible]… than it used to, you know? I mean, I don't know. There is a part of you that's completely alarmed, but, like, I guess you're right. There did come a point where I—you're right, where I suddenly realized, oh, there's just been a total breakdown here. It's never happening. Like, what is going on? Also, you know what would happen? Every sentence was a grind, like...Jennie NashOkay, so—okay, so...Jennifer Senior[Unintelligible]... Why is this so effortful? When you can't hold the previous sentence in your head, suddenly there's been this lapse in voice, right? Because, like, if every sentence is an effort and you're starting from nothing again, there's no continuity in how you sound. So, I mean, it was really dreadful. And by the way, if I can just say one thing, sorry now that—Jennie NashNo, I love it!Jennifer SeniorYeah. Sorry. I'm just—now you really got me going. I'm just like, yeah, I know. I'm sort of on a tear and a partial rant, which is Prozac—there came a point where, like, every single SSRI was too activating for me to sleep. But it was, of course, a problem, because being sleepless makes you depressed, so you need something to get at your depression. And SNRIs, like the Effexor's and the Cymbalta's, are out of the question, because those are known to be activating. So I kept vainly searching for SSRIs, and Prozac was the only one that didn't—that wound up not being terribly activating, besides Paxil, but it, too, was somewhat deadening, and I wrote my whole book on it.Jennie NashWow!Jennifer SeniorIt's not all metaphor.Multiple Speakers[both laughing]Jennifer SeniorIt's not all me and no—nothing memorable, you know? I mean, it's—it's kind of a problem. It was—I can't really bear to go back and look at it.Jennie NashWow.Jennie NashSo—so the feeling...Jennifer SeniorI'm really giving my book the hard sell, like it's really a B plus in terms of its pro…—I mean, you know, it wasn't.Jennie NashSo you—you—you recognize its happening, and what you recognize is a lack of fizzy, buzzy energy and a lack of flow. So I just have to ask now, presumably—well, there's long COVID now, but when you don't have—when you're writing in your full powers, do you—is it always in a state of flow? Like, if you're not in a state of flow, do you get up and go do something else? Like, what—how does that function in the life of a writer on a deadline?Jennifer SeniorOK. Well, am I always in a state of flow? No! I mean, flow is not—I don't know anyone who's good at something who just immediately can be in flow every time.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorIt's still magic when it happens. You know, when I was in flow almost out of the gate every day—the McIlvaine stories—like, I knew when I hit send, this thing is damn good. I knew when I hit send on a piece that was not as well read, but is like my second or third favorite story. I wrote something for The New York Times called “Happiness Wont Save You,” about a pioneer in—he wrote one of the foundational studies in positive psychology about lottery winners and paraplegics, and how lottery winners are pretty much no happier than random controls found in a phone book, and paraplegics are much less unhappy than you might think, compared to controls. It was really poorly designed. It would never withstand the scrutiny of peer review today. But anyway, this guy was, like, a very innovative thinker. His name was Philip Brickman, and in 1982 at 38 years old, he climbed—he got—went—he found his way to the roof of the tallest building in Ann Arbor and jumped, and took his own life. And I was in flow pretty much throughout writing that one too.Jennie NashWow. So the piece you're referring to, that you referred to previous to that, is What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind, which was a feature story in The Atlantic. It's the one you won the—Pul…Pulitzer for? It's now made into a book. It has, like...Jennifer SeniorAlthough all it is like, you know, the story between...Jennie NashCovers, right?Jennifer SeniorYeah. Yeah. Because—yeah, yeah.Jennie NashBut—Jennifer SeniorWhich is great, because then people can have it, rather than look at it online, which—and it goes on forever—so yeah.Jennie NashSo this is a piece—the subtitle is Grief, Conspiracy Theories, and One Family's Search for Meaning in the Two Decades Since 9/11—and I actually pulled a couple of metaphors from that piece, because I re-read it knowing I was going to speak to you… and I mean, it was just so beautifully written. It's—it's so beautifully structured, everything, everything. But here's a couple of examples for our listeners. You're describing Bobby, who was a 26-year-old who died in 9/11, who was your brother's college roommate.Jennifer SeniorAnd at that young adult—they—you can't afford New York. They were living together for eight years. It was four in college, and four—Jennie NashWow.Jennifer SeniorIn New York City. They had a two-bedroom... yeah, in a cheaper part... well, to the extent that there are cheaper parts in...Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorThe way over near York Avenue, east side, yeah.Jennie NashSo you write, “When he smiled, it looked for all the world like he'd swallowed the moon.” And you wrote, “But for all Bobby's hunger and swagger, what he mainly exuded, even during his college years, was warmth, decency, a corkscrew quirkiness.” So just that kind of language—a corkscrew quirkiness, like he'd swallowed the moon—that, it's that the piece is full of that. So that's interesting, that you felt in flow with this other piece you described and this one. So how would you describe—so you describe metaphors as things that just come—it just—it just happens. You're not forcing it—you can't force it. Do you think that's true of whatever this ineffable thing of voice—voices—as well?Jennifer SeniorOh, that's a good question. My voice got more distinct as I got older—it gets better. I think a lot of people's—writers'—powers wax. Philip Roth is a great example of that. Colette? I mean, there are people whose powers really get better and better, and I've gotten better with more experience. But do you start with the voice? I think you do. I don't know if you can teach someone a voice.Jennie NashSo when you say you've gotten better, what does that mean to you?Jennifer SeniorYeah. Um, I'm trying to think, like, do I write with more swing? Do I—just with more confidence because I'm older? Being a columnist…which is the least creative medium…Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSeven hundred and fifty words to fit onto—I had a dedicated space in print. When David Leonhardt left, I took over the Monday spot, during COVID. So it's really, really—but what it forces you to do is to be very—your writing becomes lean, and it becomes—and structure is everything. So this does not relate to voice, but my—I was always pretty good at structure anyway. I think if you—I think movies and radio, podcasts, are, like, great for structure. Storytelling podcasts are the best thing to—I think I unconsciously emulate them. The McIlvaine story has a three-act structure. There's also—I think the podcast Heavyweight is sublime in that way.Jennie NashIs that Roxane Gay?Jennifer SeniorNo, no, no, no.Jennie NashOh, it's, um—Jennifer SeniorIt's Jonathan Goldstein.Jennie NashYes, got it. I'm going to write that down and link to that in our show notes.Jennifer SeniorIt's... I'm trying to think of—because, you know, his is, like, narratives, and it's—it's got a very unusual premise. But voice, voice, voice—well, I, you know, I worked on making my metaphors better in the beginning. I worked on noticing things, you know, and I worked on—I have the—I'm the least visual person alive. I mean, this is what's so interesting. Like, I failed to notice once that I had sat for an hour and a half with a woman who was missing an arm. I mean, I came back to the office and was talking—this is Barbara Epstein, who was a storied editor of The New York Review of Books, the story editor, along with Bob Silver. And I was talking to Mike Tomasky, who was our, like, city politic editor at the time. And I said to him, I just had this one—I knew she knew her. And he said, was it awkward? Was—you know, with her having one arm and everything? And I just stared at him and went one arm? I—I am really oblivious to stuff. And yet visual metaphors are no problem with me. Riddle me that, Batman. I don't know why that is. But I can, like, summon them in my head, and so I worked at it for a while, when my editors were responsive to it. Now they come more easily, so that seems to maybe just be a facility. I started noticing them in other people's writing. So Michael Ondaatje —in, I think it was In the Skin of a Lion, but maybe it was The English Patient. I've read, like, every book of his, like I've, you know— Running… was it Running in the Family? Running with the Family? I think it was Running in the—his memoir. And, I mean, doesn't—everything. Anil's Ghost—he— you know, that was it The Ballad of Billy the Kid? [The Collected Works of Billy the Kid] Anyway, I can go on and on. He had one metaphor talking about the evening being as serene as ink. And it was then that I realized that metaphors without effort often—and—or is that a simile? That's a simile.Jennie NashLike—or if it's “like” or “as,” it's a simile.Jennifer SeniorYeah. So I'm pretty good with similes, maybe more than metaphors. But... serene as ink. I realized that what made that work is that ink is one syllable. There is something about landing on a word with one syllable that sounds like you did not work particularly hard at it. You just look at it and keep going. And I know that I made a real effort to make my metaphors do that for a while, and I still do sometimes. Anything more than that can seem labored.Jennie NashOh, but that's so interesting. So you—you noticed in other people what worked and what you liked, and then tried to fold that into your own work.Jennifer SeniorYeah.Jennie NashSo does that mean you might noodle on—like, you have the structure of the metaphor or simile, but you might noodle on the word—Jennifer SeniorThe final word?Jennie NashThe final word.Jennifer SeniorYeah. Yeah, the actual simile, or whatever—yeah, I guess it's a simile—yeah, sometimes. Sometimes they—like I said, they come unbidden. I think I have enough experience now—which may make my voice better—to know what's crap. And I also, by the way, I'll tell you what makes your voice better: just being very willing to hit Select Alt, Delete. You know, there's more where that came from. I am a monster of self-editing. I just—I have no problem doing it. I like to do it. I like to be told when things are s**t. I think that improves your voice, because you can see it on the page.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorAnd also, I think paying attention to other people's writing, you know, I did more and more of that, you know, reverse engineering stuff, looking at how they did stuff as I got older, so...Jennie NashSo I was going to ask a question, which now maybe you already answered, but the question was going to be… you said that you're—you feel like you're getting better as a writer as you got older. And you—you said that was due to experience. And I was going to ask, is it, or is it due to getting older? You know, is there something about literally living more years that makes you better, or, you know, like, is wisdom something that you just get, or is it something you work for? But I think what I'm hearing is you're saying you have worked to become the kind of writer who knows, you know, what you just said—you delete stuff, it comes again. But tell me if—you know, you welcome the kind of tough feedback, because you know that makes you better. You know, this sort of real effort to become better, it sounds like that's a practice you have. Is that—is that right?Jennifer SeniorOh yeah. I mean, well, let's do two things on that, please. I so easily lose my juju these days that, like, you've got to—if you can put a, you know, oh God, I'm going to use a cliché again—if you can put a pin in or bookmark that, the observation about, you know, harsh feedback. I want to come back to that. But yes, one of the things that I was going to keep—when I said that I have the confidence now, I also was going to say that I have the wisdom, but I had too many kind of competing—Jennie NashYeah. Yeah.Jennifer SeniorYou know, were running at once, and I, you know, many trains on many tracks—Jennie NashYeah, yeah.Jennifer Senior…about to leave, so…, Like, I had to sort of hop on one. But, like, the—the confidence and wisdom, yes, and also, like, I'll tell you something: in the McIlvaine piece, it may have been the first time I did, like, a narrative nonfiction. I told a story. There was a time when I would have hid behind research on that one.Jennie NashOoh, and did you tell a story. It was the—I remember reading that piece when it first came out, and there you're introducing, you know, this—the situation. And then there's a moment, and it comes very quickly at the top of the piece, where you explain your relationship to the protagonist of the story. And there's a—there's just a moment of like, oh, we're—we're really in something different here. There's really—is that feel of, this is not a reported story, this is a lived story, and that there's so many layers of power, I mean, to the story itself, but obviously the way that you—you present it, so I know exactly what you're talking about.Jennifer SeniorYeah, and by the way, I think writing in the first person, which I've been doing a lot of lately, is not something I would have done until now. Probably because I am older and I feel like I've earned it. I have more to say. I've been through more stuff. It's not, like, with the same kind of narcissism or adolescent—like, I want to get this out, you know. It's more searching, I think, and because I've seen more, and also because I've had these pent up stories that I've wanted to tell for a long time. And also I just don't think I would have had the balls, you know.Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorSo some of it is—and I think that that's part of—you can write better in your own voice. If it's you writing about you, you're—there's no better authority, you know? So your voice comes out.Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorBut I'm trying to think of also—I would have hid behind research and talked about theories of grief. And when I wrote, “It's the damnedest thing, the dead abandon you, and then you abandon the dead,” I had blurted that out loud when I was talking to, actually, not Bobby's brother, which is the context in which I wrote it, but to Bobby's—I said that, it's, like, right there on the tape—to his former almost fiancée. And I was thinking about that line, that I let it stand. I didn't actually then rush off and see if there was a body of literature that talked about the guilt that the living feel about letting go of their memories. But I would have done that at one point. I would have turned it into this... because I was too afraid to just let my own observations stand. But you get older and you're like, you know what? I'm smart enough to just let that be mine. Like, assume...Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorIt's got to be right. But can we go back, also, before I forget?Jennie NashYeah, we're going to go back to harsh, but—but I would just want to use your cliché, put a pin in what you said, because you've said so many important things— that there's actual practice of getting better, and then there's also wisdom of—of just owning, growing into, embracing, which are two different things, both so important. So I just wanted to highlight that you've gone through those two things. So yes, let's go back to—I said harsh, and maybe I miss—can...misrepresenting what you meant.Jennifer SeniorYou may not have said that. I don't know what you said.Jennie NashNo, I did, I did.Jennifer SeniorYou did, okay, yeah, because I just know that it was processed as a harsh—oh no, totally. Like, I was going to say to you that—so there was a part of my book, my book, eventually, I just gave one chapter to each person in my life whom I thought could, like, assess it best, and one of them, so this friend—I did it on paper. He circled three paragraphs, and he wrote, and I quote, “Is this just a shitty way of saying...?” And then I was like, thank God someone caught it, if it was shitty. Oh my God. And then—and I was totally old enough to handle it, you know, I was like 44, whatever, 43. And then, who was it? Someone else—oh, I think I gave my husband the intro, and he wrote—he circled a paragraph and just wrote, “Ugh.” Okay, Select Alt, Delete, redo. You know, like, what are you going to do with that? That's so unambiguous. It's like, you know—and also, I mean, when you're younger, you argue. When you're older, you never quarrel with Ugh. Or Is this...Jennie NashRight, you're just like, okay, yep.Jennifer SeniorYeah. And again, you—you've done it enough that, you know, there's so much more where that came from.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorWhy cling to anything that someone just, I don't know, had this totally allergic reaction to? Like, you know, if my husband broke out in a hive.Jennie NashYeah. So, circling back to the—the storyline of—you took this medication, you lost your ability to write in this way, you changed medications, presumably, you got it back. What did it feel like to get it back? Did you—do you remember that?Jennifer SeniorOh God, yes, it was glorious.Jennie NashReally?!Jennifer SeniorOh, you don't feel like yourself. I think that—I mean, I think there are many professions that are intertwined with identity. They may be the more professional—I'm sorry, the more creative professions. But not always, you know. And so if your writing voice is gone, and it's—I mean, so much of writing is an expression of your interior, if not life, then, I don't know some kind of thought process and something that you're working out. To have that drained out of you, for someone to just decant all the life out of your—or something to decant all the life out of your writing, it's—it's, I wouldn't say it's traumatic, that's totally overstating it, but it's—it's a huge bummer. It's, you know, it's depressing.Jennie NashWell, the word glorious, that's so cool. So to feel that you got back your—the you-ness of your voice was—was glorious. I mean, that's—that's amazing.Jennifer SeniorWhat—if I can just say, I wrote a feature, right, that then, like, I remember coming off of it, and then I wrote a feature that won the News Women's Club of New York story for best feature that year. Like, I didn't realize that those are kind of hard to win, and not like I won... I think I've won one since. But, like, that was in, like, 99 or something. I mean, like, you know, I don't write a whole lot of things that win stuff, until recently, you know. There was, like, a real kind of blackout period where, you know, I mean, but like—which I think, it probably didn't have to do with the quality of my writing. I mean, there was—but, I mean, you know, I wasn't writing any of the stuff that floated to the tippy top, and, like, I think that there was some kind of explosion thereof, like, all the, again, stuff that was just desperate to come out. I think there was just this volcanic outpouring.Jennie NashSo you're saying now you are winning things, which is indeed true. I mean, Pulitzer Prizes among them. Do you think that that has to do with this getting better? The wisdom, the practice, the glorious having of your abilities? Or, I guess what I'm asking is, like, is luck a part of—a part of all that? Is it just, it just happens? Or do you think there's some reason that it's happening? You feel that your writing is that powerful now?Jennifer SeniorWell, luck is definitely a part of it, because The Atlantic is the greatest place to showcase your feature writing. It gets so much attention, even though I think fewer people probably read that piece about Bobby McIlvaine than would have read any of my columns on any given day. The kind of attention was just so different. And it makes sense in a funny way, because it was 13,600 words or something. I mean, it was so long, and columns are 750 words. But, like, I think that I just lucked out in terms of the showcase. So that's definitely a part of it. And The Atlantic has the machinery to, you know, and all these dedicated, wonderful publicity people who will make it possible for people to read it, blah, blah, blah. So there's that. If you're older, you know everyone in the business, so you have people amplifying your work, they're suddenly reading it and saying, hey, everybody read it. It was before Twitter turned to garbage. Media was still a way to amplify it. It's much harder now, so passing things along through social media has become a real problem. But at that moment, it was not—Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo that was totally luck. Also, I wonder if it was because I was suddenly writing something from in the first person, and my voice was just better that way. And I wouldn't have had, like, the courage, you know?Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorAnd also, you're a book critic, which is what I was at The Times. And you certainly are not writing from the first person. And as a columnist, you're not either.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo, you know, those are very kind of constricted forms, and they're also not—there are certainly critics who win Pulitzers. I don't think I was good enough at it. I was good, but it was not good enough. I could name off the top of my head, like, so many critics who were—who are—who haven't even won anything yet. Like Dwight Garner really deserves one. Why has he not won a Pulitzer? He's, I think, the best writer—him and Sophie Gilbert, who keeps coming close. I don't get it, like, what the hell?Jennie NashDo you—as a—as a reader of other people's work, I know you—you mentioned Michael Ondaatje that you'd studied—study him. But do you just recognize when somebody else is on their game? Like, do you recognize the voice or the gloriousness of somebody else's work? Can you just be like, yeah, that...?Jennifer SeniorWell, Philip Roth, sentence for sentence. Martin Amis, even more so—I cannot get over the originality of each of his sentences and the wide vocabulary from which he recruits his words, and, like, maybe some of that is just being English. I think they just get better, kind of more comprehensive. They read more comprehensively. And I always tell people, if they want to improve their voice, they should read the Victorians, like that [unintelligible]. His also facility with metaphor, I don't think, is without equal. The thing is, I can't stand his fiction. I just find it repellent. But his criticism is bangers and his memoirs are great, so I love them.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo I really—I read him very attentively, trying to think of, like, other people whose kind of...Jennie NashI guess I was—I was getting at more... like, genius recognizes genius, that con... that concept, like, when you know you can do this and write in this way from time to time anyway, you can pull it off.Jennifer SeniorYeah, genius as in—I wouldn't—we can't go there.Jennie NashWell, that's the—that's the cliché, right? But, like...Jennifer SeniorOh no, I know, I know. Game—game, game recognizes game.Jennie NashGame recognizes game is a better way of saying it. Like, do you see—that's actually what the phrase is. I don't know where I came up with genius, but...Jennifer SeniorNo, it's fine. You can stick anything in that template, you know—evil recognizes evil, I mean, you know, it's like a...Jennie NashYeah. Do you see it? Do you see it? Like, you can see it in other people?Jennifer SeniorSure. Oh yeah, I see it.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorI mean, you're just talking about among my contemporaries, or just as it...Jennie NashJust like anything, like when you pick up a book or you read an article or even listen to a storytelling pack podcast, that sense of being in the hands of somebody who's on it.Jennifer SeniorYeah, I think that Jonathan Goldstein—I mean, I think that the—the Heavyweight Podcast, for sure, is something—and more than that, it's—it's storytelling structure, it's just that—I think that anybody who's a master at structure would just look at that show and be like, yeah, that show nails it each and every time.Jennie NashI've not listened, but I feel like I should end our time together. I would talk to you forever about this, but I always like to leave our listeners with something specific to reflect or practice or do. And is there anything related to metaphor or practicing, finding your voice, owning your voice, that you would suggest for—for folks? You've already suggested a lot.Jennifer SeniorRead the Victorians.Jennie NashAwesome. Any particular one that you would say start with?Jennifer SeniorYeah, you know what? I find Dickens rough sledding. I like his, you know, dear friend Wilkie Collins. I think No Name is one of the greatest books ever. I would read No Name.Jennie NashAmazing. And I will add, go read Jennifer's work. We'll link to a bunch of it in the show notes. Study her and—and watch what she does and learn what she does—that there it is, a master at work, and that's what I would suggest. So thank you for joining us and having this amazing discussion.Jennifer SeniorThis has been super fun.Jennie NashAnd for our listeners, until next time, stop playing small and write like it matters.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

For almost 29 years, journalist Jennifer Senior was a self-described “brilliant sleeper.” Then, one night, something changed…and Jennifer has struggled with chronic insomnia ever since. She talks to Anita about insights on insomnia from both her reporting and personal life. Then, we meet a couple who share suggestions for navigating insomnia in a romantic partnership.Meet the guests:- Jennifer Senior is a staff writer for The Atlantic and the author of "Why Can't Americans Sleep?"- Gabrielle Moss and Jesse Rifkin are writers living in New York CityRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

We were delighted to have the chance to speak with Adam Szetela about his new book, That Book Is Dangerous! How Moral Panic, Social Media, and the Culture Wars Are Remaking Publishing. Adam shares what he learned from authors, agents, and editors about the effects of cancel culture in the publishing industry. His behind-the-scenes account is fascinating and sobering in equal measure.Show Notes* For more info on Adam Szetela, check out his website * Here is the official MIT Press link to Adam's book * The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie audio clips come from her 2022 Reith Lecture on Free Speech (listen here; read the transcript here)* Matt Yglesias coined the term “The Great Awokening” in this 2019 Vox essay* “a rapid change in discourse and norms around social justice issues”: That's a quote from Stony Brook sociologist Musa al-Gharbi, one of the nation's foremost chroniclers of “The Great Awokening”* see Musa's 2024 book We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite * here are two Banished episodes featuring Musa: You Can't Be an Egalitarian Social Climber & Who Speaks the Language of Social Justice?* The Harper's Letter* Michael Hobbes, “Don't Fall for the ‘Cancel Culture Scam,'” HuffPo, July 10, 2020* This 2019 Zadie Smith essay from the New York Review of Books is the definitive rejoinder to the cultural critics who insist that we “should write only about people who are fundamentally ‘like us': racially, sexually, genetically, nationally, politically, personally”* On the controversy surrounding Amélie Wen Zhao's Blood Heir, see Alexandra Alter, “She Pulled Her Debut Book When Critics Found It Racist. Now She Plans to Publish,” New York Times, April 29, 2019* On the cancelation of Kosoko Jackson's book, A Place for Wolves, see Jennifer Senior, “Teen Fiction and the Perils of Cancel Culture,” New York Times, March 8, 2019* On the cancelation of a romance novel based on “criticism from readers over dialogue that some found racist or that praised Elon Musk,” see Alexandra Alter, “A Publisher Pulled a Romance Novel After Criticism From Early Readers,” New York Times, March 5, 2025* On the demographics of the people who work in the publishing industry, with an emphasis on racial diversity, see this 2022 report from Pen America, “Reading Between the Lines”* For more on literature and the culture wars, see Deborah Appleman's incisive 2022 book, Literature and the New Culture Wars: Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma * On the perils of teaching literature from a narrow social justice lens, see “Poverty of the Imagination,” an essay we wrote a few years back in Arc Digital* On what we keep getting wrong about the cancel culture debate, see this September 26, 2025 Banished post This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit banished.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we dive deep into Jennifer Senior's acclaimed Atlantic article and her NPR interview, exploring the realities of insomnia, common myths, and the emotional journey of those who can't sleep.  Learn why pills, therapy, and meditation often fall short, and discover the real “loop” that keeps so many awake at night. Whether you're seeking understanding or support, this conversation offers hope, insight, and practical wisdom for anyone affected by sleep struggles.   f you found this helpful, please like, comment, and share to help others find peaceful sleep and peace of mind! If you're new here and like what you've seen so far, you'll want to download our FREE 'Off-to-Dreamland' e-booklet. Simply head over to https://www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click the link at the tippy top.  Happy reading! — If you're ready to leave insomnia for good, check out our coaching options.  Head over to www.thesleepcoachschool.com and click on GET SLEEP in the menu.  The Insomnia Immunity program is perfect if you like learning through video and want to join a group on your journey towards sleeping well. BedTyme is ideal if you like to learn via text and have a sleep coach in your pocket.  The 1:1 Zoom based program is for you if you like to connect one on one with someone who has been where you are now. — Do you like learning by reading? If so, here are two books that offer breakthroughs! Tales of Courage by Daniel Erichsen  https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Courage-Twenty-six-accounts-insomnia/dp/B09YDKJ3KX Set it & Forget it by Daniel Erichsen  https://www.amazon.com/Set-Forget-ready-transform-sleep/dp/B08BW8KWDJ — Would you like to become a Sleep Hero by supporting the Natto movement on Patreon? If so, that's incredibly nice of you

How we care for ourselves is inextricably connected to how we lead.In a culture where we moralize health and sell wellness as a symbol of worth, where we're obsessed with productivity and optimization, our relationships with food and our bodies go beyond personal struggles.They shape how we lead, how we show up for others, and how we define success. When leaders model extreme routines, restrictive regimens, or performance-based wellness, they may unintentionally perpetuate shame and comparison–even if they intend to inspire or be helpful.This isn't a dismissal of health. Caring for our bodies, feeding ourselves well, and seeking movement that feels good and helps our bodies be strong are powerful acts of self-respect. But when an obsession with performance and purity–whether through hustle culture or “clean” living–erodes our self-trust and amplifies our inner critics, it becomes a leadership issue.Today's guest is an eating disorder specialist who understands how shame, perfectionism, and chronic striving get tangled up in how we feed and care for ourselves, and how we show up in the world. Unburdening our relationship with food and body isn't just about health; it's a powerful leadership move.As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jeanne Catanzaro has specialized in treating eating issues and trauma for close to 30 years. She trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) before discovering the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model. Dr. Catanzaro served as the director of a day treatment program for eating disorders for two years and is currently the Vice President of the Internal Family Systems Institute. She is the author of the book, Unburdened Eating: Healing Your Relationships with Food and Your Body Using an Internal Family Systems Approach.Listen to the full episode to hear:Why unburdening our relationship with food and body is a continual process, not a three-step planHow to approach your motivations for how you eat and exercise with curiosity and compassionHow diet culture isn't just about weight, but reflects wider cultural and systemic beliefs about bodies, health, beauty, and worthHow value judgments about how we and others eat protect us from vulnerability and reinforce hierarchiesWhy it's impossible to fixate on your own body without your self-judgment rubbing off onto othersCommon wellness traps that can feed our inner managers and protectors at the expense of our core self-knowledgeLearn more about Dr. Jeanne Catanzaro:WebsiteUnburdened Eating: Healing Your Relationships with Food and Your Body Using an Internal Family Systems ApproachLearn more about Rebecca:rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaThe Unburdened Leader on SubstackSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader EmailResources:Health Food Junkies Orthorexia Nervosa: Overcoming the Obsession with Healthful Eating, Steven Bratman, David KnightHealth At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, Lindo BaconHealth at Every Size® (HAES®) Principles – ASDAHSelf-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, Dr. Kristin NeffJessica WilsonSonya Renee TaylorSabrina StringsDa'Shaun HarrisonJessica KnurickEvelyn TriboleWhy Can't Americans Sleep? - Jennifer Senior, The AtlanticOriginal Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, Jake Tapper, Alex ThompsonCeleste, Pete KuzmaLincoln's DilemmaThe Great British Baking ShowThe Breakfast ClubThe Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

Three out of 10 people have trouble falling and staying asleep. Jennifer Senior, staff writer for The Atlantic, explains why many commonly recommended solutions can only go so far. The Wall Street Journal’s Matt Grossman lays out why some economists are concerned about Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Rachel Uranga with the Los Angeles Times discusses the administration’s aggressive immigration raids in L.A., and how they may have violated the Fourth Amendment. Plus, Trump prepares for his meeting with Putin, why Americans are drinking less, and Taylor Swift releases details of her upcoming album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl.’ Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.

 Sleep tracking technology can tell you how long you slumbered, but it can't get you there. Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss sleep anxiety, why we find it so hard to get a good night's rest, and why hunting for the best how-to articles on the topic might be making things worse. Her article is “Why Can't Americans Sleep?”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run. We'll talk with Peter Ames Carlin, author of a Tonight in Jungleland, about the making of this now classic album.Also, we'll talk with Jennifer Senior about her Atlantic article "Why Can't Americans Sleep?" And, David Bianculli reviews season two of Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run. We'll talk with Peter Ames Carlin, author of a Tonight in Jungleland, about the making of this now classic album.Also, we'll talk with Jennifer Senior about her Atlantic article "Why Can't Americans Sleep?" And, David Bianculli reviews season two of Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

If you suffer from insomnia, you're not alone. About one in 10 adults suffers from chronic insomnia, an inability to fall or stay asleep three nights a week for three months or more. The condition has potentially debilitating health impacts including an increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and even car accidents. The question is: Why can't we sleep? Jennifer Senior, a staff writer at The Atlantic who recently went on her own journey to solve her insomnia, joins The Excerpt to talk about what she learned along the way. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The people of Gaza are facing an impossible choice - try to survive starvation, or risk their lives to find food. 25 nations, including the UK, Canada and France, have united to condemn what they call the "drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians," and to appeal for an end to the war. But for many it's already too late, as correspondent Paula Hancocks reports.  Also on today's show: CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond; Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Ibrahim Al-Assil; military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady; Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior; CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jennifer Senior used to have no trouble sleeping. Until she did. In her new article for The Atlantic, called "Why Can't Americans Sleep? Insomnia has become a public-health emergency," she looks at how insomnia is now tenacious and pervasive. She joins us to discuss her reporting, and talk about how America is actually making its sleep crisis worse.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior has had insomnia for 25 years. Her new piece in The Atlantic, "Why Can't Americans Sleep?," is about her often futile attempts to fall asleep, and about the latest research into insomnia and the medications and therapies used to treat it. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new HBO Max documentary about Ms. magazine.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Atlantic recently published a feature article entitled "Why Americans Can't Sleep." The article was written by Jennifer Senior, and fantastically accomplished writer (2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, the 2022 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and the 2024 National Magazine Award for Columns & Essays) and details not only her own personal struggles with insomnia, but also attempts to dive deeper into sleep science and what she describes as a "public health emergency." In this episode, we will:Look at this article in a list of similar articles and books over the decades that detail harrowing personal accounts of insomniaUnderstand why the hook of these articles seems to mirror that of other news/extreme weather, where the thrust of the piece is centered around the insomnia being "the worst" and "the most severe"Discuss how failure to differentiate sleep deprivation and insomnia can lead to erroneous conclusionsExamine how these pieces almost uniformly fail to define insomnia, and in doing so fail to define what a successful outcome/solution would look like. In other words, what does "work" mean?Imagine what a truly revolutionary article about insomnia might look likeProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior has had insomnia for 25 years. Her new piece in The Atlantic, "Why Can't Americans Sleep?," is about her often futile attempts to fall asleep, and about the latest research into insomnia and the medications and therapies used to treat it. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new HBO Max documentary about Ms. magazine.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Today's episode of the Church & Culture Podcast is quite different from the norm. This summer, we're taking a short break from our regular podcast format, and instead have selected various installments from past message series given by James Emery White at Mecklenburg Community Church where he serves as the Senior Pastor. There is no doubt that today's culture has become incredibly polarized - particularly when it comes to politics. That's why many churches avoid the topic altogether. It's also why we named this series at Meck "Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics." Because church members often have questions like: Does God take political sides and, if so, which ones? Is America a Christian nation and is that even the goal? Are there values meant to guide us when it comes to politics? Do all Christians, if they are truly Christian, have to vote the same way? Does embracing the Christian faith automatically lead you to one particular political party? What if, as a Christian, you feel politically homeless - too conservative for the progressives, and too progressive for the conservatives? In this installment Dr. White explores the mark of a Christian and how we are called to engage the political realm. Episode Links Below you'll find the link to the full series if that's something you are interested in checking out, along with the sources that were used in the development of the message itself: "Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics" The Apology of Tertullian, AD 197. Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian. Robert Corin Morris, “The Christians are Fighting – Again,” Weavings, Volume XXII, Number 2, March/April 2007, pp. 24-32. Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953/1954), pp. 77-78. Jennifer Senior, “The Ginsburg-Scalia Act Was Not a Farce,” The New York Times, September 22, 2020. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

This week, Jennifer Senior, New York Times opinion writer and author “All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood,”  discusses the impact of having children on life satisfaction and meaning.  Citing the psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman's work on the "experiencing self" versus the "remembering self," Senior says that while parenting can be exhausting in the moment, most often later on in life, the years raising kids are fondly remembered. While there's no easy answer to big life decisions, like having kids, Senior suggests that most often in life, we regret the actions we did not take rather than the ones we did - and Senior says, if you're sitting on the fence, that may be reason enough.   

This week, Jennifer Senior, New York Times opinion writer and author “All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood,”  discusses the impact of having children on life satisfaction and meaning.  Citing the psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman’s work on the "experiencing self" versus the "remembering self," Senior says that while parenting can be exhausting in the moment, most often later on in life, the years raising kids are fondly remembered. While there’s no easy answer to big life decisions, like having kids, Senior suggests that most often in life, we regret the actions we did not take rather than the ones we did - and Senior says, if you’re sitting on the fence, that may be reason enough.  

For years now, modern-day sexual ethics has held that “anything goes” when it comes to sex—as long as everyone says yes, and does so enthusiastically. So why, even when consent has been ascertained, are so many sexual experiences filled with frustration and disappointment, even shame? The truth is that the rules that make up today's consent-only sexual code may actually be the cause of the sexual malaise—not the solution. In Rethinking Sex, reporter Christine Emba shows how consent is a good ethical floor but a terrible ceiling. She spells out the cultural, historical, and psychological forces that have warped the idea of sex, what is permitted, and what is considered “safe.”  Reaching back to the wisdom of thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and Andrea Dworkin, and drawing from sociological studies, interviews with college students, and poignant examples from her own life, Emba calls for a more humane philosophy, one that starts with consent but accounts for the very real emotional, mental, social, and spiritual implications of sex. With a target audience that clearly includes sexually active young adults, Emba tries to help us imagine what it means to will the good of others and thereby discover greater affirmation and fulfillment.Follow-up Resources:Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, by Christine Emba“In Search of a Full Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, with J.P. DeGance,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Letter to a Young Catholic: How to have sex,” article by Leonard J. DeLorenzo in Our Sunday Visitor“The End of Friendship, with Jennifer Senior,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

This is an episode from our archives.Growing up, Jennifer Senior thought her mom was an only child. But when she was 12 years old, she learned her mom had a sister, named Adele, who was institutionalized as a baby. Adele had spent almost her entire life separated from her family. Decades later, in 2021, Senior reconnected with her aunt and uncovered the dark history of institutionalizing children with intellectual disabilities. Senior wrote about her aunt’s story in The Atlantic and spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about her experience.

My conversations with Michaeleen Doucleff are so much fun that sometimes I forget to hit record!Usually it doesn't even matter what we talk about, but this time it's extra good. You know those times when your kid is acting like a little contrarian. You say up, they say down. You say yes, they say no. And around and around and around.Michaeleen has come up with an amazingly simple sentence that shifts this dynamic like magic.It will turn them not just into collaborators but actual co-creators.Listen as Michaeleen and I discuss oh so many things. I love my time with her so much and I think you will too!In this episode, you'll learn:How to encourage your child to contribute ideas and collaborate in planning activities.The messages about our values that we send when we choose recreation for our kids.Why things that keep kids engaged aren't always as fun as they might seem.And much more! As always, thanks for listening. Head over to Facebook, where you can join my free group Mastermind Parenting Community. We post tips and tools and do pop-up Live conversations where I do extra teaching and coaching to support you in helping your strong-willed children so that they can FEEL better and DO better. If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it!Get all the links, resources, and transcripts here: https://mastermindparenting.com/podcast-294About Randi RubensteinRandi Rubenstein helps parents with a strong-willed kiddo become a happier family and enjoy the simple things again like bike rides and beach vacays.She's the founder of Mastermind Parenting, host of the Mastermind Parenting podcast, and author of The Parent Gap. Randi works with parents across the U.S.At Mastermind Parenting, we believe every human deserves to have a family that gets along.Randi's Web and Social LinksWebsite: https://mastermindparenting.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermindparentingInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mastermind_parenting/About Michaleen Doucleff:Michaleen Doucleff is an award-winning global health correspondent and the author of Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans. https://michaeleendoucleff.com/hunt-gather-parent/ Resources Discussed/LinksThe New York Times profile of Virginia Sole-Smith https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/well/eat/fat-activist-virginia-sole-smith.htmlHer book Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture https://virginiasolesmith.com/books/fat-talk-parenting-in-the-age-of-diet-culture/All Joy, No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, by Jennifer Senior https://jennifersenior.net/all-joy-and-no-funOur 12-week Basics Bootcamp program is now available as a 100% online self-study course! https://mastermindparenting.com/minimasters/Live assessment:

Pulitzer-Prize winning Jen Senior joins Tim Miller for a free-form conversation about jail-bound, faux martyr Steve Bannon, the debilitating reality of living with long Covid, unearthing a family trauma, and how Americans with differing political persuasions can find their way to back to each other. show notes: Jen's story on her Aunt Adele Jen's "On Grief," originally published as the Pulitzer-winning, "What Bobby McIlvane Left Behind." 

It wasn't uncommon for previous generations to hide away family with disabilities in institutions. Jennifer Senior is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the story of her aunt Adele, who was sent away at age 6 because of intellectual disabilities. Adele's existence was hidden from Senior's mother for years – a loss for each sister that advanced approaches to treatment often prevent today. Her article is “The Ones We Sent Away.”

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com* First Sunday Zoom* Earthquake. Steve Kornacki.* Eclipse mania* Jennifer Senior wins award, keeps kicking ass* “Harmonica virgins”* Sarah's new car, picture for paid subscribers only* Lessons of Isuecardealers.com* “The True Cost of the Church Going Bust,” by Derek Thompson (Atlantic)* The Matt Welch* Everyone meets at Paloma/Nancy's apartment* “My Mom Has No Friends,” by Monica Corcoran Harel (The Cut)* Sarah's first act of civil disobedience* “Nut pick” definition* The Journalist and the Murderer, by Janet Malcolm* Ed Piskor Comics Beat* “Don't give me a gun and tell me not to use it.”* Bananas bananas bananas* The best musical of all musicals told at the twilight of the Americane experimentNothing worth doing comes without a cost. Become a paid subscriber.

We are spending some extra time off from the podcast over this holiday season to spend time with family. I hope you're using this opportunity to spend some time with family as well. I've gone through my favorite episodes of 2023 to bring you some fantastic rebroadcasts. So here's one and I hope you enjoy it! The Puzzling Gap Between How Old You Are and How Old You Think You Are, first broadcast in May 2023. Do you ever get together with your friends from high school and wonder why they all look so old? Are you surprised by the image that you see in the mirror each morning? If so, you're not alone. In today's retirement headline segment, we'll explore an article from Jennifer Senior at MSN.com that examines the abstract concept of feeling a different age in your head than you physically are in years. Related to the retirement headline, today's listener question is about how to understand when you are mentally ready to retire. Learn how important purpose is in your decision to retire.

Critics review the latest film releases: “A Haunting In Venice,” “Cassandro,” “Rotting In The Sun,” and “A Million Miles Away.” Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Senior chronicles her family's reconnection with her Aunt Adelle, who was institutionalized as a baby due to a developmental disability.

Growing up, Jennifer Senior thought her mom was an only child. But when she was 12 years old, she learned her mom had a sister, named Adele, who was institutionalized as a baby. Adele had spent almost her entire life separated from her family. Decades later, in 2021, Senior reconnected with her aunt and uncovered the dark history of institutionalizing children with intellectual disabilities. Senior wrote about her aunt’s story in the Atlantic and spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about her experience. Listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts.

In this bonus episode, Dani sits down with Pulitzer Prize Winning Writer Jennifer Senior about her latest cover story in The Atlantic  - ‘Those We Sent Away' - which explores her own family secret. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We look back at covid and share our conversation with Jennifer Senior about long covid and her September cover story for The Atlantic: "The Ones We Sent Away."TOPICS DISCUSSEDFire Storm in MauiWhat We Got Wrong About CovidLong Covid with Jennifer SeniorOutside of Politics: The Ones We Sent Away with Jennifer SeniorTo support Pantsuit Politics subscribe to Pantsuit Politics Premium on Patreon or Apple Podcast Subscriptions.To learn more about our weekend of events in Paducah this fall, check out our website.Visit our website for complete show notes and episode resources. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of On Grief: Love, Loss, Memory (Atlantic Editions, 2023), talks about her September cover story about the practice of institutionalizing children with developmental difficulties, including her maternal aunt.

It's America's deadliest fire in more than a hundred years. At least 96 people have been killed in Maui, after wildfires fueled by powerful winds tore across the island at speeds of a mile a minute. The historic town of Lahaina became ruins overnight. As search and rescue efforts continue it is believed the death toll will grow. Island residents who survived have lost family and friends to the fires as well as livelihoods. Correspondent Mike Valerio joins Bianna from Maui with an update on the situation from the ground.  Also on today's show: Polish ambassador to the US Marek Magierowski; Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior; author Jason Stanley To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior shares the pain of her family in a new piece for The Atlantic titled, "The Ones We Sent Away." In it, Senior tells the story of her Aunt Adele, who was institutionalized for her entire life because of her intellectual and developmental disability, beginning at 21 months old. Senior found out about her aunt when she herself was 12, believing up until then that her mother was an only child.Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new season of Only Murders in the Building.

Jennifer Senior is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Her article ”What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind” won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Her most recent article is ”The Ones We Sent Away.” “I'm at the point where I'm only thinking about the big questions and the difficulty of being a human as what matter most. That's what I want to keep focusing on. Our common frailties, our common bonds, our common difficulties. Because clearly we are not going to bond politically as a nation, right? … But we can bond over our kids with disabilities. About the fact that we grieve, that we love, that we lose people. That we have friends that we love, friends that we hate. We have friendships that we miss, we have friendships that we can't live without.” Show notes: jennifersenior.net Jennifer Senior on Longform Jennifer Senior on Longform Podcast 00:00 "What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind" (Atlantic • Aug 2021) 01:00 On Grief (Atlantic Editions • 2023) 01:00 "The Ones We Sent Away" (Atlantic • Aug 2023) 02:00 All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood (Ecco • 2014) 03:00 The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (Bessel Van Der Kolk • Penguin • 2015) 03:00 Senior's New York Magazine archive 04:00 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Atul Gawande • Picador • 2017) 05:00 Senior's New York Times archive 12:00 Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life (Annette Lareau • University of California Press • 2011) 17:00 Heavyweight (Jonathan Goldstein • Gimlet) 18:00 "#25 Becky and Jo" (Jonathan Goldstein • Gimlet • Oct 2019) 18:00 "#2 Gregor" (Jonathan Goldstein • Gimlet • Sep 2016) 28:00 "It's Your Friends Who Break Your Heart" (Atlantic • Feb 2022) 42:00 Patient H.M. (Luke Dittrich • Random House • 2017) 47:00 "What Not to Ask Me About My Long COVID" (Atlantic • Feb 2023) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“It is remarkable,” writes the Atlantic's Jennifer Senior, “how many Americans have relations who were, at some point during the past century, sequestered from public view… warehoused, disappeared, roughly shorn from the family tree.” Senior's aunt Adele was institutionalized as a toddler in the 1950s, and it wasn't until 40 years later that Senior's mother — Adele's sister — saw her again. We talk to Jennifer Senior about her new essay “The Ones We Sent Away.” Guests: Jennifer Senior, staff writer, The Atlantic - author of the September cover story "The Ones We Sent Away"

We are returning to our June 2022 conversation with reporter Jennifer Senior about friendship, heartbreak, and her ongoing reporting projects. This discussion is a delight and we hope you enjoy hearing it again.Visit our website for complete show notes and episode resources. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's likely uncontroversial to assert that Jennifer Senior is one of our finest living journalists. She's currently a staff writer at The Atlantic and before that she spent many years at the New York Times and New York magazine. Jennifer's written on a vast array of topics, but she has a special knack for writing articles about the human condition that go massively, massively, viral. One such hit was a lengthy and extremely moving piece for The Atlantic that won a Pulitzer Prize. It was about a young man who died on 9/11, and the wildly varying ways in which his loved ones experienced grief. That article, called “What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind,” has now been turned into a book called, On Grief: Love, Loss, Memory.In this interview, we spend a lot of time talking about this truly fascinating yarn, but we also talk about her other articles: one about an eminent happiness researcher who died by suicide, another about why friendships often break up, and a truly delightful recent piece about the puzzling gap between how old we are and how old we think we are. Jennifer has also written a book about parenting, called All Joy and No Fun which we also reference a few times throughout.In this episode we talk about:Jennifer's perspective on the Bobby McIlvaine story Lesser known theories of grieving from Elisabeth Kubler-RossThe work involved in finding meaning in lossWhy – from an evolutionary standpoint – we hurt so badly when we lose someone we loveCommitment and sacrificeThe puzzling gap between how old you are and how old you think you areThe power and perils of friendshipWhy Jennifer has chosen to focus so much of her writing on relationshipsFull Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/jennifer-senior-583To join a live coaching session, sign up at tenpercent.com/coaching.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SPOILERS: Succession. Jill Biden makes a rare gaffe after the NCAA championships. Dueling court rulings could endanger access to abortion pills. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a secret wealthy benefactor with a not-so-secret collection of Nazi memorabilia. Kara and guest host Olivia Nuzzi (New York Magazine) unpack her latest cover story on Stormy Daniels, plus Elon Musk's ham-fisted fight against Substack. Author Jennifer Senior joins to discuss "On Grief," her story about loss, mourning, and memory. Send us your questions! Call 855-51-PIVOT or go to nymag.com/pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you have any high school friends who went on to win a Pulitzer? Heather does! Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior chats with Heather about her new book On Grief, their upbringing in New York, why Jennifer left the New York Times, why no one is prepared to be old, how parenting can affect your happiness, why people pursue fame, Jennifer's award winning feature Twenty Years Gone, and how all of us grieve in different ways.

John and Craig twirl their mustaches and discuss what motivates our villains. Why does past trauma lead some characters to become villains, while others become heroes? What separates good and evil, and what makes a villain great? We also celebrate Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy TV special, and follow up on office phones, #PayUpHollywood, and American military influence in film. In our bonus segment for premium members, we discuss Craig's new tattoo of Ellie's switchblade, and our first tattoo experiences. Links: Amtel Systems The U.S. military's Hollywood connection by Rebecca Keegan for Los Angeles Times How E-girl influencers are trying to get Gen Z into the military by Günseli Yalcinkaya for DAZED Warren Beatty Appears in Bizarre Dick Tracy TCM Special in Apparent Film-Rights Ploy by Dan Clarendon The 1000 Deaths of Wile E. Coyote by T.B.D. Why do good people do bad things? by Daniel Effron Why some people are willing to challenge behavior they see as wrong despite personal risk by Catherine A. Sanderson WGAw Late Pay Desk The Puzzling Gap Between How Old You Are and How Old You Think You Are by Jennifer Senior for The Atlantic Tattoo artist Yeono Craig's Tattoo Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Instagram John August on Twitter John on Instagram John on Mastodon Outro by Dilo Gold (send us yours!) Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help from Chris Csont and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode here.

Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the forthcoming On Grief: Love, Loss Memory (Atlantic Editions, 2023), which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 when it was published in The Atlantic, reports on what she discovered when she explored the gap most of us have between our actual age and the age we think we are, as listeners answer her question, "“How old are you in your head?"

People over 40 tend to see themselves as about 20% younger than their actual age. Is it because aging is seen as bad — or because they're optimistic that they have many years ahead? Plus, living with long Covid, and John Fetterman's depression. Jennifer Senior joins Charlie Sykes today. Show notes Jennifer's recent Atlantic articles: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/04/subjective-age-how-old-you-feel-difference/673086/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/john-fetterman-checks-into-hospital-clinical-depression-stroke/673112/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/long-covid-symptoms-chronic-illness-disability/673057/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People over 40 tend to see themselves as about 20% younger than their actual age. Is it because aging is seen as bad — or because they're optimistic that they have many years ahead? Plus, living with long Covid, and John Fetterman's depression. Jennifer Senior joins Charlie Sykes today. Show notes Jennifer's recent Atlantic articles: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/04/subjective-age-how-old-you-feel-difference/673086/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/john-fetterman-checks-into-hospital-clinical-depression-stroke/673112/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/long-covid-symptoms-chronic-illness-disability/673057/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Bannon is a card-carrying member of the coastal elite, but he's trying to light a bonfire under American democracy. An intelligent, well-read man in the same category as Tucker Carlson, Bannon's genius is in polarizing people. The Atlantic's Jennifer Senior joined Charlie Sykes in this encore episode from June.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Bannon is a card-carrying member of the coastal elite, but he's trying to light a bonfire under American democracy. An intelligent, well-read man in the same category as Tucker Carlson, Bannon's genius is in polarizing people. The Atlantic's Jennifer Senior joined Charlie Sykes in this encore episode from June.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sean Illing talks with Jennifer Senior, the Pulitzer-winning staff writer at the Atlantic, about her recent piece on Steve Bannon called "American Rasputin." Through incredible firsthand access and detailed reporting, Senior shows how Bannon is still an effective media manipulator through his popular "War Room" podcast. Sean and Jennifer discuss what Bannon's true political beliefs might be, the role he played in plotting the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and the role he might already be playing in setting up the next insurrection. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Jennifer Senior (@JenSeniorNY), staff writer, The Atlantic References:  "American Rasputin" by Jennifer Senior (June 6; The Atlantic) UPDATE: "Bannon, Facing Jail and Fines, Agrees to Testify to Jan. 6 Panel" by Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman (July 10; New York Times) "Steve Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' Codefendants Plead Guilty" by Bob Van Voris (Apr. 21; Bloomberg) "Steve Bannon and U.S. ultra-conservatives take aim at Pope Francis" by Richard Engel and Kennett Werner (Apr. 12, 2019; NBC News) "'Flood the zone with shit': How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy" by Sean Illing (updated Feb. 6, 2020; Vox) The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion by Zac Gershberg and Sean Illing (2022; U. Chicago) American Dharma, dir. by Errol Morris (2019) The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny by William Strauss and Neil Howe (Crown; 1997) "The work" of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (d. 1949) "What I Learned Binge-Watching Steve Bannon's Documentaries" by Adam Wren (Politico; Dec. 2016) "McLuhan would blow hot and cool about today's internet" by Nick Carr (Nov. 1, 2007; The Guardian) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When romantic relation ships end, there's usually a clean cut – a moment, a conversation, an argument that ends things for good. When friendships dissolve, the break is usually way less clear, if it's clear at all. You can read Jennifer Senior's article from The Atlantic here.Want (sporadic) emails from Nora and Team TTFA? Sign up here.  Sign up today for TTFA Premium! For $7.99 a month, you get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes *and* the knowledge that you're keeping our show afloat! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here. You can purchase Nora's books here. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com. Read the transcript for this episode here. You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis. — And check out our sponsors this week:Greenlight: greenlight.comRothy's: rothys.com/terribleHistory is US

When romantic relationships end, there's usually a clean cut – a moment, a conversation, an argument that ends things for good. When friendships dissolve, the break is usually way less clear, if it's clear at all. You can read Jennifer Senior's article from The Atlantic here. — Want (sporadic) emails from Nora and Team TTFA? Sign up here.  Sign up today for TTFA Premium! For $7.99 a month, you get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes *and* the knowledge that you're keeping our show afloat! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here. You can purchase Nora's books here. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com. Read the transcript for this episode here. You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis. — And check out our sponsors this week:Greenlight: greenlight.comRothy's: rothys.com/terribleHistory is US

When romantic relationships end, there's usually a clean cut – a moment, a conversation, an argument that ends things for good. When friendships dissolve, the break is usually way less clear, if it's clear at all. You can read Jennifer Senior's article from The Atlantic here. — Want (sporadic) emails from Nora and Team TTFA? Sign up here.  Sign up today for TTFA Premium! For $7.99 a month, you get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes *and* the knowledge that you're keeping our show afloat! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here. You can purchase Nora's books here. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com. Read the transcript for this episode here. You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis. — And check out our sponsors this week:Greenlight: greenlight.comRothy's: rothys.com/terribleHistory is US

When romantic relationships end, there's usually a clean cut – a moment, a conversation, an argument that ends things for good. When friendships dissolve, the break is usually way less clear, if it's clear at all. You can read Jennifer Senior's article from The Atlantic here. — Want (sporadic) emails from Nora and Team TTFA? Sign up here.  Sign up today for TTFA Premium! For $7.99 a month, you get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes *and* the knowledge that you're keeping our show afloat! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here. You can purchase Nora's books here. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com. Read the transcript for this episode here. You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis. — And check out our sponsors this week:Greenlight: greenlight.comRothy's: rothys.com/terribleHistory is US

When romantic relationships end, there's usually a clean cut – a moment, a conversation, an argument that ends things for good. When friendships dissolve, the break is usually way less clear, if it's clear at all. You can read Jennifer Senior's article from The Atlantic here. — Want (sporadic) emails from Nora and Team TTFA? Sign up here.  Sign up today for TTFA Premium! For $7.99 a month, you get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes *and* the knowledge that you're keeping our show afloat! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here. You can purchase Nora's books here. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com. Read the transcript for this episode here. You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis. — And check out our sponsors this week:Greenlight: greenlight.comRothy's: rothys.com/terribleHistory is US