The final episode of Medium Playback's first season is about those who are just peering into the adult years that lay ahead. Right now, teenagers face a deeply unstable future — but maybe that's always been the case. Journalist Alyssa Giacobbe

Meghan Daum: "Nuance: A Love Story"

Oct 17th, 2018

The dark web was her safe space. Meghan Daum, a long-time L.A. Times columnist, faced two endings: Obama’s government and her marriage. What resulted was a distancing from her gentrified bubble and a new love affair with the shadowy corners of

Morgan Jerkins: "Traveling While Black"

Sep 26th, 2018

Is there any place where a black person can just be herself? Three contributors to the collection Traveling While Black — Mateo Askaripour, Jamilah Lemieux, and collection editor Morgan Jerkins — read their stories on their adventures (and dist

Douglas Rushkoff: "Survival of the Richest"

Sep 5th, 2018 34m 7s

This week’s Playback gets into the psyche of some big-money overlords — the ones who can’t make it to Mars with Elon, anyway. In his wildly popular story “Survival of the Richest,” researcher Douglas Rushkoff starts off writing about an invitat

Ben Blum: "The Lifespan of a Lie"

Aug 22nd, 2018 57m 34s

This week's Playback features an investigative showdown. Journalist Ben Blum looks into the reality of the most famous psychology study to ever be conducted, The Stanford Prison Experiment, and makes some shocking discoveries himself. Embedded

Kristi Coulter: "Enjoli"

Aug 8th, 2018 41m 2s

This week, Playback is a throwback, but the story timeless. Society is fine-tuned for hardworking women — executives, moms, daughters, creatives, and yogis alike — to get drunk. In “Enjoli,” writer and former Amazon employee Kristi Coulter cons

Mike Monteiro: "Design's Lost Generation

Jul 25th, 2018

For episode four, we hear from designer and founder Mike Monteiro, who has a strong word for his creative ilk. In “Design’s Lost Generation,” he insists that designers, especially UX designers — who play a huge role in theorizing and building t

Jonathan Parks-Ramage: "Jesus, Mary, and Joe Jonas"

Jul 11th, 2018 1h 1m

Episode three is all about Jesus Christ and his superstars. In his piece “Jesus, Mary, and Joe Jonas,” writer Jonathan Parks-Ramage discovers Reality L.A., an evangelical Christian church that attracts the lost kids of Hollywood with top 40-lik

Baratunde Thurston: "How To Do a Data Detox In a Zillion Easy Steps"

Jun 27th, 2018

For our second episode, futurist, comedian, and activist Baratunde Thurston joins the podcast with a word — and then some — on big data, big tech, and his own data detox. In his story "How To Do a Data Detox In a Zillion Easy Steps," Baratund

Roxane Gay: "What Fullness Is"

Jun 13th, 2018 41m 15s

For the first episode of our first-ever podcast, there was only one guest we had in mind: bestselling author Roxane Gay. Her powerful and devastatingly honest essay “What Fullness Is” is one of the most read stories on Medium this year. In the

Trailer

Welcome to Medium Playback

Jun 5th, 2018 2m 5s

At Medium, we love a good story. So when we were dreaming up our first podcast, we knew it should center on what our readers come to Medium for — compelling, insightful stories and the people who write them. We’re launching our flagship podcast

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