It's Been a Minute

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Has it been a minute since you heard a thought-provoking conversation about culture? Brittany Luse wants to help. Each week, she takes the things everyone's talking about and, in conversation with her favorite creators, tastemakers, and experts, gives you new ways to think about them. Beyond the obvious takes. Because culture doesn't happen by accident.If you can't get enough, try It's Been a Minute Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/itsbeenaminute

  • 18 minutes 36 seconds
    Want to be less lonely? Here are five tips.
    We're back with a bonus episode of "All the Lonely People," a series diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives.

    This week: how do we get out of loneliness? Brittany hears from listeners about what worked for them. Then, we head over to our friends at NPR's Life Kit to get even more practical steps for connection: NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey speaks with Dr. Jeremy Nobel about his book, Project UnLonely: Healing Our Crisis Of Disconnection, and they came up with concrete tips for how to be less lonely.

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    3 March 2025, 8:00 am
  • 20 minutes 25 seconds
    The WWE vs. the American education system
    President Trump is calling for the end of the U.S. Department of Education, but so have other Republicans since the day it was formed in 1979. So why do Republicans hate it enough to lambast it, but love it enough to keep it around?

    Brittany is joined by NPR's education correspondent Cory Turner and author Josephine Riesman to talk about Trump's pick for education secretary, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon. And how Trump and McMahon are using the WWE playbook to reshape the American public education system.

    For more on this topic check out Cory's latest piece for NPR, Republicans' love/hate relationship with the Education Department, and Josie's investigation into the WWE, Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.

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    28 February 2025, 11:34 am
  • 22 minutes 31 seconds
    What women want: to embrace their inner monsters
    What do The Substance, Nosferatu, and Babygirl have in common? They externalize the characters' inner feelings - self-loathing, guilt, shame - in the most grotesque ways possible.

    Ahead of the Academy Awards, Brittany Luse sits down with IBAM producer Alexis Williams and Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Aisha Harris, to get into how these trending films bring women's internal monsters to life.

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    26 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 19 minutes 43 seconds
    Lonely? There's an app for that... but should there be?
    We're back with "All the Lonely People," a series diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives.

    This week: can tech cure our loneliness? Companies like Meeno (an AI relationship coaching app), Peoplehood (a platform that organizes guided group conversations), Timeleft (an app which matches strangers for dinner), and Bumble for Friends all say they want to help people make more and better connections. But do we need tech solutions to what may partially be a tech problem? Brittany sits down with Sam Pressler, who studies community and social connection at the University of Virginia's Karsh Institute of Democracy, and Vauhini Vara, veteran tech reporter and author of the upcoming book Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, to break it all down.

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    24 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 18 minutes 10 seconds
    Artists vs. the White House
    Several entertainers and artists have severed ties with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since President Trump assumed chairmanship of the organization. This week, Brittany is joined by Paper Magazine writer Joan Summers and New York Times Magazine writer J Wortham to unpack the implications of a government-influenced national culture center, and the state of art in America today.

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    21 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 17 minutes 24 seconds
    Need a laugh in these trying times? 'One of Them Days' is the comedy for you
    Keke Palmer and SZA play two down on their luck friends who run into a series of hilarious unfortunate events in One of Them Days.

    Host Brittany Luse and IBAM producer Corey Antonio Rose joined NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour to discuss how this raunchy affair pulls off a story about friendship, unreasonable landlords, and gentrification.

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    19 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 19 minutes 17 seconds
    The men's loneliness epidemic might not exist
    We're back with "All the Lonely People," a series diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives.

    This week: is the men's loneliness epidemic overblown? There's been a lot more attention on loneliness in the past few years, with special attention on men's loneliness. And some men definitely are lonely: according to a recent Pew survey, 16% of men say they're lonely all or most of the time. But so are 15% of women. So why are we so concerned about men? What launched the narrative about men's particular loneliness? And if the problems men are having don't boil down to loneliness, what do they boil down to? Brittany is joined by Vox senior reporter Allie Volpe and Harris Sockel, writer and content lead at Medium, to break it all down.

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    17 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 17 minutes 32 seconds
    Eggs are expensive, but are they safe?
    The price of eggs is skyrocketing due to avian flu, with no clear signs of slowing down. This week, Brittany is joined by NPR health correspondent Will Stone and public health nutritionist Marion Nestle to understand the precarities of our food safety system, and what we can do to stay safe.

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    14 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 16 minutes 44 seconds
    Nickel Boys gives a new point of view to the Civil Rights era
    How do you adapt an "unadaptable" book? Today, host Brittany Luse finds out with RaMell Ross, director of the Oscar nominated adaptation of Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys.

    The story, set in the Jim Crow South, follows two Black boys doing everything they can to survive their tenure at the abusive Nickel Academy in Tallahassee, Florida. The film brings us a new perspective on Black life and complicates the discourse surrounding Black films.

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    12 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 18 minutes 58 seconds
    The acute loneliness of moms
    We're launching a series called "All the Lonely People," diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives and how our culture shapes it. This week, why are moms so acutely lonely? Brittany hears from her listeners, and from the experts: Jessica Grose, New York Times opinion writer and author of the book Screaming on the Inside: the Unsustainability of American Motherhood, and parental burnout researcher at the Ohio State University, Kate Gawlik. They discuss what mom loneliness has to do with airplanes, lobotomies, and Tik Tok - and what we can do to help alleviate mom loneliness.

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    10 February 2025, 8:00 am
  • 18 minutes 47 seconds
    Why is Trump "Flooding the Zone?"
    Have you been dodging the news lately? Feeling a familiar sense of info fatigue creeping in? You're not alone. This week, Brittany is joined by NPR's White House reporter Danielle Kurtzleben and The Atlantic's Jonathan Lemire to unpack the Trump administration's "Flood the Zone" strategy - and how listeners can stay afloat.

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    7 February 2025, 8:00 am
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