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PODCAST

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging

Relationships, gender, sexuality, and race shape nearly every part of our lives—but most of us were never taught how to think about them clearly. On Relationscapes, award-winning journalist Blair Hodges talks with today’s most insightful writers and thinkers to help you make sense of how we relate, love, and belong. Come away with new language, deeper understanding, and ideas you can actually use to build healthier connections and a more humane world.

society & culture relationships

All Episodes

01:16:00

Unearthing Family Secrets (with Ingrid Rojas Contreras)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/07/15

Some family stories are proudly passed down. Others are buried under layers of silence, fear, and cultural taboo.After immigrating to the United States, author Ingrid Rojas Contreras kept quiet about her Colombian family’s history of curanderismo—a lineage of mystical healers, visions, and spiritual powers. But after a traumatic head injury triggered amnesia, those buried stories vanished entirely. Then, as her memories gradually resurfaced, Ingrid returned to Colombia with her mother to

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01:12:30

Detoxing Masculinity (with Ronald Levant and Shana...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/07/08

Masculinity is having yet another moment—from TikTok alphas and tech bros up through the rise of the manosphere. It's because when society feels unstable, many people try to get back to basics.The problem is, those “basics” are a bunch of rigid, outdated masculinity norms—norms that helped create the very problems we're facing right now. In this episode, we dig into the research with psychologists Ronald Levant and Shana Pryor to understand how culture shapes masculinity, why it’s linked

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01:16:40

Safe Spaces: A Pulse Nightclub Survivor Remembers...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/06/24

What if the place that made you feel most alive became the site of your deepest grief?Brandon Wolf grew up multiracial and queer in a small Oregon city, where fitting in felt impossible. Years later, he survived the Pulse nightclub shooting—an event that shattered his world and ignited a lifelong pursuit of justice. In this powerful episode, Brandon opens up about internalized racism, survivor’s guilt, and more hard truths from his memoir A Place For Us. Through pain and resilience, Brandon

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01:04:48

Black and Beyond the Binary (with KB Brookins)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/06/17

KB Brookins was struggling to know who they really were. And even though their quest for authenticity felt isolating, it couldn't happen in complete isolation. It took seeing someone else living more freely for KB to imagine new and better possibilities. That’s the paradox at the heart of becoming ourselves: We can’t do it alone.KB is a Black, queer, trans writer and visual artist from Texas. Their award-winning memoir is called Pretty. It traces how race, gender, queerness, and masculinity are

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01:14:07

Queer History Repeating (with Christina Cauterucci)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/06/10

One of the most consequential moments in American civil rights history has been almost entirely forgotten. It was 1978. Conservative politicians wanted to ban gays and lesbians from working in California public schools. The outcome of that statewide initiative would have huge repercussions for the rest of the country, and young gay activists knew it. The battle was on.And although it's been almost fifty years, their victory has surprising and urgent relevance for LGBTQ+ communities today

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01:15:06

What The News Isn't Telling You About Trans Teenagers...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/06/03

The top reason most news coverage about trans people is misleading and harmful is because journalists don't include the perspectives of actual trans people. Journalist Nico Lang was frustrated by how often reports talked about trans people without trans people. This is especially true for younger folks. Nico wants people to hear directly from trans teenagers. So for their groundbreaking new book, they spent a year traveling the country documenting the lives of trans, nonbinary, and gender fluid

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01:01:44

What Disabled Parents Can Teach Everyone About...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/05/27

Before becoming disabled, Jessica Slice was building a business, running miles every day, and chasing perfection. Parenthood didn’t fit into that life, especially because Jessica was sure she’d never measure up. But when her physical health collapsed at 28, everything shifted. Disability stripped away the life she knew, and uncovered something unexpected—she wouldn't have to be perfect to be a mom. But unfortunately, she would have to fight to become one in a world designed to exclude her.Her new

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01:12:00

What to Expect Online When You’re Expecting (with...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/05/13

When journalist Amanda Hess got pregnant, the internet met the moment with a flood of baby ads, influencer moms, and algorithmically curated advice. But when her pregnancy became medically complicated, the warm glow of digital support gave way to something much darker.In her new book Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, Hess explores how the internet can warp our most intimate life experiences, steering us toward strange and even troubling ideas about care, control, and

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01:09:39

You Could Learn a Lot From This Gay Divorce Story...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/04/29

When marriage equality was finally achieved, Karl Dunn thought life couldn't be better. He had a husband, a dream job, and a beautiful life in LA. But then, as everything unraveled through a contentious divorce, Karl discovered just how unequally the system treats same-sex couples.This crisis sent Karl on an urgent journey of self-rediscovery—from heartbreak in LA to healing in Berlin and beyond. In his memoir How To Burn a Rainbow, Karl explores what liberation really means when he stopped

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31:15

MINI EPISODE: Pace Yourself and Brace Yourself (with...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/04/22

Katelyn Burns, journalist and podcast host of Cancel Me, Daddy. Katelyn was the first openly transgender Capitol Hill reporter in U.S. history and she continues to be a leading voice among journalists on trans issues. It’s not the cushiest job there ever was, especially right now. I wondered how she was holding up under our excessively transphobic regime.SHOW NOTES Cancel Me, Daddy podcast Katelyn Burns, GUEST COLUMN: The current ‘mindf*ck’ of being a trans journalist (The Handbasket) The

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01:20:00

Masculinity, More Liberated and Free (with Frederick...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/04/15

Frederick Joseph grew up without a father, and he's wondering now whether he wants to be one himself. As a child, he loved Broadway musicals when everyone else expected him to be into sports. Today he resists the suffocating expectations placed on him as a Black man in America through his poetry and essays, inviting men to break the mold of masculinity and embrace the full range of human emotions—sorrow, anger, love, and joy, and more.Frederick's latest book is a collection of poems called We

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01:15:00

From Cringe to Connection: How to Talk About Modern...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/04/01

Puberty has changed a lot since we were kids. It starts earlier and lasts longer. And it's still as awkward as ever to talk about. Luckily, Dr. Cara Natterson and educator Vanessa Kroll Bennett are here to help.They joined forces to explain the latest science on puberty, and to help caregivers, parents, and teachers navigate puberty conversations with confidence, humor, and connection. Their book is called This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained. SHOW NOTES This Is So Awkward

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32:40

Escaping the Echo Machine (with David Pakman)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/03/18

Staying up to date with the news is a huge part of David Pakman’s job. As one of the most popular progressive political pundits on the internet today, he’s spent years navigating the media landscape. And that can really wear a person down! He's not immune to burnout caused by local and global crises covered in today's nonstop news cycles.In this mini episode, Pakman confesses his own exasperation about modern politics, emphasizes the importance of media literacy, and offers ideas about how we can

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01:04:00

The Bad Dads Who Helped Invent Modern Motherhood...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/03/04

When Nancy Reddy had her first child, she approached the situation like the overachieving PhD student she was at the time: She went to find the best research on parenting, studied it, and then tried to apply it so that everything would work out perfectly. The problem is, a lot of that research about caregiving and attachment turned out to be based on flawed lab studies, sloppy research, and so much misogyny.Nancy joins us to talk about the problems she found and to offer alternatives that can

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53:05

Writing Great Trans Stories for All Ages (with Kyle...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/02/18

Kyle Lukoff knows how to captivate readers, and he also knows what it feels like to have his books taken captive by bans. Because in picture books like Call Me Max and middle grade novels like Different Kinds of Fruit, Kyle introduces characters who proudly defy common expectations of gender identity. Trans readers love to see themselves reflected in his books. But frankly, Kyle's giving readers of all backgrounds the opportunity to think more deeply about our own journeys of self-discovery.In

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01:10:00

Swipe Left on Romance (with Sabrina Strings)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/02/04

The dating world today feels like a minefield—swiping, ghosting, endless situationships, and more. What if the problem isn’t just app fatigue, but the very idea of romance itself? Sociologist Sabrina Strings unpacks how centuries of racism and sexism have shaped our ideas about modern love, leaving many people—especially women who don’t fit the "white enough" ideal—excluded from the fairy tale of true love.Drawing from her latest book, The End of Love: Racism, Sexism, and the Death of Romance, and

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01:18:20

Creating More Equal Partnerships (with Kate Mangino)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/01/21

Have you ever felt resentment about how responsibilities are divided in your relationship? Kate Mangino joins us to break down why this dynamic exists—and more important, what you can do about it.Outdated gender norms are causing a lot of problems for people whether they're married, dating, or in a queer or straight partnership. Luckily, some small, everyday changes can lead to a more balanced home life where everyone has time for work, family, and themselves. We're talking about the book, Equal

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01:06:00

Coming of Age in a Cult and Beyond (with Guinevere...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2025/01/07

One January day in 1975, seven-year-old Guinevere Turner put on her best dress, hugged her favorite toy tightly, and waited for the spaceship to arrive. The world was ending and she would be saved, spirited away to Venus with the rest of her enormous and enlightened family.When the prophecy failed, the cult carried on. But Guinevere would soon find herself thrown out into the world beyond, where things somehow became more nightmarish than before. In this episode, Guinevere Turner joins us to talk

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31:55

MINI EPISODE: In Defense of No-Fault Divorce (with...

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2024/12/23

In this episode: Family Proclamations is getting a new name! A few listeners sound off on their divorce experiences, and attorney Heather Quick stops by to talk about what to look for in a divorce lawyer. Check out Heather's resources: Florida Women's Law Group resources Women Winning Divorce podcast The full transcript of this episode is available here.

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56:14

Painfully Funny (with Paul Scheer)

Relationscapes: Exploring Identity and Belonging ·

2024/12/10

Paul Scheer is an award-winning actor, screenwriter, comedian and podcast host of How Did This Get Made? So you'd think his most interesting life stories would be about his audition for Saturday Night Live or how he came up through improv comedy to star in shows like The League and Black Monday.Those are interesting stories, but in his new memoir, Paul gives center stage to family stories. Growing up with a loving mom and dad who divorced, the tyranny of an abusive stepfather, and what it's like to

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64 results

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