Staying informed

~ Sarah & Abby | Friendlier


Life lately

Sarah shares about her family’s spring break trip to St. Louis.

Abby is teaching a childbirth education class through her yoga studio.

Reading lately

[one_third][/one_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last]

Sarah finished The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, which explores the themes of fate, destiny, and how much control we have over our lives.

Abby listened to Still Me, the third book in a popular fiction series by JoJo Moyes. (The first two are Me Before You and After You.)

Staying Informed

We share how closely we follow the news, our favorite (and least favorite) news sources, and our approach to talking about the news with our kids. We’d love to hear how you consume news and any favorite sources you have to share.

Eating lately

Abby is making fancy bagels: copious amounts of cream cheese, capers, and pastrami flavored smoked salmon (thanks, Trader Joe’s!).

Sarah found the perfect naan recipe.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

8 thoughts on “Staying informed”

  1. Such a timely topic of how we consume news. I, too, subscribe to a couple of newsletters – I used to read TheSkimm but it ended up being a little too millennial for me. Now I get 2 local news newsletters and 1440 (since, like Abby, I went to grad school w/ one of the founders and I like how direct, broad, and concise it is. I also get WTFJHT (https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/subscribe/) which I like to keep abreast of the sh*tstorm in politics right now as a summary of what is going on, but it doesn’t agitate me as much as BS posts on FB. To the end of trying not to live in a echo chamber, I also get BRIGHT, a female-directed conservative newsletter hosted by the Federalist (www.GetBRIGHTemail.com). Two of the weekly editors are ridiculous, but a couple of them are a good way to see how other people view what’s going on in the world. I use Twitter some, mostly as a lurker, and there I try to follow viewpoints on both sides and journalists I respect to keep things balanced. I hate video news in general for similar impatience reasons so I never watch any of that, either side. I like Pod Save America as cotton candy/background chatter (Pod Save the World has more depth) but the lack of diversity irks me, and I think that Slate’s Political Gabfest (while also not very diverse) does a better job of diving into some of the political discussion with Emily Bazelon and John Dickerson’s perspectives. Us & Them is a good podcast that tries to see both points of view and it’s out of WV public radio, so that’s a different source than typical. I like Code Switch from NPR for racial conversations.

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  3. Abby, ‘Still Me’ has been my favorite of those three books, too!

    I’ve never been one for TV news (like y’all, I find it overwhelming), and used to listen to NPR and then the NPR One app, but after the presidential election I stopped listening to NPR because I just can’t listed to the president’s voice. Gives me the heeby jeebies. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and read news online. I’m interested in the sources you all recommend, as well as if any other listeners chime in with other suggestions.

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    1. I just started Me Before You this week, and now I am excited to make it to the third one. It’s so rare for series to get better as you go–such a treat!

      And yes, I’ve backed away from regular NPR programming as well but still love their podcasts. Here’s to hoping the news itself gets less overwhelming in the future, though that’s a pipe dream at best. -S

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