Banks Learns About Modern Witchcraft

While on tour for her sophomore album Surrender, singer Maggie Rogers joins host Mathias Rosenzweig in conversation with Adrienne Maree Brown, the author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, to dive deeper into the subject. What exactly is pleasure activism, and how can we incorporate it into our everyday lives in order to not only feel better, but also participate in a form of revolution? Why has pleasure been top of mind for Rogers, who recently earned her Masters from the Harvard Divinity School? And what does it feel like to release your album on the same day as Beyoncé? Listen to find out. 

While touring across the USA for her sophomore album, PANORAMA, singer Hayley Kiyoko (known amongst her fans as the Lesbian Jesus) took a moment to join host Mathias Rosenzweig in learning about gerrymandering. Because like, what even is that? Our specialist on today’s episode is Mark Gaber, the Senior Director of Redistricting at Campaign Legal Center, where he manages lawsuits to fight gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting. Mark is a graduate of Stanford Law School. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. They work at all levels of government to protect your right to a responsive government and give every American a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. To support Campaign Legal Center or learn more about their work, head over to campaignlegal.org.

Underground pop princess Slayyyter joins host Mathias Rosenzweig to learn about killer whales, also known as orcas, from Dr. Michael Weiss—the Research Director for the Center for Whale Research. What happens to these beautiful giants when humans put them in captivity (remember Blackfish)? Do we have any chance of being able to communicate with them? Why were some researchers dropping acid with dolphins? And do whales like Slayyyter's music?  That's what Slayyyter would like to know.  V WANNA KNOW is hosted by Mathias Rosenzweig It's produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig We're edited by Citizens of Sound

Singer and actor Fin Argus, one of the stars of Peacock's Queer as Folk reboot, joins host Mathias Rosenzweig as well as associate professor and author Eric Stanley to learn about the history of gender queerness. The topic is broad and thus impossible to cover in a single episode. That said, Fin and Eric hone in on representations of gender queerness throughout history, the semantics surrounding queerness, and their own personal journeys through gender exploration.  V WANNA KNOW was created by the host Mathias Rosenzweig The show is produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig Our Editors are Citizens of Sound Watch Fin's video for "Exposure" here.  You can follow Eric Stanley on Twitter here to learn more about their books and teachings. 

This week, American singer-songwriter Angel Olsen joins host Mathias Rosenzweig to learn about synesthesia, the perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Like, what does that even mean! Angel learns: what are the different types of synesthetes? How did we prove that this is a real phenomenon and not just a bunch of cooky mooky? And is she herself a synesthete?  Our specialist on today's episode is artist and founder of the American Synesthesia Association Carol Steen.  Click here to find out of you're a synesthete!   V WANNA KNOW was created and is hosted by Mathias Rosenzweig It's produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig Our editors are Citizens of Sound

This week, the very iconic Brooke Candy joins host Mathias Rosenzweig to learn about fairytales from Dr. Jeana Jorgensen. We've all heard fairytales, but where do they come from? Is it true that originally they were super fucking dark and twisted before Disney made them more kid-friendly? How do fairytales approach topics like sex and death? And out of the 700-1000 tattoos that Brooke Candy has, are any of them fairytale related? Jeana Jorgensen earned her PhD in folklore from Indiana University, and she has gone on to teach at universities around the Midwest as well as the University of California, Berkeley. With almost thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, she has been a major contributor to scholarly conversations on gender and sexuality in fairy tales and folklore more generally. She hopes to make the world of folklore accessible with her book Folklore 101, and is soon to publish Fairy Tales 101. V Wanna Know is produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig The show is edited by Citizens of Sound 

This week, we take a break from our normal format (where we ask celebrities what they want to learn more about before pairing them with an expert on that subject).  Instead, V Magazine's PRIDE cover star Kim Petras joins fellow musician, the very iconic Uffie, to discuss their respective careers and the shifting archetype of a pop star. Specifically, who can be a pop star in 2022 who wouldn't have been previously "accepted?" How do you balance commercial success with artistic freedom? And why is Kim so damn obsessed with gay clubs?  V Wanna Know was created and is hosted by Mathias Rosenzweig The show is produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig Our editors are Citizens of Sound

This week, singer-songwriter and all-around southern bell Ethel Cain joins host Mathias Rosenzweig to learn about cults, specifically NXIVM. Ex-member and current actress/podcaster Sarah Edmondson (of the "A Little Bit Culty" podcast) discusses the moments in which she became suspicious of what she believed to be a personal and professional development company that, ultimately, left several members branded with the founders' initials, plus answers a few more questions, such as: how does one get deprogrammed after leaving a cult? Why do people wind up joining cults in the first place? And what are they key differences between a cult and a religion?  V WANNA KNOW is hosted by Mathias Rosenzweig It's hosted and produced by Ryan Killian Krause and Mathias Rosenzweig Our editors are Citizens of Sound 

Fresh off the release of her sophomore album, 'How to Let Go,' Norwegian pop star Sigrid sits down with host Mathias Rosenzweig and astrophysicist  Lia Medeiros to learn all about the mysterious and terrifying subject of black holes. What happens if you get sucked into one? How did we predict they existed? And, with this episode being released just a few days after new photos emerged of our very own galaxy's black hole...how the hell can we photograph something so far away?  Our expert Lia in fact wrote one of the six main papers that came out last Thursday to announce the Sgr A* results. Specifically, she lead the 6th paper, which focuses on using our results to test Einstein’s theory of gravity.  V WANNA KNOW is produced by Ryan Killian Krause. 

On today's episode, rapper 24kGoldn joins host Mathias Rosenzweig to learn about the ins and outs of psychedelics. Why do psychedelics even exist in nature? Why did the US government slip LSD to unsuspecting American citizens during the Cold War? And what was it like for 24kGoldn to do shrooms with his mom?  We asked a smart person: Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, a member of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Guest Researcher at the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Intramural Neuroimaging Research Branch. V Wanna Know is produced and edited by Ryan Killian Krause.