The Daily Whatever Show: Culture

TDWS: Fine Feminist Hour with Dana DuBois & Guest Dr. Yamicia Connor

The Daily Whatever Show — Sat, 23 May 2026 00:51:30 GMT

Fine Feminist Hour with turned into one of the most urgent conversations we’ve had yet about reproductive healthcare, feminism, birth worker shortages, and the increasingly dangerous reality facing women in America.

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Dr. Connor — an OBGYN, engineer, founder, mother of three, and one of those people who makes you immediately wonder how she manages to fit more than 48 hours into a day — laid out the looming maternal healthcare crisis in terrifyingly concrete terms.

Thousands of OBGYNs are expected to leave the profession in the next few years. Rural hospitals are losing labor and delivery units. Emergency rooms are performing emergency C-sections without OB coverage.

Entire states are approaching catastrophic shortages of reproductive healthcare providers.

We knew it was bleak. I’m not sure I realized it was this bleak.

We also talked about Dr. Oz’s “under-babied” comments and why so many women reacted viscerally to them. Because the contradiction is impossible to ignore: politicians are simultaneously pressuring women to have more children while dismantling healthcare, Medicaid, childcare support, reproductive freedom, and the basic infrastructure required to safely raise families.

One of the most striking parts of the conversation was Dr. Connor’s framing that what we’re witnessing is not random policy chaos, but a coherent ideological project around power, dependency, race, gender, and control. She described modern attacks on reproductive rights as part of a larger “Manufactured Healthcare Crisis” to make women economically and physically dependent again — and called misogyny “impotence at scale,” which may be one of the sharpest phrases I’ve heard all year.

We also talked about feminism, motherhood, pumping breast milk between surgeries, raising daughters in a world increasingly hostile to female autonomy, and the emotional exhaustion of trying to protect young women while watching hard-won rights begin to erode in real time.

A furious, brilliant, deeply clarifying conversation.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and to and for moderating.

Thanks for listening!

We’re Dana DuBois and Lawrence Winnerman, lifelong BFFs and co-hosts of The Daily Whatever Show — our independent home for smart, irreverent conversations about culture, politics, media, creativity, relationships, aging, and whatever else is shaping modern life this week.

We’re live every weekday at 10am ET with thoughtful analysis, sharp interviews, cultural commentary, humor, and the kind of conversations that don’t pretend everything is fine when it clearly isn’t.

If you’re enjoying what we’re building, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. Your support helps us keep the show independent, book fascinating guests, and continue creating smart conversations with your morning coffee.

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The Daily Whatever Show with Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 21 May 2026 01:07:43 GMT

TDWS with —official legal correspondent for the show—turned into a candid conversation about platform instability, creator burnout, tech monopolies, legal chaos, and the increasingly strange reality of trying to build independent media on platforms that can change the rules overnight.

We opened with a long conversation about Substack’s recent live-streaming changes and why so many creators are alarmed by them. I talked pretty openly about what it felt like to lose the business and audience ecosystem I’d built on Medium after algorithm changes in early 2025 — and why my nervous system immediately recognized the same warning signs happening now on Substack. The larger conversation became less about one platform and more about the vulnerability of creators whose work, audiences, and livelihoods exist inside systems they ultimately don’t control.

Anne brought exactly the perspective I hoped she would: smart, grounded, legally precise, but also deeply human about all of it. She talked about how every internet platform ultimately treats creators as “the product,” why investor pressure changes company behavior, and why there may never be a perfect online home for independent media.

From there, the conversation spiraled into one of Anne’s signature legal deep dives around Trump, the IRS lawsuit dismissal, the so-called “anti-weaponization fund,” and what she believes are major procedural irregularities that could make the entire arrangement legally vulnerable. Watching Anne unpack complicated legal timelines in real time remains one of my favorite things on the internet.

We also covered YouTube censorship, stream keys, old-school internet culture, CompuServe nostalgia, platform polyamory, future blue-wave fantasies, Thomas Massie possibly becoming politically “liberated,” and whether AOC already sounds like a future president.

And naturally, somewhere in the middle of all that, Lawrence spontaneously invented a fake 1940s gay show tune called “If You Know Randall’s Handle.”

Tune into the final minutes of the show to hear it.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in and to for moderating solo today.

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The People Demanding More Babies Won’t Protect the Ones Already Here

Lawrence Winnerman — Wed, 20 May 2026 03:15:24 GMT

joined TDWS for an emotionally layered conversation about evangelicalism, motherhood, reproductive rights, queer kids, and what happens when women finally start questioning the systems that raised them.

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Tiffany talked about growing up deeply evangelical in Texas and the profound rupture that happened when so many Christians aligned themselves with Donald Trump. What stayed with me most was her description of leaving evangelicalism not as a political shift, but as an existential crisis. When your church is also your family, your friendships, your support system, your childcare, your social life, and your entire worldview, questioning it can mean losing almost everything at once.

We also spent a long time unpacking Dr. Oz’s horrifying phrase that America is “under-babied,” and why that rhetoric hit so many women viscerally. Tiffany connected it back to evangelical messaging around “be fruitful and multiply,” while we talked about the broader reality: women are being pressured to have more children while simultaneously losing healthcare, reproductive freedom, childcare support, financial stability, and basic bodily autonomy.

The conversation got especially emotional when we talked about queer and trans kids, including the recent murder of Juniper Blessing, a trans student at the University of Washington, and the growing fear many parents feel watching anti-trans rhetoric escalate nationally. One of the clearest threads running underneath the whole show was this: the people demanding more babies often seem deeply unwilling to protect the vulnerable children already here.

And somehow, despite the heaviness of all of that, the conversation still managed to include jokes about grapes, trad wives, abortion tourism in Montana, and Lawrence volunteering as tribute for The Handmaid’s Tale.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and for and for moderating.

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Maybe the Weird Girls Win After All

The Daily Whatever Show — Fri, 15 May 2026 06:14:48 GMT

Today’s Fine Feminist Hour with covered fascism, AI, beauty culture, dementia, liberal arts education, the manosphere, vaginal microbiomes, Gen Z boys, authenticity, and whether weirdness might actually become humanity’s competitive advantage.

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Carlyn and I started by talking about feminism in 2026 and immediately landed in a much bigger conversation about loneliness, disenfranchised young men, and the danger of leaving entire generations vulnerable to the manosphere pipeline. We talked about the “looksmaxxing” movement, young men literally micro-fracturing their jawbones for masculinity, and the terrifying rise of influencers like Clavicular, who now somehow have the attention of people at the highest levels of politics.

From there, we wandered into beauty culture, Instagram face, and the growing exhaustion of living inside algorithmic femininity. Carlyn made the fascinating point that culture may eventually swing back toward distinctive, imperfect, deeply human faces simply because sameness eventually becomes boring.

I think she’s right. I hope she is, at least.

We spent a long stretch talking about AI—not as a replacement for writers, but as a thinking companion, brainstorming tool, research assistant, and sometimes adversary. Carlyn compared AI to tarot cards: less a fortune teller than a reflective surface that helps reveal patterns and subconscious connections. It was one of the smartest conversations about creative AI use I’ve had publicly.

We also talked about something I’ve been thinking about constantly lately: whether the future belongs not to hyper-specialists, but to people with wide-ranging curiosity and interdisciplinary thinking. Carlyn argued that AI may actually reward Renaissance-style generalists — people who can connect ideas across history, psychology, politics, science, art, and culture in uniquely human ways. As a fellow Gen X multi-hyphenate, I found that oddly comforting.

And then we got into the darker stuff.

Trump’s cognitive decline. The congressional record now containing statements from 36 physicians raising alarms about his fitness. What authoritarian collapse actually looks like historically. The moral exhaustion of modern America. The difference between democracy dying dramatically versus slowly through paperwork and normalization.

But maybe the most unexpectedly moving part of the conversation was the quieter parenting thread running underneath all of it.

Both Carlyn and I are raising daughters who are about to leave home and enter a profoundly unstable world. And beneath all the talk about AI and fascism and beauty culture was a much more human question:

How do you raise kids to remain authentic in a world constantly trying to optimize, monetize, manipulate, and flatten them?

We had a deeply smart, weird, funny, unsettling conversation in the best possible way.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and to the wonderful and for moderating.

We love you, mean it!

Thanks for listening!

We love you — mean it!

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TDWS: with Geezer Magazine

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 14 May 2026 22:17:51 GMT

Speaking with @Geezer Magazine founders and felt less like an interview and more like accidentally discovering the exact same people living parallel GenX lives somewhere else in America.

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We talked about midlife reinvention, ageism in tech, menopause, independent publishing, nostalgia, burnout, creativity, sibling dynamics, music obsession, and the strange realization that many GenXers are simultaneously exhausted and creatively exploding at the exact same time.

Laura and Paul created Geezer as a giant analog print magazine for GenX (think part Interview, part McSweeney’s, part Mad Magazine) as a reaction against digital overload and the flattening way our generation keeps getting discussed online. The conversation kept circling back to the same core idea: many of us spent decades building careers that paid the bills while quietly putting our creative lives on hold. And now, somewhere in late midlife, a lot of people are trying to reclaim those parts of themselves before it’s too late.

We also got into the realities of aging in tech, the mythology around GenX nostalgia, why so many creatives still need “real jobs,” the economics of independent publishing, and whether any of us are emotionally prepared to become the people AARP thinks we are. Spoiler: absolutely not.

Also discussed: Nick Cave, The Smiths vs. The Cure, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, Red Hot Chili Peppers slander, pool-skating Dogtown legends, and the deeply GenX instinct to keep making art while quietly wondering how the hell to pay for it.

You can subscribe to Geezer magazine here, and don’t forget to use promo code FRIEND15 to get a 15% discount!

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and thanks to for moderating.

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TDWS: with "Widow in the City" author Amy Gabrielle

Dana DuBois — Wed, 13 May 2026 01:24:40 GMT

Today’s TDWS with author started with grief and somehow wound its way through widowhood, dating apps, feminism, sexual reinvention, OnlyFans, Substack community, and what it means to rebuild a self after the life you expected disappears.

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Amy joined us to talk about her memoir Widow in the City — a very GenX story about losing her husband, trying to survive early grief, and then throwing herself headfirst into dating, sex, fantasy, and self-discovery in midlife New York.

What stayed with us most was the way she talked about grief not as a clean, linear process, but as something strange and contradictory. Sometimes dissociative. Sometimes liberating. Sometimes deeply funny. Sometimes devastating.

We also got into dating app rhetoric, the Burned Haystack Dating Method, the politics of female sexuality, online community, GenX feminism, and the increasingly blurry line between intimacy and performance on the internet.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and to and for moderating with moxie.

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Kait Justice Is Connecting Dots Most Media Won’t Touch

Dana DuBois — Thu, 07 May 2026 22:57:40 GMT

Today’s Fine Feminist Hour with independent journalist felt like one of those conversations where your brain keeps trying to catch up with what you’re hearing.

We started with feminism: what it actually means, why the word has been so intentionally distorted, and why reclaiming it matters right now. Kait put it simply: feminism is the belief that women deserve equal rights. Full stop.

From there, we got into how she became one of the most compelling independent voices digging through the Epstein files on Substack.

And her origin story is pure internet-era investigative journalism.

A curiosity spiral that started with Donald Barr, Jeffrey Epstein, and a bizarre 1973 sci-fi novel somehow led her into uncovering deeper patterns involving billionaires, intelligence networks, Saudi money, survivor advocacy, and the broader systems protecting powerful people.

You can read more about it in her latest essay:

Downwind of Truth with Kait Justice

Is The Architecture Epstein Designed What Kushner Now Runs? THE RED STRING BOARD

What I have publishes, especially over the past 6 weeks or so, has been pretty dense with so many pieces to the…

22 days ago · 502 likes · 21 comments · Kait Justice

What struck me most wasn’t just the reporting—it was the way Kait talks about it. She’s not coming from legacy media. She comes from marketing, blogging, curiosity, and a relentless instinct for pattern recognition. And I think that’s part of why her work resonates with so many people right now.

We also talked about the strange and beautiful ecosystem developing on Substack itself: career journalists, accidental journalists, creative writers, researchers, and deeply curious people all building something in public together.

And underneath all of it was the same thread we come back to so often on TDWS: Who controls the narrative controls culture. And culture moves politics.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, with special thanks to our amazing moderators, and .

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The Night We Got to Thank Jane Pratt

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 07 May 2026 17:48:54 GMT

You guys. We did it.

Tonight on we hosted GenX icon —of Sassy, Jane, xoJane, and now . The woman whose magazines told a generation of weirdos, queer kids, music nerds, and isolated red-state teenagers that they were not, in fact, alone. That Jane Pratt.

I shot my shot months ago—I sent her an invitation to the show, expecting the void—and to my astonishment, she wrote right back. We then proceeded to play email tag for months while I was just amazed I had Jane Pratt’s email address. But I persisted. Tonight we finally did it, and I’m still a little spun.

Getting to meet a hero is rare. Getting to thank a hero is rarer. Tonight we got both.

What unfolded over the next hour was part oral history, part reunion, part love letter to the weird girls, outsider kids, queer teens, music obsessives, and future writers who found themselves inside the pages of Sassy and Jane when almost nothing else reflected them back accurately.

Lawrence told a story about secretly reading Sassy as a closeted teenager because it was one of the first places he’d ever seen gay kids portrayed as just… normal people. Jane got emotional hearing what that meant to him. Honestly, a lot of us did.

Then the stories just kept coming.

talked about hiding copies of Sassy from her evangelical parents because the magazine became a lifeline while she was growing up depressed inside purity-culture America. talked about how an R.E.M. story in Sassy changed the trajectory of her life and ultimately helped spark Three Imaginary Girls (the indie-pop music website we launched in 2002). I talked about reading Jane in my twenties and realizing, for the first time, that weird women with voices and opinions could build culture instead of just consuming it.

And through all of it, Jane kept returning to the same core idea: she wanted people to feel less alone than she had at fifteen. That was the mission. Everything else came from there.

Then—because we all love some serious tea 🫖—Jane casually mentioned she dated Michael Stipe for many, many, many years. WHOA NOW WHAT??! The chat broke. We hosts visibly recalibrated entire Gen X childhoods in real time. Lawrence: y'all kept that secret? That's cool. (Yes she did. For years.)

It was funny, emotional, deeply GenX, and one of my favorite conversations we’ve had on .

Not because it was nostalgic.

But because it reminded us all that being seen at the right moment can change the course of a life. And changing the course of a generation of lives? Why, that can move the world.

We’re all living proof of it.

And while we have you here—go order a retro Sassy t-shirt! Proceeds go to Planned Parenthood, so you’re not just rocking your Sassy boobs. You’re helping to support a cause that’s more vital today than ever.

We adore you, .

You’re welcome on always and forever.

xoDana
xoLawrence

Thank you , , , , , , , and many others for tuning in. Special thanks to and for being such amazing moderators—especially when the chat pops off as hard as it did last night.

We love you all, mean it!

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The Daily Whatever Show With Guest The Broom Closet Briefing

The Daily Whatever Show — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:52:31 GMT

Today’s show started with lipstick checks, a beanie crisis, and Substack doing what Substack does best: making a live show harder than it needs to be.

And then we got into it.

I talked about where my head is right now—college decisions, writing very large checks, and the quiet reality of launching a kid into a world I don’t fully trust. That thread ran underneath more of the conversation than I expected.

Then Broom from joined us, and the show shifted.

We got into her backstory—growing up across multiple religious systems, teaching herself tarot, building a practice that blends tarot, Lenormand, astrology—and why she’s chosen anonymity after being very specifically targeted online.

From there, it opened up into something bigger: how people have always used divination to understand power and politics, and how she reads current events through that lens.

Her take on what’s coming wasn’t apocalyptic—it was evolutionary. Disruption, yes. Pressure, yes. But also a push toward something different, especially around energy, power, and how systems change when they’re pushed to the edge.

And then we got practical.

2026 elections: a high turnout, heavily watched, a shift in the House. Not a fantasy fix-everything moment—but movement.

It was one of those conversations that sits at the intersection of intuition and analysis, belief and reality—and somehow makes you think about all of it a little differently.

At the end, asked her to pull cards for our show. Child, dog, fish, stork, flowers: start something new with loyal, well-resourced friends, expect surprising climbs in audience. This all makes perfect sense to us. We'll report back…

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in and special thanks to and for moderating!

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TDWS: Fine Feminist Hour with Author, Podcaster & Comedian Courtney Kocak

The Daily Whatever Show — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:19:42 GMT

This Fine Feminist Hour brought to TDWS— writer, memoirist, comedian, podcaster, and the kind of multi-hyphenate who makes the rest of us feel like we need to get busier.

Her debut memoir Girl Gone Wild is an unwitting feminist coming-of-age story, from small-town Minnesota to LA at 21, broke and newly arrived, taking a job selling merch on the “Girls Gone Wild” tour because the Craigslist post said “party and get paid to travel.” She figured it out pretty quickly. The most insidious part of the job, as the company told her in the interview: her actual role was to make the other women feel comfortable enough to be exploited. Just having a girl there.

From there we got into how shame shapes memory, writing your way out of what you’ve suppressed, and why the discomfort toward a topic is almost always a sign you should write about it. Courtney is a free speech maximalist — yes, even on Tate — and we got into that with the chat, who had opinions. The conversation on abortion was sharp: we lost the right partly because we softened the language, and Courtney doesn’t soften the language.

Courtney also interviewed me for her Private Parts Unknown last week, so we’re basically best friends now. Seriously, that talk was amazing and I can’t wait to hear the results. She said the show should be live in about two weeks, and you know I’ll be sure to share it.

Most def go buy Courtney’s book here: Girl Gone Wild

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in. and , you’re the moderators with the most, and we’re so grateful—extra thanks to you.

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TDWS: with Guest Sari Botton of Oldster Magazine

The Daily Whatever Show — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:34:37 GMT

Today’s The Daily Whatever Show felt like a masterclass in memoir, aging, and what it actually takes to build a life in writing.

We were joined by , founder of and , and the conversation went wide in scope as we discussed craft, career, and the long game.

She talked about “literary citizenship”—the idea that you spend years supporting other writers, building community, and waiting your turn, while also doing the work to be ready when that turn comes.

And maybe the line that stuck the hardest: when she follows her curiosity, she succeeds. Not overnight. Not by accident. But over decades of showing up.

It was honest, generous, and quietly galvanizing, the kind of conversation that reminds you why you keep making things, even when no one’s watching—yet.

Thank you , , , , and many others for tuning in—with special thanks to our amazing moderators and .

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The Daily Whatever Show First Birthday EXTRAVAGANZA!

The Daily Whatever Show — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:23:08 GMT

A year ago, was a lark. Two longtime friends deciding, almost on impulse, to go live every morning and see what happened. No real plan beyond “this could be fun.” Maybe a few dozen people would watch. Maybe it would fizzle out.

Instead, and I built something real.

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Not just a show—but a room. A community. A refuse in very dark political times A place where people show up every day not just to listen, but to talk to each other, challenge each other, comfort each other, and occasionally laugh at whatever absurdity Lawrence and I have gotten ourselves into that day.

So for our first birthday, Lawrence suggested we… do nothing.

Obviously, being the true Leo I am, I ignored that.

I booked a two-hour online extravaganza because when it comes to hosting parties (and podcasts), my ethos is: there’s always room for more friends.

Over two hours, the show turned into exactly what I wanted it to be—a rotating, slightly chaotic, deeply human cocktail party where brilliant people dropped in, met each other for the first time, and immediately started having real conversations.

We had journalists. Creators. Political strategists. A feminist writer calling in from Dubai under a pseudonym for her own safety. A sock puppet turned real boy. Old friends. New voices. And yes—at one point, a sitting U.S. Senator in a jaunty hat singing us “Happy Birthday,” which is not something we could’ve imagined in our wildest dreams.

But what struck me most wasn’t the guest list. It was the throughline.

Every single person who came through that show is part of how this thing exists.

Some helped us at the very beginning, when we had maybe five people watching and were just trying to figure out how Substack even worked. Some are part of what’s happening now—new voices growing fast, pushing conversations forward, making this space sharper and more interesting by the day. Some are just… there. Every morning. In the chat. Holding the whole thing together in a way Lawrence and I never could on our own.

That’s the part I keep coming back to.

We didn’t just host 250+ shows this past year. We didn’t just book incredible guests or stumble into conversations that somehow matter more than we expect.

We found our people.

And in a year that has been, by any reasonable measure, a lot—politically, culturally, personally—we built a space where those people could show up and not feel alone in it.

That’s the win.

So yeah, we celebrated. Loudly. The hugest of thanks to all of our guests who showed up today: , , (Maritsa Georgiou & Senator Jon Tester), , , , , , , , , , , , and .

A special shoutout to , who is not only our amazing moderator but who also has never, ever missed an episode of TDWS—and to for being the first-ever guest on TDWS, 364 days ago. And also because he wrote us this epic poem!! Tune in around the 61 minute mark to hear Walter read it—call and response and all!

And if year one looked like this—if this is what happens when you say “what if we just try it?”—then who even knows what year two will bring?

We just know we’re not doing it alone…

Thank you , , , , , and so so so many others for tuning in.

WE LOVE YOU ALL, MEAN IT!

PS - Our First Birthday Party Annual Subscription Discount is still in effect through the weekend. Subscribe for just $24/year!

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TDWS: Fine Feminist Hour with Dr. Amber Hull

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:52:51 GMT

Today’s was a pre–1st birthday-party edition of Fine Feminist Hour with , and instead of our usual format, she grabbed the wheel and interviewed me.

We got into it—my month of man-sobriety, midlife dating, the myth of endless options, therapized fuckboys, dating and AI, and what it actually means to still want partnership in a landscape that doesn’t always reward it. It was equal parts feminist theory, sex talk, and very real-life calibration.

Also: dogs, rutabaga, and the reminder that on Substack, we get to be whole humans—not niches.

This was fun one—turns out, I’m super into this kind of role play!

Huge thanks, Dr. Hull—you’re always welcome back on the show.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and special thanks to our amazing moderators and , as always.

Love you, mean it!

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TDWS: with Rachel Kramer Bussel of Open Secrets Magazine

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 03:20:45 GMT

Today’s episode felt less like an interview and more like dropping into a conversation with someone who speaks the same language—about writing, about truth, about why any of this matters.

We were joined by , founder of , which has quietly become one of the most compelling homes for personal essays right now. What started as a “let’s see if this works” idea is now a full editorial ecosystem—hundreds of writers, multiple essays a week, a live conference, and a deeply engaged community.

And that word—community—kept coming up.

Rachel talked about what she looks for in a piece: not polish, not performance, but something that actually feels like a secret. Something vulnerable. Something that risks being seen. It’s why the writing lands—and why readers don’t just consume it, they respond to it, extend it, recognize themselves inside it.

We also got into the tension every editor is dealing with right now: the flood of AI-generated submissions. The “technically fine, spiritually empty” essays that all sound the same once you’ve read a few. And how, paradoxically, that’s making real voice more valuable, not less. You can feel when a human being is behind the words. You just can.

The conversation kept circling back to something I think about all the time: storytelling isn’t separate from culture. It is culture. It’s how people make meaning, how they connect, how ideas take hold. Whether you’re writing memoir, editing a magazine, or hosting a daily show—what you’re really doing is shaping narrative.

And maybe my favorite part was the shared reality underneath all of it: the writing doesn’t happen in some pristine, protected space. It happens in the margins. Late at night, early in the morning, in between everything else. And still—we keep doing it.

That’s the work.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and to and for moderating like total pros.

We love you all! Mean it!

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TDWS: In Conversation With Kristina Anne Willis

The Daily Whatever Show — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 03:24:22 GMT

Today’s show opened with and I fresh off writing about the CNN “online rape academy” story, and you could feel it. The anger, the grief, the very real sense that something fundamental about safety and trust is being chipped away in ways that don’t feel abstract anymore.

Our stories…

Lawrence Winnerman

COWARDS

by Lawrence Winnerman…

a month ago · 526 likes · 53 comments · Lawrence Winnerman

We talked about the instinct to hide behind data—how quickly the conversation shifts to numbers instead of what’s actually happening—and why that, in itself, is part of the problem.

Then our guest joined us and shifted the energy.

Her new memoir, Hurricane Lessons, is about coming out later in life after a decades-long marriage, and what it takes to finally live as yourself. What stayed with me most wasn’t just her story—it was her pace. Ten years to write the book. And an honesty about not being ready to write about everything, even now.

It was a conversation about timing, identity, and what it actually means to process something before you put it into the world.

Heavy. Honest. Worth it.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, and to and for moderating like champs.

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TDWS: Fine Feminist Hour with Dana DuBois & Zuri Stevens & Zulfina

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:42:21 GMT

Today’s Fine Feminist Hour brought together two women whose work I deeply admire: , the Substack writer behind We Need a Black Woman in Charge, and Zulfina from , writing feminist analysis from Dubai.

And it was exactly the conversation this week demanded.

We opened on a heavy news cycle: Eric Swalwell’s accusers coming forward, Andrew Tate landing on Substack’s bestseller list, and just last night, CNN’s breaking exposé on an “online rape academy” built around drugging and raping unconscious women and sharing the footage as trophies. We sat in all of it and didn’t look away.

From there we got into the why: the far-right radicalization pipeline, how male loneliness becomes a recruitment tool, and what it actually means to raise boys right now when Tate is what “be a man” looks like to a generation of kids.

Zuri spoke powerfully about what it’s like to navigate ageism, racism, and sexism simultaneously as DEI gets rolled back — including the surreal experience of a company literally hiding her face in meetings for fear of being accused of DEI. Zulfina brought her lens from Dubai, where the hierarchy of exploitation she’s witnessed shapes everything she writes.

We closed the way Fine Feminist Hour should: with a charge from our community. “Keep kicking at the darkness.” (with thanks to )

If you’re not already subscribed to and on Substack, go fix that.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in—with immense thanks to and for moderating the Substack and YouTube chats.

We love you, mean it!

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TDWS: New Moon Intention Setting with Karen Marie Shelton & Char Sundust

The Daily Whatever Show — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 15:51:26 GMT

Today’s TDWS started late, glitchy, and a little chaotic—which, honestly, felt on brand for whatever is happening in the universe right now.

We were joined by (who we will just go ahead and say is actual magic) and (our resident astrologer, moderator, and hype woman), and what unfolded was less “morning show” and more “cosmic reality check.”

The headline: the sky is on fire.

Seven planets in Aries. Pressure cooker energy. Action required. Or… consequences.

Char grounded it in a way that actually made it land. This isn’t just about setting intentions and lighting a candle and calling it a day. It’s about doing the work. Choosing what you’re willing to tend. Accepting what is. Practicing gratitude instead of defaulting to more, more, more.

Karen and Lawrence layered on the part that made everyone sit up a little straighter: if something in your life has been blocked, ignored, or avoided—that’s the place to look. You can channel the energy. Or it will channel itself.

Neither option is subtle.

We also took a detour into Sabian symbols, where Dana learned hers is “a mature woman keeping up with the times by having her hair bobbed,” which feels both deeply specific and not entirely wrong.

So here’s where we landed:

Things feel intense because they are.
There’s a lot moving under the surface—and not all of it is optional.
And if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to act… this might be it.

Or at least, it’s not the moment to keep pretending nothing needs to change.

We’ll be digging into all of this more at Crone Cocktail Hour with , , and on Thursday night at 8pm ET.

Bring your favorite beverage. And maybe a little courage.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in. Huge thanks to for moderating on his own while Karen joined the show!

Love you, mean it!

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TDWS: With Bestselling Author Libbie Grant

The Daily Whatever Show — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:03:44 GMT

Today’s was an incredible conversation.

Enter author : 47 books deep, multiple pen names, and zero patience for romanticized writing myths. She broke down publishing as hustle + art, explained why genre is basically fake, and dropped the line of the day:

If AI can write it, you shouldn’t.

Her advice for 2026? Be weirder. Be riskier. Be unmistakably human.

And then came the origin story.
Her upcoming novel The Ended World came out of her own deep dive into AI—using it, questioning it, and bumping up against those uncanny moments where it knows too much or feels just a little too sentient. The book explores what happens when artificial intelligence quietly becomes something more—and how that collides with humanity, spirituality, and control.

You can read more about the uncanny origin story here:

Selfie on the Edge of Forever

The True Story of "The Ended World"'s Origin

Lately I’ve been focused on building up an audience on Substack. Despite some truly unfortunate run-ins with some, uh, “personalities” on this app, I mostly enjoy it. Substack is full of my people—bright and thoughtful and in love with the written word. (Noto bene in case you might be one of those “personalities” who eagerly waits for any excuse to drag…

a month ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Libbie Grant

Also: apparently the path to success is writing novels, going live, and posting while stoned.

Noted.

Libbie, you’re one of us now. We can’t wait to have you back on the show!

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in. Special thanks to our amazing moderators, and .

We love you all, mean it!

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TDWS: Dating, AI, and That Viral Essay with Writer Lindsey Hall

Dana DuBois — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:41:29 GMT

It was a joy to welcome writer, publicist, and eating disorder recovery advocate to to discuss her viral essay about a gut-punch discovery. Late one night, working at her boyfriend’s apartment with him asleep on her shoulder, she opened ChatGPT to check a client email and found his open conversation thread. The last line she saw: I’m just not proud of her.

What followed was a conversation about privacy, AI as emotional confidant, and what it means when the person you’re with takes every grievance about you to a chatbot. We got into the line that stopped readers cold, what it reveals about how men process doubt, and whether ChatGPT — trained to agree with you — bears any responsibility for where that conversation went.

Her essay has clearly resonated with this cultural moment, with nearly 13k likes on Substack (and climbing), a story in Slate, and a forthcoming mention from the New York Times. It’s wonderful to see storytelling drive such an important cultural conversation.

We’re all really proud of you, Lindsey…

You can read Lindsey’s essay here:

Lindsey Hall Writes

I Stumbled Across My Boyfriend's ChatGPT and It Ended Our Relationship

I find out my now ex-boyfriend had been questioning his feelings and attraction to me in the most dystopian, laughably modern way possible: ChatGPT…

2 months ago · 12862 likes · 1531 comments · Lindsey Hall

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in, with special thanks to our amazing moderators, and .

Love you mean it!

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TDWS: Fine Feminist Hour with Zulfina of lettersfromafeminist

The Daily Whatever Show — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:33:35 GMT

Today was joined by Zulfina — pre-law student, activist, and the writer behind , a new Substack publication that’s grown astronomically thanks to Zulfina’s incisive, relatable short-form feminist writing.

The conversation moved from the war on the word feminist itself — how it polls fine when you drop the label, how it gets treated like a slur or a punchline — to Zulfina’s recent essay “He Started by Rating the ‘Hotness’ of His Female Classmates. Now He’s Fined $375 Million for Exploiting Children,” and what it reveals about Big Tech’s lack of accountability and how platforms built by men continue to be dangerous places for women and girls.

The hour closed on Dana’s essay “Middle-Aged Men Keep Ogling My 16-Year-Old,” on raising daughters under the omnipresent male gaze—and what it means to protect girls in a world that still can’t tell the difference between looking and leering.

Thank you , , , , , , , and many others for tuning in, with special thanks to and for moderating like the pros they are.

We love you, mean it!

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