Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. I mean – what’s not to like? As a kid you get to dress up in elaborate costumes, eat a ton of candy, and carve creepy faces into pumpkins. As an adult, you still get to dress up in elaborate costumes and eat candy, but the entirety of October opens up as an opportunity to lean into all things macabre.

Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in today’s era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. We’ll show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time — with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.

The ranks of America’s keyboard warriors swelled this year, and this influx comes as one of the biggest problems facing the American social landscape: political hobbyism. According to Eitan Hersh—the political scientist who coined the phrase—we’re engaging with politics all wrong, and that mis-engagement is destroying our political system

2020, y’all. It’s currently the apocalypse. We all know this is true. It may be the most boring apocalypse ever, with no zombies or giant volcanoes and supposed murder hornets that have yet to make an appearance, but it’s definitely the end of the world. And democracy. Or it could be. It’s up to us. If we’ve learned anything in the time of COVID and protests and general chaos, it’s that elected officials matter.

Our initial goal with Counter Programming with Shira & Arielle had been to make people laugh and to take their minds off the world around us, but the investment in the actual content of countertops both from our counties and from us, truly surprised me. Perhaps, people needed something simple, unassuming, and concrete to focus on - even if it was just for a half hour once a week - and even if we don’t cover concrete as a kitchen counter material.