5 Podcasts to Help You Sound Smart Following the RNC
Conservatism, an aspiring "Asian Oprah," and eerie relaxation tapes.
Donald, Melania, and Ted provided plenty of fodder for this week's conversations at the water cooler—so show your coworkers you've done your homework by bringing in tidbits from outside sources. On this week's podcast roundup, we've got political analysis from eminent conservative intellectual Yuval Levin and from Clevelanders besieged by the RNC. But that's not all—there's also some top-notch audio entertainment here from outside of the Republican Party, including the lost epistolary correspondence of an aspiring "Asian Oprah," the unlikely friendship of a prosecutor and a defendant who altered the role of race in American jury selection, and a "relaxation tape" that'll do anything but send you to sleep.
WNYC StudiosMore Perfect, "Object Anyway"
When a prosecutor struck all the African-American jurors from the jury pool, defendant James Batson objected---and called into question how the United States regulates peremptory challenges. Batson’s case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that attorneys cannot strike a juror based on race. But as this episode of *More Perfect* explains, the ruling may have just made the problem of race-based jury selection even worse. [Listen here.](http://www.wnyc.org/story/object-anyway)
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesPolitics Inside Out, "Inside and Outside the Fence"
In *Marketplace*’s pop-up podcast, the team covers the RNC through the lens of insiders and outsiders. Listen to the week’s worth of brief segments for the political analysis, but also for the reactions from Americans in Cleveland: 21-year-old Trump supporters, enterprising vendors, proprietors of a local candy store, a line chef working across the street. (This week, the team will continue the pop-up podcast for the DNC in Philadelphia.) [Listen here.](http://www.marketplace.org/2016/07/18/elections/politics-inside-out/inside-and-outside-fence)
Killer Films MediaFound, "Asian Oprah: The Grand Dream"
“Dear Kevin B., I am hoping to stimulate your interest in creating the first mega Asian star in the United States,” wrote Jet Chirarand. On *Found*, host Davy Rothbart looks for the authors of found notes---and Rothbart has been wondering about this self-professed “Asian Oprah” for 15 years. He tracks down Chirarand---and uses his story as a path into whether the entertainment industry has changed for Asian-Americans and how people reframe their dreams as they age. [Listen here.](https://art19.com/shows/found/episodes/aa5e51e9-4aac-40aa-831f-0edea3e04da4)
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Charley Locke writes about growing up and growing old for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and WIRED. ... Read More
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