Popped
By May Hathaway
Pop culture is all around us—in the movie trailers we watch, the celebrities we follow, in the books we read, and more. But pop culture often intersects with the larger structures of our lives, like politics or ethics, and these intersections bring up interesting questions about how we consume media. This podcast is a look at these intersections and how to answer these questions in an age in which the personal is the political. In each episode, I’ll explore a recent pop culture trend and then analyze it through a larger framework with background research.
Process
I’ve been in love with podcasts ever since I listened to “Serial,” so I was really intrigued by the podcasting workshop and decided to try my hand at it. I used Anchor to create my podcast, and it was a relatively easy platform to get used to, though I was surprised by how much planning it took to create a podcast. I’ve spent countless hours listening to podcasts, so being the speaker instead of the listener was a really fun change of pace. It offered me a new look into storytelling through an unfamiliar medium.
Meet the Pair
MENTEE MAY HATHAWAY & MENTOR ALENA GRAEDON
May’s Anecdote: I feel so lucky to have Alena as my mentor! I’ve learned so much from her this past year, and I’ve really been able to grow as a writer with her guidance. Receiving her feedback on my work has made me more confident in my writing skills. She’s incredibly kind and cool and funny, and I very much look forward to our pair sessions each week. I love every minute we spend together, whether we’re writing poems, chatting about our weeks, or exchanging book recommendations. Being paired with Alena is the best gift I could possibly ask for.
Alena’s Anecdote: The day I met May, she mentioned she’d built a data-analytics website. “You can build a data-analytics website?” I asked. She laughed and showed it to me. It analyzed debate team performances. “You also do debate and writing?” I said. I realized then that May is a force of nature. Clearly, she’s brilliant. She’s insightful and funny, too. (The next week, she shared an opinion piece she’d published on the perils of bad Instagram poetry.) Topping it off, she’s humble and kind. I’m not sure how I lucked into such a hypercompetent, fun, and blazingly talented mentee, but I’m very grateful.
May Hathaway
May Hathaway is a writer from New York City. Her work is published or forthcoming in Hobart After Dark, PANK and Vagabond City Lit and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the National YoungArts Foundation. An alumna of the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program and the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, she will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.
