My cousin Sage has always felt the need to be right. She’s always been the assertive one in our family, choosing what we do and where we go for as long as I’ve known her. Our cousins joke about a “hierarchy” among us, of which Sage is at the top. She has always been a bit of a know-it-all, but it’s what I love about her. Sage has always had a strong influence in my life, and I often end up watching or listening to the same things she does.
I was not a podcast girl until Sage introduced me to Pod Save America, hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor. The four have all worked for former president Barack Obama, Favreau best known for being his “hot speechwriter.” I’ve included a picture.
Listening to podcasts, whether they be about the Bachelor or hosted by Obama’s hot speechwriter, make me feel like a middle class white soccer mom. I feel like I’m an entirely different person, learning about how to “better myself,” driving my kids home from practice, selling essential oils. Podcasts are a weird way to escape from my own world; while books and movies cause me to think deeply and reconsider my life based on stories, podcasts help me take life a little easier and laugh more.
Sage and I both listen to podcasts regularly these days. Despite being incredibly different people, we have many of the same opinions, of which we speak on as if we know everything. This is why our prospective podcast, Clearly I’m the Authority was birthed.
In Clearly I’m the Authority, we can talk about anything as if we are the experts. We have episodes planned regarding our family dynamics, politics, Harry Styles, and Marianne Williamson. The podcast would be very satirical and probably riddled with our own inside family jokes, special guests such as Sage’s boyfriend talking about Samurai swords, and breaks in between recordings to act out the entirety of Hamilton.
I think we use this as an escape, too. Our family has a lot of shit, and it’s sometimes hard to think anything good will come out of it. But when we talk about our podcast, we take back a little bit of that control.
