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The Cut

The Cut is a weekly audio magazine exploring culture, style, sex, politics and more. Each week, an ensemble of voices, led by host Avery Trufelman, engages in the conversations that matter most in our current moment. Intimate, provocative, and probing, the Cut aims to ask questions before listeners even know they have them, always with a generous wit and an expansive idea of what is possible. From New York Magazine and The Vox Media Podcast Network. New episodes every Wednesday.

Why Bother Being Nice?

The Cut

  • 1.7K views
  • almost 4 years ago
  • 29:40

No matter who you are, inevitably there is someone telling you to “be nicer” or “stop being so nice”. Girlbosses preach that nice girls don't get the corner office, and yet Instagram slogans plead to "be nice." But what is niceness? Is it a virtue? A defense mechanism? A personality trait? And how can one try to be nice in a mean world? Host Avery Trufelman turns to Jonathan Van Ness for answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Bother Being Nice? (with Jonathan Van Ness)

The Cut

  • 1.6K views
  • almost 4 years ago
  • 28:20

No matter who you are, inevitably there is someone telling you to “be nicer” or “stop being so nice”. Girlbosses preach that nice girls don't get the corner office, and yet Instagram slogans plead to "be nice." But what is niceness? Is it a virtue? A defense mechanism? A personality trait? And how can one try to be nice in a mean world? Host Avery Trufelman turns to Jonathan Van Ness for answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe You Should Run For Office?

The Cut

  • 1.5K views
  • about 4 years ago
  • 43:42

U.S. politics are starting to look a little bit more like the United States itself. More queer people, women, and POCs. People who have never worked in politics before, have no corporate backers and are running campaigns out of their kitchen. So, what about you, or your friends? Producer Jazmin Aguilera tests whether she could actually run and what she would have to give up in the process. Writer Brock Colyar profiles Sarah McBride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get Out of Your Head

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • about 4 years ago
  • 27:00

It's been an awful year for almost every single person on the planet. And at the one year mark of the pandemic, Cut producer B.A. Parker decided to try to escape the stress and trauma by getting out of her own head. But it turns out getting out of your own head is a real mindf--k. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You Might Actually Be In Love With Your Best Friend

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • about 4 years ago
  • 25:05

Desire, commitment, passion — these are all words that often make up a romantic relationship. But what if you feel a strong, deep love for your best friend? This week, Cut producer Allison Behringer on what happens when your soul mate moves away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a Time To Be Sober

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • about 4 years ago
  • 28:15

The burden of quarantine has made a lot of people question their drinking habits. Among them is producer Alex Sujong Laughlin, who has been cutting back on alcohol but isn't quite ready to be sober. This week, why we drink. And what happens when we don't. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Manual for Fearlessness (with Olivia Nuzzi and Maria Ressa)

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • about 4 years ago
  • 30:03

President Biden was sworn in a week ago, but we’re still dealing with the emotional and global turmoil left by the previous administration. The Cut talks to journalists Olivia Nuzzi and Maria Ressa, who both cover their country's presidents. And they have both learned ways to deal with the last four years of fear and anxiety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five Reasons To Get Married On Zoom

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 25:47

For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, people continue to get married. The way that people have been getting married in 2020 might change weddings forever. And that's for the better—or at least, that's what host Avery Trufelman is trying to convince her friend, who is wondering what kind of pandemic bride she's going to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would You Move Back Home? Could You?

The Cut

  • 1.5K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 21:07

For more than a decade now, NYM Editor-at-Large Stella Bugbee has lived with her parents, and raised a family in the home she grew up in. But for a long time, she kept that a secret, perhaps because it's so stigmatized in American culture. But the percentage of people living multigenerational households has been on the rise since the 1980s. In this episode, we'll hear from people who've done it out of necessity, and by choice—even when it's not the easy choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Her Shoes: Aya Kanai

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 39:44

Aya Kanai been a fashion editor for nearly 20 years. She worked at Teen Vogue when it first launched. She was fashion director at Nylon, Cosmopolitan, 17, chief fashion director at Hearst. She’s styled countless celebrities and worked on fashion ads. And she just went from being editor-in-chief of Marie Claire to a whole new world, taking on the role of Head of Content and Editorial Partnerships at Pinterest. Aya’s own social media presence is incredibly fun and authentic, with frequent cameos by her small daughter. Izzy Grinspan, Deputy Style Editor for The Cut, talked to her about career change, taking risks, the highs and lows of working in fashion, and where she thinks social media might go from here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Last Four Years, The Last Five Decades (with Rebecca Traister)

The Cut

  • 1.2K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 35:51

This week’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett will change the United States Supreme Court for generations to come. What will happen to Roe v. Wade? Host Avery Trufelman talks with Rebecca Traister about how we got to this precarious moment for reproductive rights. And how the battle may be steep, but all is not lost. We're nominated for three Discover Podcast Awards! vote here: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5978795/2020-Discover-Pods-Awards-Finalists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Am I Radical Enough?

The Cut

  • 1.4K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 32:07

Society is in need of a radical change. And yet, still, we are constantly told that we need to lower our expectations, be reasonable, and be practical. To vote for the moderate, to fall in line. But what do we gain and what do we lose in compromising? This week on The Cut, host Avery Trufelman wonders: am I radical enough? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Joy of Sext

The Cut

  • 1.6K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 23:22

Now that hookup culture is on pause, sexting has become a true form of intimacy. And it’s really highlighted how terrible dick pics can be. Aesthetically. We're talking terrifying angles. Ghastly use of flash. Toilets in the background. This week on The Cut: the art of the nude, and why people socialized as male aren’t allowed to see themselves as desirable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Optimism

The Cut

  • 2K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 29:49

Being an optimist seems ridiculous right now. Especially because the meaning of the word itself is slipping, amid polite talks of "optimistic" reopening schedules and "optimistic" vaccine timelines. The word has become a euphemism for... delusional. In this inaugural episode of the new podcast of The Cut, host Avery Trufelman tries to navigate what it means to begin a new chapter in 2020. Maybe it doesn't matter if the glass is half empty or half full. Maybe we should just throw the liquid out all together. Or maybe we've all just been defining optimism wrong, and the people who have come to represent optimism incarnate have a lot to teach us.

Reintroducing the Cut

The Cut

  • 1.5K views
  • over 4 years ago
  • 01:15

Every week, host Avery Trufelman and The Cut's editorial team bring you interviews and stories about the moment we live in.