For Keeping Up With the World

The Daily and Today Explained

• What they are: Both are daily news podcasts that break down current events in a way that’s easy to follow.
• My take: I listen to these pretty interchangeably. On a good day, I’ll listen to both, but if I don’t have time I just pick whichever episode sounds more interesting. For me, they’re less about enjoyment and more about making sure I know what’s happening.
• Who will like it:  Anyone who wants to stay informed without constantly scrolling the news. Especially good if you’re busy and just want a quick, clear breakdown of one major story.
• Where to start: Just start with today’s episode—that’s the whole point.

For Politics, Culture, and Strong Opinions

In Bed with the Right

• What it is: A podcast analyzing right-wing ideas about gender, sex, and sexuality, and how they still shape politics today.
• My take: This one feels really thoughtful but still engaging. It helps you see how certain ideas have evolved.
• Who will like it: People interested in feminist theory, political ideology or understanding the cultural roots behind modern politics.
• Where to start: The two-part series on Phyllis Schlafly.

5-4

• What it is: A podcast about the Supreme Court of the United States and how political its decisions really are.
• My take: This is basically anger and sarcasm in podcast form. It’s very snarky and opinionated, but also really effective at explaining complicated legal cases.
• Who will like it: Anyone who enjoys political commentary with personality, especially if you like podcasts that are a little blunt.
• Where to start: “Bush v. Gore” – you’ll immediately get the tone.

Diabolical Lies

• What it is: A long-form culture and politics podcast that digs into media, power and the stories we believe.
• My take: This is my favorite podcast right now but it’s definitely not for everyone. It’s slower and really focused on unpacking ideas.
• Who will like it: People who like deep dives into culture and politics, and don’t mind something more thoughtful and less fast-paced with a little (or a lot) of snark. 
• Where to start: If you are more interested in culture I would recommend “Is There a ‘Skinny Apocalypse’ in Hollywood?” If you want more political analyses try  “Why America Can’t See Gaza”

For True Crime 

Crime Junkie

• What it is: A weekly true crime podcast covering everything from missing persons to major cases.
• My take: I think it deserves the hype; it’s easy to follow and consistently interesting. But if you’re only picking one Ashley Flowers podcast, I wouldn’t start here. As much as I love this podcast, International Infamy, is an even better introduction to the world of true crime.
• Who will like it: Anyone new to true crime (or podcasts in general) and are looking for something straightforward and consistently engaging.
• Where to start:  “Infamous: Darlie Routier part 1”

International Infamy

• What it is: Also hosted by Ashley Flowers, this podcast explores infamous crimes from around the world.
• My take: I binged this one. I really enjoyed the global scope, and the fact that it’s short (only 15 episodes) makes it feel very manageable and easy to get.
• Where to start: Honestly, any of the 15 episodes. Since it’s a short series, it’s easy to jump in anywhere and just go from there.

Final Thoughts

If you’re trying to get into podcasts, don’t try to listen to everything at once. Pick based on your mood. The hardest part is just starting—but once you find the right episode, it’s easy to get hooked.

The 2026 Grammys are easiest to understand if you follow five artists. Between them, they basically tell the story of the entire night.

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny defined the ceremony. His album Debí Tirar Más Fotos won Album of the Year, making history as the first Spanish-language album ever to take the Grammys’ top prize and beating out nominees like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and Tyler, the Creator. The win marked his first time taking home a “Big Four” (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) category and underscored the global dominance of Latin music. He also won Best Música Urbana Album and Best Global Music Performance, making it clear that his impact wasn’t limited to one category.

Kendrick Lamar

If Bad Bunny had the biggest single win, Kendrick Lamar had the biggest overall night. He won Record of the Year for “Luther” with SZA and Best Rap Album for “GNX”. Those victories pushed him past Jay-Z to become the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history, with 27 career wins. Kendrick opened the televised awards with his rap album win and kept returning to the stage. His speech emphasized hip-hop’s cultural longevity, reinforcing his position as one of the genre’s defining artists.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish took home Song of the Year for “Wildflower,” adding another major Grammy to her already stacked résumé. The category included heavy competition from Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, and Bad Bunny, but Eilish’s songwriting secured the win. She also appeared throughout the night wearing an “ICE OUT” pin alongside other artists, reflecting the subtle but noticeable political messaging that threaded through the ceremony.

Olivia Dean

British singer Olivia Dean won Best New Artist, one of the most anticipated categories each year. While not the most commercially dominant nominee, her win signals that the industry sees her long-term potential. Best New Artist often predicts future headliners, and the Grammys clearly positioned Dean as someone to watch moving forward.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga didn’t sweep the night, but she remained a constant presence. She won Best Pop Vocal Album for Mayhem and was nominated across multiple major categories, including Song and Album of the Year. Her continued success highlights her staying power: nearly two decades into her career, she is still competing with and winning against a new generation of artists.

The 2026 Grammys weren’t chaotic or shocking. Through those five artists, the night felt less like a turning point and more like a confirmation of where music already is.

Through the past two years, artificial intelligence (AI) has threatened to replace every facet of humanity that it can. It has forced writers to change the way they write, teachers to change the way they write, and eliminated position after position in the real world. Yet AI has so far been unable to touch the performing arts sectors: we still need singers, instrumentalists, cast, crew, and the various things that make performances a form of art.

A new AI “actress,” Tilly Norwood, represents the first serious challenge.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that there’s no chance for AI to succeed in this area: the first film to be entirely written by generative AI—“Post Truth,” which released earlier this year—claimed to get a lot of press attention despite being an awful lot of nothing. Review aggregators Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes don’t list any reviews for the film. An AI film “starring” Norwood, “AI Commissioner,” similarly fell flat. A review from the Guardian described Norwood’s performance as “someone whose perfect teeth keep blurring into a single white block in their mouth” being used to “deliver sloppily written, woodenly delivered dialogue.”

Other forays into AI generated audio or performative art have similarly fallen flat. AI “rapper” FN Meka began using anti-Black language within two weeks of signing with CMG and subsequently got dropped by the label. The human behind the AI’s voice—it wasn’t just an AI after all—wasn’t fairly compensated for his work in the endeavor.

Norwood’s “existence,” if one can even call it that, represents serious ethical concerns. AI talent studio Xiocia is considering signing the computer program, a process usually reserved for flesh-and-blood actors. It is indeed quite telling that The Industry’s first foray into “AI talent” is not a normal kinda-okay-looking-if-you-squint actor. Instead, the first AI making the rounds with talent agencies claims to be a teenage or early twenties girl designed to steal eyes.

It should not surprise anyone that the first AI created for acting purposes is designed to be sexualized. Artificial intelligence programs are not designed to push back against their sexualization, as a human performer might do. Fiona Sturges of the Independent sums it up nicely: “Here is an actor who will not set unreasonable terms for her employment. She won’t insist on a script that passes the Bechdel test, or on financial parity with her male co-stars. There will be no need for insurance, or stunt safety, or intimacy coordinators.” I question Sturges’s use of the pronoun “she” for a computer program, but concede that people have been using these pronouns for other computer programs (e.g., Siri, Alexa).

This is the next logical move for AI businesses: use their infinite-content-generation-machine to sell sex, or things that look like it. OpenAI is actively loosening ethical standards and enabling users to generate AI “erotica for verified adults” (read: pornography). Deepfake technology already exists, and has been used to generate sexually explicit images of children. Grok has “spicy mode,” whatever that means. Adults have already tried to propose to ChatGPT’s voice chatbots even before it loosened erotic restrictions. 

If you’re an AI company looking to make a quick buck, exploiting human loneliness sounds like a great way to do that. You don’t even have to worry about regulation, because there isn’t any! (The Trump administration repealed Biden’s EO on safe AI.)

Artificial intelligence is a tool: when used properly, it can automate things that are tedious, or that humans don’t feel like doing. But it should not come at the cost of human interaction or involvement, and should be built with safety and informed consent in mind. I want an AI to fold my laundry so I can work on artistic pursuits, not the other way around.

I do not want Hollywood executives telling a computer program masquerading as a barely-adult “actress” how to behave. Humans make art; programs do not.

This article initially appeared in a print issue of the Monitor published Oct. 31, 2025.

I’ve been working my way through a lot of books over the last couple of falls and these are the ones that stuck with me. From twisty thrillers to dark academia to nonfiction, here are my top reading recommendations for the season.

Thrillers

If you like fast-paced plots and stories that keep you guessing, these are all worth picking up.

• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter: This one is dark and definitely not for the faint of heart. It follows two sisters who reconnect years after their third sister’s disappearance, uncovering horrifying truths along the way. Slaughter’s writing is intense but totally gripping.
• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera: A fun, modern mystery that combines true-crime podcast vibes with an unreliable narrator. It’s about a woman suspected of murder in her hometown and the podcaster determined to dig up what really happened.
• All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers: A small-town journalist returns home and becomes obsessed with solving a cold case that mirrors her own past. It’s full of secrets, small-town gossip, and that classic “everyone’s hiding something” energy.
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: A classic for a reason. Ten strangers are invited to an isolated island, and one by one, they’re killed off. Even if you think you know the twist, it still holds up.

Fantasy & Dark Academia

For readers who like atmospheric settings, academic rivalries, and a little bit of magic.

• A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid: This is one of my favorite reads of the year. It’s about a literature student who wins a contest to design a cover for her favorite author’s final book. It has gothic vibes and a haunting seaside setting.
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: A cozy read about a grumpy academic studying faeries in a fictional remote village. It’s part fantasy, part field journal, and surprisingly funny.
• Babel by R.F. Kuang: A dense but fascinating story about language, power, and colonialism set in an alternate Oxford. It’s a slow burn, but if you like dark academia and big ideas, it’s worth it. (Next up for me is Katabasis, R.F. Kuang’s newest book).

Other Fiction

These are character-driven stories that made me think, and in some cases, cry a little.

• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans: A short story collection about race, identity, and how we talk about history. Every story feels sharp and deeply relevant, and the title novella is especially memorable.
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio: Think Dead Poets Society meets Macbeth. It follows a tight-knit group of acting students whose lives spiral after one of them ends up dead. It’s dramatic in the best way.
• Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka: This book alternates between the final hours of a man on death row and the perspectives of the women affected by his crimes. It’s beautifully written and much more about empathy and understanding than violence.
• Normal People by Sally Rooney: A quiet, emotional story about two people who can’t seem to get their timing right. Rooney captures the awkwardness and intensity of young relationships perfectly.

Nonfiction

These books prove that real life can be just as fascinating (and unsettling) as fiction.

• From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty: A mortician travels the world exploring how different cultures deal with death. It’s oddly comforting and a reminder that death doesn’t have to be taboo.
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande: A thoughtful look at aging, medicine, and end-of-life care. It’s one of those books that changes how you think about what it means to live well.
• American Predator by Maureen Callahan: A chilling deep dive into the case of Israel Keyes, one of the most meticulous serial killers in U.S. history. It reads like a detective story but is entirely true.
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara: True crime at its best. McNamara’s investigation into the Golden State Killer is both gripping and deeply human, especially knowing that her work continued to bring attention to these crimes even after her death.

Whether you’re looking to be spooked, inspired, or just distracted from homework for a while, these books all made an impression on me and I think they’ll do the same for you.