3 Podcasts That Will Change Your Life

My podcast-listening career began a little over two years ago while doing college road trips with my mom. Objectively speaking, road trips are a great time for podcasts—less bickering over music choices, philosophical conversations, and, most importantly to me at the time, less talk about my future. One dreary long car ride, my mom got me hooked on a story that is now podcast royalty: Serial. I’ve always loved books, movies, and music, so it made sense that I immediately fell in love with this new form of storytelling. Over the years, I’ve passed many a drive, workout, or walk listening to some quality podcasts of many genres that, in their own little way, have changed my life. Here are three of them:

The Daily   https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/2019/03/nyt-daily-logo.jpg

This podcast is my go-to quick burst of news. It comes out ~daily~ and it is always filled with the most buzz worthy news of the time. It’s almost always under 30 minutes, so it’s a great one to listen to walking to class, or in the evenings if you need a break. I chose this news podcast over the millions of other news podcasts out there pretty arbitrarily—it’s produced by The New York Times, and my mom has always subscribed to the Times, so it reminded me a bit of home. In reality, any news podcast would have the same effect of helping a busy college student stay up to date on all the latest issues. 

S Town https://files.stownpodcast.org/img/s-town-itunes.jpg

S Town is nowhere close to your run of the mill daily news podcast. It’s laid out in a more narrative, seven-part form, where each chapter leads to the next. The podcast follows a true story, but this by no means makes it boring. The producer of another famous podcast, This American Life, was intrigued by an email he received from Alabama native, John T. McLemore, and after a reporter was sent down to investigate, mystery, hilarity, and tragedy ensue. No spoilers, but I listened to the whole 7 chapters in one car ride, and I was enraptured in the wild adventure the entire time, laughing and crying along with the reporter and John from beginning to end. 

Girls Gotta Eat http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55695205e4b0b0ed5ed23665/55ee75fbe…

As much as The Daily and S Town were different from each other, GGE brings a whole new genre of podcast to the scene. Released every Monday (during which I listen to it religiously), Ashley Hesseltine and Rayna Greenburg place their podcast under the category of “dating and relationships,” a topic which would be interesting by itself, but when you add in the fact that these two women are New York- based comedians, it makes the show that much better. The episode titles speak to the range of topics covered: from their Bachelor episode with Derek Peth, to “Is He Micro-Cheating?,” to “Being Happy Being Alone,” Ashley and Rayna cover it all, no holds barred. GGE knows what it’s talking about and has advised me through many a situation. 

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