Becoming ‘Smarter In Seconds’ w/ Blair Imani

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

Slate Audio

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode: Elizabeth Newcamp sits down with Blair Imani, educator, historian, and content creator known for her ‘Smarter In Seconds’ series. She’s also the co-host of the podcast, Thoughts About Feelings, and the author of three books. Her latest is called Read This to Get Smarter. Blair walks Elizabeth through how to stay informed as a busy parent and break down complicated concepts to kids.

This week on the Plus Playground: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen fill out the Baby Barf Badness bracket, created by Claire Zulkey. They also share their favorite emergency preparedness tools. An episode that is as silly as it is serious. We hope to see you there!

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Rosemary Belson. Video production by Micah Phillips.

Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Karen Feeding listeners, before we get to the show, we wanted to tell you all the cool things
0:06.2	happening over on the Plus Playground, which is our amazing community of Slate Plus subscribers.
0:11.1	Recently, we've planned the perfect road trip, revealed what baby gear changed our lives,
0:16.2	and what gear we wouldn't buy again. We've recommended movies to watch with teens. We've shared
0:21.2	yummy dinner recipes. You name it. We've probably done it. It's also the best place to get
0:25.6	weekly recommendations of fun books, toys, and games. If you're ever stuck wondering what
0:30.0	to get a kid for their birthday or a holiday, the Plus Playground is the place to be.
0:35.1	Joining the Plus Playground is the best way to support our show.
0:38.4	You also get ad-free listening and never hit a paywall on the Slate site.
0:41.8	We hope you'll join us.
0:43.0	Sign up now by going to slate.com slash careplus.
0:46.3	That's slate.com slash care plus.
0:49.2	See you on the playground.
1:02.5	Welcome to Karen Feeding, the show where we talk about the ups, downs, and everything in between when it comes to parenting.
1:13.1	Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Blair Amani. Blair is an educator, historian, and mental health advocate. One of the many things she's known for is an amazing series called Smarter in Seconds, which I can't wait to talk about.
1:18.1	She's also the co-host of Thoughts About Feelings podcast with one of the internet's favorite librarians,
1:24.4	Michael, and she's the author of three books. Her latest is called Read This
1:29.4	to Get Smarter. Blair, I am so thrilled to have you on the show. Thank you so much.
1:35.2	Thank you for having me. You don't just have Blair, but you also have Baby Smarty. So for those who
1:39.7	are just listening and not with video, if you hear little coos in the background, it's my little baby.
1:44.3	How is parenthood treating you? Are you just loving it? Or is it? I'm loving it. And I keep
1:50.8	telling people that I have so much help because I think sometimes when people see, first of all,
	...

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