meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
On the Media

Our Unfinished Pandemic

On the Media

WNYC Studios

Magazine, Newspapers, Media, 1st, Advertising, Social Sciences, Studios, Radio, Transparency, Tv, History, Science, News Commentary, Npr, Technology, Amendment, Newspaper, Wnyc, News, Journalism

4.68.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Congress is threatening to cut billions in COVID aid even as a new variant emerges. On this week’s On the Media, how our policy debate reveals an indifference for long COVID disabilities and death on a staggering scale. And, how that apathy tracks with a pattern of past pandemics. Plus, a look at the novelist Kurt Vonnegut’s theory of storytelling, and what it tells us about why so many Americans have stopped paying attention to the virus.

    Ed Yong [@edyong209], staff writer at The Atlantic, on why mass deaths from COVID have failed to provoke a strong political and social reckoning. Listen. Laura Spinney, [@lfspinney], author and science journalist on how pandemics have historically disabled people, and what this teaches us about Covid long-haulers. Listen. Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on how to make sense of Covid's ever-changing plot, using Kurt Vonnegut's theory of "the shapes of stories." Listen.

Music:Agnus Dei by Martin PalmeriLove Theme from Spartacus by Fred HerschPassing Time by John RenbournMisterioso by Kronos QuartetBewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Brad Mehldau Trio

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, it's Micah from On The Media here.

0:01.7

Before we get into this week's episode,

0:04.0

I wanted to tell you about my visit to Brooks House

0:06.9

earlier this week.

0:08.2

I was trying to solve a mystery.

0:09.6

This is the studio.

0:10.6

This is where the magic happens.

0:11.7

That's right.

0:12.6

It is obviously appallingly untidy,

0:15.9

something that thankfully the listeners cannot see,

0:19.7

but can only imagine.

0:21.0

And so this is where you sit,

0:22.1

where you both do the interviews and crochet the hats.

0:24.5

And crochet the hats, yeah.

0:26.5

Absolutely.

0:27.4

As you may know, we've given out many of these colorful hats

0:31.0

over the years to listeners like you.

0:33.5

I wanted to know how and why Brook became obsessed

0:36.9

with making them.

0:37.9

Well, during my parents' first bankruptcy,

0:41.0

we moved from Long Island to rural Vermont.

0:44.0

And I didn't know anybody.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.