I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is NerdEd. I'm Greta Johnson. We did it. We made it to another weekend. Coming up, I talk with Wesley Morris from the New York Times about the power of a good cry.

I'm here for those tears. I'm here to understand what those tears are doing. You know, I'm here to ask the question, you know, why are you crying?

Plus, Pachinko author Minjin Lee talks about her philosophy as a writer.

Somewhere along the line, I've decided that somehow telling stories, either in fiction or in nonfiction, we can approach a new reality.

But first, let's do some decompressing after the week that was. With us this week, we have Naila Boodoo, the host of the Axios Today podcast. Naila, welcome back. Hello.

Also here is Vulture TV critic Catherine Van Aeron-Donk. Catherine, great to have you. Hello, thanks for

having me. Okay, so I want to start this week with the fact that mask mandates are lifting

across the country. I think this is a really confusing one, obviously. They are no longer

required here in Chicago. This is something that I'm pretty conflicted about. Now, I want to be

clear, none of us is a public health professional, but I'm really curious how each of you is personally navigating this moment.

Catherine, I'm especially interested to check in with you. You have a couple kids. Are they

vaccinatable? So I have an almost eight-year-old and a four-year-old. So my almost eight-year-old is.

My four-year-old can't be yet. I too am conflicted. I certainly do not

share some of the sentiment that I have seen going around that like, you know, it's pretty much over.

And like, we need to learn to live with it. I'm not a learn to live with it back to normal person. My

glass is usually half empty, if I'm going to be honest. At the same time, I live, I am

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