Camp Feelings & Upcoming Episodes
Dear Campers,
It’s that time of year again. Weenies are roasting, bathing suits are drying, and we’re gathered around the fire for another edition of the Satanic Panic Book Club (SPBC).
We began this tradition, of course, last year, when our desire to spend as much time as possible recording episodes for you--and therefore blocking out the rest of the world, who can even remember why--was troubled only by our lack of ready material. Presenting: the book club.
Our first text, of course, was Michelle Remembers, and in a way this was the excuse I had always been waiting for: the book itself, as you’ll know if you’ve heard these episodes, is a genre unto itself. It defies description. It’s a desperate attempt to cash in on the lucrative world of horror paperbacks while also doing something of great consequence, and yet it’s not nearly as fun as as its V.C. Andrews-reminiscent cover implies that it might be. A lot of it is just descriptions of abuse, or disjointed phrases held together by ellipses and the logic of a dream. Reading it is wearying, saddening work. And yet , by last summer, I’d also come to believe that understanding Michelle meant understanding something essential about the origins of the Satanic Panic. I wanted more people to understand it without having to experience it all alone.
By contrast, this summer’s pick, Mike Warnke’s The Satan Seller, is practically a romp. Mike is a fabulist who knows how to get to the point, and not a page goes by without some kind of plot development. It reminds me of a lot of the fanfiction I grew up reading and writing: the prose feels innocently certain of its own convincingness. (Is it innocence or is it narcissism? Or both?)
The book could just as easily be called How to Win Chicks and Influence Satanists. And there’s something I find compelling, and depressing, about the fact that the Satanic Panic was essentially the child of these two books, both largely imaginary, one conceived by a man and one by a woman, and that the man’s book has a protagonist who works hard and writes his own ticket in the Satanism industry, and the woman’s book is about being a passive victim of endless abuse.
We’ll be releasing two more episodes of the Satan Seller book club in July. We’ll follow Mike for his rise and fall and discovery of Jesus; we’ll learn about the Satanist conferences, and what they serve at the Satanists parties (hot hors d’oeuvres, poolside). And then we’ll learn what Mike was really up to during his college years (one hint: croquet), and how his empire--built on the story of his former Satanism--came tumbling down. Later this summer we’re returning to our O.J. Simpson Trial saga, where perhaps time is creeping forward at such a glacial pace because 1994 knows what 2020 will be like and thinks it can avert the crisis by lasting forever.
I have to admit something here, something you’ve probably already figured out: I’m telling the O.J. story this way partly because I think it’s meaningful to dissect a story to its component parts, to resist conclusion and to question the effect that our need for dynamic plot can have on our search for truth: but also, and this is my main reason, I do it this way because it’s fun for me. Narrative TV, even nonfiction books, are rarely granular enough for my taste, rarely as dedicated to writhing out of the confines of plot as I often want them to be. The ironclad belief that consumers of some form of entertainment are only capable of enjoying the things we already know them to enjoy frustrates me endlessly.
I think it takes bravery to be boring--and by this metric, I am very, very brave.
It’s been especially fun for me to dive into the case histories of O.J.’s assembling defense team, and if I kept following these rabbit holes we could go on forever (though I promise--pinky promise--we won’t). From F. Lee Bailey we could move to Patricia Hearst--who we talked about in a very early episode, but surely not enough--or to the appeal of Sam Sheppard, the man who everyone says inspired The Fugitive (except the people who made The Fugitive). We could jump to Alan Dershowitz and do a deep dive on his defense of Claus von Bülow, another husband who looked pretty darn guilty as far as much of the public was concerned--now why am I starting to notice a trend?
But here, instead, is where we’re going next: To O.J.’s insistence, soon after his dream team began assembling around him, to undergo a polygraph--or, as we TV watchers know it, a lie detector test. But what exactly is the test? What does it detect, and how? How are lies meant to show on the body? And how can we really understand the circumstances of its invention?
There’s one person who can help us, and her name is Wonder Woman.
(Source)
Summer feels like it could go on forever, especially in Portland, where we recently had a record-breaking high of 115 degrees, and yes you read that right. I mention this largely because I can’t help thinking about it, and partly because, in my usual cockeyed--not to say completely detached from reality--optimism, I’m trying to think about how the slap-your-face reality of all this might spur us to action. There are many of us, apparently, for whom no amount of spurring will work, and I’m working on accepting that. But on the other hand, never before have the consequences of climate change so directly affected not just my life, but my love life. How am I supposed to have a hot girl summer if walking across the street makes me want to pass out? (Sure there were people whose Tinder bios read “I have AC,” you still have to get there.) If this sounds incredibly dumb and petty, compared to the very real path of death and destruction such heat also leaves in its wake, you’re obviously right. But can I derive hope from the fact that the truth is maybe getting drilled a little more deeply into my petty, thick skull? And that other thick skulls might be experiencing something similar?
I haven’t tried to write a note to you campers in a while--haven’t tried to write anything in a while, period. Which I guess is partly why I wanted to write to you now. Writing used to be thing I felt more comfortable doing than anything else--including such basic human skills as walking and sleeping--and over the past few years my relationship with it has become progressively thornier and more complex. And as I write those words it occurs to me, for the first time--because a lot of obvious-in-retrospect thoughts only occur to me when I’m writing--that this handful of years represents the time when I became a full-time writer, rather than a student who wrote or a teacher who wrote or an academic who wrote. Suddenly I was a writer, and the burden of both that labor and that identity burned me out amazingly fast. There was more to it than that, but I think that, somewhere along the way, the joy that had always fueled me flickered down to an ember.
You’re Wrong About has saved me a couple of times. The first came when Mike and I started recording the show, in March of 2018, which now feels like several eons ago. I had just published an essay I’d been working on, off and on, for years, and having it out in the world, finally out of my hands, plus the pace I’d been maintaining as a freelancer--which was, it must be emphasized, nothing to the pace maintained by so many others--had left me feeling about as creative as a mildewed sponge. My children had flown away and I was a sad little pig. Or a dead spider. Possibly both.
What I immediately loved about making You’re Wrong About was the way it let me approach this block: not by trying to hammer through it, but by going around. Don’t break your back trying to drag a down tree out of your path; find a different one. It’s a big forest. And being in conversation, talking to someone who makes me feel both met and heard, unlocks things in me that I can never find when I’m alone on the page. At their best, these activities support each other; work happens when you believe nothing is going on at all, like the secret parties of toys.
When life changed overnight in March of 2020, the show became my lifeline a second time; it was the only part of my day when things felt normal, or when I was in a world I recognized. So we made as many episodes as we could handle, and Michelle Remembers was a big part of that. And I guess I’m reflecting on this journey because writing this letter to you, right now, makes me feel like that much-rumored Satanic Panic book is just a little more in reach. And the fact that I am writing again is due, in large part, to the fact that I know you are out there listening. If we can have this human contact during such a lonely time, if I can do my best to make sense of this world and you can do your best to meet me where I’m coming from and offer your own insight, then that suggests a world where there are people I can believe will care about what I have to offer in written form, too. Not everyone, or even a lot of people. But maybe you.
But maybe I should write that Seitanic Panic book first…
We don’t have a bonus episode for you this June, I’m sorry to tell you; just this gloopy letter. We’ve got some ideas for new bonus content to try out in addition to our usual bonus episodes, and may poll you soon on your preferences. But for now, in the comments section down there, we’d love to hear about what bonus goodies you might enjoy, and what topics you think we should consider for upcoming episodes. It’s a big world, and there’s so much for us to learn about as we emerge, blinking, into the sun.
Stay cool, Daddy-Os. And keep wearing the weird pants.
--Sarah
Comments (300)
The clip that used to adorn this episode is of Mike Warnke's standup, and you can find plenty more on youtube to give you a taste--any Mike Warnke will do.
… (sorry, I suck at using this interface). For me, the nature of that itch is, I think, a longing to believe in something more than meets the eye, coupled with a longing to believe in an afterlife. Believing in the paranormal is the flip side of believing in magic, no? And I suspect many of us want an escape from ordinary lived expert into the imaginable. I wonder how many paranormal horror fans also enjoy fantasy?
… But I was SO into it when I was a kid. As an adult, I watch horror movies — only paranormal ones, not gore or torture porn — I think because they scratch the same itch.
Plodding adulthood has overtaken my identity, and I don’t have kids, so these days I don’t do anything to get in the Halloween mood.
I cannot wait for lie detector/wonder woman diversion. Should be a blast! (and I only made it like 1/3 of the way through that book, so I will finally get the full story!)
Sarah- the world is better because you’re in it
Thank you both for your insightful podcasts. The Princess Di series has been a gateway drug to get many of my friends hooked on your show, and Mike’s editing is superb. My only suggestion is, if you could possibly add a trigger warning before you mention anything concerning animal abuse. Like Mike with horror movies, I get literal nightmares, and I put off listening to the satanic episodes incase they veer into animal abuse territory without warning.
With love from lockdown in Melbourne, Australia. X
I'd love if y'all could do an episode on where all the lesbians are. Kitty Genovese was one of my favorite episodes, but often, especially when talking about LGBT history, the lesbians are forgotten about in the public perception of events.
I could really use another Dana Schwartz episode. I really enjoyed her two guest spots.
The first Satan Seller episode is pure gold and my new gateway drug for pushing this podcast on people.
Now having heard both y'all and Jamie Loftus reference each other's work, I've been quietly hoping you'll have her on to discuss Lolita at some point. Her podcast about it fits perfectly with the spirit of YWA and it would be so interesting to hear your perspectives on the topic. Thanks for the show - it's genuinely made me a more thoughftul human!
The video is also showing as private and unavailable for me, and I'm logged into Patreon and everything. Any updates?
Same
There’s this new movie called stillwater which is kinda a rip off of the amanda knox case, i’d be so curious to see your explanation of her story & how it’s kind of shittily retold through movies like that
It says this video is private...
I am in my 50's now & in my preteen Catholic Youth Group days my YG Leaders (when feeling uninspired) would play Warnke's comedy album about his time in Vietnam. He always reminded me of that guy at the bbq who speaks to loudly & longly(?) about some doggone fool he just encountered. He made me laugh back then & I'm glad I never read his Satan book with all these faceless 'chicks'. Thanks for the time travel!
vid unavailable??
I'm totally satisfied and happy with a letter from Sarah as my bonus content.
I could read Sarah's writing forever.
Listening to the latest Satan Cellar (I know I know, but I love that idea now, like Harry Potter in his broom closet) and I was wondering if you guys would ever talk about Go Ask Alice. It seems like very much the same writing style as Mike Warnke and equally designed to be a "Ooooh, I did the drugs and it went so bad, just like your parents said it wouuuuuuld!" thing.
It totally does!
Consider talking about the HBO docu-series The Vow! It's the best thing I've ever seen and I've watched all 9 hours 3+ times. They do a great job of explaining the mechanics of how someone "normal" gets sucked into a cult that takes over their life for years. All the main characters are capable and wonderful people who give oscar-worthy performances. Love you guys!
I really hope you do that episode about The Ramsey case
Would love it if you guys did a whole series on Mormons and Mormon church!!
I still can't access this episode :(
No episode this month - in the letter it says: "We don’t have a bonus episode for you this June, I’m sorry to tell you; just this gloopy letter."
I *love* the new episode of TWA. I could listen to these book clubs all day! The part of the Satan Seller that I hate the most is the story of Mary. Mike’s whole conversion to Christianity is predicated on the woman he kidnapped, and gang raped *joyfully forgiving him and saying she loves him*. This is a direct parallel to how actual rape victims are treated in the church, particularly if the rapist is also a church member. They are pressured to joyfully forgive and might be kicked out of the church if they do not do so. This absolves the rapist of any accountability for their actions. Anyway, that part of the book made me SO MAD. If anyone is curious, I recommend checking out the hashtag #ChurchToo.
Yes... that part stood out to me so much as well. It was so convenient for Mike and absolutely unrealistic that Mary would not only forgive him so quickly, but also confront him and say she loved him. That is so ignorant of survivor experience and it creates this false narrative of women owing men forgiveness and being the source of their absolvement by being the pure, "above-it-all" sex. It echoes the whole virgin obsession. UGHHHH. Yeah. I hated that too.
Long time listener first time Patreon commenter and i am OBSESSED with YWA. It’s literally the only podcast I can keep my focus on and I am currently making my way through the entire catalog for the second time (some episodes for the third). Obviously, I am very excited to continue the OJ trial. I have a playlist with all of the episodes downloaded and I got my husband just as into the trial as I am. We listen on road trips and I treasure our time listening and discussing. Last weekend, we were doing just that. We were on Nicole brown part 2, specifically the NYE incident, and he brought up a really interesting point/question. I never would have thought about it because I am not into football (and I laugh because I know mike and Sarah aren’t either) but he brought up CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Most studies on this condition come from former athletes, particularly NFL players or boxers. CTE comes from multiple blows to the head/concussions and the majority of the research is brand new. The more I’ve been looking into it, the more I’m finding very particular patterns between CTE symptoms and “OJ behavior”. For example, the abuse, rage, mood swings, confusion, etc. Please don’t get me wrong, i am not at all defending his actions/abuse/etc. I’m merely fascinated by the entire theory. And, from what i can tell, this isn’t news. There has been a lot of discussion surrounding OJ and CTE (and other former athletes with abusive history). I could talk about this forever but, honestly, I would just be so much more interested in getting Mike and Sarah’s take on this. Has it come up in past OJ research? Had this information been around at the time of the trial, what theories do you have about how it could have effected the outcome, or even the trial itself? This could all be nothing, but I find it extremely interesting! ♥️
could y’all do an episode about helen keller? I just finished listening to the koko episode and after sarah mentioned that she was an anarchist i’m wishing i knew more about her past the memes and what we learned in school
I’ve loved you guys from nearly the start, but the hyperfocus on book clubs, specifically the satanic panic, and the endless side stories to OJ, coupled with biweekly releases has made me feel the podcast isn’t really what I’m wrong about anymore. Wish you both the best. Will check in now and again, you do you.
i want a patty hearst episode!!
They have an episode that includes Patty Hearst, it is the one about Stockholm Syndrome. :)
I have a question for a bonus episode. In a recent episode of my other favourite podcast Just the Gist, one of the co-hosts said that he was 'doing a Sarah Marshall' and recording in his parked car in the only place in town he could get reception - the beach. Do you feel that there are any other ways that your media presence has had an influence on others?
Cant access it 😔
There's no episode. From the letter: "We don’t have a bonus episode for you this June, I’m sorry to tell you; just this gloopy letter."
Can’t access??
It says private for me as well
The video is private is that normal?
I can’t access it either
I discovered your podcast recently and I listen on my long walks. Thank you for helping me get in shape. I can walk for miles listening to you two, learning and laughing as I go. The kicker for me was Sarah's Peep Show reference. You're my peeps 😀
I would love to hear a bonus episode that takes us further into your, Sarah’s, thoughts on sociopaths, psychopaths, and one that’s a bit different - people who self-label as empaths. Is this different because it’s someone’s personal feelings about themselves rather than a label thrown around to dehumanize other people? I also want a mainline episode about Lance Armstrong from Mike. Who better to tell us about the biking and the nonprofit. What are we wrong about?
Here for a Lance Armstrong episode!
Sarah, would love to hear your thoughts on the Fear Street series that’s just been released on Netflix - a lovely bit of (tongue in cheek) Satanic panic across the ages.
I love your writing, Sarah. Can't wait for your book (but, no rush). Have you and Mike looked into the book "Go Ask Alice"? I also think about "My Side of the Mountain" a lot. I hope you stay cool!
Omg. ‘Go Ask Alice’ is genuinely the reason I’ve never touched drugs in my life. I think my sister got a free copy with Cosmo when I was about 11 and I pinched it to read!!
I can't see the video - it says it's locked.
How come the video is locked? ☹️
Echoing others' sentiments, you and Mike have been incredibly comforting to listen to during this time and I appreciate and value you for all the effort you put into the podcast. I haven't experienced such a strong para-social relationship with podcasters in quite some time and I feel like I've become a kinder, more empathetic person because of the time I've spent listening to the show. I've spent the past month going through the whole back catalog during a break from work, where I'd wake up and tend to my kids and then sit down at my computer to listen to you two talk about incredibly interesting things while I play through Red Dead Redemption 2 for the third time on my computer. I've gotten so much out of the show and I am sad that I don't have a massive back catalog to work through anymore now that I'm caught up. Thank you, and if you are interested in having someone do some sort of comic/illustration related content I would love to contribute back to this thing that I value so much.
Heavily relate to this ahhh
I love you two. Thank you for getting me through quarantine. After watching a recent Bob's Burgers episode, I've been stuck on hall monitors. I think it would be a great bonus episode. Hall monitors are an icon of the American Teenager™ that I've heard about and seen in media my whole life, but we didn't have them at my school(s). When did we get hall monitors? Are they a specifically American thing? Are there still hall monitors in schools? Do hall monitors as an institution say anything about self-, state-, or cultural surveillance? Is there a hall monitor legacy? I'd love to know!
That and Safety Patrol, which I think is a relic of more walkable neighborhoods.
I'm not sure if there's already too much debunking happening in the general discourse for it to be worth your time, but maybe the involvement of Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of DNA for an episode topic? Not so much a maligned historical woman as one who was just completely glossed over
Please just debunk Nobel Prizes - they are so shitty both as a concept and in their implementation!
Go Ask Alice would make for a great addition to the Book club - it was a book I loved when I was a teenager and it was presented as a 'real diary'. Looking back, I can see lots of moral panics at play there - drugs and hippies and teenage girls having sex... I can totally see you covering it
Would you ever maybe do an episode on Amanda Knox? I have a special love for the ones that focus on a maligned woman 😊
Oo or bathrooms. I feel like we’re in the middle of a moral panic at the moment about trans women and bathrooms, especially in the U.K. There’s a lot of save the women and children language getting thrown about that reeks of moral panic
I'm just now listening to the Book Club episodes of Jessica Simpson's book (having listened to almost all of the other episodes by now, but out of order), and I continue to be surprised how delightful it is to hear you two talk about someone that I didn't particularly follow but is connected with a certain time in my life (as a fellow elder millenial). The cameos by other celebrities of the time and the self-reflection of the book that I can connect with, as well as the commentary of course, is such a pleasure to listen to. So, I guess I would suggest another book reading like that one! Is there another 90's celebrity with a memoir to read, which is some sad but also happy?
Could be bonus or regular episode, but I think one on the media's covering of aliens could prove to be a fun rabbit hole to descend into. This may be in part to my boss who continues to take what ever scraps are thrown by the main stream media as definitive proof of not just their existence, but their meddling in our world affairs. By the way I think I'm going to have to incorporate the double dash into my everyday texting -- it feels like a much better aside than parenthesis or a double comma-- it looks so professional.
I just listened to episode 2 of the Satan Seller last night and the number of times that Mike Warnke calls women “chicks” is probably the most distracting thing about the book. He thought he was being so cool, but it comes off as sooooo condescending. I don’t know how you made it through this book! I’d go back through & try to count the number of times he says it, but I’m afraid I would pull out all of my hair in frustration.
Hey Sarah, can how does Vodooism fit into the history of Satanic panics? When I say Vodooism I am particularly referring to those forms associated in the South (partic louisiana) but also Haïti. Can't help noticing the Satanists we have covered so far are all white, but also these panics of American culture can't have systematically ignored what the "black people are doing over there"
Hey Mike and Sarah, I love love love you guys, I probably have more conversations and wws&md going on in my head more than anyone. Please don’t hate me when I say this but don’t hate on all Christians! Some of us like to debunk and expose ridiculousness and hypocrisy! Please don’t paint us with all the same strokes.
yep, can't access the video even as a patron, looks like YT took it down. Michael/Sarah, any chance you can repost?
Same
Same here
I keep trying to access the video and it says it’s private even though I’m a patreon. How do I access it? Thanks so much!
I'm having the same problem as well
Please do a YWA Martha Stewart in jail. James Comey makes an historic appearance
I love the gloopiness, gloop it up. If you guys were wracked and fearful and lonesome in quarantine, saving yourselves through the power of podcasting, you were lifting an awful lot of other ships with that rising tide. Thanks, Counselor Sarah, Counselor Mike. (Do you call your counselors Counselor? It gives it a Roman empire flavor. I only went to French immersion camp and had no idea what was going on for two weeks, not speaking any French as a ten year old.)
I'd like to hear why we're wrong about Sinead O'Connor and Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
Why is the video with this post unavailable? It says it’s private.
Sarah & Michael, thank you for creating this amazing podcast. I’m working my way through all this amazing content and telling everyone about it. So impressed at how well you can balance really informative content that is so much fun to listen to. THANK YOU. Sarah, +1 to the other folks awaiting the follow up to Michelle Remembers! Side note, I’m so curious if you’ve come across Who’s Watching the Playpen by David Benoit? I grew up in churches where this book was treated as pure fact which is completely absurd to me now. I’m sure it’s not as canonical as some of the other stuff you’re reading but it played a huge role in my childhood.
The free episodes are enough to keep me subbing to your show here. YWA is a true gift and I’m so happy to support
Okay I’ve just learned about Sneha Anne Philip and am very intrigued to hear your opinions
love your writing and the OJ episodes! looking forward to more. future episode suggestions: Sinead O’Connor aka Shuhada Davitt, war on drugs/policing, US response to hurricane Maria. the ways child stars in Hollywood and children of family vloggers on youtube are exploited would be a good bonus episode!
Bonus episodes on crop circles and sleep walking.
Sarah, I feel you about writing. Although writing had never felt like a comfortable thing to me (I’d actually much rather willingly jump off a cliff). I am in the middle of writing my masters thesis and it feels like something that will truly NEVER be finished. Every research article I read leads me to a reference list of 10 more articles I now have to find and read to cite. It’s a never ending. cycle. It’s hard to know when to stop researching and reading and when to start writing. I couldn’t imagine having to write for a living… I would literally rather starve that’s how much I hate having to write. But listening to Your Wrong About helps give me little breaks from my intense research and get to passively enjoy you two being deep into researching a random topic that I didn’t have to do any work on. It’s lovely. And keeping me sane through this weird time we live in too. So thank you. I almost didn’t read this whole note (I also hate reading because it’s hard for me, dyslexic and ADHD) but I just made my phone read it out loud to me. I even started to imagine the phones voice as yours in my head! I guess I’ve listened to so many hours of you talking on Your Wrong About that I was able to just imagine how you would be saying it yourself. I really enjoyed the way you wrote. You truly are a “writer” and not just someone “who writes.” You can just tell in the way you write. We are here and we are listening. And as much as you say we are helping you, YOU are also helping us too. Thank you for everything.
The critical race theory panic
Unfairly maligned child stars like Lindsay Lohan would be a good bonus episode
Oh! Ok. Mad Libs. Just do YWA Mad Libs so we can create our own moral panics/misremembered historical events. Then we’ll all write fanfic and just become completely insufferable!!!
This was a lovely note Sarah! I know I'm still itching to hear your aftermath of Michelle Remembers - what was the release of the book like, the interviews they did, how did it all come out about Michelle and Pazder's relationship? I would love that follow up.
Two words: reefer madness
I'd like to hear you discuss the vaping situation and whether you think it's got moral panic overtones. When people talk about kids vaping they sound like they're talking about kids listening to devil music, but there are health concerns too. Can it be a real issue that arouses moral panic? Or a real issue getting the moral panic overlay?
Hey Sarah! I recently listened to your multiple personality disorder episode from 2018 and I was wondering if any more thoughts or if any of your opinions had changed. I have a lot of thoughts I’m not going to be able to put together well. MPD is now classified as dissociative identity disorder and is more common than people believe. It’s a disorder caused by childhood trauma that does cause the self to create alters just as described with MPD. It’s also currently a “trending” disorder like many other disorders (ADHD, BPD, autism) on social media platforms like tiktok. I think a lot of this is people finally being able to recognize what’s been wrong with them their whole lives by seeing others intimately describe their situation. But it also reminds me of how MPD and repressed memory blew up after Sybil (and of course who could forget what Michelle remembered). MPD/DID as well as repressed memories seem to be things that got too overblown in the 70s-90s and weren’t treated with nuance so later were dismissed as invalid. But they are still very real experiences. The repressed memory you describe in the MPD episode is someone reliving a traumatic event which changes the event in memory or being guided by a therapist to change memories and believe things happened that didn’t. I think of repressed memories more as “dissociative memories” where you were dissociated at the time and that memory was never fully stored in working memory. I would love to hear if you have any more thoughts or have learned anything more with your satanic panic research!
Hi, Sarah, I don't find either you or Mike to be boring. Normally I can't get away from ads for true crime podcasts fast enough. But you avoid sensationalism and lurid details. I love that you're taking the time to search for all the truth. During the OJ trial and coverage, I avoided all of it, as Dad had taught that we're not the jury, and trials aren't supposed to happen through the media. I look forward to hearing you two again. I don't know why my podcast app isn't serving up your episodes. It was getting stuck in some podcasts, playing the same episode, regardless of what subject was listed on my phone screen. I clean for first responders, so I worked through all of COVID time. But cleaning the same building the same way, day after day, would hurt my brain, were it not for podcasts, so thank you for being good company. Still on the job, still needing you.
Hi Sarah! I just wanted to pop in and say thanks for the update--totally looking forward to more OJ because I could listen to it for hours. And just thanks to both of you for making the show and just being awesome. I found this podcast last year, and like many others I'm sure it became a great source of entertainment and comfort and remains one currently. I love all the work y'all are doing and I will patiently wait for whatever comes next!!
Is there supposed to be a video with this? When I clicked on it it said it was set to private?
it was there initially. must have gone private with the influx of views!
Sarah I love your work so much! Every episode you use I word I've never heard of. I agree about your OJ storytelling method, my roommate has had enough of my random facts about the people involved. Any time Aubrey or Mike says "this is a you're wrong about maintenance" it's something I truly want to hear Your imput. I have no suggestions just praise!
If you ever want another religious rabbit hole, I recommend anything Fatima (as in Our Lady of)-related.
As a kid in Australia, I hated watching the endless reporting on the OJ Simpson trial as it seemed so distant from me. You've managed the remarkable task of not only making it relevant, but enjoying the narrative enough that I want more and more of your insights. Having said that, I'd also like anything you have said 'we will get to that!' in previous episodes. I'll even go make a list :)
I can't pinpoint exactly why this gloopy letter brought me so much comfort, but it did. Thank you, camp counselor Sarah!
heyo sarah, im so glad to read this, and as a listener who relistens to episodes on the daily and agrees with you two on so many levels (esp the thing about judges wearing weird dad vacation shirts) and I agree that its so important to know where everyone's head was at going into the trail. I'd love a quick recap on where everyone is after all of these breakdowns with the lawyers, and I want to hear more about like the mansion brothers trail that the guy who worked with marcia did, and I want to hear about where marcia clarke is and the other trials shes been successful in! also, I would just love a Britney episode,oh my gosh there's so many that you've mentioned in episodes I want to hear about. Like the chemical thing that happened after 9/11 that as a Canadian born in the 90s I just do not understand
Also despite these requests, keep doing whatever the f U want Mike and Sarah
I would absolutely love for you to do a Sinead O'Connor episode. If you want to talk about maligned women of the 90s oh good lord. Watching her become so unwell is awful but to think the events of the 90s had nothing to do with that is not right
Yes please!!!! I need this!!!
Wow guys, if you are taking requests I would love to hear about the Shakespearean tragedy that was Michael Hutchence/Paula Yates/Bob Geldoff. Love your content and even stories I don't think I'm interested in are made fascinating by you guys. Ty for always being so smart and thorough.
tbh I would love to hear something about Britney Spears 👀 I recently saw her interview by Diane Sawyer and there was so many things wrong with it. I remember that I, like the press in that time, didn‘t have a good (but also not a strong) oppinion about Spears when I was younger. But looking back, people did her very wrong… But also I would be happy about any other story you share 😊
Maybe if it's not too far out... look into how TV regimes and corporate marketing polices AV content. I came across some interesting stuff researching Rod Serling.
I would love episodes on: Ed and Lorraine warren and the obsession / phenomenon of exorcisms, the amityville house both haunting and homicide, the Melendez brothers and their recent rise to TikTok fame, the nixvm cult, aaaaand of course, more satanic panic😄😄😄
Yes to all these!! I love the conjuring and despise the warrens.
Future bonus Ep suggestion 💩 Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker 🤗 (and a rundown on American tele-Evangelist for your European listeners). Where is the gif of Tammy Faye crying from? What really happened? To what extent is Tammy Faye a 'victim' and/or complicit homophobic monster?
They have an episode on them!
my fav YWA episodes are about things that are not recent but have somehow worked themselves into my mind/understanding of today… patty hearst would be great! OJ would be interesting! would love literary scandals as well, anything pre 2015 honestly!
also i just love your podcast so much! love anything you do!
Sarah, your writing is so lovely and I'm glad you've been able to find a way back to it. I'll listen to just about anything, but I'd love to hear more of the one-shot pop culture stuff. Also I don't think this is your department, but if anyone reading this wants to make some "It was the Satanic Panic all along" merch, I will happily buy it. Because if there's one thing we've learned...
I agree, back to the OJ trial. I lived a mile from the condo in Brentwood right after college, right after the murders happened and it is so interesting to hear all the angles.
Sarah, I could listen to 1,000 episodes of y'all diving down every nook and cranny of the OJ story. I think you should approach it however you want to, and I bet everyone will enjoy it just as much as you do. You have an amazing instinct for storytelling, and I've enjoyed every "rabbit hole" you've taken us down so far.
I found YWA in May and and you both got me through a rough patch. I found you right when I needed you! So thank you!! I would love if you covered the Salem Witch Trials, but honestly I am happy to listen to all that you offer.
Yes the Salem witch trials are a good idea!!!
I always want to hear what you and Mike have to say Sarah, so do all the friends I have demanded listen to the show over the past couple of years!
Thanks Sarah! You and Mike are absolute gems and we appreciate all the work you put into your podcast(s). I re-listen to episodes all the time because I always take away something new! Always happy to support the show and you two!
Yep. This guy totally grew up in the IE.
Go well weird pantsers
I will be happy with any YWA content - it’s the highlight of my week! Listening to YWA seriously has been helping me through the pandemic emotionally. My one suggestion is a collab with 5-4 pod. You have covered the same topics a few times, and I’m sure there’s a Supreme Court case that you and Mike could deep dive the background that was misrepresented and they could go into the legality/politics. Otherwise I’m always just so psyched on whatever you and mike come up with, and have extra appreciated your most recent bonus eps
It's so great to hear from you Sarah :-) My boyfriend and I have been anxiously awaiting some sign of life from YWA and I'm relieved y'all are still out there, still doing this cool thing at whatever scale you can manage. Thank you for being part of my pandemic lifeline!
always love hearing from you sarah, im so glad you're writing! i'd love to hear you guys talk about britney spears, and this one is a little late but the james charles allegations? i just KNOW theres a bigger story behind his "predatory behavior" and id love to hear your takes. although that's an awfully controversial and complex situation. also, im curious if you've dived into the "onision" situation? i think you'd find it interesting. love you guys!
<3 enjoy the podcast so much and finally caught up on the whole catalog. Topic suggestions: the Sochi Olympics doping scandal, or doping in general? Britney, though her story is still evolving, so perhaps conservatorships? I bet there is some real horror in there. Witch trials?
After this week in cursed IOC news, I feel like You're Wrong About The Olympics could stretch to several episodes.
I love you and Mike so much! My parasocial besties/dream team. You both could talk about IKEA furniture or the merits of different thanksgiving food or what cleaning products you like the most and I’d be able to listen for hours. Listening to your show gave me something to look forward to during what were the worst days of the pandemic for me. I also got a bunch of my coworkers to listen as well so we all had something to be excited for and talk about other than all the doom n gloom. Thank you for teaching me so much, for getting hella granular (I love it!), and for reaching your hearts out to all the needlessly maligned folks out there.
Also still would love an episode about Snoop Dogg's murder trial!
Bonus episodes about recent pop culture events, like the Megan and Harry one! Seems easier for you guys for Mike to just bring you up to speed on something that doesn’t require as much research as other topics. Or, movie episodes like The Godfather one. Maybe Taxi Driver, because so much to unpack there
I love this idea. Your perspectives on media/pop culture events are always fun to hear!
I recently joined the patreon, because yours is my favorite podcast. I've been re-listening to Michelle Remembers episodes to feel your company after I consume other Satanic Panic themed media (specifically the Sons of Sam series on Netflix, which feels very irresponsible and also boring to me). I'm so excited for the new series and glad I'm all refreshed on the old one. Would love to hear you two talk about anything. Many thanks!
I love your voice, Sarah. Yes, you’re speaking voice (and Mike’s, too), but specifically the way you write, the way you construct what you want to convey. Looking forward to the summer.
I'd love to hear an episode on the pregnancy pact teenagers from Gloucester High school In like 2008. I feel I never got the actual story (or maybe it just didn't filter through to the UK)
I loved your gloopy letter. I was lucky enough to find YWA during the pandemic. It saved my sanity many times. I thank you for that. I've listened and re-listened to all your episodes (and then gone on to devour all of Maintenance Phase and You Are Good as well). I am here for whatever you wish to share with us. I love the way you approach things. I love the way you listen to each other and respect and like each other. Thank you for being beautiful human beings.
Sarah, you could make an episode about the most boring subject and I would be enthralled. You have podcast magic, I think. I’ve been very interested in health fakers on tiktok recently- especially multiple personality fakers who switch alters on command on camera. If you go deeper you can also find people who claim to be “systems” who were born as as many as 100 personalities (sometimes including animals). It’s fascinating. There are also a lot of people who appear to fake adhd, Tourette’s syndrome, and autism. People who comment often think of it as being manipulative and dishonest- I wonder if it isn’t a harmless way to get attention and validation. However, does it then negatively affect autistic people, and people with adhd and Tourette’s? Could it be Munchhausen’s? As I look into it I so crave your empathic and thorough analysis. But again, I’d listen to you guys talk about your favorite flavor of pie and be totally happy.
Am I the only one who really wants to be adopted by Sarah and Mike? i’m a 57 year old mother of a 21 year old — I’m already housebroken so, please…adopt me. (This podcast has truly gotten me through this past year. Thank you both so so much.)
You are not the only one, Susan. I feel the same.
I always enjoy these book club episodes, Sarah! I'd like to hear another sometime in the Former Child Star genre.
Thanks for the kind words, Sarah. And good luck in the heat! I would be interested to hear an episode about the 1985 Philadelphia MOVE Bombing one day. It's a story so few Philadelphians know and understand, let alone people from elsewhere. I'm sure it can easily be added on to the large list of topics you two can cover!
I have loved every word so far. Don’t agonize too much over topics. Anything that appeals to you will turn to gold at your touch. It’s like spotting a surprise candy bar on my desk every time I see that there’s a new episode.
You are simply the best. Thank you for sharing your wonderful talents and self with us. Discovering YWA got me through the thick of the pandemic and for a while I couldn’t fall asleep without listening to you and Alex on YAG (formerly WAD). Please never underestimate your impact. You are hands down one of my favorite people I do not know.
Love the podcast and the bonus episodes! Just keep doing you and we’ll be here when you’re ready to post a bonus again! Future episode/bonus idea especially because it’s a hot topic right now, but I would love to hear about Free Britney from you guys! I know you’ve talked about a few women from that time period/space, but I feel like what happened to her in 2008 is so hard for me to comprehend in today’s terms with how it was covered and how complete the conservatorship is over her and her estate. Just a thought, but I’m definitely going to consume whatever you guys throw out there regardless! Love the bookclub coming back this summer (and the camp theme!!!!!!!)
Dear Sarah and Mike, Thank you again for forgiving us stupid senseless gen Xers, advocating for the bimbos and validating humanities majors like me. I love You’re Wrong About - I know it’s so much work for you both - stay cool and enjoy your summer
Oh Sarah you absolute dream. Thank you for this note. You are a brilliant light and i so appreciate your existence💕
Love this so much- you and Mike are a breath of fresh air and have helped me keep my sanity through this pandemic.
I would love to hear an episode on Britney Spears, and would love to hear from a cohost who understands the ins and outs of conservatorships. They’re really complicated, sometimes I feel like I barely understand them, and I work with patients on conservatorships every day. I feel like this could be a really interesting topic to get into disability rights issues.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I love the podcast. I just recently found it, and I've been binging it like crazy and then trying to convince everyone around me to listen to it, as well, so I will have some people to talk to about it! I'm also really looking forward to the Satanic Panic book, Sarah. As someone who lived through it, it still fascinates me to this day. I went to school with the son of private detective William Dear, and he actually spoke at an assembly at our school to preach the evils of D&D. I also spent a not-small amount of time as a teen playing my records backwards in an attempt to hear all the backwards masking everyone was talking about. I'm really looking forward to reading everything you discover!
Not often I am inclined to read such a lengthy post but… Sarah and Mike, this 50-year old NH woman loves you. You weed the gardens, vacuum, and cook with me. You have enriched my blank spaces. Over the past couple of years, your laughter, kindness, self-doubt, and honesty have been such a balm. Please keep on keeping’ on.
Thank you for ALL that you do to keep us amused and vaguely sane! Would love an episode on Sinead O'Connor and the baby and mother home/magdalene laundries institutionalization pipeline (could be a crossover with the Irish Passport pod!)
I'm listening to Behind the Bastards, at the recommendation of another YWA listener on twitter and they just did a bit on the Magdalene Laundries. It's hair-raising. I thought I knew what was going on in my continent...
(also...an extended photo or video tour/discussion of all of your houseplants...that would be such a great Patreon bonus)
SOOOO good to hear a little from you, Sarah! I would love to hear a crossover/joint YWA/Maintenance Phase episode with Aubrey Gordon, about any topic of your choosing, but all three of you together would be the most delightful thing.
Hi! Long time listener, first time commenter-on-the-patreon. I was wondering if you'd planned to discuss any of the books by/about/involving Malachi Martin? He's probably my favorite* Satanic Panic profiteer and I would love to hear someone OTHER than me dissect his bull[shirt]. *i.e., most hated
Omg yes Mike please talk about Brexit! As an American who finds Britain fascinating and confusing, Brexit is the perfect topic
I just love the episodes where you can tell y’all are just talking about topics you love. I guess it’s less YWA and more I don’t really understand, but what about an episode on Brexit from Mike? And an episode about the Rumours album from Sarah?
I'm just glad you're here <3
Who’s crying?! Not me!! This was the best thing to wake up to today. This nailed the pandemic / last two year experience perfectly. My only topic suggestion: are y’all gonna cover Mariah!?
Thanks to both of you for all you've done in producing the best podcast I can remember. Stay safe and we'll listen to you on the other side of this.
Lovely to hear from you Sarah, I hope you’re getting to wear the Weird Pants :-) I’ve been listening to the American Hysteria podcast on your recommendation and I am really enjoying it so thank you. As for future episodes… I always ask but the Dungeons & Dragons panic in the early 80s is something I would love to explore with yourselves and my fellow debunkmates… I mean, they claimed Rainbow Brite and He-Man were satanic 🤣
Thank you for all you do! Every time I see there’s a new episode, I can’t help by listen to it immediately!! A super random topic suggest my husband and I were discussing the other day: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!
Thank you for bringing us back to YWA summer camp! I've spent the last year attempting to explain Michelle Remembers and its impact on the Satanic Panic to friends and coworkers and anyone else who will listen, and I can't wait to also have The Satan Seller to go on about. Y'all have brought me distraction and learning and connection throughout this year, and before. You brought me Princess Diana! I'm just so grateful that the show makes you as happy as it makes me. And Sarah, every time I hear your laugh, it makes me smile. Thanks for sharing that joy here and on You Are Good (in which you and Alex probably have the most infectious laughs ever).
Bonus Episode Suggestion: Maligned Female Comedians ex. Joan Rivers.
seconded!
I just like you guys so much that I’ll take whatever you want to give tbh. Both of you have managed to spark new interests and new ways of considering the world around me through your own interests, so I really can’t imagine making specific requests. Blah blah blah you guys are cool. Thanks for being cool. It makes me feel cooler. Cool.
I love it when you write and talk about your creative process. Thanks for this letter!
I would LOVE to listen to an episode about Mother Theresa. Thank you for all you do.
I absolutely loved this letter. I'll have to admit that I was holding my breath reading it, waiting for you to deliver the blow to me that you were stepping away from YWA. I guess that goes to show how much I've learned to lean on you and Mike over the last year. Thank you for providing to us what WE needed while also providing yourself what YOU needed. That's really beautiful. As far as episodes - I really love any and everything you do. Just hearing you talk about subjects, many of which I didn't even know I was interested in, is a delight. The surprise, the disgust, the excitement in your voices brings me so much joy. Thanks for everything!
YWA was a life raft for me over the past year - my smart friends who accompany me on my dog walks and give interesting things to talk about with friends and family who maaaay be a little tired of hearing me say "So on the You're Wrong About I was listening to..." I would love to hear the two of you talk about the Roaring 20s. It's on everyone's minds right now and it's an era of special interest to me as a vintage clothing collector and vernacular jazz dancer. I *know* most people get the clothes, music and dancing wrong, so I can only imagine how many more things we're all mistaken about.
You all are rockstars and we love you for it! I am interested in thoughts about Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen Twins, and also *early* stories of the media getting things wrong (Not exactly sure what those are, so maybe it's not that helpful). But truly everything you talk about is interesting to me because you both are SO SMART and compelling. I had never heard of many of the subjects you talk about, and they bring me in every time. Thanks for all you do!!!
Paris Hilton as well.
I just want to say I LOVE YOU SARAH (and Mike) for this. I really don't care what you decide to cover, and how you cover it, as I trust you both implicitly. You're Wrong About saved me, too, over the course of the pandemic; not only did I consume the entire back catalogue, I waited with baited breath for every new episode. I loved having my new, super-smart friends come over to my place and go on a diatribe for their latest obsession. You made me feel less alone, and also gave me talking points when my colleagues lamented about the advent of cancel culture. All of this is to say that every choice you make is one of surprise and delight and I eagerly await the next few months. Apologies for the gush of feelings, I think your vulnerability triggered my own...
This sums up my exact feelings too and puts it more eloquently than I ever could ❤
This might be strange but I would love to hear yall talk about Jimmy Carter and his presidency. It's my impression that he was widely considered to be a "terrible" president at the time, but his image and legacy only continue to garner more good will as time goes on. Would love to really understand what was going on during the late 70s and what his whole deal was before he became America's dear old grandfather.
I was watching 20th Century Women again last night and it has that clip of him giving his crisis of confidence speech. He is one of the most eloquent presidents we've ever had but he gets no credit for it. It's sad reading that speech now because if people had listened, what would our world look like today? Second the motion for a Jimmy Carter episode! https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycartercrisisofconfidence.htm
Like I have seen others mention I would love to see an episode about Bill Cosby! He was a much loved TV icon with such a horrible behind the scenes story. What is the deal? And how is he out of jail??
I saw this on reddit, and it seems like a good short run down of why he was released, although it is Reddit. https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/ob16pz/bill_cosbys_sex_assault_conviction_overturned_by/h3kvxjj/
thank you for this letter, counselor sarah <3 sometimes when i wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, i put on YWA to listen to as i go back to sleep. y’all are such a comfort and delight, and i feel nothing but warmth towards y’all and y’all’s endeavors. i look forward to reading your book when it eventually leaves the nest. take care xoxo
I want Sarah to know that I watched Newsies recently (I've been doing a Disney movie binge this summer). The last time I watched it was in college at the behest of a friend because I had never seen it, and I did not like it then. This time, with the benefit of 15 more years on the planet, an appreciation for Kenny Ortega's oeuvre, and your explanation of context and history, I LOVED it. It's delightful. And definitely a ship factory. 👀 Anyway, thanks! For those episodes and for everything else the two of you do!
2020 I discovered your podcast and started hand painting my kitchen cabinets a fun aqua color. I had so little control in life but focusing on the paint and being distracted by your amazing podcast got me through 2020. I absolutely get joy from seeing the completed project and literally couldn’t have done it without you and Michael in my ear
Bonus episode idea: Mike tells Sarah about that time he went to Eurovision and about Eurovision in general. Also, the Writers Guild of America Strike... what went down and did it really accelerate the advent of reality tv? Newsies housekeeping: It was my most recent pick for online film club, which meant introducing the film to not one but two delighted friends. Parasocial relationship status: Currently in a parasocial relationship with every single YWA listener / summer camp buddy. <3
Thank you for the words, I always love to read them💗 I think about this all the time, but I can’t even imagine how awesome a crossover episode with Lewis Raven Wallace of The View from Somewhere would be. Something about journalistic objectivity, local news swamps, something, something…..
How about a deep dive into Bill Cosby. We loved him so much, the cartoon, the Cosby Show, the commercials. He was a monster off screen. Why would a man with his options for sexual partners choose to drug his victims? So sad.
You’re Wrong About (and friends) saved me too, I would seriously listen to you talk about growing grass if you want 💚 A fun bonus could be talking about various conspiracy theories surrounding the OJ saga. And of course we’d love to hear your take on all things Britney Spears. There’re plenty of topics you could turn into a YWA/Maintenance Phase/You Are Good megasode that would be so fun, maybe you should save that for a live show….
They could all get together and talk about the movie “The Road to Wellville.” It’s got Cusack, Hopkins, and daddy issues galore, plus it’s set at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where the real John Harvey Kellogg (of cereal fame) practiced some VERY questionable wellness methods. A perfect three-way Venn diagram.
Like so many people, your podcast was a comfort through very difficult time. Think I started listening and early 2019 and I loved the perspective that you guys put on things that I thought I knew. I also love the jovial manner in which you two interact. It's like having two friends over. I am a high school English teacher and this year I'll be starting my eighteenth year of teaching. When I started teaching, jobs were competitive and hard to find and now, we pretty much give anyone who breathes a certificate in the hopes they can be a warm body in a classroom. I would love if you guys could do an episode or short series on the privatization of schools and/or the demonization of public education. I absolutely adore teaching but I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm good at my job. I love interacting with students and sharing my love of learning. However, I feel like 90% of my job has become covering my butt just to prove that I am doing my job because the parents who aren't doing theirs won't admit that it's on them. I guess the second idea could be how some politicians are no longer listening to the majority of the voters and they're only listening to a small base. In Arizona, the voters approved (granted by a small margin) a proposition to increase taxes so that schools can get more money. The legislation, on the other hand, has done everything in their power to create massive loopholes and sabotage that voter-approved initiative. I know this is not just a specific Arizona issue. It would be interesting to see where it came from. Thank you both for your light-hearted and honest and refreshing conversations. Being practically the same age is Mike, it's comforting to see things from people with my same perspective or level of understanding or awareness of issues from serious to frivolous.
My boyfriend and I are huge fans of the podcast! What you and Mike have created is incomparable to other podcasts. I feel like some fun topic ideas would be the entire scooter Braun and Taylor Swift saga with her Masters, the Free Britney movement & historical background of conservatorships, the rise and fall of Ellen degeneres, the me too movement of the music industry, the history behind the practice of ASMR… I can go on and on.
Just wanted to say you and Michael are lovely and I'm so glad I found your podcast. Looking forward to hearing whatever y'all decide to put out into the world. After listening to one of your shows, I always feel a little smarter and a lot happier. Thanks.
Thank you, Sarah (and Mike!), for always making me feel both met and heard. Being able to read your words and listen to your podcasts, and basically hear your thoughts in any context is a gift and it's wild to me that people who I may never meet can feel the same way as I do about so many things. Thank you.
Okay so I might be the only person to say this, but I was so disappointed when I heard you guys were going to every other week, and then you didn't publish anything for most of May. This feeling didn't come out of expectation or feeling like you 'needed' to be providing more, but because you have become part of my life and routine. It almost felt like my friends stopped talking to me? I found you deep into the pandemic. I've been living in a new city, at least 11 hours from my family and friends, and I missed you guys. I'm reading this sappy letter with a lot of love and hope. I hope you find your passion again, feeling lost can be so draining, if that passion is for writing or podcasting, great, but if you find something else that sparks your soul, I hope you chase it. The internet is kind of funny. I've never met either of you (though I did do a little research when I first started listening because when I found out you were some sort of professor and also briefly lived in Philly, I had to make sure you weren't my English Professor named Sarah Marshall at Temple University) but I feel connected to you. And even though I know I'm probably just screaming into the void, it feels like I'm talking to a friend. I'm looking forward to whatever content you decide to put out in the future!
That was lovely, Sarah! I was fortunate enough to discover this podcast during the pandemic and it too served as a lifeline for me. Made me feel like I wasn't as alone, while learning and having fun. Thank you for being brave (really brave, not 'boring' brave) in sharing your voice and insights.
Thank you for writing this letter! I discovered You're Wrong About right as the pandemic began (thanks to Mike being on the Savage Lovecast!) and it quickly became an escape for me. In the weird first hours, days, and weeks of the pandemic your and Michael's easy rapport and abundant empathy was a raft. I've learned so much thanks to you two. Thank you.
You're a great writer, Sarah. What a delightful post to read. Topic suggestion: the idea in my head is far too broad, but I'll put it out there and let you take from it what you will. I was thinking during the Human Trafficking episode when Mike talked about the problems with the Nordic model how where I live-Amsterdam, it often seen as this drugs and sex paradise and that's not really the case (what's sad right now is that the Red Light District may be moved to this weird "sex mall" facility outside of old Amsterdam because the city is trying to "clean up Amsterdam" for the "right" kind of tourist. Blech. I also thought of what Mike said in another episode about the weird racism of a Danish guy he dated who had to rebrand a car because it was too popular with people of Middle Eastern backgrounds. Just made me think of all the casual and subtle (and also really overt) racism that happens here in NL that I never thought about before moving here because a) I had this idea of The Netherlands as this land of perfect tolerance and b) I was stupid and didn't realize how multicultural The Netherlands and really all of Europe is. So my very broad idea was that there could be episodes on places that people (usually American; I'm Canadian, but my ideas about places were highly influenced by American media growing up) have the wrong ideas about or an incomplete picture. Obviously that is everywhere, but I dunno, if it's interesting it could ensure that you will never ever ever run out of episodes. It's not really "events" in history we got wrong, but we have a lot of dumb ideas about places too and it couldn't hurt for us all to learn more about the world and all it's good and bad bits.
I care a lot. This was lovely to read, Sarah.
I love that both you make a lips clamped nasal 'hmm' I wonder which of you did it first?
The bit about fanfic reminds me of the working theory someone posed that fanfic is a way to linger with the story, to have it last longer, look deeper into the mechanics of it. What a beautiful meditation.
That’s how I’ve always felt about it! I started with Harry Potter as a teenager, then worked my way through various tv show fandoms before ending up in mostly Marvel stuff and now I don’t really have the time anymore, but what they always had in common was that it was a world I wanted to spend more time in
This podcast helped me get through a rough 3 years because it calmed me, made me laugh, made me cry, made me mad and mostly, gave me something new to learn about. I go back to old favorites and listen to them with a smile on my face. There are many topics that, as a non-American, I find fascinating because we only got the summarized versions and didn't have access to the full story when it first came out. So, I think that could be an interesting viewpoint on how a story gets told to the rest of the world vs how it's told locally. More specifically, the Lorena Bobbit story, for example, was only told as an anecdotal story. "Crazy American woman cuts off husband's penis" that's the headline I remember the most. But I don't remember seeing anything else about it after that one day. I always thought she had been convicted and that he had died. At the time, no news show or newspaper ever went back to the story after the trial to talk about the outcome. So, I wonder how many more stories were wrongfully told worldwide or just glossed over. We don't have summer camps here in Peru, but I am a scout leader, so I have a blanket ready, I helped build the fire pit and can't wait for the next chapter on Mike and his Satanic orgies!
Echoing a lot of the above comments re what a fantastic companion this podcast has been over the last year. I'd love to hear more deep dives into various aspects of the Satanic Panic material, at least insofar as it doesn't step on your book. The Warnke episode hits hard for me--I attended one of his "Christian Comedy" events at the big local Baptist Church in the early 90's, had a youth minister who was clearly smitten with him (*despite* the Cornerstone revelations!) Lots of material, there...off the top of my head: Jack Chick, church camps (e.g., as depicted in the doc "Jesus Camp"), Christian haunted houses, Dungeons and Dragons, and the throughline from the SP to the bizarre world of Q and and the current sex trafficking panic(s). But more than anything, please just keep doing what interests you, because that is what makes this all so wonderfully immersive and listenable.
This podcast was one of the only things that could calm my anxious mind over the last year, and I truly don't think these words really get the point across. I would love an episode about the education world. I'm a high school social studies teacher and I have noticed that schools really only put money saved resources behind teaching math and literacy. (Obviously they ARE important, just maybe not the only important things). Now everyone is super focused on CRT and they are really getting that wrong!! Hardly any articles I see actually talk to social studies teachers!!
Hi Sarah! I wanted to say that catching up on the back catalogue of You’re Wrong About left me wanting of more of your content and perspective and I went out searching for what you had written. Everything I found, particularly your Ted Bundy essay, left me thinking for days, and I wanted to thank you for not being afraid to be deeply challenging and always fighting so hard to see the humanity in us all (but also to be honest about what the word humanity means). You have talent, insight, and bravery I have not encountered before, but you also have me in stitches every episode and give me hope in your honesty on these dark topics. Thank you for sharing your talent. Abrupt topic change - for bonus content, I would be interested in an episode on crime TV and Criminal Minds in particular (note: the season 10 episode Mr. Scratch is about the Satanic Panic). I would love to hear your opinion on entertainment vs fact and how we can enjoy storytelling but still stay grounded. Thank you and hope you have a great day at camp, I have my adventure sandals on and am ready to kayak.
Sarah, you give me hope. Thank you for writing this, for being so honest about your writing process, pauses, and renewals.
Ohhh, I second Virginia's idea! Same here, VERY Republican parents who scoffed at CC when we were younger and live in Eastern North Carolina and are now having major flooding issues they hadn't had before. They're coming around, but in very strange ways that I'd imagine are ways to come to terms with the fact that things are changing without acknowledging any climate change contribution.
Topic idea: the politicization of climate change in America. I remember being a young girl growing up in a republican household and hearing my mom scoff at Al Gore talking about global warming. I had no idea why she was skeptical, and I don't think she did either except that Gore was a democrat and Rush Limbaugh had warned her about democrats. It might be fun to investigate how Rush and the Koch Brothers and Exxon Mobil collectively cast enough doubt on the world's climate scientists for us to be where we are today experiencing so much of it. In my world, the political divisiveness starts with Al Gore championing global warming, but that story is only complete if you explore right-wing media tactics that forced partisanship over critical thinking.
So I just heard a theory (on tictok!) that OJ’s son Jason murdered Nicole. I’d never even heard his name before. I’m sure it’s BS, but I’d love to hear the ‘you’re wrong about’ treatment as to why it’s BS.
Thanks for the letter, Sarah! I love this show so much and have gotten 5 other friends hooked as well via my constantly bringing it up in every conversation. I’m interested in an MLM episode (an article on MLMs in Brain, Child magazine helped fortify me against them as a young mom 12 or 13 years ago but I have seen so many SAHM friends fall into the MLM trap). I want to learn more about the Menendez brothers. And, as a Texan, I’m curious about how we have been wrong about The Alamo. But mostly I just love hearing anything you want to discuss. I always say this podcast feels like having lunch with two very smart and funny friends.
Great letter, your podcast got me through lockdown with some sort of sanity. Stay safe in the heat and thank you x
The other day I was having an extended bout of anxiety verging on a panic attack and had to drive home for an hour, so I turned on YWA in the car and it made me feel so much better. Thank you both for being thoughtful people and unafraid to be kind to each other and to people who don't often benefit from that. For bonus content, I enjoy hearing you two chat about things that interest you, and could listen all day long, but perhaps some reading recommendations? I would love to be half as well-read as you two.
saraaaah this is such a great letter!! stay safe & as cool as you can in the heat up there. i love and will listen to any content you two put out but i do love hearing you talk about internet drama!! i would also love to hear you two’s thoughts on gypsy rose blanchard, america’s (maybe past?) obsession with pageants, more cults, amanda knox, the myths/stereotypes used to demonize people on welfare in america (“welfare queens”, etc.), and i’ve heard sarah mention disneyland a few times so i’d love to hear an episode about disneyland or all the weird conspiracy theories and myths surrounding it! thank you for making this show, i’ve learned so much from it & it’s made my very boring job actually enjoyable through the last year.
Maybe not a whole bonus episode idea, but maybe just an AMA question/prompt: I'd love to hear Sarah's thoughts on how the Satanic Panic may or may not connect to themes during the Salem (or other) witch trials-- Accusations of child abuse, the specific focus against women being empowered to work outside a nuclear family, and of course Satan. Do you think they're related by a common societal theme or simply coincidental instances of men blaming women for literally conspiring with Satan to destroy children?
Thanks for this Sarah! This is my favorite podcast. I can't listen to too many episodes in a row or else I start emulating Michael on my radio shows- whoops! Speaking of that.... I'd love an episode on radio and why it sucks. It's a broad topic, but you can start with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed companies like Clear Channel (now iHeart) to hold monopolies in markets across the US. This led to a fire sale of Mom+ Pop radio stations to huge companies paying top dollar AND since those companies were all about $$$ and not about building community or playing interesting music, women and minorities disappeared from the airwaves. If you look at what stations were playing in the early 90's (Nirvana, Prince, Indigo Girls, etc.) vs the late 90's (Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Korn, Limp Bizket) it's actually horrifying and will make you want to puke. When I was in college (early 2000's), I asked a famous Boston program director why female artists (like my fav Tori Amos) were not longer played on alternative rock stations and he blamed The Lilith Fair (UGH WTF GUY!).... when really,.... It was the Telecommunications Act of 1996!!! This is one of the worst things Bill Clinton did during his presidency... Of course, 3 strikes and you're out and creating Mass Incarceration is at the top of this list, but fucking hell.... this one ruined media across the board. Everything is about pandering to the lowest common denominator. If you're looking for a good guest to help talk more about this, check out Jada Watson, she is actually amazing: https://twitter.com/data_jada
I would love this, I'm already invested from this little nugget of information.
You guys are the best. Much love to you Sarah, I know how hard it is—most writers (the talented ones) hate the process of writing. I think it’s pretty universal. But so many of us DO want to read that good good granular shit so take your time, we’ll be here.
Thank you for making this show, it’s been a lifesaver, truly. I’d love to hear an episode about Nancy Spungen. 💚
Thank you for the letter! Stay safe in that heat. I would love to hear an episode on Hurricane Katrina
Oooh I second this
Great post and love this podcast so much. It really stands out from the pack. I’m always thinking of who I would love a show on but the two names that popped into my head just now are Amanda Knox (weird crime, messy court case, etc.) and Jerry Garcia (the groovy peace loving hippie was a hardcore addict (no judgement), a fact that at least in my youth was overlooked because he just seemed like an easy going pot head). Keep up the great work and thank you (and Mike) for being you!
Thanks for all the great content! Some topic ideas include Betty Ford, Kubrick/fake moon landing conspiracy, Joan Rivers, different Wizard of Oz movie conspiracies (ruby shoes instead of the book’s silver, munchkin actor commits suicide, tin man cancer from paint, etc.), and Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes/Scientology threesome.
I'd love to hear an episode on neighborhood surveillance type apps like Nextdoor and Citizen. I'm really excited about the return of the summer book club!
Oh yes I feel like an episode that covered neighborhood watch and these new iterations of it could be really interesting
YWA has gotten me through the fear and apathy of pandemic depression by giving me little chunks of things to be interested in. Along the way, it’s opened my mind and heart a lot. Thanks for making life more bearable, I’m glad that you find making this show is as fulfilling as i find it to listen to. My 8-year-old daughter listens to the less gristly episodes too- she enjoys it for the swearing, I love the thoughts she’s being exposed to.
Thank you both so much for keeping me informed and entertained. I just found you/your podcast about 6 months ago and have already listened to every episode (some twice!) and I love this bonus content. Keep it up…we’re listening!
Since you brought it up, I would love to hear an episode or episodes on the Claus Von Bulow case(s). Most of my frame of reference about the case comes from the movie Reversal of Fortune. Thanks for all the amazing content!
I love you both to the moon and back! I love your bonus content where you dissect online drama for us - Twitter drama, TikTok drama, etc. So grateful you and your podcast are in my life!
My friend who also listens and I would love to hear your take on Betty Broderick, Sarah (and Michael!). We love the way you help us process complicated women with complicated lives. Listening to You’re Wrong About has made me a more compassionate person and that’s due to you and your ability to recognize the humanity in everyone. Also my friend and I are now obsessed with Tonya Harding (in a good way) and will defend her to others. I had someone try to tell me SHE hit Nancy Kerrigan herself! I was like oh, buddy, are you in for a four-hour lecture right now.
Amazing post Sarah! Any bonus content is always a plus, I just love hearing you both converse and enjoy each other! Maybe you could discuss the recent controversy of Critical Race Theory and how it parallels Ebonics and similar integration in public schools?
Today is Canada Day. I'm readying myself to participate in the #EveryChildMatters walk in Toronto to support residential school survivors and to honour the deaths of thousands of children at the hands of the government and the Catholic church. With the parallels to basic human rights and child welfare issues in your own country - and Indigenous people around the world - I think it's worthy of your time and examination. This history of ours is a difficult thing to look at and talk about, but it's what needs to happen.
As a fellow jaded canadian, I came here to suggest a series on YWA Canada. For these and many other reasons
Great post Sarah! Your perspective is always great to hear/read In terms of potential episodes or bonuses, I saw a Youtube video that has suddenly become popular on Aaron Taylor Johnson and the possibility that he was groomed. It makes me feel a bit uneasy because it's talking about other people's private lives but I wonder if it's worth exploring the subject in a more general way? In a way, both he and Nicole Brown met their spouse very early on in life and with obvious power imbalances but its more easily recognised when the man is significantly older.
Hi gang! New to Patreon and very excited to be here. I’ve binged all of the eps (struggling a little with Michelle remembers but keeping on!). I absolutely LOVE the eps you do on maligned women a d would love more. I enjoyed Marie Antoinette - maybe because it was so different, but things like well basically any female from history would be great!! Thanks for being so awesome
Gosh I was so scared this was a break up letter! 😭 Thank you for all you do Sarah and Mike. We are so happy to listen
Same here! Sarah started getting gloopy and I was getting nervous 😂
Thank you for all you do! I would love to see episodes on the war on drugs and the pink tax. I also saw a number of ideas above that I wanted to echo: Violent video games, NXIVM, scientology, Amy Winehouse, MLMs, neighborhood watch
I love this show. Found out about it when the new episodes of the Crown came out. Your show was highlighted on Twitter. I binge listened daily and am on track. Love your show and I feel like Sarah is my kindred spirit person!
In the spirit of Summer, some fun bonus content could be some lower stakes "you're wrong about" situations. Like "is pineapple a pizza topping" or "the black or blue dress". Thanks for all the content you guys provide. I learn so much and its so enjoyable to listen to you.
I discovered You're Wrong About just a few months before the world put up its "Sorry, We're Closed" sign and it certainly added joy to my life and continues to do so. I never went to summer camp as a kid, so I'm thrilled I get to go now. I wonder if you and Mike could do an episode on Wanda Holloway from Texas. The amount of media coverage on her story was astonishing at the time.
Sarah, I love your gloopy letter! The whole YWA catalog is delightful and I’m so excited for whatever topics you and Mike work on next. I’m seeing lots of other people offer up topics and stories, so the only one I think I’d add is some historical horrible old racist like Columbus or someone else that drastically changed the world in terrible ways? We all know how shitty of a person he was but I would love the YWA lens to go on that journey! You and Mike are incredibly talented people doing fantastic work and I’m so excited for all you do. 💗
It’s true Columbus’ shittiness is widely known now, and yet I still had to read a lecture for a history of the environmental arts class less than one calendar week ago that uncritically characterized him as a great explorer.
I loved the gloopy letter! Hoping things cool down soon for the sake of your hot girl summer AND the future of humanity and whatnot.
Beautifully written :) in terms of suggestions, I don’t know if you’ve ever considered covering Jimmy Savile - that is very much a case where everyone acts like no one had any idea he was a predator until after he died, but the truth is not so simple. It’s all very sad and angering I’m afraid, but I feel like you guys would do a good job covering it
I loved the deep dives into random YouTube and twitch drama and would always be down for more of that in bonus episodes! PS thank you for sharing this letter and the show with us. 💜
This was a welcome addition to my day! I enjoyed reading your gloopy letter and honestly will enjoy any gloop you guys are interested in sharing with us.
I loved hearing Sarah talk recently about Little Shop of Horrors on a different podcast, and would love to hear her delve into it even more. Or musicals in general, or just Howard Ashman in particular. Love y’all!
Thank you. I am looking forward to all of these. For bonus episodes, I would love to see where your riffing would go starting on some of the issues that are coming up now, like Brittany's struggle for freedom or the COVID lab leak conspiracy. Or, maybe something about the particular weird kitschy snack foods of the 80s, 90s, or 00s. I feel like there is a lot of random things there to start from: why are flat sheets of sugary fruit stuff so exciting? Dunkaroos? All the little candies that require kids to diligently assemble them into complicated presentations before consuming? Or the easy bake oven? Bugle chips aka witches fingers?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings with us; the motivation you explain describes what is so fulfilling about the show generally. For a future episode, I've long been hoping you might tackle Love Canal, with its weird story, evil capitalism, depressing consequences, connections to other topics and people, and made big headlines at the time but isn't talked about a lot now. When I lived in western NY I visited the village and it continues to haunt me. I had wanted to recommend it a while ago but I didn't know where the "you're wrong about" is but then I think, well that's why they should cover it, to tell us what we're wrong about. But even if we're not wrong that's OK too; I can just be wrong about thinking there's something to be wrong about.
I'm high risk in Europe so have been isolated at home for over a year now. The entire back catalogue of YWA, MP and YAG has helped me so much in my loneliness and ongoing autoimmune disorder mystery search for a diagnosis. Thank you for that support. In terms of suggestions, Bill Gates and the idea he was a struggling Wunderkind working on a shoestring budget; same with Google; the Spice Girls; trans kids; abortion; violent video games; "participation trophy" millenials (who raised us?!); prison sentences deter criminals; UBI would make everyone stop working; multiculturalism; BSE and how everyone in the UK has CJ waiting to spring; MRNA vaccine research (it didn't just burst forth fully formed this year); neighbourhood watches; bandaid; gamergate; Madeleine McAnn.
I love it when you read things you found/witnessed on the internet to each other xx
I love the freewheeling structures and topics of bonus episodes and will enjoy any you are able to give us. Go wild. In terms of episode suggestions, I would love to hear you tackle Andrea Yates and the Qiverfull/Christian Patriarchy movements. Or even a two-part series, where Sarah tells us Andrea's story and Michael tells us about the movements.
A welcome gloopy letter, thank you :) very much feel you on the psychic weight of writing for joy vs necessity. And how the two end up weirdly melded.
Sarah, you are so good and you can do anything you want. You and Mike saved me in the midst of some pretty serious postpartum depression and anxiety after I had my pandemic baby. At one point you said, this one’s for all the parents listening with one ear bud in - and I cried. One time my baby wouldn’t sleep without me around so I had the idea just to play YWA thinking that my baby would assume I was there if she heard the podcast because I was truly going through the whole catalog - AND IT WORKED. I am also an adult woman with ADD. It’s a weird prison and it’s hard to know how much it’s a prison of my own design and how much I just kind of decorate the cell and plan movie night. Writing has always been my thing but I haven’t written for years because ADD and fear and I like television. Anyway, all this is to say, your struggles bolster my spirit as I struggle. And you have accomplished so much that - even as you struggle - you are aspirational for this easily overwhelmed ADD-addled writer-who-doesn’t-write. You and Mike feel like friends (though that might be sad for me) and I’m here for whatever rabbit trails you want to go down. Natural curiosity is what triggers the Rube Goldberg device of productivity for the ADD folk so I think following what your mind attaches to is the key to creating the episodes I so long to see pop up in my feed. Also I really like the various sundry bimbo celebration/exploration episodes. As far as bonus content, I love the AMA and I like when you just talk about TV/movies. I think it would be amazing if you just spoiled the plots of horror movies for Mike. (I really like people just describing what happens in movies I’m too chicken shit to see.) I would like it if Mike did a very informal travel guide. You guys just talk and be friends and record it and we happy. This is long but thank you lovelies. My baby, Clover thanks you, too. She’ll be a year in August.
First of all I love this comment. Second of all I love the name Clover (there was a contestant with that name on The Great Pottery Throw Down and I was immediately charmed). Third of all I relate so hard to how much it can mean to hear just one little thing on the podcast that feels so specific to you, as I took the clip from the Citadel episode where Sarah said “I love Shannon” and Mike said “I know!” and made it into a ringtone for my phone.
Girl
Just had another thought, maybe an episode on the Rothschild family as there are so many rumours. Also secret societies and the illuminati! Love you guys x
i love you Sarah!! reading this made me feel so cheered up and hopeful. i am mainly desperate for a steady drip feed of 1000 more granular OJ episodes (plus of course Britney) but also have you guys ever considered doing one on Scientology 🤔
Looking forward to whatever exciting content might be coming. Would love to hear an episode on MSG/Chinese Restaurant Syndrome and all the intersections it touched on (is it over? I haven't heard anyone under 60 mention it in decades)
It's just the ugly love child of racism and Orientalism and I'd love an episode about it!
Much respect to you! I will continue to support the podcast in whatever form you get it to us, and I'll be thankful for it. Good luck in the heat!
ah, I love the gloop❤️ - thank you for this letter Counsellor Sarah and thank you and Counsellor Mike for making a show that is so deeply lovely, a rare and precious podcast gem that I treasure so much. As to episode ideas - well, you can’t expect to casually mention Patty Hearst and get off so lightly… I second the idea to examine Aileen Wuornos, would also take a Valerie Solanas episode! Disco demolition night is also one of my favourite episodes, so anything more in that vein would be a-ok.
This podcast got me through some rough times this past year. Whatever you 2 want to make episodes about, I'll gladly listen. Except maybe more Newsies content. One can only take so much Christian Bale.
The Wonder Woman pic inspired me to say - the moral panic of comic books. Can't wait to hear you dive into William Moulton Marston's wonderful poly life cuz I'm assuming you'll veer there dieting the lie detector story..? 🥰
"work happens when you believe nothing is going on at all, like the secret parties of toys" - love this line, love this whole letter. Thank you for this letter Sarah, and thank you and Mike for being one of mine and my partner's lifelines over the last year.
YWA helped me get through the last year or so as well, so thank you! As a Brit I loved your Princess Diana series and I'd love it if you did a few more episodes on British figures or stories. Amy Winehouse, Paula Yates, the Maxwell family, Cheryl Cole.
Yes amazing idea. A little series on maligned/tabloid abused British women! I'm also obsessed with the Dana Schwartz Noble Blood podcast as a result of this one so would love more history ones. Love the podcast x
So this is a bit off topic (sorry) but I wanted to thank YWA and Sarah specifically for introducing me to the idea that ‘memory doesn’t work like that’ when it comes to repression or revisiting. I developed OCD in recent years and many of my intrusive thoughts would centre on revisiting or conjuring up old memories and desperately trying to identify where and why I had sinned in them. It was causing me deep distress daily and nothing broke through the cycle of it. Until Sarah said, when talking about Michelle I think, that you cannot find truth in revisiting old memories the brain just doesn’t work like that.
All of which to say - thank you, sincerely. It was a genuine breakthrough for me that therapy hasn’t given me. Your work is catharsis for so many people I am so grateful for it. Sincerity over!
I decided not to get a tattoo. Bravely.
Once you all offhandedly mentioned Sybil. I came across a copy in a little library on a walk. I am very excited to have my own summer bookclub and 10 pages in seems ripe for commentary. Also more crossovers with You Are Good and Maintenance Phase!! Thank you for helping us all through!
Hail Seitan.
Yes. Especially the pants. How does this show keep getting inexplicably better? I suspect they made a deal with the Devil, at "the Crossroads." I could be wrong.
Strongly considering getting Sarah’s line about it taking bravery to be boring, and by that metric being very, very brave, tattooed on my body 😹
I gave up pants years ago.
Just to be clear, I LOVE your book club episodes, I was just thinking the other day about how good they were, so I was very excited to see you had a new one! Personally I also love when you cover online drama, since I never know anything about it beforehand and it's usually pretty low stakes entertainment. I would never even be aware there was drama going on most places, so it's fun to explore. More serious side note: have you noticed the satanic panic making a comeback?? A couple Netflix documentaries (notably sons of sam) have been giving weight to the old (debunked) claims, as has the podcast the Devil Within. I'd love to hear your thoughts?
This is a beautiful letter! I really struggled with pandemic burnout at the beginning of this year, and finding YWA and being able to listen through the back catalogue and hear the fascinating, funny, and always so very empathetic conversations was really a wonderful lifeline. In terms of episode ideas, I would love to hear one about the moral panics attendant to "violent" video games. I'm sure you could get quite a lot from Jack Thompson and his various lawsuits and threats alone.
+1 - I would love to hear the YWA take on the video game violence moral panic and garbage-human Jack Thomson.
Really happy to see you’re working on the book, Sarah. I can’t wait to read it someday!
When it comes to bonus episode ideas, I realized yesterday that I really want to hear Sarah talk about Joe Vs the Volcano. Which I know is more of a You Are Good request, but I'm currently here so this is where I'll ask
Please do an episode on Aileen Wuornos…her story is fascinating and I would love to hear your perspective…I love the content that you two put it out. It’s given me a new way of thinking about certain culture phenomena
I started listening to YWA last March on the day I was told I had 24 hours to move from my current dorm to a new one where I would be isolated until the end of the semester. Your conversations filled my lonely space in a way that music no longer could.
Please do an episode(s) on qanon. You’ve referenced it in some of your episodes, and it feels like the contemporary version of some of the earlier moral panics you discuss. Also interested in “neighborhood watch”. I see the faded stickers with the weird guy in my neighborhood and it seems like it might be a good topic but really no clue.
As always, beautifully stated. “Discovering” you and Mike during the pandemic really helped me through it. Thank you for your insight, humor, and for helping me feel connected during this past year 🧡
It’s so good to hear from the YWA team! I was Zooming my boyfriend and had to put him on hold for a minute to read your wonderful and poetic letter! Your empathy and conscientious has always, and continues to, amaze me. One thing I’d love to hear you and Mike discuss is the way that multi-level marketing schemes work. Who and how they target, their history, etc. I’ve been looking into it, and there seems to be a lot of overlap between YWA past themes and MLM :). Stay cool!
I was almost completely unproductive, creatively and otherwise, during the pandemic. BUT I stayed as safe as I could while working the entire time and — by pure luck, really— didn't get or give anyone Covid. It was lonely, but discovering you guys takes me out of my head every week and it's been FUN AS HELL. You really helped, so it's great to hear that it runs both ways.
Thanks, camp counsellor Sarah! I might even share my packet of fun size milky bars with you that I have hidden back in my cabin. I don’t have many left, but you make me want to share. In terms of bonus content, I just like hearing you and Mike talk about stuff you’re interested in. You and Mike are a calming presence. Additionally I think it would be amusing if you guys did a summer book club covering a VC Andrews novel, I think Mike would be appalled, but I also know the content from VC andrews is triggering for many, so idk. In terms of bonus content, I really like the ones where you guys just talk about stuff that’s going on. Maybe whatever the drama is with Tana and the frenemies podcast. I also saw there was a heatwave in the PNW and immediately thought of you because like, I live in Australia and so the only person I know who lives up there is, aside from Bigfoot, Sarah. Idk. Love y’all and hope you’re keeping well and safe and I hope your marshmallows are toasted perfectly, not too burnt. See you at rafting in the morning.
Yes!! I read all the VC Andrews series as a young girl. Probably too young to be appropriate 🤣
Honestly I am just so thrilled with the return to camp and the book club, this is all I could ask for. I was a child in the 1980s Southern Baptist church so I find the entire Satanic Panic vaguely hilarious even while it's also extremely familiar. Listening to you and Mike discuss it is one of my very favorite things.
Yes I had to attend a non-denominational church 2-3x per week growing up in the 80s and relate to so much of this!
Thanks for this, sweet Sarah. I've been having similar thoughts about the climate crisis. Not so much a "You're Wrong About" topic but I'd love to hear your thoughts on parasocial relationships.
I can’t imagine my 2020 (or 2021) without ywa. I even wrote about the show and about moral panics for my college application essays. I’d love to hear you talk about horror movies (or explain them to Mike since he doesn’t watch them). I love when y’all bring each other into the little media worlds you each live in :)
Yeah, I don’t like horror movies and I would love to hear what it is Sarah likes about them!
As someone familiar with how the Mike Warnke story ends, I'm looking forward to that deep dive. Warnke reminds me of something observed in totalist belief systems (e.g. cults), where often confession becomes part of the ceremony, so people start confessing to false sins for the status of the redeemed repentant (which of course the leaders can then use against their flock).
Counselor Sarah! It's so nice to see you. Once this campfire reading is done, I would like to hear about more maligned women of the 90s, though really anything you or Counselor Mike want to talk about. It nice hearing you both discuss things in such detail and you have great banter. Anywho, see you at crafting tomorrow!
Sarah (and Mike), thank you for your podcast. It's been my steadfast companion during my pretty shitty midlife crisis. I will faithfully listen to whatever you put out into the universe because I've found all of it super enjoyable. And I never cared to think at all about OJ Simpson before your show, yet here we are.
This was such a wholesome and wonderful read! Thank you, Camp Counselor Sarah. As for ideas on future episodes, I'd love for you and Mike to tackle critical race theory or children transitioning, since those seem to be pretty spicy moral panics as of late, maybe with guests who are experts in those subjects. Thanks so much for the great work you and Mike do. This podcast has been a blessing for many. Take care, you lovely humans!
You're awesome. Y'all are awesome. So much love.
Love you guys! I always light up when I see a new episode of YWA and listen at least twice.
Thank you for this update, Sarah. It is always lovely to hear what you have to say. I'm so excited for the return of the summer book club. I remember when you finished Michelle Remembers you said you were going to share what you think really happened, but I don't know if that ever got discussed? If not, and you're still willing to share, I'd love to hear those theories. Thanks so much for all the work that you and Mike do. This show has been a lifeline for many of us as well.
I also would like to hear that follow up to what Sarah thinks really happened. 2020 was a decade of a year so I understand if it just didn't plan out as expected.
Just brilliant. I’m loving all of your tales on all of it.
ahhh this letter warmed my summer camp heart, thank u sarah!!!! not a suggestion but i love the wonder woman connection (historian jill lepore did a great episode on it in her podcast “the last archive” if you haven’t already checked it out) 💓 can’t wait to hear your take 💓
as someone who’s fascinated and frustrated by true crime (and is at this very moment getting annoyed about the latest episode of ‘missing on 9/11’ while actively choosing to listen to it) i’d love to know more about Sarah’s relationship to the genre, which has been touched on but not fully explored!
one thing that keeps me coming back to this podcast is your honesty. In all social media-land, nothing is entirely genuine. Everything is edited. And knowing that everything is edited, you manage to bring a warmth and connection and humor to it that feels right, and sometimes raw. And I love it.
Agreed! I feel like I'm becoming more honest and empathetic from listening to Sarah & Mike, they are so real and that is so rare.
No real suggestions other than to say thank you so much for doing this podcast and being a light for me in the dark covid times. You two bring such great insights into many topics that I didnt give a ton of thought to when I was younger (grew up in the 90s) and I love seeing critical thinking in action. This is GREAT work & you should be so proud.
YWA & MP cross over
I pictured argyle pants. What pants did everyone else picture?
Houndstooth Hammerpants
I dunno, Sarah. You lost me after I got distracted by the Wonder Woman image. There’s a much-needed You’re Wrong About episode happening there! 💕 Happy summering!