In this edition of the podcast, the girls/women kick off the discussion with reports on their respective special events; Sarah’s Rights and Religions Forum conference in Washington, DC and Meghan’s latest Unspeakeasy retreat in New York. Lamenting their ongoing habit of saying “I’m a liberal, but . . .” before talking about anything that might be construed as right wing, Sarah says the noticed the same tic in a book she’s reading about the unintended consequences of the birth control pill. #NotThatWeDontSupportBirthControl. Speaking of procreation, they move on to the subject of fecund billionaire Elon Musk and his purchase of Twitter. Will the resulting speech violence drive all the right-thinkers to Canada? Will Sarah lean harder into gender tweets? Will Meghan give up her blue check?

Sarah admits she wasted a car salesman’s time by taking a Tesla out on a self-driving spin (unsurprising spoiler: the car can park better than she can). The hostesses then return to the evergreen subject of censorship, citing the resurfaced brouhaha over the forced departure of New York Times opinion editor James Bennet in 2020. Some who joined the pile-on are now apologizing, but is it too little too late? Meanwhile, they wonder if their own intense lack of censorship, especially around certain topics, is potentially an ineffective tool for change. Are they too obsessed to make a difference?

In the very special bonus content: more Zamboni-splaining! Plus, the girls/women respond to listener comments about . . . porn! Finally, Sarah reminisces about her (briefly) unplugged travels in Greece and Meghan recalls a trip to Egypt as part of a faux thrupple.

Relevant links:

Semafor: Inside The Identity Crisis At The New York Times

Meghan’s Substack

Sarah’s Substack

Final reminder: The first ever Special Place Zoom hangout is coming up this Saturday, November 5 at 8pm ET. Sarah and Meghan will show their faces and answer your questions (within reason).

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aspecialplace.substack.com