Proxy with Yowei Shaw

Yowei shares exciting show news and goes on a self-delusion bender with the team at Proxy HQ. Is she being delusional? Or is delusion just necessary for starting any new project?From the episode:  Useful Delusions: The Power & Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, by Shankar Vedantam: www.hiddenbrain.org/books Radiotopia from PRX: www.radiotopia.fm  Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

Conspiracy theories have been gaining traction all the way to the highest seats of power. So, are there emotional dynamics at play that we could understand to be able to do something about it? Last year, Zach Mack’s dad sent him a strange email, asking to bet $10,000 to settle once and for all who was correct and who was the brainwashed one.  From NPR’s Embedded podcast, this is episode 2 of the Alternate Realities series: Down the Rabbit Hole.  From the episode:  Listen to the rest of the Alternate Realities series from NPR's Embedded here: www.npr.org/podcasts/510311/embedded Follow Zach Mack's work: www.zachmack.org Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

For as long as she can remember, Nichole Hill has had a complicated relationship with Black history. Then in 2020, she stumbled on a digital archive of pre Civil Rights era Black newspapers and got obsessed with the scandalous stories she found. Our Ancestors Were Messy is her new podcast that explores Black history through the lens of gossip and drama. In this episode, Nichole tells the story of a Victorian era love triangle that rocked the elites of DC.  From the episode:  Nichole Hill is an audio show-runner, writer, and the host and creator of Our Ancestors Were Messy and The Secret Adventures of Black People. Find out more about Nichole here: www.nicholelhill.com Listen to Our Ancestors Were Messy wherever you get your podcasts You can support the show by becoming a member: ourancestorsweremessy.supercast.com Follow Nichole Hill on Instagram @nicholewthanh Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

Basket Case is a new show about mental health. In this episode, host Nicole Kelly (NK) takes on perfectionism, an issue that Yowei has personally struggled with. Plus, some breaking news about Proxy. From the episode:  Basket Case is a show from Molten Heart and iHeart Podcasts, created and executive produced by Jasmine (JT) Green, and hosted by Nicole Kelly (NK) You can listen to Basket Case on all podcast platforms: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-basket-case-217055280/  Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

When Yowei heard about the new podcast Little Devils, she was like: finally, someone being honest about a thing we all do. On Little Devils, Jasmin Bauomy interrogates the snap judgments she makes of other people, to find the story behind that annoying thing they do. In this episode, we share a story from Little Devils and we toast 2024 with a year-end recap.  From the episode:  Listen to the full season of Little Devils on all platforms: https://pod.link/1783097137 Support their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/littledevils  Follow @littledevilsshow and @jasminbauomy on Instagram and BlueSky  Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

The story of someone who suffered alone in secret for 8 years with a problem he was too afraid to Google -  and then he stumbled into a support group. In this episode, we dive into the emotional dynamics of support groups with Jason Yu. Why did support groups help him, when nothing else did? From the episode:  Fidget Podcast - Jason Yu's support group in podcast form for people who compulsively pick their skin, pull their hair, bite their nails Follow the Fidget Podcast on Instagram The TLC Foundation - an organization for body-focused repetitive behaviors The Art of Gathering and How We Show Up: Jason’s book recs for learning how to build community and gather Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

Whoever wins the election, Americans will still want to rip each other's heads off. Social psychologist Jay Van Bavel helps us understand why we should care about polarization, how we got here, and what, if anything, we can do about it.  From the episode:  Jay Van Bavel is a social psychologist at New York University and the author of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony: https://www.powerofus.online/ The paper on political sectarianism Jay co-wrote:  https://www.jayvanbavel.com/_files/ugd/9c6579_b289e58eb65b461aa67c03f4cc5d4804.pdf Follow Jay on X and Instagram: @jayvanbavel  Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

We all know that moment - when you feel like you need to cry in front of other people, but don't want to cry. In this episode, Yowei talks to Heather Christle, the author of The Crying Book, to parse what’s happening in that moment, what tears are saying and how we should respond to them.  From the episode: Heather Christle is a poet and professor at Emory University. She has a new book coming out in March called  In the Rhododendrums: A Memoir with Appearances by Virginia Wolf. It's available for preorder in all the usual places. You can follow Heather on  Twitter and Instagram @heatherchristle.  The Thai Life insurance commerical from our crying experiment Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

Finally, a campaign reveal. Did we get additional funding to hire Kim for more hours? Plus, some updates for what’s in store for Proxy. Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com

The final installment of Yowei's quest to solve the mystery of proxy converations. In this episode, Yowei talks to a ritual expert and tries explaining what she's learned about proxy conversations to her mom.  From the episode: Michael Norton is a behavior scientist, Harvard Business School professor, and the author of The Ritual Effect: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ritual-Effect/Michael-Norton/9781982153021 Yowei's unhinged grieving ritual for her layoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHHQK9ooNqc   Proxy is an independent podcast that relies on listeners. To support emotional investigative journalism™️ and help the show keep going, consider joining our Patreon: patreon.com/proxypodcast. You’ll get our newsletter and exclusive bonus episodes.  Follow us on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw Get in touch at proxythepod@gmail.com