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Zi Chan is a naturally optimistic person. He moved from Singapore to the UK and then the US as an adult; had a job or two in big tech; and recently quit aforementioned cushy job to start his own company. When asked about if he worried his startup would fail, he replied “I think to be a business person, you need to be an optimist. So I think it’s gonna go great.” And that was that, easy peasy. However, Zi did not have the same optimism for parenthood, and had to work to uncover how he actually felt about being a father. The good news: all is well now that son Johnny is in the picture. But in this episode he describes what that journey was like and how he grappled with his fears. In this episode, Zi talks with us about all of this and more: - What it was like growing up in Singapore, and what the Singaporean version of a MASH board told him about adulthood - What his culture shock was upon moving to the UK and then the US - What motivated him to start his own company - How to avoid burning out or hitting a midlife crisis - And his journey to prepare himself for parenthood Zi's company is Remy Devourie, creating fashion inspired by the kitchen. His first products launch this month (!!). Full links to his website, instagram, substack etc on our substack, aftermash.substack.com Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

The episode on America’s Obsession with Exceptionalism took two takes because naturally I (Zoë) was stuck in the trees. There were some gems in there that I wanted to share. The editing is not good. But you’re welcome. ~ Zoë Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

I have been thinking about this episode for a long time. In 2025, I read Alyson Stoner’s memoir, Semi-Well Adjusted, Despite Literally Everything. Earlier this year, I read Mary Cain's memoir, This is Not About Running. These two beautiful and heartbreaking accounts scratched at the part of my brain that was wired to seek well-roundedness — that need to round out the resume that I have been primed for since I learned of the concept of a resume in seventh grade. Then, The Cut published The Pay-to-Play Model Childhood by Caitlin Moscatello. And I realized, that part of my brain is not focused on being well rounded (well not entirely), it’s worrying about being exceptional. This phenomenon is defined, and exemplified, by Alyson Stoner being described as “high-functioning”, and its pitfalls are characterized by Mary Cain’s journey with sport. I was never truly exceptional at anything. I was busy every day, “well-rounded” you may say, but I never made the travel soccer team or the dance team and couldn’t compete in the show ring to my full potential because show-jumping is expensive. But despite seeing myself as truly mediocre - on a good day a scootch above average - the truth is, I am succeeding. My husband and I are well settled into suburban life. We have stable careers, and I am a doctor — only 4/10 applicants get accepted to medical school. A Boston-Qualifying marathon time is out of reach, but a sub-one-hour-forty half marathon is within reach. And soon, I will have my own horse and will be able to participate in the sport however I chose. Going into this conversation with Jackie, it didn’t occur to me that my commitment to filling out my resume was actually an ingrained pursuit of exceptionalism. But the reality is that my life has always been on the right-side of the bell-curve. If I'm comparing myself, I’m always comparing myself upwards. This is because I grew up in a move-there-for-the-school-district suburb, where the competition was fierce despite the children already being set up well to succeed in life just by participating. So, when we’re pushing our kids to “be the best at the sport”, the reality is by virtue of who you are socioeconomically speaking, 90% of the work has been done before the kid has to take a single step onto the field. As such, and as an independent statement, pushing children to be the best is a futile pursuit. And even if we could define and agree on which singular human is “the Best”, the likelihood of your child becoming that singular best person is infinitesimally small; there will always be someone better. And so we’re leaving our kids set up for failure, confused and defeated. They’re funneled into a singular sport at the age of 6 (objectively too young to be specialized) that they don’t even know if they like better than anything else, but they’re stuck in the car for 10hrs a week traveling for a sport that their parents already dropped $7K on this year. At some point, they will get injured, or they won’t get recruited to play in college, or their college career will end with no prospects to go pro, and they’ll look back at all that sacrifice, and wonder what for and who the f*** am I and what do I do now??? In the other direction, just look at Taylor Swift suing young Olivia Rodrigo, getting married with 1000 of her closest celebrity friends, and getting the “inaugural Artist Director Honors” at the September 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. Fame has been her singular pursuit and she has been obsessed and stunted by it. It is a salient example of the flip side — so what if your child DOES become The Best? Is that actually a good thing? I’m so excited about this episode. It achieves my goal of finding a relevant conversation happening in media (albeit a little late as we can’t podcast real time) and tying it into our Great American Indoctrination, and bringing in other related media to fill out the conversation - we also discuss this article on no-future parenting by Hannah May to humbly turn this conversation on its head. Let us know your experience with sport and/or exceptionalism. Or, how you try to strike the balance as a parent! Zoë PS: you can buy us a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/aftermashpod Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

Dancer turned powerlifter, Emily Socolinsky, joins Jackie and Zoe to discuss her incredible career. Her story is at once very relatable and also incredibly powerful. In this episode, Emily talks about her young adulthood as a dancer and teacher, her back spasms and years of pain and how frustrating it was to not know what to do about it, how she found strength and started the gym, and what running it during Covid was like. She also tells us the story of her sister’s cancer diagnosis and eventual passing, and how that shaped her relationship to community, charity, and life. She ends with advice for anyone looking to get started with strength training, no matter their age or current strength status.Full show notes available on our substack, https://aftermash.substack.com/ If you want to learn more about Emily, check out her website www.fivex3.com. She offers online and in-person coaching, and is generally a wealth of knowledge about all things strength and aging! You can find her at: Her website, fivex3.com Her Youtube channel Instagram @fivex3 Her podcast Fivex3 Radio, wherever you get your podcasts! The style of lifting that Emily and I practice is Starting Strength. This is a straightforward program of lifting where you do three of four main lifts per session, 2-3 times a week. To learn more, check out their website startingstrength.com. Also, in this episode Emily mentions a few instagram accounts she personally recommends for anyone wanting to expose themselves to more strong women. Here were her suggestions! Girls Gone Strong @thegirlsgonestrong Molly Galbraith @themollygalbraith Jen Thompson @jenthompson132 Sioux-z Hartwig-Gary @siouxz52kg Bailey Haslam @baileyhaslam_ Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

It’s been about 9 months on this project, and we’ve made it to episode 15. For this installment of our every-5-episodes joint episode, we talk pet peeves and hot-takes, and to end on a positive note, aspirations. Topics range from pigeons to Taylor Swift, and it gets pretty spicy in there! Do you agree with us? Let us know! Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

Jackie and I sit down to talk about what has been our most requested episode: weddings. Parting from my typical book report (and hopefully saying goodbye to that format entirely, for my own sanity), we let the capitalism of it be and just chat about weddings. We start with a recently published article from the New York Times, For Some Singles, ‘Hobbyamory’ Has Replaced Hookups by Sadiba Hasan because it is the spider graph of this podcast that leads to weddings in the center. From there, we talk a brief history of the wedding before devolving into our personal takes on weddings. Then, the juiciest story of Zoe’s brief 32 years on this planet - planning her wedding. We think it’s a fun episode, we hope you do to! Zoe & The AfterMash clan. Sources For Some Singles, ‘Hobbyamory’ Has replaced Hookups How Wedding Expectations have Changed in the Past 90 Years An interview with the OG wedding planner Magazines: * The Knot (30th anniversary edition) * BRIDE Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

If I say “miracle drug” what comes to mind for you? If your head hasn’t been under a rock the last few years, my guess is you will immediately think of GLP-1s, the most popular of which is semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy. According to google search volumes, “Ozempic” first outpaced “Adderall” in early 2023, and has stayed above ever since. (I mention Adderall because it is a widely popular, often off-label, drug intended to treat a health condition predominantly moderated in the brain, similar to Ozempic.) This is in stark contrast to bariatric surgery, the only other approved medical treatment that reliably causes its users to lose as much weight as a GLP-1, which hasn’t budged in popularity over this time. In fact, we can see the trend-behind-the-trend when we look at a few other related search terms: weight loss and fat. One thing that is extremely interesting to me is how, despite Ozempic entering mainstream consciousness around 2023, it took until 2026 for searches for weight loss or fat to start spiking. In fact, searches for weight loss rose nearly 40% between its relatively stable pre-2026 baseline and its new 2026 norm. This, along with some fascinating anecdotes from some friends and some seriously questionable Instagram ads, got me wondering what exactly is the Ozempic Effect? Is it really a Miracle drug, as all of the headlines are claiming? How does it even work in our body? Turns out, the answers to these questions are far stranger, more nuanced, and more interesting than I could have ever anticipated. Tune in to find out! XOXO,Jackie PS - obligatory “tell us what you think!” request, “share with friends!” request, and “we love you, thank you for listening!” comment. But seriously - if you have any thoughts, please let us know! Resource List I once again bit off more than I should have chewed with this topic, hence why the works cited is so long. But hopefully my excessive researching can be your easy guide to learning more! Related podcast episodes * Our previous episode on dating apps, where we introduce the concept of stock buybacks: Why does Dating Suck So Much? * Our previous episode on diamond engagement rings, where we talk about the idea of interpreting people’s decisions in the context they are living in: The Secret History of the Diamond Engagement Ring * While we are at it, I am apparently on a kick of episodes that point out the financial incentives for businesses trying to sell you fixes to our modern society: here’s our previous episode on The Booming Business of Fertility Preservation * The Journal podcast episode that discusses hair loss drugs making people sick: A Quick Fix for Hair Loss Is Making Some Men Sick * Huberman Lab podcast episode with a very thorough overview of hunger, satiety, and GLP-1 science: The Science of Hunger & Medications to Combat Obesity | Dr. Zachary Knight * Diabolical Lies covered “pretty privilege” in a paywalled podcast ep; if you want to explore this topic and are willing to pay, I highly recommend this analysis of why someone would want to lose weight in the first place (and how marketing distorts the picture): How ‘The Botox Psyop’ Broke Our Brains in the Name of Beauty Info about obesity and diabetes * Obesity is measured via BMI, which is calculated as weight (kg) ÷ height (m²). For an average-height woman (5’4”), she is obese (BMI 30+) when she weighs 175lb, and she is severely obese at 233lb (BMI 40+). * Many doctors hold strong negative attitudes towards people with obesity, supporting Zoe’s point that we need to start treating weight like it’s just one medical fact in a suite of facts relevant to someone’s health, and not like it’s the Most Important Fact. To learn more about this stigma, this meta analysis is helpful: Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity - PMC * Causes: * (PDF) Altered Hypothalamic functional connectivity in adolescents with severe obesity * Genes and obesity | CDC * Causes of obesity: a review - ScienceDirect * Demographics: * Obesity and Severe Obesity Prevalence in Adults: United States, August 2021–August 2023 * Regional disparities in type 2 diabetes prevalence and associated risk factors in the United States * Health impacts: * Consequences of Obesity - CDC * The important role of comorbidities in the management of obesity - PMC * Obese people often suffer from malnutrition: Malnutrition in Obesity: Is It Possible? About appetite and how GLP-1s relate: * Can GLP-1 Be a Target for Reward System Related Disorders? A Qualitative Synthesis and Systematic Review Analysis of Studies on Palatable Food, Drugs of Abuse, and Alcohol - PMC Info about weight loss * Long-term weight loss maintenance, article in AJCN * Weight Maintenance after Dietary Weight Loss: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effectiveness of Behavioural Intensive Intervention About GLP-1 drugs (how they work in the body and mind) * Five things to know about GLP-1s and addiction by Stanford Medicine * Ozempic Quiets Food Noise in the Brain—But How? | Scientific American * Psychiatric effects of GLP‐1 receptor agonists: A systematic review of emerging evidence - PMC * Side effects: Semaglutide: Double-edged Sword with Risks and Benefits - PMC * A new era of weight loss: Mental health effects of GLP-1 drugs * The STEP 1 trial for semaglutide, which is the source of the 15% body weight loss stat: Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity | New England Journal of Medicine * Performing strength activities in addition to being on a GLP-1 reduces the muscle and bone loss: Bone Health After Exercise Alone, GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Treatment, or Combination Treatment: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial * Hubermann Lab podcast episode with a very thorough overview of hunger, satiety, and GLP-1 science: The Science of Hunger & Medications to Combat Obesity | Dr. Zachary Knight Demographics of users and and cost info about GLP-1s * New Weight Loss Drugs: GLP-1 Agonist Use and Side Effects in the United States | RAND * Poll: 1 in 8 Adults Say They Are Currently Taking a GLP-1 Drug for Weight Loss, Diabetes or Another Condition, Even as Half Say the Drugs Are Difficult to Afford | KFF * Costly GLP-1 Drugs are Rarely Covered for Weight Loss by Marketplace Plans | KFF * The GLP-1 Access Gap: Mapping Who Can Actually Afford America’s Miracle Weight-Loss Drugs | The Health Management Academy * Related: demographic data for depression prevalence and treatment Disparity in Depression Treatment among Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in the United States - PMC The insane $ that GLP-1 manufacturers are making (and spending) * The Heavy Price of GLP-1 Drugs: How Financialization Drives Pharmaceutical Patent Abuse and Health Inequities for GLP-1 Therapies * Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic US advertising spend doubles rival Eli Lilly, data shows | Reuters * Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly, alleging misleading GLP-1 advertising Should health insurers cover GLP-1s? * Fiscal Impact of Expanded Medicare Coverage for GLP-1 Receptor Agonists to Treat Obesity - PMC: This is the article that claims Medicare coverage for GLP-1 drugs would net increase $47.7 billion in spending over 10 years. * A Value-Based Price for Anti-Obesity Medications - July 17, 2025 - USC Schaeffer: This is the article that claims that Medicare coverage would save $245 billion over 10 years if they covered GLP-1s What happens when you stop taking GLP-1s? * Does Stopping Ozempic Cause Rebound Weight Gain and Health Problems? | Scientific American * Related: how to wean off of antidepressants: Discontinuation of antidepressants after remission with antidepressant medication in major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PMC Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

I started listening to podcasts in 2018. I remember the first podcast I devoured was Real Talk Radio. At some time around 2020, I found pop culture. Among the roll-call of podcasters was Shannon McNamara of FluentlyForward. So it is a DREAM to get to interview her here, and she is as lovely as she seems on her socials. In this conversation, we take it from the beginning to the end: her upbringing, the midlife crisis of Shannon’s twenties that brought us FluentlyForward, and what her life looks like now. At the end, we even talk a bit of pop culture. And of course, her advice to her twenty-year old self - it’s a good one! Apologies in advance for the technical difficulties I experienced, but Jackie and Shannon really hit it off - it was fun listening to what I missed while my internet wasn't working. Also, I said that Billie Eillish’s mom was on Armchair Expert, it was actually the other white-male-podcaster-with-all-the-answers, Rich Roll, and you can listen here if you’re curious. You can find Shannon at @FluentlyForward on socials and wherever podcasts are streamed. She will take your mind on a twisty journey and you’ll be a better person for it! - Zoe PS:Full show notes on our website: https://aftermash.substack.com/Like what you hear? Share the episode with friends or buy us a coffee! Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

Nothing like pulling out a handful of hair in the shower to wake you up to the fact that you've been effing stressed lately. Oops. The bad news: my hair is now 20% less voluminous than it was before. The good news: we got excellent fodder for a deep dive into a topic that I believe we will all benefit from learning more about. Thank you for your sacrifice, 20% of my hair. In this episode, we discuss: - Defining some terms: wouldn’t be a Jackie episode if we didn’t get real technical about the differences between burnout, stress, allostatic (over)load, and the (para)sympathetic nervous system. - Talking about the impact of chronic stress on the body: what is chronic stress and how does it show up? - Discussing why we have to deal with chronic stress: what happens in our modern society that lead to lots of stress and not a lot of stress relief? - And, lastly, if you are someone experiencing a lot of stress, what can you do about it? If you or someone you know suffers from any of the following, you should definitely give it a listen! - Trouble falling or staying asleep (including 3am wakeups)- Hair loss at a greater rate than normal- More frequent sickness- A recent increase in tummy fat you can’t seem to kick- Shoulder / neck tightness or jaw clenching- Recurring migraines- Irregular periods- Upset stomach, diarrhea (*in the tune of the pepto bismol commercial from our youth*)Full show notes on our substack!xoxo Jackie Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

If you have been following our podcast since we started, you may think you already have a good sense of who we are, your two intrepid hosts. Here are some of the things you may have gathered from our previous episodes: * Zoe is a doctor, lives in the suburbs, is married, owns a house, has a dog and suddenly not one but TWO cats, and wants nothing more in the world than to one day add a horse to the menagerie. * Jackie is a data analyst, lives in the city, is not yet married, rents an apartment, has no pets, and hates diamond engagement rings (but will not judge you if you have a diamond engagement ring). But do you know Jackie’s four rules to living a good life? Do you know why Zoe went from definitely NEVER wanting to be a doctor to ultimately deciding why it was the right career for her? What did Jackie learn from her previous failed relationships and how has that shaped her dating life? Why did Zoe change her mind on wanting kids? After this episode, you should walk away with a much better understanding of who we are, why we feel the way we do, and what were some of the lessons or bumps on the road that got us to where we are today. And, as a bonus, for anyone who was inspired and wants to make your own cootie catcher, here’s a set of simple instructions for how to fold! We had an absurd amount of fun revisiting this staple of our childhood and we promise you will too. Share your cootie catchers with us in the comments! Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

There were two months in 2024 where I relied exclusively on bottled-water. I was in Florida for one month, and if you have ever tried their tap water, you understand. The next month I was in Peru where I was actively trying to avoid E. coli. All these plastic water bottles - and that time I could bring water through their version of TSA - sent my millennial soul in a tizzy. The reduce-reuse-recycle indoctrination of my youth had fell by the wayside as dehydration and gastrointestinal collapse were on the line. But most interestingly, since I’ve been back, if I’ve needed water and didn’t have my own reusable bottle with me, rather than forego the idea of hydration entirely, I just bought a plastic water bottle. Why? Unsure. maybe I learned that the world wouldn’t end? Maybe it’s because for some reason, a cold Smart Water just hits? Maybe I justified it by reusing that water bottle so it was no longer “single-use”? I could not tell you. But I can assure you, it’s not a habit. In this week’s episode of AfterMASH, we visit an American Public School Classic: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. By which I actually mean, recycling because that is all I remember actually learning - Jae and Jackie, too. I remember every year my classroom would have the blue recycling bin with a sheet of paper taped over it stating what can be recycled. And despite this, I’m not always clear on what can be recycled to this day. I’m just grateful to live in a town with single-stream recycling so that I don’t have to worry that my mistake will ruin the entire recycling collection bin. But this episode isn’t re-hashing what is and is not recycling, because at the end of the day that actually doesn’t cut it. All those “low-waste lifestyle” lists you see, every single one of those HABITS you curate over time and beat yourself over for breaking - the totes, the reusable water bottles, the meal plans - only add up to about 1 ton of CO2 emission a year. I also have a personal hypothesis that they only encourage overconsumption - I actually spoke with a girl who for some reason needed to have a matching water bottle with her fiancé. And every time he lost his, which was often, she would buy two completely new water bottles for each of them, rather than just replace his? Wild. One ton of CO2 emissions a year is not nothing when you’re talking about bringing the average annual carbon footprint per person from a 15 down to a 2 in accordance to the Paris Accord (politics aside). Every ton counts. Additionally, it keeps crap of out of turtles’ nostrils, which is important - because another part of my curriculum was breathing through a straw to mimic what it was like to live with COPD, and that was HARD. Anyway, I digress. Back to carbon footprint, which is the measure of gas emissions we chose to focus on when quantifying environmental impact of human activities. The big drivers of carbon footprint: diet, where you chose to live, if/how much you depend on a car, and how often you use air travel. TLDR: if you are a vegan who lives in a city, doesn’t own a car, and choses vacation based on America’s very limited rail-system, you are winning. But, your annual carbon footprint is still about 4, which twice as much as the goal. And that is because you are but one person. And human consumption and living habits are a small part of the environmental puzzle. Corporations and manufacturing have a ton of work to do to help reduce emissions and other variables of environmental strain such as finite resource depletion, toxin leeching, de-forestation and consequential jeopardy of species, etc. One place to start is extended producer liability, which is a policy approach that assigns producers greater responsibility for the end-of-life management of products they introduce to the market. The goal is to encourage innovations in product design such that the product itself is less harmful and more durable. Violations lead to fines and public humiliation. Google AI says that it has affected upstream manufacturing, but I haven’t put time in to research it. So, if you know anything, comment below! These policies apply to electronics, mercury, thermostats, batteries, pharmaceuticals, pain, fluorescent lighting, and mattress. What I suggest, is that you visit your town website to see what agreements they have for disposal of these items. For instance, you can often bring your empty paint cans to the local hardware store. Or alternatively, you can bring these items to the dump, which at least in my town is an organized Mecca of trash that they take responsibility for wasting responsibility. One day, I hope to meet Charlie Kelly and Frank there (that’s an Always Sunny reference). Along the lines of EPLs, this research did force me to spend time on a question that floated in my mind: I assume all corporations suck. Their allegiance is to their shareholders (by definition). So, how do you know which companies are actually trying to do better and not just greenwashing? First, there are the concepts of Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) and B Corp certification. PBCs are for-profit corporate entities who are legally obligated to aim towards “general public benefit” over maximizing shareholder profit. Some PBCs include anthropic (yes), Ben and Jerry’s (score), Bluesky, King Arthur Flour, Patagonia, Seventh generation, and a company called Tilamook (also ice cream). A B-corp is a third-party certification issued by the nonprofit network B Lab - it is a label earned by a for-profit that completes and passes some “Impact Assessment”. The B-corp label requires companies to be transparent and legal accountable for ongoing accreditation by the B-corp. Without doing much [any] research, this sounds like saying a chicken is free-range because it gets 2 square-feet to roam as opposed to just sitting in a wired cage with a few other buddies. Additionally, I stumbled upon three companies that seek to evaluate companies, typically in the fashion space, on their environmental, labor, and animal welfare practices. With the help of ChatGPT, I put together a table that compared these companies missions, rubrics, and findings. Then I looked at what their best, average, and worst rated companies were for the year of 2024; and then I compared their ratings for three companies. The table is below, so draw your own conclusions. My conclusion, even the “best” among them have so far to go it is simply laughable… … and then they got by Shien ; ) (after we recorded this episode). For a true paradigm shift in environmental responsibility and stewardship, my research has lead me to the concept of a Circular Economy. This is a model of resource production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling materials and products that extend the product life cycle for as long as possible. The goal is to reduce resource depletion of finite resources and minimize effects of waste generation. You can think of this through an expansion of the original 3R lesson plan to an All Grown Up 10R conceptualization: (source) With these Rs in mind, your first instinct should be to refuse crap in the first place (as in, say “no”), and think about resources you already have at hand. You do not get to recycling until the eighth step… That is also shown in the Butterfly Diagram, where the goal is to stay as close to the “body” of the butterfly as possible. Recycling, at the edge of the “stock management” wing of the butterfly, is really a last ditch effort. Visit the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to take your own deep dives on a circular economy. The high level goal of a circular economy is to build a modular human environment that can be assembled and then disassembled (after centuries), built without toxins, minimizing reliance on finite resources to extend product life cycle for as long as possible and reduce resource depletion of finite resources and minimize effects of waste generation. A gleaming example of this is the Bullitt Center in Seattle. This integrated building design was made possible by a philanthropist with lofty goals. It is the greenest commercial building in the world. At least that’s what the website says. It opened in 2013 and features 500+ solar panels, geothermal walls, six-story composting toilets, and its own rain water collection system. It is built without toxins and is aimed to last for 250 years. And you bet it faced hurdles to overcome from banks who didn’t know how to back a building that was supposed to last that long, the DPH who was scrupulous about their water collection system, and manufactures who had to remove over 350 toxins from their construction products. So what does this mean for you? Coming from someone who enjoys her suburban lifestyle and will always depend on a car: shift your mindset. Recycling is a distraction, I’d go as far to as to say a virtue signal at this point. It matters, but not nearly to the extent we’ve been told it does from an environmental perspective. Minimizing plastic can be important to you for other reasons I didn’t address in this article: it’s cheaper and it’s theorized to be better for your health (although definitions, quantifications, and randomized-control-trials yet to exist to illustrate exactly how). Beyond that, step it up: when you see your blue recycling bin, you should be thinking “reduce” actually. When you’re looking to buy something new, take inventory of what you have and how it can make do. After that, find the scratchiest-wool-sweater-that-you-can-take-from-the-office-to-the-club-year-after-year, check-out thrift stores, take time to find companies you can endorse, and understand EPL and disposal options set up by your local municipality. These are meaningful ways to engage with your community and garner support for efforts that make a difference. Because environmental solutions are bigger tha

Dude, why does everyone have a pet but nobody has a baby? What should we make of the rise of doggy daycares and pet clothing? Is this late stage capitalism? Is it the increasing unaffordability of having kids? Is it the loneliness epidemic? Maybe all of the above?? Join Jackie and Zoe as we learn about the history of pet keeping in America, recent trends in pet ownership, and we use virtue ethics to evaluate our relationships to our furry friends.Whether you have a pet, are considering getting one, or don’t want one but just want to understand what the hell a Bark box is, join us. If you want to learn more about our messy relationships with animals, I highly recommend the book Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog, PhD And the paper that Zoe claims she will definitely read is: Autonomy, Slavery, and Companion Animals by Heather Kendrick, PhD Dude, I went down such a rabbit hole when researching for this episode. Every paper mentioned, and a few others besides, are linked below. "My Little Son, My Everything": Comparative Caregiving and Emotional Bonds in Dog and Child Parenting by Udvarhelyi-Tóth et al, 2025  Majority of Americans think of their pets as family members | Pew Research Center Separation-related behaviour indicates the effect of functional breed selection in dogs (Canis familiaris) - ScienceDirect  The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including Human–Animal Interactions in Assessments of Animal Welfare - PMC The Welfare of Dogs as an Aspect of the Human–Dog Bond: A Scoping Review - PMC We love our pets, and our spending proves it : Beyond the Numbers Similarities and differences between dog–human and human–human relationships - PMC A $1,000 Dog Grooming Session? The Wellness Industry Is Booming. - The New York Times Animal Liberation (book) - Wikipedia  The Case for Animal Rights - Wikipedia  The Animal Welfare Science of Working Dogs: Current Perspectives on Recent Advances and Future Directions Operational Details of the Five Domains Model and Its Key Applications to the Assessment and Management of Animal Welfare - PMC  All in the Family: Pets and Family Structure - PMC Dog Population & Dog Sheltering Trends in the United States of America Future estimated annual expenditures of raising a child, assuming a higher inflation rate of 4 percent after 2020  2025 AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

The American Middle Class! This episode started as a desire to understand the base definitions of income and class in order to better understand my own personal position (and privilege) in society. But it turns out a Merriam-Webster consensus of this stuff does not exist. Which is preposterous, because in middle school I learned about The Scientific Method, which tells me that to build a useful experiment you must have a definition of your population and your problem.  So join me (Zoe), an Upper Middle Class White B***ch with Expensive Hobbies, and Jackie (who also identifies as upper middle class), as we create a definition of the American Middle Class so that maybe we (and we alone) can solve the problems facing it. Show notes on our substack! But here's a sneak peek of the resulting definition I come up with: Zoë’s Diagnostic Criteria for The American Middle Class (modeled after the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders): Four or more of the following metrics must have been present during the same 3 years within the associated geographic location of the household unit during that time period. AND at least one metric achieved must be (1) Having achieved at least the median income of associated geographic location for the last 3 years OR (2) Have not been delinquent on mortgage payments for more than 60 consecutive days.  - Having achieved at least the median income of associated geographic location for the last 3 years - Have not been delinquent on mortgage payments for more than 60 consecutive days - Able to afford a healthcare plan - Every working adult has a reasonably-functioning car (exclusive of dependents) - Emergency fund of with at least three months worth of expenses covered - Can save for retirement at the rate of your maximum employee-matched retirement account or ROTH-IRA max contributions for the year - Have not been delinquent on credit card debts as it relates to necessities of living for more than three consecutive months in the last 3 years - The value of the Consumers Good Index can fluctuate 10% without changing behavior Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

We wanted to love Yesteryear, the buzzy new book by first-time artist Caro Claire-Burke. It's everywhere right now, and like you, we were sucked in by the titillating premise: a tradwife influencer who lives on a farm waking up in the 1850s and learning what "traditional life" really entails. It's catchy, it's unique, it makes you wonder what the twist is at the end of the book. But we swear, it isn't worth it, and we will break down for you why. This is our first bonus episode! We will be back on Tuesday with our regularly scheduled programming. PS - Like what you hear? Subscribe, share with friends, and/or buy us a coffee! Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe

Dating sucks; anyone who has spent any amount of time “on the market” in their 20s or 30s can tell you that. We all love to hate on dating apps. “They don’t work,” we gleefully confess to each other, which is a universal truth we all know... because all of us are still swiping. Dating apps are like social media, or #grindset culture: we love to hate them and yet we secretly can’t stop using them. The tech overlords commodified one of the most fundamental tenets of being alive: the seeking of human connection. But that doesn't make it any less important. So what can we do about it? Why?? Why do dating apps suck so much?? Do they actually, or do we just love to hate them?? What actually works in seeking and keeping a partner, according to science?? Will I ever get married or will I die alone?? This and more in today’s episode. Side note: if you are seeking love, I recommend reading the book that helped change my relationship with seeking relationships: How to Not Die Alone, by Logan Ury. The sources referenced in the podcast: Stock Buybacks Are a Key Example of Extractive Corporate Power The real effects of share repurchases - ScienceDirect 10 Essential Pieces of Expert Dating Advice | Psychology Today  U.S. women are outpacing men in college completion, including in every major racial and ethnic group  "Scarcity of College Men and the Decline in Marriage Among Non-College Americans", by Clara Chambers, Benjamin Goldman, and Joseph Winkelmann.  “Where Have All the Good Men Gone?” Gendered Interactions in Online Dating - PMC What's The Biggest Challenge Men Face On Dating Apps?  Aspirational pursuit of mates in online dating markets | Science Advances  From Looking for Love to Swiping the Field: Online Dating in the U.S. | Pew Research Center Dating App Use Linked to Worse Mental Health | Psychology Today  Why investors don’t fund dating | andrewchen  Dating App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2026) - Business of Apps Red Flag/Green Flag: What to Look for When You’re Dating (PDF) Leveling the Playing Field Get full access to AfterMASH at aftermash.substack.com/subscribe