Aisha Harris wants everyone to take pop culture more seriously.
“It's often seen as the desert or the counterprogramming to the real stuff that's happening,” she said. “Obviously, there are some things that are more important than others, but I also think that pop culture and politics go absolutely hand-in-hand in every way possible.
“If that weren't true,” she adds, “then we wouldn't have people trying to ban books, we wouldn't have people trying to ban drag queens.”
In her new book “Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me,” the co-host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour” podcast shares her experiences as a Black, suburban '90s-kid turned-30-something, city-dwelling journalist while digging into the shifting ways we interact with pop culture — and how it touches us in ways we may not even realize.
Harris joined St. Louis on the Air host Elaine Cha in June before a live audience to discuss “Wannabe: Reckonings with the pop culture that shapes me.” Listen to the conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
