The 'reddit bro' vs. the 'wife guy'; plus, Fat Bear Week!

By Brittany Luse,

Barton Girdwood, Alexis Williams, Liam McBain, Corey Antonio Rose, Jessica Placzek, Danielle Kurtzleben , Sandhya Dirks

Published October 4, 2024 at 9:20 AM EDT

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during the vice presidential debate on October 1.

Tuesday night, JD Vance and Tim Walz faced off in their first debate. Host Brittany Luse is joined by NPR's national race and identity correspondent Sandhya Dirks and political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben to discuss how the candidates display competing brands of white masculinity.

Then, Fat Bear Week is back! The annual March Madness-style bracket of the fattest bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park is in full swing after a rocky start. In honor of Fat Bear Week, Brittany revisits a journey through time to unpack what bears mean to us — and why they're family, friend and foe all at once.

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Brittany Luse

Brittany Luse is an award-winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is the host of It's Been a Minute and For Colored Nerds. Previously Luse hosted The Nod and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She's written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, and Teen Vogue.

Barton Girdwood

Alexis Williams

Liam McBain

Liam McBain (he/him) is an assistant producer on It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders. He's interested in stories at the margins of culture.

Corey Antonio Rose

Jessica Placzek

Danielle Kurtzleben

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk. She appears on NPR shows, writes for the web, and is a regular on The NPR Politics Podcast. She is covering the 2020 presidential election, with particular focuses on on economic policy and gender politics.

See stories by Danielle Kurtzleben

Sandhya Dirks

Sandhya Dirks is the race and equity reporter at KQED and the lead producer of On Our Watch, a new podcast from NPR and KQED about the shadow world of police discipline. She approaches race and equity not as a beat, but as a fundamental lens for all investigative and explanatory reporting.