Sep 14, 2026 · 59 min · 12 segments
This week, Amile & Phoebe venture further back in time with James Baldwin’s 1956 masterpiece, *Giovanni’s Room*. As they discuss the social climate that forced Baldwin & his characters into literal…
In our new podcast series, Pairings, we dive into stories
The stories we read, the stories we watch, and of course, the stories we tell ourselves
As lifelong readers with seven streaming services between us, there's no topic we haven't looked at from every angle.
[bell dings] This to me is a really interesting look at what is fundamentally David's privilege, David's white privilege.
[bell dings] "Giovanni's face, which I had memorized so many mornings, noons and nights, hardened before my eyes."
[bell dings] He felt that tackling both systemic American racism and the profound stigma of homosexuality in a single narrative would make the, the reader's experience almost too onerous.
[bell dings] It just makes me think that some of the things that just like kind of like bubble under the surface, yes, they might prolong a situation, but they're in no way helpful.
[bell dings] But when we talk about David's struggle with his own sexuality and his desire, his lust towards Giovanni, who in a lot of ways is, is a, a, another protagonist in this story, we see that there are like so many themes around toxic masculinity there.
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In our new podcast series, Pairings, we dive into stories
The stories we read, the stories we watch, and of course, the stories we tell ourselves
As lifelong readers with seven streaming services between us, there's no topic we haven't looked at from every angle.
[bell dings] This to me is a really interesting look at what is fundamentally David's privilege, David's white privilege.
[bell dings] "Giovanni's face, which I had memorized so many mornings, noons and nights, hardened before my eyes."
[bell dings] He felt that tackling both systemic American racism and the profound stigma of homosexuality in a single narrative would make the, the reader's experience almost too onerous.
[bell dings] It just makes me think that some of the things that just like kind of like bubble under the surface, yes, they might prolong a situation, but they're in no way helpful.
[bell dings] But when we talk about David's struggle with his own sexuality and his desire, his lust towards Giovanni, who in a lot of ways is, is a, a, another protagonist in this story, we see that there are like so many themes around toxic masculinity there.
