Author Rachel Kushner and host/visual artist Chloe Aftel first met after the success of Rachel’s first novel and have worked collaboratively ever since. Now, the pair reunite for the latest episode of The Other Pod to discuss her new novel, Creation Lake, and dive into everything creative process and ideation. They discuss the way their artistic processes align and differ across mediums, the journey to capture shifting perspectives, and the kinetic, alive energy that comes with creating.

Highlights:

• Rachel reflects on the tricky balance and ultimate catharsis of writing first-person characters whose thoughts and judgments are antithetical to her own;
• How a writing exercise with her husband led to a crucial breakthrough in the story structure of Creation Lake;
• The lessons she’s learned in this career regarding ego, self-perception, dissociation, and staying monkish when it comes to praise;
• Rachel’s unique, instinctual connection to her characters and crafting story.

Rachel Kushner is an author long-listed for the Booker Prize, responsible for the widely loved novels Telex from Cuba, The Flamethrowers, and The Mars Room. Her latest novel, Creation Lake, releases September 4, 2024. You can keep up with Rachel on her website and find all her written work here.

Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America.

Support The Other Pod on Patreon for episode extras and The Other Questions lightning round!
Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeaftel to stay up to date on new work.
Find all episodes of The Other Pod here.

Serene Khader may not be what you typically think of when you hear the word philosopher. She came into philosophy with the heart of an activist and an eye for public policy, interested in reconsidering the ways in which we think about, advocate for, and ultimately drive movements for justice forward. Serene talks with host Chloe Aftel about what exactly the job of a philosopher is, the role of philosophy in changing the lives of women from the global South and here in the United States, as well as how being inquisitive about our mental frameworks and assumptions may just be the key to achieving justice.

Highlights:

• Bridging the theoretical with the practical when philosophizing on social justice;
• What to take away from student protests and uprisings;
• How to engage with the political election cycle: a philosophical perspective married with immediate implications;
• A philosopher’s guide to dealing with despair and finding hope for the future

This episode aired before President Biden dropped out of the election.


Serene Khader is a philosopher and feminist theorist with areas of research including ethics and moral psychology, political philosophy, and feminist philosophy. She holds the Jay Newman Chair in Philosophy of Culture at Brooklyn College and teaches Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her upcoming trade book Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop will be published by Beacon Press in 2024. Previous books include Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic (Oxford University Press 2018) and Adaptive Preferences and Women’s Empowerment (Oxford University Press 2011). You can find more of Serene’s work on her website.

Chloe Aftel (she/they) has spent her career exploring narratives of identity and belonging. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America. Aftel is working on her next feature book on male bisexuality.

Support The Other Pod on Patreon for episode extras and The Other Questions lightning round!
Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeaftel to stay up to date on new work.
Find all episodes of The Other Pod here.

“You have to allow yourself to sit in your fire and burn.”

Rapsody is back from her hiatus with the jam-packed, undeniably raw and emotionally attuned new album Please Don’t Cry. Host Chloe Aftel dives deep with Rapsody to explore all the emotional healing that took place behind the scenes for this record to come into creation, how her background and upbringing influence the music she makes decades later, and all that Rapsody has learned along the way about love, spirituality, and the music industry.

Highlights:

• The rapper’s journey from growing up as youngest sibling of five in North Carolina to a multi-decade career in the rap industry;
• Her friendships and lessons learned from Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, and more;
• What she learned from Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed on her healing journey and unlearning the “good girl syndrome” in her own life;
• Navigating the tricky web of being a female rapper, going against the grain of what is expected.

Rapsody (born Marlanna Evans) is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and rapper celebrating the release of her fourth studio album, Please Don’t Cry. The album brings together a multitude of profound artists, including Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, Alex Isley, Baby Tate, and more. Largely hailed as one of the greatest living lyricists of her genre, Rapsody has a unique skill for wordplay, timing, and rhyme patterns and has amassed a global fanbase for her music. In her latest, 22-track album, Evans goes deeper and more introspective than ever before, letting the world know exactly how she is. Stream Please Don’t Cry wherever you listen to music, and follow Rapsody on instagram, X, and Facebook.

Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America. Aftel is working on her next feature book on male bisexuality.

Support The Other Pod on Patreon for episode extras and The Other Questions lightning round!
Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeaftel to stay up to date on new work.
Find all episodes of The Other Pod here.