Hanif Abdurraqib, The Olympics, Dr. Jean Milburn

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Love: Hanif Abdurraqib

Alex uses his Love time to talk up poet, cultural critic, and music journalist extraordinaire, Hanif Abdurraqib. He reads a selection of his work, discusses his expertise on music ranging from Fall Out Boy and Stevie Nicks to Carly Rae Jepson and the Weeknd to Celine Dion and the Four Seasons, and the tragedy that more people haven’t heard of this quiet genius from Columbus. Andy meanwhile calls out stereotyping about names and cultures and adits to casually liking A Tribe Called Quest.

Hate: The Olympics

Andy takes the Hate to admit that despite having some really great memories of and generally enjoying the Olympics, they’re an absolute disaster riddled with IOC corruption, the destruction of host cities, and gross jingoism. Alex piles on to yell at Americans who only really like sports that their own country is good at (despite Weightlifting being awesome) and to tell everyone to go read Dave Zirin’s Brazil’s Dance with the Devil.

Relationship: Dr. Jean Milburn (Sex Education)

The Relationships.txt question this episode comes from a concerned mother whose ex-husband doesn’t see what’s wrong with asking out their son’s really spectacular therapist. Andy rightly calls out the abject selfishness and ridiculous nature of the entire scenario, and suggests good communication with the more level-headed parties involved, while Alex spitefully recommends planning for the worst case of all scenarios and making sure that their son knows exactly why he’s about to lose his counselor.