As some of you know, my doctoral dissertation looks at how gay men use podcasts and blogs to resist reductive understandings of gay male personhood. Over the last week, I've listened to and partially transcribed 100 different episodes of gay podcasts. There are a number of shows and episodes that I want to highlight as especially exemplary, meaning the content proved to be very informative and/or creative. I'm sure I'll do a few these entries. For the time being, if you haven't already checked out the following, please do:

Bad Weeds SF 56 & 59: An amazing interview with Alejandro Diesta (sp?), a former meth. addict. Really, a must listen for gay men, especially if you have friends who are using.

The Gay Parenting show where the host interviews Dan Savage. The men do a fine job articulating the changing future of gay identity.

Each and every episode of PNS Explosion has been a joy to audience. If you haven't, please give the boys a listen. Great production and content. Patrick, Scott, and Noah borrow a lot of concepts from other shows, but they make the schtick all their own.

ETHS featuring John Ong. Okay, so, it's a show I co-host, so I feel strange mentioning it, but the John Ong interview is a really important one to catch. It's a nice history lesson in queer podcasting, who came when, etc. Also, the work John is doing to raise awareness of partner citizenship is profoundly important.

All in all, it's been a pleasure to listen to so many podcasts in a single week. As a community, we're doing really important work. Whether our shows focus on the mundane (i.e., what's in a host's fridge) or the fringe (i.e., Madge Weinstein taking a shit and screaming at and about GW), we are providing people from all over the planet an opportunity to see the many faces of gay men. More than that, we, in Marxian spirit, have taken control over the methods of production that shape representations of gay men in mediated formats. Bravo!