Rachel Webster
speaker
380 appearances
8 recordings
1 series
first heard Feb 2025
last heard 16 Jul
Rachel Webster’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
In our last episode of Debt Heads, we learned that life in plastic is not fantastic.
So many of us grew up with shopping as the backdrop to our family traditions.
Our consumer culture is like an invasive species that has its roots intertwined with our deepest memories and emotional connections.
This organism has been growing for our entire lives, and its branches are so wide-reaching, we've come to believe our very survival depends on its shelter, because it's all we've ever known. But I don't want that to be all I've ever known.
Because we know firsthand what it's like to lose sleep over debt.
To get out of debt, but find ourselves falling back into it.
Pass me the peanut butter.
Like what drew us into stores? What kept us coming back? And when we shopped, what else were we doing besides procuring goods?
But when we suggested the very next day, they figured out a way to make it work with their schedules.
What? It's just, it's full on a Friday in the middle of the day. Oh, yeah. Every aisle has somebody in it. It's all women. I haven't seen a man here. There's one man over there.
Carol approached the terrain with acute vision. You mean like she can spot cute things? No, like acute, like laser focus. Okay, David Attenborough. It appeared that she didn't need anything, and yet she was on the hunt for a good price. You know, I'll buy like a tote bag and go, why the hell do I need another tote bag? I have nothing but tote bags. On the other side of this retail enclosure,
Sam circled the merchandise with more curiosity than killer instinct. It was clear that she was here for more than pure acquisition. It's just like fun. It's so colorful. She appreciated this habitat for the abundance of artistry. It's just beautiful.
Who needs that? But it's just so cute. She preferred to graze for hours rather than swallow in one fell swoop. I could just spend the entire time in this department.
To get the authentic Carol and Sam TJ Maxx experience, we would need to split up.
Meanwhile, I was following Sam around as she pointed out nearly every bright and shiny object she saw. I think I'm attracted to a lot of the same stuff over and over again, different colors, different textures.
They love to check in as they pass each other to review their selections and vet their carts.
Humans have always enjoyed beautiful things. We're artists. We decorate our houses like we decorated our caves. We've always cultivated and exchanged objects that have no use but to be admired. But the common narrative that our love of beauty means we all have an insatiable thirst for more shit is inspired by a very small chapter in the history of the human story.
This so-called insatiable thirst didn't even become part of our story until about 100 years ago, when we were completely gobsmacked by an unprecedented level of material opulence.
Showing 41–60 of 380 · page 3 of 19
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