All of us have that one friend who fully commits to the bit. And frankly, there is no better time in your life for taking new hijinks for an extended walk than the college years. But what if the bit was ancient Nordic weaponry?
Our friend of a friend today sets off to college with the axe of her dreams in hand—we do mean an actual axe—and together they forge an extravagant bond. She find community and minor fame, even love. But her boyfriend’s fondness for her axe quickly becomes excessive, and the cracks in their relationship only grow from there. "Axe boyfriend" has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Our guests today are two of Rachelle’s best friends, Danielle Hewitt and Alex Barasch. Danielle is a producer of Vox’s daily news podcast and radio show Today, Explained. She also has produced podcasts for Slate, Wired, Audible, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. Alex is a culture editor at The New Yorker, where he writes about film, television, and the entertainment industry.
Danielle and Alex brought Rachelle some gossip about a mysterious friend trapped in a yearlong will-they-won’t-they situation, and then Rachelle shared a story about a girl, a boy, and an axe-plosion. Don’t worry, you can trust Danielle and Alex to axe all the right questions.
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