Episode 258: "My So-Karen Life"

Anyone with even a cursory experience of language can attest to its power. Words wield the capacity to lift us out of lingering darkness and to drive us into great acts of courage, love and beauty. Most immediately in our lives, we have experiences with names and their personal, varied meanings. New York Times columnist Sarah Miller captures this idea well in her piece satirizing her experience with the name “Karen” and the various behaviors she associates with it. How do we collectively come to associate a single name with such a wide swath of attitudes and beliefs? Do we give a name meaning or does that process flow the other way?