Episode 165: Howard Schultz, Gay Priests, and Ted Bundy

In this podcast, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss Howard Schultz’ presidential bid, gay men in the priesthood, and the enduring fascination with serial killer Ted Bundy.

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On this week’s Past Present episode, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil J. Young discuss Howard Schultz’ presidential bid, gay men in the priesthood, and the enduring fascination with serial killer Ted Bundy. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: 

• Starbucks founder Howard Schultz has announced he is running for the presidency in 2020. Natalia referred to Michelle Goldberg’s New York Times piece pleading Schultz not to run.
• Gay men, by even the most conservative metrics, are represented in the priesthood in greater proportion than in the general population. Neil referred to Andrew Sullivan’s New York article on why this might be.
• Serial killer Ted Bundy was executed thirty years ago, and ongoing fascination with his story has inspired two new accounts of his violent career. Conversations with a Killer is a Netflix docuseries, and a feature film starring Zac Efron debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Natalia recommended historian Paul M. Renfro’s forthcoming book, Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State.

  

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Thomas Simonetti’s Washington Post article, “A Photographer Documents the Heart-Wrenching Final Moments of Pet Owners with Their Dying Pets” and Bethan Bell’s BBC News article, “Taken From Life: The Unsettling Art of Death Photography.”
• Neil discussed Amy Chozick’s New York Times article, “You Know the Lorena Bobbitt Story. But Not All of It.”
• Niki shared Kimberly Ross and Andrea Ruth’s Bulwark article, “Why We Are Quitting RedState.”