By Barrett White
As 20-something Dominique Crisden speaks, his voice carries a tone of youthful optimism. Across from him sits David Gable, his face and voice hardened with age, wisdom, and experience. Though generations apart, both are gay men. Both are HIV-positive. The elder looks into the younger’s eyes before asking the question that has brought them together: “Did we go through a plague for nothing? Did we learn anything?”
This is the caliber of storytelling presented on Nancy, a new radically-inclusive, surprisingly deep LGBTQ podcast from WNYC Studios. From a young woman recalling her “ring of keys” moment (a nod to the popular song from the Tony-winning musical Fun Home) to debating queerness in Harry Potter, hosts Kathy Tu and Tobin Low bring a new flavor to each weekly episode.
Tu and Low’s friendship dates back much further than Nancy, though—the pair first met at the Transom Story Workshop, an intensive residential workshop for professionals looking to break into public radio. Tu was nearing her law school graduation, and Low was working as a cellist. Both were looking for new career moves. “We weren’t really seeing the kind of storytelling in the radio-podcasting space that we loved being applied to queer stories,” explains Low. “And so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to make that show, to make that happen?”
Shortly after the duo’s initial conversation, WNYC Studios held an open forum for pitches. “Spoiler alert: We won,” laughs Low.
The podcast was originally to be named Gaydio, but the pair discovered the name was already taken. After volleying other queer puns back and forth, they finally settled on Nancy. “There certainly is that nod to queer culture, but I think what we liked most [about the name] is that we got the chance to define it ourselves,” Low says. “The show could be named Nancy, it could be a little fun and irreverent, and we would get to reclaim the thing that had somewhat of a negative context or negative history . . . I love that the name isn’t ‘on the nose’ about what our show is about, and that we get to define it.”
What’s transpired is a series of intriguing interviews, relevant discussions, and on-air community building. In the case of Crisden and Gable, the intergenerational pair exchange their varying perspectives on being HIV-positive. Gable, a WNYC Studios admin, discovered his status at age 29 while living in New York City during the height of the AIDS crisis. “It was a time to be in love and a time to be young,” he says on the episode. On January 20, 1988, he lost his partner to AIDS. Crisden, a well-known member of the New York ball community and Gay Men’s Health Crisis, discovered his status in 2008, while also in his 20s. Together, the men discuss HIV prevention education (and the lack thereof), what it means to know your status, social stigma, and their experiences living with HIV.
The podcast also features interactive elements, such as the current “Out at Work” campaign—an online social questionnaire where listeners are polled as to what degree (if at all) they are comfortable being out in the workplace. The results are scheduled to be discussed on the podcast in late October. With listeners from New York to Portland to the Deep South, the survey’s findings promise to be a telling commentary on the state of workplace climate for LGBTQ people.
“I love that the name isn’t ‘on the nose’ about what our show is about, and that we get to define it.” -Tobin Low. Photo by Amy Pearl.
Tu and Low may have serious on-air chemistry, but the friends’ backgrounds could not be more different. Tu grew up detached from queer culture, with the belief that her lesbian identity “wasn’t the most interesting thing about [her].” The creation of Nancy changed all that—the podcast introduced her to the vibrant, rich culture of queer women. “I found a community that was very comforting and felt inclusive, and that’s something that I didn’t know I was lacking until it showed up in my life,” she explains.
Low, on the other hand, grew up just an hour south of San Francisco. “[Driving] through The Castro, I remember feeling like it was such a free place,” he says. “That it was a place that people would really be comfortable being themselves, and being really inspired by that.” Though Low didn’t come out as gay until after he moved away from California, he still cherishes the memories of his home state, and hopes to create a space as freeing, accepting, and inspiring as the one he witnessed as a child.
Listening to Nancy, I think it’s safe to say he and Tu have succeeded.
“If you need help, if you don’t feel safe, reach out to us,” Tu emphasizes. “Write in to the show—we’ll respond, we’ll listen.”
Nancy is available at wnyc.org/shows/nancy or on iTunes. New episodes are released every Sunday. To participate in the Nancy “Out at Work” questionnaire, visit project.wnyc.org/nancy/out-at-work.
