{"podcast":{"title":"Origin Stories","slug":"origin-stories-7449947","podcast_index_feed_id":7449947,"rss_url":"https://rss.art19.com/origin-stories","website_url":"https://art19.com/shows/origin-stories","image_url":"https://content.production.cdn.art19.com/images/a4/a4/b0/d1/a4a4b0d1-505e-481a-a6d5-cfbc4b5e6141/6bca6fb16cce3259f0fb7ee357268b7fa68c379a827440b54f83b7e81af5220d7e479410f86e9beccc9edef63bc296346efb4222201c1a5449aa2cef756250d8.jpeg","author":"Campside Media","episode_count":46,"summary":"Have you ever wondered exactly how your favorite movie or book –– or podcast, TV series, documentary film, or magazine article –– got made? Origin Stories has you covered. Each week, veteran journalist Matthew Shaer talks to a different writer or director about the creation of a work close to their own hearts (and to ours). Nothing is off the table: not the frustrations and the joys, not the setbacks and the successes. Intimate and incisive, instructive and eye-opening, Origin Stories is the ultimate podcast for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind. New episodes every Wednesday! To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at ⁠joinoriginstories.com⁠ . You can also find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ , ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Youtube⁠ .","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-stories-7449947"},"episode":{"title":"Jordan Ritter Conn on American Men","slug":"jordan-ritter-conn-on-american-men","published_at":"2026-05-06T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-stories-7449947/jordan-ritter-conn-on-american-men","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-stories-7449947","url":"https://rss.art19.com/episodes/58d36183-3982-4c67-b598-b5e91788b284.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0","audio_url":"https://rss.art19.com/episodes/58d36183-3982-4c67-b598-b5e91788b284.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0","summary":"Jordan Ritter Conn is a journalist, a senior staff writer at The Ringer, and the author of American Men, a reported book that follows four men over the course of several years as they grapple, in different ways, with the same question: what does it mean to be a man in America today. In this episode, he talks to Matthew about how American Men came together, from reaching out to dozens of potential subjects to narrowing in on the four men at the center of the book. He describes the level of access required to tell stories that are both deeply personal and broadly representative, the challenge of getting people to open up over long periods of time, and the process of shaping a large body of material into something cohesive. He also reflects on how his approach to writing has evolved, and what it means to better understand what he’s actually good at. “I do think with any kind of talent there’s a ceiling. I know that I have a ceiling on my talent,\"\" he says. \"\"But I do think I’m getting a little bit better at maximizing that.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .","meta_description":"Jordan Ritter Conn is a journalist, a senior staff writer at The Ringer, and the author of American Men, a reported book that follows four men over the co…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2077,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/origin-stories-7449947/episodes/jordan-ritter-conn-on-american-men/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/origin-stories-7449947/jordan-ritter-conn-on-american-men.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}