Question What You Think You Know With Baratunde Thurston

Age: 44Claim to fame: Baratunde Thurston is an Emmy-nominated host, author and cultural activist. His six-part adventure-filled primetime series, America Outdoors, premiered July 5 on PBS.Base: Los AngelesTwitter: @baratunde What is the first form of media or information you consume in the morning?I used to go to Twitter first. Now, I check the app that goes along with my Oura ring to see how my last night’s sleep was. I’m starting to notice a difference in how I feel during the day based on my sleep the night before, which is based on my activity during the previous day. So the great mysteries of life—at least the sleep part—are partially solved by my obsessive attention to these nightly sleep reports. What’s your favorite social platform?House parties. Not the smartphone app. Actual parties at actual houses. They are amazing and include food, drink, people I like, eye contact, spontaneous laughter and literally zero Nazis. Which are the most used apps on your devices?According to Screen Time, the top apps are Messages; Oura; Instagram, which I use to watch repurposed TikToks; Superhuman, for email; and Safari. I like Safari more than Chrome. It feels faster and works smoothly across all my devices. Did I just write an ad for Safari? I didn’t mean to do that. What most intrigued you about hosting America Outdoors?Seeing how outdoor environments shape people in the same way that parents do. I’m used to thinking about diversity in the U.S. in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, but I got to see how wildly diverse our physical environment is and how much that shapes and explains us. But the truly intriguing part was seeing how these diverse people can have such similar experiences and values on diverse lands that are actually one land. We’re on common ground—literally. What is your favorite TV show? Favorite TV show on right now or recently: Bel-Air. Favorite TV show of all time: Battlestar Galactica, though The OA is a close second. What was the inspiration behind your book How to Be Black?I was tired of being told I was too Black by some and not Black enough by others, so I set out to publish a definitive guide to something that cannot be singularly defined. I love paradoxes. Why did you opt for depicting this book as an animated series?I’m excited to play up the absurdity of parts of my childhood. Sometimes we remember things as larger than life, and animation lets us depict that more honestly. I love the idea of depicting a Black family in animation, something we don’t see much of. Finally, I want to make myself more attractive than I actually was. Are you usually a fan of cartoons or graphic novels? What are your favorites, if so?As a kid, I was obsessed with the Tintin and Asterix comic books. And recently, I enjoyed Apollo 10 1/2 so much I watched in twice in one week. I really dug the multiple animation styles in that story. What are you reading these days?I recently finished Anthem, a novel by Noah Hawley that reads like a nonfiction account of our near future in which the youth mental health crisis, climate change and our culture of guns combine to paint an even more horrific picture of America than what we currently see. For news, I read my colleagues at Puck, who have their fingers on the pulse of so many power centers in this country. The next book in my queue is This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. I hope it’s a happier tale, but now that I look back at the title, I’m not sure. What about favorite movie?Everything Everywhere All at Once. This film is so epic and so important and so entertaining! It reminds me that there are other ways to approach our problems than what appears obvious, and that we can tap into different energies to face our fears or the fears of those around us. Everyone should watch it, then talk about it with someone you’re close to.

Creative Thinkers

Question What You Think You Know With Baratunde Thurston

From his book How to Be Black to his new PBS adventure series, he's expanding what we know about the world

Nicole Ortiz

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Nicole Ortiz