Vox Sentences - Get in the weeds with Jonquilyn Hill

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Dear,

When Jonquilyn Hill took over our long-running policy podcast, The Weeds, earlier this year, she moved us into a new era of audio policy journalism. Jonquilyn has a way of making large-scale policy seem personal to each and every one of us — and it makes The Weeds a little bit magic. Now that we’ve entered the 2024 election cycle, I sat down with Jonquilyn to talk about how she approaches each episode of The Weeds from a policy perspective as well as through the sound design experience she wants listeners to have.

But first, a note: We’re just three days away from the end of our September contribution campaign, where we’re asking folks to support our policy work through 2024 and beyond. We have another 605 contributions to go before we hit our goal.

Our team wants to be able to say yes to bringing more thinkers like Jonquilyn on board, or to funding the projects they have in mind. Will you help us do that by making a contribution today?

Now, I hope you’ll take a moment to check out what Jonquilyn has to say about journalism, music, and Jodie from Daria.

—A. Hall, editorial director of The Weeds

A. Hall: Hi Jonquilyn! It’s been an incredible experience learning about you and your approach to covering policy on The Weeds. Can you share a bit about what makes you tick and how that relates to your vision for the podcast? 

Jonquilyn Hill: I love digging into the personal stakes behind the top headlines. I think about that a lot throughout The Weeds editorial process: How does this policy impact listeners in their day-to-day lives? What context about how people lived at the time shaped a policy when it was first enacted? None of how our world works is happenstance, and knowing the why behind it all can shape how we move forward.  

A.: We’ve been working together for over a year now and I don’t actually know what drew you to becoming an audio journalist over other mediums.

Jonquilyn: Strap in, because this story has big Jodie from Daria energy. I always loved writing, and after some encouragement from my parents, I started contributing to my local Black newspaper when I was in high school. The editor-in-chief knew of a program called Generation Justice, where middle and high school students would write, host, produce, and engineer a weekly radio show. I joined the program and fell in love instantly. I remember the first interview I ever did: When I was 15, there was a local solidarity event for the Jena Six, and I interviewed some upperclassmen about their thoughts. It was so amazing to me that all you needed to get people to answer your questions was a microphone. From then on, I fell in love with interviewing. I think there’s a real intimacy to audio in particular.

A.: The Weeds is a podcast so we have to talk about sound. How do you think about the use of sound elements beyond the recorded interviews? 

Jonquilyn: In a previous life, I was a producer, and that’s a difficult part of your brain to turn off. I love when sound design is meaningful: using music to denote an anecdote or a look back at history; a clip from the past that shows rather than tells us about a news story relevant to the conversation. Sound design is also a good way to keep listeners engaged.

A.: Homelessness is both a policy issue and a coverage priority for Vox. I know The Weeds has plans to spend time exploring this in 2024. Can you give us a little preview of the coverage?

Jonquilyn: We have a series I’m really excited about for 2024. We’ll be looking at the homelessness crisis. We’re planning a trip to California to explore some policy failures that have contributed to the problem. California has more than 115,000 unhoused people, the most of any state in the US. It’s been an issue the state has struggled with for decades, but it’s grown in recent years – compounded by an overall shortage of housing stock in the state. 

We’ll also explore some potential policy solutions, particularly a new idea the state is implementing called CARE Courts. The policy is designed to target unhoused people with the most severe needs, specifically those suffering from mental illness and homelessness. Proponents of the new system say the courts are a way for people to ensure they get the housing and care that they need, while critics say the courts are a violation of rights for unhoused people. 

A.: Speaking of 2024, the election will certainly be a big political moment. In-depth coverage of policies can often get lost in a race to say who is winning and who is losing. Do you have any guiding principles or ideas about how you’ll approach the election on The Weeds? 

Jonquilyn: It’s so easy to get caught up in the horse race of an election year — checking on the latest polling, the latest gaffe, keeping an eye out for an October surprise. I know my doomscrolling goes up exponentially during an election year. And the thing is, a lot of outlets have that part of the race covered. Where I think The Weeds and the rest of Vox shine is our ability to take a step back and go beyond the politics. I think of politics as what people do to achieve power and policy is what they do with that power once they have it. On The Weeds, we’ll be concentrating on the latter.

A.: Can you pick out three must-listen-to episodes of The Weeds?

Jonquilyn: This is what I imagine people feel when they’re asked to pick a favorite child. It feels next to impossible! But if I absolutely had to pick, I’d say our shows on student loans, over-the-counter birth control, and the explainer on Trump’s RICO charges. 

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