Wailin Wong
@wailinwong.bsky.social
Co-host at The Indicator from Planet Money and NPR. Likes waffles and news. Chicagoland. She/her
npr.org/people/1093418997/wailin-wong
npr.org/people/1093418997/wailin-wong
My middle schooler this morning: "I don't want to go to school. I don't care that education is a privilege."
Me: "Who said that?"
Her: "MALALA!" [storms out the door]
Me: "Who said that?"
Her: "MALALA!" [storms out the door]
November 13, 2025 at 2:31 PM
My middle schooler this morning: "I don't want to go to school. I don't care that education is a privilege."
Me: "Who said that?"
Her: "MALALA!" [storms out the door]
Me: "Who said that?"
Her: "MALALA!" [storms out the door]
A tiny Freddy Krueger just rang my doorbell and wished me a "Happy 6-7." I love Halloween!
October 31, 2025 at 11:00 PM
A tiny Freddy Krueger just rang my doorbell and wished me a "Happy 6-7." I love Halloween!
Reposted by Wailin Wong
Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, has died. n.pr/4qjVMDS
NPR 'founding mother' Susan Stamberg has died
Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, has died.
n.pr
October 16, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, has died. n.pr/4qjVMDS
"Officers pulled out his REAL ID, which Alabama only issues to those legally in the U.S. But the agents dismissed it as fake."
BTW this happened TWICE to the same person!
BTW this happened TWICE to the same person!
Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"Officers pulled out his REAL ID, which Alabama only issues to those legally in the U.S. But the agents dismissed it as fake."
BTW this happened TWICE to the same person!
BTW this happened TWICE to the same person!
Reposted by Wailin Wong
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Wailin Wong
You guys, so many Romance girlies are reading "On Tyranny" that they've broken the Goodreads recommendations algorithm. 10/10; no notes.
#romancelandia
#romancelandia
September 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
You guys, so many Romance girlies are reading "On Tyranny" that they've broken the Goodreads recommendations algorithm. 10/10; no notes.
#romancelandia
#romancelandia
At Curriculum Night at the middle school, the social sciences teacher was telling us about the current unit on the Columbian Exchange. The slide said "Three cultures meet," referring to European/African/indigenous. It took every ounce of self control not to yell AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED
September 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
At Curriculum Night at the middle school, the social sciences teacher was telling us about the current unit on the Columbian Exchange. The slide said "Three cultures meet," referring to European/African/indigenous. It took every ounce of self control not to yell AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED
I was telling my 12yo about Task and said, "It's about an FBI agent and a robber."
Her: "Do they fall in love?"
Me: "Um, I don't think so."
Her: "Do they fall in love?"
Me: "Um, I don't think so."
September 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
I was telling my 12yo about Task and said, "It's about an FBI agent and a robber."
Her: "Do they fall in love?"
Me: "Um, I don't think so."
Her: "Do they fall in love?"
Me: "Um, I don't think so."
Clicked on this article hoping for an announcement that Gap was bringing back its fragrance line from the 90s but nope [throws laptop out of window in anger]
www.wsj.com/business/ret...
www.wsj.com/business/ret...
Exclusive | Gap and Old Navy Want to Sell You Cosmetics
Old Navy will roll out new beauty products this fall, and Gap stores will add fragrances next year.
www.wsj.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Clicked on this article hoping for an announcement that Gap was bringing back its fragrance line from the 90s but nope [throws laptop out of window in anger]
www.wsj.com/business/ret...
www.wsj.com/business/ret...
This reminds me of @caseynewton.bsky.social's erstwhile game show podcast, Converge, where he did a recurring bit asking each guest what they would put on the blockchain. That podcast is from like 5 years ago but I still think about this gag, mostly bc what is the blockchain anyway
I don't even know why you would want to do this
*LUTNICK: COMMERCE TO SOON ISSUE STATISTICS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
*LUTNICK: ISSUING GDP ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
*LUTNICK: IRONING OUT THE DETAILS ON USING BLOCKCHAIN FOR GDP
*LUTNICK: COMMERCE TO SOON ISSUE STATISTICS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
*LUTNICK: ISSUING GDP ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
*LUTNICK: IRONING OUT THE DETAILS ON USING BLOCKCHAIN FOR GDP
August 27, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This reminds me of @caseynewton.bsky.social's erstwhile game show podcast, Converge, where he did a recurring bit asking each guest what they would put on the blockchain. That podcast is from like 5 years ago but I still think about this gag, mostly bc what is the blockchain anyway
All I wanted to do yesterday was pick up my KATABASIS pre-order from the bookstore and start reading. But instead I ended up doing an emergency episode about what's happening at the Fed. Which was, I suppose, its own kind of descent into the underworld.
www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
Trump's unprecedented attack on the Fed : The Indicator from Planet Money
Last night, President Donald Trump posted a letter firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. The reason? She was accused of listing two properties as her primary residences, which potentially g...
www.npr.org
August 27, 2025 at 12:50 PM
All I wanted to do yesterday was pick up my KATABASIS pre-order from the bookstore and start reading. But instead I ended up doing an emergency episode about what's happening at the Fed. Which was, I suppose, its own kind of descent into the underworld.
www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
A Palantir exec has a WSJ op-ed today arguing that Harvard should expel Chinese students. What if, and I'm just spitballing here, there was some kind of legislation...that banned Chinese people from the U.S., full stop? We could call it, I don't know, the Chinese Exclusion Act...?
August 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
A Palantir exec has a WSJ op-ed today arguing that Harvard should expel Chinese students. What if, and I'm just spitballing here, there was some kind of legislation...that banned Chinese people from the U.S., full stop? We could call it, I don't know, the Chinese Exclusion Act...?
Devastated that neither Chicago daily has a film critic anymore. Thanks for a great run, Michael Phillips! I was always too nervous to introduce myself when I saw you in the elevator at Tribune Tower (which is now luxury condos)
www.thewrap.com/chicago-trib...
www.thewrap.com/chicago-trib...
Chicago Tribune Eliminates Film Critic Role, Michael Phillips Takes Buyout
"To all the humans on this insanely compromised platform: Thanks for reading," the writer shares on X
www.thewrap.com
August 19, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Devastated that neither Chicago daily has a film critic anymore. Thanks for a great run, Michael Phillips! I was always too nervous to introduce myself when I saw you in the elevator at Tribune Tower (which is now luxury condos)
www.thewrap.com/chicago-trib...
www.thewrap.com/chicago-trib...
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVINS
Bessent out of Fed sweepstakes
*TRUMP: WARSH IS VERY GOOD
*TRUMP: BOTH KEVINS ARE VERY GOOD, OTHERS ARE ALSO GOOD
*TRUMP: TWO OTHER PEOPLE ASIDE FROM THE TWO KEVINS IN MIND
*TRUMP: I LOVE SCOTT, BUT HE WANTS TO STAY AT TREASURY
*TRUMP: COULD USE KUGLER VACANCY TO PICK FUTURE FED CHAIR
*TRUMP: WARSH IS VERY GOOD
*TRUMP: BOTH KEVINS ARE VERY GOOD, OTHERS ARE ALSO GOOD
*TRUMP: TWO OTHER PEOPLE ASIDE FROM THE TWO KEVINS IN MIND
*TRUMP: I LOVE SCOTT, BUT HE WANTS TO STAY AT TREASURY
*TRUMP: COULD USE KUGLER VACANCY TO PICK FUTURE FED CHAIR
August 5, 2025 at 1:09 PM
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVINS
Was explaining the Mary Magadalene/Jesus ❤️ theory to my 12yo and she deadpanned, "Hmmm, disciples to lovers"
August 3, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Was explaining the Mary Magadalene/Jesus ❤️ theory to my 12yo and she deadpanned, "Hmmm, disciples to lovers"
Reposted by Wailin Wong
an incredibly earnest and apolitical post for Vogue about what we lose if (when?) we lose public radio
www.vogue.com/article/what...
www.vogue.com/article/what...
What We’d Lose Without Public Radio
www.vogue.com
August 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
an incredibly earnest and apolitical post for Vogue about what we lose if (when?) we lose public radio
www.vogue.com/article/what...
www.vogue.com/article/what...
Reposted by Wailin Wong
It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.
August 2, 2025 at 2:18 AM
It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.
Hear me out—a romance where the jumbotron thing happens, and the rock star feels bad and reaches out to the jilted wife and sparks fly!
My other idea is THE DATING COMMITTEE, about 2 economists on the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee who fall in love while arguing about if we're in a recession
My other idea is THE DATING COMMITTEE, about 2 economists on the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee who fall in love while arguing about if we're in a recession
July 18, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Hear me out—a romance where the jumbotron thing happens, and the rock star feels bad and reaches out to the jilted wife and sparks fly!
My other idea is THE DATING COMMITTEE, about 2 economists on the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee who fall in love while arguing about if we're in a recession
My other idea is THE DATING COMMITTEE, about 2 economists on the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee who fall in love while arguing about if we're in a recession
Reposted by Wailin Wong
Alec-Nevala Lee interviewed me for NYT! The story mentions Lovecraft (my thesis was on women, eugenics & HPL), how weird it was when they optioned Mexican Gothic, & that I don't watch superhero flicks (sorry! I gorge on Sinners & Nosferatu, not Marvel. mmm... Horror)
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/b...
A Best-Selling Horror Writer’s Biggest Fear? Being Recognized.
www.nytimes.com
July 11, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Alec-Nevala Lee interviewed me for NYT! The story mentions Lovecraft (my thesis was on women, eugenics & HPL), how weird it was when they optioned Mexican Gothic, & that I don't watch superhero flicks (sorry! I gorge on Sinners & Nosferatu, not Marvel. mmm... Horror)
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/b...
Happy Pub Day to my better half, Alec Nevala-Lee! His biography of Nobel-winning physicist Luis Alvarez, COLLISIONS, is out today and you should read it if you are into
✅ Oppenheimer / Manhattan Project / WW2
✅ Dinosaurs
✅ the Keith Hernandez episode of Seinfeld
bookshop.org/p/books/coll...
✅ Oppenheimer / Manhattan Project / WW2
✅ Dinosaurs
✅ the Keith Hernandez episode of Seinfeld
bookshop.org/p/books/coll...
Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs
A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs
bookshop.org
June 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Happy Pub Day to my better half, Alec Nevala-Lee! His biography of Nobel-winning physicist Luis Alvarez, COLLISIONS, is out today and you should read it if you are into
✅ Oppenheimer / Manhattan Project / WW2
✅ Dinosaurs
✅ the Keith Hernandez episode of Seinfeld
bookshop.org/p/books/coll...
✅ Oppenheimer / Manhattan Project / WW2
✅ Dinosaurs
✅ the Keith Hernandez episode of Seinfeld
bookshop.org/p/books/coll...
Congrats to Broadway producer Hunter Arnold, who just won a Tony for Best Musical for Maybe Happy Ending. I'm sure this is his second proudest moment after coming on The Indicator to talk to me about the economics of Broadway!
www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1...
www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1...
There's one business like show business : The Indicator from Planet Money
There's no business like show business. Or is there? It turns out the business of producing a Broadway hit shares a few things in common with the business of investing in tech start-ups. Today on the ...
www.npr.org
June 9, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Congrats to Broadway producer Hunter Arnold, who just won a Tony for Best Musical for Maybe Happy Ending. I'm sure this is his second proudest moment after coming on The Indicator to talk to me about the economics of Broadway!
www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1...
www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1...
My theater kid, watching the Tonys: "Hey, it's Darren Criss!" Then the camera pans to George Clooney and she says, "Who's that?" I say "George Clooney" and she says "He made Star Wars?" I explain and then add that his wife is a world-renowned human rights lawyer. "Oh, like Elle Woods."
June 9, 2025 at 12:27 AM
My theater kid, watching the Tonys: "Hey, it's Darren Criss!" Then the camera pans to George Clooney and she says, "Who's that?" I say "George Clooney" and she says "He made Star Wars?" I explain and then add that his wife is a world-renowned human rights lawyer. "Oh, like Elle Woods."
Jobs Friday AND opening day for Ballerina! Listen to me yap about labor productivity with Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee or about Ballerina with @aishaharris.bsky.social @originalsp.in @trevellanderson.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
Is 'Ballerina' an en pointe entry in the John Wick universe? : Pop Culture Happy Hour
John Wick's back in a spinoff new film, Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. She plays a ballerina-turned-assassin making her way through the international criminal underworld, and crossing paths with so...
www.npr.org
June 6, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Jobs Friday AND opening day for Ballerina! Listen to me yap about labor productivity with Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee or about Ballerina with @aishaharris.bsky.social @originalsp.in @trevellanderson.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/1...
My 12yo told me about a girl who drew Xs and wrote UGLY on classmates' yearbook photos, including on a picture of a girl who used to be her friend until they had a falling out relating to spoken word club, and anyway I am just thinking about that today for no reason
June 5, 2025 at 8:09 PM
My 12yo told me about a girl who drew Xs and wrote UGLY on classmates' yearbook photos, including on a picture of a girl who used to be her friend until they had a falling out relating to spoken word club, and anyway I am just thinking about that today for no reason
I got to see Ballerina last night and my spoiler-free reaction is that if you've ever wondered what would have happened if the Duke of Weselton were actually a psycho killer and took over Arendelle, you're in for a treat!
June 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I got to see Ballerina last night and my spoiler-free reaction is that if you've ever wondered what would have happened if the Duke of Weselton were actually a psycho killer and took over Arendelle, you're in for a treat!