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ericdeggans · 1 year

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The fun and fear of guest hosting All Things Considered

As a longtime NPR nerd, I have often listened to the smooth, smart anchors leading broadcasts of our newsmagazines and wondered: Could I do that?

Last Saturday and Sunday, I found out, when I got the chance to fill in for Michel Martin as guest anchor on Weekend All Things Considered.

I knew from a stint guest hosting CNN’s late, lamented media analysis show Reliable Sources years ago, that even a temporary host can have lots of influence over a show. The key is to assemble a lineup of interviews and stories which are informative and newsy, but also show off the host’s strengths by speaking to their expertise, enthusiasms and abilities.

For me, it was also an opportunity to pull together some dreamed-about interviews, backed by the appeal to the subject of appearing on a newsmagazine which reaches millions of listeners over a weekend. My biggest fear: breaking news which would require lots of live anchoring; fortunately, the news gods smiled down and people seemed to chill out for the holiday weekend.

Here's links to some of the stories we offered over those two days. Their quality is a real testament to the staff at Weekend All Things Considered, who were supportive, understanding of a newbie’s nerves and so good at their jobs, it made speaking to an audience of millions exhilarating and fun – and only a little bit scary.

This is one of my favorite interviews: blerding out on comic book lore with Ryan Coogler, director of Wakanda Forever, which stands at the top of the box office. We talk about the death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, making longtime antihero Namor a Mayan (and those ankle wings!) and how two guys wrote a female centered, big budget Marvel movie. Click here to listen.

I’m a late-night TV nerd. So it was beyond fulfilling to get two of the smartest comics in late night to spend a little time talking about the future of late night TV and whether it makes sense to call out comics out for monologues which seem, for some, to encourage and/or minimize antisemitism or prejudice. The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. and The Amber Ruffin Show’s Jenny Hagel were super smart, super funny and super thoughtful in this discussion, which you can hear by clicking here. Another version can be found in our podcast Consider This.

Flying to Washington DC on Thanksgiving night, I was astonished to see tech journalist Kara Swisher taking apart Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk in a series of tweets where she called him her biggest disappointment in 25 years as a tech reporter. During a staff a meeting the next day, I asked the team: Do you think we could get Swisher to talk with us about what happened? Turns out, they could, and we talked about Elon, whether we’re seeing the twilight of the tech bro and the future of Black Twitter. Listen here.

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One thing NPR does well is spotlight up and coming artists before they become household names. So I was proud and honored to feature a revealing interview with Elegance Bratton, director/writer of the new film The Inspection, a movie based on his own life about a Black, gay homeless man -- rejected by his homophobic mother – who seeks refuge in the Marines. After the interview was done, Elegance told us he had dreamed of being interview by NPR about one of his films for years. We were happy to make that one come true – click here to listen.

A talk with Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Radio on the start of voting in the state’ contentious Senate runoff election between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

A conversation with expert Manuel Zamarripa on how to process the trauma from media coverage of mass shootings.

Discussion of the podcast White Hats, which dissects the complex and often bloody history of a group typically lionized in film and TV shows: The Texas Rangers.

Words with Senator Amy Klobuchar on her plans to convene a hearing on Ticketmaster’s dominance of the concert ticketing industry after their massive failure to sell tickets to Taylor Swift’s new concert tour.

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bookgeekgrrl · 2 months

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My media this week (18-24 Feb 2024)

i'll always prefer the og but this iteration is entertaining

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

The Old Codgers Greatest Hits Album (AggressiveWhenStartled, author; quietnight, narrator) - 57K series, canon-divergent stucky co-starring peter parker. Reread of this hilarious forever fave where first teenage peter is forced to deal with two body-swapped geriatric supersoldiers and then bucky is forced to deal with two teenage spidermen trying (and failing) to stealthily rescue their "dog". Great podfic by quietnight, absolute hilarity

History of American Capitalism (Zenaidamacrouras1) - 85K, shrinkyclinks college AU with superstar QB!Bucky & history nerd Steve - incredible found family dynamics, can't believe @zenaidamacrouras1 made me actually really get into an AU that involved both undergrads AND football. The nerve! The talent! (the fic is single POV but there's an amazing companion piece that's Bucky's convos with this sister that give a his POV on some of it and it's equally amazing)

💖💖 +347K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Half sleep, half waking (softestpunk) - The Sandman & Rivers of London crossover: dreamling, 8K - amazing crossover! I wish there was 60K of this for me to read

Road to Joy (Oddree13) - Stranger Things: steddie, 25K - latest chapter in this omegaverse steddie series that I absolutely adore

Knit One, Purl Two (mollus) - MCU: stucky, 32K - reread; forever fave WS recovery fic with lots of softness in the form of: knitting, dancing, soap making and senior citizens

Red, White & Royal Goose (fairestfaerie) - RWRB: alex/henry, 7K - I just love a good Soulmate Goose of Enforcement fic

This Sunlit Land (eyres) - MCU: stucky, 38K - wonderful canon/timeline-divergent WS recovery AU

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Resident Alien - s1, e1-3

QI - series S, ep 7-9

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "The Fall of New York City" (s7, e1)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Heaven and Hell on Earth" (s7, e2)

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Stress Tested" (s21, e7)

D20: Adventuring Party - "A Negroni and a Bowl of Spinach" (s16, e7)

Ghosts (US) - s2, e16-22; s3, e1-2

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Vibe Check - Hey, Sis: featuring Kimberly Drew

The Sporkful - Can A Restaurant Makeover Make Diners Spend More?

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Boston’s Blue Hill

Short Wave - The Life And Death Of A Woolly Mammoth

Desert Island Discs - Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cellist

I Said No Gifts! - Jay Jurden Disobeys Bridger

The Assignment with Audie Cornish - Where Does Fani Willis Go From Here?

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - World’s Loneliest House

⭐ Switched on Pop - Adult Contemporary, but make it cool (with CHROMEO)

Shedunnit - The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Green Penguin Book Club 1)

Up First - Julian Assange Extradition Hearing, Egypt Buffer Zone, Louisiana Special Session

Today, Explained - The Panama Canal is drying up

It's Been a Minute - Jada Pinkett Smith, the artist

Vibe Check - Welcome to Tip Check

Outward - True Detective: Night Country’s Lesbian Subtext

⭐ Code Switch - Why menthol cigarettes have a chokehold on Black smokers

Short Wave - When The Sun Erupts

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Stone of Destiny

⭐ 99% Invisible #571 - You Are What You Watch

Films To Be Buried With - Tyler James Williams

Ologies with Alie Ward - Black Hole Theory Cosmology (WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?!) Part 1 with Ronald Gamble, Jr.

Off Menu - Ep 226: Noel Fielding

NPR's Book of the Day - 'Thank You Please Come Again' pays homage to Southern gas station food shops

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

The Assignment with Audie Cornish - Jake Tapper on American Political Scandal

⭐ Throughline - Dance Yourself Free (Throwback)

If Books Could Kill - The Better Angels of Our Nature

Our Opinions Are Correct - We Don't Give a F*ck About Canon

⭐ Today, Explained - Fight at the Museum

The Sporkful - Deep Dish With Sohla And Ham: Bagels

Dear Prudence - My Friend Has a Master’s Degree in Lying. Help!

What Next: TBD - The Coasts are Sinking

Short Wave - Didn't Get A Valentine's Love Song? These Skywalker Gibbons Sing Love Duets

Endless Thread - Endless Thread: The Musical

⭐ Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Industrial Musicals

Strong Songs - "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden

You're Dead to Me - Queen of Sheba [turned out to be really perfect timing to have this knowledge right before getting to certain relevant bits in my current read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi]

It's Been a Minute - Have we hit celebrity overload? Plus, Miyazaki's movie magic

Simply Reflecting - Did You Say Delusional?

Under the Influence - Seeing is Believing: The Power of Demonstration Commercials

Hit Parade - The Bridge: Bon Soir, Barbra

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Chromeo

Living Colour

Chicago House Foundation

Presenting Soundgarden

Swing Fever [Rod Stewart & Jools Holland] {2024}

Adult Contemporary [Chromeo] {2024}

Campfire Classics

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uncloseted · 2 months

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As a fellow adhd girlie do you do anything to help signal to your brain that it's time to work when your on your computer? I get distracted by youtube and reddit and have a hard time switching from relax mode before and during study breaks to work mode. Do you like light a candle when you should be working or have some kind of routine to recenter and focus again after taking a break?

Yes! The first thing that really helps me is to have a morning routine. I know it sucks to hear people give that advice because ADHD brains hate routine, but it does make a big difference. I find that it makes me feel like I've accomplished something right off the bat, which puts me in a good headspace for the rest of the day. I wake up about an hour and a half before I have to do work, read a book, brush my teeth while listening to the NPR News podcast, do skincare/makeup/get dressed, make coffee or tea, and play a few puzzle games.

By the time that's all done, I usually have about five minutes before my work day starts, and my brain kind of defaults to, "okay, the next thing we do is go sit in the office." I also have a Pura that automatically starts diffusing a "work scent" when my work day starts, so my brain knows if I smell Santorini by Brooklyn Candle Studio, I'm supposed to be working. For my job, I have a stand up meeting at the same time every morning, so that also helps me get going. If I'm not there, people will be concerned, so I have to be ready to go at the same time every day, and I get eased into work mode by talking to my co-workers.

From there, I'll usually set the Aesthetic Pomodoro Timer and put music like Lo-fi Girl on (video game soundtracks are also good for this). Again, my brain kind of has that connection where it hears Lo-Fi Girl and knows we should be working because that's the only time I ever listen to it. Pomodoro doesn't work for all people with ADHD (it's hard if you're someone who really struggles with task switching), but for me it's easier to maintain focus in short bursts and then reward myself with a break. For me, the key is that during breaks, I need to do something that's only five minutes long- I know I can't start a 20 minute YouTube video because I won't pause it to go back to the work I need to do. If you need to, it may also help to block the websites that distract you the most.

The last thing that helps me is to do my work with someone else, even if they're not working on the same thing that I am. Usually I do my work directly with a co-worker who also needs that kind of external structure, but even doing work on FaceTime with a friend makes it a little easier to get stuff done.

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themirokai · 10 months

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Tagged by the very lovely @ibrithir-was-here and I think tagged in something similar recently by @mashumaru. Thanks friends!

Current time: 6:35pm Eastern Time when I’m starting this. Will almost certainly get interrupted so no idea when I’ll finish. Update: Finishing at 7:32pm after expected interruptions.

Current mood: Okay! Having some Feelings about my job this week, but it’s the weekend and no plans so that’s good.

Current activity: Was just listening to the NPR Politics podcast. Having some downtime before it’s time for my part of the kiddo’s bedtime routine.

Currently thinking about: I’ve had MAJOR brainworms lately about a story I just put up on the Other Account. So most of my passive thinking time has been about that for the last several days.

Current favorite song: I don’t remember if I posted on here about it or not but last month @the-real-surfski and I went to see Hadestown on tour and it was mind blowingly good. One of the things about seeing it live was that the set did so many things I didn’t know about, including stuff during Wait For Me and I remain obsessed with reliving that in my head.

Currently reading: Hoping to catch up on some friends’ fan fiction this weekend. (I’m sorry I’m so behind!!!) And currently between books. I finished rereading Provenance by Ann Leckie, and I actually liked it a lot more on this read than I originally did. So next after the friend fic catch up will be Leckie’s new book Translation State.

Currently watching: Surfski and I always have a bunch of shows in rotation. At the moment it’s: Strange New Worlds, Person of Interest, Great Pottery Throwdown, Pose, and we just finished Silo. Oh and we’re watching an old season of The Amazing Race during exercise time.

Current favorite character: Matthew the Raven my beloved. I thought the fact that I was stuck on a WIP meant that I was done with the Emotional Support Raven series but then I busted out Fern Flower and remembered how much I love writing that funky little guy. The next story might still be the last of the series but I’ll always love Matthew. Especially my version of Matthew.

Current WIPs: I have several things across different fandoms that have been undone for long periods of time and occasionally haunt me. But the only thing I would categorize as an active WIP is my baby raven story.

Gonna tag some people from my notes. There is absolutely no pressure to do this and if you decide not to you do not owe me an explanation: just ignore the post. ❤️ @asexualtardigrade @not-quite-here-yet @scwirrel @countingsunflowerpetals @porthos4ever @captainoliimar

#tag game #miro irl

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ausetkmt · 6 months

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NPR: In new documentary, Ibram X. Kendi asks 'What is wrong with Black people?'

In new documentary, Ibram X. Kendi asks 'What is wrong with Black people?'

Eric Deggans looks at the new documentary "Stamped from the Beginning," which looks at the history of racist ideas in America.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

The Netflix documentary "Stamped From The Beginning" starts with a provocative question writer and professor Ibram X. Kendi asks of other Black academics.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING")

IBRAM X KENDI: Can you please tell me what is wrong with Black people?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: What is wrong with Black people?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK, what do you mean by that?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: What is wrong with Black people?

RASCOE: Kendi, who founded the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, answers by invoking how systemic racism can convince Black people and everyone else that Black people deserve to be marginalized. NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans has watched "Stamped From The Beginning" and has also been following recent allegations of mismanagement against Kendi at the BU center. Hi, Eric.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.

RASCOE: So first, tell us more about this documentary. It's out on Netflix later this month.

DEGGANS: Yeah, it's this percolating primer on the themes in Kendi's award-winning 2016 book of the same name. Now, there's compelling animation, historical photos, interviews with lots of academics - although it might be tough for some people to watch. It's centered on this idea that much of the systemic racism that's directed against Black people was created as an attempt to justify enslavement and exploitation of Black people, not the other way around. And in the film, you know, Kendi speaks of this ruler known as Prince Henry of Portugal who he says turned to enslaving Black people from Africa in the mid-1400s instead of Europeans because it was harder for them to run away. Here's a clip. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING")

KENDI: Prince Henry didn't want to admit he was violently enslaving African people to make money, so he dispatched a royal chronicler by the name of Gomes Zurara.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KENDI: Gomes Zurara justified his slave trading by stating that Prince Henry was doing it to save souls and that these people in Africa were inferior.

DEGGANS: So that, Kendi says, is the creation of Blackness in which Europeans treat Africans from many different tribes and countries as one inferior race to justify exploiting them.

RASCOE: So these are some very complex concepts about race and history. How does this fit with his other work, you know, like his bestselling book "How To Be An Antiracist" or his ESPN series on sports and race?

DEGGANS: Well, you know, I've interviewed Kendi for NPR's Life Kit podcast. And at the core of a lot of his work is this idea that racism is a behavior, not just a state of being - that it comes down to choices you make every day. And in Netflix's "Stamped From The Beginning," that means examining these ideas like the myth of Black hypersexuality, which has been invoked throughout history to justify raping Black women or lynching Black men. And after the death of George Floyd in 2020, you know, Kendi gained new prominence speaking on these themes - the themes in "How To Be An Antiracist." And those ideas are found in so many contemporary issues that it makes sense that Kendi could leverage them into an ESPN project on racism in sports or this Netflix film.

RASCOE: And what about that criticism Kendi ran into following his decision earlier this year to lay off about half the staff at the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University? Where do those allegations of mismanagement stand?

DEGGANS: Well, the university just released an internal audit finding there were no issues with how the center's finances were handled, which kind of backed up Kendi's contention that the layoffs were not a result of bad fiscal management. And it also pushes back against some critics who tried to delegitimize his concepts by suggesting he's some kind of fraud. Now, hopefully, this will allow people to focus more on his ideas, which he sums up at the end of "Stamped From The Beginning" by answering that original question. The only thing wrong with Black people, he says, is that we think something is wrong with Black people.

RASCOE: NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans. Thank you so much.

DEGGANS: Thank you.

#ibrahim kendi #racism #Black People #Black Perspectives #psychology #antiracism #How To Be An Antiracist

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pretentiousbrownie · 9 months

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Hewwo! Are you ready for some no-context blorbo posting? Well, you can bet your left buttcheek I've got some blorboisms for you straight outta my rattling noggin and RPs!

A lil' while back, one of the writers in the RP's Meta asked us some background questions about our character(s):

What is the first thing your character does in the morning (or whatever other time they wake up)?

As a child, what did your character want to be growing up (and how did that turn out for them)?

How does your character display affection?

What is an obstacle they're currently facing, a struggle they're dealing with?

How does your character respond to failure?

So, for the two characters I wrote for (Sam Sadler and Lua Devens), here were my long-winded thoughts for these questions:

Both Sam and Lua are fairly early risers, though neither of the two will do very much for a while after waking since their days tend to start on their own time. Sam will naturally wake up around 6:30. He still keeps an alarm set for 6:45, but he's most likely already up for it unless the previous night was a long one. Lua will either get up at 4-something or 7-something - there's really no telling which will happen on what morning. If Lua's up early, he'll usually ease out of bed, head to the bathroom and get ready for the day (Sam jokes that Lua is cold-blooded because he'll hop in the shower and crank the hot water way up, steaming up the whole bathroom and bedroom). After getting ready, Lua will probably slip into light athletic clothing, go downstairs, grab a small breakfast, pocket their keys and phone, and head out for an easy walk in the pre-dawn hours. More often than not he'll be listening to a podcast like Alice Isn't Dead or The Black Tapes, or something similar. If Lua's in for a later morning, then Sam will be the first one awake. He keeps his alarm very quiet, so if it does go off, it won't wake Lua. Sam will kinda just sit in silence for a while, trying to muster the energy to get going. He always keeps a bedside book, so he may pick that up and read it, or scroll his socials for a bit. On these slower, later mornings, the pair will wrap up in a blanket burrito and cuddle for a bit, sometimes talking about little bits and bobs from their lives, or just sleepily snuggling together. Sam makes the bed most mornings - not that Lua doesn't want to, Sam just likes doing it - it's just something about order and tidiness for him, and something in having a routine. Sam will then usually wait while Lua uses the bathroom first. Sam will pick out his outfit for the day and lay it out on the bed, maybe turn on some NPR radio and scroll through some more feeds while Lua gets ready. When they swap places, Sam has a pretty regimented routine and may spend more time just making sure he sticks to it. After Lua dresses themself, he'll probably head downstairs and put some coffee or tea up, grab a bagel, or cereal, or toast, then head out onto the patio and sit and sip their drink while watching the world slowly awaken. Sam will eventually come down all neat and proper and ready to tackle the day. He'll drink some water and grab some cereal or a toaster waffle with Lua before grabbing their keys and driving to the nearest cafe for coffee, tea, or a smoothie. When he gets back, he'll start his day and Lua is probably already starting theirs.

I think Sam really liked the idea of being a race car driver. Didn't matter what kind, he just thought it was really neat. Growing up with a family that indulged in a lot of automotive sports, it was almost a given for him to have some interest. He did try his hand at kart racing at an early age and even got onto some circuits as a teen and young adult, but he found his interests too diverse to stick with just that. Like Sam, Lua also had pretty diverse interests - both were extremely fortunate children and had plenty of opportunities to explore different hobbies, passions, and pastimes. Lua always tossed around the idea of being a writer/novelist or, in a polar opposite turn, a professional soccer player, but he ended up ditching soccer very early on and took up equestrian sports. While he continues to write and ride, he truly enjoys his work with the Bureau now and would likely never give up his line of work.

Both Sam and Lua are affectionate people in their own ways, but both also greatly value their quiet time and space, so they are often more than satisfied just being present with each other. One of Sam's love languages is touch, but they understand that Lua is not always willing to engage with them in that way. Lua likes to buy small things for Sam - Sam will of course reciprocate, but he prefers to do things. Honestly, their presence together is enough for them to be happy. Small kisses on the forehead and cheek, light hand-holding, cuddling in the morning, and the small gestures that happen in the day-to-day minutia are affection enough for the pair.

Lua has struggled with his identity for a very long time. Sam has always understood this to some extent, but only recently began to understand the depth of it. The pair have been working together to help Lua come to terms with his true self both at home and around others. Facing past traumas from abusive relationships, the burden of some of their past cases, dealing with the ignorant antics of some of their family members, and the general weight of coming out has been extremely difficult for Lua, but with Sam by his side, he has been slowly working towards it. Sam is facing different challenges, mostly trying to find a new path for themselves outside of municipal work. Career changes happen all the time, but he's been pretty set on politics for a while. With that chapter closed in his life, he's quickly realizing there's so many things he can possibly do and finds the task of identifying where he wants to go a bit overwhelming.

Lua's responses to failure are interesting; he dislikes failure and will do anything and everything possible to avoid it, even to his own detriment. He's long struggled with self worth and his own perceived value and generally feels that even small failures are monumental setbacks for himself. He's conditioned himself to be an utter perfectionist, working well beyond reasonable means to ensure he never has to face failure, and so when he does, it can often be a spiraling roller coaster ride downwards that severely impacts him. Sam is working through this with him as well, but facing something like this is not easily handled without professional attention. Sam is detail oriented and highly accountable to his work, but he does not face the same type of challenges in life and in work, and is more receptive to the experiences that failure brings. He will feel down about getting something wrong, but he's able to bounce back relatively quickly and get the ball rolling without too much effort. He does get frustrated if he fails multiple times on the same task or challenge, but he's usually able to brush it off and play things off with a smile.

And there we go! My two sweet oc bfs from Lower Duck Pond. It's been a while since I've written actively for them, but they're pretty near and dear to my lil' heart :3

#oc #my ocs #oc rp #oc writing #character question #r/havewemet #lower duck pond #reddit #character qna #oc qna #queer #gay #trans #brownieposting #pretentiousbrownie

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allnightlongzine · 4 months

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Join The Black Parade: My Chemical Romance And The Politics Of Taste

Daoud Tyler-Ameen | OCTOBER 21, 2016 | npr.org

Sunday is the 10th anniversary of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, a defining album for both the band and a generation of pop-punk fans. A decade later, NPR's Daoud Tyler-Ameen is still processing what it means to love this record, and what its impact says about the culture around it.

Click the audio link for his roundtable discussion with Tracy Clayton, host of the Buzzfeed podcast Another Round, and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, poet and MTV News columnist — or find it in the All Songs Considered podcast feed. For more on how their conversation came to be, read on.

Common wisdom suggests that the culture you're exposed to in your teens and early 20s ends up informing your taste for the rest of your life. For most people, those years are where the very notion of taste begins. Books, movies, music, fashion, friends: You realize you have options, and you reject the ones that don't match your idea of who you are. The stuff that does stick — be it posters on a wall, patches on a jacket, a dog-eared paperback stuffed in a back pocket — you add to your coat of arms, self-definition by way of curation. What you like informs your understanding of what you are like, and vice-versa.

But every so often, taste leads you somewhere complicated. Sometimes you love a piece of art, but not what that love says about you — and the self-portrait you've so rigorously composed threatens to flake away. This is where I was 10 years ago, when My Chemical Romance released its third album and crowning achievement, The Black Parade.

In 2006, amid the rising tide buoying the fates of Fall Out Boy, Paramore and Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance was as just about as big as it got. This was a boom era for the kind of band whose LPs are stocked at Hot Topic, but the Jersey quintet had always seemed to aim beyond its base. MCR had come out of nowhere with 2004's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, an album born of hardcore but ringed with enough melody and melancholy that all stripes of emo and pop-punk buffs could find themselves in it, too, resulting in sales that zoomed past Warner Music's 300,000-unit target on the road to platinum status. The record had hits, it had hooks, and it had reach, especially once the cinematic visuals for "Helena" and "The Ghost of You" found their way to MTV. Crucially, it also had a sense of humor — see the video for "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," in which freaks-versus-jocks teen comedies are skewered with note-perfect precision — which meant I couldn't dismiss the band as some self-serious Marilyn Manson hangover, even if singer Gerard Way did favor eyeshadow and funeral garb. Three Cheers was really, really good, and that was a problem for me.

Emo had found me in 10th grade, when a two-month relationship left me with a bruised heart and a taped copy of The Get Up Kids' Red Letter Day EP, and had followed me to Yale, where I hipped my freshman roommate to Dashboard Confessional. My Chemical Romance's music was not itself the issue — rather, it was the scale of the thing. This band was so popular, so grandiose — and thus, it was also a punching bag, derided as "mall punk" by the same people who had a few years earlier indicted Britney and *NSYNC as signs of the apocalypse. At a moment when mannered indie-pop and roughshod garage-rock were infiltrating the mainstream, MCR was earnest, dramatic and unapologetically massive, in a way that made it conspicuously uncool. And for me — a gawky black kid at a fancy white university, feeling very much stuck between identities — uncool seemed like the worst possible thing to be.

Writer Carvell Wallace has described the struggle this way: "Having black skin but liking white things is a little like walking on a tightrope ... You have white friends with whom you can never talk about race but you avoid groups of black people because you fear they will hear what's in your headphones and call you out as a traitor." Those words come from a Pitchfork Review profile of TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe, with whom Wallace had overlapped years before as an NYU undergrad, and identified as a kindred square peg — the kind of black kid who might not take great care of his sneakers but would agonize over which ratty band T-shirt to wear to a party. That's the needle I was threading when MCR arrived in my life: wrapping myself in thrift-store accessories, loudly claiming bands like TV on the Radio as my heroes, positioning myself as the kind of black bohemian (Pharrell and Basquiat come to mind) who can move between cultural groups by dint of the fascination he inspires.

This version of me wasn't a lie, just a selective presentation of the truth. But committing to My Chemical Romance, which in spite of its success was scorned far and wide as mass-market histrionics for sad teens, threatened to shake the myth apart. So I kept my love of Three Cheers to myself. And when The Black Parade arrived, heralded by an orchestral lead single whose video employed period costume, gothic sets and scores of extras, I was mortified — and pushed the band out of my life altogether. I was out of school by then, playing in bands of my own, working office jobs and learning to carry myself as an adult. Even closeted fandom seemed like a bad habit in need of shedding. The inner emo kid, I thought, had to go.

This summer, a cryptic teaser posted to My Chemical Romance's YouTube channel briefly lit up the social web, stoking fevered rumors among those who'd been missing the group since it disbanded in 2013. A day later came the letdown: There was no new album, no reunion tour — just a 10th-anniversary reissue of the record that had come to define the band's career.

Fans took to Twitter to voice their disappointment. Two voices in particular jumped out at me: Tracy Clayton, co-host of the Buzzfeed podcast Another Round with Heben and Tracy, and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, a music writer and the author of a remarkable book of poetry called The Crown Ain't Worth Much. Both of them are friends of friends, part of an extended media family that platforms like Twitter have helped to illuminate. Both of them create work rooted in blackness, Tracy in searching interviews that sound unlike any in her field, Hanif in poems that read more like cultural essays, refracting issues like gentrification and police violence through the grammar of hip-hop and pop culture at large. Both of them were legitimately upset that My Chemical Romance was not getting back together. I knew I had to talk to them.

It isn't just that I've come around to The Black Parade in the past year, though that helps: When I finally allowed myself to listen to it all the way through, when I researched its underlying narrative about a cancer patient's journey to the beyond, when I stumbled on live videos of the band dressed in marching gear and corpse paint, the weight of it all hit me over and over and over. The record is a monument, as moving a statement about death as has ever been made. Twenty-two year-old me would have loved it, and loved talking about it. But it may well have taken the media environment of 2016 to show me how to have that conversation — in public, no less.

I don't know how much of this revelation comes from a change in the industry, and how much is just my own senses becoming more finely attuned, but the sheer plurality of black voices that move through my social timelines and podcast feeds these days is such a rich, resplendent comfort. When you can follow the work of not just a handful of black writers and commentators, but dozens upon dozens, running on their own or within enshrined institutions, you stop focusing on how different their perspectives are from the rest of the world — and begin to take notice of the many differences among them. You witness their minor debates, and pick sides. You see and hear them making guest appearances in one another's territory. "Rep sweats" fade from the picture; instead, you take as a given that people of color do and make and like all kinds of things.

And so, to toast the 10th birthday of The Black Parade, I called up two black writers whose work I adore and whose taste I admire, to have the exchange of ideas I wish I'd known how to have way back when. Here's hoping it reaches a few brown kids still learning how to trust themselves.

Andrew Limbong and Brent Baughman provided production support for this story.

#npr #black parade #2016 #podcast #outside

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therainbowfishy · 1 year

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Some spring favorites

Watching

Petite-Gloom

Rebecca Eats Books

Listening to

Kermitment podcast

A bunch of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts…

Haley Heyndrickx

Regina Spektor

Boygenius

Illustration

Makitoy

fourpeasinapod7

Food

Trader Joe’s banana bread biscotti

Chickpea salad

Red curry with pineapple

Popcorn with spicy mayo

Reading

Poetry: Ross Gay’s Book of Unabashed Gratitude and Ocean Vuong’s Time is a Mother

This profile on Kelly Link

Misc.

A quick weekend visit from a friend

Walking 10,000 steps an hour after work on sunny days

#favorites #spring #monthly favorites #2023 #February 2023 #march 2023 #books #stuff i like

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ebookporn · 1 year

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The absurdity of deeming a Dr. Seuss story decrying racism as inappropriate for kids

What happened in a Ohio classroom is sadly symbolic of the way many talk about Martin Luther King Jr. and the injustices he fought against.

by Jarvis DeBerry

Here’s a shout-out to Noah, a third grader at Shale Meadows Elementary School near Columbus, Ohio. According to NPR’s “Planet Money” host Erika Beras, as Noah’s teacher read “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss, published in 1961, the student said Sneetches with stars shunning Sneetches without stars sounded “almost like what happened back then, how people were treated ... like, white people disrespected Black people.”

Not only should we be impressed that Noah connected a story about prejudiced Sneetches to racist people, but we should also take note of him expressing the thought in the active voice, using a subject, verb and object. He said, “White people disrespected Black people.” It’s becoming rarer that sentences about our country’s racist history are structured with such clarity.

You’ll notice how rare it is on this day, especially, when you hear people whose views would have in no way aligned with a living Martin Luther King Jr. pay insipid praise to the martyr. They’ll say King had courage, but they won’t say why he needed it. They’ll say he marched, but they won’t say against whom. They’ll say we shall overcome, but they won’t name the people who are the obstacles. They’ll say he was a hero, but they won’t dare mention Jim Crow’s villains.

and more here:

#racism #racists #republicans #dr seuss #the sneetches #librarians #booksellers #literacy #NPR #teachers #storytime #storytelling #martin luther king jr

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rockislandadultreads · 11 months

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Libby Spotlight: Have a Good Laugh

The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey

Receptionist Pam Beesly and accountant Angela Martin had very little in common when they toiled together at Scranton's Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. But, in reality, the two bonded in their very first days on set and, over the nine seasons of the series' run, built a friendship that transcended the show and continues to this day. Sharing everything from what it was like in the early days as the show struggled to gain traction, to walking their first red carpet—plus exclusive stories on the making of milestone episodes and how their lives changed when they became moms—The Office BFFs is full of the same warm and friendly tone Jenna and Angela have brought to their “Office Ladies” podcast.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.

For a start there’s the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson’s acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America’s last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is a modern classic of travel literature.

Adulting by Kelly Williams Brown

If you graduated from college but still feel like a student... if you wear a business suit to job interviews but pajamas to the grocery store... if you have your own apartment but no idea how to cook or clean . . . it's OK. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Just because you don't feel like an adult doesn't mean you can't act like one. And it all begins with this funny, wise, and useful book. Based on Kelly Williams Brown's popular blog, Adulting makes the scary, confusing "real world" approachable, manageable—and even conquerable. This guide will help you to navigate the stormy Sea of Adulthood so that you may find safe harbor in Not Running Out of Toilet Paper Bay, and along the way you will learn:

What to check for when renting a new apartment—not just the nearby bars, but the faucets and stove, among other things.

When a busy person can find time to learn more about the world (It involves the intersection of NPR and hair-straightening.)

How to avoid hooking up with anyone in your office—imagine your coworkers having plastic, featureless doll crotches. It helps.

The secret to finding a mechanic you love—or, more realistically, one that will not rob you blind.

You Can’t Be Serious by Kal Penn

You Can't Be Serious is a series of funny, consequential, awkward, and ridiculous stories from Kal Penn's idiosyncratic life. It's about being the grandson of Gandhian freedom fighters, and the son of immigrant parents: people who came to this country with very little and went very far—and whose vision of the American dream probably never included their son sliding off an oiled-up naked woman in the raunchy Ryan Reynolds movie Van Wilder...or getting a phone call from Air Force One as Kal flew with the country's first Black president.

"By turns hilarious, poignant, and inspiring" (David Axelrod, New York Times bestselling author), Kal reflects on the most exasperating and rewarding moments from his journey so far. He pulls back the curtain on the nuances of opportunity and racism in the entertainment industry and recounts how he built allies, found encouragement, and dealt with early reminders that he might never fit in. He describes his initially unpromising first date with his now-fiancé Josh, involving an 18-pack of Coors Light and an afternoon of watching NASCAR. And of course, he reveals how, after a decade and a half of fighting for and enjoying successes in Hollywood, he made the terrifying but rewarding decision to take a sabbatical from a fulfilling acting career for an opportunity to serve his country as an Obama White House aide.

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bookgeekgrrl · 4 months

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My media this week (7-13 Jan 2024)

the addition of this disaster boy was delightful

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Second First Chances (Kedreeva) - 92K, steddie, canon-divergent Ladyhawke AU. Very well-written, exactly what it says on the tin. Very enjoyable.

😊 Murray Mysteries (Knöves Storytelling) - "full-cast audio-drama style re-imagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, set in the present day. Mina Murray is an unemployed twenty-something, jigsaw puzzler, and brand new Podcaster. Her life doesn’t exactly make for interesting content. That is until her best friend Lucy falls mysteriously ill and Mina’s boyfriend Jonathan loses contact on a work trip to Romania…" Very creative, very queer, very enjoyable!

🥰 ship-to-ship combat (pomeloquat) - 76K, SuperBat - "Clark, in an attempt to make some spare cash, unintentionally stumbles into the world of superhero fanfiction, becomes a prolific writer for Gotham's OTP, and tries his best to fend off rival fans who want him to convert to superbat instead." - extremely funny and delightful identity porn fic

🥰 Tension and Tonic (Zenaidamacrouras1) - 78K, cellist!Bucky/artist!Steve, one night stand that develops feelings. Mostly hilarious, with some fantastic characterizations, especially of the supporting characters. Fic does go to some pretty dark thoughts very briefly but ultimately the vibe I ended up with was much more on the funny side of the scale.

💖💖 +41K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

A Letter from "Crawly" to Azirapil (mostlydeadlanguages) - Good Omens: Aziraphale & Crowley, 486 words - actual cuneiform on actual clay tablets, 'translated'. Our boy Ea-Nasir gets a shoutout. Fan makers are amazing.

veracity (pomeloquat) - DCU: SuperBat, 3K - a group of Metropolis criminals give Batman some truth serum to find out how to deal with Superman & get more than they bargained for. Absolute hilarity. Fantastic related art.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

8 Out of 10 Cats - s22, e11

QI - series S, ep3, 5

D20: Fantasy High: Sophomore Year - BONUS "Fireside Chat with Brennan & Friends

D20: Fantasy High: Sophomore Year - BONUS "Making Chungledown Bim (with Lou Wilson)"

Finding Your Roots - "Fathers and Sons" (s10, e3): LeVar Burton & Wes Studi

Hollywood Reporter Actors Roundtable 2023

The Holdovers (2023)

D20: Escape From The Bloodkeep - "The Tomb of Ultimate Evil" (s2, e6)

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Summer Scaries" (s21, e1)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Yaaath Queen" (s16, e1)

All Creatures Great and Small - s4, e1-7 (😍😍😍)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The Sporkful - Ozempic Isn’t So Great For Fat People, Says Aubrey Gordon

Pop Culture Happy Hour - All Of Us Strangers

Up First - Congressional Funding Deal, Israel and Lebanon, Lloyd Austin Fallout

Today, Explained - Pirates of the Red Sea

How To! - How To Keep Caring Amid Endless Crises

Shedunnit - Whodunnit Centenary: 1924

Switched on Pop - The case of the missing vocals, and other listener questions

Vibe Check - Look to God, Not Monica

ICYMI - The Nine-Month Cruise Heard Round the World

Code Switch - Everyone wants a piece of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy

Outward - Raquel Willis is in Bloom

Ologies with Alie Ward - Ethnoecology (ETHNOBOTANY/NATIVE PLANTS) with Leigh Joseph

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Baldur's Gate 3

NPR's Book of the Day - Roxane Gay fleshes out her strong 'Opinions'

99% Invisible #565 - Mini-Stories: Volume 18

Just One Thing - Be Kind

Not Another D&D Podcast - D&D Court: Sibling Rivalry Edition (w/ Ify Nwadiwe)

Dear Prudence - A DNA Test Revealed a Secret Sibling. Help!

What Next: TBD - Boeing’s Max Mess

⭐ Endless Thread - The Minnesota Timberwolves score NBA fandom in Brazil, but there's a kink

You're Dead to Me - History of Kung Fu

Today, Explained - Hollywood’s secret musicals

⭐ Hit Parade - And the Grammy Goes to… Edition

Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Copycat Brands

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'80s Soft Pop

The Golden Age of Boy Bands

Presenting Britney Spears

Def Leppard's Greatest Bites

Best of '80s Adult Hits

Covers & Remixes

Singer-Songwriter Classics

Red Hot Chili Peppers

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zmediaoutlet · 1 year

Note

Was reading through your response to the things you think S/D would love... I like your answers.

I am glad you have acknowledged that Dean is a "reader" too. I think he's well versed and knows his lore, obv cause the job. But inthink he enjoys reading historical books, especially military history. I think he like the Erik Larson books (Devil in the white City etc)

I also think he likes those spy books, Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan , he and Sam watched all the movies.,

And agreed, he likes the books where someone saves the day.

I wished Sam like music more. Do you think he would like classical music?

Sam absolutely loves True Crime books and listens to podcasts about?

Do you think Hunters would do a podcast? But it's a underground thing?

Interesting! I'd be surprised at the military history thing, myself. Dean doesn't seem like much of a non-fiction guy to me. I'm sure Sam read Devil in the White City, though, and probably told Dean the details on one of their drives through Chicago. Definitely agree on spy books, though -- that's the kind of pulpy joy that fits right in with Dean's other tastes.

Sam... might like classical. If he did listen to it I suspect it'd be because a mental health article told him to. Then again, maybe he's driving a stretch of highway and Dean's asleep in the passenger side because he *finally* got Dean to take a break, and he stealthily switches the radio from classic rock to the local NPR affiliate, and he listens to the BBC news broadcast before it switches over to classical (or jazz) and he just lets it roll, quiet in the dark. But like. I doubt he's buying his own copies of Vivaldi, lol.

I hope to god hunters would not do a podcast, but it's probably the sort of thing one of those horrible Asa Fox characters would think of. "This week on Plaid Makes You Interesting, the many uses of silver! With a guest interview from some werewolf I captured and wouldn't kill until he agreed to answer some questions."

It's tempting to give the boys our own tastes, but generally speaking I try not to unless I think it'll fit really closely against things we've already seen them like -- or that make sense for them to like giving their time period/demographic. Like it's easy to imagine Sam emo-ly listening to Nirvana in 1995, but really getting into opera? Less so.

#answers

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lesbian-helen-gansey · 2 years

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books I read in June & July

This is late because I’ve been on a self-imposed social media hiatus for the past few weeks! I’m technically still not back, I just got on to post this. My weeks being semi-offline have been relatively uneventful. I have watched pretty much every Netflix documentary I’m even remotely interested in and have regressed to listening to the podcasts I used to listen to in high school. I’ve completed a few sudokus and gotten stuck and quit a ton of sudokus. I’ve mostly been using my concerta to play mahjong tiles on my laptop with a laser focus. Staying off all social media entirely has so far been the only effective way of preventing me from doom scrolling, and it seems (at least from my daily listen of NPR up first) that there remains of plethora of things to doom scroll about, so I am going to try to wait a little longer before returning. The enchanting lure of Tumblr does call me tho. To quote John Milton "God therefore left him free, set before him a provoking object, ever almost in his eyes; herein consisted his merit, herein the right of his reward, the praise of his abstinence. Wherefore did he create passions within us, pleasures round about us, but that these rightly tempered are the very ingredients of virtue?”

The Harbor by Katrine Engberg (4/5)

This is a crime novel that takes place in Copenhagen about detectives searching for a missing child. I think that it’s actually the third book in a series about this team of police officers, but it made sense as a stand alone having not read the others. It was pretty slow, and hard to get into, but I did end up really liking it. It was hard to get into it, but once I was in it, I was really in it. I read a lot of thrillers, and I find many of them to be sort of absurd in an attempt to be clever. I concede that it’s hard to think of an ending that is both surprising and satisfying, but I still think many of the current authors don’t do a particularly good job with the task. This one, however, built to a really interesting ending. It was both well-foreshadowed and sufficiently surprising. I think I just dislike how a lot of thrillers and crime dramas build to something that is an almost absurdly dramatic climax in an attempt to, I don’t know, shock the reader or raise the stakes, and I really appreciated that this wasn’t that. I’ll probably read the others in the series. (adult fiction)

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (5/5)

I liked this a surprising amount. I’ve grown sort of jaded with the personal essay scene, so I was a little skeptical about how much I would like a book of essays from a New Yorker writer, but I have really liked the Jia Tolentino essays I’ve read online, so I decided to read it, and I loved it. I find it difficult to find thoughtful, and nuanced essays about feminism, but these essays were really interesting. The kind of essays that are willing to hold a lot of things in their hands and aren’t interested in driving home some argument but rather examining thoughts. “Always be Optimizing” is one of my favorite essays from the book, and it just has such interesting thoughts about the influence of capitalism on feminism. I found Tolentino to be really self-aware and begrudgingly lovable. Almost against my wishes, I left this book really loving Jia Tolentino. (Before reading this, I had found her instagram incredibly annoying bc I am a judgmental person, but now I’m entirely endeared. Too bad I’m not on instagram anymore to see her photos.) (creative nonfiction)

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (5/5)

This book is like, gay gay. I thought people were calling this book “lesbian vampires” like it had gay subtext 21st century readers were reading into. But no. Gay for real. Gayer than gay romances published today. Gonna have portions of it as the selected readings for my wedding one day. They probably won’t let me get married in a church if I do, but worth it. If you can’t get enough of Lucy and Mina in your inbox, this is for you. (adult fiction)

Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown (4/5)

Brene Brown Stans rise. This book basically defines and categorizes a bunch of emotions to help us better understand what we’re feeling, which Brown says helps us process our experiences. This wasn’t a favorite of mine by her, mostly because it’s a little more of a reference book, but I still ended up with a bunch of hastily typed notes in my notes app of things I need to remember from it. (nonfiction)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (5/5)

This book is so fucking good. You have to read this book. I think it’s probably best to go into it with as little info as possible. It’s hard to describe without giving away things that make it exciting. When my best friend recommended it to me, she described it as if Madeline Miller wrote a psychological thriller. She all but forced my other friend and I to read it, and subsequently all three of us have been evangelizing about it. We’ve all but started some sort of mlm of our own personal downlines spreading the word about Piraniesi. I’m currently making my therapist read it. This book made me say “holy shit” and “oh my god” out loud as I was reading. (adult fiction)

How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell (3/5)

This was a little too conceptual and philosophical for me. But the author does love birds as much as I do, which I loved. (Also I recently discovered that there are apps that basically let you Shazam bird calls. This is one of the greatest discoveries of my life. I’ll never be bored again. I’ll be outside shazaming the Sparrow songs.) The book is basically about pushing back against the capitalistic urge to always be productive and instead to really engage in the world around you, which I have, subsequently, been trying to do more of. I’ve been spending a lot more time than usual almost moved to tears by how many different shades of green trees are. One of my favorite things is when the leaves blow in the wind, and you can see the undersides have a whiter color, and the contrast between the tops and bottoms of the leaves blowing looks so dynamic. (nonfiction)

Nice Girls by Catherine Dang (3/5)

Speaking of thrillers with over the top endings. I was actually pretty into this book until the end. I think I had to stop and roll my eyes more than once during the climax. It seemed like it was building to something interesting, and then, at the big reveal, the author took like, the least interesting route, which was disappointing. I don’t know, it was fine. I don’t know why I keep reading like, the women’s thriller genre when I always feel meh about them. (adult fiction)

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (4/5)

Not my very favorite Christie, but I still liked it. I did find it a little difficult to keep up with who all the characters were, but that’s par for the course for me with Christie lol. I wish I had more to say about it, but I really don’t. Poirot meets a young women who has had several attempts on her life, and he interjects himself to try to save her. Maybe one day Poirot will go on vacation without getting mixed up in a murder, the poor guy. He can’t go anywhere. (adult fiction)

Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks (5/5)

Everything about feminism that I read from bell hooks I’m just like, yes. Fucking yes. She gets it. I think (hope) everyone is finally realizing the extent to which the modern feminist movement is slightly spineless and had been eaten away at by capitalism, and this book is like, back to basics. It’s time to end lifestyle feminism. (nonfiction)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (5/5)

I loved this one. A man is murdered in his study and a local doctor helps Poirot, who recently moved to the town, solve the mystery. Super clever, couldn’t put it down. I don’t ever expect that I’m going to solve Christie’s mysteries, but I felt truly had by this one, in the best way possible. She got me good. (adult fiction)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (5/5)

Honesty, Pride and Prejudice is a page turner. Having seen the movie a lot combined with Austen’s writing style, I knew I would like it, but I didn’t expect to like, can’t-put-it-down-love-it, but I totally did. I could not stop reading it, and the whole time I was like, girl you know Pride and Prejudice how are you on the edge of your seat about this, but it was so good. Austen knows how to write a romance. She perfected the craft in 1813. (It also got me back into the Lizzie Bennet Diaries which is somehow still super fun all these years later). (adult fiction)

Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke (3/5)

Told through the lens of her patient’s stories of addiction, a psychiatrist writes about how modern society’s easy access to dopamine is actually making us more unhappy. A lot of the book focuses on how we are able to get high dopamine rewards very easily from things like social media without any of the effort it would usually take to get a dopamine reward, and this is skewing our ability to find happiness in more mundane things. There were definitely parts of this book that I thought were super interesting and important and have encouraged me to spend more time without any sort of distraction and to not be so pain and boredom averse. That being said, the book really lost me in the last half. I feel like it kind of goes off in a different direction that feels less relevant. (nonfiction)

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentil (4/5)

A meta-feeling mystery about a writer writing a book about a writer who is in the Boston Public Library when a woman is found dead. She and the group of people she meets while they get wrapped into trying to solve the mystery. I really liked the story within the story and the connection between the fictional author and the mystery. I don’t think it actually meets the definition of a cozy mystery, but it felt more like that than a sort of traditional mystery or thriller. I found the main character slightly annoying, but it didn’t bother me all that much. (adult fiction)

Running with Lions by Julian Winter (3/5)

This was a cute book. It’s a ya romance about two boys on a soccer team who reconnect at their team’s summer practice camp. It was a little young for me, which is why I didn’t love it. If I had read it at like, fifteen I probably would have been a lot more invested in it. It was cute though. I just, don’t really connect with a character worried about graduating high school anymore. It’s a little harder to get into. (ya fiction)

Rush by Lisa Patton (3/5)

This book is about girls and their moms going through sorority rush at the university of Mississippi, which is an incredible concept. Sorority rush is fascinating, and dramatic, and cutthroat. However, this book, especially the second half, stops being about the drama of rush and starts being “white girls discover racism and then decide to fix it.” They do fix, by the end of the book. Don’t worry, the white girls do solve racism. The parts of this book that were about rush were great, the parts that attempted to be about race were just, borderline painful. I think this is probably what would have passed for a “brave” book about race in like, 2011. Except it was written in 2018. (adult fiction)

#Book Ratings #books I read #2022 books

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behsarin12-blog · 1 month

Text

5000 Hours Project / 0100 - more

◾️فهرست مطالب کانال از شماره کد 100 به بعد

#فهرست_مطالب

🔸0100: Hoover Institution (The Future of Hamas, Gaza, and the Two-State Solution) #کد_0100

🔹0101: VOA learning English podcast (March 11, 2024) #کد_0101

🔸0102: VOA learning English (Everyday Grammar TV: Parts of Speech and Poetry, Part 2) #کد_0102

🔹0103: The Heritage Foundation (Should You Think About the Roman Empire?) #کد_0103

🔸0104: VOA learning English podcast (March 12, 2024) #کد_0104

🔹0105: VOA learning English (level 2 - lesson 14) #کد_0105

🔸0106: BBC learning English | 6 Minute English ( Sewing to fight period poverty) #کد_0106

🔹0107: VOA learning English podcast (March 13, 2024) #کد_0107

🔸0108: Bruegel (How war in Ukraine brought Europe together) #کد_0108

🔹0109: VOA learning English podcast (March 14, 2024) #کد_0109

🔸0110: National Geographic (Visiting Iceland’s Newest Wellness Oasis: Forest Lagoon w/ Eva zu Beck | Nat Geo’s Best of the World) #کد_0110

🔹0111: VOA learning English podcast (March 15, 2024) #کد_0111

🔸0112: NASA's Curious Universe (Planet Hunting with Host Padi Boyd) #کد_0112

🔹0113: VOA learning English podcast (March 16, 2024) #کد_0113

🔸0114: VOA learning English podcast (March 17, 2024) #کد_0114

🔹0115: eu! radio (Is Europe dependent on China?) #کد_0115

🔸0116: VOA learning English podcast (March 18, 2024) #کد_0116

🔹 0117: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq) #کد_0117

🔸0118: NPR | NPR's book of the day ( '2054' is a political thriller about civil war, misinformation and AI) #کد_0118

🔹0119:BBC learning English | 6 Minute English (What makes a great library?) #کد_0119

🔸0120:The New Yorker | The New Yorker Radio Hour (Judith Butler can't "take credit or blame" for gender furor) #کد_0120

🔹0121: VOA learning English podcast (March 19, 2024) #کد_0121

🔸0122: Haaretz ('Netanyahu Wants the World to Accuse Israel of Genocide, Apartheid and Ethnic Cleansing') #کد_0122

🔹0123:The Pew Charitable Trusts | After The Fact (Housing in America: Where Is Home?) #کد_0123

🔸0124: Gallup (What are the Drivers Behind European Attitudes Toward NATO?) #کد_0124

🔹0125: VOA Learning English Podcast (March 20, 2024) #کد_0125

🔸0126:📌 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (El Salvador’s ‘Tropical Gulag’) #کد_0126

🔹0127: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars(Guatemala’s ‘DemocraticSpring’) #کد_0127

🔸0128: The Times | The Story | (How street gangs led Haiti’s descent into anarchy) #کد_0128

🔹0129: National Geographic(Seals, Subs, and Suits of Armor: Sharks That Eat Everything (Full Episode)) #کد_0129

🔸0130: The English HeritagePodcast (What happened after the Romans left Britain?) #کد_0130

🔹0131: VOA Learning English Podcast (March 24, 2024) #کد_0131

🔸0132: BBC learning English | 6Minute English (Disability in music and theatre) #کد_0132

🔹0133: Carnegie endowment for international peace (Post-Election Russia Resembles the Soviet Union) #کد_0133

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ear-worthy · 3 months

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This Day in Esoteric Political History: Forgotten But Not Lost Moments Of History

Often, the most ear worthy podcasts are those that search across multiple genres for their show's topic. There are so many politics podcasts covering the same scraps of political infighting. There are so many history podcasts covering the same events.

How about a podcast that combines politics with history and then adds a layer of decadent esotericism to the mix?

Then you get This Day In Esoteric Political History.

What's special about this show? Consider some of the episodes.

The great Idaho Beaver Parachute Drop of 1948. Or The First Crossword Puzzle in 1913 in the New York World newspaper. Or an episode about a failed assassination attempt on newly elected President John F. Kennedy you've probably never heard of.

Or an early episode of the show in 2020 about the 17th Amendment and how Senators were elected and how that changed the mechanics of Democracy.

The show is produced by Radiotopia from PRX, which is a network created specifically for independent podcasts.

Radiotopia says: "We empower creators with the support to deliver well-crafted, innovative audio, and the freedom to thrive on their own terms."

Led by Audrey Mardavich and Yooree Losordo, Radiotopia was created in 2014 through a partnership between PRX and Roman Mars of 99% Invisible. Radiotopia is supported by a mix of grants, sponsors and, above all, contributions from tens of thousands of listeners.

In this show, Jody Avirgan, Nicole Hemmer and Kellie Carter Jackson (and guests) take one moment, big or small, from that day in U.S. political history and explore how it might inform our present –– all in about fifteen minutes.

New episodes release Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

The co-hosts mesh well, and guests who are experts on the event being covered can showcase an episode. Witness the August 30, 2020, show about how President Jimmy Carter was allegedly attacked by a rabbit in a canoe (or rowboat.) Sam Sanders, then of NPR, superbly recounts the media hysteria of an encounter between the most powerful man in the world and a "wascally wabbit."

This Day In Esoteric Political History isa show with a sense of humor, a sense of discovery about these events, and a sense of irony since these events covered often contradict a long-standing belief of the American historical record.

All three co-hosts have overachiever and annoyingly prolific written all their respective bios.

Nicole Hemmer is an associate research scholar with the Obama Presidency Oral History project and author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics. She co-hosts the Past Present podcast and is the producer and host of A12: The Story of Charlottesville, a six-part podcast series on the white-power terrorism in Charlottesville in 2017. Kellie Carter Jackson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. She is the author of Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence, which won the James H. Broussard Best First Book Prize. She was a finalist for the Stone Book Prize and the Frederick Douglass Prize. She is also co-editor of Reconsidering Roots: Race, Politics, & Memory, essays exploring the impact of Alex Haley’s Roots.

Jody Avirgan has apparently done everything in podcasting. He is a podcast host, producer, and editor. His production company is Roulette Productions.

He is, of course, the co-host of the Radiotopia show “This Day In Esoteric Political History,” and “Good Sport” from the TED Audio Collective, and serves as story editor and executive producer for a number of projects. Most recently he has helped make “The Run,” from MLB and Audacy; “The Line,” from Dan Taberski and Apple Podcasts; Adam McKay’s “Death at the Wing” from Hyperobject Industries; and “Oprahdemics” from Radiotopia. Avirgan is also one of the regular hosts for “Hark Daily” on the Hark podcast discovery app.

From 2017-2020, he ran and hosted 30 for 30 Podcasts, part of ESPN Films. He was also involved in larger efforts at ESPN to grow the podcast strategy and slate of shows.

Avirgan also developed FiveThirtyEight Podcasts, where he hosted, reported and edited a variety of shows and projects. He was the host of the FiveThirtyEight politics podcast, where he covered the 2016 campaign and the rise of Trump; and was host of What's The Point - a show about how data affects our lives.

Prior to arriving at ESPN/538, Avirgan was a producer at WNYC radio, and has worked with shows such as On The Media, Marketplace, Freakonomics, 99% Invisible, and many more.

I'm exhausted just writing about his accomplishments.

Check out This Day In Esoteric Political History. The show is particularly relevant today, as conservative efforts to restrict the teaching of U.S. History to a specific whitewashed version spread and marginalize those who make significant contributions to the growth of this nation.

The show highlights events forgotten by most, but should be remembered by many.

Consider the November 9, 2023 episode about Confederate Commander Henry Wirz who was executed on that day in 1865 for war crimes in Andersonville. The only Confederate officer to be executed, Wirz ran a camp at which more than 13,000 U.S. soldiers died -- a 25 percent death rate.

Or the episode about a skirmish that broke out between the U.S. Army and the Dakota Indians, in which 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, making it the largest mass execution in U.S. History.

Check out This Day In Esoteric Political History. It's a podcast that is a fusion of history, politics, the improbable, and the implausible.

#podcast #podcasting #politics #history

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