From Prince Philip to Desmond Tutu, from an anti-racism campaigner and member of the Auschwitz Girls’ Orchestra to a war surgeon focused on civilians to an impoverished Ethiopian whose school for the poor educated 120,000 students: our obituaries editor reflects on the famed and the lesser-known figures who died in 2021.
Banksy is the world's most famous living artist, yet no one knows who he is. For more than twenty years, his wryly political and darkly humorous spray paintings have appeared mysteriously on urban walls around the globe, generating headlines and controversy. Art critics disdain him, but the public (and the art market) love him. With Banksy: Completed (MIT Press, 2021), artist and critic Carol Diehl is the first author to probe the depths of the Banksy mystery. Through her exploration of his paintings, installations, writings, and Academy Award-nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Diehl proves unequivocally that there's more to Banksy than the painting on the wall.
Seeing Banksy as the ultimate provocateur, Diehl investigates the dramas that unfold after his works are discovered, with all of their social, economic, and political implications. She reveals how this trickster rattles the system, whether during his month-long 2013 self-styled New York “residency” or his notorious Dismaland of 2015, a full-scale dystopian “family theme park unsuitable for children” dedicated to the failure of capitalism. Banksy's work, Diehl shows, is a synthesis of conceptual art, social commentary, and political protest, played out not in museums but where it can have the most effect—on the street, in the real world. The questions Banksy raises about the uses of public and private property, the role of the global corporatocracy, the never-ending wars, and the gap between artworks as luxury goods and as vehicles of social expression, have never been more relevant.
Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. To discuss and propose the book for an interview you can reach her at galina.limorenko@epfl.ch.
In this episode we head to the Hideout in Chicago for an evening of storytelling around rats. Jesse Dukes, Curious City’s lead rat reporter shares some stories from a trip we took to Lincoln Park’s rattiest alley. And some Chicagoans share their some of their most traumatic rat encounters.
The news to know for Thursday, December 30th, 2021!
What to know about the verdict in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial and why President Biden is once again meeting with Russia's President Putin.
Also, what the FDA is now saying about at-home Covid-19 tests when it comes to the new variant, omicron.
Plus, the Red Cross wants to send you to the Super Bowl, finding your favorite bubbly may be harder than you expect this New Year's, and one type of music is making a comeback decades later.
Top 5 of 2021 Day 4: During this Christmas season, we're sharing some of our favorite interviews of the year to allow our team to take time off for the holidays.
The Bible and the Torah have served as sources of inspiration and guidance throughout the ages. Accounts in the Book of Genesis of the Tower of Babel and the Garden of Eden are among those that have helped people from ancient times to understand God and to navigate personal issues.
“Wow, this is super-relevant for modern times and modern challenges, this kind of timeless wisdom,” Eisenberg says about the Torah, which encompasses the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. “It has a modern feel to it, despite its nature as an ancient text.”
Eisenberg joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about his book and some of the lessons we can take from the Book of Genesis.
We’re re-running some of our favorite episodes from the past year. This episode originally aired in August 2021.
Last week, the northern California mountain town of Greenville was wiped out by the Dixie Fire, which lasted for two months and is now the second largest wildfire in California history. As Greenville residents assess the damage to their homes and businesses, is it safe to rebuild? Is it even ethical, when wildfires are expected to only get worse?
Guest: Margaret Garcia, also known as Meg Upton, reporter at Plumas News.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Danielle Hewitt, Elena Schwartz, Davis Land, and Carmel Delshad.
Lot of people took up bird watching in some form during the pandemic, including Short Wave editor Gisele Grayson. She edited this episode about 2021's #BlackBirdersWeek — it about celebrating Black joy. Co-organizer Deja Perkins talks about how the week went and why it's important to observe nature wherever you live.
Poet and author Kwame Alexander was feeling the weight of being Black in America last summer and didn't know how to make sense of his feelings. So, he made sense of them through his book of poetry, Light For The World To See: A Thousand Words On Race And Hope. It's three poems on three historic events: the murder of George Floyd, Colin Kaepernick's protests, and Barack Obama being elected president. Alexander told NPR's Rachel Martin he wrote this as a call for Black people to remember their humanity.
We're halfway through another intense pandemic school year. As many teachers are taking a well-deserved holiday break, we'll hear why these past few months in the classroom have gotten harder – and what that could mean for students and parents.
Startups need capital to compete with bigger companies, and taxes on capital gains can stem the flow of angel investment. Chris Edwards makes his case for angel investors.