When you think of an epic, what comes to mind? The Iliad, TheOdyssey, maybe Beowulf? Well author Honoree Fanonne Jeffers points out that epics are almost always about white men. She told former Morning Edition host Noel King that she didn't want to tell that story because that story has already been told...many times. So, Jeffers set out to write a different kind of epic about heroic Black women in The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois.
S2 Ep 26. A very clever solution to a significant environmental problem based on a kingfisher’s eyelids. When the brightly coloured bird dives for food, its eyes are covered in a way that protects the kingfisher’s eyeballs, rather like swimming goggles protect ours. Architects have copied this design to help prevent soil erosion on the banks of the huge Three Gorges Dam in China.
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The British House of Commons has been called the Best Club in Town due to the fact that there is a 1,000-gallon vat of Scotch whiskey located in the cellar.
However, I prefer to think of it as a roach motel. Because technically, once you are elected to Parliament, you can’t leave. It is actually illegal to resign from the House of Commons.
Yet, people seemingly do all the time.
Learn more about the convoluted way you can quit the House of Commons on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The US Postal Service has played a key role in much of American history - from the Declaration of Independence to more recent mail-in voting. It was conceived of by the founders as the way to create a united, informed and effective American democracy. But today, the postal service's future is in danger. Winifred Gallagher spoke to NPR's Rund Abdelfatah about how the postal service created the United States and the case for investing in this pivotal institution.
On March 25, 1911, one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history took place. In the middle of Manhattan, a fire broke out in a garment factory that killed 146 people. Most of the deaths were totally preventable, and the legacy of that incident had repercussions that still exist today. Learn more about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and its legacy, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today, two takes on stories we tell to make ourselves feel better and the consequences of believing them. First, author Danielle Evans' short story collection, The Office of Historical Corrections. The title story is about a fictional agency that fact checks in real time but, as she told former NPR host Noel King, it's less powerful than you might think. Then, the story of a Black woman's decision to pass as white and the decades-long fallout of that choice, in The Vanishing Half. Author Brit Bennett told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that the point of the story isn't to moralize.
