Author of the wildly popular and, at times, controversial A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, is out with a new novel. To Paradise is an epic – in three parts – sprawling over 700 pages and 200 years about a make-believe New York City. Yanagihara was mostly through writing her story, which features pandemics prominently, when COVID-19 first hit in early 2020. But Yanagihara told NPR's Scott Simon that she was able to keep her story and her fears about the pandemic in reality separate.
Amanda Holmes reads Edna St. Vincent Millay ’s poem “Sometimes, Oh, Often, Indeed.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
By the age of 32, Alexander the Great had conquered most of the world which was known to him.
This episode is not about any of that. This is about what happened after his death.
After he died, his corpse became a political football, and his tomb became the centerpiece of the city in Egypt which bared his name, and within a century became the largest city on Earth.
…and then at some point, his body and his tomb just disappeared from history.
Learn more about the corpse and the tomb of Alexander the Great and what might have happened to it, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The 2022 Winter Olympics are right around the corner, so to prepare we are bringing you a conversation with skier Lindsey Vonn. Her new memoir, Rise, looks at her road to becoming a ski champion and Olympic medalist. Spoiler alert: it was not all sunshine and roses. Vonn told NPR's A Martinez that she's lucky she is wired in a way that makes negativity a driving force because she has seen the pressure and stress of being an Olympic athlete derail other people's careers.
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.
Music
Time Beat by Ray Cathode
Rabbits of the Void by Tomaga
Weightless by the Neil Cowley Trio
Scenes from the Poet’s Dreams I: Racing Through the Stars by The Lark Quartet
Switchcraft by Chilly Gonzalez
Sky Breaking, Clouds Falling by Mason Lindahl
Notes
There’s a ton written about The Crash at Crush but the one I’d recommend is Train Crash at Crush, Texas: America’s Deadliest Publicity Stunt, by Mike Cox
It can be consumed blocks or wheels, strings or curds, slices or cubes.
It can be soft or hard, fresh or old, and it can even be consumed if it smells bad and has mold on it.
Pizza, hamburgers, and crackers depend on it, yet it can also be eaten by itself.
I am of course talking about cheese. Learn more about cheese, how it was discovered, and how it is made, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
On January 15, 2022, one of the biggest geologic events in the last 30 years occurred.
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano in the nation of Tonga erupted. It wasn’t just a volcanic eruption, however,
It was an event that actually had repercussions all around the world.
Learn more about the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption, why it happened, and what it means for Tonga and the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
