Two collections of short stories, both alike in playfulness in our fair podcast. The first is with Gwen Kirby whose debut collection of short stories is called, hilariously, Shit Cassandra Saw. It ranges from radioactive cockroaches to tapdancing Twizzlers. Kirby told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that writing this book was a cathartic experience. The second interview is with Helen Oyeyemi about her collection of short stories, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. The stories are fairy tales, though not traditional ones. Oyeyemi told NPR's Steve Inskeep that she likes fairy tales because they endure.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create a utopia? A place where all your wants and needs were taken care of and there was never any fear of harm?
Creating such a world for humans may be far off, but one man did try to create a utopia for rats. He created a world that had everything they would want and where all their needs are taken care of.
It didn’t turn out like anyone expected.
Learn more about Universe 25, and how a utopia turned into a dystopia, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
A non-fiction science book about animal sexuality could read like a dry textbook, but Eliot Schrefer wanted his book to be accessible. Queer Ducks uses interviews with scientists, illustrations, and stories to help teenagers learn more about sexuality in the animal kingdom. In an interview with Sacha Pfeiffer, Schrefer said he didn't want his book to argue for human behavior based on that of animals, but rather to make the point that humans are not alone in their LGBTQ identities. And, according to Schrefer, there is a lot of simplicity and radical acceptance to be found in nature.
To wrap up our first season, we bring you a conversation recorded at our first ever live show at the Tribeca Film Festival. We discuss Oprah’s career in film, as actress and producer, from The Color Purple to The Butler.
Special Guest: Wesley Morris, culture critic for The New York Times and co-host of “Still Processing.”
Find lots more and subscribe to our newsletter on our website — Oprahdemics.com
Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda.
Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.
If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker are old enough to remember Jim Crow in the South. But they recognize the part of the country they grew up in for both its flaws and its significant role in the history of the country. In their new book, The Southernization of America, Tucker and Gaillard make an argument about how the South shapes the nation's political and cultural landscape – for good and bad. In an interview with Debbie Elliott on Weekend Edition Saturday, they discuss the South's problematic contradictions and pushback now by some against learning about them.
