Before 1976, the California wine industry wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Most Americans didn’t even know that wine was produced in California.
Everyone in the knew, without any doubt, that the greatest wines in the world were all produced in France. In particular, from regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy.
However, in just one day, the wine world’s attitudes towards French and California wines were completely and irrevocably altered.
Learn more about the Judgement of Paris and how, in a single day, the world took California wines seriously on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Happy Friday! Today we have a full agenda with updates from Alaska to Mar-a-Lago, Joe Biden talks fighter jets, John Fetterman rejects his first debate, and we discuss the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev.
The national anthem of the United States is familiar around the world from Olympic medal ceremonies and American patriotic celebrations. Like anything that is over 200 years old, the meaning of The Star-Spangled Banner has changed over time and the song has been the focus of controversy at different times in its history. What many people think they know about the anthem is as much myth and legend as it is fact.
Mark Clague explores many aspects of the song in his book, O Say Can you Hear? : A Cultural Biography of The Star-Spangled Banner (Norton, 2022). Francis Scott Key wrote the lyric to what would become the American national anthem around the time of a battle he witnessed during the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. As was the custom at the time, he intended for the words to be sung to a pre-existent tune that potential performers would have known. By the time Congress officially named the song the US’s anthem in 1931, it was merely ratifying what had already become a cultural tradition. The Star Spangled Banner has its detractors: the melody is difficult to sing, the words are hard to remember and militaristic. Francis Scott Key was a slaveholder and the word “slave” appears in the third verse. Clague takes on this seemingly straightforward history and more recent controversy by busting myths about the anthem, delving deep into the history of the song from its composition until the present, and highlighting some key performances that have helped to shape Americans’ understanding of their country and themselves. The book is just one aspect of a larger public humanities project.
The website for the Star Spangled Music Foundation contains even more information on the anthem and its history including content suitable for educators working from Kindergarten to the college level and continues to be updated.
Kristen M. Turner is a lecturer in the music and honors departments at North Carolina State University. Her research centers on race and class in American popular entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century.
Labor Day weekend is coming up, and it's a great time to celebrate American workers. We check in with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about unions, the state of the job market, and why so many people are “quiet quitting” their jobs.
And in headlines: a U.N. report accused China of committing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims, actress Lea Michele addressed rumors about her behind-the-scenes conduct on “Glee”, and Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad is getting a sequel.
Show Notes:
WAD will be on break for the Labor Day holiday. We’ll have a new episode on Wednesday, September 7th.
Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffee
What to know about President Biden's rare, primetime speech outlining his concerns for the future of the nation and why top Republican leaders are especially upset about it.
Also, new national test results show how the pandemic impacted kids' learning.
Plus, what to expect if you're traveling this Labor Day weekend, what's perhaps the biggest, most anticipated change to Twitter in years, and historic ticket prices: it could now cost you an average American's yearly salary to see one of Serena Williams' final matches.
We have a big announcement! Starting on Tuesday, The Daily Signal will be releasing a separate top news show every day at 5 p.m. ET. You can catch all the top news of the day on your drive home from work, while you are cooking dinner, or picking the kids up from soccer practice. But don't worry, our interviews are not going anywhere. We will still bring you deep dive interviews with policy makers and conservative activists every morning.
Both shows will be released right here on "The Daily Signal Podcast," so you don’t need to subscribe to anything new.
While political conservatives slammed it as wasteful, President Biden’s student debt plan was greeted with relief by many borrowers. But questions remain about whether it goes far enough to help most of the Black students burdened by student loans. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses the issue with Professor Fenaba Addo, co-author of A Dream Defaulted: The Student Loan Crisis Among Black Borrowers.
Guest: UNC Professor Fenaba Addo, co-author of A Dream Defaulted: The Student Loan Crisis Among Black Borrowers
Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola
You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month.
The past month the town of Port Townsend has become a nexus point in the war on Trans people. This episode we explain how, and what the community's response has been.
