Author: Slate Podcasts

While the What Next team celebrates the holiday, enjoy this episode from our colleagues at Decoder Ring.

In 1992, a Minnesota-based software company known for its educational hit The Oregon Trail released another simulation-style game to school districts across the country. Freedom! took kids on a journey along the Underground Railroad, becoming the first American software program to use slavery as its subject matter.

Less than four months later, it was pulled from the market. In this episode, we revisit this well-intentioned, but flawed foray into historical trauma that serves as a reminder that teaching Black history in America has always been fraught.

This episode was written by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. This episode was also produced by Benjamin Frisch, and edited by Erica Morrison. Derek John is executive producer. Joel Meyer is senior editor-producer and Merritt Jacob is senior technical director.

We’re grateful to Julian Lucas for his expertise, reporting, and generosity, without which this episode would not have been possible. His New Yorker article, “Can Slavery Reenactments Set Us Free?,” revisits the Freedom! story as part of an exploration of the live Underground Railroad re-enactments that Kamau Kambui pioneered.

Thank you to Jesse Fuchs for suggesting this topic. Thanks also to Coventry Cowens, Brigitte Fielder, Bob Whitaker, Alan Whisman, Wayne Studer, Alicia Montgomery, Rebecca Onion, Luke Winkie, and Kamau Kambui’s children: Yamro Kambui Fields, Halim Fields, Mawusi Kambui Pierre, Nanyamka Salley, and Kamau Sababu Kambui Jr.

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The war in Gaza has laid bare some deep fault lines within the Democratic party when it comes to Israel policy. How might that impact next year’s elections?

Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate politics writer. 

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.

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OpenAI was the hottest startup in Silicon Valley off the success of ChatGPT. Then, the board fired Sam Altman. 

Guest: Mike Isaac, technology reporter at the New York Times.

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 TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

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Over the past few years, ultra-conservative activists took aim at school boards, trying to shape curriculums to match their beliefs. But this year, from Pennsylvania to Iowa, “parental rights candidates” lost handily. What happened?

Guest: Adam Laats, Professor of Education and History at Binghamton University.

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.

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The bedbug break-out during Paris fashion week this fall was obviously horrifying, but the bad news doesn’t stop there. Bedbugs are on the rise—and on the move.

Guest: Benji Jones, senior environmental reporter at Vox.

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Girls at a New Jersey high school were early victims of a novel and growing problem: their images were taken from social media without consent to create “deep-fake pornography.” 

Guest: Julie Jargon, Wall Street Journal family and tech columnist.

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As Palestinian allies like Hezbollah and Iran voice their support, is there a danger of more countries being pulled into the war in Gaza? 

Guest: Gregory Gause, head of the Department of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, specialist in Middle East politics.

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.

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