Category: DailyShorts

If you are an American, you probably grew up hearing the story of Thanksgiving. How the pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution to establish a new life. But who were the pilgrims really? Were they really persecuted? Why did they decide to cross the ocean? And how did they end up where they did? Learn more about the pilgrims and everything that happened before the first Thanksgiving, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Authors JR and Vanessa Ford read the one book they could find about transgender kids to their child but skipped over the word 'transgender.' When they finally used the word, their child felt empowered by finding the right language to describe themselves. So the Fords set out to help more families with their children's book, Calvin. JR and Vanessa Ford told NPR's Audie Cornish that they are still learning as they go.

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

• Midnight Moon from Annalisa Tornfelt and Gideon Fraudmann’s album, Spring Breakup: Songs for Alaska.

• A couple of numbers from Marcelo Zarvos’ wonderful score to the wonderful, Please Give.

• A remarkable piece of music called Spectacle of Ritual by Kali Malone

• And another called Pauvre Simon from Sylvain Chauveau

On April 28, 1789, the crew of the HMS Bounty engaged in a mutiny against their despotic captain, William Bligh. After being sent out on a rowboat, the rest of the crew sailed to an uninhabited island, sank the ship, and set up home. The descendants of those mutineers are still living on that island today. Their home has become one of the most unique and remote communities in the world.

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Author Elif Shafak struggled at first with how to write her new book, The Island of Missing Trees. The story she wanted to tell is about a family from Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that was the center of a conflict in the 1970s, but she didn't want the story to be about tribalism or nationalism. Which is why, Shafak told NPR's Steve Inskeep, much of the story is told from the perspective of a fig tree

It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is one of the most common substances on Earth, and it makes up 97% of the water on the planet. Despite being so common, it is also one of the most complex substances you’ll ever encounter. You can swim and surf in it, but you can’t drink it. Learn more about seawater, and why there is a whole lot more to it than you probably realize, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The working world looks a lot different today than it did nearly two years ago, when the coronavirus pandemic sent many office staff to work from home indefinitely. Writers Anne Helen Peterson and Charlie Warzel take a look at what work, and our relationship to it, will look like going forward in their new book, Out of Office. NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with Peterson about why so many companies want their employees back in person. And, spoiler alert: it's not about productivity.

Despite what you might have been told, Christopher Columbus and his expedition were not the first Europeans to reach the Americas. Almost 500 years earlier, a small group of Norse settlers arrived on what is today the Island of Newfoundland. Yet, their presence on the continent was short-lived and no one ever came after them. Learn more about what Vinland, Vikings, and lactose intolerance might have shaped history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In the 1980s, two superpowers battled each other for global supremacy. Across the world, the two goliaths collided on almost every front. In the end, it left a landscape littered with millions dead…..tired of listening to their commercials. Learn more about the Cola Wars and how they changed economics, culture, and soft drinks, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In 1778, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, while camped outside New York City, General George Washington and Major Benjamin Tallmadge hatched a plan. They created a network of spies that would provide information about British military effort, which could be used by the colonists in fighting the war. It turned out to be pivotal in the war for independence. Learn more about the Culper Ring, and America’s first spy network, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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