Category: DailyShorts

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NPR's Book of the Day - Octavia Butler imagines a world without racism

During Black History month, Book of the Day is bringing you some interviews from the archives, including this one with author Octavia Butler. Butler wrote many sci-fi classics, like the Parable series and Kindred, so she's accustomed to imagining different worlds. NPR's Scott Simon asked her back in 2001 to imagine a world without racism. Butler believed that in racism's place we would have to have absolute empathy. But she told Simon that this would most certainly present its own challenges – and we would probably just find something else to fight about.
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Curious City - The Origins of Chicago’s Rivalry With New York

Chicago’s got a new ad campaign the city hopes will showcase Chicago’s influence around the globe. It reminded us of a question we answered about the origins of Chicago’s rivalry with New York. We actually took the answer to the stage and presented it as a live show in 2018 at the Museum of Science and Industry, with actors impersonating New York and Chicago. In this episode you’ll hear that performance and learn how the bid to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition stoked Chicago’s rivalry with New York.
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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Travels of Ibn Battuta

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Prior to the modern era, very few people traveled anywhere. It was rare for anyone to travel more than about 20 miles from where they were born. 


However, there were a few people who managed to travel quite extensively. In particular, there was one man in the 14th century who might have traveled more than any other person up to that point in history. In fact, he was better traveled than even more people alive today.


Learn more about Ibn Battuta and his extensive journeys around the known world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen

 

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NPR's Book of the Day - Alex Haley nearly lost it all writing ‘Roots’

To recognize Black History Month, Book of the Day is digging into the archives to bring you some important interviews. In 1977, author Alex Haley told NPR he didn't want to put the main character of Roots, Kunta Kinte, on a slave ship. To prepare for writing that portion of the novel, Haley flew to Africa and caught a voyage home on a cargo ship — sneaking down into the hold after dinner. In the mornings, he would write notes about what he thought Kunta's experience would have been like. He told NPR's Marty Griffen that the experience weighed him down so much it nearly cost him his life.
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Everything Everywhere Daily - A Brief History of New York City

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New York City has been called the city that never sleeps. It is the world center for finance, the location of the United Nations, and a center for fashion and entertainment. 


But why did this city become so important, and why did such an important city get founded where it is? Was it chance, was it history, or was it geography? 


Learn more about New York City, as much as is possible on a daily podcast, on this Episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen

 

Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere


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Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘The Color Purple’ is about the bonding of women

As part of Black History Month, we are running interviews from our archives. The Color Purple is about the survival of Black women in a male-dominated world. Author Alice Walker said that she just wrote what happens in the real world. At its core, this is a story of women loving and helping other women. Walker told NPR's Faith Fancher that "one of the reasons I wanted to have strong, beautiful, wonderful women loving each other is because I think that people can deal with that. [...] I think that the people who are uptight and bigoted and afraid in their own lives will have difficulty."
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Everything Everywhere Daily - Why Do Scandals End In “-gate”?

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I’m sure all of you are familiar with Watergate. You also might be familiar with Gamergate, Contragate, Pizzagate, Partygate, Chinagate, Deflategate, Sandpapergate, Winegate, and Chinagate. 


There are dozens and dozens more of these scandals which have all been named with the suffix -gate. 


But why do scandals get affixed with -gate in the English language, and where did the word originally come from?


Learn more about scandals ending in -gate, and why this suffix came to denote a scandal, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen

 

Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere


Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com



Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip

Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/

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NPR's Book of the Day - Book banning is seen in historical context in ‘Burn This Book’

For the first full week of Black History Month, we dove into our archives to bring you some older interviews by Black authors. The first is an interview from 2009 with writer Toni Morrison about a collection she edited from authors facing censorship called Burn This Book. This conversation is especially relevant today with many important books under scrutiny – and being pulled from library shelves and school curriculums. Morrison, whose books have also been banned in some places as recently as this year, told NPR's Liane Hansen that in some countries censorship can be far more serious.
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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Birth of the Modern Olympic Games (Encore)

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Almost 2,800 years ago the Ancient Greeks held a sporting event every four years on Mount Olympus. 


The festival was part competition, part religious celebration, and it was considered so important that wars would come to a halt in honor of the games.

Then in the 19th century, one man came up with the idea of bringing the games back to life. 

Learn more about the Modern Olympic Movement on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen

 

Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere


Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com



Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip

Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/

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