TV writer, culture critic and podcast host Ira Madison III was not just one of the only Black students at his high school, he was also one of the only gay kids. In his new memoir, Pure Innocent Fun, Madison writes about how cultural artifacts became more than just a source of entertainment - they became a way to feel connected to others. In today's episode, Madison speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about growing up without many queer adults to turn to, and how Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a way for young queer kids to feel seen.
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The ties between U.S. foreign aid and American agriculture run deep — or at least used to. The U.S. International Agency for Development, or USAID, is the largest provider of humanitarian food aid in the world. Much of that aid comes from U.S. farmers, whose corn, wheat and rice is sold in bulk to the government for USAID's programs. What happens now if those programs end?
Related episodes: The gutting of USAID (Apple / Spotify) A 'Fork in the Road' for federal employees (Apple / Spotify) Trump threatens the grim trigger (Apple / Spotify)
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In Life Hacks for a Little Alien, both the narrator and protagonist are unnamed. The debut novel from Alice Franklin is written from a second-person perspective and follows a little girl who experiences the world differently. Little Alien is neurodivergent, but undiagnosed, and often finds that people don't understand her. When she encounters an ancient text written in an unknown language, she sees parallels between its indecipherability and her own experiences. In today's episode, Franklin speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the way she plays with language in her story, her own diagnosis journey, and our collective definition of normalcy.
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We visit a local egg farm and talk to an industry analyst to get to the bottom of why the prices of eggs are soaring so quickly and when they might come back to earth.
Amanda Holmes reads Elizabeth Bishop’s “Faustina, or, Rock Roses.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
It is the most expensive substance in the world by a wide margin.
When it was first proposed, it was actually proposed in jest. However, decades later, the joke turned out to have been true.
It is a fundamental part of the universe, and by all accounts, it should be everywhere, yet it can’t be found anywhere, and physicists aren’t really sure why.
Learn more about antimatter, how it was discovered, and what it is on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.