Baltimore, Marianne Williamson, and a National Service Requirement

Past Present Episode 191

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Last week, President Trump unleashed a barrage of insults against Baltimore and its member of Congress, Elijah Cummings. Natalia referred to this POLITICO article about how New York City gave us Trump. Niki referred to journalist Jonathan Weisman’s tweets about the “real” nature of regions.Self-help guru Marianne Williamson is ...
Read More
Placeholder

Boris Johnson, Purity Culture, and Spaying and Neutering Dogs

Episode 190

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Boris Johnson is the new prime minister of Britain. Niki recommended historian Jesse Tumblin’s Washington Post article, “ How the Failure of Popular Politics Triggered the Rise of Boris Johnson.”Evangelical author Josh Harris has separated from his wife and disavowed his influential book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Natalia ...
Read More
Placeholder

The Moon Landing’s 50th Anniversary, “Go Back to Where You Came From,” and Air Conditioning

Past Present Episode 189

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Fifty years ago, the world watched as Americans walked on the moon. Natalia recommended this New Yorker republication of the 1969 “Talk of the Town” covering how New Yorkers watched the moon landing. Niki referred to this Scientific American interview with Nikita Khrushchev’s son about how the event was ...
Read More
Placeholder

Women’s World Cup, Ross Perot, and Jeffrey Epstein

Past Present Episode 188

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Women’s soccer is getting more attention than ever in the United States, thanks in part to star player Megan Rapinoe. Niki referred to Lindsay Parks Pieper and Tate Royer’s Washington Post article about the fight for pay equity waged by women’s soccer players, and ...
Read More
Placeholder

School Busing, Girlboss, and Lil Nas X

Past Present Episode 187

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: After Senators Joe Biden and Kamala Harris clashed at the Democratic debate, school busing is back in the news. Niki referred to historian Matt Delmont’s book on busing and to her own column at Australia’s The Age about the intergenerational dynamics of the Democratic debates. Natalia recommended Ansley ...
Read More
Placeholder

Iran, E. Jean Carroll, and Knitting

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Tensions between Iran and the United States are escalating. Niki recommended Robert D. Kaplan’s article at the New York Times on the connection between U.S. concerns in Asia and the Middle East.Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is the latest woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual ...
Read More
Placeholder

Iran, E. Jean Carroll, and Knitting

Episode 186

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Tensions between Iran and the United States are escalating. Niki recommended Robert D. Kaplan’s article at the New York Times on the connection between U.S. concerns in Asia and the Middle East.Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is the latest woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual ...
Read More
Placeholder

Kicking and Screaming: Stonewall at 50

Exiles on 12th Street: Episode Three

This is the third episode in Public Seminar’s podcast, Exiles on 12th Street. If you like it, go to iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe. The Stonewall riots that took place in New York in June 1969 are widely credited with catalyzing the modern LGBT+ civil rights movement. Join us as ...
Read More
Placeholder

Alan Brinkley, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Lesbian Cruises

Past Present Episode 185

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Columbia political historian Alan Brinkley -- a Ph.D. advisor to Neil and Niki and favorite undergraduate professor of Natalia – has died. Niki recommended Alan Brinkley: A Life in History, a collection of essays by some of his students, including Niki. Neil discussed Brinkley’s ...
Read More
Placeholder

YouTube, Tariffs, and Elizabeth Warren

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: YouTube’s algorithm, the New York Times reported, serves up increasingly extreme content to viewers. Niki recommended media studies scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan’s book Antisocial Media. Natalia recommended Niki’s book Messengers of the Right.Tariffs have become a central part of President Trump’s foreign policy. Niki cited historian ...
Read More
Placeholder

LIVE! The Stonewall Uprising, Jazzercise, and C-SPAN

Past Present Episode 183

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Fifty years ago this month, the Stonewall Uprising took place.Neil discussed the issues historians have raised with the treatment of Stonewall in popular culture.Jazzercise turns 50 this year.C-SPAN is 40, and beloved by many. Natalia cited Niki’s article at NBC about the virtues of the channel, while ...
Read More
Placeholder

The 1994 Crime Bill, Mount Everest, and the Grand Canyon

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The 1994 Crime Bill is once again in the news, dogging Joe Biden’s candidacy. Niki referred to Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Niki also recommended a New York Times op-ed by Elizabeth Hinton, Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, and ...
Read More
Placeholder