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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Sex Strike, David McCullough, and Doris Day

Past Present Episode 180

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss a proposed “sex strike,” historian David McCullough’s new book, and the life and legacy of Doris Day. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Actor and activist Alyssa Milano this week suggested that women withhold sex from men until women achieve ...
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Sex Strike, David McCullough, and Doris Day

Electability, Caster Semenya, and Rachel Held Evans

Past Present Episode 179

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss the concept of “electability,” the gender policing of South African runner Caster Semenya, and the legacy of Christian writer Rachel Held Evans. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: With over 20 Democratic candidates in the running, “ electability” is ...
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Electability, Caster Semenya, and Rachel Held Evans

John Singleton, Anti-Semitism in the New York Times, and TikTok

Past Present Episode 178

In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the legacy of filmmaker John Singleton, an anti-Semitic cartoon in the New York Times, and the latest social media sensation, TikTok. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Filmmaker John Singleton has died. Natalia discussed this article by Singleton in the Hollywood Reporter about whether a ...
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John Singleton, Anti-Semitism in the New York Times, and TikTok

Ancestry.com, Vigilante Border Patrol Groups, and Cargo Shorts

Past Present Episode 177

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss outrage over an Ancestry.com ad, vigilante groups policing the U.S.-Mexico border, and the controversy over cargo shorts. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Ancestry.com released – and quickly pulled – an advertisement depicting a romantic relationship between an African-American woman ...
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Ancestry.com, Vigilante Border Patrol Groups, and Cargo Shorts

Notre Dame Cathedral, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and the Center for American Progress

Past Present Episode 176

In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the fire at Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral, President Trump’s attacks against Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and the history of liberal think tanks. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The world watched as Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed ...
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Notre Dame Cathedral, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and the Center for American Progress

Reading the Mueller Report

You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime you just might find — you know how to read.

I understand why you wouldn’t want to read the whole thing through: it’s really long, repetitive and dull. But most of all, you will want to react before reading because you just wanted the Trump presidency to be over, right? You wanted Robert Mueller to make the case for why ...
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