Episode #83
2024-02-07 05:00:21
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One day, as a student at the University of Florida, Kourtney LaPlant was reading the student newspaper. “And there was this little tiny ad in the paper about, hey, we’re looking for new mascots. And I was like, why not?”
Episode #82
2024-01-24 05:00:59
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When Valorie Lee Schaefer was asked to write a book about puberty for kids, her first thought was, “Why me?”
Episode #81
2024-01-10 05:00:10
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When twin rovers landed on Mars twenty years ago, they were only supposed to last 90 Martian days. But years passed, and engineers were still trying to keep them alive. “We got very attached.”
Episode #80
2023-12-20 05:00:50
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An experiment in living together, forever.
Episode #79
2023-12-06 05:00:54
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“If somebody asks you to do something, don't say no. Say yes.”
Episode #78
2023-11-15 05:00:08
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Growing up, Ashton Edwards spent hours watching videos of famous ballerinas. Ashton loved the ballet “Swan Lake” – especially the role of the Swan Queen. But they noticed that only female dancers danced that role, and got to dance on pointe.
One day, years later, they decided to put on a pair of pointe shoes anyway.
Episode #77
2023-11-01 05:00:11
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In its early days, the magazine Mademoiselle positioned itself as “the magazine for smart young women.” It published work by Truman Capote, Albert Camus, and Flannery O’Connor. Each summer, the magazine selected 20 women from colleges around the country to come to New York and work as guest editors. For housing, they were put up in a women-only hotel at East 63rd and Lexington Avenue: The Barbizon Hotel. Historian Paulina Bren says: “The Barbizon was a sanctuary."
Episode #76
2023-10-18 05:00:51
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After Jean Westcott's first "Jeopardy!" audition, she waited 18 months to find out if she'd be on the show. She didn't get called, so she auditioned again. And again. She kept auditioning for over 20 years.
Episode #75
2023-10-04 05:00:40
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Julianne Hirsh celebrated her second bat mitzvah in June, at age 83. “It’s a marker of, well, here I am. I’ve lived this long, and so I’m here before you saying that.”
Episode #74
2023-09-20 05:00:21
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“It's all about finding the place that makes you happy, finding the life that makes you happy, and not worrying that other people make different choices.”
Episode #73
2023-09-06 05:00:48
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Where it’s perfectly good to sound bad.
Episode #72
2023-08-23 05:00:08
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We go searching for wolves in Yellowstone National Park, and learn about the dramatic and surprisingly relatable relationship between a powerful young wolf and the small, elderly wolf who had raised him.
Episode #71
2023-08-09 05:00:39
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For a long time, beekeepers have told bees their news. They’ve told their bees about weddings, and when people they know have died. It’s said that if they don’t, the bees will leave their hives, or stop making honey, or die.
Episode #70
2023-07-19 05:00:19
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After Yla Eason’s three-year-old son told her he couldn’t be a superhero because he wasn’t white like his He-Man toys, she looked for a Black action figure for him. When she couldn’t find one anywhere, she decided to make one herself.
Episode #69
2023-07-05 05:00:02
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Mark Kuhn grew up in Iowa in a family of corn farmers. When he was 10 years old, he heard a BBC broadcast of the Wimbledon finals. He couldn’t stop thinking about it — he would daydream about tennis while doing his chores. And one day, he got an idea. “I’m looking at this cattle feedlot when I realized, ‘This is just about the right size for a tennis court.’”
Episode #68
2023-06-21 05:00:37
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Brown’s Barbershop in Athens, Georgia, has been in business for more than 60 years.
One day, Everett Long went in for a haircut. Fred Smith was getting his hair cut in the next chair. All of a sudden, Everett’s barber said: “I think you should meet.”