Episode 23: Apple v. US, Michael Pollan, and Guantanamo Bay

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Apple vs. the US, Michael Pollan’s “Cooked,” and Guantanamo Bay.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The federal government has sued Apple to develop technology that will allow it to access the locked iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorists. Neil noted the government has used the All Writs Act of 1789 to issue its order because the 1992 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act has not been updated to cover technological innovations like the iPhone.  
• Michael Pollan’s Netflix documentary, “Cooked,” explores how the history of cooking has shaped human existence. Natalia noted Pollan’s writings about food have often stoked controversy, including his 2009 New York Times article that blamed feminism for the end of cooking. Conservatives praised Pollan for that essay at the time, Natalia observed, but now the American Conservative has critiqued Pollan for not enshrining the family meal enough in “Cooked.” Niki observed the long history of food politics, pointing to Upton Sinclair’s 1906 classic, The Jungle, which was meant to be a critique of unsafe labor conditions but was received by American readers as an exposure of unhealthy food production processes. Natalia cited Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation as a modern update of The Jungle. She also recommended the historian Katherine Leonard Turner’s How the Other Half Ate for understanding how the history of industrialization and food technology improved the eating habits of working-class Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• President Obama has issued an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Niki situated Guantanamo Bay in one hundred years of US involvement in Cuba. Natalia observed Cuba represented one of the first examples of the US’s “informal empire.” Neil recalled use of Guantanamo as an extralegal detention camp began when the United States brought 300 Haitian refugees to the island in 1991. Cuban Americans, Natalia remarked, have shaped American policy towards Cuba, something visible in Marco Rubio’s recent statements about Guantanamo on the campaign trail.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia shared the news that North Carolina A&T University has disbanded its women’s swim team, the last women’s swim team at a historically Black college or university. Natalia also recommended Jeff Wiltse’s book, Contested Waters, for understanding the history of African Americans and public pools.
• Neil recommended the movie Spotlight which tells the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church in 2001. Neil noted that several recent investigations have also exposed sexual abuse scandals in evangelical churches and ministries.
• Niki discussed the Twitter hashtag #ObamaAndKids that captures photos of the president with children.

Episode 22: Antonin Scalia, Samantha Bee, and the Grammys

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Antonin Scalia, Samantha Bee and women in comedy, and the Grammy Awards. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The death of Antonin Scalia has opened up a spot on the Supreme Court and created a political controversy about his replacement. Niki noted Scalia’s reputation as a Constitutional originalist, and but Neil noted Scalia pivoted between originalist and textualist interpretations depending on the cases. While most originalists are conservatives, Neil commented that some liberals, like Yale Law School’s Akhil Reed Amar, have also claimed the originalist mantle. Niki argued that controversies over Supreme Court appointments didn’t begin with Robert Bork’s nomination battle in 1987, but instead had been a regular feature of the twentieth century. Natalia cited Jonathan Zimmerman’s recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle that showed these nomination fights went back into the nineteenth century.
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee recently debuted on TBS, but why have so few women comedians had late night television shows? Natalia discussed why historically women have not been seen as funny, a prejudice exhibited as recently as 2011 in Christopher Hitchens’s essay, “Women, the Unfunny Sex.” Niki noted Tina Fey has written about the discrimination she faced as a woman at Saturday Night Live in her recent book, Bossypants. Neil argued Joan Rivers’ short lived show in 1986 had become the standard Hollywood argument for why women couldn’t succeed in late night television. Natalia observed how women comedians continue to be assessed as much by their appearance as by their humor, something that Amy Schumer has tried to skewer in her comedy and in her recent nude photographs for the Pirelli calendar.
• Kendrick Lamar’s performance of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” produced the most memorable moment of the 2016 Grammy Awards. Niki commented that Lamar’s performance of “Alright” at the 2015 BET Awards and also the song’s video had much more overt criticisms of police violence than his Grammy performance demonstrated. Natalia remarked that the Grammys have often awarded songs about racial justice, such as Bob Dylan’s Grammy wins for We Shall Overcome (1964) and The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1965), but these typically took a much different tone from Lamar’s song and its performance. Niki observed this owed in part to the Grammys’ conservative reputation as an organization founded in 1958 to preserve classical pop music against the new form of rock and roll. Neil noted Grammy performances were often remembered more than the awards, such as the mass wedding presided over by Queen Latifah in 2014.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Paul Kalanithi’s cancer memoir, When Breath Becomes Air.
• Neil remarked on the history of women wearing pants, including the recent Wear Pants to Church Day movement launched by Mormon feminists.
• Niki discussed why Republican Party reforms of their primary process have backfired.

Episode 21: The Zika Virus, Beyonce's Formation, and Hillary Clinton's Feminism Problem

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the Zika virus, Beyonce’s “Formation,” and Hillary Clinton’s feminism problem.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The mosquito-borne virus is ravaging Brazil, but starting to spread globally. Natalia pointed to how rubella outbreaks in the 1960s helped change European abortion laws, a relevant historical precedent considering Brazil’s restrictive abortion laws. Neil traced the history of Zika since its discovery in Uganda in 1947. 
• Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and video for her new single, “Formation,” have drawn controversy for their references to the Black Panthers, the Black Lives Matter movement, and issues of racism and police brutality. Natalia noted critics on the left also have accused Beyonce of representing a “corporate feminism” that is uncritical of capitalism, something the Combahee River Collective Statement of 1977 made central to its definition of black feminism. Niki noted the historian Jim Downs’s essay for We’re History interpreted “Formation” as an artistic expression of black women and black middle class culture instead of the more common pop cultural representations of African-American history as a story of subjugation and discrimination.
• Does Hillary Clinton have a problem with women voters? Controversial comments from Madeline Albright and Gloria Steinem certainly haven’t endeared women voters to Clinton’s candidacy. Natalia argued the controversy exposed longstanding generational divides within feminism, something she noted Gloria Steinem had written about in her recent memoir that detailed her spars with Betty Friedan during the 1960s. Neil cited Carly Fiorina’s exit statement from the Republican presidential race for how it asserted a conservative version of feminism and encouraged women to not let anyone tell them how to vote.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s new book, The Ramblers, as participating in the tradition of the New York novel.
• Neil discussed a history of subway etiquette campaigns from CityLab.
• Niki shared what 74 years of crossword history show us about the language we use.

Episode 20: Clinton & Reconstruction, Curvy Barbie, and Bernie Sanders's (Un)Religion

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Hillary Clinton and Reconstruction, Curvy Barbie, and Bernie Sanders and atheism.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hillary Clinton stepped into controversy when she named Abraham Lincoln as her favorite president, in part, because he would have brought the nation back together more peacefully after the Civil War had he lived than what Reconstruction did. Natalia explained the controversy owed to Clinton’s parroting a version of history known as the Dunning School which presented Reconstruction as period of northern vengeance on the South. The Dunning interpretation of Reconstruction, Natalia pointed out, dominated much of the twentieth century, but has now been thoroughly repudiated by historians, including Eric Foner’s seminal work, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, published in 1988. Neil noted the Clintons’ relationship with African American voters has a troubled history, including Bill Clinton’s comments about Jesse Jackson during Hillary’s race against Obama in 2008. But Natalia pushed back at arguments that lump the Clintons together as one unit, even while noting Bill Chafe’s recent history of the couple, Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal.
• Barbie has a new look! The doll now comes in three new body shapes: curvy, tall, and petite. Natalia explained Barbie’s origins as a German sex toy named Lilli in the 1950s. Niki noted how dolls have often revealed controversial American attitudes and beliefs, pointing to the Clark doll study in the 1940s which showed the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children. Natalia recommended the New Yorker article, “Our Dolls, Ourselves,” that showed how the American Girl Dolls brand changed from historical period dolls to ones that are made to look like young girls today.
• Bernie Sanders’ emergence as a serious candidate has political observers commenting on both his Jewishness and his a-religiousness. Neil argued Judaism was not controversial at all in politics anymore, but that a recent Gallup poll indicated a surprising high tolerance for atheism in a presidential candidate. Neil also noted both Christian and atheist writers have interpreted Sanders’ comments about faith quite differently, but in ways that support their particular views. Natalia recommended Matthew Frye Jacobson’s book, Whiteness of a Different Color, for understanding the changing position of Jewish Americans in the twentieth century.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Ted Cruz’s comments that he’ll bring French fries back to the cafeteria when he becomes president.
• Neil explained how scientists are fighting the Zika virus with genetically modified mosquitoes.
• Niki pondered the question, why does Ohio not produce presidents anymore?

Episode 19: #OscarsSoWhite, Oprah & Weight Watchers, and the Iowa Caucus

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss #OscarsSoWhite, Oprah Winfrey and the history of Weight Watchers, and why Iowa’s caucus goes first. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• For the second year in a row, the Academy Awards will feature only white nominees in the acting categories, leading to an #OscarsSoWhite boycott. Natalia mentioned Marc Bernardin’s Hollywood Reporter piece that argued black movies have to be about African-American heroes like Martin Luther King or major historical moments like Selma in order to attract Oscar attention. Neil noted Hattie McDaniel won the first Oscar by an African-American actor in 1939 by playing Mammy in “Gone with the Wind,” but her acceptance speech was prepared for her and she was not allowed to sit with the white audience at the awards show. Niki discussed an Economist article which questioned how racially skewed the Oscars are.
• Weight Watchers’ stock has surged since Oprah Winfrey’s purchase of a 10% stake in the company in October, but Natalia mentioned a Slate article pointed out Winfrey’s investment was a particularly shrewd one because Weight Watchers doesn’t work long term. Neil noted Oprah made her own struggles with weight a recurrent theme of her talk show, including the famous 1988 episode when she brought 67 pounds of animal fat onto her stage to represent how much weight she had lost. Natalia cited Trysh Travis’ history of the recovery movement, The Language of the Heart, which explores how Oprah has played a key role in the feminization of American confessional culture. But Natalia also remarked that Oprah’s Weight Watchers turn has drawn critics, including Melissa Harris-Perry’s plea that Winfrey think more about her accomplishments than her dress size. Niki explained Weight Watchers began in the early 1960s when Jean Nidetch created a program that combined calorie counting with an emotional support system. Niki traced the history of weight loss in America back to Sylvester Graham’s nineteenth-century diet program which was also intended to curb Americans’ sexual appetites. That moral dimension to weight loss, Niki observed, has other historical examples, including the “holy anorexia” female saints practiced in medieval times. Niki also recommended Katy Waldman’s recent essay, “There Once Was a Girl,” that thinks about these themes in a contemporary context.
• It’s Iowa caucus time, but why does Iowa get to vote first? Niki explained how the McGovern-Fraser Commission reforms after the 1968 Democratic National Convention led to Iowa being moved to the front of the primary calendar in 1972. Jimmy Carter’s 1976 win in Iowa, Niki also commented, helped cement Iowa’s importance for the media. Neil discussed how Carter won Iowa in part thanks to his standing with the state’s evangelical voters and his suggestion he’d be a pro-life president, but those evangelical voters now largely vote for Republican candidates in the state. Neil noted Public Religion data that showed evangelical voters were increasing in Iowa as a constituency even as they were decreasing nationally. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Marley Dias’ #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign.
• Neil commented on the thirtieth anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle disaster and Gawker’s report that the astronauts did not die in the explosion but instead plunged to their deaths.
• Niki compared Mike Huckabee’s Adele ad with other strange political ads from history, including Ronald Reagan’s “The Bear” ad from 1984.

Episode 18: Flint's Water, New York Values, and Wheaton College

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Flint’s water crisis, New York values, and Wheaton College. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is the latest challenge this post-industrial town has faced. Niki recommended the book, Environmental Inequalities, an examination of industrial pollution and structural racism in Gary, Indiana, as a way of understanding Flint. Neil cited data from Andrew Highsmith’s history of Flint, Demolition Means Progress, about how the sharp decline in manufacturing jobs led to the city’s depopulation and shrinking tax base.
• Ted Cruz is attacking Donald Trump for exhibiting “New York values,” but what does that mean? Niki pointed out anti-urban sentiment in America stretched back to Thomas Jefferson’s vision of an agrarian-based democracy. Niki has written about the history of New York’s complicated status among conservatives.  Neil argued the idea of a “real America” depended in part on the “Southernization” of America, as books like John Egerton’s The Americanization of Dixie and Peter Abblebome’s Dixie Rising have shown. Niki noted cities have attracted Americans who felt oppressed or stifled in their small towns, such as the men of George Chauncey’s Gay New York who found freedom and community by moving to Manhattan.
• Wheaton College has suspended Prof. Larycia Hawkins over comments she made that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God” which were seen as a violation of the evangelical school’s Statement of Faith. Neil noted that both supporters and critics of Hawkins have looked to Wheaton’s history to bolster their positions.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about “Turning the Tide,” a call for college admissions reform from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a New York Times’ report on a New Jersey school district’s plans to ease pressures on its students.
• Neil commented on what Donald Trump’s candidacy says about the state of the Religious Right today in light of his recent appearance at Liberty University.
• Niki discussed National Review’s decision to devote an entire issue of the magazine to opposing Trump.

Episode 17: David Bowie, Bikini Bodies, and Natural Born Citizens

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss David Bowie, bikini bods, and Ted Cruz and natural born citizenship. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Fans around the world have mourned the death of David Bowie. Niki remembered she first encountered Bowie in his 1986 movie, Labyrinth. Neil argued Bowie’s gender bending and sexual boundary pushing made his death particularly poignant in a year when transgenderism has been so in the news. Natalia reminded that Bowie’s sexual history was a complicated one, including statutory rape allegations. Neil contrasted the individualized mourning of Bowie through social media with the collective public mourning of earlier figures, such as the crowds that came out to see Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s funeral train in 1945.
• Women’s Health magazine has banned the phrase “bikini body” from its covers, but is this really a revolutionary move? Natalia recommended Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s book, The Body Project, for thinking about how the “bikini body” ideal fits in a longer history of women’s changing bodies and beauty standards. Neil noted male bodies have also changed through time, especially the changing physical ideals gay men have adopted historically. Niki observed those changing standards often have dangerous results, including the high rate of eating disorders among gay men.
• Donald Trump has argued Ted Cruz can’t be president because he was born in Canada, but Cruz – and most legal scholars – contend he qualifies under “natural born citizenship” because his mother was born in the United States. Neil observed that presidential candidates like George Romney, Barry Goldwater, and John McCain had all been born outside of the US, but didn’t face questions about their natural born citizenship. Neil also noted that the “birther” controversy regarding whether Barack Obama had been born in the U.S., originated from a small group of Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008 before being taken up by right-wing Republicans.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the new book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
• Neil decried the move of Sesame Street to HBO and news that the show’s set had been given an upscale look.
• Niki recommended David Greenberg’s new book, Republic of Spin.

Episode 16: The Oregon Standoff, Executive Orders, and Downton Abbey

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the Oregon standoff, President Obama and executive orders, and Downton Abbey. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The grievances listed by armed militants in the Oregon standoff include the federal government’s ownership and regulation of vast lands used by ranchers, but those ranchers have benefited from incredibly discounted usage rates guaranteed by the federal government, as Neil pointed out. Ideas about the West as an open landscape welcome to rugged individualists have long roots, Natalia noted, strengthened in part by Fredrick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” of 1893. Natalia also cited the racist origins of Oregon’s statehood as relevant to the current crisis, and Neil argued that Mormonism’s longstanding tensions with the federal government were significant, as several militant leaders cited their Mormon faith and scriptures as inspiration for their cause.
• President Obama’s executive orders regarding guns, including increasing background checks, elicited pushback from Republican lawmakers and charges that Obama had overstepped his authority. Neil cited data that showed Obama has averaged fewer executive orders per year than Reagan and far less than presidents in the early twentieth century.
• Downton Abbey’s popularity in the U.S. is the latest example of American Anglophilia. Neil argued American fascination with a show on British aristocracy in a moment of Occupy Wall Street and economic uncertainty resembled Americans’ interest in the British television series, Upstairs, Downstairs, during the bleak economic years of the 1970s. But Natalia suggested Americans watched Downton because it offered the escapist pleasures of a soap opera, something the British historian Simon Schama has criticized the show for being. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Sean Penn’s interview of the Mexican drug lord, El Chapo.
• Neil shared the news that the manatee will be removed from the Endangered Species List.
  
• Niki discussed Andrew Kahn and Rebecca Onion’s recent Slate essay, “Is History Written About Men, by Men?”

Episode 15: Star Wars, Marriage Inequality, and Tamir Rice

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Star Wars, marriage and income inequality, and Tamir Rice. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The Force Awakens is the latest entry in the Star Wars franchise. Niki argued that the optimistic Star Wars movies are a departure from the dystopian anxieties apparent in earlier science fiction films such as Godzilla and Them! which were responding to the nuclear age. Natalia remarked this Star Wars moment is taking place within our culture’s current love affair with Wonder Woman, a topic she has written about.
• A recent New York Times article by the economist Tyler Cowen argued that “assortative mating” – where people of similar class and educational backgrounds marry – is contributing to income inequality. Natalia pointed to Nancy Cott’s Public Vows as an indispensable guide to the history of marriage and Christine Whelan’s Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women for understanding more about the phenomenon Cowen describes. Neil mentioned the “Princeton mom” who gained notoriety by encouraging Princeton undergraduate women to use their college years to find their husbands. Niki suggested the “opt-out” phenomenon of highly-educated women who choose to be stay-at-home mothers revealed another way income inequality shapes marriage and family choices.
• The murder of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African-American boy gunned down by police while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park, has drawn comparisons to Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African-American boy killed by a white mob in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Natalia recommended the historian Edward Baptist’s recent essay, “Ferguson and Fatherhood,” which discusses “The Talk” African-American families have with their sons about how they must protect themselves in public. Natalia also noted that Stacey Patton’s tweet comparing Tamir Rice to Ralphie, the white Cleveland boy of the movie “A Christmas Story” who famously plays with his toy guy, became an internet sensation and inspired virulent racist backlash. Neil argued Rice’s fate ought to be seen in contrast to the story of Ethan Couch, the white Texas teenager who killed four people in a drunk driving accident but was found not guilty after his lawyers presented an “affluenza” defense.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “The Selfish Side of Gratitude” and the web series, “Namaste, Bitches.”
• Neil commented on the absence of Hitler’s name in the current national road tour of The Sound of Music.
• Niki recommended the Amicus podcast, particularly its recent “Judging Tribal Courts” episode.

Bonus Episode 2: Life Coaches

On this week’s Past Present bonus episode, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss life coaches. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Life coaching is big business these days, but there’s still some confusion about what life coaches actually do. Natalia drew from the sociologist Arlie Hochschild’s work on the outsourcing of intimate labor to argue that life coaches are often stand-ins for a reliable friend or professional mentor. Niki noted this was most visible in new services like “Rent-a-Mom.”
• Niki cited Julie Golia’s research on the rise of advice columns as a helpful way for understanding life coaches. Like Golia’s advice columnists, life coaches fulfill and professionalize social functions that once played out in close-knit communities. Neil noted that in a “Bowling Alone” era, life coaches provided an individualized experience of professional authority within a larger culture of community breakdown and anti-institutional sentiments.
• Natalia recommended Susan Faludi’s Stiffed for thinking more about the gendered politics of self-help and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided for a critical take on the life coaching industry. 

Episode 14: The War on Christmas, Food Insecurity, and Political Spouses

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the war on Christmas, food politics, and political spouses.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The “war on Christmas” has become a regular part of the holiday season. The conservative website Newsmax has catalogued the big offenders of 2015. Neil argued the “war on Christmas” is largely a media phenomenon, noting that many religious leaders have chosen to ignore the controversy or to argue that the real war on Christmas is the holiday’s over-commercialization.  Neil also observed that the Puritans outlawed Christmas because the holiday had such decadent celebrations. To read more about the controversial history of Christmas, see Stephen Nissenbaum’s The Battle for Christmas.
• A new grocery store venture, Daily Table, seeks to provide low-income consumers with more affordable food by selling about-to-expire foods from farmers and wholesalers. Natalia noted that dates used for food expiration are largely made up and contribute to high rates of food waste. Natalia recommended the book, We the Eaters, and the documentary, A Place at the Table, for thinking more about the politics of food.
• The New York Times’ profile of Marco Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, is the latest example of our culture’s fascination with political spouses. America’s First Ladies have played a unique role in national politics, often using their ceremonial functions to extend their husbands’ political objectives. Neil noted that spouses play particularly important roles in political campaigns, but that women like Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan were also sometimes seen as liabilities for their husbands.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the history of why American Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas day.
• Neil commented on GQ’s profile of the international megachurch, Hillsong.
• Niki explained how in Soviet Russia the Christmas tree became the New Year’s tree.

Episode 13: The Sharing Economy, Affirmative Action, and American Fascism

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the sharing economy, affirmative action, and whether Donald Trump is a fascist.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Harvard Business School researchers have issued a report about the pattern of racial discrimination in AirBnB. Other scholars and writers have raised additional concerns with the “sharing economy.” Niki noted the historical example of early twentieth century urban dwellers who took boarders to earn extra money, as depicted in the 1925 Anzia Yezierska novel Bread Givers. Natalia suggested Nick Grossman’s “gig economy” was a more accurate term than the “sharing economy” to capture how Americans are working and earning money today.
• Affirmative action is back in the news as the Supreme Court hears Abigail Fisher’s lawsuit against the University of Texas. Listen here for Justice Antonin Scalia’s controversial remarks during oral arguments last week. Neil noted the admissions data concerning Fisher’s application disproved the argument she had faced racial discrimination. Niki pointed to the prevalence of “reverse discrimination” language in conservative arguments about affirmative action, such as shown in a recent editorial from the National Review.
• Is Donald Trump a fascist? It’s a question a lot of people have been asking, but Niki noted a Vox roundtable of historians had concluded he was not. Natalia added the historian Federico Finchelstein’s point that in order for Trump to be considered a fascist, he would need to move from advocating discrimination against the “enemy” to proposing their elimination.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Cosmopolitan magazine’s response to recent comments from Caitlyn Jenner about how trans women should look.
• Neil recommended Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay in the Atlantic, “Hope and the Historian.” Natalia suggested placing Coates’ essay in conversation with James Fraser’s book, A History of Hope.
• Niki shared her project on the history of holidays at the White House she’s been working on for the Miller Center, including stories from the first White House Hanukkah celebration held during George H. W. Bush’s presidency and the account of Jackie Kennedy’s first Christmas after John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Episode 12: Facebook Philanthropy, Baby Names, and Prayer Shaming

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic gift, the history of baby names, and “prayer shaming.”

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announced they would donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares to charity, totaling some $45 billion. Some observers have been critical of the couple's decision. Niki pointed to Napster founder Sean Parker’s manifesto, “Philanthropy for Hackers” as a precursor to this debate. Natalia mentioned that books like Matthew Bishop’s Philanthrocapitalism have applauded the way billionaires are devoting themselves more to charitable giving and thereby reshaping the world. We recommend reading the history of philanthropy blog, HistPhil, for more. As a starting point, check out Benjamin Soskis’s essay on the Ford Foundation and the Gospel of Wealth.
• The most popular baby names of 2015 have been released, and gender-neutral options and names inspired by Instagram filters have made the list. Natalia reminded us that the bestseller Freakonomics has a chapter devoted to the economic consequences of what parents name their children. Niki shared the baby name generator that allows you to see what your name would be if you had been born at different points in history.
• In the wake of the San Bernardino shooting, the New York Daily News devoted its cover page to attacking Republican politicians who offered “thoughts and prayers” instead of political solutions to the nation’s gun crisis. Conservatives lashed back, decrying the rise of liberal “prayer shaming.” But Neil argued against the false dichotomy of a religious right and secular left in this debate, pointing out many liberals had offered their prayers while several Christian conservatives had criticized the thoughtless habit of extending “thoughts and prayers” on social media.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Witness Against Torture’s viral video, Thanksgiving at Guantanamo.
• Neil recommended the hit BBC television show, The Great British Bake Off. 
• Niki shared Mason B. Williams’s essay in the Atlantic, “The Crumbling Monuments of the Age of Marble.”

Episode 11: Refugees, Woodrow Wilson, and Instamoms

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the history of refugees, the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, and Instamoms. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• President Obama tied the Syrian refugee crisis to the story of the Pilgrims in a recent radio address to move Americans to support their entry to the US. The Washington Post’s image of a young refugee, Niki argued, was meant in part to elicit American sympathy, but throughout history Americans have seldom welcomed refugees into the nation. Natalia noted the lowest point of this history may have been when the US rejected the admission of European Jews in the years leading up to World War II. Neil pointed out that moment has been humanized by the account of Anne Frank’s family being denied entry as refugees.
• Princeton students have demanded the university remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from campus sites because of his racist acts as president. Natalia agreed with historian Nathan Connolly’s request that we “write segregation and race into the story, not to write the racists out of it.” She also recommended the historian Jonathan Zimmerman’s Politico article that encouraged Princeton students to reckon more with Wilson’s complicated example.
• “Instamoms,” like @Taylensmom, are the newest social media phenomena. But are these digital parents just the latest version of the stage mom? Natalia suggested Viviana Zelizer’s classic, Pricing the Priceless Child, provided a useful way for thinking about the changing social value of children in America.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Sarah Hepola’s memoir, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget.
• Neil discussed why Americans spoke with the accent they did in the 1930s and what 100 years of photographs reveal about the history of smiling.
• Niki shared the new Amazon series The Man in the High Castle as a way of thinking about the meaning of fascism in American politics. 

Episode 10: Thanksgiving Feasting, Football Controversies, and Black Friday Shopping

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Thanksgiving food, the controversial history of football, and Black Friday.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• At the first Thanksgiving meal in 1621, the colonists and Native Americans probably didn’t eat turkey, but food has always been important to the holiday. Niki noted that the CBS documentary, Harvest of Shame, broadcast the day after Thanksgiving in 1960, showed the political dimensions of food as it highlighted the plight of America’s migrant farm workers. Natalia observed that contemporary conversations about food politics have been shaped in large part by the writings of Michael Pollan.
• Football has been played on Thanksgiving Day almost as long as the holiday has been observed. Neil pointed out football has always been controversial because of the violent nature of the game, resulting in the death of 18 players in 1905 alone. Natalia suggested Gail Bederman’s book, Manliness and Civilization, for thinking about football historically, but also recommended Ariel Levy’s New Yorker article about Steubenville and Malcolm Gladwell’s essay comparing football to dogfighting for grappling with the game’s current controversies.
• “Black Friday” didn’t always refer to a day of excessive shopping following Thanksgiving. But now that it does, some stores are opting out of the day’s frenzy or at least refusing to open on Thanksgiving.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the cancellation of free yoga classes at the University of Ottawa because of fears over “cultural appropriation.”
• Neil explored the unexpected history of the Thanksgiving hymn, “We Gather Together.”
• Niki educated us on the cranberry scare of 1959.

Episode 9: Campus Unrest, Dating in the Digital Age, and the Immigration Impasse

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the campus protests at Mizzou and Yale, Tinder and online dating, and the politics of immigration. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Protests at the University of Missouri, Yale, and other schools have erupted over issues regarding racism on college campuses today. At Mizzou, the university’s troubled history of racism has shaped the most recent events. Niki mentioned that classic works like Alan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind and Dinesh D’Souza’s Illiberal Education made the idea of “political correctness” the prevailing conservative interpretation of university politics and has shaped the current conversation regarding free speech on campus.
• The dating app Tinder has updated its features to allow users to add job and education information to their profiles. Dating in the internet age has occasioned all sorts of worries about how technology is changing modern romance, but Natalia pointed out there are many continuities with courtship practices across the twentieth century. Natalia noted the works of scholars like Paula Fass and Mary McComb show some of the same practices we think of as created by the internet, such as rating your date, go back to the 1920s.
• Immigration has emerged as one of the biggest issues in the 2016 presidential race. Niki has recently written about how immigration has become the most important issue in the Republican race for the nomination, and she cited Mae Ngai’s history of illegal aliens, Impossible Subjects, as an important work that has shaped her thinking regarding the history of immigration in America.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix show, Master of None, in part for how it portrays race in America today.
• Neil suggested two readings on Charles Schulz and his famous comic strip to accompany the new Peanuts movie. Neil recommended David Michaelis’ 2007 biography Schulz and Peanuts and Sarah Boxer’s recent Atlantic article, “The Exemplary Narcissism of Snoopy.”
• Niki discussed Jill Lepore’s New Yorker article on the history of polling.

Episode 8: Failed Frontrunners, the Modern Period, and Trigger Warnings

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Jeb Bush and the history of frontrunners, the modern period, and trigger warnings. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Jeb Bush was the presumed frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, but he’s quickly lost the top spot in the campaign. Frontrunners have often been unable to secure their party’s nomination. Neil tracked “frontrunner” on Google’s Ngram Viewer and found it was first used in 1924, but until 1960 it was mostly used in the context of horseracing. Niki noted that the jump of “frontrunner” language from horseracing to politics after 1960 was in keeping with what a 2012 Atlantic article had called the “Sports Center-ization” of political journalism.
• Menstruation has a long history. Some women are practicing “free bleeding” as a feminist project to reclaim the period from its history of shame and taboo. Natalia recommended Lara Freidenfelds’ history of menstruation in the twentieth century and an Atlantic article about the history of the tampon. The marketing of tampons and other feminine hygiene products have changed remarkably in recent years, perhaps most clearly in the humorous Camp Gyno ads for the tampon subscription service, HelloFlo.   
• The controversy over “trigger warnings” on college campuses today has become a hot media topic, but is it a real phenomenon? A recent Atlantic article by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt lamenting the “coddling of the American mind” certainly seemed to think so.  While liberal students in the 1960s protested for greater free speech on campus, liberal students today have called on universities to limit and publish offensive speech for the purposes of ensuring a “safe space.” Natalia noted this had also transformed how college students are dealing with sexual assault on campus, holding universities more accountable for these crimes than the perpetrators, a development Natalia has written about for the Notches blog. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed SeaWorld San Diego’s decision to end its killer whale performances after protests following the release of the 2013 documentary “Black Fish.”
• Neil commented on the defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) last week, a nondiscrimination measure that opponents termed the “bathroom bill.” Neil wrote for Slate last week that conservative activists have used fears over public restrooms to defeat equal rights measures since the 1970s.

• Niki shared an article that asserted the ballpoint pen, rather than the computer, was what killed cursive writing. 

Episode 7: Benghazi, Ben Carson, and the End of Reality TV

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Benghazi and the history of Congressional hearings, Ben Carson and black Republicans, and the state of reality TV today.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the Congressional committee on Benghazi is just the latest event in a Congressional investigation that has lasted 72 months, inviting comparison to other Congressional hearings, including the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra affair. Natalia remarked that liberal media outlets, like the New Yorker, have concluded Clinton emerged triumphant from the hearings, while Neil noted that Fox News had cut away from its broadcast of the hearings once the Republicans appeared to have bungled their case against Clinton.
• Ben Carson has emerged as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president, but African-American Republicans are an increasingly rare group. Niki recommended Leah Wright Rigueur’s book, The Loneliness of the Black Republican, as an excellent recent history of black conservatives and the party of Lincoln.
• American Idol and Survivor are slumping in the ratings, but is reality TV dead? Neil argued no, pointing to the proliferation of reality TV shows that continue to blanket the airwaves. The history of reality TV is a complicated one, however, in part because no one seems to agree on what exactly defines the genre.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the controversy at the University of Louisville where the school’s president and other administrators wore stereotypical Mexican costumes to a staff Halloween party.
• Neil noted the record established on October 28 that the U.S. had gone 18,967 days without a president dying in office since John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. The previous record of 18,966 lasted between George Washington’s inauguration in 1789 and William Henry Harrison’s death in 1841.
• Niki discussed Paul Ryan’s ascension to the speakership and explained why Speakers of the House almost never make it to the Oval Office.

Episode 6: Bernie Sanders, Fitbit Corporatism, and Halloween (All Grown Up)

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Bernie Sanders and the history of socialism in America, Fitbit, and why adults are now celebrating Halloween. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

•  Bernie Sanders’ bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination has raised the old question, “Why is there no socialism in America?” That question served as the title of Werner Sombart’s 1906 classic. Natalia mentioned the historian Eric Foner’s advice that Sanders should use moral language to defend socialism as Eugene Debs did in the early 20th century. Natalia also noted that Larry David’s portrayal of Sanders on Saturday Night Live could make the senator’s Jewishness more well-known among American voters.
• Some Wall Street banks have ordered Fitbit activity trackers for their employees, a decision they explained for improving workers’ health. But many see dangerous possibilities when companies track their employees’ personal lives. Niki recommended Sarah Igo’s book, The Averaged American, for thinking more about the history of data in Americans’ lives. Natalia noted the recent book The Wellness Syndrome discusses how Americans’ obsession with health and fitness may be becoming an unhealthy obsession. Natalia, our fitness history expert, has written about wellness culture in America for the Huffington Post.
• Once a holiday for children, Halloween has become a popular event for many American adults in part because of the dangers associated with it for children. Steven Mintz’s Huck’s Raft and Paula Fass’ Kidnapped were recommended as two books that historicize American fears about child welfare and safety.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Michelle Miller’s The Underwriting as a page-turning thriller about a Silicon Valley dating website’s IPO. Natalia noted the novel had originally been published online in downloadable installments, harkening back the older publishing traditional of serializing literature.
• Neil commented on the discovery that Mike Huckabee’s 1998 book Kids Who Kill was found to have contained numerous false and misattributed historical quotations from figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Neil presented this as another cautionary tale in how politicians use and misuse history for their political advantage.  
• Niki discussed the Slate article, “French Tadpoles and Persian Pickles,” an excerpt from Jude Stewart’s book, Patternalia. The article presented a fascinating history of paisley, but Niki noted it also demonstrated how the history of a pattern was also a way of understanding the history of society and culture.

Episode 5: Playboy, Political Parties, and the Whitening of American Cities

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Playboy magazine’s decision to stop publishing nude photos, the strength and stability of the nation’s political parties, and the whitening of American cities. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Many commentators attributed Playboy’s decision to stop publishing nude photos as the inevitable result for a print magazine caught in a culture awash in Internet pornography. Neil pointed out that in addition to its famous centerfolds, the magazine has a long history of publishing serious articles, including interviews with leading cultural and political figures like, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jimmy Carter.
• There’s been lots of talk about the brokenness of the Republican Party, but others are beginning to suggest the Democrats aren’t in great shape either. Niki contended that political polarization and party hostility have contributed to the instability of the parties.
• The Washington Post recently reported that the white population is growing in 45 of the nation’s 50 biggest cities. Neil argued it wasn’t right to see this development as the “reversal of white flight.” (For an excellent history of “white flight,” see Kevin Kruse’s 2005 study of Atlanta.) Natalia suggested that Thomas Frank’s book, The Conquest of Cool, provided a useful way to think about why cities have become so attractive to white professionals again.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the New York Times article, “The Lonely Death of George Bell.” Natalia contrasted the detached manner with which readers have seemed to respond to this story of an old man’s isolated death as compared to the outrage Americans felt about reports in 1964 that Kitty Genovese had been stabbed to death over several hours while her neighbors did nothing. (See the New York Times’ original article about Genovese’s murder here.)
• Neil commented on the controversy regarding Mark Juergensmeyer’s decision to boycott a conference at Brigham Young University in protest of the school’s policy of expelling LDS students who lose their Mormon faith or convert to another religion. Juergensmeyer had been alerted to this policy by the student group Free BYU which is pressuring the university to reverse its policy.
• Niki recommended Pamela Newkirk’s book, Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, which tells the story of the Congolese man put on display in a monkey cage at the New York Zoological Gardens in 1906.