Good Night, and Good Luck
Did That Really Happen?
**Note: Due to technical difficulties, there were issues affecting Jamie's audio quality this week. We apologize and promise it will be fixed on our next episode.** This week we're traveling back to 1950s America with Good Night, and Good Luck! Join us as we learn about Red Scare-Era figurse like Annie Lee Moss, Joe and Shirley Wershba, Milo Radulovich, Don Hollenbeck, and more! Sources: Loren Ghiglione, Why Don Hollenbeck Fascinated Me Enough to Write His Biography. History News Network. Available at https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/why-don-hollenbeck-fascinated-me-enough-to-write-h...
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Blue Moon
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to 1940s New York with Blue Moon! Join us as we learn about the relationship between Rogers and Hart, air raid blackouts, EB White, going on the wagon, and more! Sources: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22off+the+wagon%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22on+the+wagon%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 Jellinek, Elvin Morton. Phases in the Drinking History of Alcoholics: Analysis of a Survey Conducted by the Grapevine, Official...
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Train Dreams
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're covering the history of the Pacific Northwest from the late 19th century to 1968 with Train Dreams! Join us as we learn about boot memorials, Chinese and Chinese-American railroad workers, women working as fire lookouts, and more! Sources: Dina Gachman, "The History of Lady Lookouts," Smithsonian Magazine, available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/female-fire-lookouts-have-been-saving-wilderness-over-century-180977352/ Photo of Hallie Daggett and Her Dog, Fish and Wildlife: https://www.fws.gov/media/hallie-daggett ...
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Hedda
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to the 1950s with Hedda! Join us as we learn about pretty little things, 1950s fashion, sparklers, women working as professors, and more! Sources: "Celebrating the Legacy of England's First Female Professor," King's College, available at https://www.kcl.ac.uk/celebrating-legacy-of-englands-first-female-professor "Gender Breakdown for Teachers in History," Making History, available at https://archives.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/statistics/gender.html Peter West, "Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics from Britain's First Female Philosophy...
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The Book of Clarence
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to first-century Jerusalem with The Book of Clarence! Join us as we learn about Mary Magdalene, Barabbas, Biblical sick burns, and more! Sources: Martínez-Cruz, B., Mendizabal, I., Harmant, C. et al. Origins, admixture and founder lineages in European Roma. Eur J Hum Genet 24, 937–943 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2015.201 Gresham D, Morar B, Underhill PA, Passarino G, Lin AA, Wise C, Angelicheva D, Calafell F, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Tournev I, de Pablo R, Kuĉinskas V, Perez-Lezaun A, Marushiakova E, Popov V, Kalaydjieva L. Origins and divergence of the...
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Akira
Did That Really Happen?
It's a new year, so it's time for our New Year's tradition of taking a look at movies that tried to predict the future. This year, we're traveling to the year 2019 with Akira! Join us as we learn about the Tokyo Olympics, biker gangs, technical schools, riots, and more! Sources: 2020 Host City Election Announcement: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/2020-host-city-election Image of the Stadium: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1087204/olympic-stadium-for-tokyo-2020-completed' January 2019 image, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kokuritsu_Kasumigaoka_Rikujo_Kyogijo-23a.jpg...
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Frankenstein (2025)
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to the 19th century with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein! Join us as we learn about syphilis, big-ass blunderbusses, the Evelyn Tables, Arctic expeditions, and more! Sources: An account of divers schemes of arteries and veins, dissected from adult human bodies, and given to the repository of the Royal Society by John Evelyn, Esq; F. R. S. To which are subjoyn'd a description of the extremities of those vessels, and the manner the blood is seen, by the microscope, to pass from the arteries to the veins in quadrupeds when living: with some chirurgical...
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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to a full century of American history with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman! Join us as we learn about naming of enslaved people, "paddy rollers", Black communities in East Texas, and more! Sources: Sparks, Elmer E, and Celia Black. Interview with Celia Black, Tyler, Texas. Tyler, Texas, November , 10, 1974. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975009_afs17476/. Sparks, Elmer E, and Charlie Smith. Interview with Charlie Smith, Bartow, Florida. Bartow, Florida, None , 3, 1975. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975023_afs17510/. Jennifer Davis, "A Voice from the...
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to 18th-century France with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer! Join us as we learn about tanneries, the town of Grasse, infanticide, perfumers' guilds, and more! Sources: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer-2007 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/perfume_the_story_of_a_murderer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume:_The_Story_of_a_Murderer_%28film%29 A.O. Scott, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/movies/27perf.html Tracey Rizzo (2004) Between dishonor and death: infanticides in the causes célèbres of eighteenth-century...
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Walker
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're going back to a weird, weird version of 19th-century Nicaragua with Walker! Join us as we learn about William Walker's ill-fated efforts in Sonora, the Filibuster War, the El Nicaraguense newspaper, and more! Sources: Monty Python's Flying Circus Sketch: "Sam Peckinpah's 'Salad Days'": https://youtu.be/XL54pji1nfA?si=o0UbrhVH1ewe3p3J Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_(film) Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walker Roger Ebert's Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/walker-1987 Craig J Clark, "Alex Cox Says Goodbye--and Good Riddance--To...
info_outlineIt's a new year, so it's time for our New Year's tradition of taking a look at movies that tried to predict the future. This year, we're traveling to the year 2019 with Akira! Join us as we learn about the Tokyo Olympics, biker gangs, technical schools, riots, and more!
Sources:
2020 Host City Election Announcement: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/2020-host-city-election
Image of the Stadium: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1087204/olympic-stadium-for-tokyo-2020-completed'
January 2019 image, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kokuritsu_Kasumigaoka_Rikujo_Kyogijo-23a.jpg
Education Senmon Gakko: Japanese Vocational Education. Available at https://cordmagazine.com/education/education-senmon-gakko-japanese-vocational-education/
A Complete Guide to Senmon Gakkou in Japan: https://studyinjapan.org/a-complete-guide-to-senmon-gakkou-in-japan/
Rikkyo University Institute of Peace and Community Studies, "Local Responses to Prime Minister Abe's Attack on Article Nine and the Constitution," translated by Saito Yuriko,The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol. 14, issue 3, no. 5 (2016).
David Slater, Robin O'Day, Satsuki Uno, Love Kindstrand and Chiharu Takano, "SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy): Research Note on Contemporary Youth Politics in Japan," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 37, No. 1, September 14, 2015.
Obe Mitsuro, "World News: Students Protest Japan Military Shift," The Wall Street Journal (2015).
Simon Denyer, "Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka speaks out for Black Lives Matter, faces backlash: Protests in Japan have reignited a debate over racism and policing. Osaka has also won support for speaking out," Washington Post (June 8, 2020).
Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida, "In Japan, the Message of Anti-Racism Protests Fails to Hit Home," New York Times (July 1, 2020).
Anna Fifield, "Fierce opponent of U.S. military bases in Okinawa detained for three months: A protest leader's continued detention without trial has triggered accusations that Japanese authorities are trying to silence him." Washington Post (2017).
"1969: Student Protestors Paralyze Tokyo in Anti-War Demonstrations," New York Times (reprinted October 22, 2019)
Alastair Gale, "Japan Pushes Ahead with Antiterrorism Bill; Government says legislation is needed as part of counterterrorism preparations for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo," Wall Street Journal (May 23, 2017).
Mariko Tamura, "Flower Demo: Fighting Sexual Violence in Japan," https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/16387
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(1988_film)
Tom Usher, "How Akira has Influenced All of Your Favorite Film, TV, and Music," Vice, available at https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-akira-has-influenced-modern-culture/
https://akira.fandom.com/wiki/Akira_(anime)
https://www.yokogaomag.com/editorial/bosozoku-biker-gangs-of-japan
https://medium.com/@essie.angelica/the-rise-and-fall-of-japans-notorious-motorcycle-gang-ee31464c2406
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251017/p2a/00m/0na/053000c
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/30-years-akira-teenage-kicks-anime-style
Christopher Gerteis, "Cold War Warriors," in Mobilizing Japanese Youth: The Cold War and the Making of the Sixties Generation (Cornell University Press, 2021), 100-120.