The Colin McEnroe Show

COVID has caused more than 7 million confirmed deaths (and estimates of the actual total go well past 20 million). Here’s the even worse news: It wasn’t the truly devastating pandemic epidemiologists have feared for decades. But here’s the good news: We learned every possible lesson from COVID, and now we’re utterly prepared for the next big pandemic that’s inevitably barreling towards us. No. Wait. Maybe I’ve gotten that last bit wrong. This hour, Michael Osterholm, founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, joins us to talk about the dreaded potential “big one” and what we need to do to be ready. GUEST: Michael T. Osterholm: Founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and the co-author of The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, a look at words and usage and grammar and language and all that fun stuff. Have you noticed how we Americans have become “so bloody keen on Britishisms?” Ben Yagoda joins us to talk about his book, Gobsmacked! The British Invasion of American English. Plus, there’s been an update to The Chicago Manual of Style. We take a look at the CMOS, in particular, and bang on (there it is again!) about dreaded style guides, in general. GUESTS: Scott Huler: The author of seven non-fiction books; his most recent is A Delicious Country: Rediscovering the Carolinas along the Route of John Lawson’s 1700 Expedition Ben Yagoda: The author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books and the host of the podcast The Lives They’re Living The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 8, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We once did a show about beer jingles, which is a great example of how a product becomes a culture. Cereal as a culture, is off the charts. There's the box, there's the prize, there's the character, there's the jingles, there's the commercials. Most of us can probably sing some jingles and discuss favorite cereal personae from our childhoods, which makes it kind of weird when marketing experts tell us that cereal consumption is in decline. Who are we without cereal. It has been a staple of the American breakfast since Dr. John Kellogg first tried to purify the traditional American breakfast of veal, oysters, and wild pigeon with his first flakes. Today, we talk about cereal with our guests, we eat cereal, and we try to rekindle our love of cereal. GUESTS: Topher Ellis: Cereal historian and co-author with Marty Gitlin of The Great American Cereal Book: How Cereal Got Its Crunch. He’s also the editor of Boxtops, the longest running cereal newsletter Eddy Chavey: Founder and President of Mr. Breakfast.com and a graduate of the Los Angeles New School of Cooking Deena Shanker: Former Food and Consumer Goods Reporter for Quartz.com Michael Smulders: The late Owner of Bakery on Main in East Hartford Linda Giuca: Freelance writer and former food columnist for The Hartford Courant and co-owner of Alforno restaurant in Old Saybrook The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Lydia Brown, Tucker Ives, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 28, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. This hour, the conversation winds around to Bad Bunny, the Supreme Court, recycling, midges, nominative determinism, speed cameras, the government shutdown … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Notion – The Rare Occasions Mr. Eclectic – Laufey Itsumo – Mei Semones Anything But Now – Cecile McLorin Salvant J'ai Rencontré L'homme De Ma Vie – Emilie-Claire Barlow Little Claws – Genevieve Ardati, Real Bad Man Leaves That Are Green – Pete Philly Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One Battle After Another is the 11th feature film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is written and produced by Anderson and inspired by the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and more. It is the widest release, the widest opening, and the highest-grossing opening of Anderson’s career. One Battle After Another is currently the No. 1 movie in the world. And: The Lowdown is the second television series created by Sterlin Harjo. It is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the same fictional universe as the first Harjo-created TV series, Reservation Dogs. It stars Ethan Hawke and Keith David. GUESTS: James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Rich Hollant: Founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Irene Papoulis: Wrote a short textbook called The Essays Only You Can Write Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Numbers are so fundamental to our understanding of the world around us that we maybe tend to think of them as an intrinsic part of the world around us. But they aren’t. Humans invented numbers just as much as we invented all of language. This hour, we look at the anthropological, psychological, and linguistical ramifications of the concept of numbers. And we look at one philosophical question too: Are numbers even real in the first place? GUESTS: Brian Clegg: Author of Are Numbers Real? The Uncanny Relationship of Mathematics and the Physical World Caleb Everett: Author of Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 12, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2025 winner of The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in a few weeks. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants it. This hour we look at the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and its status in our world. We learn about past winners, how winners are selected, and ask about its relevance. GUESTS: Jay Nordlinger: A political journalist and music critic. He is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative, the music critic of The New Criterion, and his Substack is called Onward and Upward. He is the author of Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World, among other books Julie Mennella: Faculty member at the Monell Center. She is a winner of the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in Pediatrics Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of the Western world is organized by alphabetical order, which is so much more than the 26 letters that make up the alphabet. Alphabetical order is an organizing principle that allows us to save, order, and access thousands of years of humankind’s most precious documents and ideas. Without it, we’d never know what came before us or how to pass on what’s with us. It’s ubiquitous, yet invisible in daily life. This hour, a conversation about how we order our world and why we do it. GUESTS: Nicholson Baker: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art Judith Flanders: Author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Bridgeport’s socialist former mayor, Sneaky Pete and our show on psychics, the possible link between double jointedness and neurodivergence, the state of streaming, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ appearance on The Ezra Klein Show … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Harry’s Theme (Lite Pullman) – Vulfmon, Harry Whitford Bedlam – Elvis Costello Take Me Dancing – Doja Cat, SZA Three Little Words – Samara Joy Township Medley – Themba Mkhize, SWR Big Band 香港之夜 – Teresa Teng Chilly Winds Don’t Blow (Bolden. Remix) – Nina Simone, Bolden. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The singer and songwriter Nick Drake died in 1974. He was just 26, and he remains a bit of a mystery. He recorded three albums but played very few shows. There is no known film or video footage of him. But his music is maybe more popular now than it’s ever been. It shows up on movie soundtracks, in TV shows, in commercials. And then there’s Nick Drake’s mother, Molly Drake. It turns out she was an accomplished (and possibly ultimately important?) singer and songwriter, too. But she never released any music or performed publicly in her lifetime, as far as we know. This hour, a look at the music (and mystery) of Nick (and Molly) Drake. GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Howard Fishman: A musician and composer and the author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse Will Hermes: Writes about music “and life’s other mysteries,” and he’s a longtime contributor to All Things Considered; he’s the author, most recently, of Lou Reed: The King of New York Angie Martoccio: A senior music writer at Rolling Stone Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sophocles' play Antigone was originally performed around 441 B.C.E., but the themes in the play still resonate today. This hour, we revisit the story of Antigone, and ask what it can teach us about compromise, wisdom, extremism, grief, and more. Plus, a look at how modern productions are exploring new ways for audiences to engage with the ancient Greek tragedy. GUESTS: Elizabeth Bobrick: A Visiting Scholar in Wesleyan’s Department of Classical Studies. She also teaches for Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. Her Substack is “This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy,” and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and Salon Bryan Doerries: A writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions. He is author of The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, among other books Anna Conser: Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The myth of the great white, exacerbated by the 1975 megahit Jaws, is false. Great whites are not the aggressive creatures still portrayed in popular media. We’re more likely to survive a shark bite simply because sharks don’t like the way we taste. They spit us out if they accidentally mistake us for a seal. We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark. The convergence of globally warming waters off our east coast and the repopulation of seals and great whites after a previous panic nearly wiped them out, means we’ll have to learn to share the ocean. Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal contraception, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? Besides, whose ocean is it anyway? The fish were there first. We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark. Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal vasectomies, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? This hour, a look at our relationship with sharks. GUESTS: George Burgess: Director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator emeritus of the International Shark Attack File Greg Johnson: Lifeguard at Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts Sy Montgomery: A naturalist and the author of many books, including The Great White Shark Scientist The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Carolyn McCusker, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 3, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you feel about your neck? Maybe you only think about it when you’re sore from sleeping wrong or from sitting at a desk all day. But for centuries, humans have worried about their necks, decorated them with jewelry and clothes and ties, and exploited their weaknesses with knives and garrotes and guillotines. This hour, a look at necks — human and animal. Plus, the history and symbolism of the classic turtleneck. GUESTS: Kent Dunlap: Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford, and author of The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes The Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 12, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677. Plus, now you can watch our calls shows YouTube! Come say hi to us in the comments! Just search for Connecticut Public. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Just How It Should Go – Nightshifts WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! – Raye Children of the Baked Potato – Thundercat, Remi Wolf September Grass – James Taylor Tu Sais Le Printemps – Dar Williams Robin’s Egg – Iron & Wine, I’m With Her I Could Be in Love with Someone Like You – Jason Robert Brown Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In July, after CBS canceled The Late Show, President Trump posted that “Jimmy Kimmel is next.” And now his administration seems nearly to have made that happen. And: The Paper is a sequel to and spinoff from the American version of The Office set at a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, and Oscar Nunez reprising his role as Oscar Martinez from The Office. And finally: The Naked Gun to and a reboot of the Naked Gun film series and the Police Squad! franchise. It’s the fourth movie in the series, and it stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, and more. GUEST: Xandra Ellin: A producer for the BBC’s The Global Story, and she writes the How Can I Make This About Me Substack Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian: she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the paranormal than the psychic. Able to predict the future, see into the past, and even communicate with the dead, the psychic’s (supposed) awesome gifts are matched only by his or her ability to withstand skepticism and ridicule. But are our misgivings towards these intuitives justified? Is it merely smoke and mirrors which they’ve learned to master, or are they, in fact, possessed of powers beyond our comprehension? This hour, we speak with believers, skeptics, and self-proclaimed psychics to find out. GUESTS: Daryl Bem: Emeritus professor of psychology at Cornell University and the author of Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect Allison Dubois: A psychic medium and profiler and the author of several books, including Into the Dark: How the Dead Help Us Heal Benjamin Radford: Deputy editor for Skeptical Inquirer and co-host of Squaring the Strange Emily Stroia: An ituitive medium, the founder of the Intuitive Soul Academy, and the author of several books, including Psychic Development for Beginners Jenniffer Weigel: An Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and the author of Psychics, Healers and Mediums: A Journalist, a Road Trip, and Voices from the Other Side The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 28, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been over one hundred years since J. M. Barrie first told the story of Peter Pan, Wendy, and Neverland. Since then, Peter Pan has been adapted countless times, and become a constant reference point in popular culture. This hour, a look at the lasting cultural and psychological impact of Peter Pan. GUESTS: Maria Tatar: Professor of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. Her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces. She is also the editor of The Annotated Peter Pan: The Centennial Edition Jonathan Russell Clark: The author of Skateboard and An Oasis of Horror in a Desert of Boredom. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, and Esquire Ann Yeoman: A Jungian Analyst and the author of Now or Neverland: Peter Pan and the Myth of Eternal Youth and the co-author of C.G. Jung's Collected Works: The Basics MUSIC FEATURED (in order): I Don't Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits Never Never Land – James Taylor I’ve Gotta Crow – Mary Martin, Kathy Nolan Darling Children – Alison Fraser I'm Flying – Mary Martin Captain Hook’s Waltz – Cyril Ritchard, Peter Pan Ensemble I Won’t Grow Up – The Fools Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump has been using the phrase “common sense” a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians. This hour, we look at how common sense is used in politics. Plus, is there really such a thing as common sense? We dig into what it means and if it’s possible to teach it to artificial intelligence. GUESTS: Sophia Rosenfeld: Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; she is the author of multiple books, including Common Sense: A Political History and her new book, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life Mark Whiting: Research fellow at the Computational Social Science lab at the University of Pennsylvania and chief technology officer of the startup Pareto.AI; you can find the common sense survey here Mayank Kejriwal: Research professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 6, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation — with our old friend Chion Wolf at the helm this time! — winds around to tilting at (actual) windmills, which way you should put the silverware in your drying rack, reactions to the murder of Charlie Kirk, float tanks, water cremation, online dating … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laura Nyro’s most famous compositions — “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Stoney End,” “When I Die,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Eli’s Coming” — are jewels of mainstream music, and her covers of songs like “Jimmy Mack” and “Gonna Take a Miracle” are legendary. But she was uncomfortable under the spotlight and withdrew from it to become the Belle of Danbury, Connecticut. This hour: a night of singing, reflecting, and celebrating recorded in front of a live audience at Watkinson School in Hartford. GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals Latanya Farrell: Vocals and tambourine Steve Metcalf: Piano and vocals The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired February 21, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been 24 years since the sunny late summer Tuesday morning that changed basically everything. This hour, a look back at September 11, 2001, and its long shadow, still darkening our days a bit now. We talk to a historian about the generation that has lived its life in a post-9/11 world and a critic about the influence of 9/11 on and in our popular culture. GUESTS: Lindsay Ellis: An author, video essayist, and film critic; her new novel is Apostles of Mercy Matthew Warshauer: Professor of history at Central Connecticut State University and the author of Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation: The Real Story of September 11 The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired September 11, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The history of sugar is a complicated one. Once available to only the rich and powerful, sugar now shows up in everything from cereals and soups, to cigarettes and body scrubs. It is known to both have medicinal qualities and to contribute to a variety of health problems. This hour we trace the history of sugar and discuss how the sugar industry may be driving a global addiction to the sweet substance. GUESTS: Marc Aronson: Associate Professor at Rutgers University and co-author of Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science Gary Taubes: Investigative science and health journalist and author of The Case Against Sugar: Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It Kathleen DesMaisons: Expert in chemical dependency treatment and author several books including Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 9, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S. Postal Service was one of our earliest experiments in democracy. The vast transportation networks that led to more than 30,000 post offices remain at the heart of many communities and still reach into the most remote parts of our country. Today, a look at the past and the future of the post office. GUESTS: Winifred Gallagher: Author of several books including How the Post Office Created America: A History Evan Kalish: Self-proclaimed postal tourist and creator of Postlandia. He manages the world’s largest curated collection of post office building photographs and has now visited over 11,000 post offices Amanda Martinez: Former Market Research Analyst at United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General Risk Analysis Research Center The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 14, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Robert Frost, bucket lists, the Supreme Court, spotted lantern flies, New England autonomy, and dating. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Sweet Love by Jen Allen The Second Time Around (The Dutch Heritage Series) by Fay Claassen & the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw Raised on Robbery by Kate Staples, Jesca Hoop, & Lail Arad Do (The City Winery Sessions) by Lawrence & Lake Street Dive Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down by Margo Price Jessie (The Sweater Sessions II) by Couch Ninho de Vespa by Dori Caymmi, MPB4, & Paulo Cesar Pinheiro You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you listen to The Colin McEnroe Show regularly, you likely know that Colin has been influenced by two media theorists: Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death, among other books, and McLuhan is probably most famous for the phrase "The medium is the message," in addition to other influential ideas. This hour, we look at the ideas of McLuhan and Postman, and discuss why they still resonate so much today. GUESTS: Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University Megan Garber: Staff Writer at The Atlantic who writes about the intersection of politics and culture. She is the author of On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics. She previously worked for Neiman Journalism Lab and the Columbia Journalism Review Andrew McLuhan: Founder and director of The McLuhan Institute, which was founded to conserve and continue media studies in the McLuhan tradition. He is the son of Eric McLuhan and the grandson of Marshall McLuhan MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Passacaglia by Johan Halvorsen (performed by Grégoire Blanc) Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron Medium is the Massage by Akira the Don, Marshall McLuhan Fish n’ Chip Paper by Elvis Costello Amusing Ourselves to Death by Winston Apple Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You have probably encountered Robert Frost through his poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” or “The Road Not Taken.” But how much do you know about the man behind the poetry and the rest of his work? This hour, we learn about the life and poetry of Robert Frost and discover how he’s helped to inspire other poets. GUESTS: Sydney Lea: Former poet laureate of Vermont and the author of 16 poetry collections, seven collections of personal essays, and two novels Adam Plunkett: Literary critic and the author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Dylan Reyes, and Kathy Wang contributed to this show, which originally aired February 24, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What can you say about the sun? It sits at the center of our solar system and has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art, and countless other aspects of our culture. We’ve relied on its light, heat, and gravity for as long as we’ve been around, and we continue to find ways to harness its energy for our daily needs. This hour, we look at the place our sun holds kind of literally at the center of all of human history and ask what the future holds for our nearest star. GUESTS: Christina Agapakis: Creative director at Ginko Bioworks Sarbani Basu: William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Astronomy at Yale University John Grim: Senior lecturer and research scholar teaching in the joint MA program in religion and ecology at Yale University School of the Environment and Yale Divinity School John Perlin: Physicist at UCLA Santa Barbara and the author of Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift’s upcoming nuptials and the state of her relationship with Blake Lively, motives for murder, the grooming of flies, rum raisin ice cream, inside jokes and nicknames and things, quieting the monkey mind … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Strategy by TWICE Call Me by Sachal Vasandani featuring Dayna Stephens I Guess I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times by Martina DaSilva, Alex Goodman, et al. The Glow Worm by Kurt Elling, et al. Do I Move You by Nicole Zuraitis, Tom Scott, et al. (from the live album) Candy by Joshua Lee Turner, Martina DaSilva Right Down the Line by Joshua Lee Turner Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You hear a lot about the ongoing American crisis among men, among boys, around masculinity, right? You see lots of headlines about how we got here, what caused all this, where the crisis came from. Well, the cultural critic Jessa Crispin thinks we can all learn a lot about all of this by looking at … Michael Douglas movies. And I mean, that sounds like a show we’d do, doesn’t it? And so here we are. Crispin joins us for the hour. GUEST: Jessa Crispin: The author of What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the you sit contemplating the end of long summer days, you might wonder what might have been. What might have been if there was a song of the summer! The consensus is that there was no Song of the Summer for 2025. To help fill that void in your life, Colin sits down with technical producer Dylan Reyes to form the public radio supergroup CG/WLM (cranky guys who like music) and talk about what they're listening to, and what song they think should have won the season. GUEST: Dylan Reyes: Technical Producer, Assistant Director of Radio Operations at Connecticut Public MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Stare at Me by JANE HANDCOCK, Anderson .Paak Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI The Subway by Chappell Roan To Keep by Dominique Adams Little Less Over You by Couch Flor de Lis (Upside Down) by Samara Joy DON'T SPEAK by LOADED HONEY Good To Be Alone by Stacey Ryan, Cory Henry Suzanne by Mark Ronson, RAYE Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The political newsletter Tangle approaches things differently than most news organizations. Each day they do a deep-dive on one topic where they lay out the facts, then give a glimpse of "What the left is saying," "What the right is saying," and then "My take," where an editor explains their opinions on an issue. The newsletter is the brainchild of politics reporter Isaac Saul, who joins us for an hour to talk through the latest news, his approach to reporting, and how we move forward in these divided times. GUEST: Isaac Saul: Executive Editor and Founder of the non-partisan, independent newsletter Tangle, which summarizes the best arguments from the right and left on the big political news of the day The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We tend not to think much about that pat of butter we put on our morning toast, including how the store-bought sweet cream butter we're eating likely pales in comparison to the rich, nutty flavor of the cultured butter not found in many stores. Nor, do we think about butter sculpture, butter bogs, pleasure dairies, or the dairymaids, those once respected and well-paid artisans and economic powerhouses of our nations earliest days. We definitely don't think about the nationwide 'war' between butter-loving dairy farmers and the margarine industry. It led to smear campaigns, state laws against margarine, and a ruling by the Supreme Court that led to pink margarine. You may not even know it's okay to eat butter again after decades of being told to stay away from the death-inducing fats found in butter. So, go ahead and eat that toast with butter. Today, a show about butter. GUESTS: Elaine Khosrova: Author of Butter: A Rich History, a former pastry student at Culinary Institute of America and a former test kitchen editor at Country Living magazine Doug Moe: Wisconsin-based author and journalist who has written for newspapers and magazines for almost 40 years Adeline Druart: Former president of Vermont Creamery. Adeline brought her knowledge of butter-making to Vermont from her home country of France The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 19, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the first half of today's show, Colin will take your calls about whatever you want to talk about. Then, it’s been a minute since Senator Chris Murphy joined Colin for a check-in on state matters and a chat about the weather in Washington. And we don’t think the senator has ever pulled up a chair to The World’s Most Important Table (™).Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been a minute since Senator Chris Murphy joined Colin for a check-in on state matters and a chat about the weather in Washington. And we don’t think the senator has ever pulled up a chair to The World’s Most Important Table (™). Around 1:30, Senator Murphy joins us in studio.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose, guest hosted by comedian Shawn Murray, looks at: Highest 2 Lowest is the fifth collaboration between director Spike Lee and actor Denzel Washington and their first in 19 years, since Inside Man in 2006. It is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 police procedural, High and Low, which is, itself, an adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom. It also stars Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, A$AP Rocky, Ice Spice, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, Wendell Pierce, and more. Highest 2 Lowest is in a strangely limited release — it’s in just three theaters in Connecticut — and it hits Apple TV+ on September 5. And: Alien: Earth is the first TV series — after nine movies — in the Alien franchise. It is a prequel set two years before the events of the original movie, and it’s created be Noah Hawley, who also created the Fargo TV series, among other things. Alien: Earth is set, somewhat logically, on Earth. GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University and the author of The Spike Lee Enigma: Challenge and Incorporation in Media Culture The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we take a critical look at the role of art critics in our world. What is the status of criticism, and is it under threat? GUESTS: Naveen Kumar: Theater critic for The Washington Post. He is associate director of the National Critics Institute, the leading arts-writing workshop for professional journalists. He has twice served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama Kathryn VanArendonk: Critic at Vulture and New York Magazine Matt Singer: Editor and Critic at ScreenCrush and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. He is the author of numerous books, including Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever Aleksandra Mir: Artist, whose work has been included in 370 exhibits worldwide. She is co-editor of the book Bad Reviews: An Artists' Book by 150 Artists The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The word "like" has been around for centuries, but it reached a new cultural prominence in the 1980s, partially thanks to Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl." Since then, "like" has taken on a life of its own, inspiring strong emotions. This hour, we look at the meaning and evolution of "like." Plus, how movies like the now 30-year-old Clueless have impacted our language. GUESTS: Megan C. Reynolds: An editor at Dwell and author of Like: A History of the English Language’s Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word Kory Stamper: Lexicographer and author of Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries Veronica Litt: English Professor and author of Ugh! As If!: Clueless Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you make a 100-meter telescope that folds down to three meters so you can tuck it inside a space vehicle? How do you make a heart stent that folds out inside the human body? In each case, researchers have turned to masters of origami, the thousand-year-old art of paper folding. This hour, a look at how paper folding went from a quaint, simple hobby to an extensive form of art that can achieve hundreds of intricate folds. Plus: the ways origami is used beyond the art world, in mathematics, science, and technology. GUESTS: Erik Demaine: Professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robert J. Lang: The author of co-author of more than 20 books on origami art and design The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired March 13, 2014.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the bilateral meeting in Alaska between Presidents Trump and Putin, the bilateral and multilateral meetings in Washington DC with Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy, our Mark Twain show, President Trump possibly one day getting the Nobel Peace Prize, ABBA possibly one day getting the Nobel Peace Prize, comparisons between Neville Chamberlain and Trump … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael M. Grynbaum's new book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America, traces the rise of Condé Nast's magazines. This hour Grynbaum joins us to explain how Condé Nast magazines and their editors achieved their status as cultural tastemakers, and where these magazines, and that industry, stand today. Plus, we hear from an editor at The Week about how that magazine is approaching this moment. GUESTS: Michael M. Grynbaum: A media correspondent for The New York Times and author of the new book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America Mark Gimein: Managing Editor at the print edition of The Week Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chances are, you know Richard Thomas as John-Boy on The Waltons. Or maybe you saw him more recently in his many-episode arcs on shows like The Americans and Ozark. You might’ve even seen him on Broadway in Our Town or as Atticus Finch in the tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s in town doing the very first authorized production of Mark Twain Tonight! since Hal Holbrook died. And John Jeremiah Sullivan has won the Pushcart Prize, two National Magazine Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His essay “Twain Dreams: The Enigma of Samuel Clemens” ran in the 175th anniversary issue of Harpers. This hour, Thomas and Sullivan join us to talk Twain. GUESTS: John Jeremiah Sullivan: A writer, musician, and editor Richard Thomas: An Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actor The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 4, 2015; September 14, 2023; and June 5, 2024, in a different form.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to mytho-historical accounts, the ancient Amazons wore pants while riding into battle. But the trend this tribe of warrior women set was short lived. For nearly two millennia after their demise, the notion of women wearing pants was steeped in controversy. And while this controversy has diminished, it is by no means over. From the fuss over politician's pant suits to the unofficial dress codes which still pervade corporate America, there are indications that we've yet to move past old expectations of women's fashion. This hour we speak with historians and fashion experts about the history of women and pants. GUESTS: Gayle Fischer: Professor of History at Salem State University and author of Pantaloons and Power: A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in the United States Kathleen Cooper: Writer whose work has appeared in The Toast, The Airship, The Washington Post, and elsewhere Hannah Kimberley: Teacher at the Academy at Penguin Hall in Wenham, Massachusetts, and author of A Woman's Place Is at the Top: A Biography of Annie Smith Peck, Queen of the Climbers The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 7, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.