For many Americans, the “Green Book” is an Oscar-winning film. But for generations of Black Americans, it served as a literal map for traveling through an often hostile and hateful country, finding safety and businesses that would serve us. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by writer and financial educator Alvin Hall. He’s the author of Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance. Hall explains how the original Green Book began, discusses its evolution, and why he’s dedicated years to studying and sharing stories of its impact.

Guest: Alvin Hall, author of Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance 

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more.
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A Word: Surviving “Driving While Black”

A feed with the best history coverage from Slate’s wide range of podcasts. From narrative shows like Slow Burn, One Year, and Decoder Ring, to timely analysis from ICYMI and What Next, you’ll get the fascinating stories and vital context you need to understand where we came from and where we're going.

Society & Culture

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History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

April is Autism Acceptance Month, and how we’ve come to understand autism has evolved over the past several decades. 
For years, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was thought of as something that needed to be cured. Through better data and years of activism, that misunderstanding is changing.
On this week’s episode of Well, Now we discuss that evolution with Sara Luterman, caregiving reporter for The 19th.
Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry and Ahyiana Angel with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.
Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com 
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Well, Now: We Don’t Need to Cure Autism

This week Bryan talks to writer Neil J. Young about his new book Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right. They dig into some of the inherent contradictions of the Gay Right and the pillars of their political strategy and reveal how central whiteness and maleness is to their politic. 

Podcast production by Palace Shaw.
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Outward: A History of the Gay Right with Neil J. Young

In this week’s essay, John remembers dropping his son off at college, and trying to hold onto moments and feelings while you can. 
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75, page 6. September 2021:
They chose you.
 
Notebook 15, page 4. April 2004:
Sitting with Brice by waterfall. Throwing rocks in stream. Loading sand from dump truck and loader and back again.
 
References:
What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
Songwriter Nick Cave
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
  
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Host
John Dickerson
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John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Sending our Son to College

When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls?

As it turns out, not all boy bands fit these signifiers. (Well…except for the screaming girls—they are perennial.) There are boy bands that danced, and some that did not…boy bands that relied entirely on outside songwriters, and those that wrote big hits…boy bands assembled by managers or producers, and quite a few that launched on their own.

From Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers to New Kids on the Block, the Monkees to the Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men to BTS, New Edition to One Direction, and…yeah, of course, Backstreet Boys and *N Sync, boy bands have had remarkable variety over the years. (In a sense, even a certain ’60s Fab Four started as a boy band.)

Join Chris Molanphy as he tries to define the ineffable quality of boy band–ness, walks through decades of shrieking, hair-pulling pop history, and reminds you that boy bands generated some of our greatest hits, from “I Want You Back” to “I Want It That Way,” “Bye Bye Bye” to “Dynamite.” Help him “bring the fire and set the night alight.”

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
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Hit Parade: We Want It That Way Edition Part 1

Magazines have fallen on hard times – especially the weekly news, fashion, and celebrity mags that once dominated newsstands. The revenue from magazine racks has plummeted in recent years, and many magazines have stopped appearing in print or shut down altogether.
And yet, there is something growing in the checkout aisle: one-off publications, each devoted to a single topic, known as “bookazines.” Last year, over 1,200 different bookazines went on sale across the country. They cover topics ranging from Taylor Swift, Star Wars, the Kennedy assassination, K-pop, the British royal family, and as host Willa Paskin recently observed, the career of retired movie star Robert Redford.
In today’s episode, Willa looks behind the racks to investigate this new-ish format. Who is writing, publishing, and reading all these one-off magazines – and why? Is the bookazine a way forward for magazines, or their last gasp?
Voices you’ll hear in this episode include Caragh Donley, longtime magazine journalist turned prolific writer of bookazines; Eric Szegda, executive at bookazine publisher a360 media; and Erik Radvon, comic book creator and bookazine fan.
This episode was produced by Max Freedman and edited by Evan Chung, who produce the show with Katie Shepherd. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.
If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.
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A Word: Surviving “Driving While Black”

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