What Did the Ark Look Like?

Guest: Irving Finkel, Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian Artifacts, The British Museum, and author, "The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood"

The Noah’s Ark story you grew up with is not the only such story. Some of the oldest texts we have, carved on Mesopotamian clay tablets, are about 4,000 years old. But in this story, the boat was an enormous round "coracle."

 

Symbolism Is All Around Us

Guest: Jonathan Pageau, Artist, Editor of The Orthodox Arts Journal, and Host of The Symbolic World podcast 

Symbolism surrounds us—it has been a central part of our culture, and continues to be through today. Sometimes symbolism is part of a participant's experience and sometimes it's part of a passive viewing experience. 

 

The Weird and Wonderful World of Roald Dahl

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Education and Juvenile Literature Librarian, Brigham Young University

Roald Dahl had a traumatic childhood and his books tackle the injustice faced by kids, who find a way to overcome the odds. But his worlds are weird and fantastic, which makes for great screen adaptations.

 

More Boys Should Read Little Women (originally aired August 16, 2019)

Guest: Anne Boyd Rioux, author, "Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters,"  and Professor, English, University of New Orleans

There’s a lot that boys can learn from reading “Little Women.” How to get them excited about the novel, and why it persists as an American classic.

 

The Era of the Dash

Guest: Cecelia Watson, faculty, Language and Thinking, Bard College, and author, “Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark”

People who are unsure about grammar rules use the dash so much that it feels like we're living in the Era of the Dash. Why you should let go of this crutch.