Morgendorks: A Daria Podcast

New decade, new episode of Morgendorks! That's how it works. This week, we're taking a look at "Daria Dance Party"! When Quinn is tasked with forming and running the dance committee to plan an upcoming event at Lawndale High, it rapidly ends up becoming Jane's problem—but she grabs the bull by the horns. Also: A quarrel between lovers threatens to rip the B-Plot Gang apart! What happens next? Find out ... well, you can find out basically anywhere. This show is two decades old. But we'd prefer if you found out with us, this week on Morgendorks!

Also: We dive a little bit into the career and life of Jackson Pollock, the American painter to whom Jane dedicates her efforts within this episode. Also also: Fan discussion! Yay!

Links:

Holiday Magic is Made by Women. And It's Killing Us. | Huffington Post

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Hoooo boy, it's finally time to talk about "Depth Takes a Holiday," this week on Morgendorks! Daria's visited by the personifications of St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day, who implore her to help them round up the disgruntled personifications of Halloween, Christmas, and Guy Fawkes Day and bring them back to Holiday Island through a dimensional portal behind one of Lawndale's Chinese restaurants.

Y'know, when we put it like that, it really sounds kinda fun. Also: FAN MESSAGES! YAY!

Two things of note for this episode: One, we don't have any cultural context this time around. It was all we could do to keep this thing at a reasonable length as it was. Two, we ran into some recording issues, so you'll probably notice some skipping in Nissa's track. Sorry about that! We're gonna change up the way we record, so hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Anyway, drop some strong hallucinogenics and enjoy as we discuss this purely bonkers half hour of television.

Links:

Paste Magazine | You're Standing on My Neck: The Life and Death of the Music of Daria

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Twitter: @morgendorks

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Welcome back to Morgendorks! First and foremost: Thank you all yet again for your patience, support, and well-wishes over the past few months. It has meant the world, and y'all remain absolutely awesome.

Anyway, on to business: This week we're looking at "The Old and the Beautiful," wherein Ms. Li decides some mandatory volunteer work is just what Lawndale High needs, and Daria ends up reading to some elderly folks—which leads to her getting some sage wisdom from Brittany, of all people.

And in our cultural context, we look at this whole "mandatory volunteerism" thing. What was the point of it? How popular was it in the 90s? Did it work? Find out, this week on Morgendorks!

Links:

New York Times | The Logic of 'Mandatory Volunteerism'

CIRCLE | Youth Attitudes Towards Civic Education and Community Service Requirements

Corporation for National & Community Service | Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974

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Twitter: @morgendorks

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It’s time for Morgendorks! We squint and hesitantly shuffle into the extraordinarily blurry future of season three with “Through a Lens Darkly,” wherein Daria decides to try contacts instead of her iconic glasses—and immediately struggles with questions of vanity and identity. Come for the Daria commentary, stay for Rob and Nissa’s Bespectacled Adventures!

For our cultural context this week, we’re digging into just how glasses impact the way others view us and come to be a part of our own identities. From “She’s All That” to modern psychology, we run the gamut!

Also, stick around toward the end for some very important scheduling information! This is gonna be the last Morgendorks until sometime around mid-November.

Links:

Atlas Obscura | The Enduring Mystery of ‘Jawn,’ Philadelphia’s All-Purpose Noun

Psychology Today | 6 Messages Your Glasses May Be Sending People

The Jury Expert | Is Justice Blind or Just Visually Impaired? The Effects of Eyeglasses on Mock Juror Decisions (PDF)

Outpost Daria Reborn

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Patreon: patreon.com/morgendorks

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

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As we come to the end of the second season, it's time to take a look back and think about where we've been—so join us for a special retrospective episode of Morgendorks, where we discuss the highs and lows of Daria's sophomore effort (and how it compares to the first season)!

We also share some awesome stuff that our fans have said and done over the past week or two. Seriously, we cannot thank our community enough. Y'all are wonderful.

This was a fun and kinda loopy one, folks. Rob's basically frenetic by the end of it. And speaking of Rob, there's some rather important scheduling information toward the end of the episode, so you're going to want to stick around for that!

Links:

Outpost Daria Reborn

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Patreon: patreon.com/morgendorks

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

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It's time to explore the recesses of Daria's writerly mind, with "Write Where it Hurts," this week on Morgendorks! When Daria receives a special assignment from Mr. O'Neill to write a short story about people she knows, she runs headlong into a gnarly case of writer's block. Meanwhile, Helen's doing everything she can to help her daughter out—and running into blocks of her own.

We also take a look at moral fiction—a partial focus of this episode. Tune in to see how cantankerous we can get when talking about John Gardner's take on what art actually is. One of us may or may not have implied he's burning in hell. So there's that.

Also: Fan mail! And Patreon news!

Also also: Nissa has compiled a season two playlist over on Google Play! You can check it out here. Get those good good 90s vibes.

Links:

John Gardner | Moral Fiction | Hudson Review

Leo Tolstoy | What is Art? | Open Library

Outpost Daria Reborn

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

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Time to hit the local piercing parlor and adorn our bare midriffs with a nice little chunk of 90s nostalgia with “Pierce Me,” here on Morgendorks! When Daria goes and does something silly (read: gets her belly button pierced) for a boy (read: Trent), it makes her re-examine a few things. Also: Quinn and Helen in a mother-daughter fashion show! It’s an episode packed with wonderful character interactions, and we enjoyed the hell out of it.

And for our cultural context, we dive a bit into the navel piercing phenomenon of the mid-90s! Where did it originate? What made it blow up? Find out, here on Morgendorks!

Links:

Body Modification Ezine

YouTube | Aerosmith - “Cryin’”

BME Encyclopedia | Aerosmith

AV Club | With “Cryin’,” Aerosmith Sparked the Piercing of a Million Belly Buttons

Why the Belly Button Ring Is Set for a Comeback

BoingBoing | Jim Ward Interview

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

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See Daria. See Jane. See Jane Run. See Daria lose her ish. Lose your ish, Daria, lose your ish! Or maybe don't? It's weird. It's time for "See Jane Run," here on Morgendorks! When a mix of libido and family pride convinces Jane to join the Lawndale High track team, Daria's left in the dust—and it does not go well for her at all. It's an interesting episode with a few really odd notes, and we had a lot of fun with it.

And for our cultural context, we look at the under-the-table perks of being a student-athlete. How prevalent is academic fraud, like what we see in this episode of Daria? (Spoiler: Super. But there isn't much data on the high school side of things.)

Links:

USA Today | NCAA Reports Revenues of More than $1 Billion in 2017

NJ.com | Scoring Grades: How Schools Cheat to Keep Athletes in the Game

Outpost Daria Reborn

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

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Gather thine woolen fabrics and ready thine legs of turkey, it's time for "Fair Enough," here on Morgendorks! When the Lawndale High Library collapses in on itself and Ms. Li can't find the funds to fix it outright, the school throws a Renaissance fair to raise money. It also strongarms everybody into participating. What follows is a tightly written romp that has a little something for everybody. Dainty garlands! Jousting! Ferris wheels! Weaponized turkey legs! It's all here.

Also, for our cultural context, we take a brief and refreshingly light glimpse into the history of the Renaissance fair. Felt good to be coming out of cultural context without a heavy existential weight on our shoulders, if we're being honest.

(Note: Toward the end of this episode, Rob mentions a painter from the 1800s who sent a rather immaculate painting of her own chest to a prospective lover in what was an extraordinarily early version of sendin' nudes. The painter was Sarah Goodridge, and the painting was "Beauty Revealed." You can read more about it here.)

Links:

Faire History | The History of the Pleasure Faire

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Twitter: @morgendorks

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It’s time for splotchy redness and the questionable misplacement of enema bags, as we cover “Ill” this week on Morgendorks! When Daria’s stricken with a bizarre rash, she ends up in the hospital—while Jane tries (and kinda fails) to cover for her. What’s behind the rash? How were that many women in one bathroom stall? What happened to poor Mrs. Sullivan? We don’t have all the answers, or even many, but we’ll give it a go anyway.

Also, for our cultural context we take a dive into the epidemic of teenage anxiety. It’s way, way more prevalent than you might think, and it’s almost certainly an older problem than you might realize.

Also also! We answer a question from one of our fantastic Patrons! And talk about some really fantastic Daria-related news that you’ve probably seen this past week!

Links:

Tracee Ellis Ross to Star in, Executive Produce ‘Daria’ Spinoff Series at MTV | Variety

For 80 Years, Young Americans Have Been Getting More Anxious and Depressed, and No One Is Quite Sure Why | The Cut

The Age of Anxiety? Birth Cohort Change in Anxiety and Neuroticism, 1952-1993 | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 

Studies Show Normal Children Today Report More Anxiety than Child Psychiatric Patients in the 1950's | American Psychological Association

Most U.S. Teens See Anxiety and Depression as a Major Problem Among Their Peers | Pew Research Center

Outpost Daria Reborn

Website: morgendorks.podbean.com

Patreon: patreon.com/morgendorks

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @morgendorks

Facebook: fb.me/morgendorks.podcast