The Takeaway

One year ago, on August, 15, 2021, the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul fell into Taliban control amidst the U.S.’s withdrawal after 20 years of occupation in the country. Democracy had failed in Afghanistan. As the entire world watched, Afghans raced to escape the country, risking their safety and lives.

The new podcast Kabul Falling recounts the story of how Kabul fell, told by Afghans who lived through it; some who escaped, some who were left behind.

We speak with British-Afghan journalist Nelufar Hedayat, the host of Kabul Falling.

The American Library Association tracked 729 book bans across the country targeting more than 1500 books in 2021–a record since the organization started counting, more than 20 years ago. Most of the books that have been targeted concern race, slavery or LGBTQ topics. We speak with Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, about book banning and protecting our libraries.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was created in 1943 during World War II, as many of the male athletes were fighting abroad. Until it ended in 1954, the league provided women with an opportunity to play a professional sport for a decent salary.  The league was the inspiration for the 1992 film A League of Their Own, and now it's getting a reboot as a new television series, also called A League of Their Own.

We speak with historian Kat Williams, professor of women's history at Marshall University and the president of the International Women's Baseball Center, about the women who inspired A League of Their Own and legacy of the AAGPBL.

Then we hear from 95-year-old Maybelle Blair, a former player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League about her life, career, and working as a consultant on the new TV series.

Nearly six months into Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the repercussions of the war are being felt across the globe, with disrupted supply chains, weakened economies, and shifted geopolitical relationships. And then there’s the human toll.The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 5,400 Ukrainian civilian deaths since the start of the war. Intense fighting has made reporting difficult, though, and the agency believes that the true numbers are much higher. And while more than 3.5 million people have fled the country and applied for temporary residence in another country, an even larger number of Ukranians have remained in Ukraine. An estimated 7 million people are displaced from their homes within the country, spending months in shelters, gymnasiums and schools that are ill-equipped to handle the winter on the way.

We speak with Nataliya Gumenyuk, Ukrainian journalist and founder of the Public Interest Journalism Lab, with updates on the ground from Kyiv, Ukraine.

And we hear from Ann Lee, the CEO of Community Organized Relief Effort — CORE — a nonprofit humanitarian organization working in across Ukraine, about the conditions refugees and internally displaced people in Ukraine are facing.

Experts like Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of the "The Happiness Lab" podcast says one of the important components of play is engaging in an activity solely for the joy of doing so. All last week, we talked about the immeasurable value of play on The Takeaway. Check out some of the stories:

Of course, play means different things to different people. Some of us choose physical activities while others seek a more restful version of play. Some play with friends or family, and some find ways to play on their own. So we asked The Takeaway staff to share some moments of play in their own lives. Tune in to hear what they said.

Could there be infinite versions of us, spinning off into their own universes from every choice we make? Is all of time happening all at once? Do we have free will? 

"When we try to answer such big questions about our existence, we basically have three options. That's religion, philosophy and physics," Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder told The Takeaway. "And of those three, I think physics has made the biggest progress in the past century."

Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany, has made it her mission to make physics engaging to the public. She's the creator of the YouTube show, "Science without the Gobbledygook," and her newest book is "Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions." She plumbs the depths — and limitations — of the best knowledge physicists currently have about our universe, where it overlaps with some of our biggest spiritual and existential questions, and the possibilities they present.

The human mind is awe-inspiring. Its complex, yet coordinated, web of 86 billion neurons all fire together to help us breath, talk, walk, and experience everyday life.

But the mind is also vulnerable. It takes only a few microscopic molecules out of place to completely disrupt our personalities, shift our perception of reality, and dramatically alter our ability to think and reason. 

We spoke with Sara Manning Peskin, assistant professor of clinical neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, about her book "A Molecule Away from Madness: The Hijacked Brain."

She shares the discoveries and diagnoses that have significantly advanced neuroscience while also illustrating the human component behind the mind's diseases that affect us all.

There are a record number of abortion measures on the ballot for the November midterm elections. Voters in Vermont, California, Kentucky and Montana will decide on respective abortion measures in their states. A proposed Constitutional amendment in Kentucky would amend the state constitution to explicitly ban the right to abortion. Proposals in Vermont, California, and likely in Michigan, would have the opposite effect, enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions. And a ballot measure in Montana would establish personhood for infants born alive after attempted abortions.

We speak with Vox politics reporter, Nicole Narea, for more on the various measures. 

At the end of July, the Ford Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced a new cohort of Disability Futures Fellows. The fellows are supported by a grant designed to spotlight a group of visual and performing artists and writers who live with disabilities.

We spoke with one of the new fellows, Naomi Ortiz, who is a poet, writer, and visual artist whose intersectional work focuses on self-care for activists, disability justice, climate action, and relationship with place. They are also the author of the book, "Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice" and the forthcoming book, "Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice."

Last Tuesday, voters in Kansas rejected a proposal to amend the state’s constitution to say there is no right to abortion. 

Kansas is one of the most solidly Republican states in the union, having chosen the Republican candidate in all but one presidential election since 1940. But data from the Kansas Secretary of State’s office shows that more people voted in the abortion referendum than in any primary election in state history, and the margin of victory was substantial: 59% voted against amending the constitution to ban abortion.

For many, the outcome was surprising. But those who know Kansas more intimately understand that the roots of this outcome are deeply ingrained in the history and politics of the state. 

The Takeaway spoke with Thomas Frank, author of the 2004 book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” about how the state’s political history is reflected in this outcome. 

The Takeaway also was joined by Representative Stephanie Clayton, House Minority Whip in the Kansas State Legislature. Clayton discussed how a more conservative framing for the state’s ballot measure on abortion rights ended up being a winning strategy for Democrats and moderate Republicans.