Decoder Ring is Slate's show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit, examines its history, and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
This episode introduces you to Ilona Granet, who was a New York art-scene fixture who won the praise of the art world when she put up an ... Show More
Jul 2021
One Year: Mary Shane's Rookie Season
Mary Shane made history with the Chicago White Sox, becoming the first woman hired as a legitimate major-league baseball announcer. But in 1977, she had to fight to be taken seriously in one of America’s most sexist industries.
One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and ... Show More
52m 32s
Aug 2021
One Year: Elvis, the Pledge, and Extraterrestrials
Three stories from one day in August 1977. Elvis Presley dies, and the National Enquirer goes after the ultimate tabloid scoop: a photo of the King in his coffin. A New Jersey high schooler becomes a pariah when she refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Astronomers in Oh ... Show More
57m 54s
Apr 2023
The Artist Who Was Both Loved and Disdained
We bring you a special episode from Sidedoor, a podcast about the treasures that fill the vaults of the Smithsonian. This story is inspired by “Big Band,” a defining work by the painter LeRoy Neiman.
Neiman was a character, a cultural gadfly and an omnipresent artist who sat fo ... Show More
37m 12s
Oct 2023
When Art Pranksters Invaded Melrose Place
In the mid-1990s, the prime time drama Melrose Place became a home to hundreds of pieces of contemporary art—and no one noticed. In this episode, Isaac Butler tells the story of the artist collective that smuggled subversive quilts, sperm-shaped pool floats, and dozens of other p ... Show More
41m 34s
May 2023
Who Owns the Tooth Fairy?
We pride ourselves on being grounded, rational beings, but flitting amongst us is a mystery: the Tooth Fairy. This flying piece of folklore is alive and well in the 21st century, handed down to kids in whatever way their parents see fit.
In this episode, with the help of Tinkerb ... Show More
38m 7s
Oct 2023
Hilma af Klint, la pionera del arte abstracto
Hola y bienvenidos a otro fascinante episodio, en el que les contamos todo acerca de la pintora y mística sueca Hilma af Klint. Su singular obra de la primera mitad del siglo XX, permaneció prácticamente escondida durante décadas hasta que, en 2018 el Museo Guggenheim de Nueva Yo ... Show More
25m 14s