logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
51m 21s

No Woo-Woo for Sarah Vowell

Treefort Media & Touchy Feely Films
About this episode

✍🏼✍🏼✍🏼

Paul and Stephen love their history, so who better for this Chinwag than brilliant essayist, author and historian, Sarah Vowell?

Listen in as they contemplate the tricky business of retelling history that doesn’t live up to the current moral code. Which President is the biggest zero? The least sexy? And what did Benjamin Harrison – our 23rd president – actually do while in office? You know you want to know!

All that and a front row seat to Sarah’s midlife crisis spent watching a difficult camel birth. Not enough? Well Sarah’s not into all that “woo woo stuff”, but a chance moment at the town pump in Ennis, Montana challenges her literal mind. 

BONUS: Sarah’s unvarnished thoughts on cowboys and why they call it a “10 gallon hat” (no one actually knows - write in and tell us your theory!)  


Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.

Sarah Vowell is an author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture including Assassination Vacation, The Wordy Shipmates, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She was also the voice of Violet in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.

✍🏼✍🏼✍🏼


=========

Vocab Word of the Week: UNGULATES

=========


🎥 CATCH A LIVE RECORDING OF CHINWAG 🎥


🎟️ Buy Tickets before they sell out! 🎟️


=========


New episodes of CHINWAG drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)

Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Feb 2025
The Final Wag
🌋🏹🐷 This is it. The wag of all wags. The waggiest wag to ever wag. The final wag. But this one’s for you, Waggers—so we’re diving into the WagBag one last time. Schrödinger’s cat, Pompeii, volcanoes—oh my! We’re tackling everything from gulags to the greatest literary whodunit ... Show More
2h 3m
Feb 2025
Philosophy of Film 101 with Bill Hader
🎞️🪖🤡 The incredible Bill Hader drops by Office Hours to dig deep into film, philosophy, and all the weird stuff in between. He breaks down how Taxi Driver and The Thin Red Line made a mark on his psyche, why horror movies are masters at playing with tension, and how directors ... Show More
1h 11m
Feb 2025
CHINWAG LIVE: He Said Droids, Not Druids!
🐢🎸🌆 Paul and Stephen’s Q&A at Harvard! Megaliths! French comics where Gauls endlessly pummel Romans. Paul’s unexpected relationship with the theremin. And the big question—should Paul and Stephen finally start their paranormal blues band? Theremin, guitar… what more do you nee ... Show More
37m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
#114: The Truman Roundabout (Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying DarkHorse Livestream)
View on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@BretWeinstein:f/EvoLens114:e View on Spotify (With video):  ***** In this 114th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens. This ... Show More
1h 26m
Oct 2021
Sarah Grynberg - The Art of an Interview, Exploring the Unknown, and the Ultimate Power of Love
Today’s guest is my friend, Sarah Grynberg. Sarah and I have developed a Zoom relationship across the last several years. Our relationship is proof that digital communication can create deep bonds, and I truly adore her for all she represents.Sarah is a specialist in teaching peo ... Show More
1h 9m
Jan 2024
America, America IS a Racist Country
Welcome home, y’all!  We're back with another episode of Native Land Pod, co-hosted by Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye and Andrew Gillum.  We appreciate each of you for making us the #1 podcast on Apple Podcasts for last week's debut!  This week's episode features a conversation about ... Show More
1h 27m
Feb 2022
#115 Don’t Say Anything at all (Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying DarkHorse Livestream)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LB9DkxkwNK2em5lphKHfo*****In this 115th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.This week, we talk about the two tiers of societ ... Show More
1h 49m
May 2022
What’s The Power Of Labor Organizing? with Kim Kelly
This fall, pro-union sentiment in the US rose to 68 percent—the highest it’s been since 1965. We’re living through a major moment for labor organizing, and we have so many questions! How did we get here? Who got us here? And what’s at stake for workers across the country today? K ... Show More
1h 6m
Apr 2024
The Real Boogeymen: The Karens and Kateys
Welcome Home!   This week, hosts Tiffany Cross, Andrew Gillum, and Angela Rye discuss EBT. “No thanks.” That’s what nearly half the Republican governors in the country are saying to a federal program to feed hungry kids. They’re turning down FREE money to feed kids– and why??    ... Show More
1h 24m
Dec 2021
576: Kenny G Crush, Stranded Vacation, & Snapped Murders
Today we discuss our show now that another year has passed. Are we in a never-ending time warp?? We hear about a documentary on Kenny G that was surprisingly incredible. We learn why jazz purists hate him, Chinese people love him, & Sarah has a crush on him. Susie describes a new ... Show More
1h 25m
May 2022
Prodigies: Anna Elizabeth Dickinson
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) was, for a time, one of the most famous women in the U.S. A skilled orator, she delivered speeches across the country, passionately advocating for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery–earning her the name America’s Joan of Arc.History c ... Show More
8m 29s
Apr 2022
Political: So Much Free Speech!
Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, Title 42, and the current prayer in school debate. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Daphne Keller for The Center for Internet and Society: “What Does The DSA Say?” John Di ... Show More
1h 11m