Our Dearest Fears with Chelsey Weber-Smith

Who will you be this year? No matter your age, it’s likely that your body remembers the school calendar, and with the blooming aisles of binders and pencils and backpacks, it’s easy to feel like a nervous, hopeful kid waiting for that first day back in class. For this episode, Antiquated Education Correspondent Gabe Henry tells Sarah about the history of the shopping season known as Back to School, from the Depression-era department store promotions and the original mascots, to the development of trendy clothes, lunch boxes, and notebooks, and into the memorable commercials and new gadgets of the 1980s and 90s. Together they discuss the commercialization of ritual and what the promises of Back to School shopping taught us about the reinvention of the self. Digressions include the Nickelodeon blimp, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and the Ann Getty baby craze. More Gabe Henry: http://www.gabehenry.com Get Gabe's book "Enough is Enuf: Our Failed attempts to Make English Easier to Spell" @gabe.henryy on Instagram Produced + edited by ⁠⁠Miranda Zickler: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonster More You're Wrong About: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bonus Episodes on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Buy cute merch⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YWA on Instagram⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Megan Burbank’s gotta dance. The centuries-old dance style known as ballet has been stereotyped in our modern world with images of refined, wispy, frighteningly disciplined young women fighting viciously for roles in ethereal productions. For this episode, Adult Dance Correspondent Megan Burbank shares with Sarah the history and transformation of this misunderstood art from its early days as a fancy French aristocratic performance, to its post-French Revolution embrace by the working class, and finally into 20th century America when the expected body of the ballerina began to take shape. Megan also shares her own experience as a late-onset ballerina, dispelling myths about what ballet is, who can participate, and what we can learn about ourselves through its techniques. Together they discuss the line between art and sport, the aspects of horror found in many ballets, and whether it is too late for all of us to become the prima ballerina of our dreams. Digressions include: Final Destination acupuncture, the smell of the Scholastic book fair, and the questionable advertising employed by Tab soda. Send your submissions for our Halloween Listener Spectacular (scary stories or Halloween nostalgia) to [email protected] before August 31st! Referenced: Ballet Evolved How Political Anxiety Turned Me into a Late-Onset Ballerina eXit SPACE Dance Studio International Adult Ballet Festival TAB Soda Fever Dream More Megan Burbank: Burbank.industries Burbank Industries on Substack Produced + edited by ⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠ More You're Wrong About: ⁠⁠⁠Bonus Episodes on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Buy cute merch⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠YWA on Instagram⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If your four-year-old told you about a trip to heaven, would you believe them? For a pastor named Todd Burpo, the answer was yes. In 2010, his book Heaven Is For Real—co-authored by Lynn Vincent—became a runaway bestseller. This week, Sarah tells In Bed with the Right co-host Adrian Daub the story of this strange little book, and how it reveals more about us than it does the afterlife. Digressions include Shakerism, The Big Lebowski, and the ongoing debate around pets in heaven. Send your submissions for our Halloween Listener Spectacular (scary stories or Halloween nostalgia) to [email protected] before August 31st! More Adrian Daub: http://www.adriandaub.com Adrian’s new book What Tech Calls Governing comes out August 18th Listen to In Bed with the Right Produced + edited by ⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠ More You're Wrong About: ⁠⁠Bonus Episodes on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy cute merch⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YWA on Instagram⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send your submissions for our Halloween Listener Spectacular (scary stories or Halloween nostalgia) to [email protected] before August 31st! How many maligned women can you name in 30 seconds? For this episode, Sarah gives Chelsey Weber-Smith of American Hysteria a lightning round pop quiz on You’re Wrong About topics over the years with stakes so high that you’ll have to hear them to believe them. Digressions include an evil preteen softball team, the alternative pronunciation of pasta, horror movie publicity stunts, and at what point an infant becomes a baby. More Chelsey Weber-Smith: Listen to American Hysteria Follow American Hysteria on instagram Produced + edited by Miranda Zickler More You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch YWA on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do I love thee? For this special episode, we asked you to send us a voice message about something you love. From gas station coffee to tap dancing to rocks to the inner lives of rats, you answered—and showed us that when we experience the things that other people love, that love starts to feel like our own. Edited + produced by Miranda Zickler Original music in this episode is brought to you by Miranda Zickler and AJ McKinley, otherwise known as Magpie Cinema Club More You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But seriously, who really killed JFK? For part two of the JFK Assassination series, law correspondent Mackenzie Joy Brennan takes Sarah through the conspiracy theories that have surrounded the tragedy to see how the combination of too much information and too little information helped solidify a general feeling that things were not as they seemed. Together, they go over the Warren Commission report, the Zapruder Film, and the story of the “magic bullet,” and look at how Oliver Stone’s movie JFK changed our collective memory of what happened that day and who was really to blame. Digressions include the Sharpie art on burned CDs, the series premiere of Monk, and the unfortunate nostalgia for George W. Bush.More Mackenzie Joy Brennan:http://www.mkzjoybrennan.comEdited + produced by Miranda Zickler:http://www.linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonster Fact checking by Julie KliegmanMore You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where is Dana Scully when you need her? For the first installment of this two-part episode, legal correspondent Mackenzie Joy Brennan tells Sarah about what happened before, during, and after the moment that John F. Kennedy was shot in that Dallas motorcade, the lasting cultural images that have been burned into the public consciousness, and the story of the man who shot the man and the man who shot the man who shot the man. Plus, the conspiracy theory that walked so that the paranoias of today could run — and how we can orient ourselves in reality despite our strongly held beliefs. Digressions include Oregon Trail bison, jaundiced tans, and the triumph of 90s legal thrillers. More Mackenzie Joy Brennan:http://www.mkzjoybrennan.comEdited + produced by Miranda Zickler:http://www.linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonster Fact checking by Julie KliegmanMore You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could there be a little crying in baseball as a treat? Sports correspondent Julie Kliegman is here to tell Sarah about the history of women’s baseball and softball and to finally teach her the rules of the game. From the days when women played alongside men, to the first women’s team in the 1940s, to the sexist rules placed on their teams, and the impressive modern players that are changing the game, they discuss the past and present through the lens of the 1992 film A League of Their Own. Together they try to follow the sport around what Sarah calls the Crazy Straw of Progress and around a loving baseball diamond that has long led the players home. Digressions include the imaginary Supreme Court case Woman v. Horse, Fried Green Tomatoes, and gym parachute week.More Julie Kliegman:https://www.juliekliegman.com/Pre-order a signed copy of Julie's new book Finding Renée Richards from Astoria Bookshop.org and get 15% off with code YWAPOD15 Edited + Produced by Miranda Zickler:http://linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonster More You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are there so many songs about rainbows (and what’s on the other side)? A bridge between worlds, a map to a pot of gold, the centerpiece of a Lisa Frank trapper-keeper, and of course, an ever-changing symbol of the LGBTQ+ community, the rainbow has been a profound part of the human experience for thousands of years. For this early Pride Month episode, science correspondent and bisexual seagull Lulu Miller explains to Sarah the history of our understanding of rainbows: why they exist, what they are made out of, and what they have represented. Together they discuss the figures that have tried to pin down this natural wonder, the power of its spectrum of meaning, and the comfort and terror of the infinity it once represented. Digressions include the boring transcendence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the secret joys of trigonometry, and the best gay Hannibal Lecter.  More Lulu Miller:https://radiolab.org/team/lulu-miller Lulu on InstagramLulu's book Why Fish Don't Exist Original music in this episode brought to you by Magpie Cinema Club featuring Brendan Liu Except for "Roy G Biv" from this episode of Lulu's WNYC show Terrestrials, which is written and performed by Alan Goffinski and included on The Bridge EPAnd also Spanish Flea by Herb Alpert Edited + Produced by Miranda Zickler:http://linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonsterThe poem Lulu read was Singularity by Marie Howe More You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ada Blackjack wants one thing: To make enough money to bring her son home from an orphanage. But good work is hard to find in 1920s Nome, Alaska, so when four strangers come to town, looking to hire someone for a secret yearlong expedition, Ada embarks on the trip—not knowing that she’ll be the only one of them to survive. This is the first episode of YWA correspondent Blair Braverman's new podcast, What to Carry, What to Burn. To hear the second half of Ada's story (also featuring Sarah Marshall!), visit the links below: RSS feed: https://shows.acast.com/what-to-carry-what-to-burn Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-to-carry-what-to-burn/id1896260781 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatToCarryPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4L7FCFQLcmG2NwPw7ayE1D More Blair Braverman:www.blairbraverman.com More You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices