My Head Is Spinning
Greetings from a bustling HATM Headquarters
I don’t think I’ll recover from this week for a while. As the numbers tell us, this was the biggest week for the podcast that we’ve ever had, to the tune of nearly 200%. Of course, it was the release of not one, not two, but three pods—our first episode of Masters of the Air, our episode of Glory, and then the emergency pod to think back on the life of the late Carl Weathers. I extraordinarily proud of the work we did on all three episodes.
Masters of the Air marks the beginning of our first series recap, something we are looking at doing with other shows, both that have already been released, and some that are upcoming. (I can’t reveal details on those yet but I hope you like Paul Giamatti and pantsuits. All I’m saying.) MOTA sees us joining with my dear friend Dr. Sarah Myers and my new friend Dr. Luke Truxal to both give each episode some historical context and our reactions to both what we did and did not see onscreen. By the time you read this, our second episode will have dropped. I’m very excited about that. In fact, here it is now-
We also commemorated Black History Month with the release of our episode on Glory. In a lot of ways, this is the episode I am proudest of. We had four phenomenal scholars covering multiple aspects of the war—some with very personal relationships to the conflict and its memory—and every time they opened their mouths something brilliant popped out. It was a really deep dive into slavery, Black resistance, memory, and why all of this matters today. The responses we got to it were overwhelming and I am so thankful to those of you who listened in and gave feedback about how much you enjoyed it or what you learned. Here are some links to that episode if you’d like to check it out:
We also lost Carl Weathers this week, so #HATM stalwarts Robert Greene II and Craig Bruce Smith and I hopped on to talk about the man, his legacy, and what he meant to us. I’m really, really happy with this and I hope you might like it too.
We also taped a few episodes. We tried to get Emily Brooks on to talk about A League of Their Own but my internet crapped out so that’s why I’m recording from my basement lately—we’ll finish that pod later. We also recorded with Thomas Lecaque, John Wyatt Greenlee and Anna Waymack about A Knight’s Tale before talking with Christina Abreu about the Cuban American diaspora vis-a-vis The Mambo Kings.
Each of these episodes has its own tone and feel. I always want us to bring the history forth but I want it to be fun. Most importantly, just as with the Sunday night watchparties we’ve done for the last six years, what is most important is that everyone feels welcome here. Always. At the end of the day, all I want is for folks to know on HATM or on the pod, that they have a home.
Speaking of home, I’m headed home to Florida on Wednesday for some much needed rest. I’ll be back Sunday, which is convenient because we’ll pause the watchparty for a week for the Super Bowl and then return the following week for Fried Green Tomatoes.
I’ll send pics of turtles.
Love y’all.