Decoder Ring

Making Coal Cute Again

Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet [https://x.com/SecretaryBurgum/status/2014382110828536183]: a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, anthropomorphized lump of coal. This piece of coal has big googly eyes and a smudge of a nose, and is wearing a safety vest and a hard hat. He is, frankly, adorable—and he has a name: Coalie. When Coalie first appeared on the internet, he went viral—ridiculed on social media, in newsletters, and even on late night talk shows [https://youtu.be/IhAXXY4SqW0?si=LMRHCeVWQMk0VScC]. And that’s because this big-eyed, cute piece of coal was widely understood to be coal propaganda, a tool to soften the coal industry’s image. But the truth about Coalie is more complicated. His origins tell a story about what it’s like for federal employees to try to do their work while navigating the Trump administration’s agenda. Coalie may be widely seen as a mascot for coal mining, but that’s not what he was made for. In this episode, you’ll hear from Simone Randolph, Director of Communications for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) [https://www.osmre.gov/news/stories/10-things-know-about-how-osmre-supports-americas-energy-legacy-and-communities]; Sara Eckert, formerly of OSMRE; Slate staff writer Nitish Pahwa [https://slate.com/author/nitish-pahwa]; and Leah Stokes [https://www.leahstokes.com/], who researches climate and energy policy at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-hosts the podcast A Matter of Degrees [https://www.degreespod.com/]. Thank you to Daniel Raimi, Tony Ho Tran, and Hannah Northey. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Max Freedman and Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com [DecoderRing@slate.com] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl]. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary] for access wherever you listen. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Is Culture Stuck?

It’s a weird time for culture. There is more of it than ever before, it’s more accessible than ever before, but so little of it feels original. New movies are based on old stories, new songs are recycling old hooks, and fashion trends are cycling so fast that everything’s in.  Has our culture grown stagnant? The author and culture critic W. David Marx [https://culture.ghost.io/] thinks so.  His new book, Blank Space [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/769187/blank-space-by-w-david-marx/], argues that there is a “blank space” in the 21st century where cultural innovation should be. In this episode, David explains to Willa how culture change worked in the 20th century, what changed after the turn of the millennium, and what we might do about it.  This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com [DecoderRing@slate.com] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl]. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary] for access wherever you listen. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Decoder Rings Back | Why the Mona Lisa?

We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question.  In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the Mona Lisa, of all paintings, become the most famous in the world, bar none? Willa shares the story of daring heist that turned Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic smiling subject into a celebrity. Future episodes of Decoder Rings Back will only be available to Slate Plus subscribers. So if you want to be sure not to miss them, sign up for Slate Plus! You’ll get exclusive episodes and ad-free listening not just on our show, but all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl], or visit slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary] for access wherever you listen.  This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com [DecoderRing@slate.com] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Sources for This Episode Cumming, Laura. “The man who stole the Mona Lisa [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/mona-lisa-theft-louvre-leonardo],” The Guardian, August 5, 2011. Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. “Stealing Mona Lisa [https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/05/mona-lisa-excerpt200905?printable=true%C2%A4tPage=all],” Vanity Fair, April 16, 2009. Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection [https://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Paris-Story-Murder-Detection/dp/0803234325], Bison Books, 2010. Isaacson, Walter. Leonardo da Vinci [https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139169/], Simon & Schuster, 2018. Roberts, Sam. “Happy Birthday to the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/arts/design/mona-lisa-vincenzo-peruggia.html],” The New York Times, October 7, 2022. Sassoon, Donald. “Mona Lisa: The Best-Known Girl in the Whole Wide World [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289718],” History Workshop Journal, Spring 2001. Sassoon, Donald. Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting [https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Lisa-History-Painting-Best-Known/dp/0007106157], HarperCollins, 2016. “The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece [https://www.npr.org/2011/07/30/138800110/the-theft-that-made-the-mona-lisa-a-masterpiece],” NPR, July 30, 2011. Zug, James. “Stolen: How the Mona Lisa Became the World’s Most Famous Painting [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-mona-lisa-became-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-16406234/],” Smithsonian Magazine, June 15, 2011. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A New Year’s Message from Willa

We can’t make this show without you, our listeners. Today, you can help support Decoder Ring – and get a really good deal. To join Slate Plus for just $59/year, visit slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary] on December 31st and type in the promo code DECODER50 at checkout. Slate Plus members get to listen to episodes of Decoder Ring (and all your favorite Slate podcasts!) with no ads, and get access to exclusive bonus episodes. You can join Slate Plus at any time from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl], but the discount code DECODER50 will only work through the end of 2025. Subscribe today at slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A New Year’s Message from Willa

We can’t make this show without you, our listeners. Today, you can help support Decoder Ring – and get a really good deal. To join Slate Plus for just $59/year, visit slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary] on December 31st and type in the promo code DECODER50 at checkout. Slate Plus members get to listen to episodes of Decoder Ring (and all your favorite Slate podcasts!) with no ads, and get access to exclusive bonus episodes. You can join Slate Plus at any time from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl], but the discount code DECODER50 will only work through the end of 2025. Subscribe today at slate.com/decoderplus [https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]