Small Potatoes

An ode to the small, the banal, the overlooked things that make up the fabric of our lives. Most of our stories are about the big stuff: Important or dramatic events, big ideas that transform the world around us or inspire conflict and struggle and change. But most of our lives, day by day or hour by hour, are made up of … not that stuff. Most of our lives are what we sometimes dismissively call “small potatoes.” This week on Radiolab, Heather Radke challenges to focus on the small, the overlook, the everyday … and find out what happens when you take a good hard look at the things we all usually overlook. Special thanks to Moeko Fujii, Kelley Conway, Robin Kelley, Jason Isaacs, and Andrew Semans EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Heather Radke, Rachael Cusick, and Matt Kielty with help from - Erica Heilman Produced by - Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty Original music and sound design contributed by - Annie McEwen, Matt Kielty, and Jeremy Bloom Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger and Diane Kelly and Edited by  - Alex Neason EPISODE CITATIONS: Audio -Check out Ian Chillag’s podcast, Everything is Alive, from Radiotopia. Museums -Learn more about The Museum of Everyday Life, located in Glover, Vermont, here. Newsletter - Heather Radke has a newsletter all about small potatoes. It’s called Petite Patate and you can subscribe at HeatherRadke.substack.com. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected]. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Episode 576 of the Radiolab podcast, hosted by WNYC Studios, titled "Small Potatoes" was published on April 19, 2024 and runs 59 minutes.

April 19, 2024 ·59m · Radiolab

Summary

An ode to the small, the banal, the overlooked things that make up the fabric of our lives. Most of our stories are about the big stuff: Important or dramatic events, big ideas that transform the world around us or inspire conflict and struggle and change. But most of our lives, day by day or hour by hour, are made up of … not that stuff. Most of our lives are what we sometimes dismissively call “small potatoes.” This week on Radiolab, Heather Radke challenges to focus on the small, the overlook, the everyday … and find out what happens when you take a good hard look at the things we all usually overlook. Special thanks to Moeko Fujii, Kelley Conway, Robin Kelley, Jason Isaacs, and Andrew Semans EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Heather Radke, Rachael Cusick, and Matt Kielty with help from - Erica Heilman Produced by - Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty Original music and sound design contributed by - Annie McEwen, Matt Kielty, and Jeremy Bloom Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger and Diane Kelly and Edited by  - Alex Neason EPISODE CITATIONS: Audio -Check out Ian Chillag’s podcast, Everything is Alive, from Radiotopia. Museums -Learn more about The Museum of Everyday Life, located in Glover, Vermont, here. Newsletter - Heather Radke has a newsletter all about small potatoes. It’s called Petite Patate and you can subscribe at HeatherRadke.substack.com. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected]. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Episode Description