At Radiolab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry. But we do also like to get into other kinds of stories. Stories about policing or politics, country music, hockey, sex. Of bugs. Regardless of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity to get you the answers. And hopefully make you see the world anew. Radiolab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Good morning. I'm Jane Pauley, and this is Sunday Morning. It was 250 years ago yesterday that the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. The 13 American colonies wanted freedom from Great Britain and King George III, and they would get it. But it took a while. Eight years of war would pass before the Treaty of Paris ended hostilities, giving formal recognition to the independence of the United States of America.
This morning, Mo Rocca takes us back to where it all began. The Battle of Lexington and Concord may have been the first of the American Revolution, but for the colonists, the conflict was years in the making. They considered themselves as free Englishmen. They weren't really Americans. America's a place at that time, not a nation. All of these oppressive actions by the crown. are creating self-identified Americans. They are. The shot heard round the world ahead on Sunday morning.
Tony and Emmy award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce, best known for his work on the hit TV show, Frasier, is back on Broadway in a jazzy new update of a beloved classic. He'll be talking about it with our Martha Teichner. I've information veg- oh whoops. I've information vegetable vegetable vegetable animal. There you have it.
The reason he's the one singing that song on a Broadway stage. Not me. I am the very model of a modern major general. I've information, vegetable, animal, and mineral. Later this Sunday morning, David Hyde Pe- Among the ways the Trump administration is reshaping American foreign policy, deep and widespread cuts in foreign aid. Ted Koppel offers some perspective on the effects abroad and here at home. Back in 1953, before the Berlin Wall went up, East Berliners made a day trip to the West.
lured by half a pound of American butter. They carry wrapping paper from communist stores to smuggle the butter past Soviet police. Uncle Sam's message and American generosity have always gone hand in hand. But these days, there's a man with a chainsaw who suggests it may be time for a change. That's coming up on Sunday morning. Faith Saley checks in with Gilmore Girls creators, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, ahead of their new show's premiere.
plus allison aubry at la's gen space a state-of-the-art center for older adults Connor Knighton looks back to a time when Easter meant bonnets adorned with feathers. along with humor from Jim Gaffigan and more on this Easter Sunday morning, April 20th, 2025. We'll be back after this. Mo Rocca starts us off this morning with a trip back in time to America's revolutionary past. The Allied ring is relentlessly tightening around the Reich. Newsreels tell the story of World War II.
The early still photography of Matthew Brady chronicles the horrors of the Civil War. But with the American Revolution, which began 250 years ago this month, it can be harder to appreciate the life and death stakes in the colonists' fight for freedom. What did it feel like in Lexington and Concord, the two Massachusetts towns, where one April day in 1775, the Patriots and British Redcoats Do you all think a lot about what the mood was like early that morning on April 19th? We discuss it a lot.
We read accounts, we read diaries. Larissa Saskin, William Rose, and John Nichols are members of the Lexington Minutemen Reenactors Group. Can you understand how upset they were? Oh, yes. Oh yes. It's impossible for me, as someone who was born in the 80s, to ever imagine what it had been like to have my freedoms taken as much as theirs were. To be pushed into that proverbial corner where my only choice
When we think about the revolution, most people, they start with, you know, the taxes, the Stamp Act, the Townsend Duties. Back in the 1760s, by the time you get to 1775, it's a whole different ballgame. By that point, the mother country and her Massachusetts colony were beyond estranged, says Jim Hollister, a park ranger at Minuteman National Historical Park.
Parliament had imposed onerous taxes without representation, sent thousands of British troops to occupy Boston, and most egregiously had stripped Massachusetts of the power to govern itself. power it had enjoyed for nearly a century. What gets somebody, you know, living a comfortable life to then take the most dramatic action? Do they feel humiliated? Absolutely, humiliated and threatened. On April 18, 1775, 700 British soldiers began marching 18 miles through the night from Boston to Concord.
to seize arms that had been stockpiled by Patriot militiamen. There's not supposed to be a Massachusetts army. That is treason. Punishable by? You know, by death, really. So they're really taking a risk. They are taking a huge risk. About halfway between Boston and Concord, the town of Lexington, which happened to be where two future founding fathers, Sam Adams and John Hancock, were lying low.
Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies and a major financier of the Patriot cause. Adams had helped plan the Boston Tea Party. Paul Revere rides into town at about what time? He gets here at about 11.30 p.m. Yes, Paul Revere, who famously sounded the alarm about the approaching Redcoats. John Hancock, Sam Adams, and Paul Revere were standing right here.
You know, a chill runs up your spine. According to the Lexington History Museum's Sarah McDonough, Revere made a special stop here to urge Adams and Hancock to flee. John was very hesitant to leave. There are men outside who are going to fight the might of the British Empire. He wants to be a part of that. He sees himself as a leader and he very much was.
Sam Adams was said to have sort of placed his hand on John's shoulder and said, The two leaders escaped under cover of darkness as 77 brave patriot militiamen stood guns drawn at sunrise on April 19th as the world's most vaunted army approached. It's not known who fired the first shot, but one thing is clear. It does not go well for the Patriots with this first.
Battle. No, not at all. The colonists scattered. Eight of them killed. A terrible toll for this tight-knit community. All of these people were intimately connected, which makes the wave of grief. that much worse because everyone lost someone. Now word is radiating. They've killed our people in Lexington. So the militiamen that are turning out after that are infuriated.
Jim Hollister showed us where those minute men, called so because they were ready at a moment's notice, gathered later that morning. And they're up on the top of that hill. There's over 400 of them. to take on the Redcoats as they arrived at Concord's North Bridge.
Then a shot rings out from the British side by all accounts, and then a second and a third. And one of the Minutemen is Grazed in the forehead and then Major Buttrick gives the fateful order fire for God's sake fire and that was the first time that a colonial officer ordered his Minuteman to fire on the king's soldiers. Once the Minuteman opened fire, the casualties in the British are very heavy and they just break and they run. There's no turning back. There's no turning.
And for the minute, man, imagine seeing the backs of British soldiers running from you. Throughout their grueling 18-mile retreat, the Redcoats took fire from a growing number of colonial militiamen fighting from behind rocks and trees. This was terrain the Patriots knew well. it was now the British suffering humiliation. By the time their day ended in Boston, more than 70 of them were dead and hundreds more injured.
What changed that day? The idea that the crisis could be settled peacefully. The idea that they were going to be able to return to their normal lives. The world that they knew was gone. The following month, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. There, delegates, including John Hancock and Sam Adams, appointed George Washington the commander of the newly formed Continental Army. The Revolutionary War had begun.
And for reenactor William Rose, himself a military veteran, the story of that fateful April day will always be worth retelling. Maybe no one will remember me 50 years ago. years from now, but if some kid remembers me because I gave him a great story that he can relate to, think about the immigrants. 1607 Jamestown or 1620 Plymouth or 20 minutes ago in the southern border or any place.
they're coming here for a reason for the ability to not have somebody else having a boot on your neck if we can get rid of all the nonsense the red and the blue and the value judgments and just look at that reason That's what America stands for. And if I can convince one little kid that this is the place to keep striving for that, then that kid can be us dressed up in another 50 years.
At Radiolab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry. But, but, we do also like to get into other kinds of stories. Stories about policing, or politics, country music, hockey, sex. Of bugs. Regardless of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity to get you the answers. And hopefully make you see the world anew. Radiolab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Talib? You bet. You bring your sheet music? She's not a singer. I'm a comedian. Mrs. Maisel? You're down for five minutes at 21.50. At what? We do military time. 21.50 is 9.50 at night. If you get confused, just add the number 12 to whatever time it is. Add what to what? Next. Follow me. That's the Emmy-winning series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the brainchild of Amy Sherman Palladino and her husband, Dan Palladino.
they've got a new show premiering this week and this morning they're in conversation with faith sailing It's sort of like cheers when you come here. Everybody knows your name, right? Television writers Amy Sherman Palladino and Dan Palladino know when they've stumbled on something great. Like this, their favorite New York City diner.
Have you ever been inspired sitting here? Getting inspiration for a scene or a character? Well, we come here so much. We've talked scripts, we've talked story, we've talked... you know, deals. There's been many, many hashing out at these tables. Together, the couple has created award-winning series like Gilmore Girls. Mumps. N. Narcolepsy. Oh.
Are we going to have to go through this every time we decide who has to clean out the refrigerator? Do you want to go back to thumb wrestling? And the marvelous Mrs. Maisel. What the hell? You're in a box. Did Madame Alexander put you in there? I'm the coat room attendant. This is my job, Susie, and I am proud of the work I do. Your company is in trouble. No, it's not. Yes.
It is. Their latest show, Etoile, star in French, premieres this week on Prime Video. It's about two struggling ballet companies that swap their top talent. I did it exactly like you said. I did... The show features many real dancers in settings, like this historic studio in New York City. The energy here is palpable. Yes, they still have youth and hope.
Hasn't been beaten out of them yet. What is it about the world of ballet that you think deserves to be seen in a TV show? They're such impressive people and they work so hard. People who think that ballet maybe is not for them, do you like story? Do you like emotion? Do you like power? Do you like athletics? Then ballet is for you. It's a world that's personal to Amy Sherman Palladino.
Born in Los Angeles, she's the daughter of a professional comedian and a dancer. I was supposed to be a dancer. I danced my whole childhood, and I actually was still dancing when I got Roseanne, which was my first writing job. And then I had a sandwich. I'm like, oh, this is good too. So, but I never lost that sort of love of it or the appreciation for it. Do you ever...
regret your decision? Did you ever think, oh, I could have been? No, I think things turned out the way they were supposed to turn. She wasn't in television for long before she met fellow writer and now husband, Dan Palladino. And I think the first thing I heard her say out loud was, I'm in hell.
And I thought, that's the girl for me. I thought it was good that he knew exactly what he was getting into. Is your dynamic, like in a pie chart of your dynamic, what percentage is nonstop witty banter? And how much is pie? Because we do like pie. how much coffee did you have this morning i didn't have that much they soon put that witty banter on screen well i had just come off of a terrible terrible job that
crushed my soul and made me want to quit the business altogether. And Dan said, why don't you just not take another soul crushing job, you know, get some therapy, some Prozac, stay at home and just chill out and just write whatever you want to write. And so literally I sort of sat on the couch and wrote Gilmore Girls. Fast forward 25 years, and Gilmore Girls is still one of the most popular shows streaming today. I'm excited by the prospect of those fetching tennis costumes.
Richard, not in front of Rory. Oh, I'm fairly worldly now, Grandma. Why do you think the show has meant so much to fans? It's about family. And the great thing about family stories is you never reconcile with your family, no matter how much counseling there is. You're never going to fix anything. It's an endless font of stories. I think a lot of fans look to the sister-like relationships in the shows and they see something there that feels resonant or something they would love to have.
Is that intentional? Yeah, I think female relationships I don't think are focused on enough. In shows and in movies, there's always like a best friend who's like, really? You're going out with him tonight? You know, but.
I'm going to write that down. That's good. Get that. That's good. Could you write that down for me? I can charge for that. I can charge for that. But if women really band together, you know, there is no Girls Club. And there should be. And I've always wanted to put female relationships.
forward. Is it also personal? Do you have a sister? I had a sister pass away very very young and I have a best friend though who I think that we have that kind of bond and that kind of relationship so I just think It's more fun also than just romance. Romance is great, but that bond between women is better. But not everything has been a hit.
You have the worst luck with men! Yep, there you go. There was Bunheads, their first spin at a dance-themed show that lasted one season. Was that disappointing for you? Oh, yes. I'm still mad about it. Does it feel like a kind of poetic victory to have been disappointed by what happened with Bunheads and now return with Etoile?
Well, look, there's plenty of chances to be disappointed with the 12. Let's be very clear. Don't count that. It hasn't been on yet. The disappointment's coming. But joking aside, Amy Sherman Palladino and Dan Palladino have earned a bow. on a partnership that always manages to find the comic relief. Even in bad things, you find there's moments that make it part of your story. I'd go out right there. I think we have our ending.
The United States has long been the largest donor of foreign aid in the world, but perhaps no more. Senior contributor Ted Koppel assesses the potential impact. You've no doubt heard by now that Elon Musk has been tasked with slashing the federal budget. His symbolic weapon of choice a very large chainsaw. An early target, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Charging waste, fraud and abuse at the agency, the world's richest man is leading a campaign that will cut assistance to some of the world's poorest people. USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die, he wrote on X. That theme comes from the top. The USAID is really corrupt. I'll tell you, it's corrupt. It's incompetent, and it's really corrupt.
And the White House press secretary provides the harmony. I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap. No worries. The administration is effectively dissolving the agency. cutting thousands of staff and billions in aid, and merging what remains with the State Department. Changes are still underway but the message is clear. The U.S. has new priorities.
And so we've had to cut quite a lot. David Miliband was British Foreign Secretary and a Member of Parliament. For the past 12 years, he's been president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. The IRC delivers humanitarian aid to some of the most vulnerable people in the world. So far, says Miliband, the cuts have affected about 40% of their international program. We're hearing two very...
different things from the administration. One is that there are some areas of aid that they're definitely going to cut. Education out. Climate resilience out. The second thing we're hearing is they want to review All aid, that is life-saving, and they'll come back to us with conclusions about the future of the international aid program. Albert Einstein helped found the IRC in the 1930s. to assist refugees from Nazi Germany.
During the Cold War, they were looking for ways to pierce the Iron Curtain. The International Rescue Committee is distributing a million pounds of butter to aged Germans. Appreciation shows on their care-worn faces. Humanitarian aid? Certainly. but with a giant dollop of propaganda. Thousands of Germans cross from the Russian sector to West Berlin for free butter from the United States. They carry wrapping paper from communist stores to smuggle the butter past Soviet police.
70-odd years ago, it was butter in Berlin. These days... It's a life-saving paste for malnourished children provided at the five stabilization centers the IRC runs in Nigeria. The program's grant was initially terminated, then it received a waiver. But the grant ends in May with no word on what's next. Cutting funding for a children's clinic like this one, program manager Dr. Okechi Ogweji told me, means that babies will die. It will be catastrophic. We need every support from anywhere.
The IRC's stockpile of treatments in Nigeria is dwindling from an already disrupted U.S. aid supply chain. I think people are scratching their heads because they wonder, where is the American heart? And they wonder, how's that going to show itself in government policy? In the Afghan village of Batikot outside Jalalabad, U.S. government policy comes sweeping in on alternating waves of good news and bad news.
This is one of 22 clinics run by the IRC in Afghanistan, but significantly funded by USAID. Dr. Shafiq Hashimi is the head of the Gundyani Clinic in Batikot. Today alone, I registered five cases of measles, which is highly contagious. I see around 130 patients a day. I only pause for lunch and prayer. Over the past few weeks, the US grants for the clinics have been defunded, refunded, and defunded again.
The situation in Afghanistan ever since the stop work orders from the US government has created a sense of confusion. amongst operational humanitarian organizations. Shirin Ibrahim is the IRC's Afghanistan director. She spoke to me from Kabul. It has also sent panic. within communities that have relied on humanitarian support for many years. And it has compromised our relationships with the authorities that exist today in Afghanistan.
It has compromised our ability to ensure acceptance within communities who ask us, why is this happening? If this support is stopped... The condition of poor people like us will worsen, possibly even leading to death. Your support has changed our lives. We get tired of giving massive amounts of money to countries that hate us, don't we?
The State Department made that position official, telling Sunday morning the Afghanistan grants have been terminated based on credible concerns that U.S. money was benefiting the Taliban. The question is being reframed by the American government. Why help people who are our declared enemy? I believe that it is in the interest of the global community to stabilize countries, to ensure that...
their populations are living in dignity and that people do not seek a dignified living elsewhere. I want to make sure that people fully understand what you just said. I know there are many people in the United States who say, all these illegal aliens, we've got to find a way to stop the flood. And you're saying part of the answer is to make things livable in the countries from which they come.
And not just livable, but in places where people can thrive. And I do believe that there is a benefit to the United States and to the global community for us to continue that investment. That is not the administration's position. But we're not the government of the world. No, we'll provide humanitarian assistance, just like everybody else does.
and we will do it the best we can. But we also have other needs we have to balance that against. The idea that we have a lot of suffering going on in this country, a lot of poverty, a lot of illness, why not take care of our own first? I think that... The administration definitely believes that charity begins at home. And I don't argue with that. My argument is charity shouldn't end at home. And international aid is 0.2% of the US economy, not 25% of federal.
spending, it's a strategic investment, it's a moral investment, and it's an impactful investment. Because? If you've got people in need and you can help them and you don't, it's a sin. But also, when you don't help people in need, Instability follows. We know that as much as night follows day. And problems that start in a faraway part of the world don't stay in a faraway part.
It's been true throughout history for the movement of people. Today it's true for health insecurities. We learned that in the pandemic. If we think that we can only solve our own problems without solving other people's problems, we're going to run into trouble. you know what i think about pop psychiatry yes i know what you think about everything when was the last time you had an unexpressed thought
I'm having one now. David Hyde Pierce shot to fame as Dr. Niles Crane on the hit TV series Frasier. He's also a Tony-winning actor, now returning to the stage in a new take on a Gilbert and Sullivan classic. Martha Teichner caught up with him on Broadway. All David Hyde Pierce has to do. is step out on stage and he gets applause. Now watch as he launches into the idiotic tongue twister from the Pirates of Penzance.
I am the very model of a modern major general. I have information, vegetable, animal and mineral. With practically no expression on his face. babbling away. All kinds of commotion around him. He's funny. Why do you think less is more? can be funny. So much of theater, rightly, is more. Sometimes what's unexpected in the theater is someone doing less. Is there a temptation to overact? Always you remind me of a great line from Fraser which was if less is more think how much more more will be
and suddenly you became Niles. My brother is too kind. He was already eminent when my eminence was merely imminent. I'm conducting a seminar on multiple personality disorders, and it takes me forever to fill out the name tags. It is thanks to his 11-year run on the TV mega hit that Pierce has the recognition and can afford to pick and choose his role. He's the Major General in Pirate.
The Penzance Musical, a jazzy reworking of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, transplanted to New Orleans. Anybody here from Penzance? No! I know the kings of... in order categorical Bravo this is looks old it is It's almost as old as I am. This is one of the scores from my summer camp, but in the 70s, 1970s. And it's also the score that when we did the episode on Frasier, this is actually the score. used when I played it and you can see there's
Kelce's name and me and David Hockensteyer's were each part where we sang. I know the kings of England and I quote the fights historical from Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical. What does Gilbert and Sullivan mean to you? Well, it must mean something because I'm getting emotional thinking about the question. I guess it's just... It's just because it's been threaded through my life.
For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury, has only been brought down to the beginning of the century. These are photos of all the people who were in this dressing room before. Famous people, a lot of dear friends of mine. Yeah, I'll be up there eventually. Tradition is very important to us. It's being aware that you're part of something bigger.
David Hyde Pierce's Pirates dressing room is full of nods to the emotional touchstones that define him. Just down here in this little corner is probably... one of the most important moments of my life. You know, talking to my dad about a show I was doing. At a time when I didn't even know that that's what I was going into. Had no idea what was lying ahead. Pierce's father and his grandfather were amateur performers. The disease runs in the family. I just hadn't been diagnosed I guess.
He set out to be a concert pianist. He still plays every day, but decided to become an actor instead while he was a student at Yale. What brought you to comedy? I think it has to do with what I was drawn to. I watched reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show And finally, she turns and falls with her. I'm sorry, Mr. Grant. My hands were full. And Mary Tyler Moore and all in the family. Gee, I hate to ask for help.
Well, that's good, because I hate the gibbous. And then, when I was a teenager, Monty Python's Flying Circus came to American television on PBS, and my head blew off. I loved Alec Guinness. Oh, and Buster Keaton. Oh, my God. Buster Keaton. It's impossible not to see a hint of Buster Keaton in Pierce's famous ironing board scene from Frasier. I do want people to be able to laugh. Why? What does that mean to you? Why is it important? I guess it's the perception of connection.
For example, doing a comic film is not nearly as enjoyable for me as doing a comic play. And in a comic play you hear the laughter. You feel... from the audience, the connection. That's what I'm in it for. That's where I started out. I love that. For almost as long as he's been in it. His partner along the way, his husband since 2008, has been actor-writer Brian Hargrove. Here they are with their dog, Alice.
They met at an audition, became friends and only later discovered they were both gay. Brian had me over to dinner at his apartment. I did his taxes. I used to have a tax. as well as an actor. Yeah, that's not a metaphor. That's actually what he was doing as a tax practitioner. And then we were going to see this movie, and it came up. We went back to his apartment, and as Brian puts it, I never left.
That was in 1983. It was Brian who suggested moving to California, which led to Pierce being cast as Dr. Niles Crane alongside Kelsey Grammer in Frasier. What is it that makes us crane boys such targets? Forty years, four Emmys and two Tonys later, he chose not to be in the Frasier reboot. He was playing Julia Child's husband, Paul, at the time, on HBO. We're not suckers, Julia, falling for the latest fad. Well, maybe TV's not a fad.
Good Lord, it has to be. I've been very happy with what originally came to me and then when I've been able to make choices in my career in the choices I've made. My creativity is fueled by change. Which is why David Hyde Pierce said yes to pirates and a new chance to make people laugh in one of his old favorites. A new destination for older adults in Los Angeles is reimagining what a senior center can be. We get an inside look with contributor Alison Aubrey.
At a time when 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day, Tony Scott can show you how it's done. I love it. Anything involving music, whether it's dancing, instrument. I'm all for it. Tony is 79. And you know that old adage, age is just a number? My age is what I make it. The Zumba class keeps her on her toes and a drumming circle creates community. I'm always learning something and adding on to what I know already.
It never occurred to me that this would be something that I would be doing. Tony's exploring all these new things at Genspace here in the Koreatown neighborhood of LA. Genspace is a reimagining of what a senior center can be. Its atrium spills over with light. Its classes are chock-a-block full, keeping people active and engaged.
The floors are pliable, so they're easy on the joints. And the membership fee? Just 10 bucks a month, thanks to the support and vision of its founder, Wallace Annenberg. It's something I've been thinking about for many, many years. At 85, Annenberg has felt the sting of ageism and seen the loneliness epidemic unfold around her. Research shows lack of social connection actually increases the risk of early death.
about as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I think loneliness is something we all feel, but with older people. It definitely puts it on another level. Annenberg says in a culture that's obsessed with anti-aging, life creates wrinkles. So what? She wants to change the narrative. I know, living in Los Angeles, a city that just fetishizes youth that I was going to do something that specialized certainly in an older generation that would be interested in coming together like this.
Wallace is the daughter of Walter Annenberg, who turned a family business into a 20th century media empire. Much of his philanthropy supported big institutions. But Wallace has her own focus, bringing people together. She's a believer in community spaces. There's a public beach house in Santa Monica, the Wallace Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, a pet adoption center, and a wildlife crossing, all supported by the Annenberg Foundation.
And now she's turned her attention to creating community for older people. They're often in isolated circumstances. They're discarded by society, so to speak, retired from professions. That was something that I wanted to remedy in my way so that... would turn to inclusion. You had the vision, it was in your mind for so many years, and now here it is. I feel very proud, proud that I was able to do this.
She consulted the Stanford Center on Longevity to offer up the kind of space where older people can thrive. There's an intergenerational approach with interns from UCLA. And children who attend the nearby school come in to join the activity. This place is exciting and positive and energetic. So it's more like summer camp for people that don't have to work anymore, you know? Just curves right around.
member Anne Batchelor says Genspace is a lifeline for her. This place is phenomenal and they need more of them in LA and they need more of them around the country. How can you replicate this model? Is it possible? Well, it's very nice, but it takes leadership. It takes organization. It takes a team to do it. And if someone in that town has the passion for this, it could be replicated. I'd love to think so. I'd love to see one on every block.
One of the hallmarks of Easter Sunday is, of course, colorful bonnets. Connor Knighton takes us back to a time not so long ago when exotic feathered hats were all the rage. The vibrant pink plumage of a flamingo comes courtesy of a pigment found in the shrimp and algae.
The birds spend their days foraging for food, constantly dipping their heads underneath the water. But there was a time when the fantastic feathers of all sorts of beautiful birds could be found perched on top of the heads of high society women. So at the end of the 19th century, people were just wild about wearing feathers. There was kind of a feather fever in both the United States and in Europe.
Jennifer Stanley Tafe is the director of the Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon. Founded in Boston in 1896, the country's first Audubon Society was established by women seeking to educate their peers about the devastating impact the feather trade was having on bird populations. Back then, this would have been the height of fashion? Absolutely, the height of fashion. And the more of the bird, the better. And the more colorful the bird, the better.
A whole menagerie of birds was used to manufacture hats and accessories. In 1886, an ornithologist conducted an informal observation on the streets of New York. Out of 700 ladies wearing hats, around 75% had feathers on them, representing an estimated 40 different species. some worth more than their weight in gold. Snowy egret feathers in particular were very sought after and expensive. So one ounce of snowy egret feathers was worth about $32, whereas gold at the time was worth $30.
While the hats were popular in the Northeast, many of the feathers came from Florida. We had species that were absolutely almost driven to extinction, including the American flamingo, the roseate spoonbill, the snowy egret, the great egret. And the numbers just declined precipitously throughout the decades that followed because of the plume trade. Kelly Cox is the director of Everglades Policy with Audubon Florida. In 1900, Congress passed legislation intended to stop overhunting.
The Lacey Act was really our first environmental law in this country that addressed the illegal plume trade. and started to make headway towards addressing interstate transfer of these bird plumes and made it illegal to do so. sometimes a law is only as effective as its enforcement.
it seems like it would have been a lot of work to police this how do you know i mean i barely know where we are yeah nobody was policing this back then nobody it was there was no law in the keys Jerry Lorenz is the director of research for Audubon Florida. This part of Florida Bay is home to the roseate spoonbill, a colorful bird once extremely popular with plume hunters. This bay was hunted out. There was nothing left over here.
In 1902, former plume hunter Guy Bradley was hired to become one of the first game warriors. He patrolled these waters looking for poachers, until he was killed in the line of duty after confronting egret hunters in the Everglades. His death really was a catalyst for this huge sweeping nationwide protection for birds. A series of environmental laws and the establishment of protected areas like Everglades National Park allowed bird populations to rebound.
Along the way, it became a fashion faux pas to walk around with a whole aviary on your head. Today, it's once again possible to spot spoonbills in their natural habits. Although, they face a different set of challenges. So humans were once the greatest threat to the spoonbill because we were hunting them. We're not doing that anymore, but we still pose a threat? Yes. Currently, the biggest threat to spoonbills, in South Florida anyway, is the result of climate change and sea level rise.
Habitat loss due to development and pollution also threatens several bird species. But Kelly Cox is hopeful that we can come together to address those issues in the same way that bird lovers did more than a century ago to stop the plume trade. It's something that gives me faith in the humanity of people writ large that we can do something wrong but we can still correct it and move forward in a positive direction.
Among those who watched our special broadcast on retirement last weekend, Jim Gaffigan. And as you might expect, he has thought. It's a fact. The retirement age keeps going up. Retirement doesn't really appeal to me. I love my job. Well, my jobs. I need artificial intelligence. I was reading this article, Will AI Take Over? I was halfway through before I realized it wasn't about a guy named Al. I may be a workaholic.
I do love what I do for a living, but if I'm honest, being home with my children feels more like work than my actual work. I love my kids, I do, but parenting is not relaxing. You know how you feel really drained after a tough week? I never feel that way after a week of doing standup. It is nice to be invited to a wedding, but you always look at that invitation like, ah, this is gonna cost me. Oh, good, it's out of town. Wouldn't want to use those vacation days for vacationing.
As any parent of a teenager will tell you, sometimes being at work is the most relaxing part of the day. I have five children aged 12 to 20, and when I'm home with them, I feel like I'm in a psych ward. I find myself mumbling. Suddenly my shoelaces are missing. One could draw the conclusion that teenagers are the reason the retirement age keeps going up.
After all people are starting families later in life. I understand some folks may need to work longer to save enough for retirement. It also may take some people until a later age to get that nice pension. Those are facts. Another fact is by the time you reach 65 or 70, your children no longer live with you. In a way, it's finally safe to go home. Maybe I will retire. I just got to get rid of those kids. Thank you for listening. Please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning.
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