Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) is a Jewish holiday. It lasts for eight nights, and it’s very important here in the United States. In this episode, I talk about some words that you might need to know to start learning about this holiday.    Some words: Oil Menorah Dreidel Saturday Night Live (SNL) Adam Sandler

In today’s episode, I talk about the phrase Happy Holidays, and why this greeting offends some people. I talk about why I use this phrase to be more inclusive, but why some people think this is part of the War on Christmas. I also talk about controversies around the annual holiday Starbucks cup.    Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa  New Year’s Eve Controversial  X-mas  Political correctness  Open-minded  To boycott (a business) The Second Amendment The right to bear arms  Oxymoron  Asterix (*)

I was sleeping on the show Schitt’s Creek until just a few months ago. Now that I’ve watched it, I really appreciate it. It has great writing and amazing characters. It also does amazing work for positive representation of queer characters. In today’s epiode, I talk about Schitt’s Creek and why I like it so much.   Some words: “Eh” Father-son duo  To sleep on (something) To sleep with (someone) To sweet (an event)  Vocal fry Representation

I listen to music all the time. Since high school, I’ve been using Spotify to listen to music. Every year, Spotify gives statistics to its users about the different music they’ve been listening to this year. In this episode, I share what music I’ve been listening to in 2020. I talk about why I got these statistics and why I like these different musicians.    Some words:   Spotify  Apple Music  Pandora  Spotify Premium Genre Pop V-Pop Neo Soul Show Tunes Rap

Today is World AIDS Day, a day to raise awareness and money for the elimination of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In today’s episode, I talk about HIV and AIDS. I share some statistics about the epidemic, and I talk about my own thoughts about this issue in the USA.   Some words:   HIV AIDS Díease CDC To test positive for  Red ribbon To show solidarity  To practice safe sex To get tested  To contract (a disease) PreP Stigma Positive  Undetectable viral load Know your status

In my family, we eat a lot of food for Thanksgiving. That means that we have lots of food leftover. In this episode, I talk about the leftovers from our Thanksgiving meal. I also talk about three important shopping days after Thanksgiving: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.   Leftovers Black Friday Big box retailers Wal-Mart Best Buy Target Small Business Saturday Cyber Monday Amazon

Happy Thanksgiving! In this episode, I talk about some of my own memories of Thanksgiving. I talk about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I also share a little bit about hand turkeys, an art project we used to do as kids.   Macy’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Balloons Marching bands Broadway Santa Comic strip Peanuts   Turkey Mashed potatoes and gravy Cranberry Rolls Stuffing Sweet potato casserole Pie Pecan pie   To say grace Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub   Hand turkey

Thanksgiving happens on the fourth Thursday of November every year here in the USA. In today’s episode, I talk about some of the mythology around the holiday as well as the context for that mythology. We learn this happy little story as kids about Pilgrims and Native Americans having a meal together, and the story we learn as kids leaves out so much about the effects of people from Europe coming to the Americas had on Indigenous people.   Some words:   The Holiday Season Pilgrims Squanto Whitewashed Genocide Mourning The National Day of Mourning

Our bodies can make all sorts of amazing sounds like farts and queefs. We have lots of words in English to describe farts, and we also have the word queef, a really specific word to describe a vagina fart. Today I talk about farts, queefs, and one of my favorite English words: shart.   Some words:   Everybody poops Take a shit Flatulence Anus Butthole SBD (Silent but deadly) You smelt it, you dealt it Armpit farts Whoopee cushion Euphemisms To break wind Cut the cheese

The Amish are a group of people living in different places in the US. In general, they don’t use electricity and many of them ride around on horse and buggies instead of cars. I think the Amish community is a great example of a group of people that break stereotypes that many people abroad have of the United States. In this episode, I talk about the Amish and some media portrayals of their community.   Some words:   Amish country Horse and buggy Chicken pot pie Quilting Quilts Rumpspringra Pennsylvania German Witness (1985) Englishman Shunning