December 30, 2024 • 36 mins
As we wrap up a remarkable year, this special episode of the Remedial Scholar takes a nostalgic look back at the highlights from 2024, presented in a fun yearbook style. Levi shares memorable quotes, superlatives, and the journey that unfolded through various engaging topics, from the Gunpowder Plot to the Harlem Hell Fighters. Listeners will get a glimpse of the show's evolution, including personal reflections on challenges faced and changes implemented, such as the absence of music and the introduction of a new microphone. With humor and insight, Levi highlights the episodes that resonated most with the audience, revealing the most popular and impactful moments. Join in on the celebration as we honor the past while looking forward to more adventures in the coming year.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
20 24.
What an absolute year it has been.
It's been one of the one ofthe years that we've had year with
a lot of laughing, crying,knowledge gaining and silliness ensuing.
And this is a special episode,an idea that came to me while browsing
my junk mail like every normalperson does on occasion.
(00:21):
So today I will not bebleeding your ears for an hour or
more.
Today I will be sharing theyear of the show in the style of
a yearbook and hopefullystarting a fun little tradition moving
forward.
So sit down, relax and enjoythe recap in the form of a book of
nostalgia that you only grabwhen your brain reminds you some
random thing from your youth.
Quotes, superlatives, clubsand stats from the year.
(00:43):
All that.
On another episode of theRemedial Scholar, I feel I was denied
critical need to knowinformation belongs in a museum.
(01:10):
Stop skipping your remedial class.
Welcome everyone to theRemedial Scholar.
I am your host, Levi.
Today, as you might have puttogether, is a special episode.
Think it's going to be fun tohighlight the journey that we've
been on this year.
And if you're new to the show,you know, don't really worry about
spoilers because it's allalready happened.
(01:31):
In fact, I might even say thatthis episode is one you probably
shouldn't even turn off.
You like.
It's a good episode to startwith because it's going to showcase
both the highlights of theyear from the show, but also, you
know, give you a good idea ofmy personality.
And if you enjoy that, thenyou'll enjoy the show.
So yeah, if you do enjoy it,you got a lot of homework to catch
(01:51):
up on.
The idea itself of theyearbook style year end episode comes
from, you know, the genesis ofthe show.
Actually.
I originally was going to callthis show History Class Dropout,
but that title kind of felt clunky.
So I used the same idea, youknow, like I took that idea and kind
(02:13):
of went into the thesaurusmode of like, what are some things
that are similar to that?
And excuse me, that's how Icame up with the Remedio Scholar.
And you know, I can't remembernow, but I.
I feel like it was partlyhelped by some friends.
I might have workshopped someideas or got some ideas from people.
Anyway, the spirit of the showbeing a knockoff educational experience
(02:35):
is present in this year endyearbook idea.
Just like a yearbook we'regoing to have, you know, superlatives,
clubs, stuff like that and that.
It's kind of a little sillything, but it's nice to, you know,
reflect and also, you know,just, you know, it's just a fun thing.
(02:55):
I guess it's a fun littlething to do.
But yeah, I want to lead offwith some changes made to the show
over this last year.
Obviously, if you've beenlistening, you know that there's
a lack of music in the lastfew episodes.
You also know that there'sprobably been a lack of episodes.
But the reason for the lack ofmusic is that I actually had some
(03:17):
computer issues recently andended up reformatting one of my drives
on my computer, which is notreally important.
But essentially I lost a lotof my files related to the podcast,
both this one and west of Nowhere.
And the long and short of thatis that, you know, I don't have a
(03:38):
lot of these certain files.
So I accidentally wiped adrive of all the files that I had.
I had like a special folder,it was podcast stuff and I had all
my stuff in that folder and Ididn't make any backups.
So I, I lost the backgroundmusic, both versions.
The old one that I started theshow with and then the more recent
(04:01):
one.
And yeah, I was able to findsome other backups which were basically
just old copies of the showthat I had made by subsequently moving
the drives in which the showwas held.
And because of my lack oforganizational skills, I was able
to find some things that couldkind of get me going back.
(04:23):
Like I found all the originallogos and stuff and then the know,
the background for YouTube andthe intro video which was cool but
had, you know, I lost quite abit of stuff.
But now I have backups ofbackups of backups.
But I did lose, you know,quite a bit.
I lost a lot of the newerdesigns in the merch store.
(04:47):
So yeah, if you bought likethe, the vintage looking Victorian
style logo shirt that onlyexists there, I'm trying to recreate
it but it's not going to bethe exact same.
So anyway, that's why there'sno music.
The justification of that factis also, even if I did find it, I
(05:11):
think it's kind of betterwithout it.
I got new, I got this new mic.
I'm more clear, warm soundingand loud.
I don't need music to fill the void.
That and also I tried twodifferent background tracks and both
of them had different peoplewho didn't like it for a variety
of reasons.
So, you know, that's kind of it.
Just focus on the actual showitself and the recording and going
(05:35):
from there.
I don't need a bunch of extrastuff in that.
But anyway, in addition tothat, I mentioned briefly the frequency
of episodes this year hasdefinitely been varied.
I.
I struggled at the beginningof the year with school, work and
both podcasts.
And then as I entered thespring, broke my leg.
And it seemed like a neverending stream of stress.
(05:58):
And I just got to the point towhere all I could really do was get
up and go to work.
So that was kind of it.
Not that I really owe you guysan explanation or anything, but I
do like to kind of let youguys know.
So.
Yeah, anyway, I'm working on it.
I feel like I'm moreproductive now than I have been.
I'm working on trying to notlet my interests and hobbies fade
(06:24):
into the background.
You know, it's kind of a.
Kind of a therapy thing, butalso like being medicated for my
various neurodiverse kind ofissues and getting back into the
gym also, which is somethingI've been doing since I got injured
the first, you know, firstfull week recently.
So that's pretty cool.
(06:46):
Yeah.
So anyway, all these thingshave kind of allowed me to arrange
my schedule that I was doing,which was nothing productive and
being more productive.
So that's.
That's why you're seeing moreof me.
And hopefully that continuesto go.
In addition, your boy turned 30.
Yeah, that's right.
Crazy how time flies.
(07:06):
I don't.
I don't really feel like itmentally sometimes, but then when
I spend any amount of timeinteracting with children that I'm
not related to and teenagersin general, I'm slowly, you know,
reminded that I am turning into an old man, trying to relate to
the younger people I work with.
And I'm like, man, do theyactually enjoy my time with them
(07:27):
or are they just like,placating me?
You know, they're just like,nah, this old guy, he just.
He just wants to, you know, hejust wants a friend.
So anyway, turning into an oldman, which is bad because I hate
old people, as you know.
All right, enough about me andmy boring stuff.
Let's get to the show.
The Class of Remedial Scholar 2024.
(07:49):
These are the episodes andthat we went.
That we did this year.
So.
Alexander the Great.
The March of the MacedonianAncient Maya Hidden Not Lost.
The Cold wars of West Virginia.
Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
The final ascent.
The Challenger Disaster.
Financial Crimes in Ancient Times.
The gunpowder plot of 1605.
(08:10):
The Harlem Hell Fighters.
The History of Christmas.
The History of Mothers andFather's Day.
Hometown History.
Shadows of Success, theDecline of Historic Companies.
The Syrup Syndicate, Quebec'sMaple Syrup Empire, the Not so Great
Emu War, When Paint Bleeds,Vandalism and the Resurrection of
Art.
So that's an Alphabet.
(08:31):
Alphabetical order, which madesense in my head, but maybe not the
right way to do it, I suppose.
Um, that's the list.
So now you know.
So that's.
Now we get to look at those.
Those episodes and find outwhich superlatives.
Or like, I don't know, like, Isay that word sometimes, and then
people are like, I don't knowwhat that means.
So I guess I should probablyexplain it, you know, in your.
(08:53):
Your book when it's like Mostlikely to Run a Business or Most
likely to, you know, getarrested or something.
That's.
That's what a superlative is.
So now we're going to find outwhich episodes got the big honors.
First up, we have the Class Clown.
And in my head, there are a few.
There are a few funny.
Oh, boy.
(09:14):
Back up.
There are few things funnierthan people unable to quell ferocious
nature of the emu.
The not so Great Emu War,which was actually written by a friend
of the show.
And that is the second episodeof the year debuting on January 8,
2024.
The story was.
You just is so ridiculous andmore interesting than it sounds on
(09:38):
paper.
The whole thing really notlasting more than a few expeditions.
And the local news inAustralia found out about it and
basically were just making funof the government's inability to
wrangle these ferocious creatures.
Who knew emus could be sofunny or victorious?
(10:00):
Eventually the whole thing wasresolved with better fencing, which
is kind of also funny.
Like, we just need betterfences, it's all.
Anyway, the next superlativeMost Likely to Start a Revolution.
I would say this could go to atie between episode 33 and 34 being.
But being as how the GunpowderPlot really did not succeed in even
(10:21):
getting the government to helptheir cause has to go to the coal
wars of West Virginia.
One of the more popular episodes.
This one is actually the lastone before my most recent hiatus,
debuting August 26th.
Super interesting story and,you know, lasting impact of the overbearing
companies grinding theirworkers down in every possible way
(10:42):
until they fought back.
Was it like a super massive uprising?
Not technically, but it wasthe largest one in the United States
since the Civil War, which iswhy it's sometimes referred to as
the Forgotten Civil War or theSecond Civil War.
Big Cold using union busters,airplanes and bombs to, you know,
smash these rebels out of.
(11:02):
Out of their rebelliousness.
I don't know that.
I don't know where I was goingwith that.
Anyway, we also met MotherJones in that episode.
One of the feistiest ladieswith an really awful history of tragedy
in her own family.
Her tenacity and combinedwith, you know, the passionate, I
guess, resilience of some ofthe others scared Big Coal, who had
(11:26):
been abusing the workers ofWest Virginian mines because they
were the one state that likeheld out from union activity.
So subsequently, protections.
They were not givenprotections from the coal companies.
And then, you know, it justgot crazy.
We learned about the coalcompany stores and script that was
used sometimes in the worstway and.
(11:47):
And then heard about the.
We heard the soulful voice ofone Terry Reed.
Got to use or include a littlebit of music into the episode, which
was cool.
And yeah, I don't know, I.
It obviously was super popular.
It's funny, as I'm recordingthis, it's actually number two in
(12:08):
top episodes of the year,which is pretty cool.
Anyway, since they didn't getto tie with the Cold Wars.
This next one is the biggestdrama queen.
Theatrical explosive and alittle bit tragic.
The Gunpowder Plot wins thecrown for most dramatic.
Take a bow, Guy Fawkes.
This one, debuting just a fewweeks ago on December 16, was a kind
of a return to form for me.
(12:30):
Taking a random event that is,you know, subplot material in a movie
that I've loved forever.
V for Redetta and then findingthis very interesting and twisted
tale is.
That's something I like to do.
I just.
I'm watching one random thingand I'm like, ah, I'd love to talk
about that.
And then I do.
Anyway, background of theProtestant Reformation and how it
(12:52):
directly led to the Catholicostracization in England which oppressed
the Irish and set the stagefor the Puritans to flee to the New
World.
And was definitely, you know,not what I was expecting to find.
Didn't think that it would berelated to very much stuff.
It turns out it's actuallyconnected to quite a bit, you know,
super fun in terms of findinga good topic like that.
(13:15):
I don't expect to get theserandom rabbit holes, but when I do
and they have gold, it makesit so much more fun for me.
The plot itself is also superinteresting how they plotted to keep
a secret, but ultimately howare they were, you know, deceived
by someone in their midst whowrote the famous Monteagle letter
and gave up the goose as it was.
(13:35):
It was also interesting tonote that guy Fox Day, named after
the most famous man in theconspirators was not even like the
main plotter, Robert Catsby.
Yeah, full of drama, beginningto end.
Would.
Wouldn't change a thing.
This topic is also worthy ofour next superlative, Most Likely
to blow Something up.
Makes sense.
(13:56):
36 barrels of gunpowder.
Enough to level the House ofLords and cause some serious devastation
have the plot not been foiled.
Next superlative, Most Likelyto be remembered forever.
And that goes to Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
From January 15th.
And I mean, what can I sayabout this episode that hasn't already
been said or about him in general?
(14:17):
You know, timeless, iconic,source of inspiration for so many
people.
This episode also enabled meto tell my own personal tale of pilgrimage
that I took.
Traveled through some of themajor locations of the Civil Rights
movement, shared theseemotional movement moments along
with, you know, the feelings Ifelt while visiting the tombs of
(14:38):
Dr.
King and his wife Coretta, andthese many moments of his life.
Seeing the hotel room and thelocation in which he was assassinated
and the position in which theshooter took, like, it was very crazy.
Also, first episode I played,yeah, played with introducing audio
that wasn't my own voice into the.
(14:59):
Or the intro or background music.
I played a section of hisspeech which is called the drum major.
And that part was actually apart that was used in his own eulogy,
like at his funeral, which islike a super powerful moment moment.
And.
Yeah, I don't know.
And anyway, moving on, thebiggest overachiever, this one goes
(15:23):
to Alexander the Great, obviously.
This is actually Tyler.
Mean, it does make sense forme to give it to him since he conquered
so much.
Right.
Such fast time.
He's a shoe in.
I think also more appropriateand less obvious pick would be the
Harlem Hell Fighters.
The Harlem Hell fightersepisode from the 5th of March taught
(15:45):
us all about the 369thRegiment of World War I who broke
barriers and represented theUnited States in a way that they
wouldn't have been able to dohad the US army not basically gave
them to the French.
The 369th was an all blackunit assigned to the French army
and experienced infinitelyless segregation, like immediately
(16:05):
after they were moved andactually were able to see combat,
which also would not have beenlikely, obviously.
Not that anybody wants to seecombat, but you know, that is kind
of the job if you are in thearmy and at the time the army was
basically only using them aslike, like trench diggers and sentries
(16:29):
and like, very like you'regonna, you're gonna put together
where we're gonna Poop,basically, or like make them do all
this, like manual labor, butnot fighting.
And then when they got withthe French army, they participated
in 191 days of fighting longerthan any other American unit in the
war, which is crazy.
(16:50):
They proved that they could gotoe to toe with the Germans.
The entire regiment receivedthe Queen Pois de Guerre, one of
France's highest militaryhonors, for their bravery in combat.
And then despite theirexcellent service, they faced racism
and continued segregation whenthey returned home.
Still, they achieved so muchwhen they were not given the tools
to do so.
So that kind of makes me feellike they should get the spot.
(17:12):
That's.
That's a good overachiever move.
Like you.
You don't get much and thenyou surpass people who were given
basically, you know, as muchas they could have been given.
Now Alexander the Great canhave best dressed, I think.
So that episode came out onthe 16th of April, and we went through
all the myths surrounding himand his full conquest, stretching
(17:35):
across Asia Minor and far intothe Parisian empire.
And why is he best dressed?
Well, you know, you tell me.
You don't think he found someawesome clothes along the way?
If that's not enough, tell mehe didn't look badass in his general
level Macedonian armor withthe lionhead helmet.
I mean, feels like an easypick to me.
Most likely to skip class.
I think that belongs to theshadows of success.
(17:57):
The decline of historiccompanies from February 12th.
This one seems like an easyconnection to make.
I mean, what says skippingclass like profitable industry giants
fading into the dust, youknow, Kodak, Pontiac, Pan Am, Radio
Shack.
Kodak still exists in somecapacity, but the others are all
but gone.
But the memory remains.
(18:17):
This one was kind of funbecause it went through, you know,
the history of variouscompanies and not just the times
that they came from, but alsowhere the need for them came from
as well.
I still miss Pontiac.
You know, I see them every nowand then.
I just saw one the other day.
There goes.
Still running like champs and.
Right.
So that brings us next mostlikely to make you cry.
(18:42):
I guess this probably willdepend on the person, but I picked
the final ascent.
The Challenger Disaster.
I think I just.
I don't know if I was readyfor the emotions that came from this
one.
From.
So this was from the 3rd of April.
This episode went through thehistory of NASA space travel and
the program that aimed to puta teacher in orbit of the Earth.
(19:03):
You know, try to keeppopularity and importance of space
exploration in the front ofpeople's minds.
This was Ultimately doomedwhen the multiple scrubbed launches
led to an unusually cold morning.
Being the day chosen faulty Orings now frozen and stiff failed
even faster on launch of theChallenger, which caused the rocket
boosters to basically explodeand the entire shuttle impacted.
(19:27):
From this 73 seconds into the launch.
You know, the excitement fromthe astronauts and the teacher Christian
McAuliffe before the launch.
And even seconds into thelaunch, like you can hear the radio
transmissions.
I don't know, it's, it'sreally hard to think about super
sad you and I mean if you wantto you could go listen to the, some
(19:51):
of the things but they're,they're just so pumped like you can
tell how amp they are.
And I think that combined withlike the, towards the end, the play
by play basically of like thetime frame that was pretty intense.
Right.
So altogether the members lostwere Richard Scobie, the commander,
Michael J.
Smith, the pilot RonaldMcNair, mission specialist Ellison
(20:14):
Onizuka, Mission SpecialistJudith Resnick, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payloadspecialist Christa McAuliffe.
Payload specialist.
Yeah, that episode wasdefinitely enough to make someone
cry.
Also, also kind of the biggestepisode on our YouTube, which was
kind of cool.
You know I, I used a lot likeif you watch the show on YouTube,
(20:36):
you know, I use a lot ofpictures, try and kind of paint a
picture of what I'm talking about.
I don't fill the episodes withpictures because I don't want to
be a slideshow.
I just like to include someinteresting ones that I find.
You know, when I'm doing myresearch and I'm reading through
all these different articlesand things and I find a really cool
(20:59):
picture, I'm like, oh, that's,that's kind of neat.
I want to share that and soI'll save them then.
Or you know, if I'm.
When I'm struggling trying tojust depict what I'm talking about,
I'll use a picture there.
But anyway, that's also stuffyou don't really need to know.
But anyway, those are the Superlios.
Of course not all of the episodes.
(21:20):
We have clubs and activitiesto promote as well.
These are the various clubsthat multiple episodes fit into.
First up, Rebels, Anonymous.
Members of this club agreerules are meant to be broken.
They fought for themselves andthe betterment of others.
For the most part.
I would say the Cold wars ofWest Virginia, the Gunpowder Plot
(21:40):
and the Harlem Hellfighters,all rabble rousers of their day and
definitely made their mark.
Next we have the Holiday Cheer Club.
These clubs love to celebrate.
Or this club Loves tocelebrate the holidays.
They love their history with adash of celebration.
And these two are actuallythree technically.
That's because the history ofMothers and Father's Day is one episode
(22:02):
and then you have history ofChristmas, but also I guess if you
include all the holidays thatare in that episode that I mentioned,
so many Mothers and Father'sDay history came out on June 18th
and well last.
I mean if you're listening tothis as it comes out, last week was
the Christmas episode and bothepisodes were pretty, pretty interesting,
(22:25):
surprising and how muchinformation there actually was and
like how I don't know, how theholidays evolved I think is pretty
cool.
Also for the Mother, Mothersand Father's Day.
Interesting how anti thatholiday the founders or the children
of the founders were about it.
And Jarvis was the person whoinspired the creation of Mother's
(22:45):
Day.
Her daughter named Annapetitioned for a day to remember
mothers because of herhumanitarian work.
Father's Day set up withWilliam Jackson Smart being the man
in mind, but also partiallyinspired by the creation of Mother's
Day as well.
Then last week we learnedabout all sorts of history connected
to Christmas.
Not only the origins of theholiday, but so many traditions and
(23:07):
most of them German.
So the art club, this onebelongs to two actually, of course,
when paint bleeds, vandalismand resurrection.
Resurrection of Art from 27th March.
That episode super duper funbecause covered so many things.
I enjoyed history boom.
Art boom boom.
I also got to explain some ofthe history of art in terms of the
(23:29):
evolution of styles.
And hopefully this was helpfulto my non artsy friends who felt
the topic confusing ordaunting in some way.
We discussed the reason whycontemporary art strayed from realism.
Partially due to the camerabeing popular, but also because of
the horrors witnessed in WorldWar II.
Then of course the paintingwho's afraid of red, yellow and blue
(23:49):
being slashed up and lengthyand poor effort to repair it.
Second in the art club isancient Maya.
Their decorative structuresdefinitely count as art.
And in addition to that theirwriting method which was developed
uniquely to them and being oneof only 7ish in history to be done
(24:10):
in this way.
Super impressive.
And it's a lot of picturesalso, so that's cool.
We learn about the potentialorigins of the Mesoamerican and indigenous
populations of both north andSouth America and and the Maya and
their influence on othercultures and the poorly described
disappearance of them, whichis no more than them leaving lands
that were no longer servingthem, retreating into different cities,
(24:32):
into the jungle, andeventually Being absorbed into rising
cultures and then dominated byconquistadors when they eventually
showed up.
Although still to this daythere are Mayans or Maya that remain.
Lastly, have the drama club.
These topics brought the dramaand then some.
Of course we have Gunpowder Plot.
Once again, Alexander theGreat, also not surprised.
(24:54):
And the not so great Emu War.
These topics all.
All had some drama of some type.
Yeah, those are the clubs thatrepresent the year that we've had.
In addition to.
In addition, two clubs, wealso visited a lot of places.
So now we're going to look atthe field trips that we've taken.
Actually started this year offwith a tour around the United States
(25:17):
through the lens of placesthat I've called home in hometown
history.
Starting with the history of Nebraska.
We learned about Nevada andWashington State as well.
And then Wisconsin, which kindof a fun episode to do.
And it wasn't like about me,it was just about the places that
I had lived, but very fun.
And then after that, traveledto the outback, see what all the
(25:40):
fuss was about about the Emu War.
Then we visited the birthplaceof Dr.
King, Atlanta, Georgia, andthen visited some other places pertinent
to the Civil rights movement,such as Washington, D.C.
memphis, Tennessee and Selma, Alabama.
Following that trip, wejourneyed up to Canada on 22 January
to see what that sweet, sweetsyrup barons were up to.
(26:02):
We learned a lot about that.
The syrup syndicate taught ushow much cutthroat craziness is behind
the scenes of that delightfulmaple syrup.
And also hilarious that thenicest country, the.
The Canadians hiding some darksecrets when it comes to, you know,
their maple syrup.
(26:22):
Then we traveled around theUnited States and even parts of South
America for the shadows of success.
South America being where theorigins of Pan Am began.
And then east coast for RadioShack and I believe, Kodak as well.
And then the heart of Michiganfor Pontiac.
Then off to.
Off to the.
Was it the Western front with.
(26:43):
With the Harlem Hellfighters?
You know, they, they were inparts of France, but also in Germany
and then all over the placekind of with When Paint Bleeds, because,
you know, we discussedhistorical movements and art and
then modern art movementbefore going, you know, to the Netherlands
to witness the assault on thepainting who's Afraid of Red, Yellow
and Blue by Barnett Newman.
(27:03):
We then traveled back to theUnited States, visit various sites
and expeditions of NASA in theFinal Ascent episode, the, you know,
tracing all of the pieces ofthe space agency all across the United
States.
Then to the Kennedy Spacecenter to witness its last flight
following this we hopped inour time machine, go back to ancient
Macedonia to witness thewunderkin that was Alexander the
(27:27):
Great.
We hovered in the ancientworld for a bit, witnessed the various
financial crimes in ancienttimes with bribery, tax fraud, insurance
fraud, and good old fashionedextortion in ancient Greece.
Rome, kind of all over really.
And back to the United Statesin the late 19th century to meet
the inspirations for bothMothers and Father's Day, which was,
(27:47):
you know, probably our mostwholesome episode.
I think Christmas might be upthere too.
But anyway.
Then into the time machineonce more.
Trace the earliest instancesof people in the Americas finding
the roots of the ancient Mayaand the other some other Mesoamerican
cultures before settling inthe Maya lowlands and highlands to
(28:09):
watch their rise and poorlynamed disappearance.
Then after that, back to the19th and 20th century where we witnessed
coal companies abusing theirworkers in so many nefarious ways.
Then Elizabethan Englandwatched our gunpowder plot fail before
our eyes.
And then traveling the worldonce more in the Christmas episode.
(28:29):
So here you have it.
That's all the.
That's all the places.
Next year got a lot moretraveling planned.
I'm excited for that.
All right, so some stats now,starting with what you, the listeners
have actually, you know,listened to the most.
I have some stats from thehosting site, but before I realized
that I was just gonna go offof the Spotify wrapped for this year
(28:51):
because, you know, everybodygets one for all the music that they
listen to, but creators onSpotify get one too.
So as a podcast, I got one andit kind of lines up.
But anyway, this year the mostpopular episode was Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Which is pretty cool.
According to Spotify, it waslistened to 155% more than the other
(29:13):
episodes this year, which is.
Which is also pretty cool.
I think.
This episode was so populardue to how much passion was put into
creating it.
I didn't want to do a bad job,you know, and I don't like to write
things that I do not enjoy.
I think there's some topicswhere I do enjoy them, but I lose
(29:34):
interest partway through that.
I might even be obvious to you sometimes.
But this episode in particularwas one that I didn't feel like I
was losing any steam on.
I was ready to keep going.
Yeah, and then having thatrecording played at the end, you
know, which I talked about,where he eulogized himself, I think
(29:56):
that had a little bit to dowith it, but also it was at the end
and statistically people dropoff towards the end, so maybe Not.
I don't know.
Anyway, pretty cool to see.
The Cold wars is actuallysecond I mentioned.
And that's more impressivebecause it came out in August as
opposed to January.
(30:18):
All right.
Some stats for the yearaccording to Spotify is that our
Listener base increased 82%with 85 more followers and 23 more
streams, which is cool.
Spotify, spot aside, Spotifysaid that we were listened to in
12 different countries, butour hosting site says 27, which is
(30:38):
awesome.
Outside the United States,we're most heard in Australia.
G'day, mate.
And in Japan.
Not doing that accent.
The uk.
Hello, Governor.
Canadian.
Yeah, so that's pretty sweet.
The most popular month fordownloads was January.
(30:58):
Shocking.
Absolutely no one is that.
Dropped off in July and thenagain in September because I had
some breaks in action.
Statistically we actually hadvery similar numbers in 2023.
The issue in that being thatonly half a year of 2023, which is,
you know, I started in what,late July and we technically did
(31:25):
Release episodes all 2024.
But you know, the, the glaringissue being my inconsistency and
overworking myself and justgood old fashioned procrastination.
Like I said, I think I'm in agood place now.
Keep focused, keep grinding,putting out solid stuff.
Next year.
I definitely like to keep astrue to four episodes a month as
I can, which I believe have agood rhythm going.
(31:47):
You know, pretty excited about that.
I would also like to be moreactive in both podcasts and creating
online content.
Like, you know, it's superhard to get in the groove of, but
once you do, you know, it'simportant to be on not only on YouTube
but on Tik Tok obviously andthen Instagram, like shorts, short
(32:09):
videos on all the things and Ineed to be more consistent with that.
But you know, got to spreadthe word however I can.
So doing that and you know,just getting out there in any way
possible, going to try to dosome like guest hosting or just guest
spotting on different podcaststo try and do some networking a little
(32:31):
bit.
And yeah, those are the goalsI have for this coming year.
You know, consistency is the focus.
All right, so we're, you know,gonna, we're gonna end with this
thing with typical yearbookfashion, right?
Remedial scholar class of 2024.
Class song we Didn't Start theFire by Billy Joel Inspired by the
(32:53):
Gunpowder Plot senior quote,which is keep questioning the past,
the future will.
Thank you.
You may have noticed thisbeing the new way I sign off, I thought
it was a nice way to end the episode.
And also way back when I wasstarting this podcast, the hosting
site I use actually had like,prepare to start your podcast, like
(33:13):
class almost.
It was like you watch thesevideos and learn different things
that, that are helpful, notnecessarily required, but helpful.
And one of the things ittalked about was a, you know, signing
off phrase.
And this is one that I wasthinking about and I was like, man,
that's kind of cheesy.
But then I was like, well, thewhole idea of having a podcast is
(33:34):
kind of cheesy anyway, somight as well go full tilt in it,
right?
Anyway, so that's, that's thatclass motto.
From ancient ruins to modernrevolutions, History is our guide.
I think this is more relatedto how I evolved from not only talking
about ancient stories, but nowincorporating more recent history,
which has opened my topic poolup quite nicely.
(33:56):
Lastly, there are some seniorquotes I would like to read off.
First one, the emus may havewon the battle, but they'll never
win the war.
Australian military, probably next.
Coal miner from the WestVirginia coal wars says pickaxes
and dynamite, the tools of change.
And Guy Fawkes from theGunpowder Plot says same.
(34:19):
And lastly, history is writtenby the victors and sometimes the
vandals, which was Gerard.
Gerard Jan Van Bladen, thevandal from When Paint Bleeds episode.
Anyway, as we wrap up theclass of 2024, I want to leave you
with some teasers of what willbe coming next year.
(34:40):
We're going to be going globalone more time through various means.
Obviously we're going to spendsome time in Russia, you know, maybe,
maybe go skiing or hiking.
Follow anothercircumnavigational attempt.
Is it the dark alleys of London?
Follow the radio waves onactual waves.
Take a trip to Mongolia.
(35:00):
You know, we got a lot, we gota lot going on.
Pretty excited about it.
If you are inspired by any ofthese or anything that I've talked
about today, you know,obviously feel free to suggest some
topics.
Worst that can happen is Inever do it.
So really no risk.
If you can't think of anythingspecific topic wise, you can also
just send in a theme.
(35:21):
I might be able to pullsomething from that.
Several episodes this yearcame from random moments like the
When Paint Bleeds episode andthe Gunpowder Plot.
So feel free.
I mean, I, I might be able tofind something you can comment on
Facebook, YouTube, click thelink tree in the link.
You can click the link treelink in the description and then
(35:41):
there's an email topicsuggestion button on the link tree.
Otherwise you can email it atremedial scholarmail.com also feel
free to comment your favoritemoment of the year.
Whether it's a topic, a randomjoke I made, cover art, whatever.
I'd love to hear from you.
So please feel free.
And thank you to everyone whohas made 2024 an incredible year
(36:02):
for me and the show.
Whether you laughed, cried,learned something new, I hope, I
hope these episodes broughthistory to life in a meaningful way.
Thank you for supporting methrough my inconsistencies, and thank
you for buying the merch andsharing the show.
Whenever until next year, keepquestioning the past.
The future will thank you.
Bye.
20 24.
What an absolute year it has been.
It's been one of the one ofthe years that we've had year with
a lot of laughing, crying,knowledge gaining and silliness ensuing.
And this is a special episode,an idea that came to me while browsing
my junk mail like every normalperson does on occasion.
(00:21):
So today I will not bebleeding your ears for an hour or
more.
Today I will be sharing theyear of the show in the style of
a yearbook and hopefullystarting a fun little tradition moving
forward.
So sit down, relax and enjoythe recap in the form of a book of
nostalgia that you only grabwhen your brain reminds you some
random thing from your youth.
Quotes, superlatives, clubsand stats from the year.
(00:43):
All that.
On another episode of theRemedial Scholar, I feel I was denied
critical need to knowinformation belongs in a museum.
(01:10):
Stop skipping your remedial class.
Welcome everyone to theRemedial Scholar.
I am your host, Levi.
Today, as you might have puttogether, is a special episode.
Think it's going to be fun tohighlight the journey that we've
been on this year.
And if you're new to the show,you know, don't really worry about
spoilers because it's allalready happened.
(01:31):
In fact, I might even say thatthis episode is one you probably
shouldn't even turn off.
You like.
It's a good episode to startwith because it's going to showcase
both the highlights of theyear from the show, but also, you
know, give you a good idea ofmy personality.
And if you enjoy that, thenyou'll enjoy the show.
So yeah, if you do enjoy it,you got a lot of homework to catch
(01:51):
up on.
The idea itself of theyearbook style year end episode comes
from, you know, the genesis ofthe show.
Actually.
I originally was going to callthis show History Class Dropout,
but that title kind of felt clunky.
So I used the same idea, youknow, like I took that idea and kind
(02:13):
of went into the thesaurusmode of like, what are some things
that are similar to that?
And excuse me, that's how Icame up with the Remedio Scholar.
And you know, I can't remembernow, but I.
I feel like it was partlyhelped by some friends.
I might have workshopped someideas or got some ideas from people.
Anyway, the spirit of the showbeing a knockoff educational experience
(02:35):
is present in this year endyearbook idea.
Just like a yearbook we'regoing to have, you know, superlatives,
clubs, stuff like that and that.
It's kind of a little sillything, but it's nice to, you know,
reflect and also, you know,just, you know, it's just a fun thing.
(02:55):
I guess it's a fun littlething to do.
But yeah, I want to lead offwith some changes made to the show
over this last year.
Obviously, if you've beenlistening, you know that there's
a lack of music in the lastfew episodes.
You also know that there'sprobably been a lack of episodes.
But the reason for the lack ofmusic is that I actually had some
(03:17):
computer issues recently andended up reformatting one of my drives
on my computer, which is notreally important.
But essentially I lost a lotof my files related to the podcast,
both this one and west of Nowhere.
And the long and short of thatis that, you know, I don't have a
(03:38):
lot of these certain files.
So I accidentally wiped adrive of all the files that I had.
I had like a special folder,it was podcast stuff and I had all
my stuff in that folder and Ididn't make any backups.
So I, I lost the backgroundmusic, both versions.
The old one that I started theshow with and then the more recent
(04:01):
one.
And yeah, I was able to findsome other backups which were basically
just old copies of the showthat I had made by subsequently moving
the drives in which the showwas held.
And because of my lack oforganizational skills, I was able
to find some things that couldkind of get me going back.
(04:23):
Like I found all the originallogos and stuff and then the know,
the background for YouTube andthe intro video which was cool but
had, you know, I lost quite abit of stuff.
But now I have backups ofbackups of backups.
But I did lose, you know,quite a bit.
I lost a lot of the newerdesigns in the merch store.
(04:47):
So yeah, if you bought likethe, the vintage looking Victorian
style logo shirt that onlyexists there, I'm trying to recreate
it but it's not going to bethe exact same.
So anyway, that's why there'sno music.
The justification of that factis also, even if I did find it, I
(05:11):
think it's kind of betterwithout it.
I got new, I got this new mic.
I'm more clear, warm soundingand loud.
I don't need music to fill the void.
That and also I tried twodifferent background tracks and both
of them had different peoplewho didn't like it for a variety
of reasons.
So, you know, that's kind of it.
Just focus on the actual showitself and the recording and going
(05:35):
from there.
I don't need a bunch of extrastuff in that.
But anyway, in addition tothat, I mentioned briefly the frequency
of episodes this year hasdefinitely been varied.
I.
I struggled at the beginningof the year with school, work and
both podcasts.
And then as I entered thespring, broke my leg.
And it seemed like a neverending stream of stress.
(05:58):
And I just got to the point towhere all I could really do was get
up and go to work.
So that was kind of it.
Not that I really owe you guysan explanation or anything, but I
do like to kind of let youguys know.
So.
Yeah, anyway, I'm working on it.
I feel like I'm moreproductive now than I have been.
I'm working on trying to notlet my interests and hobbies fade
(06:24):
into the background.
You know, it's kind of a.
Kind of a therapy thing, butalso like being medicated for my
various neurodiverse kind ofissues and getting back into the
gym also, which is somethingI've been doing since I got injured
the first, you know, firstfull week recently.
So that's pretty cool.
(06:46):
Yeah.
So anyway, all these thingshave kind of allowed me to arrange
my schedule that I was doing,which was nothing productive and
being more productive.
So that's.
That's why you're seeing moreof me.
And hopefully that continuesto go.
In addition, your boy turned 30.
Yeah, that's right.
Crazy how time flies.
(07:06):
I don't.
I don't really feel like itmentally sometimes, but then when
I spend any amount of timeinteracting with children that I'm
not related to and teenagersin general, I'm slowly, you know,
reminded that I am turning into an old man, trying to relate to
the younger people I work with.
And I'm like, man, do theyactually enjoy my time with them
(07:27):
or are they just like,placating me?
You know, they're just like,nah, this old guy, he just.
He just wants to, you know, hejust wants a friend.
So anyway, turning into an oldman, which is bad because I hate
old people, as you know.
All right, enough about me andmy boring stuff.
Let's get to the show.
The Class of Remedial Scholar 2024.
(07:49):
These are the episodes andthat we went.
That we did this year.
So.
Alexander the Great.
The March of the MacedonianAncient Maya Hidden Not Lost.
The Cold wars of West Virginia.
Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
The final ascent.
The Challenger Disaster.
Financial Crimes in Ancient Times.
The gunpowder plot of 1605.
(08:10):
The Harlem Hell Fighters.
The History of Christmas.
The History of Mothers andFather's Day.
Hometown History.
Shadows of Success, theDecline of Historic Companies.
The Syrup Syndicate, Quebec'sMaple Syrup Empire, the Not so Great
Emu War, When Paint Bleeds,Vandalism and the Resurrection of
Art.
So that's an Alphabet.
(08:31):
Alphabetical order, which madesense in my head, but maybe not the
right way to do it, I suppose.
Um, that's the list.
So now you know.
So that's.
Now we get to look at those.
Those episodes and find outwhich superlatives.
Or like, I don't know, like, Isay that word sometimes, and then
people are like, I don't knowwhat that means.
So I guess I should probablyexplain it, you know, in your.
(08:53):
Your book when it's like Mostlikely to Run a Business or Most
likely to, you know, getarrested or something.
That's.
That's what a superlative is.
So now we're going to find outwhich episodes got the big honors.
First up, we have the Class Clown.
And in my head, there are a few.
There are a few funny.
Oh, boy.
(09:14):
Back up.
There are few things funnierthan people unable to quell ferocious
nature of the emu.
The not so Great Emu War,which was actually written by a friend
of the show.
And that is the second episodeof the year debuting on January 8,
2024.
The story was.
You just is so ridiculous andmore interesting than it sounds on
(09:38):
paper.
The whole thing really notlasting more than a few expeditions.
And the local news inAustralia found out about it and
basically were just making funof the government's inability to
wrangle these ferocious creatures.
Who knew emus could be sofunny or victorious?
(10:00):
Eventually the whole thing wasresolved with better fencing, which
is kind of also funny.
Like, we just need betterfences, it's all.
Anyway, the next superlativeMost Likely to Start a Revolution.
I would say this could go to atie between episode 33 and 34 being.
But being as how the GunpowderPlot really did not succeed in even
(10:21):
getting the government to helptheir cause has to go to the coal
wars of West Virginia.
One of the more popular episodes.
This one is actually the lastone before my most recent hiatus,
debuting August 26th.
Super interesting story and,you know, lasting impact of the overbearing
companies grinding theirworkers down in every possible way
(10:42):
until they fought back.
Was it like a super massive uprising?
Not technically, but it wasthe largest one in the United States
since the Civil War, which iswhy it's sometimes referred to as
the Forgotten Civil War or theSecond Civil War.
Big Cold using union busters,airplanes and bombs to, you know,
smash these rebels out of.
(11:02):
Out of their rebelliousness.
I don't know that.
I don't know where I was goingwith that.
Anyway, we also met MotherJones in that episode.
One of the feistiest ladieswith an really awful history of tragedy
in her own family.
Her tenacity and combinedwith, you know, the passionate, I
guess, resilience of some ofthe others scared Big Coal, who had
(11:26):
been abusing the workers ofWest Virginian mines because they
were the one state that likeheld out from union activity.
So subsequently, protections.
They were not givenprotections from the coal companies.
And then, you know, it justgot crazy.
We learned about the coalcompany stores and script that was
used sometimes in the worstway and.
(11:47):
And then heard about the.
We heard the soulful voice ofone Terry Reed.
Got to use or include a littlebit of music into the episode, which
was cool.
And yeah, I don't know, I.
It obviously was super popular.
It's funny, as I'm recordingthis, it's actually number two in
(12:08):
top episodes of the year,which is pretty cool.
Anyway, since they didn't getto tie with the Cold Wars.
This next one is the biggestdrama queen.
Theatrical explosive and alittle bit tragic.
The Gunpowder Plot wins thecrown for most dramatic.
Take a bow, Guy Fawkes.
This one, debuting just a fewweeks ago on December 16, was a kind
of a return to form for me.
(12:30):
Taking a random event that is,you know, subplot material in a movie
that I've loved forever.
V for Redetta and then findingthis very interesting and twisted
tale is.
That's something I like to do.
I just.
I'm watching one random thingand I'm like, ah, I'd love to talk
about that.
And then I do.
Anyway, background of theProtestant Reformation and how it
(12:52):
directly led to the Catholicostracization in England which oppressed
the Irish and set the stagefor the Puritans to flee to the New
World.
And was definitely, you know,not what I was expecting to find.
Didn't think that it would berelated to very much stuff.
It turns out it's actuallyconnected to quite a bit, you know,
super fun in terms of findinga good topic like that.
(13:15):
I don't expect to get theserandom rabbit holes, but when I do
and they have gold, it makesit so much more fun for me.
The plot itself is also superinteresting how they plotted to keep
a secret, but ultimately howare they were, you know, deceived
by someone in their midst whowrote the famous Monteagle letter
and gave up the goose as it was.
(13:35):
It was also interesting tonote that guy Fox Day, named after
the most famous man in theconspirators was not even like the
main plotter, Robert Catsby.
Yeah, full of drama, beginningto end.
Would.
Wouldn't change a thing.
This topic is also worthy ofour next superlative, Most Likely
to blow Something up.
Makes sense.
(13:56):
36 barrels of gunpowder.
Enough to level the House ofLords and cause some serious devastation
have the plot not been foiled.
Next superlative, Most Likelyto be remembered forever.
And that goes to Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
From January 15th.
And I mean, what can I sayabout this episode that hasn't already
been said or about him in general?
(14:17):
You know, timeless, iconic,source of inspiration for so many
people.
This episode also enabled meto tell my own personal tale of pilgrimage
that I took.
Traveled through some of themajor locations of the Civil Rights
movement, shared theseemotional movement moments along
with, you know, the feelings Ifelt while visiting the tombs of
(14:38):
Dr.
King and his wife Coretta, andthese many moments of his life.
Seeing the hotel room and thelocation in which he was assassinated
and the position in which theshooter took, like, it was very crazy.
Also, first episode I played,yeah, played with introducing audio
that wasn't my own voice into the.
(14:59):
Or the intro or background music.
I played a section of hisspeech which is called the drum major.
And that part was actually apart that was used in his own eulogy,
like at his funeral, which islike a super powerful moment moment.
And.
Yeah, I don't know.
And anyway, moving on, thebiggest overachiever, this one goes
(15:23):
to Alexander the Great, obviously.
This is actually Tyler.
Mean, it does make sense forme to give it to him since he conquered
so much.
Right.
Such fast time.
He's a shoe in.
I think also more appropriateand less obvious pick would be the
Harlem Hell Fighters.
The Harlem Hell fightersepisode from the 5th of March taught
(15:45):
us all about the 369thRegiment of World War I who broke
barriers and represented theUnited States in a way that they
wouldn't have been able to dohad the US army not basically gave
them to the French.
The 369th was an all blackunit assigned to the French army
and experienced infinitelyless segregation, like immediately
(16:05):
after they were moved andactually were able to see combat,
which also would not have beenlikely, obviously.
Not that anybody wants to seecombat, but you know, that is kind
of the job if you are in thearmy and at the time the army was
basically only using them aslike, like trench diggers and sentries
(16:29):
and like, very like you'regonna, you're gonna put together
where we're gonna Poop,basically, or like make them do all
this, like manual labor, butnot fighting.
And then when they got withthe French army, they participated
in 191 days of fighting longerthan any other American unit in the
war, which is crazy.
(16:50):
They proved that they could gotoe to toe with the Germans.
The entire regiment receivedthe Queen Pois de Guerre, one of
France's highest militaryhonors, for their bravery in combat.
And then despite theirexcellent service, they faced racism
and continued segregation whenthey returned home.
Still, they achieved so muchwhen they were not given the tools
to do so.
So that kind of makes me feellike they should get the spot.
(17:12):
That's.
That's a good overachiever move.
Like you.
You don't get much and thenyou surpass people who were given
basically, you know, as muchas they could have been given.
Now Alexander the Great canhave best dressed, I think.
So that episode came out onthe 16th of April, and we went through
all the myths surrounding himand his full conquest, stretching
(17:35):
across Asia Minor and far intothe Parisian empire.
And why is he best dressed?
Well, you know, you tell me.
You don't think he found someawesome clothes along the way?
If that's not enough, tell mehe didn't look badass in his general
level Macedonian armor withthe lionhead helmet.
I mean, feels like an easypick to me.
Most likely to skip class.
I think that belongs to theshadows of success.
(17:57):
The decline of historiccompanies from February 12th.
This one seems like an easyconnection to make.
I mean, what says skippingclass like profitable industry giants
fading into the dust, youknow, Kodak, Pontiac, Pan Am, Radio
Shack.
Kodak still exists in somecapacity, but the others are all
but gone.
But the memory remains.
(18:17):
This one was kind of funbecause it went through, you know,
the history of variouscompanies and not just the times
that they came from, but alsowhere the need for them came from
as well.
I still miss Pontiac.
You know, I see them every nowand then.
I just saw one the other day.
There goes.
Still running like champs and.
Right.
So that brings us next mostlikely to make you cry.
(18:42):
I guess this probably willdepend on the person, but I picked
the final ascent.
The Challenger Disaster.
I think I just.
I don't know if I was readyfor the emotions that came from this
one.
From.
So this was from the 3rd of April.
This episode went through thehistory of NASA space travel and
the program that aimed to puta teacher in orbit of the Earth.
(19:03):
You know, try to keeppopularity and importance of space
exploration in the front ofpeople's minds.
This was Ultimately doomedwhen the multiple scrubbed launches
led to an unusually cold morning.
Being the day chosen faulty Orings now frozen and stiff failed
even faster on launch of theChallenger, which caused the rocket
boosters to basically explodeand the entire shuttle impacted.
(19:27):
From this 73 seconds into the launch.
You know, the excitement fromthe astronauts and the teacher Christian
McAuliffe before the launch.
And even seconds into thelaunch, like you can hear the radio
transmissions.
I don't know, it's, it'sreally hard to think about super
sad you and I mean if you wantto you could go listen to the, some
(19:51):
of the things but they're,they're just so pumped like you can
tell how amp they are.
And I think that combined withlike the, towards the end, the play
by play basically of like thetime frame that was pretty intense.
Right.
So altogether the members lostwere Richard Scobie, the commander,
Michael J.
Smith, the pilot RonaldMcNair, mission specialist Ellison
(20:14):
Onizuka, Mission SpecialistJudith Resnick, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payloadspecialist Christa McAuliffe.
Payload specialist.
Yeah, that episode wasdefinitely enough to make someone
cry.
Also, also kind of the biggestepisode on our YouTube, which was
kind of cool.
You know I, I used a lot likeif you watch the show on YouTube,
(20:36):
you know, I use a lot ofpictures, try and kind of paint a
picture of what I'm talking about.
I don't fill the episodes withpictures because I don't want to
be a slideshow.
I just like to include someinteresting ones that I find.
You know, when I'm doing myresearch and I'm reading through
all these different articlesand things and I find a really cool
(20:59):
picture, I'm like, oh, that's,that's kind of neat.
I want to share that and soI'll save them then.
Or you know, if I'm.
When I'm struggling trying tojust depict what I'm talking about,
I'll use a picture there.
But anyway, that's also stuffyou don't really need to know.
But anyway, those are the Superlios.
Of course not all of the episodes.
(21:20):
We have clubs and activitiesto promote as well.
These are the various clubsthat multiple episodes fit into.
First up, Rebels, Anonymous.
Members of this club agreerules are meant to be broken.
They fought for themselves andthe betterment of others.
For the most part.
I would say the Cold wars ofWest Virginia, the Gunpowder Plot
(21:40):
and the Harlem Hellfighters,all rabble rousers of their day and
definitely made their mark.
Next we have the Holiday Cheer Club.
These clubs love to celebrate.
Or this club Loves tocelebrate the holidays.
They love their history with adash of celebration.
And these two are actuallythree technically.
That's because the history ofMothers and Father's Day is one episode
(22:02):
and then you have history ofChristmas, but also I guess if you
include all the holidays thatare in that episode that I mentioned,
so many Mothers and Father'sDay history came out on June 18th
and well last.
I mean if you're listening tothis as it comes out, last week was
the Christmas episode and bothepisodes were pretty, pretty interesting,
(22:25):
surprising and how muchinformation there actually was and
like how I don't know, how theholidays evolved I think is pretty
cool.
Also for the Mother, Mothersand Father's Day.
Interesting how anti thatholiday the founders or the children
of the founders were about it.
And Jarvis was the person whoinspired the creation of Mother's
(22:45):
Day.
Her daughter named Annapetitioned for a day to remember
mothers because of herhumanitarian work.
Father's Day set up withWilliam Jackson Smart being the man
in mind, but also partiallyinspired by the creation of Mother's
Day as well.
Then last week we learnedabout all sorts of history connected
to Christmas.
Not only the origins of theholiday, but so many traditions and
(23:07):
most of them German.
So the art club, this onebelongs to two actually, of course,
when paint bleeds, vandalismand resurrection.
Resurrection of Art from 27th March.
That episode super duper funbecause covered so many things.
I enjoyed history boom.
Art boom boom.
I also got to explain some ofthe history of art in terms of the
(23:29):
evolution of styles.
And hopefully this was helpfulto my non artsy friends who felt
the topic confusing ordaunting in some way.
We discussed the reason whycontemporary art strayed from realism.
Partially due to the camerabeing popular, but also because of
the horrors witnessed in WorldWar II.
Then of course the paintingwho's afraid of red, yellow and blue
(23:49):
being slashed up and lengthyand poor effort to repair it.
Second in the art club isancient Maya.
Their decorative structuresdefinitely count as art.
And in addition to that theirwriting method which was developed
uniquely to them and being oneof only 7ish in history to be done
(24:10):
in this way.
Super impressive.
And it's a lot of picturesalso, so that's cool.
We learn about the potentialorigins of the Mesoamerican and indigenous
populations of both north andSouth America and and the Maya and
their influence on othercultures and the poorly described
disappearance of them, whichis no more than them leaving lands
that were no longer servingthem, retreating into different cities,
(24:32):
into the jungle, andeventually Being absorbed into rising
cultures and then dominated byconquistadors when they eventually
showed up.
Although still to this daythere are Mayans or Maya that remain.
Lastly, have the drama club.
These topics brought the dramaand then some.
Of course we have Gunpowder Plot.
Once again, Alexander theGreat, also not surprised.
(24:54):
And the not so great Emu War.
These topics all.
All had some drama of some type.
Yeah, those are the clubs thatrepresent the year that we've had.
In addition to.
In addition, two clubs, wealso visited a lot of places.
So now we're going to look atthe field trips that we've taken.
Actually started this year offwith a tour around the United States
(25:17):
through the lens of placesthat I've called home in hometown
history.
Starting with the history of Nebraska.
We learned about Nevada andWashington State as well.
And then Wisconsin, which kindof a fun episode to do.
And it wasn't like about me,it was just about the places that
I had lived, but very fun.
And then after that, traveledto the outback, see what all the
(25:40):
fuss was about about the Emu War.
Then we visited the birthplaceof Dr.
King, Atlanta, Georgia, andthen visited some other places pertinent
to the Civil rights movement,such as Washington, D.C.
memphis, Tennessee and Selma, Alabama.
Following that trip, wejourneyed up to Canada on 22 January
to see what that sweet, sweetsyrup barons were up to.
(26:02):
We learned a lot about that.
The syrup syndicate taught ushow much cutthroat craziness is behind
the scenes of that delightfulmaple syrup.
And also hilarious that thenicest country, the.
The Canadians hiding some darksecrets when it comes to, you know,
their maple syrup.
(26:22):
Then we traveled around theUnited States and even parts of South
America for the shadows of success.
South America being where theorigins of Pan Am began.
And then east coast for RadioShack and I believe, Kodak as well.
And then the heart of Michiganfor Pontiac.
Then off to.
Off to the.
Was it the Western front with.
(26:43):
With the Harlem Hellfighters?
You know, they, they were inparts of France, but also in Germany
and then all over the placekind of with When Paint Bleeds, because,
you know, we discussedhistorical movements and art and
then modern art movementbefore going, you know, to the Netherlands
to witness the assault on thepainting who's Afraid of Red, Yellow
and Blue by Barnett Newman.
(27:03):
We then traveled back to theUnited States, visit various sites
and expeditions of NASA in theFinal Ascent episode, the, you know,
tracing all of the pieces ofthe space agency all across the United
States.
Then to the Kennedy Spacecenter to witness its last flight
following this we hopped inour time machine, go back to ancient
Macedonia to witness thewunderkin that was Alexander the
(27:27):
Great.
We hovered in the ancientworld for a bit, witnessed the various
financial crimes in ancienttimes with bribery, tax fraud, insurance
fraud, and good old fashionedextortion in ancient Greece.
Rome, kind of all over really.
And back to the United Statesin the late 19th century to meet
the inspirations for bothMothers and Father's Day, which was,
(27:47):
you know, probably our mostwholesome episode.
I think Christmas might be upthere too.
But anyway.
Then into the time machineonce more.
Trace the earliest instancesof people in the Americas finding
the roots of the ancient Mayaand the other some other Mesoamerican
cultures before settling inthe Maya lowlands and highlands to
(28:09):
watch their rise and poorlynamed disappearance.
Then after that, back to the19th and 20th century where we witnessed
coal companies abusing theirworkers in so many nefarious ways.
Then Elizabethan Englandwatched our gunpowder plot fail before
our eyes.
And then traveling the worldonce more in the Christmas episode.
(28:29):
So here you have it.
That's all the.
That's all the places.
Next year got a lot moretraveling planned.
I'm excited for that.
All right, so some stats now,starting with what you, the listeners
have actually, you know,listened to the most.
I have some stats from thehosting site, but before I realized
that I was just gonna go offof the Spotify wrapped for this year
(28:51):
because, you know, everybodygets one for all the music that they
listen to, but creators onSpotify get one too.
So as a podcast, I got one andit kind of lines up.
But anyway, this year the mostpopular episode was Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Which is pretty cool.
According to Spotify, it waslistened to 155% more than the other
(29:13):
episodes this year, which is.
Which is also pretty cool.
I think.
This episode was so populardue to how much passion was put into
creating it.
I didn't want to do a bad job,you know, and I don't like to write
things that I do not enjoy.
I think there's some topicswhere I do enjoy them, but I lose
(29:34):
interest partway through that.
I might even be obvious to you sometimes.
But this episode in particularwas one that I didn't feel like I
was losing any steam on.
I was ready to keep going.
Yeah, and then having thatrecording played at the end, you
know, which I talked about,where he eulogized himself, I think
(29:56):
that had a little bit to dowith it, but also it was at the end
and statistically people dropoff towards the end, so maybe Not.
I don't know.
Anyway, pretty cool to see.
The Cold wars is actuallysecond I mentioned.
And that's more impressivebecause it came out in August as
opposed to January.
(30:18):
All right.
Some stats for the yearaccording to Spotify is that our
Listener base increased 82%with 85 more followers and 23 more
streams, which is cool.
Spotify, spot aside, Spotifysaid that we were listened to in
12 different countries, butour hosting site says 27, which is
(30:38):
awesome.
Outside the United States,we're most heard in Australia.
G'day, mate.
And in Japan.
Not doing that accent.
The uk.
Hello, Governor.
Canadian.
Yeah, so that's pretty sweet.
The most popular month fordownloads was January.
(30:58):
Shocking.
Absolutely no one is that.
Dropped off in July and thenagain in September because I had
some breaks in action.
Statistically we actually hadvery similar numbers in 2023.
The issue in that being thatonly half a year of 2023, which is,
you know, I started in what,late July and we technically did
(31:25):
Release episodes all 2024.
But you know, the, the glaringissue being my inconsistency and
overworking myself and justgood old fashioned procrastination.
Like I said, I think I'm in agood place now.
Keep focused, keep grinding,putting out solid stuff.
Next year.
I definitely like to keep astrue to four episodes a month as
I can, which I believe have agood rhythm going.
(31:47):
You know, pretty excited about that.
I would also like to be moreactive in both podcasts and creating
online content.
Like, you know, it's superhard to get in the groove of, but
once you do, you know, it'simportant to be on not only on YouTube
but on Tik Tok obviously andthen Instagram, like shorts, short
(32:09):
videos on all the things and Ineed to be more consistent with that.
But you know, got to spreadthe word however I can.
So doing that and you know,just getting out there in any way
possible, going to try to dosome like guest hosting or just guest
spotting on different podcaststo try and do some networking a little
(32:31):
bit.
And yeah, those are the goalsI have for this coming year.
You know, consistency is the focus.
All right, so we're, you know,gonna, we're gonna end with this
thing with typical yearbookfashion, right?
Remedial scholar class of 2024.
Class song we Didn't Start theFire by Billy Joel Inspired by the
(32:53):
Gunpowder Plot senior quote,which is keep questioning the past,
the future will.
Thank you.
You may have noticed thisbeing the new way I sign off, I thought
it was a nice way to end the episode.
And also way back when I wasstarting this podcast, the hosting
site I use actually had like,prepare to start your podcast, like
(33:13):
class almost.
It was like you watch thesevideos and learn different things
that, that are helpful, notnecessarily required, but helpful.
And one of the things ittalked about was a, you know, signing
off phrase.
And this is one that I wasthinking about and I was like, man,
that's kind of cheesy.
But then I was like, well, thewhole idea of having a podcast is
(33:34):
kind of cheesy anyway, somight as well go full tilt in it,
right?
Anyway, so that's, that's thatclass motto.
From ancient ruins to modernrevolutions, History is our guide.
I think this is more relatedto how I evolved from not only talking
about ancient stories, but nowincorporating more recent history,
which has opened my topic poolup quite nicely.
(33:56):
Lastly, there are some seniorquotes I would like to read off.
First one, the emus may havewon the battle, but they'll never
win the war.
Australian military, probably next.
Coal miner from the WestVirginia coal wars says pickaxes
and dynamite, the tools of change.
And Guy Fawkes from theGunpowder Plot says same.
(34:19):
And lastly, history is writtenby the victors and sometimes the
vandals, which was Gerard.
Gerard Jan Van Bladen, thevandal from When Paint Bleeds episode.
Anyway, as we wrap up theclass of 2024, I want to leave you
with some teasers of what willbe coming next year.
(34:40):
We're going to be going globalone more time through various means.
Obviously we're going to spendsome time in Russia, you know, maybe,
maybe go skiing or hiking.
Follow anothercircumnavigational attempt.
Is it the dark alleys of London?
Follow the radio waves onactual waves.
Take a trip to Mongolia.
(35:00):
You know, we got a lot, we gota lot going on.
Pretty excited about it.
If you are inspired by any ofthese or anything that I've talked
about today, you know,obviously feel free to suggest some
topics.
Worst that can happen is Inever do it.
So really no risk.
If you can't think of anythingspecific topic wise, you can also
just send in a theme.
(35:21):
I might be able to pullsomething from that.
Several episodes this yearcame from random moments like the
When Paint Bleeds episode andthe Gunpowder Plot.
So feel free.
I mean, I, I might be able tofind something you can comment on
Facebook, YouTube, click thelink tree in the link.
You can click the link treelink in the description and then
(35:41):
there's an email topicsuggestion button on the link tree.
Otherwise you can email it atremedial scholarmail.com also feel
free to comment your favoritemoment of the year.
Whether it's a topic, a randomjoke I made, cover art, whatever.
I'd love to hear from you.
So please feel free.
And thank you to everyone whohas made 2024 an incredible year
(36:02):
for me and the show.
Whether you laughed, cried,learned something new, I hope, I
hope these episodes broughthistory to life in a meaningful way.
Thank you for supporting methrough my inconsistencies, and thank
you for buying the merch andsharing the show.
Whenever until next year, keepquestioning the past.
The future will thank you.
Bye.
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