This episode we are going to do something a little different. At the suggestion of multiple listeners, Emily and I have both watched Armageddon and Deepwater Horizon! Armageddon because: Drilling and Space and we thought it was going to be a fun movie. Spoiler Alert it opened up some existential questions about women's portrayal in the media and what that means for our daughter! Then we watched Deepwater Horizon because we wanted to know what Marky Mark knows about Oil Rigs! It turns out he was the smartest person on the boat and Emily has a theory about a different Iconic film that we will discuss at length.

We will talk about how closely the movie seems to match real life events and then get into the actual explosion and what they think caused the disaster. Next episode we should be back to our normally scheduled programming but Let us know what you think about this format we may be mixing in some of these looser episodes in the future. Hope you enjoy our Movie Night!

“A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout” By Carl Safina-2011

“Armageddon” Directed by Michael Bay (1998) Starring Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi ect..

“Deepwater Horizon” Directed by Peter Berg (2016) Mark Wahlberg Kurt Russel Kate Hudson John Malkovich

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The BP Gulf Oil spill is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the Petroleum Industry. The spill lasted for 87 days resulting in a conservative estimate of 3.19 Million Barrels or 134 Million Gallons of petroleum into the gulf of Mexico. Leading to over 1300 miles of oiled shoreline and 43,000 mile oil slick on the oceans surface. Not to mention the millions of gallons of oil dispersed under the water.

The breakout began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizons Oil Drilling Platform. Leading to the deaths of 11 crewmen and the injury of 17 serious injuries.

Because of the chaos of the disaster and the subsequent fumbled clean up effort. The exact circumstances of the explosion are a bit foggy but what we do know paints a picture of bad management, poor decision making, faulty equipment and materials, and a general sense of recklessness and need for cost cutting.

This will be a story of fingerpainting, ineffective fixes, and ham-fisted coverup attempts all while tens of thousands of barrels of toxic sludge get pumped into a marine ecosystem that is pivotal for hundreds of species that come from near and far to rest in the calm warm waters.

Sources:

“A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout” By Carl Safina (2011)

“A Very Brief History of Offshore Drilling” Costalreview.org by Frank Tursi (2015) https://coastalreview.org/2015/06/a-very-brief-history-of-offshore-drilling/

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This week we wrap up the Spinach King! We get into the demise of the company and the sons trying to declare their father incompetent, while he tries to claim they've kidnapped him! It's a wild ride but we're going to button up all the loose ends and finish all our spinach.

Sources: The Spinach King The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook

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The Spinach Saga continues! We get into the Seabrook families involvement in WW2, the expansion of quickfrozen vegetables and the wonder of the mylar bag, the Japanese internment camps sending workers to New Jersey, movie stars, a stroke, skinny dipping and more!

The Seabrooks are peaking and demise is coming soon, but this episode gets into the hey day. Because war is always good for someone's wallet.

Sources:The Spinach King The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook

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This week we continue the story of C.F. Seabrook and the family farm. We discuss how they started innovating with frozen vegetables, using the expertise of Clarence Birdseye, how they changed the farm to make progress, and the path leading to C.F.'s youngest son Jack taking over.

This episode also gets into the strike of 1934, when black and white workers banded together to strike for higher wages and fairer treatment, and how the Seabrook farm, with the help of the police force, vigilantes and the KKK tried to suppress the movement. Plus communism!

Sources:The Spinach King The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook

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Welcome back! This week we start our series on the Seabrook family, and C.F. Seabrook, the Spinach King and "Henry Ford of irrigation"! The Seabrooks were a farming dynasty that peaked in the 1950s, and at one point were shipping a third of the vegetables in the United States, only to lose it all a few years later.

This episode we get into their humble origins, how irrigation changed their fortunes, their weird family dynamics, the racism that permeated the industry, and break down how farming has evolved in America in the past hundred years.

Sources:The Spinach King The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook

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We are finally Wrapping up the story of the historic Womens National Soccer Team's Fight for equal pay! The end of this series and this episode is all about how you can work really hard and be really good at your job and not get recognized for what you have done. Then you can try and work within the system, use reason and logic and still hit a brick wall over and over again.

You unify the players, gain a huge following and fan base, get the media on your side but still go nowhere.

And then somehow almost miraculously a perfect combination of new leadership, lawsuits, Public pressure, and Persistence finally pays off. There are just so many moments when you think that they are going to finally get better compensation then it falls through but I promise by the end of this EP there will be a big change!

Sources:

“A Greater Goal: The epic Battle for Equal pay in Women’s Soccer-And Beyond” By Elizabeth Rusch(2024)

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Welcome Back! Sorry for the delay; babies are tough, but we are getting back on track!! This week we are talking about common injuries faced by professional soccer players and the tragic outcomes for those players who unlike many other men's professional athletes have no safety net because of their habitually low career income.

We will talk about a heated battle over astroturf in the canadian worlds cup and a few more examples of Women's Professional Soccer being under valued and under invested in.

The team will officially become more popular and more viewed by the men's team. Bring in more eyes and more revenue but still US Soccer refuses to pay them fairly. A new passionate consultant named Becca Roux joins the fight on the side of the Women's national team and helps kick the fight up into high gear.

Eventually lawsuits start to fly and the players band together to make a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Frankie really hopes you all enjoy this episode! Thanks for listening!

Sources:

“A Greater Goal: The epic Battle for Equal pay in Women’s Soccer-And Beyond” By Elizabeth Rusch(2024)

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