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I'm Jane Pauley, and this is Sunday morning. We'll begin today with the latest developments in last Wednesday's lethal attack on conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Robert Costa looks back on a sad week in America, a week raising troubling questions. After which, with Summer's End around the corner, we'll be taking you to the fair. State Fair, a treasured spectacle this time of year, and a great American tradition.
With Connor Knighton, we go to the front of the line. Our state fair is a great state fair. The state fair has something for everyone. Can't believe it is butter. This is crazy.
It's also art. One of the really exciting parts of the project is meeting people on the fairgrounds and then reaching out and telling them that we would like to bring in their work for the exhibition. We visit the first major exhibition focused on the craft found at fairs ahead on Sunday morning. He's a former child star who's gone on to become a celebrated actor, director, and podcaster. Lee Cowan catches up with the multi-talented Jason Bateman.
Did somebody say let's give him a skip? If you think you've seen Jason Bateman, just wait until you see him in his new Netflix series. Black Rabbit. This is when you intervene kicked me out of? I bailed you out.
Bailed you out. It's gritty. just like the place where they shot it. It all has to work together. Even the feel, even the colors of it.
You know, if colors are too saturated, you don't feel like anything bad could happen. But plenty of bad duh. Jason Bateman. Yeah. On Sunday morning.
He may be the youngest sibling in Hollywood's famous Wayans family, but throughout his career, Marlon Wayans has always found ways to truly distinguish himself. And as Tracy Smith will tell us, his latest venture is no exception. What's up? Marlon Wayans made a name for himself in comedy, but he always knew he had to evolve or fade away. I should have been written off years ago.
My career should have been gone. Why do you say that? Who lasts 35 years in this industry?
So many you're willing to sacrifice The answer might be in his new football horror film. It's football. Family. Good. A game changer for Marlon Wayans later on Sunday morning.
Did you? Tony DeCoppol will be taking us on a deep dive into the resilient history of our country's most essential document, the United States Constitution. Nancy Chan looks at the life and death struggle. of a house plant. And more.
This is a Sunday morning for the 14th of September, 2025. And we'll be right back. To start us off this morning, A look back at another troubling week of violence in our country. Wednesday's assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. We've asked our Robert Costa for some perspective.
What's the state of the American soul today? I think that We are in a dangerous place. There's never been a once upon a time. In American history, there's not going to be a happily ever after. But there are moments that you and I could agree, we would like to see replicated.
And this is not one of them. For John Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of The Soul of America, The Battle for Our Better Angels, this past week has been disturbing. and all too familiar.
So often you are asked at these moments to put it in context. What's the context here? I think the context is political violence erupts in America when there is an existential question. Who is an American? who deserves to be included in We the People.
or all men being created equal. When that is intention. when we don't have common agreement about that. Then If you look at it historically, Violence erupts. And on Wednesday.
It did. At Utah Valley University, the crack of a gunshot once again rattled America. Oh my god. Four, go, run, run, hold it! Charlie Kirk.
just 31 and a prominent conservative activist was assassinated. as he engaged in public debate. By Thursday, a suspect was in custody. 22 year old Utah resident Tyler Robinson. And there is one person responsible.
for what happened here. And that person is now in custody. and we'll be charged soon. and will be held accountable. On Friday, Erica Kirk, the His widow and mother to their two children surrounded.
spoke out. No one. will ever forget my husband's name, and I will make sure of it. Kirk had a fervent following on the right. and was a key organizer in President Donald Trump's movement.
Trump Is the bodyguard of Western civilization. He also had his critics who called him an incendiary voice. The entire Democrat Party project is how quickly can we turn America into a third world hellhole. His death has become the latest convulsion. in a divided country.
We do not want to be. in a place where because you disagree with someone, you pick up a gun. That is not what the country can be. And if it is? It's something different.
It's not America. It's not the America we want. There have been numerous acts of political violence since last summer. The assassination attempts on former President Trump at the time in 2024, the fire bombing. Of the Pennsylvania governor's home, Democrat Josh Shapiro, the killing of Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota.
The murder of Israeli embassy officials in Washington. a police officer outside the CDC. in Atlanta, and that's just to name a few. Are we in a particular time? in America when all of this seems to keep happening.
We are. Self-evidently. And I think it's because We are experiencing an era in which We are debating not only the means of politics, but the purpose of politics. Are we going to see each other as neighbors? Meacham says the purpose of America is an urgent cause.
for leaders and for citizens. When we lose the capacity. to engage in argument and dissent and debate. peaceably. We are breaking faith.
with the American Covenant. And the American covenant is that we live in contention with each other But we're not at each other's throats. What can political leaders do to keep that covenant? make the case. Tell the story.
What do you want the country to be? This is why history matters, I think, more than ever. Because there's not a hell of a lot going on in the present that you want to say, yeah, we want more of that. Right? You want to tell the story.
of Omaha Beach. You want to tell the story of the Pettus Bridge. You want to tell the story of Gettysburg. Because those were moments where imperfect people actually created a more perfect union. It's not that they were superhuman.
Quite the opposite. They got through it. They got through it barely. But even if Americans can just barely carry on this weekend. John Meacham says We must.
If they could do it, then we can too. If we decide that This country is about a more perfect union It is about descent. It is about respecting each other. And it is not about hunting each other down. To help us continue the countdown to next year's two hundred fifti birthday of these United States, Tony DeKoppol takes a closer look at our nation's most enduring document.
Ladies and gentlemen. It was 1986 when Looney Tunes aired this public service announcement featuring Bugs Bunny. For 200 years, amendments have allowed our Constitution to grow with a country. The 13th, for instance, put an end to slavery.
Well, the 19th gave women the vote. It was intended. To be amended, the Constitution That was then This is now You have to go back more than 50 years to find a meaningful change to the Constitution. How long can we? work as a country.
without updating, reviving our Constitution.
Well, the real fear that the founders had was that we would stop listening to each other. Jeffrey Rosen heads the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. They thought self-government was hard, and that crucially requires deliberation and debate. Before anyone could even consider a national constitution, of course, there was the Declaration of Independence, ratified in 1776. and the Articles of Confederation agreed to in seventeen seventy seven.
a full decade before the new Constitutional Convention. Why did we need it? Why wasn't the Declaration and the Articles of Confederation enough? Support for the Constitution and its ratification was pretty slender. Julipore has written more than a dozen works of American history.
Her latest, We the People, describes a constitution ratified by the people it governed. and designed to be changed by the very same. In other words, we aren't stuck. with any of it. The U.S.
Constitution includes, in addition to the three equal branches of government and a schedule of regular elections. A mechanism for change to the Constitution itself. They came up with this Article V of the Constitution, which is the amendment provision, which had been insisted on by the people. People were like: if you're going to have a written document, we need to. have the ability to amend it ourselves.
In fact, Laporte says, Though we often think of the Constitution as the final draft, It was always designed Many Americans might assume that the Framers finished their work in Philadelphia in 1787 and thought, great, it will never change again. But clearly they expected it to be revised constantly. Yeah, they absolutely did. And remember, like a whole bunch of them refused to sign it because they didn't think it was good enough. Before the states would agree to ratify it, she says.
Some insisted on revisions. The result, a set of amendments, we now know as the Bill of Rights. It was a huge debate. There were more than 200 amendments proposed by the states. This early draft at the New York Public Library shows 12 of those proposed amendments.
The final version, ratified in 1791, was whittled down to 10. including some of the bedrock ideas of modern America. freedom of speech and religion. a right to bear arms. and for the accused the promise of a fair trial.
The Constitution actually is supposed to be, Hamilton said, it's like a sunbeam. But the Constitution was also a tangle of compromise and omission. none more tragic than the compromise over the institution of slavery. and the exclusion of women from political life. Rosen says, there was one concession, though, that James Madison, one of the document's framers.
would not make. He refused to admit into the Constitution an endorsement of slavery. He said the idea that there could be property in men wouldn't be written into the Constitution because they want to leave it up to future generations to eradicate slavery. Though it took a hundred years and a civil war, America at last had what some call its second founding. adding amendments that, among other things, abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship to the formerly enslaved and gave all men the right to vote regardless of race.
This is just an amazing artifact. Meredith Mann is one of the curators of the library's upcoming celebration of the country's 250th Anniversary. This is the roll call for the House of Representatives.
So this is the sheet of paper where they kept track of who voted yay, who voted nay for the passage of the 13th Amendment. It was just this incredible day. Galleries were packed. They even had women in the galleries. Frederick Douglass's son, Charles Redmond, was in the gallery, and the house just was nearly.
blown over by the burst of energy. It's trying to make the promise of the Declaration that's absent from the Constitution real. Exactly. It is up to us! These days, even though the language of the Constitution hasn't changed lately.
The interpretations? still have. Go ahead. No ice in our stage! No fear!
No hate! We still reinterpret it. quite regularly. And by we I mean the Supreme Court. That's absolutely right.
And none of the founders expected constitutional change to come mostly from the Supreme Court.
Well, so I find this actually to be one of the craziest facts. The Constitution does not give the Supreme Court the right to determine the constitutionality of a law passed by Congress. They just... assert that right. They did.
Rosen says the Constitution is still the answer to our problems, not the cause. and yet, for the moment, he worries about how it's being used. Checks and balances. They're in there, they matter. How are they working?
There's a broad agreement that checks and balances are not working now the way they were supposed to. Congress has stopped acting and refuses to check presidents of its own Parties and the courts have become vastly more powerful than the founders anticipated. in deciding almost every political question and insisting that they have the last word.
So whether or not you like what's going on in our politics today, I think you have to say this is not what the founders intended. The founders never claimed to have created a perfect country. But in the Constitution, They did try to pass on the tools. to build a more perfect Union. There are people who think the Constitution is so old at this point, it has no bearing on the life of our country today.
To that you say what? The Constitution was written in the 18th century, but it was expressing principles vindicated as recently as yesterday's news. The basic idea. That a president should not be a king, that power corrupts, that we are a government of laws. These are the ancient.
ideas of freedom and every country that has forgotten them has descended into dictatorship and tyranny. It is historically irresponsible. to dismiss the Constitution as outdated, it's absolutely eternal and timeless. For millions, it's the very essence of the season. A trip to the state fair.
Connor Knighton has invited us to tag along. Our state fair is a great state fair. Don't miss it, don't even delay. It's dollars to donuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state. While there isn't a blue ribbon for best state fair, there's a strong case that Iowa has the most iconic state fair in America.
Welcome to the Iowa State Fair. Enjoy your day. Held in the middle of the country in the middle of August. There is rhubarb in every layer. It's inspired novels and movie musicals.
Take it easy, blue boy. Your supper will be here any minute. It's where politicians make pilgrimages to eat all manner of strange foods and mingle with the crowds. The first Iowa Fair was held back in 1854. Uh Today the rides And the livestock.
And the chainsaw demonstrations. They all make the most noise. But the fair also has a quieter craftier side. There it is. Inside sprawling exhibition spaces, everything from hand-loomed rugs to stone jewelry to pottery thrown on sight are on display.
Artists demonstrate and sell their handiwork. And whether you make detailed dollhouses or wooden woodland creatures, there's a chance to take home a ribbon. I did the apron category. Melissa Hawk won five. I did the 18-inch doll costume or clothing.
I did a bear non-jointed, so it's bears that don't have movable arms or legs. And then there's a separate category for bears that do? Yeah, because people may. I don't know why I asked. Of course, there is.
There are categories for everything at a state fair.
Well, you're kind of anxious to see how you've done. Wood Turner Steve Yeager won six ribbons for his various natural, stylized, and segmented bowls. Everybody's got their own niche and You know, there's some nice stuff in this bill. And now there's some nice stuff in this building. The Renwick Gallery, part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., has just opened their exhibition on State Fairs Growing American Craft, featuring a collection of works from fairs around the country.
When most people think of state fairs, they think of the rides and the lights and the food. And most people aren't thinking of the craft competitions. But historically, craft has been folded into the makeup of state fairs. Curator Mary Savig wanted to give the museum treatment to works of art which, originally, weren't considered museum-worthy. Historically, state fairs were places where it would be the only place where someone could exhibit their work.
When state fairs were established in the 19th century, they were the only place where, say, a woman could show her quilts. In addition to special commissioned works, the exhibition also highlights artists like the late renowned sculptor Robert Arneson, who got a start doing pottery demonstrations at the California State Fair. He had his breakthrough moment at the fair thinking about what is the function of art, what is the function of pottery, and he turned it on its head. Many of the items are functional. jars of preserved fruits and vegetables or leather saddles.
Some are purely decorative, like these giant boots from Texas. Or this crop art portrait of Dolly Parton made out of grasses and seeds. that link between agriculture And art really comes together in a fair where some of the art is being made out of an agricultural product or making. There's a lot of examples of textiles in this exhibition that are made from wool that the artist raised the sheep, or baskets where the artist had to go gather the cedar or the river cane or the sweetgrass to make it. When you were assembling this, were there any non-negotiables for you where you're like, this has got to be part of it?
Um I I was pretty adamant about the butter cow. Sculptor Sarah Pratt created a life-size cowl on site at the Renwick with the help of her daughters, kept inside of a cooled glass container. She has some practice. She's been artfully playing with her food for more than 30 years back in Iowa. It's really fun to hear people bring their kids and their kids will say, Buttercow!
The annual buttercow is a star attraction at the fair. This is a jersey, my favorite.
Okay, and wha why jersey for you? I just love jerseys. They're the sweetest cows, in my opinion. They have very expressive faces. They're very curious.
It's a tradition that's more than a century old. The late Norma Duffy Lyon, Pratt's mentor, was a sculpting celebrity. All told, more than 1,600 pounds of butter are used to create a display case full of high calorie works. It used to be really challenging to invest so much time knowing it's only going to be up for 11 days and then to take it down.
So it's been a process to be comfortable with that. But It's a great practice in just accepting the now. Like we are now, like this is something to enjoy now. Savor it. As part of the Smithsonian's exhibition, Pratt's work can now be enjoyed for months by an audience far beyond her home state of Iowa.
Mary Savig believes that in every state, Just beyond the funnel cake and the fried Twinkies, there are artisans who deserve national recognition. They know they can go to the fairs. They'll always be seen and recognized there. And we're hoping to bring that into the museum and show that this really virtuoso work has been recognized at state fairs and should be recognized by art museums as well. Shopping is hard, right?
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Marlon Wayans has starred in some of Hollywood's biggest comedies, but as Tracy Smith tells us, for his next film he's trying something completely different, using skills he learned at the place where it all began. Just a stone's throw from the concert halls of New York's Lincoln Center. There's another place where creative dreams come true. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, a launching pad for the most talented teens in New York. and the real life place that inspired that movie.
I sing the body electric. I celebrate the meat to come. Liza Minelli studied here.
So did Billy D. Williams, Jennifer Aniston. Timothy Chalamay. And Adrian Brody. And look at two-time Oscar winner.
Look at that. Make me so proud. We used to give him wedgies. Brody's former classmate, Marlon Wayans, is up there too. Here's you.
Class of 1990. I made the Wall of Fame. As an actor, writer, and producer, Wayans is behind some of the best-loved projects in recent memory. Yo. Hello, Shorty.
What are you doing? Like the scary movie franchise, a comic satire of horror films. It's like I seen this all before. They had a killer at your old high school, Shorty? Nah, it was in this movie Scream.
Same dialogue and everything. I said, Ew. There have been five scary movies, some without the weigh-ins, but they're back at the helm for the upcoming number six. and when he's not making movies, he tours on the live stand up comedy circuit. He also turns out streaming comedy specials like clockwork.
Hugs! When was the last time you took a day off? Ah. Ha ha. Probably a year.
that I had a day off. probably three years since I had a vacation. What are you chasing? I don't know if I'm chasing or if I'm running from something. And for his latest role, he had to do both.
If I had to be great just to be good, imagine what I had to do to be the greatest of all time. In the new psychological horror film, him, a rookie quarterback played by Tyreek Withers, wants to be the greatest. You are home, brother. It's a pleasure. Come here, man.
Great meeting you. That game against state, you saw that? Gonna arm like a cannon. Marlon Wayans is an aging football superstar who's gonna help him. Just gonna toss the ball around a little.
At first, he's a likable coach. What are you willing to sacrifice? But he morphs into something evil. Are you the devil? In this?
No, I think I I'm I'm just one of the people that the devil uses to Entice the people to sell their soul. Would you like to be the greatest baseball player in all history? The notion of trading your soul for athletic immortality is one of the all time great storylines. You might recall damn Yankees with a hopeful fan striking a deal with the devil. Oh, uh Do you smoke?
Hey. How'd you pull that off? I'm handy with fire. Is it hot? Oh, too slow.
and as the devil's advocate in him. Wayan's character puts the rookie quarterback through hell. If you wanna be the GOAT, you have to take it from me. The movie seems like Oh, you're selling your soul to the devil. The devil exists every day, everywhere.
At least 20 times a day, you're going to be Face with God. What a dub.
So what Choice. Everything you do, there's a choice. You know the saying. God family football. For me.
It's football. Family. God. It's a big change for someone raised on comedy. Marlon Wayans is the youngest of ten siblings in the comedy dynasty known as the Wayans family.
He often works with his brothers, like when he teamed up with Sean as an undercover FBI agent in the 2004 cult favorite, White Chicks. the Beverly Hope Billies. Squeeze oh no, you. Yeah. Enjoy your parents.
Enjoy your loved ones. As long as you can live and breathe, please. Family is still the bedrock of Wayan's life. and the passing of some close relatives and friends over the past few years hit especially hard. as he described in his 2024 special, Good Grief.
I've been dodging depression for the last three years. I lost my mama three years ago. Let me tell y'all something. Ain't no pain, nothing like losing your mama. Do you think losing all these people in such a short span of time?
That pain informs your acting. Because I used to have to manufacture tears. My mother died.
So I got the mm-hmm. It's right there. It's right behind my eyes. I don't need 20 minutes to go think about stuff no more. Get your finger.
Gala! Wayans has learned how to turn his personal loss into dramatic power. he was told he was the only one considered for his role in him. a sign that his time may have finally come. It took me, me doing the work for 53 years.
to feel Special. You didn't feel special? I felt like I was working towards on And now you feel like that something is here? I feel like it's never there. But he's getting closer.
To date, Marlon Wayen's movies alone are said to have grossed nearly $2 billion, and there are more on the way. But he says he'll never forget the unique school where it all started. I always love this city. I always love this school. This is my baby for life.
I hope these kids know how good they got it. And it's a place he almost didn't get to go. Your dad didn't want you to come here? No. Mm, no, my dad was, um He was super religious and, you know, kind of a homophobe.
He didn't want me wearing tights. 'Cause you have to wear tights when you come into school. The late LaGuardia drama teacher Peter Treitler gave him permission to wear sweatpants instead, a little thing that changed Marlon Weyen's life forever. mister Treitler's words are still alive in Marlon's heart. He said, I'll make a deal with him.
She goes to the school. Do you work harder than anybody else here? And you'd be special. Young people need people that believe in them. and see they're great.
But young people got to do the work.
So they they can see their grade.
Well that's the thing is you took that and ran with it. He said still running with it. Still. The road from childhood stardom to adulthood has been anything but easy for Jason Bateman. But now the actor-director podcaster is thriving.
Lee Cowan has our Sunday profile. Over the years, this simple building in Lower Manhattan. has been a lot of things. a grocery store, a restaurant, even a brothel. Built in seventeen ninety four, it's still standing.
Barely. We should walk through up there. I don't know if they'll let us, but I got you if you got me.
Okay.
So this is this is the Main ends up being the main restaurant. Section for actor and director Jason Bateman. Don't step through the floor. This building, seemingly held together by nothing more than decades of dust, our cleaning crew is just terrible. Perfectly fit the mood.
for his latest Netflix project. It's called Black Rabbit. Pirates used to drink here. There's like a brothel upstairs. It stinks.
Yeah, of course I stink. I mean, it actually smells benefic. I gotta say when I first started watching Black Rabbit, And you walked out. My wife and I looked at each other and we're like, wait, is that this Jesus Christ Superstar? It's the story of two restaurateurs who are brothers.
One button up, played by Jude Law, the other screwed up. Played right. Then you go down to Junior, take a loan on the house, you bet it again. Lost it all. And then you skip town.
Sound right?
Sounds like the least favorable way you could possibly phrase it, but yeah, you're all caught up. It can get pretty dark. Yeah, and you weigh me down. That said, you'll still recognize what we've all come to expect from Jason Bateman. Is Rye?
Post dry delivery. And this of course is Juno. Like the city in Alaska. No. Huh?
His characters are usually so subtle. even while wearing giant crab claws. That's hang on one second.
Sometimes I do need to. Um and drink it like it's cocoa. My personal preference of watching acting is watching an actor not act. I love watching the handful, and I don't think it's two handfuls, it's like a handful of actors that are really, really good at morphing into other people. But I really like the challenge of trying to do the opposite of that, which is completely Complete naturalism.
Less is more, I guess. Less is more. Less is better. It's a delicious honeyground. He grew up around lights and cameras.
He was a natural. Will you welcome Joseph Bateman? Jason, first of all, I owe you an apology. I've called you Joseph twice tonight for some reason. It's all right, Jack.
His older sister, Justine Bateman, We got to know on family ties. I've got a problem. We all know that, Mallory, but admitting it is the first step. Two child stars. in the same family.
I took to it. really quickly. Are you alright? There was some crying on Little House in the Prairie. The fact that I was able to get myself to cry shocked the hell out of me.
Yeah, I thought, wow, this is real actor stuff, you know. There was a lot of proving himself, though, along the way. As he got older, acting auditions weren't what they once were. Neither was his liver. There was a decade of deep anxiety that was probably exacerbated by the amount of partying I was doing, which, you know, can feed paranoia and all that kind of crap.
You've been sober, what, 25 years now? I think so. Yeah, right around 25, I think. I no longer do the drinking and the scarface stuff. But there are other things that have been legalized that I think are just right.
Yeah. Did somebody say let's give him a skip? What is the matter? With me, clumsy Clara. Totally cool.
Didn't feel a thing. You know, Mom, I'm crazy about this aspirin. Can't believe we give it to children. Had it not been for landing arrested developer, he says, we might never have heard from him again. literally very, very, very close to liquidating what little cash I had.
putting it in a duffel bag. Going down to the Bradley Terminal at LAX, the International Terminal, looking up on the ticker board. finding a city that looked interesting and just unplugging and going there and plugging in. Rocky thin polite. Hang on, maybe.
While on arrested development, he was directing as well.
Something he'd started trying at just 18. on a multi-cam sitcom he starred in called The Hogan Family. As far as I know The chemical formula for table salt is R2D2. Playing the guitar on that cut. But it was the Netflix series Ozark that got his skills behind the camera really noticed.
And if I want to put all $7,945,400 into a hot tub, Get buck naked and play Scrooge McDuff. That is 100% my business.
Now where's my money? He got a Primetime Emmy Award for directing, and the Directors Guild nominated him for another. I do still love acting a lot. But this directing thing, it's enormously challenging. In the best way.
His eldest daughter now wants to go into directing too. He has two of them, with his wife Amanda. Fun fact, she's singer Paulanka's daughter. That man? Uh Close enough, Bateman.
Gotta tell you, the Sue really bunches up in the old back cave, if you know what I mean. Having insurance. Bateman has never taken himself too seriously, even making fun of one of the most lucrative parts of his career. Go home, Bateman. Do a podcast or something.
That's hurtful. Welcome to Smartlist. That podcast is very real thing. Boy, that music, it doesn't matter what mood I'm in. I just automatically just put little wings on my feet.
It started during COVID as a way for him and his two best friends, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. to stay in touch. Why are you not wearing headphones? How can you hear us? I don't understand how that works.
Yeah, why are you not wearing headphones? And there's no microphone. I hear with my eyes. I hear with my eyes. Got it.
Like a gecko. Today, Smartlist regularly ranks among the five most listened to podcasts in the U.S. It's a mind-blower to us three. Is it? Oh yeah, I mean it's we're just we're doing this.
Thank you for watching this. This is just two idiots talking, but hopefully we're entertaining you. He's a natural conversationalist. Probably why the podcast does so well. Where are you?
One day, he says. He'd like to take that conversation. to the stage. I see myself hopefully doing theater here when I'm a little older. I'd love to see you do something on Broadway.
Oh man. That's so cool. I would just absolutely love it. There's always a what's next about Jason Bateman, whether it's wanting to try Broadway or doing a podcast. or directing.
Really the real tangible commodity for me is confidence and and a little bit more clarity about what you can handle. And I think that's what we're all here to do, you know, see what you got, run your car as fast and as safe as you can, but run it. You've been doing this so long, and you've had had such a long career and a and a varied one. What chapter do you think This would be.
Well, Lee, I hope it's halftime. I'd love to live to 100, just because it's such a nice round number, you know? Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One.
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If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com slash podcast. Terms apply. You say you don't have a green thumb? Nancy Chen suggests all of us turn over a new leaf.
Here was a different kind of funeral in New York City. where there are mourners. and memories shared. As what once leafed left. The center of this solemn occasion?
Plants. The house kind. What do you think was the fatal mistake for your plant that I bought it? But I tried to care for it. That was the fatal mistake here.
It takes a lot of malpractice and negligence and not everyone can, you know, live up to that, but here we are. It got some, I don't know, disease and died a very slow death. What presumably once sprouted with promise. Let's take a look at the roots. Have all but withered away.
No. No, not salvageable. What do you think? Is it actually dead? Even a volunteer plant doctor couldn't perform a miracle.
What do you think this plant's life was like? I think it grew up really, really happy and then it flourished. And then it met me. Yeah. According to one study, the average plant parent, a term proudly first adopted by millennials, ends up killing seven of them.
We're not Hiding the fact that we kill the plant. You're putting it out in the light. Quite literally, because when this thing happens to you, we don't have to really be shameful about it. The idea for this foliage farewell took root a year ago. When art director Doe Lee came back from a three-week long vacation, to a dying and forgotten snake plant.
It was all droopy and I was panicking. and then I start watering a lot. Sadly, that's a no-no when it comes to any plants because there's a thing called root rots. The two major reasons that people kill plants is over and under watering. We have evolved with plants and so- Melinda Knuth studies human behavior from a horticultural perspective at North Carolina State University.
How many houseplants do you personally have? In my office I have fifty-five. Does that mean that you have kept all of your plants alive? No, not at all. While gardening has long existed, Canute says plant parenthood started around the 2008 housing crash, when millennials began substituting plants for pets or even children.
They say, okay, this is my calathea. And with this one, I've named it Susan. And so they're going very specific and hyper-focusing on. Singular plants rather than a collective vision that's more common with gardeners.
So they really are taking care of each and every plant like a child. Oh, yes. Most of the time, if a plant dies or has a problem, People go straight to, oh, it's my fault. And perhaps it has nothing to do with you, and it has to do with other circumstances around you. With more businesses offering plant care services like plant sitting or coaching.
As long as these drainage holes at the bottom are completely submerged, your plant is going to be able to absorb that water. It just goes to show keeping our plants green can earn a lot of the other green. Valued at $20 billion last year. The global indoor plant market is expected to reach 30 billion by 2032. With love and support and care, you know, it's growing new leaves.
Back in New York City, Do Lee has turned a new leaf. and now owns 15 plants. He's also planning for another funeral this fall. For when a houseplant dies, There can only be room. for growth.
Once you know the fun of growing these plants, I think it keeps you going. As we end another violent week in America, we have thoughts this morning from veteran journalist James Fallows, author of twelve books and the man behind Breaking the News on Substack. The ordinary days or weeks roll by. Then, in an instant, We know that things have changed. and we're on an unknown path.
These moments of sudden awareness that history is happening around us. but confusion about its shape and theme. are unforgettable. and painful. Many of today's Americans can remember the shock of such a moment 24 years ago.
when the World Trade Towers came down.
Now, with the gun killing of Charlie Kirk, following the gun killings of Melissa and Mark Hortman in Minnesota, and the many other escalating acts of US political violence. on top of endless school shootings. we have entered another such time. Political gun murders have written too much of American history. from Abraham Lincoln onward.
But I can remember when routine political violence was a major factor in daily life and in government. President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time. John F. Kennedy was murdered.
Then Martin Luther King. followed by Robert F. Kennedy. Gerald Ford survived two close-range shooting attempts. Rommel Reagan was shot, but recovered.
Around the world politics and violence merged. What do I take from those times? Two things. One is that the cycle of political violence is far more damaging, self-reinforcing, and long-lasting. than people who have not lived through it can imagine.
Loose talk about vengeance and civil war is playing with catastrophe. The more powerful the speaker, the more dangerous it is. Real American life is far less fractured than the polarized warfare of social media. Our real leaders are the ones reminding us of that now. We the people can respond.
by seeking more real-world connection with those around us. The other is to be wary of our immediate reactions unless they are generous. 24 years ago, New Yorkers rushed to support one another. Just days after that attack. in his finest moment as president.
George W. Bush went to the Islamic Mosque in Washington. to reassure American Muslims. And on April 4th, nineteen sixty eight. Two hours after learning of Martin Luther King's death, two months before he would be murdered himself, Robert F.
Kennedy gave impromptu the finest speech of his life. from the pain and uncertainty of his times. He might have been speaking directly to us. in hours. We can do well in this country.
We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. But we will and we will have difficult times in the future. And what dedicate ourselves? to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago.
To tame the savageness of man. and make gentle. The life of this world. Thank you for listening. Please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning.
Tulsa's my home not. Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone stars in the Paramount Plus original series, Tulsa King. His distillery is a very interesting business. And we gotta know the energy. From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Landman.
What are you saying? If you think you're gonna take me out It's gonna be really Tulza King, new season streaming September 21st, exclusively on Paramount Plus.
Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
Someone is trying to frame us. Until our names are cleared... and we're fugitives from Interpol. Like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks. Espionage?
You still as good a shot as you used to be? is their love language. We like to walk that fine line between techno-thriller Romantic comedy. We make up our own rules. NCIS Tony and Ziva, now streaming on Paramount Plus.
Mm-hmm.
