Broomology (BROOMS) with Cate O’Connell-Richards
Ologies with Alie Ward

Broomology (BROOMS) with Cate O’Connell-Richards

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 21, 20261 hr 21 min
  • Interview

Whisks and witches. Bristles and Shakers. Potions and prisons. From making brooms to jumping them, teacher, author, broomsquire, and Broomologist Cate O'Connell Richards gives us the overlooked history of how that broom got in your garage. So light a candle and tuck in for fibers, harvests, how-tos, angel wings, hawktails, besoms, labor laws, Broomcorn Johnnies, utopic communes, wedding traditions, oral histories, care tips and how everything is more interesting with context. Even brooms. Content warning as requested by the guest: when we talk about history, especially witches, there may be mentions of violence, death or sexuality. Visit...

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Sentence 8 of 12 · 0:16

You've got cinnamon brooms on the brain,

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Let's get into it with an artist,

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  • C10:16
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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 38%A2 34%B1 17%B2 9%C1 2%
  • 89% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 167 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 353 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

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0:00

Oh hey, it's the last guy at the campfire, pouring Pepsi on the umber. Allie Ward, did you ever think you'd have a whole episode on brooms?

0:09

Me neither, here we are. It continues to be Spooktober. You've got cinnamon brooms on the brain, witches in your windows.

0:17

Let's get into it with an artist, educator, historical researcher, and yes, a broom squire. Speaking of broom, the word comes from the plants,

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