"Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we're solving three of them. Why do children play in boxes full of sand? Why do rock bands pretend like the show is over when everybody knows they're coming back for an encore? And what was up with those school assemblies where you'd get to skip class to learn about...yo-yos?"
"The voices you'll hear in this episode include yo-yo masters "Dazzling Dave" Schulte and Dale Oliver, children's book author Rob Peñas, Pulitzer Prize-winning design critic Alexandra Lange, and music journalists Brian Wise, Michael Walker, and Travis Andrews. You can find all the music from the segment about encores in this YouTube playlist. This episode was produced by Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring's supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. We had additional production from Joel Meyer."
Children play in boxes of sand because sand offers tactile, open-ended materials that encourage digging, building, and cooperative role play while providing a contained, forgiving surface for motor experimentation. Rock bands feign endings to manufacture dramatic tension, prompt collective demand, and amplify the emotional payoff of an encore, a practice shaped by historical performance etiquette and audience expectation. School yo-yo assemblies functioned as live entertainment and marketing events that turned class time into spectacle, promoted product sales, and sometimes served as fundraising or promotional opportunities tied to broader trends in toy popularity.
Read at Slate Magazine
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