Hello everyone!
It’s still summer, and so it’s still hot! As much as I dislike the heat, John Adams really disliked the heat! He was so good at expressing just how miserable the heat made him that I had to quote him again. This quote is from a letter he wrote to his wife Abagail on June 29, 1777. I found this letter on founders.archives.org:
The Weather here begins to be very hot. Poor Mortals pant and sweat, under the burning Skies. Faint and feeble as children, We seem as if We were dissolving away. Yet We live along.
The Olympics
It never fails … I catch Olympic Fever every time the Olympics happen! And it’s always right away too - during the Opening Ceremony! There’s just something about seeing the athletes coming in … they’re so excited and happy! It gets me every time as I watch them all smile and wave, I get totally swept up in it! The Olympics in Paris this summer are no different! But I have to confess that I enjoyed Paris’ Opening Ceremony for an additional reason, and it’s extra dorky: the tribute to Assassin’s Creed!
I absolutely love all the Assassin’s Creed games! For those that don’t know, Assassin’s Creed is a video game series … there’s like 13 of them, and I’ve played them all. You play someone who’s an Assassin, and each game takes place in a different time period. So when you play, it’s like you’re running and parkouring around a city in the past. There’s one Assassin’s Creed game that takes place in Renaissance Italy, one that takes place in Ancient Egypt, as well as other time periods. One of my favorite Assassin’s Creed game is called ‘Unity’, and it takes place during the French Revolution. So when you play ‘Unity’, you’re running around the streets and rooftops of Paris during the French Revolution, and it’s really cool! I absolutely love ‘Unity’,! So seeing an Assassin run and parkour on the rooftops of actual Paris during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics was so cool to me!
The Tudors
We’re still watching and discussing episodes of the first season of The Tudors here on this Substack! At the time I’m writing this post, nobody has gotten BINGO yet, but a lot happens on this show, and I can’t imagine it’ll be very long before someone gets BINGO!
Some exciting things happening with Door Key
Door Key is very, very close to having five thousand downloads! This is a really exciting milestone, and to say thank you to you all for listening, I’ve made a bonus episode! This bonus episode has some of my favorite moments from earlier episodes. It will be released once Door Key reaches five thousand downloads. It was really fun for me to relisten to those moments, and I’m so excited for you all to hear the bonus episode!
*** This would be a great time to make sure you’re subscribed to Door Key wherever you get your podcasts so that you don’t miss this bonus episode when it’s published! ***
I also wanted to officially announce the 2024 Spooktacular! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I celebrate it by having a spooky theme to the history in Door Key episodes in October. I also release an episode each Thursday in October instead of the usual every other Thursday. 2024 happens to have five Thursdays, so there will be five Spooky themed episodes in October! 🎃👻
I. Can’t. Wait.
It’s been a while
Here’s a picture of Harrison!
xoxo, April
Zheng Yi Sao
I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to the episode about Zheng Yi Sao by now! Zheng Yi Sao lived in China during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and from humble beginnings ended up becoming not only history's most successful female pirate, but one of the most successful pirates in history, period. Zheng Yi Sao is the epitome of the phrase ‘Well-behaved women seldom make history’, and her story is fascinating!
You can listen to the episode about Zheng Yi Sao here:
Depicting Zheng Yi Sao
I’ll be honest, I had a bit of trouble with this episode … not in telling Zheng Yi Sao’s story, I mean, this is a story about pirates, so it’s a great story! But I like to put visual things on social media that add to the stories I tell in the episodes, so I can be like ‘Here’s a picture of the person I’m talking about’ … you get the idea. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible with Zheng Yi Sao - there’s isn’t even a portrait of her.
I’m not the only one who’s been intrigued by Zheng Yi Sao’s story. She’s made such an impression in history that there are characters in movies based off of her, and several short stories and books were written that are based on her, as well as manga and graphic novels. Zheng Yi So is also portrayed in television: there’s a character based on her in the 2015 Hong Kong drama Captain of Destiny, she’s portrayed in the 2022 Doctor Who special ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’, and she’s portrayed in season 2 of the Max series Our Flag Means Death.
Zheng Yi Sao’s inspiration can even be found in several video games! For the purposes of our discussion here, I’ll keep it to one: Jing Lang, an antagonist in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is inspired by Zheng Yi So. (Yes, there’s also a pirate themed Assassin’s Creed game - see, I told you Assassin’s Creed was cool!)
I wish there was some sort of visual documentation of Zheng Yi Sao, but I’m so glad that her story continues to be told, and I love the fact that she’s inspired so much imagination and art! I’m also really glad that I have a space here on this Substack to tell you about and share these different artistic depictions of Zheng Yi Sao!
This episode of Door Key was edited by Stephanie Fuccio of Coffeelike Media. (
). Steph also helps with the marketing of this podcast.