What would you do if a secret cabal of the most powerful folks in the United States told you hey?

Let's start a coup. Back in the 1930s, a marine named Smetley Butler was all that stood between the US and fascism.

I'm Ben Bullard. I'm Alex Frinch. And I'm Smetley Butler. Join us for this sorted tale of ambition,

treason, and what happens when evil tycoons have too much time on their hands.

Listen to Let's Start A coup on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you find your favorite shows.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The Art Effect, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

focusing in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Chances are you've probably swung

a broom handle at a pinnata before. You know how this works. A brightly colored paper mache,

pottery, paper cardboard or cloth container is stuffed full of candy or other treats and raised

in lowered by a rope as a blindfolded contestant takes wax at it. After a few hysterical misses and

punishing hits, the container bursts and spills these treats on the ground to be snatched up by eager

hands. It's an activity in craft strongly linked with Mexican customs and is also so widely spread

that it's easy to just take for granted. I know I did till I visited the pinnata's exhibit

at the Minge International Museum in San Diego, California. Running through April 30th, 2023,

the exhibit celebrates pinnatas as both a traditional craft and a form of contemporary art,

sometimes aimed at social and political commentary. It was really an eye-opening exhibit for me

into both the material culture and the cutting humor of pinnatas and artists are continuing to do

a lot with this medium today. Another area I'd never personally explored is the origin of the

pinnata. A topic that the exhibit acknowledges is somewhat understudied. It sites a 2018 paper by

Yongchin published in the Fudan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences titled,

From the Dachinu to the Pinnata, tracing the alleged Chinese origin of a Mexican tradition.

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