"The beginning" philosophizes Plato, "is the most important part of the work."

"The beginnings of all things," writes Cicero, "are small."

"My partner," waxes Miranda Kerr, "is very traditional."

This week, Rach and Syd are talking origin stories, listing every flavor of La Croix in vocal fry, saying the word "ascot" twenty-nine times, and reading two Wikipedia articles that actually contain no origin story whatsoever. Forget everything you know about back-to-school party etiquette because we're moseying back to mid-century Bronx for the birth of hip-hop, and stop kissing on T.V. for a hot second so we can discuss the dawn of Hollywood censorship-- let's do a single Google search and get started.