Mr. Bear's Violet Hour Saloon/The Secret Lives of Stuffed Animals

Show #252 on June 28, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads excerpts from Tyrese Coleman’s stunning “How to Sit.” What is remembered in the body, in the mind, in the heart? What survives over generations? Who tells our stories, and how do we transcend the limits of narration? Blurring the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, this memoir in stories and essays explores identity, grief, family history, and the truth of memory.

Show #251 on June 21, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads excerpts from Mary-Kim Arnold’s “Litany for the Long Moment,” a poetic excavation into adoption, identity, language, and the intricately complicated landscapes of family history and memory.

Show #250 on June 14, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from Roy G. Guzmán’s incandescent book “Catrachos.” These searing poems—on bodies and borders, identity and immigration, queerness and love, language and loss—will light your mouths and ears on fire.

Show #249 on June 7, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads the names of just a few of the Black lives killed by police, as well as an excerpt from a lecture on slavery by Frederick Douglass.

Show #248 on May 31, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from “Audubon’s Sparrow” by Juditha Dowd, a biography in poems exploring the life of Lucy Bakewell, wife of John James Audubon, and the question of what it means to sacrifice for someone else’s art.

Show #247 on May 17, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads stories from Chuck Augello’s “The Inexplicable Grey Space We Call Love.” Discover disappearing mothers, little green men, baby goats, mysterious packages, and more in these explorations of what we can and can’t know about the people and relationships threading through our lives.

Show #246 on May 10, 2020…In which Mr. Bear fills your plate with stories from Jules Archer’s “Little Feasts.” Gorge yourself on family secrets, lies, revenge, fierce women, and more in these tender and disturbing morsels of human relationships.

Show #245 on May 3, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads some more stories by Virginia Woolf: thoughts on the perils of reading, the role of women in society, the meaning of life, the passage of time.

Show #244 on April 26, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads stories by Virginia Woolf: a house lovingly haunted, an exploration of color, a day in Kew Gardens, an evening of music, a heron’s flight.

Show #243 on April 19, 2020…In which Mr. Bear concludes the performance of Sophocles’ “Antigone.” Spoiler alert: it’s a tragedy.

Show #242 on April 12, 2020…In which Mr. Bear begins to read Sophocles’ play “Antigone.” Antigone tries to give her brother a proper burial in defiance of the king’s unjust law and is captured and brought before Creon.

Show #241 on April 5, 2020…In which Mr. Bear continues to read from “Dear David,” Yael van der Wouden’s inspiring advice column at Longleaf Review. Dealing with rejection? Living in a global pandemic? This installment offers hope and compassion in its words of counsel.

Show #240 on March 29, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from “Dear David,” Yael van der Wouden’s marvelous advice column at Longleaf Review. Let Sir David Attenborough soothe you with animal facts—did you know that rats laugh when tickled?—and life insights that manage to be profound, cryptic, and healing.

Show #239 on March 15, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads the haunting work of Claire Polders. The weight—both anchoring and smothering—of mundane routines, the things and people fences keep in and out, the repercussions of killing a moth, a mother’s grief, a last meal: these stories examine the fragility and resilience of life, the uncertainty of our human existence.

Show #238 on March 8, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads two more fairy tales: “The Bird of Truth” and “The Frog and the Lion Fairy.”

Show #237 on March 1, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads two fairy tales, “The Nettle Spinner” and “The Girl-Fish.”

Show #236 on February 23, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads tenderly riveting work by Nikoletta Gjoni. The life of a “good girl” and the longing called forth by a piano, one man’s attempt to flee an Albanian prison camp, a new take on Lady Godiva, and the memories held in a cup of tea: these works explore freedom, family, friendship, folklore, and more.

Show #235 on February 16, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads haunting work by Morgan Talty. Cigarettes and coffee, rivers that will drown you, bridges to nowhere, cycles of pain, ghosts that won’t leave—these stories explore the weight of family secrets and sadness and trauma that crosses generations.

Show #234 on February 9, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads the mesmerizing work of Kelsey Ipsen—stories populated by aliens, dead foxes, bird-humans, wild girls, dangerous forests, and the dark heart of hope.

Show #233 on January 26, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from Jayne Martin’s “Tender Cuts,” a series of tiny flashes with big feelings populated by beauty queens, BFFs, parental ghosts, liberated women, sexy lobsters, and more.

Show #232 on January 19, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads selections by Dallas Lore Sharp on the “large, free, strong, fierce, wild soul of Winter.” Birds’ nests, tracks in the snow, tree skeletons, the microscopic world of snowflakes, life beneath the ice, blustery north winds, the hush of soft white falling, and more—here is a poetic mini-guide to exploring the season.

Show #231 on January 12, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from Cathy Ulrich’s haunting book, “Ghosts of You,” published by Okay Donkey Press. These tiny stories evoke whole worlds and restore humanity to the murdered ladies who too often become clichés in the headlines and pop culture that permeate our daily lives.

Show #230 on January 5, 2020…In which Mr. Bear kicks off the new year with work by L Mari Harris that tenderly digs into the heart and searches for redemption. Whether it’s a wife in her grief looking to rebuild her husband or a child growing up to learn that pinky swears don’t last forever, these characters show us the legacies of sorrow and love and hope carried over generations. What endures?

Show #229 on December 15, 2019…In which Mr. Bear reads the quietly unsettling work of Joy Baglio. One woman dates multiple men with the same name and seeks to find meaning in it. One lives with the beast that swallowed her husband. Another tries to hold on to her humanity in a lonely, apocalyptic landscape. But what they all share is a human desire for connection and understanding.

Show #228 on December 8, 2019…In which Mr. Bear reads K.C. Mead-Brewer’s gripping “Horse Girl” at Joyland Magazine, a perfect snow globe of a story glittering with the emotions of being thirteen and dealing with divorced parents, new homes, new school, new friends, new feelings, and a strange, new world of horses and knocks and loneliness and longing.