Podcasts about aunt julia

In this episode of Nothing But The Poem podcast, our usual host Samuel Tongue goes in deep on two weel kent poems by Norman MacCaig, one of Scotland's most loved and influential poets. Norman MacCaig famously, and self-deprecatingly, described writing his poems as "one fag" poems or "two fag" poems. Nothing could be further from the truth for readers, who can spend hours returning again and again to his best work. The two poems featured here are generally considered among Maccaig's finest. Rich in observation with similes to die for Aunt Julia is often rated as MacCaig's most popular poem, with it's famous opening lines:   Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.   Stars and Planets is the other poem featured in this podcast. A short cosmic stunner of a poem with more of MacCaig's surprising similes and deft observations. Samuel Tongue and the Friends of the SPL group had fun discussing these two poems as they looked beneath the bonnets of both.  

Brandi Glanville is calling out Bravo in a shocking defense of her “Celebrity Apprentice” rival, Kenya Moore, following a scandalous exit. Emma Roberts has revealed shocking insights into the “really scary” world of global stardom her iconic aunt, Julia Roberts, endures. Ariana Grande revealed Dahmer was her dream dinner guest, a confession that has sparked outrage. Instinct magazine's Corey Andrew joins Rob with all the dish! Don't forget to vote in today's poll on Twitter at @naughtynicerob or in our Facebook group.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tony Diaz welcomes key members of Main Street Theater's current production of CARMELA, FULL OF WISHES, playing Sept. 24 – Oct. 21 at MST's Midtown location at 3400 Main Street, 77002 at the MATCH. Adapted by Nuestra Palabra's very own Alvaro Saar Rios from the best selling book by Matt de la Peña, Tony speaks with Alvaro, Laura Moreno, the play's director, and Jacqueline Vasquez, the actor playing Carmela, about this wonderful play and it's importance in telling our stories. On our show, we have: Laura Moreno (Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) Last Stop on Market Street (Costume Design) Miss Nelson Is Missing! The Musical!, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Dragons Love Tacos; Alley Theatre: (Assistant Director): A Midsummer Night's Dream, What-a-Christmas!; Mildred's Umbrella: Ladies' Night: Beckett Shorts; Lamar University: The Revolutionists; Jewish Community Center: Photograph 51; Horse Head Theatre Company: Church, Judgement of Fools; Gravity Players: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Duchesne Academy: Little Women, The Importance of Being Earnest. Education: M.F.A, University of Houston, Directing; M.A, University of Houston, Arts Leadership; B.F.A., University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance, Acting. Jacqueline Vasquez plays Carmela in our current production, and she'll be back right after Carmela Full of Wishes for Disney's Beauty & the Beast at Main Street Theater! Other credits include: James and the Giant Peach (swing), Miss Nelson is Missing! The Musical; Haven Arts: She Kills Monsters. Education: Texas Christian University. Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been seen in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. His award-winning plays include Luchadora!, On the Wings of a Mariposa and Carmela Full of Wishes. Mr. Rios is Playwright-In-Residence at Milwaukee's First Stage and a proud veteran of the US Army (he used to drive tanks). Originally from Houston, Alvaro teaches playwriting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. About CARMELA FULL OF WISHES Feliz Cumpleaños! It's Carmela's birthday, and she's finally old enough to tag along with her big brother as he runs the family errands. Passing by the bodega and the lavanderia, Carmela picks a dandelion and makes a very important wish… Carmela Full of Wishes illuminates the beauty of working class neighborhoods and the power of community and family. Told through the lens of a heartfelt sibling story, this endearing play explores what hope looks like in a migrant community steeped in Mexican culture. CARMELA FULL OF WISHES Adapted by Alvaro Saar Rios From the book by Matt de la Peña Illustrated by Christian Robinson Tony Diaz Writer and activist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, is a Cultural Accelerator. He was the first Chicano to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. In 1998, he founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say (NP), Houston's first reading series for Latino authors. The group galvanized Houston's Community Cultural Capital to become a movement for civil rights, education, and representation. When Arizona officials banned Mexican American Studies, Diaz and four veteran members of NP organized the 2012 Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle books from the banned curriculum back into Arizona. He is the author of The Aztec Love God. His book, The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital, is the first in his series on Community Organizing. Tony hosts Latino Politics and News and the Nuestra Palabra Radio Show on 90.1 FM, KPFT, Houston's Community Station. He is also a political analyst on “What's Your Point?” on Fox 26 Houston. www.Librotraficante.com www.NuestraPalabra.org www.TonyDiaz.net Nuestra Palabra is funded in part by the BIPOC Arts Network Fund. Instrumental Music produced / courtesy of Bayden Records baydenrecords.beatstars.com

Support the show at our new merch shop: https://betterwithglasses.myspreadshop.com/ In this episode of the podcast, we break down ' The Summer I Turned Pretty' Season 2 Episode 4. This is a light-hearted and fun watch as compared to its lead-up this season. The kids are trying to recapture some of their youth while sparks fly? However, boardwalk games and cute banter is not the only competition as the kids try to save the house against a formidable opponent, Aunt Julia.

On this week's “Matter of Opinion,” Michelle, Ross, Carlos and Lydia offer their recommendations for your summer reading and lay out what they're excited to dive into themselves. Plus, listener book picks. Books mentioned in this episode:From Michelle:Thursday Murder Club series, by Richard Osman“The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder,” by David GrannFrom Lydia:“Slow Horses,” Book 1 in the Slough House series, by Mick Herron“The Transit of Venus,” by Shirley Hazzard“Middlemarch,” by George Eliot“Grant,” by Ron Chernow“King: A Life,” by Jonathan EigFrom Carlos:“Trust,” by Hernan Diaz“The Long Secret” and “Harriet the Spy,” by Louise Fitzhugh“Conversación en La Catedral,” “Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter" and “The Feast of the Goat,” by Mario Vargas Llosa“Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose” and “Wise Blood,” by Flannery O'Connor“Heartburn,” by Nora Ephron, audiobook narrated by Meryl Streep“The Sellout,” by Paul Beatty“Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon” and “The White Darkness,” by David GrannFrom Ross:“The Stand,” “The Institute” and “The Shining,” by Stephen King“Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia,” by Rebecca West“Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli,” by Mark SealFrom Matter of Opinion listeners:The Three-Body Problem trilogy, by Liu Cixin“The Fisherman and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast,” by Kirk Wallace Johnson“The Kingdoms,” by Natasha Pulley“The Education of Kendrick Perkins: A Memoir,” by Kendrick Perkins with Seth Rogoff“Demon Copperhead,” by Barbara Kingsolver“Still Life,” by Jay Hopler“The Tempest,” by William ShakespeareMaisie Dobbs series, by Jacqueline Winspear More from the hosts:"How 'The Great Brain' Explains America," by Carlos Lozada for The New York Times"My Fantasy Bookshelf," by Ross Douthat for The New York Times"A Look Back at Our Future War With China," by Carlos Lozada for The New York Times 

Water...what is it about bodies of water, and ghosts? Maybe it's that some truly horrible things have happened in and around water. This episode starts small...and finishes with a most popular and well known tale.   Japanese Ghost Stories: Himeji Castle and Okiku's Well - (thewillowweb.com)   (1) Aunt Julia in Ruddock : nosleep (reddit.com)   Truk Lagoon: The Haunting WWII Graveyard Under The Sea (allthatsinteresting.com)

Water...what is it about bodies of water, and ghosts? Maybe it's that some truly horrible things have happened in and around water. This episode starts small...and finishes with a most popular and well known tale. Japanese Ghost Stories: Himeji Castle and Okiku's Well - (thewillowweb.com) (1) Aunt Julia in Ruddock : nosleep (reddit.com) Truk Lagoon: The Haunting WWII Graveyard Under The Sea (allthatsinteresting.com) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sroit/support

One of the scariest places we have ever went to was down in Louisiana with the LaLaurie Mansion. So naturally, we had to revisit the state, but this time visiting a swamp in the state. And this isn't any old swamp. No, it's got an intense history and some specters that will scare even the most level headed of us.Listen as Lisa tells us about a few towns that used to be here and left, along with a very prominent person in the area. Jake then brings her back in a scary story about who she took with her when she died. And Davis raps from the perspective of the Swamp Thing and how much better he is than the other cryptids.This is the second episode of our Natural landmarks month. And they only get spookier from here on out! You don't want to miss these spots and maybe get yourself out there to go visit these places. If that's your thing. Probably not Davis's, but it could be yours. All this on the 64th episode of The Possible Paranormal Podcast. TPPP 64: Manchac Swamp, Louisiana.Support the show

A quick and painless analysis of Norman MacCaig's eulogy to his beloved Aunt Julia. Meant for Scottish Text question in Higher English; but could be enjoyed by all poetry fans.

For our second installment of creepy ass bodies of water, Alaina tells us the story of Manchac swamp in Louisiana and a voodoo healer called Aunt Julia who predicted her own death AND informed the town that she'd be taking them all with her. Boy did she follow through on this promise. We also share 2 listener stories regarding not only this area in Louisiana but also Lake Lanier!

For our second installment of creepy ass bodies of water, Alaina tells us the story of Manchac swamp in Louisiana and a voodoo healer called Aunt Julia who predicted her own death AND informed the town that she'd be taking them all with her. Boy did she follow through on this promise. We also share 2 listener stories regarding not only this area in Louisiana but also Lake Lanier! As always, thank you to our sponsors:  Daily Harvest: Go to DAILYHARVEST.com and enter promo code morbid to get twenty-five dollars off your first box! Pretty Litter: Do what I did and make the switch TODAY by visiting PrettyLitter.com and use promo code morbid for 20% off your first order Chili Technology: Head over to chilisleep.com/morbid for ChiliSleep's best deal, available to Morbid listeners for a limited time! Rothy's: Upgrade your closet with washable, sustainable, stylish shoes and bags from Rothy's. Head to Rothys.com/MORBID to find your new favorites today.

Grab your paddles and get ready for a bumpy ride, ‘cause this week the BnB crew are taking us down some Haunted Rivers! (Or not... it’s our show, we do what we want!) Melissa gets wet first with the the story of the Sweetwater County Library in Green River, where you can jack it by the computers no problem, but your gonna have to deal with some ghosts if you have to poop. Then Vanessa takes a dip with the tale of the Manchac Swamp and it’s long time resident Aunt Julia, a woman who knows what it means to keep her word! Our beer this week is River Trip Belgian-Style Session from Allagash Brewing Company. Who will win in the battle of scavenger hunts vs hurricanes? Listen and find out!

Merry Christmas and Happy HOElidays. Our first Netflix romantic comedy recap with none other than 2020's Holidate. Starring our girl Emma Roberts (hey Aunt Julia!) and Australian hottie, Luke Bracey. Jenny and Abbey touch on normalizing being single AND happy, casually dating around the holidays, and occasions to actually have a PLUS ONE.  Don't forget to have to subscribe, rate, and review. It's what Tom Hanks would want. Email us at romcomedians@gmail.com Follow us on IG: @abbeyfinch  and @_jennyjennings  

Patrice, Marleah, and Bartender Courtney drink Dr. Claudia Martinis and talk Louisiana, clairvoyance, conjure, and cults.

Patrice, Marleah, and Bartender Courtney drink Dr. Claudia Martinis and talk Louisiana, clairvoyance, conjure, and cults.

The life and times of the breathtaking Keanu Reeves, retold through his movie roles.The list of all the movies referenced in the episode, in alphabetical order:47 Ronin;A Happening of Monumental Proportions;A Scanner Darkly;A Walk in the Clouds;Always be my maybe;Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (or Tune in Tomorrow if you’re in America);Bad Batch;Between Two Ferns: The Movie;Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure;Bram Stoker’s Dracula;Chain Reaction;Constantine;Dangerous Liaisons;Deep Web;Destination Wedding;Devil’s Advocate;Ellie Parker;Even Cowgirls Get the Blues;Exposed;Flying;Freaked;Generation Umm;Hardball;Henry’s Crime;I Love You to Death;John Wick 1, 2 and 3;Johnny Mnemonic;Keanu;Knock Knock;Lake House;Little Buddha;Man of Tai Chi;Matrix;Matrix Reloaded;Matrix Revolutions;Mifune: The Last Samurai;Much Ado About Nothing;My Own Private Idaho;Neon Demon;Parenthood;Permanent Record;Point Break;Replicas;River’s Edge;Siberia;Side by Side;Something’s Gotta Give;Speed;SPF-18;Street Kings;The Animatrix;The Day the Earth Stood Still;The Great Warming;The Last Time I Committed Suicide;The Night Before;The Private Lives of Pippa Lee;The Replacements;The Watcher;The Whole Truth;Thumbsucker;To the Bone;Toy Story 4;Youngblood Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Reeel-Lives-100496091297383Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reeellives/Electric Intro Music by Anoop Hariharan - https://soundcloud.com/anoophariharan/intro-music-creative-commons

In the first episode of Drink Drunk Dead, Emily and Joel discuss the darker side of voodoo while sharing two spooky tales: Tamize, a tormented woman who seeks vengeance on her attacker and Aunt Julia, voodoo priestess of Ghost Swamp, who continues to haunt the old town of Ruddock, Louisiana. Click here to listenBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEMerch Use our special TeePublic link to purchase merch & help support our show at the same time!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/drinkdrunkdead)

This week's ep is about Tune In Tomorrow (1990). What to say here? It's an adaptation of the somewhat autobiographical novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa, but set in New Orleans in 1951. Keanu plays Martin, a young radio writer with an incestuous infatuation with his aunt, an older woman who isn't connected by blood, so it's, like, incest lite. And yes, this means he takes a stab at a Cajun accent and it leaves much to be desired. This movie is a bit of a mess, and even Peter Falke, powerhouse that he is as Pedro the visionary soap opera schlock writer, cannot save it. Also, I don't think we know what magical realism is. What is it?

Manchac Swamp and Aunt Julia as well as The Myrtles Plantation! Music by J. Michael Tatum and  https://www.purple-planet.com.

The life and times of the breathtaking Keanu Reeves, retold through his movie roles.The list of all the movies referenced in the episode, in alphabetical order:47 Ronin;A Scanner Darkly;A Walk in the Clouds;Always be my maybe;Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (or Tune in Tomorrow if you’re in America);Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure;Bram Stoker’s Dracula;Chain Reaction;Constantine;Dangerous Liaisons;Destination Wedding;Devil’s Advocate;Exposed;Freaked;Generation Umm;Hardball;Henry’s Crime;I Love You to Death;John Wick 1, 2 and 3;Johnny Mnemonic;Keanu;Knock Knock;Lake House;Little Buddha;Man of Tai Chi;Matrix;Matrix Reloaded;Matrix Revolutions;Much Ado About Nothing;My Own Private Idaho;Neon Demon;Night Before, the;Permanent Record;Point Break;Replacements;Replicas;River’s Edge;Siberia;Something’s Gotta Give;Speed;Street Kings;The Day the Earth Stood Still;To the Bone;Toy Story 4;Watcher;Whole Truth;Youngblood;Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Reeel-Lives-100496091297383Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reeellives/Electric Intro Music by Anoop Hariharan - https://soundcloud.com/anoophariharan/intro-music-creative-commons

Move over Tim Gunn & HGTV!! There's a new designer in the mix.. ED GEIN!  He loves interior design and creating things by hand.  Most of his creations are vomit inducing.. Seriously, y'all!  Listen to all the gorey deets in the episode! In Louisiana, there's a tale about Aunt Julia & her curse that caused towns to be completely ruined and basically forgotten. Be careful to not bite the hand that feeds you, because karma is a mother (nature)! We all know Thinking about joining The Creepinati? visit www.patreon.com/theAPCpodcast Also.. if you have any local true crime, local urban legend/lore, ghost stories.. we want them all!! We want to hear from YOU.   Email us at aparanormalchicks@gmail.com and tell us all the good good!! We would love for you to leave us a review on whatever podcast app you listen to us on!  Thanks so much!! Follow us on twitter and instagram @theAPCpodcast.

Move over Tim Gunn & HGTV!! There's a new designer in the mix.. ED GEIN!  He loves interior design and creating things by hand.  Most of his creations are vomit inducing.. Seriously, y'all!  Listen to all the gorey deets in the episode! In Louisiana, there's a tale about Aunt Julia & her curse that caused towns to be completely ruined and basically forgotten. Be careful to not bite the hand that feeds you, because karma is a mother (nature)! We all know Thinking about joining The Creepinati? visit www.patreon.com/theAPCpodcast Also.. if you have any local true crime, local urban legend/lore, ghost stories.. we want them all!! We want to hear from YOU.   Email us at aparanormalchicks@gmail.com and tell us all the good good!! We would love for you to leave us a review on whatever podcast app you listen to us on!  Thanks so much!! Follow us on twitter and instagram @theAPCpodcast.

PART 3 OF 3 Born in 1937 Warren Augenthaler’s great aunt was the one and only Julia Neir.  One of the only woman known to be allowed to operate a bar in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Listen to this 1st of 3-part episode capturing hidden history of nyc’s oldest bar, Neirs Tavern. Hear the story of Neirs Tavern’s maintenance workers-Fred and Adolf- taken in and given food and shelter and the unfortunate double suicide. Former President Grover Cleveland speech at Neirs Tavern Kids being stuck in Neirs Dumbwaiter shaft and Neirs WW2 connection. Why people were thrown out of Neirs Tavern for cursing. The story of the expensive paintings displayed at Neirs Tavern for decades that disappeared.

Born in 1937 Warren Augenthaler’s great aunt was the one and only Julia Neir. One of the only woman known to be allowed to operate a bar in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  Listen to this 1st of 3-part episode capturing hidden history of nyc’s oldest bar, Neirs Tavern.  Hear the story of Neirs Tavern’s maintenance workers-Fred and Adolf- taken in and given food and shelter and the unfortunate double suicide.   Former President Grover Cleveland speech at Neirs Tavern Kids being stuck in Neirs Dumbwaiter shaft and Neirs WW2 connection.   Why people were thrown out of Neirs Tavern for cursing.   The story of the expensive paintings displayed at Neirs Tavern for decades that disappeared.

Born in 1937 Warren Augenthaler’s great aunt was the one and only Julia Neir. One of the only woman known to be allowed to operate a bar in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  Listen to this 1st of 3-part episode capturing hidden history of nyc’s oldest bar, Neirs Tavern.  Hear the story of Neirs Tavern’s maintenance workers-Fred and Adolf- taken in and given food and shelter and the unfortunate double suicide.   Former President Grover Cleveland speech at Neirs Tavern Kids being stuck in Neirs Dumbwaiter shaft and Neirs WW2 connection.   Why people were thrown out of Neirs Tavern for cursing.   The story of the expensive paintings displayed at Neirs Tavern for decades that disappeared.

This week on StoryWeb: James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.” James Joyce’s “The Dead” is widely considered to be his best short story, called by the New York Times “just about the finest short story in the English language" and by T.S. Eliot as one of the greatest short stories ever written. The storyline is simple enough: a long-married Irish couple -- Gretta and Gabriel Conroy – attend a lavish dinner party thrown by his aunts in celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). At the party, they each have a variety of conversations with assorted party guests, and Gabriel gives the evening’s post-dinner speech and leads the toast. As Gabriel and Gretta leave the party, the snow which had been lightly falling when they arrived at the beginning of the evening has become quite heavy. The closing scene finds Gretta asleep at their hotel while Gabriel stands at the window looking at the snow blanketing the city. Gabriel feels, in fact, that the snow is falling over the entirety of Ireland. Before falling asleep, Gretta had shared a memory about Michael Furey, the Irish activist lover of her youth. The reader is left to wonder whether Gabriel feels sorrow or acceptance over his wife’s confession that she still harbors feelings for her former lover. The ending, it would seem, is deliberately ambiguous. Indeed, the ending forces the reader to go back into the story looking for clues as to whether we’re supposed to read the ending as “happy” or “sad.” While “The Dead” is quite a famous story, less well known to the general public is its place as the culminating story in Joyce’s first book, a collection of short stories titled Dubliners. The collection was rejected 17 times over a 10-year period, with some of those rejections being based on what publishers and printers considered to be objectionable material. Finally published in 1914, this collection of 15 stories was Joyce’s first attempt to bring his native city to life. Of course, he would go on to write again and again about the Irish capital, most famously in his 1922 novel, Ulysses, which recounts one day in the life of Leopold Bloom as he makes his way through the streets of Dublin. But Dubliners was Joyce’s initial portrait of a city he both loved and hated. Each story in the collection features a different resident of Dublin, and each tells a different tale of the suffocating, dreary lives lived in this city. The characters presented here suffer from spiritual paralysis, squelched freedom, and ##. Joyce himself admitted that the stories capture some of the unhappiest moments of life. If you’re looking for uplifting literature, Dubliners is not the book for you. When read against the backdrop of these stories, “The Dead” – which is the finale of sorts to Dubliners – takes on an extra richness, an extra dimension. When read in this context, the story’s ambiguous ending becomes both easier and harder to read. Has Gabriel had an epiphany about the ways in which the dead live on in the memories of the living? Or has he succumbed – as the other characters in the Dubliners stories do – to a kind of paralysis, a numbing inability to be fully alive? Is the snow a beautiful phenomenon that brings all of Ireland together? Or is it a symbol of coldness, of death, a killing frost? As one source says, “In every corner of the country, snow touches both the dead and the living, uniting them in frozen paralysis. However, Gabriel’s thoughts in the final lines of Dubliners suggest that the living might in fact be able to free themselves and live unfettered by deadening routines and the past. Even in January, snow is unusual in Ireland and cannot last forever.” To consider the ending yourself, you’ll want to read this powerful story, which you can do for free at Project Gutenberg (and in fact, you can read the entire Dubliners collection here as well). If you prefer a hard copy, there’s an inexpensive Dover Thrift Edition. You might also want to watch John Huston’s 1987 film adaptation of “The Dead.” It starred his daughter Angelica Huston as Gretta Conroy and Donal McCann as her husband, Gabriel. Want to dig deeper? A helpful glossary of terms is available, and a digitized copy of the first edition of Dubliners can be found at Internet Archive. Richard Ellman’s biography of Joyce remains the standard, though its revised edition was published more than 30 years ago. Cornell’s James Joyce Collection is outstanding. You might also want to visit The James Joyce Centre – either online or in person in Dublin! Visit thestoryweb.com/joyce for links to all these resources and to watch the film’s ending. But first, take a listen as I read the opening pages of “The Dead.”   Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry behind the office on the ground floor and helped him off with his overcoat than the wheezy hall-door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest. It was well for her she had not to attend to the ladies also. But Miss Kate and Miss Julia had thought of that and had converted the bathroom upstairs into a ladies’ dressing-room. Miss Kate and Miss Julia were there, gossiping and laughing and fussing, walking after each other to the head of the stairs, peering down over the banisters and calling down to Lily to ask her who had come. It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan’s annual dance. Everybody who knew them came to it, members of the family, old friends of the family, the members of Julia’s choir, any of Kate’s pupils that were grown up enough, and even some of Mary Jane’s pupils too. Never once had it fallen flat. For years and years it had gone off in splendid style as long as anyone could remember; ever since Kate and Julia, after the death of their brother Pat, had left the house in Stoney Batter and taken Mary Jane, their only niece, to live with them in the dark gaunt house on Usher’s Island, the upper part of which they had rented from Mr Fulham, the corn-factor on the ground floor. That was a good thirty years ago if it was a day. Mary Jane, who was then a little girl in short clothes, was now the main prop of the household, for she had the organ in Haddington Road. She had been through the Academy and gave a pupils’ concert every year in the upper room of the Antient Concert Rooms. Many of her pupils belonged to the better-class families on the Kingstown and Dalkey line. Old as they were, her aunts also did their share. Julia, though she was quite grey, was still the leading soprano in Adam and Eve’s, and Kate, being too feeble to go about much, gave music lessons to beginners on the old square piano in the back room. Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, did housemaid’s work for them. Though their life was modest they believed in eating well; the best of everything: diamond-bone sirloins, three-shilling tea and the best bottled stout. But Lily seldom made a mistake in the orders so that she got on well with her three mistresses. They were fussy, that was all. But the only thing they would not stand was back answers. Of course they had good reason to be fussy on such a night. And then it was long after ten o’clock and yet there was no sign of Gabriel and his wife. Besides they were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane’s pupils should see him under the influence; and when he was like that it was sometimes very hard to manage him. Freddy Malins always came late but they wondered what could be keeping Gabriel: and that was what brought them every two minutes to the banisters to ask Lily had Gabriel or Freddy come. “O, Mr Conroy,” said Lily to Gabriel when she opened the door for him, “Miss Kate and Miss Julia thought you were never coming. Good-night, Mrs Conroy.” “I’ll engage they did,” said Gabriel, “but they forget that my wife here takes three mortal hours to dress herself.” He stood on the mat, scraping the snow from his goloshes, while Lily led his wife to the foot of the stairs and called out: “Miss Kate, here’s Mrs Conroy.” Kate and Julia came toddling down the dark stairs at once. Both of them kissed Gabriel’s wife, said she must be perished alive and asked was Gabriel with her. “Here I am as right as the mail, Aunt Kate! Go on up. I’ll follow,” called out Gabriel from the dark. He continued scraping his feet vigorously while the three women went upstairs, laughing, to the ladies’ dressing-room. A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his goloshes; and, as the buttons of his overcoat slipped with a squeaking noise through the snow-stiffened frieze, a cold, fragrant air from out-of-doors escaped from crevices and folds. “Is it snowing again, Mr Conroy?” asked Lily. She had preceded him into the pantry to help him off with his overcoat. Gabriel smiled at the three syllables she had given his surname and glanced at her. She was a slim, growing girl, pale in complexion and with hay-coloured hair. The gas in the pantry made her look still paler. Gabriel had known her when she was a child and used to sit on the lowest step nursing a rag doll. “Yes, Lily,” he answered, “and I think we’re in for a night of it.” He looked up at the pantry ceiling, which was shaking with the stamping and shuffling of feet on the floor above, listened for a moment to the piano and then glanced at the girl, who was folding his overcoat carefully at the end of a shelf. “Tell me, Lily,” he said in a friendly tone, “do you still go to school?” “O no, sir,” she answered. “I’m done schooling this year and more.” “O, then,” said Gabriel gaily, “I suppose we’ll be going to your wedding one of these fine days with your young man, eh?” The girl glanced back at him over her shoulder and said with great bitterness: “The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.” Gabriel coloured as if he felt he had made a mistake and, without looking at her, kicked off his goloshes and flicked actively with his muffler at his patent-leather shoes. He was a stout tallish young man. The high colour of his cheeks pushed upwards even to his forehead where it scattered itself in a few formless patches of pale red; and on his hairless face there scintillated restlessly the polished lenses and the bright gilt rims of the glasses which screened his delicate and restless eyes. His glossy black hair was parted in the middle and brushed in a long curve behind his ears where it curled slightly beneath the groove left by his hat. When he had flicked lustre into his shoes he stood up and pulled his waistcoat down more tightly on his plump body. Then he took a coin rapidly from his pocket. “O Lily,” he said, thrusting it into her hands, “it’s Christmas-time, isn’t it? Just ... here’s a little....” He walked rapidly towards the door. “O no, sir!” cried the girl, following him. “Really, sir, I wouldn’t take it.” “Christmas-time! Christmas-time!” said Gabriel, almost trotting to the stairs and waving his hand to her in deprecation. The girl, seeing that he had gained the stairs, called out after him: “Well, thank you, sir.” He waited outside the drawing-room door until the waltz should finish, listening to the skirts that swept against it and to the shuffling of feet. He was still discomposed by the girl’s bitter and sudden retort. It had cast a gloom over him which he tried to dispel by arranging his cuffs and the bows of his tie. He then took from his waistcoat pocket a little paper and glanced at the headings he had made for his speech. He was undecided about the lines from Robert Browning for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers. Some quotation that they would recognise from Shakespeare or from the Melodies would be better. The indelicate clacking of the men’s heels and the shuffling of their soles reminded him that their grade of culture differed from his. He would only make himself ridiculous by quoting poetry to them which they could not understand. They would think that he was airing his superior education. He would fail with them just as he had failed with the girl in the pantry. He had taken up a wrong tone. His whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure. Just then his aunts and his wife came out of the ladies’ dressing-room. His aunts were two small plainly dressed old women. Aunt Julia was an inch or so the taller. Her hair, drawn low over the tops of her ears, was grey; and grey also, with darker shadows, was her large flaccid face. Though she was stout in build and stood erect her slow eyes and parted lips gave her the appearance of a woman who did not know where she was or where she was going. Aunt Kate was more vivacious. Her face, healthier than her sister’s, was all puckers and creases, like a shrivelled red apple, and her hair, braided in the same old-fashioned way, had not lost its ripe nut colour. They both kissed Gabriel frankly. He was their favourite nephew, the son of their dead elder sister, Ellen, who had married T. J. Conroy of the Port and Docks. “Gretta tells me you’re not going to take a cab back to Monkstown tonight, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate. “No,” said Gabriel, turning to his wife, “we had quite enough of that last year, hadn’t we? Don’t you remember, Aunt Kate, what a cold Gretta got out of it? Cab windows rattling all the way, and the east wind blowing in after we passed Merrion. Very jolly it was. Gretta caught a dreadful cold.” Aunt Kate frowned severely and nodded her head at every word. “Quite right, Gabriel, quite right,” she said. “You can’t be too careful.” “But as for Gretta there,” said Gabriel, “she’d walk home in the snow if she were let.” Mrs Conroy laughed. “Don’t mind him, Aunt Kate,” she said. “He’s really an awful bother, what with green shades for Tom’s eyes at night and making him do the dumb-bells, and forcing Eva to eat the stirabout. The poor child! And she simply hates the sight of it!... O, but you’ll never guess what he makes me wear now!” She broke out into a peal of laughter and glanced at her husband, whose admiring and happy eyes had been wandering from her dress to her face and hair. The two aunts laughed heartily too, for Gabriel’s solicitude was a standing joke with them. “Goloshes!” said Mrs Conroy. “That’s the latest. Whenever it’s wet underfoot I must put on my goloshes. Tonight even he wanted me to put them on, but I wouldn’t. The next thing he’ll buy me will be a diving suit.” Gabriel laughed nervously and patted his tie reassuringly while Aunt Kate nearly doubled herself, so heartily did she enjoy the joke. The smile soon faded from Aunt Julia’s face and her mirthless eyes were directed towards her nephew’s face. After a pause she asked: “And what are goloshes, Gabriel?” “Goloshes, Julia!” exclaimed her sister “Goodness me, don’t you know what goloshes are? You wear them over your ... over your boots, Gretta, isn’t it?” “Yes,” said Mrs Conroy. “Guttapercha things. We both have a pair now. Gabriel says everyone wears them on the continent.” “O, on the continent,” murmured Aunt Julia, nodding her head slowly. Gabriel knitted his brows and said, as if he were slightly angered: “It’s nothing very wonderful but Gretta thinks it very funny because she says the word reminds her of Christy Minstrels.” “But tell me, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate, with brisk tact. “Of course, you’ve seen about the room. Gretta was saying....” “O, the room is all right,” replied Gabriel. “I’ve taken one in the Gresham.” “To be sure,” said Aunt Kate, “by far the best thing to do. And the children, Gretta, you’re not anxious about them?” “O, for one night,” said Mrs Conroy. “Besides, Bessie will look after them.”

The life of the man who, when elected Dictator of Rome, decided to give that power back to the Senate, after just 16 days. Why? Simply because he finished the task he was given to do. And then, he went to plant lettuce in the outskirts of Rome.Partial TranscriptHello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 20 – Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus.— “Marcia! When father told you what happened to your mom, did he tell you what a certain Appius Claudius did? “— “You mean, To Mom?”— “No, not to mom. He didn't do anything to mom, personally. I mean, what he did in general, in Rome. “Marcia and Aunt Julia stayed up late that night, something very unusual in ancient Rome, where people — especially Plebeians, went to sleep right after sunset, and rose way before sunrise.Aunt Julia told her the story of the wicked Decemvirs, those ten men elected by the Senate, and how they schemed together to stay in power, and not to return that power to the Senate of Rome. They didn't care they swore an oath for one, and only one year.Actually, truth be told, they DID need two years for the Twelve Tables to be written and polished, because every single bit of these laws was analyzed by the Patricians, especially the old Patricians, who used to gather in forums and discuss piece of law by piece of law.[…]Between the two dictatorships combined, he did not rule Rome for a single month.His example inspired the name of the American city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio.That name was given in honor of the Society of the “Cinncinatus,” which honored George Washington. Washington was considered to be a true “Cinncinatus” by this society, back in the days of the American Revolution.His symbols were the plow and the toga, instead of the sword and the fasces.Even though he was incredibly good at using the sword, and incredibly righteous at the use of the fasces.[…]

The life of the man who, when elected Dictator of Rome, decided to give that power back to the Senate, after just 16 days. Why? Simply because he finished the task he was given to do. And then, he went to plant lettuce in the outskirts of Rome. Partial Transcript Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. The Tale of Rome, Episode 20 – Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus. — “Marcia! When father told you what happened to your mom, did he tell you what a certain Appius Claudius did? “ — “You mean, To Mom?” — “No, not to mom. He didn’t do anything to mom, personally. I mean, what he did in general, in Rome. “ Marcia and Aunt Julia stayed up late that night, something very unusual in ancient Rome, where people — especially Plebeians, went to sleep right after sunset, and rose way before sunrise. Aunt Julia told her the story of the wicked Decemvirs, those ten men elected by the Senate, a...

Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. http://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-020 The Tale of Rome, Episode 20 – Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus. — “Marcia! When father told you what happened to your mom, did he tell you what a certain Appius Claudius did? “ — “You mean, To Mom?” — “No, not to mom. He didn’t do anything to mom, personally. I mean, what he did in general, in Rome. “ Marcia and Aunt Julia stayed up late that night, something very unusual in ancient Rome, where people — especially Plebeians, went to sleep right after sunset, and rose way before sunrise. Aunt Julia told her the story of the wicked Decemvirs, those ten men elected by the Senate, and how they schemed together to stay in power, and not to return that power to the Senate of Rome. They didn’t care they swore an oath for one, and only one year. Actually, truth be told, they DID need two years for the Twelve Tables to be written and polished, because every single bit of these laws was analyzed by the Patricians, especially the old Patricians, who used to gather in forums and discuss piece of law by piece of law. […] Between the two dictatorships combined, he did not rule Rome for a single month. His example inspired the name of the American city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio. That name was given in honor of the Society of the “Cinncinatus,” which honored George Washington. Washington was considered to be a true “Cinncinatus” by this society, back in the days of the American Revolution. His symbols were the plow and the toga, instead of the sword and the fasces. Even though he was incredibly good at using the sword, and incredibly righteous at the use of the fasces. […]

James Naughtie talks to one of South America's leading writers Mario Vargas Llosa, about his remarkable novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.

Mario Vargas Llosa discusses In Praise of the Stepmother; Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and The War at End the of World.