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Today is the Fast Day of 10 Tevet, which is also selected as the date of Kaddish and Yartzeit for anyone whose true date of death is unknown (especially victims of the Holocaust). This morning I tell a jarring story from Etgar Keret, speaking to Terry Gross on Fresh Air (my favorite radio program), about his mother, a Holocaust survivor, and how that experience affected her. Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship. Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/ Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO Please contact Rabbi Whitman (rabbi@adath.ca) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.
In this episode, we look back and pick our favorite classical and jazz recordings from 2025. The Adult Music Podcast is featured in: Feedspot's 100 Best Jazz Podcasts Episode 241 Deezer Playlist Fair use disclaimer: Music sample clips are for commentary and educational purposes. We recommend that listeners listen to the complete recordings, all of which are available on streaming services in the links provided. We also suggest that if you enjoy the music, you consider purchasing the CDs or high-quality downloads to support the artists. Russ' Classical Picks Episode 204: “Anniversaries & Inner Journeys” 3/17/2025 “Hough: Piano Concerto, Sonatina & Partita” (Hyperion) Sir Stephen Hough, The Hallé, Sir Mark Elder https://open.spotify.com/album/6aj6j7obrqKiSJJF9GB51l https://music.apple.com/us/album/hough-piano-concerto-sonatina-partita/1790189101 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DSWK94H6 Episode 208: “Elegance & Fire” 4/14/2025 “Prokofiev & Shor” (Alpha) Behzod Abduraimov, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko https://open.spotify.com/album/6yTib2Mj4XZNvPoC7ILgqR https://music.apple.com/us/album/prokofiev-shor/1792782208 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DV5N35H1 Episode 210: “Fluted Grooves” 4/28/2025 “Daugherty: Blue Electra” (Naxos) Anne Akiko Meyers, Albany Symphony Orchestra / David Alan Miller https://open.spotify.com/album/7KeVVROhrOyr7hwyAMc2Od https://music.apple.com/us/album/michael-daugherty-blue-electra-last-dance-at-the-surf/1803167332 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DTKSWBX9 Episode 211: “Saxurated Sound” 5/5/2025 “Tales of the Jazz Age” (La Dolce Volta) Florian Noack https://open.spotify.com/album/1pgOmjL6jYB69GOA2aMNxP https://classical.music.apple.com/sg/album/1795617036 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DWNBXQ3M “Ancient Modernity” (Delphian) Louise McMonagle https://open.spotify.com/album/4mYIWqAJAYTqU4ayjzJnsI https://music.apple.com/za/album/ancient-modernity/1799737575 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DZ31FWKW Episode 213: “Sacred Trinity & Swingin' Trio” 5/18/2025 “Alexander Scriabin: Vers La Flamme” (BIS) Yevgeny Sudbin https://open.spotify.com/album/3wYDp7bi9o73xbr9ZzWLrk https://music.apple.com/us/album/scriabin-vers-la-flamme/1803174467 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F1Z3KHWL Episode 218: “A Quarter for Your Tones” 7/7/2025 “Persia & Baroque - Classical Persian Music and European Baroque” (Christophorus) Hamburger Ratsmusik / Simone Eckert, Ulrich Wedemeier, Anke Dennert, Neoclassical Ensemble of Tehran / Arash Mohafez https://open.spotify.com/album/5owCWVmzhFYnjbqZHg4lT0 https://music.apple.com/us/album/persia-baroque-classical-persian-music-and-european/1822952513 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F8C7Z8D5 Episode 219: “Border Crossers” 7/14/2025 “Laurent Boutros: Apatride, An Armenian in Paris” (Da Vinci Classics) Antonino Ielo https://open.spotify.com/album/7hQ2upqq5JxHfbJ8yDlX5C https://music.apple.com/us/album/laurent-boutros-apatride-an-armenian-in-paris/1819815810 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FCP46QV9 Episode 229: “A Trumpet Junket” 9/29/2025 “Kevin Puts: Concerto for Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy & Virelai” (Delos) Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra / Stéphane Denève https://open.spotify.com/album/3s5T4R7QJKHjgfNHmVy6Vz https://music.apple.com/us/album/kevin-puts-concerto-for-orchestra-silent-night-elegy/1826975431 No Amazon Music Episode 231: “Bourbon Based” 10/13/2025 “Robert Russell Bennett & Vernon Duke: Violin Concertos” (Chandos) Chloë Hanslip, Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton https://open.spotify.com/album/5SQS6UVFNNBMf7Itmo1JEG https://music.apple.com/us/album/bennett-duke-violin-works/1830974602 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FKQ8BJYV Mike's Classical Picks Episode 202: “The Spaces Between” 2/24/2025 “The Age of Extremes: W.F. Bach, G. Benda & C.P.E. Bach” (Arcana) Francesco Corti, Il Pomo d'Oro https://open.spotify.com/album/666rWzJgsF6pZo9KyAZ27A https://music.apple.com/gh/album/the-age-of-extremes-w-f-bach-g-benda-c-p-e-bach/1781631697 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DN6QFCXM Episode 207: “Blues ‘n' Bones” 4/7/2025 “Dvořák & Price: Piano Quintets” (Hyperion) Takacs Quartet, Marc-Andre Hamelin https://open.spotify.com/album/1i8Dx19cZUT4y5TcD9bomJ https://music.apple.com/us/album/dvořák-price-piano-quintets/1791744025 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DTKP5X5F Episode 209 “Women on the Open Road” 4/21/2025 “Vox Feminae” (Alpha) Les Kapsber'girls https://open.spotify.com/album/7CMohdNtQxiB83iEMqntc7 https://music.apple.com/us/album/vox-feminae/1793025660 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DV5PTBMJ Episode 212: “From Bach to Boogaloo” 5/12/2025 “Concertos: Pécou, Lazkano, Nante” (Erato) Alexandre Tharaud https://open.spotify.com/album/6bI8HUotFbewV3WMYX0OV0 https://music.apple.com/us/album/pécou-lazkano-nante-piano-concertos/1806217843 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F3FG9KJ7 Episode 213: “Sacred Trinity & Swingin' Trio” 5/18/2025 “Clérambault: Te Deum & Histoire de la Femme Adultère” (Château de Versailles Spectacles) Lisandro Abadie, Guy Cutting, Samuel Namotte, Gwendoline Blondeel A Nocte Temporis, Chœur de Chambre de Namur / Reinoud Van Mechelen https://open.spotify.com/album/3kITS98BQIa4cFBjT1NSnH https://music.apple.com/us/album/clérambault-te-deum-histoire-de-la-femme-adultère/1799108129 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DYNNF76N Episode 215 “Doorway to the Horizon” 6/7/2025 “Ni Dufay, Ni Binchois - the Works of Johannes Pullois” (Passacaille) Sollazzo Ensemble https://open.spotify.com/album/4NMrnD08oj20PzLNDHM0rL https://music.apple.com/us/album/ni-dufay-ni-binchois-the-works-of-johannes-pullois/1807330875 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F44CTHZL Episode 224: “Moon Tunes” 8/18/2025 “Bach, Telemann & Albinoni: Concerti” (Alpha) Sophie Gent, Kathleen Kajioka, Ensemble Masques / Olivier Fortin https://open.spotify.com/album/4Z9606TIlzMs2YA6LXiZnP https://music.apple.com/us/album/j-s-bach-telemann-albinoni-concerti/1807001257 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F8NM4DPF Episode 227: “Melodic Reflections” 9/9/2025 “Libro primo” (ECM) Rolf Lislevand https://open.spotify.com/album/3XPfRhPmgp2sTj5rLPPH2I https://music.apple.com/us/album/libro-primo/1826581965 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FHJ5H7JV Episode 229: 2A Trumpet Junket” 9/29/2025 “Martinů String Quartets 2-3-5-7” (Supraphon) Pavel Haas Quartet https://open.spotify.com/album/5LhBAJvYfW3akK0G35B8wh https://music.apple.com/us/album/martinů-string-quartets-nos-2-3-5-7/1832782214 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FM474BZ7 Episode 234 “Found Objects & Fresh Air” 11/10/2025 “Martinu Violin Concertos 1 & 2, Stravinsky Divertimento” (Supraphon) Josef Spacek, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Petr Popelka https://open.spotify.com/album/0SKhKsHvwcPZ4OYMtzGRuK https://music.apple.com/us/album/martinů-violin-concertos-1-2-stravinsky-divertimento/1846791139 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FTGJLNHZ “Found Objects / Sound Objects” (Hyperion) Marc-André Hamelin https://open.spotify.com/album/2dGt6QoBUsh75ShmyWOERe https://music.apple.com/us/album/found-objects-sound-objects/1828259285 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FJHYS4SJ Mike's Jazz Picks Episode 205: “Fragmented Inspirations” 3/24/2025 “South” (Sunnyside) Randal Despommier https://open.spotify.com/album/1EcSKXQuNPs7UIzaTkLl0j https://music.apple.com/us/album/south/1797433088 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DTWJSFZJ Episode 208: “Elegence and Fire” 4/14/2025 “Live at Snug Harbor” (Outside in Music) Leon Anderson https://open.spotify.com/album/34XmNuGwm09hMfwDqaiGyf https://music.apple.com/us/album/live-at-snug-harbor/1792288803 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DTWHYQSL Episode 212: “From Bach to Boogaloo” 5/12/2025 “Steep Steps” (Hobby Horse Records) Carl Winther, Richard Andersson, Jeff “Tain” Watts https://open.spotify.com/album/6mSi775nA3yYvU9Njpd7LV https://music.apple.com/us/album/steep-steps/1796891336 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DXFZPK8X Episode 218: “A Quarter for Your Tones” 7/7/2025 “Nico's Dream” (SteepleChase) Tony Miceli https://open.spotify.com/album/5wUvoUKyZ0mmP87LZT877P https://music.apple.com/us/album/nicos-dream/1828638176 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F4DSQMVV Episode 229: “A Trumpet Junket” 9/29/2025 “Oblivity” (Origin) Shawn Purcell https://open.spotify.com/album/4BdcYHpppD4zNskoxnuP2Z https://music.apple.com/us/album/oblivity/1831093754 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FL4V5HPB Episode 230: “Concertos & Ciphers” 10/6/2025 “Cipher” (PHP Records) Charlie Porter https://open.spotify.com/album/2Nf8PpF9l3pDz6FLn4V18s https://music.apple.com/us/album/cipher/1807658361 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F49QRDH5 Episode 233: “Origin-al Recipe” 11/3/2025 “New Outlook” (Origin) Affinity Trio, Eric Jacobson https://open.spotify.com/album/6lhUbkRZQbk93E8rqane5J https://music.apple.com/us/album/new-outlook/1841929457 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FSCP685Q “In the Groove: Live at the Alluvion” (OA2) trumpet, 10/17/2025 Anthony Stanco https://open.spotify.com/album/1eTkEAn2waOoKYJTjGkRyi https://music.apple.com/us/album/in-the-groove-live-at-the-alluvion/1841931160 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FSCSVSY6 Episode 235: “Impressions & Connections” 11/17/2025 “Lasting Impression” (Savant/High Note) Brandon Sanders https://open.spotify.com/album/1avyPXf8rP4eqgbfGHnnQN https://music.apple.com/us/album/lasting-impression/1840695827 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FRNM61SQ Episode 240: “Double Trouble” 12/22/2025 “It's On!” (Nervy Nigel Records) Nigel Price https://open.spotify.com/album/0y2Rph1r8YLaqktG90Xxeh https://music.apple.com/gb/album/its-on/1850003081 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FY3P1HB4 Honorable Mention Episode 228: “Synergy, Vocals, and Vibes” 9/22/2025 “Synergy” (SteepleChase) Paul Bollenback, Boris Kozlov https://open.spotify.com/album/59j2rbwlkeEgvAwKTVZz9o https://music.apple.com/us/album/synergy/1843953911 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FL5GF4F1 Russ' Jazz Picks Episode 198: “Serene Screen Time” 1/27/2025 “The Snake Charmer” (Origin) Brad Goode Polytonal Big Band https://open.spotify.com/album/3FGXtQeRDC6i5LQMDTnyDl https://music.apple.com/us/album/polytonal-big-band-the-snake-charmer/1781618413 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DNZ5HRRD Episode 202: “The Spaces Between” 2/24/2025 “Table for Three” (SteepleChase) Alex Norris https://open.spotify.com/album/2l4TGcCJaluGa98MqC8Ht7 https://music.apple.com/us/album/table-for-three/1806266526 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DVBDCBXQ Episode 206: “Timbre Tantrum” 3/31/2025 “LightSide” (A.MA Records) Matteo Pastorino https://open.spotify.com/album/4z1xt1yALoiVkVk4t5vgVi https://music.apple.com/us/album/lightside-feat-dario-deidda-armando-luongo-domenico-sanna/1798791324 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DYN9FLW8 Episode 214: “Building Characters & Light Bassoonery” 5/26/2025 “Building Characters” (Cellar Music) Charles Chen https://open.spotify.com/album/5u6CjR2OTU7MjQUU5OOJCZ https://music.apple.com/us/album/building-characters/1795037951 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0DWG54DLB Episode 220: “Trans-phonic” 7/21/2025 “Transverse” (Calligram Records) Chad McCullough, Gordan Spasovski, Kiril Tufekčievski, Viktor Filipovski https://open.spotify.com/album/4GsqtJEMpqYfEDF14dxPzu https://music.apple.com/us/album/transverse/1819687910 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FCM5H3K5 Episode 222: “Mountain Viewfinder” 8/4/2025 “Viewfinder” (Attica Records) Hugh Pascall https://open.spotify.com/album/7IBrlJsdgj0sY579JDebqT https://music.apple.com/us/album/viewfinder/1825686850 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FH2XKXG5 Episode 224: “Moon Tunes” 8/18/2025 “Many Moons” (Third Coast Sound) Markus Rutz https://open.spotify.com/album/4MK0b4KgkFSclrpIqbrF3b https://music.apple.com/us/album/many-moons/1810126274 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F61HBSNF Episode 225: “Chromatic Dreams” 8/25/2025 “Still We Dream” (Posi-Tone) Josh Lawrence https://open.spotify.com/album/3Rybpa0B2Xs4hrB8JBG4yP https://music.apple.com/us/album/still-we-dream/1821713242 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FGZMSQDS Episode 232: “A French Connection” 10/20/2025 “The Dark Forest” (Steeplechase) Chris Byars https://open.spotify.com/album/4kFItljxvnU4JdIln0Wdp4 https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-dark-forest/1844056557 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FSG9R8C1 Episode 234: “Found Objects & Fresh Air” 11/10/2025 “A Breath of Fresh Air” (Taylor Christian Records) Sean Mason https://open.spotify.com/album/6mS8l8ZNHCu2CWerK3iBt7 https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-breath-of-fresh-air/1836167990 https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0FP2V4FH2
What on earth are you, and what is this place? To figure that out, we're doing it in the Birth Valley, re-entering the Techno Drome, expanding Chris' vocabulary, touring the Porsche factory, mixing monsters with machines, creating a bioactive environment, enjoying the Professor Holt bit, referencing Nei, citing sexy lady anime, determining the cat girl origin point, upsetting mother nature, stacking computers, breeding harmful monsters, meeting a computer child, and carrying the will of Seed. Sterilization treatment completed; please follow the line on the floor. 00:00:00 Marathon Man 00:03:06 Intro 00:04:32 Return to Birth Valley 00:05:45 Bio-Plant 00:21:32 Rika 00:31:44 Seed 00:45:57 Fresh Air in Zema 00:49:24 Real Net 00:56:20 Outro Patreon: patreon.com/retroam Bluesky: @retrogradeamnesia.bsky.social YouTube: www.youtube.com/@RetrogradeAmnesia E-Mail: podcast@retrogradeamnesia.com Website: www.retrogradeamnesia.com
In this King Hero interview I'm welcoming author and visionary, Dr. Jacob Lieberman, for his third interview to talk about vision.While he was remarkably successful at healing his own eyesight, this interview will focus on the vision behind the vision — what does clear seeing really mean, how has it impacted and changed his life, and how has it allowed him to be a beacon of awakening to many people.“Gently piercing the heart and mind with timeless principles and common sense wisdom, Liberman illuminates the seamless connection between light, vision and consciousness, offering a whole new way of seeing and being.”BioDr. Jacob Israel Liberman's discoveries in the fields of light, vision, and consciousness have been enthusiastically endorsed by luminaries in the fields of health, science, and spirituality from Deepak Chopra and Bruce Lipton to Eckhart Tolle. His newest book, Luminous Life: How the Science of Light Unlocks the Art of Living, reveals how light guides our every step, so we may fulfill our reason for being. Website: https://www.jacobliberman.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJacobLiberman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjacobliberman/
It turns out that de-culting natural health is a rather large subject. Join us for another round of De-Cult Natural Health, with guest, Dagmar Stansova.And just like in part 1 & 2, so we don't just baby-and-the-bathwater black pill everyone about natural health diets, not only are we speaking to where individual systems fail, but where they were heading in the right direction.And because we are in the Christmas days of eating too much or the wrong foods, if we have time we're going to give you some tips on bouncing back from holiday eating more easily.***Join the CreatorCode course with the early bird by Dec 29th: https://www.bethmartens.com/creator-code ***MORE FROM BETHSign up to take a 5-minute King Hero's Journey archetype quizApply to become a member of the House of Free WillRumbleKing Hero Telegram ChannelTwitter (X)InstagramSign up for a Hero's Journey Archetype ReadingOrder a copy of my book, ‘Journey: A Map of Archetypes to Find Lost Purpose in a Sea of Meaninglessness'Donate by PayPal if you're inspiredFollow the King Hero's Journey Podcast on... Apple Podcasts SpotifyIf we're just meeting...I'm Beth Martens—founder of the House of Free Will, pattern hunter, archetype reader, podcaster, author, coach trainer, and business coach. My calling has truly been a life-or-death matter. After a decade as a corporate VP in my family's firm, eight transformative trips to India, and a three-year battle with cancer nearly 25 years ago, I turned to archetypes and deep deprogramming work to save my life.Despite doing everything wrong based on limited health knowledge, I accessed the hidden inner roots of what was keeping me sick, stuck, and unconscious. Letting those patterns go changed everything. I went from dying to living almost overnight.Today, I help people who love truth more than their beliefs—people who want to serve with their life's work and walk their Hero's Journey—to deprogram the beast system from within and stop unconsciously feeding the forces that harm us.I host the King Hero interview series, where I spotlight leaders, entrepreneurs, movement makers, and lovers of freedom who are carving new paths in a world that desperately needs them. And I also share my own voice, insights, and stories through my new solo podcast, Beth of Fresh Air
I have been a fan of Alex Michael, aka Conspiracy Music Guru, for several years, especially post plandemic. I've found his True Solfeggio recordings to be not only beautiful, but highly conducive to healing and creative work.Join us on the shortest day of the year for the live King Hero interview to talk sound, the secrets of “true Solfeggio”, how his music career has evolved, and what keeps him going through the madness.About Michael:Conspiracy Music Guru, exposes the world's greatest deceptions with lyrics that inform and teach, and together with an understanding of the power of 432Hz his music delivers a natural vibration which has had a profound impact and resonance with his fans. Conscious music is what the Conspiracy Music Guru is all about.Alex Michael, a multi instrumentalist and music producer is the mastermind behind the Conspiracy Music Guru and is as passionate about truth as he is about music.His music is diverse, covering musical genres from comedic country, with the popular character and album Flat Earth Man to instrumental healing music with his albums True Solfeggio. Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. His latest album entitled Black Sheep utilises rock while the album Unplug has a more natural softer acoustic sound to convey the truth filled messages.You can find reviews of his Solfeggio recordings here:https://www.conspiracymusicguru.com/true-solfeggio-reviewshttps://www.conspiracymusicguru.com/
To celebrate the holidays, we're looking back at four archive Fresh Air interviews discussing popular Christmas songs: First, jazz singer Mel Torme tells Terry Gross about co-writing “The Christmas Song” on a hot summer day, in an interview from 1977. Then we hear from songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane in 1989 about making “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and then Martin drops in again in 2006 to discuss the song's long impact. Finally, musician Jon Batiste sits at the piano with Terry in 2024 to play some other favorite holiday tunes live.Listen to an episode of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast on the origin and impact of “The Christmas Song.”Listen to 40+ years of Fresh Air's archives at FreshAirArchive.org. To access bonus episodes, sponsor-free listening and to support public radio, become a Fresh Air+ supporter at plus.npr.org/freshair.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
To celebrate the holidays, we're looking back at four archive Fresh Air interviews discussing popular Christmas songs: First, jazz singer Mel Torme tells Terry Gross about co-writing “The Christmas Song” on a hot summer day, in an interview from 1977. Then we hear from songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane in 1989 about making “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and then Martin drops in again in 2006 to discuss the song's long impact. Finally, musician Jon Batiste sits at the piano with Terry in 2024 to play some other favorite holiday tunes live.Listen to an episode of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast on the origin and impact of “The Christmas Song.”Listen to 40+ years of Fresh Air's archives at FreshAirArchive.org. To access bonus episodes, sponsor-free listening and to support public radio, become a Fresh Air+ supporter at plus.npr.org/freshair.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
De-Cult Natural Health (Part 2) With Guest Dagmar Stansova!Conventional medicine is failing louder than ever — and when people are scared, sick, and searching for answers, natural health cults rush in to fill the void.In Episode 10 of Beth of Fresh Air, With Guest Dagmar Stansova joining again, we continue dismantling the cult dynamics embedded in modern natural health culture by walking through a wide range of popular diets — highlighting where they do have merit, why they ultimately fail, and how they quietly hijack people's health, intuition, and autonomy.This episode isn't about attacking individuals. It's about exposing rigid belief systems, nutritional absolutism, and identity-based eating that keep people stuck while promising salvation.What We Cover in This EpisodeWe examine the good intentions, blind spots, and cult mechanics behind the following diets and protocols:Body Ecology Diet (Donna Gates) – anti-candida, fermented foods, food combiningFit for Life Diet (Harvey & Marilyn Diamond) – fruit-based mornings, “live” foodsThe Zone Diet (Barry Sears) – macro ratios & omega-3 focusBlood Type Diet (Peter D'Adamo) – lectin avoidance based on ancestryGenefit Nutrition – blindfolded raw eating guided by smellRaw Primal Diet (Aajonus Vonderplanitz) – raw animal foods & detox ideology80/10/10 Diet (Douglas Graham) – high-carb raw vegan tissue breakdownHippocrates Institute Diet (Ann Wigmore / Brian Clement) – raw vegan & wheatgrassFruitarianismMacrobiotic Diet (Michio Kushi) – yin/yang balance & seasonal eatingSpecific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) – legal/illegal foods for gut conditionsLow Glycemic Index DietAnti-Parasite Diet – herbs, antimicrobials & fear-based protocolsSuperfoods Diet (David Wolfe) – exotic supplements & nutritional mysticismGreen Smoothie Revolution (Victoria Boutenko) – gut damage via oxalates & carotenoidsHealer's Protocol (Darko Velcek) – plasma water & raw animal focusUrine Therapy (Ayurvedic offshoots)Epi-Paleo Diet (Jack Kruse) – seafood-heavy biohacking originsThe Plant Paradox (Dr. Gundry) – lectin fear frameworkHigh-Fat Carnivore (Paul Saladino)Muscle Meat & Water Carnivore (Dr. Chaffee)Low Oxalate Diet (Sally Norton) – hidden vitamin toxicity tradeoffsLow Histamine DietStick of Butter a Day Diet – cortisol myths & hormone claimsRaw Milk CureAnti-Inflammatory DietLow Deuterium Diet – mitochondrial theory & ketogenic overlapCore Themes ExploredWhy suppression masquerades as healingHow detox narratives keep people trapped in cycles of breakdownThe difference between practical nutrition and ideological dietsHow cult thinking sneaks into “natural” spaces just as easily as pharmaceutical onesThis episode is for anyone who's tried everything, followed all the rules, and still feels worse — or is quietly afraid to stop.Explore Further with Beth
De-Cult Natural Health (Part 2) With Guest Dagmar Stansova!Conventional medicine is failing louder than ever — and when people are scared, sick, and searching for answers, natural health cults rush in to fill the void.In Episode 10 of Beth of Fresh Air, With Guest Dagmar Stansova joining again, we continue dismantling the cult dynamics embedded in modern natural health culture by walking through a wide range of popular diets — highlighting where they do have merit, why they ultimately fail, and how they quietly hijack people's health, intuition, and autonomy.This episode isn't about attacking individuals. It's about exposing rigid belief systems, nutritional absolutism, and identity-based eating that keep people stuck while promising salvation.What We Cover in This EpisodeWe examine the good intentions, blind spots, and cult mechanics behind the following diets and protocols:Body Ecology Diet (Donna Gates) – anti-candida, fermented foods, food combiningFit for Life Diet (Harvey & Marilyn Diamond) – fruit-based mornings, “live” foodsThe Zone Diet (Barry Sears) – macro ratios & omega-3 focusBlood Type Diet (Peter D'Adamo) – lectin avoidance based on ancestryGenefit Nutrition – blindfolded raw eating guided by smellRaw Primal Diet (Aajonus Vonderplanitz) – raw animal foods & detox ideology80/10/10 Diet (Douglas Graham) – high-carb raw vegan tissue breakdownHippocrates Institute Diet (Ann Wigmore / Brian Clement) – raw vegan & wheatgrassFruitarianismMacrobiotic Diet (Michio Kushi) – yin/yang balance & seasonal eatingSpecific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) – legal/illegal foods for gut conditionsLow Glycemic Index DietAnti-Parasite Diet – herbs, antimicrobials & fear-based protocolsSuperfoods Diet (David Wolfe) – exotic supplements & nutritional mysticismGreen Smoothie Revolution (Victoria Boutenko) – gut damage via oxalates & carotenoidsHealer's Protocol (Darko Velcek) – plasma water & raw animal focusUrine Therapy (Ayurvedic offshoots)Epi-Paleo Diet (Jack Kruse) – seafood-heavy biohacking originsThe Plant Paradox (Dr. Gundry) – lectin fear frameworkHigh-Fat Carnivore (Paul Saladino)Muscle Meat & Water Carnivore (Dr. Chaffee)Low Oxalate Diet (Sally Norton) – hidden vitamin toxicity tradeoffsLow Histamine DietStick of Butter a Day Diet – cortisol myths & hormone claimsRaw Milk CureAnti-Inflammatory DietLow Deuterium Diet – mitochondrial theory & ketogenic overlapCore Themes ExploredWhy suppression masquerades as healingHow detox narratives keep people trapped in cycles of breakdownThe difference between practical nutrition and ideological dietsHow cult thinking sneaks into “natural” spaces just as easily as pharmaceutical onesThis episode is for anyone who's tried everything, followed all the rules, and still feels worse — or is quietly afraid to stop.Explore Further with Beth
Fish have long been one of the last wild foods, a source of nourishment that connects us to the powerful ecology of the planet's waters. But as journalist and author Paul Greenberg chronicles in his award-winning book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food, our relationship with the sea has dramatically changed over the past century. Once nearly all of the seafood we ate was wild; today, nearly half is farmed and the pressures on both wild and farmed systems are intensifying.In this conversation, Paul doesn't simply lament loss nor offer blind optimism. Instead, he helps us see where wild fisheries and aquaculture have faltered, where they remain strong, and how our choices today will shape the future of seafood and the oceans that feed us. Viewed through the lens of regenerative agriculture, his insights show that healthy waters and healthy land are part of the same story, and that ecological regeneration on farms must be paired with thoughtful stewardship of our rivers, estuaries, and oceans.In this episode, we get into: • What history teaches us about the human-ocean relationship and how it changed as we tamed the sea • How modern fishing and seafood production mirror some of the same challenges in industrial agriculture • Why some wild fisheries can still be models of careful management • Where aquaculture offers real promise and where it deepens existing problems • How ecological health, species diversity, and regional systems are essential for both land and sea • What eating fish in ways that support long-term abundance actually looks like • Why regenerative principles belong in discussions about oceans as much as soilMore about Paul:Paul writes at the intersection of the environment and technology, seeking to help his readers find emotional and ecological balance with their planet. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. His other books are The Climate Diet, Goodbye Phone, Hello World, The Omega Principle, American Catch, A Third Term and the novel, Leaving Katya.Paul's writing on oceans, climate change, health, technology, and the environment appears regularly in The New York Times and many other publications. He's the recipient of a James Beard Award for Writing and Literature, a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and many other grants and awards.A frequent guest on national television and radio including Fresh Air with Terry Gross and the co-creator of the podcast Fish Talk, Paul also works in film, television and documentary. His PBS Frontline documentary The Fish on My Plate was among the most viewed Frontline films of the 2017 season and his TED Talk has reached over 1.5 million viewers to date. He has lectured widely at institutions around the world ranging from Harvard to Google to the United States Senate. A graduate in Russian Studies from Brown University, Paul speaks Russian and French. He currently teaches within New York University's Animals Studies program and lives at Ground Zero in Manhattan where he maintains a family and a terrace garden and produces, to his knowledge, the only wine grown south of 14th Street.Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O'Doherty.
This year marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was first published. And it turns out that it took a while for the novel to catch on in the United States, where it is now considered a classic. This hour, we revisit the novel and its cultural impact. GUESTS: Rob Kyff: Teacher and author of Gatsby’s Secrets. He also writes a nationally syndicated column on language Maureen Corrigan: Book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is the author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endures Sara Chase: Actress who created the role of Myrtle Wilson in the Broadway production of The Great Gatsby Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 17, 2025. Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Zadie Smith returns to talk with Terry Gross about her new collection of essays, 'Dead and Alive.' She reflects on the "nonsense" of generational discourse, being raised by TV, and her obsession with time.Also, Martin Johnson has an appreciation of drummer and composer Jack deJohnette, who died in October. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Zadie Smith returns to talk with Terry Gross about her new collection of essays, 'Dead and Alive.' She reflects on the "nonsense" of generational discourse, being raised by TV, and her obsession with time.Also, Martin Johnson has an appreciation of drummer and composer Jack deJohnette, who died in October. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
I was staggered to wake up to the scale of the natural health scam cult I've been part of for most of my adult life, especially since surviving cancer.When I peeled back the onion on the royal sideways natural health has taken us it was a workout and revealed to me many layers of programming I had adopted trying to avoid the medical system.In 2000, after nearly a year of doing high speed natural health in the care of the most prominent natural cancer treatment experts I was sent home by the naturopath to do conventional therapies. All his tools didn't work. It all appeared to work for a time and then things quickly went downhill. Needless to say the conventional stuff nearly killed me quickly too.It means I've never stopped looking for solutions, and gratefully I've found more than I ever expected, turning many health mysteries into workable paths in the right direction.In this episode of Beth of Fresh Air, with a special guest, Dagmar Stansova, who also has decades of experience in this arena, we're going to unpack the cult of natural health in hopes of giving those with ears to hear half a chance.Discover deprogramming and archetype courses at www.bethmartens.comApply for a zero-cost, one-on-one chat about working together: https://www.bethmartens.com/awaken-your-journey-archetype-applicationFind out your King Hero Archetype in ten minutes: https://www.bethmartens.com/king-hero-archetype-quiz-sign-upTake my starter course: Deprogramming 101: https://www.bethmartens.com/deprogramming101Be part of the maiden voyage of CreatorCode: https://www.bethmartens.com/creator-code ***MORE FROM BETHSign up to take a 5-minute King Hero's Journey archetype quizApply to become a member of the House of Free WillRumbleKing Hero Telegram ChannelTwitter (X)InstagramSign up for a Hero's Journey Archetype ReadingOrder a copy of my book, ‘Journey: A Map of Archetypes to Find Lost Purpose in a Sea of Meaninglessness'Donate by PayPal if you're inspiredFollow the King Hero's Journey Podcast on... Apple Podcasts SpotifyIf we're just meeting...I'm Beth Martens—founder of the House of Free Will, pattern hunter, archetype reader, podcaster, author, coach trainer, and business coach. My calling has truly been a life-or-death matter. After a decade as a corporate VP in my family's firm, eight transformative trips to India, and a three-year battle with cancer nearly 25 years ago, I turned to archetypes and deep deprogramming work to save my life.Despite doing everything wrong based on limited health knowledge, I accessed the hidden inner roots of what was keeping me sick, stuck, and unconscious. Letting those patterns go changed everything. I went from dying to living almost overnight.Today, I help people who love truth more than their beliefs—people who want to serve with their life's work and walk their Hero's Journey—to deprogram the beast system from within and stop unconsciously feeding the forces that harm us.I host the King Hero interview series, where I spotlight leaders, entrepreneurs, movement makers, and lovers of freedom who are carving new paths in a world that desperately needs them. And I also share my own voice, insights, and stories through my new solo podcast, Beth of Fresh Air.
Frank Gehry, whose steel and titanium curved structures seemed more like sculptures than buildings, died last week at age 96. His masterpiece was the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2004 about finding his design voice. Also, we remember Raul Malo, the lead singer and songwriter of The Mavericks, the country band with rock and roll roots. Justin Chang reviews ‘Wake Up Dead Man,' the newest ‘Knives Out' mystery movie starring Daniel Craig. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Today I give a few tips to help you and baby find more positivity during this newborn and postpartum phase. Mama Natural Resource Other Episodes on Nursing Your baby from ME: Nursing Crash Course for First Time Moms Dealing with Emotional Ups and Down of Nursing a baby 5 tips for Success in Nursing Your Baby Breast Feeding to Lose Weight Eat, Wake, Sleep Cycle I use with my babies Works with Nursing or Breastfed babies **Morning Sickness Mini Course for Mental Health (Formerly the Positive Pregnancy Program)**: This self-led video program, made to help foster positivity durning pregnancy. It is for women who have or do struggle with pregnancy and who want to have strong mental health during and specifically the first trimester of pregnancy during the nausea! This Mini Course will help you mentally navigate the hardships of the physical changes of pregnancy, especially that morning sickness phase. Direct link to Morning Sickness Mini Course for Mental Health Positivity in Pregnancy and Motherhood website: www.positivityinpregnancy.com Other Episodes you might like: Anxiety? Stressed in pregnancy? Podcast episode Strategies to Calm Fears and Worries in Pregnancy Episodes on Dealing with Nausea in the first trimester: Puking and Feeling Like I Can't Coping with Nausea in Pregnancy YouTube for Positivity in Pregnancy: https://www.youtube.com/@PregnancyisHardwithJosly-nd8wd Here is the Facebook Page for Pregnancy is hard: I have documented my journey of my fourth baby on this page and have other juicy and good tips for enjoying pregnancy better. https://www.facebook.com/pregnancyishard Here is the Pregnancy is Hard Support Group on Facebook: Let's offer support, help and fun for those in the trenches of pregnancy! https://www.facebook.com/groups/165102315544693 Instagram: @positivityinpregnancy
Frank Gehry, whose steel and titanium curved structures seemed more like sculptures than buildings, died last week at age 96. His masterpiece was the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2004 about finding his design voice. Also, we remember Raul Malo, the lead singer and songwriter of The Mavericks, the country band with rock and roll roots. Justin Chang reviews ‘Wake Up Dead Man,' the newest ‘Knives Out' mystery movie starring Daniel Craig. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Peter Solomon speaks with pianist Sean Mason about his latest album "A Breath of Fresh Air." Mason also discusses how growing up in the South affected his music, his love of early jazz, his recent collaborations with singer Catherine Russell and poet Mahogany Browne, and the ways that conflicting personality types in his quintet make his music more interesting. The new album was released in October on Taylor Christian Records, a label known for supporting emerging artists. Mason performed with Catherine Russell at the 2025 Twin Cities Jazz Festival. The album that they made together, "My Ideal," was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Jazz Vocal recording for the 2025 awards.
In New York City, 100,000 people sleep in shelters every night. Patrick Markee has spent decades fighting for them with the Coalition for the Homeless. He's written a new book that gives an on-the-ground view of what he's learned. It's called ‘Placeless: Homelessness in the New Gilded Age.' He asks, what if homelessness isn't a personal failing, but the result of policy choices? Also, Maureen Corrigan shares her picks for the 10 best books of the year. You can see her list here. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In New York City, 100,000 people sleep in shelters every night. Patrick Markee has spent decades fighting for them with the Coalition for the Homeless. He's written a new book that gives an on-the-ground view of what he's learned. It's called ‘Placeless: Homelessness in the New Gilded Age.' He asks, what if homelessness isn't a personal failing, but the result of policy choices? Also, Maureen Corrigan shares her picks for the 10 best books of the year. You can see her list here. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
De-culting is a very important skill that I hope to help people with, God help me. lolI was in several cults myself, and I'm sure you have been at one time or another too. Whether they were in the spiritual, health, or other arenas everyone's life has been particularly touched by cult culture.It requires a special sauce to extricate from a cult, and we will unpack what that is. I'm counting on the chat to share their cult experiences, and I'm thinking this might turn into a series since a deep dive into some of the cults in particular would be useful.We will talk about the scale of cults, the harm participation in them brings, and look at the solutions in the same place I always find them.PS Because I name the episodes of BoFA with verbs I had to invent a word, “de-cult”. Here's what AI says the meaning of it is. It gets me, which I know is not necessarily a good thing. LOLFrom AI:“The term "de-cult" is not a standard or widely recognized word in English. However, based on the context provided, it may be interpreted as a conceptual opposite of "cult," potentially referring to the process of disengaging from or dismantling a group or movement characterized by intense devotion, isolation, and control.” ***Discover deprogramming and archetype courses at www.bethmartens.comApply for a zero-cost, one-on-one chat about working together: https://www.bethmartens.com/awaken-your-journey-archetype-applicationFind out your King Hero Archetype in ten minutes: https://www.bethmartens.com/king-hero-archetype-quiz-sign-upTake my starter course: Deprogramming 101: https://www.bethmartens.com/deprogramming101***MORE FROM BETHSign up to take a 5-minute King Hero's Journey archetype quizApply to become a member of the House of Free WillRumbleKing Hero Telegram ChannelTwitter (X)InstagramSign up for a Hero's Journey Archetype ReadingOrder a copy of my book, ‘Journey: A Map of Archetypes to Find Lost Purpose in a Sea of Meaninglessness'Donate by PayPal if you're inspiredFollow the King Hero's Journey Podcast on... Apple Podcasts SpotifyIf we're just meeting...I'm Beth Martens—founder of the House of Free Will, pattern hunter, archetype reader, podcaster, author, coach trainer, and business coach. My calling has truly been a life-or-death matter. After a decade as a corporate VP in my family's firm, eight transformative trips to India, and a three-year battle with cancer nearly 25 years ago, I turned to archetypes and deep deprogramming work to save my life.Despite doing everything wrong based on limited health knowledge, I accessed the hidden inner roots of what was keeping me sick, stuck, and unconscious. Letting those patterns go changed everything. I went from dying to living almost overnight.Today, I help people who love truth more than their beliefs—people who want to serve with their life's work and walk their Hero's Journey—to deprogram the beast system from within and stop unconsciously feeding the forces that harm us.I host the King Hero interview series, where I spotlight leaders, entrepreneurs, movement makers, and lovers of freedom who are carving new paths in a world that desperately needs them. And I also share my own voice, insights, and stories through my new solo podcast, Beth of Fresh Air.
In this Write Big session of the #amwriting podcast, host Jennie Nash welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jennifer Senior for a powerful conversation about finding, knowing, and claiming your voice.Jennifer shares how a medication once stripped away her ability to think in metaphor—the very heart of her writing—and what it was like to get that voice back. She and Jennie talk about how voice strengthens over time, why confidence and ruthless editing matter, and what it feels like when you're truly writing in flow.It's an inspiring reminder that your voice is your greatest strength—and worth honoring every time you sit down to write.TRANSCRIPT BELOW!THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:* Jennifer's Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross: Can't Sleep? You're Not Alone* Atlantic feature story: What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind* Atlantic feature story: The Ones We Sent Away* Atlantic feature story: It's Your Friends Who Break Your Heart* The New York Times article: Happiness Won't Save You* Heavyweight the podcastSPONSORSHIP MESSAGEHey, it's Jennie Nash. And at Author Accelerator, we believe that the skills required to become a great book coach and build a successful book coaching business can be taught to people who come from all kinds of backgrounds and who bring all kinds of experiences to the work. But we also know that there are certain core characteristics that our most successful book coaches share. If you've been curious about becoming a book coach, and 2026 might be the year for you, come take our quiz to see how many of those core characteristics you have. You can find it at bookcoaches.com/characteristics-quiz.EPISODE TRANSCRIPTJennie NashHi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast. This is a Write Big Session, where I'm bringing you short episodes about the mindset shifts that help you stop playing small and write like it matters. This one might not actually be that short, because today I'm talking to journalist Jennifer Senior about the idea of finding and knowing and claiming your voice—a rather big part of writing big. Jennifer Senior is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2022 and was a finalist again in 2024. Before that, she spent five years at The New York Times as both a daily book critic and a columnist for the opinion page, and nearly two decades at New York Magazine. She's also the author of a bestselling parenting book, and frequently appears on NPR and other news shows. Welcome, Jennifer. Thanks for joining us.Jennifer SeniorThank you for having me. Hey, I got to clarify just one thing.Jennie NashOh, no.Jennifer SeniorAll Joy and No Fun is by no means a parenting book. I can't tell you the first thing about how to raise your kids. It is all about how kids change their parents. It's all like a sociological look at who we become and why we are—so our lives become so vexed. I like, I would do these book talks, and at the end, everybody would raise their hand and be like, “How do I get my kid into Harvard?” You know, like, the equivalent obviously—they wouldn't say it that way. I'd be like; I don't really have any idea, or how to get your kid to eat vegetables, or how to get your kid to, like, stop talking back. But anyway, I just have to clarify that, because every time...Jennie NashPlease, please—Jennifer SeniorSomeone says that, I'm like, “Noooo.” Anyway, it's a sociology book. Ah, it's an ethnography, you know. But anyway, it doesn't matter.Jennie NashAll right, like she said, you guys—not what I said.Jennifer SeniorI'm not correcting you. It came out 11 years ago. There were no iPads then, or social media. I mean, forget it. It's so dated anyway. But like, I just...Jennie NashThat's so funny. So the reason that we're speaking is that I heard you recently on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, where you were talking about an Atlantic feature story that you wrote called “Why Can't Americans Sleep?” And this was obviously a reported piece, but also a really personal piece and you're talking about your futile attempts to fall asleep and the latest research into insomnia and medication and therapy that you used to treat it, and we'll link to that article and interview in the show notes. But the reason that we're talking, and that in the middle of this conversation, which—which I'm listening to and I'm riveted by—you made this comment, and it was a little bit of a throwaway comment in the conversation, and, you know, then the conversation moved on. But you talked about how you were taking a particular antidepressant you'd been prescribed, and this was the quote you said: “It blew out all the circuitry that was responsible for generating metaphors, which is what I do as a writer. So it made my writing really flat.” And I was just like, hold up. What was that like? What happened? What—everything? So that's why we're talking. So… can we go back to the very beginning? If you can remember—Jess Lahey actually told me that when she was teaching fifth and sixth grade, that's around the time that kids begin to grasp this idea of figurative language and metaphor and such. Do you remember learning how to write like that, like write in metaphor and simile and all such things?Jennifer SeniorOh, that's funny. Do I remember it? I remember them starting to sort of come unbidden in my—like they would come unbidden in my head starting maybe in my—the minute I entered college, or maybe in my teens. Actually, I had that thing where some people have this—people who become writers have, like, a narrator's voice in their head where they're actually looking at things and describing them in the third person. They're writing them as they witness the world. That went away, that narrator's voice, which I also find sort of fascinating. But, like, I would say that it sort of emerged concurrently. I guess I was scribbling a little bit of, like, short story stuff, or I tried at least one when I was a senior in high school. So that was the first time maybe that, like, I started realizing that I had a flair for it. I also—once I noticed that, I know in college I would make, you know, when I started writing for the alternative weekly and I was reviewing things, particularly theater, I would make a conscientious effort to come up with good metaphors, and, like, 50% of them worked and 50% of them didn't, because if you ever labor over a metaphor, there's a much lower chance of it working. I mean, if you come—if you revisit it and go, oh, that's not—you know, that you can tell if it's too precious. But now if I labor over a metaphor, I don't bother. I stop. You know, it has to come instantaneously or...Jennie NashOr that reminds me of people who write with the thesaurus open, like that's going to be good, right? That's not going to work. So I want to stick with this, you know, so that they come into your head, you recognize that, and just this idea of knowing, back in the day, that you could write like that—you… this was a thing you had, like you used the word “flair,” like had a flair for this. Were there other signs or things that led you to the work, like knowing you were good, or knowing when something was on the page that it was right, like, what—what is that?Jennifer SeniorIt's that feeling of exhilaration, but it's also that feeling of total bewilderment, like you've been struck by something—something just blew through you and you had nothing to do with it. I mean, it's the cliché: here I am saying the metaphors are my superpower, which my editors were telling me, and I'm about to use a cliché, which is that you feel like you're a conduit for something and you have absolutely nothing to do with it. So I would have that sense that it had almost come without conscious thought. That was sort of when I knew it was working. It's also part of being in a flow state. It's when you're losing track of time and you're just in it. And the metaphors are—yeah, they're effortless. By the way, my brain is not entirely fogged in from long COVID, but I have noticed—and at first I didn't really notice any decrements in cognition—but recently, I have. So I'm wondering now if I'm having problems with spontaneous metaphor generation. It's a little bit disconcerting. And I do feel like all SSRIs—and I'm taking one now, just because, not just because long COVID is depressing, but because I have POTS, which is like a—it's Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and that's a very common sequela from long COVID, and it wipes out your plasma serotonin. So we have to take one anyway, we POTS patients. So I found that nicotine often helped with my long COVID, which is a thing—like a nicotine patch—and that made up for it. It almost felt like I was doping [laughing]. It made my writing so much better. But it's been...Jennie NashWait, wait, wait, this is so interesting.Jennifer SeniorI know…it's really weird. I would never have guessed that so much of my writing would be dampened by Big Pharma. I mean—but now with the nicotine patches, I was like, oh, now I get why writers are smoking until into the night, writing. Like, I mean, and I always wished that I did, just because it looked cool, you know? I could have just been one of those people with their Gitanes, or however you pronounce it, but, yeah.Jennie NashWow. So I want to come—I want to circle back to this in a minute, but let's get to the first time—well, it sounds like the first time that happened where you were prescribed an antidepressant and—and you recognized that you lost the ability to write in metaphor. Can you talk about—well, first of all, can you tell us what the medication was?Jennifer SeniorYeah, it was Paxil, which is actually notorious for that. And at the top—which I only subsequently discovered—those were in the days where there were no such things as Reddit threads or anything like that. It was 1999… I guess, no, eight, but so really early. That was the bespoke antidepressant at the time, thought to be more nuanced. I think it's now fallen out of favor, because it's also a b***h to wean off of. But it was kind of awful, just—I would think, and nothing would come. It was the strangest thing. For—there's all this static electricity usually when you write, right? And there's a lot of free associating that goes on that, again, feels a little involuntary. You know, you start thinking—it's like you've pulled back the spring in the pinball machine, and suddenly the thing is just bouncing around everywhere, and the ball wasn't bouncing around. Nothing was lighting up. It was like a dis… it just was strange, to be able to summon nothing.Jennie NashWow. So you—you just used this killer metaphor to describe that.Jennifer SeniorYeah, that was spontaneous.Jennie NashRight? So—so you said first, you said static, static energy, which—which is interesting.Jennifer SeniorYeah, it's... [buzzing sound]Jennie NashYeah. Yeah. Because it's noisy. You're talking about...Jennie SeniorOh, but it's not disruptive noise. Sorry, that might seem like it's like unwanted crackling, like on your television. I didn't really—yeah, maybe that's the wrong metaphor, actually, maybe the pinball is sort of better, that all you need is to, you know, psych yourself up, sit down, have your caffeine, and then bam, you know? But I didn't mean static in that way.Jennie NashI understood what you meant. There's like a buzzy energy.Jennifer SeniorYeah, right. It's fizz.Jennie NashFizz... that's so good. So you—you recognized that this was gone.Jennifer SeniorSo gone! Like the TV was off, you know?Jennie NashAnd did you...?Jennifer SeniorOr the machine, you know, was unplugged? I mean, it's—Jennie NashYeah, and did you? I'm just so curious about the part of your brain that was watching another part of your brain.Jennifer Senior[Laughing] You know what? I think... oh, that's really interesting. But are you watching, or are you just despairing because there's nothing—I mean, I'm trying to think if that's the right...Jennie NashBut there's a part of your brain that's like, this part of my brain isn't working.Jennifer SeniorRight. I'm just thinking how much metacognition is involved in— I mean, if you forget a word, are you really, like, staring at that very hard, or are you just like, s**t, what's the word? If you're staring at Jack Nicholson on TV, and you're like, why can't I remember that dude's name?Multiple speakers[Both laughing]Jennifer SeniorWhich happens to me far more regularly now, [unintelligible]… than it used to, you know? I mean, I don't know. There is a part of you that's completely alarmed, but, like, I guess you're right. There did come a point where I—you're right, where I suddenly realized, oh, there's just been a total breakdown here. It's never happening. Like, what is going on? Also, you know what would happen? Every sentence was a grind, like...Jennie NashOkay, so—okay, so...Jennifer Senior[Unintelligible]... Why is this so effortful? When you can't hold the previous sentence in your head, suddenly there's been this lapse in voice, right? Because, like, if every sentence is an effort and you're starting from nothing again, there's no continuity in how you sound. So, I mean, it was really dreadful. And by the way, if I can just say one thing, sorry now that—Jennie NashNo, I love it!Jennifer SeniorYeah. Sorry. I'm just—now you really got me going. I'm just like, yeah, I know. I'm sort of on a tear and a partial rant, which is Prozac—there came a point where, like, every single SSRI was too activating for me to sleep. But it was, of course, a problem, because being sleepless makes you depressed, so you need something to get at your depression. And SNRIs, like the Effexor's and the Cymbalta's, are out of the question, because those are known to be activating. So I kept vainly searching for SSRIs, and Prozac was the only one that didn't—that wound up not being terribly activating, besides Paxil, but it, too, was somewhat deadening, and I wrote my whole book on it.Jennie NashWow!Jennifer SeniorIt's not all metaphor.Multiple Speakers[both laughing]Jennifer SeniorIt's not all me and no—nothing memorable, you know? I mean, it's—it's kind of a problem. It was—I can't really bear to go back and look at it.Jennie NashWow.Jennie NashSo—so the feeling...Jennifer SeniorI'm really giving my book the hard sell, like it's really a B plus in terms of its pro…—I mean, you know, it wasn't.Jennie NashSo you—you—you recognize its happening, and what you recognize is a lack of fizzy, buzzy energy and a lack of flow. So I just have to ask now, presumably—well, there's long COVID now, but when you don't have—when you're writing in your full powers, do you—is it always in a state of flow? Like, if you're not in a state of flow, do you get up and go do something else? Like, what—how does that function in the life of a writer on a deadline?Jennifer SeniorOK. Well, am I always in a state of flow? No! I mean, flow is not—I don't know anyone who's good at something who just immediately can be in flow every time.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorIt's still magic when it happens. You know, when I was in flow almost out of the gate every day—the McIlvaine stories—like, I knew when I hit send, this thing is damn good. I knew when I hit send on a piece that was not as well read, but is like my second or third favorite story. I wrote something for The New York Times called “Happiness Wont Save You,” about a pioneer in—he wrote one of the foundational studies in positive psychology about lottery winners and paraplegics, and how lottery winners are pretty much no happier than random controls found in a phone book, and paraplegics are much less unhappy than you might think, compared to controls. It was really poorly designed. It would never withstand the scrutiny of peer review today. But anyway, this guy was, like, a very innovative thinker. His name was Philip Brickman, and in 1982 at 38 years old, he climbed—he got—went—he found his way to the roof of the tallest building in Ann Arbor and jumped, and took his own life. And I was in flow pretty much throughout writing that one too.Jennie NashWow. So the piece you're referring to, that you referred to previous to that, is What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind, which was a feature story in The Atlantic. It's the one you won the—Pul…Pulitzer for? It's now made into a book. It has, like...Jennifer SeniorAlthough all it is like, you know, the story between...Jennie NashCovers, right?Jennifer SeniorYeah. Yeah. Because—yeah, yeah.Jennie NashBut—Jennifer SeniorWhich is great, because then people can have it, rather than look at it online, which—and it goes on forever—so yeah.Jennie NashSo this is a piece—the subtitle is Grief, Conspiracy Theories, and One Family's Search for Meaning in the Two Decades Since 9/11—and I actually pulled a couple of metaphors from that piece, because I re-read it knowing I was going to speak to you… and I mean, it was just so beautifully written. It's—it's so beautifully structured, everything, everything. But here's a couple of examples for our listeners. You're describing Bobby, who was a 26-year-old who died in 9/11, who was your brother's college roommate.Jennifer SeniorAnd at that young adult—they—you can't afford New York. They were living together for eight years. It was four in college, and four—Jennie NashWow.Jennifer SeniorIn New York City. They had a two-bedroom... yeah, in a cheaper part... well, to the extent that there are cheaper parts in...Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorThe way over near York Avenue, east side, yeah.Jennie NashSo you write, “When he smiled, it looked for all the world like he'd swallowed the moon.” And you wrote, “But for all Bobby's hunger and swagger, what he mainly exuded, even during his college years, was warmth, decency, a corkscrew quirkiness.” So just that kind of language—a corkscrew quirkiness, like he'd swallowed the moon—that, it's that the piece is full of that. So that's interesting, that you felt in flow with this other piece you described and this one. So how would you describe—so you describe metaphors as things that just come—it just—it just happens. You're not forcing it—you can't force it. Do you think that's true of whatever this ineffable thing of voice—voices—as well?Jennifer SeniorOh, that's a good question. My voice got more distinct as I got older—it gets better. I think a lot of people's—writers'—powers wax. Philip Roth is a great example of that. Colette? I mean, there are people whose powers really get better and better, and I've gotten better with more experience. But do you start with the voice? I think you do. I don't know if you can teach someone a voice.Jennie NashSo when you say you've gotten better, what does that mean to you?Jennifer SeniorYeah. Um, I'm trying to think, like, do I write with more swing? Do I—just with more confidence because I'm older? Being a columnist…which is the least creative medium…Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSeven hundred and fifty words to fit onto—I had a dedicated space in print. When David Leonhardt left, I took over the Monday spot, during COVID. So it's really, really—but what it forces you to do is to be very—your writing becomes lean, and it becomes—and structure is everything. So this does not relate to voice, but my—I was always pretty good at structure anyway. I think if you—I think movies and radio, podcasts, are, like, great for structure. Storytelling podcasts are the best thing to—I think I unconsciously emulate them. The McIlvaine story has a three-act structure. There's also—I think the podcast Heavyweight is sublime in that way.Jennie NashIs that Roxane Gay?Jennifer SeniorNo, no, no, no.Jennie NashOh, it's, um—Jennifer SeniorIt's Jonathan Goldstein.Jennie NashYes, got it. I'm going to write that down and link to that in our show notes.Jennifer SeniorIt's... I'm trying to think of—because, you know, his is, like, narratives, and it's—it's got a very unusual premise. But voice, voice, voice—well, I, you know, I worked on making my metaphors better in the beginning. I worked on noticing things, you know, and I worked on—I have the—I'm the least visual person alive. I mean, this is what's so interesting. Like, I failed to notice once that I had sat for an hour and a half with a woman who was missing an arm. I mean, I came back to the office and was talking—this is Barbara Epstein, who was a storied editor of The New York Review of Books, the story editor, along with Bob Silver. And I was talking to Mike Tomasky, who was our, like, city politic editor at the time. And I said to him, I just had this one—I knew she knew her. And he said, was it awkward? Was—you know, with her having one arm and everything? And I just stared at him and went one arm? I—I am really oblivious to stuff. And yet visual metaphors are no problem with me. Riddle me that, Batman. I don't know why that is. But I can, like, summon them in my head, and so I worked at it for a while, when my editors were responsive to it. Now they come more easily, so that seems to maybe just be a facility. I started noticing them in other people's writing. So Michael Ondaatje —in, I think it was In the Skin of a Lion, but maybe it was The English Patient. I've read, like, every book of his, like I've, you know— Running… was it Running in the Family? Running with the Family? I think it was Running in the—his memoir. And, I mean, doesn't—everything. Anil's Ghost—he— you know, that was it The Ballad of Billy the Kid? [The Collected Works of Billy the Kid] Anyway, I can go on and on. He had one metaphor talking about the evening being as serene as ink. And it was then that I realized that metaphors without effort often—and—or is that a simile? That's a simile.Jennie NashLike—or if it's “like” or “as,” it's a simile.Jennifer SeniorYeah. So I'm pretty good with similes, maybe more than metaphors. But... serene as ink. I realized that what made that work is that ink is one syllable. There is something about landing on a word with one syllable that sounds like you did not work particularly hard at it. You just look at it and keep going. And I know that I made a real effort to make my metaphors do that for a while, and I still do sometimes. Anything more than that can seem labored.Jennie NashOh, but that's so interesting. So you—you noticed in other people what worked and what you liked, and then tried to fold that into your own work.Jennifer SeniorYeah.Jennie NashSo does that mean you might noodle on—like, you have the structure of the metaphor or simile, but you might noodle on the word—Jennifer SeniorThe final word?Jennie NashThe final word.Jennifer SeniorYeah. Yeah, the actual simile, or whatever—yeah, I guess it's a simile—yeah, sometimes. Sometimes they—like I said, they come unbidden. I think I have enough experience now—which may make my voice better—to know what's crap. And I also, by the way, I'll tell you what makes your voice better: just being very willing to hit Select Alt, Delete. You know, there's more where that came from. I am a monster of self-editing. I just—I have no problem doing it. I like to do it. I like to be told when things are s**t. I think that improves your voice, because you can see it on the page.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorAnd also, I think paying attention to other people's writing, you know, I did more and more of that, you know, reverse engineering stuff, looking at how they did stuff as I got older, so...Jennie NashSo I was going to ask a question, which now maybe you already answered, but the question was going to be… you said that you're—you feel like you're getting better as a writer as you got older. And you—you said that was due to experience. And I was going to ask, is it, or is it due to getting older? You know, is there something about literally living more years that makes you better, or, you know, like, is wisdom something that you just get, or is it something you work for? But I think what I'm hearing is you're saying you have worked to become the kind of writer who knows, you know, what you just said—you delete stuff, it comes again. But tell me if—you know, you welcome the kind of tough feedback, because you know that makes you better. You know, this sort of real effort to become better, it sounds like that's a practice you have. Is that—is that right?Jennifer SeniorOh yeah. I mean, well, let's do two things on that, please. I so easily lose my juju these days that, like, you've got to—if you can put a, you know, oh God, I'm going to use a cliché again—if you can put a pin in or bookmark that, the observation about, you know, harsh feedback. I want to come back to that. But yes, one of the things that I was going to keep—when I said that I have the confidence now, I also was going to say that I have the wisdom, but I had too many kind of competing—Jennie NashYeah. Yeah.Jennifer SeniorYou know, were running at once, and I, you know, many trains on many tracks—Jennie NashYeah, yeah.Jennifer Senior…about to leave, so…, Like, I had to sort of hop on one. But, like, the—the confidence and wisdom, yes, and also, like, I'll tell you something: in the McIlvaine piece, it may have been the first time I did, like, a narrative nonfiction. I told a story. There was a time when I would have hid behind research on that one.Jennie NashOoh, and did you tell a story. It was the—I remember reading that piece when it first came out, and there you're introducing, you know, this—the situation. And then there's a moment, and it comes very quickly at the top of the piece, where you explain your relationship to the protagonist of the story. And there's a—there's just a moment of like, oh, we're—we're really in something different here. There's really—is that feel of, this is not a reported story, this is a lived story, and that there's so many layers of power, I mean, to the story itself, but obviously the way that you—you present it, so I know exactly what you're talking about.Jennifer SeniorYeah, and by the way, I think writing in the first person, which I've been doing a lot of lately, is not something I would have done until now. Probably because I am older and I feel like I've earned it. I have more to say. I've been through more stuff. It's not, like, with the same kind of narcissism or adolescent—like, I want to get this out, you know. It's more searching, I think, and because I've seen more, and also because I've had these pent up stories that I've wanted to tell for a long time. And also I just don't think I would have had the balls, you know.Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorSo some of it is—and I think that that's part of—you can write better in your own voice. If it's you writing about you, you're—there's no better authority, you know? So your voice comes out.Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorBut I'm trying to think of also—I would have hid behind research and talked about theories of grief. And when I wrote, “It's the damnedest thing, the dead abandon you, and then you abandon the dead,” I had blurted that out loud when I was talking to, actually, not Bobby's brother, which is the context in which I wrote it, but to Bobby's—I said that, it's, like, right there on the tape—to his former almost fiancée. And I was thinking about that line, that I let it stand. I didn't actually then rush off and see if there was a body of literature that talked about the guilt that the living feel about letting go of their memories. But I would have done that at one point. I would have turned it into this... because I was too afraid to just let my own observations stand. But you get older and you're like, you know what? I'm smart enough to just let that be mine. Like, assume...Jennie NashRight.Jennifer SeniorIt's got to be right. But can we go back, also, before I forget?Jennie NashYeah, we're going to go back to harsh, but—but I would just want to use your cliché, put a pin in what you said, because you've said so many important things— that there's actual practice of getting better, and then there's also wisdom of—of just owning, growing into, embracing, which are two different things, both so important. So I just wanted to highlight that you've gone through those two things. So yes, let's go back to—I said harsh, and maybe I miss—can...misrepresenting what you meant.Jennifer SeniorYou may not have said that. I don't know what you said.Jennie NashNo, I did, I did.Jennifer SeniorYou did, okay, yeah, because I just know that it was processed as a harsh—oh no, totally. Like, I was going to say to you that—so there was a part of my book, my book, eventually, I just gave one chapter to each person in my life whom I thought could, like, assess it best, and one of them, so this friend—I did it on paper. He circled three paragraphs, and he wrote, and I quote, “Is this just a shitty way of saying...?” And then I was like, thank God someone caught it, if it was shitty. Oh my God. And then—and I was totally old enough to handle it, you know, I was like 44, whatever, 43. And then, who was it? Someone else—oh, I think I gave my husband the intro, and he wrote—he circled a paragraph and just wrote, “Ugh.” Okay, Select Alt, Delete, redo. You know, like, what are you going to do with that? That's so unambiguous. It's like, you know—and also, I mean, when you're younger, you argue. When you're older, you never quarrel with Ugh. Or Is this...Jennie NashRight, you're just like, okay, yep.Jennifer SeniorYeah. And again, you—you've done it enough that, you know, there's so much more where that came from.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorWhy cling to anything that someone just, I don't know, had this totally allergic reaction to? Like, you know, if my husband broke out in a hive.Jennie NashYeah. So, circling back to the—the storyline of—you took this medication, you lost your ability to write in this way, you changed medications, presumably, you got it back. What did it feel like to get it back? Did you—do you remember that?Jennifer SeniorOh God, yes, it was glorious.Jennie NashReally?!Jennifer SeniorOh, you don't feel like yourself. I think that—I mean, I think there are many professions that are intertwined with identity. They may be the more professional—I'm sorry, the more creative professions. But not always, you know. And so if your writing voice is gone, and it's—I mean, so much of writing is an expression of your interior, if not life, then, I don't know some kind of thought process and something that you're working out. To have that drained out of you, for someone to just decant all the life out of your—or something to decant all the life out of your writing, it's—it's, I wouldn't say it's traumatic, that's totally overstating it, but it's—it's a huge bummer. It's, you know, it's depressing.Jennie NashWell, the word glorious, that's so cool. So to feel that you got back your—the you-ness of your voice was—was glorious. I mean, that's—that's amazing.Jennifer SeniorWhat—if I can just say, I wrote a feature, right, that then, like, I remember coming off of it, and then I wrote a feature that won the News Women's Club of New York story for best feature that year. Like, I didn't realize that those are kind of hard to win, and not like I won... I think I've won one since. But, like, that was in, like, 99 or something. I mean, like, you know, I don't write a whole lot of things that win stuff, until recently, you know. There was, like, a real kind of blackout period where, you know, I mean, but like—which I think, it probably didn't have to do with the quality of my writing. I mean, there was—but, I mean, you know, I wasn't writing any of the stuff that floated to the tippy top, and, like, I think that there was some kind of explosion thereof, like, all the, again, stuff that was just desperate to come out. I think there was just this volcanic outpouring.Jennie NashSo you're saying now you are winning things, which is indeed true. I mean, Pulitzer Prizes among them. Do you think that that has to do with this getting better? The wisdom, the practice, the glorious having of your abilities? Or, I guess what I'm asking is, like, is luck a part of—a part of all that? Is it just, it just happens? Or do you think there's some reason that it's happening? You feel that your writing is that powerful now?Jennifer SeniorWell, luck is definitely a part of it, because The Atlantic is the greatest place to showcase your feature writing. It gets so much attention, even though I think fewer people probably read that piece about Bobby McIlvaine than would have read any of my columns on any given day. The kind of attention was just so different. And it makes sense in a funny way, because it was 13,600 words or something. I mean, it was so long, and columns are 750 words. But, like, I think that I just lucked out in terms of the showcase. So that's definitely a part of it. And The Atlantic has the machinery to, you know, and all these dedicated, wonderful publicity people who will make it possible for people to read it, blah, blah, blah. So there's that. If you're older, you know everyone in the business, so you have people amplifying your work, they're suddenly reading it and saying, hey, everybody read it. It was before Twitter turned to garbage. Media was still a way to amplify it. It's much harder now, so passing things along through social media has become a real problem. But at that moment, it was not—Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo that was totally luck. Also, I wonder if it was because I was suddenly writing something from in the first person, and my voice was just better that way. And I wouldn't have had, like, the courage, you know?Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorAnd also, you're a book critic, which is what I was at The Times. And you certainly are not writing from the first person. And as a columnist, you're not either.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo, you know, those are very kind of constricted forms, and they're also not—there are certainly critics who win Pulitzers. I don't think I was good enough at it. I was good, but it was not good enough. I could name off the top of my head, like, so many critics who were—who are—who haven't even won anything yet. Like Dwight Garner really deserves one. Why has he not won a Pulitzer? He's, I think, the best writer—him and Sophie Gilbert, who keeps coming close. I don't get it, like, what the hell?Jennie NashDo you—as a—as a reader of other people's work, I know you—you mentioned Michael Ondaatje that you'd studied—study him. But do you just recognize when somebody else is on their game? Like, do you recognize the voice or the gloriousness of somebody else's work? Can you just be like, yeah, that...?Jennifer SeniorWell, Philip Roth, sentence for sentence. Martin Amis, even more so—I cannot get over the originality of each of his sentences and the wide vocabulary from which he recruits his words, and, like, maybe some of that is just being English. I think they just get better, kind of more comprehensive. They read more comprehensively. And I always tell people, if they want to improve their voice, they should read the Victorians, like that [unintelligible]. His also facility with metaphor, I don't think, is without equal. The thing is, I can't stand his fiction. I just find it repellent. But his criticism is bangers and his memoirs are great, so I love them.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorSo I really—I read him very attentively, trying to think of, like, other people whose kind of...Jennie NashI guess I was—I was getting at more... like, genius recognizes genius, that con... that concept, like, when you know you can do this and write in this way from time to time anyway, you can pull it off.Jennifer SeniorYeah, genius as in—I wouldn't—we can't go there.Jennie NashWell, that's the—that's the cliché, right? But, like...Jennifer SeniorOh no, I know, I know. Game—game, game recognizes game.Jennie NashGame recognizes game is a better way of saying it. Like, do you see—that's actually what the phrase is. I don't know where I came up with genius, but...Jennifer SeniorNo, it's fine. You can stick anything in that template, you know—evil recognizes evil, I mean, you know, it's like a...Jennie NashYeah. Do you see it? Do you see it? Like, you can see it in other people?Jennifer SeniorSure. Oh yeah, I see it.Jennie NashYeah.Jennifer SeniorI mean, you're just talking about among my contemporaries, or just as it...Jennie NashJust like anything, like when you pick up a book or you read an article or even listen to a storytelling pack podcast, that sense of being in the hands of somebody who's on it.Jennifer SeniorYeah, I think that Jonathan Goldstein—I mean, I think that the—the Heavyweight Podcast, for sure, is something—and more than that, it's—it's storytelling structure, it's just that—I think that anybody who's a master at structure would just look at that show and be like, yeah, that show nails it each and every time.Jennie NashI've not listened, but I feel like I should end our time together. I would talk to you forever about this, but I always like to leave our listeners with something specific to reflect or practice or do. And is there anything related to metaphor or practicing, finding your voice, owning your voice, that you would suggest for—for folks? You've already suggested a lot.Jennifer SeniorRead the Victorians.Jennie NashAwesome. Any particular one that you would say start with?Jennifer SeniorYeah, you know what? I find Dickens rough sledding. I like his, you know, dear friend Wilkie Collins. I think No Name is one of the greatest books ever. I would read No Name.Jennie NashAmazing. And I will add, go read Jennifer's work. We'll link to a bunch of it in the show notes. Study her and—and watch what she does and learn what she does—that there it is, a master at work, and that's what I would suggest. So thank you for joining us and having this amazing discussion.Jennifer SeniorThis has been super fun.Jennie NashAnd for our listeners, until next time, stop playing small and write like it matters.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
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For 25 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario has covered conflicts and humanitarian crises across the globe, from Sudan to Syria. She's been kidnapped twice, thrown from a car, and shelled in war zones more times than she can count. A new Nat Geo/Disney+ documentary called 'Love+War' follows Addario as she is torn in two directions – her all-consuming reporting in Ukraine and her life at home as a wife and mother of two young kids. Addario spoke with Fresh Air contributor, host of Talk Easy, Sam Fragoso. Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews 'Some Bright Nowhere,' by Ann Packer.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Regular listeners to our afternoon programming will immediately recognize the voice of Terry Gross. She has been the host of Fresh Air for 50 years – well before it became a national staple. News Director Eric Douglas spoke with Gross recently about her career, her style and the uniqueness of public radio. The post Terry Gross Talks With WVPB About Public Radio, This West Virginia Morning appeared first on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Tazewell made history as the first Black man to win the Oscar for costume design for the first installment of Wicked. He talks with Tonya Mosley about Wicked: For Good, the movies that inspired him, and learning to sew as a child. “I made the decision that I would devote myself to costume design and live vicariously through other characters,” he says. “Where I might not be cast in certain roles because of how I looked, as a designer, I could be anyone.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
There are a million things in our lives that are not clear. Some by design, some by our own making. Next thing you know there's a mess. Maybe you made it, maybe you didn't, but if it's important to you and holding you back…Lack of clarity shows up in many ways.A cluttered, not clean living space that constantly distracts you from simply livingA toxic body that keeps grabbing your attention with annoying symptoms.A toxic mind that is full of junk you don't want to be thinking.A toxic heart full of feelings you'd rather not feel. The list goes on.This episode of Beth of Fresh Air is dedicated to one of my go-to solutions for many problems — to clean the heck up!I'll be exploring one of the 8 limbs in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras that emphasizes the spiritual gains from cleaning up, what cleaning up means at every level — body, mind, and spirit — why detoxing programs is the best way to speed a clean up at every level, and what the disciplined work will make easier.***Find me at bethmartens.com to do a King Hero Archetype quiz and find out where you currently are on the path of purpose.https://www.bethmartens.com/king-hero-archetype-quiz-sign-up
Paul Byrne hears from Brian Fox of Regatta that parents and kids are going outdoors more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Shannon's known for playing intense, menacing characters, like Agent Nelson Van Alden in ‘Boardwalk Empire.' In two new projects, though, he plays good guys – historical figures pursuing justice and political reform. He's President James Garfield in the new Netflix series ‘Death by Lightning.' And he's a prosecutor trying Nazi leaders for war crimes in the new film ‘Nuremberg.' Shannon spoke with Dave Davies.Also, David Bianculli reviews a revived and expanded TV documentary series about the Beatles.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In his new film, 'Rental Family,' Brendan Fraser plays an actor in Tokyo who takes a job with a rental family service. It's based on a real phenomenon in Japan: companies where you can hire someone to fill a gap in your life. Fraser spoke with Tonya Mosley about shooting in Japan, working with Scorsese on ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,' and his struggle with confidence. Also, Ken Tucker shares three songs dominating the charts: Neko Case's "Oh, Neglect...," Valerie June's "Runnin' and Searchin'" and Olivia Dean's "Man I Need" Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In this episode, we explore a turning point of fresh air as Saturn and Mercury both direct, liberating us from weeks of fog, delays, heaviness, and confusion. We discuss what it means when the lord of restriction (Saturn) finally moves forward in the whimsical sign of Pisces and how this shift brings a sense of direction, momentum, and invitations to move forward.We also explore Mercury direct in Libra, where communication, decision-making, and relational dynamics begin to harmonize again. This is the moment where we are given an opportunity to find balance in relationship, communicate fairly, and find resolution. It is also an opportunity for collective where information may be shared that is significant when it comes to law and order. Venus in Scorpio calls us into the depths of intimacy, desire, and personal transformation. We discuss how this placement intensifies connection, exposes relational truths, and invites a vulnerability in how we perceive ourselves and others. YOUTUBE:D9 exploration:https://youtu.be/HTgYcjltyasCharacteristics of Your Spouse:https://youtu.be/i_cOvdSbjy0Soulmate Astrologyhttps://youtu.be/ExnDysvjzUwChristine:website: innerknowing.yogainstagram: astrologynow_podcastpatreon: patreon.com/astrologynowpodcast keywords: astrology, jyotish, Vedic astrology, sidereal astrology, nakshatras, spirituality, Christine Rodriguez, aries, libra, scorpio, libra, capricorn, Nakshatra, new moon, taurus, Venus, Jupiter, Pisces, Spirituality, horoscope, retrograde, eclipse, solar eclipse, new moon, lunar eclipse
Sixty-five years ago, Alfred Hitchcock shocked audiences with his film ‘Psycho.' It broke Hollywood conventions about what a film should and should not do, ushered in a new era of horror/thriller, and became one of the most studied movies in cinema history. We listen back to Terry's interview with star Janet Leigh, who talks about filming the famous shower scene. And we hear from screenwriter Evan Hunter about working with Hitchcock on his next film, ‘The Birds.'Also, Justin Chang reviews the new film ‘Hamnet,' about Shakespeare as a young playwright, husband and father. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Michelle Carr has spent years researching what goes on in the brain while we dream. She explains dream engineering, including how sensory inputs like light, sound and vibration can influence the subconscious. Her book is ‘Nightmare Obscura.' Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new season of ‘A Man on the Inside.' Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
After the deaths of his parents, comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Ben found a stash of their audio recordings. Those tapes are at the center of a new documentary, ‘Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost.' He spoke with Terry Gross about growing up in the spotlight, his father's life-changing role on ‘Seinfeld,' and the connection between his family life and ‘Severance.' Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What happens to the body in the deep sea? You need oxygen to survive, but too much oxygen can be deadly. If you rise to the surface too quickly, nitrogen bubbles can form in your body and kill you. Terry Gross spoke with author and scientist Rachel Lance last year about her research for the military. She used a hyperbaric chamber that mimics what divers and submarines are exposed to. Her book, ‘Chamber Divers,' is about the scientists whose dangerous experiments about underwater pressure and injury were critical to the success of D-Day.Also, Justin Chang reviews ‘Sirat,' which he calls one of the most gripping movies of the year. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
"Every now and then you bump up against a part that presses you to the wall of your ability," Hawke says of playing lyricist Lorenz Hart in ‘Blue Moon.' Hawke spoke with Terry Gross about collaborating with Richard Linklater, 'The Lowdown,' and his thoughts on aging. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Food policy expert and nutritionist Marion Nestle's 2006 book, ‘What to Eat,' became a consumer bible of sorts when it came out, guiding readers through the supermarket while exposing how industry marketing and policy steer our food choices. Now, two decades later, she's back with ‘What to Eat Now,' a revised field guide for the supermarket of 2025.Also, Justin Chang reviews Joachim Trier's new film, Sentimental Value.' Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
On this Veteran's Day, guest-host Ray Christian from What's Ray Saying? hears Brian Simpson's “Fresh Air” story from So Say We All for the first time and gives you his hot takes. You can also watch this episode on YouTube! This is part of our RISK! Reacts series, where we listen to a story told on another show and give our first reactions.
The Oscar-winning actor/director has a new play, “Topsy Turvy,” about a chorus that loses its ability to sing together after COVID isolation."Things that I had held sacred or had held as truths were challenged," Robbins says of the pandemic. He talks with Tonya Mosley about ‘Shawshank Redemption,' ‘Dead Man Walking,' and how working with Robert Altman changed the trajectory of his career. Also, David Bianculli reviews the new Netflix miniseries, ‘Death by Lightning.'Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
'Atlantic' journalist David Graham describes how President Trump could potentially use troops near polling places, pressure local election workers and have federal agents seize voting machines.Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews Patti Smith's ‘Bread of Angels,' a prequel/sequel to ‘Just Kids.' Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Copeland says her final performance with American Ballet Theatre was a thank you to the communities that had supported her. "What I represented is something far bigger than me," she says. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her final bow, her relationship to pain, and the legacy of Black ballet dancers. Also, David Bianculli reviews the new Peacock thriller series ‘All Her Fault,' starring Sarah Snook. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis talk about why the U.S. Justice Department's cases against Donald Trump for alleged interference in the 2020 election and his retention of government documents never made it before a jury. They find both FBI officials and government prosecutors were at times reluctant to pursue leads out of concern for preserving the department's commitment to fairness and independence from politics. Leonnig and Davis also detail many cases of Trump as president pressuring the DOJ to protect his friends and punish his perceived enemies. Their book is ‘Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department.' They spoke with Fresh Air's Dave Davies.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Filmmaker Richard Linklater doesn't speak French, but that didn't stop him from directing a movie that's almost entirely in French. ‘Nouvelle Vague' focuses on the beginning of the New Wave of cinema, specifically Jean-Luc Godard and his landmark 1960 movie ‘Breathless.' "I know that sounds insane," Linklater says, "but me not having the language wasn't even in my top 10 concerns about if I could pull off the movie." Linklater spoke with Terry Gross about the impact of the French New Wave, and his other new film, ‘Blue Moon.' It's about Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, the former creative partner of Richard Rodgers.Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel Heart the Lover by Lily King. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Mel Brooks's classic 1974 movie Young Frankenstein parodies the iconic Frankenstein movies of the 1930s. This Halloween, we're featuring our interviews with director Mel Brooks and stars Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr and Cloris Leachman. And film critic Justin Chang reviews the new film Bugonia.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In a New Yorker article co-published with ProPublica, reporter Andy Kroll describes Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, as a "shadow president" with oversized influence. “I don't think you can take in the full sweep of what this administration has done in less than a year and not come away with thinking that chaos is a goal, and certainly an outcome that serves Vought and his team's larger agenda of putting cracks in the federal government, shaking the stability of this typically rock-solid steady institution that is the federal bureaucracy,” Kroll says. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
DaCosta directed the box office hit horror movie Candyman and The Marvels. Her latest, Hedda, is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1891 play, Hedda Gabler. She reimagines the main character as a queer, mixed-race Black woman, played by Tessa Thompson. DaCosta spoke with Tonya Mosley about navigating white spaces in Hollywood, why she loves horror, and her time as a production assistant. Also, jazz critic Martin Johnson reviews bassist Linda May Han Oh's album Strange Heavens. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Long before Judd Apatow was directing box office hits or launching the careers of comedy superstars, he was a fan. As a kid he wrote letters to his heroes, collected autographs, and obsessively documented everything. He's now opened up his personal archive: decades of photographs, letters, scripts, and journals for a new book that reveals how his childhood inspirations led to the creation of works like '40-Year-Old Virgin,' 'Knocked Up,' and 'Trainwreck.' It's called 'Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures.'Also, John Powers reviews the new museum heist film 'The Mastermind,' starring Josh O'Connor. Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Burns' new six-part PBS documentary series includes the perspectives of women, Native Americans and enslaved and free Black people — all of whom were initially excluded from the declaration "all men are created equal." The series begins Nov. 16. Also, Lloyd Schwartz reviews a recording of Handel arias from soprano Julia Lezhneva.Follow Fresh Air on instagram @nprfreshair, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for gems from the Fresh Air archive, staff recommendations, and a peek behind the scenes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy