Podcast appearances and mentions of katy sewall

Edward Burns is known for his work as an actor and filmmaker, and now he's debuting his novel-writing skills in A Kid from Marlboro Road. Set in the 1970s, his novel follows an Irish-American family living on Long Island––elements inspired by Burns's own childhood. This coming-of-age tale explores the impacts of family history, the growing independence in early adolescence, death and grief, and dynamic family relationships. Burns tells the story through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy, Kneeney, who opens the tale at the wake of his beloved grandfather, Pop. The wake's overflowing crowd of characters include sandhogs in their muddy work boots, elderly Irish women in black dresses, and cops in uniform. Kneeney, an aspiring writer, weaves together stories about these characters and his immediate family: his older brother Tommy has no patience for rules and domesticities, and his father is emotionally elsewhere. His mother struggles with her own sadness, which threatens to envelop both her and Kneeney. Throughout Burns's novel, Kneeney learns more about his family history while also experiencing more losses and a deepening understanding of the world around him. Burns brings to life stories of characters based on his own childhood, portrayals of Irish-Americans who have inspired some of his films, and now, on the page. Born in Woodside, Queens and raised on Long Island, Edward Burns has made fourteen feature films as writer-director-actor and starred in many films, including Saving Private Ryan. Burns' first film, The Brothers McMullen, premiered in competition at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury prize. The film also won “Best First Feature” at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards. In 2015, he published Independent Ed, an inside look at his two decades as a pioneer in independent filmmaking. A Kid from Marlboro Road is his first novel, based on his childhood memories and the Irish American communities of the Bronx and Long Island. Katy Sewall is the host and creator of “The Bittersweet Life” podcast. She's a writer, podcast consultant, and a Public Radio professional frequently heard on 94.9 KUOW. She's also the former Program Director at Town Hall.   Buy the Book A Kid from Marlboro Road: A Novel The Elliott Bay Book Company

A number of years back, expat podcast Expat Sandwich produced a documentary episode all about... us! As we prepare to launch our 12th season (can you believe it?), we've decided to air the episode in its entirety here on our show. According to Expat Sandwich's show notes for the episode, "Veteran public radio producer Katy Sewall and writer Tiffany Parks have been friends since the sixth grade. Together they host The Bittersweet Life, a podcast they created four years ago when Katy spent a year in living in Rome, and where Tiffany has lived for the last thirteen years. "Their conversational podcast is NOT short on substance by any means—they take deep dives into some pretty emotional terrain on universal topics such as joy, loneliness, heartbreak, relationships and much more, as events unfold in their daily lives. In this episode, we share some of our favorite shows from their podcast as well as learn more about Katy and Tiffany—where they've been and what lies ahead." If you're a relatively new listener and the clips shared on this compilation are unfamiliar to you, take it as a suggestion to dig back into the archives for our early shows—or maybe even start all the way back at Episode One. You can find the original Expat Sandwich episode here. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more. TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue. START PODCASTING: If you are planning to start your own podcast, consider Libsyn for your hosting service! Use this affliliate link to get two months free, or use our promo code SWEET when you sign up. SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!  

What is it like to grow up as a sociopath? Is it possible to lead a normal, successful life after such an earth-shattering diagnosis? In her memoir, Sociopath, Patric Gagne sheds light on the often misunderstood disorder. From a young age, Gagne grappled with feeling different from her peers, unable to experience emotions like fear, guilt, or empathy. This disconnect led her down a tumultuous path of theft, deception, and violence in search of something to replace the emptiness she felt. Despite being diagnosed as a sociopath in college, Patric faced a bleak prognosis with no hope for treatment or a normal life. Surrounded by societal perceptions of sociopaths as monstrous figures, her future appeared grim until a reconnection with an old flame sparked a glimmer of hope. With newfound determination and support, she embarked on a journey to challenge stereotypes and prove that those with sociopathy can lead fulfilling lives filled with love and hope. Patric Gagne is a writer, former therapist, and advocate for people suffering from sociopathic, psychopathic, and anti-social personality disorders. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology with a dissertation that examined the relationship between sociopathy and anxiety. This research became the groundwork for her continued studies on sociopathic disorder, as well as the foundation for her memoir. She did her undergraduate work at UCLA and earned her masters and doctorate at the California Graduate Institute of The Chicago School. Katy Sewall is the host and creator of “The Bittersweet Life” podcast. She's a writer, podcast consultant, and a Public Radio professional frequently heard on 94.9 KUOW. She's also the former Program Director at Town Hall.   Buy the Book Sociopath: A Memoir Elliott Bay Book Company

One of the hardest things about expat life is when your friends inevitably leave. For some expats, this happens like clockwork every single year (usually in June), causing heartache, disappointment, and a sense of continually having to begin again with a fresh set of expat friends. An article on The Culture Blend (that was mentioned to us by one of our expat listeners) details this phenomenon perfectly, describing the three types of expats: Stayers, Goers, and Newbies?  Which one are you? Or is there, as Tiffany believes, a fourth category: Lifers? Or are those people no longer expats? Join us for this thought-provoking episode! ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more. TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue. START PODCASTING: If you are planning to start your own podcast, consider Libsyn for your hosting service! Use this affliliate link to get two months free, or use our promo code SWEET when you sign up. SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide! ------------------------------------- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Katy Hello. This is the bittersweet life. I'm Katy Sewall. Tiffany I'm Tiffany Parks. Katy Tiffany is in Rome. Katy is in Seattle. I am a goer. Tiffany is a stayer. I once was a newbie, and we're going to explain to you what that means. This is from an article that was sent to us by one of our listeners, Sara. Sara, you sent this quite a long time ago. Thank you. This is letting you know that it was always on our radar. We just hadn't gotten to it yet. This is an article about the kind of transitions that expats go through all year long, every year, but also especially during the month of June. And so we figured we'd tackle it right now. Sara sent us an article that has the title the transition that never ends, the ongoing cycle of expat stayers, goers, and newbies. We'll post the link in the show notes. It's from a website called the Culture Blend. There's no author listed, so thank you. Whoever wrote this, I just want to read you a little bit of this article just to kind of lay out our premise. Whoever wrote this wrote I hate June. There's a reason for that. Where I live, people come and go a lot. That's the part that they don't put in the brochure. When you move abroad, quote adventure of a lifetime, explore exotic lands, learn new languages, say goodbye to 20% of your friends every summer and random others throughout the rest of the year. Please sign here. It's a big, painful part of the expat experience, though transition that is not the expected ones, like culture shock or bumbling language mistakes. We saw those coming a mile away. We read books and blogs about those and then jumping ahead, she he says. But here's the kicker. As long as you live abroad, transition never stops. Ever. The big ones on either end are significant, to be sure, but it's the little ones in the middle that will get you the incessant ones, the ongoing ones, the cynical shifts, the annual flip flops that never stop, that you never saw coming. We are stayers, goers and newbies figuring out life together. The stayers don't stay forever. That's me, I guess I'm all of these. The stayers don't stay forever, the goers, but don't go immediately. The newbies need some time to adjust. So that is basically what this article is getting at, is the annual expat exodus, as they put it, the people who come in, the people who flow out, and that this is just an ongoing thing, year after year, month after month. But maybe particularly when a school year ends in an expats planning on going, that's the time to go. So I really wanted to think about this, and they say that they have all these kind of silly graphs in here that are illustrating this point that it can be such a cycle. It's parties welcoming a person, saying goodbye to a person when they announce on Facebook that they're leaving, when they promise to come visit later, friends leaving, new people coming, adjusting decisions, announcements, farewells. They have all these things listed in here about the ongoing cycle that is never ending. And we've touched on this a little bit before in the past because I mentioned that as a newbie when I first got to Rome and then as a person who was obviously going to leave. Some of the longtime expats I had met really didn't have that much interest toward the end of my time in spending time with me anymore because what was the .1 of them said, which I thought at the time was very rude. The longer I have explored this as a topic, I understand more and more why, why they didn't want to do this. But Tiffany, do you have an initial reaction? And then I'll read part of Sara's email talking about why this is an article that she revisits year after year as an expat. Tiffany My initial reaction is it sounds like she's more of a corporate expat. If I had to just guess. I mean, I'm saying she, it sounds like a woman for some reason, but that might not be true. So I'll just say she, and forgive me if it's not a she. You know, with the farewell parties and the, you know, and the constant exodus, the high turnover, it sounds like somebody who is in the corporate world, you know, a multinational corporation where lots of people are there from around the world and they come and they go. And if you did work there and you worked there long term, I can see how that would be extremely difficult, especially, you know, these are your colleagues. These are people who you're spending a lot of time with, and probably they become your social circle as well because you're an expat. So you have a handicap when it comes to meeting people. So you're going to automatically begin to socialize with those same people, and you're working with them, you're socializing with them. And that would be very hard. And I don't have that experience because, a, I'm not, and I never have been a corporate expat. And secondly, because of the situation that I'm in now as a married wife of a local, mother of a local, and now a citizen myself, I feel like so many of my friends are in the same position, and none of us seem to be going anywhere. I mean, especially if you're, I don't know. I just feel like a lot of us are, not all of us. I have friends who are single moms, too, and in different situations and lots of friends who aren't in relationships and aren't mothers, but most of the ones who are, they're with someone who has a job that, being Italian, they don't want to leave because that's a typical Italian thing which we've talked about. And maybe there's a good reason for that. Maybe it's a great job. Expats famously don't have great jobs, usually, unless they're corporate expats. And so they're often relying on their partner to be the main income earner. And so I was just talking to a newish friend of mine last night. She was talking about when she had kids, she was like, oh, I wish I could live in the countryside, and I wish I could have space and a big yard and this and that and this and that. But, you know, my husband's job, it ties us to Rome. And that's just the case for so many people that I know. And I feel like none of us are really going anywhere. Katy And it's interesting because it's actually kind of changed in time. Like, I feel like you knew more of these people when you were younger and you were kind of in the churn of. Yes, because there is that energy, too. That's like a whole bunch of young people moving, like, whether or not it's for college, you know, for a college, a semester abroad, or it's a bunch of young people living their year abroad or something. But it seems like when you're in your twenties, this kind of churn could also be equally more normal. Certainly I think a lot of young. Tiffany People come to Europe, whatever the city that they fall in love with is. And it might not be Europe, it might be South America, who knows? Could be anywhere. But in my experience, I've met a lot of people who at 22, at 24, at 27, whatever year it is, they're like, oh, yes, I love Rome. I went there on vacation or I studied there. I want to go and live there. And a lot of people go, and especially British people who at that time, before Brexit, could easily go and live in Italy if they wanted to and work. And they have their experience. They have their year abroad or two years abroad, but their sort of footloose and fancy free at that time. They're not married. They don't have kids. They don't have a steady job. And so it kind of eventually, you know, the typical thing that happens is that people get kind of bored of that, or they're like, okay, I want to, like, settle down. I have so many friends who are like, I'm going to go back to Britain and settle down and get a real job or go back to the states and get a real job that has benefits and not do any of this, you know, crazy expat life anymore. Katy Yeah. Tiffany And so I had it. It was a lot. I had a lot. I feel like I lost a lot of people in my life those first few years, people that I adored and that I sadly don't keep in touch with as much as I would like to. And I miss. And I think about those times. I think about those early Rome years and how many great, fun people I knew and hung out with on a regular basis and how sad I am that they're not here anymore. But I don't, you know, what I don't agree with in this article is that, you know, the stayers never stay or the stayers don't stay forever. I feel like they do not, I wouldn't say it's a majority, but there's a certain, you know, there's a certain subset of expats who actually stay forever. And I think having, getting married and having kids is kind of what seals the deal. And it doesn't mean that they will definitely stay forever, but it's a much bigger likelihood that they will. Katy Yeah, I do think that. I agree with you what you were just saying, but I do think that when you are a goer, say, like I was, or even like your friends that you were talking about that do their one to two years abroad, and then they are like, I've got to go put down roots. My experience really was like, it was hard to. There's a certain detachment from life that is both freeing, but it also gets to be a point when you kind of know, like, I'm not going to set down roots here that you kind of start to feel a tug inside of you that's like, I've gotta go figure some stuff out now. You know, it's funny, because I never thought I'd get tired of sort of the wandering around, exploring, trying new things type thing, but I do. I recognize very strongly. You know, I think I almost recognize it more strongly from the time when we were in San Francisco. And, like, whatever, a year or so in, I realized this cannot be where I end up living. It's too expensive. It's impractical. I don't have enough connections here. I don't feel, like, the tug of love toward this city that will make me want to work as hard as it's going to take for me to make inroads here. And then I just started feeling like a pull of, like, all right, you know, you've spent a lot of time exploring this city and walking around and seeing everything there is to see and getting little jobs here and there. And then I just started feeling this pull of, like, I want to get back to doing something with people I can do stuff with. You know, like, I don't even know what. It's. I'm kind of. It's just hard to sort of explain that feeling where you're just like, I just want to get back to it. And that was when I started talking about moving back to Seattle, because I was just thinking, like, where do I have connections? Where do I have deeper friendships? Where do I have business ties? And I want to get going again. And it felt like if I didn't come back here so I can get that two year kick about how it can start to feel like, this is great, but surely there must be something more than this. Tiffany Yeah, I get that. I get that. That makes total sense. That's the same reason why I feel like sometimes, like, I could never leave Rome. Not because I have. I do love Rome. That's established. But it's not just because I love Rome and I love the city. Part of it is like, oh, my gosh, it was so much work to establish myself here. Like, now I have to go do it somewhere else. I can figure some other place out, make new friends, make new connections. No way. Katy I can handle that. Tiffany I can't handle. I can't handle the idea of doing that again. I mean, I think I would do it, but it would have to be, you know, it'd have to be the right circumstance. But it feels daunting. Katy Yeah, well, and I think that it's almost like once you. For me, anyway, if I do this long enough where I feel, like, rooted and I'm making some kind of progress, then it's equally possible that, you know, I'll start to be like, you know what? I want to have that footloose and fancy free time again, you know, and maybe I'll take off and start anew. It just felt like, you know, after about ten years of feeling like I was constantly starting anew, it becomes less novel, you know, it becomes more irritating or like that you're kind of wasting time somehow, you know, I can totally see that. Even though you totally see that. Yeah. So let me read a little more. Let me first read a little bit of what Sara said when she sent this article. She sent it after we were talking about, we did an episode on friendships that made her think about this article. And she said it was an article that she read during her first year living in Morocco. I just want to read a couple paragraphs that she wrote. She wrote, a friend shared it with me as I experienced the turnover at the end of our first school year here. It groups expats into the categories newbies, stayers, and goers, and it has been a helpful framework as we navigate the constant transition that each school year brings. I come back to this article every year. There's so much to explore with friendships abroad. And then she also says, the main reason my husband and I are stairs is because we don't want to leave Morocco until we've experienced it outside of the bar of parenthood. A friend who is leaving Morocco this spring recently asked us what's left on our Morocco bucket list. And we said, everything. That's not entirely true. We've done some traveling, we've learned a fair amount of Arabic, and we have several moroccan friends. But so much of our days is spent in the monotony of parenting younger children. We feel like we can't leave until we've really lived in this country instead of just existing here. Tiffany I remember that message. I remember when she sent that. It was quite a while ago now, like you said, but I remember reading that and I. Yeah, that makes sense. I think she might be a schoolteacher at an international school, which would definitely explain why she identified with this article, because I could see how an international school setting would be similar to a corporate expat setting with people coming and going, not necessarily rooted to the place, but maybe doing an experience of teaching abroad for a couple of years. And yet there are people who do that long term and stay for, quote unquote, ever. I have a friend who is a parent of kids in an international school and it's interesting because her. I mean, her situation is totally different from mine because her husband. She and her husband are both American, and their kids were born in America, and they lived in the states until they were, I think, kindergarten, second grade was the age they were when they moved over here. They definitely have Italian friends, but it's a totally different life than the life that I'm leading. And I was talking to her the other day, and I discovered that her kids don't really speak Italian, and they lived here for five years. I was kind of shocked at that. But then again, I was like, well, yeah, they go to international school. It makes perfect sense. All their friends are international. English is their. Is their language in common. But what made me think about them, actually, was we were talking and she said, yeah, I think we'll go back. She's like, we've decided to stay for two more years, and then we're going to go back. Because then her son will be able to start high school in the states, and she wants him to have an American high school experience, and her daughter will be in 11th grade. And I said, how does she feel about that? Because, you know how close you get to your friends when you're in high school, middle school and high school, and, you know, to have to leave them all at 11th grade, I mean, it just sounds traumatic to me. And also to leave a place like Rome. I mean, Rome is a pretty amazing place to live, and they live in an incredibly amazing spot in the city. And so I just thought, what does. Katy She feel about this? Tiffany And she kind of just said, my friend just sort of said, oh, well, everyone always leaves around 11th grade. Everyone always leaves. Katy The way that she said it was. Tiffany Almost like, why would she have a problem with it? Everyone leaves it around that age. Katy Don't be draft, Tiffany. Yeah, yeah. Tiffany I was like, well. And then I came back to it, and I was like, well, but how does she feel? Because even if everyone leaves in 11th grade, whatever, I don't even remember what the conclusion of that conversation was, but it definitely brought home that there are vastly different expat experiences. And mine is really. I guess not. It's no longer an expat experience. It's an immigrant experience. It's a I've started a new life here experience, and I'm no longer just floating around and, okay, we'll stay another year, or maybe not. Or, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess. I guess that's why this article doesn't. Doesn't ring true to me, is because I guess I'm not really an expat anymore. Katy Yeah. I mean, you. You've been one of those people that maybe you thought about going at some point, and you're certainly a newbie, but you are now, you're even beyond a stayer. Like you said, you're. Tiffany I'm a lifer. Katy You're a lifer. Yeah. Where's the fourth category, Tiffany? Want to go to Rome in 2024?  Tiffany here, just popping in. If you are dreaming of coming to Italy, and specifically to coming to Rome, you're probably thinking to yourself, I don't really want to be in those huge groups of tourist hordes trudging through the Vatican museums, sweltering under the sun, inside the coliseum, wandering around the busy tourist streets, seduced into a tourist trap restaurant, just because you don't know where else to go, and you're tired and you're hot, looking at amazing things, but not really knowing what you're seeing. What's the point of going all the way to Rome and not really seeing it? Not seeing the true city, not experiencing what Rome has to offer and really getting to know the city? Because if you don't know Rome very well, or maybe you've been to Rome and you were a little bit overwhelmed by it, couldn't really take it all in, or maybe you've never been there and you don't really know what all the fuss is about. It can be easy to be overwhelmed by a city like Rome. But if you come in October with Katy and me, we can guarantee you that you will get to know this city on a much deeper level. And when you do that, no matter where you're traveling, it makes that time so much more valuable and so much more worthwhile. And I don't know about you, but when I go deep into a place, that place stays with me. So I wanted to share just a little bit with you about what we're gonna be doing in October. We're not gonna be going to the Vatican. We're not gonna be going to the Colosseum or the forum. Although if you wanna go to those places, we will absolutely make that happen for you, and we can set up tours for you. Or if you don't want to go on a tour, you want to go by yourself, we can help you get the tickets. We are happy to do that, but we won't be going there together. We are going to be discovering the lesser known side of Rome. Now, the thing about Rome, what makes Rome so unique as a city, is that some of the churches in this city, some of the small museums and piazzas if they were in any other city in the world, they would be absolutely the top attractions. But because Rome has so much, Rome has an embarrassment of riches that even the second, 3rd, 4th tier sites, even those places that hardly anybody goes to are so incredible. Anywhere else in the world, they would be your number one site. So those are the kind of places we're going to be going. We're going to be seeing medieval frescoes, we're going to be seeing mosaics, we're going to be seeing incredible works of baroque architecture, paintings by Caravaggio, by Filippino Lippi, by Raphael, churches that are incredibly beautiful, but just far enough off the tourist track that nobody goes there and will be there alone and will experience these sights in a completely different way than you experience a very, very crowded, busy city. There are some piazzas and streets and narrow alleyways in Rome that even in the height of high season, when you walk down them, you feel like you're in a small medieval city. After living in Rome for it will be 20 years by October. I know where to go. I know where to take you. I have the greatest, amazing secret places that I have been collecting and cataloging and quite frankly, in a lot of situations, sort of keeping to myself because I don't want them to be ruined, but I do want to share them with you. If you're interested in coming to Rome, if that's something that you've been dreaming of doing for a while, consider coming with Katy and myself this coming October 2024. Because we are going to spend six nights, five days exploring the unknown, the secret side of Rome. I'm going to be telling the city's stories and really sharing with you what makes this city so unique and really what makes it the way that it is, why Rome is what it is. So if you're interested, the dates are the 6th to the 12 October. You can just get in touch with us by email. If you'd like more information, email us at bittersweetlifepodcast@gmail.com. That's bittersweetlifepodcast@gmail.com. We have sold out about half of the rooms, and it's a very small trip, so we don't have a lot of rooms available, but we do have a few left. Please get in touch if you feel like you might be interested in joining us for that magical, unforgettable week. Back to the show. Katy Let me just throw out a couple more ideas before we're out of here from this article. So they have, like, these two sections that says, everybody has something at risk. Of these three categories, everyone is at risk. So it says a stayer is at risk. When a stayer stops engaging newbies because it's going to be too painful to say goodbye, it is a matter of time before the community will grow up behind them and they will be the ones trying to break back in, which is interesting. So it's like if the stayer disengages with the goers and the newbies, I guess, is saying, well, you might find yourself left out. They say the goers are at risk because the mental and emotional shifts begin long before the physical one. So basically, once you make an announcement that you're about to leave, they say the stayers and the newbies will start to figure out what life looks like without you and adjust accordingly. And that sometimes that means, means that the goer starts to check out even early. Like, I'm already on my way out. And it's kind of like that woman telling me, well, you know, it's a little too late for us to get to know each other now. It's just sort of like, well, you know, you're about to be gone, so who cares? And then the newbies, they say the newbie is at risk because the newbies lend a fresh set of eyes and fabulous new ideas to stagnant or stressed environments, often before they can be heard. And so they do this example of like, hey, guys, you know, hey, guys, what about doing this? And everyone's like, I'm Bob, by the way. And in short, the newbies may see what's wrong before anyone is ready to listen. And so for a newbie, patience is the key to sticking it out and staying in the group, I guess. So. I don't know, kind of three interesting perspectives. It does kind of give credibility to your thought that this is maybe about a corporate expat environment. Tiffany I can't even remember the last time I met a newbie expat in Rome. It's a rare breed in my world. Katy Isn't that interesting? I mean, yeah, we're gonna have to completely redo the conceit of this show. Thanks, Sara. Yeah, just joking. Tiffany Yeah, thanks for that. Katy Well, we'll put this out there for the people. For those of you who are more in this situation, let's end with a little bit of what this article says. So those are your risks. That's where you might find yourself socially, depending on what category you consider yourself in. And I'm, of course, if you can't tell Tiffany and those of you listening, I'm basically kind of skipping around and paraphrasing what this person is writing a lot, but they also have another section that just says everyone has something unique to give. So, stayers, the suggestion is that what you have to give. And Tiffany, I can put you in this category in case you meet any goers or newbies in the outskirts of Rome. Stayers give stability to the whole situation, to this whole churn. They suggest in this article that if you are a stayer, rather than disengaging with the whole emotional churn, that is, people coming and going, maybe consider watching a goers children while they're packing up or showing the newbies where the cucumbers are, as they say in this. So that is the stayers. Goers, they say, give understanding. So for. I don't know what they mean by that. Let's look a little deeper. For goers, going is the most consuming thing in their lives. For stayers, the going of the goers may be a big deal, but it's not generally all consuming. So goers who have expectations that stayers will drop everything to be consumed by their six month departure are failing to see the broader picture. There are always going to be goers. So you need to provide the understanding that this is unique to you, but it's not unique to the people who are staying behind. And so, yes, have a quality farewell with the people that you love that are staying. But don't be too precious about it, I guess is my paraphrase of what this person is saying. And then the newbies, the newbies, what do you bring? According to this article, you bring humility. And, boy, do I know that. I don't even have to read that paragraph to know that. I don't know if you learned anything about humility from watching me struggle, Tiffany, when I moved to Rome, but I. Tiffany Went through it, too, Katy. I was a newbie once, too. I remember it too well. Katy So, yes, it can be very frustrating to be brand new in a brand new city, in a brand new place, whether you're abroad or not. And I guess you have to be patient with the new, humble place that you are standing in because, yeah, you are the person who doesn't know anything and you're just starting to figure it out. And if you can connect yourself to some of those stairs and approach them and ask them where the cucumbers are, that is probably not a terrible thing. Luckily I had you, Tiffany. Tiffany Yeah. Yes, and I had you because the, you know, I always say the absolute best thing to happen to an expatriate is for a friend from home to move to their city. It's like, it's like winning the expat jackpot to have one of your old hometown friends come and move to your city. But sadly, you left. Katy Yeah. I guess that's my final question then. And thank you again, Sara, for sending this article. It will be in the show notes. If you want to actually read it instead of hear me just make up what it's about. Was it the jackpot that was sort of like, you win the $400, roll in the dice at the craps table, and then you decide, well, I'll just put it back in and play another couple rounds. And then all of a sudden, that $400 is now gone. And it makes everything feel a little bit worse because you were up and now you're down. Tiffany Well, Katy, don't make yourself too precious. Katy No, just kidding. I'm already ignoring the advice from this article. No, as a goer, I became too all encompassing. Tiffany Yes, you were my reason for living for that year, Katy. No, it was worth it. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm the kind of person, though, like, I will accept inevitable heartbreak in order to have a great experience. I will. I'm happy to do it. And I've been like that in love situations, friend situations. And, you know, I remember, not to go too off topic, but one of my close friends, I wouldn't say closest, but a close friend of mine, we are only friends, and we've been friends forever. We only met each other and encountered each other because she was in my city. She's from France. She was in my city as like a foreign exchange student for like a summer or a month. And we knew someone in common and we became friends. And I never thought for a second, I'm not going to get attached to this person because they're just going to leave. I think that if there's a true connection, the distance does not matter. You will be friends with that person no matter what. Katy And even if it weren't, that month might have been worth it. That wonderful month of time together, for sure. Yeah, I like that. Well, you can take a step back in time with us if you want to. Come with us to Rome in October, October 6 to the 12th. We're taking a group, a very small group of people, to Rome on a week long trip. But we'll take you on walking tours every morning of secret Rome. And if you're a huge fan of the show, some of that secret Rome might be showing you where my apartment was when I did live there ever so briefly at that period ten years ago, right up the street from where Tiffany also lived. And we can show you that apartment as well. But we'll also be showing you, I almost said the major sites of Rome, but I'm not the major sites of Rome, the minor, but just as cool, just as important. I think of some of the places that we visit on the tour and that we're planning on going this year as even more important than some of the major sites. Quite honestly. Tiffany Some of them, I think some of. Katy Them are, I agree, but they are the often overlooked, often undiscovered places, places that I think are far more fun to visit than the Colosseum. But that's just my own personal opinion. Tiffany But you can go to the Coliseum too, though. Like, it's not like you won't have time. You will absolutely be able to go to the top sites as well. And we will pepper a couple of top sites in like I'll take you to Piazza Navona and, you know, we'll set you up with tickets to other sites and even tour guides if you want, for your free time. So it's not just secret room, it's both. It's secret roam with us and then free time. If you want to do top sites, you can do that too. Katy I mean, if you want to get to know intimately one of the ancient, most important cities in Europe, this is a great way to go from nothing to knowing so much in one single week. I really can't express how much you will discover if you come with us in October. Just send us an email. Bittersweetlifepodcastmail.com bittersweetlifepodcastmail.com. if you want to learn some more information, possibly join us in October. And until next time, this is the bittersweet life. I'm Katy Sewall. Tiffany I'm Tiffany Parks. Katy Join us again. Bye.

Upon taking the oath, every president is met both with endemic issues that persist over time, as well as a unique set of challenges of the day. Many presidents step into historically difficult and divisive times, and our current era is no different. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, his economists were already warning him of an imminent financial crisis, and his party, the Democrats, had the barest of majorities in the Senate. On top of this, Americans were still sick with COVID-19 and the country felt more socially divided than ever. Franklin Foer, an author and staff writer at The Atlantic, has gained unparalleled access to the inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades. In his new book The Last Politician, he shows us a president whose arrival comes just as democracy itself seems to be at risk. Among other major events, Foer details the president's withdrawal from Afghanistan, the COVID crisis, and the reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Join Franklin Foer at Town Hall as he discusses The Last Politician and grants an insider's look at a pivotal American presidency. Franklin Foer is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of World Without Mind and How Soccer Explains the World. For seven years, he edited The New Republic. Katy Sewall is the host and creator of “The Bittersweet Life” podcast. She's a writer, podcast consultant, and a Public Radio professional frequently heard on 94.9 KUOW. She's also the former Program Director at Town Hall.  The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future Third Place Books

Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks of the Bittersweet Life Podcast relay tales about the ghosts of Beatrice Cenci and Olimpia Maidalchini, who still wander the bridges in the city of Rome, Italy. However, these podcast hosts have additional, personal ghost stories from their original home town of Seattle, WA.Follow our guests on social: Instagram: instagram.com/thebittersweetlifepodcastTiffany's personal Instagram: instagram.com/tiffanyparksromeTwitter: twitter.com/bittersweetpodFacebook: facebook.com/bittersweetlifepodcastwebsite: thebittersweetlife.netApple podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bittersweet-life/id843351111Want to take a decadent bath that will make you feel like the Queen of the Damned? Check out the wares at https://www.witchbabysoap.com and use code Homespun for 15% off!Support our podcast's Patreon at https://patreon.com/homespunhaints

Our final episode is a two-parter. First, a story from RadioActive about a ghost that lives in the river surrounding a small village in north India. Then, KUOW's Katy Sewall talks with 3-year-old and then 13-year-old Chloe and her dad, who love horror movies and watch them together.

This month URSA brings you news on Monkeypox - the media rhetoric, the facts, and the vaccine. We also explore the current heatwave hitting Europe, how countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal are faring, and how Germany's bureaucracy is potentially standing in the way of a swifter response. Our first feature piece comes from local podcast Another Berlin about how the fall of the Berlin wall shaped the city's squatting scene, and how that shaped the future of the city. You'll also be hearing an excerpt of an episode from the Bittersweet Life - where listeners shared their favorite sounds from Rome, Matera, and even Casablanca!Then, we have our food correspondent, Jane Silver of Exberliner, who joins us to chat about Berlin's pizza scene! And Alice O'Brien, Lola Magazine's Digital Editor and the Bear Radio Newsletter Manager shares what culture August has in-store, including Night of the Museums, Meteor Showers, a celebration of Tresor and some of the festivals reachable with your final 9EUR ticket.Finally, this month's artist spotlight showcases fictional poetry from writer and editor, Ceri Savage. Our theme music is from Lucas Carey, with audio from Epidemic Sound. Cover art by Sian Amber Fletcher. This episode is brought to you by Bear Radio. Special thanks to our featured producers Katarina and Cody of Another Berlin, and Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks of The Bittersweet Life. Thanks also to our Food & Culture correspondents, Jane Silver of Exberliner and Alice O'Brien of LOLA. If you're a producer based in Europe and have an idea for an URSA story, we'd love to hear from you! We're always accepting new pitches.If you enjoyed this episode of URSA and would like to hear more, help us make that happen by signing up to our Patreon!

"I was in Italy at Lake Como when I learned I had Covid." So begins an original piece by our own Katy Sewall, which recounts her health adventure getting Covid after two full years of pandemic isolation and extreme precaution, just as she finally departed on her first international trip since the coronavirus outbreak. She muses on the irony of the timing, the wisdom of traveling right now according to experts (better news than you might expect!), and the historic precedent for convalescing in Italy. This radio piece was originally created for KUOW, an NPR member station in Seattle, and it can be found here. There you will also find the longer essay that inspired the radio piece. In case you missed it, make sure you listen to Episode 431: Katy Arrives!... with Covid, taped shortly after Katy's arrival in Rome, albeit via Zoom, due to the fact that she was still testing positive for Covid. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more. TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue. START PODCASTING: If you are planning to start your own podcast, consider Libsyn for your hosting service! Use this affliliate link to get two months free, or use our promo code SWEET when you sign up. SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

The Environmental Protection Agency now says there is no safe amount of the "forever chemical" PFAS in drinking water. WHQR's Kelly Kenoyer explains how the warning is playing out at a North Carolina chemical plant. And, Katy Sewall of "The Bittersweet Life" podcast shares an essay on the impossible challenge of looking objectively at a much-loved piece of luggage.

As COVID-19 began to spread around the world in 2020, so did a steady stream of information — and disinformation. Running parallel to the pandemic was an “infodemic,” a digital and physical deluge of information that resulted in mass confusion and censorship. In their new book, The Infodemic, authors Joel Simon and Robert Mahoney lay bare the mechanisms of a modern brand of “censorship through noise” that moves beyond traditional means of state control (jailing critics and restricting the flow of information, for example) to open the floodgates of misinformation. The result? A public overwhelmed with lies and half-truths. Simon and Mahoney have traveled the world for many years defending press freedom and journalists' rights as the directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists. They've charted COVID censorship beginning in China, through Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, and inside the Trump White House. They argue that increased surveillance in the name of public health, the collapse of public trust in institutions, and the demise of local news reporting all contributed to help governments hijack the flow of information and usurp power. Through vivid characters and behind-the-scenes accounts, Simon and Mahoney argue that under the cover of a global pandemic, governments have undermined freedom and taken control — and that this new political order may be the legacy of the disease. Truth may seem like a simple concept, but Simon and Mahoney highlight how complex it really is. What do you consider a fact? How do you know what a fact is? In this installment of Town Hall's In the Moment podcast, radio host Katy Sewall interviews Simon and Mahoney about these questions in the context of today's pandemic and political powers. Joel Simon is a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and formerly the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Before joining CPJ, he worked as a journalist in Latin America and California. He is the author of three books, including We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Hostages, Kidnapping, and Ransom, also from Columbia Global Reports. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Robert Mahoney is Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He was a Reuters correspondent with postings in Southeast Asia, West Africa, India, Israel, France and Germany. This is Robert's first book. He lives in New York City. Katy Sewall is a back-up announcer/host for KUOW and a feature reporter. She's a PRINDI award-winning producer who trained with Radiolab and toured with A Prairie Home Companion. Her work has appeared on The Takeaway, Here & Now, the BBC, and more. Katy spent nine years as the Senior Producer of Weekday with Steve Scher and is currently the host and creator of the international podcast The Bittersweet Life. Buy the Book—The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free  Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

As COVID-19 began to spread around the world in 2020, so did a steady stream of information — and disinformation. Running parallel to the pandemic was an “infodemic,” a digital and physical deluge of information that resulted in mass confusion and censorship. In their new book, The Infodemic, authors Joel Simon and Robert Mahoney lay bare the mechanisms of a modern brand of “censorship through noise” that moves beyond traditional means of state control (jailing critics and restricting the flow of information, for example) to open the floodgates of misinformation. The result? A public overwhelmed with lies and half-truths. Simon and Mahoney have traveled the world for many years defending press freedom and journalists' rights as the directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists. They've charted COVID censorship beginning in China, through Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, and inside the Trump White House. They argue that increased surveillance in the name of public health, the collapse of public trust in institutions, and the demise of local news reporting all contributed to help governments hijack the flow of information and usurp power. Through vivid characters and behind-the-scenes accounts, Simon and Mahoney argue that under the cover of a global pandemic, governments have undermined freedom and taken control — and that this new political order may be the legacy of the disease. Truth may seem like a simple concept, but Simon and Mahoney highlight how complex it really is. What do you consider a fact? How do you know what a fact is? In this installment of Town Hall's In the Moment podcast, radio host Katy Sewall interviews Simon and Mahoney about these questions in the context of today's pandemic and political powers. Joel Simon is a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and formerly the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Before joining CPJ, he worked as a journalist in Latin America and California. He is the author of three books, including We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Hostages, Kidnapping, and Ransom, also from Columbia Global Reports. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Robert Mahoney is Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He was a Reuters correspondent with postings in Southeast Asia, West Africa, India, Israel, France and Germany. This is Robert's first book. He lives in New York City. Katy Sewall is a back-up announcer/host for KUOW and a feature reporter. She's a PRINDI award-winning producer who trained with Radiolab and toured with A Prairie Home Companion. Her work has appeared on The Takeaway, Here & Now, the BBC, and more. Katy spent nine years as the Senior Producer of Weekday with Steve Scher and is currently the host and creator of the international podcast The Bittersweet Life. Buy the Book—The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free  Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

Katy Sewall is a radio producer and host. When she moved to Rome, it was after 11 years at KUOW Public Radio, NPR Seattle, where she was Senior Producer (and occasional host) of Weekday with Steve Scher. She has interned with RadioLab and toured with A Prairie Home Companion. Her series The Radio Retrospective, about radio's Golden Age, has aired on radio stations all over the United States. She also a writer and a podcast consultant. Reach her at radiokaty at gmail.com.

Russian forces continue to attack residential areas in cities across Ukraine. Investigators are looking into possible war crimes in the conflict, including the targeting of civilians. And, Martyn Stewart has spent more than 50 years capturing the sounds of creatures from around the world. Some of those animals are now extinct. Katy Sewall of "The Bittersweet Life" podcast reports.

Today we present a special radio drama, The Three, created by our friends over at AudioImagination77. After the listener response of their earlier show, After Midnight, which we aired back on Episode 346, we have decided to air their most recent production, a chilling true crime drama. Even more intriguing? The script of The Three comes from the pen of our very own Katy Sewall, written back in her early 20s, and edited by her old friend Matthew Woerner. So pour yourself a warm drink, get comfortable, and let your imagination take you away.  Created by Matthew P. Woerner and AudioImagination77. Listen to Episode 346: After Midnight to hear their earlier show. ----------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more. TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue. SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

In the wake of menacing Hurricane Ida, Katy relives her own experiences with hurricanes in the Big Easy. When she was living in New Orleans several years ago, Hurricane Nate mercifully missed the city, but being in its path brought about both fear and cultural revelation for one temporary resident, your intrepid host Katy Sewall. It also brought about an unexpected interview with BBC radio. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more. TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue. SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Katy Sewall is a true radio connoisseur. She's spent much of her career at KUOW, and for the past 6 years has co-hosted the podcast "The Bittersweet Life". What does the future of radio look like? How do you conduct a good interview? These questions, and many others, will be answered today.

Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks run the celebrated podcast, The Bittersweet Life. Tiffany has lived in Rome for over 15 years, while Katy, an NPR veteran, co-hosts and produces the show from Seattle. The childhood friends reunited for one year in Rome in 2013, when Katy moved with her husband there for his fellowship. Katy and Tiffany launched the podcast then and have never looked back. At first, it was a show to examine life abroad in Rome, but it's become a much deeper look into what it means to live... to be alive. The podcast is one of the most inspiring and insightful shows about life abroad today. Find The Bittersweet Life Website Apple podcasts Instagram Twitter Tiffany Parks on Instagram Tiffany Parks on Twitter Katy Sewall on Twitter About Adventure Calls An immersive podcast about life abroad, Adventure Calls is produced, edited and written by me, Jess Drucker, a four-time expat, world-traveler and author of How To Move Abroad And Why It's The Best Thing You'll Do. Essentially a masterclass in book form, the book (available on Amazon in paperback and ebook) distills 15 years' experience living abroad into 300 pages of practical step-by-step advice and inspiration for anyone looking to follow their own call to adventure.Find Jess DruckerOn InstagramOn TwitterOn FacebookExpat Life CoachingHow To Move Abroad BookAdventure Calls Podcast

Music opinionator Fran Hoepfner explains why she thinks Amilcare Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" and the "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" song are perfect listening while the days go by during the pandemic. Also, "White Christmas" by composer Irving Berlin is a holiday favorite. But as Katy Sewall reports, the bestselling song has a melancholy backstory.

A dreamy tour of Rome with the hosts of The Bittersweet Life by Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks, a creaky dulcet spin on bittersweet. http://thebittersweetlife.net/ This is the original episode- be sure to give it a listen! http://thebittersweetlife.net/episode-313-virtual-tour-of-rome I support Podcasts in Color https://podcastsincolor.com/ Black Lives Matter. I cannot create a safe place for everyone without stopping to pause and look at what changes I need to make to support that fact. When I say “you deserve a good night’s sleep” it means black lives matter. I have a lot more work to do to back up my words with my body, mind, heart, and spirit. I am trying to gather more resources here- https://linktr.ee/dearestscooter Here is a list of Anti-racism resources- http://bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES Here is one place you can find support during this or any crisis. If you have more please share them! https://www.crisistextline.org/ (You can find all of our sponsors or become a patron on our new website http://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com story starts at about 20:00) Commission a song from the Mystery Bard over at http://www.jonathanmann.net This week’s podcast is sponsored by- Theragun- the handheld percussive therapy device that releases your deepest muscle tension using a scientifically-calibrated combination of depth, speed, and power - and now, and as quiet as an electric toothbrush. Try Theragun RISK-FREE for THIRTY-DAYS. There is no substitute for the Theragun Gen FOUR - with an OLED screen, personalized Theragun app, and the quiet and POWER you need. Go to www.theragun.com/sleep. HoMedics® UV-CLEAN Phone Sanitizer- kills up to 99.9% of bacteria and viruses at the DNA level using no harmful chemicals or liquids. Go to www.getuvclean.com and use promo code "sleepwith" at checkout for FREE SHIPPING and $20 off a future order. Helix Sleep- makes personalized mattresses made right here in America, shipped straight to your door with free no-contact delivery, free returns, and a 100-night sleep trial. Just go to helixsleep.com/sleep, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and they’ll match you to a customized mattress that will give you the best sleep of your life. Sunsoil- makes pure and simple CBD products at an unbeatable price. Sunsoil makes CBD oil that is USDA certified organic. They grow hemp on their farms in Vermont, and they never use pesticides, herbicides or GMOs. Go over to sunsoil.com/sleep for 30% off your FIRST order. Daily Harvest- delivers delicious, clean food right to your door. It takes just a few minutes to prepare and I never have to question if the food I’m eating is good for me. Use SLEEPWITHME for $25 off your FIRST box at dailyharvest.com.

In this week’s interview, correspondent Katy Sewall talks with digital security trainer Gillian “Gus” Andrews, who aims to help us relax and overcome our digital helplessness to achieve online mindfulness and escape the feeling that technology is out of our control. Andrews outlines online stressors, from the proliferation of fake news to the threat of identity theft to the overwhelming avalanche of online content. She delves into the reasons media and technology stress us out in the first place, and grants us empowering tools so we can conserve our attention, take charge of our security and privacy, and live our best lives online. Get an insider’s look and stay in the know about what’s going on in this moment at Town Hall Seattle. Gillian “Gus” Andrews, EdD, is a public educator, researcher, and digital security trainer. Andrews performs user experience work on technology, helping ensure people’s everyday tech lives are smooth, productive, and happy. She produced The Media Show, a media literacy series on YouTube. Katy Sewall is a radio host, writer, podcast consultant, and storyteller. She is the Senior Producer and co-host of The Bittersweet Life podcast, and was the senior producer of KUOW’s “Weekday” with Steve Scher. Buy the Book: Keep Calm and Log On—Your Handbook for Surviving the Digital Revolution Presented by Town Hall Seattle.  Please make a donation online by clicking here, by texting TOWN HALL to 44321, or by joining Town Hall as a member.

In this week’s interview, correspondent Katy Sewall talks with digital security trainer Gillian “Gus” Andrews, who aims to help us relax and overcome our digital helplessness to achieve online mindfulness and escape the feeling that technology is out of our control. Andrews outlines online stressors, from the proliferation of fake news to the threat of identity theft to the overwhelming avalanche of online content. She delves into the reasons media and technology stress us out in the first place, and grants us empowering tools so we can conserve our attention, take charge of our security and privacy, and live our best lives online. Get an insider’s look and stay in the know about what’s going on in this moment at Town Hall Seattle. Gillian “Gus” Andrews, EdD, is a public educator, researcher, and digital security trainer. Andrews performs user experience work on technology, helping ensure people’s everyday tech lives are smooth, productive, and happy. She produced The Media Show, a media literacy series on YouTube. Katy Sewall is a radio host, writer, podcast consultant, and storyteller. She is the Senior Producer and co-host of The Bittersweet Life podcast, and was the senior producer of KUOW’s “Weekday” with Steve Scher. Buy the Book: Keep Calm and Log On—Your Handbook for Surviving the Digital Revolution Presented by Town Hall Seattle.  Please make a donation online by clicking here, by texting TOWN HALL to 44321, or by joining Town Hall as a member.

As the world is consumed by COVID-19, I check in with author and American expat Tiffany Parks, who lives on the outskirts of Rome, to get a sense of what things are like in Italy right now. Then, in my quest to find positive stories to share in this dispiriting time, I play an episode of The Bittersweet Life — the travel podcast Tiffany co-hosts with her friend Katy Sewall — about so-called travel angels, the unsung, everyday heroes who assist in small and not-so-small ways when we’re in a foreign place and need a helping hand. This episode includes the song “Impromptu in Blue,” which was licensed from composer Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Far From Home is a podcast where award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian visits parts of the world that most people never think about and tells stories they've never heard. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org

In times fraught with tensions across borders, some of the most critical stories are those that bring us closer to the people on the other side. Legendary travel writer Paul Theroux came to our stage with just such stories in On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, a recollection of his drive along the entire length of the US/Mexico border and his deep foray into the hinterlands on the back roads of Chiapas and Oaxaca. Theroux met in conversation with radio host Katy Sewall to uncover the rich, layered world behind today’s brutal headlines. He visited Zapotec mill workers in the highlands and attends a Zapatista party meeting, communing with people of all stripes who remain south of the border even as their families brave the journey north. Just south of the Arizona border, in the desert region of Sonora, Theroux showed us a place brimming with vitality yet visibly marked by both the US Border Patrol looming to the north and mounting discord from within. With signature humanizing sensibility, Theroux and Sewall delved into this firsthand exploration of a region in conflict and a key to understanding the immigration debates boiling around the world. Paul Theroux has spent his life crisscrossing the globe in search of the histories and peoples that give life to the places they call home. He is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including the novels The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast and the renowned travel books Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. Katy Sewall is a radio host, writer, podcast consultant, and storyteller. She is the Senior Producer and co-host of The Bittersweet Life podcast, and was the senior producer of KUOW’s “Weekday” with Steve Scher. She has worked on Radiolab and A Prairie Home Companion, and is the former Program Director at Town Hall. Presented by Town Hall Seattle. Recorded live in The Great Hall on October 16, 2019. 

This week I've got some more bonus content to share with you: a recent episode of The Bittersweet Life podcast. On my last episode I spoke with co-host Katy Sewall about her journey from a safe career with NPR to expat, to podcasting entrepreneur, and we touched on some of the themes that come up often in her show. In essence, I tried to do in about 40 minutes what she and her co-host, Tiffany Parks, have done over 275 episodes (so far). So I thought that it might be a good idea to share an example of the kinds of conversations that they have each week. On the episode that you're about to hear, Tiffany has just returned from a visit to the U.S. and reflects on the things about American life and culture that never fail to surprise her every time she goes back. She also reveals the surprising reaction she had upon flying back to Rome, as well as a thought she hasn’t had in all her 15 years of the #ExpatLife.   Find The Bittersweet Life wherever you get your podcasts, or check out their website to learn more: http://thebittersweetlife.net/about   Follow the show on social media:   Twitter Facebook Instagram   Get in touch with comments, suggestions or interview recommendations:   Twitter: @zax2000 eMail: mike.shaw@migrationmedia.net   Check out all of the shows in the Migration Media network on the web (www.migrationmedia.net) and please take a moment to "Like" us and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or wherever you get your podcasts... and subscribe!

Katy Sewall used to be, as she says, one of those "get-a-great-job-and-hang-onto-it" kind of people. That is, until she got an opportunity to move to Rome where her best friend from childhood, Tiffany Parks, had been living for several years. A senior producer at NPR's Seattle affiliate, Katy decided to jump at the chance for adventure and turn her experience into creating a podcast. Their show, The Bittersweet Life, has been "on the air" ever since and has become one of the most popular shows about the #ExpatLife as it's documented their respective journeys as migrants. Katy talks with me about what it was like to make the transition from a person with a career to life as a podcasting entrepreneur, the hesitancy of long-term expats to get to know short-term folks, her migration back to and within the US, and how her show has evolved - with her- to not so much ask, "What's it like to live overseas?" as it asks, "What's it like to live, and what kind of life do you want for yourself?"   Find The Bittersweet Life wherever you get your podcasts, or check out their website to learn more: http://thebittersweetlife.net/about   Follow the show on social media:   Twitter Facebook Instagram   Get in touch with comments, suggestions or interview recommendations:   Twitter: @zax2000 eMail: mike.shaw@migrationmedia.net   Check out all of the shows in the Migration Media network on the web (www.migrationmedia.net) and please take a moment to "Like" us and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or wherever you get your podcasts... and subscribe!

With the U.S. still in the shadow of a potential border wall and the fraught discussions surrounding Brexit still circulating among headlines, journalist and novelist John Lanchester presented us with a satirical and frighteningly timely new novel—The Wall. The story follows Joseph Kavanagh, a Defender on the enormous concrete wall his island nation has built to keep the Others—desperate souls trapped outside the wall amid the rising seas—at bay. We follow him through the cold, loneliness, and fear that arise as he tries to fulfill his duties, we share in the contemplations of the consequences of his post, and we witness the dark part of him that wonders if it might be more interesting if something really did happen to him in the line of duty. Sit in with Lanchester for a compelling reflection on the issues of our time—rising waters, rising fear, rising political division—and a suspenseful story of love, trust, and survival. John Lanchester is the author of five novels, including the best-selling Debt to Pleasure and Capital, as well as several works of nonfiction, including I.O.U. and How to Speak Money. His books have won the Whitbread First Novel Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, and the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a contributing editor to the London Review of Books and a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Listen to an exclusive interview with Town Hall correspondent Katy Sewall and John Lanchester on In The Moment, Episode 29.  Recorded live at Seattle University by Town Hall Seattle on March 20, 2019. 

Merry Christmas from your friends at The Bittersweet Life! This Christmas, we're gifting you with a sweet, sentimental, and surprising piece of radio created by your host, Katy Sewall the Christmas she spent in Rome, way back in 2013. If you love the song White Christmas and have always wondered about its origins (or maybe you've never wondered, but now we've piqued your interest), listen to this show. So grab a comfy seat (ideally in front of a roaring fire with snow falling right outside), cuddle up to your favorite person and/or your favorite hot beverage, and reminisce with us about a Christmas long past. ------------------------------------------------------------------- SPONSOR THE SHOW: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.  DONATE: Open your laptop and visit The Bittersweet Life and click the donate button on the right side of the page. The show needs your support to continue.  JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email at bittersweetlife@mail.com. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – Better yet, tag #thebittersweetlife with your story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!    © The Bittersweet Life – Web and show content can only be used with written permission

We have this idea that polar bears are teetering on the brink of extinction. But the story isn’t that simple. To find out why, we talk to environmental lawyer Kassie Siegel, wildlife biologist Dr. Karyn Rode, and sea ice expert Dr. Ignatius Rigor. With a little help from Payton, a polar bear at the Memphis Zoo. Check out the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2qv9n1t Selected readings: This map of polar bear populations around the ArcticOn the Endangered Species Act and global warmingKaryn’s tale of two bear populationsThis paper on Arctic sea ice This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, senior producer Kaitlyn Sawrey, and Heather Rogers, will help from Rose Rimler, Shruti Ravindran, and Meryl Horn. Extra help from Saidu Tejan-Thomas. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell, extra editing help from Caitlin Kenney. Mix and sound design by Emma Munger. Music written by Bobby Lord and Emma Munger. Recording help from Peter Frick-Wright, Amber Cortes and Katy Sewall. A huge thanks to all of sea ice and polar bear researchers that we contacted for this story, including: Dr Walt Meier, Professor Kent Moore, Dr Ian Stirling, James Wilder, Anthony Pagano, and Dr Peter Boveng. And more thanks to Danielle Brigida, Frank Lopez, Gerald Thompson, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

Traveling alone to Nice, France helped former public radio host, Steve Scher, overcome a long-held hangup from high school. Has traveling helped you shed a negative belief about yourself? Steve worked side-by-side with host Katy Sewall for 9 years at KUOW Public Radio in Seattle. Now they are both on a quest for discovery and wonder. The two friends meet-up in Seattle for today's long-promised episode.  Thanks to Stackry.com for supporting this program. Shop any US retailer and ship anywhere for less money. Bittersweet Life listeners  get 10% off when you try it! Just use the coupon code: MANGIA **** SPONSOR! Reach expats and future expats living all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.  DONATE! Open your laptop and visit The Bittersweet Life and click the donate button on the right side of the page. The show needs your support to continue.  SAY HI! If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email. Write to: bittersweetlife@mail.com  You can also talk to us through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - Tag #thebittersweetlife with your story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET BOOK! Need a copy of Tiffany's book Midnight in the Piazza? Check it out!   TOUR ROME! If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany Parks as your guide! 

Former Town Hall Programing Director Katy Sewall and children’s author and travel writer Tiffany Parks invite you to a special live installment of The Bittersweet Life podcast. The episode centers on Tiffany Parks’ new book for young readers Midnight in the Piazza, an all-ages adventure following a young girl in Rome racing to solve a centuries-old unsolved mystery and navigate a world of unscrupulous ambassadors, tricky tutors, and international art thieves! The Bittersweet Life podcast explores the streets and culture of Rome and the wonder and frustration of living as an expat or repat, contrasting the hosts’ two very different points of view on the bitter dolce vita. Sit in with Sewall and Parks for a live recording of The Bittersweet Life, as these two stellar hosts trade insights about Rome, uproarious personal stories, and previews of Parks’ exciting new family-friendly mystery thriller! Katy Sewall is a radio producer and host, as well as a journalist and a podcast consultant. She has worked at KUOW Public Radio, NPR Seattle, since 2003—spending nine of those years as the Lead Producer (and occasional host) of “Weekday” with Steve Scher. She has also worked with RadioLab and A Prairie Home Companion. She’s the creator and editor of The Bittersweet Life podcast, which she’s been co-hosting with Tiffany parks since 2014.     Tiffany Parks is a writer. She heads the editorial department at Where Rome magazine and with the Eternal City as her muse, she has just completed Midnight in the Piazza, an art mystery for young readers set in Rome. In her spare time, she shares her passion for Rome’s history on her blog The Pines of Rome and takes tourists on private walking tours. Recorded live at Greenwood Senior Center by Town Hall Seattle on Friday, March 16, 2018.

What determines the pace of your life? Is it the city you live in? How many connections you have? What happens when you live in a country with a slower pace than you're used to? Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall discuss. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! On Friday, March 16, 2018, we celebrate the release of Tiffany's book Midnight in the Piazza with a live performance of The Bittersweet Life in Seattle. If you're in Seattle, we want to see you! Location TBA. If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email. Write to: bittersweetlife@mail.com  You can also talk to us through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - Tag #thebittersweetlife with your story for a chance to be featured! DONATE! Open your laptop and visit The Bittersweet Life and click the donate button on the right side of the page. The show needs your support to continue.  NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR! Reach expats and future expats living all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.   

How important are the decorations around you? Travelers frequently live in environments designed by other people. Some people can work anywhere, but for others, aesthetics are really important.  While moving to San Francisco, host Katy Sewall realized her productivity suffered from living in uninspired temporary housing. Decorating styles differ from country to country too. Host Tiffany Parks isn't a big fan of Italian hostess gifts called Bomboniere. While most Italians save every trinket they ever receive at a party, she throws them away.  Check out Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see pictures of Katy's aesthetic peculiarities and to see the one bomboniere Tiffany did keep. * Post pictures of where you live too!*   Also, if you missed our show with housing designer Rebecca West, you can listen to it here.  DONATE! Open your laptop and visit The Bittersweet Life and click the donate button on the right side of the page. The show needs your support to continue.  WRITE US! Tell us your aesthetic preferences. We are dying to know. Send us an email at bittersweetlife@mail.com NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR! Reach expats and future expats living all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. 

Tiffany and Katy discuss resolutions for the New Year as 2018 kicks off. Tiffany needs your help with hers. Also, host Katy Sewall makes a big announcement about where she is going from here.  The RECIPE Tiffany talks about compliments of Smitten Kitchen:  Pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas)  What are you resolving to do in 2018? We'd love to hear your goals. It might even inspire Katy to come up with a good resolution! Reach us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com.   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET WANT TO SPONSOR THE SHOW: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going.     ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

The magician Dante joins us with his amazing story of reinvention - from landing in prison to busking for huge crowds in the streets of Europe. As he puts it, "It's not about what has happened, it's about what we do next."  Dante learned magic to make sure he'd alway be free; able to work for himself and not someone else. Later, he picked up the trumpet and now performs regularly with The Dapper Dandies in New Orleans. He explains how making a fool of yourself can be great thing - and takes us on a most wild ride through jail, and plots, and escape... You get the idea. This is a super fun, inspiring episode. You'll also learn how your host Katy Sewall gave Dante the name Dante.  Dante's Homepage Dante's favorite magician, Tom Mullica NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

The #MeToo movement has taken over the news in the United States and much of the world. After Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein was outed by the New York Times for a history of assaulting women, more accusations - and firings - have followed. Now all men are reexamining their workplace behavior and women are rethinking their memories, reactions, and often their acceptance of questionable male/female dynamics. In this episode hosts Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks revisit Episode 10 of The Bittersweet Life, a show that focused on sexual assault abroad. One of the dangers of traveling to foreign lands is not recognizing when you're in danger. Katy and Tiffany share stories of what happened to them.  If you have thoughts (or a #metoo story) to share - TELL US! If we get enough responses, we'll do a follow up show on the matter.   And if you want to hear more, the conversation goes on in Part 2 and Part 3 If you've NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.  

During the Sack of Rome in 1527, thousands of citizens were killed or raped. The city's treasures were pillaged. Beyond the trauma and loss, the sack also crippled the Italian Renaissance for good. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, over 1500 people died and thousands lost everything they had. A huge percentage of the displaced population never returned. Those who stayed were  forever changed. Many locals mark time in NOLA as life "before Katrina" and life after.  Hosts Tiffany Parks (in Rome) and Katy Sewall (in New Orleans) explore how cities are forever altered by the natural and man-made disasters that strike. DONATE! Support the independent radio makers you love. Unpaid bills lead to no show in the future. :( NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.  

You would think living in Rome would be fantastic but "Rome squashes some of my joy" co-host Tiffany Parks says in this episode. Over in New Orleans, co-host Katy Sewall keeps encountering local residents claiming they're able to be more their authentic selves in The Big Easy. This has Katy questioning the influence of her long-time Seattle hometown. Can moving to a new place make you... well, more YOU? Are frequent travelers searching for a place where they their most authentic? Have you moved and discovered a richer, more authentic personal life? If so, tell us in the comments or through social media.  Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going.   ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Does life have any meaning? What is the purpose of living? If you are asking these questions, you might be experiencing an existential crisis. To tackle grief, loss and these huge life questions, New Orleans writer Anne Gisleson formed the Existential Crisis Reading Group. Along the way, the book group discovered writers like Dante, James Joyce, Franz Kafka and Clarice Lispector. They even creatively reenacted the Stations of the Cross.  Anne's book The Futilitarians: Our Year Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading explores the grief of losing two younger siblings to suicide, as well as the beloved father who forbid writing about their deaths before his own. It is a deep, beautifully written book.  While reading, host Katy Sewall really latched onto one quote by the Greek philosopher Epicurus writing about death. He wrote:  Against all other things it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death we human beings all live in an unwalled city.  Anne Gisleson invited Katy into her Bywater, New Orleans home to discuss life, death, and how we make meaning along the way.   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com.   ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Hurricane Nate missed New Orleans in October, but being in it's path brought about both fear and cultural revelation for new resident - our host Katy Sewall. It also brought about an unexpected interview with BBC radio. BBC Radio 5 Live Katy's most famous BBC News article: The girl who gets gifts from birds NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Actress and conservationist Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer) joins host Katy Sewall on stage to explore the world and the amazing creatures in it. Thanks to Town Hall Seattle for hosting this event.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

On July 4th (Independence Day in the USA), many immigrants get their citizenship. In their honor, we rebroadcast the day (host) Tiffany Parks finally became a citizen of Italy. (Other host) Katy Sewall was in Rome to record it, and meet Tiffany's new baby, Aurelio.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Reality always intrudes on fantasy. Is that always a bad thing? Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall discuss.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

How much of life is us trying to fulfill the fantasies of our youth? Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall explore this idea.     NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Expats often feel guilt. What happens when you should go home, but don't? Guest Jessica Scott-Reid (Wall Street Journal Expat Blog) joins hosts Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks to talk about it.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy SewallRecorded at The Bryant Corner Café in Seattle. With so much turmoil in the world, sometimes a reader just wants to reset before plunging back into the intellectual fray. Nancy Pearl is calling the books you might turn to as palate cleansers.    Pretty quickly, though, the readers around the big table at the Bryant Corner Café started putting their own spin on the notion. First off, though, mark your calendar. Don Delillo has a new book coming out May of this year.  Nancy Pearl says “Zero K” is a cause for celebration. Palate Cleansers From Nancy The author Elinor Lipman. Nancy loves her books. She calls the frothy. She rereads “The Inn at Lake Divine” and “The Way Men Act” from time to time. She finds the writing appealing in all her books.  Leslie turns to her favorite mystery writers including, “Second Watch,” by J.A. Jance.  Other Palate Cleansers Mentioned This EpisodeJanwillem van de Wetering and his characters Grijpstra and de Grier.Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahöö and their character Martin Beck.    Nancy says “The Laughing Policeman” is one of their best. Bob says any good poem is a palate cleaners.  In non-fiction, anything by Bill Bryson  is a palate cleanser and in fiction, anything by P.G. Wodehouse.  Ros likes Stanley Kunitz and his book of poems about gardening. “The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden”   Tom cleanses his palate with The Ascent of Man with Jacob Bronowski  and Civilization by Kenneth Clarke.  Christopher likes the entertaining British writer Professor David Lodge and the American writer Jonathan Tropper.   Those two authors prompted Nancy to recommend Jonathan Coe.    She likes his novel “The Rotter’s Club.” Rita says her palate cleanser is Haruki Murakami.  Everyone's palate is different. Keith turns to Bernard Cornwell,  Margaret Atwood   or Donald Westlake.   Permalink

Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall take you on a walking tour of Trastevere, their favorite neighborhood in Rome.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Journalist Ugo Barbara joins host Katy Sewall to talk about Italian mobsters, the Roma (aka gypsies), sexual slavery in Italy, and immigration issues. They also explore why Berlusconi came to power and why Ugo was Katy's only Italian friend while living abroad.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Movies and books can have a big influence on personal actions. Some even inspire a move to a foreign country. What art influenced you? Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall share their personal picks.   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

That Stack of Books at Town Hall, October 18th, 2015. Puns, grammar jokes, a festive audience great guests and prizes galore. Our guests, Martha Brockenbrough, founder of National Grammar Day and author of  "Things That Make Us (Sic)", and Frida Clements, artist and illustrator, author of "Have a Little Pun." Hope you enjoy our show at Town Hall. Love to see you at The Bryant Corner Cafe November 3rd for the show. We will be talking about political books, both, fiction and non-fiction. See you are 3 pm. Don't forget,Watch Nancy Pearl on "Book Lust" on the Seattle Channel,Listen to Katy Sewall on her podcast "The Bittersweet Life."Listen to Steve Scher on his podcast "The Overlook Podcast."  Follow us on twitter @thatstack. Drop us a line at Facebook at That Stack of Books with Nancy Pearl and Steve Scher

Hosts Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall are together again in Rome, Italy on a very special day. Listen as Tiffany finally gets her Italian citizenship.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Native American author Sherman Alexie joins Katy Sewall live on stage with veteran NPR host Steve Scher to talk about urban animal encounters. A longer episode that will delight those who love great storytelling and the creatures in our midst. Contains explicit language. NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

That Stack of Books, the Town Hall Summer Edition.Nancy Pearl, Katy Sewall and Steve Scher were at Town Hall July 23rd, helping celebrate 15 years of great programs at the young, robust and august cultural center.  We hope you like this show. If you do, please join us at Town Hall Sunday October 18th at 6:30- after the Seahawks game. Tickets are just $5.  Invite your friends. Win fabulous prizes.  We told a few book jokes to start the show. Nancy shared book suggestions with audience members.  We played a trivia game which was way too hard.Our guest was author Jason Schmidt whose memoir A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me, chronicles growing up poor in Seattle in the 1980’s.  His mom had left; his single Dad was a gay petty thief, a drug dealer and an addict.  A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me is tough and honest story that takes place in a town some of us may not recognize.  Here are a few of the books we talked about on this podcast. “Cold, Cold Ground,” Adrian McKinty“Hans Christian Andersen Complete Fairy Tales and Stories”, Hans Christian Andersen“Hold Still: A Memoir,” Sally Mann“Unbecoming: A Novel,” Rebecca Sherm“Angle of Repose,” Wallace Stegner“Jayber Crow,” Wendell Berry“The Passion.” by Jeannette Winterson“Why Be Happy When You Can be Normal,” Jeannette Winterson“Things Invisible to See,” Nancy Willard“Me Before You, “Jojo Moyes“Refuge”, Terry Tempest Williams“A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me,” Jason Schmidt We will be back at Town Hall October 18th.  We would love to fill the seats with book lovers and language aficionados. Our guests will be of National Grammar Day founder Martha Brockenbrough, author of Things That Make Us [Sic] and graphic designer Frida Clements, , whose new book is Have a Little Pun: an Illustrated Play on Words. We will be back next week with another episode, taped at the Bryant Corner Café, 32nd and 65th in NE Seattle. Drop on by. We tape on Tuesdays about 3. Check our Facebook page for updates. Find the podcast on ITunes, Stitcher and at thatstackofbooks.com Follow us on Facebook  and on Twitter @thatstack.  

Jennifer Rumbach works with refugees all over the world. Lately her focus has been on the special needs of LGBTI refugees. She joins host Katy Sewall before a live studio audience for a funny and fascinating conversation that goes from Ghana, to Iraq, to the earthquake in Nepal.   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

What makes the expat lifestyle so addictive? Rashmi Dalai, an American writer in Asia, explores that question with host Katy Sewall.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Amina Al-Sadi is a 25-year-old American muslim and northwest native, currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. As our series "Amina on Ramadan" continues, we delve into the celebratory aspects of Ramadan with a visit the Al-Sadi home in Mukilteo. Produced by Katy Sewall crosscut.com/

Amina Al-Sadi is a 25-year-old American muslim and northwest native. She's currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. As our series "Amina on Ramadan" continues, we take to the streets to find out why Ramadan feels more important than ever this year. Produced by Katy Sewall crosscut.com/

Amina Al-Sadi is a 25-year-old American Muslim and Northwest native. She's currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. This year in the west, Ramadan lines up with the summer solstice. Fasting days are the longest they've been in decades. Our series "Amina on Ramadan" begins with Amina's perspective on giving up food and drink during the longest days of summer. Produced by Katy Sewall http://crosscut.com/

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and the folks at the Bryant Corner Cafe talk about graphic novels and our imaginative powers. Now here is a contentious episode. Really, you wonder, contentious? Yes, because we discuss the value of the graphic novel and the comic strip and the comic book.The contention comes in when we start to debate whether or not words release our imaginations in a way that the pictures, drawn or filmed do not. Does the book, words on the page, give the readers' imagination the freest flight, the deepest expression?Does the artists rendering constrain our imaginations? Do their pictures force out our own mental pictures? I guess it’s just the same argument that people make about movies. Do the movies ruin the book?It’s a bit of a rambling conversation among the folks around the table, but stimulating.  What do you think? Are books simply inherently better than graphic novels, comics, movies? Are the pictures in your head stimulated from radio different, better, richer than a TV show?We agree the experiences are different and it is a mistake to conflate them. Yet, by the end, we were down to debating the relative value of the different art forms.Rather than list the many books, here are a few references to check out.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/graphic_novels/index.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-top-10-graphic-novels-of-2014/2014/11/20/6ee20fec-3dc6-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.htmlhttp://www.rollingstone.com/culture/lists/drawn-out-the-50-best-non-superhero-graphic-novels-20140505 

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and folks at the Bryant Corner Cafe share some of the books they just couldn't part with. The Lions of Al Rassan , Guy Gavriel KayThe Wright Brothers, David McCulloughA Canticle For Leibowitz, Walter M. MillerThe Tough Guide to Fantasyland:The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel, Diana Wynne JonesA Thread of Grace, Mary Doria RussellThe Wild Braid , Stanley KunitzDarwin and the Beagle, Alan MoreheadThe Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael ChabonThe City & The City, China MievilleCannery Row, John Steinbeck84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff

Six students from a Seattle alternative high school have died from suicide and murder this year. Who were they and why hasn't this tragedy been front page news? Kaaren Andews, principal of the Interagency Academy, sits down with host Katy Sewall following the memorial for their most recent loss, James.

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and the big table of readers at the Bryant Corner Cafe talk about the status of the memoir these days.  We all lead lives that generate stories.  Do these stories only have credibility when they are shared with others?  Do we need to try to get them published to feel good about our efforts?  Some critics are wondering whether this self-congratulatory age is producing too many memoirs.When author Ryan Boudinot published a critical article about fledgling writers,  he struck a note so sour that he undermined support for efforts to get Seattle designated as a UNESCO City of Literature.  Among his quotes of note from the article:“For the most part, MFA students who choose to write memoirs are narcissists using the genre as therapy. They want someone to feel sorry for them, and they believe that the supposed candor of their reflective essay excuses its technical faults. Just because you were abused as a child does not make your inability to stick with the same verb tense for more than two sentences any more bearable. In fact, having to slog through 500 pages of your error-riddled student memoir makes me wish you had suffered more.”The folk at The New Yorker Out Loud Podcast are also thinking about memoirs.  In particular they were wondering about the state of the memoir in the era of instant reportage thru social media. Around the table at the Bryant Corner Café, we talk about some of our favorite memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, all the while musing on the state of the memoir in the modern times.  

Nancy Pearls tells Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and our table full of readers at the Bryant Corner Cafe her thoughts on book awards.   We get some behind the scenes glimpses of the awards process, and find out, among other things, that the publishers self nominate for some awards. How do you use awards to help you find the next book to read?  Nancy recommends reading the whole list of nominees and not just the winners, because there you will find books for many tastes. 

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher and Katy Sewall nibble at the Bryant Corner Cafe while talking about two books that offer different approaches to the same overarching theme- how empire builders move across the landscape into history. The first is an historical account of the American Vietnam War.  Christian Appy, “American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity” connects our current foreign policy actions to the attitudes that were revealed during our long war against Vietnam. "The Strangler Vine" is a classically styled mystery set in the British Raj. Though lighter and more of a swashbuckler, the actions of the British colonialists are on full display. We also touched on a couple of American crime writers, Ross Macdonald and Ross Thomas.  Both worth a look and worth a whole show. That is coming soon.We won't be at the Bryant Corner Cafe for a few weeks. We will be back with the live taping April 21st, 3:15. Love to see you there with books to share while we explore what books to add to our growing stack.

Living in a different time zone than your family and friends can change relationships. Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks explore how, and that leads to a discussion on irrational fears.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Nancy Pearl talks about the benefits of book clubs with Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and the rest of folks around the table at The Bryant Corner Cafe. Nancy says there are some rules to follow that can make the book selections and the book chats much more meaningful. We will be back recording at the Cafe Tuesday, March 24th at 3:15. Please join us.  You can check in on Nancy's book picks and all the places where she is sharing her love of reading at Nancy Pearl.comKaty Sewall hosts a very smart and funny podcast about living abroad, the bittersweetlife.Steve Scher produces a few other podcasts and provides commentary at NWCN.

Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and our great readers are at the table at the The Bryant Corner Cafe again. We are talking about the books to read for March, Women's History Month.  We also get into a discussion of just whether or not these months set aside to particular groups are a positive or not.If you want to donate some books the Seattle Literacy Council is looking for you. They hold a fundraiser soon and need your support. Join us at the cafe next tuesday afternoon at 3:15.  Hope to see you. 

Life is full of major transitions. For host Katy Sewall, moving to Rome then back to Seattle has been hard. She speaks with psychiatrist and former expat, John Wynn, about why change is tough and how to do transitions well.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Steve Scher and Nancy Pearl take up Katy Sewall's question, what books shaped you in high school? Our friends around the table have their own favorites. What are the books that shaped you?

Gabi (age 8) regularly feeds crows and they bring her shiny things in return. Katy's story about Gabi was instantly viral. Hear Gabi as she shows host Katy Sewall her crow-gift collection. We'll also discover why crows give gifts and how you can earn gifts too! Show guests: Gabi Mann, her mother Lisa, John Marzluff (corvid expert), Tony Angell (artist, crow imitator)   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

For travelers and expats, what feels like home changes sometimes. Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks share their experience with home and homesickness.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Time for the lists. No, not the best of lists, though we chat about those. Too judgmental, we've concluded. Rather Nancy Pearl, Steve Scher, Katy Sewall and all the folks around the big table offer their favorite books published in 2014. What are yours?  And next week, 12/23, when we again meet at the Bryant Corner Cafe at 10 am, what kind of book are you hoping to read in 2015? Maybe Nancy has already found it for you. Join us. 

Kids thrive in strong, safe and supportive families. It seems basic common sense and it has been proven again and again through solid research. Of course, no one sets out to be a poor parent. The consequences for abused or neglected children are personally and socially devastating. In a real sense, taxpayers accept an expensive laissez-faire approach to poor parenting that winds up costing billions later in programs that try to undo the consequences of weak family situations. Here now, a conversation about the work being done to teach better parenting skills in a way that opens up the opportunity to heal broken families and open fair paths to opportunity. Our guests are Liliana Lengua, Professor of Psychology and the Director of University of Washington Center for Child and Family; Marcy Miller , Director of Home Visiting for Thrive by Five Washington, the state’s primary private partner in creating a statewide early learning system; Michelle Sarju, Director of Programs at Open Arms Perinatal Services, a non profit offering this community based program since 1997 How Can I Help? Encouraging Stronger Families Through Home Visits is hosted by Steve Scher and produced by Katy Sewall.  This Crosscut Media Program supported by The Giddens Foundation

A neglected child is damaged socially, psychologically and physically. The developing brain of a neglected child is malformed. But end the neglect, the brain, body and mind heal. Danielle Goodwin is a peer counselor for parents. She brings her own life story to the work. She was often neglected by her mother, a drug user. She was abused by a succession of men. She lived on the streets. She had 5 kids before court ordered counseling helped her turned her life around. Her story is told in Stacey Solie's 4 part Crosscut series on neglect and the brain. UW Assistant Psychology Professor Katie McLaughlin's work is at the cutting edge of new research on how the human brain is shaped by trauma. This conversation was produced by Katy Sewall and Steve Scher for Crosscut.

If an expat dates a local, does that improve their social standing? Do all cultures flirt in the same way?Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall discuss dating abroad.   NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.

Homesickness.  It eventually strikes everyone who moves overseas.  Tiffany Parks and Katy Sewall share their coping mechanisms and examine what they are actually missing when they miss home.    NEVER HEARD THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1:OUTSET SPONSOR: Reach thousands of expats and travelers all over the world by sponsoring The Bittersweet Life. Write the at bittersweetlife@mail.com to get the conversation going. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or write us @ bittersweetlife@mail.com. ©Web and show content can only be used with written permission.