Every now and then, a guest says something that stays with me long after the recording. This week, it was Dr. Cailín Murray , an anthropologist at Ball State University who studies the intersection of folklore, belief, and the stories we tell about what haunts us.   “It’s not whether you believe in ghosts or not. We’re all made up of ghosts because we carry their DNA.”   Isn’t that great?!   So maybe, we’re all a little haunted, too.   Not by rattling chains or flickering lig

Shirley Jackson’s brilliant literature, monsters, and your scary neighbor. October invites us to play with fear. We pull the blanket to our chin or peek between our fingers, safely terrified by ghosts, vampires, and the things that go bump in the night. I’ve been thinking a lot about monsters and what they speak to in our larger society. But lately I've been thinking about the monsters hiding in shadows, but those just outside our front door. Because real horror rarely announ

Darkness falls across the land / The midnight hour is close at hand / Creatures crawl in search of blood / To terrorize y'alls...

The word empathy has been having a real moment recently, but it’s worth pausing on what it  means and how it’s different from sympathy. I...

Curiosity and the work of meeting each other across universes of our own making. When my kids were little, we loved Thomas the Train. One...

There is a house in my neighborhood that has been sitting in disrepair for years. Apparently, the woman who owned it had a son who died...

This summer, I (guiltily) watched And Just Like That and The Summer I Turned Pretty. Both shows are messy, nostalgic, occasionally...

Last night I made an amazing corn and tomato salad and afterward, sat outside looking at stars, night-blooming jasmine thick in the air....

One of my favorite must-watch shows as a kid was Star Trek: The Next Generation.  I loved the adventure of meeting new people across the...

I struggled to know what to write given the weight of this week. The militarization of our own cities, from police in LA to troops in...

I grew up in a place where summer buzzed. Quite literally, there was a constant hum of cicadas and crickets and frogs and bees. Where the...

I’ve had an earworm from Hamilton in my head while writing this. Let me tell you what I wish I'd known / When I was young and dreamed of...

What happens when we stop mistaking the loop for the truth? There’s a Stereolab album I used to love called Dots and Loops . It floated...

If you’re open to it, I’d like to start with a reflection: Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Connect to stillness. When you’re...

One year ago, I started this podcast after spending a long time noodling on it. I’ve spent over 20 years of my professional life meeting...

In tarot, The Fool is the first card in the deck and marks the beginning of a journey. Carrying only what she needs, lifting her chin to...

I was recently in Logan Airport for an early morning flight. As I was walking to my gate, I heard a woman softly say, “It wasn’t what we...

I can’t believe anyone hired me right out of college. I was wild and green. But I landed a role as an admissions counselor at my alma...

(or: Myth, Memory & the Machinery of Culture) “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I’ve been thinking about the Titanic...

Kermit the Frog addressing the Class of 2025 at my alma mater. Go Terps! I was inspired by commencement season, so I wrote a commencement...