Tag Archives: Tracy V. Wilson

Podcasts

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The first time I ever heard a podcast was when I moved from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. My traveling companion had loaded her MP3 player with music and words for our journey. At some point we listed to an episode of Stuff You Should Know about fluoride.

[amazon template=image&asin=B001NC8SXU] SIDENOTE: On that road trip, we also listened to David Sedaris read essays from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day. My favorite story in that book is “Jesus Shaves.” We had to stop playing it before it was over because my traveling companion was laughing so hard she was crying, making driving dangerous. (The image to the left is connected to my Amazon affiliate link. If you click on it to shop, I will receive a commission from your purchases.)

If you don’t know, a podcast is

a digital audio or video file or recording, usually part of a themed series, that can be downloaded from a website to a media player or computer.

The first podcast I really, really liked was RISK! Here’s what the RISK! webpage has to say:

 RISK! is a live show and podcast “where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public” hosted by Kevin Allison, of the legendary TV sketch comedy troupe The State. The award-winning live show happens monthly in New York and Los Angeles…The weekly podcast gets around a million downloads each month. Slate.com called it “jaw-dropping, hysterically funny, and just plain touching.”

If you want to hear people tell true stories about sex, drugs, feces, humiliation, and sketchy parenting (among other things) while using lots of curse words, RISK! is the podcast for you. It is not a lie, cliché, or hyperbole when I say I’ve laughed ’til I cried while listening to the stories of RISK!, and sometimes I’ve just cried.

If these are the kinds of stories you like, you can listen to RISK! for yourself.

I like to have a podcast on while I’m doing work with my hands, typically work that doesn’t take too much brain power. Washing dishes? Podcast. Making hemp bracelets and necklaces? Podcast. Creating hats from yarn? Podcast. Cooking a meal? Podcast. Folding clothes? Podcast. Gluing little bits of paper into a collage? Podcast.

I revisited Stuff You Should Know a few years ago while house sitting in a secluded location. The house had no television, and it was just me and the dogs out there. I missed human voices. Hearing the banter of the hosts of the podcast, Charles (Chuck) Bryant and Josh Clark, made me feel less alone.

Stuff You Should Know led me to Stuff You Missed in History Class since both programs are produced by the same parent company, How Stuff Works.

Stuff You Missed in History Class has gone through a series of hosts since its beginning. My favorite hosts of the program are the two current smart and sassy women, Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey. I enjoy their comfortable presentation style while feeling confident they did their homework before hitting the record button. The amount of reading and research these women do for each episode is amazing. Holly and Tracy give us more than just the history of rich white dudes. I appreciate their inclusion of episodes about feisty women and LGBTQ folks fighting for civil rights.

While downloading podcasts from iTunes, I discovered Death, Sex & Money. The show’s website calls Death, Sex & Money

[a] podcast hosted by Anna Sale about the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.

I appreciate the way Anna Sale asks really personal questions while managing to express deep kindness and intense curiosity. She really knows how to get root of the matter without seeming pushy or mean. Of course, many of the episodes are heart-rending, covering topics from dead mothers and fathers (sad) to dead infants (super sad). The episodes focusing on sex and money tend to be a little more fun, although no less thought-provoking.

One of my favorite episodes of this show is an interview with Lucinda Williams. Lucinda starts off honest and raw and stays that way for nearly half an hour. Also fantastic is the five part series about New Orleans ten years after Hurricane Katrina.

My newest favorite is Myths and Legends, featuring my podcast boyfriend, Jason Weiser. (Shhh! Jason doesn’t know he’s my podcast boyfriend. Neither does his wife.) Not only do I enjoy Jason’s calm, soothing voice and his snarky-funny comments (he holds nothing back when he talks about The Little Mermaid), but the stories from around the world are fun to listen to. Sometimes when I’m stressed out, I put the volume of my phone down low, start this program playing, and let Jason’s tranquil voice comfort me all night.

Here’s what Myths and Legends has to say for itself:

This is a weekly podcast telling legendary stories as closely to the originals as possible. Some are incredibly popular stories you think you know, but with surprising origins. Others are stories that might be new to you, but are definitely worth a listen.

That’s what I’m listening to these days, when I’m not listening to music. I hope these suggestion inspire my readers to listen to some new, educational podcasts. Feel free to leave a comment about your favorite podcast.

Fan Letter

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I’m a big fan of writing fan letters. Although I don’t do it nearly enough, I think it’s important to let people know when I appreciate their work.

Recently, I wrote a fan letter to the two women who do one of my favorite podcasts, Stuff You Missed in History Class. Since Holly (Frey) and Tracy (V. Wilson) enjoy knowing what activities people engage in while listening to the show, along with my letter, I sent some of the handicrafts I made while listing to them. What follows is the letter I sent:

Dear Holly and Tracy,

During camping season (mid-May to mid-October), I am a camp host in a remote mountain area of California. The area where I work offers no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no landline, and no internet access. When I’m not assisting visitors or scrubbing pit toilets or writing about my experiences for my blog, I make winter hats from yarn and jewelry from hemp. While my fingers are busy, I like listening to podcasts, including Stuff You Missed in History Class. I especially enjoy episodes dealing with feisty women and LGBTQ rights.

At one point this past summer, in order to save money, I decided to stay on the mountain for two weeks instead of going to civilization during my days off. I had plenty of food, so sitting tight was no problem. I had several episodes of Stuff You Missed in History Class on my phone and many more stored on my laptop. After I listened to all of the episode on my phone, I pulled out my laptop and used the last of its battery trying to transfer episodes. For some reason I don’t understand, my laptop wouldn’t recognize my phone, so I was unable to add any episodes. Oh well! I simply listened to the dozen or so episodes on my phone until I went back to civilization and my laptop and phone decided to communicate with one another.

Listening to an episode multiple times allowed me to learn new information with each exposure to the material. And it was grand to hear human voices when I had no campers in the campground and was feeling lonely.

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These are the hats I sent to Holly and Tracy.

To thank you for keeping me company, I decided to send you things I made while listening to you. I made the hats while on a yarn bender. I made the necklaces especially for you ladies.

When I decided to make necklaces, I knew I wanted to use pendants with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s quote “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” While her actual quote uses the word “seldom,” I could only find pendants with “seldom” replaced by “rarely.”  I haven’t read Ulrich’s book named after her quote , so I don’t know if she is she addresses how and when and why the quote was changed. I wonder how this quote came to be attributed to Marilyn Monroe and Eleanor Roosevelt. Finally, I wonder how Ulrich feels about seeing her quote (from her 1976 academic paper in the journal “American Quarterly”) plastered on pendants, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and t-shirts.

In any case, Tracy and Holly, I appreciate all you two do to bring history to the people. I’ve certainly learned a lot from listening to you.

All the best,

Blaize Sun

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I took the photos in this post.