Math Is Hard

Other People’s Words Episode 5: “Variation on the Word ‘Sleep,'” by Margaret Atwood

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Words can take you down the same path multiple times to different destinations. Words are a time machine. In this episode, we hear from two wonderful people: Alex Oana and Chris Collin. Alex and Chris were college classmates, and he recorded her reading Margaret Atwood’s poem “Variation on the Word ‘Sleep’” as a part of his major. […]

Other People’s Words Episode 4: “Prayer for My Children”

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Janna Boomstra shares a Dutch poem called “Prayer for My Children” and how it has held power and comfort for her family, even when she didn’t understand the foreign words. Music in this episode by Kai Engel via the Free Music Archive. We heard “Blur” (at 1:16) and “Waltzing in the Rye” (at 4:10). Find […]

Other People’s Words Episode 2: “Praying” by Mary Oliver

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Sometimes prayers are rituals, said at specific times and in specific ways. Sometimes they are only a word or two said in a fleeting moment.  Becca Williams is a nurse who knows about the power of prayer in those brief times when life can balance on a knife’s edge. She reads “Praying,” by Mary Oliver. […]