By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:32 — 3.2MB)
“Phenomenal Woman” was written by Maya Angelou and originally published in an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1978, and then in And Still I Rise, her third volume of collected poetry, later that same year. Dr. Mica Mitchell tells of how this poem helped shape her as a girl moving into womanhood and continues to inspire her today.
By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:16 — 3.6MB)
“One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” Versions of this quote, sometimes attributed to Joseph Stalin in 1947 or a French diplomat or German satirist in 1925, depending on who you ask, succinctly explains the numbness that the world feels at the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, which stands at […]
By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:23 — 6.4MB)
Art can be visual, auditory, tactile, or kinetic. Dr. Edward Mathis tells us how a simple bike ride can be an expression of art, and reads “A Wanderer,” by Indian poet Hashim ZK. Music in this episode by Andy Wicks.
By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:59 — 11.7MB)
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. […]
By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:39 — 3.9MB)
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 […]
By Andy Wicks
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:01 — 4.1MB)
Change, good or bad, has some element of loss. Learning how to mourn the loss and incorporate it into our experience is tricky. Jeffrey Petersen, pastor at Third Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has much experience walking with people through change and loss. He uses the words of Wendell Berry’s poem “The Slip” to talk about […]