My husband had barely gotten his foot in the door last Tuesday when I pounced. I grinned up at him, “I learned how to do podcasts today!” I could feel my whole body sparking with excitement.
He looked at me blankly, suitcase in hand. Like most of the world, he discovered podcasts years ago. “You mean you learned how to make one?” he asked.
My shoulders drooped a little and he tried to hide his smile. “Or you learned how to listen to them?”
“Well, I learned how to download them onto my phone, too.”
That day, I had listened to Terry Gross interview David Sedaris while I ironed. I thought about the first time I heard David Sedaris on the radio, singing “My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R” in his Billie Holliday voice. I stopped ironing and wrote the story down. When that piece ended, I listened to Terry interview Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, author of Zoobiquity: What Humans Can Learn From Animal Illness. During their conversation, they discussed the topic of fainting, which was riveting to me, especially as a fainter who is writing a story about fainting. They discussed fainting (also known as syncope) in the animal world – that fear can trigger not only fight or flight as an anti-predation response, but also fainting – and how the syncope response could have evolutionary benefits. I took notes for my story then packed up the ironing, which I had finished.
I loaded up my phone with more Fresh Air episodes, then added RadioLab episodes, and This American Life episodes. For Wednesday was cleaning day.
The following day, while I scrubbed bathtubs and sinks, I listened to This American Life, to a young man’s journey across the country on foot, pushing his backpack in a baby stroller across the desert, asking folks along the way, “If you could go back and, taking all of what you’ve learned in your life, tell your 23-year-old self something, what might you say?” On Radiolab, I listened to a longtime believer suddenly lose his faith in God while I swept and mopped, and I learned about a deaf man who lived without language – no sign language, no lip reading – into his adult life. He finally learned language as a grown man, learned that a table has a name – it is named “table” – and he fell in love with words like I fell in love with my husband. The Words episode of Radiolab is possibly my favorite podcast so far.
At the end of the day, my mind felt invigorated, and I swear my IQ jumped 15 points.
This Wednesday, I discovered Book Riot’s new podcast, and while I cleaned the stove, I listened to BookRiot.com editors Rebecca Schinsky and Jeff O’Neal discuss The Great Gatsby hype and the publishing strategy of female authors using initials instead of their full names so that men won’t automatically dismiss their titles as “women’s lit.” While I cleaned bathrooms I listened to the Surgery 101 team explain how to avoid fainting in the OR. While I swept and mopped, I listened to Lee Gutkind describe the Creative Nonfiction movement. While I made salsa, I listened to Natalie Goldberg read from her new book, The Great Failure, and while I set the table I listened to Dinty W. Moore discuss “Writing it Short: The Guide to Brevity.”
Now, I’ve got a good 13 podcast episodes lined up for when I work out, for when I fold laundry, for when I unload the dishwasher. For when I shake a cocktail at the end of cleaning day to celebrate my budding genius.
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Here are the podcasts I currently subscribe to. Show descriptions are lifted from their About pages. I’m still looking for great podcasts, so if you have any favorites, please share them in the comments. Thanks!
All Songs Considered: All Songs Considered is home to the best new music and a community of fans always ready to share their opinions on the current music scene.
Bookrageous: Serious about books…but not exactly serious.
Book Riot: A weekly news and talk show about what’s new, cool, and worth talking about in the world of books and reading, brought to you by the editors of BookRiot.com
Fresh Air: Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio’s most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today’s biggest luminaries
Podlit: A podcast devoted to the creative nonfiction genre and other aspects of the literary world. It’s the podcast for writers, readers, students, teachers, and anyone else seeking the newest reports and latest discussions of the literary and publishing industries. Brought to you by Creative Nonfiction Magazine.
Radiolab: Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.
This American Life: This American Life is a weekly public radio show produced by Chicago Public Media and distributed by Public Radio International.
The Writer’s Almanac: Daily poems, prose, and literary history with Garrison Keillor
Butterfly Mind 
I love “Wait,Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. It’s an NPR show. Hysterical and informative.
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Yes! I love that show! Thanks for the suggestion.
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So how do you download them onto your phone?? I hate to admit it but I’m serious 🙂 I think I’d like to do that!
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I’m sure it depends on what kind of phone you have, but I went to the App Store on my phone, downloaded the podcast app (which is free on the iphone), and then searched within the podcast “store” for program titles. You can also search by keyword, which was how I found the fainting in the OR podcast.
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That sounds too easy! I think maybe I’ll give it a go 🙂 Thanks for the idea, b/c I’m not sure I would have thought of it.
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You’ll appreciate the fact, then, that I learned that my iPhone could play music a full TWO years after owning it. (And I have two college degrees, obviously not in engineering or technology). Now, off to follow in your footsteps as I haven’t yet learned the fine art of podcasts, but they sound like something a mama to two small boys could certainly use.
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You have made me feel much better 🙂 And yes, you can definitely use this in your life.
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Thanks for the recommendations! I already listen to a couple of these but podlit is new. I’m very excited!
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Most of the Podlit ones are interviews conducted at the Mid-Atlantic Creative Nonfiction Writers’ Conference, and they are a fantastic way of getting to know the editors and intricacies of the CNF world. I hope they’ll keep podcasting.
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Most excellent. I shall follow your lead and I look forward to cleaning with slightly more enthusiasm today
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Cleaning also burns a lot of calories, if that helps.
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Oh that helps! Listened to my first podcast this afternoon: “Stuff Mom Never Told You”. Loved it and chopped up some strawberries while I listened. 🙂
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I am gonna make you feel really good about this, because I was like, “what’s podcasts?” LOL. Wonderful suggestion, gonna learn to download and listen to The American Journey. Thanks for sharing!
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What an awesome resource! Thank you for sharing your findings. I started downloading Bill Mahar’s podcast a few years back. It’s a great way to drive to work.
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I find it more effective to announce “I learned how to do something new, today!” when my husband comes in. Then I get the flat out congrats without the mitigation of the fact that he has known how to do it for the last 12 years. Ahhhh, the joys of marrying an engineer. 🙂
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Love this “I learned something new!” Idea. Pure genius in its simplest form. 🙂
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OK, I LOVE this post. First, because I am totally there with you – that victory of mastering a piece of technology that feels so huge to you, then flits away in the face of someone else’s casual comment. Beyond that, however, this is pure genius!!! What a grand way to make cleaning both enjoyable and – I’m just guessing here – more thorough! I mean, why would you want to stop in the middle of one of these programs? Which brings me to the final point: I LOVE YOUR CHOICES.
Now, as you might see from the post I just added, I do NOT have a smart phone. So I’ll need to discover another way to lug these things around with me. Or just download to my computer and move it with me from room to room . . . IN any event, my gratitude for a fine post.
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Perfect! I keep discovering and then forgetting about podcasts. I’ve been listening to Pandora (music) a lot during chores lately but it feels like such a waste of time. I used to listen to Audible (books) but it was getting too difficult with the little ones often interrupting. A podcast sounds like a more casual listening experience and easier than searching youtube for interesting topics. I’m going to give it another go!
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