“What his work has shown again and again is that being lonely is just as bad for your health as smoking.”

What if when it comes to love, we got it wrong? In this episode, Laura (with the help of some friends and experts) delves into her personal history with romance and relationships, concluding that just maybe, we need a little bit more.

“Have you ever thought about letting this writing thing go?” My dad said after a long time. “Just saying that you’ve given it a good run and now it’s time to try something else?” In that question was everything that plagued me.

“I think it's an issue of narrative--especially the origin story of the United States. What if the true origins of this nation were in 1619 (rooted in slavery) rather than 1776 and rebellion against an oppressive British government?”

“I don't think I understood the extent of systemic racism. I think it's very easy to ignore unless it affects you personally. We aren't telling the truth in our history. And so how can you understand it?”

40 sound effects, 30 voices, 12 virtual rooms, and 6 musical guests: this virtual party episode celebrates what Shelter in Place has meant to all of us in 2020, and what we hope for 2021.

“In a time when community was hard to come by, I was finding it with people from all over--people I never would have encountered in my previous life.”

Lifelong love, memory, and the things that stay with us. To start the holidays, we're mixing it up this week with a little audio drama, a reading of a short story based on the grandparents we heard about in episode 13.

What is the most important stuff we have to go through isn't stuff at all? Before the holidays, Laura takes us to an empty house in Nebraska, where the most important things she found weren't in the boxes she unpacked, but the legacy left behind.

“If I had the choice between all those things, or feeling the high of loving the work that I'm doing, I would pick loving my work. I'd pick that high first, because if you don't have that, then you just have a job.”