Kelly Corrigan Wonders

Kelly shares a beautiful eulogy from listener Jody Antypas which she wrote for her Greek immigrant father George—a man who came to America with one suitcase and built a life from scratch. From his wartime childhood to becoming "Pappou" the pancake-making, Monopoly-playing, sand castle-building grandfather, George's story will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. It's a reminder of why immigran...

Somewhere between what we're taught and what we actually believe, there's a gap—and someone is always ready to fill it. Kelly sits down again with America's government teacher, Sharon McMahon , recorded live on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival , to trace the invisible architecture of how a country teaches itself what's true. They talk about the seduction of confidence and the strange new authorit...

Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what a new series on For the Love with Jen Hatmaker is all about, the Sacred Yes. It's choosing delight, rest, and pleasure on purpose because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else.  In this episode, Jen sits down with writer, poet, and community-build...

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks set out to profile a government bureaucrat and found something closer to fiction: Jarod Koopman, a fit, tattooed IRS agent who teaches jiu-jitsu three mornings a week, built his own house (including a wine cellar because he also happens to be a certified sommelier), and has personally helped return billions of dollars to American taxpayers while fre...

This week, a quiet goodbye. Kelly remembers Glen Hansard—musician, actor, and the beating heart of the lovely independent film Once —who died this week at 56. It's a short reflection on presence, authenticity and making art against the odds. Raise a glass.

This is the second clip from Kelly's conversation with Sharon McMahon — former public school teacher, America's unofficial government teacher, and someone who has spent years reminding the rest of us that we've been here before. This week she tells the story of a woman named Septima Clark, who was fired for her civil rights work, went on to teach some of the most consequential figures in American...

The Consumer Price Index determines your grandmother's Social Security, your SNAP benefits, your divorce settlement, and — historically, at least — whether the president keeps his job. It is also, according to British journalist and novelist John Lanchester, intellectually thrilling. In the fourth episode of our Unsung series, Kelly talks with the writer The Economist called "a down-to-earth and w...

Nobody calls it therapy. That's why it works. Kelly's husband Edward rides bikes several times a week, and keeps coming home saying the conversations are deeper and richer than Kelly might expect. This week, a piece of writing started circulating among cyclists everywhere that explains exactly why - and we thought it was worth sharing. Written by Anthony Walsh (host of The Roadman Cycling Podcast...

Sharon McMahon is a former public school teacher who now teaches civics to over a million people on the internet. Kelly caught up with her at the Aspen Ideas Festival , and this clip is about something that feels urgent right now: the difference between just knowing more and actually doing something — and why cynicism, left unchecked, might be the most dangerous force in a democracy. Special thank...

Somewhere in the National Archives, there are 13 billion documents that belong to every American — and for most of our history, you had to get yourself to Washington, DC if you wanted to see them. In the third episode of our Unsung series, Kelly talks with historian and writer Sarah Vowell about Pamela Wright — a woman who grew up on a ranch in Conrad, Montana, became the Chief Innovation Officer...

This week we're sharing listener Andra Cardow's reflection on twenty years of marriage. She shows us how love grows through everyday moments—dog walks, car rides, and cozy nights at home. It's a delightful reminder that our most treasured relationships aren't built on big, dramatic moments, but in all those small, seemingly ordinary times we spend together. Andra beautifully describes finding joy...

In this episode, Kelly shares a piece of writing she's kept in her drawer for years about the power of choosing "good enough." She reflects on her mom's wisdom about saying "no" to the endless invitations and expectations that pile up in our daily lives and how learning to be selective creates space for what truly matters (Previously aired)

Michael Lewis went looking for the people holding this country together and found something he didn't expect — not just competence, but a kind of devotion so pure it made him want to keep writing about it. In the second episode of our Unsung series, Kelly sits down with one of the greatest storytellers alive to talk about what he's discovered inside the federal government, why the material keeps p...

What is it that actually makes a home? Is it four walls? A neighborhood? A partner? Or is it something far less expected? In this week's  Thanks For Being Here , Kelly reads a beautiful essay from listener Elisa Haggarty, who reflects on leaving the tiny Brooklyn apartment that quietly reshaped her understanding of love, belonging, and community.

Who's actually holding this country together? Not the people you see on cable news. Kelly delivered this talk at Montana Festival (2026) as a love letter to the hard working folks most of us will never know — the ones doing the slow, unglamorous, essential work that makes everything else in America possible. This is what kicked off our Unsung series — a good reminder of what we have and what we ow...

There are people working inside the federal government right now solving problems so enormous and so unglamorous that most of us will never know their names — or what we owe them. In the first episode of our new series Unsung — inspired by Michael Lewis's book, Who Is Government? — Kelly talks with Max Stier, CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, about who these people are, what d...

Kelly shares a Marine Corps wife's essay (titled "Cincinnatus") honoring her husband's quiet retirement after 20 years of service. Instead of ceremonies, his legacy lives in small, meaningful actions like giving away his expensive uniform to help a young officer and driving a beat-up Corolla with a trunk full of first aid supplies - so he can help anyone, on a moment's notice. It's a moving remind...

An apology is not a transaction. Kelly learned this the hard way — and if you've ever said sorry and then immediately started asking if you're forgiven yet, this one is for you. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sadly, this is the last conversation with Claire Danes and Kate Bowler about what makes life worth all the trouble, worry and suffering. In this freewheeling ride, we dig into just how inevitable personal ethical failure is and therefore, what does repair require. Like, how good are you at apologizing? Have you really accepted the people you love — as they are — or are you still trying to change t...

Some people meet old age and loss with bitterness. Dick Bolz met it with gratitude so genuine it left everyone around him a little changed. Lutheran pastor & author Nadia Bolz-Weber's eulogy for her father is short, funny, and moving — the kind of thing you'll want to listen to twice. Kelly and Nadia will be doing another Substack Live together (this one will focus on grief) on Tuesday, July 7, 20...

Ten years ago, when Kelly's dad Greenie was nearing the end of his life, she stumbled onto a question that quietly reorganized the way she has moved through almost every interaction since. It's just a single question — which when asked early enough — and honestly enough — can change everything about how you show up for the people you love. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practice...

Claire Danes, Kate Bowler and I try to figure out how the hell to live lives of real meaning and discovery, how to depersonalize the slings and arrows of any season, how to remember our agency and mobility. Based on Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most from authors Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz. Special thanks to the Warren Smoot Carter III and Meagan Carter Ch...

Every Sunday at 5:00 PM, the door was unlocked, the table somehow always had room for one more, and the sauce was already on the stove. Pat Minitti fed everyone who found their way to him — family, strangers from the Fry's checkout line, future in-laws — and in doing so, taught his grandson Cody about unconditional love. This is the eulogy Cody wrote and delivered at his grandfather's funeral. Thi...

A young friend of Kelly's, Sophie G, shared this speech that she had saved from her high school graduation week. It was given by Dr. Chris Cunningham, then at Lawrenceville, now at Whitfield, who gathered 10 takeaways for the students that are actually quite useful to every one of us. (Previously aired) For a review of Kelly's weekly takeaways join her free Substack. To learn more about listener d...

How do the values we inherited clash or complement the cultures we come of age in? How can we stay the right size in the world and in our own minds? What do you worship and nurture - art, the church, politics, food? Claire Danes and Kate Bowler join Kelly to talk about all the things that came up as they read Life Worth Living, our first Kelly Corrigan Wonders bookclub pick. (Previously aired) Bas...