Celebrate Creativity

Send us Fan Mail  Spinning Top, Part One is a the first of five episodes devoted to an examination of Poe's "Dream Works" and Christopher Nolan's movie "Inception."  This episode emphasizes that Poe's characters are often haunted by memories and past traumas, while Inception reflects this with Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) grappling with his deceased wife Mal, who man...

Send us Fan Mail This episode takes a deep dive into the three dreams of Richard III - from a dream about falling off a ship to the admonitions of "Despair and Die" before the Battle of Bosworth in The Tragedy of Richard III. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail This episode delves into (for the  most part) some of the some shorter passages from Shakespeare dealing with dreams  passages that are also among the most well known. Sections vary from Julius Caesar to Henry IV, Part 1 to Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet to The Tempest, among others. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 230.  To Be or Not  Episode 230 continues an examination of Chronos time and Kairos times through an examination of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespearae’s Hamlet.  Special attention is paid to Hamlet’s decision NOT to act - that waiting for Kairos - or the right moment to make a decision - is a decision in itself - and Hamlet ends up being the story of...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 229 of Celebrate Poe is a continuation of an examination of the concepts or Chronos and Kairos - this time centered around the story of Easter - for example - how concept of kairos time is intricately related to the narrative of Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. The use of kairos time in the Easter Story emphasizes that Jesus' death and resurrection were not just historica...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 228 of Celebrate Poe is entitled “What Is a Day?”  The podcast (and several episodes after it) were influenced by a sermon given by the Rev. Julia Wentworth at Trinity Episcopal Church in Indianapolis earlier this year.    This episode deals with Chronos and Kairos time, and delves into the role of time in the Creation story, Mark’s gospel, and the famous “to everything th...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with J. Robert Oppenheimer - the complex figure who is the subject of this year’s Best Picture. This episode compares the figures of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edgar Allan Poe.   Obviously, from different centuries, the two figures share many common complexities because of their backgrounds, talents, accomplishments, and complicated personalities. Support the sho...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 226 is the second part of a look at some of the high points of Celebrate Poe so far - from the Allans in England to Poe’s days at the University of Virginia, and at West Point.  The episode takes a look at some secondary accounts of incidents of the time in the context of Poe’s life and career. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 225 - Poe Review, 1 is a brief look (through a conversation with the ghost of Mr. Poe and George) regarding the 1st half of Mr. Poe’s life - his earliest years up to Stoke Newington.  Originally, I called this episode Catchup!, but I later decided that a better title might be Poe Review, 1.  The idea is for this podcast to relate events in Poe’s existence up to the half-wa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk about how I met the co-host of this podcast - the imaginary ghost of Edgar Allan Poe.   Ok - I know it sounds strange - I still scarcely believe it myself - that this is the episode where Mr. Poe made his podcasting debut. You could say this "sets the stage" for the rest of "Celebrate Poe" and the detailed look at Poe's life and wor...

Send us Fan Mail This is the final episode of a three part series dealing with Harriet Tubman.  This episode begins with Tubman working for the Union forces, tending to newly liberated people, scouting into Confederate territory, and nursing wounded soldiers in Virginia.  This episode ends with a comparison of the achievements of Tubman and Frederick Douglass, as well as a comparison of (surprise,...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 222 is the second of a three part series dealing with Harriet Tubman, and her work with the Underground Railway. The episode deals with some of the brave efforts towards liberation that Tubman led, and ends with this description of the assault on Fort Wagner:  And then we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; an...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 221 is the first of  a three part series for Black History Month dealing with Harriett Tubman - some of her ideas, philosophy, and earlier years. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 220 deals with sections of an especially eloquent oration given by Frederick Douglas in honor of Abraham Lincoln.    Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 219 deals with Frederick Douglas after his escape to the North, and his colorful and influential life as an abolitionist speaker and advocate. While he gave thousands of speeches supporting freedom for all races, perhaps one of his most famous is What to the Slave is the Fourth of July: "My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see, this day, an...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the first of a three part series about the great Frederick Douglass.  This episode deals with the early life of Douglass - how he was kept from his mother, the moments he first realized the importance of education, and some examples of his eloquence. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 217 takes a brief look at 4 of Poe’s works where many critics believe his complex perceptions of racial issues are explored - The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Goldbug, and Eureka. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with some of the complexities of manumission in 19th century United States.  The main thrust of this episode is the time that Edgar Allan Poe actually sold a slave, Edwin, for his Aunt Maria Clemm using the process of manumission - not as beneficial as it might have seemed at first. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the third and final episode of an "interview" between George and AI Poe (via Google Bard) regarding his first published work,, his life with and love for Virginia Clemm, some of his other loves, and Edgar Poe as a macabre maestro.  An aside here - this certainly wasn’t planned - but the third episode dealing with Poe’s 215th birthday is episode 215 of thi...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is the second part of three episodes - AI Poe talks in detail about his family, John and Francis Allan, Rosalie, and some of his works in a very moving account. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail This podcast episode is the first part of an interview with the imaginary ghost of Edgar Allan Poe based on historical records - who is a running character throughout the podcast - using examples from his life and creative observations on the ghost’s part about what life and literature was like in the 19th century. Today I would like to start the first of several (if necessary) ep...

Send us Fan Mail Resources for Practicing Drinkers: Self-Assessment and Support: • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/ ◦ Provides information on alcohol use disorders, interactive tools to assess drinking patterns, and links to treatment resources. • Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): https://www.aa.org/ ◦ Worldwide support group network for individuals s...

Send us Fan Mail Becoming Poe Again is basically a recap of most of Episode One of this podcast series - my background regarding Poe and how I became interested in the writer.  One dynamic that seems to run through my interest is the factor of just "dumb luck," and a fascination with Poe  that has resulted in over 200 podcast episodes regarding Poe - with that many more (at least) schedu...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 209 is a wide-ranging conversation with "AI Poe" regarding athletics, dualism, Poe's role in the Allan family, and Shakespeare. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Send us Fan Mail Episode 207 (Pronounced Dead) is the first half of the story Each Man Kills by Victoria Glad.   This is the first time in the story where well-meaning several characters  find themselves involved in situations completely beyond their control. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.