Kelly Corrigan Wonders

One of the things you lose when you lose someone essential is the comfort of their presence — and their presence may have been your secret weapon in the world.  Today’s Go To is a story about Kelly’s mom watching her play backgammon on a porch in Avalon one summer long ago. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about...

When veteran BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan discovered her family was involved in slavery in Grenada, she did what journalists do: investigate.  As the details of the story emerged, Laura and her family worked to make a plan.  Kelly and Laura discuss the importance of acknowledgment, the role of historical truth in healing, and the Trevelyan's path toward family-led reparations. Link to Laura's X...

An anonymous listener shares a letter about her complicated relationship with a still-living, yet emotionally distant parent. The listener reflects on the emotional journey and growth experienced over the decades, considering how her mother’s shortcomings have shaped her own approach to parenting.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy...

With extra thanks to the Aspen Ideas Festival, here are Kelly's notes from a happiness panel featuring Adam Gopnik, Tamar Gendler, David Brooks, and Sarah Lewis. Link to Kelly's previous interview with David Brooks HERE. 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/adch...

Kelly talks with Chasten Buttigieg, teacher, advocate, and husband of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. The conversation goes deep into Chasten's coming out story, no easy task in his conservative, Catholic, rural Michigan family.  His greatest fears were losing family connections and never finding the kind of acceptance we all need. The episode highlights the principles and practic...

In this episode, Anne Swayze shares an emotional tribute to her 16-year-old golden retriever, Mac, who touched many lives over the years. She recounts Mac's adventures across multiple homes and campuses, his unique quirks, and the profound impact he had on her family. Anne's heartfelt narrative captures the bond shared with Mac, illustrating the deep emotions involved in saying goodbye to a belove...

Kelly shared the stage with acclaimed author (and personal hero) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at this year's Aspen Ideas Festival to talk cancel culture, the importance of free speech, tribalism in America, the impact of sensitivity readers in publishing, and the consequences of self-censorship. They also share personal reflections on grief, having both lost their parents in recent years. (Speaking of...

Kelly shares an episode of a podcast she loves called A Braver Way which is hosted by friends of Kelly Corrigan Wonders, Mónica Guzmán and April Lawson.  Is it the facts that get in the way in our politics, or our stories? Baratunde Thurston is a renowned comedian, activist, and PBS host who knows a lot about how the stories we tell about ourselves can either unlock our civic power... or make us f...

Can memorials transform thinking?  Have you ever felt something change inside you looking at a sculpture or walking through an especially powerful exhibit?  Can representing injustice lead to collective understanding?   Maybe.  From the 9/11 site to the hills of Montgomery, Alabama, people are finding ways to confront past horrors and visitors are leaving with a Never Again spirit that just might...

Listener Katie Niemeyer shares a poignant story from her time as a 16-year-old patient in a burn unit, battling a severe reaction to a depression medication. Katie recounts how a fellow patient named Kerry, a fireman recovering from his own traumatic burns, brought light and support to her darkest days. Despite his own suffering, Kerry showed up for Katie consistently, forming a lifelong bond that...

Today, I'm sharing my notes from listening to Indra Nooyi, who had a transformative tenure as CEO of PepsiCo, and is now a woman who speaks freely and blunty about what the country needs most. Live from the stage at Aspen Ideas Festival, Nooyi set the audience on fire with her blunt assessments and candid insights on how business can serve society and not the other way around. (Speaking of interpe...

Nicholas Kristof is one of America's most experienced, prolific, awarded and grounded journalists.  I read him often when I want a point of view that comes with 35 years in the field and his signature big picture optimism.  This is a conversation to remind us all how exactly change happens.   Special thanks to the Aspen Ideas Festival for putting me on stage with Nick and for generally being such...

Kristina Phipps wrote this exquisite, poetic eulogy to honor her mom Ann Emanuels.  Ann's love for beauty and her affinity for the natural world shone through in her garden, where she loved to spend time.  She saw a world to be seized and not squandered and would pack more into a day than seemed humanly possible. Perhaps more than anything though, Ann viewed the world as a place that should be sav...

Getting the call, drafting a talk, practicing in the mock studio, dinner at Chris Anderson's with all the other speakers...it's a wild ride.  Here's the backstory of TED 2024.(And here's the link to Kelly's TED talk on the occasional need for extraordinary bravery in family life -- please post or share with every brave and loving person you admire.) To learn more about listener data and our privac...

Living in an optimization culture is making parenting much more complicated than it need be. Or so says Dr. Aliza Pressman, author of The Five Principles of Parenting and the host of Raising Good Humans, who spends a lot of time with the latest research and a lot of time with parents in clinic. Today’s conversation is about exactly what does and does not protect us from the worst health outcomes a...

Today’s submission is introduced in the episode as a eulogy but it’s actually an essay that writer, speaker and advocate Tracy Hargen wrote about her beloved dad Joe, shortly after he died in 2012. Tracy describes her dad as her “cheerleader, biggest fan, bear hugger, tear wiper and supporter of crazy ideas”. He had a big personality that filled every room he walked into and had a memorable, radio...

You and I both have short lists of people we just cannot bring ourselves to understand. But even in those most strained circumstances, we do have a set of things in common. Here’s my reminder to self of that always true fact. Meant to be shared, especially with people you’d love to reconnect with.  (Previously aired)Please be in touch. Write us anytime about anything — hello@kellycorrigan.com — we...

Rainn Wilson (who you might know as Dwight Schrute) is making a serious call for a spiritual revolution based on joy, acts of service and being honest about our mixed natures. This is a conversation to share with anyone who is thinking seriously about how to elevate matters of the soul over the clang and bang of the modern world. Or maybe just someone who needs a laugh. (Previously aired)Special t...

 In honor of 20 years together, Leslie Browning wrote this sweet tribute to her husband Ben. In her early years, Leslie got her idea of “romantic love” from what she saw in chick movies but after sharing two decades together and the juggling required with kids, jobs, financial pressures, competing demands, middle age, menopause and loss, she learned that although solid, steady, “real love” might n...

I learn a lot from listeners.  This GOTO is a lesson in humility for me.  And maybe for you too.  It's about a mistake I suspect a lot of us have made... 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

Dan Harris is a smart, hungry skeptic looking for ideas you can count on in the worst of times, like say when you have a panic attack while you’re anchoring the news for ABC. He’s been thinking out loud with some very wise people for many years now through books and a podcast called 10% Happier that I find invaluable. Some topics we break open are uncertainty, humility and practices to keep us con...

Jody Weverka wrote this sweet eulogy for her Auntie Marge - a woman who made everything from crafts to meals to gardens to family life better for everyone.   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

A young friend of mine, 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.  To receive our weekly takeaways or share feedback, shoot us a note at hello@kellycorrigan.com.   To learn more abou...

Krista Tippett, informed by decades of inquiry through her super-project, On Being, sits with Kelly to consider what’s in flux, what needs will never abate and what we might rediscover in new forms. In this moment when everything is broken open, when institutions are received with less reverence and more skepticism, where should we point our minds and hearts? What practices serve us best? This is...

We all have things we do to help us manage grief.  Today's episode is a look at one of the ways that Kelly handled the loss of her beloved dad, Greenie.  In the year following his death, she wrote and sent emails out into the ether - to connect with him in a small but very meaningful way.  We want to wish a Happy Father's Day to everyone from us all at Kelly Corrigan Wonders.  To learn more about...