Loving the Imperfect

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for joining me. This is the second episode of my garden posts featuring the writings of Vita Sackville-West.  You can see pictures and follow me for more posts at Brianne Turczynski Brianne Turczynski is an award-winning author and educator in Michigan as well as the creator of Loving the Imperfect podcast. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in various mag...

Send us Fan Mail  Hello and welcome to Loving the Imperfect. Today I'm going to try something different. Years ago, I managed a blog called Miss Sissinghurst on WordPress, which is now my website www.brianneturczynski.com. It was a garden blog based on the writings of Vita Sackville-West.  I wanted to try to take all of my old articles, there's seventy-two of them and transfer them to my...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Loving The Imperfect. This is a special episode for Lent or Good Friday. We will begin by talking a little bit about St. Therese of Lisieux, the 19th century mystic. And afterward I will talk a little bit about what mysticism is because there's a lot of misconception about that. And then afterward, at the very end of this episode is a holy face meditation that I wr...

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome! This is a virtual writing retreat featuring the work of Lech Walesa. Rhetoric is everywhere, from what we read to what we hear and see. In this retreat we will work with a few different meditations, from artwork, to the work of Cicero, to the Gospel of John, then we will follow the patterns of history in Poland from 1938-1989. The hope is that through these exer...

Send us Fan Mail  Today we'll talk about the work of Mirabai Starr, an Inter-spiritual teacher, writer, and translator of the mystics. Mirabai is a well-known teacher of the divine feminine. She has written several books and her translations of St. John of the Cross's poetry as well as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Julian of Norwich's work won her critical acclaim. She is well-versed...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to season 3 of Loving the Imperfect! Thank you for being patient with me over my long break. Join me this season along with my kindergarten classmate, Erin Grossi, as we introduce and discuss some modern-day prophets, people who, we believe, have at least one thing in common: the prophetic voice. The purpose of this season is to introduce listeners to some new artists and...

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome to Loving The Imperfect . Today we'll hear from Terry Gonda, a devout Catholic, who was fired from her position as a music director at a local Catholic church because of her marriage to a woman.  Join us today as she shares her story and we hear how a tragic situation like this can evolve and enrich a person's spiritual life. When this story broke in th...

Send us Fan Mail Today we'll hear from Father Eric Williams, the priest of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Rochester. He's going tell us about his journey being an Episcopal priest. This interview is more of a conversation, so you'll hear a lot more of me in this interview, and it's a longer interview than most of my others. So, I hope you enjoy this episode, and you get...

Send us Fan Mail  Today we'll hear from 90-year-old Dr. Daniel White, a local physician in this area, well known and well-liked by everyone. He was drafted into the Vietnam War as part of a MILPHAT team and spent some time in Vietnam with the civilians. Unlike most men who were drafted, Dr. White had a positive experience, and the friendships he made with the civilians has lasted a lifetime. ...

Send us Fan Mail Today we will hear from a 17-year-old local high school student who wishes to remain anonymous.  He is very interested in space, and as of right now, he wants to be an astrophysicist. Despite all you'll hear in this interview, this student is still afraid that he will not get into college.  What's really inspiring about his story, apart from his tremendous knowledge abou...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Loving the Imperfect. Today, we'll hear a story from Dr. Rick Maibauer. He is the first person to perform a total joint replacement in Ghana, West Africa. So, we're going to hear his story today. Another exercise, again, in deep listening. This is a good exercise for us. I hope you enjoy this story. Thank you for joining me.  For more information about me...

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome to this week's episode! Born during World War II in England, Ged Youngman tells the story of her life as a nurse attending both dying children and healthy babies as a midwife. Later in the United States, she spent much of her time helping her church and overseeing many ministries. She has attended my parish, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, for 35 years....

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome to Loving the Imperfect . Today we are hearing a story from Kenny Asewe. Kenny is the founder of At Home Music here in Rochester, he is going to tell us a really touching story about his mother, how she passed away, and some details of her funeral. He will also share with us three ways that God showed him and reassured him that she was in a better place and that...

Send us Fan Mail Today we will hear from respected music composer, spiritual leader, singer and retreat director, Gregory Norbet, who also spent 21 years as a Benedictine monk at the Weston Priory in Vermont. I'm honored to be able to speak with him today. I hope you enjoy this interview. You can visit his website at www.gregorynorbet.org . Songs on this episode: Choir of Angels and Hosea , b...

Send us Fan Mail The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a tanker that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10th, 1975. It was carrying 29 crewmen and 26,000 tons of taconite pellets. According to Mr. Mixter, the storm that evening wasn't the worst to hit the Great Lakes, but the ‘Fitz’ took on seven different storms that year and Captain McSorley overestimated the reliability of his ship, t...

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome to Loving the Imperfect. Today we will speak to world-class figure skater Nancy Jones about her decision to quit skating for the U. S. team with the faith that God was leading her in a different direction.  In 1961 the plane carrying her teammates to the World Competition crashed in Brussels. Join me as we talk to Nancy about this event and how God has since been...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the first episode for Season Two of Loving the Imperfect, a show for seekers of deeper contemplation. I'm your host Brianne Turczynski.  For 10 years, I've been studying offerings from holy teachers and holy texts. I'm a journalist who has listened to the stories of many people throughout the years, and I continue to be captivated by the stories of how Go...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for joining me again for season one's finale episode. Today I'll read Psalm 150, the very last psalm in the book of Psalms and I will share why I started this podcast. I will take a break for a few weeks while I work on some writing projects. Tune back in around the end of September or the beginning of October. Media to look at this episode: Take a look at the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we explore what the beginning of a mystical path can look and feel like. I am speaking from my own experience, so please know that your experience might be different from mine. My journey began when I read W. Somerset Maugham's book Don Fernando , a history of Spain's Golden Age. In this book, he introduces some of the most important mystics of all time:...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we explore different mantras that can be used in meditation and how meditation might be useful for us as our contemplative nature grows. This episode includes a reading from Psalm 136. Media mentioned in this episode: Thich Nhat Hanh: Mindful Meditation https://youtu.be/J62F0Y6PKes Center for Action and Contemplation Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org) T...

Send us Fan Mail What do we need to retrieve from our past so we can advance in peace, likewise, what do we need to address or deal with from our past to promote a healthy future? Sankofa is a word that when translated means return and fetch it.  It is an Adinkra (pictogram) symbol of the Asante people of Ghana.  With the passing of Juneteenth, I wanted to briefly discuss Sankofa and what it can t...

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome back! Today's episode includes a reading from Psalm 122 and a poem from Mary Oliver called INVITATION. Did you know that sometimes we pray without knowing it? Not only that but there are many different ways to pray without using words. Join me as we discuss the myriad different ways we pray. What are some ways that you pray without words? Books/Film mentione...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for joining me on Loving the Imperfect! Lately, I've been reading The Earth Has a Soul which is a collection of work from C. G. Jung (pronounced Yoo-ng. I realized my pronunciation in this episode is slightly off--I said 'Young'. I'm sorry for that). It's changing the way I think about our society, so I thought I would share a couple of points Ju...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for joining me again this week! Can an ‘us versus them’ mentality ever be helpful for human relationships? What do you think?  My answer to this question is included in this brief episode along with a reading from Psalm 108! Please consider subscribing or sharing. Join me next week for Psalm 115! If you’d like to give me your opinion on this question, drop me a line! Sen...

Send us Fan Mail Psalm 101 is a Psalm from David written at the beginning of his reign. At this time David is unsure of himself as a worthy leader. I think we all feel like this sometimes, whether it's a leadership role through parenthood, our occupations, or even how we lead ourselves, we all have moments when we feel unworthy of the task. In this episode, I will show you a guiding light to...