Meaning Making Machines

Welcome to my conversation with composer JoAnne Harris. JoAnne has conducted and recorded film scores at Abbey Road, East West, The Village, and Avatar with artists such as grammy winning Kurt Elling and members of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Her television work includes score for: Mal de Ojo (HBO), 20/20, Primetime, and Dateline. She teaches media scoring at Feirstein Graduate School...

I knew things as a child that are hidden to me now. I knew them, but I didn’t have the intellectual skills to speak of them. I simply lived them. Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Cultures and people trade one type of conformity for another and rarely think for themselves without being told what to think. An essay on how we can learn to free ourselves from hypocrisy. Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/9536ae12-3d49-4b51-8203-458cefcf822d?postPreview=paid&updated=2025-10-17T23%3A48%3A06.730Z&audience=everyone&free_preview=false&freemail=true This is a pu...

Welcome to my episode with medieval scholar, writer, and speaker Dr. Grace Hamman. She is the author of the book Jesus through Medieval Eyes, a fascinating and accessible introduction to the bizarre, profound, and contradictory spirituality and culture of medieval people. In this episode we speak about Christianity during medieval times, their complex views of women, sex, birth, and death, the spi...

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that the role of the unseen in our lives is undeniable and essential. These “things” that are nonmaterial – things like God, love, courage, morality, truth, justice, joy, fulfillment – define the value and meaning of a human life. Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/c6f1e05b-202e-4467-8ee2-2c41eb58e7b3 This is a public episode. If you w...

Alissa Hessler is a writer and photographer, most well-known for her now decade old project, Urban Exodus. Through countless podcasts, stunning atmospheric photography, and candid interviews, Alissa has documented the lives and transitions of hundreds of former urbanites who decided to move to the country. These stories share the triumphs and difficulties they've experienced since leaving the conv...

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Sylvia Linsteadt! If you haven’t seen part 1 of our conversation, you can do so HERE . If you don’t know her work already, Sylvia is an author, a scholar of ancient history and myth, and a certified wildlife tracker. Her work - both fiction & non-fiction is rooted in myth, ecology, feminism, and bioregionalism. I highly recommend exploring her wonderful su...

Kyle is a crypto millionaire and a futurist. As a young adult, he was a part of the punk/anarchist scene in New Orleans. He squatted in a communal house, dumpster-dived, and made his best efforts to reject capitalism. After becoming disillusioned with the lifestyle, he left the south and began studying futurism. Shortly thereafter, he got into the world of NFTs. His most successful project reached...

Death limits life, disease limits health, loss limits love, and scarcity limits abundance. And as any economist will tell you, limitation drives value. The gods had none. And so, with every whim fulfilled, with the threat of death nonexistent, their limitless treasures were worthless . An essay on the power of limitation. Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/b404f0d9-9361-4412-a...

Sylvia Victor Linsteadt is an author, a scholar of ancient history and myth, and a certified wildlife tracker. Her work - both fiction & non-fiction is rooted in myth, ecology, feminism, and bioregionalism. In our conversation we speak about matrilineal vs. patrilineal cultures, motherhood across time, female fertility the connection between greek gods, aliens, and us, the relationship between fic...

This past Christmas night I dreamt of divine terror. The night after Christmas, I dreamt of demonic pleasure. An essay about my own Christmas Carol. Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/5e75356d-f635-43df-bfda-c6ec47657173 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Connecting the deep past with the imminent future through art, religion, and technology. Subscribe on simoneleon.substack.com or wherever you get your podcasts! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Despite not being Catholic, or raised any sort of Christian, recently I have begun praying the rosary. I find the circularity of it, the repetition, the endlessness of the practice soothing. I feel it aligns me with some greater movement of life. An essay about how Christ and the Virgin Mary reflect the natural world’s most essential patterns. Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/...