The Listen Podcast

Just as the second wave of coronavirus seems to be getting under way here in Spain, where I live, an alarming increase in positive cases is also taking place where I grew up in Indiana. This conversation with Wayne County Health Officer Dr. David Jetmore is an effort to get the facts out, and to…

Already from a very young age, Derick considered himself an artist. He used to tell everyone around him about his dreams of making it in the art world. However, as Derick got serious about his future in the arts, his relatives expressed concern, which in turn planted the seeds of doubt and made him second…

If there is one thing you should know about Casey, it’s that her feelings about art conservation run deep. She is the Objects Conservator at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT, where she oversees a highly diverse collection. She is well aware of the fact that, whenever a piece is treated upon…

Ten years ago, Shelly and her husband James set out to create a contemporary arts center. The space they chose is a former 18th century papermill in the Loir Valley in France, where they make a constant effort to hold space so that other artists can express themselves. Their goal is to revitalize the campus…

When we invited Rachael to join us on The Listen Podcast, we had no idea that her interview would be recorded against the backdrop of powerful protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As a self-described social justice minister, Rachael had much to share about first becoming politically aware while at seminary, examining…

Arun’s interview is full of insights on the world we live in. As a yoga therapist and an Ayurvedic practitioner, he sees his craft as a path to discovering oneself and to understanding life. At a time when we are enduring a global pandemic that is changing the world, Arun shares his vision of the…

Even though Sarah grew up in a Christian household, she drifted away from religion when she was 17 years old. After years of partying and doing her thing, she started looking for a deeper meaning at age 28. She researched multiple religions and discovered that merely picking and choosing her favorite elements of a religion…

J. Edward Kruft, or Joey, as we prefer to call him, was an actor who became a writer who became a psychoanalyst, who is now a writer and a psychoanalyst. To date, his flash fiction pieces have appeared in over 30 online and print journals. He remembers having always written. In fact, he wrote his…

Although Brooke was initially trained as an actor, she felt a voice inside telling her that acting was not her calling. Today, she has worked as a playwright, a screenwriter, a director and a memoirist. In her interview, she tells us about how classical music, journaling and her training as an actor shaped her career…

“When I was 16, I learned my mother had been lying to me all my life. It was a big and terrible lie, as lies between mothers and daughters often are.” These are the first words of Devora’s novel, The Spanish Painter, published in 2017. In our interview with Devora, she talks about the story behind…

Thom and Penny are two ordinary people, like you and me, who needed a break from their lives and decided to go and walk the Camino de Santiago, in Northern Spain. In a nutshell, the Camino is a network of routes across Europe that ultimately lead to Santiago de Compostela. Sound extraordinary? It is! However,…

When Sara, an ex-pat living in Paris, falls in love with Peter, an older Brit, they discover a common dream of buying their own boat and sailing around the world. But they just kept putting it off, until they had a wake-up call. When Peter got sick, they realized they had to take this journey…

These two adventurous Estonians had the courage to cycle their way around Europe. Starting from their front porch in the middle of the woods, with the goal of reaching Portugal, they packed up their bikes and started riding. They visited a total of 16 countries and spent 8 months on the road. “Let’s take a…

Angel from Montgomery: cover by Kate Jetmore and Fran Cathcart, ca 1992. Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

The Listen Podcast will be taking a breather while we cook up more episodes! We’ll be back before you know it with more interviews focusing on such fascinating themes as visual art, writing, adoption, spirituality and adventure. Meanwhile, if you’ve missed any episodes from our first four seasons, now is the perfect time to catch…

As a child, Lidia grew up with a sense of invisibility. She used to be the quiet child at the table and often found it hard to be listened to in her hometown. However, these early experiences fueled her desire to go off and explore the world. “If you want to be listened to, you have…

Being a native Spanish speaker who learned English while growing up puts Jose in an interesting position: he actually has memories of the learning process! He was lucky enough to have a native speaker as his English teacher, and she helped him out with issues such as pronunciation. But he was also committed to learning this new…

Being born and raised in Belgium, a country with three official languages, has surely shaped LVK's perception of the world. While growing up, she spoke Dutch at home and learned German, French and English at school. Crazy, right? How fascinating is it that in Belgium everything is subtitled (as opposed to dubbed). From TV shows to movies…

Lisa and Juan are one of those marvelous bicultural couples who live between cultures, between countries, between lifestyles. Juan met Lisa because he was trying to keep up with his English. He was born and raised in Spain, while she was born in the UK and raised by an Italian mother and British father. After several years…

Ernesto and María, both from Central Spain, met in a research lab in Madrid, where they were carrying out their studies for their respective PhDs. In 2009, they were granted a scholarship to continue their studies at UC Berkeley. They packed their bags and off they went on their adventure together! As Spaniards living in…

After living in London for nearly a decade and having a child while abroad, Javier García Nieva and Silvia Martínez Andres decided to move back to their native Spain to put down roots and continue to grow their family and business. Javi and Silvia had known each other their whole lives before they embarked on…

New Year’s means music. This week we celebrate with a recording of a live concert from Czech organist Lucie Žáková, on a brand new instrument by organ builder Frédéric Desmottes. Lucie Žáková youtube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1niZtHpuVDvzZ3UWhnpbQ Lucie Žáková on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lucie.orgue Frédéric Desmottes website: www.desmottes.org/

Santa Claus comes in all shapes and sizes. This week, we visit him in an unexpected spot, and later in a more traditional setting.

Dolka is a cheerful and friendly Colombian woman with a lot of energy! Currently, she teaches Spanish in Richmond, Indiana, but before that, Dolka owned a small business selling food, juices and smoothies. Over time, she not only nourished the locals, but she also built a small community around her. Driven by her desire to…

Sacha, who was born in South Wales, moved to New York City at a young age to work as an au pair. There, she discovered a sense of freedom and opportunity she had never experienced before. She found that she could reinvent herself and there, in the city where everything seems possible, she founded Stiggly…