730 - Turning a Podcast into a Novel: 'The Br...

1214. This week, we look at why we say, "It's all Greek to me" when we don't understand something. We trace the phrase from medieval monks who couldn't read Greek manuscripts to Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," and look at how other languages, like Czech, German, and Cantonese, exp ...  Show more

1213. Pulitzer-Prize-winning dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman goes deeper into her journey from the "Washington Post" copy desk to the world of professional dance criticism. We look at how writing about an art form is the ultimate exercise in verb selection, why our brains physicall ...  Show more

In 2014, Lauren Shippen was an aspiring actor in Los Angeles: taking classes, booking intermittent gigs, waiting tables, the like. Four years later, she ended up becoming one of the busiest people in podcasting, all on the strength of an independent fiction podcast she had made o ...  Show more

Lauren Shippen, creator of the Bright Sessions podcast, joins to discuss chapters 9 and 10 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Topics include a need for wizard statistics, Book Ginny outshining Movie Ginny, Sirius “Whiny Bitch” Black, Harry “Anti-Prefect” Potter, the ri ...  Show more

Lauren Shippen of the Bright Sessions podcast returns to discuss more Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Topics include Jim Dale's signing, JK hating Hufflepuff, Ron's numbness to romance, Hermione standing up for herself, Snape & Umbridge are horrible teachers, JK's obse ...  Show more

Once a married waitress in her late 20s, my dear friend and best selling author put everything on the line in order to go to grad school. The result? Her smash hit novel, Sweetbitter, and a career as a writer. We talk slumber parties, the beginning of our friendship (which involv ...  Show more