[S2] Hari Kondabolu: Comedy Is Therapeutic but Not Therapy
“My mom has a very dark sense of humor. I think that’s how I learned how to recycle pain.” Hari Kondabolu is not your average stand-up comed...
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Creating Our Own Lives
We’re called to create a better world, but what about the more immediate task of creating our own lives? Inspired by a quote of Thomas Merton, host Lily Percy asks people to think through ho...
Episodes
20 of 27 episodes[S2] Sam Sanders: If I Can Laugh With You, I Can See You
“I cannot tell you how many times laughter has connected me with all different kinds of people throughout the country, of all kinds of polit...
[S2] Terry McMillan: Humor Is a Form of Hope
“I don’t think that humor is evasive at all. It’s how we protect our hearts from just bleeding to death.” Bestselling author Terry McMillan...
[S2] Amichai Lau-Lavie: Deep Laughter in the Place of the Deepest Pain
“Humor is always about ‘as if.’ And it just relaxes everybody. We’re going to laugh.” Transparent creator Jill Soloway describes Amichai Lau...
[S2] Heidi N. Moore: When It Comes to Finance and Comedy, It’s All About Patterns
“What makes humor is pattern recognition. Finance is very helpful on that front because there are a lot of patterns that keep repeating them...
[S2] Daniel José Older: How We Love Is by Roasting Each Other
“Humor reminds me a lot of magic, in that there’s no way to quite replicate it. There’s a power to that” The humor in Daniel José Older’s wr...
[S2] Alexis Wilkinson: Disarming People with Laughter
“Humor gives me release. Sometimes there’s just too much tension and you have to let it go. Laughter is such a great natural physical respon...
[S2] Maureen Craig: This Strange, Peculiar Family I Call Mine
“Humor establishes new ground for parents and kids to relate on that isn’t just parent-kid.” For Maureen Craig, humor is central to how she...
[S2] Lalo Alcaraz: We Have Entered the Satire Dimension
“I use humor as a way to let our community know that we’re not invisible, at least not to us.” Chicano cartoonist and writer Lalo Alcaraz ex...
[S2] Emily Nagoski: Laughter Is Like Orgasm
“When you are helpless with true laughter, it’s like orgasm. Your body gets taken over. If it didn’t feel so good, you’d think there was som...
[S2] Lindy West: Comedy Helps Us Love Our Bodies
“When everything feels horrible, what tiny detail can we seize on and laugh about.” Writer Lindy West talks about being fat and being a femi...
[S2] Derrick Clements: Humor Can Break Down Barriers of Pride
“The real Book of Mormon is on my shelf, and next to it, the Book of Mormon Musical. And I’m spiritually enriched by both.” Ask anyone who i...
[S2] Margaret Cho: The Deep Connection Between Anger and Humor
“The best expression of humor is something that comes out of suffering and comes out of a sense of alienation.” Margaret Cho opens difficult...
[S2] Jonny Sun: Jokes Make the World a Little Less Lonely
“Humor is a tool for inclusion and for making everyone realize: we’re all together on this.” Jonny Sun has formed a devoted community of alm...
Season 2 Preview — Humor as a Tool for Survival
Humor as a tool for survival. That’s the theme of our second season of Creating Our Own Lives. Host Lily Percy speaks with 15 different voic...
[S1] Mike Stavlund: Running is an Inherent Good
“When I’m running, I’m in my body, with all of its limitations but with all of its capabilities at the same time.” Mike Stavlund is the auth...
[S1] Justin Whitaker: ChiRunning: A Sitting Meditation
“If you watched me run, you wouldn’t think I was sitting or thinking about sitting.” Justin Whitaker is a writer, a ChiRunner and a Buddhist...
[S1] Sarah Khasawinah: Active Freedom
“When I’m running, I feel like I’m actively expressing gratitude.” Sarah Khasawinah works in the Senate to improve policies for older Americ...
[S1] Roger Joslin: Preparing for Both the Run and the Prayer
“I began to notice that my running life and my meditating life were beginning to merge.” Roger Joslin is an Episcopal priest and the author...
[S1] Mallary Tenore: I Always Think of My Mom When I'm Running
“My love for running started with me running towards my mom.” Mallary Tenore’s mother, Robin Jo, introduced her to one of the defining pract...