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First Person: Funeral Home Director // Telemarketer – Human Voices Wake Us
Here are two readings from Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs.
Beverly Valentine, Funeral Home Director
Jason Groth, Telemarketing Group Supervisor
Depending on the response, this might become a regular format for episodes going forward, putting two different episodes into one, simply for ease of listening.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
Other First Person & History episodes:
Beethoven on His Deathbed – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from Jan Swafford's Beethoven: Anguish & Triumph, narrating the last months of Beethoven's life.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
What Did "Collaboration" Mean in Nazi-Occupied Paris? – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading of an essay of mine on cultural life and everyday life in Nazi-Occupied Paris. What did it mean to "collaborate," and what acts of collaboration were worthy of punishment or ostracism after the war? As one writer put it, “Should a woman reject a seat offered by a German in the Metro? Should one have refused to receive civilized, non-Nazi Germans whom one had known before the war? Should one have turned one’s back on a German friend in a public place?”
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Pompeii (AD 79) & San Francisco (AD 1906) – Human Voices Wake Us
An episode from 11/19/21, where I read about two disasters separated by nearly two thousand years: the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in the year 79, and the earthquake that destroyed so much of San Francisco in 1906.
A letter from Pliny the younger (read it here) describes Vesuvius and Pompeii, while an article by Jack London (read it here) takes us to San Francisco. I end with a reading of Laurie Sheck's poem "Pompeii," from her 2003 book, Black Series.
You can join Human Voices Wake Us on Patreon, or sign up for our newsletter, by clicking here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
Poetry & Education in Eighth Century England – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading of two chapters from Peter Ackroyd's book, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination.
Chapter 5, "A Rare & Singular Bede," covers the life of the Venerable Bede, as well as education and culture in England in the eighth century. Chapter 14, "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes," is a brief look into Anglo-Saxon (aka Old English) poetry, and its continued life and reverberations in English poetry, through the present day.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
George Orwell on War – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading of three essays by George Orwell on the Allied bombings of German cities in World War Two, and the aftermath of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan.
I am reading from the exhaustive (more than 1,300 pages) collection of hundreds of Orwell's essays, reviews and articles to be found in the Everyman's Library edition of George Orwell's Essays. For those who would just like to see find the text of what I've read from, their online counterparts are linked to below:
As I Please #25, from May 19, 1944
As I Please #33, from July 14, 1944
You and the Atom Bomb, from October 19, 1945
An online collection of all of his As I Please articles can be found here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
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James Garbarino on Violent Young Men – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from James Garbarino's 1999 book on violent young men, Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent & How We Can Save Them. Garbarino has written many other books on the topic, and this one especially can both continue to speak to us today, as well as seem like a time capsule before the internet went crazy, before smartphones, and before social media.
For these reasons & others, this episode is a good companion to only the third episode of Human Voices Wake Us, where I read from Mary Pipher's 1994 book on teenage girls, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
Mary Pipher’s “Reviving Ophelia” – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from Mary Pipher’s 1994 book, “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.”
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VCHPYA/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_i_hQFGFb3W306ZG
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
Andrew Solomon on Growing Up Deaf – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from Andrew Solomon’s book “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.” This passage is taken from the chapter on the lives of deaf children, and their parents.
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743236726
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
"It is so hard to die" – A Story of Depression from 1809 – Human Voices Wake Us
An episode from 10/28/20: Tonight, I read from Stephen Ambrose's book on the Lewis & Clark expedition, Undaunted Courage. I've chosen a scene from the end of the book, detailing the last night of Meriwether Lewis's life, in October of 1809.
Unlike his more famous companion, William Clark, Lewis suffered from what we today would call depression, and this passage is one of the saddest I know. I've always thought that those of us who can stand to hear stories like this should take the time to do so, to perhaps offer a bit of understanding that Clark was unable to find in life–and to perhaps look on those around us, suffering in the same way, with a kinder eye. Ambrose has remarked that he wept while writing it, and it was hard to keep myself from doing the same while reading it.
I should note the mistake I made when introducing the passage: this scene takes place not three days, but three years, after Lewis and Clark's return, but I haven't the heart to read this aloud again.
You can join Human Voices Wake Us on Patreon, or sign up for our newsletter here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: The Atomic Bomb – Human Voices Wake Us
A four-part episode on the atomic bomb, from its development to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and after, drawn from the words of those who were there. The full text of the quotations used here can be found in the blog versions of these podcasts.
The books used to make these episodes are:
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
American Prometheus: The Triumph & Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds, by Peter Goodchild.
John Else's documentary, The Day After Trinity, can be watched here.
John Bradley's anthology of poets writing about the bomb is Atomic Ghosts: Poets Respond to the Atomic Age.
My poem about Robert Oppenheimer can be read here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Funeral Home Director // Telemarketer – Human Voices Wake Us
Here are two readings from Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs.
Beverly Valentine, Funeral Home Director
Jason Groth, Telemarketing Group Supervisor
Depending on the response, this might become a regular format for episodes going forward, putting two different episodes into one, simply for ease of listening.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Minnesota, c. 1900 – Human Voices Wake Us
A repeat of an episode from 11/27/2020.
A reading from Studs Terkel’s book, American Dreams: Lost & Found. Here, Andy Johnson talks about his life in rural Minnesota at the turn of the twentieth century. The interview is also included in Terkel’s best-of volume, The Studs Terkel Reader.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
Anthology: Poems by Lowell, Clare, Barbauld, Finch, Spenser // First Person: Eudora Welty & Helen Keller – Human Voices Wake Us
Another two part episode: in the first, I read five poems:
Robert Lowell (1917-1977), “Bobby Delano”
John Clare (1793-1864), “An Invite to Eternity”
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), “A Summer Evening’s Meditation”
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720), “A Nocturnal Reverie”
Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599), from The Faerie Queen, Book 3, Canto 6
In the second (starting at 42:00), I read from Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings, and Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life. Both, in their own way, are about each writer’s earliest discovery of words. As with many First Person segments, come from the pages of Lapham’s Quarterly, one of the best collections of voices from history that I know.
Consider supporting Human Voices Wake us by clicking here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Rome (AD 64) and America (1832) – Human Voices Wake Us
An episode from 1/4/22: What can we learn from the Roman author Seneca's thoughts on education, speaking to us from the middle of the first century? And what can we glean from Alexis De Tocqueville's (to me) amazingly short-sighted thoughts on the rich and the poor, from only two hundred years ago?
The excerpts come from Seneca's Letters to a Stoic, AD 64; and from Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, 1832.
Don’t forget to join Human Voices Wake Us on Patreon, or sign up for our newsletter here. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone.
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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
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First Person: Minnesota at the Turn of the 20th Century – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from Studs Terkel’s book, “American Dreams: Lost & Found.” Here, a man named Andy Johnson talks about his life.
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1565845455
Andy Johnson’s interview is also included in Terkel’s best-of volume, “The Studs Terkel Reader”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1595581774
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: London, c. 1615 – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from chapter six of Peter Ackroyd’s history of early seventeenth-century England, Civil War (or Rebellion, as the book has been retitled in its America, apparently not to upset anybody buying it by accident and hoping to read about a different Civil War).
Ackroyd uses two texts to paint a brief picture of London at the time: Thomas Dekker’s The Seven Deadly Sins of London (1607), and Ben Jonson’s play Bartholomew Fair(1614).
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Pompeii (AD 79) & San Francisco (AD 1906) – Human Voices Wake Us
An episode from 11/19/21, where I read about two disasters separated by nearly two thousand years: the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in the year 79, and the earthquake that destroyed so much of San Francisco in 1906.
A letter from Pliny the younger (read it here) describes Vesuvius and Pompeii, while an article by Jack London (read it here) takes us to San Francisco. I end with a reading of Laurie Sheck's poem "Pompeii," from her 2003 book, Black Series.
You can join Human Voices Wake Us on Patreon, or sign up for our newsletter, by clicking here.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: A Waitress in Chicago in the 1960s – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from one of my favorite books, Studs Terkel's Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Here, Terkel interviews a waitress named Dolores Dante.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Vermont, 1940 – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from an interview conducted by the Federal Writer's Project during the 1930s and 1940s. The excerpt comes from the Winter 2019 issue of Lapham's Quarterly, but a larger collection of the interviews can be found in the 2004 book, Men Against Granite.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Visiting a Poor Poet in Paris, 1895 – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading of Harry Kessler's diary from July 10, 1895, visiting the French poet Paul Veraline. From the English translation by Laird Easton, published as Journey to the Abyss: The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support
First Person: Paris, 1785 – Human Voices Wake Us
A reading from Louis-Sébastien Mercier's twelve-volume Le Tableau de Paris. The translation is from Helen Simpson's 1933 selection, The Waiting City: Paris 1782-1788.
The excerpt comes from the Winter 2019 issue of Lapham's Quarterly.
Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support