My Podcast Debut

Well, fan club, you best get my autograph now because my fame is about to BLOW. UP. That chemical engineer multi-lingual brilliant lady friend of mine Josephine Elia interviewed me for her Reading Interview Series. BALLER! Color me tickled to have been asked about my favorite books. If you give it a listen, you should probably put it on 2x as fast because I'm just blathering away most of the time. And laughing at my own jokes. And diverting from the main point like every forty seconds. But what did you expect?

Hope you enjoy! And thank you SO MUCH, Josephine Pippin!!

5 things I am hearting right now

I am in a season of massive clean-out. If I were pregnant, I'd call it full-on nesting mode, but nobody preggo here. Except for maybe my garage (recently purged of students' hockey sticks stored for the summer and other detritus). My garage might be pregnant with possibility. Yikers. I'm also cleaning out my office at the university--more on this later. Marie Kondo (Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up) told us to examine the joy that sparks from our possessions and I imagine like most folks, it's a whole lotta junk. The following, however, are a few of the things that are sparking joy in my life. Some affiliate links may follow but this is in no way a paid post. Kendraspondence is merely a wannabe lifestyle blog, just waiting for Gwynnie's goop level status.

1. The famously oh-so-buttery LulaRoe leggings. I was skeptical about the one-size-fits-all leggings since my stubby legs result in a BFF relation$hip with my tailor. Color me surprised when the LLR leggings my friend Kimberlea sent me fit perfectly with a delightful cuffing at the ankle. If you don't have a LulaRoe consultant yet, consider joining my friend Kimberlea's FB group. Shoot her an e-mail (lularoekimmy at gmail dot com) and she may add you. She does Pop-Up shops on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Thanks for the butter legs, Kimberlea!

2. The First Five App. Lysa TerKeurst just wanted her kids to dig into the Bible first thing each morning. Her daughter, a new college student, told her mom what a difference her Bible study mentors made in encouraging her to spend the first five minutes of the day in the Word. TerKeurst was inspired to create this app that serves as both an alarm and a five minute-ish devotional on your phone. The devotionals are very focused and the app itself is aesthetically lovely as it is functional. Available on Apple/Android.

3. Pley.com - This service has saved summer. Parents, you know how Lego sets are uber spendy and the proprietary pieces are all very clever but half the fun is just putting it together for the first time? Pley.com lets your kids "test-drive" just about any awesome toy under the sun. Then you send it back and get another. The website reads, "It teaches children to share and conserve the planet by reducing the amount of toys that ends up in landfills." Obviously we had the most noble of interests at the fore of our reasons for queueing up this subscription-based "service" for the wee ones this summer and it has been a huge hit. Hat tip to Loverpants who was all over this biz.

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4. This recipe. It was just so stupid delicious. Even though it's 104 degrees with 500% humidity right now. It's worth turning on your oven.

Feta Sweet Potato Quiche

5. The Shalom in the City podcast with Osheta Moore. I met Osheta at a conference this past fall. Her heart for shalom--creating wholeness where there is something lacking/hurting--is sincere. The guests she interviews are chosen carefully and the questions she asks are erudite. I've learned about so many things anyone can do to bring shalom to his/her community. One takeaway has been that if you are a parent who cannot always serve as a room parent, you can offer to help with auxiliary tasks for your child's classroom or for an under-resourced school. Examples include cutting out letters for a teacher's bulletin board during your weekend free time, or offering to do any outside-the-normal-business-hours chore that a teacher needs for his/her class.

Shalom-Steps-6

And you? What are you loving lately?

I listen to podcasts. Ergo, I am an awesome human being.

I frequently listen to podcasts. I was an early adopter of This American Life, Fresh Air, Serial, The Moth, and now I am deeply involved in the Relevant Podcast, Dear Sugar and making my way through back episodes of Invisibilia. I like to talk about podcasts with other podcast enthusiasts. I think like a podcaster. I see life through the lens of podcastabilities. I celebrate podcasts and the life of a podcast devotee. Opname van een hoorspel / Recording a radio play

Because I listen to podcasts, here is what I want you to believe about me: - I am an open-minded person. - I am very educated. - I am supremely evolved as human beings go. - Podcasts were actually my idea. - I have a diverse set of interests and passion projects. - I participate in democracy. - I give to worthy kickstarters. - I am a close friend of Ira Glass. - Hillary Clinton calls me for political advice. - I am skeptical of certain non-governmental organizations. - I wear TOMS chiefly because of their get/give business model. - I would rent my cloak over Adnan Syed's involvement in the death of Hae Min Lee

Woman on a two way radio - Miami

Because I listen to podcasts, here is what I want to believe about me: - I am an open-minded person. - I am very educated. - I am pretty evolved as human beings go. - Podcasts are the kind of thing I probably would have invented if I had the time. - I have a diverse set of interests and passion projects. - I participate in democracy. - I am probably the kind of person who would give to worthy kickstarters. - I would totally be a close friend of Ira Glass if he hired me to work for TAL. - Hillary Clinton should call me for political advice. - I am one of the most skeptical people, just, in general. - I totally wear TOMS chiefly because of their get/give business model. - I consider Adnan Syed like a brother.

Headphone Tail Piece

Because I listen to podcasts, here is the truth about me: - I am an overprivileged white woman with incredible access to high speed internet and smart phone technology that enables me to maintain a hobby of listening to nerdy-voiced people read their acts of journalism aloud. - I am not really all that special and depend on podcasts to make me sound more interesting than I am. - Cleaning my bathroom is boring and podcasts make it less insufferable.

Headphones and Trolley

Because I am part of a generation of people that listens to podcasts, here is the truth about what should be expected of me: - I should be more than a downloader and a binge-listener to recorded voices. - I should be as captive an audience to my family as I am to the snorty giggle of Terry Gross. - I should care about the injustice of my neighbor's busted car battery as I am about the gay brother of the Dear Sugar writer-inner. - I should curate the topics about which I educate myself instead of relying on Sarah Koenig to do so episodically for me. - I should and can and will continue to believe in the power of a story and all the stories that are never voiced, broadcast, or allowed to reach an overprivileged woman scrubbing her bathroom floor as an antidote to her own privileged boredom.