The Student Conductor by Robert Ford
The Student Conductor is a touching, bittersweet story of a man learning how to pursue the things he loves—and what could stop him from doing so.
Angelica Walker-Werth Nov 26, 2024
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games trilogy highlights many important aspects of tyranny and rebellion, the most important of which is that pursuing your values requires freedom.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Empathy, religion, war, and social hierarchies in Dick's 1968 sci-fi classic.
1960: Pop Hits in Review
We’re diving into our musical detective work, examining the pop hits of history to find “the day the music died.” In this episode, we look at the Billboard Top 10 for 1960.
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead uses some bizarre sci-fi concepts to explore important moral issues—hitting the nail on the head on some, but muddying the waters on others.
Mark Knopfler: Sultan of Song
“The thing is,” Mark Knopfler says of his craft, “if you’ve energized somebody . . . or you’ve sensitized somebody, you’ve made a difference.”
Self-Concept in Thornhedge
This fun fantasy novella offers an opportunity to reflect on identity and self-esteem.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
This spinoff to The Handmaid’s Tale, set in the same tyrannical theocracy (the Republic of Gilead), alternates between the perspectives of three very different women. Aunt Lydia, the only character who’s in both this novel and the original, was coerced into helping...
I Found the Day Music Actually Died
I did something kind of nuts, and it took forever, but I think it clearly shows that pop music has definitely gotten worse.