Question: What are you conservative about?

http://annehodgson.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/conservative.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadI did something for the very first time in my life this past week, and you’re going to laugh at me. “What,” you’ll say, “it was her first time?” You see, I may be relatively radical and I do love to experiment and try things out, but there are […]

Makeshift

Everything on Drummond is makeshift. Metal things rust and break, lines fray, material rots and decays, so you are forever fixing things with spare parts and tools that themselves are anything but new. There’s a hardware store on the island that sells pretty much anything you need, and over on the mainland there’s a huge […]

Question: So what’s your island?

http://annehodgson.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/island.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe’re heading over to Drummond Island to my family’s cabin place, but I’m going with very mixed feelings. First of all, my mother is too sick to travel there, and I got us both, Helmut and me, tickets primarily to see her. I don’t know when I’ll be able […]

When Money Buys Happiness

Do we shop compulsively, and if so, how can we stop? It seems that most of our shopping behavior is in fact quite sensible. Geoffrey Miller’s new book, “Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior” seems to prove that.

Question: Where and what is “home”?

http://annehodgson.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/home.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download“There’s no place like home.” That was Dorothy’s homesick mantra in the Wizard of Oz, and saying it got her back to Kansas. For her, “home” was where she was from, and where she wanted to be. But I find it quite difficult to say just where home is. […]

Question: What do you do alone, by yourself, on your own?

One may be the loneliest number, and no man is an island, but some things are better, or turn out better, when you do them yourself. The process itself may be more effective or rewarding. Or the product may be better or more enjoyable if it’s yours alone. Perhaps you have learned to do something and there is just nobody else who can do it as well, even though you’re banging your head to find someone to delegate it to or share the job with. So you do it yourself. Let me tell you about the things I find myself doing alone in this week’s podcast. And I’d like to hear from you about what you prefer to do alone.

Rabih Abou-Khalil: Lewinsky March

Happy Father’s Day, you marvellous men! 🙂 My brother Christoph introduced me to the music of Rabih Abou-Khalil years ago. Going to see him – Chris! – soon