Jordan Leahy is a birder, therapist, photographer, and the creator of the popular Instagram account @consider.thebirds, which combines bird photos with liberatory quotations. In this interview, Jason and Jordan talk about punk music, Christian faith, working toward liberation for all, and bringing any and all of the above into therapy. PatreonSupport the show by becoming…

Author, activist, and beekeeper Stephanie Rinaldi joins Jason to talk about why we continue fighting for a better world despite very little evidence that it’s working. INSTAGRAM: @authorslrinaldi — Stephanie Rinaldi@jasondcrane — Jason Mentioned in the episode: @ykreborn — YK Hong Book about post-Katrina mutual aid: Black Flags And Windmills by scott crow

In August 2020, I made an audio version of the brief memoir Pointers To Insight by Soko Morinaga Roshi, in which he describes his time as a Buddhist monk. Back then the show was daily and 10 minutes long, so in this episode I knit together those seven reading sessions into one continuous story with…

Every day I’m sending out a poem from Revolutionary Letters by Diane di Prima. It’s on the A Brief Chat podcast feed, so if you’re a subscriber you’ll get the poems along with all the normal ABC content. This series started on November 1, 2023 and will continue through at least the first few months…

To hear the whole episode, become a member for $5 a month at https://patreon.com/abriefchat. Thanks and happy new year!

In which I read the final 25 poems from my 50 Days Till 50 Years series. The first 25 were in last month’s members-only episode, which you can access at https://patreon.com/abriefchat.

Writer Carolina Ciucci talks about Anne Brontë. For years the least known of the Brontë sisters, Anne has now taken her rightful place in the literary pantheon as both a highly skilled author and a keen social critic. Carolina talks about her own interest in the Brontës; about Anne’s life and writing; and about the…

Chaundra Crouch talks about centering pleasure, but not at the expense of others or of the world at large. They discuss food and relationships and sex and sensuality and finding ethical and pleasurable ways to navigate all of those areas. They also talk about the marriage of ethical hedonism and spiritual or religious practice. PatreonSupport…

Actor and baker Cory Anderson talks about dealing with the effects of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which she contracted as a result of getting COVID. It’s had a dramatic effect on her life, not least because of the struggle just to get a diagnosis. It’s also led to Cory becoming part of a growing community of…

In this episode, Aaron and Patrick join me to talk about the deep and beautiful friendship we’ve created in a text chat that was originally meant to do some planning for my jazz podcast.

In this episode I revisit five short audio essays from 2019 about my religious history, and then add an update on where I’m at now in 2023. Patreon Support the show by becoming a member at patreon.com/abriefchat. For $1 a month you get early access to every episode plus a weekly email. For $5 you…

On this episode I talk with my sister, Gretchen Gustavson, about her job as a speech pathologist. She helps dispel some of the mystery around speech issues and how they’re dealt with. She also talks about the somewhat surprising way she decided to become a speech pathologist. Patreon Support the show by becoming a member…