The Monthly Magpie: February 2025

If the past six months of my life have been busy and chaotic, that’s nothing compared to the last month of my life. The Other and I have moved to Baltimore, in about a three-week turnaround. It was not fun, and this is why I’ve been on hiatus from everything podcasting. 

I’m getting back into it, and I’m quite excited about this new chapter in our lives. It’s a big bad world out there and I will admit I’m scared. I don’t have a job yet, and things feel bigger and worse than they ever have in my active memory.

I also have to believe our future is going to be bright because we are going to make it bright. 

As we connect in this moment digitally, I want to reiterate local community is everything. I’m talking in person, look someone in the eyes local community. The library is a very important place, your coffee shop is an important place, your brewery, craft store, game store, your neighborhood food pantry. Anywhere where people interact with each other in person is vital, and can help remind you that while everything feels like it’s on fire, you still have people who can smile at you and say good morning. These small connections are what are going to get us through hard times, because those small connections become deep connections. 

So here’s to my community, your community, and our community. Put your roots down where you can. I’m working on it in my new city, and I’m terrified of non-structured social interaction. If I can do it, you can do it. 

Which reminds me of the past. History isn't easy to untangle, but I think back to communities coming together in times of challenge and strife. I was reminded of this as we unpacked our vinyl collection this week. We found some of my favorite records. They aren’t music, entirely. There are some musical performances on them, however, they are more important than that. They include radio broadcasts, specifically from World War II. Hitler declares war on Poland, Winston Churchill, D- Day, and beyond. They are vital pieces of history that I hold dear because they are physical copies of what has been lost to the airwaves. As much as I was reminded of war, I was reminded of victory gardens, and the fight for the better, not the perfect.

Podcasting is the child of radio, but the radio is becoming the thing we don’t listen to - which I admit is a shame. However, that doesn’t mean we should forget what radio did for us, and what podcasting can do for us. I read Noise by David Henry a while back and the chapters that stuck most with me were the ones on how radio was the first solidifier of national identity. I see this happening with podcasts, and why I’m fighting against as I call them, the “bro shows”.

The conversations are happening. It’s a piece of this puzzle that is happening right now. I will be active offline and in person in different ways, but I want to say that what I review is purposefully to highlight the possibilities of podcasting. Yes, I write about what I like, but I also write to give whatever boost I can to podcasts by people who are doing good work - that don’t necessarily have the monetary backing to elbow through without some specific cheerleading.

That good work can be active resistance, it can be restorative work, it can be educational in the most comforting of ways. We can’t sit here and fall victim to 24/7 news media and doom scrolling. We need hope, we need comfort, we need joy. We need to dance all night, we need to fight when we can fight, and where we are most effective. 

I’ll be back to regular reviews and more next week. I’ve opened a tip jar here (powered by Stripe), and re-added my Ko-Fi badge. If you like what I do, consider donating a cup of coffee ($5 because I am not that fancy).

For reference, It costs me $11 a month to keep Magpie running, and while I can manage it, anything helps keep me coming back and supporting important podcasts the best way I know how.

You won’t even be my first tip, I already got one (thanks again, friend!).     

Keep your center, readers. Keep your joy.