Everything Happens, A Podcast with Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler, a professor at Duke Divinity School, had just published her book on the prosperity gospel when she learned she had stage 4 cancer. In her new podcast, Bowler talks with doctors, writers, humorists, preachers and others about the rich, moving and sometimes funny lessons they learned when life stopped being bright and shiny. Bowler is the author of the forthcoming memoir “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)” (Random House, February 2018).
Last month, the New York Times published an online opinion piece from Bowler titled "What to Say When You Meet the Angel of Death at a Party."
The podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher and GooglePlay Music. It is produced in partnership with Duke University.
Here's a preview of "Everything Happens":
Episode 1: The Insight of Outsiders
Guest: New York Times Bestselling Author Nadia Bolz Weber
Before Nadia Bolz-Weber became famous as a foul-mouthed pastor and bestselling author, she was an alcoholic and stand-up comedian. This episode is devoted to the insight of outsiders, and how Nadia learned to confront her own demons with hard truths, good company and a delightfully inappropriate sense of humor.
Episode 2: This is Going to Hurt Just a Little
Guest: Dr. Ray Barfield
Dr. Ray Barfield knew when he entered the field of pediatric oncology that he was going to have an unusually tough day job. Some kids die. Some kids live. But after one particularly tough case, he couldn’t do it anymore. Ray Barfield talks with Kate about what that case taught him about medicine and life.
Episode 3: Costly Love
Guest: Dr. Lucy Kalanithi
When Lucy Kalanithi fell for another doctor, she couldn’t know how much she was about to learn about love. The widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the bestselling memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, talks about the high cost of love and how the best things in life are those you are afraid to lose.
Episode 4: Awkward
Guest: Humorist Alexandra Petri
Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri is the queen of awkwardness. She didn’t audition for "America’s Next Top Model" and become a yodeling champion without a high tolerance for the sound of people laughing. And, as it turns out, building up your ability to embrace awkwardness can be a kind of superpower during difficult times…if you know how to use it.
Episode 5: Joyful, Anyway
Guest: Author/Speaker Margaret Feinberg
Bestselling author and speaker Margaret Feinberg was writing a book about joy when she was diagnosed with cancer and her world fell apart. Suddenly she was fighting for her life and re-writing the book from scratch. Feinberg talks about how she learned how to be happy again, despite everything.
Episode 6: Fork in the Road
Guest: Author Wes Moore
Wes Moore had a rough childhood growing up in Baltimore. His father died when he was a young child, he struggled in school and was arrested for vandalism before something finally shifted. Moore grew up to become a Rhodes Scholar, White House fellow and published writer. And along the way, he had a strange experience: He learned of another young man raised in a similar neighborhood who shared his same name, but met a very different fate. In ͞The Other Wes Moore he writes of his correspondence with the Wes Moore who is serving a life sentence in prison. He talks with Kate about what he learned from "the other" Wes Moore.
Episode 7: Can You Hear Me Now?
Guest: Actor Alan Alda
Alan Alda is best known for his long, prolific acting career. But he has also devoted years to learning about – and teaching – communication. The Emmy-winning actor helped found the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, which teaches doctors and scientists how to communicate more effectively and authored the recent book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? The star of television’s M*A*S*H*, who has also appeared in such films as Crimes and Misdemeanors and The Aviator, talks with Kate about why human beings are so bad at communicating about sickness -- and about what helps make them improve.
