Show #252 on June 28, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads excerpts from Tyrese Coleman’s stunning “How to Sit.” What is remembered in the body, in the mind, in the heart? What survives over generations? Who tells our stories, and how do we transcend the limits of narration? Blurring the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, this memoir in stories and essays explores identity, grief, family history, and the truth of memory.

Mr. Bear's Violet Hour Saloon/The Secret Lives of Stuffed Animals

What doesn’t shatter and break

Show #251 on June 21, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads excerpts from Mary-Kim Arnold’s “Litany for the Long Moment,” a poetic excavation into adoption, identity, language, and the intricately complicated landscapes of family history and memory.

A topography of missing

Show #250 on June 14, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from Roy G. Guzmán’s incandescent book “Catrachos.” These searing poems—on bodies and borders, identity and immigration, queerness and love, language and loss—will light your mouths and ears on fire.

Everything that burns

Show #249 on June 7, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads the names of just a few of the Black lives killed by police, as well as an excerpt from a lecture on slavery by Frederick Douglass.

‘There can be no peace to the wicked while slavery continues in the land.’

Show #248 on May 31, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from “Audubon’s Sparrow” by Juditha Dowd, a biography in poems exploring the life of Lucy Bakewell, wife of John James Audubon, and the question of what it means to sacrifice for someone else’s art.

Some dark blue thread

Show #247 on May 17, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads stories from Chuck Augello’s “The Inexplicable Grey Space We Call Love.” Discover disappearing mothers, little green men, baby goats, mysterious packages, and more in these explorations of what we can and can’t know about the people and relationships threading through our lives.

You must change your life

Show #246 on May 10, 2020…In which Mr. Bear fills your plate with stories from Jules Archer’s “Little Feasts.” Gorge yourself on family secrets, lies, revenge, fierce women, and more in these tender and disturbing morsels of human relationships.

Looks good enough to eat

Show #245 on May 3, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads some more stories by Virginia Woolf: thoughts on the perils of reading, the role of women in society, the meaning of life, the passage of time.

Nothing is known

Show #244 on April 26, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads stories by Virginia Woolf: a house lovingly haunted, an exploration of color, a day in Kew Gardens, an evening of music, a heron’s flight.

Blue are the ribs

Show #243 on April 19, 2020…In which Mr. Bear concludes the performance of Sophocles’ “Antigone.” Spoiler alert: it’s a tragedy.

'Tis Death I wed

Show #242 on April 12, 2020…In which Mr. Bear begins to read Sophocles’ play “Antigone.” Antigone tries to give her brother a proper burial in defiance of the king’s unjust law and is captured and brought before Creon.

They were not born today nor yesterday

Show #241 on April 5, 2020…In which Mr. Bear continues to read from “Dear David,” Yael van der Wouden’s inspiring advice column at Longleaf Review. Dealing with rejection? Living in a global pandemic? This installment offers hope and compassion in its words of counsel.

Together we breathe

Show #240 on March 29, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads from “Dear David,” Yael van der Wouden’s marvelous advice column at Longleaf Review. Let Sir David Attenborough soothe you with animal facts—did you know that rats laugh when tickled?—and life insights that manage to be profound, cryptic, and healing.

Advice for life on Earth

Show #239 on March 15, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads the haunting work of Claire Polders. The weight—both anchoring and smothering—of mundane routines, the things and people fences keep in and out, the repercussions of killing a moth, a mother’s grief, a last meal: these stories examine the fragility and resilience of life, the uncertainty of our human existence.

Kindness is never wasted

Show #238 on March 8, 2020…In which Mr. Bear reads two more fairy tales: “The Bird of Truth” and “The Frog and the Lion Fairy.”

It’s a long road to happily ever after

Welcome to Mr. Bear’s Violet Hour Saloon, where the sky is evening-gorgeous, the drinks won’t cloud your head, and the cocktail nuts are poems. Making the lonely a little more bearable.

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Mr. Bear's Violet Hour Saloon/The Secret Lives of Stuffed An...

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