A Bend in the Road

As a youth growing up in Ireland, and in the tall shadow of the Catholic Church, Pádraig Ó Tuama grappled with questions of acceptance and identity.  In part 2 of our interview with the poet and theologian, we dig into those questions and what innate sensibility gave him the fortitude to step into those headwinds, instead of turning away, with a brief stop in the land of knitable television near the end.

For those just joining us, Pádraig is an Irish poet and the host of the hugely popular podcast Poetry Unbound - now on its sixth season - as well as a theologian and conflict mediator. This episode is guest hosted by Diane Sims.

Links mentioned in the show:
Padraig's Website
The TenX9 Project
Corrymeela
Morton Deutsch
Billy Collins
Six Feet Under
“If You’re Going To Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than Fear You”

Episode Credits

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner 
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Our Digital Media producers are Elias Rosner and Sabrina Garcia 
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Special thanks to Pádraig Ó Tuama for talking with us today and to Shannon Hearn for her help. 

What power does poetry have to help us navigate the challenges of life? How do we approach art and how does it approach us? Join our guest host Diane Sims for a journey through these questions, and many others, with Pádraig Ó Tuama as he shares his relationship with art, reconciliation and the ongoing road toward finding ourselves in an episode so big, we had to split it into two. For those new to Pádraig's work, he is an Irish poet and the host of the hugely popular podcast Poetry Unbound - now on its sixth season - as well as a theologian and conflict mediator. Part 2 will be available on October 26.

Links mentioned in the show:
Padraig's Website
The TenX9 Project
Corrymeela
Morton Deutsch
Billy Collins

Episode Credits

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner 
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Our Digital Media producer is Elias Rosner and Sabrina Garcia 
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Please join us again in a week for Part 2 of Diane’s conversation with Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Before Curtis Duffy was a world-renowned, Michelin-starred chef and restaurant owner, he was a troubled youth, left alone as a teenager after experiencing unimaginable tragedies. That is, until he took a mandatory middle school home economics class, introducing Curtis to the kitchen, his gift and his purpose.

Join Roberta as she sits down with Curtis from his new Chicago-based restaurant Ever to talk about those early years and his rise to the top, indomitable work ethic and passion for motorcycles, tattoos and martial arts.

Special Event: On Nov 2, 2022 at 7:00pm (EST), the Ridgewood Library will show the 2016 documentary “For Grace,” which chronicles the creation of Curtis’s former restaurant and tells the riveting story of how the chef’s turbulent past shaped the person he is today. A live Q&A with directors Mark Helenowsk and Kevin Pang will follow the screening. This event is offered at the Ridgewood Library and via Zoom. Please visit ridgewoodlibrary.org for details and the Zoom link

For the curious, here are just a few of Curtis' accolades: Ever was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2022 Guide, Grace (his previous restaurant) earned three Michelin stars, four years in a row (2015-2018), two Michelin stars at Avenues at The Peninsula Hotel Chicago, Forbes Travel Guide’s Five-Star rating, AAA’s Five-Diamond rating, and the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef, Great Lakes Award in 2016.

Episode Credits:

• A Bend in the Road from the Ridgewood Public Library was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. 
• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner 
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Our Digital Media producer is Elias Rosner and Sabrina Garcia 
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Cover Photo of Curtis Duffy by Michael Muser 
• We would like to thank Curtis Duffy for spending time with us today and Melissa Harris for helping us to put this interview together.

How did one tiny octopus change so many lives?

To combat burnout and depression, filmmaker & diver Craig Foster had taken up diving in the icy waters of South Africa's Kelp Forest where he met one very special Common Octopus. A year of observing and filming the octopus' short life later, he sent the film to fellow documentarian Pippa Ehrlich, who crafted the footage into a meditation on the importance of wildlife and a moving tale about her friend and his octopus teacher.

Join Roberta as she chats with Pippa about the Academy-Award winning documentary, her work with the Sea Change Project, and some of her favorite advice from Jane Goodall.

This episode was originally recorded as part of the Ridgewood Public Library's Reel Voices program on July 14, 2021. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Episode Credits:

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner 
• Our Digital Media producers are Sabrina Garcia and Elias Rosner
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Very special thanks to our guest Pippa Ehrlich. 
• My Octopus Teacher is a trademark and copyright of Off the Fence & the Sea Change Project. All rights reserved.
• My Octopus Teacher can be streamed on Netflix. 
• The film’s tie-in book Underwater Wild: My Octopus Teacher's Extraordinary World by Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck is available at the Ridgewood Library and wherever you get your books. The children’s picture book version Journey Under the Sea comes out this October.
• Sound effects used include “Underwater Ambience” by Fission9

Olivia Barkley loved diving. She ate, slept and breathed it, so much that her one dream was to get a full diving scholarship at a Division 1 school. After a serious accident on a dive left her with a life-altering concussion, the dream vanished…and then reformed in an unexpected new way.

Join Roberta as she sits down with Olivia to discuss how she managed the many different types of loss, how she found a new identity, and what it’s like to run an Ultra Marathon (50km!).

And did we mention she sings too?

Episode Credits:

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Consulting for this episode done by Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner
• Our Digital Media producer is Sabrina Garcia
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Consulting for this episode done by Diane Sims
• Additional consultation from Nancy Carswell and Andrea Panjwani.
• Thanks to our guest Olivia Barkley for sharing her story–and, yes, for singing for us today. 
• All I Know So Far is written by Alecia Moore, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and Cover Me In Sunshine is written by Maureen Anne McDonald and Amy Rose Allen 

Florence Williams is a contributing editor for Outside magazine and the New York Times bestselling author of Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey (2022) and The Nature Fix (2017). For the unfamiliar, these books ask questions like: Why do the emotional effects of heartbreak manifest physically? and; how can exposure to nature make: us healthier, not only physically but mentally, emotionally, and socially too?

In this episode, Florence joins Roberta from her home in Washington, D.C. to discuss these questions, the difficult life changes that underpin them and how, to get us all outside, she claimed Oscar Wilde’s famously generous definition of nature: “Nature is where the birds fly around uncooked.”

Episode Credits:

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Consulting for this episode done by Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is me, Elias Rosner
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner
• Our Digital Media producer is Sabrina Garcia
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Special thanks to our guest, Florence Williams. For more information about Florence Williams’ books, podcasts, retreats and more, please visit florencewilliams.com
• Sound effects used include "Footsteps, Dry Leaves, G.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

J.D. Jackson is an award-winning audiobook narrator with 400 credits to his name and counting. An 2020 inductee into AudioFile Magazine's Golden Voices Hall of Fame, J.D. has plenty of experience behind a mic. For this inaugural episode of A Bend in the Road, join Roberta as she talks with J.D. about the teacher that changed his life, the process of interpreting books of all genres, and his magic remedy for keeping his voice in top form (hint: it involves a lot of licorice tea.) And who knows? Maybe that recipe will lead to your own bend in the road.

Follow us on Instagram @bendintheroadpodcast or at bendintheroad.org for updates and the latest episodes.

Credits:

• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producer is Elias Rosner 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Charles Gallo and Elias Rosner
• Our Editor is Elias Rosner 
• Our Digital Media producer is Parker Gaidimas
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas
• Original Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Audiobooks narrated by J.D. are available to borrow or download at your library and on Audible.