When she was growing up, Dr. Kate Kennedy dreamed of becoming a professional cellist. After a devastating injury at music school, this dream was cut short. However, in recent years, Kennedy has reclaimed her identity as a cellist. She set out across Europe to investigate how cellists connect to their instruments. On her journey, she learned about the story of Pál Hermann—a composer and cello virtuoso who was killed in the Holocaust. After learning about his story, Kate was determined to find his long-lost cello to restore this precious instrument—the soul of Pál Hermann—to his daughter, Corrie, now in her mid-90s.

Guest: Dr. Kate Kennedy, writer, cellist and broadcaster, and author of Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound

Audio of Sam Lucas playing Pál Hermann's Cello Concerto at Wigmore Hall used with permission from Kate Kennedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3I18yVuCEY&t=2s

Audio of Kate Kennedy performing Bach's Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor used with permission from the Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum and Kate Kennedy

Audio of Deirdre Bencsik playing the "bee cello" used with permission from Professor Martin Bencsik and the Bee Cello Project

Everyday people overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles to produce fine art. Due to decades of historical isolation, the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama developed a radical, abstract approach to quilting. We meet two quilters from the small town who have quilts on display in some of the finest museums in the country. We also meet a contemporary furniture maker whose work is a living history of Black craft.

Guests:

Robell Awake, chairmaker, teacher, and author of "A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects" https://www.robellawake.com

Essie Bendolph Pettway, quilter from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/essie-bendolph-pettway

Louisiana P. Bendolph, quilter from Gee's Bend, Alabama. Her quilts are in the permanent collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, The High Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/louisiana-p-bendolph

Gee's Bend Quiltmakers: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

Illustration of Harriet Powers courtesy of Johnalynn Holland, illustrator of "A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects" https://johnalynnholland.com/

Photo of "Conjure Memory - Things Fall Apart" courtesy of Robell Awake

Facing the loss of her Elkmont cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains—a family treasure for five generations—Lynn Faust began to pay more attention to the fireflies there, the "light show," as the family called it, where thousands of fireflies would light up in unison. When she read that synchronous fireflies did not exist in North America, she knew that scientists were wrong. The creatures were right in her own yard! Realizing just how little was known about these enchanting insects, she set out to observe them, becoming a self-taught firefly expert and unveiling the mysteries of nature's tiny lanterns.

Guest: Lynn Faust, author of "Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs: Identification and Natural History of the Fireflies of the Eastern and Central United States and Canada"

Photo credit: SmokyMountains.com

Originally aired April 3, 2024

The Hanbury-Tenisons have turned to a rare temperate rainforest on their family farm for solace and renewal after emotional and physical trauma. Now they want to share this healing resource with others. But they also want to restore and expand the ancient forest. Healing the land and healing ourselves in this episode of Constant Wonder.

Guests:

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, author of "Our Oaken Bones: Reviving a Family, a Farm and Britain’s Ancient Rainforests" and founder of Cabilla retreat center

Lizzie Hanbury-Tenison, founder of Cabilla retreat center

Rob Stoneman, Director of Landscape Recovery  Landscape Recovery for the British Wildlife Trusts

Ever since "Dracula," bats have been seen as terrifying threats that carry disease. They're actually essential to our agriculture and industry. In this episode of Constant Wonder, you'll meet an expert who can set the record straight. No wonder he's known as "The Batman of Mexico"; he's been obsessed with the flying mammals since he was young!

Guest: Rodrigo Medellin, Professor of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico

Originally aired July 19, 2023

One day in 1901, a young farmer from Croatia set out on a walk. Decades later, he was still walking, had traversed six continents, and had stood face-to-face with the most famous people of the age. His mammoth autograph book, lost to history for nearly a century, has resurfaced to tell the tale of Joseph Mikulec and his eccentric quest.

Guests:

Rebecca Rego Barry, author of "Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places" and editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine. She wrote about Mikulec's odyssey for "Smithsonian Magazine."

Nathan Raab, rare book collector, Philadelphia, PA

Originally aired September 14, 2022

Meet a tireless physician who has spent nearly four decades caring for the unhoused population of Boston. We'll also learn about some of his enterprising and generous patients, who've formed a community that watches out for one another on the streets, as they find redemption and hope amid tragedy.

Guests: Jim O'Connell, MD, President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Tracy Kidder, author of "Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People" and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Photo credit: Bill Brett

Originally aired May 10, 2023

Hummingbirds are often admired for their dazzling speed and iridescent beauty, but their nesting habits remain one of nature's best-kept secrets. Citizen scientist Eric Pittman takes us into this hidden world, sharing his firsthand observations of hummingbird mothers as they build intricate nests and nurture their young—right in his very own backyard. Join us as we explore the hidden wonders of nature that await when we take the time to look.

Guest: Eric Pittman, Hummingbirds Up Close; subject of "The Bird in My Backyard" documentary

Photo credit: Eric Pittman

Select hummingbird audio courtesy of Paul Marvin and Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library

Educator and activist Septima Clark used her passion for teaching to increase literacy rates in the Deep South, preparing Black citizens to pass the voter registration tests that were designed to disenfranchise them.

Guest: Elaine Weiss, author of "Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement"

Septima Clark reader: Janice L. Jones

Photo Caption: Septima Poinsette Clark, 1973; Photo Credit: Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.

News footage courtesy of EasyStreet, Pond5, www.pond5.com

The best way to see the world is on foot, it might be argued. Mary Colwell has had amazing encounters with wildlife on her walking treks around the globe. She's even used her walks to raise awareness and increase protection of the fascinating but imperiled curlew.

Mary Colwell, Director of Curlew Action; TV and radio producer, conservationist; author, "Curlew Moon"