Superheroes can save us from many things including annihilation, evil, mutant viruses, and mad geniuses. But perhaps the most important one is these characters have something to teach us about loneliness. Almost all origin stories of superheroes begin with intense isolation, abandonment, and solitude. Why do so many superheroes long to not have their superpowers and how did their time alone help them understand their purpose towards themselves and to others, the people they’re supposed to help. From Fortress of Solitudes to Batcaves, take a leap this week into the pages of comic books and lonely superheroes.

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Fortress of Solitude: The Loneliness of Superheroes

A life of solitude was imposed on millions of us during the pandemic due to the coronavirus. Being alone is a life chosen deliberately by some; others are just alone, not by choice. We can end up unexpectedly alone and for many, the twists and turns of life, brought us to where we are. Experts and researchers around the world share their insights about what we know about loneliness, we find meaning of it from songs, art, books, films, history and pop culture. We isolate the lessons of loneliness from people like you and people like me who have unique stories to tell and to share. Everyone feels lonely at times. But let’s begin to explore why. My name is Peg Fong, I’m a journalist and an educator who has been fascinated by what loneliness means. We’re not here to solve loneliness. But to add one voice to another so that we are alone together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hello podcast listeners!
I'm Peg Fong, writer and creator of "Alone Together." We are continuing our journey exploring loneliness...in Spanish: "Juntos en soledad." Listen to this new adaptation presented by business professor and producer Guillermo Serrano (@guilloserrano).
"Juntos en soledad" – listen and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Announcement: The Podcast is Now Available in Spanish

We are living in lonely times, but the human conditions make us wonder, are we alone in our loneliness?  And that answer is clear. 
Somewhere, someone else is taking off for the unknown, moving to small towns or hitting the road to start a new life. We can understand loneliness when we peer up into the sky or see celebrities doing ordinary things, when we laugh at comedians and still feel sad because we recognize their loneliness. 
And we may not be hermit crabs or whales in the ocean or rare birds or lone wolves, but the way animals behave tells us something about loneliness and isolation. There’s solace in discovering we all need a shell and we are allowed to grow out of that shell, or we need to be apart from others like lone wolves. 
We can see it in clouds or in comics, read it in words and feel loneliness in our silence, in remembering and in those times when we can’t sleep or want to talk to someone else sitting on a bench.
Those are the lessons in loneliness that come from understanding the way we see ourselves and the world around us as we wrap up with the final episode of this season.    
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Looking Back: The Lessons of Loneliness

Benches are places in public spaces where people can sit by themselves. They are special because they’re not just a place to sit,  they’re spots available to anyone and that availability turns benches into opportunities for connections.
Benches are bridges between those eager to chat, and those wanting to just listen. 
When we sit on a bench, we’re indicating we’re part of a world that maybe we feel too lonely or afraid to fully participate in. Benches give us an opportunity to be engaged in our surroundings whether it's observing from the side or opening up a chance for conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Park Your Loneliness: Benches Are Made For Two

The first multiple blind dates in the world are believed to have taken place in April 1827. The story goes that Thomas Swain, a 52 year old bachelor, had vowed to take the first woman to step ashore the world’s most remote island. Her name was Sarah Jacobs, a widow, and Thomas Swain took her hand as soon as she put her foot on the island. The four other women who had arrived with Sarah Jacobs married the four other bachelors on the island. 
From those beginnings, the island population at Tristan da Cunha grew exponentially.  By 1832, just five years after the five women arrived, Tristan had a population of 34--22 of them children.  The solitary outpost which had been a British garrison had become a community.
Today, it is still the most isolated island in the world where people live and Tristan da Cunha is located in the middle of the ocean between two continents.  The residents who live there, all 247 of them, understand a type of loneliness like no one else. But their isolation has, for hundreds of years, been a place that others have learned from: how to survive away from anyone else. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No Restaurants, Lawyers or... Loneliness: Life on the Remotest Island

We Don’t Talk About Bruno, the number 1 hit song, written by Lin-Manual Miranda for the Disney movie Encanto, is all about a member of the Madrigal family who no one talks about, Bruno. 
Encanto is a movie about family, but it’s also about trauma and how families connect, separate and become estranged.  For a Disney movie, there are some very heavy themes, including war and violence and ruptures within what family members expect from each other and what they can’t accept. 
We all have been told and taught that family bonds are unbreakable but for many, family is their pain, and these relationships are broken.  There’s a certain type of loneliness that comes from being estranged from family, in choosing to depart from the ties that are part of our genetics and our lineage.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fortress of Solitude: The Loneliness of Superheroes

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