Episode 153 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS finds us frolicking with Dorothy Gale & her friends towards the Land of Oz. We will explore this most popular and influential of stories, originally published as a book by L. Frank Baum in 1900 and ultimately made into a movie in 1939. We will take a look at all the characters, places and things that make Oz...Oz, or an Illusion. We will also notice striking similarities, through the symbolism, that the political tenor of turn of the (20th) century is like our sociopolitical weather of 2024. Let's just say, it ain't good, this cyclone in our back yard. What can we learn from this wonderful allegory? If we can learn anything, will we ever learn?

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For Episode 151 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS, BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF haunts the airwaves with three, very short eerie stories. Mars apologizes for being away for so long, but homework & studies hold her captive like the blood of a vampire.

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Episode 150 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS talks about how humans and animal species cohabitate and mate throughout time, and we will touch of four different types of couplings: Monogamy, Polygyny, Polyandry, and Polyamory. We will talk about how humans were once naturally polygynous and how they became monogamous. We will touch on why polyandry and polyamory are relatively rare as compared to polygyny and monogamy. We will also talk about how lust may give way to true love.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF seals this episode with a kiss by my relating of a true love story of which I am aware.

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When one listens to or reads the news, one really gets overwhelmed. There's so much going on - bloodshed, rumors of ramping up wars, genocides, kidnappings, etc. Sometimes, something of significance might fall through the cracks. Episode 149 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS addresses the topic of Project 2025, a 922 page document created by conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation. The authors of this proposed plan that they suggest should be implemented by a potential second Trump administration beginning on January 20, 2025 call this document - one that they, themselves, created and probably over years - a "red herring" and a "Democrat fever dream". Liberals, on the other hand, have raised alarm bells over the plan. To discover what the plan was all about for myself, I managed to read 300+ pages of it and parsed through research conducted by conservative, liberal, and independent groups concerning Project 2025. I quote the language straight out of the plan, to boot. I have concluded that we should NOT let this fall through the cracks, for reasons that are laid bare in this episode.

For BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF, I give you a short synopsis of the novel, MESSIAH, by Gore Vidal.

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For Episode 148 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS, we will talk about last week's historic tornadic outbreak that affected the City of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Not only will we talk about the events that spanned 2 days, this episode serves as a warning to those who think that the Chicago area is unaffected by the possibility of tornadoes. The fact is that Chicagoland is actually sitting in the crosshairs of violent weather, and predictions point to the situation getting worse. Chicagoans don't have to be afraid, but they must be prepared.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF closes this episode out with an excerpt from THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, by L. Frank Baum.

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For Episode 147 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS, we are going to talk about reported Marian Apparitions. This post is happening on a Sunday - what better day than to hang with our home girl, Mother Mary? We will talk about her more famous apparitions for the uninitiated (ie those who were not brought up Catholic, not married into a Catholic family, not well versed on the Divine Feminine, etc). If this episode gets a lot of plays, I may do a future show on more obscure visitations by Mary to humble earthlings.

Barb, I really miss you today. You would have loved this subject matter.

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Episode 146 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS holds 3 goals: a) to bid a gentle and peaceful farewell to recently deceased loved ones, b) for us survivors to learn to accept their new journeys in comparison with our own, ongoing mortal journeys, and c) to accept that death is not the opposite of life, but a natural and needful companion. We die little deaths every single day. We feel pain, but we can assuage ongoing suffering through acceptance and loving detachment.

We bid a fond farewell, especially, to Judy and Barb, who we lost this week. We also bid farewell to Johnny and to other wonderful men and women who've recently been born into eternity.

The topic of Episode 145 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS is the human attribute, faith. James W. Fowler, a Pulitzer Prize winner, an American theologian and professor, described a set of seven sequential stages in the development of faith. We will take you through each of these stages. Note that these stages of faith encompass religious, alt-spiritual, and secular growth. 

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF closes this episode with the poem, "Faith", by Arthur Caswell Parker.

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Episode 1 44 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS carries over from last week's broadcast about the murders of 3 women at Illinois' Starved Rock State Park in 1960. A suspect confessed to the crime...but the story did not end there. We will fill out the story and bring us up to today, even as doubts abound and mysteries remain.

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Episode 143 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS takes a close look at the grisly 1960 murders of three women at Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois, a nature lover's haven. We will follow attorneys and detectives through the investigation, and will meet the man who authorities say savagely attacked the three friends and left their dead bodies in a canyon. The case, as it turns out, does not end there. Part 2 will be broadcast next week.

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To donate to this podcast, Venmo @mdm773. Thank you.