SISTER SONGS SEASON 3 Episode 2: "Variations"

In music, a variation is when you take a theme and repeat it, but it changes. The melody stays the same underneath. The texture shifts on top. Annemarie's twenties and thirties were variations on a theme. The theme was escape. The melody was always the same: get out, start over, find freedom. But the key kept changing. And somehow, she kept ending up back where she started. In this episode: A scholarship to Finland. A boyfriend named Alex. A secret trip to Africa. Rollerblading around the Minneapolis lakes. A panic attack at the airport. An email manifesto written at 9:51 a.m. And the twenty years it took my sister to find peace.

Music:

• "Clair de Lune" — Debussy
• "Maple Leaf Rag" — Scott Joplin
• "Minuet in G Major" — Bach
• "Für Elise" & "Moonlight Sonata" — Beethoven
• "Gnossienne No. 1" — Erik Satie
• "The Entertainer" — Scott Joplin
• "Finlandia" — Sibelius
• Additional tracks licensed via Envato Elements

Read more: jennyskoog.substack.com

Content note: This season discusses terminal illness, death, religious trauma, and family estrangement.