Sweetbitter | A Sappho (S1) & Pirates (S2) History Podcast

By Leesa Charlotte, Ellie Brigida & Alyse KnorrEducation History

Sweetbitter | A Sappho (S1) & Pirates (S2) History Podcast episodes

May 27, 2021 Season One Wrap-up (Live Recording)
We had such a blast wrapping up our first season of the podcast! Please enjoy this live recording of the event, along with some incredible guests: Kristin Russo (Buffering the Vampire Slayer), Liv Albert (Let's Talk About Myth's Baby), Leigh (History is Gay) and Vanessa Stovall (Playwright & Musician) -- and also the audience members who joined us.
We can't wait to see y'all for season 2! In the meantime, you can keep in touch with us via Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod.
You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter - we have a bunch of bonus episodes for patrons at all levels.
1 hr 53 min
May 13, 2021 Bonus: Sappho, Enheduanna and the lesbian movement with Judy Grahn
am I not   olden
olden olden it is unwanted.

wanting, wanting
am I not   broken
stolen   common

am I not crinkled cranky poison
am I not glinty-eyed and frozen

am I not   aged
shaky   glazing
am I not   hazy
guarded   craven

am I not   only
stingy   little
am I not   simple
brittle   spitting

was I not   over
over   ridden?

it is a long story
will you be proud to be my version?

it is unwritten.

writing, writing
am I not   ancient
raging   patient

am I not   able
charming   stable
was I not   building
forming   braving

was I not   ruling
guiding   naming
was I not   brazen
crazy   chosen

even the stones would do my bidding?

it is a long story
am I not proud to be your version?

it is unspoken.

speaking, speaking
am I not   elder
berry
brandy

are you not wine before you find me in your own beaker?

- Slowly: a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman Judy Grahn

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod.

You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
55 min
April 22, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 147
Someone will remember us
I say
even in another time

Translated by Carson.

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Chris Mason, Tracey Walters, Vanessa Stovall, Marguerite Johnson, Katherine Blouin and Usama Gad. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website. You can read Vanessa's full article on WAP here.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 min
April 08, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 118
Come, divine lyre, speak to me
and sing!

Translated by Rayor.

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Jane Montgomery Griffiths, Jade Esteban Estrada, Aimee Suzara, Maya Herbsman and Vanessa Stovall. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website. You can read Vanessa's (a lunar tune) here.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
43 min
March 25, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 4
          ]heart
          ]absolutely
          ]I can
          ]
]would be for me
]to shine in answer
          ]face
          ]
          ]having been stained
          ]

Translated by Carson.

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Diane Rayor, Ian Oliver and Tracey Walters. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
57 min
March 04, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 31
To me it seems that man has the fortune
of gods, whoever sits beside you
and close, who listens to you
sweetly speaking
and laughing temptingly. My heart
flutters in my breast whenever
I quickly glance at you –
I can say nothing,
my tongue is broken. A delicate fire
runs under my skin, my eyes
see nothing, my ears roar,
cold sweat
rushes down me, trembling seizes me,
I am greener than grass.
To myself I seem
needing but little to die.
Yet all must be endured, since . . .

Translated by Rayor

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Diane Rayor, Jane Montgomery Griffiths, Marguerite Johnson, Tracey Walters, Sandra Boehringer and translator Annie McCarthy. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
47 min
February 25, 2021 Lesbian Poetry: Audre Lorde
Unfortunately, due to covid-related circumstances, we have to delay the release of episode 9 until next fortnight, March 11th.
In the meantime, here's one of our bonus lesbian poetry episodes about Audre Lorde! You can hear our other bonus episodes by becoming a patron at patreon.com/sweetbitter. As always, you can follow us on social media on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod.
If you'd like to join us for our Women's History Month event with Regis University on March 3rd, you can register here.
14 min
February 11, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 23
             ] of desire
             ]
             ] for when I look at you
             ] such a Hermione
] and to yellow haired Helen I liken you
]
] among mortal women, know this
] from every care
] you could release me
             ]
             ] dewy riverbanks
             ] to last all night long
                                       ] [
Translated by Carson

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Chris Mason from Old Songs, Jane Montgomery Griffiths & Diane Rayor. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website. Thank you this week to James Jones for lending us his deep-voice.

If you'd like to join us for our Women's History Month event, you can find the details on our site, or register here.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
48 min
January 28, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 2
Come to me from Krete to this holy temple,
here to your sweet apple grove,
altars smoking with
frankincense.
Cold water ripples through apple branches,
the whole place shadowed in roses,
from the murmuring leaves
deep sleep descends.
Where horses graze, the meadow blooms
spring flowers in the winds
breathe softly . . .
*
Here, Aphrodite, after gathering . . .
pour into cups nectar
lavishly mingled
with joys.
Translation by Rayor

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

Our guests this episode were Roberta Mazza, Marguerite Johnson, Malcolm Choat, Mike Sampson, Usama Gad & Katherine Blouin. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
January 14, 2021 Sappho: Fragment 58
You, children, be zealous for the beautiful gifts of the violetlapped Muses
and for the clear songloving lyre.
But my skin once soft is now taken by old age,
my hair turns white from black.
And my heart is weighed down and my knees do not lift,
that once were light to dance as fawns.
I groan for this. But what can I do?
A human being without old age is not a possibility.
There is the story of Tithonos, loved by Dawn with her arms of roses
and she carried him off to the ends of the earth
when he was beautiful and young. Even so was he gripped
by white old age. He still has his deathless wife.

Translation by Carson (2005)

Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter.

You can read Carson’s thoughts on the 2004 discovery in the New York Review here. Roberta Mazza’s blog, Faces and Voices, can be found here.

Our guests this episode were Roberta Mazza, Sandra Boehringer (trans. by Annie McCarthy), Marguerite Johnson, Malcolm Choat, Mike Sampson & Ariel Sabar. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them on our website.

You can find the episode transcript here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
54 min

About Sweetbitter | A Sappho (S1) & Pirates (S2) History Podcast

From the publisher's feed

About Sweetbitter | Sweetbitter is an investigative history podcast with a focus on queer & women's history. Each season, we explore a different corner of history,…

using historical figures and texts as a starting point to discuss a broader story of erasure of people with marginalized identities. Along with the listener, in collaboration with multidisciplinary experts, we untangle untold histories for a modern audience.

Season 1 | Sappho is the first known woman in the European literary tradition, one of only a few poets we know from antiquity and the o-g lesbian (or rather, where the word “lesbian” originates from). While much of Sappho’s work was destroyed, with only one full poem, Ode to Aphrodite, remaining, she is considered one of the best poets of all time, known as both the “Tenth Muse” and “the Poetess.” Despite her first-person, female-loving poetry, some scholars have fought against the popular image of Sappho as both a woman and lover of women, and still do today.

In the first season of Sweetbitter, we delved into the truth and controversy of Sappho’s life, the Isle of Lesbos and homosexuality in ancient Greece. Was Kerkylas of Andros (translation: “Penis of Mansville”) Sappho’s husband, or a wink to her known love of women? Did she really have a daughter named Kleos, or was she her young lover?

Collaborating with experts in the fields of poetry, queer studies, theatre and Ancient Greece, we will untangle the life of Sappho including the importance of her work and sexuality in modern times.

Season 2 | In our second season, we bring you a high-seas adventure full of surprises as we uncover the queer & women’s history of pirates. Gay love and even marriage were more common in the 17th-century world of pirates than we might expect, and history is full of cross-dressing, swashbuckling pirates who broke gender norms and created their own queer culture. Even Johnny Depp, in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, intentionally played Captain Jack Sparrow as a gay man.

Collaborating with experts in the field, we take a deep dive into the stories you don’t hear in the mainstream, exploring why they have been erased for hundreds of years.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.