Happy new year from the Bear Radio team!
We hope you all had a restful and calm break during the holiday season. We had a quiet month to recharge and relax leading up to a busy 2023. Jill was able to spend time with family in California, while Julia enjoyed her time in Berlin with friends.
We released a new episode of URSA, which featured headlines about Poland’s only Cosmonaut, the rescue of the last ‘restaurant bear’ in Albania, and how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is breaking from tradition to let parishioners celebrate Christmas on December 25th. We also discussed the continent’s climate news, such as the recent ‘beheading’ of the Brandenburg Gate Christmas tree, how a revitalized river in Madrid is bringing back biodiversity to the area, and more. Foodie Will Maidment told us all about the best German restaurants in Berlin, and Jonny Tiernan of LOLA Magazine shared his favorite upcoming events, including Transmediale and the British Short Film Festival. The episode also featured two original pieces, one from EU Scream on Europe’s handling of ‘decolonization’ and one by Julia Joubert about the Major Oak and other celebrated trees. Lastly, the episode featured a single from local band Cava.
In early January, we kicked off a new project with The Africa Policy Research Institute, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with them throughout the year!
We’re looking forward to bringing our listeners more great stories in 2023. Stay tuned for updates on upcoming events, episode releases, workshop series and much more.
Jill & Julia
Jill’s Podcast Recommendation:
The Paddlefish Caviar Heist – Imperative Entertainment and Vespucci
I love true crime, and all things crime – however sometimes I get a bit depressed when all I listen to are stories about murder and macabre. I loved this podcast because it had all of the true crime elements I love, like suspense, plot twists and mystery, but concerned a much less tragic topic. The Paddlefish Caviar Heist gets the true crime treatment from its host, Helen Hollyman. Taking place in rural Missouri, this podcast covers the true story of an undercover operation to expose a multimillion dollar international caviar poaching operation. The podcast not only follows this crime, but discusses how caviar became such a delicacy in the first place, and how small towns in places like Missouri suffer from poaching.
Julia’s Podcast Recommendation
A friend put me onto this show that has been running since March 2020 that in their words is “a show about the things we think about a lot, and need to talk about more.” Host Anna Sale talks to celebrities and regular people about relationships, money, family, work and how we can make sense of our lives and why we are here. To be honest, I haven’t listened to any of the celebrity episodes, I’m tired of celebrities, but I have listened to most, if not all of the others. The conversations are simple and moving and almost always find their way to a place of relevance in my life. Some episodes I’d recommend would be “Finding Meaning After My Husbands Death” where Anna speaks to a man whose husband died by self-immolation to protest climate change. “I Was in Debt. Then my sister offered me $16 000” where a guest shares their financial struggles and what happened when they asked their older sister for help. And finally the three part series on estrangement, starting with “Estrangement Purgatory” – for anyone who is considering estranging themselves from friends or family, for those who have done it and are dealing with what it means and how it feels, or for those who it has happened to, this collection is beautiful and sad, but also incredibly reassuring for anyone going through something similar.
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