Monday Morning Muse

objects I've (unintentionally) stolen & advice I've ignored

19 min · 18 de may de 2026
Portada del episodio objects I've (unintentionally) stolen & advice I've ignored

Descripción

Five-year-old me pipes up to begin this episode. While aspects of the memory are blurry, I’ll never forget the feelings of indignation that came when I was accused of stealing a toy. While I recently took a roll of painter’s tape from a workday at Windhover Performing Arts Center [https://windhover.org], I confessed it in an email to my friends there within 24 hours. My confessional streak - childlike at times - makes sense for a person who has always worked with children and families. I’ve learned some of my best lessons from wide-eyed writers like Annie Dillard [https://www.anniedillard.com] and Rumi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi], whose line “unfold your own myth” I bring up (& misattribute) in this episode. I’m grateful to all who offer truth with love and respect: case in point, the luminous John Hicks, a fellow music educator who works in Gloucester, Massachusetts and keeps in touch with students & friends from around the world. I hope to bring John on the podcast eventually, but I especially love eating tacos & sharing time with him. John gives sound advice (pun intended), but it’s his presence that is a transmission of lovingkindness. May we all offer our communities compassion and courage in the here-and-now. Thanks for checking out Monday Morning Muse! This post is public so feel free to share it. Next week I plan to post a conversation with another brilliant poet; stay tuned. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@HannahLynnMell] (@HannahLynnMell) for some live Zoom conversations about music making. Monday Morning Muse is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe [https://mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

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Bob and I go way back: I posted about his kidney transplant [https://mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/p/bob-needs-a-kidney?r=53aj9r] 14 months ago, but we met c. 2008 at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School, where I taught two of his four children and we shared the effervescence of early childhood magic. I had the good fortune of coaching Bob as a singer 2018-2020; in this video we reference musicals like Big River [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_River_(musical)] and Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_and_the_Amazing_Technicolor_Dreamcoat]. Bob shares about his trip to ancestral grounds in Italy while we discuss creativity, empathy, and what is fueling our engines of delight at a time of global anxiety. Bob talks about the consumerist societal mandate: “fill your role and feed the monster.” I want to hold onto this snippet as an invitation to deep soul-diving. Perhaps a future guest will want to reflect on their own ways of evading the monster. Two final notes: * The novel I talk about in this episode is Percival Everett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173754979-james]. * Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the interstitium [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstitium], the anatomical space that currently fascinates me. Monday Morning Muse thrives when its listeners drive. To receive new posts & help steer future collaborations, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe [https://mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

25 de may de 20261 h 1 min
episode objects I've (unintentionally) stolen & advice I've ignored artwork

objects I've (unintentionally) stolen & advice I've ignored

Five-year-old me pipes up to begin this episode. While aspects of the memory are blurry, I’ll never forget the feelings of indignation that came when I was accused of stealing a toy. While I recently took a roll of painter’s tape from a workday at Windhover Performing Arts Center [https://windhover.org], I confessed it in an email to my friends there within 24 hours. My confessional streak - childlike at times - makes sense for a person who has always worked with children and families. I’ve learned some of my best lessons from wide-eyed writers like Annie Dillard [https://www.anniedillard.com] and Rumi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi], whose line “unfold your own myth” I bring up (& misattribute) in this episode. I’m grateful to all who offer truth with love and respect: case in point, the luminous John Hicks, a fellow music educator who works in Gloucester, Massachusetts and keeps in touch with students & friends from around the world. I hope to bring John on the podcast eventually, but I especially love eating tacos & sharing time with him. John gives sound advice (pun intended), but it’s his presence that is a transmission of lovingkindness. May we all offer our communities compassion and courage in the here-and-now. Thanks for checking out Monday Morning Muse! This post is public so feel free to share it. Next week I plan to post a conversation with another brilliant poet; stay tuned. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@HannahLynnMell] (@HannahLynnMell) for some live Zoom conversations about music making. Monday Morning Muse is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe [https://mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

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