Keeping Dad Alive: Recent Episodes
Margaret Poethig
Conversations between a dad and his children capture the sheer joy of talking, singing, and laughing with Richard, a man of simple pleasures, expansive intelligence, historical perspective, and progressive politics. In Season 1, Richard is living under lockdown in his senior living residence during the coronavirus pandemic. It tells the story of Richard’s resilience and of the family’s efforts to ease the psychic impact of his isolation. In Season 2, Margaret asks Richard why he talked so much about vocation when she was growing up. Richard offers the wide arc of his theological understanding—from the need to care for working people to the cosmic Spirit that holds the universe together. They decided to devote an entire podcast season to vocation.
Richard and Eunice left behind a 100 boxes’ worth of personal papers and family records. Margaret and her sister Kerry must dispose of it all.Visit the website for more show notes and photos.
Richard imagines life after death on an undiscovered planet in a far-flung galaxy where he can recreate his life with his beloved wife Eunice. Margaret has a message for listeners.
Richard is in hospice and needs caregivers 24-hours-a-day. He marvels at all the attention. For his caregivers, it’s a vocation in the deepest sense of the word. Richard makes a case for more public support for caregiving.
Richard is about to embark on his final journey. He recounts an earlier voyage by train, boat, and plane with his young family to their new home in the Philippines. On a stopover in Japan, Richard attends a conference about his new vocation: the urban-industrial mission of the church.
Richard talked a lot about vocation when his kids were young. The word stuck with Margaret. When she asked her dad about it, his answer took them on an unexpected journey. They decided to devote the entire podcast season to vocation.
Richard’s been clocking his progress through the coronavirus pandemic by the seasons, hoping he would make it to this point. Now that he’s made it to Spring, it’s time to end Season 1 of this podcast and pause for reflection.
Music credit:
“Horrible” from the album Mela 2 by the Mela Ensemble. Used under the Creative Commons license Attribution-ShareAlike.
Richard’s grandson Ben tries to interview him about cars, but the conversation soon goes off track. Richard ("Dede") shares tales of hitchhiking across the country in the 1940s and riding a jeepney in the Philippines, while Ben struggles to get the answers he was hoping for.
Richard (and Margaret) are initially confused by Ben’s line of questioning. But as the interview continues, Ben hones his listening and interviewing skills. He even learns about a black man named Joe Louis.
Ben quickly gets the hang of this business and pulls the threads of the conversation with his grandfather together.
Music credits:
"Beignet Interlude" and "Gentle Son" by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Traffic and car door sound effects from Zapsplat.com.
Boxing stadium, Pinball auction, and jeepney sound effects by Soundsplat.
Money, money, money—Margaret and her sisters unpack the family dynamic around money, starting with the Hotel Eden luxury suite incident in Rome, 1968.
Money’s an emotional trigger for Richard and it rubbed off on his kids. His angst about money was established early—in his working class roots, the fragility of his family during the Depression, and his own struggles to earn enough money to pay for college.
Richard’s idea about what it means to “live within one’s means” is challenged when he marries into an upper middle-class family. Eunice and the kids adapt to Richard’s insistence on the importance of financial independence.
In time, Eunice takes over as the primary source of household income and Richard can begin to relax, but not until he gets all five of his kids through college, without taking on any debt.
Links:
"Deposits and Withdrawals: the Story of a Bank Book" by Richard Poethig (http://www.onthesidewalksofnewyork.com/read.html)
Music credits:
“Di Me” licensed from AudioNetwork
“Scratcher" and "Let Go Gecko” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Richard and his daughter Johanna co-host a radio show, broadcasting through plant signals. Adopting the monikers Diving for Pearls and Island Boy, Johanna and Richard discover the silver lining of our quarantine isolation and dependence on electronic communication.
In this podcast episode, Johanna—a visual, public, and performance artist—engages Richard in her fantasy about earth stations, in which the plants in our gardens or on our windowsills are little satellite dishes, sending signals across time and space. From Radio Free Whitney Street in Oakland, California, and Coleus Earth Station in the great city of Philadelphia, Diving for Pearls and Island Boy play some of their favorite tunes and offer reflections on planetary life.
Links:
Johanna Poethig: visual, public and performance artist: https://johannapoethig.com/
The “Quasi Extraterratropoizine”: https://johanna-poethig-studio.square.site/
Music credits:
“Uranus” by Johanna Poethig with Chris Brown (cbmuse.com)
"Lost Cities: The Landscape Speaks" (https://johannapoethig.com/performance-video/music-of-the-lost-cities/)
“Hello World” by Kathryn Poethig, performed with Scott Poethig and Johanna Poethig
“Phase 3” by Xylo-Ziko (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/)
“Kolderen Polka” by Tres Tristes Tangos (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tres_Tristes_Tangos)
“Swinging” by Tim Garland, licensed from AudioNetwork
Richard and his daughter Margaret investigate the bird insurrection, while humans attack the U.S. Capitol and President Trump is impeached for the second time.
Birds provide joy, humor, and solace in rough times, and it seems that they share the capacity for feelings with the human species. And boy, are there a lot of feelings swooping and fluttering around right now!
Margaret is struggling with a loss of faith in her fellow humans. She pulls an old recording from 2012 in which Richard describes his encounter with the American eagle, and Eunice, Margaret’s mother and Richard’s wife, joins him in singing his favorite hymn, “The Lone Wild Bird.”
In loving memory of Eunice Blanchard Poethig, 1930-2018
Links:
What It’s Like to Be a Bird, by David Allen Sibley: https://www.sibleyguides.com/product/what-its-like-to-be-a-bird/
Loren Eiseley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Eiseley
Music Credits:
An Unknown Visitor by Blue Dot Sessions: https://www.sessions.blue/
“The Lone Wild Bird,” by Henry Richard McFadyen: https://hymnary.org/text/the_lone_wild_fowl_in_lofty_flight
Photo Credit:
Cardinal in Margaret’s birdbath by Richard Creps
Richard's physical therapist Jennifer has saved his life...more than once! Jennifer keeps an eye on Richard and, with training, persistence, and ingenuity, helps him keep it together.
Links:
On chronic conditions, self-management, and challenges in caring for people with chronic conditions:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_policy/adult_chronic_conditions.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/learnmorefeelbetter/programs/general.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876976/
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2010/01/chronic-care.html
https://www.giaging.org/documents/mcc_framework.pdf
On excess deaths during pandemic:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e2.htm
On adults living alone:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/10/older-people-are-more-likely-to-live-alone-in-the-u-s-than-elsewhere-in-the-world/
On problems with long term care facilities:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/opinion/sunday/covid-nursing-homes.html?smid=em-share
https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2018/02/05/what-we-dont-know-but-should-about-assisted-living-facilities/?sh=359b6ac4e043
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-nursinghomes-speci/special-report-pandemic-exposes-systemic-staffing-problems-at-u-s-nursing-homes-idUSKBN23H1L9
https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689302.pdf
Music Credits:
The Zeppelin, Delamine, and Crumbtown by Blue Dot Sessions
Gravitation by Blastculture https://freemusicarchive.org/music/ToucanMusic/Best_Bytes_Volume_4/08_blastculture_gravitation
Fruit brings Richard joy, especially papaya. But the fruit cup at Richard’s senior living residence leaves something to be desired. Richard must work on his son Scott—with deft negotiation and meticulous timing—to keep him in fruit.
The music in this podcast is Slow Strutt and Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions and Binasuan by Juan Silas Jr. and his Rondalla.
Links: Blue Dot Sessions: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/null
Richard reflects on the connection between his life’s work and that of his daughter Erika, who is leading the Biden/Harris transition team for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Music Credits: The Crisper; Borough; Taoudella; An Unknown Visitor by Blue Dot Sessions: https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/null
Links:
Richard Poethig’s writings: http://www.richardpoethig.com/index.html
Inclusive Recovery Insights newsletter, by Erika Poethig: https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/research-action-lab/projects/inclusive-recovery-insights
Rising Star by David Garrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Star_(book)
When Richard stops answering the phone and getting out of bed for Zoom meetings, daughter Kerry finds a new way to reach our dad.
Music credits: The music in this piece is “Black Clouds Gone Bad” by Sore & Steal and “Take to the Skies” by Forget the Whale. Used under the Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike.
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Sore__Steal/Many_Moons_A-Go-Go/Black_clouds_gone_bad
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Forget_the_Whale/Take_to_the_Skies
Links:
https://www.grandpad.net/
Richard revels in living in Philadelphia - the historical heart of U.S. democracy and home of his son Scott - while waiting anxiously for the votes to be counted in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
Links:
Joe Biden's Penn graduation address, 2013: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/volumes/v59/n33/comm-biden.html
Richard and his grandson Sam sing old favorites together and daughter Erika explores her father’s influence on Sam.
Richard and his daughter Johanna explore the physical, emotional, and spiritual planes of human existence while exercising on Zoom. Richard brings a poem to read aloud. The poem, titled “Star with a Secret,” is by American anthropologist and natural science writer Loren Eiseley.
Music credits: The music in this episode is the piece “Invention No. 1” by the composer and performer Chris Brown. Used with permission.
Links:
Chris Brown, composer and performer: https://cbmuse.com
Loren Eiseley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Eiseley
"Arecibo Observatory Telescope Collapses, Ending An Era Of World-Class Research," December 1, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940767001/arecibo-observatory-telescope-collapses-ending-an-era-of-world-class-research
Recording the podcast presents hilarious challenges for Margaret and Richard.
Music Credits: The music is “Horrible” from the album Mela 2 by the Mela Ensemble. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Mela/Mela_two
Links to Richard's websites: http://www.onthesidewalksofnewyork.com/index.html
http://richardpoethig.com/index.html
Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, Margaret's 95-year-old dad Richard was cheerfully riding it out in his senior living residence. But things change. This podcast captures the voice of a father and his five children, as they cherish their time together on earth.