Known As Belén: Recent Episodes
B. R. Hansen
Stories about life and faith, opinions about books/movies/music, and hopefully a great deal of joy in a ridiculous world.
Catholics can be weird about death. Case in point: first class relics and chapels of bone. But there’s something glorious about seeing death and life as a semi-permeable barrier. For example, every saint in the canon.
This podcast is several days late because my flight on Friday had a 4 hour delay and I ended up very tired. Here are my thoughts about the hurry up and wait of air travel, including my memory of the great delay I had going to Spain for the first time.
This bonus episode is a prayer practicum for my episode all about Lectio Divina. Join me in lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio as we pray with Mark 5:35-41 (A Calming of a Storm at Sea). If you’d like to do Visio Divina with this podcast as well (praying with scripture through images) I love this painting by Rembrandt as an accompaniment to this passage: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calming_the_storm#
Want to go deeper in Scripture? Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) is a great way to push yourself from the noise of daily living to that deeper conversation with God. Come with me as we learn about the stages of this prayer (meditatio, oratio, contemplatio). And don’t forget VISIO Divina! *** If you’d like to learn more I recommend the Oriens Advent reflection book by Fr. Joel Sember (https://pilgrimpriest.us) or invite you to check back Sunday for a bonus prayer practicum podcast (try saying that five times fast!)
As you know, I am not ACTUALLY known as Belén. Tonight, I tell you all about my true, given name, which is…
Back in my twenties, I asked God for advice in getting my life together, and the answer was “Prayer”. My response to THAT was “Yeah, okay, but SERIOUSLY, what should I be doing?” but I came around…eventually. My prayer journey has now arrived at this point where I am recording the first episode in a series all about prayer. This episode tells you why I care, and hopefully why you should too. Future episodes will explore prayer forms like Lectio Divina, Litanies, the Rosary, and the Mass (just to name a few).
In November 2022, I attended the 20Booksto50k conference in Las Vegas. Even though the conference was the beginning of health troubles that make the end of the year pretty rough, it was still a fantastic experience I would recommend for any author interested in independent publishing (who has good lungs). You can find some great free writing and publishing resources or find out more about the event here: https://youtube.com/@20Booksto50kRLiveEvents--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Today is the Feast of Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season, and I have successfully acquired the post-Christmas poinsettia. This bonus episode is full of opinions on proper pronunciation, the story of Poin and Stella (my previous poinsettias), and random facts about poinsettias I learned JUST FOR YOU.
Regular posting schedule (2nd and 4th Fridays of the month), longer episodes, and a long-running series about prayer are my plans for 2023. Is there anything else you’d like to see? Let me know with the Anchor Q&A or at https://baileyrhansen.com/contact/ .
Are you going home for Christmas? Physically or in your dreams? In a lot of ways, for me, Christmas is about the act of traveling from one place to another, to see family or just because. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite American holidays. No matter where you are, even in the heart of Spain (and completely incapable of making green bean casserole), you can celebrate good food, friend, family, and the turning of the seasons. And usually with a truly ridiculous number of side dish options.
In this episode I interview the wonderful Laura Rye, my co-author with the A Monster by Any Other Name series, about literature, love of writing, loathing for depressing 20th Century literature, and the absurdity of choosing your life path at the age of 18. Note: This episode has a couple swears and a lot of passionate discussions of our literary hatreds. No books were harmed in the making of this podcast.
The newest book in our A Monster By Any Other Name series, Fear, will be available December 1, 2022! You can learn more and pre-order here: https://books2read.com/fearfc
Also! I am now posting Starbound, an episodic love story about reaching for the stars, on Kindle Vella. First three episodes available to read for free here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0B24CZB9H
I celebrated another birthday recently, and this is a year that ends in 5. And you know what that means: a time to look back and a time to look forward.
What do Madeleine L’Engle, Kim Harrison, and Virginia Woolf have on common? Well, in addition to being excellent female writers they KILL people. Well, okay, just that one person/character but THEY WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE. Listen to me rant about Arm of the Starfish, For a Few Demons More, and To the Lighthouse while commenting on writing choices and my personal desires as a reader. Includes lots of passion, which means this one is probably less soothing than usual, and ALMOST a swear word. (I also mention Serenity, Children of Men, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Game of Thrones, and Rogue One).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
There's a lot of bad church music in the world. I should know. I've been singing in choirs and cantoring for half my life, and sometimes I'm part of the problem, and sometimes part of the solution. But a retreat this last weekend left me with several ear worm songs and a reminder that, when done well, music can be a way to bring a community together and also praise the Lord. When we lift our voices together, that can be a little taste of heaven.
Featuring "I've Got the Joy" a praise song by George W. Cooke and arranged and sung by me.
Summer is the season for church picnics. Labor Day Weekend, I ended up at the delightful Kermis Festival in Brussels WI. This is a very a very Belgian variety of the traditional church picnic, featuring some somewhat unique dishes.
When people ask me my favorite place to travel as a kid I usually say Las Vegas, but that’s just because THE ENTIRE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA just doesn’t have the same ring to it. This episode tells you my tourist traps, with a special thought about Wall Drug (that ridiculous triumph of advertising).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The last full weekend of July was the annual EAA fly-in event. Part museum, part trade show, part learning opportunity, 100% party, this annual event in Oshkosh is a little bit of everything. Or maybe a LOT of everything.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Jobs are interesting. We need them, but don't always love them. And then there are some people who end up in a weird little job fueled 100% by a weird little passion.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Chicory is honestly such a weed of a plant. It grows by the highway in summer, and is kind of spiky. And it's my favorite flower.
Talking about the weather is Wisconsin Smalltalk 101. Which means that when you ask how I'm doing, I'm going to tell you about this gorgeous thunderstorm...
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
This episode is brought to you (late) by motivation. Or rather, the complete lack thereof in my life in the last month and a half. (It’s brought to you without background music because of terrible internet…rough times all the way around).
Since childhood I have been reading through the Bible one bit at a time and in college I read the Psalms. My favorite, Psalm 63 (NOT 23), reminds me that at all times, in insomnia and against enemies, we are able to find joy and comfort in God.
So, you may or may not know this, but as of March 1, 2022, I am a published author! My novel, Freak Camp, was co-written with Laura Rye (aka my best friend from college). It is the first book in the A Monster By Any Other Name series and is available anywhere ebooks are sold. I struggle sometimes to talk about what this book means to me, and why I have had to take a secondary role. This podcast will be my attempt.
https://books2read.com/freakcamp
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
In this episode I share with you everything I have learned about snails (aquatic) in the last week since being gifted surprise Easter snails. It’s a lot. Thank you, Google!
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Even when my friend and I were planning this trip, I thought of it as the nostalgia tour. Vegas as an adult was just as fantastical, just as imaginative as I remembered, but definitely an introverts nightmare. The thing that struck me is that Vegas is far more REAL than I ever expected it to be.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I used to tell people that Las Vegas, Nevada was my favorite place to visit. While most of the attractions I adored in my childhood have since closed, I still love remembering them, and love, in many way, the fanciful dream that is Las Vegas.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I feel lucky to have learned two things from this passage when fairly young: 1) that it is okay sometimes to be angry at God and 2) what a vocation feels like.
Last year for Lent, instead of giving something up I asked myself, “What do I NEED to better follow of Christ?” (Psst, the answer is prayer). It was a wonderfully selfish year. For ANYONE I would recommend taking dedicated, daily time to remember who they are called to be.
My main method of cooking can best be described as “putting food in a pot and cooking it until it’s done”. In this episode I want to tell you about two VERY different dishes: borscht and bamya.
Borscht Recipe: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/borscht/
Bamya Recipe: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/mediterranean-one-skillet-okra-and-tomatoes-recipe/
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Tonight’s podcast looks at one of my favorite quirky Scripture passages. What would YOU do if the Captain of the Host of the Lord showed up? I think our reaction to the holy says a lot about where our priorities lie.
This year, I want to do more things I WANT to do, and fewer things I OUGHT to do, and I think you should too. Also, I will be posting the 2nd and 4th Friday’s of the month. Now you really don’t need to listen to the episode :D. Note: I’m still going to work and doing taxes, just there are a lot of OTHER things that we can do from obligation not need or want and those…do those really add value to our life or those around us? Hard to say.
This year instead of traditionally themed Christmas cards I sent friends and family cards featuring the Weird Christmas Dragon. This is his story.
I’ve been in a lot of work chats where people were semi-arguing about Die Hard being a Christmas movie, so here is my definitive opinion: Christmas is important both to the plot and the emotional arch of Die Hard, and therefore it qualifies on all counts.
My family often bakes cookies for the Christmas holiday (which makes it one of the biggest BAKING times of the year for me). We do a LOT but some of my favorites are butterscotch chip, cocoanut macaroons, and dog candy.
So, instead of podcasting or cleaning my house, or doing much of anything else in the month of November I wrote 50,032 words of a novel that should probably be 80,000. It was really exciting. So here’s absolutely no information about the novel, but a story about the vague inspiration.
Hi Friends! It was my birthday yesterday and it’s been a weird one. How much adulting can you get done with a sinus infection and a couple days off? A lot, actually.
And now for something completely different. This podcast is not the first time I've played around with audio. GarageBand was a free music editing software on my computer since high school so I had a long of fun mixing music for myself. This example, Monday Morning Song, is a fairly good example. It even has PIANO. Like all art I have ever done in the past, I like the bones of this but wince sometimes in the execution. BUT, on this lovely Monday morning, I hope you enjoy this Monday Morning Song (or, you know, whenever you get to listen to it :D)
Now for something different: a tiny conversation with my mom while the Green Bay of Lake Michigan roars in the background.
The first thing friends and acquaintances ask when you say you've started a podcast is "What's it about?" Ugh, that's such a good question. To answer, I need to introduce myself a little better. TL;DR - I love telling stories. This is just another way to do it.
I love summer. A reflection on that one perfect moment and the importance of being present.
First of all, I’m not REALLY known as Belén, outside of the internet and Spanish cab drivers. Hello, it’s nice to meet you. :)