Listen to Curiosity R&R.

I’ll be honest, friends, I’m a little weary. Eight and a half years of uninterrupted production and I’m a tad worn out. You may have noticed that I amped things up to weekly shows this year.

Yeah: that’s a lot of production.

So I’m taking a little break in December. I’m calling it Curiosity R&R — Curiosity Respite & ReAirs. I’ll get a break and my radio audiences will enjoy uninterrupted listening, thanks to Pacifica Radio Network, with four great C2BC Classic re-airs.

Of course, I didn’t want you to miss out, so here’s a peek at what they’ll be getting. Maybe you’ve heard these episodes before, maybe not. Consider this a secular Advent calendar, a little door to open every week for the coming month — and for those of you nice enough to subscribe and actually read this post, some behind-the-scenes pictures to repay your loyalty. 🙂

The Human Library, with Ronni Abergel: Ronni likes to say, “All you need is courage and curiosity,” and that feels like really important advice right now. The Human Library creates a safe space for dialogue, an opportunity for challenging stigma and stereotypes, and the chance to “unjudge” someone. Ronni talks about “publishing” people as “open books.” Others come to the library as “readers.”  This might be my favorite picture of me as a young reader. Let’s all keep reading…

(Re-release for re-air December 5, 2024)

Curiosity & Respect, with Julie Pham: When Julie reached out to talk about curiosity and respect she had my immediate attention. So important to me is the topic that my son and I danced to Aretha Franklin’s iconic anthem R.E.S.P.E.C.T. at his wedding.

(Re-release for re-air December 12, 2024)

Where Research Begins, with Tom Mullaney: Tom Mullaney is a professor of Chinese History at Stanford University — and a champion for introspection. He provides a curiosity-informed, generative process for finding and really understanding the questions underlying anything you might want to learn more about. That’s me in China, summer 1985. I was tickled when some Tibetan tourists asked me to pose in their traditional dress.

(Re-release for re-air December 19, 2024)

Curiosity in Apes, with Sofia Forss: “Evolution may seldom select strongly for curiosity,” said Sofia Forss in a conversation that surprised me over and over. Sofia is an evolutionary biologist specializing in comparative cognition and animal behavior. She’s curious about how curiosity shows up in apes. Mutual curiosity: me and a monkey, Ecuador, 1987.

(Re-release for re-air December 26, 2024)

I hope your holidays are joyful and restorative. See you in the new year!

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.