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Lunar Datebook

Maine-based short fiction, essays, and interviews. Hosted by Jennifer Ellsworth.
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Now displaying: 2018

Welcome to Lunar Datebook...

Oct 11, 2018

Episode 101—Autumn 2018

Moving blood. This is the clinical definition of life as we know it—a beating heart, circulating oxygen rich blood through the body. It is also the evolutionary end game. Reproduction. Moving our bloodline forward. And a metaphor for inheritance. These themes converge in this season's episode. Host Jennifer Ellsworth interviews dancer Shana Bloomstein, founder of Women's Works, about a piece she created with her daughter. And we read a short story about a gift passed down, called “Obedience.”

"...Obedience was only 12 years old, yet it had aged well, already taking on the gnarled bark of a much older specimen. A middle-aged bonsai achievement in a short span. This was why Jacob’s father won prizes. He aged his plants well..."

Essential form in bonsai and life and holding our babies again.

 

Aug 11, 2018

Episode 100—August 11, 2018

Welcome to A Lunar Datebook Production's dramatic finish of Eddie Wonders Why, a radio play based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex, where the king who loses everything becomes a mafia lord. 

Act 2 features Sean Cash, Dr. Liz Yori, Bill Yori, Marsha Coller, Eric Robotaille, Jeremiah Kemberling, and Erik Perkins. 

Moon Astrology: New Apple Moon in Leo: Bask in the sun. 

Jul 12, 2018

Episode 99—July 12, 2018

Welcome to A Lunar Datebook Production of Eddie Wonders Why, a radio play based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex, where the king who loses everything becomes a modern mafia lord. 

Act 1 cast features Sean Cash, Bill Yori, Erik Perkins, Eric Robotaille, and Liz Yori, N.D. 

Moon Astrology: New Thunder Moon in Cancer: family is everything.

Jun 13, 2018

Episode 98—June 13, 2018

As host Jennifer Ellsworth contemplates sending her firstborn to kindergarten, she interviews two Maine public educators: Don Schultz, one year out of teaching, and Danny Lobo, one year in. 

Moon Astrology: New Herb Moon in Gemini: twin tales. 

A big pond with different fish, a snort for emphasis, and one question you can't Google. 

May 15, 2018

Episode 97—May 15, 2018

Gorgeous spring has sprung and with it competing interests. Host Jennifer Ellsworth tells the history of the Gemini constellation, and shares the lessons the twins Castor and Pollux have about time management. She also reads an essay about the two sides of her own personality and reads a short story about a different sort of twin, an imaginary friend. It's called "Amen."

"...Amen comes every night after my prayers. He comes in through the window and walks across my floors picking up my broken pieces. When he has gathered them all up, we try to put me back together while he tells me stories. Amen tells the best stories..."

Moon Astrology: New Dandelion Moon in Taurus: From the ground up. 

Swan seduction, gluten-eating orgy, and a river of dreams. 

Apr 15, 2018

Episode 96—April 15, 2018

May the Force be with you.... Host Jennifer Ellsworth waxes philosophical about where Star Wars, science and religion collide. She also shares Sean Cash's two cents on "instant karma," and reads a poem about living in the moment. 

Moon Astrology: New Grass Moon in Aries: Nothing is not nothing. 

The Gospel of George Lucas, the Cult of Einstein, and Richard Pryor rules the Dark Side....

Mar 17, 2018

Episode 95—March 17, 2018

"High Flight" is a sonnet written by 19-year-old John Gillespie Magee Jr. before a mid-air crash took his life during World War II. In this episode host Jennifer Ellsworth uses the lines of this poem to remember her family's 19-year-old World War II pilot, her grandfather, who died last month. He was a POW, an artist, a storyteller, and one of Ellsworth's greatest influences. 

"The Surly Bonds of Earth:

            Roldan Ellsworth Jose Stumpff de Whitt lived two lives growing up. One in the Pennsylvania Dutch world of his father, and another in his mother’s Mexico...."

Moon Astrology: New Egg Moon in Pisces: flying dreams.

Goodnight, Pumpkin; ghosts; and a great man. 

Feb 15, 2018

Episode 94—February 15, 2018

Happy New Year! The second new moon of 2018 welcomes Chinese New Year and the Year of the Brown Earth Dog. Host Jennifer Ellsworth offers an astrological forecast calling for loyalty and diligence to be rewarded. She also shares a true story that exemplifies those traits from Carol Visser, recorded at Lunar Datebook's Disruption! event; and reads a short story about a cosmic connection between two men, called "Moon Man."

"...Three minutes. June 14, 1946 10:54 a.m. and June 14, 1946 10:57 a.m. Three minutes separated their births—Silas in Waterville, Maine; Donald J. Trump in Jamaica, Queens, New York. On a total lunar eclipse. They were Moon Men, baby! Watch out! Of course Silas didn’t believe in astrology, knew it was all crap, but, but, but—..."

Moon Astrology: New Sap Moon in Aquarius: work for the greater good.

Up, around, or through; a crowded honeymoon; and Donald Trump's birth chart.

Jan 17, 2018

Episode 93—January 16, 2018

The upcoming Super Blue Blood Moon on January 31, 2018 sounds amazing, but what does it mean? Host Jennifer Ellsworth explores the astrological significance of a Leo moon in opposition to an Aquarian sun. She also reads an essay about the challenges of disciplining children, and explains a Mother Goose nursery rhyme in "The Lion and the Unicorn Parable." 

"...Once upon a time, all the people in the world were warring with each other, distrustful, and greedy. The Lion got sick of it. He came out of the forest and roared, “Enough! I am King now.” Then he went old school, demanded balance, and enforced the law that said “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” He always took those eyes and teeth himself, never going further, it wasn’t a tooth for a tooth and the tip of your finger; but if you’ve ever had a lion at your door, you will appreciate the incentive that provides to avoid one there again..."

Moon Astrology: New Hunger Moon in Capricorn: Tame as verb.

Tarot card 8, a fire-breathing dragon simmers down, and no one mourns the king. 

   

 

           

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