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Pleasure Studies

Pleasure Studies

By: Feist
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 Indie icon Feist knows a thing or two about love, loss, and everything in between. Through in-depth interviews with a time travel researcher, a Dreamer and activist, a transgender triathlete, an FBI undercover operative, a monogamous couple in adult film, a professional storm-chaser, an alter ego, and more, Pleasure Studies explores big themes from the tracks of her most recent album: self-reinvention and creativity, the power of the natural world, youth, old age, wisdom, and the passing of time. We hear the stories of people who have followed their dreams, lived long lives, endured devastation, and come out the other side with a greater understanding of what it means to be alive.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Get Not High Get Not Low - The Fulcrum

    Get Not High Get Not Low - The Fulcrum
    Dec 10 2019

    Whether internal or outward, the circumstances we’re thrust into invariably shape who we

    become, and the mark we make on the world. Here are the stories of three people who’ve

    adapted to exceptionally harsh environments by tapping into untold reserves of imagination and

    moral courage: Ed Dwight, a former Air Force pilot who faced insurmountable hostility in

    training to become the first African-American astronaut, and later emerged as a world-

    renowned sculptor whose art honors racial progress; Monther Altiti, a Mercy Corps officer who

    endured life-altering trauma while growing up in the Middle East, then created a wilderness

    therapy program to provide similarly troubled youth with the same sense of peace he discovered

    in nature; and Cecilia McGough, a radio astronomer whose work in astrophysics has granted a

    powerful escape from the inner chaos of schizophrenia.

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    25 mins
  • A Man Is Not His Song: The Alter Ego's Avatar

    A Man Is Not His Song: The Alter Ego's Avatar
    Aug 28 2019
    In life and in art, self-reinvention can let us escape expectation and realize our purpose in an otherwise unattainable way. And yet there’s also a danger in drifting too far from the confines of reality. A layered meditation on the fluidity of identity, “A Man Is Not His Song” centers on three people who pushed the limits of persona in their life’s work: Marc Ruskin, an FBI agent who spent over 20 years undercover, juggling 12 different identities as he infiltrated mafia families, drug trafficking circles, and counterfeit money rings; Michael Redhill, a poet, playwright, and author who began writing under the female pseudonym Inger Ash Wolfe at age 40 and found new fame as a mystery novelist; and Jason Beck, an entertainer who adopted the stage name Chilly Gonzales in the late ’90s and soon learned that his outrageous alter ego allowed him to explore forbidden truths in his music and performance.

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    18 mins
  • I Wish I Didn't Miss You: Rock Bottom

    I Wish I Didn't Miss You: Rock Bottom
    Aug 20 2019
    No matter what form it takes, abuse leaves us indelibly altered, often consumed by an emotional confusion that feels impossible to untangle. In this episode, we hear from three people with firsthand experience of abuse, each speaking from a profoundly different perspective. Rachel Jeffs recounts escaping the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after years of suffering sexual abuse by her cult leader and father Warren Jeffs, while documentarian Attiya Khan recollects the domestic abuse she endured as a teenager—and the experience of confronting her abuser two decades after breaking free. And in a particularly fraught account, Tom Stranger narrates the night in high school when he raped his then-girlfriend, who later tracked him down as part of her recovery. In sharing their stories with candid detail, these guests ultimately instill us with a more nuanced understanding of abuse, its impact, and the immense possibility for healing.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    26 mins
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