As I have slept on hospital recliners, created calendars for coordinating treatment transportation and meal drop-offs, and called on networks for everything from emotional support to equipment donations, one clarion call keeps echoing in my ear. We are not doing elderhood the right way around here. It is terrifying, isolating. It can break your back and your bank.
A few years ago, I started letting go of many films in my ritual because, as someone pointed out to me, I ostensibly wanted to bring change into my life and perhaps doing the same thing over and over again was not serving that purpose. And, hello, watching He’s Just Not That Into You on Valentine’s Day was perhaps not the most efficacious way to find my semi-permanent dance partner.
As I’ve come to learn some of the important components in the Disability Rights movement, Marilyn’s life has replayed for me, one chapter at a time. It’s all there: employment, independent living, transportation, even and especially her right to be in a loving relationship. If she’d been coming up in this generation, what a different life my Aunt Marilyn might have had! With that in mind, I bring you today’s recommendations for some of the finest podcasting I listen to on the regular.
I’ve come to understand people are turning to me somewhat as a curator of “what to listen to.” In fact, one of my gym buddies (back in the day when going to the gym was a thing) turned to me and pointedly and said, “I think you should publish a regular Shannon Recommends listening list because I always have this instinct to call you when I want to find a new podcast.”