20 December 2017: "I wish we were, Phoebe. I'd like to know you." --Jane H. Bock, talking to Phoebe Judge, the host of Criminal, towards the end of an episode about Bock's work in forensic botany. Phoebe had just told Bock she would edit the podcast to sound like they were in the same room talking.
This evening, as I was taking my walk, I found myself thinking about about relationships of all kinds and just feeling twinges of melancholy, the kind that sometimes hit you during the holiday season and all of the end-of-the-year reflecting it brings with it. You know...those "another year is over and this is where/who/what I am?" thoughts. So this moment in the podcast stood out to me.
Their exchange wasn't related to the subject of the episode proper (which is fascinating on it's own--seriously: give it a listen). Moreover, it is also the kind of thing you never really hear on podcasts--a "behind the curtain" glimpse that the producers usually cut but this time chose to leave in. I immediately found myself wondering why.
Whatever their reasons, I am grateful for that brief exchange and what it represented: two people who don't know each other but who realize they admire each other and feel connected and fond of each other, facilitated through this weird medium. And I realized again why I love the medium so much--because I am a part of it, too. I don't know Phoebe or her guests and I probably never will. But there is just something so intimate and wonderful about listening to these shows and feeling like the people who make them are a new type of friend.
It didn't cure those melancholic twinges, but did alleviate them a bit. Good enough.
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