This is Love
This is Love explores the many forms of love through storytelling. From the creators of Criminal, each episode shares a true story about love in its many forms—romantic, familial, or unexpected. New episodes are released twice a month. The podcast is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
The Collection
In 2023, Bill Staubi learned he only had about 18 months left to live. There was one thing he really wanted to take care of before it was too late.
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Watching for Smoke
People set fire to the land they call home. “If we can turn it black, it can't burn again in August.”
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Sun-Man
In 1984, Yla Eason’s three-year-old son told her he couldn’t be a superhero because he wasn’t white like his He-Man action figures. So she looked for a Black action figure for him. When she couldn’t find one anywhere, she decided to make one herself.
This episode was originally released in 2023.
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Hotline!
An episode all about hotlines - and the people who answer the calls.
You can read more about the Foy Information Desk in "The Alabama Landline that Keeps Ringing," by Emily McCrary.
To learn more about the Center for Coastal Studies, visit https://coastalstudies.org.
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Sextus Congenius Verus
When Daniella Santoro and her husband started clearing their backyard in New Orleans, they found a strange stone under a satsuma tree. The stone had letters carved into it – like a gravestone. “We thought – maybe someone’s buried in our backyard.”
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The Asteroid Hunter
In the early ’90s, a comet smashed into Jupiter with the force of 300 million atomic bombs. No one had seen anything like it before, and astronomers quickly realized that we should be monitoring asteroids and comets near Earth. Today, that’s David Rankin’s job.
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The Golden Record
In 1977, Ann Druyan was asked to help create a message from Earth that would leave our solar system and last for more than a billion years.
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The Photograph
Bob Brigham always knew he was adopted, but growing up, he didn’t know anything about his biological parents. When he was seven years old, a social worker came for a visit and Bob heard her whisper something to his mother – something about the Vietnam War. “Within a nanosecond, I created a story in my head.”
Bob Brigham's book is This Is a True War Story. My Improbable History with Vietnam.
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Wimbledon in a Cornfield
Mark Kuhn grew up in Iowa in a family of corn farmers. When he was 10 years old, he heard a BBC broadcast of the Wimbledon finals. He couldn’t stop thinking about it — he would daydream about tennis while doing his chores. And one day, he got an idea. “I’m looking at this cattle feedlot when I realized, ‘This is just about the right size for a tennis court.’”
This episode was originally released
SOS
Brandon and Gina hadn’t known each other long when they found themselves lost 8,500 feet high on a mountain. “We started yelling and nobody yelled back.”
Bill Donahue’s article is Lost & Found in Backpacker Magazine.
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The French Fries
One morning, Cathy found a takeout bag on her porch. It had the name “Rodolphe” on it, and contained one half-eaten order of french fries. The next morning, she found another bag. And then another. That’s when her neighbor Harley got involved: “We need to take this to the next level.”
Harley Rustad wrote an article about the french fry mystery for Toronto Life.
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Feeling Good
One night, a stranger came up to comedian Dan Perlman and told him he looked just like the singer Michael Bublé. She asked Dan if he would impersonate him for one night. He had six days to get ready.
Dan Perlman's short film is called Being Bublé.
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You've Got Mail
Delia Ephron has worked on some of the most famous romantic comedies of all time – like Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail – alongside her sister, Nora Ephron. In You’ve Got Mail, two people fall in love over email. Decades after writing that screenplay, Delia Ephron found herself in the middle of a very similar story. “I really did think I’d fallen into my own romantic comedy.”
This episo
A Needle in a Haystack
A dog went missing in a park in Brooklyn. A local Facebook group decided to help.
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Chloe and the Hare
“It felt like a magical experience. It felt like some sort of spell. I was living a childhood fairytale, of the comings and goings of this extraordinary animal that didn't need me, but seemed to be comfortable and willing to rest alongside me.”
Chloe Dalton’s book is Raising Hare: A Memoir.
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The Treasure Hunt
In 2010, a man named Forrest Fenn took a bronze box filled with treasure into the Rocky Mountains and hid it. He told one treasure hunter, “You just need to put the clues together and go get it.”
Justin Posey’s book is called Beyond the Map’s Edge.
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Into the Ice
The B-15 iceberg in Antarctica was the largest iceberg in recorded history. Explorer Jill Heinerth wanted to see what it looked like from the inside. She assembled a team of the most accomplished divers in the world, and they traveled for 12 days through the rough waters of the Southern Ocean. Attempting to dive into cracks in the iceberg, her life was in very real danger three times. And the thir
The Obituary Section
Heather Lende has written nearly 500 obituaries for people in her small town in Alaska. She’s known just about everyone she has written about.
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The Long Walk
When Emma Gatewood was 67, she told her children she was going on a walk. “The next they would hear from her would be via postcard… And it said, ‘By ‘walk’ I mean I'm thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.’”
Ben Montgomery’s book is Grandma Gatewood’s Walk.
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How's Your Life?
When Minh Nguyen was in school, he didn’t ask anyone to sign his yearbooks — he says he was too uncomfortable. But twenty years later, he started reaching out to all his former classmates. He asks everyone the same questions.
For more, check out Jordan P. Hickey’s article for D Magazine.
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Cry
In 1971, for his mother’s birthday, Alvin Ailey gave her a ballet. The dance was grueling – sometimes the women who did it bled. “I remember very well seeing my mother on her knees scrubbing these white folks’ rooms and halls. That image is in my ballet ‘Cry.’”
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Ava and the Pickpocket
“He stole my watch. He stole my jewelry. I stopped wearing jewelry – just to see what else he would steal.” In 2004, Ava Do met a professional pickpocket at a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. And they fell in love.
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One More Time
A visitor to the islands of the Pacific Northwest once described seeing “a forest of totem poles.” But by the time Robert Davidson was born, there wasn't a single one left standing in his village.
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A Sky of Kites
People in India have been flying kites for hundreds of years – using them to predict the weather, carry love letters, and compete in the air. But they share the sky and a name with hundreds of thousands of scavenging birds: black kites.
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The Throne
In 1964, a landlord in Washington, DC, noticed that his tenant hadn’t paid rent and went to look for him. The tenant wasn’t in the building – but he’d left behind something strange – something that he’d been working on for 14 years.
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My Penny
In October of 2006, a press conference was held at a hospital in Denver. During the press conference, a man asked if anyone watching could tell him who he was, or how he got there. Because he didn’t know.
This episode was originally released in 2021.
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The World According to Rick Steves
Never check a bag, always bring a journal, and consider duct tape: a conversation with Rick Steves.
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Alone Together
In 1966, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey had been married for three years. They’d bought a house in the suburbs in the middle of England, and had jobs at the tax office and a printing press. “They're living a respectable day-to-day suburban existence — which is kind of driving them both crazy. And one rainy evening, Maralyn just says, ‘You know what? Why don't we sell this house and build a boat and go
The Sea Around Us
When writer Rachel Carson built a house on Maine’s Southport Island, her new neighbor, Dorothy Freeman, sent her a note to welcome her. Rachel wrote back. And when the summer was over, they kept writing to each other.
Lida Maxwell’s book is Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love.
Martha Freeman's book is Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964
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Hot Dog!
An episode all about hot dogs and the people who love them.
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The Terra Nova
In 1910, a group of British men set off on an expedition – they wanted to be the first people to reach the South Pole. Over a hundred years later, in the journals and letters that survived, a writer discovered a love story.
For more, check out Allegra Rosenberg’s article, “From Antarctica with Love.”
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An American Original
In 1963, Jeanne and Alan Abel traveled to Washington, DC to picket in front of the White House. They said they were part of a campaign that wanted to put clothes on animals — including the first lady’s horse.
Jenny Abel and her husband, Jeff Hockett, made a documentary about her parents called Abel Raises Cain.
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Bambi, a Burrito Bowl, and Barry Manilow
Two years ago, we started making Criminal Plus episodes — behind-the-scenes conversations featuring Phoebe and Criminal co-creator Lauren Spohrer. Today, we’re sharing some of those conversations with you — about everything from Phoebe’s jangly bracelets to the reason a judge ordered a man to watch Bambi.
And we’re also sharing a promo code if you’d like to support our work and join our membershi
The Bear Repair
For the past 40 years, people have been sending Sally Winey their damaged stuffed animals, and she's been doing what she can to repair them. "That bear's been with them through everything.”
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This Is Uncomfortable
Terence McPherson and Shawnika Giger met at a party in Atlanta, and went on their first date a few weeks later. Things were going well, until they started to talk about money.
This episode is in collaboration with our friends at This Is Uncomfortable.
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And... Did You Kiss? Part 2
When The Guardian sends two strangers on a blind date, the last question they have to answer for the newspaper column is “Would you meet again?” We asked people how their dates went – and what happened next.
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And… Did You Kiss? Part 1
At The Guardian newspaper, there’s a person who has to find two complete strangers to send on a blind date every week.
In our next episode, we hear about how things really went from the blind daters themselves. You can listen right now by signing up for Criminal Plus.
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D'yan
About twenty years ago, D’yan Forest considered getting into stand-up comedy. “People told me, no, don’t go into comedy. Everybody is going to make fun of you. They’re gonna heckle you. You’re an old woman.” D’yan ignored them.
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The Security Guard
When his older brother died of cancer, Patrick Bringley quit his New York office job and got a new one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—as a security guard. He stayed for 10 years.
Patrick Bringley's book is All the Beauty in the World.
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On the Way to Dinner
On August 28th, 2000, Danny Stewart got on the subway to meet his boyfriend Pete Mercurio for dinner in New York City. As he was exiting the station, he noticed something on the ground. It looked like a baby doll wrapped in a shirt. And then he saw the doll's legs move.
Pete Mercurio's children's book is Our Subway Baby. His forthcoming memoir is called There: We Found Our Family In a New York Cit
Nice to Meet You Again
When Cody Bryant suddenly stopped communicating with Haley Woloshen after weeks of hanging out, she assumed she was being ghosted. It was only later that she found out he’d forgotten about her entirely.
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Frog Call
The day Edgardo Griffith met Heidi Ross, he asked her if she’d like to come with him to look for frogs. He was looking for a particular kind – bright yellow, with black spots: the Panamanian golden frog. But by the time Edgardo and Heidi were engaged, the frogs had started to disappear.
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In the Great Green Room
Everything you didn’t know about Goodnight Moon, the book that’s put children to bed for generations — and the woman who wrote it. "She could write very well for young children because she remembered exactly what it was like to be one of them."
Leonard Marcus’ book is Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon
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Beaver in the Christmas Aisle, Pig in the Pumpkins, Camel on the Run
Stories we love about animals really going for it.
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The King of Fruit
One night in 2018, Ahmed Ali Akbar rented a car and drove two hours to the Detroit airport. He was picking up a package for his cousin – over a dozen boxes of a very special fruit.
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The Manuscript
“After more than a hundred years of hard work from some of the greatest cryptological and linguistic minds on the planet, we still don’t quite know what this object is. There’s really nothing like it in the world.”
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What Happens Next
Recently, Phoebe told a personal story about her mother, who died this year. In this episode, she talks to journalist Sebastian Junger, who was rushed to the hospital one day after feeling sick – and then, he saw something strange.
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Valentine
For our 100th episode, a story from Phoebe about her mother, Valentine, who died this spring.
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Prairie Warbler
When Drew Lanham was growing up in South Carolina, he used to lie down in a field and play dead, just so he could get a glimpse of vultures flying over him. He made binoculars out of toilet paper rolls, and wings out of cardboard. He loved birds. But when he went to college, he says, “I was trying to live up to the expectations of others who said, ‘You’re a Black kid who’s good at math and science
At the End of Sight
Writer Andrew Leland talks with Phoebe about slowly losing his eyesight. He was diagnosed with the degenerative eye disease Retinitis pigmentosa when he was in high school. "It was like, 'I'm going out in the woods with my friends at night. And oddly enough, I'm bad at it.'"
Andrew Leland’s memoir, The Country of the Blind, A Memoir at the End of Sight, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
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Octavia and Miguel
When Miguel Esteban was 14 years old, he got an idea to make his own science fiction magazine. He wanted Octavia Butler to write a piece for it. So he picked up the phone to ask her.
Special thanks to Terry Gross and Fresh Air, which is produced at NPR member station WHYY and distributed by NPR. Quotes reprinted with permission of the Octavia E. Butler Estate.
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Hula with Teeth
One Saturday night in the 90s, Patrick Makuakāne and about 15 other hula dancers showed up to a club in San Francisco they called Old Dreamland. "It didn’t feel like taking risks. Because no one was there to tell me 'what the hell are you doing?'"
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Nurse BokHee
Nurse BokHee is in the background of every season of "Grey’s Anatomy." She’s become one of the show’s most beloved characters – but she's only had a few lines.
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A Day at the Crematory
Gabrielle Gatto works at one of the most famous cemeteries in the country. Recently, she recorded a day in her life for the podcast Finally! A Show, for an episode called “Finally! A Show about a Crematorium Worker at Green-Wood Cemetery.”
Criminal listeners might recognize one of the voices in this episode - Lynda Thompson-Lindsay - who runs the Lawrence H. Woodward Funeral Home. You can hear ou
Switched-On
The synthesizer was invented in the 1890s. But for people to really start using it, it took half a century, a musician named Wendy Carlos, and an album called Switched-On Bach.
Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan of Switched On Pop tell Phoebe why Wendy Carlos is “the most significant figure in 20th century music that the least people know about.”
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To Know the Dark
The night sky is getting brighter almost everywhere in the world. We visit a place that is trying to stay dark.
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You Can't Promise to Love Forever
Folk singer Peggy Seeger and her partner, Irene Pyper-Scott, live on different continents. Peggy has written dozens of poems and songs for Irene, and one for the man she spent 33 years with before that – Ewan MacColl. “He loved me the way I loved Irene.”
Ewan MacColl wrote the famous love song – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – about Peggy in 1957.
Peggy Seeger’s book is First Time Ever: A
The Most Romantic Place in Philadelphia
McGillin’s Olde Ale House is the oldest bar in Philadelphia, and it also claims to be the most romantic place in the city. The Philadelphia Inquirer says: “McGillin’s has matchmaking magic.”
Special thanks to Andrew Stelzer.
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At the Drawing Board
Curtis was one of the first nationally-syndicated comic strips with a mostly-Black cast of characters. Ray Billingsley has been drawing it for newspapers every day for the past 35 years.
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I'm Alright
When comic Maria Bamford made her OkCupid profile with the username Hogbook, she says Scott Marvel Cassidy was one of the only people who contacted her. His username was Lazer Eyes.
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A Family Secret
Kyo Maclear remembers when she took a DNA test, the kit came with a piece of paper with terms and conditions that read, “You may discover unanticipated facts about yourself or your family when using our services that you may not have the ability to change.”
Kyo Maclear’s book is Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets.
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Charlotte as Romeo
When Charlotte Cushman arrived in England, she was heartbroken. But she began looking for work as an actor. There was one part she really wanted: Romeo.
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One in a Million
In 2016, scientist Angus Davison got an email about a rare, left-coiling snail. He began a quest to find it a mate.
This episode was first released in 2018.
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The Nicholas Effect
If you visit Italy, you might come across a street, or a park, or a school, or even a chain of coffee shops named after a 7-year-old American named Nicholas Green. This is the reason why.
We're on tour this month! We’re telling brand new stories, live on stage. You can even get meet and greet tickets to come and say hi before the show. Tickets are on sale now at thisiscriminal.com/live. We can’t w
Albert and Alberta
One day, as a student at the University of Florida, Kourtney LaPlant was reading the student newspaper. “And there was this little tiny ad in the paper about, hey, we’re looking for new mascots. And I was like, why not?”
We're going back on tour this month! We’ll be telling brand new stories, live on stage. You can even get meet and greet tickets to come and say hi before the show. Tickets are on
The Care and Keeping of You
When Valorie Lee Schaefer was asked to write a book about puberty for kids, her first thought was, “Why me?” But as she got to work on it, she realized, “Every girl thinks that they're a freak of nature.”
A new, updated edition of The Care and Keeping of You is out now.
We're going back on tour in February! We’ll be telling brand new stories, live on stage. You can even get meet and greet ticket
Tau = 10.8
When twin rovers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars twenty years ago, they were only supposed to last 90 Martian days. But years passed, they were still alive, and engineers kept taking care of them. “I remember telling myself, ‘Please don’t die, Opportunity. Please don’t die.’”
We're going back on tour in February! We’ll be telling brand new stories, live on stage. You can even get meet
How to Live Forever
An experiment in living together, forever.
This episode was originally released in 2018.
We're going back on tour in February! We’ll be telling brand new stories, live on stage. You can even get meet and greet tickets to come and say hi before the show. Tickets are on sale now at thisiscriminal.com/live. We can’t wait to see you there!
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Let’s Give It a Whirl
In 2015, Brad Ryan called up his 85-year-old grandmother to see if she wanted to join him on a road trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “She just said, ‘What time are you picking me up?’”
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The Pointe Shoes
Growing up, Ashton Edwards spent hours watching videos of famous ballerinas. Ashton loved the ballet “Swan Lake” – especially the role of the Swan Queen. But they noticed that only female dancers danced that role, and got to dance on pointe.
One day, years later, they decided to put on a pair of pointe shoes anyway.
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The Barbizon Hotel
In its early days, the magazine Mademoiselle positioned itself as “the magazine for smart young women.” It published work by Truman Capote, Albert Camus, and Flannery O’Connor. Each summer, the magazine selected 20 women from colleges around the country to come to New York and work as guest editors. For housing, they were put up in a women-only hotel at East 63rd and Lexington Avenue: The Barbizon
The Contestant
After Jean Westcott's first "Jeopardy!" audition, she waited 18 months to find out if she'd be on the show. She didn't get called, so she auditioned again. And again. She kept auditioning for over 20 years.
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Jiminy Crickets
Here's a little preview of what we’re making over on Criminal Plus! We’re having a lot of fun making these bonus episodes. In each one, Criminal co-creator Lauren Spohrer and I take your questions and talk about what’s happening behind the scenes – and anything else that comes up. Recently we’ve talked about the only time I’ve ever stopped an interview, unusual gift ideas, Lauren’s love of sheet c
Here I Am
Jules Hirsh had his first bar mitzvah when he was 13 years old, in 1946. Seventy years later, he celebrated a second one, at 83 - and then his wife, Julianne, decided to have a second bat mitzvah too. “It's a marker of, well, here I am. I've lived this long and so I'm here before you, saying that.”
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Phoebe vs. Oyster
We’re coming up on 10 years of our other show, Criminal. In the past decade, we've loved taking the show all over the country - including the time I ate a bad oyster in San Francisco and almost didn't make it on stage. It means a lot to us, to be together with you in person - so we're excited to be doing it again soon.
This February, we'll be coming to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Paul
Beatrix Potter and Her Sheep
“It's all about finding the place that makes you happy, finding the life that makes you happy, and not worrying that other people make different choices.”
Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2BmMZr5
Want to listen to This is Love ad-free? Sign up for Criminal Plus – you’ll get This is Love, Criminal, and Phoebe Reads a Mys
A Really Terrible Orchestra
In the Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle, it's perfectly good to sound bad.
Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2BmMZr5
Want to listen to This is Love ad-free? Sign up for Criminal Plus – you’ll get This is Love, Criminal, and Phoebe Reads a Mystery ad-free. Plus, behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal and ot
The Wolves
We go searching for wolves in Yellowstone National Park, and learn about the dramatic and surprisingly relatable relationship between a powerful young wolf and the small, elderly wolf who had raised him.
This month, we're bringing you two of our favorite episodes – two stories about the same family of wolves in Yellowstone. One is a love story. And one is a crime story. For the crime story, check
The Other Phoebe Judge
A preview of what we’re making over on Criminal Plus! Hear me and Criminal co-creator Lauren Spohrer taking your questions, telling stories, and talking with other producers and special guests. We’re having a lot of fun making these bonus episodes.
When you sign up for Criminal Plus, you’ll also get ad-free listening on all of the shows we make, access to an exclusive merch store, and more. If you
Telling the Bees
For a long time, beekeepers have told bees their news. They’ve told their bees about weddings, and when people they know have died. It’s said that if they don’t, the bees will leave their hives, or stop making honey, or die.
Sometimes, like after Queen Elizabeth II died, beekeepers draped hives in black ribbon. Sometimes they’d shift their hives slightly to the right. “This movement would signal t
