Buona Befana

In Italy, especially this region, Le Marche, they celebrate Befana on January 6th. She’s pictured as an old crone covered in soot who comes down the chimney on the eve of Epiphany and leaves gifts or lumps of coal for the children. She sweeps away the old year and its problems with her broom.  As […]

Series Two Introduction

Liz Sumner introduces the next series of the podcast, a little wiser and even more determined. New episodes begin January 7th, 2019 Listen to the latest episode

Maximum Tilt

The North Pole has reached its maximum tilt away from the Sun. From now on there will be more light and less dark. Hallelujah. I love the winter solstice. The idea that days are getting longer fills me with renewed hope and energy. I, for one, need some of that.  This year has been a bit […]

Why Chores Are So Hard

This week I had the distinct pleasure of being interviewed by Amanda Mull, staff writer for The Atlantic, a publication I greatly admire. She was writing a piece on procrastination, a subject on which I have lifelong expertise. Not all of my nuggets of wisdom made it into the finished article so I thought I’d share […]

Can an American woman do this?

I recently heard about a couple of guys who left established careers– one an engineer and one in finance– and went back to university to study music.  Wow, I thought. That would make a great subject for my podcast! “I Always Wanted to go back to school to study _____.” I loved the idea. It […]