The Bard of Hudson
by Diana A Green
Stories of life growing up on the shores of the Hudson River. From an abundant treasure trove of stories gathered from life, children, Shakespeare and other great teachers comes a personal podcast of stories that weave the thread of this life back down through the ages and forward into the future. These are the stories I would tell my grandchildren if I ever had any. These are the stories I have shared with countless children – those who shared a time of learning with me as students, my own two children who love and tell stories of their own, and for Lu, who loved the “gory stories” best.
Episodes
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Episode 280: Match Dot Mom
Thank you friends and fans! Here is my final episode. It is a reading of a play that I wrote that summed up my dating experiences with match dot com. It was headed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2020 before all the shit hit the fan. It will be produced one day soon at a theater near me.…
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Episode 289: Namibia and Other Wonders
The second half of our African adventure in 2004 took us to the Skeleton Coast and the crazy landscape of Namibia. It was a landscape you might see in a Star Wars movie. I am also announcing that this will be the next to last episode. I am moving on to other projects and I tell you a bit about…
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Episode 288: Breathtaking Botswana 2004
Mom and I took the kids on safari in the summer of 2004. We went on a tented safari - much more rustic than those glamping affairs they have nowadays. It was the trip of a lifetime! We shared many hours of animal sightings and wonderful evenings around the fire under African stars.
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Episode 287: Houses in Portugal
As my spring kicks off with adventures in theater, I wrap up my wonderful adventure in Portugal. Porto, Barcelos, Evora, Monsaraz and finally Lisbon. It was a blessing to spend concentrated time with my eldest child. I am forever grateful!
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Episode 286: Betrayal and Renewal
One door closes and another one opens, right? At least I'm back in the saddle and rehearsing a play! Also you'll hear tales of my explorations of Portugal - visits to Sintra, Nazare, and Obidos to name a few. Wonderful!
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Episode 285: A Wild Night in Portugal!
I took my daughter to Portugal for two and a half weeks and we had some wonderful adventures. Here is a recording we made together of an insane ride up a mountainside to a tiny remote village called Aldeia do Candal. We were inspired to tell the story on the spot, so it's raw and unedited, but I...
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Episode 284: One and Done
OK, well, technically two, but also one. The relationship lasted one year and we made love twice in that time. It was completely uncharacteristic of me to hang in that long with an unconsummated affair, so I should have known it was not for me much longer before I ended it. But when we're in the...
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Episode 283: The Kisses of Others
The Universe was sending me signals and temptations in the form of propositions from other quarters. Just when I was losing my mind with the intensity of a passion that was never consummated, I was being offered sex from many other sources. Would that solve the immediate problem? Or just make...
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Episode 282: Letters Sent and Unsent
Do you ever write letters that you don't send? Perhaps as a "rehearsal" for a tough conversation? I find it a useful tool, and these letters are folded up and stuck into my journals all over the place. Here are some I did not send and some I sent to Simon and what resulted from them. I have a...
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Episode 281: The Wheel of Fortune
Do you ever feel like life tosses you from highs to lows very quickly? I've had a few weeks like that lately, ranging from horrible evil to blissful happiness. It made me think of the Wheel of Fortune card in the Tarot. Nothing lasts forever. Try not to fight it. I have a Patreon page! Please…
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Episode 280: Italy My Happy Place
I've been looking into European citizenship options, and recently learned that Italy would not work for me. This came as a shock. I always thought I would end up there somehow but now I have to come up with an alternative. Ahh, well. It will always hold a special place in my heart. I end the...
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Episode 279: Cheating Myself
In the midst of a bizarre love triangle I had to start protecting myself. I felt like a pawn in a high-stakes power struggle. I had to reclaim my own voice. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips from my journals and hear a bit…
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Episode 278: Zuko the Fire Prince
He was a beloved little boy who died too soon. He brought joy and love into our lives when we needed him most and then he exited much too fast and horribly, but we will never forget him. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips from...
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Episode 277: William Hurt Walks Into My Life
Does anyone ever talk about a three-quarter-life-crisis? I examine that idea and also dip back into my mid-life-crisis. There was one moment there that was made glorious by an encounter with William Hurt. Whatever else might be said about him, he was a benevolent audience member and a fellow...
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Episode 276: Cruise Control
In the midst of a crazy love affair and trying to put a show on its feet I took off for a Carnival cruise down to the Caribbean with my mom and all the kids. It was a disappointing adventure and one I will never repeat, but I guess at least it was checked off the Bucket List. And I got to hug a...
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Episode 275: Imagine It Anew
As we kick off 2023 let's gently imagine what we want it to be. Perhaps we have been too aggressive in the past few years about insisting on change? Perhaps we need to be more peaceful about how we start this new year? I am starting by jumping back and thinking about how I imagined my most...
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Episode 274: Resolutions Schmesolutions
Where did this tradition of New Year's resolutions come from and why do we continue with it when we know that we are most likely to fail? I explore some of those questions and even a few statistics and then I arrive at a resolution. 😏 Will you make a list this year? Or will you just keep on...
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Episode 273: Silent Night Fun
Pulling one more out of the vault to give it a new shine. Here's Episode 84 and a collection of stories about Christmas Eve of yore... Enjoy! I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips from my journals and hear a bit more about some…
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Episode 272: Christmases in the 1970s
Pulling episode 83 out of the vault and adding a few more fun moments to muse about the Christmases of my childhood and all the weird presents we got. There's one that we especially loved to give, however, and that was our homemade Christmas calendar. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out.…
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Episode 271: Christmas Caroling Parties in the 1970s
Here's one from the vaults - Episode 79 re-worked and expanded to celebrate one of the most wonderful traditions from the Christmases of my childhood. I hope you are all making heart-warming memories with your own families and loved-ones during this season of lights. I have a Patreon page! Please...
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Episode 270: First Snow, Third Child
I got to feel that magic of the first snow of the season this morning! Lovely and harmless. As long as it doesn't keep me from going up to see my third child in Massachusetts. Her name is Eryn, and she's a friend of my daughter's that I grew especially close to during the trials of lockdown. She...
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Episode 269: Aging Gracefully?
Do you actively plan for how you want to approach your waning years? Can we do that in the same way that we set up goals for other future events? I am surrounded by octogenarians these days and it makes me think about what I will be like in another 25 years, assuming that I make it that long. So...
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Episode 268: Cleopatra Found Me Just in Time
You know that "life imitates art" business people are always talking about? Well, I have often found that events in my personal life are amplified by whatever bit of Shakespeare's texts I might be working on at the time. It's spooky. Really. And so it was that Cleopatra came into my life just…
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Episode 267: The Biggest Secret
What is your biggest secret from your life? Have you ever told anyone? Did it help? I am telling you my biggest secret right here. It's a relief. Still waiting for the fallout... we'll see... I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips...
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Episode 266: Mom's Vespa Odyssey
In the summer after her junior year of college, my mom decided that she wanted to see the country by taking a cross-country road trip... on a Vespa! In 1959, girls didn't do such things. It was an Odyssean voyage of perils and triumphs, and she told me this tale over a cup of coffee in her quiet...
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Episode 265: Preparing for Winter
We start wrapping things up for the end of the year, and I don't mean presents. Gardens. Social calendars. Things happen in a similar way on the grand scale in terms of a life. I have been watching my mom and her siblings these past few days and have learned much about how our days decline. It's...
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Episode 264: Gratitude Day
There is much that is problematic about the story that surrounds this holiday of Thanksgiving. I take a few moments to discuss that and explore how we might reframe it. But then I'll leave you with a satisfying assortment of things for which I am most grateful, including, of course, all of YOU!...
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Episode 263: A Test of Empathy
In which I compare inmates, Hamlet and next-door neighbors. 😳 It made sense in my head. Find out more about Shakespeare Behind Bars HERE. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips from my journals and hear a bit more about some of…
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Episode 262: Foundations
Sometimes we are unaware of the foundations upon which we build. Both the physical structures - like my mom's house built on a cement slab which makes the whole downstairs freezing - and the philosophical foundations, like our beliefs and processes. My relationship foundations were rotten. I just...
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Episode 261: Hell Week
Opening night of Romeo & Juliet finally came after so much anticipation of all kinds. My love affair was existing on waves of anticipation too. Pain and pleasure in such close proximity. Life imitates art. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see...
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Episode 260: Boldness be my Friend
I dove into an affair that I thought would be a brief flash of passion, but which would turn out to be a longer chapter in my life than I imagined. Here it starts, amidst the tumult of amateur theater. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos...
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Episode 259: Saving Private Daylight
What is this whole Daylight Savings Time all about and why can't we just decide for ourselves when we want to do things? I got curious so I went exploring a bit. But then I get back to Romeo & Juliet and couples' therapy. Oy! I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge...
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Episode 258: Welcome to the Monkey House
My mom's house is very chaotic! It is making it very difficult to concentrate on my own work. Not ideal. But I did get back to my story of the past, so get ready because there are some juicy tales ahead. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see…
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Episode 257: The Land of Counterpane
I'm home sick today, as opposed to homesick. It made me think of being sick here in mom's house as a child and the various things I did to entertain myself. My grandmother came to read to me sometimes also, and she loved poetry. I especially remember this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. I have a...
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Episode 256: Ren Faire Sword Nerds
Every parent makes questionable choices for their kids in some way, and I think that taking my very young children to the Renaissance Faire in 2002 might have been one of those, but hey, in the grand scheme of things it was probably one of the least harmful. The Ren Faire became a big influence…
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Episode 255: Doris and Mabel Go To France
Annie and I are in France and our alter-egos from college time just took over the whole experience, so here they are to paint you a colorful picture about their ramble through the French countryside. Enjoy! A-bean-toe! I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll...
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Episode 254: Angel From Montgomery
Every small encounter has changed the course of the path that has led me here. Some newer ones, funny and light, have added color to my crazy rambling adventure. Others from years ago still tug at my heart with a melancholy wish for just a few more days... I have a Patreon page! Please check it...
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Episode 253: The Quiet Emerald Isle
During this visit, I'm finding Ireland to be a place of quiet satisfaction in a gentle life. I've met egg farmers and people with backyard sheep who spend their days spinning and weaving. It is an enviable and peaceful existence. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small...
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Episode 252: The Honesty Box
I've moved on to Ireland and the many beauties that await a driver around any bend on The Wild Atlantic Way. One of these is a charming custom called the Honesty Box. After I update you on my present delights I am continuing with my tales of romance and 2002. Romeo and Juliet was next on my...
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Episode 251: Season 2 Opener
Welcome to a new season of The Bard of Hudson! It's been a year of podcasting, but in my timeline I'll be returning to the early 2000s with stories of dating in the early days of Match.com and many other haphazard and funny adventures. All along the way there will be discussions of current…
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Episode 250: Wrapping Up Season 1
Episode 250! Huge milestone for me! So here I'm going to give you some ideas of where to go back and listen to earlier episodes if you don't know where to begin. If you have been here all along, this episode will be a trip down memory lane of where we've been together. What a wild ride! I also...
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Episode 249: Love Triangles
People often fall in love in love scenes. Look at Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. If that's too far in the past for you then how about Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie? You know what I mean anyway. So how could well-intentioned amateurs from a small community in the Hudson Valley hope to escape such...
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Episode 248: A Country of Contrasts - Dubrovnik
Some vignettes from the rest of my trip to Dubrovnik, including a visit to a strange tiny church in the town of Nin, and the mesmerizing sounds of the Sea Organ in Zadar. I was basically disappointed in northern Croatia, but you never know until you try. I returned to Dubrovnik on my last night...
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Episode 247: Dragon Queen - Dubrovnik
I took a pause between writing residencies to visit Croatia. If you know anything about Dubrovnik, you probably know that it is the location for many scenes from Game of Thrones. So... I went on a tour. Hey, it was also an ideal way to hear a lot of the history of the city, right up until the...
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Episode 246: Snedens Landing Parties
In some ways the neighborhood where I grew up as a child, Snedens Landing in Palisades, was very fancy and posh, and in some ways it was just a collection of friendly neighbors. Over the years there were parties that happened regularly for holidays where we could all go and be together at special...
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Episode 245: Mushroom Musings About Moms
What is it about the mother-daughter relationship? Why is it so fraught with drama, so complicated? Is it a battle we must fight for the sake of evolution? Do we ever really change that much from generation to generation? I woke up after a mushroom risotto with many thoughts swirling in my head....
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Episode 244: Separating the Men From the Roys
My first Match.com date came around (pardon the pun), and I tried to approach it all with an open mind. I was 40, after all, and I wasn't imagining that wild, impulsive thrill of 20-year-old dating, but still... Turns out that Roy was one of those arrested development guys who was sophisticated...
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Episode 243: Thy Eternal Summer
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, when in eternal lines to time thou growest." - WS This episode is dedicated to Pat, who passed on November 16, 2001. have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If...
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Episode 242: Tomorrow and Tomorrow
You don't need me to tell you what the morning of 9/11/01 felt like. You know. Here is simply my account of what a small band of kids did with all that fear and hatred. I have a Patreon page! Please check it out. If you make a small pledge you'll get to see photos and clips from my journals and...
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Episode 241: Strange Bedfellows
My kids and I were sopping up all the Shakespeare learning we could take. We visited the UK in the summer of 2001 and saw a production at the new Globe Theatre and another at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. Then at the end of the summer I gathered a group of adults who were also...
About this show
Stories of life growing up on the shores of the Hudson River. From an abundant treasure trove of stories gathered from life, children, Shakespeare and other great teachers comes a personal podcast of stories that weave the thread of this life back down through the ages and forward into the future. These are the stories I would tell my grandchildren if I ever had any. These are the stories I have shared with countless children – those who shared a time of learning with me as students, my own two children who love and tell stories of their own, and for Lu, who loved the “gory stories” best.
Hosted by
Diana A Green