Catholics can be weird about death. Case in point: first class relics and chapels of bone. But there’s something glorious about seeing death and life as a semi-permeable barrier. For example, every saint in the canon.

This podcast is several days late because my flight on Friday had a 4 hour delay and I ended up very tired. Here are my thoughts about the hurry up and wait of air travel, including my memory of the great delay I had going to Spain for the first time.

This bonus episode is a prayer practicum for my episode all about Lectio Divina. Join me in lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio as we pray with Mark 5:35-41 (A Calming of a Storm at Sea). If you’d like to do Visio Divina with this podcast as well (praying with scripture through images) I love this painting by Rembrandt as an accompaniment to this passage: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calming_the_storm#

Want to go deeper in Scripture? Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) is a great way to push yourself from the noise of daily living to that deeper conversation with God. Come with me as we learn about the stages of this prayer (meditatio, oratio, contemplatio). And don’t forget VISIO Divina! *** If you’d like to learn more I recommend the Oriens Advent reflection book by Fr. Joel Sember (https://pilgrimpriest.us) or invite you to check back Sunday for a bonus prayer practicum podcast (try saying that five times fast!)

As you know, I am not ACTUALLY known as Belén. Tonight, I tell you all about my true, given name, which is…

Back in my twenties, I asked God for advice in getting my life together, and the answer was “Prayer”. My response to THAT was “Yeah, okay, but SERIOUSLY, what should I be doing?” but I came around…eventually. My prayer journey has now arrived at this point where I am recording the first episode in a series all about prayer. This episode tells you why I care, and hopefully why you should too. Future episodes will explore prayer forms like Lectio Divina, Litanies, the Rosary, and the Mass (just to name a few).

In November 2022, I attended the 20Booksto50k conference in Las Vegas. Even though the conference was the beginning of health troubles that make the end of the year pretty rough, it was still a fantastic experience I would recommend for any author interested in independent publishing (who has good lungs). You can find some great free writing and publishing resources or find out more about the event here: https://youtube.com/@20Booksto50kRLiveEvents

Today is the Feast of Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season, and I have successfully acquired the post-Christmas poinsettia. This bonus episode is full of opinions on proper pronunciation, the story of Poin and Stella (my previous poinsettias), and random facts about poinsettias I learned JUST FOR YOU.

Regular posting schedule (2nd and 4th Fridays of the month), longer episodes, and a long-running series about prayer are my plans for 2023. Is there anything else you’d like to see? Let me know with the Anchor Q&A or at https://baileyrhansen.com/contact/ .

Are you going home for Christmas? Physically or in your dreams? In a lot of ways, for me, Christmas is about the act of traveling from one place to another, to see family or just because.

I’m not feeling great so this episode is…nothing in particular. And also late.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite American holidays. No matter where you are, even in the heart of Spain (and completely incapable of making green bean casserole), you can celebrate good food, friend, family, and the turning of the seasons. And usually with a truly ridiculous number of side dish options.

In this episode I interview the wonderful Laura Rye, my co-author with the A Monster by Any Other Name series, about literature, love of writing, loathing for depressing 20th Century literature, and the absurdity of choosing your life path at the age of 18. Note: This episode has a couple swears and a lot of passionate discussions of our literary hatreds. No books were harmed in the making of this podcast. The newest book in our A Monster By Any Other Name series, Fear, will be available December 1, 2022! You can learn more and pre-order here: https://books2read.com/fearfc  Also! I am now posting Starbound, an episodic love story about reaching for the stars, on Kindle Vella. First three episodes available to read for free here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0B24CZB9H

I celebrated another birthday recently, and this is a year that ends in 5. And you know what that means: a time to look back and a time to look forward.

What do Madeleine L’Engle, Kim Harrison, and Virginia Woolf have on common? Well, in addition to being excellent female writers they KILL people. Well, okay, just that one person/character but THEY WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE. Listen to me rant about Arm of the Starfish, For a Few Demons More, and To the Lighthouse while commenting on writing choices and my personal desires as a reader. Includes lots of passion, which means this one is probably less soothing than usual, and ALMOST a swear word. (I also mention Serenity, Children of Men, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Game of Thrones, and Rogue One).

There's a lot of bad church music in the world. I should know. I've been singing in choirs and cantoring for half my life, and sometimes I'm part of the problem, and sometimes part of the solution. But a retreat this last weekend left me with several ear worm songs and a reminder that, when done well, music can be a way to bring a community together and also praise the Lord. When we lift our voices together, that can be a little taste of heaven. Featuring "I've Got the Joy" a praise song by George W. Cooke and arranged and sung by me.

Summer is the season for church picnics. Labor Day Weekend, I ended up at the delightful Kermis Festival in Brussels WI. This is a very a very Belgian variety of the traditional church picnic, featuring some somewhat unique dishes.

When people ask me my favorite place to travel as a kid I usually say Las Vegas, but that’s just because THE ENTIRE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA just doesn’t have the same ring to it. This episode tells you my tourist traps, with a special thought about Wall Drug (that ridiculous triumph of advertising).

The last full weekend of July was the annual EAA fly-in event. Part museum, part trade show, part learning opportunity, 100% party, this annual event in Oshkosh is a little bit of everything. Or maybe a LOT of everything.

Jobs are interesting. We need them, but don't always love them. And then there are some people who end up in a weird little job fueled 100% by a weird little passion.