20 episodes
WINNETKA: A Memoir Brian Conlan
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- Arts
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4.3 • 226 Ratings
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WINNETKA is a ten-episode memoir created and produced by award-winning actress Jessica Harper, with original music. The podcast features the voices of the Harper family, who share in the telling of their remarkable story.
WINNETKA tells of six Harper kids coming of age in Eisenhower’s post-war America, in a Chicago suburb called Winnetka. The siblings are buffeted by the rages of a father with PTSD, challenged by life in a big family, rocked by social change in the sixties, and ultimately stunned by a long held family secret.
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10. Corrections
While going through our father’s files after the funeral, Sam finds stunning information about Dad’s ancestry that bounces crazily off of our mother’s. But Dad had altered his legacy. Also, his overt appreciation of my daughters has a healing effect.
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Bonus Episode: A Preface To Revelation
Dad's presence would be more keenly felt after the revelations that followed his funeral...
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9. The Ice Storm
I regret missing Woodstock, and resolve to tune in, turn on and drop out. Soon, all but one of us have left or been expelled from school. Dad melts down, then rebounds and moves his family to New York, marking the end of our childhood.
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Bonus Story: Drug Reboot
You really want to smoke pot? It's strong as f**k these days!
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8. Strange Land
Just as Papa Harper dies of alcoholism, Dad gets promoted and moves his reluctant family to the east coast. Billy and Diana and I go to college, seeking sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, while the younger three are miserable in their new home.Just as Papa Harper dies of alcoholism, Dad gets promoted and moves his reluctant family to the east coast. Billy and Diana and I go to college, seeking sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, while the younger three are miserable in their new home.
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Bonus Story: What We Wore
You could just hear their golf clubs rattle as their parents realized their daughters were sleeping with hippies.
Customer Reviews
Thank you
I really liked the home spun honestly; I also loved the music.
Self indulgent
This podcast is completely self-indulgent. I can’t believe that I wasted my time listening to the whole thing. The big “reveal” in the end was not earth-shattering like the listener is led to believe. This podcast might be interesting for the family, but it’s not that interesting for everyone else.
Just Lovely!
Perfectly done. I am enjoying your story, your telling of it and especially the writing. ❤️