13 episodes
Rich Chocolaty Goodness Richard C. Goodness
-
- Society & Culture
In 2014 I was living in Los Angeles. I had just dropped out of a Ph.D. program and was on my way to South Korea to work as an English teacher. Then, I met a French teacher. We fell in love, I dropped everything, and six months later I followed her to Paris with nothing but two suitcases.
As exciting as this new life was, looking for work and struggling with everyday life in a language I didn't speak started to chip away at my confidence. I could see that people back home had been steadily building towards something: finishing Ph.D's and working stable jobs, successfully making the transition to adult life while I had the impression of continually starting over.
This became the perfect excuse to call my friends and catch up. Beautiful people with big dreams whom I've met at different stages of life and who are now researchers, artists, teachers, scientists, parents. It turns out they too are trying to figure life out.
Stay tuned for new episodes every two weeks.
-
Oedipal Dream or Peppers In Exile
In this episode I'm catching up with Pedro, a Ph.D. student in Portuguese literature. Join us as we talk about life in academia, his dissertation, therapy, Portuguese cuisine, electric scooters and urinals, among other things. Check out the show notes for extra links to some of the things mentioned in the episode.
-
Thanks for the Feedback
In this episode I’m catching up with my old Community College friend, San Diego-based artist Eddy Miramontes. We start off talking about one of his recent pieces and the conversation slowly turns into an oscillating inspection on the topics of fatherhood and the nature of art. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to hang out with this guy.
Check out the notes section of this episode for extra links and goodies. -
Avocado Spread
In this episode I’m catching up with my old grad school buddy Osiris, Assistant professor of Mexican literature and culture at the University of Minnesota. You’ll hear us speak about Mexican indigenous literatures (his main area of research) and, you guessed it, avocados!
We also talk about the pleasure of writing fiction and the panic of writing a dissertation which, of course, brings up some hilarious memories.
Check out the show notes for bonus material (like that fish photo Osiris mentioned) or find it directly on our Instagram and Facebook. -
What Is Your Definition of Sexy?
In this episode I’m catching up with my friend Ricardo, a Portuguese language and literature teacher. We talk about Portuguese identity and the myth around the concept of “saudade.” We also talk about the process of writing a Ph.D. dissertation and take some detours to chat about the death of the author, Fernando Pessoa, Herberto Helder, Amalia Rodrigues and even Chavela Vargas. Finally, we compare our respective experiences of leaving our hometowns to study abroad, as well as the benefits of judging books by their covers. You might even get to hear me sing a little flamenco…
There’s plenty of references so make sure to check out the episode notes for extra links and goodies at https://www.podcastics.com/podcast/episode/what-is-your-definition-of-sexy-24084/ -
Encore: Mucho Maas, Un Poquito Más
In this episode I’m catching up with Michael Grafals, a Literature professor at Florida International University. Dr. Grafals finally explains the meaning behind the phrase “Rich Chocolaty Goodness” and brings some serious knowledge about Postmodern Literature and literary theory. But there’s more to life than books and Dr. Grafals knows it, you might even get to hear a song or two in this episode… Make sure to visit our site for quotes and additional info, as well as a link to a sweet playlist that Michael put together for this episode.
-
Schrödinger's Podcast
In this episode I’m catching up with my grad school friend Andreas who recently left Copenhagen and moved to a comune in Jutland, Denmark, and we talk about leaving the world of academia to work in the tech industry. We also dig deep and try to understand what defines a happy life, what this means in terms of our struggle between curiosity and laziness, and an incident with the Dalai Lama...