LanguaTalk

TreeHouseLetter

Rise above the tedium and join me in the TreeHouse. Sharing the best ideas and writing, MyLinh Shattan has a particular fondness for words, music, and the power of story. “I adore your podcasts; each and every one is a little gem. You never say three words when two will do. Everything you do shows unusual respect and appreciation for your listeners’ time and intelligence.” Buzz, former Managing Editor for News and Public Affairs Programming at WHRB-FM/Harvard Radio Broadcasting

Bringing Writers and Readers Together

8 mins; September 13, 2022

"Old Age is Not for the Young"*

11 mins; September 06, 2022

What Book Would You Take to a Desert Island?

14 mins; August 25, 2022

Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing

10 mins; August 19, 2022

The Sentence Fragment

8 mins; August 17, 2022

No Ordinary Hike: Marchback for the USMA Class of 2026

11 mins; August 10, 2022

On Fighting and Writing: Blackwing and Bruce Lee

9 mins; August 01, 2022

Spandrel: Byproduct of Evolution and Thing of Beauty

6 mins; July 22, 2022

Thoughts on Music and the Brain

11 mins; July 17, 2022

Essays that changed me: Alison Lurie and 'When most boys... joined the armed services.'

12 mins; July 08, 2022

Simba the Designer Dog? A Perfect Combination of 5 Breeds

7 mins; June 23, 2022

Notes on a Year of Love

7 mins; June 23, 2022

Why I write

10 mins; June 10, 2022

"The Q-tips Are for Your M4" and the Art of the Paragraph

10 mins; June 07, 2022

"Keep the Faith For Which They Died" this Memorial Day

6 mins; May 30, 2022

The Last Recital

5 mins; May 27, 2022

"Django with One Finger," a Living Music Icon

10 mins; May 22, 2022

On Puppies and Babies: a "Communion with Terror"

8 mins; May 16, 2022

Books for Mothers and Daughters

5 mins; May 06, 2022

What Makes a Speech Great? an Admiral Tells 3 Stories

11 mins; May 03, 2022

Exercises in Style: a Writing Tribute

5 mins; May 03, 2022

1000 Push-ups? Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

10 mins; April 25, 2022

Bedside Counselor on Parenting in Anger, in Two Translations

12 mins; April 19, 2022

What I Learned Walking With a Friend

12 mins; April 08, 2022

A Poet Warrior Learns Kindness

8 mins; April 04, 2022

A Fool is Full and a Pool Not a Pull

5 mins; April 01, 2022

Three Sunsets in One Day

7 mins; March 28, 2022

Each sentence reflects 3 choices

4 mins; March 22, 2022

Spicy Rooster and a Coffee Outpost

9 mins; March 17, 2022

Firecracker and a Humble Queen

8 mins; March 13, 2022

Essays that changed me: Rachel Cusk and “Making Home”

10 mins; March 10, 2022

Writing on the Road and the Creative Process

10 mins; March 05, 2022

Poetry for Emergencies: Ukraine, Howard Nemerov, and the War Dead

12 mins; March 02, 2022

Sex Over 70 Years and the Synecdoche

16 mins; February 27, 2022

Adult Child and a Zen Koan

6 mins; February 24, 2022

Love in a Sad Cafe

10 mins; February 19, 2022

A Valentine Canine and the Circle of Life

7 mins; February 16, 2022

If You Want to Write, Your Writing Has to Have Rhythm

13 mins; February 12, 2022

The Meaning in Music

9 mins; February 08, 2022

Coaching Habit by Stanier: Short Take on How to Avoid Crappy Advice for the Wrong Problem

4 mins; February 05, 2022

Books as Trophies, the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist

9 mins; February 02, 2022

Thay's Miracle: Short Take on a Long Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)

3 mins; January 30, 2022

The Sexy Semicolon, Really?

7 mins; January 25, 2022

Poetry for Emergencies: Lain S. Thomas at Daybreak

8 mins; January 13, 2022

New Year: Goals Versus Habits

12 mins; January 09, 2022

Graveside Gratitude, Giving Thanks in November

6 mins; November 23, 2021

Summer's End

11 mins; September 21, 2021

Alaska Mountains May Spoil You For All the Rest

13 mins; July 30, 2021

Father and His Letters

4 mins; June 21, 2021

Memorial Day, Reflection and Celebration

14 mins; May 31, 2021

April Dreams

9 mins; April 25, 2021

Two Truths and a Lie, a Fools Game

8 mins; April 01, 2021

I Met a Man at the Top of Chimney Rock

11 mins; February 09, 2021

Family Travel in a Pandemic - By Air and By Land

14 mins; January 06, 2021

Giving Thanks in 2020 & Simon's List

6 mins; November 27, 2020

Spirits of the Fall: Episode (4) Toddler Vision

37 mins; October 30, 2020

Spirits of the Fall: Episode (3) Visits From Beyond

15 mins; October 26, 2020

Spirits of the Fall: Episode (2) Where the Driveway Ends

13 mins; October 19, 2020

Spirits of the Fall: Episode (1) In the House

15 mins; October 14, 2020

Learning to Run

15 mins; October 08, 2020

Would You Kneel? A College Coach & a Veteran on the National Anthem

9 mins; September 24, 2020

Birthday and Death Day, Catholics and Customs

13 mins; September 05, 2020

The Vulgar Parrot

24 mins; August 12, 2020

On Becoming Sheepdogs, A Modern Fable

30 mins; June 14, 2020

Memorial Day Reflection - Two Poems and a Tribute

5 mins; May 25, 2020

Why Nursing Homes Suck

16 mins; May 17, 2020

Are We Killing the Fat Man? The Corona Trolley Dilemma

14 mins; April 17, 2020

For The Class of 2020 During the Pandemic

7 mins; March 23, 2020

The Three Gifts - What have you learned in 50 years?

10 mins; February 28, 2020

On Presidents, Politics and War, and Poetry

11 mins; February 13, 2020

Raise Your Glass! A Toast by W.B. Yeats

10 mins; January 31, 2020

The Light in Your Day - a New Take on Winter

7 mins; January 16, 2020

Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag - A Russian Novel About Your Life

15 mins; January 08, 2020

A Book for Everyone, Even Nonreaders and Grinches

24 mins; December 06, 2019

Giving Thanks in 2019 - Looking Back on Life's Big Questions

8 mins; November 27, 2019

TikTok Connect the Dots - the United States and China

10 mins; November 21, 2019

A View From Above: Army Colonel Ken Mintz on Afghanistan

26 mins; November 08, 2019

You've tidied up your closet and your house. Why not tidy up your writing?

14 mins; October 29, 2019

Murphy's Law and the Army Ten-Miler

16 mins; October 14, 2019

On Poetry and Mondegreens and Teenagers

11 mins; October 09, 2019

The Making of a Myth or Legend - Stephen Siller

18 mins; October 02, 2019

For the Love of Milk

18 mins; September 24, 2019

A Case for the Personal Letter

12 mins; September 16, 2019

Suicide and Suffering - Army Veteran and Secular Buddhist on the Four Noble Truths

9 mins; September 12, 2019

Whales, Migration, and Back-to-School

14 mins; September 03, 2019

In These Walls

10 mins; August 25, 2019

Kili at 50 - Episode 3 -Summit Assault and Days 5 & 6

15 mins; August 12, 2019

Kili at 50 - Episode 2 - Jambo! Dreadlocks & Day 4

12 mins; August 10, 2019

Kili at 50 - Episode 1 - Hiking Kilimanjaro on the Machame Route in Six Days

13 mins; August 09, 2019

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