Since You Asked: Uncommon Advice from Cary Tennis
Episodes
41 episodes
Cary's Podcast-With-a-Song! December 1, 2023. Just getting back in the groove
It's been almost two years since I did a podcast here at the Since You Asked podcast station, and geez I've been paying Buzzsprout every month all this time, anyway, here in this rather casual talky-type podast there's a song, and I talk a litt...
Come to Italy May 12-22, 2022 and have a ball at our writing workshop
May 12 to 22, this year, 2022, I will be hosting another of our fabulous writing workshops here in beautiful Castiglion Fiorentino at lovely Le Santucce. The Amherst Writers and Artists method we use in the workshops has been a godsend to thous...
Are you trying to make me sick?
The moment has come to tell our unvaccinated friends and relatives the truth: Their refusal to be vaccinated is killing people. It is morally wrong. The moment has come to get in their faces, to reveal ourselves passionately, how deeply w...
Is sex a "disgusting, wicked drive"?
Today I respond to the below comment from someone who identifies himself as "Ugly hunchback," posted on last week's column, as though it were a question....
Is my boyfriend cheating on me?
Hi Cary,I have huge trust issues and it’s affecting my relationship with my partner of 3 years. My trust issues have stemmed from my childhood for many different reasons and to top it off, last year I found out my step dad had been abusi...
Finishing School: The story behind the workshops … and the book
In 2004 I was finishing up an article for Salon.com about George W. Bush and the upcoming presidential election, when I thought I was having a heart attack. I hit “send” and then I dialed 911. I called my wife from the ambulance. I spent the ni...
It's been a heck of a week!
Hi everybody this is Cary Tennis, it’s Thursday, April 22, 2021 and I’m exhausted.I gotta tell ya. What a week. What a few weeks. Living in Italy but I’m watching CNN and the news constantly and I gotta tell ya, I’m full of hope...
Voting Rights, Democracy, Hope, Optimism, and the "Arc of the Moral Universe"
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia said this Friday about the fight for voting rights:"Hope is a little different from optimism. Hope is the recognition that, yeah, we are in a serious fight for what is good, what is true, what is righteous...
My Mother the Narcissist
Dear Cary,I hate my family of origin. I recently discovered that I grew up in a mostly narcissistic family, with a narc mother who subtly but persistently projected her own guilt and shame and anger about her situation on...
The Psychedelic Madness of Covid-19: A Personal Journey
David Talbot, founder and former editor in chief of Salon.com, has a new site called
The Massage Parlor Murders: What can you do?
This is not an advice column. This is commentary.Robert Aaron Long, 21 years old, of Woodstock, Georgia, was arrested Tuesday in the murders of eight pe...
In Love with a Memory
Dear Cary,I’ve loved the same boy since I was a teenager, knowing that for lots of reasons we would never end up together. Our love has endured and we’ve had decades of meaningful time together for its own sake, without the pre...
Learning from Delirium: The Madness of Covid-19 PTSD
Hi Folks!Wow, was I insane! This week's podcast dives deep into the fantastical delirium I experienced in the intensive care unit of San Donato hospital in Arezzo, Italy.I'll be publishing a longer prose version soon and will let ...
And finally, because you've waited so long ... a little song for you.
I wrote this song a few weeks ago and sang it to my wife on Valentines Day.
What is service? Being a senator should be less attractive and more humbling
I was still thinking about the reasons senators would find it impossible to act on their conscience when it comes to decisions that might threaten their chances of reelection, and I just thought, well, the job should have less perks, be less of...
Right Now, this is what's going on: Maybe I will continue the Advice column! I just need people to send me letters!
It's been a crazy couple of weeks but it just occurred to me that all I need to do to get more questions for the column is invite people on social media to send me questions! And also, I almost forgot, also starting up an online Finishing Schoo...
Don't get Covid-19 no matter what you do, Castiglion Fiorentino is now the *Oakland* of Florence, I spent the morning pruning the roses and other oddball notions, confessions, etc.
This podcast is an exhortation to keep your guard up during the next few weeks as conditions improve and the temptation will arise to relax on the coronavirus protocols, and also just a kind of rambling commentary on Italy, on myself, and...
Finding the Faith to Act on Conscience
I am watching the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump and so my podcast asks, "How do you reach a point where your conscience is overwhelming and you must make the leap? How do you get to that point? How do you get to that point? How could...
The Post-Covid Acute Renal Failure Happy Kidneys Diet
On a lighter note, my friends, let’s talk about Foods That Are Good for the Kidneys! Having been out of the hospital for six weeks now, having spent five weeks in the hospital with Covid-19 and another disorder which was life-threat...
I cry for my country
In Castiglion Fiorentino, in the beautiful Tuscan hills, I’m looking out across the continent, I’m looking out at the country that I love, that I was born in, the country that my father fought for and my uncles fought for, my grandparents fough...
Are you at the end of your rope?
Do you feel like life will never return to normal? Does the future seem like a dim, unending nightmare of isolation? Do you fear that the habits we have acquired will forever dampen the bright spontaneous spirit of social life? Does despair fee...
The Revenge of the American Id
Right-wing violence, insurrection, irrational fury: President Trump stirred the flames. But he didn't create the pain and disillusionment underneath it all. Why are so many Americans in pain? Why are so many Americans angry? What is under...
Serene in the noise of catastrophe
How to balance our grief about the pandemic with the desire for happiness and normalcy? How to remain whole and vital and strong when the world seems to be falling apart? Where is the line between staying informed and obsessive news-watching?&n...
Gratitude in a time of nightmare
I continue to heal from my hospitalization, and realize what there is in this moment to be thankful for ... regardless of how crazy the world has gone ...
Recovering from Covid-19: A personal note from Cary
Hello Friends, This is a short podcast-only edition just to let you know that I am now home after five weeks in the Italian hospital, that I am recovering slowly, expecting to be good as new eventually, but also thinking it's time to make some ...