Tag Archives: Personal Essay

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TBM-1901.01 – 2019-This Will Be Our Year

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101543498_s

Description:

#Audio. #Blog This will be our year. All of ours.

Excerpt:

I know I’m not the only person who was more than ready to kick 2018 out the door, and welcome in the promise of a new year. Like a brand new pad of drawing paper, a brand new spiral notebook, a brand new computer with a virtually empty hard drive, a new year is a blank canvas, as yet untainted by politics or pain.

Links and References

  • Read the text of this piece at MissMeliss.com
  • “This Will Be Our Year” was originally by the Zombies, I used the cover by Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:36 — 9.1MB)

La Paz

TBM-1812.15 – DDOA-012 – Noche de Paz

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La Paz

Description:

#Audio. #Essay Christmases in La Paz  ***Apologies*** My voice still isn’t 100%.

Excerpt:

We spend Christmas Eve decorating cheap felt stockings with puffy paints, while we listen to the Lessons and Carols service from England streaming over the speakers of an ancient HP laptop, too kludgy to be used as anything but a music player.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:08 — 7.3MB)

ButtonBox-01

TBM-1812.09 – DDOA-007 – Button, Button

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ButtonBox-01

Description:

#Audio. #Essay My mother’s button box was a tin full of treasures and memories.

Excerpt:

My mother’s sewing desk, when I was young, was a lovely wooden piece, with a central opening that hid her black, metal, Singer sewing machine from view when not in use. It was often in a window, sun-warmed, it’s French-inspired claw feet darkened from age, but still beautiful. When the sewing machine was stowed, it was a writing desk, but somehow the wood had absorbed the special scent of pins (really machine oil, I’m told). Being near it was like breathing in the essence of my mother’s soul.

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under some readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:24 — 7.3MB)

A Stout-hearted Man

TBM-1808.17 – DDOP-017: A Stout-hearted Man

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A Stout-hearted Man

Description:

#Audio. #Essay It’s my birthday, but my stepfather died three weeks ago, and I want to talk about him.

Excerpt:

By the time I got to high school, we had begun to form a solid friendship, partly out of convenience. I liked to spend weekend nights reading into the wee hours of the morning, and he liked to spend the same late nights doing recreational math. Once, he knocked on my bedroom door and said, “It’s two AM, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

My response was to ask, “Shouldn’t you?“

Links and References

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is a mix of Chris Zabriskie’s “The Oceans Continue to Rise” from the Free Music Archive and Kevoy’s clip of whales off the coast of French Polynesia from Freesound.
  • Chris Zabriskie’s song is also used under the readings.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:05 — 11.3MB)

Holidailies 2014 #04: I Hate Blank Books

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Excerpt from Today’s Show:

Sometimes they have lines in them, or grid squares, but even when the insides are completely blank, they all have one thing in common: they have been presented to me with the expectation that I will fill them.

Links:

MissMeliss: I Hate Blank Books (full transcript) (I Hate Blank Books)
Holidailies (http://www.holidailies.org/)

Credits:

The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app.

Music for The Bathtub Mermaid is provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. The standard opening song is “Soap in a Bathtub,” by Stoney. The standard closing song is “You Can Use My Bathtub, by Little Thom. Additional music used for the Holidailies project is “A Podcast Christmas Theme” by Tom Shad, and “Village Song” composed by David Popper and performed by Cello Journey.

Questions or comments? Use the comment form at the bottom of each entry. You can also follow me on twitter: @Melysse

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:41 — 7.0MB)

20140921 – Sunday Brunch: Welcome Autumn

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Excerpt from Today’s Show:

The summer wreath on my front door will be replaced by something involving dried leaves, multicolored corn, and brilliantly-colored sunflowers. The dining table will play host to a bowl of knotty, knobby gourds. I will change out the placemats, and gradually bring my autumn and Halloween pieces into the house – a pumpkin here, a votive holder shaped like a haunted forest there.

Special Thanks To

All Things Girl (http://www.allthingsgirl.org/2014/09/sunday-brunch-welcome-autumn/)
Gypsy Audio (The Doctor Chronicles) (http://www.gypsyaudio.org/show/the-doctor-chronicls/)

Credits:

The Bathtub Mermaid, Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock

Music for The Bathtub Mermaid is provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. The opening song is “Soap in a Bathtub,” by Stoney. The closing song is “You Can Use My Bathtub, by Little Thom.

Questions or comments? Use the comment form at the bottom of each entry. You can also follow me on twitter: @Melysse

Subscribe

iTunes | BluBrry

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:09 — 7.5MB)

201409.07 – Sunday Brunch: A Friendly Game of Cards

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Show Notes

In which the Bathtub Mermaid talks about card games, kickstarter, and watching her relatives from behind the hutch.

Excerpt:

Growing up, we always had the typical Bicycle cards in red and blue, lying around the house. So many of my childhood memories involve watching my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and older cousins gathered around the dining table with it’s vinyl floral tablecloth. Cups of strong coffee and glasses of homemade iced tea would share space with ash trays and plates of cookies (Stella D’oro anisette toast and Pepperidge Farm Milanos). Voices would be raised in affectionate bickering or exuberant laughter, and all of it would just be counterpoint to the real action: a friendly game of cards.

Read the full essay at All Things Girl.

Special Thanks To

Nuchtchas of Nutty Bites, for support, and for providing her promo.
Visit her at NIMLAS.org

Credits:

The Bathtub Mermaid, Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock

Music for The Bathtub Mermaid is provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. The opening song is “Soap in a Bathtub,” by Stoney. The closing song is “You Can Use My Bathtub, by Little Thom.

Questions or comments? Use the comment form at the bottom of each entry. You can also follow me on twitter: @Melysse

Subscribe

iTunes | BluBrry

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:20 — 7.6MB)

DDoP #16: By the Numbers

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Notes

In which The Bathtub Mermaid does a lame numbers meme that she got from a really good friend.

Excerpt:

My blog-friend Michael (aka WarriorPoet(2)) died last year, a veteran who fell, not to gunfire or missile blasts, but to cancer, at too young an age.

We used to challenge each other with memes and prompts over on OpenDiary, which also died, just a few months ago, of neglect, mostly – not by the participants but by the site owner who had moved on to other things.

I found this meme while sifting through archives, and thought I’d share it here.

10 words you like in your own language:
brilliant, decadent, fractious, glower, nostalgic, susurration, overzealous, tintinnabulation, zesty, zoetrope,

9 words you like in other languages:
allegro, attraversiamo, ciao, guacala, joyeux, melange, noir, pianissimo, scocciare

Read the rest HERE.

Credits:
Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom
Recorded and Produced using BossJock
For more of the Dog Days of Podcasting, click HERE.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:02 — 5.5MB)

DDoP: Polyurethane

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Polyurethane

Roller Skates

Polyurethane has a couple of strong resonances in my life.

Excerpt:

The first time I heard the word “polyurethane” I was nine years old, and begging my mother for new roller-skates – the kind that have the smooth wheels like the rental skates at the rink. It must have been around my birthday, or maybe Christmas.
Shortly afterward, I received a pair of roller-skates with white leather booties sporting blue stripes, and happy reddish-pinkish polyurethane wheels.

Credits:
Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom
Recorded and Produced using BossJock
Copyright: hixson / 123RF Stock Photo

For more of the Dog Days of Podcasting, click HERE.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:18 — 4.9MB)

DdoP: Her Name is Jane

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Dog Days of Podcasting

On Tuesday, my husband and I brought home our new car. This is the capsule version of the story.

Jane Honda

Credits:
Music for this episode was provided by Mevio’s Music Alley, a great resource for podsafe music. Visit them at music.mevio.com.
Opening: “Soap in a Bathtub” by Stoney
Closing Music: “You Can Use My Bathtub” by Little Thom
Recorded and Produced using BossJock

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:16 — 3.9MB)