hyacinth podcast
Combining scholarly research with artistic practice. Interviews with scholars, writers, and artists. Poetic narrative and original musical score.
From 2019-2024, Hyacinth Podcast was distributed on all major podcasting services. But this project was always about reimagining how scholarly knowledge could be created and shared; getting it out from behind pay-walls, subscription services, and the protected spaces of the of “the Academy.”
I’m proud to make Hyacinth Podcast available to everyone. now. Listen here for free, without subscriptions, and without barriers.
Feature Episode
What is beauty? Where can we find it? In this crazy world that is burning up (quite literally) and seems to be falling apart, does beauty even matter?
I discuss the enduring imperative of beauty far beyond physical appearance or aesthetic with Dr. Alice Brittan, a professor of contemporary literature, and architect Dhiru Thadani.
Listen here then find the rest of Season 1 below.
Full Season
About
Hyacinth Podcast is written, produced, and hosted by Carmel Mikol.
It’s a careful close reading.
It’s a wildly improbable promise.
It’s a query into grief.
It’s a series of questions.
A series of possible answers.
It’s a research project, a composition, a love letter, and a secret.
Hyacinth Podcast mixes scholarly research with the work of writers and artists through interviews, storytelling, and original music.
Each episode features interviews with people who have incredible stories to share. We ponder anger, beauty, love, loss, fear, glory, and other shared experiences that are sometimes hard to talk about, but that matter a lot to who we are. In the process, scholarly ideas come out from behind pay-walls and fancy journals and enter into free, accessible spaces where we can think and talk about them together.
Why Hyacinth?
Because of this excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land:
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
They called me the hyacinth girl.”
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.”
Ah, the human conundrum: the very things that bring us to life are nearly impossible to capture and have a habit of passing by too quickly. Over and over again, we fail to adequately memorize, express, or even understand the most impactful experiences of our lives.
Hyacinth Podcast is the process of “Looking into the heart of light” - staring straight into the most hard-to-articulate emotions and experiences - and then sharing what I see. Usually, I can’t figure it out alone, so I call up someone who has written a book or lived an interesting life. The more diverse the voices, the better.
For Eliot, beauty was an ineffable antidote to the tragedy and destruction of his post-First World War world. And I think it still is. That’s why each episode is made with care. And while I take research seriously and approach difficult topics, I also want to give you a beautiful listening experience, lush with carefully curated conversations, original music, and thoughtful soundscape.