If, like me, you found yourself finding comfort, solace, and encouragement during the recently concluded plague years from Melissa Harrison’s absolutely brilliant series of podcasts titled The Stubborn Light of Things, you were also likely, as was I, much saddened to see the series end with the release of episode twenty-eight – Outtakes – on 7 October 2020. I had become accustomed to walking along with he each morning, playing each episode repeatedly to fill the time until the release of the next episode, hearing her exquisitely delivered observations of the natural world she witnessed on her own walks, her interviews with other naturalists, poets, and others who are similarly inspired by nature, and perhaps most of all the supremely delightful excerpts read from the Rev. Gilbert White’s diaries. When new episodes ceased to appear in my podcast feed, it was as if I had lost a dear and trusted friend, who like so many around the world that the pandemic had prevented me from seeing, I wondered if I would ever hear from again.
Therefore it was with great surprise and joy that I opened my podcast feed this past Tuesday as I set out on my morning walk to find a new episode of The Stubborn Light of Things queued-up atop the list. After nearly three years of silence, I once again was greeted with Ms. Harrison’s long-missed, gentle, and reassuring “Hi, How ya doing?” as she introduced episode twenty-nine – Performance – that she recorded at the 2023 Greenman Festival. In it, she offers an update on some of her activities since the previous episode, offers selections from her interview with author Marchelle Farrell, a poem as read by Eamon Murtagh, and, of course, selections fron the Rev. Gilbert White’s diaries.
While this visit from Ms. Harrison was so very welcome, it was, alas, not a sign of things to come. She has a new project, an nature journal app named Encounter, that will require much of her time, therefore the podcast will not be being continued. She also hinted that there is a new book in the works. And, for those who would like to explore and enjoy more of her observations of and reflections upon the natural world, her book The Stubborn Light of Things, which I very highly recommend, is now available in hardback, paperback, audio, and electronic book editions.
