Voices from my Bunker 2020 - podcast cover

Voices from my Bunker 2020

Pat Coakley-Writer/Photographer/Mixed Mediawww.patcoakley.com
“Voices from my Bunker 2020” is a series of interviews with all ages of people of what 2020 has been like for them.  This is a rebranded podcast that used to be named, "PODSNACKS/Art of the Diet" but the first six months of 2020 has shifted my preoccupations from five years of weight maintenance to minute by minute sanity maintenance. Attention must be paid to the issues before me. I'm 75, live in Massachusetts, and my doorbell hasn't rung in 3 months and probably won't until there's a vaccine. My hair has its own zip code and I look like the Unibomber when captured in his Montana cabin. None of which interferes with my ability, thankfully, to ask questions over a Skype connection. I'll be recording interviews until the election on Nov 3, 2020. If he is reelected, look only for my obit.
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Episodes

Meet JoAnn. The Wrap Around Family.

Meet JoAnn from near St. Paul Minnesota. She and her own immediate family and her siblings have been caregiving for their 100+-year-old Mom through the last seven months of COVID restrictions and challenges, including her Mom being diagnosed with COVID and later recovering. I titled this episode “The Wrap-Around Family” because they seem to be able to wrap themselves around the needs of one another. JoAnn thinks their mother taught them how to do it. www.patcoakley.com

Oct 02, 202042 min

Voices from My Bunker 2020: Slippery Slope of Weight Management

Bill Murray says acting suits him he said because he only has to be good at it for 90 seconds at a time. I am also very good at weight management 90 seconds at a time in 2020. But, unfortunately, that time span suits Hollywood and not weight issues. My successful weight loss plan in 2009 was built on flat land and my ability to maintain the weight loss for 10+ years has been due to building it on a slippery slope capable of absorbing challenges from within as well as from without. 2020 is the ul...

Sep 18, 202022 min

Last Ferry and A Seat in the Reality Ballpark

The last ferry has left the island and I’m sitting by myself in The Reality Ballpark. What the hell? How did this happen: risk management is now a buffet of choices that do not manage risk but invite it in? Estrangement from the government I am used to in the last three years, but not estrangement from family and friends. Is this the new normal? www.patcoakley.com www.thephotogardener.com

Aug 26, 202037 min

Meet Joan. Voices from My Bunker 2020

My interview with Joan, a 74-year-old widow in Rochester, NY who, unlike myself, is not a sloth or someone who enjoys sitting for hours at a time reading, clicking, snoozing and I feel 100% sure never uses her bed as her living room, dining room, and office. But, she got through quarantine in her own determined way and taught me a few things. One of them? When in doubt, drive around. www.patcoakley.com | www.thephotogardener.com

Aug 18, 202043 min

Meet Steph: We Are All In This Together.

Meet Steph. She was born and lived in US until a year and half ago but now lives in Stellenbosch, South Africa with her husband and five kids while he completes his graduate studies at the University there. She describes what “quarantine” has meant and if you think the US rules were strict, listen to Steph. I spent most of the time listening and going, “Really?”. www.patcoakley.com www.thephotogardener.com

Aug 10, 202044 min

Meet Alice. A First Grade Teacher During COVID19

Meet Alice. A First Grade Teacher in a Catholic School in Washington, DC during COVID19. After listening, you may agree that Teachers, Students and Parents are some unsung heroes of this pandemic. www.patcoakley..com

Aug 03, 202044 min

Meet Carol. Let Me Live Long Enough

Meet Carol. She’s 70+, lives alone, and has been seriously ill and undergoing a succession of chemo treatments for three years. In addition, she had to go into lockdown in March, 2020, due to COVID19 and living in Massachusetts. She told her Doctor one thing: Keep me alive until Trump loses the election. www.patcoakley.com

Jul 26, 202039 min

Needed To. Meant To. Meet Babz.

Meet Babz. 27 year old Occupational Therapist who moved to Boston, Mass in February 2020 just as pandemic effects were beginning to challenge the city and the entire state. Meet Babz. Needed to. Meant to. This is how she answered my question about any conflict about being a health care worker in the middle of a pandemic in Boston, Massachusetts. After the interview, I had a strange feeling. I couldn’t recognize it at first. It turned out to be hope. www.patcoakley.com www.thephotogardener.com pb...

Jul 07, 202033 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Voices from My Bunker: Meet Melissa from Iowa

'Voices From My Bunker 2020" in Massachusetts. (Formerly known as Podsnacks/Art of the Diet). Guests ring my virtual doorbell and I invite them in for a chat. At play in dangerous times in 2020, we tell our stories. We laugh. Eye roll. Cry. Sigh. We go on. Today, meet Melissa.

Jul 01, 202035 minSeason 1Ep. 1

Art of the Diet !Voices from My Bunker

Podsnacks/Art of the Diet is evolving and being renamed “Voices from My Bunker”. This episode explains why and invites you to continue listening as well as be a participant. The art logo came from a family arty day years ago. Handprints dipped in paint and each left their individual mark on the canvas. At play in dangerous times in 2020, folks tell stories. I try to listen. We go on. www.artofthediet.com www.patcoakley.com...

Jun 30, 202012 minEp. 179

Is Truth on Your Grocery List or Sweatpants? PODSNACKS/Art of the Diet

What is on my grocery list every week in a pandemic? Truth. Food is the only thing I have control over these days and it is oddly comforting. I dress for the Apocalypse when going to the grocery store and ask myself what do I need not what do I want. My goal for this period of time: to want what I need and to tell my food truth to myself every week. www.artofthediet.com

Apr 01, 202018 minEp. 176

Prepper Advice for Dieters as Apocolypse Approaches.

There are folks preparing for the Apocalypse and they have acronyms like GOOD=Get Out Of Dodge. I have an acronym for any dieters in the prepper population: SHWAA= So Here We Are Again & YSHTWYC: YOU STILL HAVE TO WATCH YOUR CARBS.

Mar 04, 202033 minEp. 175

What's Next on the Fun Agenda?

What’s Next on The Fun Agenda? 2020 begins with a cartoon question that I saw recently on an artist’s Instagram account. His name was “clownchic”. His character answered it by simply stating “Abstinence”. I laughed out loud as this character looked like he had abused every illegal substance available. After the holidays, don’t we all feel this way? Of course, but I cannot deal with another self help strategy, my own included. So, in 2020, I am focusing in literally on “Art of the Diet”. Artists ...

Jan 01, 202038 minEp. 173

RESIST Carbs and Hate. PODSNACKS ART OF THE DIET EP.168

RESIST (Carbs and Hate) is the word of my day and the weeks to come of weight management. Sometimes, you don't understand why the old habits don't seem to work but passivity is not the conclusion. Resisting passivity is the only next step. That's where I'm at in weight maintenance and the state of my country. Resist CARBS and HATE.

Aug 07, 201918 minEp. 168

WithKindnessBeginAgain.PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet 167

There was a time when reading or listening to someone suggesting that I treat myself with a bit more kindness would have been met with severe eye rolling. By "there was a time", I mean as recently as last month and I’m 74. But, today's episode highlights what has turned my deep eyerolls into acceptance and more importantly, even doing it. Breathe in. Breathe out. With kindness, begin again. Dieting, Living, closing your garage door. it simply goes better with a little kindness. It's the eve of I...

Jul 03, 201912 min

Your Car Knows How Much You Weigh_PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet 166

Episode 166: Your Car Knows How Much You Weigh. A spokesman for the Auto Association let that cat out the bag. I thought it should have led the news cycle. And, a connection with meditation practice and weight management that does not involve 10-15 minutes of meditation with a body scan. Just thinking about being kind to yourself today. Just think it. Instagram @artofthediet www.artofthediet.com/166

Jun 05, 201927 minEp. 166

Creativity is the Best Health Plan. Ep.164

Creativity is the best health plan (along with a sense of humor) and is the secret sauce to my long term weight loss and might be yours as well. This episode discusses why that might be and offers some suggestions as to why to give it serious consideration. www.artofthediet.com www.thephotogardener.com

May 01, 201932 minEp. 165

People Who Know Everything. PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet

"People Who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of who do." Isaac Asimov This podcast offers up what I know (for sure) about weight maintenance in an aging body: you have to eat less whether by choice or anxiety, eating less is the fundamental way to maintain a significant weight loss. It's not exercising more to maintain it is eating less to maintain. Telling the truth is not a marketing strategy these days and I don't just mean politics. But, here's a truth I made into fa...

Apr 03, 201933 minEp. 164

Begin, Again-PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet163

74 years of living and what do I know? "Begin, again." is a successful mantra for my 10-year weight maintenance as well as a new (9 months) daily meditation practice. www.artofthediet.com

Mar 06, 201927 minEp. 163

WORRYING ABOUT WEIGHT FOR HALF HER LIFE. PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet

Lorne has spent half her 45 years worrying about her weight. Her great aunt, though, spent more. On her death bed, at 92 years old, she told Lorne, “Well, at least, I’m losing a little weight.” Lorne is determined not to spend the rest of her life worrying about this issue and the looping ride of the rollercoaster of weight gain and loss. She does not belong to a national weight loss program but is seeking out new ways to understand her issues and to deal with them. www.artofthediet.com email: a...

Feb 06, 201933 minEp. 162

Simple Habits Manage Complex Issues_PODSNACKS/ArtoftheDiet 160

The key to December buffet tables is the same as every other month: simple habits. A new interview with Gilah whose story will resonate with you and also give you some practical advice for the month and the new year ahead. www.artofthediet.com

Dec 05, 201838 minEp. 160
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