Elizabeth Mateer is a former professional dancer and actor who now writes poetry as a diversion from her work as a fellow in neuropsychology at Harvard University. We chat about the inevitable rejections in the artistic life, what it's like to be a research-focused doctoral fellow in Trump's America, and how reject is about learning, or in her words, "failing upwards." Her book of poetry Searching for Home is titled after a poem she calls a "love letter to a friend."

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

The death of Pope Francis at the age of 88 has predictably generated a tsunami of emotions rushing in from around the globe. Looking past the shiny progressive tributes, flowery words, Vatican-generated propaganda, and wasn't-he-fabulous refrains, Brent & Dave pause for a moment to suggest that his work isn't nearly finished, and the Church still hasn't answered for an awful lot of horrors it has inflicted on the vulnerable and marginalized.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Aamir Hussain is a writer, political advocate, TTRPGer, and all-round interesting guy. He joins us to talk about the disappointments and rejections that have brought him to today, where he's releasing a book into the world. He also talks about election disappointments, life as a Muslim who really believes in listening to others, and how writing about a speculative matriarchal society in his novel Under the Crescent Moon can challenge us all.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!