Ira’s Everything Bagel | US Arts and Culture Podcasts

This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with acclaimed poet and translator Aaron Poochigian, whose bold new translation of “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius re-introduces one of history’s most influential works for the 21st century.
Why translate a classic that’s already been translated countless times? For Aaron, the answer is deeply personal. After revisiting "Meditations" in the wake of COVID and his own life challenges, he returned to the original Greek text—and found something startlingly alive. He wasn’t interested in a polite, distant rendering. He wanted to restore the bright colors of Marcus’s language. To make it intimate. Immediate. Emotionally charged and lucid.
Aaron describes the experience as so personal that he sometimes felt like Marcus’s shrink—because "Meditations" was never meant for publication. The Roman emperor wrote it for himself, assuming no one would ever read it. That raw honesty, Aaron argues, is exactly why it still resonates today—from CEOs navigating high-stakes decisions to any-one wrestling with regret, distraction, or the relentless pace of technology.
In this thoughtful and revealing conversation, Aaron and Ira explore the myths about Sto-icism, the idea of “divine rationality,” Marcus’s influence on modern cognitive therapy, and why happiness, in Marcus’s view, comes from living in accordance with nature. They also examine why this ancient voice feels especially urgent in a hyper-digital world that constantly pulls us away from the present moment.
Aaron’s goal? Not just to have readers understand Marcus Aurelius—but to feel him.
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Noshing With Monte Schulz – February 19, 2026

What does it mean to grow up as the son of one of the most beloved cartoonists in history — and then find your own creative voice?
This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with Monte Schulz, author of the genre-blending fantasy/sci-fi thriller "Undercity." The son of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, Monte shares an intimate look at his upbringing, his artistic evolution, and the lessons in storytelling that shaped him.
Monte reflects on coming of age just as his father’s fame exploded — and how Charles Schulz recognized in his teenage son an ear for lyrical language. Encouraged to read deeply and widely, Monte’s creative path shifted from music to poetry, and ultimately to prose. Inspired early on by science fiction and history, raised on a sprawling 20-acre property that instilled in him a love of rural landscapes, Monte says he eventually “bloomed out-ward” as a writer.
He discusses how popular novels taught him pacing and storytelling momentum, while literary writers shaped his command of language. The poetry of Carl Sandburg continues to inspire him — “When I read Sandburg, it reminds me why I write,” Monte says. “Lit-erature is endless. It doesn’t die.”
Monte also opens up about wanting to write about war, his writing technique, and the memorable advice his father gave him about overcoming writer’s block.
This is a thoughtful, revealing conversation about creativity, legacy, and why great literature — like great storytelling — never fades.
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Noshing With Peter H. Bailey – February 12, 2026

This week, Ira spoke with Peter H. Bailey, author of "The Epic of You." In this episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” It’s not if life will disrupt your plans—it’s when. Careers stall. Relationships shift. That little voice wakes you up at 5 a.m. and starts whispering doubt. And suddenly, you’re wondering whether you’re falling behind.
This week on Ira’s “Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with Peter H. Bailey, author of "The Epic of You," for a powerful conversation about reframing crisis, silencing the “disease of comparison,” and discovering the hero inside ordinary life.
Peter draws on a 45-year career in leadership and coaching—and the timeless wisdom of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey—to explain why being heroic doesn’t mean climbing a mountain. It means staying with your challenges long enough to uncover the gift at the end.
Every culture tells a version of the same story: someone leaves the village and returns transformed—or a stranger arrives and changes everything. Peter believes that story is a map for your life—past, present, and future. The “call to adventure” isn’t about drama. It’s about growth. And often, the hardest seasons produce the greatest expansion.
When Peter couldn’t find a book to guide him through his own turning points, he wrote one. The Epic of You is both a personal processing tool and a leadership framework built on one simple formula:
Experience + Reflection = Real Education.
In this thoughtful and energizing episode, Peter shares why curiosity matters, why com-parison shrinks your future, and why the word “epic” belongs to all of us.
Because the chaos we fear may just be the doorway to the life we’re meant to live.
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Noshing With Elizabeth Chamblee Burch – February 5, 2026

In this eye-opening episode of "Ira’s Everything Bagel," Ira sits down with Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, author of "The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America’s Lawsuit Factory," to expose a hidden industry operating in plain sight.

Elizabeth takes listeners inside the shadowy world of mass tort litigation—where legal cases are bought and sold like baseball cards, kickback provisions are quietly skirted, and enforcement of existing laws often falls through the cracks. Her investigation began with what she thought was routine research, but everything changed after attending a conference in Las Vegas—followed by a chilling call from a whistleblower who had been there too.

At the center of The Pain Brokers are three women whose lives were upended by the system, including patients harmed by pelvic mesh surgeries. Elizabeth explains how failures in regulation—by both the legal and medical professions—allow abuses to continue, and why so much of the problem isn’t the absence of laws, but the lack of enforcement.
This conversation is also a call to action. From educating yourself before consenting to surgery, to becoming your own best advocate, to understanding how loopholes could be closed, this episode arms listeners with the knowledge they need to protect themselves—and demand accountability.

If you care about patient safety, justice, and how profit can quietly distort both, this is an episode you won’t forget.
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