What can a handwritten record reveal after someone is gone? In this episode, we follow two very different paper trails.
Marci Pelzer shares the 109-page list her father kept of more than 3,500 books he read over six decades. After going viral, his private habit became a public window into his life.
Dan Fogel lost his wife of 45 years to cancer, and then found diaries including writing that made him question how well he really knew her.
Together, these stories are about grief, memory, mystery, and the strange power of paper to preserve not just facts, but personality, silence, love, and what still can’t be explained.
Suggested episodes:
GUESTS:
- Marci Pelzer: The daughter of Dan Pelzer, who left behind a 109-page handwritten list of every book he read from 1962 to 2023. After his death at 92, she helped bring the list to a wider audience
- Dan Fogel: Wrote a Huffington Post essay about finding his late wife Sue’s journals after her death and realizing how much of her inner life had remained unknown to him during their 45-year marriage
Jessica Severin de Martinez, Meg Fitzgerald, and Robyn Doyon-Aitken contributed to this show, with help from interns divina cordeiro and Megan Rodriguez-Hawkins.
Audacious with Chion Wolf is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tune In, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.
Join the conversation on Facebook,Instagram, TikTok, and email.
