Musician, best-selling author, TED speaker, and community leader Amanda Palmer is joined by BJ Miller, palliative care physician at the UCSF Medical Center on the latest installment of Palmer's intimate new podcast series, THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING. Among many fascinating topics, the two talk about art history as therapy, living life as an art composition, the relationship between limitations and creativity, making the best of your situation and the allusion of independence. “BJ Miller: An Expert on Death Talks About Life” premiered today via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all leading podcast providers.
AMANDA PALMER – THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING
EPISODE 3 -- “BJ MILLER: AN EXPERT ON DEATH TALKS ABOUT LIFE”
via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more
At the age of 19, Miller was electrocuted and lost three of his limbs. This accident led him down a path of studying art and eventually towards his career of palliative care, comforting the dying. His 2015 Ted Talk, entitled “What really matters at the end of life?," presented Miller’s perspective on death. Miller is also the subject of the 2018 Netflix documentary End Game. His book, A Beginner’s Guide to the End: How to Live Life to the Full and Die a Good Death, was released last year. The Washington Post called it “A gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all share."
“[I had] always been interested in why people make art and that questions are set up," says Miller. "'Why? What makes a human being a human being? Why would people make art? Why do we refashion our experience? Why do we play with our lives the way we do and create from them? Why do we represent our experiences?’ That had been a casual interesting question, but now this was very much what I was asking myself sitting in a burn unit bed.”
THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING finds Palmer in deep conversation with her colleagues and heroes as she seeks to find out how they create art, love difficult people, work for change, and survive the worst moments of their lives. From porn stars to empathy researchers, cartoonists to climate scientists, no topic is out of bounds. THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING is available now via iTunes and all leading podcast providers, with new episodes premiering weekly; the podcast is 100% fan supported and powered by 15,000 patrons via Palmer’s official Patreon, with no corporate sponsors or restrictions on speech. Exclusive additional content – including live follow-up chats with Palmer and her guests – will be available to Patrons only; fans are invited to join the community HERE.
LISTEN TO THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING
WATCH THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING ANIMATED TRAILER
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AMANDA PALMER
THE ART OF ASKING EVERYTHING
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
EPISODE 4. Laura Jane Grace: “Punk Guilt”
EPISODE 5. Eli Pariser: “How We Can Actually Use The Internet for Good Things”
EPISODE 6. Leslie Salmon Jones: “The Heart Doesn’t Lie”
EPISODE 7. Nadya Tolokonnikova
EPISODE 8. Jamil Zaki: “Tuning Your Empathy Fork”
EPISODE 9. KT Tunstall: “The Land of I Don’t Give a Fuck”
EPISODE 10. Storm Large: “Knowing Who You Are Not”
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