Noble Blood - The Romantics of Villa Diodati

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

A volcanic eruption turning 1816 into the "year without a summer." A group of Romantic poets stuck inside would change literary history forever. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, Anatomy: A Love StorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists. We have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here, and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire at 2 a.m. Video on Demand.

This guy's bobo-bubim. 2 a whatever time it is. Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like, the paper view. It was like a first closet moment from me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot, like the rest of that. No, no, no. I was like, she's beautiful.

But I'm appreciating her. in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Los Coleristas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Iris Palmer, host of the Against All Odds podcast. Every week, I'm sitting down with exceptional people who have broken barriers, even when the odds were stacked against them.

Like chef, Victor Villa, a Vias tacos. You know the taquero from the Bad Bunny halftime show? It was great. It was a big moment. It was special, and I felt like I was really representing my family. You know, my brand, my city. I was representing all taqueros, not only of like, you know, the U.S., but of Mexico and beyond.

All the taqueros of the world. Listen to Against All Odds on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, gorgeous, it's Lala Kent. Host of Untraditionally Lala. My days of filling up cups at Sir may be over, but I'm still loving life in the valley. Life on the other side of the hill is giving grown-up vibes,

but over here on my podcast, Untraditional. Lala, I'm still that Lala you either love or love to hate. It's unruly, it's unafraid, it's untraditionally Lala. Listen to Untraditionally Lala on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeartRadio and Grimmin Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. Hi, this is Dana Schwartz. Just a quick message. If you want to support Noble Blood, we have a Patreon. It's at patreon.com. Noble Blood Tales, where I post episode scripts and bonus content like I'm currently watching through the CW series Rain. We also have Noble Blood merch at dFtba.com, and I have a book that's out that is all linked in the episode description.

But of course, the best possible support is just listening to the podcast, and you don't need to do any of that. In April 1815, the world bore witness to one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in human history. When Mount Tambora, centered on the Indonesian island Sumbawa, erupted, it sent debris, gas, and lava to decimate the surrounding area, cloaking the island's inhabitants in a two-day-long darkness. tsunamis were triggered across the Java Sea and oceans of ash tore through forest and grassland. An estimated 10,000 people were killed instantly. Tambora's impact was felt far and wide. By the next year, a massive dust cloud had formed in the atmosphere, which climate scientists now believe was partially responsible for a great chill that swept across the northern hemisphere.

It led to crop failure and famine, unrest and migration. The period became known as the year without a summer, with Europe covered in fog and frost, even through the typically warmer months. Take a description of the weather in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 17th. Quote, the spring, as the inhabitants informed us, was unusually late, and indeed the cold was excessive.

As we ascended the mountains, the same clouds which rained on us in the valleys poured forth large flakes of snow thick and fast. The sun occasionally shone through these showers and illuminated the magnificent ravines of the mountains whose gigantic pines were some laden with snow, some wreathed round by the lines of scattered and lingering vapor. Others darted their dark spires into the sunny sky, brilliantly clear and azure.

These are the words of the young Mary Woolstonecraft Godwin, as she documented her journey to Geneva alongside her soon-to-be husband, the poet Percy Shelley, their four-month-old son, William, and Mary's step-sister, Claire Claremont. Also finding his way to Geneva was Claire's former flame, Lord Byron. England's most scandalous celebrity of the moment, whose trip to the country was less a vacation and more of an escape from the increasingly scornful public eye. Traveling with Byron was his personal physician, John Polidori, who had literary aspirations

of his own. Shelley and Byron were already fans of each other's work, so when the two parties crossed paths at the hands of a still lovesick Claire, who was the one who casually suggested Geneva in the first place, it seemed only natural that they would rent accommodations near each other. The Shelley crew, not particularly well off, rented a modest house called the Maison Chappuil, located just below a rather lavish mansion rented by Byron, Villa Diodati. For days on end, the unseasonable rain was relentless, and the entire group was forced to spend much of their time together inside the villa.

Their nights were spent discussing literary projects and debating philosophy. One of their favorite topics was whether or not human corpses could be reanimated. Mary later described herself as a devout but nearly silent listener of those debates between the men. At some point, Byron proposed a competition to pass the time. everyone was to try to come up with their own ghost story. From a contest among a reigned-in group of romantics, two new Gothic horror genres were born. From the ashes of Tambora, Rose Monsters. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

First things first, let's establish the players at Villa Diodati that summer. Let's start with George Byron. Where we meet George Gordon Byron, the sixth Baron Byron in our story, is not a particularly high point in his life. Close friends would say that he was leaving England of his own volition. According to the Baron John Cam Hobhouse, quote, there was not the slightest necessity even in appearance for his going abroad. Those who weren't close friends would tell a very different tale.

The 1812 publication of his poem, Child Herald's Pilgrimage, made Byron a nearly instant literary celebrity. He was the darling of London society, a fixture at their parties and in the hearts and minds of women. He was incredibly vain, likely fueled by his insecurities about his clubbed right foot, and he acted as incredibly vain men do. Despite his fame and title, Byron was not born well off. His father, the former British officer, nicknamed Mad Jack Byron, had only married his mother for her money, and he squandered it all way quite quickly. Mad Jack then abandoned his wife and young son to fend for themselves. After his uncle died without an heir, Byron inherited his minor title of Barron and all that came with it. But it was

Byron's poetry that truly allowed him to gain access to society, a reputation came with his status. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know, in the words of Caroline Lamb, Noble Blood alumnus, and one of Byron's most famous ex-lovers. Or ticked the words of writer Amelia Opie, another one of the women that Byron charmed. Quote, such a voice as the devil tempted Eve with, you feared its fascination the moment you heard it. At this point, however, the gossip surrounding Byron went beyond hedonism and womanizing. Byron's January of 1815 marriage to Caroline Lamb's cousin, Annabella, was doomed from the start. Feeling trapped in monogamy, he began to act out. As Caroline predicted, Byron, quote, would never be able to pull with a woman who went

went to church punctually, understood statistics, and had a bad figure. Within his circle, he became less secretive of past homosexual affairs and spoken innuendos as to the nature of his relationship with his half-sister Augusta. Just a year after they were wed, Annabella took the couple's infant daughter, Ada, to her parents' home in Leicestershire. A few short weeks later, Annabella's father, Sir Ralph Milbank, wrote to Byron to formally request a separation. After that, rumors that had been contained within the In-the-Kno literary circle began to spread across the city. The flames of these wildfires were, in some part, fueled by Caroline herself, who famously wanted to see her ex-lover burn.

Marital violence, adultery, incest, sodomy, Byron's public image was becoming truly dangerous to know. Writing from London to Leicestershire, Augusta, rather awkwardly, informed her half-sister-in-law of, quote, reports abroad of a nature too horrible to repeat. Every other sinks into nothing besides this most horrid one. In the same letter, Augusta quotes Byron's, response to the rumors, or rather one of the rumors, quote,

even to have such a thing said is utter destruction and ruin to a man from which he can never recover. So which rumor was Byron referencing? It's worth noting at this point that many historians believe the incest rumors to be true, and that Elizabeth Medora Lee, Augusta's third daughter, is still likely thought to be Byron's. Despite its taboo, incest was not a criminal offense in England at this point, so it's actually more likely that it was the sodomy accusations that ultimately dissuaded Byron from protesting his role in the divorce proceedings in court.

Whether you believe Hobhouse that Byron was simply heading out for a vacation or whether you're more inclined to believe the considerable evidence pointing to the contrary, the fact is that in April, Byron left England, never to return. He ordered a carriage modeled after Napoleon's, which had been famously captured as the general fled Waterloo just the year before Byron's exile.

It's not hard to imagine why Byron identified with Napoleon's indulgence and tragedy, as Byron once told a friend, quote, with me there is, as Napoleon said, but one step between the sublime and the ridiculous. Byron's traveling companion was his newly certified physician, 20-year-old John Polidori. It's unknown why exactly Byron invited Polidori, despite protests from Hobhouse, but there are several good guesses as to why the doctor accepted,

one being the offer of, quote, no less than a sum of 500 pounds for an account of Byron's forthcoming tour from Byron's publisher John Murray. Also, on their way to Geneva, of course, were Mary and Percy Shelley. Mary wasn't technically a Shelley at this point. While the couple had eloped nearly two years earlier, they wouldn't wed until December 1816 after Percy's first wife ultimately committed suicide. Yes, when the famous lovers met, the 21-year-old Percy was already married to another 16. year old girl Harriet, with whom he had fathered a child. Percy was a great fan of Mary's father,

William Godwin, and he would join the family for dinner, eventually visiting nearly every day. Percy's anti-Christian and pro-free love views had drawn him to Godwin's famously anarchic works. At this point, young Percy had been kicked out of Oxford for his atheism and disowned by his wealthy father. He was living up to his childhood nickname Mad Shelley, given to him by bullies at Eaton College for his head-in-the-cloud attitude, his refusal to adhere to hazing traditions, and his sometimes violent bouts of anger. Shelley even claims his own father once tried to have him admitted to a madhouse. In Godwin, Percy sought both a mentor and a surrogate parent. Though Percy and Mary, had actually met once before, uneventfully, in 1812. When Percy came around again two years later,

Mary was immediately smitten with his poems, his politics, and his, quote, wild intellectual, unearthly looks, as Percy's friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg had described them. Neither Godwin nor Mary's stepmother approved of the romance, so Percy and Mary would often sneak off together, namely to a local churchyard, St. Pancre's Old Church. The churchyard was Mary's favorite spot, her retreat, where she spent an obsessive amount of time seeking peace and a connection with one woman buried there, her mother, the famous writer Mary Wollstonecraft. The elder Mary was one of the most prominent writers of her time and one of the most radical. Her 1792 treatise, a vindication of the rights of women is often considered the first English-language feminist text. By the time Mary

Wollstonecraft met Godwin, a fellow radical, she already had a daughter, Fannie, born from an affair with an American businessman. When Mary and Godwin got together and Mary became pregnant for the second time, they agreed that marriage would be best for the children, despite neither of them believing in the practice. Baby Mary was born healthy, but her mother suffered complications. It was ultimately the result of unhygienic medical practices that Mary Wollstonecraft would not live to raise her daughter. She died of a bacterial infection just 11 days after giving birth.

Though Godwin did not resent the baby Mary for the death of his wife, she grew up knowing that she was somehow responsible for her mother's absence. Still, Godwin kept his late wife's presence in Mary's life. A portrait of her was hung above the stairs, where young Mary saw it every day, and her father would frequently take her to visit her mother's gravesite at the same church where the late Mary and Godwin had been married not too long before. It said that young Mary learned how to write her own name from tracing the engraving on her mother's headstone.

In the words of literary critic Sandra M. Gilbert, Mary's only real mother was a tombstone. As young Mary grew up, the grave became her place of solace, increasingly so after her father remarried. She would carry piles of books from her home and spend the day reading with her mother. Mary frequently re-read her mother's own work, absorbing her knowledge, searching for it in herself. Quote, I conceive it to be the duty of every rational creature to attend to its offspring. Wollstonecraft had written in

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters in 1787. While Wollstonecraft was not able to attend to her own daughter, Mary would recreate her presence as best she could. Bringing Percy to the grave then was the ultimate vulnerability, the ultimate invitation into her private world. On Sunday, June 26th, 1814,

Mary brought Percy to the grave and declared her love. He reciprocated and it's notoriously believed that they consummated the relationship then and there, in the graveyard, an inspiration to future Goths everywhere. While the story seems almost too Gothic to be true, we can assume that they did in fact sleep together for the first time that day, in the graveyard or elsewhere. as Percy refers to the day in his journal entries as his true birthday. The couple eloped later that summer to the disapproval of Godwin.

He still opposed marriage, despite his own, and was concerned with Percy's increasing debt. Though he didn't outright disown Mary, the relationship between father and daughter became distant and cold after Mary left for France with her new, quote-unquote, quote, husband. When the couple ran out of money, a then-pregnant Mary asked her father for assistance. He denied her. In February of 1815, Mary gave birth prematurely to a daughter who would die within a month. Mary was plunged into a deep depression and would consider herself haunted by the baby for years. nonetheless in January of the next year she gave birth to a son and named him William after her father. That summer, at the urging of her step-sister, Claire, the Shelley's decided to follow Lord Byron on a trip to Geneva. Of note is the fact that Claire was pregnant, with a child rumored at the time to actually be Percy's.

There's no actual evidence of an affair between Claire and Percy, and we now know that the child, in fact, belonged to another free-loving poet, Lord Byron. Lake Geneva was an ideal spot for a romantic poet. It was surrounded by vineyards and hugged by the silhouette of the Alps' snowy peaks in the distance. The crescent moon-shaped body of water is the largest and deepest in central Europe. Mary described it lavishly in her travel journal as, quote, blue as the heavens which it reflects. During summers, when there hasn't been recent volcanic activity, the lake is warm enough to swim in. Situated on top of a hill overlooking those heavenly depths

and the stretching vineyards is the stately, Salmon Pink, Villa Diodati. The villa still stands today, its exterior largely unchanged from the time of the group's day, from its teal shuttered windows to its expansive balcony. Though privately owned, it's still a habit for literary tourists to try to catch a glimpse of the mansion from nearby walking ways. This is a tradition that began in 1816,

when hotels started to charge English tourists to spy on the villa from telescopes across the lake, That's how famous Byron and his friends were at the time. It said that people would sail by in boats, hoping to peek at the women's underwear on the washing lines, or see anything to confirm that the villa was as debaurous as it was in their imaginations. It was even deemed a, quote, league of incest at the time. Those words often attributed to the prominent poet Robert Southie.

There's no actual evidence for the nightly orgies that were rumored to be happening there, and there was even an outright denial from Byron. Quote, so much for scoundrel Southie's story of incest, neither was there any promiscuous intercourse whatever. Both are an invention of the excreble villain Southie, whom I will term so publicly as he deserves, end quote. Still, the group's entangled web of romantic, and platonic connections to one another, combined with the presence of the eager voyeurs across the

lake, would soon contribute to an environment of claustrophobia. Lest we forget, thanks to the weather, they were quite literally confined to the house. It proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house, Mary would later describe. She recounted that during these periods. Various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others, the nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated. To ground Byron and Percy's wild imaginations was the medical knowledge of Polidori, who's due for a proper introduction in our story now. John Polidori had never intended to study medicine, but his father forced him to follow the track he envisioned for his son, and he had enrolled

him in the University of Edinburgh to study the science. Though John never stood up to his father, he resented his rigidity, which likely played a part in his hatred for both medicine and school. Over the course of his reluctant education, Pullidori discovered a passion for literature. Still, he dutifully finished his schooling and became a doctor at age 20. At the time, however, in order to practice in London, a doctor had to be at least 26. It was during this waiting period that Polidori took the job of Byron's physician, which was offered thanks to a connection of his father. Their relationship was doomed from the start, each man self-obsessed in his own way, but only one with the prestige to back it up and the current need for an emotional punching bag.

At one of Byron's last dinners with friends in England, Polidori had asked his new employer if he could read a bit of a play he had written. Byron agreed, if only to have the opportunity to play the role of mean girl and skewer Polidori's efforts for the laughter of the table. In another exchange, the doctor had asked the poet, what is there accepting writing poetry that I cannot do better than you? Byron calmly replied, first I can hit with a pistol the keyhole of that door.

Secondly, I can swim across that river to yonder point. And thirdly, I can give you a damned good thrashing. If you're feeling for Polidori right now, keep in mind that at least all of that would probably provide him with good material later on. Back to the villa. During one of those indoor stretches, the group began to read pieces from Fantasma Goriana, a French anthology of German ghost stories. It was this collection that gave Byron his famous idea.

We will each write a ghost story, he said, as Mary later recounted, namely excluded from each, was Claire, who cared less about writing and more about a certain writer. While the contest was a fun way to pass the time, it was also a desperately needed distraction from the growing tensions mounting in the house. Claire was determined to make the trip worthwhile to resume her affair with Byron. Despite his initial resistance, Claire got what she came for. I never loved her nor pretended to love her, Byron wrote. But a man is a man, and if a girl of 18 comes prancing to you at all hours, there is but what way?

Classic Byron. Some sources report that Polidori became infatuated with Mary, who remained devoted to Percy and rejected his advances. As the doctor would recount, Mary instead saw Polidori as a brother. Percy, meanwhile, was described as falling into a depression. He struggled with mental illness from a young age and the claustrophobic environment was beginning to weigh on his psyche. For example, one dark and stormy evening,

Byron read verses from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, Christabel, in which a supernatural creature is disguising itself as a woman named Geraldine in order to trick the titular character. One particularly relevant section reads, Behold her bosom and half her side, hideous, deformed and pale of hue, a sight to dream of not to tell, and she is to sleep by Christabel. Percy fled from the room screaming in a fit of fantasy, as Byron described it.

It was only when Polidori threw water in Percy's face and gave him ether, the anesthetic of the time, that he calmed down. They say Percy had been haunted by visions of a monstrous woman, whom some accounts describe as Mary, with eyes instead of nipples on her breasts. Clearly inspired enough, the guests began to write and share their ghost stories. Byron and Percy went first, both presenting the beginnings of works that they would never finish. Percy's story, which Mary remembered to have been inspired by his childhood, is now completely lost. Byron's story, the fragment of a novel, however, can still be read.

in full. His story centered on a young man traveling in Turkey with an older companion, the wealthy aristocratic Augustus Darville. The elder's health declines rapidly, and while the two rest in a Turkish cemetery, Darville asks his companion to tell no one of his impending death. The old man gives the younger a ring and asks him to perform a ceremony with it, before turning black and instantly disintegrating. The end. The doctor hadn't managed to come up with anything worthwhile yet. Mary later recalled,

poor Polidori had some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady who was so punished for peeping through a keyhole. Mary, for her part early on, was struck with a serious case of writer's block. I was asked each morning and each evening, I was forced to reply with, a mortifying negative, she wrote. Her devout but nearly silent listening to the scientific debates of the men would soon pay off, though, having made its way into her subconscious. One conversation

in particular had the greatest impact. They talked of the experiment of Dr. Darwin, who preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary motion, perhaps a corpse would be reanimated. Galvanism had given token of such things. Perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together and endowed with vital warmth. These images and ideas embedded themselves in her mind and birthed perhaps the most famous dream of all time. As Mary wrote, Night waned upon this talk. When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. I saw with shut eyes, but acute mental vision. I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts, kneeling beside the thing he had put together.

I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, showed signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. By her account, it was right then and there, after opening her eyes in terror, that Mary Shelley began to draft Frankenstein. She recounts, I returned to my ghost story, my tiresome unlucky ghost story. I have found it. What terrified me will terrify others, and I need only describe the specter which has haunted my midnight pillow. On the morrow I announced that I had thought of a story. I began that day with the words. That night, Mary Shelley read a passage to the group that began.

It was on a dreary night of November. As Frankenstein developed from ghost story to novel, Villa Diodati remained in its DNA. Even beyond Victor Frankenstein's Geneva family origins and the number of scenes that take place at Lake Geneva itself, the year without a summer feels present in her description of the natural world that Victor and his creature experience. One of the very first sentences of the novel reads, This breeze which has traveled from the regions toward which I am advancing,

gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspired by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid, I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation. It ever presents itself to my imagination as the region, of beauty and delight. The novel's protagonist Victor Frankenstein's own scientific interest stems from watching a storm as a child. In Frankenstein, the natural world is as fear-inspiring as it is awe-inspiring. It's a perspective that feels timely given Mary writing in the wake of a catastrophic natural

disaster. While many have come to the conclusion that Mary identifies with Victor, the scientist, the circumstances surrounding that summer way heavily in favor of Mary actually identifying more with the monster. Remember the words of Mary's mother? I conceive it to be the duty of every rational creature to attend to its offspring. Mary's mother had died just days after she was born, and Mary had been all but abandoned by her beloved father because of her relationship with Percy. Like Frankenstein's monster, Mary had become a lonely, wandering child, abandoned by her creator.

Mary, her husband, Byron, Polidori, all of them were aching for the attention of their fathers. Perhaps it came up in conversation one night, and Mary had silently agreed to herself. When it came to the conversations that we know took place, Mary's devout listening likely gave her not only source material, but character inspiration. Each night, three men, all remembered in part for their egos, discussed reanimation of human life. Mary's character, Victor Frankenstein, who's torn down by his own hubris, is remembered for thinking that he could play God. Speaking of those men, the second that most famous work to stem from Villa Diodotti was written not by Shelley, not by Byron, but by poor Polidori. He was intrigued by that unfinished piece of Byron's, and after the trip finished, he began to flesh it out into a short story.

Polidori's story begins about the same as Byron's, two gentlemen traveling Europe, one dying a mysterious death and making the other swear not to speak of it. In this version, however, we see the consequences of that deal, as our protagonist is shocked to find his dead friend alive and well in London, and attempting to seduce his sister. There are some changes right off the bat. Locals tell legends of vampires, and while our protagonist, Aubrey, doesn't make the connection, mysterious, seemingly vampire-induced deaths take place when his companion,

the wealthy, charming, and suave Lord Ruthven, arrives. If you remember the Caroline Lamb episode we did on this podcast, the name Ruthven might ring a bell. Maybe not, it was a very long time ago. You see, it's the same pseudonym Caroline Lamb used for the heartbreaker male lead in her novel, Glenarvin, which was a fictional account of her affair with Byron. At an early point in Polidori's novel, The Vampire, Ruthfin abandons Aubrey during their travels after seducing an acquaintance's daughter. Polidori often found himself abandoned by Byron

in favor of Byron's new preferred companion Percy Shelley. Ruffin is described as being deadly pale and dark hair. He has a compelling voice and is attractive to women whom he sees as prey. It's not hard to imagine why Polidori saw Byron as a vampire, plagued by scandal that was destroying the lives of those around him, treating the woman pregnant with him. his child as a tempting annoyance and channeling his distress into mocking Polidori. Byron was figuratively sucking the lives out of his friends.

The vampire did not end up being the revenge Polidori had hoped it would be. It wasn't originally meant to be published at all, merely circulated among peers, but the manuscript ended up in the hands of New Monthly Magazine, where the editor, rather presumptuously, assumed that it was written by Lord Byron. It was published under the name The Vampire, a tale by Lord Byron, and while it was eventually amended after Polidori's demand, the resounding success of the publication would mean the story would forever be connected to Byron. While Polidori explained that it was Byron's initial idea to continue his fragment with the protagonist, finding his companion alive upon his return and making love to his sister,

everything else was of his, Polidori's own imagination. Still, well into the 1890s, the vampire was included in collections of Byron's work. Still, it's Polidori, who we have to thank for making the vampire genre what it is today. Vampire fiction existed before Polidori, but they were grotesque creatures. The Byronic Lord Ruthven was dark and seductive, like the vampires we know and love today. There may not have been the vampire without Byron's fragment, but without the vampire, we wouldn't have Dracula or Carmilla or Twilight. So who won the ghost story contest? No winner was formally declared, but we have to hand the title to the two underdogs. who not only created the scariest monsters,

but pioneered two literary genres. That's the story of Villa Diadadi, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear more about very important work that was also created during the year without a summer. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists, we have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here,

and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire 2am, video on demand. this guy's 2 a.m. Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like, Wild, a wild batch you were with.

It was like a first like closet moment from me where I was like. You're like, I don't feel like she's hot like the rest of them. No, no, no. I was like, she's beautiful. But I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Los Angeles on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast.

I'm Iris Palmer and my new podcast is called Against All Od. And that's exactly what the show is about. doing whatever it takes to be thoughts. Get ready to hear from some of your favorite entrepreneurs and entertainers as they share stories about defying expectations, overcoming barriers, and breaking generational patterns. I'm talking to people like award-winning actress, producer, and director, Eva Longoria. I think I had like $200 in my savings account and my mom goes, what are you going to do? And I was like, I'll figure it out.

We got a one-bedroom apartment for like $400 a month and we all could not afford. I was like, how am I going to make $100 a month? I'm opening up like I've never before. For those of you who think you know me from what you've seen on social media, get ready to see a whole new side of me. Listen to Against All Odds with Iris Palmer as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you are a founder or a freelancer or the friend who always says,

hey, you know what, what if I started that? This is for you. I'm telling you I had nothing to my name. I didn't know a single person in New York. And somehow I'm dressed by Oscar de Laurenta walking down that red carpet. This month, we sit down with entrepreneurs and creators who actually did it, who turned this scary leap into a business, a paycheck, and a life they are proud of. Direct center of our happiness or our regrets is whether or not we're taking action on the things that matter to us.

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Readers, Katie's finalist, publicists. We have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire at 2am video on demand. This guy's boo-o-o-o-m. 2 a-m. Whatever time it is. Lizzie McGuire.

And I'm like, a wild batch you were with. It was like a first like closet moment from me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot. Like the rest of that room. No, no, no. I was like, she's beautiful. But I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Los Coleristas

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Iris Palmer and my new podcast is called Against All Od and that's exactly what the show is about doing whatever it takes to be thoughts. Get ready to hear from some of your favorite entrepreneurs and entertainers as they share stories about defying expectations, overcoming barriers and breaking generational patterns. I'm talking to people like award-winning actress, producer, and director, Eva Langoria.

I think I had like $200 in my savings account and my mom goes, what are you going to do? And I was like, I'll figure it out. We got a one-bedroom apartment for like $400 a month, and we all could not afford. Like, I was like, how am I going to make $100 a month? I'm opening up like I've never before. For those of you who think you know me from what you've seen on social media, get ready to see a whole new side of me.

Listen to Against All Odds with Iris Palmer as part of the MyCultura podcast network, available on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. If you are a founder or a freelancer or the friend who always says, Hey, you know what, what if I started that? This is for you. I'm telling you I had nothing to my name. I didn't know a single person in New York. And somehow I'm dressed by Oscar DeLorenta walking down that red carpet.

This month, we sit down with entrepreneurs and creators who actually did it, who turned the scary leap into a business, a paycheck, and a life they are proud of. Direct center of our happiness or our regrets is whether or not we're taking action on the things that matter to us. They're not selfish. They're so important. They actually lead to our greatest contribution. because when we're living fulfilled, we actually show up better everywhere.

We lead better. We're better friends. We're better relationships and collaborators and all those things because we have passion about the things we're doing. If you're trying to build something of your own this year, join us in these conversations that will make you braver and smarter with your money. Listen to Dos Amigos as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 1816, the 19-year-old composer Franz Schubert was hard at work. In that year alone, he produced two symphonies, choral music, and chamberworks.

That dark and rainy summer, when our romantic poets were writing their ghost stories, Schubert had also been inspired by the weather. An op-ed in The Guardian argues that, quote, almost all of his songs reflected not only the wandering, wondering, and passionate romanticism of the age, but also the coldness and darkness of this mysterious period. I personally recommend Symphony No. 4 in C. Minor, dubbed The Tragic by Schubert. The composer would soon write Prometheus, of course based on the myth of the Titan who stole fire from the gods to give to humanity. Prometheus had been a prominent figure in art since the early days, but he

happened to be of particular importance to the Villa Diodati crew. Byron published his epic poem Prometheus in 1816. In 1820, Percy would publish one of his major works, Prometheus Unbound. And, lest we forget, Mary Shelley had actually given Frankenstein a longer title. The full title of the novel was Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus. is a production of IHeart Radio and Grimmin'Mild from Aaron Manky. The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by Rima Ilkeali and Trevor Young.

Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the show over at Noblebloodtales.com. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your family. favorite shows. Readers, Katie's finalists,

publicists, we have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here and we can't wait for you to hear this episode.

They put on Lizzie McGuire 2 AM video on demand this guy's 2 a.m. 2 a time it is. Lizzie McGuire and I'm like Wild,

a wild batch you were with. It was like a first closet moment for me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot like the rest of that no, no, no. I was like she's beautiful

but I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but. Listen to Los Coltristas on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Iris Palmer, host of the Against All Odds podcast. Every week, I'm sitting down with exceptional people who had broken barriers even when the odds were stacked against them.

Like chef Victor Villa of Villas Tacos. You know the taquero from the Bad Bunny halftime show? It was great. It was a big moment. It was special. And I felt like I was really representing my family, you know, my brand, my city. I was representing all taqueros, not only of like, you know,

the U.S., but of Mexico and beyond, all the taqueros of the world. Listen to Against All Odds on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, gorgeous, it's Lala Kent. Host of Untraditionally Lala. My days of filling up cups at Sir may be over, but I'm still loving life in the valley.

Life on the other side of the hill is giving grown-up vibes, but over here on my podcast, Untraditionally Lala, I'm still that Lala, love or love to hate. It's unruly, it's unafraid, it's untraditionally Lala. Listen to Untraditionally Lala on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.