Bubble and Squeak

Something Cnidarian

Part One: Queer author Ryan La Sala and the queer horror story, The Dead of Summer
Part Two: A message from the evil spirit that lives inside Donald Trump
Part Three: A Sound Slice from a political rally in Richmond, Virginia. 
You can see a video version of this podcast over at https://www.youtube.com/@p2son
Ryan LaSala is a bestselling and award-winning queer author. He writes about surreal things happening to queer people. He is the author of BEHOLDER, REVERIE, and BE DAZZLED. Their debut horror novel, THE HONEYS, is in development to become a major motion picture. He joined me in the studio to talk about his most recent book, THE DEAD OF SUMMER. 
Cnidarians are a diverse phylum of over 11,000 aquatic, mostly marine, invertebrates—including jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones—characterized by radial symmetry, a simple gastrovascular cavity, and specialized stinging cells called nematocysts (cnidocytes). They possess a decentralized nerve net, lack true organs, and exist in two main body forms: sessile polyps and free-swimming medusae.
Music on today's show comes from EpidemicSound.com. Bubble and Squeak is produced by me, Peterson. I mostly make this show for myself, oh, and for Harlan, who listens, smiling while he walks. 

Gravitational Pull: From Period Products to Our New North Star

S4E3 — Personal Connections: Period Products, Climate Poetry, and a Ritual for the Next North Star
In this episode, the threads of community, justice, climate imagination, and art weave through three distinct yet deeply connected stories.
Today’s show comes in three parts:Part One: The Secret World of Diapers and Period ProductsPart Two: Anthropocene Pastoral — climate-change poetry by Catherine PiercePart Three: Jump!Star — a leap 1,000 years into the future, live from Abner Clay Park in Richmond, VA
PART ONE — Menstrual Cups & Community Action
What begins with a surprise email from my sister’s childhood classmate becomes a chain reaction of connection—stretching from a tiny town along the Delaware River to Zambia, Kenya, Hartford CT, and back to my cousin Mona over breakfast.
I speak with four remarkable women whose lives, work, and generosity intersect through period poverty, community organizing, youth empowerment, and a simple but world-changing tool: the menstrual cup.
Featured Guests
⭐ Christine Garde DenningFounder of Could You? — a global nonprofit providing menstrual cups, malaria prevention tools, and practical pathways out of extreme poverty.Website → https://couldyou.orgLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-garde-denning-2780179/
⭐ Mary Maker (Mary Nyeriak)Actor, speaker, educator, youth advocate, refugee leader, and the force behind Could You?’s community work across Africa.Profile → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-maker/
⭐ Fran Stoffer (she/her)Chair of the Northwest CT Community Foundation Women & Girls Fund.Fran shares how her regional distribution project for free period products grew into a warehouse of boxes stacked to the ceiling.Women & Girls Fund → www.yournccf.org/womenandgirlsInstagram → @nccfwomenandgirlsfundX/Twitter → @northwestctcommunityfoundationwomenandgirls
⭐ Mona NorfleetCommunity advocate, YMCA leader, equity organizer, and member of local anti-racist initiatives. Mona jumps in with stories of her own efforts to support women in her region.She also enjoys mixed martial arts, good bourbon, and the occasional cigar — sometimes all at the same time.
PART TWO — Anthropocene Pastoral by Catherine Pierce
Climate dread meets unsettling beauty in Catherine Pierce’s celebrated poem Anthropocene Pastoral.
The poem first appeared in Poetry Magazine and later in her collection Danger Days.For this episode, I remastered Catherine’s reading with a new sound design.
About Catherine Pierce
Former Poet Laureate of Mississippi (2021–2025), author of Danger Days, with two new books coming in 2026:
Foxes for Everybody (memoir, Northwestern University Press)
Dear Beast (poetry, Saturnalia Books)
Find her work:Website → https://catherinepiercepoet.comStudio & Craft (her poetry community) → https://studioandcraft.com
PART THREE — Jump!Star in Richmond, VA
I travel to Abner Clay Park in Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward neighborhood for the “Axial Precession Procession,” part of Jump!Star, the ritual welcoming of Earth’s next North Star: Gamma Cephei (“Ceph”), due to rise in about 1,000 years.
The park is transformed with illuminated sculptures, movement choruses, and hundreds of volunteers known as “Dark Matter.”
This segment features a SoundSlice recorded live as time folds—past, present, and future converging for one luminous ritual.
About George Ferrandi & Jump!Star
Artist, director, collaborator, and visionary behind Jump!Star.Website → https://www.georgeferrandi.comPhotos from the event are also on my Instagram → @petersontoscano
Mirah (NYC)Beloved indie-pop musician Mirah contributed three original songs to Jump!Star, including the anthem that drives our Axial Precession Procession of the Future North Star Sculptures. Her music guides us through the project’s unfolding story: Hello Star, Axial Precession and Goodbye Song.
LINKS & RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE
Could You? — Menstrual Cups & Global Health
CouldYou? → https://couldyou.orgPeriod Poverty Program Info → https://couldyou.org/menstrual-cups/Could You? Africa (with Mary Maker) → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-maker/
Women & Girls Fund (Northwest CT Community Foundation)
Website → www.yournccf.org/womenandgirlsInstagram → @nccfwomenandgirlsfundX → @northwestctcommunityfoundationwomenandgirls
Poet Catherine Pierce
Poems, books, events → https://catherinepiercepoet.comStudio & Craft community → https://studioandcraft.comDanger Days → Available wherever books are sold
Jump!Star & George Ferrandi
Jump!Star info → https://www.georgeferrandi.comPhotos from the event → Instagram @petersontoscano
ABOUT THE SHOW
Bubble & Squeak is written and produced by me, Peterson Toscano.I mostly make this show for myself — and for people like Ted Heck and Levi Goren who keep making their dreams a reality.
Find more episodes, images, and strange audio bits at:🌐 https://www.petersontoscano.com📸 Instagram → @petersontoscano
 

Creation Groaning

What do pasta, polar bears, and the Pope have in common? They all show up in this episode about climate change. Peterson Toscano refuses to preach doom or guilt—instead, you’ll hear Jewish wisdom on acting fast in a crisis, Christian takes on food justice, and a Bronx guy who’s had it with polar bears. Also: coffee is under threat, so now you’re paying attention. And we end on a diesel-fumed bus ride through Quito, Ecuador, where the future smells like electricity.
Juicy Quotes
“The climate crisis calls our bluff about being individuals—we are interdependent, whether we like it or not.” —Joelle Novey
“We’re the first generation to live through the climate crisis—and the last generation that can do anything about it.” —Derek Weston
“Polar bears? They’re the raccoons of Alaska. Coffee going extinct? Now that’s the apocalypse.” —Tony Buffuzio
“Combustion cars will be remembered like typewriters—legacy tech we finally grew out of.” —Peterson Toscano
Guest Links
Joelle Novey – Interfaith Power & Light DC/MD/VA: http://www.ipldmv.org
National Interfaith Power & Light: https://interfaithpowerandlight.org
Derek Weston – Creation Justice Ministries: https://www.creationjustice.org
Derek Weston’s book (The Just Kitchen): https://broadleafbooks.com/products/the-just-kitchen
Food and Faith Podcast: https://www.foodandfaithpodcast.org

Sissy Gagged: Sex, Gender, and Jesus

This episode is about sex, gender, and Jesus—and what happens when our bodies get wrapped in shame, pleasure, politics, and power. It comes in four parts:
🧕 Part One – Tina Beardsley
Revd Dr. Tina Beardsley is a priest, a theologian, and a trans woman who’s been quietly transforming the Church of England from the inside out. Co-author of Trans Affirming Churches and Transfaith, Tina sees transition as a spiritual act.
Learn more: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Beardsley
👑 Part Two – Panda Dulce
Kyle Casey Chu, aka Panda Dulce, is a drag queen, writer, and survivor of a Proud Boys ambush at Drag Story Hour. We talk about sacred drag, queer disappointment, and how to live when the fantasy of queer community doesn’t match reality.
Website: www.kylecaseychu.com
✝️ Part Three – Rev. Bev
Rev. Dr. Beverly Dale—Rev. Bev to her friends—is a poet, preacher, and the founder of the Incarnation Institute for Sex & Faith. She challenges purity culture and insists that pleasure is holy. She also reads from her new book, Who Told You That You Were Naked?
Website: www.beverlydale.org
💃 Part Four – Sound Slice
Let me set the scene for you: I’m at a Quaker gathering in Florida. After the silent worship, the serious talks, and the ice cream debates—we push the tables aside and start square dancing. Boys in skirts. Grandmothers in wheelchairs. Men dancing with men. The Spirit moves.
🎙️ Bubble and Squeak is written and produced by me, Peterson Toscano. I mostly make this show for myself. Oh—and for John Casey, who taught me how to journal again.
Thank you for listening. Until next time—stay curious. Be weird. And make room for yourself to shimmer, sparkle, and shine.

Grave Robbers: Father James Martin, Lucas Wilson, and Coming Out Lazarus

We kick off Season 4 with a deep, layered look at resurrection, queer liberation, and spiritual unbinding. Host Peterson Toscano brings together three unique stories—tied together by one enduring biblical moment: Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb.
🕊️ Part One: Peterson talks with Fr. James Martin, SJ, about his new book Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle. They explore how the Lazarus story still speaks to us today—through art, personal growth, and the quest for freedom.
📖 Buy the book
📱 @jamesmartinsj on Instagram | FrJamesMartin on Facebook
🎭 Part Two: Peterson shares an excerpt from his acclaimed solo performance Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House, a comedic and deeply honest reflection on his own years in conversion therapy.
📺 Watch on YouTube www.youtube.com/p2son
📚 Part Three: Scholar and writer Lucas Wilson discusses his new anthology Shame, Sex, Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy. These unflinching, sometimes humorous, often raw narratives expose the long-term effects of these practices—and the courage it takes to reclaim life afterward.
📖 Buy the book
📱 @lukeslamdunkwilson on Instagram | @wilson_fw on X
🌴 Part Four: In a haunting sound slice from María la Gorda on the western edge of Cuba, Peterson reflects on Che Guevara’s early forced labor camp there—an ideological prelude to the UMAP camps that targeted gay men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, artists, and others during the Cuban Revolution.
Whether you're LGBTQ+ and faith-rooted, someone recovering from religious trauma, or simply curious about stories of survival and transformation—this episode offers depth, humor, and insight.
🕯️ "Take off the grave clothes, and let him go."
It’s not just a command—it’s a calling.

Joseph Josephine

Our show today comes in three parts.
Part one: J Mase III, a Black/Trans/queer poet & educator, talks about collaboration, reparations, art, and a trans-Bible character.
"Art is the imagination tool that allows you to see and make things possible that weren't before."
Part two: Mase performing Josephine
And Part Three: A Sound Slice of Orthodox Christians from Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection and Chapel of St Innocent of Irkutsk, in a Good Friday procession on East Second Street in NYC.
Learn more about J Mase III at his website www.jmaseiii.com.
The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless by The jellyrox from the album Bang and Whimper.
To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com

Social Mediatrix

Part one: A conversation with public Bible scholar and trouble maker, Dr. Jennifer Bird
Part two: Marvin gets a job at a born-again online store
Part three: A sound slice from Norway
Learn more about Dr. Jennifer Bird at her website www.jennifergracebird.com. You will also find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and she is killing it on TikTok. She co-hosts the podcast Wild Olive. It is available wherever you get podcasts.
The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless by The jellyrox from the album Bang and Whimper.
To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com

Anxiety Blues

Our show today comes in three parts
Part one: Singer Songwriter Linda Jay Reed shares her creation process.
Part two: Linda Reed sings the song Anxiety Blues
Part three: a SoundSlice from an island in the Philippines
Part One: Linda Jay Reed wrote her first song on guitar when she was 17 years old. She has continued the practice for decades and has gained a faithful fanbase. After hearing her song, Fallin’ Free, I fell hard for both the warmth and the weariness that she exudes through her voice. Every inch of her personal journey is etched the sound she creates. She is honest without being bitter. The music and the moods she creates draw me in. Right before she moved from New York City to California, in the midst of a mountain of moving boxes, Linda took some time out to tell me about her music.
MUSIC:
Part Two:
MUSIC
Sound Slice: Let me set the scene for you. I am on the shore of Pandan Island in the Philippines. It is a short boat ride from the city of Sablayan. This was the beginning of a 5 week trip to see some of the islands and some of my Aunt Rolla’s family. But first this stop on an island surrounded by a coral reef and teaming with sea turtles. A small shark swam near the shore, and looked so playful, I had to go snorkeling around the island again.
CLOSING
Bubble&Squeak is written and produced by me, Peterson Toscano. I mostly make the show for me and fellow artists like Linda Jay Reed.
You can find her music on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Amazon Music, which actually pays independent artists better than the other services. Just search for Linda Jay Reed.
“The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless. by The jellyrox from the album Bang and a whimper. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, of wherever you listen to music.”
You also heard maskros by BOMULL
To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com
Feel free to say hi on to me X. @p2son the letter p the number two son @p2son
Oh, and thanks for listening.

Cracked Ajar

Part one: Writer Wendy Sanford reveals the origins of her memoir about friendship across race and class and her evolving relationship and collaboration with Mary Norman.
Part two: Wendy Sanford reads from These Walls Between us
https://www.wendysanford-thesewallsbetweenus.com/
Part three: a SoundSlice from Northern London
Hear Wendy talk about the groundbreaking women's health book, "Our Bodies, Ourselves" https://soundcloud.com/peterson-thomas-toscano/female-body?si=6d70fddacd444dd19a0a20097fccb038&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Like One of the Family by Alice Childress https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100105640;jsessionid=0E3320BF5ACFAC24E87D4B10EB60ED19
The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless. by The jellyrox from the album Bang and a whimper. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, of wherever you listen to music.
To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com
Feel free to say hi to me Twitter. @p2son
Praise for The Walls Between Us:
“These Walls Between Us is a powerful book with an important lesson that we all must learn in trying to understand others.”
—Reverend John Reynolds, author of The Fight for Freedom:
A Memoir of My Years in the Civil Rights Movement
“A tender, honest, cringeworthy, and powerful read.”
—Debby Irving, Author of Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
"I've never read a memoir that is so consistently courageous."
—George Lakey, Author of Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice
“Wendy Sanford is doing the work that only she can do!”
—Byllye Avery, Founder, Black Women's Health Imperative.

Unitive State

Part one: Biophilia, an news report from the future. An odd story about a man whose love of nature gets out of hand. Inspired by The Cli-Fi Imaginarium. https://www.withmanyroots.com/cli-fi-imaginarium/
Part two: Lynn Johnson reading from her spiritual memoir Holy Adventure. http://www.meetinghouse.xyz/books-1/holy-adventure-a-spiritual-memoir
Part three: A Sound Slice from Dlinza Forest Aerial Boardwalk in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa https://eshowe.com/dlinza-forest-aerial-boardwalk/
The Bubble&Squeak theme song is Worthless. by The jellyrox from the album Bang and a whimper. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, of wherever you listen to music.
To find more great music and new podcasts visit www.rockcandyrecordings.com
Feel free to say hi to me Twitter. @p2son