7 episodes
Expectant Pippa Johnstone
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- Fiction
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4.2 • 17 Ratings
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Expectant is a six-part audio series that muddies fiction and non-fiction as a woman faces the prospect of becoming a parent during the climate crisis.
Through conversations with climate researchers, parents, mental health experts and childfree families, she grapples with grief, hope, and the biggest decision of her life: should she bring a child into this world?
Written and performed by Pippa Johnstone. Music by Laura Reznek. Sound design and mixing by Robyn Edgar. Dramaturgy by Karina Palmitesta. Artwork by Hannah Campbell.
This series is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
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The Test
She takes her first step out onto the fence.
This episode features Hannah Campbell and Lynne Quarmby and sounds best with headphones. -
The North
She asks him, what if we didn’t?
This episode features Colin and Sydney Wolf and sounds best with headphones. -
The Math
She adds up the cost of another footprint.
This episode features Kimberly Nicholas, and sounds best with headphones. -
The Dark Knowledge
She talks to the people who study the future.
This episode features Katie Hayes and Britt Wray, and sounds best with headphones. -
The Ultrasound
She talks to her mum.
This episode features Marjory Lang and sounds best with headphones. -
The Cabin
She listens for the answer.
This episode features Emma Campbell and Lisa Cooke Ravensburgen, and sounds best with headphones. Find the episode transcript here.
Customer Reviews
Please cool it with the "likes"
Just started, the amount the cousin says "like" makes her hard to listen to 🤦♀️
Excellent Production, Evocative, and Thought Provoking
Wonderfully produced and very easy to listen to. I really liked the fiction/nonfiction blend aspect of the writing. I appreciate having something to spur my own thoughts on a topic such as this, which can be so tense to actually discuss with friends and loved ones. I do wish that the ending was left more vague. I can see that it was attempted to be vague but the narrators thoughts seem to lean heavily in one direction by the end of the last episode. Maybe that’s just my perspective bleeding into the words.
Sorely needed discussion, foregone conclusion
This series posed unique, arresting, evocative, and thought-provoking topics.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first few episodes, which conscientiously and respectfully delved into various philosophical and environmental issues.
However, the listener becomes made aware towards the end of the series of the speaker’s mother’s assumption that she “will” have children; the journey ends in a foregone conclusion. There are hints that this may also be due to peer/social pressures of loved ones also opting to move forward with having children.
A bit of a disappointment that this combination of research, effort and thought seemingly ends after a conversation with her mother.