An Autobiography by the Trees

A house is not a person. Yet I loved a house, and its memory haunts me.Thanks for reading Meaning Making Machines! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. https://simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Whenever I say aloud the word “God,” I feel uncomfortable. “Jesus” or “Christ” has the same effect.I’ve spent most of my life thinking of people who use those words in earnest as being off their rocker. Something is wrong with them, they’ve got a few screws loose, they are unable to perceive reality. They choose comfort and certainty over curiosity about the vast unknown.Read full essay here: simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

I recently began reading Anna Karenina and was amazed not only at its readability, but its prescience. Too often do I assume the minds of our predecessors were alien to ours, when that is clearly not the case. They were thinking through the same issues that grip our minds today. Even though I could easily laugh at Oblonsky, knowing many all too well who hold views out of comfort rather than conviction, I began to think I would be failing in my responsibility as a reader if I didn’t take this opportunity to examine my own views, unlike Oblonsky.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

What. The. F**k.It suddenly hit me.It was one of those mild sunny summer days in Northern California. I had my head perched half out the car window like a happy dog, inhaling the sweet botanical breeze when I came to the idiotically simple yet groundbreaking realization that I EXIST.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Sameness and DifferenceAre men and women really so different from one another? Are the differences negligible? Is gender a social construct? What about pregnancy? (I’m joking)For most of my life, I’ve been fascinated with gender, simply because I’ve been curious about myself, and why I am the way that I am.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Welcome to my conversation with composer JoAnne Harris. JoAnne has conducted and recorded film scores at Abbey Road, East West, The Village, and Avatar with artists such as grammy winning Kurt Elling and members of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Her television work includes score for: Mal de Ojo (HBO), 20/20, Primetime, and Dateline. She teaches media scoring at Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema (CUNY Brooklyn College), orchestration at Catholic University of America, and is a student of the organ and spends her free time working through the Orgelbüchlein. In this episode we speak about JoAnne's life story, and unexpected path into composition, the meaning of art and the value of art in the age of AI, JoAnne's religious background and explorations of faith, and the primal relationship humans have to music whether it is in worship, community, or the pursuit of excellence. 00:00 – Teaser & Theme01:16 – Intro02:42 – Joanne's musical biography and path to composition04:02 – Growing up in Lutheran choral tradition and discovering composition06:10 – Moving to New York City08:02 – Backpacking Southeast Asia and becoming a film composer's apprentice10:10 – Artistic Purpose15:10 – Hollywood's risk aversion and the remake epidemic21:02 – The church's historical relationship to music32:00 – Technology's impact on composing42:36 – What AI forces us to ask56:40 – Worship music: high church hymns vs. contemporary praise01:04:36 – Growing up Lutheran and navigating theological schisms01:30:09 – The non-linear path back to faith01:34:40 – Future plans: music, ministry, and being a 21st century Hildegard von Bingen01:36:58 – OutroShow Links:Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.comJoanne's Links:Website: https://www.joanneharriscomposer.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3hVn60X9XS53Nwq3QYkZYcSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/joanneharrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannecomposer/Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

I knew things as a child that are hidden to me now. I knew them, but I didn’t have the intellectual skills to speak of them. I simply lived them.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Cultures and people trade one type of conformity for another and rarely think for themselves without being told what to think. An essay on how we can learn to free ourselves from hypocrisy.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/9536ae12-3d49-4b51-8203-458cefcf822d?postPreview=paid&updated=2025-10-17T23%3A48%3A06.730Z&audience=everyone&free_preview=false&freemail=true This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

Welcome to my episode with medieval scholar, writer, and speaker Dr. Grace Hamman. She is the author of the book Jesus through Medieval Eyes, a fascinating and accessible introduction to the bizarre, profound, and contradictory spirituality and culture of medieval people. In this episode we speak about Christianity during medieval times, their complex views of women, sex, birth, and death, the spiritual relationship to fear and suffering, and the corruption of the church during its most powerful era. We compare modern cultural hypocrisies to those of the medieval age and speak about what wisdom we can gain from studying medieval culture. We talk about female hermits, and compare the complex views of womanhood in that time to ours. We also speak about the medieval relationship to art, the anonymity of artists, and the medieval veneration of beauty in comparison to modern utilitarianism. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Show Links: Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/ Grace’s Links: Website: gracehamman.com Substack: gracehamman.substack.com Podcast: oldbookswithgrace.wordpress.com/podcast Instagram: instagram.com/oldbookswithgrace Jesus Through Medieval Eyes (book): https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9780310169123 Ask of Old Paths (book available for preorder): https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9780310167204 Mentioned in this episode: New York Times Trends for 2025 (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/style/trends-predictions-2025.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QU8._hpi.lUgnVZ_0f3Gp&smid=url-share Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that the role of the unseen in our lives is undeniable and essential. These “things” that are nonmaterial – things like God, love, courage, morality, truth, justice, joy, fulfillment – define the value and meaning of a human life.Read full essay here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/c6f1e05b-202e-4467-8ee2-2c41eb58e7b3 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com