Introduction and my first recommendation

Hello! I am Tariana, a 37 years old Brazilian who has been living in Calgary for over a year now. I am a mom to a soon-to-be 5 years old girl, have a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies and have been working with writing for the past 20 years. 

When I first learned about this learning activity, I thought it could be fun to have a new blog after such a long time. Then I started thinking about what I wanted to write about. I wanted it to be at least a bit interesting to some of my classmates, so I decided to go for two of my passions: books and podcasts. Every week, I will be here with one recommendation. 

I am not a huge fan of being alone with my thoughts, so, when I am on my own, I like the company of books and podcasts. I love to be absorbed by a good history, to feel connected to characters and thought it would be fun to share some of my favourite ones with you. I want to start with a podcast I listened to two years ago: Serial – Season 1. You may have already listened to it as it was launched in 2014, but a good story never gets old and, if you missed it, I encourage you to downloaded it because you will be addicted to it. 

Hosted by Sarah Koenig, it has 12 episodes and takes us back to 1992 in Baltimore County, Maryland (USA), to tell the story of the murder of a teenage girl, Hae Min Lee, and how her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted to a life sentence. 

According to the podcast official website (Serial Podcast, n.d., p. 2), “Sarah Koenig sorted through thousands of documents, listened to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talked to everyone she could find who remembered what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee”. 

Sarah does a tremendous investigative journalism work and the oral narrative is catchy and makes the listener feels electrified about what is coming next. The podcast also brings attention to how the criminal justice system works in the United States. If you love a good true crime story, you cannot miss Serial – Season 1. It deserves all the success conquered so far. You can check it here. If you listen to it, don't forget to come back here in tell me what did you think.