No burden, all delight: Good news from 2025
Happy To Be Here
Greta Johnsen
4.6 • 924 Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran and pop culture writer Margaret H. Willison share their favorite news stories of the year. From real-life magicians to ficiton demon hunters, and museum detectives to Da Pope, there's plenty of good news to go around.
SHOW CREDITS
Creator and host: Greta Johnsen
Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg
Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal
Show art: Mac Maclean
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And that's how you doing. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to happy to be here, the show for recovering perfectionists and |
| 0:14.7 | the perpetually curious about what to eat, read, watch, think about, and delight in wherever |
| 0:19.3 | you might happen to be. |
| 0:21.4 | I am your host, Greta Johnson, and I am so excited that you are here. |
| 0:26.4 | Today is the last Friday of 2025, and I don't think I need to tell you that this year was |
| 0:32.2 | kind of an absolute dumpster fire. |
| 0:36.1 | It was a really hard year for me, both like personally and universally, |
| 0:41.0 | and I have a feeling most people can relate to that statement on one level or another. So the |
| 0:46.4 | point of today's episode is provide all of us with some reprieve. And here to do that are two |
| 0:51.7 | of my favorite people. Here with me today is the host of CityCast Chicago, Jacoby Cochran. |
| 0:57.1 | Jacoby, hey, how's it going? |
| 0:59.5 | I'm doing good, good to see you again, my friend. |
| 1:02.0 | You too. |
| 1:02.9 | Also here is Margaret Willison. |
| 1:05.4 | She's a culture writer and podcaster who keeps former gifted children from pursuing |
| 1:09.2 | ill-advised PhDs by offering fun classes on |
| 1:12.1 | Jane Austen, Taylor Swift, and other artists, beloved by high-achieving eldest sisters and their |
| 1:17.8 | ilk, Margaret, hello. |
| 1:20.2 | Well, I really went hard with that intro. |
| 1:22.5 | You did. How do you feel about it? |
| 1:23.8 | I love it. I'm like, wow, this sounds great. |
... |
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