
The Heart
Since 2014 this longstanding podcast favourite has been creating hard-hitting cinematic stories about love, bodies and all of the things between humans that we don’t know how to name. Creator Kaitlin Prest works with her friends, idols and all kinds of loved ones to bring you into an expansive sonic universe that challenges what we think we know about relationships.
Latest episodes

Feb 7, 2017 • 21min
Pansy: The Beloved
Some say there are as many genders as there are people. And even more ways to creatively think about and claim them. In this story, Allen’s gender is complicated by a discovery he makes through meditation.
Ep 3 of ‘Pansy’: A season about where masculinity and femininity meet.
Credits: Written and produced by Allen J. Watts. Production support from Julia Alsop. Editorial support from Cassie Wagler.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jan 25, 2017 • 24min
Pansy: Ultraslut
Blake’s crushing. Hard. On his new best friend and favorite person: Korry. They spend every day together. They sleep in the same bed together. They plan their futures together. But there are signs that show that Korry might not be feeling the same way about Blake. Blake begins to suspect it has something to do with the fact that Korry’s attracted to straight-acting, masculine-looking, manly men.
And Korry’s not alone.
In this episode, we continue our conversation on gender and femininity and look at what happens when we move out of the heterosexual dating world and into the queer one. Kaitlin assumed that gay and queer life is one big femme-loving genderfuck. But flipping through gay hook-up apps, it’s easy to spot a “no fats, no femmes” trend. So what’s the deal?
Ep 2 of “Pansy”: A season about where masculinity and femininity meet.
Credits: Produced with Julia Alsop. Editorial support by Cassie Wagler. Special thanks to the folks at the Food 4 Thot Podcast and to Julia Serano.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jan 11, 2017 • 23min
Pansy: Twirl
Todd once loved a woman. And she loved him back, but there was one thing that she just couldn’t get over, he twirls. This piece explores what it means to be effeminate when you’re a straight cis-dude. Kaitlin talks to men who embrace and resist their femininity.
Ep 1 of “Pansy”: A season of stories about letting your feminine flag fly.
Produced with help from Julia Alsop and editorial support from Cassie Wagler. Special thanks to Julia Serrano.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 23, 2016 • 45min
Mariya – Extended Cut
Featuring never-before-heard scenes and a post-award interview with Mariya Karimjee, this is an extended version of the award winning documentary, “Mariya.” A story about Mariya’s journey to figure out sex after FGM.
Released in May 2016, “Mariya” received the Gold Award (Best Documentary) at the Third Coast International Audio Festival.
Mariya Karimjee is a writer based in Karachi, Pakistan. Read her original essay here.
Editorial support from Brendan Baker, Allen Watts, Kelsey Padgett, Samara Breger and Nadia Bajwa. Additional support from Kari June.
Another version of this story can be heard on This American Life.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 8, 2016 • 21min
Love, Harry
Have you ever had a friend you thought you might be in love with? Have you ever slept in a bed beside this person, and wondered if your hand was grazing yours on purpose?
Sharon receives emails from Harry, a not-so-secret admirer. It’s her best friend Kaitlin. Sharon is (mostly) straight, but could Kaitlin be the man of her dreams? Years after Kaitlin wrote those emails, the two friends sit down to talk about them and what they meant. They ask each other the questions that have always been beneath the surface of their friendship.
This episode was originally produced by Kaitlin Prest and Sharon Mashihi for the Love Letters episode of Audio Smut in 2014.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Oct 18, 2016 • 12min
For Helen
This episode is a rerun of Mouthwash, in honor of the late Helen Breger and all of our grandparents’ salacious histories.
Produced by Samara Breger with The Heart.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Oct 4, 2016 • 26min
Diaries: My Everything, My Bear
In a suitcase full of books and papers there is a little notebook with a bear sitting alone in a hot air balloon. This journal is one of the only things Alex saved when they got rid of all their possessions and moved to Ohio. The journal is filled with accounts of the life and the love they left behind.
This episode was written by Alex DiFrancesco with production help from Julia Alsop.
Alex DiFrancesco’s work has appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, The New Ohio Review, and Brevity. Their first novel, a radical acid western called [The Devils That Have Come to Stay](https://www.amazon.com/Devils-That-Have-Come-Stay-ebook/dp/B00T4VVCE4/ref=redirmobiledesktop?ie=UTF8&noEncodingTag=1&qid=1422649392&redirectFromSS=1&ref=tmmkintitle0&sr=8-1), was published in 2015.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Sep 8, 2016 • 24min
Diaries: No Way Out
Ashley’s Livejournal features the angsty outpourings of a teenager from the early 2000s living in Southwest Florida. Just like many who came of age at the time, she flushed feelings out into the anonymous online public. Looking back on these entries, Ashley tries to read into what was really happening beneath the surface.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Aug 16, 2016 • 21min
Diaries: The Big House
At the back of a closet, in a cardboard box, writer Tina Horn’s diaries gather dust. In the box there are girlhood diaries covered in collages of unicorns, dragons and David Duchovny. There are mixtapes with fat multicolored glitter and there are simple, spiral bound notebooks filled with obscenities.
This episode is part of the Diaries mini season and was written by Tina Horn. Tina is a Lambda Literary Fellow and the recipient of two Feminist Porn Awards. Check out Tina’s podcast and more.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Aug 2, 2016 • 28min
Diaries: BFF
Writer Molly Osberg has carried her journals to every house she’s lived in since 2007. They’re decorated with pictures of her and her friends’ faces smooshed together, one friend in particular; Amelia. Molly and Amelia met in detention and were inseparable for most of high school. Together they learned how to become the people that they are today.
This episode is part of the Diaries mini season, and was written by Molly Osberg. Special thanks to Allen Watts, John Walker and Amelia.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices