Favorite Podcasts : October/November

Here are a few of my favorites from the past month. Some have been truly convicting (the last three mentioned), two just down right entertaining (Lost in America and Running with Donkeys), and one a bit of a can opener to the world of mental illness (Kirkbridge Plan) which was unconsciously followed by me watching The Joker, episode three of Modern Love, and two 30 for 30 documentaries - Rodman: for better or worse and Tommy , all of which deal with mental illness in one way or another.

Anyway, here are a few favorites from the past month or so! If you have any suggestions, let me know! I’m all ears.

Lost in America, by This American Life : Stories of people who are lost, histories that are lost, and things that are lost. This show was recorded onstage in front of audiences on a five-city tour in May 2003. The cities: Boston, Washington DC, Portland Oregon, Denver and Chicago.

Running With Donkeys with Chris McDougall : A few years ago, Chris’ family adopted a donkey named Sherman who had been neglected by an animal hoarder. Their solution to getting Sherman happy and healthy was to give him a purpose and teach him how to burro race, a feat that became an amazing adventure in itself. The book is Chris McDougall’s most personal work and explores the importance of purpose and community in how both animals and humans survive and thrive.

The Kirkbridge Plan, by 99% Invisible : Today, there are more than a hundred abandoned asylums in the United States, many of them not all that different from Buffalo State. It’s one of the reasons we’re all so familiar with the idea of the big empty asylum in the woods. Few stop to wonder where all these structures came from, but, in fact, all of this was part of a treatment regimen developed by a singular Philadelphia doctor, a physician who was obsessed with architecture and how it could be harnessed therapeutically to cure those who’d become insane.

Screaming Into The Void: How Outrage Is Hijacking Our Culture, And Our Minds, by Hidden Brain : An exploration of how the satisfactions of outrage affect our politics, our communities, and our minds.

Maslow’s Human Needs, by TED Radio Hour : Humans need food, sleep, safety, love, purpose. Psychologist Abraham Maslow ordered our needs into a hierarchy. This week, TED speakers explore that spectrum of need, from primal to profound.

Transparency, by TED Radio Hour : Sometimes, being truthful can be uncomfortable—even risky. But can radical honesty and openness change things for the better? This hour, TED speakers take transparency all the way to its limit.

Enjoy the day, and happy listening.

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Favorite Podcasts : November

Yes, the Open Office Is Terrible — But It Doesn’t Have to Be (Ep. 358) : by Freakonomics

It began as a post-war dream for a more collaborative and egalitarian workplace. It has evolved into a nightmare of noise and discomfort. Can the open office be saved, or should we all just be working from home?

The concept of productivity and efficiency is always on my mind, especially when it comes to schools and cultures and how best to make an impact. This episode helped clarify some of my thoughts and struggles and encouraged me to get out more, engage in conversation, and to sacrifice productivity for side chats and unplanned encounters.

The Difference Between Fixing and Healing : by On Being

We thought we could cure everything, but it turns out we can only cure a small amount of human suffering. The rest of it needs to be healed, and that’s different.

Perhaps my favorite of the group, this podcast is slow and beautiful and just about perfect. I’m often inspired by podcasts, but this is one of the few that truly heal. Just brilliant.

Episode 311 – James Clear – The Laws of Behavior Change : by Smart People Podcast

If you are in any way an entrepreneur or artist or person wanting to branch out with new ideas, this podcast is perfect. In it, James Clear discusses:

• How to overcome the fear of rejection

• James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’ which I’ve already ordered. If you want to borrow it when I’m done, let me know and I’ll send it your way!

• Where do you find a ‘vision’ falling in the realm of habit creation?

And so much more. It’s crazy good.

Before the Next One : by This American Life

There’s no rulebook on how to handle a school shooting. And no real way to prepare for one. This week, people take what they’ve learned from these tragedies and try to use that knowledge to save others.

I listened to this shortly after reading Columbine and writing Mass Shootings : We Are Responsible. It is a pretty powerful episode as it interviews the teachers of Stoneman Douglas HS and parents who have lost their children but are refusing to give up hope in humanity. It is not for the faint of heart, but if you can stomach it, it is also encouraging.

#20 Soraya : Heavyweight

When Soraya was in college, her favorite professor hired her to help research a book she was writing. But when she fell into a deep depression and dropped out of school, she abandoned both the book and the professor who’d shown her so much kindness. Now, with Jonathan’s help, Soraya wants to make things right—with a grand gesture.

Along with productivity and efficiency, I am also constantly wrestling with the concept of memory. I’ve posted other podcasts on this issue (Malcolm Gladwell and Invisibilia being some of the best), but this episode brought a bit of a different flavor because it deals with depression and the devastating effects it can have on perception vs reality. Not only did it question my understanding of reality, it soothed my soul. It’s a good piece to end on. Trust me.

EXTRAS:

Chanel just called, to say . . . by Heavyweight

Six Who Sat : Why six women had to sit, so that they could run. by ESPN 30 for 30

The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar, by This American Life

The best stories are the one's that are about something so much more than the actual story.

This is one of those stories, and it's one of my favorites. Ever.

In 1912 a four-year-old boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing in a swamp in Louisiana. Eight months later, he was found in the hands of a wandering handyman in Mississippi. In 2004, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter discovered a secret beneath the legend of her grandfather's kidnapping, a secret whose revelation would divide her own family, bring redemption to another, and become the answer to a third family's century-old prayer (via).

You can listen to it here and read the transcript here.

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Things I mean to know

This morning, instead of hopping in the car and driving, I walked. It was brilliant. Brilliantly cold, and brilliantly convicting, like the heat of an afternoon sun after a freezing and wind scourged morning, because before the day even began, I was asked to consider everything I know, and how I know it. And I didn't have any answers.

What do we know, fully, and with confidence, but without knowing why? Without knowing the evidence, the facts, or even just simply the other side?

For me it's a lot of things. But when I first listened to this podcast, I wasn't considering me and what I did or did not know, I was considering others and what they don't know. Because from my perspective, they don't know a lot. And they don't even know it. 

The Episode is entitled, Things I Mean to Know by This American Life. 

This little soundbite is from the Prologue:

"I started looking into it and it was too hard." So, she, "jumped back into the ocean with the rest of us dummies." Because it was easier. Because getting to the bottom of things is a lot of work, especially when those things don't have easy or definable answers - when they deal with all that human being stuff.

When I heard these lines, I was about three blocks down from my house, kicking a small rock out of my path, and thinking of all those who could benefit from hearing these simple words. 

Then I turned the corner and headed down 6th street. The rock lost in someone's yard and the chill of the morning beginning to seep in. I pulled my hat down further then jammed my hands a bit further into my pockets. 

A thought was beginning to fester, and by the time I reached the my classroom and chair and Coleman thermos coffee, it was a wild and living thing.

Maybe I'm the one who's wrong?

In recent months I've been questioning myself, my faith, and my life more than I ever have before. Yet, somewhere in all that, I've found plenty of time and arguments for why others have been wrong, why things or ideas have been the source of my befuddlement, and why if everyone could just be as open-minded or loving or accepting as me, things would be pretty damn good.

Then I walked to work and kicked a rock and listened to stories of people talking about what they thought they knew. 

On the walk home, Megan Phelps-Roper describe her time as a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, "Most of the time, I would walk away from those conversations feeling like I had won. I never set out to have my mind changed."

Once I saw that we were not the ultimate arbiters of divine truth but flawed human beings, I couldn't justify our actions. . . That period was full of turmoil. But one part I return to often is a surprising realization I had during that time - that it was a relief and a privilege to let go of the harsh judgments that instinctively ran through my mind about nearly every person I saw. I realized that now I needed to learn. I needed to listen.

And so do I. Holy shit so do I.

I need to listen to those who frustrate me, who hurt me, who think incomplete and false thoughts about me. Because they might be right. 

Holy shit they might be right. At least in part.

Because,

You're not letting go of your truth but understanding someone else's. You need that if you're going to build a bridge and get across and get through.

But to be honest, this is really hard because even through I want to get through, I also want to win - at least in part - because even though I want to understand, I also want to be understood. And even though I want to build bridges and find a way to let go of the harsh judgements that instinctively ran through my mind, I also want to be validated and affirmed in what and who I am.  

Which makes the conversation difficult, I think, because - out of self preservation - I talk more than I listen, I defend more than hear, and I explain more than I try to understand.

And that might be the first times I've really understood that. 

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