Podcast appearances and mentions of Anna Karenina

Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every. With just 15 people, Every publishes a daily AI newsletter, ships multiple AI products, and operates a million-dollar-a-year consulting arm—all while their engineers write virtually zero code. It's the most radical example of AI-first operations, and Dan is a prolific writer who has become a leading voice on how AI is transforming the way we build and work.Learn:1. Why Dan thinks AI won't steal jobs en masse—and may actually reshore many jobs to the U.S.2. The most underrated AI tool for non-programmers3. An inside look at Every's AI-first workflow4. Why every company needs an “AI operations lead”5. How Dan's team uses an arsenal of AI agents (Claude, Codex, “Friday,” “Charlie”) in parallel, treating each AI like a specialist with unique strengths6. Why generalists will thrive in an AI-first world, as rigid job titles blur and everyone becomes a “manager” of AI tools7. Dan's playbook for making any company AI-first—from the CEO setting the example, to hosting internal prompt-sharing sessions, to upskilling teams on AI tools—Brought to you by:CodeRabbit—Cut code review time and bugs in half. Instantly: https://www.coderabbit.ai/DX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity: https://getdx.com/lennyPostHog—How developers build successful products: https://posthog.com/lenny—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-every-dan-shipper—Where to find Dan Shipper:• X: https://x.com/danshipper• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danshipper/• Podcast: https://every.to/podcast—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Welcome and introduction(04:04) Hot takes on AI and job reshoring(07:06) The power of Claude Code for non-coders(14:35) The future of AI in business operations(18:45) AI's role in enhancing human skills(22:26) The evolution of AI tools and their applications(25:40) Building an AI-first company(29:50) Innovative AI operations and team dynamics(35:35) Dan's AI stack(41:26) Compounding engineering(48:29) The impact of AI on learning and development(50:10) Accelerating career growth with AI(51:36) Revolutionizing code review and workflow(53:07) The importance of coding knowledge(57:26) Building AI-driven products(01:02:01) Innovative fundraising strategies(01:08:45) Consulting and AI adoption in companies(01:17:01) The allocation economy and future skills(01:20:12) The value of generalists in the AI age(01:24:07) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code• Gemini CLI: https://blog.google/technology/developers/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/• Base44: https://base44.com/• Solo founder, $80M exit, 6 months: The Base44 bootstrapped startup success story | Maor Shlomo: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-base44-bootstrapped-startup-success-story-maor-shlomo• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• Plato's Argument Against Writing: https://fs.blog/an-old-argument-against-writing/• From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the world's most popular products | Peter Deng: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-quiet-architect-peter-deng• Granola: https://www.granola.ai/• Tobi Lutke's post on X about context engineering: https://x.com/tobi/status/1935533422589399127• Tobi Lütke's leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook• Every: https://every.to/• Cora: https://www.cora.computer/• Sparkle: https://makeitsparkle.co/• Spiral: https://spiral.computer/• Lex: https://lex.page/• Nathan Baschez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbashaw/• Kate Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-lee-506768/• Katie Parrott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieparrott/• Animalz: https://www.animalz.co/• Rachel Woods on X: https://x.com/rachel_l_woods• Nityesh Agarwal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga• Claude Opus 4: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/opus• Codex: https://openai.com/index/introducing-codex/• Superwhisper: https://superwhisper.com/• Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/• Notion: https://www.notion.com/• Kieran Klaassen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieran-klaassen/• Friday: https://www.friday.run/• Charlie: https://www.gocharlie.ai/product/ai-agents/• Avengers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(Marvel_Cinematic_Universe)• Alex Duffy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-d/• Danny Aziz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyaziz/• Dia: https://www.diabrowser.com/• Reid Hoffman's website: https://www.reidhoffman.org/• Starting Line VC: https://www.startingline.vc/• Walleye Capital: https://walleyecapital.com/• At This $10 Billion Hedge Fund, Using AI Just Became Mandatory: https://every.to/podcast/at-this-10-billion-hedge-fund-using-ai-just-became-mandatory• Reflexive AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify: https://x.com/tobi/status/1909251946235437514• Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps: https://www.sequoiacap.com/podcast/training-data-sebastian-siemiatkowski/• The Pin Factory: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/pin_factory.html• Deadwood on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/deadwood• Joel Spolsky on X: https://x.com/spolsky• Jason Fried's website: https://world.hey.com/jason• Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking• Sam Harris's website: https://www.samharris.org/• Bill Simmons on X: https://x.com/billsimmons—Recommended books:• War and Peace: https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/1400079985• Anna Karenina: https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002• Playing and Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Reality-Routledge-Classics-86/dp/0415345464• The Death of Ivan Ilyich: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Ivan-Ilyich-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/1468014315• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: https://www.amazon.com/Swim-Pond-Rain-Russians-Writing/dp/1984856022• The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World: https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300245920/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

The mega-analysis the internet has been waiting for. Cooper and Tanner discuss the fifth book of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive--the concluding book of the first arc of the series. With their thoughtful, Christian perspective, the guys breakdown everything from character to plot to philosophy. Timestamps below for ease of listening. Enjoy the episode, and feel free to reach out by email, website, YouTube, or wherever: we'd love to hear your thoughts on the book too!0:00 - 2:41 Intro2:41 - 3:49 Donor Shoutouts3:49 - 16:53 Opening thoughts, ranking the Stormlight books, and rating Wind and Truth out of five stars16:53 - 26:47 Structure and plot 26:47 - 42:50 Jarring, modern attitudes, morals, language, and prose42:50 - 47:54 On the nose, very literal theme communication47:54 - 52:03 Intro to the philosophy 52:03 - 1:04:50 What Levin's character arc in Anna Karenina can teach us about Jasnah's character arc and how it can grant insight into the philosophical questions of Wind and Truth1:04:50 - 1:10:35 Analysis of the ethical systems and theories in Wind and Truth1:10:35 - 1:27:08 Philosophy in the story and characters1:27:08 - 1:48:00 Characters1:48:00 - 1:53:27 Cosmere integration and expansion1:53:27 -  2:00:46 Concluding rambling thoughtsFOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM:@bookinitpodCHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE:https://412podcasting.comSUPPORT US HERE:https://patreon.com/bookinit TEXT US HERE!

Idén Szilágyi Ákos kapta az Artisjus Irodalmi Nagydíjat – Elvégre című verseskötete mellett teljes életműve elismeréseként. Így aztán több apropója is van a vele készült beszélgetésnek, amelyben fiatalkori lázadásról, közéletről, veszteségekről és Arany János iránt érzett rajongásáról is mesél. Utóbbi kapcsán kiderül, hogy tekinthető-e a most megjelent kötete a saját Őszikékjének, és az is, miért támadta meg pályája elején az akkor már sztárszerzőnek számító Weöres Sándort, és mit gondol erről fél évszázaddal később. A Buksó olvasókat bemutató Mit forgat? című rovatában Nyáry Krisztián Lovas Rozival, a Loupe Színházi Társulás egyik alapítójával beszélget, aki ritka kivételként rajongott a kötelező olvasmányokért, kifejezetten szerette az Egri csillagokat, de meghatározó élmény volt számára az Anna Karenina is. Kiderül, miért és mennyire figyelik kritikus szemmel férjével, Horváth János Antallal a kortárs gyerekirodalmat, és ajánl is néhány fontos könyvet a hallgatóknak.

Idén Szilágyi Ákos kapta az Artisjus Irodalmi Nagydíjat – Elvégre című verseskötete mellett teljes életműve elismeréseként. Így aztán több apropója is van a vele készült beszélgetésnek, amelyben fiatalkori lázadásról, közéletről, veszteségekről és Arany János iránt érzett rajongásáról is mesél. Utóbbi kapcsán kiderül, hogy tekinthető-e a most megjelent kötete a saját Őszikékjének, és az is, miért támadta meg pályája elején az akkor már sztárszerzőnek számító Weöres Sándort, és mit gondol erről fél évszázaddal később. A Buksó olvasókat bemutató Mit forgat? című rovatában Nyáry Krisztián Lovas Rozival, a Loupe Színházi Társulás egyik alapítójával beszélget, aki ritka kivételként rajongott a kötelező olvasmányokért, kifejezetten szerette az Egri csillagokat, de meghatározó élmény volt számára az Anna Karenina is. Kiderül, miért és mennyire figyelik kritikus szemmel férjével, Horváth János Antallal a kortárs gyerekirodalmat, és ajánl is néhány fontos könyvet a hallgatóknak.

Hilary Gridley is the Head of Core Product at WHOOP and a passionate thought leader in leveraging AI to elevate product teams and management practices. With extensive experience tackling challenging problems in regulated industries and high-stakes environments, Hilary emphasizes the importance of building resilience and adaptability within teams. Previously, she was a senior director of product at Big Health and a senior product marketing manager at Dropbox.In this episode, you'll learn:• How to teach your team to be able to “take a punch”• Specific tactics to counter negative perceptions and reframe setbacks productively• Powerful behavioral strategies to form positive habits• Practical approaches for creating space in your workday to encourage creativity and deep thinking• The underestimated potential of AI in accelerating your personal and professional growth• Why you're not the protagonist at your company (and why that's liberating)• How WHOOP uses reward loops to drive real behavior change—Brought to you by:WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUsPersona—A global leader in digital identity verificationAttio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups—Where to find Hilary Gridley:• X: https://x.com/yourgirlhils• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarygridley/• Newsletter: https://hils.substack.com/• Maven course: https://maven.com/hilary-gridley/ai-powered-people-management—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Hilary's background(04:31) Teaching teams to handle criticism and setbacks(17:57) Behavioral activation and mental health in the workplace(22:59) The importance of putting yourself out there(27:51) Transparency and communication in leadership(38:10) How to respectfully disagree with your manager(41:49) How to use “magic questions” to decode how people think(49:54) Why you're not the protagonist at your company(52:48) Aligning with the CEO's vision(01:01:02) Building effective habits(01:11:14) Promoting team well-being(01:14:28) Creating space for creativity(01:20:45) AI's role in accelerating learning(01:30:35) Pivotal career moments(01:37:21) Lessons from failure(01:39:49) Exciting new features of WHOOP 5.0(01:44:19) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• How to become a supermanager with AI: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-become-a-supermanager-with• How custom GPTs can make you a better manager | Hilary Gridley (Head of Core Product at Whoop): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-custom-gpts-can-make-you-a-better-manager• WHOOP: https://www.whoop.com/• Big Health: https://www.bighealth.com/• What is behavioral activation?: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/behavioral-activation• Will Ahmed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willahmed/• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/• Zach Abrams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyabrams/• Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/• Bridge: https://www.bridge.xyz/• Stripe: https://stripe.com/• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer• Paths to Power course: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Pfeffer-OB377-Course-Outline-2018.pdf• VO₂ max: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max• Peter Attia on X: https://x.com/PeterAttiaMD• Hilary Gridley's 30 days of GPT: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zJ4rbi9YcQuGqGxc6-AQD0-44oT9l4Eyono0AdpgJbA/edit?gid=0#gid=0• The Handle Bar in Boston: https://www.thehandlebarstudios.com/ourstudios/charlestown• From chalkboards to chatbots: Transforming learning in Nigeria, one prompt at a time: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/From-chalkboards-to-chatbots-Transforming-learning-in-Nigeria• Product Management Logic Coach GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-673290301700819084afa36bdbcdfa3b-product-management-logic-coach• Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/• WHOOP Advanced Labs: https://www.whoop.com/us/en/waitlist/?srsltid=AfmBOor2pP5qC3n7I23Z0ZIrYE99CjAKT9xSHQxbuyxmz_wFUBGH3e-n• Negative capability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_capability• John Keats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats• The Rehearsal: https://www.hbo.com/the-rehearsal• Zwift: https://www.zwift.com/• Beavis and Butthead Do ‘Creep': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv_gSmH0Ieg• “Sea Grapes” by Derek Walcott: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57111/sea-grapes• Free month of WHOOP: https://join.whoop.com/us/en/hilary/—Recommended books:• 7 Rules of Power: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/books/7-rules-of-power/• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599• East of Eden: https://www.amazon.com/East-Eden-John-Steinbeck-Centennial/dp/0142004235• The Sun Also Rises: https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Also-Rises-Hemingway-Library/dp/1501121960/• Anna Karenina: https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

The kidnap, murder and rape of Sarah Everard was deemed a moment of reckoning in 2021. The Angiolini Inquiry, which investigated this case, found that Wayne Couzens was reported eight times for indecent exposure. The report also found that the offence "may indicate a potential trajectory towards even more serious sexual and violent offending". A new report by The Telegraph has investigated cases of indecent exposure since Sarah Everard's murder and found that police are catching and prosecuting fewer offenders, despite a big increase in the number of offences reported. The paper's Home Affairs Editor, Charles Hymas, joins Nuala McGovern, as does Zoë Billingham, former HM Inspector of Constabulary.Natalie Dormer has graced our screens as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones, Anne Boleyn in The Tudors and in films including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and The Wasp. She's now back on stage as Anna in a new adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel Anna Karenina. Set in 19th century Russia, Anna is the wife of a powerful government official, who dares to step outside the bounds of society to risk a dangerous and destructive love affair. Natalie talks to Nuala about the role, her career and more.World fertility rates are in 'unprecedented decline' according to a survey of 14,000 people by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN's reproductive rights agency. One in five respondents said they haven't had – or don't expect they will have - the number of children they want. The survey spanned 14 countries on five continents, which are home to a third of the world's population. Nuala is joined by demographer Anna Rotkirch, who has researched fertility intentions in Europe and advises the Finnish government on population policy, to discuss the findings and their impact. Jessica Stanley's novel Consider Yourself Kissed tells the story of Coralie, a copywriter who moves from Australia to London just before she turns 30 and falls in love with political journalist Adam. Jessica tells Nuala about the book, which tracks 10 years of Coralie and Adam's lives from 2013 to 2023, taking in love, birth, illness and a particularly eventful period in British politics. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Sarah Jane Griffiths

In this week's Parsha and Prose, we journey through Parshat Naso (Numbers 4:21–7:89) and find rich parallels in Leo Tolstoy's literary masterpiece, Anna Karenina. What do a Torah portion about vows, purity, and priestly blessings have in common with a 19th-century Russian novel? More than you think.

In this week's Parsha and Prose, we journey through Parshat Naso (Numbers 4:21–7:89) and find rich parallels in Leo Tolstoy's literary masterpiece, Anna Karenina. What do a Torah portion about vows, purity, and priestly blessings have in common with a 19th-century Russian novel? More than you think.

Leo Tolstoy was a man of many lives—born into a rich Russian family, he gave up his wealth to live like a simple peasant. He wrote some of the greatest books ever, like War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but spent much of his life searching for deeper meaning. He fought in wars, struggled with faith, argued with his wife, and inspired the world with his bold ideas about peace, truth, and nonviolence. From being a nobleman to a barefoot wanderer, Tolstoy's life was a powerful drama filled with love, conflict, and deep spiritual awakening. This talk show from KiranPrabha dives into that incredible journey. This is Third/Last Part of 3 Parts series

Leo Tolstoy was a man of many lives—born into a rich Russian family, he gave up his wealth to live like a simple peasant. He wrote some of the greatest books ever, like War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but spent much of his life searching for deeper meaning. He fought in wars, struggled with faith, argued with his wife, and inspired the world with his bold ideas about peace, truth, and nonviolence. From being a nobleman to a barefoot wanderer, Tolstoy's life was a powerful drama filled with love, conflict, and deep spiritual awakening. This talk show from KiranPrabha dives into that incredible journey. This is Second Part of Multipart series.

It's Bank Holiday Monday, so let's take it easy and talk about some comics. After promising it early in the show's history, Charlie's finally read the first arc of IDW's Star Trek comic by Lanzig & Kelly. Look, we're Casual Trek, this is the level of service you get from us.The first arc, “Godshock” features that classic Star Trek concept: thumbing your teeth at god, only this time it's a bad thing as someone's killing gigantic cosmic entities! Who did this and how can it be stopped? Well, Ben Sisko's back from his time as a cosmic entity to find out, with an almost all-star cast of people from throughout Star Trek History. There's Data and Dr Crusher from TNG, Paris from Voyager, Scotty from TOS and Jake Sisko is also there. Worf guest stars for long enough to be a bad parent and back door pilot for another series, and there are a couple of new characters who are a lot of fun.Join us on the USS Theseus and prepare for a lot of tangents, as we both love talking comics.References: The Super Stalag of Space, Harry 20 on the High Rock, Dan Dare, Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation Squared, Quatermass and the Pit, The Legion of Super-Heroes, The Legion Clubhouse, comic collection sizes, YES Charlie has put rolled-up Walking Dead volumes in his back pocket, the Bendis New Avengers approach to team-building, Billy Pilgrim, The Krakoan Age of X-Men, Marvel Swimsuit Specials (which are coming back), release a Star Trek Swimsuit Special you cowards!, Data pages vs data pages, Gilmore Girls spoiled Anna Karenina for me, Charlie's Super Mario Quest 2025, the Summers family tree, the Dark Horse Buffy Series, Marvel's Star Wars, Dr Who comics, the Energon Universe, the CLZ collector's app, Malibu Comics' Star Trek… Oh, and sometimes IDW's Star Trek.

Leo Tolstoy was a man of many lives—born into a rich Russian family, he gave up his wealth to live like a simple peasant. He wrote some of the greatest books ever, like War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but spent much of his life searching for deeper meaning. He fought in wars, struggled with faith, argued with his wife, and inspired the world with his bold ideas about peace, truth, and nonviolence. From being a nobleman to a barefoot wanderer, Tolstoy's life was a powerful drama filled with love, conflict, and deep spiritual awakening. This talk show from KiranPrabha dives into that incredible journey. This is Firs Part of Multipart series.

Nabeel Qureshi is an entrepreneur, writer, researcher, and visiting scholar of AI policy at the Mercatus Center (alongside Tyler Cowen). Previously, he spent nearly eight years at Palantir, working as a forward-deployed engineer. His work at Palantir ranged from accelerating the Covid-19 response to applying AI to drug discovery to optimizing aircraft manufacturing at Airbus. Nabeel was also a founding employee and VP of business development at GoCardless, a leading European fintech unicorn.What you'll learn:• Why almost a third of all Palantir's PMs go on to start companies• How the “forward-deployed engineer” model works and why it creates exceptional product leaders• How Palantir transformed from a “sparkling Accenture” into a $200 billion data/software platform company with more than 80% margins• The unconventional hiring approach that screens for independent-minded, intellectually curious, and highly competitive people• Why the company intentionally avoids traditional titles and career ladders—and what they do instead• Why they built an ontology-first data platform that LLMs love• How Palantir's controversial “bat signal” recruiting strategy filtered for specific talent types• The moral case for working at a company like Palantir—Brought to you by:• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs• Attio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster—Where to find Nabeel S. Qureshi:• X: https://x.com/nabeelqu• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nabeelqu/• Website: https://nabeelqu.co/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Nabeel S. Qureshi(05:10) Palantir's unique culture and hiring(13:29) What Palantir looks for in people(16:14) Why they don't have titles(19:11) Forward-deployed engineers at Palantir(25:23) Key principles of Palantir's success(30:00) Gotham and Foundry(36:58) The ontology concept(38:02) Life as a forward-deployed engineer(41:36) Balancing custom solutions and product vision(46:36) Advice on how to implement forward-deployed engineers(50:41) The current state of forward-deployed engineers at Palantir(53:15) The power of ingesting, cleaning and analyzing data(59:25) Hiring for mission-driven startups(01:05:30) What makes Palantir PMs different(01:10:00) The moral question of Palantir(01:16:03) Advice for new startups(01:21:12) AI corner(01:24:00) Contrarian corner(01:25:42) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Reflections on Palantir: https://nabeelqu.co/reflections-on-palantir• Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/• Which companies produce the best product managers: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best• Gotham: https://www.palantir.com/platforms/gotham/• Foundry: https://www.palantir.com/platforms/foundry/• Peter Thiel on X: https://x.com/peterthiel• Alex Karp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Karp• Stephen Cohen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Cohen_(entrepreneur)• Joe Lonsdale on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtlonsdale/• Tyler Cowen's website: https://tylercowen.com/• This Scandinavian City Just Won the Internet With Its Hilarious New Tourism Ad: https://www.afar.com/magazine/oslos-new-tourism-ad-becomes-viral-hit• Safe Superintelligence: https://ssi.inc/• Mira Murati on X: https://x.com/miramurati• Stripe: https://stripe.com/• Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein• Airbus: https://www.airbus.com/en• NIH: https://www.nih.gov/• Jupyter Notebooks: https://jupyter.org/• Shyam Sankar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shyamsankar/• Palantir Gotham for Defense Decision Making: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxKghrZU5w8• Foundry 2022 Operating System Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF-GSj-Exms• SQL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL• Airbus A350: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A350• SAP: https://www.sap.com/index.html• Barry McCardel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrymccardel/• Understanding ‘Forward Deployed Engineering' and Why Your Company Probably Shouldn't Do It: https://www.barry.ooo/posts/fde-culture• David Hsu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvdhsu/• Retool's Path to Product-Market Fit—Lessons for Getting to 100 Happy Customers, Faster: https://review.firstround.com/retools-path-to-product-market-fit-lessons-for-getting-to-100-happy-customers-faster/• How to foster innovation and big thinking | Eeke de Milliano (Retool, Stripe): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-foster-innovation-and-big• Looker: https://cloud.google.com/looker• Sorry, that isn't an FDE: https://tedmabrey.substack.com/p/sorry-that-isnt-an-fde• Glean: https://www.glean.com/• Limited Engagement: Is Tech Becoming More Diverse?: https://www.bkmag.com/2017/01/31/limited-engagement-creating-diversity-in-the-tech-industry/• Operation Warp Speed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed• Mark Zuckerberg testifies: https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-testifies-congress-libra-cryptocurrency-2019-10• Anduril: https://www.anduril.com/• SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/• Principles: https://nabeelqu.co/principles• Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/• Claude code: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/claude-code/overview• Gemini Pro 2.5: https://deepmind.google/technologies/gemini/pro/• DeepMind: https://deepmind.google/• Latent Space newsletter: https://www.latent.space/• Swyx on x: https://x.com/swyx• Neural networks in chess programs: https://www.chessprogramming.org/Neural_Networks• AlphaZero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaZero• The top chess players in the world: https://www.chess.com/players• Decision to Leave: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12477480/• Oldboy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/• Christopher Alexander: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander—Recommended books:• The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West: https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Republic-Power-Belief-Future/dp/0593798694• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178/• William Shakespeare: Histories: https://www.amazon.com/Histories-Everymans-Library-William-Shakespeare/dp/0679433120/• High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884• Anna Karenina: https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Director Lovell Holder & Writer-Performer Roger Q. Mason, the duo behind the provocative and beautifully-crafted new film Lavender Men, which is based on Mason's hit stage play of the same name. The story centers on Taffeta (they/them, played by Mason), the put-upon stage manager of a play about Abraham Lincoln. After one too many backstage indignities, Tafetta cracks and decides to take the whole show over and narrate it as their fantasia and things get wild from there. Roger talks about the film's central themes of why do we, as humans, like what we like and the gulf that often exists between what we desire and what we need. Lovell talks about using the films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Joe Wright's Anna Karenina as touchstones while making the piece, the day during the shoot when he ran out of steam and ideas and meeting Roger when then were both in their late teens. They both talk about working with the editor Morgan Halsey whose father Richard Halsey happened to speak at a screening of American Gigolo that Dennis saw on the very same day that he did this interview. Other topics include: eating an entire apple pie on stage, Mason refusing to take a nap during naptime at the YMCA as a child, the friends that pitched in to make the movie happen and Roger's belief that, "It's never easy to tell the truth in a world that capitalizes on lies and illusion."

Introduction

In this powerful episode of What We Can't Not Talk About, host Marianna Orlandi welcomes Dr. Anna Bonta Moreland, theologian and professor at Villanova University, to explore the radical, uncomfortable, and ultimately redemptive virtue of forgiveness. Drawing on the character of Dolly from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Dr. Moreland shows how literature and theology—especially the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas—can illuminate what it really means to love sacrificially and forgive heroically. In a world torn between cancel culture and moral relativism, Dr. Moreland argues that forgiveness is not weakness but a virtue rooted in charity. Through Dolly's example and Aquinas' thought, listeners are invited to reflect on whether perfection in love is required, and what it means to love and forgive like Christ—even when it hurts.

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 2550: Vitaliy Katsenelson reflects on the evolving meaning of fatherhood, blending vulnerability and insight as he shares life lessons learned through parenting. With heartfelt anecdotes and quiet wisdom, he explores how becoming a father reshaped his identity, values, and daily priorities in unexpected and profound ways. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://contrarianedge.com/being-a-father/ Quotes to ponder: "Fatherhood sneaks up on you. One day you are a free man, and the next you are waking up at 3 am to change a diaper." "I did not know how to be a father. I just tried to be present, to love, to learn." "Having kids rewires your priorities. It makes you more patient, more forgiving, more human." Episode references: Anna Karenina: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1399 The Power of Now: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808 The Little Prince: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Prince-Antoine-Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry/dp/0156012197 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NO READING REQUIRED! Whether this doorstop is an old favorite--or something you NEVER plan to read--treat yourself to Kimberly's take on why this classic of all classics is worth your next 40 minutes!

In this episode of Classical Et Cetera, we explore the theme of sacrifice across classic stories—from Charlotte's Web to Anna Karenina—and how these examples shape students' moral imagination. Discover how a well-crafted literature curriculum can help children understand true love, loss, and virtue. Whether you're designing a literature curriculum homeschool program or teaching in a classroom, this episode will inspire you to see great books not just as stories, but as moral formation.   Shop Memoria Press Literature Curriculum! memoriapress.com/literature-poetry/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=CETC&utm_campaign=163 Literature & Poetry | Memoria Press: Classical Education Literature and poetry are central to classical education because they are chief ways we pass on values of Western Christian culture.

In this episode of Athletistry: Ballet Evolution, Shane Wuerthner dives deep into the misunderstood world of artistry in ballet—what it is, how it develops, and why telling dancers to “show more artistry” is often unhelpful and misdirected.Shane unpacks his personal journey with artistic growth, shares insights from his time dancing Vronski in Anna Karenina, and breaks down how life experience, emotional maturity, and mentorship shape an artist over time. He also explores how competitions and training environments may unintentionally limit expression by hyper-focusing on technique.You'll learn:Why artistry shouldn't be expected equally from every age levelHow technique, musicality, and storytelling evolve in stagesWhat teachers can do to nurture expression without pressureThe power of watching professionals—and how to watch themWhy artistry is less about adding more and more about refining what's already thereWhether you're a student trying to find your voice, a teacher looking to guide dancers more effectively, or a professional reflecting on your own path—this episode will challenge how you think about performance, training, and the true role of artistry in ballet.

Feeling stressed? Relax with tonight's sleepy story, the opening chapters of Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Support the podcast and enjoy ad-free and bonus episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts. For other podcast platforms go to https://justsleeppodcast.com/supportOr, you can support with a one time donation at buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppodIf you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast app. Also, share with any family or friends that might have trouble drifting off.Goodnight! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ya know what Mrs. Karenina? I'd ruin my own life for that mustache too. Been replaying AaronTaylorJohnsonWithMustacheLightingCigSexily.gif over and over in my mind since this move came out. Send us a textSWAMP stuff:PatreonSocials:TikTok: @theswamppodcastInstagram: @theswamppodBluesky: @theswamppodcast.bsky.socialYouTubeOur Letterboxd Accounts: @okaydara and @ekievraOur website: https://www.the-swamp-podcast.com/Email: theswamppod@gmail.com

Sarah is joined by Candice Fox who reflects how her “scrappy” upbringing in Bankstown and her Dad’s work in the local prison informed her crime writing. It still makes her a magnet for people willing to share their dark and strange story ideas.+Annie takes you to the launch of “Splinter”, a new literary journal, to meet its editor, Farrin Foster. In the tradition of such journals Splinter will be a place for new writing of any kind to get a showing, and a welcoming forum for South Australia’s literary community.+Sarah recommends “Australian Gospel: A Family Saga” by Lech Blaine Our random reader recommends “Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism” by Yanis Varoufakis and “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy. GuestsCandice Fox, author of “High Wire”Farin Foster, editor of “Splinter”You can find more information about “Splinter” here: https://splinterjournal.com/ INSTAGRAM@candicefoxauthor@penginrandomhouse@splinterjournalSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah is joined by Candice Fox who reflects how her “scrappy” upbringing in Bankstown and her Dad’s work in the local prison informed her crime writing. It still makes her a magnet for people willing to share their dark and strange story ideas.+Annie takes you to the launch of “Splinter”, a new literary journal, to meet its editor, Farrin Foster. In the tradition of such journals Splinter will be a place for new writing of any kind to get a showing, and a welcoming forum for South Australia’s literary community.+Sarah recommends “Australian Gospel: A Family Saga” by Lech Blaine Our random reader recommends “Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism” by Yanis Varoufakis and “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy. GuestsCandice Fox, author of “High Wire”Farin Foster, editor of “Splinter”You can find more information about “Splinter” here: https://splinterjournal.com/ INSTAGRAM@candicefoxauthor@penginrandomhouse@splinterjournalSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are Traci and Ellie, two bookish friends who read in any spare minute that we have.  This week we are celebrating five years of Literally Reading! To shop the books listed in this episode, visit our shop at bookshop.org.   Care to join us on Patreon with even more content?  We would love to have you join us at From the Bookstacks of Literally Reading! Literally Reading:  Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Ellie) Penitence by Kristin Koval (Traci) Crack the Book Open: Interview with Annie B. Jones Interview with Katherine Center  Mothers in Literature (Ep. 55) Thanksgiving Food and Their Counterparts (Ep. 77) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry The Secret History by Donna Tartt  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Best Books of 2023  Backlist Bookcase Episodes   

„Es ist ein sehr komplexes Werk, ich bin 12, 13 Stunden am Tag im Theater. Da gibt es wenig Zeit, um nostalgisch zu sein“, erklärt John Neumeier zu seinem neuen Stück, mit dem er zum Stuttgarter Ballett zurückkehrt.

On Hamlet, Ulysses, the Iliad, Anna Karenina, and self-invention. Full ep and bonus hour: https://www.patreon.com/c/1storypod

Relax and fall asleep with Anna and Vronsky as they travel to romantic Italy to start their lives anew. Close your eyes, relax and drift off with this bedtime story retelling of Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy's classic and one of the best known romance novels of all time.  

En un sábado marcado por la gala de los Premios Goya 2025, la gran fiesta del cine español, hablamos con una de las grandes figuras del audiovisual español, ganadora precisamente de un Premio Goya a mejor actriz por su papel de Violeta en Belle Époque (Fernando Trueba, 1992), film que ganó ese año el Oscar a Mejor película internacional.Conocemos la actualidad de la intérprete, centrada en estos momentos en la representación de Anna Karenina para el Teatre Nacional de Catalunya o su reciente participación en Calladita, cuyo director (Miguel Faus) está también nominado al Goya a Mejor dirección novel.

Pasión, engaño y una sociedad implacable…. supuestamente.: Anna Karenina de Tolstói sigue siendo una de las novelas más poderosas de la literatura. En este episodio, analizamos su retrato del amor, la infidelidad y la lucha entre la libertad individual y las reglas de la sociedad. Un viaje al corazón de una historia que sigue fascinando y provocando debates. https://linktr.ee/bibliotequeando

Antonella Lattanzi"Capire il cuore altrui"Emma, Flaubert e altre ossessioniHarper Collinswww.harpercollins.it“Sapete chi è il Desiderio in persona? Emma Bovary, nata Rouault, unica figlia di papà Rouault. Emma, che è stata in collegio dalle suore, ma per il resto del tempo ha sempre vissuto nella fattoria con suo padre, e che sposa Charles e va a vivere con lui a Tostes, pensando che adesso, finalmente, cominci la vita.E invece la vita non comincia mai.Non siamo tutti così?Non siamo tutti convinti che il meglio debba ancora venire?O meglio, non speriamo tutti che la vita debba ancora cominciare?Cosa succede quando ci accorgiamo che la vita non comincerà mai, o che abbiamo perso il momento in cui abbiamo vissuto davvero?”.Viziata, egoista, capricciosa, indolente, arrivista. Oppure: paladina del Desiderio, la pulsione fondamentale che muove ogni essere umano, che in lei è totalizzante al punto da guidare ogni sua azione, dalle relazioni amorose al suicidio finale. Di tutte le eroine della letteratura poche sono in grado di dividere il parere dei lettori quanto Emma Bovary.Antonella Lattanzi, una delle più grandi scrittrici italiane contemporanee, si è innamorata di Emma. Più di una volta, a ogni rilettura del capolavoro di Flaubert, in periodi diversi, e sempre cruciali, della sua vita. Madame Bovary è il libro del suo cuore, ed Emma per lei quasi un'ossessione. Lo stesso desiderio  inestinguibile che muove Emma, Lattanzi lo sente come proprio, tanto da farle pensare se non “Madame Bovary sono io” almeno “Emma è mia sorella”.Seguendo il filo di questa affinità elettiva, Lattanzi, con il suo stile appassionato ed elegante, ci conduce in un viaggio nella psiche dell'eroina flaubertiana, un viaggio in cui la sua vita e quella immaginaria del personaggio si intrecciano, mostrandoci come l'opera e l'ossessiva cura di Flaubert per la scrittura illuminino un percorso che riguarda altri libri, film, canzoni, da Anna Karenina al documentario Deep Water, da Sotto il vulcano di Malcolm Lowry a Beppe Fenoglio. Capire il cuore altrui rivela ancora una volta il talento di Lattanzi, la sua scrittura ipnotica, emozionante ed esatta, capace di indagare come solo la grande letteratura sa fare gli abissi e le vette dell'animo umano.Antonella Lattanzi è nata a Bari nel 1979 e vive a Roma. È scrittrice e sceneggiatrice. Ha scritto i romanzi “Devozione” (Einaudi, 2010), “Prima che tu mi tradisca” (Einaudi, 2013), “Una storia nera” (Mondadori, 2017, tradotto in più di dieci paesi) e le sceneggiature dei film “Fiore” (2016), “2night” (2016), “Il campione” (2019, Nastro d'Argento per l'Opera Prima).IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Guendalina Middei"Sopravvivere al lunedì mattina con Lolita"Feltrinelli Editorewww.feltrinellieditore.itSopravvivere, resistere, nuotare negli abissi, tornare a splendere. Dopo il successo di Innamorarsi di Anna Karenina il sabato sera, Guendalina Middei ci racconta, attraverso i grandi classici, una storia di rinascita. Un viaggio tra gli autori, le indimenticabili figure femminili e gli antieroi della letteratura antica e moderna. Ulisse, Lolita, Antigone, Ivàn Karamazov, lady Chatterley, il lupo della steppa non sono semplici personaggi letterari: le loro passioni ci sono familiari, il loro coraggio ci seduce, la loro morte ci commuove. L'Odissea non è solo la storia di un uomo che ritorna a casa, ma è anche la storia di chi si riappropria del proprio tempo e della propria anima. Hermann Hesse ci ricorda che un conto è intuirsi, un altro è trovarsi. E quante volte dubitiamo delle nostre scelte e temiamo di non farcela, come è successo a Dante? Leggere e rileggere i classici con Guendalina Middei è un antidoto alla stupidità, al conformismo, alla superficialità. E un modo per ritrovarsi nelle pagine dei libri, perché è questo che cerchiamo: la scoperta di non essere soli. Chi meglio di maestri senza tempo può capire le inquietudini di un giovane e trasformare il dolore in bellezza? Chi può mostrarci come difenderci dai paladini delle grandi certezze e salvarci dalle insidie del troppo amore? Non importa se vi siete già appassionati alla lettura dei classici o li avete scoperti da poco; qui troverete le chiavi d'accesso a un mondo segreto. In un dialogo a tu per tu con i grandi autori del passato, fatto di domande, illuminazioni e rapimenti, che fa sorridere e commuovere, l'autrice si confessa e ci racconta quei libri che più di tutti hanno portato scompiglio nella sua vita. Perché tutto ciò che ha il potere di turbarci e sorprenderci finisce per salvarci. )Guendalina Middei é un'autrice italiana. Nata a Roma nel 1992, fin da adolescente coltiva la sua grande passione per la letteratura e la cultura classica. Laureata in Lettere e con un master in Giornalismo culturale, ha scritto per diversi giornali e riviste tra cui “Critica Letteraria” e “Culturificio” e “Sintesi Dialettica”.Nel 2019 ha aperto la pagina Facebook Professor X e nel 2022 il profilo Instagram, oggi punti di riferimento per oltre cinquecentomila lettori appassionati o incuriositi dalla letteratura.Tra i suoi titoli, Clodio (Navarra Editore, 2022), Intervista con un matto (Navarra Editore, 2023), Innamorarsi di Anna Karenina il sabato sera. L'arte di leggere i classici in dieci brevi lezioni (Feltrinelli, 2024), Sopravvivere al lunedì mattina con Lolita (Feltrinelli, 2025).IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

This week's book guest is Ordinary Time by Cathy Rentzenbrink.Sara and Cariad are joined by the writer and Sunday Times bestseller Cathy Rentzenbrink. Her books include Everyone is Still Alive, Write It All Down and The Last Act of Love which was also shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.In this episode they discuss Jane Austen, affairs, quiet people, Anna Karenina, grief and blue cashmere jumpersThank you for reading with us. We like reading with you!Trigger warning: In this episode we discuss grief, early loss, traumatic events and suicide.Ordinary Time is available to buy here.You can find Cathy on Instagram @catrentzenbrink and Twitter @catrentzenbrinkTickets for the live show at the Southbank Centre with special guest Harriet Walter are available to buy here!Cariad's children's book The Christmas Wish-tastrophe is available to buy now.Sara's debut novel Weirdo is published by Faber & Faber and is available to buy here.Cariad's book You Are Not Alone is published by Bloomsbury and is available to buy here.Follow Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club on Instagram @saraandcariadsweirdosbookclub and Twitter @weirdosbookclub Recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive.Artwork by Welcome Studio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were in Chicago during the week we should have been recording and editing this episode, so apologies for the lateness! Today we talk about The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk.  Next time we'll be talking about our first choice for November's prompt to read a book about a lost city or civilization, and that is Hav by Jan Morris. The second November book is Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz. Find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! Content Warning for episode: misogyny, abuse, assault, general swearing and vulgar language Books mentioned: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The quote Becca couldn't think of is by Marilyn Frye The TikToker Corinne mentioned If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon 

"Resurrezione" è l'ultimo romanzo di Tolstoj, meno famoso di "Anna Karenina" o "Guerra e pace", ma profondo e attuale come pochi altri libri nella storia sono riusciti a essere.Per trascrizioni, video di approfondimento e contenuti aggiuntivi: PATREONPer informazioni sui corsi: info@italianoavanzato.comsito: Italiano AvanzatoÈ uscita la VIDEOGRAMMATICA di Italiano Avanzato! Sostieni il podcast consigliandolo ai tuoi amici!

Why do we get bored? And what exactly happens to us when we experience boredom?  Like joy and anxiety, boredom is a state of mind. Being bored does not mean you’re lazy and it has little to do with external factors like new cars, gadgets, or experiences. James Danckert, professor of psychology and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Area at the University of Waterloo, has been studying why we get bored. He studies the reasons behind why boredom occurs, alongside the effects that boredom can have on our minds and the larger purpose that it can serve. Danckert says, “people confuse boredom with the couch potato, some sort of  laziness and inaction, but it can't be further from the truth. When we're bored, we're really quite motivated and we want to be doing something… we just can't figure out what.” The definition that Danckert feels perfectly captures what boredom is comes from Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina. Tolstoy describes boredom as “the desire for desires.” And regardless of how active or engaged a person is, the feelings of boredom are familiar to most as a “restless, agitated experience.” “The key,” Danckert says, “is to recognize those signs early on, to calm down, and think of some options out of it … You need to let the little things that normally would bore you suddenly thrill you.” And Danckert says that “boredom is often associated with a lack of meaning.” What we feel is that, “what you're doing is not meaningful, or your life doesn't feel quite meaningful to you and that's going to be a key component of being bored.” “To ensure that you don't get bored,” Danckert says, “you don't have to start pursuing a cure for cancer, you don't have to do anything grand, you don't have to choose an activity that somehow is momentous — you just have to choose something that matters to you, and that could be big [or] small.” Kids most often associate boredom with having nothing to do, but Danckert says there is a good deal of work to suggest that “we have over-scheduled our kids and that makes them more anxious than you might imagine.” “Kids need their downtime,” Danckert says. When we overschedule them, we are “taking away their agency.”  Danckert also suggests that parents do too much: “When kids come to us and they say that they're bored, are we doing the right thing in terms of responding to that? Of course, you don't want to give them full control because they're kids, they'll make big mistakes, and you want to have some safety net around them. But over-scheduling is not a solution to boredom.” Danckert also highlights the fact that boredom can be the root of many maladaptive behaviors: “There's lots and lots of instances where aggressive, violent, and abhorrent behaviors are blamed on boredom. But I would suggest that we can't really blame boredom for those kinds of things. I think boredom is a call to action. We have to take ownership of what actions we choose in response to boredom.”  People who are prone to boredom,” Danckert says, “are also a little bit lower in self-control. They don't have great control over their actions and their emotions, and so those people might be more likely to choose those kinds of maladaptive and abhorrent responses.” “Boredom isn't likely to make you a genius sculptor, painter, or guitar player any more than it's likely to turn you into a killer. So what we do with boredom is really up to us.”    Ultimately the feeling of boredom is a call to action, it highlights a need to be agentic. What we decide to do when we feel this way is ultimately up to us, but a tip that Danckert offers is to find the little things that matter: “Celebrate those little things and engage with them with intentionality.” Delve deeper into life, philosophy, and what makes us human by joining the Life Examined discussion group on Facebook.  

L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain (1912) +  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) + Edmund Goulding's Love (1927) + Clarence Brown's Anna Karenina (1935) + Julien Duvivier's Anna Karenina (1948) + Simon Langton's Anna Karenina (1985) + Joe Wright's Anna Karenina (2012) with Matthew Fresta of Rango Tango 9/20/24 S6E73 To hear the complete continuing story of The Perfume Nationalist please subscribe on Patreon. 

Send us a textCan literature enrich your spirit and humanity? Pope Francis thinks so, and in this episode, we explore his profound letter on the subject. Join us as we uncover how literature can be a powerful tool for all Catholics, not just those in priestly formation, to deepen their spirituality amidst our screen-dominated culture. Through personal tales of solace found in books during times of weariness and distress, we highlight the calming effect of good literature and its role in aiding prayerful reflection.Journey with us through the rich landscape of literature and human experience. We share an English major's newfound love for plays and short stories and delve into the profound insights offered by Russian literature, especially “Anna Karenina.” Hear our reflections on the emotional resonance of books like “Native Son” and the gritty, tangible nature of authors like Flannery O'Connor. By exploring these works, we gain diverse perspectives on struggles such as marital fidelity and racial dynamics, highlighting literature's unique ability to mirror our human condition and societal challenges.In Church Search:  Celebrate the 175-year legacy of St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Cleveland with us. We'll discuss its fascinating history, daily confession times, and the spiritual discipline of frequent confession, inspired by Pope Francis. This week's scripture:  Focuses on the Gospel passage from Mark and consider our human tendencies to prioritize less important matters over profound truths. Theology on Tap West starts tonight at Forest City BreweryBook Study:  From Christendom to Apostolic Mission.

Divorce, Dignity, and DemonsDennis and Julie start with the decline of “Mrs.”  Topics include: affinity groups; changing last names upon marriage or divorce; it is not the divorce that damages children… it is what happens after the divorce that damages children; how the parents treat each other matters; dignity matters… spreading dignity is contagious; everyone needs to develop “shock absorbers,” or else they'll be crushed by life; people have demons; a painless life is not possible; Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina principle – “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”; “Giving it up to God” is misunderstood.Music: Straight to the Point c 2022Richard Friedman Music Publishing 100%Richard Friedman Writers 100%ASCAP (PRO)IPI128741568RichardFriedmanMusic.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Divorce, Dignity, and DemonsDennis and Julie start with the decline of “Mrs.”  Topics include: affinity groups; changing last names upon marriage or divorce; it is not the divorce that damages children… it is what happens after the divorce that damages children; how the parents treat each other matters; dignity matters… spreading dignity is contagious; everyone needs to develop “shock absorbers,” or else they'll be crushed by life; people have demons; a painless life is not possible; Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina principle – “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”; “Giving it up to God” is misunderstood.Music: Straight to the Point c 2022Richard Friedman Music Publishing 100%Richard Friedman Writers 100%ASCAP (PRO)IPI128741568RichardFriedmanMusic.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a Text Message.2:55 - Under The Dome by Stephen King14:44 - The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milan15:18 - The Island Of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak15:55 - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy16:34 - Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne / Journey To The Center Of The Earth Film 16:51 - The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle 17:52 - Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen22:10 - Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck35:12 - Crown Of Swords by Robert Jordan 36:03 - Death At Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige38:18 - The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie40:35 - The Path Of Daggers by Robert Jordan46:25 - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by J. K. Rowling49:07 - If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura 53:18 - Under The Dome by Stephen KingSupport the Show.Be sure to keep yourself Happily Booked! We are Amazon Affiliates, Any link you find available above will redirect you to Amazon. We earn from qualifying purchases with these links. Becky's Homestead Etsy Page: bobwhitehomestead.etsyInstagram/ TikTok - happilybookedpodcastFacebook - Happily Booked PodcastLikewise - BrookeBatesHappilyBookedGoodreads - Brooke Lynn Bates Storygraph - brookebatesratesbooks / magbeck2011 THE Sideways Sheriff - Permanent Sponsor Insta/ TikTok - Sideways_sheriffFacebook - Sideways SheriffYoutube - Sideways Sheriff

"Everyone assumed that in a more open, interconnected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to the autocratic states. Nobody imagined that autocracy and illiberalism would spread to the democratic world instead". So writes Anne Applebaum in Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (Double Day Books, 2024). Applebaum's new book develops the themes she rehearsed in Twilight of Democracy (2020), an analysis of the rise of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and national conservatism in the UK and the US. Ranging across the club of authoritarians but with an inevitable focus on China and Russia, Autocracy Inc. examines autocrats' growing sophistication and coordination and how they have been enabled by the naivety (and greed) of business and politicians in liberal democracies. "The vehicles of disruption can be right-wing, left-wing, separatist or nationalist - even taking the form of medical conspiracies or moral panic," she writes. "Only the purpose never changes: Autocracy Inc. hopes to rewrite the rules of the international system itself". Anne Applebaum is an American-Polish historian and staff writer for The Atlantic. Apart from Twilight of Democracy, she has written three histories - Gulag: A History (2003), Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 (2012), and Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine (2017). *The author's book recommendations were The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn (Harvard University Press, 50th Anniversary edition 2017) and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (OUP, 2016 - translated by Rosamund Bartlett). Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors, who also writes and podcasts at twenty4two on Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

"Everyone assumed that in a more open, interconnected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to the autocratic states. Nobody imagined that autocracy and illiberalism would spread to the democratic world instead". So writes Anne Applebaum in Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (Double Day Books, 2024). Applebaum's new book develops the themes she rehearsed in Twilight of Democracy (2020), an analysis of the rise of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and national conservatism in the UK and the US. Ranging across the club of authoritarians but with an inevitable focus on China and Russia, Autocracy Inc. examines autocrats' growing sophistication and coordination and how they have been enabled by the naivety (and greed) of business and politicians in liberal democracies. "The vehicles of disruption can be right-wing, left-wing, separatist or nationalist - even taking the form of medical conspiracies or moral panic," she writes. "Only the purpose never changes: Autocracy Inc. hopes to rewrite the rules of the international system itself". Anne Applebaum is an American-Polish historian and staff writer for The Atlantic. Apart from Twilight of Democracy, she has written three histories - Gulag: A History (2003), Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 (2012), and Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine (2017). *The author's book recommendations were The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn (Harvard University Press, 50th Anniversary edition 2017) and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (OUP, 2016 - translated by Rosamund Bartlett). Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors, who also writes and podcasts at twenty4two on Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

"Everyone assumed that in a more open, interconnected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to the autocratic states. Nobody imagined that autocracy and illiberalism would spread to the democratic world instead". So writes Anne Applebaum in Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (Double Day Books, 2024). Applebaum's new book develops the themes she rehearsed in Twilight of Democracy (2020), an analysis of the rise of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and national conservatism in the UK and the US. Ranging across the club of authoritarians but with an inevitable focus on China and Russia, Autocracy Inc. examines autocrats' growing sophistication and coordination and how they have been enabled by the naivety (and greed) of business and politicians in liberal democracies. "The vehicles of disruption can be right-wing, left-wing, separatist or nationalist - even taking the form of medical conspiracies or moral panic," she writes. "Only the purpose never changes: Autocracy Inc. hopes to rewrite the rules of the international system itself". Anne Applebaum is an American-Polish historian and staff writer for The Atlantic. Apart from Twilight of Democracy, she has written three histories - Gulag: A History (2003), Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 (2012), and Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine (2017). *The author's book recommendations were The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn (Harvard University Press, 50th Anniversary edition 2017) and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (OUP, 2016 - translated by Rosamund Bartlett). Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors, who also writes and podcasts at twenty4two on Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

Today on the show we have Oscar® nominated filmmaker and screenwriter Joe Wright.Joe has established himself as one of Hollywood's top directors with his rare ability to captivate global audiences through his extraordinary cinematic craft.Most recently, Wright directed the psychological thriller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, starring Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, and Gary Oldman. The film follows an agoraphobic psychologist whose life is turns upside down when a befriended neighbor suspiciously disappears. The film was released by Netflix in May 2021.Previously, Wright directed the war drama the Academy Award winning film DARKEST HOUR. Written by Anthony McCarten and starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, the film follows Churchill's early days as the British Prime Minister during World War II. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film earned four nominations, including ‘Best Picture' and won for ‘Best Actor' and ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling'. The film was also additionally nominated for nine BAFTA Awards including ‘Best Film' and ‘Best British Film', four Critics Choice awards, and a Golden Globe award.Wright made his directorial debut in 2005 with the critically acclaimed film PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen and Donald Sutherland, the film was adapted from the Jane Austen novel of the same name and garnered commercial and critical success.Wright received the BAFTA Award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer' and also won the ‘Best Director of the Year' award from the London Film Critics Circle. The film also received an additional five BAFTA nominations including ‘Best Screenplay-Adapted', four Academy Award nominations including ‘Best Actress' for Knightley and ‘Best Original Score' and two Golden Globe nominations including ‘Best Film'.His sophomore directorial feature was an adaptation of Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT, which was released in 2007 by Universal Pictures. Reuniting with Keira Knightly and also starring James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan, the film opened the 64th Venice International Film Festival, making Wright the youngest director to ever open the event.The film went on to receive thirteen BAFTA Award nominations in major categories including ‘Best Director' for Wright and ultimately won for ‘Best Film'. At the 80th Academy Awards the film also picked up seven nominations including ‘Best Picture' and won for ‘Best Original Score' and earned seven nominations at the Golden Globes, winning ‘Best Motion Picture – Drama' and ‘Best Original Score'.In 2012, Wright released his film adaption of Leo Tolstoy's historical romantic drama ANNA KARENINA, which first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Marking his third collaboration with Keira Knightley, the film depicts the tragedy of Russian aristocrat and socialite ‘Anna Karenina', whose affair with ‘Officer Count Vronsky' leads to her ultimate demise.His adaptation earned four nominations at the 85th Academy Awards, six nominations at the BAFTA Awards including ‘Best British Film', a Golden Globe nomination, and two Critics Choice Awards.Additional filmmaking credits include the 2015 prequel PAN starring Hugh Jackman; the 2011 action thriller HANNA with Saoirse Ronan; and the 2009 drama THE SOLOIST starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.His new film is the magical Cyrano starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, and Kelvin Harrison Jr.Too self-conscious to woo Roxanne himself, wordsmith Cyrano de Bergerac helps young Christian nab her heart through love letters.  This musical adaptation of Edmond Rostand's classic play tells the story of Cyrano de Bergerac as he pines for the affections of the beautiful Roxanne, who has fallen in love with another man named Christian de Neuvillette. Though Cyrano understands that his social status and physical appearance will forever keep him apart from his lady love, he offers his skills as a gifted poet to Christian in an effort to bring the two lovers together once and for all.Enjoy my enlightening conversation with Joe Wright.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.

TV writer Jamie Lynn Harris joins Joshua to reminisce over the last time someone read erotica written by a radio DJ to her on a beach in Spain. She and Joshua bond over their shared love of "Anna Karenina" and Paul Beatty's "The Sellout". She goes into lush detail about the sapphic novel of race and identity in the late 1920's "Passing" by Nella Larsen. And tells of how she is catching up on the canonical authors whose names she heard thrown around in grad school like Clarice Lispecter. Jamie also goes against the grain by speaking fondly over the books she had to read in high school and mourns how students these days are being required to read less and less. Josh also talks about a Rumi book specifically a poem about dogs being gateways into the eternal. PLEASE be sure to rate this podcast (If you like it) and Subscribe and Follow!!!Books Talked About IncludeAn Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures by Clarice LispecterPassing by Nella LarsenThe Sellout by Paul BeattyAnna Karenina by TolstoySay I Am You by Rumi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest Bios Show Transcript https://youtu.be/ok7qRXGZYroFor nearly two decades, one woman stood up to the Southern Baptist Convention, forcing it to face its sex abuse crisis. She was gaslit, maligned, and threatened with legal action. But she didn't back down. And on this edition of The Roys Report, you'll hear her story. Joining host Julie Roys is Christa Brown, an abuse survivor who overcame the odds in pursuit of justice. As a 16-year-old girl, Christa was repeatedly raped by the youth pastor at her Southern Baptist Church. And when she told the music minister at her church what had happened, he told her never to speak of it. For 35 years, Christa kept silent, accepting the shame that rightly belonged to her rapist. But in the early 2000s, Christa broke her silence—and confronted her childhood church with what had happened. She thought they would do the right thing. But instead, they attacked her. That began a nearly 20-year battle with the Southern Baptist Convention—and led to two major investigations, showing that hundreds of Baptist leaders and volunteers had sexually abused congregants. She recounts it all in detail in her just released memoir, Baptistland. Christa found her voice, rising above her past trauma to become a leading voice in the national and global abuse survivor community. She speaks with unrelenting honesty about the patterns of abuse in evangelical churches—and the necessary steps to bring reform. Guests Christa Brown Named as one of the "top 10 religion newsmakers" of 2022, Christa Brown has persisted for two decades in working to peel back the truth about clergy sex abuse and coverups in the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. As one of the first to go public with substantiated child molestation allegations against a Baptist minister—and documentation that others knew—she has consistently demanded reforms to make other kids and congregants safer. She is the author of Baptistland and This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang. Christa, who is retired appellate attorney, a mom, and a grandma, lives with her husband in Colorado. Show Transcript SPEAKERSCHRISTA BROWN, Julie Roys Julie Roys  00:04For nearly two decades, one woman stood up to the Southern Baptist Convention, forcing it to face its sex abuse crisis. She was gaslit, maligned, and threatened with legal action. But she didn’t back down and on this podcast, you’ll hear her story. Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And joining me today is Christa Brown, someone who’s become a sort of legend in the abuse survivor community. As a 16- year-old girl, Christa was repeatedly raped by the youth pastor at her Southern Baptist Church. And when she told the music minister at her church what had happened, he told her to never speak of it. For 35 years, Christa kept silent, accepting the shame that rightly belongs to her rapist. But in the early 2000s, Christa broke her silence and confronted her childhood church with what had happened. She thought they would do the right thing, but instead, they attacked her. And that began a nearly 20-year battle with the Southern Baptist Convention and led to two major investigations, showing that hundreds of Baptist leaders and volunteers had sexually abused congregants. Joining me is Christa Brown, someone who for decades fought to expose sex abuse and cover up within the Southern Baptist Convention. She has been dubbed the mother of all abuse bloggers, and also is named by the Religion News Association as one of the top 10 religion newsmakers of 2022. She’s also a retired appellate attorney, a mom, and a grandma. So Christa, welcome. It is such a privilege to have you on this podcast.   CHRISTA BROWN  03:22 Thank you, Julie, I really appreciate it. I’m so glad to be with you.   Julie Roys  03:26 And you’re kind of like a legend. I don’t know if you recognize this, but you have been at this a very, very long time and the persistence that you have had to expose what’s been going on within the Southern Baptist Convention, it didn’t just happen to you, it happened to so so many women and men who have been victims. And so just as somebody who’s been in this space for a really long time, not nearly as long as you, I just really appreciate your work. So thank you.   CHRISTA BROWN  04:16 Thanks. And of course, this is something that is still continuing to happen too.   Julie Roys  04:21 That’s true. So I just finished your book, Baptistland, and really emotionally, still wrestling to come to terms  with everything I read. I think there were several things that really struck me from your book. Of course, the horror of the sex abuse that you had at the hands of your own youth pastor, somebody that you trusted, and the spiritual abuse involved in that was just absolutely horrific. But I think too, the abuse within your own family and the psychological and emotional abuse that was there and kind of how that conditioned you for the abuse and to kind of keep secrets. And so it kind of contributed to everything that happened. But I think lastly, was your resiliency, which is amazing in the face of what you encountered, your resiliency. And I don’t know how you did that. I mean, what do you attribute the resiliency that you’ve had to overcome so many hurdles in your life?   CHRISTA BROWN  05:26 I don’t know. In part, I think I’m a little stubborn by nature. I think that is there. In part, I think I had the enormous good fortune to encounter a wonderful husband and wonderful spouse, who has been nothing but supportive. And I think, when someone has that kind of support in their life, I mean, that came, of course, later as an adult, but that too, of course, has just been an enormous source of stability for me. So yeah, I’ve had those things. And in that sense, I’ve been very, very fortunate.   Julie Roys  06:10 If someone has just even one person in their life that’s advocating for them, that’s behind them, it makes a huge difference. And I know my spouse has been with me 100% in the work I’ve done as well. And I credit him for a lot of what I’ve been able to do as well. So I can relate to that.   CHRISTA BROWN  06:28 Yeah. I mean, he’s a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. No one knows my husband, but he is very much there for me.   Julie Roys  06:38  You divide your memoir into four different deaths, as you call them. And of course, there’s an element of resurrection and all of that, too. But your deaths start, the very first death that you write about is the abuse that you suffered by, again, your own youth pastor. But as I mentioned, there was some dysfunction in your own home, that kind of conditioned you to be able to have this abuse, and maybe to keep it quiet. Would you talk a little bit about that, the home situation that conditioned you to stay quiet about the abuse?   CHRISTA BROWN  07:19 Yeah. I mean, I grew up in the sort of home that it’s like, we all pretend we’re happy. What happened didn’t happen. And when someone blows up and throws plates across the wall, we clean it up, and we act like nothing ever happened. When my father explodes, we all just go on. My father had serious PTSD problems, but back then, we would not have even had that acronym PTSD, we didn’t know what to call it. We just all, as with many families across America, when war veterans come home, we all just do the best we can. But that very dynamic of never talking about it, and just always putting you in the background and moving on, conditioned me to keep quiet and to not talk about things in the family. We did not talk about the family with outsiders. That was for sure. And so all of that, I think is part of what conditioned me. Then when I was abused by the pastor, why would I talk about it? I had no experience in talking about anything troubling in my life, None. What was normal was never to talk about things. And I hope people will see that because of course, that’s one of the very common questions that people often ask, Well, why didn’t you tell someone sooner? Why didn’t you talk about it? I hope people will see in my book, the only rational question is, why would she have ever talked about it? And then, of course, the fact that I did try with a couple people and that only made things worse.   Julie Roys  09:08 Yeah. And there was also this element of spiritual abuse, which honestly, when I was reading your book, and I’ve heard a lot of spiritual abuse, but I would say this was almost just so wicked, because in your case, you were so trusting, you had such a childlike faith in God. And he just completely exploited that. Would you talk about the spiritual abuse and how that how that really gave him power over you?   CHRISTA BROWN  09:40 Oh, it gave him enormous power. And I hope people will see that the enormous power that earnest that a person’s faith can hold when it is weaponized against them, because that is what gave him power. I mean, I think there are many people who would wish to believe that this happens to kids who are in some way, oh, morally lacks or they want to blame the kid for some reason, that the reality is what made me vulnerable? What made me a target? What made me easy prey? was the very fact that I love God so much. My faith was earnest and pure and that is precisely what was weaponized against me literally. I was raised from toddlerhood to believe that you trust these men who carry the voice of God, that they are men and God. In the framework I held in my mind at that time., there was no other possibility other than to obey.   Julie Roys  11:00 You know, it’s interesting, because I just had a conversation with my daughter this morning. And I feel kind of bad sometimes because of the work that I’m in, that they’re exposed to the evil of it. But at the same time, I realized this morning, as we were talking about some things, she knows to be skeptical, that trust is earned. I don’t care what title someone holds. She knows that you still need to know that this person may not be trustworthy, you need to watch them over time. But I think especially in our generation growing up. I mean, I never would have dreamed that a pastor could be involved in any kind of wrongdoing. It just wasn’t in my worldview. So I totally get that. And the other thing is, and this is probably the most wicked is the way that he made you feel then that you are somehow evil because you had participated in this and even did like an exorcism on you or something, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  12:05 Yes. After this had gone on for months and months, seven, eight months. And it escalated, of course, and got worse. And then toward the end, he began to tell me that I had harbored Satan. And I was a temptress. And finally, then he called me into his office one day and made me kneel. While he, with one hand on my shoulder and one hand raised, stood over me as I was kneeling, praying on and on for God to cast Satan from me. But as a kid. I mean, that was just, that was terrifying. I mean, I didn’t know how I had let Satan in, and I didn’t know what I had done. If I didn’t know how I’d let Satan in I didn’t know how to make Satan leave me. And the very thought that I held Satan within me, made me think I was going to hell, which, as a kid, I was raised with a very literal version of hell, where you burn forever with no reprieve. This was absolutely terrifying. And of course, in hindsight, I think that’s exactly what he wanted was to put this enormous, just exponentially greater shame onto me, so that I would not talk about it. Because why would I want anyone to know that I harbored Satan?   Julie Roys  13:36 Unbelievable And yet when you did speak, like you referenced, nothing was done to help you. And you initially spoke with it was your music minister, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  13:49 Yes, that’s right. And he was also my piano teacher. I always had my piano lessons in the church sanctuary on the baby grand there. He was the music minister. And it was because I had just developed this enormous fear that I must surely be going to hell. And so one day at my piano lesson, I just, I mean, psychologically, I was at a point where I was just breaking then, and I just completely froze. I mean, my hands literally would not move on the keys. And I told the music minister that I was afraid I was going to hell, and I asked him, “Am I going to hell? Then I told him that I’ve had an affair. And that was my own word an affair with the pastor. And he basically just told me to never talk about it again, at all. And he said, I wouldn’t go to hell, but it wasn’t much comfort, really, at that time. He told me never to talk about it. He did nothing. And many, many years later, I learned that he had already known even at that point in time, because the youth pastor himself had talked about it with him.   Julie Roys  15:00 That level of complicity and silence, I just I don’t understand like, do you have any idea why he would do that? Why would a music minister say nothing about a pastor that he knows is sexually abusing a teenage girl?   CHRISTA BROWN  15:26 It’s very hard for me to explain. He was a father himself. He had a young daughter at that time. And so it’s hard for me to understand why he couldn’t think about his own daughter and imagine how he would feel if it were her. And it’s very, very hard for me to comprehend. I think that instinct among some religious leaders who kind of circle the wagons and protect themselves is very, very strong. Also the sense of protecting the institution, the sense of not doing anything that would bring, that would hurt the cause of Christ that would hurt the witness. I think all of that is a part of it. And yet, of course, none of that excuses it.   Julie Roys  16:21 No, and it’s not really biblical. I mean, Scripture tells us to confess our sins, not to bury our sins, and yet, that’s what the church has been doing for so long. Not all churches, but certainly within the Southern Baptist Convention this has been a widespread problem. So Tommy Gilmore, who was your youth pastor,, did eventually leave the church, was given what I understand sort of a hero’s send-off. Yes. And then, which I just can’t even imagine you as a kid, like, you have to go through an exorcism. Meanwhile, your abuser gets a hero send-off, and then you go home to live like, just go on, right? Like nothing’s happened, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  17:07 That’s right. He did indeed have a hero sendoff. He went to a bigger church; I was told that he would have a better salary. The senior pastor praised him for the pulpit and talk of how fortunate we all were, how blessed we were to have had such a man of God in our midst for so long, there was a big church reception where everyone brought their casseroles and stuff. And in hindsight, I don’t know how as a kid, I could have thought anything else. I mean, here was a great man of God, praised by everyone. I was the girl who harbored Satan.   Julie Roys  17:43 Just awful. And when you did go home, you did confess to one of your sisters what had happened. Her response was pretty horrific.   CHRISTA BROWN  17:53 Yes, she called me a slut.   Julie Roys  17:55 Unbelievable. And so the shame that you must have felt that you shouldn’t have felt but I’m sure you did, must have been just just awful. But you were given, I mean, sound like the pastor then arranged for you to have a job at the library. And your mother kind of encouraged you for this maybe? What was it he said that he thought you should be busy or something? Or I mean, kind of like he knew what had happened.   CHRISTA BROWN  18:23 Yeah exactly. None of this was really explained to me. But my mom said, Brother Hayden thinks you need to stay busy. And so they set me up with a job at the Farmers Branch Public Library, which I started immediately, which turned out to be even though I had never sought this job. But it turned out to be a very, very good thing. I loved working at the library.   Julie Roys  18:52 And you even said, I think later on your book, you credit some of your ability to come through all this to the books that you read, which opened your mind to a whole new world, which what a beautiful thing that in the midst of all of this awfulness, there was this oasis right?   CHRISTA BROWN  19:09 Oh, absolutely. The library was very much my safe place. Books were my safe place, always my refuge. A library has a certain kind of orderliness about it, and the neat rows and every book has its place. And that brought a level of comfort to me.   Julie Roys  19:28 Yeah. And one of the great things was that you were a very studious person, it sounds like, and that ended up being a route for you kind of out of some of your home life. But initially, you thought you would go off to college when you graduated from high school. It didn’t really turn out that way. Kind of like your mom sabotaged that. Is that a correct way of putting it?   CHRISTA BROWN  19:51 Yes, that is she did sabotage it. She wanted me at home for her own reasons, and I wound up staying home and commuting to college, and it was a very, very bad year, because she was struggling enormously. And both of my parents were struggling.   Julie Roys  20:13 The second death that you described is when your sister Rita was separated from her husband, Richard, and something happened. I’m gonna let you describe what happened, but also how that played out within your family and your family relationships.   CHRISTA BROWN  20:31 Well basically, I had gone over to babysit their young two-year-old daughter, and he made a move on me. Told me that he had married the wrong sister. That he should have married me. He picked the right family but picked the wrong sister. And I felt very trapped at the time. I did leave, of course. But I mean, this was someone I had grown up with. This was someone who was like a brother to me. This was my oldest sister. And so he had been a part of our family, since I was like 12 years old. So, in that sense, it just felt incredibly wrong and bizarre. But the one thing I knew with absolute certainty was that if I talked about it, I would be blamed for it. That even at that young age, I knew that for sure. And so ever after this was, again, another great secret that I had the key. It really kind of, I think, warped some of the relationships in our family. For every Thanksgiving, and all sorts of family gatherings thereafter, every single time, I would always try very, very hard to make sure I was never alone in the room with him. And yeah, that was the death of that kind of view of my family. I think.   Julie Roys  22:14 One of the things I’ve noticed just from my experience in ministry is that often a child that’s raised in a dysfunctional home, even though they recognize it’s a dysfunctional home, has trouble breaking those patterns, and often picks a spouse that is often very much like the dysfunctional parent or one of the dysfunctional parents. And yet you did the exact opposite. I mean, you turned down one proposal from someone who you didn’t love. And your mother pressured you quite a bit to marry because he had an engineering degree with some financial stability there. But instead you met a guy, Jim. What was it that really drew you to Jim, someone who was completely other than your family, and so healthy in so many ways? What really made you fall for Jim?   CHRISTA BROWN  23:13 Well. Initially, it was just that he had these gorgeous blue eyes.   Julie Roys  23:18 That helps, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  23:21 But it was just a connection there that I could not deny. You know, and with Jim, what you see is what you get. He is who he is, and there is never ever any kind of hidden agenda, any dagger behind that smile. That’s it. He is up for and in true. And that was always very clear to me. That mainly, it was just this connection that I felt with him. So much so that, I mean, it felt so powerful. And I felt fearful of it because I think I recognized immediately that this was something powerful, life-changing potentially. And so initially, what I did was to tell him that I could never be serious about someone who hadn’t read Anna Karenina.   Julie Roys  24:18 Well, of course! Who of us hasn’t said that, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  24:24 That was my effort in escaping because I was so afraid of this. But Jim proceeded to read Anna Karenina. So I had no excuse. And so we’ve been together ever since.   Julie Roys  24:37 That’s so funny. And then you went on to do something that nobody in your family thought possible. You went to law school, and even the application process and everything. I mean, to have the gumption to do that. Despite the fact your mother said you’re gonna fail. You’re not going to do well. Again, this incredible hurdle, what made you feel like you could go to law school?   CHRISTA BROWN  25:07 You know, I really only had, I came from a blue-collar family. And I really only had one friend at that point in time, who had been to law school. And I kind of thought, Well, I think I’m as smart as him. And he was a good deal more assertive than me by temperament. But I thought I could give it a chance. And initially, I really was very tentative about it. I kind of just kind of tip toed in and told myself, well, I’ll try it for one semester and see how it goes. But I did well, so then I continued. And with my family, I did not tell anyone I was even applying until I was already in, already accepted, already had my financial aid lined up. Because I was fearful of what the reaction would be. I was fearful of how negative it would be. And even intellectually, knowing that maybe that’s not right, your family’s words still carry power. And so I made sure I had things in place before I even told them.   Julie Roys  26:21 So true and so important. But yeah, I mean, even if  intellectually, that’s a lie. Or even if they’re saying this because of their own issues, right? It’s still hard to overcome that. And so the fact that you did, again, amazing resiliency. And then you had a daughter, which is just so beautiful. I have one daughter, I had two boys, and then my daughter. But daughters change us in remarkable ways. And you, even though you really didn’t have a model for healthy parenting, sounds like you did a really great job, and you broke some of those patterns of behavior that you saw in your family. What do you attribute that to?   CHRISTA BROWN  27:09 I attribute it to letting my daughter herself educate me, being observant of her, trying to attune myself to what’s going on with her. And recognizing that and trying to be sensitive to that. I do think that breaking long established patterns or familial dysfunction is very, very difficult. I mean, lots of people would like to make a decision and say, Oh, I won’t do things like my parents did. But the thing is, it’s not just a one-time decision. It’s something that has to be done in 1000s, of tiny, tiny little decisions, to choose to pause in the moment, to pay attention, to think about what’s happening. And that kind of attentiveness takes effort. And I think I attribute it to that. Also books I write,I don’t feel that I had a good roadmap to follow from my own upbringing. But  I was big on books.   Julie Roys  28:29 And that guided you. One book that you mentioned, you read your daughter was the Bible, but  chose not to raise her in the church, understandably because of your experience. But you decided to have her explore that herself with just reading her scripture and telling her Bible stories. As I was reading that, I just realized that my own experience within the church when I think of like your experience, my experience, things that for me, certain songs that for me are very comforting to you probably have a totally different connotation. Like for me, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus is a beautiful song that reminds me of a wonderful, idyllic, really in comparison childhood that I had growing up in the church, where people were trustworthy, and people weren’t hypocrites. But yet for you were, how do you come to terms with that, and with what the church did? with God? with faith? How do you come to terms with that?   CHRISTA BROWN  29:53 For me, it’s very, very different. Because things like that. Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. No, it was not sweet for me. Because trusting in Jesus, that was exactly what I did as a kid. That was my whole heart was to put every bit of trust in Jesus. And that led me down a very, very dark road. And that’s not the kind of thing that I can cognitively reason my way out of. Because the reality for me is that things like that, hymns like that, all sorts of Scripture like that, that for me now is kind of physiologically, neurologically networked with child rape. And that’s not something I can just say, Oh, no, I’m gonna think about this and not choose for it to be that way. No, that’s the way it is. And I accept that that is how it is. And I live with that. So yeah, for me, I mean, and that, I think, is what people need to realize is the enormous if you value your faith so much, then you need to be implementing serious accountability measures to make sure that these kinds of men do not church hop from church to church, because look at the damage that is done.   Julie Roys  31:20 Well. And that’s why I think spiritual abuse, and especially when it’s coupled with sexual abuse, has to be about the most profound harmful abuse there is, because you’re not just harming the body, but the soul in such a profound way. And it really is, I mean, that spiritual leaders or people who purport to be spiritual leaders, aren’t just horrified and wanting to root this out. I mean, says to me a lot about what they truly believe.   CHRISTA BROWN  31:55 Exactly. It is very, very hard. Certainly, for me, it is very hard to feel safe in faith, when faith itself has been used to eviscerate. And that doesn’t mean feeling safe in a church. That means feeling safe within myself in faith. It’s a very hard thing now,   Julie Roys  32:19 The shame that you felt as a kid, as I talk to you now, you seem to be very clear on the fact that you should have felt no shame, that you did nothing wrong. At what point did you get to that point where you realized this is not my fault? This is has been put on me by evil people. But it’s not my fault. I’m sure it was a process. But were there any points at which like, kind of a breakthrough where you’re like, this was not me?   CHRISTA BROWN  32:55 Yes. It was really my daughter who saved me, I think. Because when she was approaching the same age I had been at the time that the abuse, it was as though something exploded in my head. All these dark dusty boxes that were on the back shelf of my brain, that I had shoved back there and ignored for so long. All of a sudden, I kind of had to pull those boxes down and look at them and see what was in them. And that shifted thing. Suddenly, I saw things through the eyes of a mother in imagining what if someone did to my daughter what was done to me? And that was something I could not live with and could not accept. And really, that was  the singular kernel of truth from which everything else flowed. Because the one thing I knew for sure, and I didn’t know very much for sure. But I knew this, if someone did to my daughter what had been done to me, I would not blame her for one second, and I would be absolutely furious. And that shifted everything.   Julie Roys  34:20 Hmm. And so you did. You did at the age of 51, right? You publicly spoke out and really you talk about this as sort of the third death when you spoke about what had happened because of the response that you got. Although, before we talk about the response, just the fact that and I read in your book that the average age of someone coming forward is 52 which is insane to me, I would have guessed, like maybe late 20s early 30s you begin to sort of grapple with what had happened in your family or whatever. Why is it so late that people come forward about their childhood sexual abuse?   CHRISTA BROWN  35:13 I think the shame is so enormous. And as a kid, we absorbed that shame, and when we ossify into a few of what happened that blamed ourselves and we absorb that, as a kid, we solidify that view. It’s horrifying, we put that view, we put that into a box, put it up in their head, and put it on the back shelf. And we never want to look at it again, although, of course, it’s there. And it affects us in enormous ways. But I think it then just takes a very, very long time. And then there are these triggering events, like having kids of our own, to begin to understand, because we formed that view when we were young. And it impacted our whole identity.   Julie Roys  36:09 So when you did come forward, you spoke to your church, your childhood church. I’m not sure why you had optimism about that.   CHRISTA BROWN  36:19 I’m an optimistic person by nature.   Julie Roys  36:22 Yeah. I mean, you must. But I mean, when I read that I also thought,  when I first blew the whistle at Moody, I naively thought when I went to the trustees with the information I had, they would do the right thing. And that was not my experience. But I think we still hold on to this view that, man, these authority figures, they must not know. And so if I tell them, they will do something. Explain what happened when you did come forward to your church, and then I believe to, the Baptist Convention there in Texas as well.   CHRISTA BROWN  36:58 I was in my 50s,  early 50s. And I absolutely believe that they would do the right thing, that they want to help me. I was adamant about it. The same music minister who had known when I was a kid was still there at my same childhood church. I was absolutely convinced; I knew that he had raised a daughter by then. I thought he’s older now he will know better. He’ll wish he had done things differently. He will have learned some things; he will want to help me. And I have never been more wrong about anything in all my life then I was about that. Because the church’s first response was to threaten to seek legal recourse against me if I talked about it. And yeah, that was fairly intimidating. Even as someone who is a lawyer, I thought, whoa. And of course, you have to realize, I think, even as I’m doing this, at that point in time, I’m still trying to work through this process in my own mind, of unpacking everything that was done to me, of just dealing with it, of coming to terms with it. And that is a long emotional process because it was very traumatic. And at the same time then having the church threaten me, and try to bully me, that was just absolutely devastating. And then eventually, of course, yes, I also talked with people at the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Again, thinking these will know something. And I’ve contacted 18 Southern Baptist leaders in four different states, thinking surely there would be someone and there was no one. Absolutely no one who would do anything to help.   Julie Roys  38:59 One of the things that I thought back on when I was reading your book is about totalitarian states; that one of the things that a totalitarian state has to do is take over the press. And in Baptist land, they had their own press. Yes. And that was also weaponized against you, right?   CHRISTA BROWN  39:22 Yes, exactly. The Baptist Press published an article in which they said that I made false accusations, which, again, that was just absolutely devastating. But they’re in control of their own press, which gives them the ability to control the narrative, to present the picture that they want to present. That’s a very, very powerful tool.   Julie Roys  39:47 Although they don’t control all of it. And this is the thing that I have been so grateful for before the internet. Really, you had to go through all the gatekeepers, and I know, I couldn’t have done the reporting I’ve done had I had to go through the gatekeepers of the major Christian publications because they didn’t want to report half of this. Right. And I think the whole ME-TOO movement has taken off because of that. The Church TOO movement has taken off, because now, we have our own platforms, we have our own megaphones. And we can expose this stuff, and you did not stop. You just kept coming. And I’m guessing that that you’re one of so many, and so many people who have been suffering the same way as you have. But you went to the Southern Baptist Convention, you spoke out. Talk about your literally decades of advocacy, and what has kept you going through that.   CHRISTA BROWN  40:56 What has always kept me going has been the stories of other survivors, the very awareness that I wasn’t alone, and that there were so many others who did not have the ability, the resources, the educational background, the stamina, or maybe they just had toddlers under foot at home, they didn’t have the energy available for this. Back in 2006, I managed to publish an op-ed piece with the Dallas Morning News. And that was very early for me in this process. And it was after I did that, and I had my email address at the end of it, I was just flooded with emails. And that was when I really began to understand how pervasive this was. And most of those voices, most of those people are stories that no one ever hears about. And so that is always what has been a very powerful, made me feel a powerful sense of obligation. Because I’m very aware of those people. And I also want to say, the name of my book is Baptistland. And yes, I think there is this overarching kind of inculturation that this authoritarian type of Baptistland influences in our culture. But as you say, way back when, one of the earliest news media sources to begin reporting these stories was Associated Baptist Press, which is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, they’re Independent Baptist press. And they were some of the very first. We would not have some of the history we have and the documentation of this long problem if they had not been doing that work. And it continues today with Baptist News Global, which again, is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. I frequently write for them. So, yes, there have been other avenues, kind of on the fringes of Baptistland, that have been helpful in documenting this problem. And for that, I’ve been enormously grateful.   Julie Roys  43:14 So much has happened, especially in the past five years. The Houston Chronicle. That report showing literally hundreds of Southern Baptists leaders and volunteers engaged in credible abuse, effecting we know now over 700 victims. And again, that’s probably a fraction of it, because so many don’t speak, so many don’t come forward. We have Guidepost Solutions, who did their review, independent investigation of the executive committee the way that abuse survivors were treated. We know now that you were treated horribly, not just you, although you’re mentioned quite a bit in that report. But many survivors have been treated this way. SBC has initiated seemingly some reforms, the Caring Well Conference. But when it comes to substantive reform, have we seen substantive reform in the SBC?   CHRISTA BROWN  44:22 No, we have not. In my view, almost everything that they have done has been performative in nature. They still have no  names of credibly accused pastors on a database. They have talked and talked and talked. We’ve seen committee after committee, taskforce after task force. But no institutionally, they are not making progress. If they viewed this as a high priority, things would be very different. And you’re right. It is such a tragedy. It has been five years now since the Houston Chronicle Abuse of Faith series. It’s been two years since the Guidepost Report. That is enough time that we should see a great deal more change then we do. And yes, I’m named 70 times in that Guidepost Report, precisely because the executive committee treated me so terribly, and that’s now documented there. And that is just one report about one small entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the executive committee. And what it reflects is pretty incredibly awful. And yet, the executive committee itself, it doesn’t make amends for its wrongdoing. It doesn’t impose consequences on those who treated me so terribly. No. And so what kind of example do they set for the rest of the Southern Baptist Convention? And they could take responsibility and accountability for their own wrong without anything to do with local church autonomy. They could do that themselves. No, they do not.   Julie Roys  46:15 And that was the big excuse for so many years was the SBC saying, listen, we’re a denomination that really honors local church autonomy. So we can’t really impose anything on these local churches. And you are asking for very common-sense reforms. I mean, a list for example, of all of the credibly accused or convicted pastors or leaders within the SBC. We just want a database, right? asking for this and them saying, oh, we can’t do that because of autonomy. And yet when this Guidepost Solutions report comes out, we find out they’re keeping their own list.   CHRISTA BROWN  46:52 Yes, they’ve been doing it all along, ever since 2007, while simultaneously claiming that they can’t keep a list. And of course, keeping records and sharing information on credibly accused clergy sex abusers, there’s nothing about that, that intrudes on the autonomy of local churches. To the contrary, that kind of information-sharing system could provide local churches with the resources that they need to exercise their autonomy more responsibly. That’s not on behalf of the local churches that their doing that. It’s on behalf of the larger denominational structures of the Southern Baptist Convention, that they’re protecting themselves.   Julie Roys  47:49 Wow. And we still don’t have it. We still don’t have a good database. This is not brain surgery, folks. This is really, really simple. But it shows the lack of will on the part of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think I just tweeted something out, not tweeted, posted on X. I can’t get used to that. But something recently; Southern Baptist minister saying, hey we’ve got the sex abuse crisis and everything else. But we need to get back to the really important things of winning people for Christ. That, to me is so infuriating that we don’t see, Jesus cared for the least of these, throughout Scripture talks about the least of these. How do we think what are we winning people to if our churches don’t reflect the heart of God? It’s so perverse and so frustrating. And I’m curious at this point, I mean, do you have hope for reform within the SBC? or do you feel like it’s a lost cause?   CHRISTA BROWN  48:56 I certainly don’t think that we will see meaningful reform in my lifetime. I really don’t. I just don’t think this institution is going that direction. They’ve given us no evidence on which to believe that they’re serious about this at all. And they have had multiple opportunities over the past 20 years to reckon with this, really serious opportunities, when they could have chosen to do so. And again, and again, they do not. So no, I do not hold hope for the institution. I do hold hope for individuals. I think there is value in putting the truth out there, regardless of what the Southern Baptist Convention may or may not ever do. Thank goodness, my hope does not rest on them.   Julie Roys  49:48 Amen. I mean, honestly, I think the truth has its own power and how it works itself out. That’s not in our hands. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’re not that powerful. But I know there’s a lot of different ways to look at this. I mean, some people come up to me and they’re like, Well, why is all of this being exposed now? What is going on? You know, it’s something awful in the church. And I’m like, Well, what we’re exposing most of what we’re exposing is decades old. Some of its recent, but a lot of it is decades old, that just hasn’t been exposed. And I do think God’s angry about it. I mean, that’s my personal belief on this. And that some of this is being exposed, that there is judgment coming. And there’s a reckoning coming. I do take heart in the fact that at least the truth is getting out there. But what people do with it, pretty tough. But I do think it will be a decade’s-long process, I thought at first it’d be a year or two few years. It’ll be a decade’s long process of this being exposed. But I do pray that something, some good structures grow out of it.   CHRISTA BROWN  51:13 I do believe that in years to come, and maybe decades to come, that ordinary human beings will look back on all this. Which is why I’m so glad things are being documented. We’ll look back on all this, and it will be so aberrant as to be almost inconceivable. And they will say, you? a multibillion-dollar tentacular institution? used this excuse of church autonomy to avoid protecting kids against clergy sex abuse? really? And it will seem so horrifying as to be almost inconceivable. I think that will happen. And this institution is on the wrong side of history.   Julie Roys  52:02 I agree with that.100%. And I’ll also say that when I talk to abuse survivors, it’s often not the abuser. I mean, the abuser obviously does horrific harm. But it’s the protectors, the allies, the bystanders that do nothing, or worse than that actually contribute to the crime by covering it up. That is what really, really causes the harm. And so I mean, to Southern Baptist leaders who probably won’t listen to this podcast, but if you do, shame on you! do something. I mean, this is unconscionable that you call yourselves Christians and you don’t do anything about abuse survivors. That is, to me, a test of the authenticity of your faith.   CHRISTA BROWN  52:52 You know you’re absolutely right Julie. This is perhaps the single most universal commonality that I find in survivor stories is almost invariably, as awful, and horrific as the sexual abuse itself is, what does even greater damage is how terribly survivors are treated by religious leaders, by churches, by people of faith. That is hard to reckon with and hard to come to terms with. It is one thing to come to terms with the evil that one man can do, but it is quite another thing to try to come to terms with, And everyone else acts as though it’s okay. And this kind of systemic institutional problem does not come about without the complicity of countless others who enable these things. And that is where the real problem lies.   Julie Roys  54:00 The fourth death that you talk about in your book is when your mother died, and your own sisters cut you out of an inheritance. And a lot of it though, based in the fact that your family didn’t want you talking about this. I can only imagine. I mean, I felt it as I read the book, but the pain that I’m sure you still carry from that. Why is it that your family wanted to silence you so much on this issue, so much that they would retaliate in this way?   CHRISTA BROWN  54:45 I think because they felt it brought shame onto the family. And because I grew up in a sort of family that says you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You never talk about difficult things. You never talk about the family. My sister blamed me for what they said was making mom feel guilty because I had talked about this. Mom herself before she died, as I was speaking out numerous times would tell me that she thought I needed to own my part in it. Even though of course, I had been a kid. But she too had been, I think, misled, and manipulated by Brother Hayden, the senior pastor of our church at that time. And he’s now deceased. Because years later, many years later, I learned that he had told her that I would just forget about it. So that was a way of silencing my mom as well. And on some level, I think my mom must have felt guilty for that. As many mothers would feel guilt if something really terrible happens to a kid.  But I think she felt an enlarged level of guilt, which she could not really process. And it’s not as if people in my family went to counseling, right? And then because my mom felt guilty, my sister, I never put blame on her. I never ever put blame on her. But nevertheless, my sisters blamed me for making mom feel guilty. But, in some way if I think that’s all , scapegoating is something that human beings do. It’s something as old as time. And I think that’s what my sister did to me. Wrong. And in some ways, then they scapegoated me, and that was just kind of the rationalization for legitimizing what they did. And yes, to say it was painful, would be a real understatement. It was extremely painful.   Julie Roys  57:01 So sorry. You end your book with an afterword to childhood or clergy sex abuse survivors. And I know, our podcast, many survivors listen to this podcast. What message do you have for them?   CHRISTA BROWN  57:21 First and foremost, you are so worthy, you are a human being of infinite value. Whatever has been done to you within this faith community, it does not define who you are. Whoever you are at this point in your life right now, whether you are a person of faith or no faith, I don’t care. You are of infinite value and all of this other stuff that the faith community has communicated to you. Which abuse does this to people. It inculcates in you this notion that somehow you are not worthy. And that is a lie. That is a lie. So that would be the first thing I would say. And secondly, I would say, to all survivors and advocates, and really almost anyone out there, cultivate your skepticism. And sadly, when we see that faith itself is weaponized for power, that the accoutrements of faith are used to help propagandize and the perpetuation of status quo power structures, then it behooves us to apply our skepticism even to matters of faith. And I say, do not feel guilty for skepticism; not one bit. People need to earn trust. There’s nothing wrong with you for, for holding doubt.   Julie Roys  59:10 And I believe that if God is God, that he can handle our doubt, he can handle our hurt, he can handle our anger. And it’s justified in these cases. And it’s one of the greatest conundrums of the human experience. If God is great, and God is good, how do these horrible things happen to innocent people? It’s above my paygrade; it’s certainly one question that I’ve wrestled with an awful lot in my life and continue to, but I appreciate so much Christa, you’re honest, you’re honest  recounting your story and where you’re at, and you are a hero to the survivor community. And again, you have been in it so much longer than I have been. And I just look to folks like you who have really blazed a trail. And just so, so, so grateful for your work. So thank you.   CHRISTA BROWN  1:00:21 Thanks, Julie. Thanks for having me here. I really appreciate it.   Julie Roys  1:00:28 Thanks so much for listening to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And if you’d like a copy of Christa’s book called Baptistland, you can get one when you give $30 or more to The Roys report this month. As I’ve often said, we don’t have advertisers or many large donors, we simply have you, the people who care about exposing abuse and corruption in the church so she can be restored. So if you’d like to help us out and get a copy of Baptistland, just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. Also, just a quick reminder to subscribe to The Roys report on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. That way, you won’t miss any of these episodes. And while you’re at it, I’d really appreciate it if you’d help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review. And then please share the podcast on social media so more people can hear about this great content. Again, thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you were blessed and encouraged. Read more

Stories have a profound way of shaping us. They form our attention, affections, and our character, for better or worse. That's why reading what's good, true, and beautiful matters—and this takes practice. Jessica Hooten Wilson returns to the podcast to help us embrace the practice of reading as a means of spiritual formation.     Doubts and hard questions are a welcome part of the Christian life. But many young Christians today are being encouraged to “deconstruct” their faith. Culture becomes the standard of truth instead of Scripture, and many young believers walk away from faith altogether. To help the Church offer a better way to those who are deconstructing, Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett have written The Deconstruction of Christianity. They define what deconstruction really is, why it's appealing to so many, and why it's harmful. They also equip us to love those who are deconstructing by welcoming the hard questions while also upholding truth. This month, get a copy of The Deconstruction of Christianity by giving a gift of any amount to the Colson Center at colsoncenter.org/swdeconstruction  Reading for the Love of God by Jessica Hooten Wilson  The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson   A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens  Christ and Apollo: The Dimensions of the Literary Imagination by William F. Lynch   The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky   The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri  The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study in Monastic Culture by Jean Leclerq  Kristin Lavransdatter Vol. I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset  This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy  The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton   The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor   On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine  Elisabeth Elliot: A Life by Lucy S.R. Austen   A Voice from the South by Anna Julia Cooper  This Summer, give your teens an unshakeable faith that will last a lifetime. Summit Ministries' Student Conferences give students reasons to trust the biblical foundation you have laid for them. Students will wrestle through the hard questions as they build an unshakeable faith. Register for a two-week session in Colorado or Georgia. Use code STRONGWOMEN24 for an exclusive discount.  Early Bird pricing ends March 31st, so save $200 and register today! Learn more at summit.org/strongwomen.  The Strong Women Podcast is a product of the Colson Center, which equips Christians to live out their faith with clarity, confidence, and courage in this cultural moment. Through commentaries, podcasts, videos, and more, we help Christians better understand what's happening in the world, and champion what is true and good wherever God has called them. Learn more about the Colson Center here: https://www.colsoncenter.org/   Visit our website and sign up for our email list so that you can stay up to date on what we are doing here and also receive our monthly journal: https://www.colsoncenter.org/strong-women  Join Strong Women on Social Media:   https://www.facebook.com/StrongWomenCC  https://www.facebook.com/groups/strongwomencommunitycc/  https://www.instagram.com/strongwomencc/  https://linktr.ee/strongwomencc 

In Episode 163, Sara Hildreth, from @FictionMatters and co-host of the podcast Novel Pairings, returns for her third appearance on our show as our expert for Classics & Retellings 101. Sara guides us through the sometimes intimidating world of timeless reads in an accessible way. She busted some myths about classics and changed my mind about some elements of the classics. And, she has a great approach to find the perfect retelling of your favorite classics for your next read.  This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights Sara explores the definitions of a classic and a modern classic book. We talk about separating the American literature canon from the idea of a classic. Sara talks about being free to define classics on personal terms. The idea of a book being labeled a “future classic.” Now-famous books that went unnoticed initially when they were released. Sara's personal reading motivations. Common issues people have when trying to tackle classic books. Notable quirks of many classics that were first published as serials. Tips and advice for approaching older books. Addressing the pressure surrounding reading or revisiting classics. Examples of nonfiction classics. Legal considerations for all those retellings. The rise of retellings as a trend with today's audience. The difference between retellings and fan fiction. Sara's recommendations for accessible classic literature. A different approach to finding the right retelling for your reading. Please note: Sara mistakenly mentions during the discussion that The Great Gatsbydid not come into popularity until its distribution to soldiers during World War I, when this actually occurred during World War II. Sara's Book Recommendations [49:02] Two OLD Books She Loves — Classics The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:43] Passing by Nella Larson | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [53:12] Other Books Mentioned The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton [50:58] The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton [50:59] Roman Fever and Other Stories by Edith Wharton [51:03] The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett [55:44] Two NEW Books She Loves — Retellings Anna K by Jenny Lee | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:35] The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vho | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:28] Other Books Mentioned Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy [59:01] Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar [59:53] Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan [59:58] One Book She DIDN'T Love — Classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain | Amazon | Bookshop.org[1:03:25] One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About — Retelling and Classic Pairing The Garden by Claire Beams (April 9, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:05:12] Other Books Mentioned The Illness Lesson by Claire Beams [1:05:37] Little Women by Louisa May Alcott [1:05:41] The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett [1:06:21] Last 5-Star Book Sara Read James by Percival Everett (March 19, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:07:47] Books Mentioned During the Classics Discussion The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe [3:44] Beloved by Toni Morrison [10:46] Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver [12:05] David Copperfield by Charles Dickens [12:19] James by Percival Everett (March 19, 2024) [13:29] Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain [13:34] Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys [13:51] Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë [14:02] The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald [14:45] Frankenstein by Mary Shelley [15:09] Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn [15:20] Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë [24:27] A Model of Christian Charity: A City on a Hill by John Winthrop [26:35] A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft [26:47] Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass [26:54] The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank [26:59] A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf [27:02] In Cold Blood by Truman Capote [27:14] The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith [29:13] The Time Machine by H. G. Wells [29:20] The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson [29:23] Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier [29:30] The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood [29:36] The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor [29:45] The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell [30:17] The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman [30:20] The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson [30:23] The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick [30:26] Going to Meet the Man: Stories (with Sonny's Blues) by James Baldwin [30:37] Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance (with The Gilded Six-Bits) by Zora Neale Hurston [30:42] Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston [30:54] Kindred by Octavia E. Butler [31:00] Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler [31:08] Books Mentioned During the Retellings Discussion Julia by Sandra Newman [33:38] 1984 by George Orwell [33:40] Hamlet by William Shakespeare [34:10] Emma by Jane Austen [34:24] The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare [34:28] The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson [34:45] Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith [34:51] Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson [35:04] And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie [35:08] The Winters by Lisa Gabriele [35:35] The Odyssey by Homer [36:38] The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller [37:00] Circe by Madeline Miller [37:01] Hogarth Shakespeare series by various authors [37:53] Canongate Myth Series by various authors [37:57] The Austen Project series by various authors [38:00] Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld [38:03] Naamah by Sarah Blake [38:56] Anna K by Jenny Li [40:10] Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy [40:20] Tom Lake by Ann Patchett [40:41] Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor [42:36] Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes [44:14] Marmee by Sarah Miller [44:17] Little Women by Louisa May Alcott [44:22] Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell [44:38] Ruth's Journey: A Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind by Donald McCaig [44:40] Pride by Ibi Zoboi [45:19] Other Links The Atlantic | Italo Calvino's 14 Definitions of What Makes a Classic by Maria Popova (July 7, 2012) Novel Pairings | The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (February 27, 2024) About Sara Hildreth Website | Instagram | Facebook  Sara Hildreth is the creator behind FictionMatters, a literary Instagram account, newsletter, and book club focused on putting thought-provoking books into the hands of adventurous readers. She also co-hosts Novel Pairings, a podcast dedicated to making the classics readable, relevant, and fun.