Podcasts about gen x

In this special 9-week series, listeners will hear from three different groups—GenX paired with Millennials, Gen Z, and Boomers with a mix of the Silent Generation. Their conversations cover a variety of topics including technology, unity in the Church, racism, and parenting. Grouped by similar ages, these 12 individuals share their unique views, opinions, and convictions based on their generational upbringing and views of the world. Ranging from ages 16 to 81, we're covering 5 different generations with 16 different guests.In this episode, Generation Z Group talks about technology, social media, personal phone use, when kids should access social media, AI, and concerns about all the above. Bios of our Gen-Z contributors: Brandon AllonBrandon Allon has been a photographer for seven years, four of which have been with Seacoast. A third-generation photographer, he has also traveled to five countries outside the United States. Before photography, Brandon spent ten years in music — an experience that took him all the way to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Outside of his creative pursuits, he enjoys running and table tennis.Laela GriffinLaela Griffin is a recent high school graduate living in a small mountain town in North Carolina. She loves the outdoors, serving others, and traveling, and plans to attend Appalachian State University next year to major in Business. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with family and friends. Laela is so passionate about root beer that she once crashed her car over it.Hayes HerlongHayes Herlong is a 24-year-old from Charleston with a love for Jesus, surfing, adventure, and her one-eyed cat. She is currently pursuing ministry through the Residency Program at Seacoast Church, where she serves in youth ministry and is passionate about helping middle and high school students know Jesus and grow in their faith — a community she has called home for many years.Hayes also has a deep heart for global missions, having served internationally in Haiti, Togo, and Zambia, as well as stateside in Orlando and New York City. She loves learning about new cultures, meeting new people, and stepping into experiences that stretch her faith. That adventurous spirit once led her to jump and swing off the 420-foot bridge at Victoria Falls. Whether serving students, traveling the world, or trying something completely new, Hayes hopes her love for the Lord, people, and adventure will continue leading her to places where she can share the Gospel — and maybe keep her mom just a little nervous along the way.Abel WaltersAbel Walters is an 18-year-old rising senior at Palmetto Christian Academy and a recent graduate of 412 Leadership at Seacoast, where he now serves primarily on the prayer team and the teaching team in Custom. He has a passion for mission and ministry that he feels God has placed on his heart. Abel has played basketball all four years of high school, including travel ball, and also loves golf. His music taste skews older than his years — something his younger brothers don't quite understand yet.Abel is the oldest of four boys and the third of seven children overall. He's a big-time movie lover who will happily spend hours making the case for why The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came remarkably close to being one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. He also loves to travel and surf, and is likely the family member most enthusiastic about an impromptu trip — even when the rest of the family finds it slightly miserable.Seacoast Podcast is now on InstagramBe a Patron of the podcast We have a YouTube Channel for videos of all episodes since Jan. 2024. We'd love to hear from you.  E-mail Joey HERE. Producer/Editor/host: Joey SvendsenSound Engineer/Editor: Katelyn Vandiver

Brent is joined by Paige Kosinski, co-founder of Odyssey Entertainment Group, an influencer talent management company that has grown from a boutique operation into a mid-size powerhouse. The conversation covers the evolution of the creator economy, the art of matching talent with brands, and the practical steps aspiring creators need to take to build sustainable careers. Whether you are a merchant looking to leverage influencer marketing or a creator hoping to monetize your platform, this episode delivers real-world guidance from someone who lives and breathes this space every single day.Key TakeawaysConsistency beats follower count. Algorithms reward creators who show up regularly, and brands now prioritize engaged communities over raw follower numbers.Start with one clear focus. Creators should establish expertise in a single area before expanding into lifestyle content. That focus gives audiences a reason to stick around.Brand partnerships drive the bulk of creator revenue. Beyond one-off deals, long-term collaborations with aligned brands create stability for both the creator and the company.AI-generated content can backfire. Audiences are quick to spot avatar-driven or AI-produced material, and brands are even adding contract clauses to limit AI use in creative deliverables.The creator economy welcomes every generation. Gen X influencers are thriving on social platforms, proving that audience-building has no age requirement.Personal branding comes first. Monetization follows naturally when a creator invests in building a genuine, recognizable brand with clear content pillars.Cross-platform presence matters. Successful creators post across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest depending on where their audience lives.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Odyssey Entertainment Group01:53 The Evolution of Influencer Management05:11 Matching Influencers with Brands09:03 The Importance of Community and Niche10:07 Engaging Older Audiences11:11 Navigating Different Platforms12:39 Building a Personal Brand13:31 Public Speaking and Influencer Opportunities14:33 The Role of AI in Content Creation17:21 Getting Started as an Influencer18:55 Closing Thoughts and Promotions ResourcesOdyssey Entertainment Group - https://www.odysseyentertainmentgroup.comErica Ver - PianyandHoney - https://www.instagram.com/pianyandhoneyWall Blush Modern Manor Collection - https://wallblush.com/collections/modern-manor

Send us Fan MailWelcome to our 121st episode of the Triple FFF and our early summer confab about two big Hollywood tentpole entries that crashed and burned miserably at the box office in the wake of Gen Z's love affair with indie influencer horror to the point where Gen X has to face the facts and realize our day of IP dominance is over,  we're talking about 2026's Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal, Martin Scorcese, Jeremy Allen White and Sigourney Weaver along with Masters of The Universe, directed by Travis Knight and starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendez, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley and Jared Leto.  Back again for more is Mr. 80's Showbiz Trivia himself, Dr. David Johnson, DMD.  Before we let these critical fists fly in a flurry of thunder punches, the synopses: In The Mandalorian and Grogu, ace bounty hunter Din Djarin and his adorable little green pal Grogu team up with the New Republic for a dangerous mission: deliver Rotta the Hutt, the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt, back to his ruthless gangster relatives known only as the Twins. In exchange, the Republic will get critical intel on the whereabouts of several high-ranking Imperial loyalists, still on the run. In Masters of the Universe, the evil Skeletor seizes control of the planet Eternia and enslaves Prince Adam's royal parents, forcing the young noble into exile on Earth. Stuck living as a regular human in a soul-crushing and emasculating human resources job for a nameless corporation, Adam quietly yearns for the adventure and heroics he was born for. When Eternian warrior princess Teela shows up on Earth chased by Skeletor's mindless henchman Beast Man, Adam finally gets his chance — he returns home with Teela to confront Skeletor and the forces of darkness and to claim his destiny as the most powerful being in the universe… He-Man.  Are these two phenomenal failures actually fabulous?   Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/7DcNzDMNfko     

Chronic pain originated from genetic degenerative disc disease after the birth of her second child, leading to muscle spasms, failed artificial disc implant (FDA trial), spinal fusion, and permanent nerve damage in both legs. At peak pharmaceutical use, Shelley was on approximately seven medications — including pain, antidepressant, anxiety, insomnia, nausea, and panic medications — with five taken daily. Side effects from pharmaceuticals included nausea, vomiting, appetite loss, hair loss, poor nail and dental health, and chronic lack of deep sleep. Cannabis was first introduced by her Colorado chronic pain specialist, who permitted concurrent use with pain medication; she began with edibles primarily to address severe appetite loss and weight loss. Beyond appetite, cannabis progressively reduced anxiety, stress, and other symptoms, surprising Shelley given her Gen X perception of it as a "stoner drug." Her doctor's indictment for Medicare fraud in Colorado — abandoning 250+ patients overnight and destroying records — forced a pivotal choice; she opted to transition fully to cannabis rather than restart the pharmaceutical advocacy process. Going cold turkey off pain medication in 2020 was manageable partly because cannabis had already built mental resilience, contrasting with pharmaceuticals which she felt made her mentally unstable. Shelley noted it took approximately five years after stopping pharmaceuticals to feel chemically different — lighter and healed — underscoring the long-term impact of pharmaceutical residue. A spinal cord stimulator implanted roughly seven years into her chronic pain journey provided ~40% pain relief via leads and an internal battery; the leads are now burning out but she has decided against replacement surgery due to prior nerve damage risk. Current cannabis regimen: ~50mg hybrid edible (CBD/CBN blend) each morning plus smoking at night for relaxation and sleep, with the ability to self-regulate dosage by cutting down without withdrawal. Stigma encountered from her generation includes perceptions of cannabis as a lazy, unmotivated, or gateway drug — compounded by prior stigma as a chronic pain patient during the opioid epidemic. Cannabis is credited with delivering mental clarity and stability, directly countering the common misconception that it causes fogginess or impaired thinking. Chronic pain described as an all-consuming mental battle; cannabis enabled Shelley to stay present and mentally strong rather than constantly focused on pain — a key quality-of-life shift. Reflecting on her journey, Shelley's core message is to open the door to cannabis sooner, while acknowledging that everything happens in its own time. Visit our website: CannabisHealthRadio.comDiscover products and get expert advice from Swan ApothecaryFollow us on Facebook.Follow us on Instagram.Find us on Rumble.Keep your privacy! Buy NixT420 Odor Remover Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dave & Cody bring back Kiefer, a college debate coach and cinephile, to review Disclosure Day, the new original Spielberg alien movie. The vintage Spielberg machine is back together: John Williams on score, Janusz Kamiński shooting, David Koepp writing, Michael Kahn editing. Dave makes the case that the whole movie is tuned to a frequency Gen X kids hear and millennials might not. The table digs into Emily Blunt's career-best performance, a possibly divisive ending, the government-competence logic gaps, and whether two and a half hours earns a do-it-yourself conclusion. The Pastor's Corner lands on empathy as survival. Plus the Sandlot reunion series and a round of the Movie Game.SPOILER WARNING: Full spoilers for Disclosure Day after the news segment.Movie reviewed: Disclosure Day (2026) — Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by David Koepp. Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, with a score by John Williams. In theaters now.

Send us Fan MailThis week on Super Familiar with the Wilsons, a quick Target trip spirals into a Gen X nostalgia summit, we uncover a child sized fashion manifesto and discuss sleep accessories forehead dents. Along the way, birthday-party battlefield tactics, accidental hometown reunions, the strange power of sports fandom. Plus: antique mall treasure hunting, British pub curiosities, listener mail from around the world, and a reminder that screens may be the solution to many modern problems and the cause of several others. Key words, yo! Gen X nostalgia, parenting podcast, family humor, marriage podcast, Target stories, childhood boredom, screen time for kids, parenting teenagers, funny family podcast, Super Familiar with the Wilsons, growing up Gen X, listener mail, British pub decor, antique mall finds, sports fandom, everyday comedy.Super Familiar with The Wilsons  Find us on instagram at instagram.com/superfamiliarwiththewilsonsand on YoutubeContact us! familiarwilsons@gmail.comA Familiar Wilsons Production

Pull up a chair and join us for a brooding GenX journey of 90s nostalgia as we cover one of the great films of the cast’s formative years. Beer of the MonthHeart of Darkness Core RangeOmmegang’s Gnommegang Six Pack RatingDave: 1Kathleen: 1Troy: 1Pete: 0

Another busy Summer weekend in the book. Had a Rock Stop on Friday, spent several hours in the sun & heat on Saturday getting the lawn mowed, jammed out at 80's Fest on Saturday night, and marched in the Sparta Butterfest parade yesterday. Needless to say, I need a nap. But before all that, we've got work to do! In the news this morning, the US & Iran have reached an agreement, a Wausau man pleads guilty to defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, a recall on alfredo sauce, a Wisconsin man allegedly kidnapped his roommate, and a deadly plane crash in Kansas kills the pilot of the plane and 11 skydivers. In sports, the Brewers take two out of three from the Phillies this weekend including the series opener on Friday where the Miz absolutely OWNED Philly, the Knicks beat the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday night to clinch the NBA title, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights last night in game six to win Lord Stanley's Cup, Denny Hamlin won his third straight NASCAR Cup race, and Team USA opened up their World Cup with a 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday. We let you know what's on TV today/tonight An incredible story about an organ donor who sadly passed away at a very young age, but was still able to give the gift of life to several other families in need. Plus, a couple of young teenage boys in Iowa are being recognized for saving an elderly woman who was stuck outside for over 16 hours. Elsewhere in sports, a recap of last night's UFC 250 event at the White House, James Harden gets arrested over the weekend, and former NFL player Aldon Smith dies at the age of 36. Apparently, online shopping addiction is so rampant in South Korea, they've developed an extremely unique way to battle against it. According to some new research, 33% of Generation X(ages 45 to 61) say that they are still dependent on their parents to some degree! And in today's edition of "Bad News with Happy Music", we had stories about a Canadian man who got cited for drunken kayaking, a woman in Texas is suing McDonald's because of a problem with her Egg McMuffin, a #FloridaMan who got arrested for DUI and had 34 empty White Claw cans on his passenger seat, and a woman dies tragically in a bungee-jumping accident.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hay miles de películas, pero solamente algunas dejaron sus marcas en los "Millenials" (y Gen X) que se criaron viendo una chica "Clueless", cuatro Tortugas Ninjas, un corillo pactando para perder su virginidad, y muchas más. No fue fácil escoger las que hablamos, pero eso habla de cuan brutal fueron los 90's en la pantalla grande. ¿Cuál de estas viste? ¿Cuál hubieras incluido?

Molls is joined by friend of the pod, actress Marianna Klaveno, to talk about the movie inspired by the book that so many GenX and Millennials devoured and never forgot, The Face on The Milk Carton. Starring actress Kellie Martin, the movie has always stood out to Molly as basically one of the most accurate adaptations she's ever seen.  From IMDb: A teenage girl sees a photograph of her much-younger self one day in the school cafeteria--on the side of a milk carton. But her beloved parents would never kidnap anyone and there's a deeper mystery ahead. Mariana wants you to listen to Halfsies: https://pod.link/1554013364 Follow Molly around the web: http://mollymcaleer.com/ Get the automatic wet food cat feeder here: Inexpensive version: https://amzn.to/4o4M5Iw A little more money but more highly reviewed: https://amzn.to/4e2ZsnV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us Fan MailThis week, special guest Becky Veduccio joins Eileen Kelly on the show. In an instant these two reconnect through invisible threads and shared memories. "All The Things I Don't Wanna Tell You" is an episode that pulls out the dark, the ugly, the embarrassing, and the traumatic parts of our lives in an effort to find ourselves and become human once again.  Often discovering that the part we REALLY don't wanna say out loud, is the part that needs to be heard the most, and in our case the punchline for all our jokes. Tune In To This Episode Now More About Our Guest: Becky Veduccio is an established stand-up comedian, an award-winning writer and a professional Joke Fluffer.See Becky LIVE  Starting Tonight! 6/13 Warwick NY6/28 Long Island NY 7/3 Comedy Triathlon Bucks County, PA7/11 West Side Comedy Club NYC7/14 West Side Comedy Club NYC7/16 MomComs Staten Island NY7/18 Rhino Comedy Suffern NY7/24 Room52 NYC7/26 Uncle Vinnie's Comedy Club NJ7/30 Evansburg Winery PA8/15 The Milton Theater DE8/22 Rhino Comedy Suffern NY9/16 Curtains Up Comedy NJ10/29 Laugh Lounge PAGel Fluffed Here: https://www.beckyveduccio.com/joke-flufferConnect and Follow Here IG: https://www.instagram.com/beckyveduccio/FB:https://www.facebook.com/becky.langton.52TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@beckyveducciocomedy?lang=enSupport the showStrangers With Kittens is a podcast created by Eileen Kelly and Produced by Ashley Aker. You can listen to full podcast episodes on Spotify, Amazon, Audible, and Apple Podcasts. Follow Strangers With Kittens On Social Media Facebook InstagramTikTokYouTubeKeep The Conversation Going https://www.strangerswithkittens.com/

Hosts Lorraine & Trish share their list of brilliant reads: there is a love story, a powerful memoir, a standout debut novel, and a tip on the funny Agatha Christie style writer you probably don't know but will love. This curated list has everything: it is perfect for your holiday, train journeys, for summer reading, for book clubs or for those stuck in a reading rut. Plus the duo share insider secrets about the follow up to a book Gen X'ers loved and a new read on couples therapy which is a game changer.Contact: hello@postcardsfrommidlife.comInstagram: @postcardsfrommidlifeJoin our private Facebook Group here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After 25 years of conservative political dominance, the indie black comedy THE LAST SUPPER (1996) asked: should liberals just try killing their political opponents? We drive our DeLorean back to the '90s and analyze a very particular moment in Gen-X political comedy. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/posts/721-tedious-slog-160912726

This week we're reviewing the return of the Scary Movie franchise. We discuss the endless list of dated references, significant time spent on non-horror movies, the Wayans penchant for punching down, and whether or not Gen X are the new Boomers. Plus, what makes a truly great horror parody, and what films SHOULD you check out? Racheld drops some truly mind blowing trivia about the original scary movie, and we debate what's maybe the most important question, do the Wayans brothers actually LIKE horror movies? Scary Movie (AKA Scary Movie 6) is an upcoming American horror-parody film directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. It is the sixth installment in the Scary Movie film series, following Scary Movie 5 (2013), and the spiritual sequel to the first two films. It stars Marlon, Shawn, and other returning actors including Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Jon Abrahams, and Anthony Anderson. The plot follows Cindy Campbell and her friends Ray Wilkins and siblings Shorty and Brenda Meeks reunited when the same masked killer from the first film resurfaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fastest way to turn grief into chaos is to ignore the question nobody wants to ask: what happens to all the things we collect over a lifetime? I'm joined by Roger Schrenk, founder of DontMakeAnEstateMistake.com, who has spent 30+ years helping families navigate downsizing, estate liquidation, inherited belongings, and the overwhelm that hits when a big house needs to be emptied fast.We dig into why this is so hard, especially for Gen X adults managing Baby Boomer parents. Roger breaks down the generational relationship to objects, why “hoarding” is often the wrong label, and how belongings can represent purpose, identity, and the role of being the family archivist. If you've ever looked at a basement full of boxes and felt your brain shut down, you're not alone and you're not failing.You'll also hear concrete, usable strategies: conversation starters that plant seeds instead of triggering panic, how to frame sorting as a task your parent can own, and the two biggest mistakes Roger sees families make. One of them is the storage unit trap, the expensive “deal with it later” plan that turns into quicksand. We also talk about value, why eBay listings can mislead you, how pros check sold comps, and why an impartial scan (even via Zoom or FaceTime) can prevent costly estate sale and appraisal errors.We end with a powerful reframe on guilt and letting go, plus a line you'll remember the next time you're tempted to keep everything: keep the sparks, not the logs. If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a friend who's facing downsizing, and leave a review so more families can find the support they need.You can reach Roger hereGet a copy of Amy's Best selling book: CANNONBALL! FEARLESSLY Facing Midlife and Beyond hereMake sure to share with friends and family and would love if you could leave a review. There are so many shows out there floating around and if you are finding value in the The Right Sized Life Podcast share it with the world – a review means so much.And sign up for the Radiant Woman Reset hereAnd don't forget to follow along on all the socials:http://instagram.com/theamy.schmidthttps://www.facebook.com/fearlesslyfacingfifty/https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-schmidt-a5684412/

We didn't think something could be worse than The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, but boy howdy were we wrong. No complaints about the cast; they did what they could with a script (?), lazy direction, and a producer that wanted everything yesterday. Throw in the constant McDonald's sponsorship and aliens with butthole mouths that treat Coca-Cola like the elixir of life, and you've got the long-running joke from Paul Rudd that is Mac and Me. Starring Christine Ebersole, Jade Calegory, Jonathan Ward, Tina Caspary, and Lauren Stanley.

By the Power of Grayskull! Conor Kilpatrick, Ron Richards, and Mike Romo gather to revel in Gen X nostalgia while discussing Masters of the Universe! They have the Power! Running Time: 00:42:41 Follow Conor Kilpatrick on Letterboxd!Follow Ron Richards on Letterboxd!Follow Mike Romo on Letterboxd! Music:“Left to Right (iFanboy Theme)”Josh Flanagan Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron on their other show Goodfellas Minute. Listen to Conor and Ron reminisce about Goodfellas Minute on Sporadicast: An Oral History of Movies by Minutes. Listen to Conor discuss Dirty Harry on Movie of the Year: 1971. Watch Ron talk about the online pinball ecosystem on Dirty Pool Podcast. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss Blade (1998) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Fargo on Movie of the Year: 1996. Listen to Conor discuss Swingers on Movie of the Year: 1996. Watch Ron talk about pinball technology on the Daily Tech News Show. Listen to Conor discuss Ghostbusters on Movie of the Year: 1984. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss The Crow (1994) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Jaws 4: The Revenge (1987) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) on Cradle to the Grave. Watch Josh and Conor talk about how to start a podcast on OpenWater. Listen to Ron talk about The Phantom Menace minute 80 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about Return of the Jedi minute 124 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Conor talk about Return of the Jedi minute 104 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about The Empire Strikes Back minute 115 on Star Wars Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell break down what it actually looks like to leave a job with grace. In this episode, they unpack the candid conversation with New York City-based actress and novelist Clare Solly on why the employer-employee relationship doesn't require lifelong debt, how to keep your exit short and sweet, and what to do when getting fired feels deeply personal. They also dig into her biggest piece of advice: give yourself space before jumping into the next job. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How The Trevor Project's escape-key feature protects LGBTQ youth.Why the employer-employee relationship doesn't require lifelong debt.The two-sentence advice for exiting a job gracefully.Being fired is professional feedback, not personal failure.The importance of building a career exit strategy like a house fire plan.Episode References/Links:OPC – https://opc.meOPC Summer Tour – https://opc.me/toureLevate Mentorship Program – https://lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Flashcards – https://opc.me/flashcardsBalanced Body - https://www.pilates.com/Contrology - https://contrology.pilates.com/The Trevor Project – https://www.thetrevorproject.orgThe Center Las Vegas (LGBTQ Center) – https://thecenterlv.orgThe Pitt (TV series) – https://www.max.com/shows/the-pittSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  Yeah, the employer-employee relationship does not inherently require a lifelong debt, meaning that, of course, when you're working for someone, do everything anything that's part of your role, but you don't owe them your life.Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:58  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the gracious convoy I had with Clare Solly in our last episode.Lesley Logan 1:06  If you didn't listen, you missed out on the third time. Clare Solly has been, she's one of few people who've been on three times.Brad Crowell 1:13  She is, but I think she's been on way more than that, because she's done recaps for me and all sorts of stuff. So, as a guest three times, yes, but longtime listeners will definitely know who Clare is. Clare and Lesley go way, way back, before I was in the picture, by like years.Lesley Logan 1:32  We go back to like 2001.Brad Crowell 1:33  But way, you go back to 2001? So, like, I think I was still, what? 2001 we were graduating from high school.Lesley Logan 1:45  I went to college in 2001 as well.Brad Crowell 1:48  That's when you met, your first year in college.Lesley Logan 1:50  Yeah, I got a job. I was broke.Brad Crowell 1:53  I was broke. Well, amazing. Yeah, well, anyway, I was listening to your pod, and the two of you are hilarious, because it's like blah-blah-blah, just 100% riffing off each other. Lesley Logan 2:13  See why people are like, "I'm going to pod my best friend, and we're just going to talk about things." Because inevitably something good is going to come out of it. Oh yeah, you said, "Be organized," to like, what are we talking about? Which is like, so we originally, the team was like, "Do we want her on the pod," and I was like, "What will we talk about?" And then she and I were like, doing whatever recaps it is, she's like, "We should talk about ending," whatever, it was, and I was like, "Okay, great," exiting, "The team will be thrilled to know that we have a topic."Brad Crowell 2:38  You picked a topic. Lesley Logan 2:39  We did it. You guys, just so you know, we love that you listen. We love that you share those with friends. Another way you can support this podcast is by being an OPC member. If you go to onlinepilatesclasses.com, you can actually check out what we do. We have real Pilates for real bodies, it's the workout that works for you. There's lots of different ways to do it, and people are often like, "How can I support this show?" And Brad and I have talked about, like, do we do a commercial-free one where people pay?Brad Crowell 3:04  Yeah, we thought about that, like having a second one that's no ads, like all these different things.Lesley Logan 3:08  No, we're not doing more work. What actually would be really meaningful for us is, if you're going to give us money, we want you to actually get something out of it, not just like listening to us take up space. We really want you to actually take time for yourself and move your body, and that's what OPC is all about. It's actually about you having time for yourself. The classes are 2% of your day, and you get to compare yourself to yourself. So, go to OPC, I guess, what do they do? Go to opc.me/40?Brad Crowell 3:34  Just go to opc.meLesley Logan 3:36  Oh, great. Do that, even easier. Okay. Today is June 11th and it's Certified Nurses Week, aka CNA Week. It takes place on Thursday of the second full week of June. I really do love.Brad Crowell 3:50  The Thursday of the second full week.Lesley Logan 3:53  I love when it's not.Brad Crowell 3:54  Of the month of June.Lesley Logan 3:55  It can't be, it can't be the second Thursday. It has to be the second Thursday, the Thursday of the second full week.Brad Crowell 4:01  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:01  So, Thursday can't be, it can't be the eighth ever. Brad Crowell 4:04  Because if the week starts on a Wednesday, that first Thursday does not count. If the month's first week starts on a Wednesday, or like not a full week, right? Then the first Thursday might not count.Lesley Logan 4:17  Right. Brad Crowell 4:17  Right. So, the Thursday of the second full week. Lesley Logan 4:22  I think that's complicated. Instead of saying. Brad Crowell 4:27  Because there might not be a second Thursday.Lesley Logan 4:29  But what they, well, they could just say the second Thursday of June.Brad Crowell 4:31  No, it might not be the second Thursday.Lesley Logan 4:33  No, if June 2nd is a Thursday, then June 9th is a Thursday, that's the second Thursday. I think they made it complicated.Brad Crowell 4:40  But that wouldn't be it, it would be on the next week.Lesley Logan 4:42  So, listener, hold on, you mean to tell me that people don't grab the 30-day calendar and go one, two?Brad Crowell 4:52  Not necessarily, if it's not a full week, that's the caveat here.Lesley Logan 4:56  I think that's crazy. I'm telling you, I always, when we do FYS, I don't go skipping the first Friday because it wasn't a full week, I do all the Fridays.Brad Crowell 5:08  I am with you on this. I am agreeing with you. This is not simple.Lesley Logan 5:12  It's not simple to be a CNA either. So, it takes place on the second full week of June. Do you like that? Like that lead back, is a week full of, oh, because they also want a week. Okay, notice.Brad Crowell 5:26  It's a full week.Lesley Logan 5:26  It's a full week of celebrations, but it starts on a Thursday, it's a full week of celebrations honoring the hard work. Do you all want to know why I think I'm ADHD? Here's the autism. I'm so stuck on this second Thursday. This year it is held from June 11th to June 17th. Certified nursing assistants began working under the Red Cross program during World War One, and have served alongside US Army nurses. Hundreds of young women were trained to care for wounded soldiers in reserve, field-based, and civilian hospitals. Did you know that before 1987 nursing assistants were not required to have a formal education?Brad Crowell 6:01  I did not know that.Lesley Logan 6:03  Okay, so who's seen The Pit? Because there's actually a whole episode on the medics. Did you know that?Brad Crowell 6:08  Well, this is why I was asking you what the name of the show is that you're watching right now. I yelled it across the house earlier when I was like, "What's that show called?"Lesley Logan 6:15  I'm hyper-vigilant, but okay. One, I'm not new to The Pit. It's already like, I don't know, filming season three or something like that, and won many awards. All of my friends talk about it week after week when it first came out.Brad Crowell 6:26  But you're new to it.Lesley Logan 6:27  I'm new to it, because as much as I appreciate the nostalgia of a weekly show that we all talk about, I don't have that capacity. If I'm going to sit down and watch a show, I want to binge through, like I really like that I can, and all that stuff anyways, because I won't. The next week I'll forget, and then I'll be like, spoiler alerts that I'm trying not to watch, like when Love is Blind was dropping in increments. I'm like, "Fuck, I have to get off my Instagram, because the spoilers are coming." So, because it's spoiled, and I didn't pay attention to it because it wasn't what I was clicking on, I saw on a plane yesterday, I watched 10 episodes in a row, I'm obsessed, and the head nurse is like kicking ass. But they did have a whole episode on this guy talking about what the first field medicals were and how they became one. Anyways, I also believe, maybe it wasn't the nurses, that might have been the women who were doing the phone lines, but they had to pay for their own uniforms and things like that, so there's all this different stuff. Anyways, you guys, we have a nursing shortage in the United States of America because it sucks to work in healthcare. The only people making money in healthcare is CVS and the insurance companies. This is not sponsored by them, but you know they've got the money, so come on over. So the reality is, please be kind to your nurses, we need every single one of them. I know it's frustrating when you have to go to, I wasn't even at the hospital, I was at a doctor's office, and they make me fill out this online check-in sheet every single time. I have to fill in my allergies, my first period, my family stuff, every single time. And the second time I went in a month, I said, "Hey guys, is there any way where I can just tap a box that says nothing has changed, everything is the same, there's zero. Brad Crowell 8:12  I just felt that I wasn't filling it out.Lesley Logan 8:14  Yeah, like the only thing that's different is my last cycle. I'll give you that, because it's a female doctor, anyway. But I said, "Look, I'm not trying to, I'm just here." But be nice to them, be nice to them, it is their CNA week, so go.Brad Crowell 8:29  So, there are apparently on average 190,000 annual openings for registered nurses each year, projected through 2032.Lesley Logan 8:42  Wow.Brad Crowell 8:43  Due to retirements, burnouts, and rising care demands. And while the workforce is growing, it cannot keep pace with the needs of an aging boomer population.Lesley Logan 8:54  Oh, this boomer population, man, they just, love you, because some of you are boomers, but, man.Brad Crowell 9:00  Yeah. So, anyway, nurses are very important, and it's a high-stress job, so all the props to the nurses out there.Lesley Logan 9:10  Yeah, okay. Upcoming travel notes, you guys, we're around, we're sticking.Brad Crowell 9:14  Yeah, we're home for a minute, and it's nice.Lesley Logan 9:17  Kind of at home. Although, although, when you're watching this, what day is this? Brad Crowell 9:21  We are June 11th.Lesley Logan 9:22  Oh, yeah. No, I'm home, solidly in the house.Brad Crowell 9:25  June and July, we're home.Lesley Logan 9:27  We might even foster a puppy or something like that.Brad Crowell 9:29  Yeah, we're gonna go take some dogs and hikes. We're rebuilding the van right now.Lesley Logan 9:34  We means Brad.Brad Crowell 9:35  We means Brad. Brad is rebuilding the van right now from the inside out, obviously.Lesley Logan 9:40  Well, the outside's done.Brad Crowell 9:41  Yeah. Well, not necessarily. Well, actually, I guess I'm adding a roof rack and I'm adding all the solar and all this extra stuff. So, like, we're getting fancy, and I got some really cool specs done for the interior, and we're, we're gonna be completely overhauling it before the summer tour, which is coming up, so tickets are definitely available. You can go to opc.me/tour we're actually going to be doing a Saturn's ring loop around the middle of the country, like Lesley said last week, which I thought was hilarious.Lesley Logan 10:08  Oh, just so you know, our tours are again sponsored by Balanced Body and Contrology, so we're also bringing the Contrology Reformer, Mat and Spine Corrector. Brad Crowell 10:17  We sure are. Lesley Logan 10:17  They all have some great prizes for you. I put another request in for the liner, because everyone loves it. It's so fun, easy to take with you. It's a really great community, and it's time, and you also can go to multiple locations on this tour, because we are on a status ring, but that also means, since the map isn't 3D, we're really just, you know.Brad Crowell 10:37  Okay, okay. I think they got the idea. The point is, we're going in a circle.Lesley Logan 10:41  Stops are within a couple of miles.Brad Crowell 10:42  It's a squeeze circle.Lesley Logan 10:43  It's a squeeze circle,Brad Crowell 10:44  Yeah, a couple of hours, several stops within a couple of hours, not a couple of miles.Lesley Logan 10:48  A couple of hours.Brad Crowell 10:49  But anyway, the go to opc.me/tour we're doing 14, I think it's 14 stops, and we're.Lesley Logan 10:55  I have no idea, it's not we're going to this, I haven't even seen the list.Brad Crowell 10:58  It's good, it's gonna be great, we're excited, we're visiting some new spots, revisiting some old spots, and can't wait to see everyone. So, if you want to come have a Pilates party with us, join us on tour. And then, if you're new here, Lesley teaches a mentorship program for teachers, it's called eLevate, and we might be sold out at this point, but we only do one turn, one round of it per year, and next year we're doing 16 spots, and it's you can find all the information about that at Lesley logan.co/elevate and also we have almost completed the full project here of these flash cards that we've been on a mission for for six years, the last that came out last year. Now we're working on, like, you know, like a.Lesley Logan 11:41  Collector's box that has like a cute little stand. I don't know, I've got some ideas. It might take us a little longer than we thought.Brad Crowell 11:47  Yeah, it's not as much of a priority, that's for sure. But you should go check out the cards themselves, because they're epic. Go to opc.me/flashcards, opc.me/flashcards.Lesley Logan 11:56  You know what, I wish maybe it's more of like somehow it's a stand where the you could put, you could put the card on the front or the back of this clear thing, and the back could be a magnifier.Brad Crowell 12:09  Oh, that's interesting.Lesley Logan 12:10  So, like, it, you could put the card in the front and of the slot, and it would just hold it up super cute, but if you put it on the behind, it would magnify it. For our perimenopausal ladies, I cannot get enough words on there and get the font to 10, so.Brad Crowell 12:24  That's why we linked back to the website on every card, because the website we can write as much as we want.Lesley Logan 12:29  And you can make it bigger.Brad Crowell 12:31  Yes, and you do that too. Cool. So, check this out. Go to opc.me/flashcards. Okay, so this week's charitable organization.Lesley Logan 12:38  Yes, yes, we made this change a couple weeks ago. Go back and listen if you want to know why we made the change. We don't have time for it today. June is Pride Month, you guys, and that means I wanted to, I thought it'd be interesting on our recaps to just talk about different LGBTQ IA charities that are doing great work for that community, because that community right now needs all the support it can get, because it is fighting the good fight and trying to help people. The whole community is just being hit with laws left, right, and center in the country. So, I want it, in the US, anyways, and so I wanted to highlight the Trevor Project. So, the Trevor Project was found in 1998 in West Hollywood, California, by James Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:20  Lecesne, I think, Lecesne.Lesley Logan 13:21  Lecesne or you don't think it's Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:24  Actually, I think it's Lecesne.Lesley Logan 13:25  Yeah, Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:26  Yeah, James.Lesley Logan 13:31  Randy Stone, creators of the film Trevor. The Trevor Project is an American non-profit organization, is leading national organization providing crisis intervention, suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people aged 13 to 24 That's a really, really tough at age, but you know it's really important that they have support. The organization offers a confidential telephone helpline, the Traverse Space Forum, and the educational programs, while reporting increase revenues and dedicating 80% of its budgets to programs. That's huge for a big charity, as them 80% to go like that. This is what we're looking at when we're looking at charities, you know. It has faced criticism regarding its promotion of gender ideology and allegations of mismanagement. So, okay, no, it's perfect, but I do, I do, I've heard of the project with different groups of different podcasts talking about how it can be helpful, and so, you know, I definitely hope it hope it helps people who are listening, who have friends whose kids or loved ones who need this help. Brad, why don't you tell what you liked about their website?Brad Crowell 14:28  Yeah, well, if you want to support them, go to their website, thetrevorproject.org thetrevorproject.org and I was looking at their website and learning a little more about them, and a pop-up happened, and it said, hey, if you need a quick exit from our website, you can just hit the escape key three times, and I was like, what, I'm really interested about this, so I tried it, you know, 123, bam, it closed the tab that I was on with The Trevor Project, and it opened Google, and so if you are looking for support from the Trevor Trevor Project, and you're concerned about someone barging in on you, you know, or you don't want to share that information with the people that you might live with or be around, what an amazing way for them to think ahead, and I mean it's pretty awesome.Lesley Logan 15:18  Speaking of The Pit, there was this one episode about human trafficking, and they were giving this girl a pen before they gave her the pen, because they thought the person that she was with was trafficking her. They opened up the pen to show her that on the in the ink part is the phone number, so the pen just looks like this like stupid pharmaceutical pen, but when you open it up, it actually had a helpline. And so I just think that, like, I love that groups are getting really creative with how can they actually help people, because just putting, you know, a flyer in a place, like, here you go, it's like no one can take that.Brad Crowell 15:51  Well, it's like it's like in, in the when we fly around the world, and we're in the airports, there's not just signs everywhere there, but they are there. Are hidden posters on the inside of the bathroom stalls that are about trafficking, and it says, hey, and it's in like multiple languages, like, like half a dozen languages. It's like, if you are being trafficked, here's the helpline, how to get support right now.Lesley Logan 16:16  Yeah.Brad Crowell 16:17  And you can call a number if you have access to a phone, of course.Lesley Logan 16:19  Oh my gosh, there was a bar in Miami that's like all these bars, they have, if you order an angel drink, they call it the drink, it's called angel, like, oh, I'd like to order the angel shot, then that tells the waiter that you feel unsafe with the date that you're on, and they will help you know you get out of that situation, which is amazing, like, they like, I don't know how they're helping, like maybe they call you a ride or something like that, something like that. I don't quote quote me, but I know the word was like angel, I guess. If the men find out what the word is for, you know, I don't, that's probably not so. The street was probably only in the women's restrooms, but yeah.Brad Crowell 16:53  The angel shot, it's a coded phrase used to signal bar staff that you feel unsafe and need help, such as a bad date.Lesley Logan 16:59  So, going back to the Trevor Project, you know, there's different things you can do, like if you want to do things more local to you, we, whenever we order, whenever you come to a retreat at our house, if you're in eLevate, things like that, we actually order from Bronze Cafe, and proceeds from their restaurant go to support the mental health of LGBTQ community in Las Vegas, so it's June is Pride Month, so you're gonna find all these different things around where you are that are gonna help people in this community, obviously, try to do it all year long, because they need it, but I just think that, like, it's a real shame that this group of people is being marginalized and made the reason why people's lives are so difficult. The trans community specifically, they're 2% of the population, and the actual 2% that is ruining people's lives across the world are the billionaires, those are the welfare people, those are the people who, like, I shared a post was showing, like, Amazon pays like 1.87% in taxes or something like that, it's like something stupid, Alphabet actually pays 10% that shocked me, I was like, they're not getting the best deal, like, so, so, anyways, if we all got together and supported people who are different than us and actually took out the small amount of people who are getting rich off of us, there will be a much different place. And then this group of people would actually get to live with human rights like the rest of us get to have. So, anyways.Brad Crowell 18:15  I just wanted to quickly check that stat. In the US, roughly one out of 10 identifies as LGBTQ as of 2024.Lesley Logan 18:23  Right, but trans is 2%Brad Crowell 18:25  Trans, trans, yeah, okay.Lesley Logan 18:26  Yes, but yeah. What I understand, you know, I know we're smart supposed to spend a lot of time on this, but the internet really pisses me off when these men are like, I'm not gonna have a gay kid.Brad Crowell 18:35  Right, like it's there choice.Lesley Logan 18:36  I shared this thing with you, this guy got this person to like, like, like, he's like, "Oh no, you, you choose to be gay. It's like, "Oh, okay, we'll be gay right now. He's like, "Be gay right now. He's like, "Oh no. He's like, "He's like, he's like, 'Well, you said you could choose, you choose to be gay, so be gay right now.' So the guy's like, "Okay, I choose to be attracted to you right now. He's like, "Yeah, well, I'm not gay, I can never choose to be gay, but you, you didn't.Brad Crowell 18:59  He just chose to be gay. He's like I'm only gay for like 10 seconds.Lesley Logan 19:02  Yeah, well, you're gay, so actually you're bisexual. It was such, was so well articulate, was so great. At any rate, it just shows that a lot of people have idiocies.Brad Crowell 19:13  Ridiculous.Lesley Logan 19:13  Fears, all this different stuff. And I think, like, the reality is that we have to make sure that children today, especially this group of people have love, support, and community, know that they are there's nothing wrong with them.Brad Crowell 19:24  Yeah.Lesley Logan 19:25  You know.Brad Crowell 19:26  Yeah. So.Lesley Logan 19:26  I could never imagine, I was bullied in school for having a big nose, for having big lips, for being poor, for my clothes being not like, I could never imagine, because when you're bullied for that, it changes, they change people, they get to somebody else, it changes all the time. To be bullied for who you're attracted to or how you identify? Holy fuck, that is relentless. That'd be non-stop. Anyways. Okay, well, we'll be right back.Brad Crowell 19:56  Thanks for sticking with us here.Lesley Logan 20:00  thetrevorproject.org, that was the linkBrad Crowell 20:00  Go to thetrevorproject.com yeah, all right. Brad Crowell 20:03  So let's talk about Clare Solly. Clare is a New York City-based actress, singer, novelist, and creative multi-hyphenate. She has self-published three women's fiction novels, is on the board of two theater companies in New York City, and currently works a day job she genuinely enjoys. Clare is also pursuing a PhD in creative writing, adding another chapter to her already wide-ranging creative career. I did not know she was doing that.Lesley Logan 20:32  Oh, she is. We're gonna call her Dr. Clare.Brad Crowell 20:36  Dr. Sally. Lesley Logan 20:37  I remember when she said, "I think I'm gonna do this. Do you think I'm crazy?" And I was like, "You're gonna do it anyways." That's when you know you have a real friend. It doesn't matter, I know you're gonna do it anyways. It doesn't matter. All right.Brad Crowell 20:54  Yeah. So, like I said, the two of you just beat off of each other. So, what was one of the one of the things that you loved, that she said.Lesley Logan 21:02  Oh my god, we got through so much, I think. I feel like, by the way, it's exiting, and it's a very, I find out of all the podcasts we've done, it's not just a theory, like she gave actual tangible things throughout the whole pod.Brad Crowell 21:17  Yeah, it was great.Lesley Logan 21:18  And it made me realize that we do the "Be It" action items, because in case someone's a little ethereal or a little esoteric, I wanted you to have tangible things to do.Brad Crowell 21:25  That's very true. That's why.Lesley Logan 21:26  That's why it exists, because of the woo-woo people are just like, get to know yourself, love everyone, and I wanted, like, okay, well, what do I do today? But this whole episode is like that. So she was talking about employer-employee relationships, so that's really what this is. We know not everybody works for someone else, so, but this is a great episode to present to your friend who's probably struggling with their boss, and sometimes you end up in one, right? Like, I have a girlfriend who's been an entrepreneur for decades, and now she's an employee again. So, she said the employer-employee relation does not inherently require a lifelong debt, and I think a lot of people who listen to this podcast, maybe not young kids today, because they've just seen it happen like they don't, they've not even, well, what they're saying is that the jobs don't even exist when they get older, but for those elder millennials and Gen X, like, where our parents had the same job forever. So, like.Brad Crowell 22:11  My dad just retired from 43 years at the same company.Lesley Logan 22:14  And just, I know we, I think we had it on the pod already, but how many people have retired since that person took over the job?Brad Crowell 22:20  When my dad retired, he asked the exit interview HR lady, "Hey, how many people have you had this interview with?" And she said, "Since Covid, five."Lesley Logan 22:34  FiveBrad Crowell 22:35  YeahLesley Logan 22:35  Only five.Brad Crowell 22:35  Only five.Lesley Logan 22:36  Five in six years. So that's how many people are retiring, which means a lot of them are leaving. But it does not inherently require lifelong debt, and I think that's really important, because I think especially, the majority of our listeners are women, we tend to worry about.Brad Crowell 22:51  I think we need to qualify that. What does lifelong debt mean in this context?Lesley Logan 22:56  Okay. I'm going to just say your parents on their vacation were worried about when they should tell their bosses that they were retiring, and I was like, "You don't," because somebody had left, and I was like, "You don't owe them that information, you're on vacation right now, you shouldn't even know that that person left." I was literally arguing with them, I'm like, "Why would you even go, 'Oh, I'm gonna retire too, so look for two people'? No, not your responsibility. It's their responsibility to be thinking about if people leave," and so that's what I would say.Brad Crowell 23:25  Yeah, I mean, lifelong debt, I would say, is just your entire life orients around the company that you work for. And I know how I operate, and that would be to pour myself into this company, whatever company that I'm working for. Lesley Logan 23:41  I did that for every company I worked for, I just kept being promoted because I poured so hard. They're like this girl doing so much, we should give her this next job.Brad Crowell 23:47  Yeah, and so, the employer-employee relationship does not inherently require a lifelong debt, meaning that, of course, when you're working for someone, do everything that's part of your role, but you don't owe them your life, right?Lesley Logan 24:04  Yeah, right. We were in Paris for four days. Let me tell you right now, they enjoy their life, they go to work. And our friend of ours who lives there, she's like, "Oh, it would be rude to eat at your desk, you literally have to eat in the lunch cafeteria."Brad Crowell 24:20  She works from home, and she goes into the office to have lunch with the group.Lesley Logan 24:24  Yeah, that's not even on her team, they're just the people of that office that she's at, because it's like rude to not be part of it. And she's like, "Yeah, you have a full hour-long lunch, and no matter what you've got going on, you sit there and you enjoy it." People really have a life, and I think there is a way to give 100% at work and then have a life, and I think that's a balance we're missing if you're in the States. If you're outside of the States, we travel a lot, I see you, you're doing a great job, you are living your life. But so let's go back to one thing she said, so she explained you don't actually owe the company anything, like, telling them where you're going.Brad Crowell 25:06  She was talking about actually, in this case, quitting, and you know, if they asked you like, "Well, where are you going to go work next?" Like, you don't need to tell them that.Lesley Logan 25:13  You don't actually have to, it's not a thing. And so, in fact, somebody asked L on demand, our agency member, because they were making a plan to leave, and they're like, "Well, how do I, do I tell them what I'm doing?" And she wrote, "No, you can just say, 'Thank you so much. As of this date, I'm no longer available for this role. I am still available and excited to do this part of my job.'" Because you actually don't need to tell them that you're gonna go run your own thing, especially like it's not, we tend to feel like we have to give them an excuse or a reason. It can just be that you're done. Done is a reason. Yeah, so it's your business. Lesley Logan 25:50  She also said you can be fully transparent about your feelings, but leaving is—it's when you're—it's not required. You can be, but you don't have to be. It's not required. So, the best policy she said is to just walk in and say, "I'm so sorry, I found X, Y, or Z," or "I found another job," and then keep it short and sweet. And I would say the shorter and sweeter the better, and try to do it in a succinct way so they're not the enemy and you're off to greener pastures. You never know if you have to come back.Brad Crowell 26:22  You guys were talking even about the, "Oh, they're paying me more," or whatever. Like, "This other company offered me this role, and they're offering me more money." But you don't even need to say anything like that, because that would then open up the conversation with the current company of, like, "Oh, well, we could pay you more." What if you actually just wanted to leave, you know? So you don't need to be building in an excuse. You can just say, "Hey, you know, I have to move on." You can give an excuse, but you don't need to. Brad Crowell 26:53  I had a very difficult time leaving my job because my old boss liked to sue people, and so I needed to come up with a reason that was acceptable so that he didn't think that I was going to go try to compete with him. Because if that happened, he was going to sue, he sues everybody. So I told him that I was going to focus on my family, and I left that open-ended.Lesley Logan 27:18  You know what, my last—the job that I left, they were litigious-ish because if certain trainers took clients, because they had a non-compete, which is not enforceable, and the non-solicitation as well, which means you couldn't solicit. But I was so afraid that they would think I was soliciting that I also said, "I'm focusing, my husband, you know, I don't need to work this much anymore." I just wanted them, it wasn't their business, and I didn't want them to be looking for something, you know. And we're still friendly, I still talk to everybody, one of my bosses there, like, it's so great. So it doesn't have to be a big deal. I think the gist of that topic is like you can literally, in two sentences or less, exit given the information that they need to process the paycheck and get to your next thing.Brad Crowell 28:08  Yeah, and when I was listening through the whole thing, I liked the idea of being gracious with the exit—like graceful, meaning short, succinct, and clear. And that's what Claire was talking about when exiting not on your terms, basically meaning you're fired. She said if you really want to hand-grenade things, you can, but it's a small world. The industries we all work in are small. Everyone knows everyone. If you have a tumultuous exit, word will get around, right? She said while being fired is definitely an ego stab in your heart, it is crucial to remain polite because the professional world is very small, even if the human instinct is to internalize blame. And what we will do effectively, because it's the human instinct, is internalize the blame. "What did I do wrong?" You know, and we keep reviewing it over and over again in our own minds, picking on ourselves effectively. She said, "Hey, let's turn it around to a positive instead of sitting there picking yourself apart. Maybe you can go and take this new time and learn a new skill." Alternatively, you can evaluate your peers by asking yourself, like, "What are the skills that I have? What can I add to my resume that makes me more excitable as a hire for the future?" So, really shifting back to working to put yourself back out there.Lesley Logan 29:34  Yeah, I think, going back a couple episodes ago, you have to feel your feelings. It's important to grieve that it's a loss, like even if you leave on your own terms, it's still a closure of something, so definitely do that.Brad Crowell 29:48  I always think about people who are almost arrogant, and I think in a situation like this, how lucky are they that they can look at someone firing them and go, "Well, it's your fucking loss, because I'm awesome." You know what I mean? Imagine that perspective versus, "Oh my god, what did I do wrong? Why are you firing me? It's my fault, I fucked up somewhere, I'm not even sure what I did wrong." Those are the two extremes. Maybe we can land in the middle and do ourselves a kindness and not beat ourselves up over it. Because I had to fire someone, and was this person perfect at their job? No. Were they coachable and teachable, and did we actually enjoy having them on the team? Yes. And ultimately, it wasn't because they fucked up a spreadsheet or a document that I had to fire them; I had to fire them because our company couldn't sustain paying them at the time, this many years ago, right? And so it was a shame and not fun, right? So it had nothing to do with her, and I wrote a glowing review.Lesley Logan 30:56  Yeah, no, and for the most part, especially if you're a boss listening to this, most people know, if you do it right and you're coaching correctly, people know that their job is not safe. So, in California, I have to write you up at least three times, because the employers' HR, when you let go of someone, they want to be like, "Here are the instances, here's what the thing was that you were supposed to do."Brad Crowell 31:21  Meaning they should be seeing it coming. "I've got two write-ups already, I know."Lesley Logan 31:25  Like, "Yeah, I'm in the hot seat," you know. And so now, just because you have three doesn't mean you're getting fired—like maybe they happen over 10 years, you know? One of them you fix, whatever. But especially if they're happening in a row, they're coming for it, they're looking for things to come at you with. So you should be watching for that. Lesley Logan 31:42  But you should also like—if I'm consistently having to remind you how to do something, or I'm questioning, like, if there's these things that you're being coached on in your job, and it's like, "Wow, you've been here a year, and we're still working on this" if you're a boss, they should not be blindsided by it if it has to do with the way that they're doing their job, because they're not mind readers. You actually have to tell them if they're doing their job well or not, and if they're not doing their job well, you have to tell them how to do it well to give them that opportunity. And if you don't do that, then they're gonna be blindsided. But if you're constantly re-coaching them on their job and bringing up, like, hey, even if you don't write them up, "Hey, this is the third time we've had to go over this, what's going on here?" Hopefully they're aware. Lesley Logan 32:22  Now, some people are dense and they don't get it. I fired people who yelled at me and all these different things—not like "my loss," but like, "How dare you," right? And I remember going, "You didn't see this coming, dude? This is our third write-up. You're not on time for your clients. What do you want me to do? You're not on time, you've not been on time multiple times."Brad Crowell 32:44  Yeah.Lesley Logan 32:45  This is on you. Brad Crowell 32:46  Yeah, exactly.Lesley Logan 32:47  If he had been taking the bus, I would have been like, "Okay, we got to find a new bus route, we got to find a new shift." Nope, this is all on him driving, you know. So, I think for the most, it doesn't always happen that way, but that's always my ideal goal, is like people know.Brad Crowell 33:01  I had someone try to write me up one time, and I told them that I would not sign the paperworkLesley Logan 33:05  You, you also don't have to sign.Brad Crowell 33:07  And I said, "I disagree with you 100%. I'm happy to talk to your boss about all of this, because I will not sign this."Lesley Logan 33:13  You don't have to sign, they still, you still got it, but you don't have to sign if you don't agree with it. That's true. Yeah, that's fine. It's all combo. Anyways, this is like, thank fucking God I'm not in an office. Jesus. Okay, hold on. She said more great things about exiting.Brad Crowell 33:29  Yes. Well, stick, stick around really quick. We'll be, we will be right back. Brad Crowell 33:34  All right, welcome back. So, let's talk about those "Be It" action items. If you're new here and you're like, "What the hell is that?" "Be It" is the Be It Till You See It podcast acronym, what bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your convo? Claire said, "Hey, give yourself space." Okay, she explicitly warns against immediately jumping back into work after making an exit, whether you made it or they made it. She stated, "Make sure you give yourself a week or two off between jobs, because in any capacity, you have to decompress. It's just good for your mental state." She cautions against skipping this decompression phase, because when you immediately jump back into the next thing, you might actually already be angry or sad or frustrated, or whatever. She said she has rage-updated her resume before, and it just never works out very well.Lesley Logan 34:29  Sounds like if you get dumped, and then you go and do your Tinder or Hinge profile, it probably isn't gonna be as great as if you just waited a moment to be like, "Wow, that person wasn't so great for me. Let me.Brad Crowell 34:42  Yeah, don't rage-update your resume, it's hilarious. What about you? What was your big takeaway?Lesley Logan 34:45  II mean, personally, I never want to have to update a resume like that. I never want to do.Brad Crowell 34:50  I know we've had to update a resume to submit for some things for the business, and we're like, "Where is our resume? What did we.Lesley Logan 34:59  Now, Lex's job is like every so many months, go—because eventually, how long is the resume, you know? How many pages? Because I'm not vying for a job, but loans and stuff want things like that. Anyways, she said take a look at yourself and where you are, look at where you can improve and create an exit strategy. So I like this, because you might not like the job that you're at, you might be frustrated with where it's at, but this kind of is like taking a little bit of radical responsibility—like, where can I improve so that when I find the next place, I'm already a better person for it at the next job, you know? And that allows you to create an exit strategy as well. And I think this is kind of like, you know, if in anything you're wanting to leave, there's a reason you want to leave, and some of it's the situation, and some of it is ownership of how you could be a better person given the new situation, right? She compares this action to having an emergency strategy for a house fire, so you already know where your exits are, and I like that, right?Brad Crowell 36:01  She has some great tips, you know, especially if you know you're leaving and you had already taken things home, slowly start to bring them back to the office, not all at once, and vice versa. If you have things at the office, you could slowly start to take them home again, not all at once, because you're not trying to make your office look empty, but just practical stuff. Pretty cool.Lesley Logan 36:21  Because you never—I mean, even if you think you know your employers the most, like when I worked in, when I ran retail shops, if you gave us a two-week notice, our goal was to see how quickly we can get you a paycheck and end your shift before two weeks in your job, because it was an at-will state, so we could do that. So you put the two weeks in because then you get the better review, like, "Oh, they left and they gave notice," and all these different things, but especially in Pilates and in retail, you have clients, you have customers, so the longer you're there, the longer you can take client phone numbers, emails, different things. Like, we're protecting stuff, so we would just be like, "Out. Bye."Brad Crowell 37:02  Yeah, I think notoriously Netflix is like crazy. If you go in and you quit, before you get back to your desk, you're locked out of every, yeah.Lesley Logan 37:12  Yeah, no, I think it's even in their handbook of like what happens. Keith Olbermann is the one who—it's so funny because he's like, "I was on—they let me be on the air for three months, I could say whatever I wanted." But I do—you never—you just don't know how people are going to react to exits, so make sure that you have prepared well for the exit that you are in control of so that if they do decide, especially if you're an hourly employee or something like that, that they're changing it, you're not needing that money as the in-between, you know. Anyways, well, love it. I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 37:53  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 37:54  Thanks, Clare, for being our Be It Babe, ready to jump in. She'll be back because we'll have her at an interview.Brad Crowell 38:00  The Boomerang Buddy.Lesley Logan 38:01  Oh, I'm interviewing the person in two days, I better finish that book. I'm interviewing a really great doctor, and she's like, "I want to be in the Be It Book Club, and I want to be the recap person." So, Brad, you're unfortunately,unless you want to, you can join us for the recap if you want.Brad Crowell 38:19  It's fun. I love it.Lesley Logan 38:20  Yeah, all right, guy, go Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 38:23  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 38:24  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 39:07  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:12  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 39:16  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 39:23  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 39:26  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by John Plake, Chief Innovation Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the State of the Bible research at the American Bible Society. With decades of experience as a pastor, missionary, professor, and researcher, John brings a unique perspective on how people are actually engaging with Scripture and what we should do about it. The “movable middle” is growing. // One of the most significant insights from recent research is the rise of what John calls the “movable middle”—millions of people who are open to the Bible but not yet engaged with it. This group has grown by approximately nine million people in recent years. They are curious, interested, and even positive toward Scripture, but they lack the tools, confidence, or guidance to engage it meaningfully. This represents a massive opportunity for churches willing to step in and help. People want a guide. // Through focus groups and research, John discovered that many people in the movable middle feel intimidated by the Bible. They struggle with language, context, and navigation. But perhaps most striking is they want help. Contrary to what some leaders might assume, they are not rejecting the church as a guide. In fact, many say, “If we can't trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good is it?” This creates a clear invitation for churches to step into a more relational, guiding role in discipleship. A surprising discipleship gap. // One of the most sobering findings is that nearly half of weekly church attenders are not regularly engaging Scripture on their own. While churches invest heavily in preaching and programming, many people are not developing personal habits of Bible engagement. John suggests that churches often focus on delivering content rather than equipping people to engage Scripture themselves. The result is a gap between what happens on Sunday and what happens in everyday life. From teaching to equipping. // If churches want to close that gap, they must shift from being primarily content providers to equipping environments. This means helping people develop the skills, habits, and confidence to read and apply Scripture on their own. It also requires understanding the real barriers people face, like time constraints, confusion, or lack of community support, and addressing those barriers with practical solutions. A new tool for churches. // To help leaders take action, the American Bible Society has developed the “Next Step for Church” assessment. This free tool allows churches to measure spiritual health, Bible engagement, and key leadership behaviors within their congregation. Within a few weeks, leaders receive a detailed, data-driven report highlighting strengths, challenges, and suggested next steps. Data that leads to discipleship. // John emphasizes that data is not an end in itself; it's a tool for better shepherding. By listening to their congregation at scale, leaders can identify patterns, confirm instincts, and prioritize what matters most. The assessment surfaces both what's working and where growth is needed, giving churches a clear path forward. It also connects individuals to personalized Scripture engagement resources, helping them take their next step spiritually. Why Scripture engagement matters most. // Nothing has a greater impact on spiritual growth than a person's relationship with the Bible. In fact, Scripture engagement accounts for a significant portion of overall spiritual health. When people consistently engage with God's Word, transformation follows—affecting beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. Signs of hope for the future. // Despite broader cultural challenges, John sees encouraging trends, especially among younger generations. Millennials and Gen Z show increasing openness to Scripture, even if they are still exploring. While overall trends may appear flat, meaningful change is happening beneath the surface. For churches willing to engage this moment, there is real opportunity for impact. To explore the research further or access the free church assessment, visit church.nextstep.bible and begin discovering how your church can better equip people to engage Scripture every day. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Do you feel like your church’s or school's facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs? Well, the team over at Risepointe can help! As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to help move YOUR mission forward. Check them out at risepointe.com and while you’re there, schedule a FREE call to explore possibilities for your needs, vision and future…Risepointe believes that God still uses spaces…and they're here to help. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. I am so glad that you have decided to tune in today. This is one of those episodes that there’s a great resource in it that going to want to make sure you engage with. There’s super helpful content. Plus it’s about an area that I know so many of us are thinking about, we’re wondering about, we’re asking questions about. Rich Birch — So super excited to have John Plake with us today. He is the chief innovator ah innovation officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible Research Series, which comes from the American Bible Society. And they’re on a mission to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford so that all may experience its life-changing message. ABS has really a whole bunch of different tools and approaches, and we’re excited kind of expose a little bit more about that today. John has been in ministry over 30 years. We’ll just call it over 30 years. And it served as a pastor, missionary, professor, researcher. John, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.John Plake — Thanks so much for having me today. It’s great to be with you.Rich Birch — Why don’t you fill in the picture a little bit? Tell us a little bit about your background. You know, what brings you to your current work?John Plake — Yeah. Closer to 40 years now. Rich Birch — Nice. Yeah, yeah. That’s great.John Plake — It’s a little uncomfortable to talk about that.Rich Birch — That’s great.John Plake — Yeah. You know, I start out like a lot of people in ministry. I grew up in a home that ministry was central. Actually, both my grandfathers were ministers. My father was a minister. Ministry is kind of the family business in a way, but I really did sense a direction from God when I was about 15 years old to to pursue full-time ministry.John Plake — There was some detail around that. Ended up going to Bible college and and then started what turned out to be about nine years of full-time pastoral service. And I hadn’t been in that for very long before I realized that everything I learned in Bible College was preparing me to serve a generation that no longer existed in a culture that was gone. John Plake — And I thought, my goodness, I know God’s word pretty well. And mean, I’m a lifelong learner of God’s word. I love the Bible. And yet, didn’t really know culture very well. And I didn’t develop those tools until just years and years of practice, some missionary service, wonderful teachers at at Wheaton College and graduate school and and just a lifelong journey of learning.John Plake — So at American Bible Society, when I got here, the State of the Bible, program or this research project was already underway. And we’d been helped out by the Barna Group, which does some wonderful foundational work. And eventually it just kind of grew up and it got to a place where we had an internal team that was running it ourselves, now in collaboration with the National Opinion Research Council or NORC at the University of Chicago. We just do, I think, what is the largest ongoing study of Americans’ relationship with the Bible and faith and the church. And we get to talk about it all the time. Rich Birch — Yeah, I love it.John Plake — So, I mean, this is the best job in the world.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. It’s it’s great research, something that I think should be on the kind of list of things that we need to be paying attention to. It’s been a gift to the church for so long and something that we should continue to to pay attention through. Now, let’s talk about you specifically. You spent three plus decades. I didn’t want to say almost 40. You know, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that. I could say that, you know, a couple years ago, I clicked across one of those numbers with a zero on the end as my birthday. And ever since then, I’m a little sensitive about the the age thing. Rich Birch — So anyways, As a ministry, missionary professor, researcher, you’ve done a lot. How does wearing all of those hats, what do you what does that bring to you as you come to the data? How does that impact you as you think about really the state of the Bible research?John Plake — Yeah, you know, I think research can be dull. You know, it can sound like it’s all about writing questions or it’s all statistics and numbers. But for me, the research is all about the people. Rich Birch — So true.John Plake — It’s all about the people in our communities and in our churches that we’re trying to understand better so we can serve them well with the gospel. I, for years, I’ve used the analogy that that being in gospel ministry is like being a human bridge across a river. I grew up not very far from the Mississippi River in the St. Louis area, and there was a big 100-year flood when I was early on in ministry. And I mean, none of the bridges worked anymore. You couldn’t get from one side to the other.John Plake — And I thought, you know, that’s a tragedy that I encountered sometimes in ministry where maybe I was deeply rooted in one bank of the river, the text, but I wasn’t necessarily deeply rooted in the other bank of the river, which was the context.John Plake — And it’s this lived experience of the people that I was I was serving. And that I wanted to serve in my community, but I needed to understand them better. So I wasn’t just spouting you know Aristotelian logic to them. Or I wasn’t just coming at them with the pat answers that I’d learned. Like I’d never heard anybody in my life walk into my office and say, Pastor John, you got to tell me, what can you describe hamartiology to me from. You know like I had to learn that in school, but that’s not what people struggle with. Rich Birch — That’s so true. Yeah. John Plake — They had totally different questions and I needed to love them and honor them enough to understand their questions and answer them responsibly and reliably from the pages of scripture.Rich Birch — Yeah, love it. Okay, well, we’re going to dig into a little bit of just a couple of the findings just to kind of, we’re trying to whet your appetite, friends, to take steps towards this. So the 2025 data showed, and we’ve seen this, a real bump in Bible engagement, particularly among millennials and men. If I’m reading it correctly, though, we saw 2026, a shift happen, maybe back down. And so what’s going on? Actually, I heard another sociologist in a kind of a related field that was about church attendance talked about the dead cat bounce, that it was like, you know, which I thought, oh, that’s a, but there’s a similarity going on here. Pull this, this finding apart. Help us understand this.John Plake — Yeah, apologies to cat lovers out there.Rich Birch — Yes, exactly.John Plake — We were we were hoping, you know, I think we were really hoping. We looked at 2025. We saw that men in particular were leaning into the Bible in ways we hadn’t seen recently. Millennials doing the same thing. There there were some interesting numbers in 2025. And so when the 2026 numbers came to my desk in late January, I thought, I hope we’re extending I hope it’s going to be a trend. But it wasn’t. It was a blip.John Plake — And there’s more to it, though, than just the fact that scripture engagement didn’t go up. It also didn’t go down. And the level of people in America who are Bible disengaged, meaning they never pick up the Bible on purpose at all, that actually didn’t go up either. What grew was this kind of curious explorer group in the middle that we call the movable middle. And over the last two years, it’s grown by 9 million American adults. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And so what we do see is there’s there’s openness to the Bible. There’s experimentation with the Bible. But people are jumping in and they’re trying it and they’re not being able to get hold of it. And I think that’s largely because of us.John Plake — Because Bible people who are around them aren’t saying, please come do this with me. Let me help you. Let me honor you enough to to respect your questions, to ask what you’re dealing with, and help you explore those issues through the pages of Scripture.Rich Birch — I love that movable middle, man, that feels like the kind of group we want to connect with and reach out to in our community. Any other, when you, when you’ve been thinking about this movable middle, what are some other kind of characteristics of those people or other things that, you know, are kind of telltale signs of this group as we’re thinking about them as it, as it pertains to Bible engagement?John Plake — Yeah, they’re an amazing group, and we’re going talking more about them all year, but they are probably my favorite subject in America. There are 74 million American adults that are in the movable middle.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — 74 million of our neighbors who are like…Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — …and here’s what they tend to say: They love the Bible. They think it’s a great idea. But if you handed them a Bible, they don’t know how to find what they’re looking for. They don’t know how to navigate it. They get confused by the language in in Scripture.John Plake — I remember doing a a focus group with a bunch of people in the movable middle. I was in Chicago. it was an area I was really familiar with. I used to pastor in that area. And we got them talking about their experience with the Bible. And we said, hey, does anything ever stop you or kind of you know make you check out because you’re struggling with what’s going on? John Plake — And one young lady at the table said, yeah, you know the language of the Bible is really really hard for me to understand. It’s it’s a really old book. It uses expressions I don’t understand. And a gentleman sitting across the table from her just kind of chuckled and said, yeah, what the hell’s a mustard seed? And everybody laughed.John Plake — I was behind the glass and I just about fell out of my chair because they didn’t teach me to talk like that in a Assemblies of God seminary.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake —Things like that, you know, that’s just not the way we roll.Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. Yes.John Plake — But it was so authentic and he wasn’t being mean.Rich Birch — No.John Plake — He was just saying, boy, I don’t I don’t get it. And then they said, you know, we really want a guide. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And so we pushed on that a little bit. At the time, there were some clergy abuse scandals that actually there were billboards up in Chicago about clergy abuse scandals that all of us lamented. And so we’re like, OK, listen, do you trust the church to be your guide? Because ee saw these billboards, you know, and it’s your city. And so what what do you think?John Plake — And they said, well, of course we do. I mean, it’s terrible when people in the church abuse their position and abuse others. And that’s not what they’re supposed to do. But if we can’t trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good are they, really? And so, yes, we’re looking to you, church, to help us connect more deeply with the Bible, understand what it meant to the original hearers and readers and how we apply it to our lives today.Rich Birch — Okay, that’s yeah, that’s really cool. I look forward to hearing more about the movable middle in this coming year. Another thing that jumped out to me, which I feel like, man, I’ve seen this in my church. This is like you you named a group that I see, but it’s surprising, at least it’s surprising on its face. So nearly half of weekly church attenders, weekly church attenders, which is, that’s like really engaged, you know, are not regularly engaging, engaging scripture on their own.Rich Birch — Man, what, so what should we do about that? That’s an interesting, how does, how should that impact our discipleship strategy? What are you encouraging us to be thinking about? And these people that are with us all the time, but they’re not engaged with scripture.John Plake — Well, I think the first thing to do is to just recognize it. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You know, a lot of pastors that I’ve talked to, when we talk about scripture engagement, they tell me things like this: Everything we do is scripture engagement. I spend my whole week preparing a scriptural message. I’m, you know, we’re preparing small group curriculum and Sunday school curriculum and all of this stuff. It’s all about the, everything we do is about the Bible. John Plake — Well, okay. But I had a I had a young youth pastor come to me not that long ago and he said, John, look, you were me once a few years ago. If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently?John Plake — And the answer is I would do everything differently, than the way I ought to do it. Because what, in my tradition, there was a lot of emphasis on the preaching event, and I put a lot of effort into those communication events, but what I didn’t put as much effort into is empowering people in my church to do what I was doing, which was dig into scripture, understand it for themselves, giving them the tools to do that.John Plake — And then in May, we’re going to be releasing a chapter, just in a few few days now, we’re going to be releasing a chapter all about parents. And one of the startling things is the time pressure that moms are under. I mean, it’s incredible. And so we need to understand where they’re coming from and where they have barriers, but also have some compassion on them and help to support them when they’re really facing struggles. Like they don’t have enough time. They don’t have the resources or the community coming around them to help them to engage God’s word ah more fulsomely, more transformatively.John Plake — We know how to do this stuff, but we’re not connecting the dots to everybody that’s coming to hear us talk every…Rich Birch — That’s good. That’s good. I know I’ve in my seat as an XP, um you know, I’ve overseen a lot of what we do on the programming side and what we do on the weekends. And I’ve, you know, it’s like, that i don’t think I’ve ever said this publicly. It’s like the kind of behind the scenes conversation. I’ve sometimes wondered, I’ve said, you know, like, what we do on the weekend to try to make the Bible understandable is so completely different than Tuesday morning in someone’s life. Rich Birch — Like, we pull out all the stops to make it interesting. We get like world class communicators, incredible graphics, you know, emotional music, all of this to try to… But then the question is, okay, so now on Tuesday morning when you’re tired and you haven’t had your coffee yet and you’re just about to go read scripture, man, like that feels like a long ways away. There’s like a gap there that I sometimes wonder maybe we’re making it worse. You know. Maybe we’re making it harder. I said that. You didn’t say that. Rich Birch — So maybe there’s pastors that are listening here and they read this kind of report. They read this kind of finding and they’re like, hey, that’s interesting. But like, how what do I do in my church specifically? So you know we want we don’t want to just leave people with a tough stat.Rich Birch — I think we see that in our church. There’s people in our church that are here all the time. They’re not that engaged. But you’ve actually developed a new tool or ABS has developed a new tool to help us think through that. Why don’t you walk us through it? Tell us a little bit about it. How’s it work? Talk us how it can help us.John Plake — Yeah, so recently we developed two tools that kind of work together. One of them you can find on the internet at nextstep.bible. And it’s just for anybody who’s like, hey, I’m on a spiritual journey. I’m kind of stuck. I don’t really know what to do next. Maybe you’re just getting started exploring what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you’re Jesus’ little brother or sister. Wherever you are in that journey, there’s always a next step for us.John Plake — And so what we’ve done is analyzed along about a million spiritual life surveys. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And from this huge quantity of data, we’ve learned that people are at different places in that journey. They’re at different points on the map. And we want to make sure that they’re equipped to have the right thing at the right time. I think currently there are 21,000 scripture engagement resources available there.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — They’re absolutely free. They’re in English, Spanish, and French. So go check it out, nextstep.bible.John Plake — But if you’re a pastor or you’re a church leader, you’re probably wondering, well, what’s going on in my church, right? So I see all the national data, but I think our tendency is to say, well, we’re the exception, right?Rich Birch — So true. Well, that’s not our people. John Plake — I know I know everybody else is struggling, but we’re doing okay.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake — And and so it’s good to check our assumptions a little bit. They used to say a really sad statistic that 10 o’clock on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America, which makes me sad. What makes me sad also is that 12 o’clock noon in America is the most dishonest hour in America. That’s the hour when pastors tend to start greeting their people after the church service closes and they hear all these comments: oh, Pastor, that was the best sermon I’ve ever heard. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t. All right, let’s face it.John Plake — There’s somebody out there who preaches better than you do and better than I do. They’re available on YouTube. People don’t need you to be the best Bible teacher in the world. They need you to be the best pastor for them. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And the tools that are all about focusing on their relationship with the Bible, their holistic spiritual formation, and our leadership behaviors. And so for that, we built the Next Step for Church Assessment.John Plake — It’s actually standing on the foundation or built on the engine block, if you want a different metaphor, of the old reveal research that the Willow Creek Association had come out with. It’s no longer available. And we were able to acquire all of their historical learnings, but also add in things like human flourishing and e-pastoral leadership behaviors that lead to churches really being missionally effective and strong. Excellent stuff on Bible engagement and spiritual formation. John Plake — So the the big challenge we had, I was talking with Dr. Ed Stetzer about this because he was at LifeWay Research when the Transformational Church Assessment was being built. And it was always hard because analyzing this kind of data required a lot of human intervention. It’s very expensive to do. It’s very complicated to deliver. And even a small cost can be a barrier for churches that have strained budgets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a church of, you know, 2,500 25,000 or 250. There’s always more places to put your money than there are dollars that are available to do it.John Plake — And so at American Bible Society, we said, you know what, as a gift to the church, because we love the church, we need to make it completely free. And so you can go to church.nextstep.bible and you could sign up today. Literally, we’re recording this on a on a Thursday. You could go there today and by Sunday, you could be launching your survey. Two weeks later, you’d automatically have results in your own online dashboard. You’d get key highlights emailed to you. There’s a place for custom questions. There’s just all kinds of really, really rich information.Rich Birch — So good.John Plake — And it it doesn’t take the place of the kind of learning that you have as a pastor. You learn deeply in relationship with others. You’re observing what’s going on. You have a team that’s around you. But what it does is it provides this valid, reliable sift and sort function. It’s based on well, I don’t know even know how many, well over 3000 churches, well over half a million survey responses went into building this and making it a tool that that is a good benchmark for you to say, you know what, if we want to move from where we are today to where God is calling us, here are the things we need to focus on.Rich Birch — It’s so good. And friends, I want to encourage you to to go there. Just church.nextstep.bible. I know many of us have a heart for saying, listen, we want to measure more than just nickels and noses. The number of people that show up and revenue that comes in. And this a great way to kind of inject at something that’s at the core of what we’re supposed to be doing as a church. So why don’t we just give a little bit more detail?Rich Birch — What is it? You know, what’s it actually measuring? How is it? You know, how could it be helpful? How how could it kind of dovetail with some of the things we’re already tracking? Maybe give us, you know, what kind of insights are we going to gain from this if we if we put our people through this?John Plake — Yeah, maybe it’s worthwhile to just back up and say it’s based on a congregational assessment. So really this kind of work is all about just listening to your congregation at scale. So if you have 25 people coming to church, you can probably have this conversation with them if you know how to ask the right questions. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You can go to the website. You’re like, what’s in the survey? There’s a button you can click. You can read the whole survey. It’s fine. We’re not going to try and surprise you with anything. But really simple stuff. How’s your relationship with Jesus? How often are you interacting with Scripture? What difference is that making in your life? We ask the standard Harvard human flourishing questions. We ask about um how the pastoral team or the senior pastor, him or herself, is doing at actually modeling Christlike leadership for you. Rich Birch — It’s so good.John Plake — And all of that reporting then gets brought into a database. It’s all anonymous. So individuals don’t, they don’t have to tell you who they are. They can’t tell you who they are other than by characteristics. And you’re going to get this really good, robust picture of what’s going on at the church. John Plake — Now, what does it take for somebody to do that? It takes about 20 minutes of their time, and time is expensive, right? People always have too much to do. So in return for that investment, at the end of their survey experience, they will have already told us everything we need to know to match them to great resources at nextstep.bible.John Plake — And with their permission, not without it, they can click a button, pass that data over to the individual nextstep.bible platform. They can create an account and right away, they’re going to be finding things like YouVersion Bible reading plans that are just for them.John Plake — If you’ve got people in your church and they’re outliers, they’re they’re way more spiritually advanced than everybody else, or they’re just getting started and everybody else is way ahead of them, these kinds of tools create bespoke pathways for them so they know what to do next. All the while, the church leadership can sit back and say, okay, here’s our results. And as a team, now what do we need to do to serve the whole congregation well?Rich Birch — I love this. You know, this is what incredible tool that you’ve put together here for our churches to wrestle through and to, you know, not only help us as a church as we’re thinking about these issues, but then help individuals in our church. What what would be some of the ways that churches might use the data that’s generated to impact what we’re doing in our programming? How how could we use this to improve what we’re doing?John Plake — Sure. There are really three things we want everybody to do. First, just discover what’s going on. Just just check your assumptions at the door and and say, okay, what do the data tell us about what’s going on in our church life and in our people’s lives? That’s the first thing.John Plake — Second thing is it’s going to surface for you the top three things that you’re doing great. And it’s going to give them to you in the report. And you need to throw a party. Like there are people who make these things happen for you. No pastor is doing this all by themselves. And so plan a party, celebrate what’s going well.John Plake — The third thing it’s going to do is it’s going to give you suggestions about, okay, here’s where your congregation is today. It won’t surprise you, but it might inform you. I’ve never seen a pastor look at the report and go, ah you guys got it wrong. Rich Birch — Sure, right.John Plake — Usually they they see the report and they go, yeah, okay, yeah, you got me.Rich Birch — Yeah. Confirmed some hunches I’ve had. Yeah. Yeah.John Plake — Right? But we don’t we don’t have time. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the expertise to be able to sit down and and kind of scientifically walk through this process. So we do that for you. We deliver the report. And then we’re going to give you two key action items that we think churches like yours in a similar place have done that have helped move them toward spiritual health and missional effectiveness.John Plake — And that’s really what it’s all about. We want your congregation to be spiritually healthy. We want your your church as a whole to be missionally effective. And when that happens, often there’s numerical growth. Often there’s financial growth. But there’s certainly more missional impact that’s coming through your congregation and its work.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. So if I’m like a church of a thousand people, let’s say, and just round number to picking out of the sky, how how what kind of percentage of my congregation would I need to take this to give me a reasonable, you know, statistical, you know, feeling good about the data for it? What what kind of number um should I be thinking about?John Plake — Well, the first thing is we’ve built in a tool that will tell you how to get to a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. Rich Birch — Love it.John Plake — And that does vary depending on the adult attendance that you have. So let’s say you’ve a thousand adults. And by adults, I mean anybody in high school or older can probably take this survey. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — And you can cut the data like by gender or by age. All of that live filtering is in the online platform. Rich Birch — Oh, that’s so good.John Plake — So if you’re the you’re the youth pastor and you’re like, well, wait, tell me about the young people that took the survey. You can just look right at them and compare them to the rest of the congregation, which I bet will be enlightening. But nevertheless, how many do you need if you’re a church of 1,000, it’s about 275.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — If it’s a smaller church than that, then you’re still going to need a pretty significant percentage. So if I roll that all the way down to a church of 100, you need 80.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — And if you roll that up to a church of 5,000, well, you don’t need that many more than 275.Rich Birch — Interesting.John Plake — So you’re going to report that out to you. It’s very, very doable. And, you know, I’ve pastored at large churches and I pastored a small church. And I’ll tell you, when I pastored a church of under 100, I could have gotten a census of the people, like everybody, to do a survey like this. They would have been glad to tell me these things. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — And it’s not that I couldn’t have had a conversation one-on-one with most of the adults in the congregation. It was something different in that case. I actually didn’t know what to ask. I used to run into this when I was a campus pastor at a Christian university. And I would have young people walk into my office and I was like, I know I should be able to help them, but the challenge they’re facing is different than anything I’m familiar with. I don’t have any analog for this in my personal experience. And so this sort of takes the mystery away. We don’t ask fluffy questions. We ask research proven questions that are going to give you the information you really need so you can take action.Rich Birch — That’s amazing. That’s think this is such a great tool for people. I can see how, you know, it’d be so helpful for folks that are listening in to, you know, might be be able to plug in grab this experience for their people, help their church, help the folks that are attending. That’s, that’s incredible.Rich Birch — So, you know, you’ve picked an interesting vocation to be connected with the American Bible Society. And because, you know, this is such a critical and important part of developing people’s relationship, obviously, with Jesus; its core to all of it. And we have seen a long historical downward trend, and you’re pushing against that, which is amazing. But what gives you hope in the middle of all of that? What would it when you look at the church around you know, the country, where do you see flashes of just good things going on that are like, you know, when it comes to the relationship with scripture that even, you know, even when we see maybe the overall numbers are not as great as we want them to be, what are some kind of flashes of hope we should, that we could encourage folks with today?John Plake — Well, I’d like to maybe point to just three things that leap to mind. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — The first of them is I never talk to anybody in the church who says the Bible is a bad idea. Rich Birch — Sure.John Plake — Everybody likes the Bible. We’re all trying to figure out how to communicate its message better, to understand it more deeply. It’s transforming our lives, and we want to be able to share it with others. John Plake — And that’s great because, number two, there’s nothing that makes a bigger difference in somebody’s spiritual life than their relationship with the Bible. I mean, absolutely nothing. And I’m saying this as a researcher. I’ve tested it. I can’t find anything that makes a bigger difference. John Plake — In fact, when we looked at Christian college and university students, 60% of their overall spiritual health across lots of domains—beliefs, practice, putting faith into action, loving God, loving others, all these things, 60% of the variance in their spiritual health is solely accounted for by their relationship with the Bible.John Plake — So if we can help people have a dynamic relationship with scripture, we win. That’s all there is to it. It’s just that simple. And so that is really encouraging.John Plake — And then the third thing, ah the third thing is how I say this nicely? I'm I’m from Gen X and so to my Baby Boomer friends, I’m sorry, but you guys don’t have the influence that you once did.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s true.John Plake — And that’s a good thing because there’s new openness among Millennials, and Gen Z and even younger Gen X um that we just don’t see among Baby Boomers. It’s like Baby Boomers made up their minds in the 60s and early 70s and said, this is what I believe and I’m not changing. And they haven’t. John Plake — That’s not to say that someone who’s a Baby Boomer can’t have a a spiritual experience and transformational experience. It does happen. But on the population level, like when we looked at the Bay Area of San Francisco, if you look at the scripture engagement, church engagement, love God, love others data in the Bay Area, it looks like what you’d expect, until you strip out the Baby Boomers. And then suddenly it looks better than every place else in America.John Plake — You’re like, what’s going on? Well, looks like all the unreconstructed hippies that moved to the Bay Area are actually holding a lid on the population numbers. And when you remove that and you go, oh, wait a minute, let me look under the headline and say what’s happening. There’s more going on than is easy to see. And I think this happens in big national trends.John Plake — Oh, is Scripture engagement up or down? Is you know church attendance up or down? Whats what’s going… big national trends. Yeah, okay, those are helpful, and we want those to change. But what’s changing first is below the fold. Things in Gen Z, things among Millennials, things in young men, those things are starting to change, and I think those are the first glimmerings that God is at work in a new way in America, and I can’t wait to see it.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s that’s a great word. And that lines up with what we’re seeing, even just experientially talking to churches across the country. You know we’re so we’re seeing there is something going on with younger generations, which is great to see. I was I was born in 1974, the lowest birth rate year of the 20th century. I am classic Gen X. Like you know I am like statistic I’m the statistical average Gen X and has spent a lot of my time trying to hand stuff from the Boomers to the Millennials. And, yeah, there’s lots of encouraging news there, particularly with the younger generations. Rich Birch — I also want to speak to on the the work I’ve done in the church growth stuff that I’ve done and coaching I’ve done with churches, one of the things that’s just undeniable is churches that have a high view of scripture, that is, they’re trying to get people engaged with scripture. They they talk about it like it’s actually true. How do we say don’t know what’s the best way to talk about that? Those are the churches that are prevailing, and that actually works out statistically. You see that time and again. Talk to us about that dynamic, which is kind of co-related to the things we’re talking about today. From your perspective in the stats and all that, how how have you seen that work out as you’ve looked at churches across the country?John Plake — Yeah, I think you’re exactly right. The churches that are the healthiest in America, that are growing, that where where people are spiritually healthy, have a really dynamic relationship with Scripture. And it kind of it cuts across tradition. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — There are some traditional things going on. I was listening to Justin Brierley and his surprising Rebirth of Belief in God podcast, and it was from last season, and he he had someone on, he was interviewing, and what she was saying was there are the parts of the church that seem to be thriving are kind of the, the the older, the ancientness traditions, whether it’s Catholic or Orthodox, that what she called somewhat irreverently, the smells and bells side of of the church.Rich Birch — Sure, sure.John Plake — And on the other side, kind of my end of the swimming pool, I’m, from the Assemblies of God, so the Pentecostal and Charismatic side. And she said, what’s going on is that both ends of that spectrum are totalizing. John Plake — They’re saying, you know what, the the Bible places certain expectations and demands on people. Christ places certain expectations and demands on people. And these parts of the church aren’t sort of shy about talking about that from a biblical perspective. She said, what’s what’s dying is that part in the middle where we’ve reduced church to a PowerPoint and you know an Excel spreadsheet. And she said, that part of the church seems to be dying and no one’s coming to the funeral. Rich Birch — That’s good. John Plake — And I thought, you know okay, right?Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, that’s good.John Plake — So if we revitalize our relationship with God through scripture, there’s a next step for every church. It doesn’t matter what, you know whether you’re mainline or evangelical or, you know, Pentecostal or Orthodox or whatever it is, but but reviving our relationship with God through Scripture is really where it’s at.Rich Birch — That’s so good. i Yeah, I call that middle group the just because it rhymes doesn’t mean it’s true group. You know, like the, you know, were just like, it’s all my thoughts. No one wants to come and find us. They want to find God ultimately. Well, I don’t want to pick any fights with anybody that’s listening in, but I really appreciate today’s conversation, John. This has been great. So we want to send people to church.nextstep.bible.Rich Birch — The the promise of in two weeks, your church could have a comprehensive report on spiritual health, on where your church is, spiritual health is at, that’s a huge promise. And so again, this is go to church.nextstep.bible. Any kind of final words as we wrap up today’s episode?John Plake — You know, you might be familiar with Cally Parkinson. Cally was the co-author of all of the Reveal books, every single one of them. She was head of communications for the Willow Creek Association when they were running this. She’s probably had more conversations with pastors and church leaders about survey results like this than anybody I know, maybe than anybody alive. And Cally likes this so much. She said, John, I want to have a personal consultation with the first hundred churches that go through this.John Plake — And so if you want to be in that group, she’s going to offer to spend an hour with you and just walk through your results and help explain it. There are videos throughout the platform that will explain it as well. And you can’t beat talking to Cally. She loves pastors. She says you’re the salt of the earth. And she just really wants to serve you because the work that you do to save people is just so valuable to her. So anyway, just wanted to offer that. And I know you’d probably love to meet Cally.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, appreciate you being here today. Thanks for the great work you do at the American Bible Society. John, appreciate you being on today. Thank you.John Plake — Thank you.

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah on a biblical New Jersey adventure in Dogma; This 1999 Jay and Silent Bob vehicle asks the big questions, like what would happen if the Catholic god was wrong about something even once? Or how does Kevin Smith get Alan Rickman, Selma Hayek, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck to be in his low budget movie about Gen X sensibilities and comic book hot-takes? Clearly this movie works in mysterious ways . Diversions include Jason Lee's most memorable delivery, timeless stoner comedy (bonnnnnnngggg) and the mystery of Choolie Bob.

Gen X Jace is back on the program. He brings us up to date on what's happening in his home state of Texas. Of course we cover everything else too. Let's get into it.

Gen X Jace is back on the program. He brings us up to date on what's happening in his home state of Texas. Of course we cover everything else too. Let's get into it.

It's firework season. Someones fireworks exploded. Off the truck. While moving. On the day Raven is going to pick up his own explosives.  Anna's mom had all of her credit cards and cash stolen from her car. At least they didn't find her secret stash! When did you get something stolen from you, did you catch the thief's!?  This week, Raven goes head-to-head against the top of the class! It's Cant Beat Raven: Valedictorian version! Congrats Max!   Does Gen X Raven know anything about Gen Z? Does Gen Z Sophia know anything about Gen X? Anna quizzes both to see who knows more about the others generation. Spoiler alert: It's not much.  Simone Biles announced she almost died on social media recently. That's all we know. Way to leave us hanging! When did you almost die...but didn't! Anna and Raven discuss your near-death experiences  Chelsea and Erik had a lot of problems with their son's fourth grade teacher this year and thought she was terrible. She would argue with their son, and he was constantly being reprimanded for speaking out about things he believed. Chelsea keeps receiving emails from the room moms asking for contributions to the class end of year gift, Erik says absolutely do not contribute. Plus, they sign that it's from the entire class anyway. She feels like she needs to at least put in $20, he says no out of principle. Would you contribute? Rose has a chance to win $2,300! All he has to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!   

Send us Fan MailDonate to the GoFundMe for my feature-length film, The Cabin!From Indiana Jones' debut, to graduating high school 30 years ago, to the most dangerous roads in America, and everything in between.Episode 248 has something for everyone in the realm of GenX nostalgia.It all starts 45 years ago with the release of the groundbreaking film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The debut of Indiana Jones and the beginning of one of the most beloved and profitable film franchises ever. We look at how the film came to be and why it was so successful.30 years is a long time. This week, I celebrate (or mourn) the 30th anniversary of my high school graduation. What was intended to be a brief mention has become a full segment discussing that specific day of mine, and also what it means in a person's life to graduate from high school.Summer travel is here, and so it is appropriate that the Top 5 this week deals with it. We are going to look at the most dangerous roads in America. Use caution if you are traveling on any of these.There is, as always, a brand-new This Week In History and Time Capsule diving deep into the infamous prisoner escape from Alcatraz prison.To support me and the show, become a member on Patreon. Or you can support my work and Buy Me A Coffee!Helpful Links from this EpisodeBuy My New Book, In Their Footsteps!Searching For the Lady of the Dunes True Crime BookHooked By Kiwi - Etsy.comDJ Williams MusicKeeKee's Cape Cod KitchenMSFTS CommunityKingfisher Hotels Cape CodChristopher Setterlund.comCape Cod Living - Zazzle StoreSubscribe on YouTube!Initial Impressions 2.0 BlogCJSetterlundPhotos on EtsyListen to Episode 247 hereSupport the show

Game studios keep chasing Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but the hardcore gamers are actually middle-aged. According to a new survey, the average age of gamers is 37 and rising, with older gamers being the more hardcore players. Almost 30% of gamers over age 50, which tracks if they've been playing since the Atari or NES days. Really it's Gen X that bankrolls nerdom, and you want to keep the people who BUY your stuff happy. Watch the podcast episodes on YouTube and all major podcast hosts including Spotify. CLOWNFISH TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary podcast that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles. Get more news, views and reviews on Clownfish TV News - https://more.clownfishtv.com/ On YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ClownfishTV On Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4Tu83D1NcCmh7K1zHIedvg On Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clownfish-tv-audio-edition/id1726838629 MORE CLOWNFISH TV - Official Merch Store: http://ClownfishMinus.com Facebook - https://facebook.com/ClownfishTV X - https://x.com/ClownfishTVcom Clownfish TV subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClownfishTVOfficial/ Disclaimer: This series is produced by Clownfish Studios and WebReef Media, and is part of ClownfishTV.com. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of our guests, affiliates, sponsors, or advertisers. ClownfishTV.com is an unofficial news source and has no connection to any company that we may cover. This channel and website and the content made available through this site are for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. These so-called “fair uses” are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. #Games #VideoGames #Gaming #PlayStation #Podcast #Commentary #News #Reaction #Gaming #Comedy #Entertainment #Hollywood #PopCulture #Tech #Anime #FYP Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What do an arrow through the head, a white suit, a banjo, and two wild and crazy guys have in common? Steve Martin. In this episode of the GenX Book Club, Paul Stroessner, Suzanne Mattaboni, and Del Roehling take a nostalgic look back at Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up, a fascinating behind-the-scenes story of one of comedy's most innovative performers. The conversation explores Martin's journey from working in the magic shops of Disneyland to becoming one of the biggest stand-up comedians in America. Along the way, we discuss the discipline, persistence, and creativity that fueled his rise, as well as the personal struggles that shaped him. We also revisit some of Steve Martin's most iconic moments, including:

Senior care advisor Neil Nagraj and podcaster Laura House join Vanessa to talk about the impossible math of senior housing: when aging in place stops working, what assisted living actually is, and why so many families wait for a crisis before making a plan. Also discussed: memory care, Medicaid myths, long-term care insurance, and Gen X's grim future.Learn more about Neil's company, The Senior Housing Authority. For more from Laura, listen to How's Your Boomer? or subscribe to the newsletter.  

Kevin Kline and an Oscar-nominated Joan Cusack have a gay old time in 1997's In & Out. Back then, the comedy was a modest hit with critics and audiences as it juggled social commentary and slapstick humor while tackling a (then) hot-topic theme: homosexuality (gasp!). But now, decades later, should we leave this Frank Oz flick in the closet? When are “gay jokes” funny? And should Kline's character consider pressing charges against Tom Selleck's entertainment reporter? The Old Roommates revisit all the Macho Man madness through their middle-aged lens. Pop on some Streisand and join them.Follow Old Roommates on social media @OldRoommates for bonus content and please give us a rating or review!#In&Out #FrankOz #KevinKline #JoanCusack #DebbieReynolds #MattDillon #TomSelleck

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, was one of a number of Kennedy family members who spoke out against the policies and the character of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Schlossberg became a public figure on social media, often trolling the right, doing his imitation of Vladimir Putin, or claiming that Usha Vance was carrying his baby. But, when Schlossberg decided to run for an open seat in Congress, critics pointed to his lack of experience in governing, or even holding a job. In some ways, Schlossberg seems a test case for how social-media influence may translate into electoral politics. “I understand that content creation is a new profession, and that it's not synonymous for many people with a quote-unquote real job,” Schlossberg tells David Remnick. “I think that my experience is exactly what the Democratic Party needs right now from candidates.” Further reading:  “How a Congressional Primary Became a Proxy Battle Over A.I.,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “ ‘Love Story' Is a Forgettable Elegy for Gen X,” by Doreen St. Félix “A Battle with My Blood,” by Tatiana Schlossberg The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine's writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Vanessa went to WeHo pride, got drunk, and interviewed the gays. As usual, it did not disappoint. We found out quickly she didn't know how to pronounce NBA, Scottie Scheffler, or Eiffel Tower. It gave us all the Vanessa soundbites we need for the rest of the year. Ally got her IVF results on Friday. Today she revealed the results on the air. Do you think Round 2 was successful?? Listen along or SEE the results on the YouTube Livestream. One of us was high for the entire show. Which one of us was it? Viral 90's music fanboy Jacob Givens stopped by the studio today to talk about his new event GenX fest, and we tested his music knowledge compared to the other Jake on the show, Jake the Nerd. If you ever thought you were good at naming Alt Rock songs, Jacob Givens likely has you beat. Plus new details about a potential new event called Kegs & Gregs!

What if your biggest mattress sale strategy is actually scaring away Gen X buyers with the most money? The data says it's true. Here's why.Are your mattress marketing tactics stuck in the past? In this episode, Mark Kinsley sits down with Nicole Bergen of Elevate—one of the sleep industry's top consumer research experts—to reveal the hidden disconnect between what retailers think works and what actually matters to today's most powerful buyers: Gen X.Nicole shares eye-opening data from thousands of consumer interviews, exposing why relentless discounting and “NASCAR” promos don't work on shoppers aged 45-55. Instead, assurance and trust—like comfort guarantees and real customer reviews—win the sale. You'll learn why most brands overlook Gen X, despite their massive buying power, and how failing to update your playbook means losing sales to online giants.Ever wondered why your brand awareness is high but conversions are low? Nicole decodes the essential marketing funnel—attention, education, offer—and reveals the number one mistake retailers make (and how you can fix it with a simple brand health “timeout”).If you've ever struggled to connect with skeptical, research-driven customers or feared you're wasting ad dollars, this episode gives you the playbook to pivot. Plus: actionable tips for leveraging data, optimizing for generative AI, and turning happy buyers into raving ambassadors.Timestamps:- 01:35 – The hidden problem with mattress marketing: why Gen X tunes out- 04:30 – How relentless promos are killing in-store joy (and trust)- 06:58 – The power of assurance: Why guarantees beat discounts for big-ticket buyers- 09:40 – “Top of funnel” secrets: What attracts attention in 2024- 12:50 – Why your ad recall is broken (and how to fix it)- 17:55 – The market-by-market myth: Why what works in Cincinnati fails in Houston- 21:15 – The “Timeout Playbook” for brand clarity (and avoiding costly mistakes)- 27:40 – Data traps: The ROAS lie and how to spot media waste- 31:20 – Unlocking Gen X: Winning strategies for the new power buyer- 36:45 – Problem-agitate-solution: Messaging that turns skeptics into buyersConnect with The FAM Podcast:

Send us Fan MailWith the new Masters of the Universe coming out, we got into a He-Man rant. Plus more of the usual nonsense we can't help but drift into. Check out the latest episode, and tell a friend. "Did You Hear About This?" digs into the pop culture and news rabbit holes you somehow missed. If you're a Gen X geek, you've found your tribe. Please subscribe, like, and review us — we always need support to grow in this algorithmic world. If you don't, we'll find you.Do you know someone who would like our show? Please share. It's the only way a show like ours grows. We aren't afraid to beg. Visit us at https://www.didyouhearaboutthis.showEmail us at tmcgi.podcast@gmail.com 

Welcome to Episode 292 of the LinuxLUGcast We are an open podcast/LUG that meets at 9 PM EST every first and third friday of the month using mumble. We encourage anyone listening to join us and participate on the podcast. Check out https://www.linuxlugcast.com/ for the server details. If you have any questions, comments, or topic you would like us to discuss and are unable to join us during the live show you can send us email at feedback@linuxlugcast.com Join in the conversation at https://matrix.to/#/#lugcast:minnix.dev Movie List https://etherpad.integrations.element.io/p/e24fde39-0b56-4941-9870-526055295062 Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@thelinuxlugcast Peertube Channel https://nightshift.minnix.dev/c/linux_lugcast/videos web mumble https://lugcastweb.minnix.dev/ BBS https://lugcastland.minnix.dev/vtx.html Previous Movie:Project Hail Mary (2026) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730 Next Movie: The Electric State https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7766378/ Joe Plex sucks – $750 lifetime pass 3D printing projects Talking about gamehub, Borderlands 3 is 150GB! Kobalt lighted socket extension https://picclick.com/Kobalt-2-Piece-Lighted-Drive-Socket-Extension-w-LED-186328427089.html Drug talk Boomer, Gen X, and Millineials SpaceX stock Old laptops need replacing Our next recording date will be June 19th 2026 Our music is “Downright” provided by Klaatu and Broam and we would like to thank Minnix for the mumble server

Send us Fan MailThis week, Eileen and special guest Kristi Belcamino discuss dating. Relationships are complicated, and if you are like many women who are finding themselves in toxic relationships or loveless marriages, this one is for you. Your 50s are about three things: Fun, Peace, and Freedom. Listen to Belcamino as she details how she found unexpected freedom and happiness as a single woman thriving in her 50s, and how she has become a safe space for other women seeking the single life after decades of marriage.This is 50. (Flirty, Fun, and Free) Kristi Belcamino is a USA Today Best-Selling Author.You may also know her from the Gia Santella Crime Thriller SeriesThe Queen of Spades Series or The Gabriella Giovanni SeriesSupport the showStrangers With Kittens is a podcast created by Eileen Kelly and Produced by Ashley Aker. You can listen to full podcast episodes on Spotify, Amazon, Audible, and Apple Podcasts. Follow Strangers With Kittens On Social Media Facebook InstagramTikTokYouTubeKeep The Conversation Going https://www.strangerswithkittens.com/

The gang dives headfirst into one of the most ridiculous E-Memoriums we've had in a while, featuring cheese addiction, public stupidity, psychedelic suburban dads, shattered aviation dreams, and one of the most unexpectedly wholesome surprises we've ever pulled off.Rafe kicks things off by documenting his descent into dairy madness after being forced onto a 90-day elimination diet. What started as a simple food sensitivity test has turned into a full-blown cheese withdrawal situation. We're talking Gouda cravings, cheddar desperation, and behavior that would get you escorted directly out of a Target. If you've ever loved cheese enough to question your life choices, you'll feel seen.Meanwhile, Rizz discovers there's now a Lost Boys musical on Broadway. That's right. Somewhere, a vampire is singing show tunes and Gen X dads everywhere are suddenly considering season tickets. The crew debates Broadway shows, Book of Mormon, and whether Lost Boys might be the gateway drug that finally gets middle-aged rock fans into theater.Then comes one of the week's strangest news stories as the gang revisits the infamous Hooters incident involving a customer who somehow managed to turn a chicken wing restaurant into the site of a criminal investigation. It leads to a conversation that proves common sense may officially be extinct.The laughs keep coming when Riz recounts his Primus concert experience. What should have been a nostalgic night of music instead became a fascinating study of what happens when suburban dads try to reconnect with their youth through psychedelics while simultaneously worrying about mortgages, roofing contractors, colonoscopies, and elevated heart rates. It's less Woodstock and more West County Wellness Check.But the emotional centerpiece of the episode belongs to Moon.After learning he lost his chance to fly with the Blue Angels, Moon was genuinely crushed. What follows is one of the coolest surprises we've ever pulled off. With help from an incredible listener, a Blue Angels-themed Corvette Stingray appears outside the station, giving Moon the next best thing to taking flight. What starts as a joke quickly becomes a heartfelt moment involving family memories, aviation dreams, and enough horsepower to temporarily heal a broken heart.You'll also hear the crew celebrate Riz's birthday, roast each other relentlessly, honor several notable losses during the E-Memorium, and somehow manage to turn a simple radio show into the kind of beautiful disaster you've come to expect from your favorite daily comedy show.It's weird. It's heartfelt. It's sarcastic. It's completely unnecessary in all the best ways.If you're looking for a daily comedy show packed with ridiculous stories, unexpected emotional moments, and a group of friends who somehow make every situation worse and better at the same time, you've found your episode.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The crew kicks things off with air show excitement taking over St. Louis. Between Blue Angels screaming across the sky, traffic nightmares in Chesterfield Valley, food truck plans, soccer matches, and Moon somehow scheduling approximately 47 events in a single Saturday, the weekend is already off to a chaotic start. The team also swaps stories about hidden local gems, parks they've somehow ignored for years, and the eternal struggle of trying to get anywhere during a major regional event.Steve Ewing, his wife Beth, and the tragic loss of their dog after an attack in Tower Grove Park. The gang shares thoughts on responsible pet ownership, leash laws, dog training, accountability, and the kind of people who make terrible situations even worse by running away from them. It's an emotional discussion that highlights how quickly an ordinary day can become unforgettable.What's worse—finding out your child is being bullied or finding out your child is the bully? That launches a flood of personal stories, old-school parenting advice, schoolyard fight memories, gym teachers who looked the other way, and lessons learned from growing up in a world where conflict usually worked itself out one way or another.They debate about things that were ruined once too many people discovered them. Food trucks. Craft beer. Airbnb. Festivals. Etsy. Secret parking spots. National parks. Podcasts. Nothing is safe. If you've ever loved something before it became wildly popular and slightly unbearable, you'll probably find yourself nodding along while simultaneously realizing you might be part of the problem.An Olive Garden server receives a massive $700 tip, management gets involved, fraud reviews begin, accusations start flying, Facebook explodes, and suddenly nobody knows who to believe. Along the way you'll hear tales of childhood heroes, local legends, travel headaches, restaurant pet peeves, and the type of random conversations that somehow only make sense when heard together. That's what happens when a group of friends sits down with microphones and starts following every ridiculous tangent to its natural conclusion.Rizz didn't know what a Long John donut was?Which led to a passionate discussion about Long Johns, eclairs, and why every city insists on calling the same food something completely different. From there, things get appropriately ridiculous.In music news, Ace Frehley's legendary 1975 Gibson Les Paul sells for over half a million dollars, proving that Kiss fans remain one of the most dedicated—and financially dangerous—fan bases on Earth. The crew dives into the legacy of the iconic guitar, the musicians inspired by it, and why certain pieces of rock history carry a price tag bigger than most houses.The Red Hot Chili Peppers, where former guitarist Josh Klinghoffer says his era with the band has basically been erased from history. The gang debates forgotten albums, band politics, and why some musicians act like entire chapters of their careers never happened.Elsewhere, Madonna surprises fans with a pop-up Pride performance in Times Square, Ted Danson opens up once again about one of the most controversial moments of his career, and Bret Michaels' daughter shares stories about growing up backstage at Poison concerts that absolutely sound like they came from another planet.Movie fans get fed as the crew breaks down reviews for the new Masters of the Universe film, debates whether nostalgia can carry a franchise forever, and discusses famous movie mistakes that accidentally became iconic scenes. Plus, Nightcrawler gets some love, The Birdcage remains a classic, and everyone learns that sometimes the best moments in cinema happen when things go completely off the rails.The crew discovers what modern audiences consider "dad rock," and let's just say nobody was emotionally prepared to hear Blink-182, Linkin Park, Korn, Creed, and Fall Out Boy thrown into the same category as classic rock legends. Time comes for us all.The gang dives headfirst into one of the most ridiculous E-Memoriums we've had in a while, featuring cheese addiction, public stupidity, psychedelic suburban dads, shattered aviation dreams, and one of the most unexpectedly wholesome surprises we've ever pulled off.Rafe kicks things off by documenting his descent into dairy madness after being forced onto a 90-day elimination diet. What started as a simple food sensitivity test has turned into a full-blown cheese withdrawal situation. We're talking Gouda cravings, cheddar desperation, and behavior that would get you escorted directly out of a Target. If you've ever loved cheese enough to question your life choices, you'll feel seen.Meanwhile, Rizz discovers there's now a Lost Boys musical on Broadway. That's right. Somewhere, a vampire is singing show tunes and Gen X dads everywhere are suddenly considering season tickets. The crew debates Broadway shows, Book of Mormon, and whether Lost Boys might be the gateway drug that finally gets middle-aged rock fans into theater.Then comes one of the week's strangest news stories as the gang revisits the infamous Hooters incident involving a customer who somehow managed to turn a chicken wing restaurant into the site of a criminal investigation. It leads to a conversation that proves common sense may officially be extinct.The laughs keep coming when Rizz recounts his Primus concert experience. What should have been a nostalgic night of music instead became a fascinating study of what happens when suburban dads try to reconnect with their youth through psychedelics while simultaneously worrying about mortgages, roofing contractors, colonoscopies, and elevated heart rates. It's less Woodstock and more West County Wellness Check.After learning he lost his chance to fly with the Blue Angels, Moon was genuinely crushed. What follows is one of the coolest surprises we've ever pulled off. With help from an incredible listener, a Blue Angels-themed Corvette Stingray appears outside the station, giving Moon the next best thing to taking flight. What starts as a joke quickly becomes a heartfelt moment involving family memories, aviation dreams, and enough horsepower to temporarily heal a broken heart.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.Man arrested for smashing bar window in south St. LouisOlive Garden Faces Backlash After Server Says $700 Tip Led to FiringAce Frehley's main Kiss guitar, the 1975 “Budokan” Gibson Les Paul, sells for over half a million dollars at auctionRam Made An AI-Generated Shirt With A Tacoma On ItVolunteer firefighter arrested for setting blazes and responding to them with his own department during 30-hour arson spreeNew York robber on the run after stealing just $605 from six banks across cityMan allegedly had 11-year-old hold flashlight during burglaryCedar Point bans guest from all Six Flags parks for life after video shows him eating chicken nuggets while riding Millennium Force roller coasterHere's why a Newark flight to Spain had to turn around over the Atlantic68-year-old woman arrested for calling 911 over Jell-O shot denial at Ocala barMan accidentally shoots himself in groin while shopping at Florida WalmartSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, was one of a number of Kennedy family members who spoke out against the policies and the character of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Schlossberg became a public figure on social media, often trolling the right, doing his imitation of Vladimir Putin, or claiming that Usha Vance was carrying his baby. But, when Schlossberg decided to run for an open seat in Congress, critics pointed to his lack of experience in governing, or even holding a job. In some ways, Schlossberg seems a test case for how social-media influence may translate into electoral politics. “I understand that content creation is a new profession, and that it's not synonymous for many people with a quote-unquote real job,” Schlossberg tells David Remnick. “I think that my experience is exactly what the Democratic Party needs right now from candidates.”  Further reading:  “How a Congressional Primary Became a Proxy Battle Over A.I.,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “ ‘Love Story' Is a Forgettable Elegy for Gen X,” by Doreen St. Félix “A Battle with My Blood,” by Tatiana Schlossberg   New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Adam Holtz is back from a 2,500-mile California-to-Colorado road trip and ready to talk summer movies. First up: Masters of the Universe, the new He-Man origin story that proves Gen X nostalgia is still driving Hollywood — but like the Transformers franchise before it, it's been dialed up with unnecessary profanity and violence that didn't need to be there. Then a Paul Rudd movie about a wedding band musician whose song gets stolen by a Jonas brother, which sounds charming and mostly is, except for the R-rated language count that pushes it out of range for a lot of viewers. Adam also breaks down why Backrooms — the low-budget YouTube horror film that's made over $100 million — might be the most interesting story of the summer, what it says about audience hunger for original storytelling, and why Spider-Man will probably still take the title. Find full reviews at pluggedin.com before you head to the theater this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Stacey Gholar.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Stacey Gholar.

What happens when $84 trillion changes hands? In this episode of Boxes and Lines, Ronan and JR talk with Stephanie Luedke, Head of Private Wealth at Neuberger Berman, about the forces reshaping wealth management. Stephanie discusses the massive generational transfer of wealth underway between boomers, Gen X, and millennials, how younger investors are changing expectations around values-based investing, and why trust will always remain at the center of financial advice. She also reflects on her unconventional path from aspiring ballerina to finance, women's shifting presence in financial services in recent years, and the money advice her dad gave her that's stuck with her years later. 

Hour 1: Come play Bridge The Gap with us! SarahandVinnie@audacy.com. Peabo Bryson, the Grammy-winning soul singer, has passed away at 75. It reminds Matty of his days making emotional mixtapes. It's a good day for a music tangent. Owain Rhys Davies passed away suddenly. An attempted murder reminds Vinnie of the gang's new favorite show. Would you go to a party celebrating a boob job reveal? A story about a guy with a leaf blower. Hour 2: Jeremy Clarkson bought a farm! He needs a lamborghini tractor. ‘Hoppers' is now on streaming. Scott Pelley has been fired from CBS. This director has no problem speaking ill of the dead when it's Val Kilmer. Kristin Cavallari talks about her weird run-in with an A-lister. Want to see if any of us are outfit repeaters? Watch Sarah and Vinnie on YouTube! Fitting back into your skinny pants? You could sell your old stuff. You'd be amazed at how fast you adapt. It's Global Running Day! A vandalized Ronald McDonald is selling big on eBay. Hour 3: It's time to Bridge The Gap! Jason, our favorite wine bar owner, is back for GenX. He's taking on Reverend Josh for the Zillennials. This might be our toughest battle yet. Vinnie wants the Sharks to get better so he can go to games. There's a new grocery store drama. Ew! Barry's been everywhere, and he says NEVER leave the house without these 5 things. Plus, try this weird travel hack for cheap food and a new experience! Hour 4: Reality star Spencer Pratt moves forward in the mayoral race. Vinnie asks a hypothetical question that breaks Bob: Taylor Swift and your mom are getting married on the same day, and you're invited to both. What are you attending? A 21-year old got the surprise of a lifetime at a live performance of La La Land when the conductor asked if anyone could sight read the piano. 4th of July is just around the corner. Consider these new favorite snacks for your picnic. Plus, How Old Is That Guy?

It's time to Bridge The Gap! Jason, our favorite wine bar owner, is back for GenX. He's taking on Reverend Josh for the Zillennials. This might be our toughest battle yet.

It's time to Bridge The Gap! Jason, our favorite wine bar owner, is back for GenX. He's taking on Reverend Josh for the Zillennials. This might be our toughest battle yet. Vinnie wants the Sharks to get better so he can go to games. There's a new grocery store drama. Ew! Barry's been everywhere, and he says NEVER leave the house without these 5 things. Plus, try this weird travel hack for cheap food and a new experience!

First, Jared goes off on why Gen-X'ers need to let the *Star Wars* franchise go, and why Millennials probably should too. Then, the guys dive into the latest installment of the FTC Film Club, this time dicussing the recent blockbuster and family-friendly release Project Hail Mary.

This week on Gamertag Radio! Interview with Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the Entertainment Software Association. Learn how 212 million Americans, from all ages, are gaming weekly, boosting mental sharpness and social bonds. Uncover surprising insights on gaming's impact on mental health, culture, and real world skills. Players continue to break stereotypes for who is a ‘gamer'.• 212.3 million Americans play video games every week, up 3% (7.2 million) compared to 2025.• The gender of players is split fairly equally between men and women, with 53% of men and 46%of women actively playing. Slightly more boys and men play than girls and women in allgenerations except Boomers (ages 62-80) where 52% of Boomer women play games comparedto 47% of men.• Video games are for everyone, not just kids. While more than 80% of Gen Alpha (age 5-13) andGen Z (age 14-29) play video games, the majority of adults are powering up as well: 71% ofMillennials (age 30-45), 56% of Gen X (age 45-61) and 50% of Boomers (age 62-80) say they playweekly. Even 32% of the silent generation (age 81-90) are joining in on the fun.• Adult players are more likely to be employed full-time (39%) or to have children (35%) comparedto the general U.S. population – 34% and 30%, respectively.Parents prefer their kids play video games, and love playing with them, too.• The majority of American parents (75%) actively play video games each week, with most (81%)saying they also game with their children (52% at least weekly).• Nearly half (49%) of parents whose children play video games believe playing games teachesimportant skills to their children, such as problem solving and creative thinking.• Two thirds of parents say they use parental controls with that number jumping to 70% forparents of kids 12 and under.Americans feel overwhelmingly positive about video games.• Most American adults recognize the positive benefits of playing video games, such as thembeing fun (85%), bringing joy (81%), offering stress relief (78%), and providing mental stimulation(79%). Younger players (Gen Z) especially believe that video games offer a great way to bringpeople together (88%) and build relationships (87%).• Most adults agree that playing video games helps develop problem-solving skills (76%) andteamwork/collaboration (67%), as well as adaptability/resilience (58%) and STEAM (53%) andcommunication skills (52%).• Nearly nine-in-ten (89%) players who play a sport both on-screen and in real life say playing thevideo game version of their sport improves their real-world performance.Mobile leads the way, with people playing across genres and platforms.• Playing on a mobile device is the most popular across all age groups (80%), while PC and consolegameplay is more common with Gen Alpha, Gen Z and Millennials.• Puzzle, primarily driven by older players, is the top genre on mobile (66%) and PC (60%) but fallsbehind action (66%), shooter (60%) and arcade (60%) games on console.Americans believe video games offer the most value for their money.• A majority of players (63%) report that video games deliver the most entertainment value fortheir money, compared to video streaming services for music, TV and movies, as well as books,magazines and news articles.• Most Gen Alpha (69%), Gen Z (78%) and Millennial (67%) players have purchased in-gamecontent, typically spending $20 per month (median).• Parents also purchase in-game content for their children (54%). Of those that do, nearly all ofthem (93%) require approval for in-games purchases made by their kids.• More than half (58%) of players downloaded a game for free in the past 12 months, while 43% purchased a game, 35% purchased a game subscription and 19% borrowed a game.The full Essential Facts About the U.S. Video Game Industry report is now available. For more information, visit the ESA's website.Send us questions - fanmail@gamertagradio.com | Speakpipe.com/gamertagradio or 786-273-7GTR. Join our Discord - https://discord.gg/gtr chat with other GTR community member.

What do you do when your first subscription box launch falls completely flat? If you're Jennifer of Becoming Box, you go back to the drawing board, figure out what went wrong, and come back with a launch that generates a six-thousand-person waitlist in just five weeks. This week on the Launch Your Box podcast, I sat down with Jennifer, a twenty-year real estate broker turned subscription box owner, to talk about her incredible journey from launching to crickets ten days before Christmas to building one of the most targeted, passionate audiences I've seen from a brand-new box owner. Before Becoming Box, Jennifer had another idea entirely. She raised show goats and wanted to bring that experience to families through a subscription. She worked on it for months, then launched ten days before Christmas. She got crickets. But Jennifer didn't walk away. She started researching. And that's when she found Launch Your Box. The Workshop That Changed Everything One of the first things Jennifer did after joining Launch Your Box was go through my 6 in 60 Workshop, a free workshop you can access at 6in60workshop.com. She realized she had nothing in common with the ideal customer of her original box. Without that connection, she couldn't truly serve them. So she started asking herself: What am I actually passionate about? What do I know inside and out because I'm living it? A Niche Born from Personal Experience Jennifer had started taking GLP-1 medication in October of 2025. What she found when she went looking for community was a lot of women struggling in silence. Women were joining Facebook groups to talk about their experiences because they couldn't talk about it anywhere else. They were being shamed. They were getting inconsistent information. And many of them were also navigating perimenopause and menopause at the same time. Jennifer also noticed something else. These women were mostly Gen X. That insight became the foundation of everything. Three Boxes. One Clear Mission. Becoming Box launched with three distinct subscription options, each one named with intention. Reclaim is for women on GLP-1 who are reclaiming pieces of themselves they set aside for years. Reckoning is for women in perimenopause. Not a box that treats that season as just a transition to get through. Unfiltered is for women who are doing both, living the GLP-1 journey while navigating perimenopause at the same time. It's about taking the filter completely off and just being yourself. Unfiltered turned out to be the most popular box by nearly double. And it's also the most expensive, at eighty-nine dollars a month. The Content That Built a Six-Thousand-Person Waitlist in Five Weeks Jennifer didn't have an existing audience. She started from scratch. She put up a simple waitlist page. No freebies. No giveaways. Just an invitation. Then she created a video that spoke directly to Gen X women in the language they actually use. That video resonated so strongly that people weren't just watching it, they were sharing it. She started with five to ten dollars a day in paid ads. The cost per waitlist signup was around forty-five cents. Over five weeks, her waitlist grew to six thousand people. That's what happens when you know your customer, speak their language, and make them feel seen. A Launch That Actually Worked When Jennifer was ready to launch, she did a soft launch to her waitlist only with a seventy-two hour window. She finished her first launch with forty-six subscribers. These were people who invested in something entirely new, without full product photos, without a long track record. They bought because they trusted her and they believed in what she was building. The Details That Made the Difference Jennifer wanted tools that women could use every day. Things that actually supported the GLP-1 and perimenopause journey. One month she included a heat wrap for the aches and body changes that come with this season. Another item was custom lounge pants with the monthly theme printed on them. And Jennifer is now adding a custom magazine to each box, filled with real information about GLP-1 updates, hair shedding, hormone health, and the questions her community has been asking everywhere else but struggling to find straight answers to. What's Next for Becoming Box Jennifer has her eyes on five hundred subscribers by the end of the year. Jennifer's message is simple: “Know your ideal customer. Not just who they are, but how to talk to them. Know what they need and want and look for how you can provide that. When you do that, they will come.” Where to find Jennifer: Becoming Box Website Becoming Box on Facebook Becoming Box on Instagram Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

When a visit to a memory care facility turns into a brainstorming session for the ultimate Gen X Retirement Home "in the year of our lord Dolly Parton 2026"... This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I reflect on a visit with his mom and find ourselves imagining a future filled with Oregon Trail reenactments, Running Man lessons, prank calls, and Pantera during music hour. We talk about the surprising connection between music and memory, why laughter and grief often show up together, and what we'd want waiting for us in our own retirement community.We also dive into a conversation about aging after someone on the internet suggested my eyebrows needed help. That leads to a bigger discussion about beauty standards, the pressure women feel to age "correctly," and why it's so hard to stop caring what other people think. We also explore women supporting women, the loneliness epidemic among men, and what healthy community and connection might look like for all of us. Plus a walk down memory lane with Mr. Microphone, if we should do a psychic podcast, and more Gen X nostalgia. Laugh Liners, don't forget your homework assignments! We love to hear from you! Leave us a message at 323-364-3929 or write the show at podcast@theholdernessfamily.com. You can also watch our podcast on YouTube.Pre-order Get It Done & Have FunVisit Our ShopJoin Our NewsletterFind us on SubstackFollow us on InstagramFollow us on TikTokFollow us on FacebookLaugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness is an evolution of The Holderness Family Podcast, which began in 2018. Kim and Penn Holderness are award-winning online content creators known for their original music, song parodies, comedy sketches, and weekly podcasts. Their videos have resulted in over three billion views and over nine million followers since 2013. Penn and Kim are also authors of the New York Times Bestselling Books, ADHD Is Awesome: A Guide To (Mostly) Thriving With ADHD and All You Can Be With ADHD. They were also winners on The Amazing Race (Season 33) on CBS. Laugh Lines is hosted and executive produced by Kim Holderness and Penn Holderness, with original music by Penn Holderness. Laugh Lines is also written and produced by Ann Marie Taepke, and edited and produced by Sam Allen. It is hosted by Acast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.