Podcasts about strangely

Building a business can feel a lot like dancing on knives. Strangely enough, The Little Mermaid has quite a bit to say about that. In this episode, Ron Tester and I explore how her excruciating transformation from sea creature to human mirrors the messy leap from corporate life to entrepreneurship. We talk about the power of voice, why leaning into your strengths matters more than vague dreams + why having a plan beats just following a dream. And of course—the importance of double checking your vendor costs – giving up your voice at a crucial moment, is not good business. This is a Classics episode where we take a story that definitely isn't a business book + see what lessons we can learn anyway. Look for more shows in this series. Book discussed in this episode: The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen Ron's Website: rontestercoaching.com ==== If you'd like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don't forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn't your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you've actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

The best of Cameron Kemp and Gary Spencer Cameron is the one on the left at his scruffy best! I tried to find better pictures and ended up having to steal a clip from a video of 27 years ago! BTW, Cameron got married in a Kilt! He also did the address to the Haggis at a Burns night I organised. Brilliant performer.

Send us a textIn Episode 209 of Book Talk, Etc., Tina and Hannah are sharing thoughts on weird girl books! In this episode we share some books that worked for us, some that missed the mark, and discuss some heroines that we found strangely endearing and relatable - even in their weird quirks.If you prefer other shopping options, you can find today's books on Bookshop.org or Blackwell's. Purchasing through these links supports us with a small commission, at no extra cost to you.Loving LatelyJunk Journaling (T)Nenna's AccountPrime Drinks (H)Latest ReadWhat Kind of Paradise | Janelle Brown (T)Heartwood | Amity Gaige (H)Weird Girl BooksImmaculate Conception | Ling Ling Huang (T)Victorian Psycho | Virginia Feito (H)Sky Daddy | Kate Folk (T)Deadly Animals | Marie Tierney (H)Shelf AdditionThe Widow | John Grisham (T)August Lane | Regina Black (H)If you enjoy our commercial-free podcast, please consider supporting us on Patreon! Your membership will give you access to our exclusive bonus episodes, including Niche Novels, Books We DNFed, and What's in the Mailbag! Plus, you'll receive invites to monthly events like Mood Reader Happy Hour and Bookstore Browsing, and a private Facebook group and Discord server where you can interact with other fans of the show... all for just $5 a month!Support the showLet's Connect... Email us at booktalketc@gmailBTE on YoutubeTina's TikTok , IG @tbretc YT @tbretcHannah's TikTok , IG @hanpickedbooksJonathan IG @infiltrate_jayPodcast IG @booktalketcRenee's Substack Newsletter , IG@Itsbooktalk

The beauty of the writings of the fathers and in particular the lived experiences of the monks as described in the Evergetinos brings to life the spiritual life in an unparalleled fashion. They show us that there is no part of the spiritual life that can be seen outside the context of our relationship with God. In other words, there is no spiritual practice or discipline, no spiritual fruit or experience that does not begin and end with God and his grace.  Contrition is love! It is rooted in the growing experience of loss that one has by turning away from God because of one's attachment to the things of this world or to one's own judgment. When contrition emerges within the human heart, when the  sword of sorrow that pierced through our Lord‘s heart allows us to taste its metal, and when tears begin to flow without measure, one does not distract oneself from the experience. To do so would be to turn away from God.  So often we want to control or manage, not only circumstances, but our experience of what is going on internally and in our relationship with God.  It is difficult for us to allow ourselves to be taken by the hand and guided by Christ along the path that leads to our sanctification and intimacy with him. Strangely enough, we often become the focus of our own spiritual life; how well we are doing things, the disciplines that we keep, the sins that we avoid, the regularity of our prayer. However, we are shown that God can bestow upon a soul the gift of contrition and tears in a moment of domestic work. God does this in order that we might have no illusion about where this gift comes from. Whenever we tie contrition to what it is that we are doing, we either take hold of it as if it were our own or we seek to distract ourselves from it. Often it is emotionally hard for us to linger long in such sorrow and humility. Yet the fathers show us that this gift is precious, not to be turned away from quickly, but rather fostered.  Such teaching becomes a stark reminder that our faith is rooted in a relationship with a God who has come to us to heal us; that humble sorrow and that flood of tears become the very means by which He lifts us up. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:54 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 254, 2nd paragraph of # 18 00:11:15 Adam Paige: Reacted to "515714551_18143336329396209_7085918453142515818_n.jpg" with ☦️ 00:15:36 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 254, 2nd paragraph of # 18 00:26:16 Una: So don't stop weaving the baskets? 00:31:18 Kathleen: God have mercy on our lack of awareness. 00:38:57 Anthony: When I try to pray the "right" way, my mind usually trips me up.  Prayer is easier when walking, not paying attention to "I have to do this right....oh no, bad thought, distraction.....I have to do this right.....pay attention,  why did you have that distraction....." etc. 00:40:17 Forrest Cavalier: Reacted to "When I try to pray t..." with

One of the most shocking stories in scripture is that of Abraham and Isaac. You know the story: In Genesis, Abraham is visited by an angel of God, who instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son. Strangely, Abraham immediately obeys and begins a journey up a mountain with Isaac to do just that.What do we do with this story today? In this episode, our hosts unpack the context of this wild tale, share its absurdities, and invite listeners to interpret it differently.Thank you for listening! Don't forget to subscribe or follow the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.Enjoyed the episode? Share it with a friend, and leave a rating and review to help us reach more people!We need your questions! Email commonspace@ahumc.org or visit https://ahumc.org/questions to submit your faith-related questions.Email us at podcasts@ahumc.org or visit ahumc.org to learn more about Alamo Heights UMC.Recommended Resources:‘Not in God's Name' by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks‘Breathing Under Water' Chapter 3 by Richard Rohr“All Directions” Music Video by Son LuxHosts: Chris Estus, Ryan Jacobson, and Darrell Smith

Terrific Video Version: https://bit.ly/4mS3Cmg A modern Shakespearean tragedy? Or Greek? On the occasion of the release a best-selling book on President Joe Biden's last 8 months in office, we decided to examine whether the many accusations on Biden's mental health in the last year of his Presidency hold any water. If they actually do, what does that say about any influential national/global leader's responsibility to step down, when they become physically/mentally impaired? The book we are referencing is entitled, “Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”. Strangely, it is written by 2 authors who are often identified with the left-of-center press: Jake Tapper from CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios and CNN. Two “lefties” throw a Democrat under the bus???? In its 4 year history, “Scandal Sheet”, has stood by its pledge not to take sides with any running political candidate or sitting office-holder, of either party. We also steer away from contemporary partisan parties or their various policies. But this is not partisan politics. This is a unique scandal -- where loyal supporters, the press, and the general public were allegedly misled on the health of a top political leader. This is bigger than just politics. Former President Biden has been out of office and retired for almost 6 months. We believe the actions of his former administration - and its top insiders - is both fair game and worthy of thoughtful discussion. BUT we WILL NOT discuss or take positions on his policies or those of his political opponents, over his term. Anuradha and I are joined by a 35-year marketing/data science specialist and executive for numerous Fortune 500 companies, Jim Mauer. He has also been a volunteer political activist for numerous candidate-specific campaigns, but not a party member. We welcome his unique insights. Find co-host, Anuradha's Instagram accounts: @anuradhaduz_food and @artist_anuradhachhibber. Jim is also a professional photographer: jmaurerphoto.com Find us on Patreon at patreon.com/ScandalSheet with bonus content for premium subscribers. We'd love to have your generous support for only the price of one Starbuck's coffee per month. Please reach out to us at scandalsheetpod@gmail.com, find us on Facebook as 'Scandal Sheet' or on X at @scandal_sheet. We'd love to hear from you!

Terrific Video Version: https://bit.ly/4mS3Cmg A modern Shakespearean tragedy? Or Greek? On the occasion of the release a best-selling book on President Joe Biden's last 8 months in office, we decided to examine whether the many accusations on Biden's mental health in the last year of his Presidency hold any water. If they actually do, what does that say about any influential national/global leader's responsibility to step down, when they become physically/mentally impaired? The book we are referencing is entitled, “Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”. Strangely, it is written by 2 authors who are often identified with the left-of-center press: Jake Tapper from CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios and CNN. Two “lefties” throw a Democrat under the bus???? In its 4 year history, “Scandal Sheet”, has stood by its pledge not to take sides with any running political candidate or sitting office-holder, of either party. We also steer away from contemporary partisan parties or their various policies. But this is not partisan politics. This is a unique scandal -- where loyal supporters, the press, and the general public were allegedly misled on the health of a top political leader. This is bigger than just politics. Former President Biden has been out of office and retired for almost 6 months. We believe the actions of his former administration - and its top insiders - is both fair game and worthy of thoughtful discussion. BUT we WILL NOT discuss or take positions on his policies or those of his political opponents, over his term. Anuradha and I are joined by a 35-year marketing/data science specialist and executive for numerous Fortune 500 companies, Jim Mauer. He has also been a volunteer political activist for numerous candidate-specific campaigns, but not a party member. We welcome his unique insights. Find co-host, Anuradha's Instagram accounts: @anuradhaduz_food and @artist_anuradhachhibber. Jim is also a professional photographer: jmaurerphoto.com Find us on Patreon at patreon.com/ScandalSheet with bonus content for premium subscribers. We'd love to have your generous support for only the price of one Starbuck's coffee per month. Please reach out to us at scandalsheetpod@gmail.com, find us on Facebook as 'Scandal Sheet' or on X at @scandal_sheet. We'd love to hear from you!

This week, Lindy wears a hat!!!!It's Hat Girl Summer, and Lindy is patient zero. We know that could be the whole episode, BUT we have business to discuss. We have landed on a name for our $12 Patreon tier. Hint: It's NOT Big Beautiful Listeners, but you miiiight just see BBL designated to something else in the near future. We love love loved hearing from you all on the Patreon. Never stop pitching us names and your weird little ideas over at patreon.com/textmebackpod!Next on the docket, we have a Whatcha Watchin' where Meagan shares her thoughts on Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning. Spoiler: it f*ckin' ROCKS. Tell us your Tom Cruise trivia and MI thoughts via the BFF Party Phone at (703) 829-0003. Strangely, Lindy categorizes yet another worm under the Normal News category instead of Snake of the Week??? What is she trying to say???? Notes app apology in progress?And finally, it's Segment Pubes, where Lindy and Meagan process the eldritch horror that is Elon Musk stepping down from his unelected ketamine-drenched government puppet master role. It's just another week with your BBLs and BBWs. Sign up for the newsletter, subscribe to the Patreon, tell us how you're processing everything in the world, and always remember: hat.NEVER LISTENED TO THE POD BEFORE? HERE IS YOUR STARTER KIT TO BEING BFFS WITH US!Revisit the first appearance of Dr. Freek Vonk and Freekaconda in Lindy and Meagan have Died of DysenteryMeet Kevin in: Lindy and Meagan Need to Talk About KevinLearn why they keep saying BBW in Lindy and Meagan Are Officially BBWsDiscover the Kayak Dad Lore in: It's Our First Episode!WE NEED OUR ACCOLADES! It helps people find the show.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars only please) on Spotify⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars only please) on Apple PodcastsGive us Rave Reviews and Accolades on Apple Podcasts! REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:“Inspiring, silly, so good! Thanks Meagan and Lindy. Best podcast ever.”SHMADS23 **YOU'RE** THE BEST PODCAST EVER!!!!STUFF TO CHECK OUT:NEWSLETTER ME BACK (A FREE WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW!)New $12 tier is live! Hop on over to Patreon to check out our new name

Today's witnesses are from Matthew West's website called popwe.org. If you don't know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose two testimonies from the Salvation Category. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else's story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation, also. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help. I hope you enjoy these testimonies.Denice: My grandson, Elijah (age 19), was an unbeliever his entire life. I've been praying that he would find God. He was invited to a Bible study that 2 of his good friends started. He was resistant at first, but his friends never stopped inviting him. And finally, he gave in and went. I wept with joy.A few months into this study, Elijah asked me if he could host the study at my house. I couldn't say “Yes!!” fast enough! 25 kids, aged 15 to 29, showed up that Wednesday night and filled my entire living room. I was so proud of this group telling them they are disciples on the ground – that we are living the year of the Lord's favor today. I told them the Gospel is still moving, and they are a part of it. They are no different that the 12 disciples they are reading about in the Bible. Discipleship is still happening through you and me, and the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The Kingdom will spread in you and through you. The Gospel works because of who Jesus is; not because of us. I am proud to be a seed.These young people take turns leading the study and I have had the pleasure to sit in on several of their studies. It blows my mind. My oldest grandson, Justus (age 29) has also joined this group and has never missed a Wednesday night. I can see the changes in both of them. God is so good… And to witness this is powerful. These young people, dedicated to the Lord, are now getting together on Thursday as well!They were studying sin, and I reminded them that the Living God does not hate sin because you broke a rule. He hates sin because it breaks you. Sin weakens you. And that sometimes we pray for our circumstances to change when maybe God wants YOU to change in the circumstance.I am so proud of this group of young people. It has become a great opportunity to share my faith and to watch God move in their lives.This is what prayer can do….  So don't stop praying! Next is Brad:Hello West Family,I would like to share with you my testimony of opening my heart to Jesus Christ and how He completely changed my life.My mom left my father when I was around one year old. She soon remarried my stepfather, who she is still married to today. He had two daughters and one son. His son stayed with us more often than the daughters did, so I instantly gained a brother who I grew up with. He became like a blood brother to me.We were raised going to church, but as time went on, we attended less and less due to constant fighting between my mother and stepfather. My biological father was barely in my life and lived in California, while I lived in Kansas. As we stopped going to church, it felt like my mom and stepfather became increasingly strict with us, and discipline became harsh—belts and paddles, being slapped in the face, soap shoved down our throats, etc.Time passed, and we went through the typical phases—Boy Scouts, sports, family activities—and while at times it seemed harsh, there were good times as well. I was diagnosed with depression in my early teens and was quickly put on medication, as that seemed to be the only solution at the time.As we got older, my brother moved out after graduating from high school. For his 21st birthday, he invited me to the lake with his friends. But at the last minute, he told me they weren't going to the lake anymore and that I couldn't hang out with them, probably because they planned on going to bars and drinking. That hurt me deeply.So, on the night of my brother's birthday, I ended up staying at a friend's house. Strangely, I couldn't sleep at all. I felt as if something wasn't right. As I was tossing and turning, I heard my friend's phone ringing in the middle of the night, which struck me as odd. His mom called downstairs to me, saying the phone was for me. I answered, and it was my mom. She told me something had happened, but she couldn't talk and handed the phone to my sister. I was told that my brother Jason had been in an automobile accident and didn't make it. My brother and his friend had both decided to leave an Applebee's restaurant after drinking heavily and get into my brother's friend's brand-new Firebird. They made the tragic decision to drink and drive. They were traveling at a high rate of speed when they hit a telephone pole. My brother died instantly, and his friend barely made it out alive.In an instant, my whole life changed. From that moment on, my life spiraled. I struggled with uncontrolled drinking, sleeping with different partners, failed relationships (one of which resulted in a child), and on-and-off jobs. Nothing seemed to be going right.I prayed to God for someone to come into my life, and He gifted me with Elisabeth, who is now my ex-wife. I jumped into that relationship quickly. We lived together within three months, married soon after, and had two children. She essentially became the mother to my first child, as her mother was in and out of jail and struggling with drugs.We bought a house, had three kids, and life seemed good. I opened my heart to God, and we attended church. But then, I wanted to live life my own way instead of following the path God had planned for me. Ultimately, I lost everything. Elisabeth and I divorced and ended up selling the house.For the past 10 years, I tried living life on my terms. My mental health deteriorated, I was drinking excessively, and I even started taking pills. I slept with multiple women, and everything spiraled out of control. I treated my children poorly, and my anxiety, stress, and worries were overwhelming.However, a couple of months ago, I made the decision to open my heart fully to Jesus Christ once again. I've completely changed my mindset and behavior. I am now more mindful of how I interact with people, especially at work, and I'm committed to not treating people poorly or gossiping about them. I've started reading the Bible every day and am trying to live by its teachings.My children and I now go out and write Bible verses and encouraging messages on sidewalks with sidewalk chalk. We listen to Christian artists like you and sing along together in praise to Jesus. I even took my children to their first Winter Jam.Jesus Christ is alive and can change anyone.Thank you for your time.Your Brother in Christ,BradThank you so much to both of you for sharing your stories. I appreciate you being vulnerable and sharing your story so that others know they are not alone. It also shows them that if God got you through it, he will get them through it too! Thank you so much for sharing! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

It's kinda perfect timing to have Dustin and Brayden, the blood brothers behind Blood Brothers, on the pod the week of our huge event (the GET IT IN YA!™ SpecTAPular) we're throwing in their space on May 31st. Strangely, this is the first time the brothers have graced the pod to give us their story, and they broke it all down in detail. They also chatted about the Ontario scene at the time (2015) and their homebrewing roots, their entrance into the scene and the popularity of their Guilty Remnant White Stout, the optimal packaging size for barrel-aged stouts, how they grew from a homebrew spot to their brewpub to their new facility, the price of big stouts and how adjuncts work, how the event came together, the tariff situation and their current approach to distro in the USA, and the Blood Brothers x BAOS Podcast collaboration pastry stout. They crushed four BB bangers - Yeti Pilsner collab with True History, Friendly Beers Oat Cream IPA with Fine Balance, Emerald Den West Coast IPA, and Boya Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Donuts. This was a gem - cheers!  GET YOUR TICKETS BEFORE MAY 31st: getitinyafest.com BAOS Podcast Subscribe to the podcast on YouTube | Website | Theme tune: Cee - BrewHeads

This one's an eclectic collection of thoughts emerging from listener messages and the ongoing experience of running games in the wake of recent episodes.When I started this podcast, it was really about getting my concern about losing gamers to the experience of play - of people giving up the play which enriches our lives under the pressures of modern living. At the same time, I was aware that the title - Roleplay Rescue - implies that the show is about recovering the art and depth of roleplaying. Strangely, all these years later, that is what is emerging.This episode, I tune back in to the community with a handful of messages received over the past month. I'll share a few thoughts, riffing off those calls and I hope that'll give us a worthwhile few minutes of content.Thanks to Steve, Jason, Patrick, and Jon for the call-in!Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueLogo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one's an eclectic collection of thoughts emerging from listener messages and the ongoing experience of running games in the wake of recent episodes.When I started this podcast, it was really about getting my concern about losing gamers to the experience of play - of people giving up the play which enriches our lives under the pressures of modern living. At the same time, I was aware that the title - Roleplay Rescue - implies that the show is about recovering the art and depth of roleplaying. Strangely, all these years later, that is what is emerging.This episode, I tune back in to the community with a handful of messages received over the past month. I'll share a few thoughts, riffing off those calls and I hope that'll give us a worthwhile few minutes of content.Thanks to Steve, Jason, Patrick, and Jon for the call-in!Game on!Roleplay Rescue Details:Voice Message:speakpipe.com/roleplayrescuePatreon:patreon.com/rpgrescue Email:roleplayrescue@pm.meBlogroleplayrescue.com Bluesky Social:https://bsky.app/profile/ubiquitousrat.bsky.socialMeWe:https://mewe.com/p/roleplayrescueLogo and artwork by MJ Hiblen:https://www.patreon.com/MJHiblenART/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Only Pans - not the camping version of the premium access site "Only Fans". This week Tim & Ade are getting down and dirty with all things pan related.They discuss what they're currently cooking in and how that often dictates what they're cooking. They discuss their pan history and how that has taken them to the cutting edge. Strangely enough they now look to more traditional materials in their day to day camp cooking. Send us your Mediocre 5 Star ReviewDISCLAIMER: Casual Camping Podcast accepts no liability and does not officially recommend any products or endorse any techniques discussed in an individual podcast episode or shown on Casual Camping Podcast social media accounts. Individuals should make their own informed decision and risk assessment of any products or advice prior to any purchase or useSupport the showCheck Out Our Etsy Store: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CasualCampingPodcast Check Out Our Socials:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1333082837320305/?_rdrInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualcampingpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO9F70wD5P16dbKV20rTtwegIcBDtKY8QThreads: https://www.threads.net/@casualcampingpodcast?invite=0

We would like to humbly announce that we are ✨ready ✨ to accept that Golden Globe for Podcasting despite them not being particularly interested!!! We won't let that stop us

Queen City Confessions Wednesday 5/21/25

A child encountered an old man riding a tricycle, selling rice dumplings. Strangely, an old, blackened dumpling later appeared right outside our door… While sneaking into the apartment pool for a midnight swim, I suddenly felt a hand grab my foot. Beneath the water, a pale face stared back at me. Later, in the changing room, I heard eerie whispers and saw mysterious wet footprints that led to nowhere… One night, a man was giving his girlfriend a ride home after her late shift. Midway through the journey, she whispered that something was chasing them. Moments later, a car crash occurred… In a military camp, eight soldiers kept waking up at exactly 1:48 a.m. every night—only to discover they were all having similar nightmares… 小时候碰到一位骑着三轮车卖粽子的老人，门口还出现一颗发黑的旧粽子... 在公寓泳池偷偷夜泳时，突然被一只手拉住脚，并看到水中有一张苍白的脸，之后在更衣室还听到诡异的声音和看到神秘脚印... 男子载夜班下班的女友途中，女友突然说后面有东西追着他们，接着发生了车祸... 一个军营故事中，有八人总在凌晨1:48分同时醒来，并陆续做相似噩梦...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a season of Stillness—but I'm still here. ❤️‍

Things kick-off with an aptly updated version of Green Day's song 'American Idiot' which they performed at Coachella last week before a sassy, direct and frankly refreshing take on the state of affairs in the US from news channel, MSNBC. BBC take note...Then fetch the sick-bags as the ladies share with you a montage of obnoxious obsequiousness from Trump's cabinet who couldn't be further up his bottom. Strangely, not one of them thought to query their dear leader on the plummeting stock market and dollar, nor the mounting trade war with China which has now reached tariff levels so obscene that Marina and Jemma have a theory for how Trump and his team arrived at them. Next up, prepare for a moment of hilarious awkwardness as Trump navigates a reporter questioning him ad to whether China's Xi Jinping has given him a call. We'll let you make your minds up as to what you believe, but Jemma certainly smelt something pongy. Marina has some unexpected words of praise for Trump who is the most supportive boss in the world when it comes his leaky Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth who has been caught sharing Houthi attack plans (or 'Hooties' if you're Trump) with his wifey, bro and lawyer...as you do. And Trump takes on a new enemy, Harvard University - in a legal battle that will either blaze or burn the trail for other institutions in Trump's firing line.Finally the ladies check in on Musk after a disastrous week for Tesla followed by some punchy underrated tweets including a clip on the negatives of being a liberal, topped off with a pudding of one of the best 911 calls ever!Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastBlueSkyhttps://bsky.app/profile/thetrawl.bsky.socialCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

Five Most Forgotten Parts From The Scrum GuideScrum. Love it or hate it. There doesn't appear to be much in between. I like the framework, although I don't think it is perfect. At the same time, I understand the developers who hate it from the bottom of their hearts. Strangely enough though, they have different problems with Scrum than I have. And zooming in, their problems often are not about Scrum in the first place. They shed light on how Scrum can be misapplied in many ways.Today I will list the 5 most forgotten, misunderstood or misapplied parts of the Scrum Guide. I will also tell how they are misapplied and their actual intention.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Send us a textToday's episode is exactly how it sounds. We read off 1⭐️ reviews of our favorite books, try to get the other person (and you guys!) to guess what it is, then reveal it with its official star rating on Goodreads. We have everything from SJM and The Empyrean to lesser known books involving vampires, shadow daddies, and robots. Dark romance, fantasy, romantasy, and a little bit of magical realism make this episode a well rounded one. Do you agree or disagree with the assessment? Sometimes what we love about a book makes it a 1 ⭐ read for sobeibe else. It's all in good fun! That's what makes reading so amazing. We've also got a faves and fails of the week involving a popular author book signing, and the crispiest Diet Coke of Liz's life, mixed in with Chipotle gone wrong and a mean case of the Sunday scaries. And a smash or pass involving two hot… aliens? Strangely enough. Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)Check out these author interviews? ⬇️We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4Check the official Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of Split or Swallow! Now a Barnes & Noble & Amazon best seller titled: Kiss of the Basilisk!  https://youtu.be/fknhocSNIKMWatch our Author Interview with Indie Dark Romance Author Ember Nicole here | https://youtu.be/tHV9rXSTBpY?si=OwxdMVfPmtFkcYu6____YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Podcast Platforms@BestiesandtheBooksPodcast Besties and the Book Club on Fable!https://fable.co/bestiesandthebookclub-474863489358Liz Instagram | TikTok@TheRealLifeVeganWife AshleyInstagram | TikTok@AshleyEllixShop bookish apparel worn in this episode!Ashley is Wearing: Throne of Glass “To Whatever End” Tee from @TheBeanWorkshop (use our affiliate code “BOOKBESTIES10”)  | * https://www.thebeanworkshop.store/BOOKBESTIES10 Liz is wearing: An Exclusive Besties and the Books Beanie (coming soon!) And a “Read or Die” Hoodie from @darkanddisturbedshop | Use Code: VEGAN10 | https://darkanddisturbedshop.com/search?q=Read+or+dieAny link with an * is an affiliate link through the service Magic Links and is eligible for a commission to us with no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping support our podcast!YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Podcast Platforms@BestiesandtheBooksPodcast Besties and the Book Club on Fable!https://fable.co/bestiesandthebookclub-474863489358Liz Instagram | TikTok@TheRealLifeVeganWife AshleyInstagram | TikTok@AshleyEllix

EPISODE SUMMARY One tree in the woods refuses to change, refuses to die. That's not the strangest thing here, as something wants to keep our wanderer from returning home.  SHOW NOTES Under the Autumn Strangely One Shot News & Updates Dragon Age: In Darkness Eternal Follow the cast here! Dillin Brian Flaherty Apollo Pierce Fiona Howat Amelia Som ----------------------------------------------------- Find and call your representatives and be heard (US) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (Canada) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (UK) ---------------------------------------------------- Music Used in This Episode Creak, Wicked Cinema Three trees. Rest Settle Theme Park Train by Mountain Dreamers Talkers by Heartland Nights Editing and sound design by Shaghik. Find Shaghik online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE SUMMARY One tree in the woods refuses to change, refuses to die. That's not the strangest thing here, as something wants to keep our wanderer from returning home.  SHOW NOTES Under the Autumn Strangely One Shot News & Updates Dragon Age: In Darkness Eternal Follow the cast here! Dillin Brian Flaherty Apollo Pierce Fiona Howat Amelia Som ----------------------------------------------------- Find and call your representatives and be heard (US) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (Canada) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (UK) ---------------------------------------------------- Music Used in This Episode Creak, Wicked Cinema Three trees. Rest Settle Theme Park Train by Mountain Dreamers Talkers by Heartland Nights Editing and sound design by Shaghik. Find Shaghik online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if your best creative ideas show up when you let go and disappear into your work?I've been testing a new approach to writing, thanks to my work with the amazing writing coach and friend Azul Torronez.It feels entirely different. I let the writing come through me rather than forcing myself to come up with ideas. I sit down to write with no preconceived plan, and as I write I explore what's on my mind. When I do it this way, without a specific agenda, but rather for me to discover what it is that I have to say, I'm able to feel what I write more than think it. The key way that I know that I'm writing well is when I feel it.Strangely, when you write in this way, you read through what you wrote and think to yourself, “huh, I had no idea I wrote that?”This type of writing feels complete in a whole different manner. The piece itself is complete, even if it needs editing. I know it's complete because I can't feel anything else to say.And what I end up writing comes as a surprise, even to me!In writing, and possibly in many other domains, my best work is when I don't try so hard. When I surrender, It feels like I'm disappearing into the process and allowing it to happen rather than trying to make it happen.This is very difficult for those who believe that they should have a plan or every outcome.Creation as Discovery & VulnerabilityWhat Azul taught me is that everyone gets the craft of writing backwards. Many people have an idea for a book or a topic, and then they outline it, and then they try and write their point. At least for me, what I've discovered is that I can do the opposite. I get curious about something and then explore it through writing. The point of what I write arrives at the end, as does the title and as does me understanding what I have to say. I feel into different ways of communicating as I'm sunk into the writing process without being so directed. I can write something that I *know* I should write without me knowing that I should have written it moments before. It's like pulling a thread and seeing where it leads and then getting clear signals about what you must say or share. In this way, I'm writing as a discovery process – the ideas are ahead of me, not behind me. My best writing exists in what I discover, not in what I know.The more vulnerable I am to go places in my writing, the more I feel connected to the thread I'm following, and the better the writing feels for me. There's a time and place for editing and categorization, and that comes after you've gotten out what you want to say. Going Beyond Your “Self” in Your WorkWhere do I pull my ideas from if not myself? How do I write things that I don't already know that I have to say? I believe that this is where artists get it right, that there is some other aspect of consciousness, our own or others, that we can tap into that is more spontaneous. When you write from a source beyond yourself, you are able to pull ideas out from beyond your own mind's limitations.Because I'm pulling from a source that is expanded beyond myself, my ideas themselves are more expansive and whole in their form. If I was writing only what I already knew, I would only be writing over well-worn territory. How did Einstein come up with novel ideas in physics? He used his imagination to go beyond his own limitations, he connected to something beyond thinking. He dismissed logic and praised imagination. The mind knows the past, and where you've been. As you go beyond your own thinking, your creative future is in an intuitive synthesis, connecting to a consciousness beyond yourself. When you go beyond your individual self, you connect more with the whole. All of this has me wondering and learning more about how and where I can apply this process beyond writing. How can this same process work in speaking, recording, coaching, coding… even making decisions? Another interesting area related to this is learning. Have you ever just “known” something? Or have you ever picked up a new skill set and it just “clicked?” immediately? I felt this way when I picked up a camera.Everything about how a camera worked to me was intuitive. I didn't *technically* understand a camera but I knew intuitively how it functioned so that I could use it well despite not having technical understanding. Have you ever said something or seen something or created something genius that didn't feel like it was yours at the end of it?What if the most innovative ideas, the ones with true creative spark, show up only when I'm willing to loosen my grip and let go?This idea I'm talking about is not new or novel. Artists across history have spoken about the muse, or how they pull from something larger from themselves to create their work. The direct experience, however, for me is still and always completely new and novel, because it's always surprising, spontaneous, and more enjoyable than working with your mind as the planner and control.Create Freely, Then Organize.A big takeaway from this process for me is to create first and organize later. When I let go, the raw material emerges in a way that's more authentic and surprising. Afterward, I can refine, categorize, and polish. You want the initial spark to come straight from the source—wherever that mysterious muse might live. Then you can edit and organize, and often it needs it. The material is raw, it's precious, but needs refinement. There is often a need to edit and adjust after the initial spark.Boundaries and constraints help as well, for example, word counts or lengths of a song. I like to use 1,500 word counts as a basic constraint. Constraints help bottle the creative stream of consciousness and help you pour it into something more structured and concrete. You can still do “planning” just enough to create direction and constraint, and then you can let go and allow the experience or work become what it wants to be. What I've noticed is this work also feels more “complete” than work that I would have otherwise tried to plan to a T. I love this sense of completion, it's satisfying because you feel like you reached into the depths and grabbed something and now that you've pulled it out, you've done your job and the work was the work it was meant to be at that time.I talk a lot about enjoying your work as you do it, and there's no better enjoyment than getting into a flow state with your work and not forcing any agenda. 

It's a small world. The great David Rieff came to my San Francisco studio today for in person interview about his new anti-woke polemic Desire and Fate. And half way through our conversation, he brought up Daniel Bessner's This Is America piece which Bessner discussed on yesterday's show. I'm not sure what that tells us about wokeness, a subject which Rieff and I aren't in agreement. For him, it's the thing-in-itself which make sense of our current cultural malaise. Thus Desire and Fate, his attempt (with a great intro from John Banville) to wake us up from Wokeness. For me, it's a distraction. I've included the full transcript below. Lots of good stuff to chew on. Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS * Rieff views "woke" ideology as primarily American and post-Protestant in nature, rather than stemming solely from French philosophy, emphasizing its connections to self-invention and subjective identity.* He argues that woke culture threatens high culture but not capitalism, noting that corporations have readily embraced a "baudlerized" version of identity politics that avoids class discussions.* Rieff sees woke culture as connected to the wellness movement, with both sharing a preoccupation with "psychic safety" and the metaphorical transformation of experience in which "words” become a form of “violence."* He suggests young people's material insecurity contributes to their focus on identity, as those facing bleak economic prospects turn inward when they "can't make their way in the world."* Rieff characterizes woke ideology as "apocalyptic but not pessimistic," contrasting it with his own genuine pessimism which he considers more realistic about human nature and more cheerful in its acceptance of life's limitations. FULL TRANSCRIPTAndrew Keen: Hello everybody, as we digest Trump 2.0, we don't talk that much these days about woke and woke ideology. There was a civil war amongst progressives, I think, on the woke front in 2023 and 2024, but with Donald Trump 2.0 and his various escapades, let's just talk these days about woke. We have a new book, however, on the threat of woke by my guest, David Rieff. It's called Desire and Fate. He wrote it in 2023, came out in late 2024. David's visiting the Bay Area. He's an itinerant man traveling from the East Coast to Latin America and Europe. David, welcome to Keen on America. Do you regret writing this book given what's happened in the last few months in the United States?David Rieff: No, not at all, because I think that the road to moral and intellectual hell is trying to censor yourself according to what you think is useful. There's a famous story of Jean Paul Sartre that he said to the stupefaction of a journalist late in his life that he'd always known about the gulag, and the journalist pretty surprised said, well, why didn't you say anything? And Sartre said so as not to demoralize the French working class. And my own view is, you know, you say what you have to say about this and if I give some aid and comfort to people I don't like, well, so be it. Having said that, I also think a lot of these woke ideas have their, for all of Trump's and Trump's people's fierce opposition to woke, some of the identity politics, particularly around Jewish identity seems to me not that very different from woke. Strangely they seem to have taken, for example, there's a lot of the talk about anti-semitism on college campuses involves student safety which is a great woke trope that you feel unsafe and what people mean by that is not literally they're going to get shot or beaten up, they mean that they feel psychically unsafe. It's part of the kind of metaphorization of experience that unfortunately the United States is now completely in the grips of. But the same thing on the other side, people like Barry Weiss, for example, at the Free Press there, they talk in the same language of psychic safety. So I'm not sure there's, I think there are more similarities than either side is comfortable with.Andrew Keen: You describe Woke, David, as a cultural revolution and you associated in the beginning of the book with something called Lumpen-Rousseauism. As we joked before we went live, I'm not sure if there's anything in Rousseau which isn't Lumpen. But what exactly is this cultural revolution? And can we blame it on bad French philosophy or Swiss French?David Rieff: Well, Swiss-French philosophy, you know exactly. There is a funny anecdote, as I'm sure you know, that Rousseau made a visit to Edinburgh to see Hume and there's something in Hume's diaries where he talks about Rousseau pacing up and down in front of the fire and suddenly exclaiming, but David Hume is not a bad man. And Hume notes in his acerbic way, Rousseau was like walking around without his skin on. And I think some of the woke sensitivity stuff is very much people walking around without their skin on. They can't stand the idea of being offended. I don't see it as much - of course, the influence of that version of cultural relativism that the French like Deleuze and Guattari and other people put forward is part of the story, but I actually see it as much more of a post-Protestant thing. This idea, in that sense, some kind of strange combination of maybe some French philosophy, but also of the wellness movement, of this notion that health, including psychic health, was the ultimate good in a secular society. And then the other part, which again, it seems to be more American than French, which is this idea, and this is particularly true in the trans movement, that you can be anything you want to be. And so that if you feel yourself to be a different gender, well, that's who you are. And what matters is your own subjective sense of these things, and it's up to you. The outside world has no say in it, it's what you feel. And that in a sense, what I mean by post-Protestant is that, I mean, what's the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism? The fundamental difference is, it seems to me, that in Roman Catholic tradition, you need the priest to intercede with God, whereas in Protestant tradition, it is, except for the Anglicans, but for most of Protestantism, it's you and God. And in that sense it seems to me there are more of what I see in woke than this notion that some of the right-wing people like Chris Rufo and others have that this is cultural French cultural Marxism making its insidious way through the institutions.Andrew Keen: It's interesting you talk about the Protestant ethic and you mentioned Hume's remark about Rousseau not having his skin on. Do you think that Protestantism enabled people to grow thick skins?David Rieff: I mean, the Calvinist idea certainly did. In fact, there were all these ideas in Protestant culture, at least that's the classical interpretation of deferred gratification. Capitalism was supposed to be the work ethic, all of that stuff that Weber talks about. But I think it got in the modern version. It became something else. It stopped being about those forms of disciplines and started to be about self-invention. And in a sense, there's something very American about that because after all you know it's the Great Gatsby. It's what's the famous sentence of F. Scott Fitzgerald's: there are no second acts in American lives.Andrew Keen: This is the most incorrect thing anyone's ever said about America. I'm not sure if he meant it to be incorrect, did he? I don't know.David Rieff: I think what's true is that you get the American idea, you get to reinvent yourself. And this notion of the dream, the dream become reality. And many years ago when I was spending a lot of time in LA in the late 80s, early 90s, at LAX, there was a sign from the then mayor, Tom Bradley, about how, you know, if you can dream it, it can be true. And I think there's a lot in identitarian woke idea which is that we can - we're not constricted by history or reality. In fact, it's all the present and the future. And so to me again, woke seems to me much more recognizable as something American and by extension post-Protestant in the sense that you see the places where woke is most powerful are in the other, what the encampment kids would call settler colonies, Australia and Canada. And now in the UK of course, where it seems to me by DI or EDI as they call it over there is in many ways stronger in Britain even than it was in the US before Trump.Andrew Keen: Does it really matter though, David? I mean, that's my question. Does it matter? I mean it might matter if you have the good or the bad fortune to teach at a small, expensive liberal arts college. It might matter with some of your dinner parties in Tribeca or here in San Francisco, but for most people, who cares?David Rieff: It doesn't matter. I think it matters to culture and so what you think culture is worth, because a lot of the point of this book was to say there's nothing about woke that threatens capitalism, that threatens the neo-liberal order. I mean it's turning out that Donald Trump is a great deal bigger threat to the neoliberal order. Woke was to the contrary - woke is about talking about everything but class. And so a kind of baudlerized, de-radicalized version of woke became perfectly fine with corporate America. That's why this wonderful old line hard lefty Adolph Reed Jr. says somewhere that woke is about diversifying the ruling class. But I do think it's a threat to high culture because it's about equity. It's about representation. And so elite culture, which I have no shame in proclaiming my loyalty to, can't survive the woke onslaught. And it hasn't, in my view. If you look at just the kinds of books that are being written, the kinds of plays that are been put on, even the opera, the new operas that are being commissioned, they're all about representing the marginalized. They're about speaking for your group, whatever that group is, and doing away with various forms of cultural hierarchy. And I'm with Schoenberg: if it's for everybody, if it's art, Schoenberg said it's not for everybody, and if it's for everybody it's not art. And I think woke destroys that. Woke can live with schlock. I'm sorry, high culture can live with schlock, it always has, it always will. What it can't live with is kitsch. And by which I mean kitsch in Milan Kundera's definition, which is to have opinions that you feel better about yourself for holding. And that I think is inimical to culture. And I think woke is very destructive of those traditions. I mean, in the most obvious sense, it's destructive of the Western tradition, but you know, the high arts in places like Japan or Bengal, I don't think it's any more sympathetic to those things than it is to Shakespeare or John Donne or whatever. So yeah, I think it's a danger in that sense. Is it a danger to the peace of the world? No, of course not.Andrew Keen: Even in cultural terms, as you explain, it is an orthodoxy. If you want to work with the dominant cultural institutions, the newspapers, the universities, the publishing houses, you have to play by those rules, but the great artists, poets, filmmakers, musicians have never done that, so all it provides, I mean you brought up Kundera, all it provides is something that independent artists, creative people will sneer at, will make fun of, as you have in this new book.David Rieff: Well, I hope they'll make fun of it. But on the other hand, I'm an old guy who has the means to sneer. I don't have to please an editor. Someone will publish my books one way or another, whatever ones I have left to write. But if you're 25 years old, maybe you're going to sneer with your pals in the pub, but you're gonna have to toe the line if you want to be published in whatever the obvious mainstream place is and you're going to be attacked on social media. I think a lot of people who are very, young people who are skeptical of this are just so afraid of being attacked by their peers on various social media that they keep quiet. I don't know that it's true that, I'd sort of push back on that. I think non-conformists will out. I hope it's true. But I wonder, I mean, these traditions, once they die, they're very hard to rebuild. And, without going full T.S. Eliot on you, once you don't think you're part of the past, once the idea is that basically, pretty much anything that came before our modern contemporary sense of morality and fairness and right opinion is to be rejected and that, for example, the moral character of the artist should determine whether or not the art should be paid attention to - I don't know how you come back from that or if you come back from that. I'm not convinced you do. No, other arts will be around. And I mean, if I were writing a critical review of my own book, I'd say, look, this culture, this high culture that you, David Rieff, are writing an elegy for, eulogizing or memorializing was going to die anyway, and we're at the beginning of another Gutenbergian epoch, just as Gutenberg, we're sort of 20 years into Marshall McLuhan's Gutenberg galaxy, and these other art forms will come, and they won't be like anything else. And that may be true.Andrew Keen: True, it may be true. In a sense then, to extend that critique, are you going full T.S. Eliot in this book?David Rieff: Yeah, I think Eliot was right. But it's not just Eliot, there are people who would be for the wokesters more acceptable like Mandelstam, for example, who said you're part of a conversation that's been going on long before you were born, that's going to be going on after you are, and I think that's what art is. I think the idea that we make some completely new thing is a childish fantasy. I think you belong to a tradition. There are periods - look, this is, I don't find much writing in English in prose fiction very interesting. I have to say I read the books that people talk about because I'm trying to understand what's going on but it doesn't interest me very much, but again, there have been periods of great mediocrity. Think of a period in the late 17th century in England when probably the best poet was this completely, rightly, justifiably forgotten figure, Colley Cibber. You had the great restoration period and then it all collapsed, so maybe it'll be that way. And also, as I say, maybe it's just as with the print revolution, that this new culture of social media will produce completely different forms. I mean, everything is mortal, not just us, but cultures and civilizations and all the rest of it. So I can imagine that, but this is the time I live in and the tradition I come from and I'm sorry it's gone, and I think what's replacing it is for the most part worse.Andrew Keen: You're critical in the book of what you, I'm quoting here, you talk about going from the grand inquisitor to the grand therapist. But you're very critical of the broader American therapeutic culture of acute sensitivity, the thin skin nature of, I guess, the Rousseau in this, whatever, it's lumpen Rousseauanism. So how do you interpret that without psychologizing, or are you psychologizing in the book? How are you making sense of our condition? In other words, can one critique criticize therapeutic culture without becoming oneself therapeutic?David Rieff: You mean the sort of Pogo line, we've met the enemy and it is us. Well, I suppose there's some truth to that. I don't know how much. I think that woke is in some important sense a subset of the wellness movement. And the wellness movement after all has tens and tens of millions of people who are in one sense or another influenced by it. And I think health, including psychic health, and we've moved from wellness as corporal health to wellness as being both soma and psyche. So, I mean, if that's psychologizing, I certainly think it's drawing the parallel or seeing woke in some ways as one of the children of the god of wellness. And that to me, I don't know how therapeutic that is. I think it's just that once you feel, I'm interested in what people feel. I'm not necessarily so interested in, I mean, I've got lots of opinions, but what I think I'm better at than having opinions is trying to understand why people think what they think. And I do think that once health becomes the ultimate good in a secular society and once death becomes the absolutely unacceptable other, and once you have the idea that there's no real distinction of any great validity between psychic and physical wellness, well then of course sensitivity to everything becomes almost an inevitable reaction.Andrew Keen: I was reading the book and I've been thinking about a lot of movements in America which are trying to bring people together, dealing with America, this divided America, as if it's a marriage in crisis. So some of the most effective or interesting, I think, thinkers on this, like Arlie Hochschild in Berkeley, use the language of therapy to bring or to try to bring America back together, even groups like the Braver Angels. Can therapy have any value or that therapeutic culture in a place like America where people are so bitterly divided, so hateful towards one another?David Rieff: Well, it's always been a country where, on the one hand, people have been, as you say, incredibly good at hatred and also a country of people who often construe themselves as misfits and heretics from the Puritans forward. And on the other hand, you have that small-town American idea, which sometimes I think is as important to woke and DI as as anything else which is that famous saying of small town America of all those years ago which was if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all. And to some extent that is, I think, a very powerful ancestor of these movements. Whether they're making any headway - of course I hope they are, but Hochschild is a very interesting figure, but I don't, it seems to me it's going all the other way, that people are increasingly only talking to each other.Andrew Keen: What this movement seems to want to do is get beyond - I use this word carefully, I'm not sure if they use it but I'm going to use it - ideology and that we're all prisoners of ideology. Is woke ideology or is it a kind of post-ideology?David Rieff: Well, it's a redemptive idea, a restorative idea. It's an idea that in that sense, there's a notion that it's time for the victims, for the first to be last and the last to be first. I mean, on some level, it is as simple as that. On another level, as I say, I do think it has a lot to do with metaphorization of experience, that people say silence is violence and words are violence and at that point what's violence? I mean there is a kind of level to me where people have gotten trapped in the kind of web of their own metaphors and now are living by them or living shackled to them or whatever image you're hoping for. But I don't know what it means to get beyond ideology. What, all men will be brothers, as in the Beethoven-Schiller symphony? I mean, it doesn't seem like that's the way things are going.Andrew Keen: Is the problem then, and I'm thinking out loud here, is the problem politics or not enough politics?David Rieff: Oh, I think the problem is that now we don't know, we've decided that everything is part, the personal is the political, as the feminists said, 50, 60 years ago. So the personal's political, so the political is the personal. So you have to live the exemplary moral life, or at least the life that doesn't offend anybody or that conforms to whatever the dominant views of what good opinions are, right opinions are. I think what we're in right now is much more the realm of kind of a new set of moral codes, much more than ideology in the kind of discrete sense of politics.Andrew Keen: Now let's come back to this idea of being thin-skinned. Why are people so thin-skinned?David Rieff: Because, I mean, there are lots of things to say about that. One thing, of course, that might be worth saying, is that the young generations, people who are between, let's say, 15 and 30, they're in real material trouble. It's gonna be very hard for them to own a house. It's hard for them to be independent and unless the baby boomers like myself will just transfer every penny to them, which doesn't seem very likely frankly, they're going to live considerably worse than generations before. So if you can't make your way in the world then maybe you make your way yourself or you work on yourself in that sort of therapeutic sense. You worry about your own identity because the only place you have in the world in some way is yourself, is that work, that obsession. I do think some of these material questions are important. There's a guy you may know who's not at all woke, a guy who teaches at the University of Washington called Danny Bessner. And I just did a show with him this morning. He's a smart guy and we have a kind of ironic correspondence over email and DM. And I once said to him, why are you so bitter about everything? And he said, you want to know why? Because I have two children and the likelihood is I'll never get a teaching job that won't require a three hour commute in order for me to live anywhere that I can afford to live. And I thought, and he couldn't be further from woke, he's a kind of Jacobin guy, Jacobin Magazine guy, and if he's left at all, it's kind of old left, but I think a lot of people feel that, that they feel their practical future, it looks pretty grim.Andrew Keen: But David, coming back to the idea of art, they're all suited to the world of art. They don't have to buy a big house and live in the suburbs. They can become poets. They can become filmmakers. They can put their stuff up on YouTube. They can record their music online. There are so many possibilities.David Rieff: It's hard to monetize that. Maybe now you're beginning to sound like the people you don't like. Now you're getting to sound like a capitalist.Andrew Keen: So what? Well, I don't care if I sound like a capitalist. You're not going to starve to death.David Rieff: Well, you might not like, I mean, it's fine to be a barista at 24. It's not so fine at 44. And are these people going to ever get out of this thing? I don't know. I wonder. Look, when I was starting as a writer, as long as you were incredibly diligent, and worked really hard, you could cobble together at least a basic living by accepting every assignment and people paid you bits and bobs of money, but put together, you could make a living. Now, the only way to make money, unless you're lucky enough to be on staff of a few remaining media outlets that remain, is you have to become an impresario, you have become an entrepreneur of your own stuff. And again, sure, do lots of people manage that? Yeah, but not as many as could have worked in that other system, and look at the fate of most newspapers, all folding. Look at the universities. We can talk about woke and how woke destroyed, in my view anyway, a lot of the humanities. But there's also a level in which people didn't want to study these things. So we're looking at the last generation in a lot places of a lot of these humanities departments and not just the ones that are associated with, I don't know, white supremacy or the white male past or whatever, but just the humanities full stop. So I know if that sounds like, maybe it sounds like a capitalist, but maybe it also sounds like you know there was a time when the poets - you know very well, poets never made a living, poets taught in universities. That's the way American poets made their money, including pretty famous poets like Eric Wolcott or Joseph Brodsky or writers, Toni Morrison taught at Princeton all those years, Joyce Carol Oates still alive, she still does. Most of these people couldn't make a living of their work and so the university provided that living.Andrew Keen: You mentioned Barry Weiss earlier. She's making a fortune as an anti-woke journalist. And Free Press seems to be thriving. Yascha Mounk's Persuasion is doing pretty well. Andrew Sullivan, another good example, making a fortune off of Substack. It seems as if the people willing to take risks, Barry Weiss leaving the New York Times, Andrew Sullivan leaving everything he's ever joined - that's...David Rieff: Look, are there going to be people who thrive in this new environment? Sure. And Barry Weiss turns out to be this kind of genius entrepreneur. She deserves full credit for that. Although even Barry Weiss, the paradox for me of Barry Weiss is, a lot of her early activism was saying that she felt unsafe with these anti-Israeli teachers at Columbia. So in a sense, she was using some of the same language as the woke use, psychic safety, because she didn't mean Joseph Massad was gonna come out from the blackboard and shoot her in the eye. She meant that she was offended and used the language of safety to describe that. And so in that sense, again, as I was saying to you earlier, I think there are more similarities here. And Trump, I think this is a genuine counterrevolution that Trump is trying to mount. I'm not very interested in the fascism, non-fascism debate. I'm rather skeptical of it.Andrew Keen: As Danny Bessner is. Yeah, I thought Danny's piece about that was brilliant.David Rieff: We just did a show about it today, that piece about why that's all rubbish. I was tempted, I wrote to a friend that guy you may know David Bell teaches French history -Andrew Keen: He's coming on the show next week. Well, you see, it's just a little community of like-minded people.David Rieff: There you go. Well, I wrote to David.Andrew Keen: And you mentioned his father in the book, Daniel.David Rieff: Yeah, well, his father is sort of one of the tutelary idols of the book. I had his father and I read his father and I learned an enormous amount. I think that book about the cultural contradictions of capitalism is one of the great prescient books about our times. But I wrote to David, I said, I actually sent him the Bessner piece which he was quite ambivalent about. But I said well, I'm not really convinced by the fascism of Trump, maybe just because Hitler read books, unlike Donald Trump. But it's a genuine counterrevolution. And what element will change the landscape in terms of DI and woke and identitarianism is not clear. These people are incredibly ambitious. They really mean to change this country, transform it.Andrew Keen: But from the book, David, Trump's attempts to cleanse, if that's the right word, the university, I would have thought you'd have rather admired that, all these-David Rieff: I agree with some of it.Andrew Keen: All these idiots writing the same article for 30 years about something that no one has any interest in.David Rieff: I look, my problem with Trump is that I do support a lot of that. I think some of the stuff that Christopher Rufo, one of the leading ideologues of this administration has uncovered about university programs and all of this crap, I think it's great that they're not paying for it anymore. The trouble is - you asked me before, is it that important? Is culture important compared to destroying the NATO alliance, blowing up the global trade regime? No. I don't think. So yeah, I like a lot of what they're doing about the university, I don't like, and I am very fiercely opposed to this crackdown on speech. That seems to be grotesque and revolting, but are they canceling supporting transgender theater in Galway? Yeah, I think it's great that they're canceling all that stuff. And so I'm not, that's my problem with Trump, is that some of that stuff I'm quite unashamedly happy about, but it's not nearly worth all the damage he's doing to this country and the world.Andrew Keen: Being very generous with your time, David. Finally, in the book you describe woke as, and I thought this was a very sharp way of describing it, describe it as being apocalyptic but not pessimistic. What did you mean by that? And then what is the opposite of woke? Would it be not apocalyptic, but cheerful?David Rieff: Well, I think genuine pessimists are cheerful, I would put myself among those. The model is Samuel Beckett, who just thinks things are so horrible that why not be cheerful about them, and even express one's pessimism in a relatively cheerful way. You remember the famous story that Thomas McCarthy used to tell about walking in the Luxembourg Gardens with Beckett and McCarthy says to him, great day, it's such a beautiful day, Sam. Beckett says, yeah, beautiful day. McCarthy says, makes you glad to be alive. And Beckett said, oh, I wouldn't go that far. And so, the genuine pessimist is quite cheerful. But coming back to woke, it's apocalyptic in the sense that everything is always at stake. But somehow it's also got this reformist idea that cultural revolution will cleanse away the sins of the supremacist patriarchal past and we'll head for the sunny uplands. I think I'm much too much of a pessimist to think that's possible in any regime, let alone this rather primitive cultural revolution called woke.Andrew Keen: But what would the opposite be?David Rieff: The opposite would be probably some sense that the best we're going to do is make our peace with the trash nature of existence, that life is finite in contrast with the wellness people who probably have a tendency towards the apocalyptic because death is an insult to them. So everything is staving off the bad news and that's where you get this idea that you can, like a lot of revolutions, you can change the nature of people. Look, the communist, Che Guevara talked about the new man. Well, I wonder if he thought it was so new when he was in Bolivia. I think these are - people need utopias, this is one of them, MAGA is another utopia by the way, and people don't seem to be able to do without them and that's - I wish it were otherwise but it isn't.Andrew Keen: I'm guessing the woke people would be offended by the idea of death, are they?David Rieff: Well, I think the woke people, in this synchronicity, people and a lot of people, they're insulted - how can this happen to me, wonderful me? And this is those jokes in the old days when the British could still be savage before they had to have, you know, Henry the Fifth be played by a black actor - why me? Well, why not you? That's just so alien to and it's probably alien to the American idea. You're supposed to - it's supposed to work out and the truth is it doesn't work out. But La Rochefoucauld says somewhere no one can stare for too long at death or the sun and maybe I'm asking too much.Andrew Keen: Maybe only Americans can find death unacceptable to use one of your words.David Rieff: Yes, perhaps.Andrew Keen: Well, David Rieff, congratulations on the new book. Fascinating, troubling, controversial as always. Desire and Fate. I know you're writing a book about Oppenheimer, very different kind of subject. We'll get you back on the show to talk Oppenheimer, where I guess there's not going to be a lot of Lumpen-Rousseauism.David Rieff: Very little, very little love and Rousseau in the quantum mechanics world, but thanks for having me.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

BFG film critic Lani Gonzalez saw 'A Minecraft Movie' at 4 PM on a Friday with her kids, and it wasn't one of the more raucous Minecraft screenings. But it definitely doesn't surprise her that the movie made a tremendous amount of money. Minecraft is the most popular game in the world right now. "The youth of America and the world are bringing energy to the theater," she tells Neal Pollack on this week's podcast. "It gives me hope," Neal says. That said, Lani tells Neal, it was not the best possible movie they could have made, despite Jack Black's tremendous energy. Strangely, Jared Hess, who also made Napoleon Dynamite, directed A Minecraft Movie. What an unusual culture phenomenon.Meanwhile, in the real world, American museums are facing tremendous budget cuts from the Trump Administration. Sharyn Vane joins Neal to talk about this disturbing trend, and highlights the struggles of a basically apolitical children's museum in Madison, Wisconsin, which, like so many other people and institutions, is finding itself caught up in the winds of massive political change. It may not be as dire as we think, or it might be more dire.Val Kilmer died last week at age 65, and Stephen Garrett joins Neal to talk about the work and legacy of one of our more eccentric and talented screen actors. Neal, as is his tendency, pretty much just talks about Top Secret! the entire time, but Stephen broadens the scope a bit and discussions Kilmer's unique filmography and his life as a truly strange and beautiful man of California. RIP Val Kilmer, the world will miss and remember you.This episode is pure BFG: cinematic history, a little politics, a little light pop culture. If you listened to this show, you'd understand everything that's going on. So listen! Thank you very much.

Donna Hall was born into a troubled family. Her mother seemed to have questionable taste in men. She met Donna's step-father when he was in prison and they got married within a year. Strangely, his last name was also Hall, and he was the prolific snitch in Philadelphia. But he wasn't just a snitch. When he wasn't being an abusive step-parent, he was often getting arrested. The get out of trouble, he would solve crimes for the police and prosecutors. The problem was, he made up all the information. He and Donna's mother engaged in elaborate storytelling to get innocent people arrested, charged, and convicted. One man is currently on death row for a crime he did not commit. Donna opens up about these items. She discussed the effects on her family. She has podcast series coming out to cover thhe entire stories. Oh, and the Crypt Keeper himself (Alan Katz) is part of that series. 

EPISODE SUMMARY Under the Autumn Strangely is a SUPER funky pastoral horror game of autumnal melancholy. Let's take a wander through a strange wood and see what it takes to get back home. SHOW NOTES Under the Autumn Strangely One Shot News & Updates Dillin's unhinged game inspired by Mickey 17 Follow the cast here! Dillin Brian Flaherty Apollo Pierce Fiona Howat Amelia Som ----------------------------------------------------- Find and call your representatives and be heard (US) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (Canada) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (UK) ---------------------------------------------------- Music Used in This Episode Creak, Wicked Cinema Three trees. Rest Settle Left for Dead. Wastelander Veil of Secrets. Wicked Cinema Life Fulfilled, Cody Martin Editing and sound design by Shaghik. Find Shaghik online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EPISODE SUMMARY Under the Autumn Strangely is a SUPER funky pastoral horror game of autumnal melancholy. Let's take a wander through a strange wood and see what it takes to get back home. SHOW NOTES Under the Autumn Strangely One Shot News & Updates Dillin's unhinged game inspired by Mickey 17 Follow the cast here! Dillin Brian Flaherty Apollo Pierce Fiona Howat Amelia Som ----------------------------------------------------- Find and call your representatives and be heard (US) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (Canada) Find and call your members of Parliament and be heard (UK) ---------------------------------------------------- Music Used in This Episode Creak, Wicked Cinema Three trees. Rest Settle Left for Dead. Wastelander Veil of Secrets. Wicked Cinema Life Fulfilled, Cody Martin Editing and sound design by Shaghik. Find Shaghik online here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Fourth Week of Lent Lectionary: 249The Saint of the day is Saint Vincent FerrerSaint Vincent Ferrer's Story The polarization in the Church today is a mild breeze compared with the tornado that ripped the Church apart during the lifetime of this saint. If any saint is a patron of reconciliation, Vincent Ferrer is. Despite parental opposition, he entered the Dominican Order in his native Spain at 19. After brilliant studies, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Peter de Luna—who would figure tragically in his life. Of a very ardent nature, Vincent practiced the austerities of his Order with great energy. He was chosen prior of the Dominican house in Valencia shortly after his ordination. The Western schism divided Christianity first between two, then three, popes. Clement VII lived at Avignon in France, Urban VI in Rome. Vincent was convinced the election of Urban was invalid, though Catherine of Siena was just as devoted a supporter of the Roman pope. In the service of Cardinal de Luna, Vincent worked to persuade Spaniards to follow Clement. When Clement died, Cardinal de Luna was elected at Avignon and became Benedict XIII. Vincent worked for him as apostolic penitentiary and Master of the Sacred Palace. But the new pope did not resign as all candidates in the conclave had sworn to do. He remained stubborn, despite being deserted by the French king and nearly all of the cardinals. Vincent became disillusioned and very ill, but finally took up the work of simply “going through the world preaching Christ,” though he felt that any renewal in the Church depended on healing the schism. An eloquent and fiery preacher, he spent the last 20 years of his life spreading the Good News in Spain, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries and Lombardy, stressing the need of repentance and the fear of coming judgment. He became known as the “Angel of the Judgment.” Vincent tried unsuccessfully, in 1408 and 1415, to persuade his former friend to resign. He finally concluded that Benedict was not the true pope. Though very ill, he mounted the pulpit before an assembly over which Benedict himself was presiding, and thundered his denunciation of the man who had ordained him a priest. Benedict fled for his life, abandoned by those who had formerly supported him. Strangely, Vincent had no part in the Council of Constance, which ended the schism. Reflection The split in the Church at the time of Vincent Ferrer should have been fatal—36 long years of having two “heads.” We cannot imagine what condition the Church today would be in if, for that length of time, half the world had followed a succession of popes in Rome, and half an equally “official” number of popes in say, Rio de Janeiro. It is an ongoing miracle that the Church has not long since been shipwrecked on the rocks of pride and ignorance, greed and ambition. Contrary to Lowell's words, “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,” we believe that “truth is mighty, and it shall prevail”—but it sometimes takes a long time. Saint Vincent Ferrer is the Patron Saint of: BuildersBusinessmenReconciliation Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Preview: Colleague Conrad Black Comments on the Strangely Exaggerated Campaigning by PM Mark Carney as If Donald Trump Is Planning to Invade. More LATER. 1878 NWMP.

(Airdate: 4.2.25) The Morgan Wallen story is not going away! Morgan left SNL abruptly before the credit roll on Sunday morning, apparently boarded a plane a said, essentially, "Get Me Back to God's Country."  Strangely enough, Morgan launched a merch line yesterday called...are you ready for this? "Get me Back to God's Country."  Was it a publicity stunt or was he genuinely unhappy with the experience? SNL says no harm, no foul, he's welcome to return. Kelly Ripa and hubs Mark Consuelos said goodbye to the NYC studio Live has  originated from since the beginning 37 years ago. ABC is moving their operations to new digs downtown. Did you see Harrison Ford and wife Calista Flockheart frolicking in NYC this week? They even rode the subway, like normal people. And it didn't take long fof people to recognize Harrison and post video of the event. And @HalleBerry Listen to the daily Van Camp and Morgan radio show at: https://vancampandmorgan.com/stations      

Episode 222How 2 EndureSensers! Many lessons come in this life of being a man. Things you're not necessarily prepared to face that can blindside you. I've had my fair share of challenges that taught me how to be a better man. Let's talk about that very lesson in this segment.The Universe provides so many wonders and very grateful to God and His creations. Of those wonders, which ones take your breath away? Nature? Music? Art? Maybe all 3?I have this notion that the only love that you control is the one you give, not the one you receive. Strangely enough, I believe we really do try make people love us and we learn in short order that shit doesn't work effectively. If you had to choose between giving love or being loved…what would it be?May God and His Universe remove any negative energy you may have stored from reading this. If you dig the episode, click, like, and share on your page. Help build the tribe of healing

Episode 169: Russia's Ripper GrannyWe begin our episode with some true crime news regarding Casey Anthony, ‘Ghost Adventures‘ host Aaron Goodwin, Grant Amato and Karen Read. Our case brings us to Russia, where Tamara Samsonova lived with her husband. After her husband disappeared in the early 2000s, Tamara rented out a room in her apartment to various tenants. Strangely, she never seemed to have a tenant for long. During renovations, Tamara moved in with 79 year old Valentina Ulanova in March 2015. In July, Tamara was seen on CCTV footage carrying big, heavy bags into a park and discarding them in different spots. Once the contents of those bags were discovered, Tamara was promptly arrested. Skippers: Approx 24:30Resources (US)Mental Health Emergency: Dial 9-8-8 Help for Mental Illnesses - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)Tune in to this episode to learn more! Email us at: abouttime4tc@gmail.comFollow us on IG: about.time.for.true.crime.podLinktreeDon't forget to rate, follow, download, and tell a friend!Sources:12345678TC updates:1234

Giving someone a bottle of whisky isn't just a drink, it's gifting the gift of gifting. Strangely, whisky also changed the paradigm of my art. In this episode, we talk about generosity, craft, and why the best things—whether a bottle, a poem, a photograph or a song—are never really ours to keep. https://www.thecuriouspod.com/questions/whiskygift   ※    -  The Map Of Recording Locations: www.thecuriouspod.com/map - The Podcast Hotline: (612) 584-9330 - Thank you to Wild Pony for the theme song to our Daily Guinness episodes.   ※    Search Tags:  Whisky culture Best whisky gifts Whisky and creativity Whisky and art The art of giving whisky Why whisky is the best gift Whisky storytelling Whisky history Whisky and music Bourbon vs Scotch Whisky traditions Whisky for musicians Creative inspiration from whisky Anthony Bourdain style podcast Whisky and craft How whisky changes perspective Whisky appreciation The philosophy of whisky Whisky and travel Why artists love whisky

New Heattttt!! (00:00) Rich and Uncle Free are back from Carnival festivities in Brazil dropping off Episode 182 for the streets. It's a lot to discuss since last episode so sit back and get cozy. First, the fellas discuss their latest trip to Brazil during Carnival which is one of the world's biggest parties. (2:02). Long story short, it was

After a brief detour to Ancient Greece, Erika and Paul return to the present (kinda) to kick off Tech Month with Sandra Bullock and The Net! We can all revel in the nostalgia and the hilarity of the technology in this film…but are we prepared for what the film got right? That's a question that can only be answered by listening to this episode!You can follow That Aged Well on Bluesky (@ThatAgedWell.bsky.social), Instagram (@ThatAgedWell), and Threads (@ThatAgedWell)!SUPPORT US ON PATREON FOR BONUS CONTENT!THAT AGED WELL MERCH!Wanna rate and review? HERE YOU GO!Hosts: Paul Caiola & Erika VillalbaProducer & Editor: Paul Caiola

#290. Do you ever daydream of running into a billionaire who is feeling extra generous that day? Or maybe you dream about being on a podcast and hoping to hit the viral lottery. Or perhaps, and hopefully not, you spend hours in gas stations throwing money at scratch-offs. We talk about a few ways to hit gold. Then, with your fortune, you can invest in yourself at a subscription-based male-pampering space. Speaking of Kory, did he get some art stolen? And do fast-casual joints make pitas in a bowl after all? After the break we talk about some of the weird and sometimes intimate moments of video conference calls before we get into streaming. For what it's worth, we did our streaming while sitting. This week we discuss SNL50, SAG Awards, Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy, Reacher, and the NHL Four Nations Face-Off. Visit the LinkTree below for some fun stuff and until next time, be kind to each other.FTM Merch! - https://www.teepublic.com/user/fromthemiddleLinkTree - https://linktr.ee/fromthemidpodVOICE MAIL! Comment, ask a question, suggest topics - (614) 383-8412Artius Man - https://artiusman.com use discount code "themiddle"

There's a subtle lesson as to why our best thinking arrives in the shower. It's a multiple of effects all happening at once.The first is that you're not intending to think about anything in particular. This “release” from our problem-solving mind seems to allow to actually… solve problems for you. But done in a holistic manner that skips the direct logic of pouring energy through the known problem space.The second is the heat. You're relaxed. You're no longer in the rush or the stress of the day and that gives your system a chance to calm down. Strangely, the calm also works well for solving big problems in simple, effective ways. Stress as a stimulus may give your work more distance, but perhaps not more depth.Third, is the sound. There's a white-noise effect, a hum of the water pressure and splash of the droplets. Attuning to this sound, you center yourself unconsciously into a type of meditative state. This meditative state anchors to sound, the consistency of it allows you to drop into a more open state giving you some separation from your thoughts.You can take a few lessons from this confluence of factors – that you have a system of senses that are all intelligent. That your mind-based logic is only one system and is a blunt tool.That your environment matters for your consciousness and your experience of being.And – that turning away from something is also a useful method for working through something.

I've always been a huge fan of children's fiction, and these new chapter books featuring a dog who thinks he's a knight fighting dragons in search of "the orb of power" and other adventures is exactly the kind of thing kids love! Listen in to hear about the exciting Kickstarter coming up. note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.   If singing, dancing vegetables (fruits, really) aren't your kids' thing, then perhaps dogs storming the "castle," battling "dragons," and on a quest for the "orb of power" are!  Christian children's books are hard to come by as they are, but chapter books?  This father-daughter duo have done a fabulous job of creating an exciting series that kids will love for years to come.  Dog Knights & The Orb of Power by E. B. North Lancelot is a dog of adventure! His favorite quest is fetching the king's magical Orb of Power.  Strangely, at his new home, the other dogs call it “a ball!” They're happy napping on the patio or chewing sticks while Lance does all the hard questing. But alas! When a sneaky dragon steals the Orb, Lance faces a bigger challenge than he's ever faced. He can't take down the monster alone, but the other dogs are convinced it's just “a cat”—which is hardly the same thing! Can he awaken the knightly courage of his new friends, Aki "the always-hungry" and Mia "the ever-lazy", or will the dragon escape with the treasure? This fearless canine is determined to save the day and prove that even the smallest mutt can be a true knight. Dog Knights is a new series of clean, funny chapter books for early readers aged 7-10 featuring Lancelot, a dog with a big imagination who sees himself as a noble knight. It's a playful introduction to fantasy elements, while showing kids how imagination can inspire living for higher purpose. Perfect for early readers who love humor, adventure, animals, and a dash of magic. (And parents who want wholesome stories and positive values.) Learn more about Brandon on his WEBSITE and follow him on GoodReads and BookBub. For more information about Dog Knights, click HERE. Don't miss the Kickstarter!  It'll be live on February 28th. Click HERE for more. Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at: Apple  Castbox  Google Play Libsyn  RSS Spotify Amazon and more!

Many of us believer that Donald Trump would love to become King. (Let's hope he never succeeds!) Strangely, I would argue the role he has reinstated, from royal courts of old, is the jester. The episode explains how, what their function has been, how it has changed recently, and how there may be some good news in all of this. ———————————————————————————————————————Have a spiritual, theological, or religious question you would like me to tackle?Contact me via email:    Dan@SkyPilot.zoneAnd be sure to check me out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkyPilotFaithQuest...........................................................................................Music: Composed for SkyPilot: Faith Quest by Arlan Sunnarborg

Welcome to a world where strange things unfold daily, and the observer isn't fazed. Since moving into their new townhome just six weeks ago, the space has been far from quiet. Vivid dreams of objects being knocked off counters and a guitar mysteriously sliding across the room are just the beginning of this whirlwind of unexplained events. Strangely enough, there's no fear—just the feeling of coexisting with a highly active, yet respectful guest. From hearing footsteps to sudden chills sweeping over them while relaxing, the house never feels still. But the question remains: Is it something personal, or is there truly something else in the house? If you have a real ghost story or supernatural event to report, please write into our show or call 1-855-853-4802! If you like the show, please help keep us on the air and support the show by becoming a Premium Subscriber. Subscribe here: http://www.ghostpodcast.com/?page_id=118 or at or at http://www.patreon.com/realghoststories

Chrissie always dreamed that the birth of her babies would be the happiest days of her life. But with her first two births, they were among the worst. In today's episode, Chrissie expresses the heartbreak she felt after doing everything to prepare for a VBAC and not get it. Though she wasn't sure how her third birth would go, the healing, research, and advocacy she did made all the difference in her experience. She called the shots, listened to her intuition, and ultimately saved her baby's life by being so in tune with herself and her body. And finally, the birth of her third baby was the most beautiful, joyful, and happiest day. Coterie DiapersUse code VBAC20 at checkout for 20% off your first order of $40 or more.How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello, Women of Strength. We have a CBAC after two Cesareans story coming your way today. This is a story that we felt we should share because it is so important to document our CBAC stories as well. Even though there are a lot of things that are going to unfold within our guest, Chrissie's story, it's so important to see how much she has grown and healed over each experience. Listening to her, a few things came up in my mind as I was listening. It was intuition. We've said it for years, honestly since 2018 when this podcast began. Intuition is so powerful, and sometimes it's hard to turn into and understand what your intuition is or what fear is, but I challenge you right now to start tuning into that. When you're getting the feelings, is it your intuition? Really, really connect with that intuition because it is so powerful. Another thing that I felt was a big takeaway from her story was how much she researched and gained knowledge of her own rights and her own ability to say no or to say, “Not now, not yet. No, thank you.” Women of Strength, I know it's hard, and it's really hard when we're in labor. I know it. But you always have the right to say no. You can always say no. Chrissie really did such a good job at researching and educating herself and arming herself up with the knowledge that she needed to so she could confidently say no when she needed to but also confidently say, “Hey, this is something that needs to change,” and stand up for herself in that time. I do have a Review of the Week, so I want to jump into this, and then turn the time over to Chrissie. Okay, this review is hseller. Hseller, I think is how it is. It says, “Life-changing. I don't even know where to begin. This podcast has honestly been life-changing. I am currently 9 months postpartum after my first Cesarean birth, and I've already binged every episode. I honestly believe The VBAC Link should be a resource for every birthing person, not just VBAC, on how to prevent a Cesarean to begin with. This needs to be part of basic birth education.”Oh, girl. I am with you on this. I am with you on this. It says, “I have shared this podcast and the blog with every friend of mine who is expecting because I wish I would have known about it before my first birth. Listening to the podcast reminds me that I'm not alone in my experiences and that this is possible and to have an amazing, empowering birth is possible. Julie and Meagan deliver facts, stories, and inspiration in such a wonderful way. Hearing their voices when an episode comes on puts me in a happy place. My husband and I have already been talking about baby number two. I can't wait to share my next birth story because with an education and support I now have, I know it will be beautiful and healing regardless of the outcome.”Thank you so much, hseller, for your review. You guys, these reviews really do mean so much. It is now 2025, and we do need updated reviews. You never know. It may be read on the next podcast. We are switching things up this year with educational pieces and topics of reviews and things like that, so you never know. But please, please, please leave us a review. It means the world to us. Meagan: Okay, you guys, I'm seriously so excited. It's always so fun to have multiple people on the show and cohosts, but it's also really fun to have doulas sharing the story or listening to the story with their clients and giving their tidbits. So Chrissie, I'm going to turn the time over to you and then of course, Sarah will be hearing from you, I'm sure along the way as well.Chrissie: All right. Hi, I'm Chrissie. I live in Greenville, South Carolina and I'm going to tell you about my three birth stories. All VBACs and repeat Cesarean stories start with your first C-section. Julian was our first C-section.He was conceived during my husband and I's fourth month of dating. My husband and I both knew marriage and kids were our desire with each other almost instantly, but it was still crazy to think about how fast it happened. Everything was going fine until about 30 weeks when I started to be measuring about a week behind and was scheduled for a growth scan which we couldn't get into until about 32 weeks.During that scan, it was confirmed that Julian was measuring close to the lower 10th percentile and that I, from that point, would be scheduled for regular non-stress tests every week for the rest of the pregnancy. His check at 36 weeks was non-reactive which is not what they like to see. I was sent for a biophysical profile. He was graded so low that I was told to immediately go to labor and delivery and not eat or drink anything, which as a nurse, I know that means they were assuming I may have surgery in the very near future.I was planning to go to work right from my original appointment, so I reported to work, but then went right upstairs and burst into tears of fear. I was given fluid, and he woke up because of the scare. But because of the scare, I was scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks and because I didn't know any better, I was just excited to meet him a week early.On the day of my induction, I showed up bright and early, ready to get things going. I had done no preparation, assuming that my high pain tolerance and grit would serve me well. I wasn't against pain medication, but I was ready to test my limits. Julian passed the non-stress test, so they started Pitocin, and he was doing fine, so they decided to insert a Foley bulb to speed things up.When they inserted it, my water broke, so that kind of put me on the clock. Once I got to about 4 centimeters 12 hours later, I was somehow feeling discouraged and tired and asked for the epidural. My husband said as he was holding my hunched over body that a huge teardrop fell out of my eye as the needle went in and the zing sensation went down my leg.I, was already giving up, but had no idea what I was setting myself up for.Over the next four hours, Julian's heart rate would drop with every contraction while Pitocin was going. They would turn it off, and he would be fine. And then when they restarted it, he would have the non-reassuring heart tones again. I was not explained to why I needed to wear oxygen or keep flipping from side to side or what low heart tones meant. All I know is that at 1:00 AM, they called for a C-section because we were getting close to the 24-hour rupture of membranes.If I had known then what I have learned since then, I would have tried to steer my birth in so many different directions. Unfortunately, birthing people are not given this kind of information upfront, which is. Why I think The VBAC Link is so important for any pregnant person as it could potentially help 1 in 3 women who end up consenting to a C-section to this day. I was devastated. I never thought the dramatic push and bringing baby to my chest at long last was something that wouldn't happen for me, let alone I would mourn missing out on it. I was wheeled into the OR. My arms were strapped down to either side of me. My arms were shaking and pulling uncontrollably to the point that when my Julian was given to me, I was too scared to hold him thinking I would drop him since my arms felt like Jell-O. I've since learned that because my epidural was converted for the C-section that I would feel extremely unpleasant sensations of my innards being pushed and pulled out of my body. All I could think about was my dad saying, "It was the happiest day of my life when you were born," and somehow this was feeling like one of the worst days of my life. I felt a double loss. It took me a long time to get over feeling like a sham for not giving birth the real way, but on the table, they said we gave you a double stitch so you can VBAC the next time. Over the next five and a half years that became an overwhelming objective and purpose in my life. When Julian turned 1, I had my IUD removed. I still had not gotten my period back but was hopeful it would return soon since had started to wean him from breastfeeding. When it did return, it was not normal. I would be spotting for weeks afterward and had a strange dull pain on and off constantly. I was so desperate to get pregnant so that I could get my VBAC thinking that all the horrible feelings I was having would go away. Or so I thought.After what felt like the longest four months ever, I did conceive our daughter, Ellie. It was January 2020. To this day, there are so many songs, books, and kids' shows that I cannot watch because they remind me of the early days of the pandemic. My son and I both got flu A and flu B during the first three months of the year, and it was terrifying to be relieved by a positive flu test.As an ER nurse, I was put on furlough since no one was coming into the ER, and many of us were sent to New York City and hard-hit areas to help where help was needed. I had to tell my manager earlier than I would have liked that I was pregnant and scared to be around some of the symptomatic COVID patients because we did not know what would happen. Sometime in the spring when people couldn't stand quarantine anymore and were going out and socializing again, the patients in the ER spiked, and I went back to work at six months pregnant. Even though it was terrifying, I was glad to be out of the house with somewhere to go and have a purpose.Those winter and spring months were some of the most depressing and hardest to get through in my life up to that point. I spent a lot of the time doing all the things that you can do to achieve a VBAC. I took a mindful birthing course over Zoom because they weren't doing any in-person things at that point.I read several books, did Spinning Babies exercises, hired a doula, etc. The thought of finally getting my VBAC was at times my only motivator to get up and do the things some days, other than the bare minimum to keep my one-year-old and me alive as horrible as that sounds.When I reached 37 weeks, I went into quarantine, and the waiting game began. I walked miles and miles and practiced mindfulness techniques to get through the pain. I was scared that the epidural had led to my son being in distress. So by this point, Ellie had passed all of the extra growth scans. She was head down. Everything looked perfect. By 40 weeks and five days, I became extremely stressed out. I had an induction scheduled for 41 and three days that was making me so nervous. My husband and I attempted to speed things up, breaking my water in the process.As soon as I felt the gush of fluid, I felt my heart sink and was overcome with fear and regret. It was starting just like the first birth I did with the premature rupture of membranes and what I believed would be an inevitable cascade of interventions that would lead to a repeat C-section.The rupture occurred around 3:00 PM, and I decided I should try to rest and wait for things to ramp up. By 10:00 PM, things were regular but not painful. I decided to try and go to sleep, but because of my trauma from the first birth, I wanted to make sure that she wasn't having issues with deceleration. I got my stethoscope out and listened to her heart rate as I had done several times before that point. It sounded normal and I listened to it through a few contractions.Every time, I could hear her heart rate slow very noticeably. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to go to the hospital because I knew what they would say. I didn't want to tell my husband because I knew he would want me to go to the hospital, but I was genuinely concerned for her. So I let my husband listen, and he started getting dressed immediately to go. I knew it was over.When you arrive at L&D, they ask for a reason for you being there. As a nurse, I knew what I was about to say was going to sound insane, but I said, "I think my baby is having distress. I heard her decelerations on my stethoscope at home."I could see the amusement in the triage nurse's eyes as I said this. But she said, "Okay, let's get you hooked up and see what's going on." Sure enough, she was already having category 2 decelerations, and I was only 1 centimeter dilated. The resident said that my contractions were only about 5 minutes apart, but that because of the decelerations, she would be admitting me right away.She said we could try fluids and some position changes, but it was looking like the C-section was going to be the only safe way to get her out since I was so far from 10 centimeters.Before she left the room, she said, "I know this is going to be very disappointing for you since you wanted to VBAC, but you may have saved your baby's life by coming in when you did. It's amazing that you knew to listen and could interpret what you heard."Long story short, nothing worked, and I was prepped for the C-section. My COVID test was negative, so my husband was going to be allowed to come into the OR. Tears were streaming down my face the whole way. I walked into the OR and sat myself on the table for the epidural. I was still in the clothes I had walked in wearing. That's how fast things were going. The epidural was placed, and they started prepping me after a few minutes. They still had the fetal monitor attached for some reason, and we heard her heart drop into the 70s and not come back up. I could hear the sense of urgency on the other side of the drape. And suddenly, I felt several sharp pricks across my abdomen. I was lying there with so many thoughts running through my head. But thankfully, one of those thoughts was, "I wonder why they just poked me like that. Oh, I guess they're checking to see if I was numb. Wait, I felt that."I yelled, "Wait, I felt that."And they were like, "What? Was it dull or sharp?" I yelled, "It was sharp." They poked me again and again, and I kept saying, "It's sharp." We could all hear her heart rate in the background getting slower and slower, and I yelled, "Just put me out. Just put me out."The pre-oxygenation mask went right onto my face, and the last thing I heard before I went out was, "Someone page the STAB team," which is the group of medical providers they call when they're assuming that a newborn is not going to be doing well. I woke up in a daze when I realized where I was and what had happened. I burst into tears again and asked, "Is she okay?"And she was perfect.They actually said she was screaming before they even pulled her out of me fully. Very strong and healthy baby Ellie. But another day that was supposed to be the happiest day of my life which instead was a day even worse than my first birth. I felt completely defeated, hating myself for all the time, effort, money, worry, hope, and mind space that I had put into something that I still didn't get. A few minutes after I woke up, the surgeon came up to me and said, "Your original scar did not heal right. It was defective, and because of the urgency of the situation, we had to cut through a higher area of your uterus so we wouldn't accidentally cut any arteries because the anatomy was obscured by the first scar. We realized while repairing the uterus that it was in the contractile tissue, and you will never be allowed to VBAC again."I didn't really care because I thought we were done having kids, or so I thought. But it made me feel really bad about myself hearing the words "defective", "obscure anatomy" and "not allowed" hung with me for a long time. I wanted to get out of that hospital as soon as I could. All I could think about was my failure and how all the feelings that were supposed to be fixed by this birth were only made worse at my follow- up appointments. At the 6-week check and the 12-week for IUD insertion, I had to actually be let out the back door both times so that the people in the waiting room wouldn't see me hysterically crying. I honestly didn't even want to go to these follow-up appointments because they just further cemented to me that I had failed. And I'm not someone who can be told that I can't. Even though I was for sure believing we were done having kids, I joined the Special Scars group on Facebook just to see if anyone had had a similar scar as mine.I didn't think we would have more kids, but I still wanted to know if I could. Unfortunately, over the past few years, I've only spoken with one other woman who had a similar scar as mine. The fact that it was so uncommon made me hate it even more because I couldn't find any answers about what it meant for me. I did seek counseling following these events, and eventually, I felt better but I still thought about what happened daily and could not stand to hear anything related to birth.Several months later, I started having pelvic pains. I went to be evaluated for an ovarian cyst, but when they didn't find one, they did see how crazy my first scar had healed. Because of the pain, they had agreed to do an exploratory laparotomy surgery to repair the scar thinking it could be the source of my pain and definitely a reason for the spotting I'd had between cycles. During the surgery, they found a large surgical hernia as well that they had to remove momentum from and recommended surgery to fix it in the future. Whatever the reason for the pain was the scar or the hernia, my pain was gone following the surgery and two weeks later we moved to Greenville, South Carolina. Everything seemed fine.Trying to settle into a new house that needs lots of fixing up with a one and a three-year-old takes time. I knew I didn't have an IUD in at that time, but my period hadn't come back yet since my one-year-old would not take to the weaning and I was still nursing her. I wasn't that worried.In August, my period did come back, and I decided to use ovulation strips to see how long after ovulating I was spotting to see if I could figure out if my cycles were in the normal range again. Strangely, the first strip showed up very dark along with the next several strips I tried and I was like, "Oh great, things are out-of-whack still." But that's when I remembered people sometimes interpreting ovulation strips for pregnancy since LH and HCG are such similar-shaped molecules. I decided to use one of the pregnancy strips that comes with the ovulation pack and sure enough, it was also darkly positive. I was inexplicably excited, and I sheepishly told my husband who was also very excited. We went to our eight-week appointment, and there was nothing on the ultrasound. My HCG was high, but the progesterone was low and they called it a blighted ovum. I eventually did pass whatever was in there. This left my husband and I with a new resolve to a third child and crossed the bridge of a third C-section when we got there. I started listening to The VBAC Link again-- something I had to erase from my memory in the past as it was another reminder of my failure to VBAC and not getting to submit my story of healing and success. There was an episode I got to where I really liked what one of the guests was saying. She was a doula named Sarah, and believe it or not, she was based out of Greenville.I knew that if we conceived again, she would be my doula.A year later, after a chemical pregnancy and a loss at 10 weeks, we conceived our second daughter, Leah. I had established care with the midwifery practice for the first few months until they saw my surgical records and transferred me to the OB practice across the street. Additionally, because I was 37 years old at this point, I was sent to maternal-fetal medicine for my 20-week anatomy scan to double-check that everything was looking normal, which it was.At my first appointment with the OB group, the doctor sat down across from me and said, "Well, your anatomy scan looks great. We will also do a growth scan at 32 weeks and 36 weeks because of your previous history of IUGR."And I said, "Sure, that's fine."He went on to say, "So you understand why the midwives transferred your care to us and that you're not allowed to have a vaginal birth, right?" By this point, I'd done some research on my birth rights, special scars, and hospital regulations, and answered calmly, "Actually, you can't tell me I'm not allowed to let something happen on its own. You're not allowed to force me to have a surgery that I do not consent to."He responded, "Well, I'm not sure anyone in this practice or any practice would be comfortable allowing you to VBAC."And I said, "Well, I'm not comfortable just going straight for a C-section at 36 weeks and not at least seeing how things go." I left the appointment pretty upset and even more determined to decide my own fate. As the appointments went by, each OB would say, "You understand that we would like you to schedule a C-section?"And I said, "Yes, but I'm not ready to make that decision yet. I'm still doing my research. What I have found is that the highest estimated rate of rupture after a classical scar is around 15%, but other studies estimate it to be much lower. Additionally, some studies don't distinguish between true rupture and dehiscence. Furthermore, most ruptures are not catastrophic, meaning loss of life, permanent disability, hysterectomy, and so on. Only about 2% of ruptures end this way, and they're often caught through monitoring or other symptoms before they can progress to anything beyond the risks of a typical C-section." Having done this research on my own, I became more confident in my decision to continue on the path of letting my body decide what it was going to do. Sarah, my doula, gave me more confidence. I had told her everything that had happened in my past and she said I had valid feelings and thoughts, and had made logical decisions based on my research.She sent me along her usual workbooks and resources for creating a birth plan, birthing positions, pain management, Spinning Babies, tea dates, etc. I told her I appreciated it, but I'm not going to do those things. I had done all those things and more and that had ended up being one of the hardest parts of my first repeat C-section having realized it made no difference at all. The last thing I wanted to do was spend time trying to be mindful and stretching instead of being mindful with my kids and family who were already there.This ended up being a decision I was very thankful to have made and Sarah was on board and fully understood my reasoning.Weeks went by. At every appointment, the OB would say, "It looks like you've been counseled on this before, and there's no need to go over everything again. Are you ready to schedule your C-section yet?" And I would say, "No, not yet."Looking back, they really didn't go over anything with me. All they said was because of my special scar and lower segment surgery, I was too high risk and not allowed to VBAC.I had done my own research and there are no actual numbers on a high transverse scar which is just above the lower segment, in the upper segment, or on the lower segment scar resection, which is what they classified my surgery as. I feel it's important to get these numbers as C-section rates continue to rise, more versions of special scars will occur and more people could possibly end up with scar revision surgeries before they're done growing their family.At my 37-week appointment, with some encouragement from Sarah, I finally got an OB who would talk to me about my options. She said, "I know we can't make you have surgery that you don't want. You're right. You're in a gray area. We don't really know the numbers for your kind of situation. I think it's reasonable for you to see what happens. If you show up in labor, we will admit you." And I was overcome with relief. Finally, someone was being honest with me. She knew I had done all my research and was overly informed of my rights. I told her that I just didn't want to be harassed or threatened if I came in because that would discourage me from coming in when I would have liked to which is right when labor started. She said I could come in as soon as I thought anything was going on and I would be treated with respect. Circling back to what I learned about EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, it basically says if a hospital wants to receive reimbursement from Medicare patients, they may not turn away anyone seeking treatment regardless of their citizenship, legal status, or ability to pay.If a pregnant person arrives in active labor, they must be treated until the delivery is complete or a qualified medical personnel identifies that she's experiencing false labor.Furthermore, the person in labor can only be transferred if there's a hospital that can offer a higher level of care. The hospital I was going to was equipped to deliver VBAC and had a NICU. So I knew they were equipped to handle uterine ruptures, which they do about once a month, I've learned.I did agree to schedule a repeat C-section at 40 weeks and four days. At 40 weeks and one day, I got anxious and tried a half dose of what's recommended for kickstarting things with castor oil. It definitely kickstarted some things, and within about six hours, I was having contractions every four minutes.About two hours later, I was getting anxious to go to the hospital because they just didn't feel right. I felt them from my belly button down, and they didn't feel the same way. I remembered with the Pitocin, they weren't really crampy. They're more burning and sharp. I suddenly started feeling an urgency to get to the hospital so they could do the C-section. I texted Sarah to say, "We're going, but don't worry about coming just yet." My answer for why I had come to the L&D department was painful contractions. I already couldn't talk through them. I was hooked up to the monitors, and we could see that Leah was already having Cat 2 borderline Cat 3 decelerations.It's determined by how much the heart rate drops as a percentage of the baseline heart rate when not in a contraction. We tried some position changes, but I had already felt at peace with the idea of going back for a C-section, and my intuition told me it was time. I was extremely nervous to be strapped down, shaking uncontrollably, and not being able to enjoy my baby again.To my surprise, the spinal worked amazingly. I was calm, my husband was next to me, and I got to make all the decisions. I didn't feel pulling or pressure or tugging at all. It was the first time that I got to cry tears of joy after seeing my baby for the first time. I was informed that I'd had a small rupture and I had a very thin lower segment-like tissue about halfway up my uterus, which is not normal. I ruptured. It wasn't a big deal. We caught it. I knew something was wrong, and I had made the decisions that healed me, and I got my baby here safely. After my second was born, I remember sadly walking around our neighborhood, lost in the thought that I'd met all the important people in my life already and something was not sitting right with that. Never would I have ever imagined that a third C-section would heal everything.What I want people to take from my story is that you have to accept that you might not get your VBAC and work that into the process of attempting a VBAC. You can't put all your eggs in one basket for working towards that VBAC and ignoring the basket that needs some attention in case it doesn't happen.Making your own decisions and being confident in your reasoning makes all the difference. Yes, I did have a third C-section, but I know there's nothing I could have possibly done any differently that would have changed the outcome. I encourage people to do their own research, not just on rupture rates but on birth rights and patient rights.You cannot let your provider decide for you what they think is best for most patients because you're an individual and sometimes there isn't a perfect box to put you in.Your fate should not be determined by a doctor wanting to check a certain box and use that to make decisions that make themselves feel comfortable.Of course, ideally, you can find a supportive provider, but if you cannot, that does not mean that you can't call all the shots. You may rupture it, but it's not always, in fact, not usually some dramatic event. My most dramatic birth was before my special scar and surgery. So keep an open mind. Use the knowledge that you gained to instill confidence in yourself. Not getting your VBAC as a disappointment, but if you go in with the right mindset, it can be beautiful and meeting my third daughter was finally the happiest day of my life.Meagan: Oh, my goodness. I love hearing that. That whole end, I just closed my eyes and can hear you speak. And I was like, yes, all of these things are so, true. And I love that you point out that yes, you had a third C-section. Was it what you wanted in the beginning? Would you have wanted a vaginal birth? I'm sure you did. But, this is what I felt and you followed your intuition yet again. I feel like, along the story, but all stories of, intuition, intuition, intuition. And then hearing that you can have a healing experience. I think that is so important to point out that it can be healing. It can be absolutely healing. And I love that it was for you. I love that you were able to have your husband there and look back and be like, "No, I'm amazing." And you should be really proud of all the work you did, all the research you did advocating for yourself. It's not very easy to advocate for yourself. And I love the message that you gave to the other Women of Strength. Like, learn and advocate for yourself. Know the patient's rights.Chrissie: Yeah. Sarah: I think that's what was so unique and so awesome about your story, Chrissie, because even from  us starting to work together from the beginning, you just knew what you wanted, and you weren't afraid to say that. And you told me kind of like, "Hey, look, this is fine." Like you said, I gave you my packet and all of my welcome stuff for my normal clients. And you were like, "Look, I've done this before, and I know exactly what I want, and I know how I want to go forward with this birth." You were just so empowered and confident on your own, and I was just so excited to be along with you. And obviously, like, every birth doula wants to be there for the physical birth, but we also have to listen to our clients and respect their choices and decisions. When you were like, "Hey, we're going to the hospital, but don't come yet," it's hard to hear that. I was like, "Okay," but you knew exactly where you stood and what you want it. And, you know, I think that's just really awesome and amazing to have clients like you who are totally aware of, like Meagan was saying, your intuition and how you were feeling. So, you know, I think you have such an empowering story, and our stories can really go a long way, and you're gonna be that voice for people who are feeling so similar.Yeah, absolutely. It's hard to hear sometimes. Cause you're like, "That sounds so amazing. I would want to do that, but it can't." I think that's how a lot of people think. "Oh, that's good. She must have a strong personality." You don't have to have a strong personality to stand up and advocate for yourself in a lot of ways. I think a lot of it stemmed from you being informed along the way. You were informed. You knew your rights, you knew the evidence along things. I mean, here you are talking about them, and that's super important. It comes down with that education, because I do feel like the education is what helps us feel empowered enough to stand up and say what we do and don't want.Chrissie: I really don't have a strong personality at all. I was always very intimidated, trying to pump myself up for the next week of whatever week it was, visiting the OB practice, like, "Oh God, who am I going to see today?" But I just approached it with full knowledge of everything that's out there, as far as I know, because I've been researching it for a long time and just knowing my rights, I guess, I know that they know what they can and can't do to me.You can't force someone to have surgery if they're not ready for it. A C-section is a major surgery so I just knew to stand my ground in a polite and respectful way. Eventually, at the end of the wire, someone stood up for me in the practice, and I was very grateful for her because she gave me the last final push I needed to just wait for things to happen.Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you should be so proud of yourself and I'm so happy for you.And how was this postpartum? How's it been?Chrissie: It's been like, nothing.I mean, I have a third newborn, but I don't for some reason with me, subsequent C-sections, the debilitating pain is not there from what I experienced with the first one. I don't know if there are just so many nerve endings that are not there anymore or I don't know why. It's been super busy. So I don't even have time to think about what could have been or any feeling or thoughts. Thoughts about how I wish I could be feeling differently. But, yeah, very busy with the third and just so happy to have her with us today.Well, I'm so happy for you. Congratulations. I'm glad that even though you maybe didn't have Sarah during your birth, you had her along the way because I truly do feel like having that sounding board in that doula and that support along pregnancy can really impact and motivate people to learn how to trust that intuition and learn what they need to do and what's right for them.Chrissie: Yes, and she's actually helped me since birth because I didn't ask her to come during it. She has come and hung out with my kids and me so I could do certain errands or tasks. Our kids are actually obsessed with each other now, so it's kind of nice. Yeah.Sarah: Yeah. We bonded even more postpartum and now our daughters are movie night buddies, and they all like to play together.Meagan: That is so fun. I love hearing that. That is something that I tell my clients when they hire me. I'm like, "Hey, listen, you do not have to be my best friend, but I want you to know that I'm your lifelong friend." I feel like that just right there sums it up. Like, really. No, not everybody's going to be having their kids play together but I love that relationships can form and create in this manner.Sarah: Yeah. Yeah.Meagan: Okay, you too. Well, thank you again so much for being with us today.Chrissie: Thanks for picking my story.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

We expend vast resources for this. Strangely, this does not seem strange. We look to several sources for understanding our past, which gives us clues about solving today's problems, and the supernatural because it also is associated with our creation. Today supernatural communication, such as UAP, has increased so dramatically that even the US government has noticed and others discuss religious figures as ancient astronauts. To discuss these ideas in her new book, along with some updates in regards to the Pascagoula case of 1973 and the ongoing drone mystery, Dr Irena Scott returns to join me! The book can be found here: Dr Scott's website can be found here: A big thank you for Dr Scott joining me once again. Our Patreon is now live, if you want to support the show and get Ad-Free episodes, bonus content, early release of the regular show and monthly prizes for everyone who signs up! Join here now for the flat fee of $4 a month which is a bargain! You can also support the show by leaving a review to help spread the word. Don't forget, you can now show your support with our brand new Merchandise shop on Tee-Public! Click here for all the show merch! You can join us on Facebook and Instagram as well. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel! Email us at mysteriesandmonsters@gmail.com with any feedback, guest suggestions or if you'd like to appear.            All artwork by Dean Bestall and the show was produced by Brennan Storr of the Ghost Story Guys.  Our theme music is kindly provided by the amazing Weary Pines, you can find them here:    Intro - Zombies Ate My Shotgun       Outro - Into The Night      #Aliens #Apocalypse #DrIrenaScott #UFOs #UAPs #Disclosure #CongressionalHearings #AlienAbduction #AlienHybrid #History #Darwinism #ETContact #Abduction #Pascagoula #Drones

In San Antonio, December 3, 2024, An officer attempted to talk to a male subject on the road. The subject ran away. The officer gave chase, and they ended up near a drainage ditch. A second officer showed up issued commands for compliance to the male. The officer observed the suspect holding a gun. The officer drew his gun and shot at the suspect multiple times. The chase and the gunfire continued until the the suspect died at the scene. Strangely it seems that one of the suspect's wounds was self-inflicted. There is more going on here than is being told in the mainstream media, and former cop Eric Tansey wants to talk about why.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newcastle have got one foot in the Carabao Cup Final which means Marcus, Vish, Jim and Pete are already planning how to sneak Donny into Wembley for the final. Anyone got any suggestions?Elsewhere, the Hammers are getting ready to whack their manager and Pete gives us an update on the 80s TV presenter Timmy Mallet. Strangely, these two things are not related…Find us on Bluesky, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and email us here: show@footballramble.com.Sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon for ad-free shows for just $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate us on your podcast app. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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#UKRAINE: American voices argue strangely that the Ukraine war success is "bleeding" Russia.  @ThadMcCotter @theamgreatness 1900 Russia

"... we've run out of leads to work... there's just nothing coming in."In 1995, authorities decided to suspend the investigation into the disappearance of three women from Springfield, Missouri. This decision followed years of sporadic progress, including a grand jury review in 1994 that ultimately concluded without issuing any indictments.However, later that year, Steven Garrison - a suspect with tenuous ties to the case - stood trial for an unrelated crime. Strangely, that crime revealed an eerie connection to the Springfield Three's mysterious disappearance in 1992...Part 3/5Research, writing, hosting, and production by Micheal WhelanLearn more about this podcast at http://unresolved.meIf you would like to support this podcast, consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod to become a Patron or ProducerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support.

Darkness Syndicate members get the ad-free version: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/skb5yy7uInfo on the next LIVE SCREAM event: https://weirddarkness.com/LiveScreamIN THIS EPISODE: It's been said that the average person walks past at least sixteen murderers in their lifetime. A chilling thought. But when you know that a serial killer is on the loose, you look at each stranger you meet as a potentially dangerous encounter. And right now in the UK they have a serial killer still at large targeting easy victims… the country's elderly. (UK's Senior Citizen Serial Killer) *** While the Spiritualism Movement caught fire in the 1840's with the Fox Sisters and stayed fairly strong for some time, after the 1920s most of the teachings and those soaking it in began to dwindle. Strangely though, there seems to be a kind of resurging interest in one particular man's writings here in the 21st century. Many are intrigued by the “secret teachings” of Manly P. Hall. (The Secret Teachings of Manly P. Hall) *** In May, 1987, Kenneth Parks walked into a police station and confessed, “I just killed two people; I've just killed my mother‑ and father‑in‑law.  I stabbed and beat them to death.  It's all my fault." Case closed, right? Well no… because it appears he might've been sleepwalking when he committed the murders. (The Sleepwalker Defense) *** When the body of Elva Shue was found next to her bed, it was assumed to be an accident. But her spirit refused to rest until someone investigated further. Her ghost was crying murder. (The Ghost That Solved a Murder) *** Clarita Villanueva was orphaned before she was teenager. With no one to care for her, Clarita began living on the streets of Manila, dancing for money and prostituting herself to degenerates. But things were about to get even worse for the poor girl… demonically worse. (The Girl Bitten By Devils) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Disclaimer and Show Open00:03:22.045 = The Girl Bitten By Devils00:17:53.523 = UK's Senior Citizen Serial Killer00:27:16.722 = Secret Teachings of Manly P. Hall00:41:04.609 = The Sleepwalker Defense00:49:06.581 = The Ghost That Solved a Murder00:53:08.542 = Show CloseSOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…“The Girl Bitten By Devils” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4n7nmhvbBOOK: “The True Story of Clarita Villanueva” by Les Sumrall: https://amzn.to/3QKDzx4BOOK” Stranger Than Science” by Frank Edwards: https://amzn.to/3AcNiVH“UK's Senior Citizen Serial Killer” from LollyTrue Crime for Mystery Confidential: https://tinyurl.com/y4q5u9ga“The Secret Teachings of Manly P. Hall” by Mitch Horowitz for New Dawn Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4bfj8e5j“The Ghost That Solved a Murder” by Doug MacGowan for Paranorms.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/ever42yx“The Sleepwalker Defense” by Romeo Vitelli for Providentia: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/76fdt49eWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: February 23, 2021CUSTOM LANDING PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/GirlBittenByDevils