009: Spiritual Wanderings: The Natural Curiosity of T.D. Mischke

T.D. Mischke (@TommyMischke) is a radioman that has fled the studio for the open road and the stories waiting to be told via his latest project, The Mischke Roadshow. My conversational history with Mischke dates back to 1996 when I first rang his radio program as a 16-year old. Ever a beacon of creativity, Mischke is an artist and storyteller who has always allowed his natural curiosity to carve the path forward. His talent is enormous (James Fallows of The Atlantic lauded Mischke as “truly original”), his disposition humble, and with his podcast, his soul remains free to wander. In …

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008: Sit in Your Shack, and Your Shack Will Teach You Everything, Dialogues with Andrew Gingerich

Andrew Gingerich embraces a prophetic, contemplative lifestyle. Of course he would object to this description, because his pursuit is internally driven and extrinsic validation does not go far with him. At times he speaks like a modern-day Desert Father (in our conversation he unknowingly paraphrases one of the most famous lines by Abba Moses), with the winsome nature of Thoreau and the delivery of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. In this episode, I sit in Andy’s shack during a soft rain to talk about his years of minimalist living and the intention behind it, the integration of human imagination and …

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007: Growing Basil and the Art of Eavesdropping, Dar Williams on Building Community through Positive Proximity

“One of America’s very best singer-songwriters.” – The New Yorker* Dar Williams is thoughtful and charming as she tells stories about her local community, but don’t let her laid back delivery fool you, she is passionate about community life and the revitalization of small towns everywhere. Known for her songwriting chops, Dar takes us down another avenue to talk about “positive proximity”, the focus of her forthcoming book. In this episode, Dar dives into the themes of social capital, the joys and trials of truly knowing your community, and learning the art of eavesdropping. Dar Williams is a singer-songwriter, author, teacher and the list goes …

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