The country of Denmark has topped the World Happiness Report every year except one since 2012. While we could debate about what kinds of definitions and metrics are used to measure something as intangible as happiness, it is nonetheless a noteworthy distinction.

So what makes Danes so happy? This is one of several questions we put to this week’s guest, Jens DuPont, an independent business consultant who takes great joy in helping companies learn to think more creatively. It turns out that creativity is apparently in his genes; as you’ll hear, Denmark has gone to great lengths to encourage and foster creativity in just about every sphere of life.

We also talked about an important word in the Danish vocabulary: hygge (pron. hu-geh). You’ll have to listen to find out what it means and why it is so important in Danish culture.

You’ll hear a book mentioned: The Year of Living Danishly, which you can check out here:

I hope you enjoy meeting Jens!

What would make a successful Iraqi geologist and his physicist wife pull up roots from the city they’ve grown up in, learn a new language, and become humanitarians and educators in a foreign culture — within their own country?

Today we’re speaking with Youssif Matti, an Aramaic Iraqi, who has been living and working in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq for over 25 years. He has seen the region transform into a relatively peaceful and prosperous corner of the Middle East, and the part he has played in that transformation is significant. I hope you enjoy listening to his story.

We apologize for the technical issues toward the end of the interview. Yousif was saying he believes Muslim imams, or clerics, need to do a better job of explaining to the world the difference between their orthodox beliefs and the tenets of radical Islam.

That’s just one of the many challenges Yousif and his family and team members navigate on a regular basis as they serve the Kurdish people.

You can read more about the Classical School of the Medes here. And if you’d like to find out about how you can support their important work, go here.

In the fall of last year we began an occasional series on American subcultures. We all know that it is unwise to paint American culture with too broad a brush. And that was proven over and over again as we talked to people from just about as diverse backgrounds as you can get. From the Amish culture to the Nashville songwriters culture, to a Native American tribe to the Indian American subculture. And we’re not done! Today I’d like you to meet three fascinating and passionate people: Lurch, Giggles, and Hoss. No, they’re not action figures or cartoon characters. They’re bikers who add an interesting — and maybe even lifesaving — twist to the biker culture. I hope you enjoy listening to them.

You can find more information on BACA at bacaworld.org. We’d also like to invite you to consider becoming a sustaining patron of this podcast. You can find out how at patreon.com/worldtothewise. And we’d love for you to help us out by writing a brief review on iTunes if you find this podcast beneficial.

Welcome to the first episode of Season 2 of the World to the Wise podcast. I hope you’ve had a chance to catch up on Season 1 during our break, because we have a whole set of new and fascinating people and stories for you in Season 2.

We’re also excited to tell you about our partnership with Patreon, who makes it possible for you to become a sustaining patron of this podcast. The truth is, we believe passionately in what we’re doing here at World to the Wise, and it takes quite a number of hours to put each episode together. When you choose to partner with us, even if it’s just $10 a month, you are helping to ensure our being able to provide great content that continues to challenge, inspire, and inform. You can find us at patreon.com/worldtothewise. We won’t wear you out with pitches like this, but we do want to ask you to seriously consider becoming part of the patrons’ circle. You can read more about what that looks like on the website, which again is patreon.com/worldtothewise. Thanks so much.

And now — imagine that you were born and raised in America’s heartland. You’re a white male, and your world is pretty much white Americans. Then your world is rocked when you start meeting and developing friendships with people from all over the world — without even leaving the shores of your own country. Meet Stuart Stokes, a film maker and vlogger, originally from the Missouri Ozarks, now living in Nashville. I hope you enjoy listening to his stories and find yourself challenged like I was.

You can find Stuart on Twitter at Skip Stokes, and on YouTube under the same name. If you’re interested in his documentary on the life of Ken Rideout, you can follow the film’s progress on Facebook at Rideout: One Last Summit or at rideoutfilm.com.

This week we wrap up what for me has been a great ride, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too. It’s been roughly 6 months and exactly 25 episodes since we launched in April, and we’ve been to a lot of parts of the world in that short time.

The great thing about podcasts is you can go back and listen to ANY episode you may have missed along the way — or RElisten to something that’s been triggered by something you’ve heard or experienced lately.

In the inaugural episode I laid out the vision and purpose of this podcast: “to stretch the borders of your thinking, broaden your perspective, and equip you to engage your world.” I hope we’ve done that — from interviews with fascinating people like Dr. Ming Wang, a renowned eye surgeon and philanthropist who grew up under the oppression of the Cultural Revolution in Mao Tse Dong’s China. — to Chris Guillebeau, who recently completed a personal quest to visit every country on the planet.

I particularly enjoyed my conversation with Mike and Patricia Majett, who were very honest in describing what it’s like to live as a biracial couple in today’s American South.

We got to know a medical couple, Drs. Eric and Rachel McLaughlin, in the impoverished nation of Burundi, and were inspired by the way they have poured out their lives on behalf of the poorest of the poor, not only by treating the sick but also by training indigenous doctors to carry the torch.

We visited New Zealand, vicariously, through the eyes of Neil and Jill White, who are still waiting for you to pay them a visit in one of the most beautiful and interesting places Becky and I have ever been.

We visited Turkey, which had just been shaken up by an attempted coup and nerves were still on edge. We also heard from two moms who are raising their children to be bilingual — one is a native English speaker teaching her children Spanish, and the other Italian facing the uphill challenge of teaching her children her mother tongue in an ocean of English speakers.

And I hope you enjoyed my interview with Lee Camp, where we discussed his book, Who Is My Enemy?, as well as Servant Group international Executive Director Dave Dillard. I found these especially thought-provoking, and great preparation for my summer discovery trip to Europe. You’ll remember that my wife Becky and I spent several weeks observing and learning about the refugee crisis there that reached a boiling point in the last year to two years. I recorded podcasts from each of the countries we visited: Switzerland, Greece, Germany, and France. As much as we’ve traveled in Europe, this was probably more of an eye-opener than any other trip we’ve made, as many of the refugees took on names and faces, and true stories of suffering, bravery, desperation and heartache…and survival. As I said at the end of the trip, Becky and I didn’t come back with solutions to this complex dilemma…but we did come back impacted by the plight of these fellow human beings, many of which became our friends in a very short time.

It IS a complex situation.

My wife and I had the pleasure of spending Labor Day weekend in the Charleston, SC area. Besides some great time with family and enjoying Folly Beach, we also did a tour of Charleston led by a guide named Alphonso Brown. Mr. Brown is Gullah. Know what that means? He is part of the Gullah culture, also known as Geechee, who are descendants of West African slaves who speak a sort of Creole English, or Pidgin — and have done so for generations. There is a lot of unknown about the origins of the Gullah people, but most scholars agree they can trace many of their roots to the country of Sierra Leone. The Gullah were concentrated for many years along the islands of the coastal Carolinas, Georgia, and extending into northern Florida. Since most of the islands have now been connected to the mainland by bridges and causeways, the Gullah have blended a little more into broader African American culture. The cities of Charleston and Beaufort, SC probably have the highest concentrations of Gullah speakers today.

After an interesting tour of Charleston through the eyes of a descendant of slaves, I sat down for a few minutes with Alphonso Brown. You can find his book, A Gullah Guide to Charleston, below.

At the same time we were in South Carolina, I was reading a book called The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. In it Whitehead chronicles the odyssey of a fictional but real character (if you know what I mean) named Cora, and her harrowing journey from a pre-Civil War Georgia plantation toward an elusive freedom.

If you tend to romanticize life on a southern plantation, or simply realize you need to know more about what African slaves were put through, I recommend this book.

ALSO while I was in South Carolina (talk about convergence!), I heard on NPR of the passing of Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, a onetime frequent contributor on NPR on things culinary and cultural. It turns out Vertamae was Gullah herself (she called herself Geechee, which up to that time was considered a pejorative term), and helped raise awareness of the Carolina Low Country.

So what if you’re a white South Carolinian grappling with the past, present, and future of the home state you love? I also sat down with long-time friend Liz Gilland, who, after a number of years living outside the sate, moved back to her native Conway, SC. She has since held public office on the regional level and is very invested in the welfare of the Low Country.  I asked Liz to do some musing on her beloved Low Country.

No matter where you’re from, there are things to celebrate about your culture and your history, and things you’re…well, not very proud of. That’s the human experience. But we can ensure a brighter future only by learning from the past.

 

I hope you have already listened to last week’s episode, where I interviewed journalist and author Jeff Smith about his experience reconnecting with childhood friends Bill and Tricia Moser. At Tricia’s invitation to visit them on their new farm in rural Michigan, Jeff had a rather large surprise waiting for him. The Mosers had left the affluent middle class, suburban, Evangelical lifestyle…and become Amish. Becoming Amish is the title of Jeff’s book, where he recounts his journey of discovery into a world he knew very little about. It turns out I didn’t know that much, either.

This week we get to hear from Bill Moser himself, who has been friends with Jeff ever since they were four years old and living a few houses down from each other in the Detroit area. I hope you enjoy listening to this thoughtful, soft-spoken man reflect on the last 17 or so years. And just a heads up: because he is so soft-spoken, you may need to turn your volume up a little higher than you’re used to!

Are you still in touch with the people you grew up with? Like the next door neighbor near your age or kids you went to elementary school with? Me? Not in the least. The fact that we moved around a lot didn’t help that much, but it’s rare these days even for people who were neighbors or classmates to remain in contact years after they’ve left home and started a family and a career.

My guest this week was taken by surprise when a couple he’d known since childhood — he’s actually known the husband since he was four — called him up and invited him for a visit to the Michigan farm they had recently moved to. The surprise was not so much that they called, or not even necessarily that they had bought a farm — but rather what was awaiting him when he arrived. When Jeff Smith pulled up to the house, there was not a car in sight; but there was a horse and buggy. This was just the beginning of an unexpected journey of discovery into the world of the Amish. It had such an impact on Jeff that he wrote a book entitled Becoming Amish — and Jeff joins us today to talk about his experiences….

After listening to Jeff, I hope your curiosity is piqued, because next week we’ll be hearing from Bill Moser himself, who, along with his wife, Tricia, and their six children, made the leap from mainstream American Evangelical culture to become Amish.

 

As a part of our series on subcultures in the United States, we take an interesting turn this week and visit a unique breed of human: the Nashville songwriter. You might argue that songwriters the world over are a different breed — and I wouldn’t argue with you. But Nashville is almost without question home to the highest concentration of songwriters per capita of any city in the world. As you’ll hear in our conversation, it’s to the point where you can generally assume that the person who served you your food or drink is an aspiring songwriter — or certainly a creative of some stripe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sat down with three gifted songwriters to hear their perspective on being a songwriter in Nashville, and our conversation also led to different aspects of the creative process that I think you’ll find both interesting and encouraging — especially if you’re a creator yourself. I’d like you to meet Matthew Perryman Jones, Fred Wilhelm, and Reuben Bidez.

For you songwriters and creatives in general, Matthew mentioned a couple of resources (one on air and one off air) that might be of interest to you:

 

In our series on subcultures in the United States, we pay a visit this week to the unique city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The oldest state capital in the US, this jewel at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains was established 400 years ago by the Spanish — its full name being La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de Francisco de Asís — the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Francis of Assisi.

My guests are Karen Lafferty, veteran singer/songwriter (if you grew up in the church, chances are you used to sing her song “Seek Ye First”) and JD Vasquez, both residents of Santa Fe, share their favorite things about this special blend of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American culture.

Karen and JD’s love for their home town makes me want to go back for another visit. Maybe I’ll see you there!