This is a story about a ritual. A Chinese tea ceremony. It's used as a means to connect — with the past, with people, with another land. Joshua Drake Wu invited me into his home to experience the joy of Chinese tea. I learned a lot of surprising things about tea, hospitality, and my neighbor. Make yourself a cup of your favorite leaf and listen. Also in this episode are the rituals of two of my podcasting colleagues, Jonathan Hirsch of ARRVLS and Vannessa Lowe of Nocturne. They are two great shows you should check out. Special thanks to Jason Goforth and Dan Burns for some of the music in this episode.

A Ritual of Hospitality

A show about what connects with Jakob Lewis.

Neighbors is a production of Great Feeling Studios www.greatfeelingstudios.com



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Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Everyone had their own experience last year—this was mine. We like many planted a garden. It was brought about by stillness and helped us frame a year of both creativity and joy as well as sadness and grief.

The Garden

Jakob gets an email from a police officer in Germany asking to be his penpal and says yes. What followed next was a intimate cultural dance between two earnest people.

The Pen Pal

Today we present a new podcast from WKMS in Murray Kentucky called Middle Of Everywhere—Big stories from the small places we call home. What happens when an atheist stands up for free speech when the government favors Christianity? Many people in this country think that patriotism and Christianity go hand in hand, but can a person be a patriot and non-religious? In this episode, Ariel and Austin hear from one feisty and independent man who has devoted his life to crusading for freedom of expression. His journey became world renowned with his lawsuit against the state of Kentucky for denying him the vanity license plate IM GOD.

You can join “The Neighborhood” along with these wonderful, thoughtful, generous people by becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/neighbors

Who’s in “The Neighborhood”: Allison Sebastian, Adrian Cobb, Nathalie Stewart, Ben Lehman, Caroline Martin, Clark Buckner, Cody Spriggs, Dan Burns, Em Vo, Eric Detweiler, Gina, Griffin Bonham, Heather Price, John Kesling, Landon Rives, Patrick Black, Patrick Gillis, Ray Ware, Ryan Arnett, Samuel Adams, Tom and Rachel Kraft, Nikki Black, Hunter and Bonnie Moore, Newton Dominey, Bea Troxel, Craig and Brenda Burns, Laurel Dean, Travis Hall, Clark Hill, Tony Gonzalez, Christopher Mastin and my mom Tonya Lewis (thanks mom!)

Visit our website at www.neighborspodcast.com

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts to show your patriotism ;)

Music from the Blue Dot Sessions, Dan Burns. Use Dan Burns for your podcast/videogame/film project!

Our sonic logo at the beginning of the episode is by Dallas Taylor’s company Defacto Sound. Dallas makes a podcast about sound called Twenty Thousand Hertz listen at www.20k.org

Get to know your neighbors.

Photo credit: The Freedom From Religion Foundation

IM GOD Neighbors Presents: Middle Of Everywhere

This episode I do something I have never done in the entire history of the show. I just interview someone. No story. I interview Michael McRay to shed some light and hope on our current political divide. He’s a Nashville-based author of the new book I Am Not Your Enemy: Stories to Transform a Divided World. He’s a story-practitioner using the power of personal stories to heal harm, make meaning, and create connection. He works most often with the global empathy nonprofit organization Narrative 4 and earne his master’s degree in Belfast, Northern Ireland, studying conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Our conversation starts with the political divide in America, but ends up in a much more intimate place. We’ll learn about the scale of sectarian danger, a scale to determine the escalation of violence that can occur based on sectarianism, a helpful tool called the PIN model for conflict resolution, and here a couple stories of disparate people connecting in deeply human ways.

Scale of Sectarian Danger (from Moving Beyond Sectarianism: Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland)
Escalation by words and actions


We are different, we behave differently
We are right.
We are right and you are wrong
You are a less adequate version of what we are
You are not what you say you are
We are in fact what you say you are
What you are doing is evil
You are so wrong that you forfeit ordinary rights

You are less than human


You are evil
You are demonic




PIN diagram



You can learn more about the story exchanges Michael refers to in this episode at: https://narrative4.com/

You can join “The Neighborhood” along with these wonderful, thoughtful, generous people by becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/neighbors

Who’s in “The Neighborhood”: Allison Sebastian, Adrian Cobb, Nathalie Stewart, Ben Lehman, Caroline Martin, Clark Buckner, Cody Spriggs, Dan Burns, Em Vo, Eric Detweiler, Gina, Griffin Bonham, Heather Price, John Kesling, Landon Rives, Marc Kochamba, Patrick Black, Patrick Gillis, Ray Ware, Ryan Arnett, Samuel Adams, Tom and Rachel Kraft, Nikki Black, Hunter and Bonnie Moore, Newton Dominey, Bea Troxel, Craig and Brenda Burns, Laurel Dean, Travis Hall, Clark Hill, Tony Gonzalez, Christopher Mastin and my mom Tonya Lewis (thanks mom!)

Visit our website at www.neighborspodcast.com

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts for peace

Music from the Blue Dot Sessions, Dan Burns. Use Dan Burns for your podcast/videogame/film project!

Our sonic logo at the beginning of the episode is by Dallas Taylor’s company Defacto Sound. Dallas makes a podcast about sound called Twenty Thousand Hertz listen at www.20k.org

Get to know your neighbors.

I Am Not Your Enemy

Coping with the pandemic, the election, really anything in 2020—it can come in waves. Sometimes after a big milestone happens, like getting married, the weight of it all can hit you like a semi truck. Need a good cry to honor the big things in your life that did or didn’t happen in 2020? Guest producer Michelle Dahlenburg brings us the story of Susan and Mark's shift to holding one of the most important days of their lives on zoom and just what it means for their union.

You can join “The Neighborhood” along with these wonderful, thoughtful, generous people by becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/neighbors

Who’s in “The Neighborhood”: Allison Sebastian, Adrian Cobb, Nathalie Stewart, Ben Lehman, Caroline Martin, Clark Buckner, Cody Spriggs, Dan Burns, Em Vo, Eric Detweiler, Gina, Griffin Bonham, Heather Price, John Kesling, Landon Rives, Marc Kochamba, Patrick Black, Patrick Gillis, Ray Ware, Ryan Arnett, Samuel Adams, Tom and Rachel Kraft, Nikki Black, Hunter and Bonnie Moore, Newton Dominey, Bea Troxel, Craig and Brenda Burns, Laurel Dean, Travis Hall, Clark Hill, Tony Gonzalez, Christopher Mastin and my mom Tonya Lewis (thanks mom!)

Visit our website at www.neighborspodcast.com

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts because my life depends on it

Music from the Blue Dot Sessions, Dan Burns. Use Dan Burns for your podcast/videogame/film project!

Our sonic logo at the beginning of the episode is by Dallas Taylor’s company Defacto Sound. Dallas makes a podcast about sound called Twenty Thousand Hertz listen at www.20k.org

Get to know your neighbors you dingus.

A Ritual of Hospitality

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