When it seems like too many things are falling apart and too many people are being too terrible, it’s easy to become too hopeless, too discouraged, and too angry. Instead of complaining and raging about the church's failures, the government's failures, and everyone else's failures, we can focus more on things like art and faith that help us navigate the joys and pains of everyday life.
Art matters because it helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Art and Faith Unplugged and its host Charlotte Donlon make space for conversations and writing that explore how art deepens our belongings and the ways art intersects with faith, doubt, and mystery.
Welcome. We hope Art and Faith Unplugged helps you notice the ways art and faith help you flourish and belong.
Visit artandfaithunplugged.com for essays, articles, and news about art, faith, and belonging.
This episode was originally recorded for a short-lived podcast called Lists on Nine. Aarik Danielson shares a list of nine of his favorite sad songs and talks for nine-ish minutes about a few songs from his list. I'm so glad I get to re-launch this episode here with Art and Faith Unplugged. Please note: Our two audio files were recorded separately and there's a bit of a layering effect here and there but I'm not doing any editing so it is what it is. I don't think it's too annoying and hopefully you won't either.
Nine of Aarik's Favorite Sad Songs:
1) Tom Waits, "Tom Traubert's Blues"
2) Elton John, "The Last Song"
3) Peter Gabriel, "I Grieve"
4) Ray Lamontagne, "Burn"
5) Radiohead, "Let Down"
6) Patty Griffin, "Long Ride Home"
7) Frightened Rabbit, "Holy"
8) John Prine, "Hello in There"
9) Lucy Dacus, "Pillar of Truth"
Aarik Danielsen is a Midwestern journalist, essayist and poet whose writing exists at the four corners of literature, human dignity, pop culture and theology. Rejecting the title "content" creator (however you pronounce it), he hopes to create meaningful dispatches from a place of holy discontent.
Aarik has covered the arts for more than a decade at the Columbia Daily Tribune. He writes a weekly column, The (Dis)content, Wednesdays at Fathom Magazine. His bylines have appeared at Image Journal, Plough, Rain Taxi, Entropy, Think Christian, Christ and Pop Culture, Sojourners, Mockingbird, EcoTheo Review, Relief Journal, The Englewood Review of Books, The New Territory, The Blue Mountain Review, The Curator, Ekstasis and more.
Aarik also teaches at his alma mater, the University of Missouri. He lives in Columbia, Missouri with his wife and son.
_More about Art and Faith Unplugged's host: Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a certified spiritual director for writers at Writing Life Spiritual Direction, and host of Art and Faith Unplugged. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.
