Believe to See

Anselm potter Nancy Soderstrom joins the table to talk about pottery, watercolors, and COVID. A talented potter, Nancy found herself cut off from her pottery studio because of COVID. So she took up watercolors and--surprise!--became good at that too. Nancy shares her approaches to art and prayer, and how they both encouraged her to keep creating beauty in difficult times.

At the Anselm Society's March Pub Night, our own Evangeline Denmark presents her retelling of the legend of St. Brigid's Cloak. Later, Evangeline and Matt discuss St. Brigid's role in both Irish Christianity and Irish mythology, and the best ways to approach these saintly stories.

Photographer Elizabeth Bristol Clayton joins the table to talk all things photographry. She explains how to approach the world like a photographer, and how to plan a fine art piece. She even gives Matt and Mandy advice for taking iPhone pictures that actually look good.

Are short stories just tiny novels, or are they a whole different medium? Elizabeth Childs is the perfect author to ask. She's regularly publishing short stories while working on her novel. She joins the table to discuss the many ways that short stories differ from novels, and the qualities to look for in effective short stories.

Matt waxes poetic about two of his favorite things: detective fiction, and rules. Mandy and Elizabeth Childs join him in discussing how rules make detective fiction worth reading. They also explore the ways that rules can make any work of literature more effective.

Director Dana Kjeldsen joins the table to discuss horror films. What makes horror such an effective artistic vehicle? What questions should you ask yourself before deciding to watch a particular horror film? Can Matt ever be convinced to watch a film that's actually scary? Dana handles all these questions and more!

Artists have to face rejection and failure all the time. Seriously: ALL. THE. TIME. Luckily, the hosts are all experts in getting their art rejected. They discuss the healthy ways to deal with failure, and the keys to distinguishing between helpful and unhelpful feedback. As an added bonus, they also put together a points system to calculate which Anselm member has scored the most "failure points."

Believe to See is back from its semi-intentional hiatus, and ready for more raucous conversations on the arts and faith. The hosts explain the podcast's new story-based emphasis, and analyze the stories that shaped them in the past year.