Conversatology

Kyle Steele has taken the remarkable story of his own life and transformed it into a force for "accomplishing mission through family, justice & equality, community building & social entrepreneurship."  Through his vehicles such as The Beloved Community and The CREDO Conduit, Kyle encourages others to find the power in their own stories in order to facilitate transformation and justice.  He is a remarkable human being, and you can find out all about him and his work on his website.

Professor of History at Valencia College, Carl Creasman offers his perspectives on how the decisions and policies of Ulysses S. Grant, our 18th President, helped to shape the current environment of social injustice that we continue to struggle with today.

This week, I'm joined by singer, songwriter, performer, and educator Livingston Taylor.  Born in Boston, MA and raised in Chapel Hill, NC he is the brother of singer-songwriter James Taylor, singer-songwriter Kate Taylor, innkeeper and singer Hugh Taylor, and singer-songwriter Alex Taylor.  His Billboard hits include "I Will Be In Love With You," "First Time Love," and "I'll Come Running."  He performs nationally and internationally about 80 times a year (when there isn't a global pandemic), and has been a faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1989.  

In this episode, Liv and I cherish the memory of the ritual of vinyl records,  how he's living and coping with the pandemic, his weekly TV show on FB and YouTube, his thoughts on Hope and believing in a loving God, and of course, he picks up his guitar and sings a bit.  Always filled with humor and poignant observations, a conversation with Liv is always worth one's time.  Enjoy this wonderful conversation!

Dr. John Sinclair, Chair of the Department of Music at Rollins College, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Festival in Winter Park, FL, conductor of the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT and Director of Music at First Congregational Church of Winter Park shares his thoughts and insights into the challenges and innovations facing musicians and performers in the age of COVID-19. 

Yesterday I received the heartbreaking news that one of my favorite actors and a man I was blessed to come to know a bit, Ben Cross, passed away in Vienna at age 72.  Ben famously played British runner Harold Abrahams in the Academy Award-winning film, "Chariots Of Fire," which is one of the most important films of my life for a great many reasons.  When I was still on Facebook Ben and I got to know each other a bit as we shared the same birthday and a love of singing.  When I began a podcast series on "Joy" a couple of years ago Ben graciously agreed to be my first guest.  We continued to email one another a few times a year after I left social media, and always on our birthdays.  It was one of the profound blessings of my life to get to know the man who I was a fan of since age 12, and the absence of his spirit will be deeply felt by a great many.  In celebration of his life and spirit, here is the conversation Ben and I shared about Joy.

Dr. Grant Cornwell, President of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, reflects on an Op-Ed he wrote for the Orlando Sentinel regarding what he and the faculty of Rollins learned during the final weeks of the spring semester of 2020 when COVID hit Central Florida and how it has prepared Rollins for bringing students and faculty back to campus in September of 2020.  As students have been getting ready to go back to their places of learning, Grant's insights bring valuable information to our thoughts regarding the value and future of learning both face-to-face and virtually.

Born and raised in Orlando, Anna V. Eskamani is the daughter of Iranian immigrants who has worked relentlessly to protect all members of her community through effective advocacy, bold leadership, and smart management. She has been a lifelong community builder, and was elected to serve the great people of Florida State House District 47 on November 6, 2018 by an overwhelming majority. 

Always building bridges, Anna is bringing her passion for helping people to Tallahassee.  In this episode, Anna talks about her upbringing, her passion and what motivates her to live a life of public service, and what enables her to be a successful bridge-builder in such challenging and often divisive times.

Renowned Biblical Scholar and Theologian John Dominic Crossan offers his reflections and insights into the origins of Biblical Justice and Non-Violent Resistance.  

John Dominic Crossan (born 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and former Catholic priest who was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar. His research has focused on the historical Jesus, on the cultural anthropology of the Ancient Mediterranean and New Testament worlds and on the application of postmodern hermeneutical approaches to the Bible. His work is controversial, portraying the Second Coming as a late corruption of Jesus' message and saying that Jesus' divinity is metaphorical. In place of the eschatological message of the Gospels, Crossan emphasizes the historical context of Jesus and of his followers immediately after his death. He describes Jesus' ministry as founded on free healing and communal meals, negating the social hierarchies of Jewish culture and the Roman Empire.

Crossan is a major scholar in contemporary historical Jesus research. In particular, he and Burton Mack are notable advocates for a non-eschatological view of Jesus, a view that contradicts the more common view that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher. While contemporary scholars see more value in non-canonical gospels than past scholars did, Crossan goes further and identifies a few non-canonical gospels as earlier than and superior to the canonical ones. He lives in central Florida with his wife, Sarah.

Jerry Demings, Mayor of Orange Country, Florida is the first African American Police Chief, the first African American Sheriff, and the first African American Mayor of Orange County.  Married to Congresswoman Val Demings, he has led a life centered around service to the city where he has lived his entire life.  In the midst of a global pandemic and renewed focus on racial injustice, Mayor Demings shares what has inspired him through his lifetime, what motivates him now and what he and his wife do to unwind in order to maintain some balance.