In this episode, we welcome Stephen Jenkinson—writer, teacher, storyteller, and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School. Stephen is known for breaking open the marrow of language and returning it in all its poetic weight. His work on elderhood, grief, dying wise, and the making (and unmaking) of culture has touched people all over the world.

His newest book, Matrimony: Ritual, Culture, and the Heart’s Work, takes on what he calls the “mother of a culture”—the wedding. In a time when so many weddings risk becoming performances, spectacles, or non-events, Stephen asks: what would it mean to make a wedding real?

In this conversation we explore:

• Why vows are not the same as promises
• How families, friends, and communities become witnesses rather than spectators
• Why weddings matter in a culture of high divorce rates and discredited rituals
• What it means for the union of two people to implicate everyone present
• The difference between a ceremony that entertains and a ceremony that truly happens

This is not just a conversation about marriage. It’s about consequence, culture, and what it might take to make our ceremonies—and our lives—real.

Links You'll Love

Orphan Wisdom

Matrimony the Book

Arc + Craft: An Exploration of Creativity and Culture Making Event

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