This episode our host Matt Gardner talks with the Latter-day Saints in Action Board of Directors to discuss the last season and some ideas of where we are headed from here.

A good number of our listeners are from the Intermountain West where we are experiencing incredible drought.  The Vice-President of our Latter-day Saints in Action non profit, Kristin Hilman, has a brother (Rob Sowby) and father (Steve Sowby) who work in water engineering and conservation.  I got to chat with them about some things we as individuals can do and what is being done collectively to alleviate our water shortages. 

With the planet continuing to heat up and weather systems changing, it is important for us to know how to prepare for the future.

On our podcast, through our book club, and our Facebook and Instagram posts, we’ve really focused our efforts and energy on following President Nelson’s plea for us to lead out in racial justice.  This week I got the chance to speak with a woman named Darci who lives in Saratoga Springs, Utah.  She has adopted children of different races and talked to me about what it has been like raising them in a very White part of the country.   As you listen, I hope you feel the importance of speaking and educating our children around race.  After the conversation was over, Darci and I talked about ways we can help educate our children.  One of my favorite resources on how to teach children about race and racial justice is a podcast called First Name Basis hosted by Jasmine Bradshaw.  Feel free to look it up and take a listen there. 

 I love hearing about different ways that Latter-day Saints are pitching in and making a difference in our communities.  In this podcast we’ve talked a lot about race relations and how our Prophet has called on us to lead out in racial justice.  Elisabeth Westwood, our book club charwoman, talked to me about her mother who is doing just that.  In the Columbus Ohio area where she lives, Vilo Westwood joined a group called Courageous Conversations.  The group is full of women like Vilo who want to build a dialogue so that we can build a greater bridge of understanding.  One of my favorite things Vilo said was, “If you can say Black lives matter is Marxist, then you don't have to pay attention to what they're saying - you've de-legitimized it, at least in your mind.”

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.  I hope you feel inspired to create more courageous conversations in your own lives.  

This week our host Matt Gardner joins with our book club chair Elisabeth Westwood to discuss the upcoming June reading - Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.  Our book club will be on July 20 at 6 PM.  Join us!

A year ago our host Matt Gardner had a conversation with Kamaal Ahmad following many Black Lives Matter protests.  We talked about the real struggle Black folks have had since the inception of our country.  We also talked about police brutality.  He caught up with Kamaal to see the progress we've made from where we were a year ago.

This episode was recorded on Juneteenth.

This is part 2 of a conversation our host Matt Gardner had with Allison Dayton.  If you haven't listened to part 1, you will need to in order to understand the conversation to this point.  

During the course of their conversation, Matt and Allison briefly discuss sex.  In this episode they also mention suicide.

This month is Pride month and this month on the podcast we are going to share ways that we can create a more welcome place in our congregations - and in our hearts - for our fellow LGBTQ Latter-day Saints.  

Our host Matt Gardner came across and organization in his search for topics and people to interview.  This organization is called Lift and Love.  The organization was created by Allison Dayton who was raised with a gay brother and has a gay son.  Lift and Love helps to create a more loving church environment and an educational resource for parents of LGBTQ Latter-day Saints.  I got the chance to speak with Allison.  In this episode we talk about suicide, so if that is something that will be difficult for you, then feel free to skip this episode.  This conversation ended up being a little longer than one episode, so I split it into 2 parts.  Look for part 2 next week.

This week our host Matt Gardner joins with our book club chair Elisabeth Westwood to discuss the upcoming June reading - A Desolating Sickness: Stories of the Pandemic.  Our book club will be on June 22 at 6 PM.  Join us!

A lot of wards are starting to go back in person, including our host Matt Gardner's ward, and we thought that now would be a good time to chat about how we are feeling about this transition.  Matt chats with his wife Brittany about how they will take the lessons learned and move forward with grace - making space for everyone to feel comfortable at church.