I talk with Ann Royals Vitz and Julia Chandler about a book that's been circulating among the Brookewood faculty:  The Hidden Power of Kindness, by Fr. Lawrence Lovasik.  We find this book, abridged in 1999 from its original 1962 version, challenging and practical, as it ranges from the sort of platitudinous ("A smile costs you nothing") to the surprising ("Even a well-founded suspicion more or less degrades you").  We talk about the way Lovasik's insights broaden and complicate our understanding this important virtue--and we hope you enjoy our discussion.

In this episode, Ann, Andrea, and I talk about, first, Leah Libresco Sargeant's The Dignity of Dependence, and then Sue Ellen Browder's Subverted.  Sargeant's book elicited a variety of responses from us, and we admire her approach to healthy relationships and her articulation of what the ideal relationship would look like.  That point, a relational rather than an individual outlook, is the center of the Venn Diagram as we turn to Browder's memoir, which we all recommend.  We spoil plot points in the Browder book, and one of them takes us into territory that is not appropriate for listeners of all ages--this might not be an episode to listen to while picking up carpool.

But Ann, Andrea, and I all recommend Browder's memoir, which is about Browder's own life as a young writer and wife in the late '60s and '70s and also about the women's rights movement and how it became merged with the sexual revolution.  Browder's personal story weaves into the larger public events, as  Browder writes, as Andrea says, "to pierce the lies" of the sexual revolution as she makes her way from the world of Helen Gurley Brown to religious faith.

This episode is a recording of a talk Kevin Davern, Headmaster of Avalon School, gave to parents.  The talk, “Cultural Attitudes That Work Against Educating Children:  Help Your Children Do Well in Virtually Any School” identifies eight errors that might befall even thoughtful parents and offers remedies to them.  The main backdrop is St. Josemaria Escriva’s statement about the beauty of the Catholic faith, in its ability to clarify and offer hope.  Kevin’s talk is itself clear, insightful, practically helpful, and inspiring.  I hope you enjoy it.

David and I talk about The Religion of the Day, the sequel to From Christendom to Apostolic Mission from the University of Mary's Msgr. James Shea and Dr. Jonathan Reyes of the Knights of Columbus and others.  The first book calls for a change of mindset among Catholics, asking us to think of ourselves in an apostolic age--the change is appropriate to the situation and allows us to be more creative and more hopeful.  The second book looks at what has replaced the Christendom mindset in our culture, and the last two chapters offer some guidance about what we can do to help people see the degree to which they are acting out of this problematic secular mindset and help them to understand other, healthier ways to seek the truth.  David is always an entertaining speaker, and we hope you enjoy this episode.

Camino visionary Rich McPherson and I talk about his experience of walking the Camino of Maryland the second time.  The first experience of the Camino had to do with the route and with camaraderie among friends, along with prayer, penance, and graces.  The second Camino brings in new people from other places and a whole variety of different experiences.  Rich has made something beautiful, with and for Brookewood and Avalon, for the world, and, as he keeps reminding me, primarily for God.  There are at least 112 sign-ups for the third Camino, to take place next June, as more and more people are excited by the prospect of walking and praying together in this way.

Rich McPherson joins me to discuss Fr. James Shea's long essay From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age.  The essay asks that we first acknowledge we are no longer living in a culture governed by Christian values and institutions and then that we adopt approaches commensurate with this shift.  The apostolic age brings with it an optimism as Christians find themselves sharing a sacramental vision with others, rather than being disappointed that others don't always already hold that vision.  This conversation is especially fun and successful because Rich and I have each immersed ourselves pretty fully in this inspiring text.

David Steiner, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, is the author of A Nation at Thought and spoke at the New York Encounter, where he spent his day with Avalon and Brookewood president, Rich McPherson.  Steiner's dark view of the current ed scene is interesting to us, as is his book.  Steiner believes in teaching for content (not skills in isolation, as has been the emphasis in contemporary education for decades) and connecting great texts to the deep, meaningful questions they raise.  He thinks American teaching in general lacks urgency.  Rich and I had a wide-ranging conversation, and I hope you enjoy it.

The podcast is back!  We apologize for the hiatus, technical in origin, and are delighted to have returned, now with this conversation with fellow English teacher Elizabeth Eames.  Together we discuss The Atlantic's article "The Elite College Students Who Can't Read Books" by Rose Horowitch.  At Brookewood, especially in the upper school English department, we make a point of teaching students to read books in their entirety, rather than rely on an anthology of excerpts.  Teaching with excerpts has its place, but too often the result is an overly simplified understanding of ideas, and excerpts leave the door too open to an over-emphasis on one point or another, often to promulgate a particular theory, philosophy, or stand.  In general, we like our literature more complex than that.

In this new episode, I (host Cherie Walsh) talk with Andrea Francois and Fr. José Medina about Christine Rosen’s new book, The Extinction of Experience.  Building from our previous work on Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, our conversation begins where Rosen’s book does:  the degree to which our experiences are increasingly mediated by our technological choices and how, as a result, we become spectators rather than agents of our activities.  This change in how people live of course has implications for our students and for ourselves, as we all strive to embrace our lives as fully present, embodied creatures.

I am excited to talk with Andrea Francois and Fr. José Medina about Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation.  Haidt's book was the faculty summer reading at Brookewood, and we like his thesis.  We talk about the phone-free school day in terms of attention, embodiment, reflection, and reasonable physical risk.  For us, going outside in what Haidt calls "Discovery Mode" has been part of the curriculum for years, and we've tightened up our phone policies this summer as the data has come in about the clear correspondence of social media use and the rise of anxiety and depression, especially among girls.

Quentin Walsh ended up producing this one after all, so we thank him for helping to balance us out, as it were.