PILLARS PODCAST 🎙

Bret and I have known each other for 11 years.  We met at St. John's College in Santa Fe where he was studying the great thinkers of the ancient East and I was attempting those of the West.  Bret still lives in Santa Fe with his beautiful girlfriend, Brittany, and seems more the wiser for it.  Santa Fe is beautiful and full of people who are just that with the St. John's community as this epitome.  

Bret and I begin (as one always should) with the Lord Of The Rings.  Bottom line -- there might not be anything better than Lord Of The Rings -- and I need to get back to the Shire and watch those movies!!!  We talk New Zealand, the seminar table, "Sacred Hoops" & Zen, girlfriends, motorcycles, Halloween, the power and lack of power in language, translation, Moby Dick and the singular and myopic focus of Melville, 7-pages/day, and popcorn!!!

Bret, you are a pillar to yourself -- you know yourself -- you have built yourself you own republic and therefore that is why you stand a pillar to the community!!!

Thanks, Bret, and let's go to New Zealand!!!

Luke is a stud.  Luke attended Mater Dei, Gonzaga, Brown.   From a boy and before that perhaps from his father, Luke's number one love was football.  From MapleWood to MD to Gonzaga -- Luke played football and lacrosse and excelled in the classroom.  And by the end of his time on Eye Street Luke was pointed north for Brown University to play lacrosse and study among the nation's elite.  On the field Luke lead with his play and off with his character.  Luke has always been an instant classic, and now he has his sights set on something grander -- the Marine Corp!!!

Luke and I talk Brown lacrosse, 5th year, fly fishing, serving your country, inner voice, character building, movies,  the PLL, A River Runs Through It, camaraderie, brotherhood, life!!!

Thanks, Luke, and best of luck and another thank you for serving our country!!!

Jose is a rising senior at Georgetown Prep who is a phenomenal young man who happens to be very good at soccer.  Jose recently committed to attend Duke University as a student-athlete, but before that Mater Dei helped Jose form a rock-solid foundation.  With family, faith, school -- you can go anywhere.  

Jose, it was a treat to talk with you about family, school, training, mental toughness, military, Pele, Guatemala, the World Cup, and the the beautiful game.

Guatemala 2022 -- LET'S GO!!!

BE A PILLAR!!!

Alex Thomas recently married Maggie Davis who happens to be the sister of my beautiful fiance, Debbie!!!  Alex has become a fast friend because we both enjoy literature (we talk Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Melville, Tim O'Brien), Philosophy, Coke & a smile, sobriety, baths v. showers, movies, truth in history(??), fatherhood, and more!!!

Alex and I could have rapped for hours and we will for years to come on the air and off!!!

Cheers, and I think you will enjoy this thoughtful tour de force!!!

Terry went to Mater Dei, Prep, Duke, where he played lacrosse and captained the team -- sounds like a familiar path, but what is more is that at the end of Independence Month he is off to Coronado, CA for the first step toward become a Navy Seal.  Becoming a seal is Terry's goal, and this is one of the loftiest goals that man can pursue.  However, having known Terry for much of his life and after a fun, informative, and impressive conversation, I wouldn't be surprised to see a seal in his crystal ball!!!

Thanks, Terry, it was a treat catching up and thinking forward!!!

Keep Grinding!!!

Terry went to Mater Dei, Prep, Duke, where he played lacrosse and captained the team -- sounds like a familiar path, but what is more is that at the end of Independence Month he is off to Coronado, CA for the first step toward become a Navy Seal.  Becoming a seal is Terry's goal, and this is one of the loftiest goals that man can pursue.  However, having known Terry for much of his life and after a fun, informative, and impressive conversation, I wouldn't be surprised to see a seal in his crystal ball!!!

Thanks, Terry, it was a treat catching up and thinking forward!!!

Keep Grinding!!!

Monsignor John Ensler has always preferred Father John.  He says there have been so many good priests who have not been given this title, and I believe this to be true.  But I have also had the thought that is it because Father John is a father at heart because he has the heart of a child.  Whenever Father John says mass and there are kids in the pews, he speaks to them -- the mass is geared toward the children -- maybe because this thing called life isn't that complicated if in our grown-up lives we can let our hearts be like that of a child.

Father John's episode was my 50th podcast and it was truly one of the most enjoyable -- and I hope you enjoy the inspiration that flows from this wonderful man.  We talk school, BS, St. B's, Catholic Charities, favorite foods, the pandemic, walks, people, and empathy that is found in the THE POWER OF YES!!!

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  -- Matthew 18:3 --

Thanks, Father John!!!

Alyssa sold me my house and has help sell many of my neighbors their homes.  Alyssa lives a street over here in the mean-streets of the "Hamlet" -- my home since high school, and has earned herself quite the prominent status in Washington Fine Properties as a hustler with a heart.

Alyssa and I sit down to talk this crazy market, the future of the craze, growing up, why real estate, being a super-mom, exercise, the 5 circles of life, personal growth, leading with the heart and everything else will fall in line -- nothing much more cool than that!!!

Thank you, Alyssa -- it was a treat!!!

John is a Mater Dei Griffin,  Georgetown Prep Hoya, and Loyola Greyhound, and he recent has placed the stick and cleats in the closet, but not before helping lead the 'Hounds into the quarterfinals of the NCAA lacrosse tournament, and a goal short of the final four!!  John, once the administer of pain on the defensive end of the field, now trades his destructive force for healing powers.  John desires to be a doctor!!!  From 'hound to Hoya, John takes his talents to M-Street -- or where ever the library is located!!

Thank you, John, giving us some behind the scenes, between the lines view of your experience as dem 'hounds ran deep into May!!!

You are a fine young man, and however many great things you have done with lacrosse, they are the stepping stones to the even greater things that lie ahead of you at Georgetown and in life -- and you know this because at heart you are a GRIFFIN!!!

Matty Thompson is tearing it up on the lacrosse field of High Point University -- but a little differently than you may think.  There is a story about a UNC football player who was about to hang up the cleats mid-career when his coaches and teammates begged him to stay on the team as the 12th man on the field, in the locker room, sidelines -- on and off the field.  He was the ambassador of moral, and that is what Matty Thompson is for High Point Lacrosse.

Matty and I hit on a lot of great topics, but the greatest of them all  and philosophy and personality that Matty carries with him everyday is levity.  Levity is perspective.  Levity is that when life is complicated and we are stressed to the max to not take yourself too seriously and to be able to laugh at yourself.  

Life is a fine balance between serious and humor, and I'd say when in doubt fall to the side of humor -- because the humor just might help with that thing which is serious -- and that is levity.  Thank you, Matty -- never loose your charm and humor, and most importantly, and which is these two put together -- your heart!!