Rejected Central

Brent sat down with Kayla Zinsmeyer and Eamon Hennessey, two students at the University of Houston working on coastal biology, to talk sand dune biospheres, inoculated sand, the sexiness of megafauna, and the reality that sometimes we need to let things die. 

About the series: There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. Brent traveled to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

On this incredibly important day for our American friends and family, we at Rejected Central hope all goes smoothly during voting and the tallying of the votes. Get out there, cast your vote (or don't, abstinence is legitimate option), and reject the hate that unfortunately has defined the loudest of election discussions, both from the left and the right. Most of us are pretty reasonable people: here's hoping that civility continues beyond Tuesday.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Brent and Dave had a fantastic conversation with writer Lori Sebastianutti, who learned after (finally) successful IVF treatments that the Catholic Church is against any extra-intercourse conception, and faced a crisis of conscience as a result. And yet she came to a place where she knows the rightness of her choices: celibate men shouldn't be making decisions about women's bodies and fertility choices.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Brent goes to Houston and sits down with Dr. Steve Pennings, Moores professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the university of Houston, to talk coastal mangroves, baseline shifts, and the challenge of planning for climate change in the face of Texan do-it-yourself pragmatism. 

About the series: There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. Brent traveled to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Patricia Westerhof joins Brent & Dave for a wide-ranging chat about rejection and writing...and how to avoid it. A great place to start is her excellent book The Canadian Guide to Creative Writing & Publishing, a go-to resource for anyone looking to publish in Canada.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Brent sits down with TAMUG students Shea Venkatramani, Jennifer Avila, Hope Vanderhider Cole, and Bailey Lin to talk about the Climate challenges and solutions they're focused on through their studies at TAMUG. 

About the series: There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. Brent traveled to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

In part I of our special series "Rejecting Denialism in the Gulf," Brent sits down with Dr Ashley Ross, a self-declared "political scientist turned hazard scholar" at Texas A&M University Galveston. Ashley's work is a fascinating blend of public policy and environmental science, and she is on the forefront of climate discussions on the Texas coast.

Ashley's TAMUG page.

About the series: There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. Brent traveled to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Dave and Brent talk about how the church can better do what it's supposed to be doing: gathering believers so they can help people. Even for those who don't believe, there exists the possibility that church can be a (better) force of good in the world: unfortunately, it can be easy to forget the good in the face of all that isn't. 

To be continued...

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. In this special series, Brent travels to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Had a fantastic chat with Paris Gee and Kadin Chung, two of Vancouver FC's standout players (and standup guys) to talk about football and life and how a career sometimes needs to go horizontal before it can go vertical. 

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Kadin's Instagram

Paris' Instagram

Vancouver Football Club

And THAT photo can be found here.