Inappropriate Conversations

Some Assembly Required (A NeoSurrealist Forsaking a Habit for Lent)   Chapter 3 "Gone, But Not Forgotten" Timed Test Hostile Takeover Bid Fine Tuning Replay "If you cannot address the concerns of one increasingly irate customer, then those concerns ultimately may cost you the business of other customers as well."   Different Drummer: Bob Walkenhorst The Rainmakers in Norway

When a new member of a church pledges to join a congregation, the public statement is often about supporting the church with prayers, presence, gifts, and service. At the point of deciding to leave a particular church, though, that pledge gets called into question. For some, leaving a congregation can reflect an abandonment of everything, all of that plus belief itself. For my family, though, the tension was more about whether the commitment was to a particular local church or something different, something more. This episode, #wte 001, started the series of questions in a spinoff podcast of Inappropriate Conversations simply called Walk The Earth.

Some Assembly Required (A NeoSurrealist Forsaking a Habit for Lent) Note: explicit language throughout   Chapter 1 What the Anti-Formalists Thought Bennie's Got It Pop Quiz Homegrown My Brunch with Nicole "You always do this to me. First, you bring up something offensive. Then, you tell me to stop you before you go too far. But how can I?"   Chapter 2 R.S.V.P. Cat Burglar Diary of a College Graduate Backroads Telemarketed "Film Break" "Whether the goal is to become a member of the Christian Community, or the cat-killing community, or simply the campus community, there is a compelling degree of comfort to be found in membership."   Different Drummer: Ze Frank Dear Kitten ads

Whether a mission statement is necessary, and what role does it play in the mission itself?   July 2010 on Inappropriate Conversations A conversation from before Inappropriate Conversations existed

Now that I've committed to TalkBack episodes being part of the structure going forward, along with new episodes of both Inappropriate Conversations and Walk The Earth, it's a good time to note that no past podcast I've ever recorded seemed quite as set for a reprise as this one, #IC #138. I am surprised that six years have gone by since I was slightly shaken by the news that someone from my high school graduating class had died. Hillary wasn't the first, there have been others since 2014, and inevitably more to come. It seems that Hillary took the chance to tell her story, though, on stage, a year earlier. We are blessed to live in an era where missing that event, and missing the actual events even at school, isn't the last word. To some degree, podcasts and YouTube videos are preserving a record. For now.  http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/138-missing-someone-i-never-knew/  

Seems to me, our society collectively complains about how the quality of our discourse has devolved while also avoiding even talking about potential solutions. Some seem just as legalistically obsessed with the First Amendment being a hard-stop to even common-sense standards of decency as they, or perhaps others, are about the Second Amendment. Just as you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater where there is no fire or danger, you also cannot threaten to attack someone merely to silence their opinion or prevent them from raising their voice. Here we are, though, living in a society where harassment is accepted with a shrug and bullying is almost praised when it is an effective tactic. The situation is deplorable, but we have learned in recent years that using that particular term to denounce horrible misbehavior doesn't seem generate appropriate attention toward the problem.  I would humbly suggest that we have the tools, the technology, to address this issue. Despite our discomfort about law enforcement ove

With the second Senate impeachment trial of my lifetime scheduled to start any day now, I've chosen to schedule this TalkBack episode in advance for future release. That's a risky move. Who knows what might happen between now and then? To me, that's one of the challenges of dealing with current events on a podcast intended to be more evergreen than the news of the day. And the impeachment covered in this podcast is more than 20 years old now! http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/40-other-high-crimes/  

From an endgame perspective, the so-called "war on drugs" was never intended to generate the equivalent of permanent prisoners of war in the form of mass incarceration, but that is probably the true face of the political strategy that seemed to directly target my generation. The focus came after the Summer Of Love crowd, hitting instead the younger brothers, sisters, and cousins. It's hard to cite any wins because "Just Say No" as a campaign was far more about the image than the results, pure style over substance. Perhaps it was only about winning electoral strategies. I say this because I first had to resist this facile nonsense before I could commit myself to truly resisting any temptations to "experiment" with drugs.  Yes, "temptations" is plural. This issue was never so simple that "just say no" was credible advice. And that was just part of the problem that persists today. Other parts include the false equivocation about the relative dangers of different substances, and whether keeping people alive long

To our shame, our society still tends to teach women to separate themselves from their sexuality, treating pleasure as something regrettable while looking the other way with a "boys will be boys" shrug about men pursuing pleasure. Even within committed relationships, this has unfortunate and unnecessary consequences. Wise women have spoken against this, and their counsel is well worth considering. Different Drummer: Ruth K. Westheimer  

Considering how prominent sex is on the logo for Inappropriate Conversations, I haven't touched that topic as often as I could. I may explore some reasons why in the next Inappropriate Conversations recording for #IC #222. We'll see. In the meantime, this past episode from 2010 provides valuable background information, recalling a time when the church taking sex education seriously did not have anything to do with protesting, banning, or undermining it. http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/14-sex-education-the-protestant-way-then-not-now/ Happy 2020!

Whether spirituality has become a private matter because churches are using spirituality to attack and exclude?

The previous TalkBack episode included the beginning of an essay called "Should Amendment Stand a Prayer of Success?" It was written in 2000 and shared on this podcast in 2010. Inappropriate Conversations #30 is the rest of that argument.  http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/30-establishment-of-religion/  

As far as I can tell, Inappropriate Conversations #29 is the most downloaded episode in the history of this podcast. I'm not sure why a wide-ranging perspective on the concept of school prayer would get such a response, but I'm pleased to share it here. This episode also qualifies under the heading of topics too large for one recording, so I'll share #IC 30 next, soon, to complete the thought. I describe myself as a radical moderate, using terminology very loosely, and this topic provides a pretty good example. This first episode in particular shares a counterpoint to my position, and most of the 2-part arc is me providing information and criticism to what might be considered my own camp. I believe I have credentials as a Christian to share what Jesus taught to other Christians, for example. And this was just the beginning of the podcast, from the first year in 2010. http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/29-my-prayer-for-a-football-game/    

When Inappropriate Conversations #38 was recorded 10 years ago, the annual Paper Football Classic in my family was still a nearly annual event, with 31 consecutive years of record keeping and bragging rights. I was not anticipating a long hiatus, but life as a parent has included high school and college graduations, young adults buying and moving into first homes, marriages, etc. In my mind, the TPFC is still a thing and may resume once again.  Happy Thanksgiving with a TalkBack episode to this holiday season, both now and in years past!  http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/38-thanksgiving-paper-football-classics/  

Inappropriate Conversations and Walk The Earth podcasts are now available on Spotify. It's a transition that will include reintroducing some of the oldest episodes of each, over time, in a process I've called TalkBacks.  Different Drummer: Johann Sebastian Bach  

What if I go low instead of high? The named Different Drummers might be people like: Mitch McConnell Rick Wiles Franklin Graham Candice Keller As opposed to the real answer this time. Different Drummer: Michelle Obama

Sharing a short promo for the Inappropriate Conversations podcast.

For two consecutive years now, the Pride48 podcasting expo in New Orleans has been a landmark in summertime vacation plans. Each year has been a combination of seeing old friends again and meeting new ones. These are conversations I intend to continue. Different Drummer: Bernie Taupin "He's my brother. Let us live in peace." (Taupin)

Spoiler alert regarding Avengers and Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the Life In Hell strips Matt Groening wrote years ago featured his criticism of film critics. One-liners included newspaper critics writing tight capsule reviews and more serious magazine critics wearing sweaters and giving away endings. I don't often wear sweaters, but I do struggle with how to openly discuss subtext without spoilers. For the movie The Sixth Sense, I ended up writing two reviews, one for before you've seen the film and one for after. That seemed to work. At the #p48EXPO #p48NOLA #p48LIVE event this year, I didn't have the time to offer such a dual perspective. If you are behind (as I was until this summer) on Infinity War and Endgame, you've been warned. The primary focus of this episode was looking more deeply at what draws us into the popular art we consume. With movies, for example, the impetus seems to be different for comedy, horror, documentary, etc. What occurred to me about the draw of characters, regardless the

Whether "ghosting" is an appropriate alternative to an exit interview when severing ties? Pride48 2019 NOLA Schedule