Vernacular

Holiday Food news w/Margaret Perry Today is our last release before Christmas Day, and Margaret Perry joins us on the show to talk about Holiday Food News! On the conversation list: mashed potato recipes, peppermint bark, and taco-scented wrapping paper (among other things), and we close out the episode with a Trader Joe's true fan litmus test, which we all fail miserably. We'll be back during the 12 days of Christmas with more content--in the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas! We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

The Popped Cast: Merry Madness of Christmas Music! March has March Madness. December has Merry Madness! In this crossover edition, we hop onto The Popped Cast to talk with hosts Josh and Maureen Goldman about the best Christmas songs of all time. Sixteen candidates go head-to-head in a bracket tournament until we declare one the winner! If you like what you hear, check out The Popped Cast wherever you get your podcasts, or head to https://pod.link/1382870305. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Making Room for Christ(mas) In today's episode of Vernacular, we talk about some ways that you can "make room" for Christmas despite all of the distracting noise of the season. We talk about hospitality, generosity, sharing of your things, hosting guests, maintaining family rhythms, avoiding Black Friday, penitence, the 12 days of Christmas, caroling after Christmas (gasp!), and devotional practices. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Fighting Cancer, "Improved" Gene Editing, and More Bioethics News In this episode we review some bioethics news (links below) and talk about a new book about fighting cancer (and when enough is enough) and advancements in gene editing that some are talking about as "a significant step towards [being] able to make just about any kind of DNA change that anyone wants at just about any site in the human genome." Prime Editing (NPR) Article on Dr. Rebrikov's efforts at altering "deaf" gene (Nature) First Cell Review (NYT) (If you're interest in reading Dr. Raza's book, we encourage you to check it out at your library. Or you can buy it from Amazon here. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Food News (October) w/ Elena We take advantage of Elena's visit to record an episode about the Food News you never knew you needed for the month of October. Liquor-filled tide pods? Check. Dave Chang's take on international food aisles as bastions of racism? Check. Cat Advent calendars? Check. We also have our first-ever on-air taste test, trying out Clif Bar's new Spiced Pumpkin Pie flavor. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Does "Ad Astra" fulfill its ambitions? Lara & Chandler Ryd and Josh Goldman join Vernacular this week to talk about James Gray's Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, and Liv Tyler (sort of). We share our observations and criticisms of the work, commiserate about the perils of voice-over, pick our favorite cinematography excerpts, and talk about space baboons. It's a fun conversation about a movie that doesn't quite cut it for most of us. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Fall Read/Watch/Listen Recommendations! The September Equinox happened this week, which mean's it's time for October baseball, stiff breezes, early sunsets, and honeycrisp apples! In this episode we share some of the things that we've been reading, watching, and listening to (or plan to) as the leaves start to turn crimson--we have some ideas for media to accompany your pumpkin spice lattes and Oktoberfest ales this season. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Food News w/Zac and Sally In a departure from our regularly scheduled programming, we take a lighthearted look (inspired by the sadly defunct "Food News" from Grantland) at food news from around the country. Take a listen to hear about "Grocery Happy Hour" in Finland, the Popeyes Chicken Sandwhich craze (and why Zac used to think Popeyes was a Catholic establishment), Starbucks' newest idea, and the pumpkin lineup at our beloved Trader Joe's. Let us know if you like this episode--we had fun and would love to do it more often! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

The Philosophy of NBC's "The Good Place" w/Alexi Sargeant In this episode previous Vernacular guest Alexi Sargeant (freelance writer and Managing Director of the Aquinas Institute at Princeton University) joins us to talk about NBC's "The Good Place" and what it tells us about our final destination, ethical quandaries, and the art of being human. For more info on Alexi's work, follow him on Twitter. You can also read his article about "The Good Place" here. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Dad Pod: Talking Fatherhood w/Nate Seibt In this episode of Vernacular (Zac is thrilled about the title), Nate Seibt returns to the podcast to talk about the joys and failures of fatherhood. Zac and Nate swap stories of bedtime struggles, obedience trials, transitioning from the workplace to the home on the end of day commute, and what they would tell their pre-dad selves about what fatherhood is all about. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon

Episode Notes In this episode, Sally sits down with fellow moms Maureen Goldman (of The Popped Cast) and Caitlin Brian to talk about their current joys and challenges as moms. Tune in to hear about picky eating, discipline, and raising rambunctious youngsters. Maureen mentioned her latest project, Working Mom Savvy! We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

Resisting Throwaway Culture w/ Dr. Charlie Camosy In today's episode of Vernacular, we sit down for a conversation with Dr. Charlie Camosy about his recent book, Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People (New City Press, May 2019). We discuss how the Consistent Life Ethic (CLE) can challenge people of all political stripes to reevaluate their long-held beliefs on some of our most polarizing topics--including abortion, immigration, reproductive technology, prison reform, and even animal rights. It's a great conversation and an even better book. Buy Dr. Camosy's book We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

Today we have a special bonus episode of Zac's new theology podcast, Creedal Catholic! See below for show notes, and if you like what you hear, go ahead and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Preaching, Bishops, and Staying Catholic w/Meg Hunter-Kilmer Meg Hunter-Kilmer, the "Hobo for Christ" (piercedhands.com), joins Zac to talk about how Catholics can encourage their priests to be better at preaching, the importance of storytelling in the Gospels, scandal in the Church, the failures of bishops, why she's still so excited to be Catholic, six books every Catholic should read, and the incredible story of Blessed Peter Kibe. The books Meg mentions: 1. The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori 2. On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard 3. To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed 4. Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre 5. Modern Saints, Vol. 1 by Ann Ball 6. Mo

Accidental Minimalism It's been well over a month since we arrived in Colorado, but we still don't have our furniture and other household items. It's actually a good thing though! In this episode, we talk about what we've learned in this accidental experiment in minimalism: a) you can always do with less, and it's easier than you think; b) having less forces you to be oriented outward towards friends and neighbors; and c) having less makes you more grateful. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows Support Vernacular by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/vernacular

Book, TV, and Podcast Recommendations for Summer In this episode, hot on the heels of our big Colorado move, we break down some of the reading, TV, and podcast material that has been consuming our time lately. Among the recommendations: a C.S. Lewis trilogy, a great new crime fiction mystery series, a couple of great theology books, a hagiography by a Nobel Prize winner, a bingeable murder mystery podcast, and HBO's new Chernobyl miniseries. If you like our work, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/vpn! Other Vernacular Network podcasts mentioned on this podcast: The Popped Cast Creedal Catholic Breaking Pod We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

Upping your Coffee Game In this episode we're joined by Nathan Seibt (follow Nate on Instagram here), who talks with us about his passion for coffee, what the average Joe needs to know about a cup o' Joe, and offers some practical ways to step up your coffee game. Some of the resources Nate mentioned are below: Stumptown Coffee Roasters 7 Ways to Level Up Your Morning Coffee Routine Brew the Perfect Cup: The Complete Guide Where the Wild Coffee Grows We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

The Book Club Returns! In this episode, we sit down with Theresa Breslin, a repeat guest on the podcast, to talk about the latest series from J.K. Rowling, who is writing the Cormoran Strike under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. We talk about Rowling's masterful character development, the arc of the eventual 9 books in the series (only four have been published so far), the romantic tensions between the central characters, and more! But don't worry--if you haven't read the books yet, we fastidiously avoid spoilers. If you're interested, book links are below: Cuckoo's Calling The Silkworm Career of Evil Lethal White We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

How We Learned to Distrust Social Media Social media is everywhere. If you're reading this, chances are that you have at least one account on a major social site. We do! But in this episode we scratch the surface a little bit on the ideas driving social media, and the results aren't that encouraging. Listen along to hear about perverse incentive structures and the problems with advertising. We're not Luddites though, so we close with three ideas to help you better use social media. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter | Patreon Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows

In this special bonus episode, we're so excited to introduce you to the latest show on the Vernacular Podcast Network. It's called Breaking Pod, and it is an episode-by-episode discussion of Breaking Bad (the TV show). We'll be back in two weeks on this feed with your regularly scheduled Vernacular programming, but for now, enjoy episode one of Breaking Pod. And make sure to subscribe to the show's feed at the links below. Listen to Breaking Pod on its own feed now: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Overcast | TuneIn | Castbox In this inaugural episode of the show, Zac and Josh break down the entire first episode of what Zac claims is "the best television show ever made." Zac unveils what he thinks is the central question of the entire show, Josh disagrees with Zac on the answer to that question, and we listen to (and critique) several key episode scenes. What did we miss? Email us: breakingpod@vernacularpodcast.com Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Watch Breaking Bad on Netflix

In this episode, Haley Stewart joins us to talk about her latest book, The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture. We talk about what a throwaway culture is and how it poses problems to our humanness, Haley's time living with her family on a community farm without running toilets, and practical tips for you (and your family!) to practice living more fully in spite of the materialism around us. You can find more of Haley's work on her website. If you're interested in the new show Zac mentions in the intro, check out Breaking Pod on Apple Podcasts and Google Play. We'd love to hear what you think of this episode! Reach out to us: Email | Instagram | Twitter Outro music: Heroine Queen by Hallows