Making Our Way

Hosts: Jan, Rob, & Jim, with guests Lillian and Larry Harrison. Jan, Rob, Lil, and Larry continue their epic adventure with Viking’s Grand European Tour. In this episode, they relate how the Holocaust formed a common thread on their journey from Amsterdam to Budapest Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Episode 44 - An Epic Adventure - I Hosts: Jan, Rob, & Jim, with guests Lillian and Larry Harrison. Jan, Rob, Lil, and Larry retell their epic adventure aboard a Viking River Cruise - the Grand European Tour from Amsterdam to Budapest. In this episode, they evaluate their experience with the Viking Cruise Line. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com...

Hosts: Jan, Rob, Dee, & Jim  2025: a rough start. Stoicism (Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus), and what we really can control. Post-election despondency. The New Orleans incident. Addiction to 24/7 news. Update on Pip. “Laundry Love.” Peter Singer’s moral imperative. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

For the New Year, the group shares a memory of Jimmy Carter, welcomes some classics into a new year of public domain status, mulls over New Year’s resolutions, and Rob remembers his Scrabble® matches with his mom, with a shout out to Nigel Richards (New Zealand). Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Jim raises the "secret about Santa" question; presents USPS Operation Santa; reads some actual letters to Santa, and one letter from Santa that Mark Twain wrote to his daughter Susie; and concludes with some thoughts from the famous "Yes, Virginia" editorial from 1897. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Jim guides us on a quick tour of Matthew’s and Luke’s 2 birth narratives, shows how they  differ, and provides a context in which we can receive both, even with their contradictions. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Episode 39 - Carpe Diem We look at Detroit's old Hudson’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the hazard of marching behind horses; the World Chess Championship between Ding Liren and Gukesh Dummaraju; and the passing of Tony Campolo. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Episode 38 - Honor Flight Official transcript: https://www.cheynemusic.com/transcripts Continuing from Episode 37 - And They Were Heroes, we meet again Master Sergeant O’Neil Ducharme (Marines), veteran of WWII and the Battle of Okinawa, and Mark S. Welsh of the West Central Florida hub (chapter) of Honor Flight, an organization dedicated to providing veterans the experience of visiting Washington...

In commemoration of Veteran's Day, we visit with 2 veterans of World War II. One is Frank Robb (Uncle Frank to Jan & me), who fought in the European theater in the Army. Frank is no longer with us, but Jan and Rob conducted an interview with him in 2010, portions of which we share here. The other is O'Neil Ducharme, U.S. Marine (retired), who fought the Battle of Okinawa. Neil is joi...

Episode 36 - "...a republic, if you can keep it." (part 2) With the election in a couple of days, we look back to a memorable campaign ad from 1964, and discuss where each of us fits on a the political spectrum, with an emphasis on progress by working from the center (à la Kennedy & Hatch). We fact-check a Facebook post, look at the Electoral College over the past 35 year, and yet ex...

Episode 35 - “A Republic…” (part 1) With the election days away, Making Our Way deciphers the mysteries of the ballot, talks blue vs red, left vs right, Democratic vs Republican, and Liberal vs Conservative, and looks at the track record of the 2 past administrations on the COVID response and the economy. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Episode 34 - Wycliffe’s Bones “Knowledge is Power.” In the wake of The Black Death in the 14th century, the translation of scripture into the vernacular signals a power shift in Europe at the dawn of the Renaissance. Along the way, we meet John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, & William Tyndale. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Dee remembers her Uncle Paul, and the interesting people he met. Dee & Jim talk about surviving Hurricane Milton, and how their anniversary plans to New Orleans were gone with the wind. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

We're under Hurricane Milton as we post this. It comes ashore just to our south in about 2 hours. Coincidentally, the episode was planned long ago to be about hurricanes. Written and recorded in the wake of Hurricane Helene, Jim recollects a week of coincidences while working Hurricane Andrew relief in Homestead, Florida, in 1992, with one very meaningful meeting along the way. Thanks for lis...

Yes, students can achieve great things under the care of the right teacher, but the best teachers will tell you they are better at their job because of the students they've taught. So, students really do create the best teachers. In this back-to-school episode, Jan, Rob, Dee, & Jim remember outstanding teachers they've had, and the teachers among us remember our outstanding students....

A conversation with our friend, Emaniel Brifil ("EB"), whose parents arrived in Miami from Haiti via raft in 1979. We talk family, history, values, and the unfortunate direction of certain current political rhetoric, and EB offers a corrective note on Haitian cuisine. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

"The Summer of George" or, "How I spent my summer vacation." 3 of us had near normal vacations, with some major RV repairs and some major Air Canada delays. 1 of us stayed home and cared for the dogs. The one, however, received some excellent news to make up for it all. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

"A date that will live in infamy"? 12/7/1941. "The Lone Gunman"? 11/22/1963. "The Second Plane"? 9/11/2001. Jan, Rob, Dee, and Jim explore the meaning of the second plane and its impact on their lives, and reflect on various responses, religious and secular, to that horrific day. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podc...

In this season finale, Jan, Rob, Dee, & Jim offer a few parting words, that is, a few words about parting from the church of their ancestors and of their upbringing. Not a departure so much as a provoked adventure. Let's call it an invitation to continue making their way. Watch this space. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Years in the making, we finally have Jennifer Hoosier as our guest. Her varied life has taken her from her student days at the University of Florida, to teaching in the public schools, to working at The Salvation Army's Florida headquarters, to teaching in China, to an appearance on Jeopardy, and to Kennesaw State University administration. Recorded May the Fourth, so there might be a Star Wa...

Troubling trends in communities of faith, as those who claim no religious affiliation, known on surveys as Nones, now rate as the largest "denomination" in the U.S. What do you look for in a faith community? Or is that not an issue? Join the conversation with Jan, Rob, Dee, & Jim, currently at their favorite café. (Still trying to remember how "Groundhog Day" got in this on...

Jan & Rob, Dee & Jim check their depth perception of history, and take a U.S. Citizenship test. 95.7% of all immigrants seeking naturalization citizenship pass this test. That number for natural-born citizens? Somewhat less. Would you pass? Did our panelists pass?  Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Jim goes rogue. Here's a Cheyne Reaction to the "God Bless The USA Bible," removing outdated or offensive statues from the public square,  saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and the rise of Christian Nationalism. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Pop Quiz! Jan & Rob and Dee & Jim match  their views against the general public (or at least against a Family Feud test audience)  against each other, discover how well they know their way around the world they've traveled, and even venture into the cosmos. Plus, Jim offers a Cheyne Reaction to the slightly speculative side of eclipse mania. Thanks for listening. Share with your frien...

And now, the final installment of our series on Tanzania, where Jan & Rob are joined by Sandy & Russell Dobney to discuss the sights and sounds, cultures and controversies of their African adventure through O.A.T. (Overseas Adventure Travel) with their excellent tour guide is Eki. Today, we visit a public school, talk about the controversial practice of female genital mutilation, learn abo...