No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

This is our unabridged interview with Christian Wiman.  “Suffering, I think, catalyzes an intimacy that couldn't happen otherwise.”  Christian Wiman, renowned poet and teacher at Yale Divinity School, does not say these words flippantly. Two decades ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and given a life expectancy of five years. He has lived the past twenty years in the shadow of death...

“Suffering, I think, catalyzes an intimacy that couldn't happen otherwise.”  Christian Wiman, renowned poet and teacher at Yale Divinity School, does not say these words flippantly. Two decades ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and given a life expectancy of five years. He has lived the past twenty years in the shadow of death and the grip of despair.  In this episode, while discuss...

This is our unabridged interview with Russell Moore and David French.  For the last decade of American political discourse, both the Left and the Right have each been developing fierce tribalism, in which it is increasingly costly for one to wage critique at one’s own group. Threats of canceling, doxing, and worse are everyday occurrences for those who speak out of step with their party.  Russell...

For the last decade of American political discourse, both the Left and the Right have each been developing fierce tribalism, in which it is increasingly costly for one to wage critique at one’s own group. Threats of canceling, doxing, and worse are everyday occurrences for those who speak out of step with their party.  Russell Moore and David French have been in the dangerous business of insider c...

This is our unabridged interview with Musa al-Gharbi.   Society has never been more focused on equality and diversity… right?  The last few decades have been marked by a drastic increase in what often gets labeled “social justice.” Companies and individuals perpetually take very public vows to defend progressive values and denounce all kinds of injustice. But somehow, in spite of all this, social...

***Vote for us to win a Signal Award. Society has never been more focused on equality and diversity… right?  The last few decades have been marked by a drastic increase in what often gets labeled “social justice.” Companies and individuals perpetually take very public vows to defend progressive values and denounce all kinds of injustice. But somehow, in spite of all this, social and economic inequ...

This is our unabridged interview with Carissa Carter & Scott Doorley. We live in an era of runaway design, where tech that seemed to solve our problems has gone on to cause unintended consequences. Think about social media’s effect on our collective mental health. Or the once miraculous material known as plastic becoming an environmental hazard. But we can’t predict the future, so what can we do?...

We live in an era of runaway design, where tech that once seemed to solve all of our problems has gone on to cause unintended consequences. Think about social media’s effect on our collective mental health. Or the once miraculous material known as plastic becoming an environmental hazard. But we can’t predict the future, so what can we do?  In this episode, designers from Stanford’s d.school, Cari...

This is our unabridged interview with Greg Boyle.  How do you become truly loving? Father Greg Boyle teaches us to go to the margins. “You don't go to the margins to make a difference. You go so the folks at the margins make you different.”  In the 80s and 90s, the city of Los Angeles was ravaged by what is now known as the "decade of death," a period of unprecedented gang violence, peaking at 100...

How do you become truly loving? Father Greg Boyle teaches us to go to the margins. “You don't go to the margins to make a difference. You go so the folks at the margins make you different.”  In the 80s and 90s, the city of Los Angeles was ravaged by what is now known as the "decade of death," a period of unprecedented gang violence, peaking at 1000 killings in 1992 alone. It was in the midst of th...

This is our unabridged interview with Meghan O’Gieblyn. Will technology change what it means to be human? Thanks to the rise and implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the common sci-fi trope of a machine-perpetuated apocalypse has taken on a new gravity in recent days. But is Chat GPT really going to rebel against humans, or even change things very much at all? “We're at the point where...

Will technology change what it means to be human? Thanks to the rise and implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the common sci-fi trope of a machine-perpetuated apocalypse has taken on a new gravity in recent days. But is Chat GPT really going to rebel against humans, or even change things very much at all? “We're at the point where we do have technologies that are incredibly powerful,” s...

This is our unabridged interview with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. How can you respond to climate change with joy? Those two words—climate change—can fill us with a sense of dread, anxiety, and doom. Those advocating action are often fueled by a sense of breakneck urgency. But for many, such an outlook isn’t motivating. It’s paralyzing. But what if there was another way filled with joy and satisfactio...

How can you respond to climate change with joy?  Those two words—climate change—can fill us with a sense of dread, anxiety, and doom. Those advocating action are often fueled by a sense of breakneck urgency. But for many, such an outlook isn’t motivating. It’s paralyzing. But what if there was another way filled with joy and satisfaction? “This is the work of our lifetime,” says Ayana Elizabe...

This is our unabridged interview with Edith Hall. What if you’re wrong about what it means to be happy? In spite of unprecedented access to things that give pleasure - buy this pill, eat this food, go on this trip - mental health issues are increasing globally at an astonishing rate. It’s clear that the modern idea of happiness is lacking something. In this episode, Edith Hall offers an ancient de...

What if you’re wrong about what it means to be happy? In spite of unprecedented access to things that give pleasure - buy this pill, eat this food, go on this trip - mental health issues are increasing globally at an astonishing rate. It’s clear that the modern idea of happiness is lacking something. In this episode, Edith Hall offers an ancient definition of happiness from Aristotle that might ju...

This is our unabridged interview with Cyntoia Brown Long. On August 7th, 2019, Cyntoia Brown Long was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women. It was 13 years after she had been sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a man to whom she had been sex-trafficked. In this special episode, Cyntoia tells an uncensored account of the great personal and systemic brokenness which led to her...

On August 7th, 2019, Cyntoia Brown Long was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women. It was 13 years after she had been sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a man to whom she had been sex-trafficked. In this special episode, Cyntoia tells an uncensored account of the great personal and systemic brokenness which led to her imprisonment, and the dramatic, at times hard-to-believe...

This is our unabridged interview with Quincy Byrdsong. How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems? In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle. In this episode, Dr. B...

How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems? In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle. In this episode, Dr. Byrdsong discusses how such cases as the infamous Tuskeg...

This is our unabridged interview with Jerry Mitchell. In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases. In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work...

In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases. In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work, from the discovery of sealed spy records which revea...

This is our unabridged episode with Clay Hobbs. What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them?  After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and beg...

What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them?  After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and began planning accordingly.  In today’s intimate ep...

Our guest today says that for 50% of our lives, we are not paying attention to what we’re doing. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us are coming to terms with the fact that our capacity for paying attention is laughably weak. Our work, mental health, and relationships suffer because of it. But what if there was a tried-and-true way to change this, something like “push-ups for...