No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

What is it like growing up Black in the American South?  The question is too particular to answer with abstraction. Instead, Esau McCaulley answers it in the most personal, humble way available, by telling the story of his family in his new memoir, “How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South.”   In this episode, Esau discusses what he uncovere...

This is our unabridged interview with Tom Paxton.  In the 1960s, during the folk music revival in a neighborhood of New York City called Greenwich Village, a small cafe called the Gaslight hosted many singer-songwriters who were up-and-coming at the time. You might know some of their names, like Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk.  Among the regulars there was Tom Paxton, who, 60 years and 50 albums late...

In the 1960s, during the folk music revival in a neighborhood of New York City called Greenwich Village, a small cafe called the Gaslight hosted many singer-songwriters who were up-and-coming at the time. You might know some of their names, like Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk.  Among the regulars there was Tom Paxton, who, 60 years and 50 albums later, is still writing and performing folk songs that...

This is our unabridged interview with Makoto Fujimura.  Makoto Fujimura occupies an unusual intersection of personal realities: He is an abstract expressionist artist who discovered his Christian faith as an art student in Japan. He continually finds himself trying to bridge the divide between religion and art. “I can't really talk about my faith with my artist friends, and I can't talk about art...

Makoto Fujimura occupies an unusual intersection of personal realities: He is an abstract expressionist artist who discovered his Christian faith as an art student in Japan. He continually finds himself trying to bridge the divide between religion and art. “I can't really talk about my faith with my artist friends, and I can't talk about art with my Christian friends,” he says. “But for me, it's n...

This is our unabridged interview with Oliver Burkeman.  In an age full of lifehacks, self-help books, and productivity gurus, many of us only end up busier and more stressed than we were before. What if there’s a better way to live a full, fruitful life?  "The world is bursting with wonder,” says Oliver Burkeman, “and yet it's the rare productivity guru who seems to have considered the possibility...

In an age full of lifehacks, self-help books, and productivity gurus, many of us only end up busier and more stressed than we were before. What if there’s a better way to live a full, fruitful life?  "The world is bursting with wonder,” says Oliver Burkeman, “and yet it's the rare productivity guru who seems to have considered the possibility that the ultimate point of all our frenetic doing might...

This is our unabridged interview with Kelly Corrigan. “What percentage of all pain in the world is related to wanting to belong?”  Kelly Corrigan - who you may know as a New York Times bestselling author and the host of a number of popular radio and TV shows - was a young mother of two when she and her beloved father were both diagnosed with cancer. It was, to say the least, an immensely difficult...

“What percentage of all pain in the world is related to wanting to belong?”  Kelly Corrigan - who you may know as a New York Times bestselling author and the host of a number of popular radio and TV shows - was a young mother of two when she and her beloved father were both diagnosed with cancer. It was, to say the least, an immensely difficult time.  Yet, she found her way through it by relying h...

This is our unabridged interview with Meghan Sullivan. What does it mean to live a good life, and how do we start?  On our show, we make it a habit of repeating our tagline: “Exploring what it means to live a good life.” But in this episode, we address the issue head-on, with the help of Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy Meghan Sullivan.  We discuss her book “The Good Life Method,” which gives he...

What does it mean to live a good life, and how do we start?  On our show, we make it a habit of repeating our tagline: “Exploring what it means to live a good life.” But in this episode, we address the issue head-on, with the help of Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy Meghan Sullivan.  We discuss her book “The Good Life Method,” which gives helpful insight about the kinds of questions philosophers...

This is our unabridged interview with The Hillbilly Thomists. There aren’t many Billboard-charting bluegrass bands made up entirely of Catholic Dominican Friars, who play their shows clad in white tunics and rosaries. In fact, there is precisely one such band: the Hillbilly Thomists.  “A Thomist is someone who follows the thought and theological teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas,” they explain. “We...

There aren’t many Billboard-charting bluegrass bands made up entirely of Catholic Dominican Friars, who play their shows clad in white tunics and rosaries. In fact, there is precisely one such band: the Hillbilly Thomists.  “A Thomist is someone who follows the thought and theological teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas,” they explain. “We combine it with a little bit of humor about our human conditi...

This is our unabridged interview with Audrey Assad. “Why shouldn’t I question that?” This was the question that started Audrey Assad on a journey away from the faith of her childhood and early adulthood. It’s a question that, years later, is still a guiding light for her towards healing and truth-seeking. But asking such questions after years as an acclaimed singer-songwriter in the Christian musi...

“Sometimes artists have to take a chance and be vulnerable.”  Drew Holcomb and Audrey Assad are two such artists, whose brilliance is in large part due to their vulnerability.  Drew was once heralded by Rolling Stone as “one of Americana’s most popular stars,” and yet he is quick to note that “the human heart was not built for notoriety.” He describes the complex road he took to full-time artistry...

This is our unabridged interview with Peter Levine.  “In order to really move through trauma,” says Peter Levine, “we have to do that in the body.”  As a psychologist with much of his own trauma to work through, Peter has spent his career researching ways to help himself and others come to healing and wholeness. In this episode, he discusses his memoir “An Autobiography of Trauma,” in which he use...

“In order to really move through trauma,” says Peter Levine, “we have to do that in the body.”  As a psychologist with much of his own trauma to work through, Peter has spent his career researching ways to help himself and others come to healing and wholeness. In this episode, he discusses his memoir “An Autobiography of Trauma,” in which he uses his own life story to illustrate his findings.  Fro...

This is our unabridged interview with Malcolm Gladwell and Tracy K. Smith  To prepare for family dinners and political conversations this holiday season, two guests offer us new ways of being humble and curious.  First, well-known thinker and author Malcolm Gladwell reveals why we must learn humility if we are to understand each other. “Humility is a habit,” he says. “Habit is a really important w...

To prepare for family dinners and political conversations this holiday season, two guests offer us new ways of being humble and curious.  First, well-known thinker and author Malcolm Gladwell reveals why we must learn humility if we are to understand each other. “Humility is a habit,” he says. “Habit is a really important word, because if it's a habit, it means it's something that you have to prac...

This is our unabridged interview with Kathryn Gin Lum.  When is the last time you heard the word “heathen”? The word was originally used to delineate between European Christians who tended to be in urban centers and pagans in rural areas.   “Heathen exists in the mind of the person doing the labeling, right? It's a label that one people foists onto another.”  Our guest today, Kathryn Gin Lum, walk...

When is the last time you heard the word “heathen”? The word was originally used to delineate between European Christians who tended to be in urban centers and pagans in rural areas.   “Heathen exists in the mind of the person doing the labeling, right? It's a label that one people foists onto another.”  Our guest today, Kathryn Gin Lum, walks us through the history of the term heathen and how it...

This is our unabridged interview with Tim Shriver.  On social media and the news, the narrative told about humanity is often one of violence, division, and dehumanization. But is that really who we are?  Tim Shriver, best-selling author and chairman of the Special Olympics, doesn’t think so. “My view,” he says, “is that the versions of our lives that most of us lead most days are much more hopeful...

On social media and the news, the narrative told about humanity is often one of violence, division, and dehumanization. But is that really who we are?  Tim Shriver, best-selling author and chairman of the Special Olympics, doesn’t think so. “My view,” he says, “is that the versions of our lives that most of us lead most days are much more hopeful.”  As the nephew of John F. Kennedy, Tim has known...

This is our unabridged interview with Philip Mangano.  Is homelessness a problem that can be solved?  Historically, efforts made to address homelessness in the US have taken a symptom-management approach, focusing on soup kitchens, clothing drives, and medical programs. But these well-intentioned efforts often have a paradoxical effect: over time, they end up serving more and more homeless people,...

Is homelessness a problem that can be solved?  Historically, efforts made to address homelessness in the US have taken a symptom-management approach, focusing on soup kitchens, clothing drives, and medical programs. But these well-intentioned efforts often have a paradoxical effect: over time, they end up serving more and more homeless people, rather than reducing the number of those unhoused.  In...