TEXT AND ROCK.

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about how to parent kids towards their natural gifting and talents and away from cultural pressure. We hope you love it! For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of social handles here: TEXT AND ROCK SOCIALS. Want to support the show, experience our best creative work, bu...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about how religion has changed in human intellectual evolution and what kind of mythology has its place in the post-modern world. So small potatoes... We hope you love it! Mark and Eric For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of social handles here: TEXT AND ROCK SOCIALS...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about how having an internal authority and a righteous mind means having inner peace no matter what life throws at you. We hope you love it! Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of social handles...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric chat about a quote by Joseph Campbell, one of the first to popularize comparative mythology, and introduce a new poem called FOLLOW YOUR BLISS (you can read it at www.textandrock.com/poetry ). We talk about how many people feel caught between their passion and just trying to make it...and how to hold it all at once. We hope you love it! Text and Rock On. Be good to e...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the worrisome trends of western production and consumption, and introduce the poem Corporate Future. This is the second of two episodes we filmed at the Dubuque Street skate park in Iowa City. We hope you love it! Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric jam on the power of peace in an age of un-creative violence, asking whether we gave everything around us its living essence, and whether or not we have any right to take it away. This episode suggest the most powerful peace is capable or violence and retaliation, but makes a choice to stand down. Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the how to pursue cooperation towards moral right in a world of divisive politics and "us and them." Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of social handles here: TEXT AND ROCK SOCI...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the how religion in the west is evolving and how you can get a Masters in Library Science without knowing anything that really matters. En Garde! Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of soci...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the how to pursue joy first and foremost, and how more people need to be okay with questioning corporate slogans, intentions, and groupthink ideas. This one is filmed in front of the skatepark on Dubuque Street in Iowa City, one of the places we like to... show up. Ha! Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Roc...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the how to take the voices that play in the back of your head like tapes and changed them out, and how it is normal for creative people to have anxiety, elevated highs, and deeper lows. Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.t...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric kick around a new poem about how to treat people well so they grow to their full potential-- it only takes a little hope for people to make great strides forward. We also talk about how to take a day off as a pirate, Hillel and Shammai, and Socrates' sage advice: "Be who you pretend to be." שלם and enjoy! Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the difference between passion and occupation, what to do when something lights you up, and how to do what you love no matter the cost. Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You can find all of social handles...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the beauty of everyday kindness and respect for others, and introduce the making of "Beautiful Choices." They humbly suggest that mundane moments are sacred moments when you recognize the divinity and goodness in others. We hope you love it. Text and Rock On. Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the frustration of environmental danger and capitalist corruption while unveiling the making of "On My Way to Hell." The silver lining is that 1) this world truly matters and 2 ) so does your life. Along the way, we talk about the responsibility we all have to innocent and joyful children. Most of all, we explore how faith is not about eliminatin...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the importance of great friends and worthy challenges. The big idea is that the human soul travels the best 1) with other people 2) who are headed in our direction, 3) taking on a mission that matters. Along the way, we talk about quality friends over quantity, and the kind of goals worthy of you. Best of all, we let you listen in on the making of this poe...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric suffer through a coffee order fiasco (Scooter's Kris Krossed their drinks...which would never have happened at Cappana.. insider baseball for eastern Iowans there...). Because of the mishap and the immense pain it causes, they kick around the TEXT AND ROCK poem entitled, 10TH MUSE. Along the way, we examine how the best literature and art comes from suffering. T...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric discuss the need to invest in your soul. They talk about the theme of self-care and others care over and against consumption of marketing in the TEXT AND ROCK poem entitled, SPACE THEY CAN'T TOUCH. On the backend we revisit  conflict managers from Mark's elementary years. He might have had a lotta chats with them. ...he might have had a lot of conflict.  We...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric discuss the kinds of mistakes that make you grow. They talk about the central imagery of redemption  in the TEXT AND ROCK poem entitled, JOSHUA TREE, and Mark fills you in on Eric's ex-girlfriend situation. Otto takes you home by drumming to Susie Q. This one's got it all, and this trip is a disaster. We love you TEXT AND ROCKERS! Be good to each other,  Ma...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about the fear and scrutiny that simply come with making stuff you believe in. They kick around the connection between gladiators and artists as the central image  in the TEXT AND ROCK poem entitled, ARENA, and Eric encourages Mark not to give up on trying to dunk a basketball. ...Mark is like 5'2". It's not gonna happen. Hehe... We love you TEXT...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric drown your sorrows like Atreyu's horse... did you swing at that change up? Ha! They present the thing behind the thing in the TEXT AND ROCK poem entitled, ATREYU, talk about cyclical nihilism in human intellectual history, and present Xenophon's idea of the soul as the part of you that participates in the divine. After the heavy stuff, Mark tells of his chi...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric present the ideas and beats behind TRIPLE RIPPLE  (including more cowbell) and talk about how human names for God are inevitably changing in light of human discovery and internal evolution.  On the road, Eric brings up an interesting idea about God by Hegel the philosopher, and Mark makes playful yet seriously damaging fun of the creation museum in Dumbkentuckistan....

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric present the spoken word and rhythmic strategy of ISHTAR, and talk about the dangers of unchecked marketing and consumerism in western economics. So light stuff. Ha! Along the way, Eric compares an ex-girlfriend to Ishtar, goddess of everything terrifying and Mark challenges you to enter a discussion about defining the dangers of empire and leaving in ways that matter...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Eric talk about what it is to grow as a person and a creator, the dream to combine poetry, rhythm, and performance, and some sick things coming your way.  We love you TEXT AND ROCKERS! Be good to each other,  Mark Shaffer and Eric Madison ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com. You ca...

Send us Fan Mail Hey Text and Rockers! This is the last part  of a discussion with "the Negro Artist," Caleb Rainey. It is some of our best work in the earlier rendition of the Text and Rock Show, and so I wanted to replay it headed into Black History Month.   We hope these episodes make you think, but more importantly, make you actively listen, understand, make friends you might not hav...

Send us Fan Mail Hey Text and Rockers! This is part seven of a discussion with "the Negro Artist," Caleb Rainey. It is some of our best work in the earlier rendition of the Text and Rock Show, and so I wanted to replay it headed into Black History Month.   We hope these episodes make you think, but more importantly, make you actively listen, understand, make friends you might not have, a...