What People Do

Episode 88: Dr. Samuel Brody wrote about religious Zionism

Israel and Zionism: Could I have picked a hotter topic? Well, cool your jets, man.
Sam Brody, PhD, an associate professor of religious studies at University of Kansas, is going to bring a nuanced view of Zionism, theology, politics, and the ever-in-the-news dilemma of the nation-state of Israel by exploring an early thinker on the topic who’s most famous these days in bookstores for his religious work alone: Martin Buber.
If there are terms you don’t get as you listen, stop and look them up. It’s not too deep. Then, bask in Brody’s thoughts on the evolving thinking of Buber, whom he says brings an “anarchist” reading to the Bible to support his ideas about what kind of people the Jews are and what kind of place Israel could be.
His book is Martin Buber’s Theopolitics (what a fantastic word!), published in 2018 by Indiana University Press. Sure, the academic hardback is $90, but the ebook is only $9.99. Don’t be a cheapskate.
When I asked what people completely new to Buber should dig into first—how they should order their first dive into the life and ideas of this empathetic Jewish philosopher famous for his ideas on relational thinking—he recommends some books at the tail end of the podcast (before Brody’s recommendations, I recommend you read a way-too-short and over-simplified snapshot about Buber here, and if you’re into philosophy, head here):
I and Thou, in many old and new versions all over, here in a 100th anniversary reissue
Buber’s Hasidic stories (here or here, all available in earlier cheaper editions, too) about the great Eastern European rabbis—and the first of them, the Ba’al Shem Tov—from the past few centuries who focused on making Judaism more attainable and emotional overly scholarly and intellectual
Thinker Paul Mendes-Flohr, of blessed memory—either reading his book on Buber or watching a talk he gave about the book in synagogue
“Then after that,” Brody says in our interview, “you can read my book.”
After speaking to Brody, I think about the clash of politics and theology in a way, way different way. So this interview was, without exaggerating, eye-opening and mind-shifting for me.
May it be for you, too!

Episode 87: Rabbi Rifat Sonsino writes about God

Religions emphasize, in different measure at different times and for different reasons, belief/theology and practice/ritual/tradition. 
Judaism, in general, is a religion that focuses more on practice than belief. And it famously has multiple ways to remain “tied in” to the ethnoreligious tribe: To be Jewish is to do Jewish religion, to be Jewish is to be a part of the tribal nation of Israel (as differentiated from the secular state today), and to be Jewish is to be a part of the tribe of Jewish people. Religion. Nation. Tribe. 
Traditionally, you are a Jew whether you believe in God or not, but other religions aren’t so forgiving on the point. Can you be a Christian without believing Christ is Lord? Can you be a Muslim if you don’t believe Muhammad was a prophet? But you can deny God and remain in the Jewish people. 
All that to say, when I was studying for conversion more than 20 years ago, one of my favorite books was not about the practice of Judaism, but the range of belief systems available to those under the umbrella of Judaism: Finding God by Rabbi Rifat Sonsino. When a student of mine said she was questioning the existence of the Jewish God, I offered her parents a few books to read with her, and one of them was this one. I was happy to see Rabbi Sonsino had updated the book as well as written others. 
When I reached out to him, and this was me really reaching for the stands, I was thrilled to hear he’d talk to me about theology and his books. This podcast episode is the result. 
If you’re interested in Jewish theology and thinking about God in general, our conversation will be interesting and enlightening. If you, like Rabbi Sonsino, find the rational/scientific/modern world is quite impressive, and your ideas about God are flavored or curtailed by that, Rabbi Sonsino is your jam. 
In the ideal world, you’d want to read more after hearing this. Great! Start with Rabbi Sonsino himself. His blog is free and updated at least monthly. 
Want to dig into books covering the wide range of Jewish theology in Rabbi Sonsino’s bibliography? Consider: 
Finding God: Selected Responses (Behrman House); 
or The Many Faces of God (Behrman House), which relies on wonderfully chosen direct excerpts from modern thinkers. 
Interested in Rabbi Sonsino’s own exploration of theology and the God-wrestling he describes in this episode? Try: 
6 Jewish Spiritual Paths: A Rationalist Looks at Spirituality (Jewish Lights); 
And God Spoke These Words: The Ten Commandments and Contemporary Ethics (Behrman House), a perfect one for Christians and Jews who draw from these teachings;  
or, last but not least, his most recent book, A God We Can Believe In, co-written with Rabbi Richard Agler. This comes with a lengthy, free book-club-like set of discussion questions to put the book’s content to work for you in rolling the idea of God around in your own head. 
Whether you believe in God, believe in something god-like, or think the idea has outlived its usefulness, well, hear what Rabbi Sonsino has to say first ...  

86: Ilana podcasts about activism for kids

I know Ilana from a teaching gig. Ilana's mom asked if I wanted to interview the budding podcaster. I said, of course, sure, absolutely.
You can find everything they're working on around the project of helping kids make a difference in causes they care about at the very well-named Kids4Justice.org. You can also get right to the podcast The Power Pod on Spotify. Episodes are VERY short with snappy music and great guests, and Ilana actually does work to edit a podcast, which I am too much of a sloth to do. They've interviewed musical activists and artist activists, and talked to experts about LGBTQIA+ rights, campaigning, social movements, and protests.
Don't like this episode? It's because I don't put as much work into mine as Ilana does. Go listen to The Power Pod, yo!

85: Larry Stigsell wrote an inspirational book

He's a dad. He's a granddad. He was a decades-long sporting goods salesman in his town. And he worries about the negativity in the world today and wanted to take a stab at sharing the philosophy that helps him.
That's Larry Stigsell and his new book, Looking Through Our Eyes of Curi Osity.
I knew Larry through his son; we used to work together in B2B publishing.
I think you get a feel for Larry's energy and goodwill, and the evergreen sensibility at the base of his advice to everybody, in the new book, this interview, and his fun experimentation with videos on YouTube.
If you're ever thought of self-publishing a book, take a ride on Larry's magic carpet for a bit in this episode and try to heat up a bit in the joyful energy for his confidence and friendliness ...
P.S. The cool thumbnail from the book cover is from Larry's graphic-designer son. You can find that dude, Shawn Stigsell, on LinkedIn.

84: Richard Orodenker uses commonplace books

It’s been a few weeks now that I’ve been keeping a commonplace book. A few hours after discovering the concept and chasing some internet rabbit holes, I found Richard Orodenker, a former Temple University faculty member, who uses a commonplace book, has studied historical examples of them, and used them as projects in some of “Intellectual Heritage” classes with college students.
I immediately contacted him and asked if he’d be interviewed on the books, their use, and his practice and study with him.
He agreed. And, thus, another episode of What People Do was borne ... tada!
Orodenker employs a commonplace book with quotations and things from books he’s read on the right-hand side of a journal spread, and his own journaling thoughts and reflections on the left-hand side. Commonplace books are sometimes nothing but scrawled notes, and other times gorgeous, intricate, and artistically wondrous works from artists and scientists.
I have found the commonplace book helpful as a way to note, reflect on, and re-read things that jumped out at me in all the things I try (new psychology exercises, new spiritual exercises, journaling) and all the things I read (nonfiction, prayers, poems, websites, articles). I keep my commonplace book and journal separate for now, but maybe someday I’ll swing the Orodenker way and throw them together!
If you love smart professors, old things made new again, and journaling, reading and self-reflection, this episode is a must-listen.
 
For further exploration:
Orodenker’s The Common Place Book Project appears here.
If you’re into baseball and the Philaldephia Phillies (they’re my arbitrarily chosen MLB team), enjoy this. Orodenker has written about sports writing for some more scholarly works as well, including this and this.

Bonus! KJ Davis helps creatives get started

KJ Davis  is a self-described "working neurodivergent matriach, military vet spouse, small business owner, and descriptive fantasy sci-fi author." All the aspects were interesting to me (we didn't talk the "military vet spouse" part, sorry).
The idea of a small business that serves to help creatives take their burning passions to the people is a neat one. What if you're shy, nervous, inexperienced, afraid of failure, or have other social or psychological issues that make it hard to take those first steps in self-promotion to get your name out there?
That's what KJ does ...
Note: This episode is a special bonus episode featuring a sponsor at our local game convention, Kantcon, which is dope and you should check it out every year. The 2024 one is July 5-7!
 
For further enjoyment:
Visit KJ's website here. There, you can find absolutely everything about all of her clients (art! snacks! books!), see some creativity-friendly merch to buy, and check out her fantasy novel series.

Bonus! Noah Gibbs helps organize a charity gaming convention

Noah Gibbs is a fellow tabletop gamer and Kansas City metro local. But he’s got even stronger feelings about the local gaming and convention community than me. He’s been working with a charity convention to raise funds for local causes for a few years. He still games regularly (I’ve lapsed). And, guess what, his connections at local gaming conventions led him to the Kansas City metro years ago. Folks he’d met at Kantcon helped get him established here. He met his wife. Now he’s a proud dad, too.
Find out more about Noah, his volunteer work at Meeple-a-thon, the joys of gaming and nonprofits ... and answer the question, “Sorry, umm, what’s a meeple?”
Note: This episode is a special bonus episode featuring a sponsor at our local game convention, Kantcon, which is dope and you should check it out every year. The 2024 one is July 5-7!
 
For further enjoyment:
Noah Gibbs is assistant director of Meeple-a-thon, which runs Sept. 27-29, 2024. In the area? Come play! Just want to donate? Click here!
Meeple-a-thon is sponsoring the Paint and Take table at Kantcon July 5-7, 2024. (See? It takes a village to make conventions happen!)
Meeple-a-thon supports various nonprofits (A Turning Point!), but its biggest recipient remains Hillcrest Platte County’s Youth Housing Program.
Noah’s Paint and Take legacy predecessor is Michelle Farnsworth, whose commission website is “Mini Painter, Ink” here. Go check out her stuff!
The miniatures Noah 3D prints are cat people from Kawna Minis. You can find them here.
Games mentioned in this podcast:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Red-box Dungeons & Dragons
Fistful of Seamen
BattleTech
KeyForge
Warhammer 40K
Alpha Strike
Marvel: Crisis Protocol
Star Wars: Shatterpoint
Carcassonne
Betrayal Legacy (based on Betrayal at House on the Hill).

83: Georgios has published a book on Aristotle's Categories

Georgios is a philosophy student and one who brings others along with him. Now, when I say he’s a philosophy student, you think, ahh, he’s taking a class. 
No. 
Georgios has a job. He lives in the real world with us outside academia. But he carves out time to study Aristotle and other writers and thinkers for fun and wisdom in the time he isn’t working. 
That’s so amazing, this is my second time interviewing him. My first one looked at Socrates, Aristotle and what to do with this life. 
This new one considers a new book from Georgios’ working group of thinkers wrestling with a more obscure work of Aristotle’s: The Categories. 
It sounds like it’ll be boring, but if you’re into clumsily asked philosophical questions answered with passion by a Greek, well, here you are! 
 
For further enjoyment: 
Read Georgios’ Substack on his and other group members’ insights into the Aristotle readings. Here are collected summaries from Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. 
Join Tom and Georgios in Aristotle’s Organon Study Group Zoom Link every Tuesday 08:30pm CET/14:30pm EST. 
Check out Georgios’ Reddit post here for details on buying his book. Just 5EUR for the ebook to anyone who Paypals him at theduedissident@protonmail.com and mentions Brendan! Or you can buy it on Amazon, too. 
Dive into Georgios’ own subreddit, Philosophy of the Frontier. “Here, you will find philosophical content that I have written in the past two years,” he says. 

82: Elliot Kanshin Kallen plays the shakuhachi

This episode gets into every angle of a musical instrument you’ve, for sure, heard yet may not know what it’s called. 
Elliot Kanshin Kallen touches on the history of this Japanese flute, the emotions you can conjure from it, how it compares to other breath instruments, and, best of all, plays some notes for us a few times to make a point. We even talk a little Zen Buddhism (because it ties into the history and use of the instrument). 
The angle of the mouth ... how many holes and why ... its complicated popularity and disappearance in Japanese music over the centuries ... and where it shows up now ... it's all here.
This is a must-listen for fans of music and Japanese history. 
For further enjoyment: 
See Kallen play in this short video. 
Visit Kallen’s website here. 
Visit the International Shakuhachi Society, where Kallen is president and archive curator, here. 
If you’re in Sonoma County at the right, check out the Sonoma County Matsuri, a celebration of Japanese arts and culture in California. 
Kallen makes musical recommendations during this podcast, but here are a few in our conversation and some that didn’t make it in: 
Shakuhachi Music: A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky from Yamaguchi Goro (Nonesuch)  
The Japanese Flute by Miyata Kohachirō (Nonesuch) 
Anything from Kallen's friend, Riley Lee, who jokingly says, if you’re in a place and hear New Age-y music with a shakuhachi, well, it’s probably him (website) 

81: James Gomes re-reads the spiritual classic Siddhartha

It’s a new year, 2024, and that means James Gomes re-read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse for the umpteenth time. It’s a short book, it’s in the public domain, and Gomes says he gets something new out of it every time. 
I know that happened for me. He set up an online book club, and I read along with him. I had read the book a few years ago, and based on my reading this time, I didn’t remember as much as I’d thought. I got new insights, but like most things in my brain, they passed away. 
We touch on the biggest themes of existence, life, death, purpose, and more in a wide-ranging discussion this time. They are not resolved. There are big unanswered questions about who the hero is, who's right, and who's wrong. The ending is ambiguous, or open to interpretation. You can get something new every time you read it.
Enjoy. :) 
 
For further reading: 
You can read see the start to Gomes' Siddhartha reading plan and its resulting posts here. 
You can read a translation of the book here. 
You can listen to my last conversation with Gomes on the book here.