John de Graaf, Affluenza, and Stewart Udall

John de Graaf, Affluenza, and Stewart Udall

Author: frontporchrepublic March 22, 2021 Duration: 56:22
Summary Filmmaker John de Graaf pulls up a chair to discuss his 1997 documentary Affluenza; a forthcoming project on Arizona politician and JFK/LBJ’s Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; the politics of beauty; and a whether John Muir should be cancelled.  Singer/songwriter Wendell Kimbrough closes out the show with “The Ballad of Freida the Goose” from his album “Find Your Way Home.” Highlights 0:50  An FPR podcast, really? 2:15  “Home” to John de Graaf 3:15   Vachel Lindsay and the “Gospel of Beauty” 4:45  Gracy Olmstead's Uprooted 6:00  From Berkeley to a frozen Midwestern VISTA to Seattle 7:30  It all started with the film of the year 8:45  Alan Chadwick, master gardener 9:15  “Affluenza” explained 12:30  20 million views, a best-seller, and in the dictionary 15:45  Beloved by BYU 16:45  Take Back Your Time 18:30  French to Fox News? 20:00  Pandemics and “the good life” 25:00  David Brower, Republican 28:00  Floyd Dominy, a dam man 30:45  Stewart Udall, liberal conservative 35:30  LBJ pressures Udall on Vietnam 38:45  Barry Goldwater, Democratic donor 42:00  Politics of Beauty 43:00  GDP as Holy Grail? 46:15  Cancel John Muir? 50:15  Udall as cultural Mormon 51:00  Will beauty save the world? 52:00 Wendell sings “The Ballad of Freida the Goose”   Resources John Murdock at Front Porch Republic John de Graaf at Front Porch Republic Films of John de Graaf Vachel Lindsay Gracy Olmstead’s Uprooted (reviewed here and here) VISTA David Brower Stewart Udall Floyd Dominy “Find Your Way Home” album by Wendell Kimbrough

There’s a certain kind of conversation that happens best when you’re not in a hurry, when the topic can wander from the headlines of the day to the deeper questions that have always shaped how we live together. The Brass Spittoon is built for that kind of talk. Hosted by the folks at Front Porch Republic, this podcast serves as a gathering spot for discussions rooted in the tangible realities of our lives-our connections to a specific place, the practical limits we encounter, and what genuine liberty means within that framework. Each episode feels less like a lecture and more like joining a thoughtful, meandering dialogue among friends who aren’t afraid to chew over ideas from both the past and the present. You’ll hear explorations of culture, community, and the small-scale practices that build a durable society, all approached with a sense of curiosity and a lack of pretense. It’s for anyone weary of abstract debates and hungry for conversations grounded in the texture of everyday life. So, pull up a chair and settle in; this is where we consider how to live well, right where we are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 32

The Brass Spittoon
Podcast Episodes
After Virtual: The Church [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:10
For the first of our episodes from September’s FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods, we go to church. Carl Trueman, Gregory Hogg, and Charlie Cotherman share thoughts on technology and embodied…
Mark Mitchell on Plutocratic Socialism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:12
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Matt Stewart on Wallace Stegner [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:37
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Katharine Hayhoe Talks Climate Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:21
Katharine Hayhoe is a professor at Texas Tech and the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. Her most recent book is Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. Dr. Hayhoe, a Chris…
Chuck Marohn on the Human Errors of Traffic Engineering [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:53
Chuck Marohn, the founder of Strong Towns and author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, discusses streets, roads, “stroads,” and the perils of the American traffic system. A trained engineer himself, Marohn once im…
Poetry and Politics with A.M. Juster [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:03
Michael J. Astrue has earned degrees from Yale and Harvard. He had a long and distinguished legal career and held several government positions as well as leadership posts in biotech companies. From 2007-2013, he served a…
Will Hoyt‘s Ohio River Journey to the Middle Ages [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:03
Host: John Murdock Guest: Will Hoyt Will Hoyt, author of The Seven Ranges, discusses his journey along the Ohio River into the physical, historical and philosophical interior of the strip-mined region where he lives. In…
Joseph Loconte on War, Friendship, and Imagination [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:37
Guest Host: Jeff Bilbro Guest: Joe Loconte Front Porch Republic editor Jeff Bilbro sits down with Joe Loconte of The King’s College for a spirited discussion of the book-turned-film A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War.…
David Cayley on Illich and Institutions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:07
Canadian radio broadcaster David Cayley pulls up a chair to discuss Ivan Illich, a renegade priest and professor who argued against schools, missionaries, and modern medicine. Cayley, author of Ivan Illich: An Intellectu…
Os Guinness on Liberty and Hope [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:29
Prolific author and social critic Os Guinness discusses the current challenges for liberty and his hopes for the future. The Chinese-born, English-educated, Irish-rooted scholar who lives in America also shares insights…