Robbi Kumalo Transcript
November 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Recorded Voice: Now back to Dr. Kent and friends.
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors Radio. It’s the day after Thanksgiving and we are giving thanks for many things. The fourth segment of each show is devoted to an author of sound and it’s my pleasure to welcome guest Robbi Kumalo. Her stage name is Robbi K and her latest CD is called “Music Makes Me Happy”.Hello, Robbi.
Robbi: Hi, Dr. Kent.
Dr. Kent: The music is engaging, intelligent and fun, something you don’t often see from children’s music. It’s for kids but it doesn’t talk down to them and I have to say, it’s pretty enjoyable for adults as well. What’s Thanksgiving like at your house?
Robbi: Thanksgiving is interesting because my husband is not American. It’s always kind of like a nice holiday for him to celebrate even if he doesn’t understand the long story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving. But, it’s fun; I’m not the greatest cook. I cook better when I have company come over right here. So, we don’t have any company coming over this year. What did you do for Thanksgiving?
Dr. Kent: The South African side of the family doesn’t understand the Thanksgiving concept.
Robbi: Yes, yes, I think he likes it at the holiday, but it’s a hard one when you’re from another culture to have such an interesting holiday. But he likes to eat food, so it’s a good thing.
Dr. Kent: Robbi K’s musical partner and friend, of course, and husband is Bakithi Kumalo, the famous bass player of many of Paul Simon’s recordings and he is playing on this next track called “My Favorite Things.”
Robbi: I love this song.[musical interlude]
Dr. Kent: A question for your, Robbi. How important is it to you to have your music have intellect, to have an integrity?
Robbi: It’s very important not only integrity but just really serve you when you listen to music. My music, I wanted it to really serve the listener and sooth you and make you feel good and let your mind wander, all sorts of good things like that. So, it’s meant to feel and it’s meant to make your mind be stimulated and think as well. I think that’s a beautiful arrangement of “My Favorite Things” as a matter of fact.
Dr. Kent: What do your kids think? Do they like this music?
Robbi: Yes! I think they like it. I think the whole record has been inspired by my kids and spending time with them and observing them. All of the songs that sense of family-related significance I think.
Dr. Kent: And there are a few songs where your daughter sings lead, absolutely gorgeous singing.
Robbi: Isn’t she something else? She was eight years old when she recorded that record.
Dr. Kent: She’s got some pizzazz in there.
Robbi: I tell you, she sings better than I did when I was her age. She’s going to be amazing. She is amazing.
Dr. Kent: Tell me a little bit about your background. I know you sing back up with some folks.
Robbi: Yes, not that long ago. I used to tour and record with some great singers. I’m so lucky I’ve worked with Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Rod Stewart, John Hiatt. Edie Brickell, Paul Simon’s wife, she’s great; Mary J. Blige, so many different people. The Singing Policeman, I remember doing 9/11, the policeman that has that gorgeous voice, they called him the “Singing Policeman” around the Metro New York area. I think the world, he was like the singer, he always sings the anthem very solemnly then, just beautiful voice. I was his background singer. Daniel Rodriquez.
Dr. Kent: What made you go out and start being a children singer?
Robbi: Well, it actually found me when I was a kid. I was a senior in high school and there was a lot of politics getting cast in the play and I hated it, the auditioning for the school plays. But I love theater; I love theater so I was a little frustrated with the getting chorus parts all the time. So I said to one of my favorite teachers who directed some of the shows, “Man! I just want to perform.”And he’s like, “You should do children’s theater.” And I thought, “OK.” Then, we have done some children’s theater before, so he let me start a little group again that resurrected a children theater group at my high school. I wrote stuff, directed things, performed in, also at the shows around my community, at St. Joseph’s College in Patchup. That’s when I fell in love with doing children’s theater. So, that was when I was 17 years old.
Dr. Kent: So, one of my favorite songs, “Growing Up My Dad”, I hated it at the time, but in long road trips, my Dad would start singing a few of “My Favorite Things”. It drove me nuts, but now it’s one of my favorite songs because I remember those times when I was a child. I think a lot of parents will really love this CD as well as their children. I think we got to trust our kids to really enjoy good music. We don’t always have to play plastic keyboards and all that kind of pink music for our kids. We can give them intelligent music.
Robbi: We absolutely must, and we enjoy this music ourselves. So, trends are good and current pop music is great, but you have to have a balance it out, too. That’s what I’m trying to do on this record. There’s jazz, there is beautiful uplifting spiritual songs and arrangement of [xx] there’s some reggae, calypso types of music.
Dr. Kent: You’ve got some great guest on here also Guy Davis, and some others.
Robbi: Yes, Guy Davis, Jon Bowzer from Sha Na Na. [Hums] that guy, that guy.
Dr. Kent: Let’s listen to a little bit of “Feel the Beat”. That’s the opening track from Robbi’s album.
Robbi: Oh, yes.[musical interlude]
Dr. Kent: You can find Robbi K’s music at HiRobbi.com.
Robbi: Hi, Robbi! I want everybody to say hello to me. So, you’d go to HiRobbi.com.
Dr. Kent: Thanks so much for being on the show.
Robbi: You’re welcome. Thanks, Dr. Kent.
Dr. Kent: Thank you to Pat Williams, Lars Clausen and D. Castle-Shepard as well as Engineer Anthony Farabee, host guru Sonia Darte, Executive Producer Charlavan Hart, Sound Engineer Ruben Columbe, and Randy Jackman with the ecards.We’ll see you next week, have a safe one.[musical interlude]
Pat Williams Transcript
November 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Announcer: …Now, here’s your host, Dr. Kent.
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome to Sound Authors Radio. Today is the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the day of feasting, praying, watching football, reestablishing old connections and making new ones. My guests on the show today are Pat Williams, the Senior Vice-President of the Orlando Magic, inspirational speaker; Lars Clausen, author, activist, and Guinness world record holder in the unicycle; D. Castle-Shepard, military chaplain and author of “Faith in the New Militia”, talking to us about the troops on Thanksgiving; and, Robbie Kumalo with her new children’s music CD “Music Makes Me Happy”, very thankful music.My first guest is Pat Williams, the Senior Vice-President of the Orlando Magic, motivational and inspirational speaker, former baseball player, 23 of his former teams have gone to the NBA playoffs and five have gone to the NBA finals. He’s the parent of 19 children, is that right?
Pat Williams: Kent, I’ve got 19 out of them, you’re right. Fourteen had been adopted lest you think I’m really weird. They are all grown and out of the house, the youngest is about to hit 22 now and the oldest is 35. So we’re now getting into the grandparenting world as well.
Kent: So what’s Thanksgiving like at your house?
Pat: Well, it’s big, it’s big. We’ve got a 16-foot long dining room table. And years ago, I figured out a way to bond in marriage a turkey and a centipede, in that way, every kid got a drumstick. So we have quite a Thanksgiving at our house. And if you want me to tell these jokes a little slower, I will.
Kent: No, I think I got it. So this year on Thanksgiving, where were you?
Pat: We’re always in our home in Winter Park, Florida. Yes, I try and make a vow, and I have to break it occasionally. We don’t go north of Orlando until May. So we try and spend as much time in the winter in Florida as we can.
Kent: Where did you grow up?
Pat: I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, right near Philadelphia, and went to Wake Forest University to college then on to Indiana University to get my master’s many years ago. So I’m originally from that Delaware Valley Region.
Kent: Tell me a little bit about your experience in sports.
Pat: Well, I spent my entire adult life in sports. I signed the contract with the Phillies Organization right out of college. I was a minor league ball player, spent two years as a catcher in their farm system, and then got into the administrative end of baseball. I spent a total of seven years in the Phillies Organization as a player and a minor league executive, and 39 years ago this past summer, I left baseball to go into the National Basketball Association in the front office, and I have been there ever since. One year with the 76ers, four years with the Chicago Bulls, a year with the Atlanta Hawks, back to Philadelphia for 12 more years and then came to Orlando 21 years ago to help start the magic opposite an expansion team and got sand in my shoes and we’ve never left Florida.
Kent: What made you become an author out of all that sports experience?
Pat: Well, I would say by accident more than anything. The first book I wrote, I was a general manager of the Bulls in Chicago and a young man walked into my office one day to do an interview for a newspaper he was working for in the suburbs of Chicago. He came back later and asks if I would be interested in doing a book, and after I stopped laughing, I said, “Why not?” I never thought to think about. Then a whole year went by, and then the young man came back again and said, “I got a publisher.” So that led to the book I wrote in the fall of 1974 called the “The Gingerbread Man” which was the story of my life up to that point. By the way, that young author has done quite well, his name is Jerry Jenkins. He and Tim LaHaye have co-authored the “Left Behind” series which has sold about 60 million copies over the years. So young Jerry did well for himself.
Kent: They’ve done all right. Why did you choose to inspire other people? You could be completely successful on your life and be happy just doing that. Why do you choose to go out and try to inspire people?
Pat: Well, I think we live here on this earth to make a difference in people’s lives. I’ve always felt that sports was a door opener, with the great interest we have in sports in our country that it does give those of us in the profession a platform, a sphere of influence, so to speak. I think it’s important to use that sphere of influence in a positive way. So anything I can write or say in my speaking or in my books that give people hope or inspiration, give them a focus in life, and give them a nudge or an encouragement to live life at a higher level. I think that’s a high honor very frankly because in the business of sports, the games are soon forgotten, all the events. I can’t remember too much about any of the games that I’ve been involved in for the last 45 years, but the impact on lives I think lasts a lot longer.
Kent: Did you have some people that you looked up to at the very beginning that you wanted to be like?
Pat: I definitely had some role models; there are some important mentors in my life. Like the coaches through my youth and my high school and college. As I got out into the real world as a young executive, Bill Beck, the great baseball promoter took an interest in me and for 25 years, he was a friend and a mentor and an influence. The first owner of the teams I worked for in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Mr. R.E. Littlejohn became really a surrogate father to me. As the years went on, I didn’t do anything in my life without consulting with him and seeking his wisdom and his counsel. So I’ve been very fortunate to have some important people in my life particularly as a young man.
Kent: Let’s talk about your last couple of books. The “Ultimate Coaches Clinic: Career-Enhancing Insights from More Than 1, 000 of America’s Foremost Coaches and Leaders”, and there’s another book called “How to be Like Women Athletes of Influence”.
Kent: Let me just take one at a time. This book “How to be Like Women Athletes of Influence” is the eighth in a series that I’ve done with health communications, “The Chicken Soup for the Soul” publishers and this one features the 32 most impactful women athletes of history. We wrote a chapter on each one of them. I was able to interview 21 of the women, which was a real thrill for me. But in addition to telling their stories in these chapters, at the end of each chapter, we list the life’s lessons so that we can learn from all of these women. Be a Billy Jean King or Nancy Lopez or Mia Hamm. There are life’s lessons for those remarkable women, and we do that, we list them, so the people really can have that and take it away and apply to their lives. So, I think the book is more for, more than just for young women, or young women athletes, I think it touches male and female and it sure touched me in writing the book.The second one that you mentioned, the Ultimate Coaches’ Clinic. About three years ago, my son Bobby who was in baseball at the time, we got an offer to Washington Nationals, as a manager in their farm system. He was 27 years old and.Over the phone he said to me that day: “Dad, what do I do now?” His voice was up about three octaves. [laughs]And I’m sure that’s the question, Kent, that every young man or woman, either their first pastorate, or their high school principal job, or their first head coaching job or whatever the first leadership position is, I’m sure that they have all thought that.About a two and a half year period went by, and I kept asking coaches everywhere I went: tell me the four things you would tell my son. And when they told me I wrote it down and sent Bobby a copy, kept a copy myself, and I started counting and I had hundreds of these. And then I thought you know, that high school in Des Moines, or the girls’ basketball coach up in Hanover, New Hampshire, you know, she’s not going to get to these coaches. I thought I think we’ve got a treasure trove here.So we found a publisher on the West Coast who gears their work toward high school coaches, particularly in — we did the book — I ran the material as the coaches shared it with me. In other words, it’s the raw footage. I really feel it’s a pretty priceless collection. Numbers of these coaches have passed away since I spoke with them. I mined booked from the diseased coaches from Tom Landry to Newt Rockney and many others. I think it’s a real compilation that can be of value.But I’ll tell you this, Kent; it’s far beyond just for coaches because those principles that these guys and these women shared are leadership principles that apply to anybody in a position of leadership, regardless of the field.
Kent: Raising kids. Clearly you have a lot of experience in that as well. And every coach in some way raises children on the field also. I myself was an athlete and had many coaches that shaped my life. In what way can coaches do a better job of encouraging kids to be their best?
Pat: Well, I think, Kent, what I have learned through all this is that as parents or as grandparents, coaches, teachers, pastors, youth workers, if you will view those young people that are in your field of influence, if they are your responsibility as Coach Wooden [sp] would say, “under your supervision.”If you start viewing them as leaders and future leaders that you are investing in, I think it changes the way you coach, teach, parent and pastor. These are future leaders that you are investing in and you are in the leadership development business. I think you will do everything differently. As you view that you are getting these young men and women ready for a life of leadership and you are putting that leadership baton into their hands and you are training the next generation of young leaders.I think it will make a different coach out of you totally.
Kent: So here’s a question for you: I teach at a couple of universities out here in New York and I even in the classes I teach, I have graduate students and college students. There is a great different between all the generations now. There is the Y generation, there’s the younger generation, the YouTube generation. There are the Baby Boomers that are going into retirement. How do you see these generations interacting through sports?
Pat: I think sports frankly Kent, is the generational bonding piece. You know, we have all heard about Dad takes his son to the ballgame and then the son grows up and takes his son to the ballgame, and that whole generational pass down from sports.I now have grandchildren, we’ve already started to take them to their swimming lessons and gymnastics and I can’t wait for our first grandson to get big enough to start playing catch with. I’m eager to take him to ballgames, as my dad did with me. I think sports are the one bonding link, the one adhesive, perhaps, that cuts across all generational gaps and brings us all together as a society. I think that is one of the beauties of sports.
Kent: And it’s also not just for men, which is really shown well by your book. How to be like women athletes and influence.
Pat: Well, the women’s sports movement, Kent, is enormous. I can remember when I was in college in the late 50s; early 60s there was no such thing as intercollegiate sports for women. Back in my high school day they did have women’s/girls’ sports teams, although I’ll tell you this, the basketball team had a line across the middle of the floor. There were three offensive players and three defensive players, and offense and defense could not cross that mid court line. You had to pass it over to the other set of players on your team because if you ran too much as a girl, you might collapse.[laughs]
Pat: And the thought of a woman running marathons… are you kidding me? I ran the Chicago marathon back in early October. Kent, half the field of 35, 000 were women. So, I think that growth of women’s sports is phenomenal and hopefully, these 32 women in the book had to be like women athletes of influence will really reach out and inspire some young ladies who I could be writing about in the 20 or 30 years.
Kent: It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you. Could you tell me where we could find your books?
Pat: Kent, they’re in bookstores obviously. And I always encourage people to visit my website. That’sPatWilliamsMotivate.com, PatWilliamsMotivate.com, and I hope people check that out and I’m sure they will be quite intrigued in learning about these books and I’m so glad we could visit. Thanks so much for thinking of me.
Kent: One more question for you. Do you sit down and watch sports on television on Thanksgiving or do you get out and play them?
Pat: I’ll get out a good couple hour jog that day to work off the turkey and the sweet potatoes. We’ll watch a little football and, of course, the Orlando Magic are big down here in central Florida. We’re not playing that day but we have got home games the next Friday and Saturday right after Thanksgiving. The Magic is a big part of the sports fiber here in the greater Orlando area.
Kent: We’ll certainly be watching. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Pat: Good to talk to you Kent. Thanks a lot.
Kent: The next guest is Lars Claussen, the Guinness world record holder on the unicycle, you can’t miss it.[music]
Lars Clausen Thanksgiving Transcript
November 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Announcer: Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors Radio. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, we’re full, we’re happy. The next guest is Lars Clausen, the winner of the Book of the Year Award, Benjamin Franklin Award and an IPPY Award from the Independent Publishers Association. The book is called Straight into Gay America and his former book is called One Wheel, Many Spokes. We’d love to chat with him about Thanksgiving.Welcome, Lars.
Lars Clausen: Hi, Kent. Thank you for having me.
Kent: What is Thanksgiving like this year for you and your family?
Lars: Actually in a few hours, I’m going to start driving down from Chelan, Washington where I live down to Southern California to be with my side of the family. For me, this year I’ve had some just great breakthroughs with my family and I’m looking forward to celebrating the lives of my parents.
Kent: You talk about your family in both of your books, what is the importance of family on your great adventures. What do they mean to you in your crazy and great adventures?
Lars: Well, when I uni-cycled through all 50 states and got that Guinness Record, my wife was driving this ancient motor home that kept breaking down and the kids five and seven at that time along with me. What we created out of that experience was a story that we will always remember. Both the heartaches and the joys of half a year on the road together, kids doing homework at night in the motor home, me out uni-cycling 50 or 100 miles a day.We have a story that we take with us and it’s something we talk about regularly and remember. When I was on the Straight into Gay America ride, I was away from my family for five weeks, and I think that really deepen our appreciation of each other. For me, a lot of life is about creating good stories that enliven every day of our lives. So I’m really thankful for these adventures that have made our family a stronger group.
Kent: You used to be a Lutheran pastor and you’re still are in a way, you don’t have a call. What does Thanksgiving mean to you in I guess a religious way?
Lars: I was just thinking about that because I’m not going to preach a Thanksgiving sermon this year like I used to. But I remember, I was always trying to get “out of the box” on Thanksgiving because our media is so full of the stereotypical perfect family imagery that comes across at Thanksgiving.The reality, I think for most of us, is that our experiences are different, even if they’re wonderful, they’re not stereotypical. For a lot of people this is the hardest time of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, because we feel like we don’t fit in.So in terms of spirituality, for me I was always remembering that our faith was about love for all people and not about fitting in, not about meeting the stereotype but love, caring, compassion, meeting us right where we are. I work real hard at that because this is a season that sure brings out the “put on your good image”, the “perfect family”.Life is that way for some people, but for the majority of us, there’s just a bunch of different pieces. I think our faith recognizes that and honors us in the midst of whatever we’ve going through. So that would have been my Thanksgiving sermon if I had preached.
Kent: Each major holiday that we have in this country, we always have to remember that there are people out there that don’t have their families and it’s actually one of the saddest days of the year.
Lars: Exactly. And for me, when we talk about faith, specifically the Christian tradition, you get Jesus who is the consummate outsider, the one that doesn’t fit in with all the standards and that’s the guy who comes and talks about love. If we can look at it in that way, boy, there’s enough love, enough care and kindness to share all the way around.
Kent: So what do you think we, as Americans, have to be thankful for?
Lars: We get to be part of this world. One of my favorite people that I ever listened to said: you know, the world’s 15 billion years old, 15 billion years old, and you are what the universe has come to right now.We get to live in this time, no matter what time it is. It’s amazing. Our hearts get to beat today; we don’t know how long that’s going to happen for. We have the entire universe to be thankful for, and the opportunity really to shape what it’s going to look like in the future.That’s kind of a big deal, for my daughter, it is cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. For me, I love turkey, but…
Kent: What kind of cranberry sauce, the really smooth, sweet stuff?
Lars: You know what she likes? She likes the jelly stuff that comes out of a can. My mom makes this great homemade stuff, but Kari Anna wants the can.
Kent: My mother has a soft spot for the really nasty stuff with the ground up orange peels and cranberries.
Lars: That’s what my mom makes, yes.
Kent: Real great. Here’s a question for you. Into The Wild just came out by Jon Krakauer, and the novel was made into a movie and it looks like it will be very interesting. I read that book several years ago and it had the same impact on me that your first book did, One Wheel, Many Spokes but in a different way. What I’d like to ask you is, on Thanksgiving, young people often are really thankful for their lives, but they want to expand.They want to see something. They want to break boundaries to get through it. This fellow in “Into the Wild”, he decided to get rid of all of his identity and go out into the wild and do all of his adventures. Eventually, it caught up with him and he had some trouble.But I felt that when I was young and I wanted to resist and I ran away to the Middle East and tried to change the world. And you’ve done a similar thing, but in your book, what really moves me the first book is that you didn’t quite break with reality like I did. You were still there, you were with your family, you were in this land, you had a goal and a mission, but you still went into the wild, you’re still out there. How would you connect that to Thanksgiving this year?
Lars: Yes, gosh, that’s a great question, Kent. Thank you, I love that “Into the Wild” book as well and I really wanted him to make it in the story, and I think he did. He just ended up in a situation that didn’t work out for him at the end.For myself, stepping out of my expected role or my traditional role has always rewarded me. I haven’t always succeeded but taking a step into the unknown helps me to know myself better, it helps me to appreciate others better. As long as I stand in the standard role, I can count on everything being just the way I expect it, and surprises, they just fit in to that standard pattern. When I get vulnerable and I step outside of that role, the world opens up. So I think we’re particularly open to that when we’re young and the more we can practice that, the better.Practice in a way that if we succeed it’s awesome, and if we fail at that stepping out, we do so in a way that it’s survivable. Yes, I can live with that risk. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll take another one or I’ll step back. But living with risk–if you go back to Thanksgiving–gosh, it’s all about people taking a huge risk coming across the ocean, trying to settle a new land and making it, enough that they could have a meal that they could celebrate. So before the celebration comes, the stepping out and the risk and finding new territory, and at the end of it, sometimes we make it, sometimes we don’t but there’s that great squash to be cooked and celebrate it when we do.
Kent: What would be your advice to young–well, it could be your or old people–a lot of people that had been in their career for 30-40 years, they do crazy things because they have this opportunity after they retire or later in life to go out and do crazy things and explore the world. At the same time, kids that are done with college, they’re done with high school or run away from home, what’s your advice to people that want to experience something new and fresh?
Lars: I came out of the Lutheran tradition and one of the things that I love that that Dr. Luther say is that “We’re ultimately free” which means go for it, do anything we want. In his perspective, he said, “We’re also ultimately responsible”. That means, I matter as much as any other creature, any other thing in this planet, but every other thing and every other creature and every other human being on this planet matters just as much as me.So, out of a loser’s perspective–and I really agree with it–for so many comes out of living my freedom but also living my responsibility or my possibility of compassion for other people, caring about them and giving myself, my life in a way that helps other people live their freedom, too. If we can find a match like that, my gosh, amazing things happen. If you look at folks that lead really fulfilling lives, I think it’s this great combination of being free to live out our risks and our dreams and our hopes and finding a way to do it in ways that make other people’s lives better, too.
Kent: So have you found your freedom?
Lars: Some days, yes. Yes, I think that’s a process you get to play for your whole life. There are days when I feel absolutely free and I’m just so thankful I got to live. There are other days that I get in the rot and I wonder what happened. But to think I’m going to have it captured for now and forever, I guess, maybe I’m old enough to think that I appreciate them when they come and when they’re not there, I just start looking at my life again and thinking about and acting out what does it mean to make a life and my dreams again.
Kent: What are you thankful for today?
Lars: Me? Gosh, I’m so thankful I get to work in a job that’s fulfilling to me. I was just talking with some authors today, that’s my job is helping authors get websites and helping to share in their dreams. They work six to eight years in a book and I get to be part of that, when they bring it to the world, that’s huge. And my kids–last night, I was at my son’s soccer meeting, he has states championships coming up, and there were all these wonderful kids there that we’re getting ready for that. These days, yes, I’m right in the middle of my dream, very thankful.
Kent: Lars Clausen is the author of two books, “Straight into Gay America” and “One Wheel Many Spokes”. You can find both of those online, the first is at StraightIntoGayAmerica.com and the second is at OneWheel.org. Lars is also the founder of AmericanAuthor.com and you can call up and speak to him about your writing projects, he’s a great guy to talk to. That’s at AmericaAuthor.com.Thanks so much for being on the show today, Lars.
Lars: Hey, thanks, Kent. Happy Thanksgiving to you and to everybody.
Kent: Happy Thanksgiving.
Lars: All right.
Kent: My next guest is military chaplain D. Castle-Shepard. Don’t miss it.
D. Castle-Shepard Transcript
November 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Announcer: Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors Radio. Today is the day after Thanksgiving and we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. We have some troops over in the Middle East that is also celebrating Thanksgiving. We think a lot about military all the time and with the upcoming elections and all sorts of things. We have a unique opportunity today to speak with a fellow who often interacts with our troops. He has operated as a military chaplain for many years, he’s a 27-year citizens’ soldier and a veteran of Iraqi freedom in 2003. He also does practices social work with low-income clients.Welcome to the show, D. Castle-Shepard.
D. Castle-Shepard: Thank you.
Kent: What do you have planned for Thanksgiving this year?
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I think we’re going to have a lot of family members here at our house, and I think we’re just going to relax. Relaxation is something that I feel is long overdue for this house. So, that’s the plan.
Kent: Your new book is titled Faith in the New Militia. What exactly does it mean, “Faith in the New Militia”? What is the new militia?
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, that’s an interesting question. Having been a National Guard member all my adult life, I notice that there wasn’t really a lot of good material to explain what the militia is in America. Of course, there’s a negative connotation to it because of the presence of some of the anti-government militias and in this age of terror that probably doesn’t help any.But I became very intrigued by the fact that in the founding of our nation, militia organizations that were really grassroots, the work of the people, the local communities produce them, they represent the neighborhoods. I just see in this age of a lot of confusion; I see a need for a new sense of renewal. Of course, in the time of globalization, I think we need a sense of localization because the globalization takes so many of us out of touch with people that we know that live around us. I think that is very much the heart of the society is, is the militia.So I see the militia as I say it in terms of not just the citizen soldiers today but also volunteers, people in the health care field who work in emergency situations, law enforcement, public health and all those things. I really see just a sense, a need to focus on that part of our society to sustain us.
Kent: In the area of elections, this is the most-I would say exciting-but it’s also the most drawn out election process that we’ve ever had. In this kind of climate, what do you see as this country needing? Do you see in one of these candidates or in several of these candidates, do you see what you’re looking for?
D. Castle-Shepard: A little bit. I’m one. I don’t publish this but I haven’t voted for the winning President for the past four elections. Some of those is just me personally, but I do see a good variety in the Presidential candidates this year. I guess what I hope is that we won’t allow major corporations to decide who should lead our country, but we can find somebody who truly captures the passion of grassroots Americans. I think caucuses especially are useful in the early states.I won’t make too many comments about my own political opinion here being under having some obligation to support my Commander-in-Chief. But I do see a good variety of candidates. I think there is real hope and I certainly maintain hope for finding the good leadership in 2008.
Kent: Now, you used to be a card-carrying member of the Christian Coalition. I know that you’re a man of very deep faith, and of course you are a practicing pastor. Tell me a little bit about your disillusionment with religion in politics.
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I try to keep an open mind, but I have had a passion. I see a lot of the same passions that I’ve had all my life still being played out in various ways today. I almost wish I could say, “Hey, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. You ought to hear what I’ve learned.” But I watch the Christian Coalition, the religious right in general and I see a lot of things going in different directions with that now. Pat Robertson recently endorses Rudolf Giuliani, and that certainly surprises a lot of his supporters.But it’s occurred to me that while the religious right focuses so much on things like abortion and homosexuality, the issue of adultery being legal seems to be almost ignored. In the military for example, we are told and military personnel can be put in jail for an affair. That’s a fact for the military.But it’s not always true in the civilian life, and I don’t know if that could be a shock for a lot of soldiers who transfer to active duty for his deployments. They have to abide by a new sense of rules. But I ask why the religious right has been so focused on abortion and homosexuality and not even noticed the legalization of adultery. It’s a big issue but I think that if they’re going to be brave and bold, they should be able to tackle that one as well.
Kent: So have you had experience with the troops on Thanksgiving?
D. Castle-Shepard: I have. My experience when I was in Iraq in 2003, we spent Thanksgiving in Iraq. We had a very good Thanksgiving meal and that was memorable. I got a chance to serve myself along with some of the other leadership. I was their chaplain. I remember that, and of course, that was a time when they were all away from their families.We were about or maybe lesser than an hour from Baghdad in a small little camp called Kalso. There were a lot of hardships, but I did get to see the way that troops can experience a sense of togetherness, a sense of community, and Thanksgiving for all to have and even in harsh conditions. That’s what little knowledge I have of troops at Thanksgiving.
Kent: Over there right now, are they in a different place than they were back in 2003?
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I’m told that and, of course, I haven’t been there since January of ‘04. But I’m told that troops that come back and officers who come back in the last few years say that if you have not been in Iraq in the last three months, you don’t know anything about it. So I don’t know anything about it, I guess.But I hear on the one hand, the month of October for example, was encouraging in the sense that the number of US fatalities went sharply down. However, the year 2007 is still being said to be the bloodiest year, a very hard year for US troops. So I have to believe it as a different place and probably different in the sense that the troops are all the more exhausted by now. The tension maybe higher today than they were five years ago.
Kent: I know that you spoke about how the troops have a lot to be thankful for and that’s very true. My question is what is it your job as a chaplain–and I know you might at some point go back over there–is to bring them back to their home, bring them back to reality. You’ve done and something that they’re familiar with. In what sense did some of the men not feel that and how did you assure them of that?
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, that is a very hard and almost a painful question just to even think about because there are many who come back, and the first that comes to my mind is after their marriages failed. I remember one soldier, a senior ranking individual who had been married for I think close to 30 years and his marriage failed. So it is very difficult to help them understand, “Yes, you are back home now.” But of course, one thing that chaplains would have to tell you at some point is that it’s very important to be there. We talk about the ministry of presence. A lot of times, the chaplain doesn’t get to do a whole lot more than just be there with the soldiers.So I think in practical terms, bringing the soldiers back home involves certain things like community events. Not a bombardment of community involvement but certainly events that allow the soldiers to realize and to accept appreciation that’s being offered to them–dinners and those kinds of things. Just small things that don’t have to become big and overblown, but just small things to let the community interact with the soldier returning to know their appreciation. I think the handshakes we get even one that we’ve gotten just back from the overseas theater or what. We give a lot of handshakes in these civilian communities. I certainly see the appreciation, and I encourage soldiers to accept that.
Kent: Your book is titled “Faith in the New Militia”. It’s available online, from your websitewww.DCastleShepard.com and from BloomingTwigBooks.com, and shortly, will be hopefully available from many other locations. Tell me a little bit about what your goal is after this book.
D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I thought about this a lot and of course I did spend several years working on this and Lars Clausen just said recently some authors spend six to eight years. I think I’m still chewing, aren’t I? I see it for myself, for one thing, as having been already a kind of therapy for me. It’s been a chance for me to express a lot of my thoughts and put them into words and I’ve done some journaling. The book is not a whole lot about me personally but it’s been a chance for me to put some things in perspective that are very important for me.Then I see myself being able to go to people that I know, and I’m being very cautious about how I do it. I’m not rushing into it, but I hope to approach universities and other gatherings where I can talk, through Christians, about the need, and not just Christians, but people of faith about the need. What I mention here is moralistic presumptions in the book. I think it’s important at a time like this to put presumptions down and be sober about the world we live in. So I hope to be able to speak to community gatherings and just dialog, interact and know that I’m teaching and I’m offering something useful to the people there.
Kent: D. Castle-Shepard’s new book is called “Faith in the New Militia”. It’s a real guidebook for us to look at in the new decade, in the new century, the new President to look towards firefighters, police and other small active militias to guide us into the new time.Thank you so much for being on the show.
D. Castle-Shepard: Thank you.
Kent: My next guest is musician Robbi Kumalo with her fantastic new CD, “Music Makes Me Happy”. You don’t want to miss it.[musical interlude]
Lars Clausen | Into the Wild
November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
LARS CLAUSEN is a former pastor, activist, author and Guinness World Record holder. He speaks with us about the importance of family on holidays, about his experiences off the beaten path, and about the new movie Into the Wild, based on Jon Krakauer’s novel. Lars’ award-winning books are available from his website at www.straightintogayamerica.com
His entire book is available at no cost for a limited time as a PDF download. Visit his website for more details. Here is Lars’ brief description of his journey from the front page of his site:
During 5 weeks and 1,000 miles of unicycling for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equal rights:
No one cited Biblical injunctions against me unicycling on the road.No one studied the constitution to see what to do with my one wheel preference.
No one said to me. “We have our place. You have your place.”
No one forced me to ride in a closet.
What if we celebrated LGBT difference as easily as the difference between bicycling and unicycling, as a gift to be thankful for among all the standard wheel arrangements?I rode my unicycle to collect everyday stories, to show that queer people live normal lives, that there’s nothing to be afraid of from gay people, that the friendships I’ve developed through the years can be found everywhere, and that the church’s damnation of gay people is all wrong. I rode as a pastor to argue a point. (Read more from the Introduction)
Robbi Kumalo | Intelligent Children’s Music
November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Our musical guest ROBBI KUMALO has sung backup with such greats as Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Jewel, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Mary J Blige, and talks with us about her new, intelligent children’s album.
Reviews from her ‘business’ website at www.balidali.com
On Music Makes Me Happy, Robbi K (Robbi Hall Kumalo) blends pop, R & B,jazz, hip-hop, blues, and more into a sunshiny gem of a children’s CD. Robbi, an accomplished singer, has backed up Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, Harry Belafonte, and others. But with such tunes as the doo-wop-flavored “I Love My Teacher” and the effervescent Caribbean romp “Summer’s Here,” she cements her status as a unique voice in children’s music.”
“Our Favorite Things” FAMILY FUN MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2007“Several new CDs for children span a variety of musical genres. Robbi K’s soulful album of worldwide musical styles, Music Makes Me Happy, offers diverse tracks of “post-Barney and pre-Britney” music for 7-to-12-year-olds. Blending music from jazz to various cultural traditions, Music Makes Me Happy also incorporates children’s voices.”
Laurel Fishman, GRAMMY.com
Biography from her website www.balidali.com
Born in New York City, Robbi Hall Kumalo, grew up funny, dramatic, and completely stage-struck. Her family nickname was “Sarah” (as in Bernhardt), and responding to the eclectic mix of musical styles (from R&B to Chopin) played in her home, she wrote her first song “A ‘U’ Monkey Face” – a tribute to her brother’s funny face – at the age of three. Robbi’s early years were filled with dance an