A Drink With a Friend

There's something life-giving in uttering the phrase, "I guess I haven't learned that yet." Seth and Tsh talk with their friend Shauna Niequist about how she's learned to exhale and relearn how her life could be. Through moving to a new city, leaving known familiarity into uncharted territory, and questioning just about everything, Shauna found some much-needed freedom in the sacramentality of a learner's posture.Shauna's new book, I Guess I Haven't Learned That YetShauna on InstagramSeth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with usOur recommended readsThe Book of Delights, by Ross GayWalking on Water, by Madeleine L'EngleAsk Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

It's about halfway through Seth's challenge to stay off social media for the first six months of 2022. How have the first three months been? Will anything change for the next three months? He and Tsh talk some more about big-picture social media: does it work as a public square? When is censorship called for, and when does it violate free speech? And are the positives ultimately worth all the negatives?Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with usOur recommended readsHow big tech is strangling your freedom on HonestlyCultish: The Language of Fanaticism, by Amanda MontellAround the World in 80 Days on PBS This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

When life is busy — like Seth's right now, or when life is slower — like Tsh's, who just started a short teaching break — it's a good time to remember good things. In this episode, they chat about three things each that are currently adding more beauty to their lives: a thing they're listening to, reading, and watching.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Wendell Berry's New Collected PoemsThe Woman at the Wall of St. Michael's, Seth’s poem for UkraineThe Abolition of Man​, by C.S. LewisHalf Moon Run + newsletter Mountain Man Bari Weiss’ episode on Honestly, Things Worth Fighting For The Last Kingdom on NetflixAll Creatures Great and Small on PBS This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

We’ve all heard of the seven deadly sins, but what good does it do to think about them in our modern, well-intentioned lives? Maybe more to the point — why does contemplating about them bring us hope? It’s because of their corresponding virtues. Seth and Tsh talk about what this looks like in their own lives.As a reference, here are the seven pairs of vices and virtues:Pride: A desire for excellence in excess of right reasonHumility: A rightly-ordered estimation of excellenceGluttony: A disordered desire for good thingsTemperance: A desire to keep good things in their rightful placeLust: A disordered desire for pleasureChastity: A rightly-ordered desire for pleasureEnvy: Sorrow for another’s goodLove: To will the good of the otherGreed: A desire for more than is neededGenerosity/charity: A desire for enough for allAnger: A desire for vengeance contrary to reasonMeekness: Power under controlSloth: Sorrow for spiritual good; the absence of careDiligence: Taking care to do what we value mostSeth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Bitter & Sweet, Tsh’s book for LentThe Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa SeePutin Country: A Journey Into the Real Russia, Anne Garrel This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

When big global events happen — like Russia invading Ukraine — what can we possibly do in our small, ordinary lives to make any difference? Seth and Tsh chat about how they’ve been talking about the news with their kids, how they’ve been processing it for themselves, and what we might learn from the past to forge ahead soberly toward the future.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Bitter & Sweet, Tsh’s new bookThe Bitter & Sweet playlistThe Weight of Glory, by C.S. LewisWorld War II in Color on NetflixThe War by Ken Burns, on PBSOn the Shortness of Life, by Seneca This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Seth is off doing lawyer-y things this week, so Tsh talks to friend Joy Clarkson about, essentially, Wendell Berry’s beloved quip, “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” Why is it not only a good idea to pursue happiness — it’s necessary? And perhaps counter-cultural to our doomscroll-obsessed modern ways? Joy and Tsh talk about where real happiness is found, what it means to unironically enjoy what we love, and why doing so even makes us better neighbors.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Joy Clarkson and her new book, Aggressively HappyJoy on Twitter and InstagramThe Artist’s Way, by Julia CameronBitter & Sweet, Tsh’s new book for Lent This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

As friends do, in this episode Seth and Tsh come to table to talk about whatever. Like the nerds they are, they end up talking about Romantic poetry, the end of the world, and more. Pull up a chair and join in!Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Bitter & Sweet, Tsh’s book for LentStation Eleven, by Emily St. John MandelThe Road, by Cormac McCarthyPrinciples for Dealing With the Changing World Order, by Ray Dalio“To Sleep,” by John KeatsThe Art of Lent, by Sr. Wendy Beckett Exploring Alternatives on YouTube This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Seth is off social media for the first half of 2022, and Tsh is limiting most of her family’s resources to her 100-mile radius. How’s it going? What are we learning? We chat about these things, plus whether we think these practices might be a net-positive for you, too.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Bitter & Sweet, Tsh’s new bookStation Eleven, by Emily St. John MandelThe Family Garden Plan, by Melissa K. Norris This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

Liz Gilbert once said that if she didn’t write, she’d become a farm dog and chew up the couch. Why do we partake in creative pursuits if we’re not going to profit financially from it? Lots of reasons, actually. Tsh and Seth chat with their friends Maile and Shawn Smucker about what they’ve been learning about why they have an insatiable need to create — and why every one of us needs to as well.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Seth’s latest thoughts on why he writesThe GapThe Nine-Month Novel, led by Maile & Shawn SmuckerVideo of a Novel, Shawn’s new SubstackJournal of a Novel, by John SteinbeckThe Gospel in Gerard Manley Hopkins, by Margaret EllsbergThe Moviegoer, by Walker PercyNobody Reads Poetry This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe

We have SO MANY choices these days — on what to watch, what to listen to, what to read. We know well the feeling of opening a streaming service and indefinitely scrolling instead of clicking ‘play’ because of the inability to make a choice. So how do we choose? How do we all decide what deserves our attention and what we should just scroll past? After all, even with seemingly infinite choices, we still have a finite amount of time and focus. Seth & Tsh chat about how to decide what deserves a spot on our bookshelves, on our Family Movie Night agendas, and ultimately, in our personal and familial cultures.Seth: Newsletter | WebsiteTsh: Newsletter | WebsitePick up a round of drinks & help keep the show goingCome to Italy with us!Oatly 2021 Super Bowl commercialKeep or Toss? from Joel MillerSoul-Crushing, Family-Friendly Inspirational Trash from Joshua GibbsNew West KnifeworksGarden Maker, by Christie Purifoy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecommon.place/subscribe