We look back at the first full year+ of our podcast+.  We ponder what we might have done differently, what we enjoyed most, and where we are heading in year two.  We didn't miss a single week release and don't intend to in the next year.  Thanks for listening and engaging with us through facebook, the website virtueinthewasteland.com, and through our Twitter and Instagram presence.  Thanks especially for listening and spreading the word. Dan is in the mountains and Jeff is in Key Largo while this is dropping.  So, if you write a comment and we don't respond, we will get to it after our much needed breaks from the bustle and the hustle.  

What is a cult?  How do we balance tolerance and critical thinking when it comes to new religious movements?  Are their authoritarian personalties in my own, established religious community?  How are multilevel marketing and pyramid schemes like cults?  Is cult a bad word or is it a concept we need to preserve for the good of a safe and healthy society?  We wrestle with these questions and more.  We mention Jim Jones, Swedenborgianism, the Guru Maharaji, Amway, Scientology, and the FLDS. We love everyone.  Please don't sue us; we have no money and few assets, so it wouldn't be worth it.   Moreover, we are critical of ourselves and our own communities, various states that never really done nobody wrong, and the entire Inland Empire on occasion.  So it's all in good fun.  If we talk about your group, and you don't think we've represented it properly, feel free to explain where we were mistaken in the comment section.  Or, better, stage a press conference explaining why you think Virtue in the Wasteland is bad, making sure to get coverage from the major media outlets, and making sure to wear your sect's most distinctive clothing and strange hairdos, if applicable.  

We discuss the promises and perils of making books into movies.  We focus on Steinbeck's East of Eden and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, but we also mention and/or discuss the following: Ian Flemming's James Bond stories, Michael Crighton and Jurassic Park, Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, the Cohen Brothers and Huckleberry Finn, musicals, The Last Temptation of Christ, Jungian archetypes, the value of mythology, and the importance of fairy tales.

We freestyle chat about the nature of the good life and the ways in which we measure life's success.  This is about vocational questions for young people looking to the future or folks who want to redirect their lives later in the game.  We mention Daoism, LeBron James and The Decision, Stoicism, and whether you might want to rethink your current path.

The 4th of July is upon us! Are you ready for the party? No, seriously. Are you ready? We've all been to parties with terrible hosts, terrible guests, poorly thought out games or ice breakers, etc...  On today's summertime show we break from our recent heavier topics and talk about how to throw a party.  As we were discussing this idea with our friends and colleagues we realized that there are some definite party do's and don'ts.  And maybe this isn't as frivolous as we first thought.  Hosting a party can be an important event in bringing together various people and opening a camaraderie in our ever self secluding world.

The history and ethical problems with the war on drugs.  We discuss the nature of addiction and why private prisons are an unethical place to house those who have substance dependency.  We argue that we should focus on actual data and seek to be virtuous toward our addict neighbors, rather than merely looking virtuous to our upstanding and "together" neighbors.  Discussion topics include initiatives to legalize cannabis, the history of the penitentiary system, methodone, and other social issues related to narcotics.

Happy Father's Day.

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, his son Ted Rosenbladt, Steve Byrnes, Dan Deen and other old friends try and capture the sort of conversation that has been happening for decades on the Rosenbladt deck.  Dan was out for this one, but he's got a history of joining in these back yard conversations.

What is it to be a good father?

What is it to be a true brother--or friend?

We discuss answers to all this and a kind of love called philia.  Ted, of New Reformaion Press, also reveals some plans for an organization called 1517.

Armageddon.  Apocalypse.  Rapture.  What do such words mean?  This show is about the end of the world, what it will be like according to several ideologies, and why it matters.  Even if you don't believe strongly in a particular religion or political ideology, you probably have an implicit theory of the end (eschatology), and your neighbors sure do.  Sometimes, our views about the end of the world have serious consequences for our life in the world today.  Even though we don't spend much time on the traditional theological conversation, we do mention the distinction between premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial theologies.

Oh, and Dan also lets us know whether Putin is bringing on a third world war.

It feels good to give.  But what we don't often realize is the uneven ways charities distribute our gifts.  We talk about the best and worst nonprofit organizations as regards their stewardship of donor money.  We talk about ways for young professionals to consider a career in the world of development aka fundraising.  Philanthropy is best done with knowledge.  This show gets us on the right track at least.

The Winriches are former Jesus Freaks.  They are currently highly involved in youth work, music, and nonprofit organizations.  We talk about the good, the, bad, and the musical as it relates to working with adolescent religious education.