Life 2.0

THE WEDNESDAY RANT

It's a kinder, more gentle "Wednesday Rant" (with more of a WayBack Wednesday theme but enough edges to warrant TWR label with my thoughts about the passing of Senator John McCain and his detractors.) I am in nostalgia mode as I celebrate my 21st year of broadcasting on this episode with some rambling reflections, cutting commentary and a BITD (Back In The Day) interview with the late, great Ed McMahon and how I was able to be a thirteen year old kid again for two hours. Play Ball!

 

FREEBIE FRIDAY

Another bonus episode for subscribers of the Life 2.0 podcast and a chance for the rest of the world to put an ear on content that informs, entertains and inspires, hopefully in some sort of order that makes sense out of the senseless.

 

Like the deaths of Sadie Alvardo and Mollie Tibbets and that both were killed but one has become a political pawn, the other...nearly forgotten.

 

Like the fact there is more plastic pollution on the planet than all species combined and will outlive every single thing on earth and while there are climate change deniers, no one yet has looked at the mountains of human generated plastic and said..."Fake News."

 

And what does Mike & Molly have to do with all of this? All that and more in this fodder filled Friday on Life 2.0-

 

Its a rollicking 49:59 of verbal gymnastics, some serious internal excavation, a trip up the down escalator and more fun than getting a root canal without a shot of Wild Turkey.  

 

Music this week from two old friends, Mark Cleveland and John Denver.

CANTON REWIND

The road to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH is a long time coming for some of the players like Packer Jerry Kramer who's been eligible since 1973 and is finally in at the age of 82, but for others like Chicago Bear Brian Urlacher, who got in the first time around at the age of 40. But its the fans that are the bedrock of the game in many ways and so I dragged out my trusty, dusty microphone very early in the morning to go beyond the headlines...to voices of the Canton faithful who wanted to simply say "Thank You."

Disclaimer: There is an embedded "rant" around "Paid Patriotism" as it pertains to the National Anthem. You've been served notice.

Music this week "Darcy's Guitar" from the late, great Pete Huttlinger.

You can find his stuff here- http://www.petehuttlinger.com/

THE WEDNESDAY RANT

I was doing just fine, minding my own busy-ness when the email caught my eye. "LEAD LIKE JESUS IN JUST 21 DAYS!" Ugh. I really try to say away from that stuff, but then I realized I had bookmarked the site a few months ago and that combined with the latest headlines of another "MEGA CHURCH SCANDAL" and add to that another email that was touting "BEND THE UNIVERSE TO YOUR WILL!" I had no choice but to...well I did have a choice...so its all about "Selling Secrets" on The Wednesday Rant. Life 2.0 music is "The Lincoln Ave Rag" from the musical genius of David Stoddard-you can buy his stuff here- http://davidstoddardmusic.com/

LOGO-THERAPY

 

I was minding my own business until I came across an "emperical study" by a PhD that claims the name of the Washington football team was causing serious harm to the Native American youth population. Of course not one to let a good ole' "emperical study" go unchallenged, I have a few thoughts of my own on this..."Logo-Therapy" that might need to take place, and on that note, what then can the "Greatest Athlete In The World" teach us mere mortals about overcoming adversity in life? Everything. 

THE WALK OF LIFE

Twenty-two years ago in 1996, Duane Kinnart, Joseph Johnson and myself took a very long walk. It started with a recurring dream, was manifest in front of a sacred fire, ordained by a higher power and anointed from within.

 

Ten years after that walk in 2006, WPR radio host extraordinaire' Ben Merens had Duane & I on his show to talk about some of the lessons from that time, and the many changes that were going on in the world. The show was flooded with callers that wanted to recount their own journeys, jamming the phone lines with evidence that not everything on talk radio is about politics and sports.

 

This is a Freebie Friday Edition of the Life 2.0 Podcast, subscribers get a bonus and the rest of the world can listen in by simply clicking the "play" button.

 

The open and close music is "Get Up And Walk" by the incomparable Mark Cleveland, you can buy his stuff here- http://markclevelandmusic.com/

THE WEDNESDAY RANT

What do all these things have in common? A smoke alarm, thunderstorm, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, plastic water bottles and mixed metaphors? The answer of course is all those topics (and much more) are puzzle pieces in this episode of "The Wednesday Rant."  Brace yourself, time to do some serious internal excavation. It's another outing behind the Firewall of Truth. 

THE JOURNEY OF JERRY KRAMER

Last night as I watched Green Bay Packers legend Jerry Kramer from the end zone of Tom Benson Stadium, amble across the gridiron grass, his image splayed out on the Jumbotron (and in millions of homes on ESPN) as his name was announced as part of the Class of 2018 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I was 10 years old again. When I read "Instant Replay" in 1968 (and every football season since) something about the "Lessons From Lombardi" took hold of me and became part of my mental hard drive.

For the record, I'm a lifelong Bears fan and seeing Brian Urlacher sprint out and high five the current Bears gave me goosebumps and remembering Jarrett W. Payton introduce his dad in Canton 25 years ago brings a tear to my eye.

But it’s JK's journey that is top of mind today, and my conversation with #64 is the Freebie Friday Edition of the "Life 2.0" podcast. To be clear, this special Hall of Fame episode isn't just about football, its about the game we are all engaged in...life.

#64HOF2018 

THE WEDNESDAY RANT

"Rant"- 1. To speak or write in an angry or emotionally charged manner; rave. 2. To express at length a complaint or negative opinion. 3. Loud, declamatory, or extravagant speech; bombastic tone. So to be clear all of the above might be an accurate description of this episode of the Life 2.0 podcast. As Zen like as I try to be a times, some things simply chap my hide, rub my rhubarb, and burns my toast, especially when it comes to human denial as it relates to the impact we have on the environment. Hold on to your lug nuts on this one, time for an overhaul kids. 

"A MATTER OF GRACE."

 

Trudy Gronning was born in Germany in 1928 and was 10 years old when Hitler was coming to power. As a young girl and teenager, she would be witness to the worst of humanity, and at times the best. She would survive WWII, become a warbride in 1948, make her way to the "enemy country" of America, watch her first husband die very young, become a single parent, see her son march off to Vietnam and be diagnosed with MS, the disease becoming her constant companion since 1967.

 

When I was approached about helping Trudy finish the fictional account of her life, I had no idea she had only written 44 pages in 50 years. She began writing not long after her MS diagnosis, when I was just 8 years old.

 

Trudy just turned 90 years young.

 

The Freebie Friday Podcast is culled from 4 hours of an interview I did for the book's research. It occurred to me that perhaps the rest of the world should hear Trudy's story-in her own words-as told through the character of Jane Raber.

 

You can purchase her book "A Matter of Grace" on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Grace-Trudy-Gronning/dp/1387401041/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532689978&sr=1-1&keywords=Trudy+Gronning