In our interview with Dr. Marilyn McEntyre, we discuss strategies for caring for words in a climate of conflict. Marilyn McEntyre has spent her career caring for words and teaching others to do the same. A poet and the author of over 15 books, Marilyn has embodied the border walking approach we are seeking to learn on this podcast, first as a long timer professor of American literature and then the professor of medical humanities at UC Davis and the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program. The following were mentioned in our discussion: -Marilyn’s book, Caring Words in a Culture of Lies: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7889/caring-for-words-in-a-culture-of-lies-2nd-ed.aspx -Marilyn’s book, Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7814/speaking-peace-in-a-climate-of-conflict.aspx -The book, Doctors: The Biography of Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337046.Doctors -The book Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What You Say Next Will Change Your World by Marshall B. Rosenberg: https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/product/speak-peace-in-a-world-of-conflict/ -This mural in Ireland: https://images.app.goo.gl/Y4EAu3YJLANGQTGaA -The books by Oliver Sacks: www.oliversacks.com -Kenneth Burke’s phrase “literature as equipment for living” -Marilyn’s article “In Praise of Incompletion”: https://blogs.westmont.edu/magazine/2004/02/01/in-praise-of-incompletion/ -Marilyn’s new book, Where the Eye Alights: Phrases for the Forty Days of Lent: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7698/where-the-eye-alights.aspx Our next Border Walkers conversation will take place sometime in March. Details will be posted in the podcast feed and on Anchor.fm/BorderWalkers. The audio for all of our Border Walkers conversations can be found wherever you get your podcasts or by visiting Anchor.fm/BorderWalkers.

In our interview with Dr. Michael MacLeod, professor of Political Science at St. Mary’s University, we discuss why political borders have become so insurmountable and share strategies for having conversations with those who disagree with our political convictions. Dr. Michael MacLeod is Associate Professor of Political Science and past Chair of Social Science at St. Mary’s Univeristy in Calgary, Alberta. He formerly was Associate Professor and Director of International Studies at George Fox University in Oregon, and studied at The Queen’s University and The George Washington University. Dr MacLeod mentioned the following books, audio recordings, or organizations: -A podcast interview with James Martin: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/battleground-with-david-plouffe-steve-schmidt/id1529896611?i=1000507268224 -The book The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters by Tom Nicholas: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-death-of-expertise-9780190469412?cc=ca&lang=en& -The book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/hillbilly-elegy-j-d-vance?variant=32207704391714 -The book Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535371/political-tribes-by-amy-chua/ -A lecture by Amy Chua: https://youtu.be/P1xTlL6mE4k -The organization “Make America Dinner Again”: www.makeamericadinneragain.com Our next Border Walkers conversation will be “Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict” with Marilyn McEntyre, on Friday, February 165h at 6:30 pm Mountain Time. For details on how to join the live conversation, visit http://borderwalkers.eventbrite.ca. The audio for all of our Border Walkers conversations can be found wherever you get your podcasts or by visiting Anchor.fm/BorderWalkers.

This episode was recorded live on Zoom with an interactive audience. To learn details about our next interactive conversation, visit https://anchor.fm/borderwalkers, or subscribe to Border Walkers in your favourite podcast app where will release a short trailer announcing the date and time of our next conversation.

You can also join the Border Walkers: Continuing the Conversation Facebook Group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/797529447854792/).

Our guest, Makoto Fujimura, is a leading contemporary artist whose paintings have been featured in galleries and museums around the world. He was a Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts, is the founder of the International Arts Movement and the Fujimura Institute, and co-founder of the Kintsugi Academy. His writings and selected artwork can be found on his website, https://makotofujimura.com

Details on Mako’s book, Culture Care: Reconnecting With Beauty for Our Common Life, can be found here: https://www.ivpress.com/culture-care

Mako mentions James Davison Hunter’s 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America.

Mako describes working with the Chairman of the National Foundation for the Arts, Dana Gioia (https://danagioia.com/about-dana-gioia/)

Mako also mentions QU4RTETS, his project with Bruce Herman: https://iamculturecare.com/projects/qu4rtets The Old English word for border stalker is mearcstapa.

Details on the Walking on Water series, Mako’s collaboration with Susie Ibarra, can be found here: https://makotofujimura.com/art/portals/walking-on-water

Mako’s podcast is “Culture Care”, and his interview with Susie Ibarra is on Episode 4. https://culture-care-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/light-through-the-cracks-episode-4

Mako’s new book is Art and Faith: A Theology of Making: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300254143/art-and-faith

Mako refers to David Brooks January 7th op-ed in the New York Times, “This Is When the Fever Breaks”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/opinion/capitol-riot-republicans.html.

Mako uses Mitt Romney’s response during the assault on the Capital as an example of truth telling. It is described on this episode of The Daily: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/podcasts/the-daily/capitol-congress-mob-donald-trump.html

Mako mentions Shūsaku Endō’s novel Silence. Mako’s own book exploring the themes of the novel is Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering. Mako was a creative consultant on Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film adaptation of the novel.

Meet Lance Dixon and Daniel Melvill Jones, your co-hosts of Border Walkers, as they discuss the inspiration behind the podcast, and their quest to find other sojourners who have traveled beyond the edge of culture wars and identity politics toward a common humanity.

The cohosts of Boarder Walkers are Lance Dixon, director of campus ministry at St Mary’s University (https://www.stmu.ca/lance-dixon/ ) and Daniel Melvill Jones, writer and student (http://www.danielmelvilljones.com/dmj).

Daniel’s podcast with his friend, Kyle Marshall, is called Assumptions.

Makoto Fujimura’s work can be found on his website, https://www.makotofujimura.com. His book is called Culture Care

Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life (https://www.ivpress.com/culture-care).

The authors Lance mentions are Rhonda Magee (https://www.rhondavmagee.com), Reva Siegel (https://law.yale.edu/reva-siegel), and Glenn Singleton (https://courageousconversation.com/about/).

The event Daniel mentioned on the Big Bang and faith featured Adam D. Hincks, SJ (https://www.stmu.ca/event/bigbang-faith/).

Lance’s four principles are 1) stay engaged, 2) expect discomfort, 3) speak your truth, and 4) accept non-closure.

Our three purposes for the Boarder Walker events and podcast are 1) to hear from others who are successfully embodying the Boarder Walker vocation, 2) to gather a community of Boarder Walkers, and 3) to create a space for rational discourse

To find details about our next live Boarder Walker and to join on Zoom, visit:

Boarder Walkers is created by Lance Dixon and Daniel Melvill Jones. This episode was written by Lance Dixon and Daniel Melvill Jones and edited by Lance Dixon.