Breadbox Media

The Counter Position Episode 291- Lent is No Fun, Check Engine Lights, and Sugary Porn vs. Human Scale

In this episode Andrew, in a bit of a punch mood, after a weekend recap including laments over food and booze, Logan, great conversations, mentoring, 12 monkeys, Cardinal Stafford, and CL, turns to the fact that his Check Engine light came on. He uses this metaphor to explore our own physical and spiritual life, the current Tweeting presidency, the Gary Wilson TED talk on Porn, caveman brains, the availability of sugar, and sexual attraction. Finally, he looks very briefly at an idea in John Senior about “human scale” and “human pace”, along with Senior’s pessimism on technology, but instead of disagreeing wonders if Senior is going back far enough. 

The Counter Position Episode 290- Jeremy Rivera of The Little J Marketing

Andrew sits down with his friend Jeremy Rivera, founder of The Little J Marketing Company to talk about how Jeremy went from a cultural Catholic party kid at CU Boulder, to a Protestant pastor, then after a confrontation with Archbishop Charles Chaput, to return to his Catholic faith, work for FOCUS, and found an innovative new marketing firm. 

The Counter Position Episode 289- Digital Distraction: Hot Tub Selfies, Restaurant Security Footage, Vibrating Mice Up Pants’ Legs, and a 1990 Coffee Tour

In this episode Andrew, after a quick Ash Wednesday recap, wades into the topic of the digital effect on our lives and the way we communicate and relate, including a kid taking selfies in the hot tub and gripping his Jordans like “The Precious”, a restaurant that analyzed why dining took so much longer now vs. earlier in their space, an article in The Week about new tech-induced brain disorders, a story about Andrew getting surprised by the vibration of a new beeper and thinking it was something that crawled up his leg, Andrew’s mom hearing phantom drive-thru bell rings, the off-putting nature of someone’s full attention in a distracted society, and finally, a rapid fire walk through a bunch of stuff we think is normal but that is brand new in a coffeehouse and the we relate their. 

The Counter Position Episode 288- Presidential Pivot, Ash Wednesday, Possession vs. Possession, and The Removal of the Toxic

In this early morning episode a tired insomniac Andrew talks about people’s reaction to Trump deciding for once not to act like a divisive cartoon figure, talks about Ash Wednesday and why people like getting ashes on their forehead, muses on the word possessions and the distinction between what you have and what has you, and finally discusses his intended Lenten practice of Auto-Immune Paleo Protocol, less screen time, and a more analog life and uses that to give some principles you can use to tune your Lenten practice. 

The Counter Position Episode 287- Weekend Recap, A Straussian Reading of Envelopegate, True Diversity Requires the Universal, and In Defense of Rachel Dolezal vs. Trans Activists

In this episode Andrew, in an “Indian food nap” but not quite the “sushi coma”, starts with a weekend recap including his experience of seeing the amazing work of Ali Cavanaugh at the Abend Gallery, a big Catholic Mardi Gras shindig, falling flat on his face on concrete while getting cigarettes for a friend, and an Oscar party full of CL types. Then, Andrew wades into the production of conspiracy theory with his own look at the potential explanation and meaning of the Oscars Best Picture envelope debacle and casts it as political kabuki. Then after a healthy rant about being sick of being given to false realities to choose between, demonization of the other and racism on one side and identity politics on the other, Andrew makes an argument that the pursuit truly Catholic (universal) things that answer the longing of the human person per se will end in a real holistic diversity and that the things bigger than man are what can bring different types of men from different backgrounds together into community. Finally, he talks about a story about Rachel Dolezal, the white woman caught passing as black and rising to a leadership position in the black community, and how she has been ostracized and attacked by trans activists for using the phrase “trans-racial” and “trans-black.” Andrew builds an argument/rant that race is why more logical to be viewed as based on perception than gender is, and threatens to start a Go Fund Me page for Rachel just to tick off the trans activists.

The Counter Position Episode 286- Colorado Weather Drunk, Seeing Unseen Sights at Sight Unseen, Building and Buildings, and Habitable Places Far Away vs. Inhabitable Places Under Right Here

In this episode Andrew talks about Denver going from 73 a couple days ago to a full on blizzard with some of the slickest driving he’s ever encountered. Then, he turns to going to see some works by his friend the painter Ali Cavanaugh at the Abend Gallery and their new show Sight Unseen, talks about the disclosure of the Divine in the particularity of the human person, and how the experience of seeing something or someone in person the first time is analogous to what we call “encounter” in the spiritual realm. He moves on to talking about the conceptual design of the new Calix space, the search for a building, and the disappointment of finding cool spaces that are already under contract. Finally, he talks about news stories about 3 new habitable planets found in a system called Trappist-1, the claim that there is an 8th continent under New Zealand, and how the pope watched a circus performance with women in “skin tight” outfits. 

The Counter Position Episode 285- Dancing, Sushi, and Charging Cables As Social Engagement, Free the FoCo, and Developments, Detachment, and Disappointment w/ Calix

 

In this episode, after a riff on the local schizophrenic weather, Andrew muses on dancing and public intimacy, women’s advice on dating, Milo cutting axed from CPAC and the politics of remembering/discussing abuse, Trump making the school bathroom sane again, and a decision to allow women to be topless in Fort Collins, CO. Then, he explores three experiences in public spaces of a stranger buying him sushi, another stranger offering a charging cable, and a free trying to have a loud video conference in his shop. Finally, he announces another stalled out project for Calix, the decision to build a prototype shop in Denver, and his experience of hope, disappointment, and detachment in these goings on. 

The Counter Position Episode 284- Andrew Finally Lets Sara “The Quitter” Stacey Be On His Show

In this episode Andrew sits down for a chat with his “friend” and former employee Sara “The Quitter” Stacey. After she curses on the air, which hopefully gets bleeped or silenced, they talk about her cursing habit, dead people’s FB pages, an episode of Black Mirror, a creepy phone booth in rural Japan where people leave voicemail for dead loved ones, the Incarnation, and the human impulse to stay connected to those we’ve lost by physical and now digital means. Then, he tries to get her, mostly unsuccessfully, to explain what it is like to be a girl. 

The Counter Position Episode 283- Weekly Recap, What Are You Not Telling Me, Pacific Storm “Lucifer?”, and Musings on Globalism

In this episode, after recap/catch-up including Candlelight Mass, Andrew’s single state getting put on blast, and a shout out to an old friend, Andrew, inspired by ICE’s tweets claiming there has been not uptick in immigration enforcement, but rather a slight drop, dives into the question of the media and how what they choose to silent on over time is as important as what they do say. Then, he bemoans the problem of looking to alternative media and the issue of fake news and admits to being almost faked out by links claiming that the storm hitting CA right now is named Lucifer, when in fact it is not named that at all. Finally, after a quick skim of Mark Zuckerberg’s new manifesto, he rants and muses about global vs. local, the rise of the increasingly larger contexts to live in, the concept of a citizen, whether borders or house walls are inherently racist or oppressive, and whether or not a global Common Good when taken as “overlapping concerns” would leave us much to be connected by. 

The Counter Position Episode 282- Weather Report, Immigrations Frustration, and The Glory of Disappointment in Reality

In this episode Andrew, drunk on Vitamin D from a 74 degree day in Denver, talks about the weather, the storms about to hit CA, his experiences of weather in CA, how wearing flip flops makes him want a giant salad for lunch, and how different situations, locations, and conditions in our lives can trigger us to certain actions. Then, after a sidebar on visioning ends before means, he talks a bit about the illegal immigrant woman in Denver holed up in a church basement, the nature of our broken immigration system, and his lack of desire to part of any movement that is going to start deporting people like her. Finally, based on a Robert Barron comment about C.S. Lewis, Andrew delves into the experience of disappointment that comes with any deep experience of a particular beauty, good, or truth, how reality is supposed to disappoint us to keep us moving toward the eternal goods themselves, and how faith in particular fills the role of giving us what our intellect craves but can’t achieve directly. 

Episode 281- Singles Awareness Day Episode, Weekend Recap, and Dominican Bathrooms

In this episode Andrew celebrates Singles Awareness Day, that darkest day of the year for single people, by doing a weekend recap including Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, a delirious and brilliant Perry West, an “Abortion on demand without apologies!!” button, sketchy punch chicks at The Skylark, Luke Carey the host of Catching Foxes, Megan Mastroianni, people turning coffeehouses into cubicles, and a Faraday Cage. Then, Andrew turns to a story in which the East Coast Dominican Friars let 100s of women use there bathrooms during the D.C. Women’s March, what happened next, why this is the model of evangelization, why most of us don’t do this, and finally, how not doing this and treating people as placeholders for culture war issues is the same as porn. 

The Counter Position Episode 280

The Counter Position Episode 279- TAC and Bigger vs. Better, A Rough Rough Day, Letter to Diognetus on Seeing, and Jesus in a Hotel

In this very Counter-Position-ish episode of the The Counter Position, Andrew talks about a rough week, his alma mater TAC getting a new campus in New England, defining better without getting bigger, “crazy beautiful beauty”, existential angst, strategic confusion, physical pain, spiritual desolation, getting a credit card thrown at him, sushi fixes everything, hot-cold-repeat, bourbon, getting a neck massage from a genius songwriter, “The Odyssey of my yesterday”, in praise of the bathroom devotional, the Letter to Diognetus, Msgr. Giussani, respect and seeing two things at once, a story about a priest picking up and street preaching with Jesus disguised as a homeless dude with a lazy eye that looks up, whether Jesus would like a night off in a hotel room, why we don’t list the name of fashion models in spreads, and recognizing the made. 

The Counter Position Episode 278- Calix on the Road: Travel Woes, Save the Pizza!!, and What Part of “Table. Discussion. Leader.” Didn’t You Understand.

In this episode Andrew is in Flint, MI recapping a crazy trip for Calix this weekend, including an icy Uber near wreck, forgotten CPAP parts, O’Hare strikes again, Duckie to the rescue, race relations and the intimacy of travel, The Great Pizza Fire of 2017, Jonathan Reyes and life changing work at St. Luke’s Sewing Center, a shout out to the first guy to smoke a fish, how Andrew is a bad primate, Sacred Heart Seminary, recovering Charismatic, Life in the Spirit, “Table. Discussion. Leader” volunteering, getting roped into praying over people, congrats to the Pats, not the GOAT, not an active shooter after all, and a Juniper Rose Latte. 

 

The Counter Position Episode 277- Political Fatigue, CSD and False Dichotomies, A Dead Mycenaean Warrior Critiques the Alt-Right

In this episode, Andrew, in his early morning mode, recaps his weekend including reading Wendell Berry, Duckie’s 40th, drinking with the Catholic famous, using math to envision the life of a coffeehouse, and mass in light of sex and Seinfeld. Then, he explores how he and all around him are already fatigued by the toxic nature and sheer volume of political commentary and news, including people deleting Facebook, his own political nightmare, and healthy rabbit trail on his take on global warming/climate change. Finally, Andrew returns to the archeological story of the grave of a Mycenaean warrior near the Palace of Nestor, how collaboration and sharing of culture is at the root of the West, and a defense of talking about the West and Western culture as something to be lost without being “alt-right”. 

The Counter Position Episode 276- Paul McCusker: An Impromptu Conversation on Political All or Nothing and the Use of the Horror Genre to Communicate Spiritual Themes

Paul McCusker stops into the studio and starts a conversation with Andrew while he is setting up his gear but deadlines put Paul to a decision to "shut up or take a mic". He took a mic. What ensues is an engaging dynamic conversation between two people who consider conversation a hobby, ranging from the recent executive orders, the extremes of the reaction, the nature of balancing safety and openness, culture, race, The Wall, dairy workers, and many other political matters. Then, exasperated by politics, they turn to the realization that the supernatural as real, the role that plays in conversion and what subsequent options that leave, and the role of magic, fantasy, and horror to communicate those themes and ideas. 

 

 

The Counter Position Episode 275- Virtual Reality Musings, A Dead Greek Warrior Redefines Western Civilization, and Fishing for Guests

In this episode, after a chatty first segment including insomnia, trolling rock stars by text, Trump and torture, and the March for Life actually got some coverage. Then, based on a breakfast conversation with Chris “Special Treat” Stefanick, Andrew explores the emergence of VR, the dangers and opportunities, the role of the porn industry in innovation in general, a muse on whether the future is backlash or embrace of technology, and then an “ad” for a cutting edge “app” and then a tease of a real app he is working on. Finally, a warrior’s grave near the Palace of Nestor has shown very early interaction and collaboration between the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations in roughly 1600 BC, which gets interrupted by a surprise visit to the Counter Position by Zach “The Space Plumber” Candler and Adam “The Guy Who Almost Got Shot By Wendell Berry” Beach. 

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The Counter Position Episode 273- Straussian Trump and the Deal as Rhetoric, Explaining Birds & Bees to Planned Parenthood, and The Liberal Identity Politics Snake Eats Its Own Tail.

The Counter Position Episode 273- Straussian Trump and the Deal as Rhetoric, Explaining the Birds and the Bees to Planned Parenthood (Spoilers for kids), and The Liberal Identity Politics Snake Eats Its Own Tail. 

In this episode, after exploring how Trump is breaking down the hard fast Saved By The Bell level stereotypes of Right and Left, Andrew explores how Trump’s knowledge of deals might be a hermeneutic for reading between the lines to understand him by looking at the executive orders for the two pipelines, the role of the unions, the cost of steel, and what that all means. Then, he explores the story of Lila Rose from Live Action calling a bunch of Planned Parenthood locations and being told they don’t do prenatal care. In response to this clear revelation that parenthood is not what they are planning, Andrew explores the nature of the concept “health” and “healthcare” in the big picture and explains to PP that when a mommy and daddy love each other very much, they make a special hug and the mommy, if their healthy, gets a baby in her belly and that that is what they are supposed to be “planning”. That should clear things right up for them. Finally he explores how the trans activists are made at the Women’s March for making things so vaginal and making them feel like a woman just because they don’t own one. 

 

 

The Counter Position Episode 272- Marching in Silence

In this episode, after a quick chatty weekend recap involving candles, mass, bourbon, Werner Herzog, CL, Dr. Holly Peterson, pizza, wine, and sinus headaches, Andrew dives into the first couple days of the Trump administration, wonders why Republicans always start so awkwardly, but gives Trump props on the Mexico City Policy reinstatement. Then, he talks about the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the division in our country by talking about the big women’s march in DC, Walk for Life West Coast, and the upcoming March for Life, and by using some concepts from the movie Silence, including concepts vs. encounter, conversion vs. sharing our recipe, the nature of acts vs. the results, and the obscurity of some acts in their essence. Finally, he makes a plea for us to break out of our bunkers, ideological, digital, and otherwise and do the hard vulnerable work of learning the language and life of our opponents to the point that we can longer demonize them and have a shot at being understood. 

The Counter Position Episode 271- El Chapos and Trumps and Bears, Oh My!

In this episode a punchy and tired Andrew finishes the week and very a long stretch of work and travel, by talking about how hard he is going to do nothing this weekend, how El Chapo moved to NYC, Trump moved to DC, and Obama should move to Mexico to keep things in balance. Then, he turns to the assorted goings on in our nations capitol talking about the concert, inauguration, protests, and speech. Finally, he moves to talking a bit about the Betsy DeVoss Grizzly Bear debacle and what charter schools and farmer’s markets might have in common.