Breadbox Media

Episode 138 - California Travel Odyssey & Grace vs. Nature in Psychology

In this episode Andrew recounts his harrowing journey of near death driving, lost bags, broken rental car clocks, and missed flights, along with a full weekend of eating, drinking, and conversation with his favorite people on Earth. Then, he turns to psychology in light of Susan Baars in the Abode of Love vs. Henri de Lubac and St. Augustine on the relationship between nature and grace.

Episode 137 - Wes Bancroft on Design, Teleology, and Kanye West

In this episode Andrew sits down in a somewhat sketchy roadside park for a chat with his good friend designer/brand architect & Counter Position fanboy Wes Bancroft about good design, branding, and strategy, what all that might have to do with Catholicism and the spiritual life. For a special bonus, Wes tells a bit about his adventures doing design work for Kanye West and how to make it “swish”.

Episode 136 - Snow Day!!! & Musings on How to Fight an Ideology

In this episode, after having dug out from a Spring blizzard, a frustrated and restless Andrew tries to put a finger on some kind of meaningful response to a meaningless act of terror, then goes on to use a Bernie Sanders tweet and a video of a former ISIS fighter, who was raised as an altar boy in Belgium, as icons of the position we are in, that is we are not at war with a religion, but we are not really at war with a group or organization- we are at war with an ideology. In this ideological war, Andrew sets forth the call to something higher than oneself and the call to sonship as two key fronts in this ideological battle.

Episode 135 - Chris Stefanick: The Interview So Nice We Did It Twice

In this episode Andrew takes another shot at a conversation with his good friend Chris “Special Treat” Stefanick, after their last attempt fell pray to tech gremlins. They cover Chris’s 80’s rapper name, how to hack United for 1st class seats, their need for private jets, Andrew’s incredible brussel sprouts and need for a wife, along with the role of craft and taste in seeking the kingdom of God, the core of the gospel message, Andrew’s status as a “man of substance”, Chris’s new event Reboot! Live!, their amazing plot to get EWTN to send them surfing in Costa Rica, and so so so much more.

Episode 134 - Fire of Conversation & Hospitality, Stories of Encounter, and a Question from Pope B16

In this episode Andrew relays and interesting insight into the moments captured in scripture, recalls being in his favorite place (which can be in many places), relays to beautiful stories of God becoming present to someone through those around them, then teases an upcoming topic by posing for consideration a question from a new interview with Pope Benedict about salvation, mission, and conversion.

Episode 133 - What Now?: Frustration & A Proposal for the Way Forward

In this episode, after apologizing for the recent reruns, Andrew examines the current political situation in light of the exit of Marco Rubio, explores Rubio’s critique of Trump’s relation to the anger in the populace, and looks at the likely outcomes for the Fall election. Then, he makes a plea for a third party candidate that can pull votes from both sides in Ron Paul fashion if we have nothing to lose. Finally, he makes a brief proposal for a new political movement to begin now, in which all men of good will return to the table and begin to look at the core principles at play, using the Declaration, Constitution and Catholic Social Doctrine as a framework in which to find the maximum level of agreement and enter a substantive conversation about the underlying issues in areas of disagreement.

Episode 132 - The Crest of the Wave: Appearances vs. Meaning

In this episode, after offering some hopeful political gossip and return to Michael Pollen and our relationship to cooking, Andrew continues his current trend and looks at our relationship to reality, as beings marked by a desire for meaning, by contrasting a TED Talk on the fear of death with pp. 108-109 of The Religious Sense by Msgr. Luigi Giussanni.

Episode 131 - The Hearth of Reality and a New Humanity

In this episode Andrew heads back into his favorite stream and explores his recent experience of a person recoiling at the word “Catholic” through a quotation from Madeleine L’Engle in light of Giussani, Fr. Carron, and Fr. Jose Medina, all an answer to the question of how we should live. This episode is pretty much what the Counter Position is all about.

Episode 130 - The Bad News & The Good News/The Hunger for Reality

In this episode a restless and melancholy Andrew, after his seemingly requisite daily rant about the current political state in our country, explores a conversation in which a person looked at him suddenly like he was evil when he used the word “Catholic” and an article from Salon warning people of the danger of calling breastfeeding “natural”. After taking too long to explore ugly reality of where we are and how we got there, Andrew affirms and explores the reality of reality, our collective hunger for it, and the hope that comes with that situation.

Episode 129 - Books, Journals, and Uphill Both Ways

In this episode Andrew goes into full on old man rant mode after seeing a nice young girl sit feet from the stage, through two sets of music, by two incredible artists, with her back to the band on her laptop. Bringing insight and stories from a magical wonderland called “the 90s”, Andrew tells of a time when food, coffee, booze, and music were all communal endeavors and people went out and……..actually spoke to each other. In the process he covers busy academics as bullets, cappuccino as wormholes to Italy, and considers how spiritual experience is time travel.

Episode 128 - “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” & Man the Cook

In this episode Andrew talks about a frustrating weekend and about his relationship with frustration as a influence in his life. Then, he shifts to looking at an idea he picked up from Michael Pollen over the weekend, that man is the only being that cooks, then explores the meaning and ramifications of that concept.

Episode 127: Frustrated Big Picture Political Musings

In this episode Andrew tries to put his finger on something that is stirring in him about the big picture of the public sphere in America, especially in the political realm. Through the lens of looking at each of the sets of candidates, their agendas, and the motives behind their support, he tries to get a feel for what is going on in the hopes, fears, longings, and lives of the people of our nation. Mostly he just rambles and gets increasingly frustrated by not being to put his finger on what is the underlying theme and issue at hand and what might be the answer. He should probably give up the news for the rest of Lent.

Episode 126: Super Tuesday Pre-Numbers Rant, Race Semi-Revisited, & A Counter Experiment in Vulnerability Through Story That Leads to a Plea for Courage in Dialogue

In this episode Andrew can’t help himself and goes on a political rant that will most likely get him hung if certain dark tyrannical forces gain the White House, revisits his musings on race by talking about his conversations over the bar yesterday, then explores and models real vulnerability and dialogue as a way to move past the crazy demonization and the Left vs. Right Balkanization of our modern political environment, that is being used to manipulate us to give up power and liberty. Plus, a bonus of shameless plugs!

Episode 125: The Fear of Talking About Race & Lonely In A Crowd

In this episode Andrew talks about the Oscars, gets sidetracked into musing on his experience with race in America, and explores our (and his own) inherent fear of talking about race, even in good will and in an attempt to share personal experience or understand another’s experience. Then, he talks about being in a funk over the weekend, about the different paradoxes of loneliness, and relays a story of being taught about love and happiness by a little girl in a wheelchair.

Episode 124 - Gratitude for Liberty/Solidarity, Subsidiarity, and Love

In this episode, in classic Counter Position fashion, Andrew starts to finish his discussion from yesterday about Holy Friendship in a Hypersexualized World, but first reflects on some thoughts from meeting Fr. Wojciech Girtych O.P., the theologian to the papal household the night before. In the process of expressing the gratitude he felt hearing Fr. Girtych compare the freedom of the structure of our American Republic to the government centric oppressive nature of life in Europe, Andrew gets lost on a rabbit trail on the American political life, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the place of love in Catholic Social Doctrine. In the process covers everything from Aristotle’s concept of man as a political animal, Thomas Jefferson’s love of St. Robert Bellarmine , the height of hedges, women’s suffrage, the birth of horses, and the Dept. of Education.

Episode 123: Friendship vs. Sexualization: Part 1

In this episode, after a giant rant about his tech woes, insomnia, and falling cheese trays, Andrew dives into the issue of friendship vs. sexual relationship in light of the new BBC documentary about JPII and life long deep friendship he had with a married woman. In this discussion he turns to two articles to discuss, but gets caught up on the first one, How to Stop Sexualizing Everything, by D.C. McAllister over on thefederalist.com. He explores the nature of phileo love, vs. eros, and looks at the nature of friendship, with help from C.S Lewis and dives into his own experience of deep intimate friendship with people of both sexes, and with McAllister looks at how deep attraction in a sexualized world may account for the rise of homosexuality among the young, blaming the “big gay high five.” This is Andrew at his amped up ADD bestest. He promise Part II will be more sober and organized, but we don’t believe and kind of don’t want it to.

Episode 122 - Terrorism vs. Security and Liberty in Balance, Trying to Garden in a War Zone, and The Spiritual Life as Combat

In this episode Andrew, after reviewing the standoff between the Justice Department and Apple, tries to draw the broad brushstrokes of our current situation in the West regarding the tension between liberty and security and how that came about, then turns to use that reality as a metaphorical lens through which to view the big picture of our life as beings both spiritual and physical living in a reality in which battle and combat is happening whether we acknowledge it or not.

Episode 121- Practical Work vs. Reflection & Apple vs. Big Brother in Light of the Death of Scalia

In this episode Andrew bemoans how his recent work schedule have kept him from really being mindful or having insights, then moves on the the strange case of a liberal computer company with Al Gore on its board forever is standing up like Libertarians for personal freedom and privacy while so-called conservatives line up to give away the farm in the name of fighting terrorism or safety. In light of this, he muses on the loss of Scalia last week.

Episode 120- Reflections on Stereotypes, Work as Prayer, and the Beautiful Particularity of Persons/You’re Like Totally My New Best Friend

In this episode Andrew muses on his experience of hanging with Michael Miley, drummer for the band Rival Sons, his experiences at the concert, and his conversations with Miley and the rest of the band backstage. Highlights include having his stereotype of Opus Dei and what was possible/likely shattered, the instructive nature that seeing someone’s commitment to their craft can have on your commitment to yours, and what you can learn from a rock star lead singer’s past as an undertaker regarding love and ministry.

Episode 119 - Michael Miley of Rival Sons on Rock and Roll and the Spiritual Path of Doing Your Best

In this episode Andrew has a conversation with his good friend and Counter Position listener Michael Miley, drummer of the band Rival Sons, who stopped in while in Denver opening for Black Sabbath. They cover his conversion to Christianity and eventually Roman Catholicism, the life of a Catholic on the road as a rock drummer, and how he lives out his faith by sanctifying his work as a Cooperator in the work of Opus Dei.