Today I want to talk about a marvelous communications method called The Podcast.  I'll list a few that I've listened to and give you my assessment of each.

01.  The Rachel Maddow show. I love to listen to her thoughts about interesting current and past events.  I used to watch her TV show at 9 PM, Monday through Friday, but I would rather experience her show as a kind-of Podcast on the morning after.

02.   The Al Franken Podcast.  Al is a humorist and former U.S. Senator and has a lot to tell about his Congressional experiences.  Al has some interesting guests with whom he swaps stories. (mainly "funny" but true.  I wish that he had not resigned his Senatorial seat,

Unfortunately, Al's Podcasts do not surface as much as I would like.

 03.  Lexicon Valley.  This is a remarkable Podcast if you love words. Famous author and wordsmith John McWhorter peppers his episodes with interesting stories about word origins, often using citations from other countries, such as Germany, France, Serbia, Kenya, etc.  He is an exceptional linguist who can speak many languages, but he is not a boring person.

I recently read his book about the 9 "nastiest" words in English. Very interesting and informative, but not recommended for Sunday School teachers.

04.   Mea Culpa is (or was) a rant about Ex-President Trump by his former lawyer and "Right Hand Man" (Michael Cohen) who recently finished a jail term for misdeeds Cohen claims Mr. Trump ordered him to do.  I haven't been able to connect to this Podcast recently.  Maybe Mr. Cohen has run out of material.

05.  America's National Parks.  All you never knew about each of our numerous national parks.  Extremely interesting if you are, were, or will be a tourist in our beautiful U.S.A.

06.  The Moth is a place where ordinary people can talk about their life experiences for five minutes. This is similar to the five minute speeches in Toastmasters Meetings.

Some stories are completely stupid.  Some stories are "blah."  Some stories are interesting.  Some stories are wonderful.  Some stories are inspiring.  Some stories will make you mad.  Some stories will make you cry.  Some stories will make you laugh.

Some storytellers are professional speakers.  Some storytellers like me have overcome crippling stage fright.  Most storytellers are ordinary folks desiring to express themselves in our s(moth)ering environment.  Good luck to them!