OK….I’m now officially taking requests for new episodes.  Please comment below.  One thought: I don’t want this podcast to be all controversy/DAMU stuff going forward.  This may be a drag for some of you, but I want to cover issues that affect Mormons broadly.  Positive issues too–not just the problems.  Finally, for each topic, I’d love names (where possible) of potential interviewees.  If ya’ll can sometimes help me hunt down the folks to interview, that could help this be more manageable.
I look forward to your feedback!

22 Comments

  1. CanadianCynic December 29, 2006 at 10:21 am

    I wonder if you could throw your hat in the political ring in some respect, perhaps a short interview with Harry Reid or one of his staffers. Alternativly, Mitt Romney, Chris Cannon, Brent Buttars…only if you promised to be mean…LOL

    Richard Van Wagoner wrote an awesome book on Mormon polygamy

    How about Tapestry against Polygamy? I’m sure they would be more than willing to talk about fundamentalists

    Helen Radkey has been monitoring the church compliance with the Jewish baptisms controversy for a while

    What about more explorations of gender? Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a hugely prominent Mormon historian who specializes in this.

    There was an article in Sunstone recently about the church presence in Japan and the challenges that we face there because of the Internet. Perhaps an international interview series? The church has a somewhat different dynamic in Canada than it does in the states, I’m sure it’s even more different say in Europe, Asia or Africa.

    Some of the commentators on Sustain’d are very articulate, even though we disagree constantly. I’m thinking particularly of Hhhhh and Doc.

    I really enjoyed the FAIR episode, perhaps you could get another representative on again, talk about some more issues?

    What about something about the church welfare system?

    Follow up with Armand L. Mauss if he’s still amiable! That was one of my favorite podcasts.

    Heck, could you take over the (sadly missed) Sunstone podcast series? That would provide you with a constant stream of good articles and commentators.

  2. Doc December 29, 2006 at 10:28 am

    I would love to hear what exactly is going on with Richard Dutcher directly from the source. The challenges of being a Mormon filmmaker would be fascinating.

  3. GunnerClark December 29, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    Mr. Quinn would be a hit interview for me. I see that man slandered so badly on certain boards. Yet have never heard from him.

    Susan of Exmormon foundation would also be good.

    Michael Otterson is also a good one. He is one of the few church “endorsed” bloggers out there. His experiances and views of blogging and the church would be good to hear.

    Now for true emotional podcasts I would mention that the lost boys from the fundie groups. Some are old enough to give an insight that almost no one outside of the intermountain states have heard.

    On the same thread. An interview with an activist who deals with helping people from that lifestyle who wishes to leave would be good.

    CanadianCynic mentioned a FAIR episode. I do not seem to remember a FAIR episode. After you allowed Palmer to talk freely I did not know they)FAIR) took you up on your offer for them to respond.

    A small recommend is that a little heads up on who will be on could allow some of us rabble rousers to email questions. Then have a small “readers email questions” section near the end.

  4. Dave Sigmann December 30, 2006 at 9:46 am

    I vote for D. Michael Quinn and any of the other September Six, and Jeffrey Nielsen.

    OK, you said you didn’t want to do all controversial topics. I am having a tough time coming up with any interesting mainstream interviews. The one thing I really want is honesty and transparency from any faithful leadership interviewees. I am so tired of the PR spin and the softball questions from interviewers. Yet, as a current member I am not sure how much you will be able to press the issue with a big whig. Just find the most sincere and straightforward interviewees you can find.

    I don’t know how well the last paragraph applies to him, but you could interview the head LDS Church historian about the Church History Library and Archives and the Joseph Smith historical documents project.

  5. John December 31, 2006 at 6:28 pm

    Bob McCue, Simon Southerton, Richard Packham…

  6. Will January 1, 2007 at 1:28 pm

    How about that long-awaited response by someone from FARMS (or CES) to the Grant Palmer interviews?

  7. McKay January 1, 2007 at 6:49 pm

    I’d be interested to hear from someone who knows about the Spaulding stuff. I think Craig Criddle has written something on the issue, and his story would be interesting to hear.

  8. mike January 1, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    I love MOrmon stories. I’d like to hear why the church spends so much money on temples when Christ was penniless and overthrew money changers.

    I’d like to hear from couples who are struggling with one spouse completely convinced the church is not what they grew up believing but feel trapped in believing and complying. Where is the happy medium? How does a marriage last and survive? Maybe this would be an extension of the Sunstone “For Love, Marriage, Apostasy”. That did very well for me.

    I love the history, but when one finds it is whitewashed or completely re-written, it brings HUGE conflicts in one’s confidence, marriage, family and friends. RELATIONSHIPS is all we have. Learning from others on how they’ve managed while at the same time finding a way to be true to one’s self and not hurting to others. This is where I think Mormon STories could really be the AT&T “Reach out and touch someone” moment. So many people are finding out and struggling. It’s tearing families, marriages, friends apart.

    John use your voice to help this side of the coin. It is probably the most important issue facing so many people.

  9. Jake D. January 3, 2007 at 1:44 am

    Here are some suggestions

    Dale Broadhurst He’s a active poster on the Fairboards and historian of LDS/RLDS history. From his posts he seems to be a all around nice guy and a library of historical information.

    Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon This is a blog written independently by a member who is actively trying to place BOM’s in many languages around the world. I find his missionary spirit interesting. Plus the guy must have a huge trunk from what he apparently drives around with.

    How about a interview with the President of the Mormon History Association?

    I second the Richard Dutcher idea above.

    Also Brent Metcalf would be interesting discussing his insights into the Mark Hoffman situation and his upcoming book on the Kirkland Egyptian Papers.

  10. someone January 3, 2007 at 5:23 am

    I would like to hear interviews about different mormon dominations such as communicty of christ, strangites, Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) and other missouri mormons.

  11. Conolly January 3, 2007 at 1:02 pm

    I would like to see you follow through with your idea for a podcast about “How to Remain Active in the LDS Church After Becoming Disaffected?”

  12. Podaddict January 3, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    Hi John;
    Maybe Bill Russell from the COC or someone from the remaining RLDS or Independant Restoration branches could tell their story. I bet they’d have an interesting perspective on the development of Mormonism. The Dutchter and Metcalfe ideas sound great.How about Avraham Gileadi too?

  13. paula January 3, 2007 at 4:34 pm

    I don’t know any specific names for you on this idea, but I’ve been wondering about kids who are affected by “raising the bar”. I hear that they’re now making kids who are above a certain BMI stay home unless they can lose weight. I wonder what’s been done to help those kids, and kids who can’t go for other reasons, feel at home in the church, when all the other boys their age are on missions.

  14. Jake January 3, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    As mentioned above, D. Michael Quinn would be an excellent subject.

    How about interviewing 2 people with differing points of view in back to back podcasts? For example, you could interview Thomas Murphy or Simon Southerton in one podcast and follow it up with Scott Woodward (BYU genetics professor) in the next.

  15. Jake January 3, 2007 at 9:28 pm

    Please consider interviewing someone familiar with NDE (near death experiences) studies. Possible subjects include Melvin Morse and Raymond Moody. Raymond Moody would be particularly interesting because of his familiarity with scrying (see his book Reunions), which is central to the foundation of the LDS church.

  16. fox_goku January 3, 2007 at 9:55 pm

    Richard Bushman would be great!!

  17. doc January 7, 2007 at 10:19 pm

    I second Bushman. His diary about the reception of Rough Stone Rolling would make for a can’t miss interview that is right up the podcast’s alley.

  18. Matt Thurston January 8, 2007 at 4:34 pm

    I’d love for you to interview Levi Peterson. His recent autobiography (a wonderful read, by the way) would be a nice impetus.

    I second (or third or fourth) Mike Quinn.

    Would also love to hear from Paul Toscano. His speech at the recent 2006 Sunstone Symposium in SLC might have been my favorite.

    Agree also about Bushman and Mauss.

    What about talking to Greg Prince about Paul H. Dunn?

    How about John and Jana Remy and their recent adventures?

  19. paula January 9, 2007 at 11:19 pm

    Chieko Okazaki? Aileen Clyde? I do think it’s possible that you could get one or both of them.

  20. Matt Witten January 11, 2007 at 4:25 pm

    Eldred Smith, Terryl Givens, Mitt Romney

    Any General Authority

    The Spouse or Child of any General Authority

    The Genesis Group Presidency

    Michael Whiting.

  21. Antonio January 18, 2007 at 8:38 am

    How about Vern G. Swanson, author of “Dynasty of the Holy Grail: Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline”?

    Another scholar I would like to listen to is Avraham Gileadi.

    In case you would like to continue your series on Mormon Fundamentalism, I suggest Fred C. Collier, editor of the “Unpublished Revelations”. Tom Green is going to be released from prison this year and would be also an interesting person to be interviewed on the topic.

  22. Square Peg January 19, 2007 at 12:09 pm

    In addition to Richard Dutcher, I’d love to see some episodes with other prominent figures in Mormon-themed arts and letters:

    Levi Peterson
    Brian Evanson
    Neil LaButte
    etc.

Comments are closed.