@ Sea With Justin Mcroberts

You may have heard the rumor or legend or sorts that certain cultures throughout history have been at least suspicious or cautious about photography in fear that something of the soul was captured in the process. The other side of that coin is that, to many purveyors of the arts, a great portrait actually has to do just that. I came across Jeremy Cowart’s work in the weeks and months after a horrific earthquake nearly flattened Port Au Prince, Haiti in January of 2010. With the project, entitled “Voices of Haiti,” Jeremy captured the collision of and tension between ruin and resolve, hope and despair,.. all of which to say, his work captured, set against the backdrop of a devastating natural disaster, a very human picture. His work since then has continued to range from photo shoots with some of the most recognizable names in entertainment to the development of a hotel that will, when it comes to life, will revolutionize the way we stay somewhere when we’re not home. Check it out….

The question “What do you do?” or “What do you do for a living?” it’s not so much a question about work as it is a way to figure out who someone is; a question of identity. And that relationship between who I am and what I do can be tricky,… even confusing. Too closely tying my identity to my work can lead towards a dehumanized, utilitarian view of my own humanity… while drawing a thick black line between who I am and what I do can lead to a kind of dysphoria … Carlos Whittaker has developed apps, written and performed songs, led an online weight loss program, taught courses on the proper use of Instagram as well as having written two books, including his most recent work “Kill The Spider.” As I think you’ll hear in my conversation with Carlos, his process and evolution has been one in which he relentlessly pursues a sense of his place in the world at the cost of safe career steps and even, at times, at the cost of safe religious conclusions. All the while, he invites his readers and listeners to join him alo

The ways we move into and out of one another’s lives… the modality of relationship, is a matter of art. In fact, I resonate with Seth Godin’s definition of art as anything that facilitates human connection… including, in my own iteration of the definition, a relationship with one’s self. For nearly two decades Sandra McCracken has been making music that not only facilitates human connection, but has done so with a particularly thoughtful attentiveness. In our conversation, we consider whether or not it is that connection that makes art sacred… rather than a particular setting or use. Check it out.

Welcome to episode 1 of season 3 of the @ Sea Podcast. My guest is Dominique DuBois Gilliard. Dominique is the director of racial righteousness and reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice Initiative of Evangelical Covenant Church. He is also the author of Rethinking Incarceration, which is the focus of my conversation with him. We pick up as I’m finishing setup (full disclosure: we were both late to the interview site and I had to start before I was completely ready. Regardless, from the outset and throughout this unedited conversation, we cover some vital and rarely trod ground in the areas of race, justice and a redemptive view of both political and religious power. Check it out.

in 1981, in Yorkshire, England, Peter William Sutcliffe was convicted of the murder of 13 women over a span of about 5 years. Police were criticized for there slowness of the investigation, the pace of which which appeared to pick up only after one of Suttcliffe’s victims turn out *not* to be a prostitute. Among those leveling criticism was Julie Bindel, who is my guest on this episode of the podcast. A teenager at the time, Julie took part in a series of protests, including one in which the public suggestion was made my that, instead of women staying off the streets for their own defense, as was suggested by the police, men should stay off the streets in order to ensure the safety of women. That kind of insightful and poignant expression continues to mark Julie Bindel’s work as a journalist and as a political activist. She is also the author of two books, “Straight Expectations” and, more recently, “The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Myth of Sex Work.” This episode was recorded during a live @ Sea E

I’m going go out on a limb and suggest that almost every music listener, even more casual fans, has been privy a conversation revolving around the idea of “selling out.” A conversation focused on what is happening or might happen to a band who is suddenly faced with the seemingly intractable dilemma…  of making money. A conversation often highlighted by expressions and declarations of how much we liked their early work and how so and so might dig this band now, but doesn’t really get what they’re actually about. For an artists on the other side of that conversation, what once were joyful and highly motivating dreams of doing what she loves and paying for her life are now thoughts weighed down by the possibility that many of those who helped her get there might leave… because she’d made it. Art, like charity or justice work, has an odd public relationship with money. For many onlookers, the moment a creator turns even slightly one way or another towards a paycheck, the whole of their work is thrown into questi

Artists and critics have a famously contentious relationship. It can seem, at least, that the discipline of critiquing stands at odds  to the discipline of creating it. Yet, I can’t think of really any professional artist who doesn’t hold some very pointed opinions about the work they consume (as well as their own. And I’ve yet to meet a professional critic whose attention to an art form didn’t at least begin in a sincere admiration for… if not love for… that same art form. My guest on this episode is poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib. In our brief conversation, I think you’ll find a vision of art, pop culture, industry and creativity in which there aren’t hard lines between diagnosis or analysis and a long, loving gaze and what human hands have made. Our conversation actually begins with him reflecting on a grammy moment in which Adele used time during her acceptance speech to suggest that Beyonce was perhaps, more deserving of the award. Check it out.

Some of my guests make national news. They win Grammys or national book awards. But this will never be a podcast about what’s most popular or what’s trending, per se. My interest is in connecting you with great culture makers, because I believe what they do deepens and enriches our lives. My guest on this episode is Civil Rights professor and cultural curator Dr. Todd Allen. Since 2002, Dr. Todd has not only taught in the classroom on the history of the Civil Rights movement, but has led a bus tour to many of the sites vital to that movement. In doing so, he connects dots that might otherwise live in desperate parts of his guests hearts and minds. I caught up with him briefly in Pittsburgh, PA and I think our short conversation might help us connect some of those same dots. Check it out.

This Friday, June 16, the Tupac Shakur Biopic “All Eyez on Me” hits theaters. The film is  named after the rapper’s remarkable 1996 release “All Eyes On Me.” Since his death in September of that same year, conversation around and engagement with Tupac and his work has never really gone away. He’s one of those artists whose impact on his genre and culture is so deep that it still bears noting, two decades after his last contribution. For many of his listeners, the connection wasn’t just Tupac’s incredible talent, but the unapologetic way he granted the world access to his story; a story in which millions of people recognized a bit of themselves and their own story. The “All Eyes On Me” album reached the very rare sales status known as “Diamond Status,” denoting the sale of over 10 million copies in the United States. Tupac’s depiction of life within his own home and hometown is regularly recognized as not just important, but in many eyes, prophetic. My guest on this episode of the podcast is one such person. D

My guest on this episode of the podcast is actually my first 2-time guest, Michael Wear.  During season 1, Michael shared his unique angle on not just the idea of politics, but the human practice of politics.  As someone who has lived and worked in Washington DC with the women and men who often end up characterized as either heroes or demons, Micheal sees the human interplay and the redemptive arc of American politics. His book, aptly entitled “Reclaiming Hope,” had not hit shelves last time we talked and I think it possesses a very intriguing corner of the public conversation this side of the 2016 election. For that reason and many more, I figured it was time for something of a check-in with Michael Wear. Check it out.

My guest on this episode is Mark Labberton. Mark is the author of three deeply insightful books and is most likely better known as the President of Fuller Theological Seminary. Mark’s work and friendship have often been, for me, a lifeline to hope when it comes to the communal, institutional practice of faith. When it comes to a particular group of human beings, practicing religious faith together, and the economic, political, vocational, racial soup that often is, there’s nothing I’ve seen that he hasn’t seen, nothing I know that he doesn’t know. And he not only continues to hope for, but joyfully work towards the enrichment, growth and flourishing of The Church in its many forms, including its more traditional manifestations. This podcast seeks to highlight great culture makers because what they do deepens and enriches our lives.  My conversation with Mark Labberton ranges from excavating key words in western religious culture to early musical loves and first purchases to what it looks like to faithfully en

A few nights ago, I took my newborn daughter, who was crying, into the small office space where I do most of my work, including recording and editing this podcast. I deftly navigated my laptop while holding her in the other arm… and started playing through some of my favorite songs. We listened to… Sigur Ros Jonsi and Alex Josh Ritter Kendrick Lamar and some older stuff from Tribe Called Quest. I could feel her breathing change with the music. She was captured, are are most people, by this incredible gift we’ve been given. She’’s only 12 days old at the time of this recording and won’t remember this moment… but put my face close to hers and whispered “This is music. It might be the best thing we’ve done as humans.” There’s something physical, emotional as well as spiritual about the human connection to song. My guest on this episode is Ryan O’Neil whose work bears the name “Sleeping At Last.” Ryan is an artist who is keenly and intentionally aware of that unique connection between listeners and the music they

My guest on this episode of the podcast is hip hop artist Propaganda. I have a somewhat poignant recollection of my fist real experience with hip-hop. On April 18, 1992, I was standing in the outfield of the Oakland Coliseum with thousands of other people like me.  It was about 1 hr before Bono and U2 took the stage for a Bay Area stop of the Zoo tour and on the mic was an MC named Chuck D,. He was pacing the stage, delivering powerful, poetic lines with an authority and a focus I quite honestly hadn’t seen before in an artist … and have rarely experienced since. Chuck D was (and is) a singular performer and lyricist. But as much as I was being swept up by the brilliance of Public Enemy… what I was primarily experiencing was the full force of hip hop. I was invited into a narrative and a narrative form with which I was mostly unfamiliar… but one that would eventually take a prominent place in the center of public life and dialogue. I can’t think of a popular art form as broadly accessible while being so polit

The line between what is sacred and what some may call “secular” or “profane” is a famously difficult line to navigate. Volumes have been written and argued over regarding where that line is, how to recognize it and how to communicate that line to others. My guest on episode 11 is songwriter and advocate, Audrey Assad. Her work suggests that the real task might not be so much finding, navigating and communicating a line between where God is and where God isn’t … but sifting, granularly, through one’s own human experience in expectation and hope of discovering a multitude of divine moments and expressions. That’s a practice my faith tradition calls “discernment.” And among the many admirable characteristics I think you’ll discover in Audrey Assad during our conversation, perhaps most notably is that she is faithfully and generously discerning. Check it out. — NOTE: You can support the @ Sea Podcast and be part of the community that makes this work possible. 

My guest on Episode 10 of the @ Sea Podcast is author David Dark.  I call him an “author,” perhaps because that’s what he may be best known for. But David is also a professor at Bellmont University in Tennessee, a huge music nerd, a collector of insights and wisdom and a kind of translator between the world as it is and the world we might expect/want it to be. Rather than living in or pointing to the clouds with visions of things as they ought to be, David, in just about all areas of his work, bends low to the ground, picking up clues busier minds (like mine) would otherwise have missed; clues that lead to the hope and expectation that this, in fact, a good world, pregnant with meaning and potential. In fact, asking David to lead off this Second season of the podcast felt really appropriate because he lives out so well what I seek to achieve with this podcast: to reframe the way we see ourselves, our neighbors and God (and maybe more appropriately) to break the frame and allow/invite a more broadly receptive

Welcome to Season 2 of The @ Sea Podcast! Before we get into the actual interviews and guests that will make up Season 2, I thought it appropriate to look back at a few of the highlights from Season 1; moments that defined the season and helped see me what the podcast was actually about. We are learning to navigate the turbulent waters in which the practice and expression of faith finds itself.  The past few years have been marked by a series of honest, poignant and in many cases, helpful critiques of religious culture. that the spaces and places in which we would normally or traditionally have gathered to see ourselves, one another and God more clearly… well, those places and spaces don’t quite connect or work they way they used to… or the way they were promised to… The @ Sea Podcast is not only a way to navigate those turbulent waters waters but to help shape what it looks like to think spiritually, humanly… to actually practice faith without the safe harbors we might have once counted on. We’re doing that

My guest on episode 8 is author and journalist Katelyn Beaty. Christianity Today made Katelyn the first female managing editor in the magazine’s 60-year history. She also happened to be the youngest managing editor during that same time span.  Earlier this year, she released her first book, Entitled “A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for your Calling in The Office, The Home and the World.” Most of our conversation focused on that book, which I found to be not only insightful but timely. This podcast puts you touch with great culture makers because I believe what they do deepens and enriches out lives, What strikes me most about Katelyn is the way she handles somewhat onerous and technically nuanced cultural ideas by keeping those ideas in close proximity to a human narrative, … very often her own. If authority is best used, as we discuss in our conversation, to create room for others, Katelyn exemplifies that practice, by letting her story provide room for people like you and me to more fully identify ourse

Songwriter and artist David Bazan is my guest on Episode 7 of the @ Sea Podcast. David has been making music professionally since 1995, most notably, As the frontman for Pedro The Lion, the mind behind Headphones and most pertinent to the purposes of this podcast, as a solo artist. Among the many things I enjoy about David is that he is not a brand, nor does he aspire to be. He is an artist. He is a man making music and musical culture he believes benefits the lives of those who consume it. We get into his odd role as a prophetic voice in a religious culture that often considers him an outsider, the value of setting vocational goals but holding them loosely and the extremely rare beginnings of his career, during which his parents quite literally encouraged him to quit school to give rock and roll a try. ONE NOTE about this episode of the podcast, this is the first episode to be labeled “explicit” because of language. I don’t make this note to warn you about bad words, in fear that you can’t handle it… instead

Jeremy Courtney is my guest on episode #6 of the @ Sea Podcast. Along with his wife Jessica, he is the founder of the Preemptive Love Coalition, an organization describing themselves as “a global movement of peacemakers changing the way the world engages polarizing conflict by confronting fear with acts of love.”  Here’s why I’ve asked Jeremy to be a guest: On August 2nd, 1990, Operation Desert Shield began, called by some the Persian Gulf War. I remember that time period clearly. I found myself blocking roadways in my hometown with groups of friends, each of us carrying cardboard signs with anti-war slogans. My response to that war was as emotional as it was uninformed. All I knew was that people my age, were dying violently and i reacted.  I didn’t know the politics or the sociology; I just knew I didn’t like the idea of war. Fast forward over a decade to the mid-2000’s and meet Jeremy Courtney who, in the shadow of the Iraq War, which began in March of 2003, moved his family to Iraq. Not because they had a

In Dallas, Texas On July 7th of this year, a heavily armed shooter fired upon a peaceful demonstration and the police officers who had been assembled to ensure the safety of those demonstrating. Two demonstrators were hurt. 5 officers died. the shooter was, reportedly, angered by the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers, specifically recent police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota… both of which were highly publicized and scrutinized as further evidence of the injustice dealt black citizens at the hands of law enforcement. And while there have been many violent moments in this cyclical history of ours, there was, in my experience, an almost palpable difference between this moment and recent moments. There seemed to be a kind of pause. There were fewer reactions. Fewer monologues. Fewer detached voices offering simple solutions to complex problems. There were far more expressions like…  “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do.” And I found myself among them; I didn’t know what to s