Everything That Rises Unknown

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: we are super excited to welcome Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson (@HootenWilson) to our program! Her credentials speak for themselves: Jessica Hooten Wilson is Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas in the Classical Education and Humanities Graduate Program. She is the author of three books: Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, which received a 2018 Christianity Today book of the year award; Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search for Influence; and Reading Walker Percy’s Novels. In 2019 she received the Hiett Prize for Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. She is co-editor of the volume Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, a collection of essays on the legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Currently, she is preparing Flannery O’Connor’s unfinished novel Why Do the Heathen Rage? for publication. You can learn more at her website http://www.jessicahootenwilson.com. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have her stop by the podcast for a deep dive into Flannery O’Connor’s shortest of short stories — “Why Do The Heathen Rage?”

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: in light of the worldwide protests on the heels of the murder of George Floyd, the conversation surrounding race, racism, and systemic oppression of persons of color is simply too big and too important to ignore. Flannery O’Connor herself wrote extensively about many of these matters throughout her fiction in stories we’ve explored in the past and others that we will revisit in closer detail in the weeks and months ahead. But for this week’s episode, we’re returning for the second half of an exclusive detour into a powerful short story by Eugenia Collier, a person of color and a noted author in her own right, called “Sweet Potato Pie.” By using this paired texts approach, we’ll better be able to see what the world of O’Connor’s day was like, and develop a closer contextual understanding of the everyday reality of #OwnVoices authors who — like O’Connor — wrote during the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century. Our guest this week is South Carolina-based educator, administrator and podcaster Sloan Joseph (@psloanjoseph) — host of the “Greater Is In Me” podcast and champion of the #InformInspireInfluence hashtag. You can find a copy of Collier’s short story online by visiting: https://www.bpi.edu/ourpages/auto/2017/10/14/55813476/Sweet%20Potato%20Pie-Collier.pdf.

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: in light of the worldwide protests on the heels of the murder of George Floyd, the conversation surrounding race, racism, and systemic oppression of persons of color is simply too big and too important to ignore. Flannery O’Connor herself wrote extensively about many of these matters throughout her fiction in stories we’ve explored in the past and others that we will revisit in closer detail in the weeks and months ahead. But for this week’s episode, we’re taking an exclusive detour into a powerful short story by Eugenia Collier, a person of color and a noted author in her own right, called “Sweet Potato Pie.” By using this paired texts approach, we’ll better be able to see what the world of O’Connor’s day was like, and develop a closer contextual understanding of the everyday reality of #OwnVoices authors who — like O’Connor — wrote during the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century. Our guest this week is South Carolina-based educator, administrator and podcaster Sloan Joseph (@psloanjoseph) — host of the “Greater Is In Me” podcast and champion of the #InformInspireInfluence hashtag. You can find a copy of Collier’s short story online by visiting: https://www.bpi.edu/ourpages/auto/2017/10/14/55813476/Sweet%20Potato%20Pie-Collier.pdf.

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: we’ve invited Mr. Jonathan Spike (@JonathanSpike) back to finish our conversation about one of Flannery O’Connor’s lesser known stories, “A Stroke of Good Fortune.” Before he was a Technology Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, Jon was a high school English teacher. And as the host of the LaughED podcast, he knows a thing or two about funny business — which makes him the perfect guest for this short story that’s loaded with a few pretty great punchlines of its own! Spoiler: O’Connor’s saved the biggest joke for last.

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: we’ve invited Mr. Jonathan Spike (@JonathanSpike) to join the fun for a closer look at one of Flannery O’Connor’s lesser known stories, “A Stroke of Good Fortune.” Before he was a Technology Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, Jon was a high school English teacher. And as the host of the LaughED podcast, he knows a thing or two about funny business — which makes him the perfect guest for this short story that’s loaded with a few pretty fantastic jokes of its own!

Everything That Rises is a weekly passion project podcast series dedicated to the short stories of the one and only Flannery O’Connor. Each week join English teacher, author and speaker John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) and a well-read friend to help co-host as we explore the stories, symbols, and rich cultural legacy of this iconic 20th Century author of the American South. Blending Catholic theology with literary analysis for a sort of 21st century book club (complete with the usual parade of good-natured tall tales and Southern “stretchers”), it’s a fun and fascinating journey through one of the most brilliant and influential writers in all of contemporary American literature. New stories twice a month! And new episodes every week, with about 45(ish) minutes devoted to the first half of each story, and another 45 minutes (or so) the following week dedicated to all the unexpected twists and turns that lie in store in the back half of each narrative.
This week: religion teacher and noted youth ministry speaker Mike Tenney (@PKMikeyT) joins us to make sense of the back half of Flannery O’Connor’s “Greenleaf.” Spoiler: it doesn’t end well for at least one of the main characters.