The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast

In this episode of The Membership, David and John discuss a book that is an unusual in the Port William series -- it's about a mouse, and is sometimes classified as a children's book -- but still feels right at home. That book? Whitefoot: A Story from the Center from the World, by Wendell Berry. We talk about the experience of compressing the imagination to the size of a mouse, where this book sits among Berry's other works, and why the realization that one lives at the center of the world is "the world's profoundest thought." And much more.




































































"Whitefoot: A Story from the Center of the World"

The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast














SHOW NOTES AND LINKS
"Whitefoot" in Orion Magazine

Website of illustrator Davis Te Selle

"Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel," by Carl Safina

"Black Elk Speaks," by John G. Neihardt

"Another Day: Sabbath Poems, 2013-2023," by Wendell Berry

THE MEMBERSHIP ONLINE
The Membership Podcast Online
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Facebook

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Website

The Berry Center

The Rabbit Room Podcast Network

Who should we interview on the podcast? Let us know at hosts@membershippod.com

In his poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” Wendell Berry calls the reader to “Practice resurrection.” In today’s episode, we discuss one of Berry’s Sabbath poems. It has a Christmas theme that could be summarized this way: “Practice incarnation.”




































































A Sabbath Poem for Christmas: "Remembering that it happened once..."

The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast














SHOW NOTES AND LINKS
Sabbath Poem 1987, No. VI - “Remembering that it happened once…”

The Berry Center (our recommendation for year-end giving)

Who should we interview on the podcast? Let us know at hosts@membershippod.com

The Rabbit Room Podcast Network

The Membership Podcast Online
Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Website

In this episode, we interview singer-songwriter Matt Wheeler about his new album, A Hard History of Love. That album is inspired by five short stories in Berry’s story collection, That Distant Land. We talk about the process of writing songs inspired by great literature, about some of our favorite Port William characters, and what “membership” looks like in Matt’s life.
UPDATE: The Kickstarter for Matt’s album release is now fully funded. All backers will now receive a print of Ned Bustard’s cover art for the album. The Kickstarter ends on August 25 at 7:15 a.m. Eastern.
Kickstarter for A Hard History of Love: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hardhistory/a-hard-history-of-love-by-matt-wheeler




































































Singer-Songwriter Matt Wheeler on His New Port William-inspired Album

The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast














SHOW NOTES AND LINKS
Kickstarter for Matt Wheeler’s Port William-inspired album A Hard History of Love

Ned Bustard (Instagram), the Lancaster artist who did the album cover art

“Invited into a Rich Community: An Interview with Matt Wheeler,” by Matt Conner

Matt Wheeler Online
Website

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Who else should we interview on the podcast? Let us know at hosts@membershippod.com

The Rabbit Room Podcast Network

The Membership Podcast Online
Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Website

The Membership Podcast returns! We catch you up on the last three years, introduce a new co-host, and preview some of the books we’ll be reading in Season 3. Our next episode is coming in just a couple days, so be on the lookout!




































































A Returning, a New Voice, and a Look Ahead

The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast














SHOW NOTES AND LINKS
Kickstarter for Matt Wheeler’s Port William-inspired album A Hard History of Love

“Returning,” by Wendell Berry (Bookshop.org | Amazon | The Berry Center Bookstore)

“Eternal Beings Living in Time: On Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow” (John’s essay from Besides the Bible)

Who should we interview on the podcast? Let us know at hosts@membershippod.com

The Rabbit Room Podcast Network

The Membership Podcast Online
Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Website

In this episode, John and Tim discuss Nathan Coulter, Wendell Berry’s debut novel.







































































Season 2 Episode 5: "Nathan Coulter"

The Membership: A Wendell Berry Podcast















SHOW NOTES AND LINKS
#themembershipreadalong (Instagram)
@kirireads

@aliciaandherbooks

“Burley Coulter at the Bank” (John McCutcheon)

New Wendell Berry Audiobooks read by Nick Offerman
Libro.fm (Sign up here to support the podcast)

Audible - World-Ending Fire

Audible - The Unsettling of America

Nathan Coulter: A Novel, by Wendell Berry (IndieBound | Amazon)

Sugar Calling podcast (feat. George Saunders)

Step into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia, by (IndieBound | Amazon)

Telling the Stories Right: Wendell Berry’s Imagination of Port William, edited by Jack R. Baker and Jeffrey Bilbro (IndieBound | Amazon)

The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings, by Wendell Berry (IndieBound | Amazon)

“Song of Myself,” by Walt Whitman

“The Peace of Wild Things,” by Wendell Berry

“A Vision,” by Wendell Berry

New Collected Poems by Wendell Berry (IndieBound | Amazon | Counterpoint)

The Berry Center Bookstore

Wendell Berry Catalogue from Counterpoint Press (PDF)

The Rabbit Room Podcast Network

The Membership Podcast Online
Facebook

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Instagram

HOSTS
Jason Hardy
Facebook
John Pattison
Twitter
Tim Wasem
Twitter

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Top image via Unsplash.