American professor and author Randall J Stephens joins us from his home in Norway to talk about exploring pop and Christian Contemporary music, his creative resistance on BlueSky, and using graphic design to help us assess the present by illuminating the past. He can be found on BlueSky, Facebook, and Instagram.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by award-winning and bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

As we move through the deepest, often gloomiest part of the winter, Dave and Brent sit down with psychotherapist and counsellor Stephen Doucet Campbell to talk about why this season can affect us more profoundly than others, and what we can think about, do, and say to each other to process the winter moods and feelings that challenge us.

Note: this episode contains discussions of mental health challenges, which can be activating for some people: if you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please know that there are real life and online resources available to you, so do reach out and talk to someone: you're not alone.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Actor Richard Willis has seen a few things along his TV, stage, and film journey. We chat with him about his creative bio-pic Strolling Player, love, and acceptance. He has also made Strolling Player available for our listeners to view: click here to watch.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by award-winning and bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

On inauguration day, Elon Musk delivered not one, but two Nazi/Fascist salutes, solidifying his increasingly vocal position that whites should work harder than ever to grab power, and demonstrating with perfect clarity that he is a white supremacist. This should be horrifying to anyone with a conscience, and yet very few influential voices in the US convincingly condemned his actions. Well, we at Rejected Central decided that Nazi Elon is a clear and present danger to the globe, and are calling out his racist dogwhistling (and all his horribleness).

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Sometimes life gets fuller when you allow yourself to have more questions than answers. Meghan Crozier is the creative force behind The Pursuing Life, a multimedia journey where she evolves through faith deconstruction to a reconstruction of who she is as an evolving human. We talk about her present steps, rage reading, and her hopes for the conversations she has yet to have.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Brent and Dave chat with Lynn Courville and Olamipo Ognunnote from Ontario Student Voices, an organization dedicating to helping ensure Ontario college and university students have a voice in government. The Canadian federal government is cutting immigration quotas and levels, including the number of student visas issued to international students hoping to study here. This reduction is having an incredibly negative impact on programs and resources, forcing institutions to cut staff and programming, and providing fewer opportunities for foreign students hoping to invest in Canada. It's not enough to reject these cuts — which they are — but OSV is creatively reframing and redirecting the conversation.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

We chat with Alycea, more popularly known by her online persona Transvangelical, who grew up conservative, evangelical, and Republican, about how her passion for the Bible and theology has been shaped by coming out as a trans woman in her 30s. She's become a wise, relevant voice for trans and queer folk who wrestle with a religion who doesn't accept who they are, and we talk religion and politics, how purity culture has deformed what sexuality should be, and about the safety issues around being trans and outspoken about the Bible and conservative Christianity.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!

Ironically, Brent drove through a storm and rising floodwaters to visit with marine biologist, fisher, and activist Mimi Rogers at her stilt-home in Key West. We talked climate and resilience and how even though most Conches recognize the climate challenges ahead, it can be hard to get entrenched businesses to care. Which is concerning when the average height of Key West is 8' above sea level, with much of the infrastructure much lower than that.

About the series: There are some places where discussions of climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are very uncomfortable. Brent traveled to Houston, New Orleans, and Key West to talk to scientists and activists who are invested in and propelling these essential discussions and initiatives. What he discovered was enormous and gracious creativity when it comes to having conversations with climate deniers and those resistant to the idea of human-caused climate change, many of whom work in government and hold positions of influence.

Rejected Central is a human podcast hosted by bestselling novelist Brent van Staalduinen and educator and life-embracer Dave Parkinson. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, follow us online and social media, and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!