I’ve done dozens and dozens of interviews since publishing Culture Making, and most of them have been quite enjoyable. But last week I spoke to Christy Tennant of International Arts Movement and had an exceptionally great time—probably the best interview yet. We covered a lot of ground—from the reasons that we can’t consume our way into cultural influence, to the ways artists can serve among the materially poor, to the burning question, “Video games or swing sets?” It was all marvelous and fun largely because Christy came with such great questions. Which makes me think that after listening to our podcast (available for direct download here [35MB MP3]), you may want to check out some of Christy’s other interviews, including Nicholas Wolterstorff, Steve Garber, Helen Sung, and Billy Collins, and her blog at conversantlife.com.

Another great interview was also posted this week by Graham Scharf, the co-founder of the innovative and helpful parenting site Tumblon. I’ve been pleased and surprised at how many people have picked up on the themes of family and parenting in Culture Making, and Graham had some great questions to take those ideas further. If you are a fan of Culture Making who is also a parent of young children, you will love and learn from Tumblon.

Finally, a cultural question to ponder: As good as some of my radio interviews have been, why is it that the very best ones have been podcasts—with a fraction of the listening audience?