- 2 days ago
CTP (S3EMarSpecial10) What If Healing Starts With Creating
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond
We trade puns and real talk with author Sheila K. Collins about why grief does not move in tidy stages and how art can help us carry loss without shutting down. We explore storytelling, memory, legacy, and creative practices that keep us connected to the people and lives we love.
• the backstory behind “Sheila K.” and why names matter
• growing up in Louisville and how arts communities shape us
• The Art Of Grieving and the spiral model of grief
• why people avoid grief conversations and what to say instead
• using music, movement, crafts, and found objects as creative coping tools
• building rituals for anniversaries and keeping legacy alive
• co-destiny and turning loss into purpose through giving and research
• Interplay improvisation and using humor to make the heavy lighter
https://tinyurl.com/SubscribeToCTP
CTP Audios: https://tinyurl.com/CTPonBuzzsprout
CTP Videos: https://tinyurl.com/JLDonBITCHUTE
https://tinyurl.com/CTPgear
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond
We trade puns and real talk with author Sheila K. Collins about why grief does not move in tidy stages and how art can help us carry loss without shutting down. We explore storytelling, memory, legacy, and creative practices that keep us connected to the people and lives we love.
• the backstory behind “Sheila K.” and why names matter
• growing up in Louisville and how arts communities shape us
• The Art Of Grieving and the spiral model of grief
• why people avoid grief conversations and what to say instead
• using music, movement, crafts, and found objects as creative coping tools
• building rituals for anniversaries and keeping legacy alive
• co-destiny and turning loss into purpose through giving and research
• Interplay improvisation and using humor to make the heavy lighter
https://tinyurl.com/SubscribeToCTP
CTP Audios: https://tinyurl.com/CTPonBuzzsprout
CTP Videos: https://tinyurl.com/JLDonBITCHUTE
https://tinyurl.com/CTPgear
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to another episode of Perstitutionalist Podcast.
00:06I am your host, Joseph M. Leonard.
00:09That's L-E-N-A-R-D, it's the French, it's not, it's Leonard without an O.
00:17Thank you for tuning in, as Graham Norton used to say, on his show.
00:24Let's get on with the show!
00:26Hello! Special segment for February and March, mid-week drops.
00:35Normally Saturday monologues and normally a guest appearance on a Wednesday.
00:42February and March, two a week, Tuesday and Thursdays,
00:46in order to get caught up on some interviews that have been stacking up. Enjoy.
00:53Joining me today will be Sheila K. Collins, and that will be one of the questions,
01:03why the middle initial K?
01:05So in her honor, let's all raise a glass.
01:09I don't have a glass, I just have my water bottle.
01:12But let's raise a glass.
01:15Like, according to Google, Tom Collins, in honor of Sheila K. Collins.
01:24A Tom Collins, according to Google, is a classic cocktail made with gin, lemon juice, sugar,
01:30or simple syrup, or simple syrup, and carbonated water.
01:34It is served in a tall Collins glass, in quotation marks, over ice,
01:41and is considered a spark, a spiked, boy, this always, I hit record and I can't talk.
01:49A spiked sparkling lemonade.
01:51Key variations on the Collins family.
01:55A John Collins, the original, made with gin of beer or whiskey.
02:00A vodka Collins, vodka replaces gin.
02:04Rum Pedro Collins, I guess, for other cultures, uses light wine rum.
02:11Brandy Pierre Collins, I guess, for those in France, uses brandy or cognac.
02:18Colonel Collins, made with bourbon.
02:22See, can't talk, can't talk.
02:24Michael Collins uses Irish whiskey.
02:27Sandy Jock Collins, made with scotch whiskey.
02:31And I dare say, let's invent a new one in honor of Sheila K. Collins.
02:37The Sheila Collins.
02:39Let's add some Arnold Palmer tea aid mix and have a Sheila K. Collins.
02:46So, welcome to Bartending 101, Sheila.
02:50Oh, yes.
02:51Quite unusual.
02:53I wasn't expecting this to be a bar, but okay.
02:56I can play.
02:57I can play.
02:58Actually, you ask about the K.
03:02My mother, my mother's story is, our name was Smith.
03:07That was our family name.
03:09Her name was Jane and her, and my father's name was Joe.
03:12So, they were looking for something different that would go with Smith.
03:16And she says that she was reading a book by an author, Sheila K. Smith, which was, that was, and
03:25so she said I was named after that.
03:27And I kept, I've kept the K because there are too many Sheila Collinses.
03:32Collins is my married name, which in those days, you know, people took their husband's name.
03:37And I did at that time.
03:39So, anyway, yeah, it would be interesting to have a female version of the drinks you're talking about.
03:47Exactly.
03:48What's with all this sexism, right?
03:51Darn it.
03:52We need a Sheila K. Collins blend, and we just invented it here today.
03:57And my audience knows I can't pass on lame puns and wordplay.
04:03So, of course, I had to play off your name.
04:06And the only way I could think to do it was the drink, even though I'm not a drinker myself.
04:12So, and yeah, I got Joseph M. Leonard.
04:16I have to use my middle initial because my name looks French.
04:21It's not.
04:22It's actually Polish.
04:24Leonard without an O.
04:26And there is, though, a Joseph Lenard out of South Carolina who is also a Christian author.
04:34So, I have to use my middle initial to distinguish like you have to continue to use your middle initial
04:43to make the distinction because just Google Sheila Collins.
04:50As you said, you might get the other one or Joseph Lenard, you'll get the other one.
04:56It's worse than that.
04:58It's worse than that.
04:59When I would get called by the grocery store that there was a check that had bounced, and I was
05:05to come and pick it up.
05:07And it wasn't my check.
05:08But, you know, so you don't, these getting mixed up things, we don't really want.
05:14Exactly, exactly.
05:16So, at any rate, the actual reason you're here, I saw in your Podmatch bio, and my regulars know I
05:26use the Podmatch service often to find guests for the show, says, let's make art out of what happens to
05:36us.
05:36And I love that line, needed to read nothing else more about you than that.
05:42So, but before we get to that, let's back up.
05:46I like to joke, put the garbage truck in reverse, right?
05:49Beep, beep, beep.
05:52Where were you born and raised?
05:55Where are you now?
05:56Significant places you may have been between.
05:59That sort of thing.
06:00Okay, we're going to do that.
06:02Well, yeah, so I actually was born in Evanston, Illinois.
06:07And I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.
06:15Louisville, that's how we say it when we're there.
06:17Louisville, Kentucky.
06:18Louisville, yeah.
06:20Louisville, Kentucky.
06:22My dad was transferred in those days, you know, companies just moved men around like little chess pieces.
06:29And never mind, they had families, and that was okay.
06:31So, but I was lucky to grow up in Louisville, Kentucky.
06:36And that's what got me so into the arts.
06:39So, because they had, Louisville was supposed to, they built a bridge and they had some money left over.
06:46And they didn't know what to do.
06:47And you got to be-
06:47Oh, imagine that.
06:48How did that happen?
06:50You got to be careful what you do with the money left over.
06:52So, they decided to make a community chest of the arts, the Louisville Foundation.
06:58And we kids used to take little canisters around to collect money for these programs that we were able to
07:06be in.
07:06So, I was, my brother and I both, we were in theater.
07:10We were in, I was in dance.
07:13There was a Louisville ballet company I was in when I was 14.
07:17And of course, we thought everybody had this in their neighborhood.
07:20Everybody had this.
07:22But it turns out not.
07:23Louisville is still a center for art.
07:25And so, I'm very grateful for that, yes.
07:28And then I've moved all around the country.
07:30But currently, I'm living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
07:34Ah, boo penguins.
07:37Boo penguins.
07:40Well, fortunately for me, since I'm interested in the arts, we have lots of small arts groups and big arts
07:47groups.
07:48We have symphony.
07:49We have a ballet company.
07:50I mean, we, it's a really rich, rich arts group.
07:55Yeah.
07:56Well, of course, again, my audience knows I can't pass on the puns.
08:00Who the heck are these art brothers?
08:04Right?
08:05Art one and art two.
08:07I don't like that name, art.
08:10It's a lame pun, right?
08:11The man's name, art.
08:14Sure.
08:14For art.
08:15Okay.
08:15Now she's laughing.
08:17A joke loses when you have to explain it.
08:20But anyway, again, can't pass the lame puns.
08:25But indeed, let's make art out of what happens to us absolutely wonderful.
08:32Like my books, write about what you know us, they say.
08:38Life that goes on around me.
08:41I fictionalize it, put it into books.
08:44Yes.
08:45The book, the reason I wanted to come on initially was to introduce you to my newest book, which is
08:51called The Art of Grieving.
08:53How art and art making help us grieve and live our best lives.
08:59Absolutely.
08:59And for the benefit of the 25 audio platforms or the transcript, she is holding up.
09:06You can see on behind the scenes video, The Art of Grieving book there.
09:11Very artistic cover.
09:14Explain the cover.
09:15Well, the cover is very important because grief is not a stair steps we climb.
09:22We've been taught that, okay, you're going to feel this feel.
09:26Shock, denial, anger, acceptance.
09:28You know it.
09:29Everybody knows it.
09:31And then we get kind of mad when it doesn't turn out that way.
09:34I mean, we get to the top of the stairs and dust our hands off and we're not done.
09:40It's not a done thing.
09:42Yeah.
09:43So it doesn't, so the shape of it is, it's a spiral.
09:48And that is.
09:49Almost looks like Fibonacci sequence kind of spiral.
09:54The spiral is the, is the, is the shape of how energy moves in the universe.
10:01And so, and so we, of course, are part of the universe and that's how the energy moves
10:07within us and also between us.
10:09So what happens is that it's not just the past is the past.
10:15The past is, I have to go back sometimes to see what, to get, to go forward.
10:21When you asked me about my name, I said, well, this is where my name came from.
10:26Yep.
10:26To know where you're going.
10:27It's good to know where you've been, why you were there, and whether you want to stay
10:33in that direction or choose a chart, a new path.
10:36Yes.
10:37So what, anyway, how I got into all of this is, you know, your life hands you things you
10:43don't want.
10:44Have you noticed?
10:45Yeah.
10:47Things you did not order.
10:48You would never order off a menu.
10:50So some of the things that happened to me was that I had, I had a son who died of
10:57AIDS at
10:5831 years old.
11:00And that was not something he wanted or I wanted or any of the other millions of people
11:06at that time who died of that disease.
11:08So then five years later, my daughter gets breast cancer and we know about everybody, you know,
11:17that's ubiquitous for a lot of families and she didn't make it.
11:23So I had to begin to understand more about how, what is all this?
11:28Because I ran into, as I wrote about it and talked about it, I ran into people who don't
11:35think they want to hear about it.
11:38You know, people are looking for the exit.
11:42And so that intrigued me in a way.
11:45Why can't we talk about this?
11:47And so then eventually then I got to this in terms of the art of it, because we are, whoever
11:56you are, you're going to have loss and things are going to happen that you do, however old
12:02you are, however rich you are, however poor you are, it doesn't, you're not going to, you're
12:08going to need to know.
12:09So I got the notion that maybe we need to learn how to grieve and that, and, and what I
12:14recognized
12:15in looking at my own life is the arts are how we grieve.
12:19We sometimes don't even realize it.
12:21So think about it.
12:23You're in your car.
12:23You just broke up with somebody.
12:25The music comes on and it's your song, right?
12:31So, okay.
12:33I mean, because we're vibratory beings, we're going to re-experience or re-member.
12:40Now there will be a time when that will be a good memory.
12:44That will soften when you have a different partner or different life, it will soften.
12:53But the fact that it happened and was a part of your life, that's not something to just
13:00put aside forever.
13:02It's there and it'll come back.
13:04And that's the spiral.
13:06Yeah.
13:07It comes around and the spiral come around.
13:10I like that.
13:11I'm, I'm in the process of planning to release in May of 2026, this book in my life and living
13:20series of books.
13:23Tentative working title is loss.
13:25I, too, want to broach the part of fact of life and living is we all eventually die and
13:34dealing with that loss.
13:37And indeed, as you said, ups and downs, I use roller coasters as a metaphor in there.
13:47And tears of joy, tears of pain in the downtime, tears after the loss of indifference of opportunities
13:58that have been lost.
14:00I won't be able to put that song at the end of this.
14:04I don't have license rights to that song I created on Suno.
14:09So, but regarding all the jokes I've already made, I think I'll tack on to the end of this
14:15episode, the tune serious about being silly.
14:20Because indeed, as we're talking, loss, heavy, deep, dark, we need to maintain humor also through
14:30all this so we don't go insane ourselves along the journey.
14:36Exactly.
14:37So that's where getting back to that notion of making art out of what happens to us.
14:42So I became a part of an improvisational system called interplay, where you just make stuff
14:50up in the moment.
14:52Oh, that sounds X-rated.
14:54We can't have that.
14:56Yeah, I know.
14:57Well, it just sounds like where you put your keys in the bowl kind of thing.
15:03Well, no.
15:03That's joking, people.
15:05We're just joking here.
15:07Well, the thing of it is, interplay was based, started by two dancing ministers, which kind
15:15of comes a little bit.
15:16Couldn't have been Baptists then, dancing.
15:19That's right.
15:20Jokes, people.
15:20Jokes.
15:21Lighten up.
15:22But you're, no, you're right.
15:23There are some churches where it's forbidden to dance.
15:26The Footloose movie, right, was based on.
15:29Be careful here.
15:31But that is because it's powerful.
15:34But there are religions where people dance.
15:38That's what they do in the temple.
15:40They dance.
15:42So in my life, that's what I did.
15:45I was a member of a dance company out of the Jewish Community Center in Detroit, Michigan
15:50at one time.
15:51Where I am, Detroit suburb.
15:53Is that where you are?
15:54Okay.
15:54Weingot, downriver, yes.
15:56Okay.
15:57So we danced in, our first piece was Make a Joyful Noise, which is from the, it was sung
16:07in Hebrew and with the music of Leonard Bernstein.
16:12We danced in churches and synagogues and, and country fairs and museums and, and everything.
16:20So I, I don't, another joke.
16:23I don't, I used to write and record music.
16:25I, I do it now through the Suno system, but I don't sing myself anymore because it's not
16:31a Joyful Noise.
16:32It's more like a screech.
16:36Well, we can still, whatever our skills, we can still use the arts, storytelling.
16:42So that's what my book is about, storytelling.
16:45See, when people, when somebody loses, let's say, like a friend of mine, her sister died
16:51unexpectedly.
16:52And now unexpectedly only that she wasn't ill at the time.
16:56It's not unexpected that we're all going to die, as you mentioned.
16:59We're not promised tomorrow.
17:01We don't know how short or long I have my, I'm grabbing where to go.
17:08A short story, a lasting legacy book also deals with loss of someone dying unexpectedly
17:15younger than our, we, we generally live longer now into our eighties, but somebody dying in
17:23their thirties and forties, yes, is very unexpected.
17:27Yeah.
17:27So, so then what is it?
17:30So people, I decided that people don't know what to say.
17:34You know what?
17:34They just don't know what to say.
17:36So they kind of look for the exit, you know, but what I know now is that what they want
17:42and
17:42what they want is they want.
17:44I always say, tell me about your sister.
17:49Celebrate them.
17:50Don't.
17:51I want to know her.
17:53And I have friends now that I know relatives of theirs because of the stories they've told
17:58me and the anniversaries we've celebrated.
18:01So on the, on the day that my daughter died, one of my friends who never knew her knows
18:08that day.
18:09And we often go to lunch that day or we, so we can remember her and, and, uh, also recognize
18:16all the gifts that we had from her.
18:20And, and I've, they are only forgotten if we let their legacy be forgotten.
18:28Celebrate who they were along with the sadness of our being absent of them.
18:36So Joseph, what I'm most excited about right now is I am doing some retreats and, uh, the
18:43art of breathing retreats and people were doing one in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania.
18:49And, um, that one is coming up in May.
18:52And then I'm doing one in, in, uh, New Mexico near Santa Fe in October.
18:58And, uh, so what happens is it turns out like I'm going to, I'm showing you something I
19:03made.
19:04So I have, I have now lost, I am the last remaining of the Smith family.
19:11There were six of us.
19:12And so I have, uh, had the, I guess, honor of being able to still be here.
19:19Uh, so, uh, so I made, uh, I, I visited, uh, the mosaic center, uh, it's, uh, in Pennsylvania
19:27and you, you take little stones and, and also things from nature.
19:33A lot of art is made out of found objects, which I love.
19:37In some ways we're making our lives out of found objects.
19:42At least some of what I have is found for certainly I just, it just came in and I don't
19:47know where
19:47it came from, but, uh, so then you have something that reminds you and, uh, of the person or
19:54of, in this case, my family.
19:56And, um, and so I can stay connected, which we're, we find out is really the richness of
20:05law of a life is related to staying connected to who you used to be and who used to be
20:12with
20:12you and who is part of you in your heart.
20:15Even today.
20:18Amen.
20:18Again, I just, last night, literally added to the working title, Lost Book, a couple paragraphs.
20:28Doggone it, there's that frog again.
20:31Uh, on that, keeping attached via remembrances and keepsakes.
20:38Again, part of that keeping a person's or, in your case, as you're saying, an entire family's
20:46legacy alive and remembering through objects that will be left behind even when you're gone.
20:56You mentioned about legacy and, um, most recently, and this is here in Pennsylvania, but, um, there's
21:02an organization, it's actually women, uh, uh, who, uh, happened when, when Sputnik happened.
21:09This is many years ago, but there was a concern about the fact that what, what are, where are
21:14we with science?
21:15Where are we with science?
21:16So they started raising money, um, so that we could attract young people into science so
21:23that we still need that because there's many other careers you can have.
21:28And so this was money that they would raise, and then the university could use this to entice
21:35the biggest, the best and the brightest to come and study.
21:39Uh, so, um, I got...
21:41Including or especially women, because back then we were far more patriarchal in society,
21:49and, like, brings to mind the movie Hidden Figures.
21:53Did you see that movie?
21:55Oh, sure, yeah, that's right.
21:56Yeah, exactly.
21:56Well, and even in women's health, so that I, I, I know that, uh, it, it was unfortunate
22:04for my daughter that women's health was not, we just did the studies with men.
22:09We knew that they should be also done with other people like women, but to just eliminate
22:16one of the variables.
22:17So for many, many years, that's how it was done.
22:20So my husband and I were able to contribute from a fund we had that our daughter's friends
22:29had made for her.
22:31And we were able to use that to fund a young scholar who is working on breast cancer.
22:40So when I tell you, it makes my voice shake because I can't, the fact that we got him,
22:46you know, assigned to us, but we, we said, we, we just, what we did, we made, we said anything
22:52to do with women's health.
22:53Because it's going to be in perpetuity, her legacy, and hopefully one of these days, breast cancer
23:01will be taken care of, but there's lots of other things that won't be.
23:05So that notion of doing something in, uh, in the grief world, it's called co-destiny.
23:12So part of my destiny becomes to extend her legacy or so that something she didn't get
23:22to do, she, we can try to see if it can happen or help it happen.
23:27Or in this case, reduce the possibility of other people having her fate.
23:34So that notion, and, and for those is the bereaved parent or the close friend, it, it's a very,
23:42it feels wonderful to be able to do that.
23:45Yeah.
23:45And of course we're talking art, but it doesn't matter the art you, we've mentioned music,
23:52we've mentioned movie, we've mentioned arts and crafts, no matter, dancing.
23:59So many there, I am not against teaching arts in schools.
24:05I think they, we need them.
24:08Not everybody's going to be a mathematician, but I am concerned.
24:12We don't pay enough attention to the core arts anymore, but art must be there because
24:20not everybody's going to be a STEM major.
24:23Some may be a musician.
24:26Or as I've looked at this too, uh, it isn't just that art, it's just like every class.
24:32If you go to, if you take a history class, you're not taking it because you want to be a
24:35historian,
24:36you know, or make your living as a historian.
24:39I mean, maybe, but probably not.
24:41So, uh, so we have to stop always focusing on it has to, you know, what's your day job kind
24:46of thing.
24:47Um, when you do an art, it, it, it comes from a side of your brain that is not as
24:55active in some of the other things.
24:58So it's part of being holistic and by holistic in this sense, I mean, W-H-O-L-E, the
25:06whole person,
25:07the whole brain in acting as you're talking about, getting the functions of the whole brain left and right, front
25:15and back active.
25:17Well, and interestingly enough, when I visited the, uh, the science, uh, center where the, the lab, where the cancer
25:26research is going on,
25:28it's often the creative side of the person that's doing the, try this, try that.
25:35How about this?
25:36How about that?
25:37So it's really about creativity.
25:40And we want to always encourage our children and ourselves to keep focused on what can I do?
25:49What, what, what can I contribute?
25:51What, what can we do about this, uh, problem or this situation or this thing that's happened that I did
25:59not put on my agenda for, uh, on my order for my menu?
26:04And I'm with you a hundred percent, the creative imaginative side, look at the works of Fineland or H.G.
26:12Wells or even Star Trek.
26:15The things that were imagined by creatives inspire some of the science of today.
26:23Right, right, right.
26:25Yeah.
26:27So, I'm very excited, as I said, about my, particularly about this, uh, retreat, these two retreats that I'm doing.
26:35So I'm hoping that I can let people in your audience know they can sign up and get, and come
26:40and, and do this with us.
26:42Yeah.
26:42Yeah.
26:43Yeah, I'd rather you change the name though.
26:45I'm not fond of the retreat idea.
26:47I don't like the concept of surrender.
26:50We need to call them refentives rather than retreats.
26:53Oh, you're using, oh, you're using.
26:56Play on words, just a lame pun again.
26:58Well, here's the thing though.
27:01Oftentimes we need to get away from, retreat from, get away from the, the, the, the relentless.
27:11I mean, it's relentless responsibilities or, you know.
27:16Yeah.
27:17The word meaning is purposeful here.
27:20It's not retreating as in like battle.
27:24It is indeed, as you say, retreating from, like I said about, and I will tack on the song, serious
27:31about being silly at the end of this episode.
27:34Retreat from all the seriousness and just be silly and funny at times to get out of our own heads
27:45of all this heavy stuff that goes on.
27:48I, I, I also think it's a good way to look at ourselves.
27:51So I, I would love to invite you to, I have a class that I do online and, and it's,
27:58and it is, and it's called Interplay, but we use, and we use music.
28:03It's based in story.
28:05And so what we do is we say, okay, what's up for you today?
28:09And the person names what that is and whoever, everybody does that.
28:13And then we say, so what could you talk about?
28:18What could you talk about?
28:19You don't have to talk about it, but you could.
28:21So you kind of list the things that are up for you and the things that you could talk about.
28:26And then you decide afterwards.
28:28And that's kind of interesting because when you hear people say what they could talk about, you know a lot
28:33about them, even though they didn't talk about it.
28:36I mean, they just named it.
28:37So even naming it can be a very powerful thing.
28:41So then we try, then we start to make art out of whatever it is.
28:45So you, you select, maybe you want to just try to see if you can get all those things in
28:50when you're doing your improv.
28:52You're, you're, you're maybe starting with moving the, you know, the rhythm of it.
28:58And then you give, and then maybe you end up singing one of the lines of it.
29:04Like, I can't stand, I can't stand this.
29:09So when we exaggerate, when we play with what's happened to us, it becomes lighter.
29:17Even when it's very, very serious.
29:20Yeah.
29:21Amen.
29:23And sometimes a serious subject in one way can be a metaphor and deal or analogy to deal with something
29:33else.
29:33When you said, what's up with you, of course, my joke nature, I would answer the sky, of course.
29:45Right.
29:45Yeah.
29:45What's up?
29:46The sky.
29:47Well, which would launch me then into, and I've done an episode of Constitutionalist on this.
29:53What color is the sky, really?
29:56If you answer, the sky is blue.
30:01Wrong answer.
30:03As a, right, as a declarative statement, the sky is blue is scientifically false.
30:10It is actually opaque.
30:12It is clear.
30:14You look up at night, you see black.
30:17The actual color of space out there, devoid of light, you see through the sky because it is opaque.
30:26It appears blue because of reflectivity and prism effect of the sun off our waters.
30:35It can appear orange.
30:36It can appear green at times.
30:39It can appear gray at times.
30:41So the sky is clear or opaque.
30:46The sky is the proper scientific answer.
30:50And there's also a projection of your own emotions.
30:53So we have somebody who comes on this Friday morning class or experience with interplay from Israel.
31:07And he used to be in Pittsburgh.
31:09That's how I know it.
31:10You know, we used to do stuff in Pittsburgh.
31:12And when he moved, his wife is from that country.
31:19And they have grandchildren there.
31:20So, you know, grandchildren always are a big pull.
31:23So they moved there a number of years ago.
31:26But he came on one day right after the October 7th event.
31:31And we were just so grateful to see him because we didn't know how he was and how his family
31:38was.
31:38And he was and we said, how are you?
31:41How are you?
31:42And he said, oh, it's so wonderful to see your smiling faces.
31:46And so he couldn't stay very long at the time.
31:50But what that taught us.
31:53And so we made a song for him.
31:55And what it taught us is that maybe we have a responsibility to not just focus on.
32:03Don't we know about the war?
32:05We know.
32:06Yes.
32:06Yes.
32:06It's awful.
32:08It's terrible.
32:09And but we want to hold on to why we're even what we're hoping is it's going to be.
32:14We hold on to the smiling faces, the soft tones.
32:19We don't want to give that up because that is the human condition that we are.
32:25Yeah.
32:25We are holding up.
32:26We are making art out of something so that we can hold that up.
32:32Although I have issue with John Lennon and Imagine.
32:36No, sorry.
32:38Silly.
32:39There's no such thing as perfect.
32:42Trying to sing about and pretending perfect is ever going to happen is not realistic.
32:49So, you know, clinging to things that are achievable as like you're referring to in your song there, we can
33:00achieve through ourselves starting with ourselves trying to make it a better world.
33:07One person at a time.
33:09One person at a time.
33:10That's achievable.
33:12Yes.
33:12But it also takes more than one person.
33:15So it's really our connection.
33:16Well, you start a movement.
33:18Yes.
33:18You start a movement.
33:19That's the sense of the connection.
33:22And so that's one of the things that, for instance, singing.
33:26I mean, when people start singing together, that becomes very powerful.
33:32Yeah.
33:32It's for individuals and for the people they're giving the message, too.
33:39Now, I mentioned John Lennon and Imagine.
33:42I have a video exclusive show on my platforms about the White Lion song, When the Children Cry, also a
33:51very aspirational kind of song.
33:55And so I talk about, well, what is really achievable and all that?
33:59And I get it, right, as an author, as a writer of songs myself, sometimes you say things in the
34:06song because it flows, not because it's realistic.
34:11It's a metaphor for something we hope, not that we're able to achieve.
34:18So there's that.
34:20But at any rate, time has flown.
34:23And indeed, as like with most guests, I never script shows.
34:28A lot of rabbit holes opened up, which we drove down.
34:31We went way beyond let's make art out of what happens to us.
34:37And I didn't say your name enough.
34:40I like to repeat the name through the episode so it sticks with people.
34:45Thank you, Sheila K. Collins.
34:48Not the drink, though.
34:49We invented a new version in your honor today for joining today.
34:54It was a great discussion.
34:56Thank you very much.
34:57And I hope to see some of your, hear from some of your viewers if they're interested in doing.
35:04And that's the last question.
35:06Do you have a website for people to find you?
35:10I do.
35:11And the wonderful part about my website is it's my name.
35:15As it is for a lot of people.
35:17Yes.
35:18Dot com?
35:19Dot com?
35:19Sheila K. Collins dot com.
35:22Yeah.
35:23You just have to spell it right.
35:26It's she, S-H-E-I-L-A-K-C-O-L-L-I-N-S.
35:32And yes, you can find all kinds of good things in there.
35:35Videos and descriptions of my other books.
35:39And hopefully of these upcoming retreats.
35:43And yet another reason why you should watch my show on the five video platforms as opposed to just listening
35:51on the 25 plus audio platforms.
35:54I actually think I'm up to 40 now.
35:57It will, your name and the website will be in post put as a scrawl at the bottom of the
36:04screen for all to see so they won't get the spelling wrong.
36:08Plus, to see that you held up your book and to see that you held up that piece of art.
36:15So, again, thank you, Sheila K. Collins.
36:18It was a pleasure.
36:19Great.
36:20Thank you so much.
36:21All right.
36:21Take care.
36:22God bless.
36:23Bills in a pile.
36:26Inbox on fire.
36:29Calendar shouting.
36:32Emergency choir.
36:34Phones all buzzing.
36:36Like anxious bees.
36:40I'm scheduling panic between my pleas.
36:45So here's a silly little song about nothing.
36:50La, la, la.
36:51We're doing it wrong, but it's something.
36:54If the world's too loud and the news too strong, we forget to be dumb.
36:59So I'll sing along to a silly little song about nothing.
37:06Yeah, absolutely nothing.
37:09Deadlines racing like shopping carts.
37:15Coffee's a habit that owns my heart.
37:20Group chat screamin'.
37:22In all caps, feed.
37:26So I rhyme serious.
37:29Serial here.
37:32Cause this is a silly little song about nothing.
37:36La, la, la, la.
37:37Just coming along, still nothing.
37:40If your brain's too tight and your day's too long, let it slip, flip.
37:44Let it slip, let it all feel wrong.
37:47Oh, oh, oh.
37:48With a silly little song about nothing.
37:52We're professionals at nothing.
37:58We're professionals at nothing.
38:04Take a breath, take a break, take a dance you didn't make.
38:08Take a thought, let it drop, let the heavy story stop.
38:10For a minute, for a beat, for a half bad rhyme that won't compete.
38:15Yeah, this is a silly little song about nothing.
38:19La, la, la, la.
38:21Important and wrong.
38:22That's the fun thing.
38:24When the world feels sharp and the edge too strong, we defend our high joy with a dumb old song.
38:30Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
38:48oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
38:49W.
38:52Hey!
38:53Like and subscribe to Christianalist Politics Podcast and share episodes.
39:00We need your help.
39:02Thank you for having tuned into another Christianalist Podcast show.
39:09I really appreciate that you stopped by.
39:13Again, please like, share, subscribe.
39:16We need you to help spread the Constitutionalist movement.
39:22Thank you again.
39:23Take care.
39:25God bless.
39:26Love you all.
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