What can a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, factory worker, bank teller, corporate employee, and Jesuit priest teach us about becoming a better human being?

In this episode, I sit down with Father James Martin, SJ, bestselling author, Jesuit priest, editor-at-large of America Magazine, and one of the most influential spiritual voices of our time.

We discuss his recent memoir, Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest, a deeply personal and often humorous reflection on the jobs, mistakes, lessons, and encounters that shaped his understanding of work, faith, and human dignity.

Together, we explore the transformative power of ordinary experiences, the value of humility, and why kindness may be one of the most radical acts available to us in an increasingly divided world.

Whether you’re religious, spiritual, curious, or simply trying to navigate life with a little more grace, this episode offers wisdom, laughter, and a hopeful reminder that we’re all still works in progress.

Show Notes

Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest – A Funny, Wise, and Inspiring Spiritual Memoir

Work in Progress - HarperOne Spotify Playlist

#FatherJamesMartin #WorkInProgress #Jesuit #Kindness #Compassion #Spirituality #FaithAndLife #PersonalGrowth #FiercelyHopeful #WhatsWhatWithHeatherHarris #Curiosity

You can find the show notes for this episode and the full back catalog at www.whatswhatpod.com.

Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by this podcast. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

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Rachel Manley has spent a lifetime turning memory into art.

An acclaimed author, poet, and Governor General’s Award winner for Drumblair, Rachel joins me for a deeply reflective conversation about childhood, inheritance, family mythology, and the complicated act of writing a memoir.

Together, we explore what it means to revisit the past through language, not only to remember, but to understand. Rachel speaks candidly about growing up within a remarkable and significant family at pivotal time in Jamaica’s history, the emotional terrain of memoir writing, and the tension between truth, privacy, storytelling, and identity.

This episode is ultimately about the stories that shape us: the ones we inherit, the ones we resist, and the ones we finally choose to tell.

A conversation about memory, art, family, and the quiet courage of looking backward in order to move forward.

#RachelManley #Drumblair #Memoir #CanadianLiterature #GovernorGeneralsAward #WritingLife #Poetry #Storytelling #MemoirWriting #PodcastRecommendation #CanadianAuthors

You can find the show notes for this episode and the full back catalog at www.whatswhatpod.com.

Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by this podcast. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much is too much?

In this episode, I chat with Chuck Collins, author of Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Weatlh and Power are Ruining Our Lives to unpack one of the defining tensions of modern life: the growing concentration of wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands.

The growth and protection of the monumental fortunes of the billionaire class has become a booming industry in many western countries today. This enormous wealth concentration has outsized and disastrous environmental and social impacts to the rest of society, and sometimes in ways that many of us would never recognize. In this episode, Chuck explores how wealth inequality quietly shapes nearly every aspect of of our lives, eroding affordability, access, and even freedom.

This conversation goes beyond economics. We examine the myths of meritocracy, the emotional and cultural impacts of inequality, and the urgent question of what kind of future we are creating.

Thoughtful, challenging, and ultimately hopeful, this episode asks whether a more balanced and humane society is still possible and what it might take to get there.

#burnedbybillionaires #chuckcollins #wealthinequality #billionaire

You can find the show notes for this episode and the full back catalog at www.whatswhatpod.com.

Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by this podcast. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.