1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Everybody is Bill Courtney with an army, normal folks. Shop 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Talk number fifty nine. Welcome into the shop. 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 2: Hey, Alex, does anyone have any interesting numbers for fifty nine? 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 2: What do you mean, like any football players or remember 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 2: we talking about this trying to come up with numbers? 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:27,319 Speaker 1: Heines, fifty seven, Yeah, fifty nine. I can't even think 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: of a famous fifty nine any player or anything else, So, 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: you know, not really a good lead in Alex. Thanks, yeah, sorry, 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: I got nothing, you know, It's just okay. 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 2: People can start suggesting, Oh, coming one's coming up. You 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 2: got sixty we'll say that. 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: We'll say that, we'll remind him at the end of 13 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: the episode. Wait, what what does the number sixty three, four, five, 14 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: six and seven? Maybe that's right, okay, everybody, Shop Talk 15 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: number fifty nine is a is a second part. If 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: you listen last week's Shop Talt number fifty eight. This 17 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: is the second week that we are featuring the writing 18 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: of an army member named Eric Blacksmith. Eric has a 19 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: substack titled some Assembly Required, and the second piece is 20 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: titled the fifty year Old Version not Virgin. Fifty year 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: Old Virgin was a funny movie. This is the fifty 22 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: year old version. Some assembly required. 23 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 2: It was a family appropriate show bill. 24 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: That's a PG movie that came out. 25 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 2: It was not a FIG movie thirteen or something. There's 26 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 2: some lines in there I remember that we cannot say 27 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 2: on the air that are hilarious. 28 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: What we can't know? Oh okay, So Eric has a 29 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: substack titled some assimily required. The second piece. Last week 30 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: we featured and Eric read for us, narrated for us, 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: for all the fifty year old men who This week 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: we're doing the fifty year old version. Eric recorded a 33 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: performance of this, and we'll hear it right after these 34 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: grief messages from our general sponsors. Everybody Shop Talk fifty nine, 35 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: we are back with Eric Loxmo and his narration from 36 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: his substacks Some assembly required, the fifty year old version. 37 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: And now here's Eric Boxmo performing the fifty year old version. 38 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 3: More than fifteen thousand people read a spontaneous essay I 39 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 3: wrote one afternoon. The title of it was for all 40 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 3: the fifty year old men who got dot done. It 41 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 3: was a letter, a kind of tribute, a collection of 42 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 3: thoughts for the boys like me who were told grow up, 43 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 3: be a man, get over it, stop crying. Stop daydreaming, 44 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 3: make mom proud, be the hero and fight back, and 45 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 3: above all, never show your true self. And what happened 46 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 3: next surprise me. The responses flooded in emails, texts, comments, stories. 47 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 3: I didn't expect, emotions I didn't see coming. It was 48 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 3: clear there's a deep hunger out there, a silent ache, 49 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 3: a longing to know. Am I the only man who 50 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 3: feels this way? And it got me thinking, what do 51 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 3: I wish someone had taught me when I was twenty, 52 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 3: or thirty or forty. Yes, I could have avoided some 53 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 3: hard falls, some broken relationships, some wasted energy, and a 54 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 3: whole lot of unnecessary striving. But here I am, at fifty, 55 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 3: a bit wrinkled, scarred, certainly grateful because along the way 56 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 3: I gained wisdom, deep friendships, and a deeper resolve to 57 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 3: live all in and all out until I crossed that 58 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 3: finish line. So I put together a bit of a 59 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 3: field guide. A map isn't comprehensive, but it's a start 60 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 3: some lessons and learnings for the version of me I'm 61 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 3: still learning to become, and maybe for the version of 62 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 3: you you're becoming two. This is the fifty year old version. 63 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 3: Here's a few to think about on the topics of 64 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 3: life and art and politics and purpose. Do not despise 65 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 3: as small. The sacred usually starts there. You're a steward, 66 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,280 Speaker 3: not the star. Return things better than you found them. 67 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 3: Weird is a virtue. Peculiar things point to purpose. Finish 68 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 3: what you start. Starting is sexy. Finishing is sacred. You 69 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 3: don't need permission begin anyway. Joy is in the process. 70 00:04:54,680 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 3: Outcomes lie. The work doesn't walk in the un forced 71 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,679 Speaker 3: rhythms of grace. As it's been said, smallness is greater 72 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 3: than bigness. Some of the greatest impact is unscalable. Contentment 73 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 3: is revolutionary. Want what you already have, and trust. Trust 74 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 3: is the bedrock for marriages, for media, for making. Without it, 75 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 3: everything cracks in politics, So politics is downstream. Culture makes 76 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 3: the weather principle of a party. Loyalty belongs to truth, 77 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:41,359 Speaker 3: not tribes. The middle space is mission ground that no 78 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 3: fly zone is where change happens. Listen longer, talk slower. 79 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 3: Persuasion starts with curiosity. Surprise people, especially your opponents. Try 80 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,679 Speaker 3: being more conservative than any conservative, and also more liberal 81 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 3: than any liberal. Transcend the labels. Create before you criticize. 82 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 3: We need more builders, not barkers. Proximity changes everything. Get 83 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 3: close to the mess. Movements are named in retrospect. Just 84 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 3: do the work, and humility is strength. I don't know 85 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 3: is a leadership superpower In entertainment, the artist leads, the 86 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 3: politician follows. Story shape hearts long before policies shape laws. 87 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 3: Art should haunt. Don't answer everything, leave room for mystery, 88 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:51,479 Speaker 3: build soil, create environments where others flourish. Don't just entertain, 89 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 3: make them better, like handle, aim higher. Question Mark stories 90 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 3: are greater than period stories. Raise questions. Don't just preach. 91 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 3: Create for the future, not for the charts or the likes, 92 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 3: but for legacy. Don't chase the elites. Find your audience, 93 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 3: serve them well. Popular doesn't mean profound, but sometimes it 94 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 3: can be both. Hollywood isn't a town, it's a term. 95 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 3: Make great work anywhere, and if you're on the inside, 96 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 3: look with outside our eyes. Disrupt from within and on 97 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 3: faith and purpose. Remember to redeem the time, redeem the dream. 98 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 3: Don't waste the ache. You are a co creator. Make 99 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 3: all things new. By making new things, art is vocation. 100 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 3: Sweep your street like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Faith 101 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 3: is found in the middle between the broken and the beautiful. 102 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 3: Pray for the world, but move toward it. Love a 103 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 3: yard from hell. Sacrifice is the strategy, always has been. 104 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 3: Do it for the five, not the five hundred. You 105 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:22,119 Speaker 3: never know who's listening. Blessed are the outliers. They see 106 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 3: what others miss. Trust the source. The river of culture 107 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 3: still flows through God's land, and ponder knew what the 108 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 3: Almighty can do. This is the fifty year old version, 109 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 3: not the final word, just one voice, but maybe it's 110 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 3: why you needed to hear today. 111 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: So now on chop Talk for the second week, we 112 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: have heard Eric's voice with poignant thoughts and ideas and encouragements. 113 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: I think the one I loved the most, and again 114 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: I'm paraphrasing, is life's a mess, run to it or something? 115 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: Is that what he said? What was it? 116 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 2: Proximity changes everything. Get close to the messy stuff. 117 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: Yes, proximity changes everything. Get close to the messy stuff. 118 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: I mean that is actually how this podcast started. Really, 119 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: look at the mess, someone else going to do about it. 120 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: Get close to it and clean the mess. 121 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 2: Not just a mess, a mess you're afraid of. Yeah, 122 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 2: all right, you don't want your flat tire breaking down there. 123 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, but people don't like messes typically. I 124 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: guess when I hear it, I'm thinking he titled. 125 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 2: Do it Here's something funny. Sorry, what I'm the mess? 126 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 2: If you will don't like it? Said? Do you know 127 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 2: Pat Conroy random thoup, But I don't think we've talked 128 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 2: about this on the podcast before. He's like a famous 129 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 2: Southern writer, okay, and he's got like a really messed 130 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 2: up family. 131 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: That's it. Yeah. 132 00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 2: So if he's given this book talk, it might have 133 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 2: been for his book great Santini. I'm not a Pat 134 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 2: Conter expert, but I've heard this story. And someone comes 135 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 2: up to him after his talk and says, man, your 136 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,960 Speaker 2: family is messed up, And he says, how far do 137 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 2: we got to go down your family tree to find 138 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 2: I find I? So it's it all? 139 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, none of us. 140 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 2: We all got mess Oh. 141 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: It's life is messy. It is the other thing I 142 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: think I find interesting listening to it is as I 143 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: hear him well, as you read it hard copy, and 144 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: then as you hear him narrate it and put his 145 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: voice to the words he wrote. The title the fifty 146 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: year old version is interesting because what is the perspective 147 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: of all of those things from a thirty year old version, 148 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: you know. And the point is, I think, one, we 149 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: continue to gain wisdom, but two we continue to gain scars. 150 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: We simultaneously gain wisdom, oftentimes through many of the mistakes 151 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: we made are the things that have beaten us up. 152 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: So the fifty year old version is an appropriate and 153 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: interesting title. And I think somewhere in there he you know, 154 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: he's talking party before party before politic or something like that, but. 155 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 2: Basically, principal over party. 156 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:34,080 Speaker 1: Principal over party, and don't be something conservative and don't 157 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:35,319 Speaker 1: be something liberal. What was that? 158 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, be more conservative than conservatives and more liberal than liberals. 159 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 2: Transcend labels, Transcend labels. That was the bottom line, the 160 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 2: transcend labels. And I think for an army of normal 161 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 2: folks to be a successful movement, we will have all 162 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 2: of us have got to transcend labels and dive into 163 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 2: the mess. And I think that's what I got the 164 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 2: most out of his words from what about You? That 165 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 2: was all good. I don't have anything specific to say 166 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 2: besides head of just a random thought of people want 167 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,319 Speaker 2: to do this too. Maybe some of the listeners want 168 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 2: to reflect on their lives. That's interesting to hear, but 169 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 2: then their wisdom that they can share with us and 170 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:21,960 Speaker 2: maybe we can feature too. 171 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: Absolutely love to hear about it. So once again, shop 172 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: Talk number fifty nine is Eric Loxmo's the fifty year 173 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: old version from his substack caddled substack, titled some as 174 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,959 Speaker 1: Simply Required. Eric, really appreciate you taking the time to 175 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: narrate that for us so that we could share it 176 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: on shop Talk. Guys, if you enjoyed this episode, please 177 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 1: rate review it. Join the army at normal Folks dot us. 178 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: If you have ideas for shop talks, email me at 179 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: Bill at normal Folks dot us or Alex at army 180 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:01,679 Speaker 1: at Normal Folks. What army it? Normal Folks got us 181 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: and normal Folks to us. One other thing that is 182 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: shop Talk number fifty nine, meaning we'll be picking up sixty. 183 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I looked up fifty nine. Well, it's really 184 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 2: not much. I looked at the Internet while you're doing 185 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 2: that officially, it's just yeah. The only thing really could 186 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 2: come up with is there's some song called the fifty 187 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 2: nine Street Bridge. It might have been Simon Garfocal or something. 188 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,559 Speaker 2: I put my computer down, but it did remind me 189 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 2: of fifty ninth Street the beginning of Central Park. 190 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,199 Speaker 1: Well, I guess so that's the most the most. 191 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 2: Like kind of thing I can think of, is I 192 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 2: love the entrance of Central Park there on fifty nine Street. 193 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: So y'all, Alex has really hung up on the numbers 194 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: of shop Talk, having an interesting little side note about 195 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: the number. So please email me something to do with 196 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: sixty nine through seventy so I can say it. I'm 197 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: shop Talk, so our producer here. 198 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 2: I'm not talking up on it. I don't even believe 199 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,079 Speaker 2: in horoscopes or any of that weird stuff. I just 200 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:52,000 Speaker 2: thought this could be fun. 201 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: Just say it is fun. Yeah, it's fun. So y'all, 202 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: y'all said it? Okay, Bill, Courtney, Army and normal folks. 203 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,839 Speaker 1: That's shop Talk funder fifty nine. We asked you to 204 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: do all the stuff you're supposed to do, So I 205 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: guess that's it, isn't it. 206 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 2: Until next time, do it can. 207 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: Until next time, do what you can. We'll see you 208 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:12,199 Speaker 1: next week.