Episode 22: Consider the Lobster

00:00 – Introduction

02:43 – Scripture Narrative (Galatians 5:1)

06:33 – Free-for-all (Going back to school)

18:30 – Main Topic (Consider the Lobster)

On episode TWENTY-TWO of Let the Bird Fly! Wade and Peter find themselves alone in the studio…no Ben, no guest, no kids. But don’t worry, they still manage to find something to talk about; even if that something turns out to be lobsters (Ben may need to rethink missing episodes). Before discussing crustaceans, however, Wade discusses Galatians 5 and they both talk about going back to school, as the new school year is just now beginning. Eventually, as always happens though, the guys make it to the main topic. This week they discuss an essay by David Foster Wallace entitled Consider the Lobster. (If you haven’t read David Foster Wallace’s essay, follow the link above, and do yourself the favor now. Or if you prefer a PDF version, you can find that here.) The essay turns on the question: is it at all right to boil a sentient creature alive? But before you turn off the episode, this isn’t an episode designed to turn you into a vegan, but rather one that we hope gets you to ask the questions that sometimes hide in plain sight. Wade also mentions a commencement address by David Foster Wallace, This Is Water. (It’s worth a listen, but as Wade mentions in the episode, he does use a bad word…you have been warned.) In that address David Foster Wallace points directly to these questions as well. It may be a bit headier of an episode (but let’s be honest, it’s Wade and Peter, so you know it can’t be too heady); we hope it gets you thinking about some of those things that you hadn’t even thought to think about.

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