Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724

Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724

The Boy Scouts of America recently changed its name. The reason? Scouts USA will admit girls. These days a decision like that can kick off a firestorm of criticism. There’s even a new Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts. For my best friends and I, BSA was all about camping. We’ll talk about it in Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724.

Best Friends Like None Other

I had two best friends growing up. Both of them invited me into the Boy Scouts. The other day one of them texted me, concerned that the Boy Scouts would not admit girls. “Are you gonna do a podcast about that?”, he wondered. I said I didn’t think so. The idea of a podcast about changes in our social institutions though, stuck with me.

Summer Memories

Especially relevant is how summer brings back memories. It’s warm already in Minnesota and that makes me think about my best friends, camp outs, summer camp and fun. For us, that’s what the Boy Scouts were. So I’ll share some stories about our campouts in Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724.

Nonconformist Scoutmaster

What’s more, as I researched and thought about this podcast I realized how important our scoutmaster was to all of us. It’s not what you’d expect. Our scoutmaster and the men who watched over us were anything but conformists.

No Patience For Rules and Regulations in 1970’s America

As world war two vets, our scoutmasters weren’t about to take crap from anyone. Moreover, they didn’t have much patience for bureaucracy, rules and regulations. What they did was make sure we were safe, had a good time, and took care of each other. They also stood up for us, celebrated us and had our back. In Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724.

Changing Institutions

Most noteworthy to this podcast is the idea that institutions like the Boy Scouts are changing. Crumbling even. There’s no shortage of criticism for ‘Scouts USA’ from commentators who make sure to tell the reader they were Eagle Scouts and went on to Explorers. We didn’t. In fact we thought ‘Super Scouts’ were kind of weird.

Friends For Life

For us it was all about camping and the kind of friendship none of us will have again. I think it was that way with our scoutmasters and the fathers of the kids who came to the campouts too. For me, I don’t mind leaving it all behind and keeping those times as memories. As Stephen King once wrote, “I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus. Does anyone?”

My sentiments exactly.

Was it the Boy Scouts? Or was it us?

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating Of Saint Paul

Farewell Boy Scouts America-Podcast 724

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Podcast 388

The Power Of Negative Thinking. See? Made you look. What’s needed is more positive thinking. Still, negative thinking is everywhere. We’ve talked about the power of turning off all the media long enough to hear internal thoughts. Now its time to talk about how many of those internal thoughts can be negative. Negative thoughts are like a cancer, that invades everything and makes it hard to act positively for yourself. Political people especially need to remember the need to be for something, as opposed to against seemingly everything. In this podcast, some experiences directly related to business, and the changes a radio guy goes through to become a podcaster and independent businessman. It’s not all wine and roses, but in the end, being able to be independent, to navigate deep and shallow water as you wish, is very fulfilling. Fact is, no one ever said it would be easy. One of the things you learn in business for yourself is, it’s always something. Negative thoughts include self doubt, worry, and fear of failure and especially success. So many conversations this fourth of July weekend, and almost none of them were about politics and what’s on the 24 hour news channel. Many of them were about other, deeper subjects; Proof that normal, everyday, regular people are thinking about complex and deep subjects, and doing amazing things. You just don’t see them on Fox and CNN, or hear them on talk radio, because they’re too busy talking about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and in talk radio’s case, running away from the issues. Find out how a simple piece of advice from a friend ended up as Podcast 388. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 196

News Cleanse Day 1. Joined by local radio producer and friend of the Bob Davis Podcasts, ‘Tam’. You’ve heard of colon cleansing? Flushing out the brain after a Winter, Spring and Summer of non stop news coverage. That means drinking a lot of water, doing a lot of yoga, and staying away from CNN, Fox News, and the Drudge Report. More on the ‘News Cleanse’ in the podcasts this week. Meanwhile, dinner and a podcast, is in order. ‘Tam’ and Bob Davis have been through a number of adventures over the years, from using illegal scanners to ‘police call’ to obsessing about diets that do not exist. Bob interviews ‘Tam’ and ‘Tam’ interviews Bob in this podcast. Tam works at a station that features pop culture news. While they are different disciplines, the pop culture ‘talk’ world is similar to the News Talk world. Does she ever get tired of it? What is Tam still obsessing about. Tam wants to share some stories about how weird Bob is, some of which are funny, and some of which involve loss and death. Finally, an idea for the State Fair that probably won’t fly. It’s amazing what you can talk about these days when you put down Politico for five minutes. Who cares about Rick Perry, Barack Obama, Paul Ryan, Vladimir Putin and Chuck Todd’s new job, when you have the bean diet? Sponsored by X Government Cars.

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