I host a podcast called Flipside Frolic. It is a civil discourse show. That phrase gets used loosely, so here is what I mean by it: two people can disagree, stay in the conversation, and both leave with a clearer idea of the other side.

Most of what passes for debate now is people talking past each other. Someone scores a point, the other person fires back, and nobody learns anything. I got tired of that. I have spent a lot of years in rooms where you have to work with people who do not see the job, the hobby, or the country the way you do. The Navy, a dispatch office, a union shop, a club meeting. The work still has to get done. The talking has to be better than a shouting match.

Flipside Frolic is my attempt to do that in public. I sit down with a guest and we take a topic that people usually fight about. I ask questions. I push back. I also let the guest finish the point. The goal is not to “win” the episode or to humiliate anyone. The goal is to understand the disagreement well enough that a listener can hear both sides and make up their own mind.

If that sounds like the kind of conversation you want, start with the show itself: Flipside Frolic. New episodes are on the episodes page. There is also a short note about the show and about me if you want the background before you press play.

If you have a topic you think belongs on the show, or a guest I should talk with, the contact page is the best place to send it. I read those notes. Thank you for listening, and thank you for being willing to hear the other side.

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