Constant Wonder

What does it mean to be truly speechless—struck dumb by beauty, grief, or awe? In this episode of Constant Wonder, host Marcus Smith sits down with Martha Barnette, co-host of the beloved radio show and podcast A Way with Words, for a wide-ranging conversation about language, wonder, and the moments that leave us reaching for words we don't have.

Martha shares memories of her Greek tutor Professor Leonard Latkovski, and a remarkable moment when her father, theologian Henlee Barnette, invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The conversation moves through the concept of "thin places”—those uncanny moments where the boundary between the ordinary and the transcendent seems to dissolve—and closes with a handful of surprising word etymologies that reframe how we see the world.

Guest: Martha Barnette is an author, word-lover and co-host of A Way with Words. Find her at www.marthabarnette.com

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Chapters:
[0:00] Martha Barnette on Language and Wonder
[4:20] Family Roots: Henlee Barnette
[12:59] Professor Latkovski and the Love of Greek
[27:54] MLK, Jr.’s Visit to Southern
[34:32] When Words Fail Us
[42:41] Thin Places & Thresholds
[45:18] Scintillating Words

Constant Wonder is a production of BYUradio. Find us at www.byuradio.org

Tama Wong didn't feel like a great gardener—until she discovered that the weeds she was battling were delicacies from across the world. Now, she forages (and farms like a forager!) for fine dining restaurants, and she encourages others to enjoy wild flavor by foraging, too.

Guest: Tama Matsuoka Wong, author of "Into the Weeds: How to Garden Like a Forager" and founder of meadowsandmore.com

Knotweed Crumble and more at our Substack: https://constantwonder.substack.com

Chapters:
(0:00) Meet Tama Wong & Wild Lawns
(5:43) What is a Weed?
(14:22) Foraging for Fine Dining
(30:12) Cultivation and Community
(32:03) Moving at the Speed of Life
(38:02) Editing the Weeds
(47:50) Memories in the Garden

Reverend Dr. Andrew Teal grew up wandering the ruins of Fountains Abbey in the UK—one of his "thin places." After he was ordained an Anglican priest in his twenties, he learned to find the sacred as easily in seminar rooms as on the side of the road. Teal believes in the power of inhabiting the world, be it through philosophy, poetry, or simply your presence.

Guest: Reverend Dr. Andrew Teal, an Anglican priest, chaplain, fellow, and lecturer in theology at Pembroke College, Oxford University

Chapters:
(0:00) Introduction
(3:55) Fountains Abbey
(13:17) Grief and silence
(20:23) Rachel's thunderbolt
(24:57) Thin spaces
(32:35) Prodigal sons and sacred hymns
(43:34) Illumination

After severe depression turns his life upside down, Jarod Anderson heads for the woods, where he finds a renewed connection to nature: from the sacred herons of his childhood to the strange creatures of his imagination. He now shares that world with listeners as host of "The CryptoNaturalist."

Guest: Jarod Anderson, host of "The CryptoNaturalist" and author of "Something in the Woods Loves You"

Author page: https://www.crytopnaturalist.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jarodkanderson/

Originally aired January 22, 2025

Hugo Tagholm describes the transcendent connection between a storm at sea and a surfer sitting, many hours later, on a board. Using surfing as a metaphor for life, Tagholm urges us to show up for each other—and for the Earth—as our best-prepared selves. His is a message of hope for all of us on "Planet Ocean."

Guests:
Hugo Tagholm, Executive Director of Oceana UK
Katherine May, author of "Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age"

Photo Credit: Nick Pumphrey

CHAPTERS
(0:00) Introduction
(4:55) Hugo's childhood
(9:39) Surfers Against sewage
(17:36) The wonder of surfing
(25:32) Conserving the oceans
(35:05) Katherine May's quest for enchantment and wonder