14 Comments

Great interview. I was not aware of Mr. Senghor until reading this. Just ordered his book. As a father of two grown sons I have also been on the bandwagon of sounding concerns that society has been moving away from providing for young men in general.

This quote moved me:

"we don’t lean into intellectual dialogue. We’re not curious enough to really understand why people behave in the manner they behave in."

Bingo

I think First Lady Laura Bush had taken up this "boys" cause at one point... which to me was impressive has she only had daughters. But not only did we not see any national commitment to improving the lives of boys to men, the exact opposite happened and forces in power and influence turned against boys and men. The term "toxic masculinity" was injected into our dialog, and so was a meme that "all men are rapists".

And now this has "progressed" to the point that we will not even admit to two biological genders or that "man" or "woman" can be defined (see the latest SCOTUS nominee).

What I find interesting today is that the justification for attacks on boys and men... that they had been nasty, mean and bullies as protected by a patriarchal construct... and some of that is certainly true... is that the replacement dominated by 3rd wave feminists is more nasty, mean and bullying.

We are more a people of angels than devils, but the devils seem to dominate the agenda and we the people seem to be always paying the price.

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Tara, as a father, this was powerful. And so many thanks for putting the transcription out there together with the podcast. I would never listen, but I will always read.

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teach them to value life thats all

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A really interesting conversation. It certainly sounds like a book worth reading.

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FATHERS ARE THE GREATEST ASSET ANY CHILD CAN HAVE BE THEY BOY OR GIRL. THE LIEF EXPERINCE OF A GOOD FATHER CAN IMPACT HIS CHILD IN WAYS THAT OTHERS CAN NEVER DO. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT FATHERS SHARE THEIR LIFE KNOWLEDGE WITH THEIR CHILDREN SO THAT THEY MAY GROW STRONG AND INTELLIGENT TO THE WORLD THEY WILL BE ENTERING. MY FATHER REST HIS SOUL WAS JUST SUCH A MAN, HE NEVER SPOKE A LOT BUT WHEN HE DID HIS WORDS RESONATED WITH ME THAT EVEN NOW AT 75 THEY STILL HAVE AN IMPACT THAT HAS GUIDED ME THROUGH THIS LIFE, BOTH PERFECT AND IMPERFECT.

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A most excellent read--once again. I am working on a novel with a father/son relationship at its core, and this is illuminating--thank you.

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Yes Father's rights are gone! At my first final Trial I was still not allowed to see any of my four children as the Judge said to me "Larry has no rights as a Father" and after fourteen years still no contact and it was up to me find a way to forget them all. By the third final Trial I began to win but it was to late as to much water went under the bridge. Parents that lose their children through death can morn, how does one morn children you are forbidden to see.

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Thanks Sam! My children went through the Stockholm Syndrome, their all in their 30's and last time I tried to make contact with my oldest daughter the Police wanted to lay criminal harassment charges. The daughter had tears and could not leave her mothers side for one minute. My oldest son met me privately last year for over an hour and I asked him if he was going to tell the others that he met Dad. The reply was NO F------ way as he would be out on the street and ostracized just like Dad was.

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Oh my... so sorry to hear. This is such pain. Your words about grieving, when those you grieve are still living...

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Out of now where my eldest son Texted me today to see if I could watch the Leafs game with him privately. I replied OK let me know where.

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The last final Trial I was at the powers to be wanted me to continue to work as I had to retire from the stress I was enduring. As they used the threat of incarceration every time in Court before I said I had enough and told the Court it cost $80,000/ year to keep me locked up and the reply back, they only wanted to incarcerated me for 6 months at a time. It never happened as the money well had run dry and I was homeless any ways and the system knew it. Don't let your mail go to the Courthouse as that's another story if your homeless.

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I am sorry to hear that--that is so disturbing.

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Politicians are, too often, without guts... Yet this person actually said "political suicide" to you! That took gall. Even if it is true. And that truth needs to change. We have only to look at the suicide rates of men to know THIS is true. Spoken as a sister to three men and mother to three boys. This is so worrisome, that we don't support men. Yet expect both nothing and much from them. Which is downright confusing to boys.

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