In this episode, we look at the serendipitous events that occur on the Camino and what they mean... to the individual peregrino. Is serendipity a thing? Or is it mere coincidence to which we attach meaning? Carrying that argument further, is the spiritual experience of the Camino authentic or based on what we imagine the Camino to be?

In this episode, we look at a film from 2006, directed by a man with a monstrous past who appears to be trying to do better. Because of his crimes, it is difficult to get behind this film, but if we listen without prejudice, who knows what might happen?

'The Last Temptation of Christ' was divisive and controversial when it came out in 1988. It seems to be a sign of the times that if we don't have something to fight about, we go out and find something. But the Camino is different. The Camino transforms divisiveness - at least that was my experience. Take in the controversy, then listen for the solution. That is all.

In the last of our flashback episodes, we look at the final podcast of Mix Tape With a Chainsaw, dropped on August 25, 2000. The "summer of love" was ending, meaning there were riots and dissension everywhere. I don't really talk about that here. I do talk a little bit about C0V1D and how we were treating each other. You can hear the despair in my voice. But it gets better. It got better. It is better. It's a short one, so stick around for the climax.

What a naive fool I was in 2018. I walked all of 113 km on the Camino, I thought it was an arduous journey, I felt very full of myself and had an absolute certainty that I knew what the hell I was talking about. In this episode, I start to share that episode from 2018, but I become so annoyed that I can't finish it. That's it, we're done. Enjoy as much as you can.

In this, our first episode of Academia Into Song, we do a flashback to our old podcast (the now defunct Mix Tape With a Chainsaw) from six years ago. In October 2018, Matt was getting ready to walk his first "camino," in quotes and lowercase because he started in Sarria. In preparation for this event, he waxed philosophic about the 1985 film Fandango, a road trip movie with a pilgrimage undertone. It's a good way to chronicle our transition from silly film geek creating yet another movie podcast to silly peregrino creating yet another Camino de Santiago podcast. The challenge: find originality in the unoriginal.