Hello everyone! Welcome to the Golden Table. Here, we gather around ideas that matter. Why?

Well... what else is there to really do but come to 'know.'

In any case, today, we are wondering if there really is a way to be CERTAIN about knowing at all.

What is certainty? How do we arrive at the feeling of being certain? And truthfully, can we trust what others say is certain? Ourselves?

There's a lot here. Pull up a chair.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the Golden Table podcast. Here we talk about the intersections of knowledge, from pop culture, to personal experiences, to history and research. It's all a part of the table, but it's on us to pull up a chair.

Today we are broadly discussing reading—but if I am being honest, we are truly analyzing what contributes to creating readers or fostering a reading life in people.

Literacy is often touted as being in crisis—and for good reason. 54% of US adults are cited as reading at or below a 6th grade level. If this is true, then we are perhaps in a literacy crisis...

But is it that simple?

How are these numbers created? Who does the research? What does it mean to be literate vs proficient in literacy?

And more specifically, how do schools, parents, and socio-economic factors play into how literate a life someone lives?

I use my life as its own example for part of this episode, and then open it up to broader questions.

Did I connect the dots? Do we solve the literacy crisis in under an hour of the podcast? I suppose you'll have to listen to find out.

Whatever your thoughts, write in and let me know. Join the discussion.

Being creative can feel exhilarating—but it can also be frustrating, lonely, and downright exhausting. Sometimes the thing you care most about creating feels impossible to make. Sometimes you wonder whether anyone is listening. And sometimes the hardest part is continuing to create when the work isn't being recognized, appreciated, or even understood.

In this episode of The Golden Table, Jacob Chastain gets honest about the struggle of finding a creative outlet, trusting the creative process when it feels broken, and pushing through the resistance that inevitably comes with making something that matters. Drawing on Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, he explores the invisible forces that keep creative people from doing their best work—and why resistance might actually be evidence that the work is worth doing.

Because not every creative idea will be heard. Not every creative person will be appreciated. And not every piece of work will immediately find its audience.

But that doesn't mean you should stop creating.

Gather around the table for a conversation about creativity, resistance, frustration, and the courage to keep making the thing only you can make.

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