Ikiru: Sustaining Change

Ikiru: Sustaining Change

Gareth Higgins, a Reconciliation scholar from Belfast, Ireland, talks to Heather about Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952), a film about a city bureaucrat who decides to build a playground for a local women's group. While Akira Kurosawa is best known for his samurai films, Ikiru won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Gareth Higgins' most recent book, co-authored with Kathleen Norris, is A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: A Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; he co-founded The Porch community, and is deeply involved in transformative men’s work through The Storyteller and the Firekeeper. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Queen's University Belfast.

Bonus. Chief of War: Hawaiian Spirituality

Kawika Allen and Leone Saaga joined Heather for a bonus discussion about Chief of War (2024) and Hawaiian spirituality. Chief of War is a limited series created by Jason Momoa for Apple TV that tells how the Hawaiian islands were unified under Kamehameha in the face of encroaching Western colonialism. Chief of War has won multiple awards, including from the Critic's Choice for Social Impact. Leone Saaga teaches Hawaiian Language courses at Brigham Young University. Previously she has taught in multiple Hawaiian Language Immersion programs. She holds a Masters in Education with an emphasis on Teacher Leadership. Kawika Allen is the founder of and leads the Polynesian Psychology Education Research Team at BYU’s McKay School of Education. He is a co-editor of the Handbook of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies from the APA. He holds a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Rebecca: Twisted Fairy-Tale

Nina McConigley talks to Heather about her new novel How to Commit a Post-Colonial Murder (Pantheon, 2026) and how her feelings have changed about Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1941). Rebecca is an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel, which is itself a reworking of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, from 1847. And we only just realized that in this interview! Nina McConigley's short story collection, Cowboys and East Indians, won the 2014 PEN/Open Book Award and the High Plains Book Award. She was also a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Writing Fellowship. She teaches at Colorado State University.

Bonus — Check Out These May/June Movies on BYUtv!

Heather chats about three films playing on BYUtv: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, The King's Speech, and Young Victoria. Hear a few things to look for in each of them and a little behind the scenes info about how they were made. Every month BYUtv adds new movies to their movie collection, available on the BYUtv app. Simply sign in and watch any number of films for free.

Little Women: Mother Wisdom

Aubrey Chaves chats with Heather about how Little Women influenced her as a young woman and how the film reads today, especially the power and wisdom of Marmee. They chat about which sister they identified with (as you do) and the stacked cast that made this film great. Aubrey Chaves serves on the executive board of the Faith Matters Foundation and co-hosts its weekly podcast with her husband, Tim. She is the mother of four.