The Secret Lives of Men, Revisited

Recently I was listening to some of the archived episodes of Dr. Chris Blazina’s weekly show on BlogTalkRadio, The Secret Lives of Men, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that his September 2009 interview with me about my book, Iron Man Famly Outing, was the fifth most popular installment of his show in 2009. In a podcast that aired on 12/29/2009 (“Secret Lives of Men 2009 Year in Review”), Dr. Blazina and his guest, Dr. Ryan McKelley, counted down the top five most popular episodes of the show in 2009 and shared their thoughts, memories, and impressions about each one.

Dr. Blazina and Dr. McKelley devoted about five minutes of the program to a discussion of their recollections of my interview and their reflections on the material in my book. Here are a few excerpts from their comments:

Dr. McKelley: “The thing that struck me about it was his ability to translate what I think are some extremely complex emotional experiences, whether it’s abuse and some of the stuff he gets into, and (he) does it through poetry and does it in a meaningful way that I think many men struggle to put into words. And they aren’t necessarily these huge, long scripts and narratives. They’re just really clear, and simple in a very profound way of communicating some of these experiences that he went through.”

Dr. Blazina: “My recollection from the program is that Rick shared one of his poems (“little iron man”) on air, and I remember him reading it, and I remember him finishing up, and I just felt this kind of thud. It was so powerful, and so … it really was raw, and it was raw in a way that I think most men can relate to. It touches them. It hits a core about their sense of masculinity and what that means in different areas of work and love. So I remember Rick’s work being really powerful.”

Dr. McKelley: “It’s accessible, more than anything. Through the ages, you’ve got writers writing about all kinds of human experiences, and a lot of it is, quite frankly, difficult to read. And I think you can sit down, it doesn’t matter who you are, you can sit down with it and I think at least one of the (poems), I forget how many, there are scores of them, I think at least one of them can touch you, they’re written in a way that you can really connect with. So the accessibility, I think, really stood out.”

The Secret Lives of Men is an excellent source of information for anyone with an interest in men and masculine psychology. Dr. Blazina’s guest list includes men and women whose diverse backgrounds and wide range of specialties and interests provide listeners with a unique opportunity to gain new insights into the male experience. Program archives are located at a number of sources, including:

The Secret Lives of Men at BlogTalkRadio

The Secret Lives of Men on iTunes

In the Media: The Secret Lives of Men on the APA Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity Division 51 website

I encourage everyone to have a listen.

On a related note, I’m in the process of transcribing Dr. Blazina’s September 2009 interview with me and hope to have it ready to post here on the blog and on my website within the next month or so.

The The Secret Lives of Men, Revisited by Rick Belden, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.