On the most recent episode, the Betts go on an unexpected adventure that ends at an historic lighthouse; Dom gets to go back to Mass; and they visit his mom after a long absence. Food this week includes kale salad, lime cheesecake, and smoked salmon. Plus they talk about Corpus Christi and the family table.
My Podcasting Workflow: Distribution and Promotion
I’m sometimes asked about my podcasting workflow, how SQPN goes about recording, editing, distributing, and promoting our shows. This is the fifth in a series of posts that explain the multiple steps that take me from the beginning to the end of the process for each show we produce. The first post was about my hardware setup, the second was on research, prep, and organization, the third was how I record the shows, and the fourth was how I edit the audio.
Once the editing is complete, I have a single uncompressed WAV file of the show, which if it’s an hour-long show, could be about 1GB in size. Obviously, this is not ideal for a podcast. From here, we need to compress the audio into a distributable format, create the various pieces of artwork for the cover art, the web site, and social media; create an audio-only video for YouTube; post the episode to the website, which will then distribute the show to the various podcast directories; create and schedule a series of social media posts to promote the episode; and do all the organization cleanup and preparation for the next episode.
Read More and CommentRaising the Betts #53: Clamato!
In this episode, The Betts share their experience of (half the family) going back to Mass for the first time; talk about waiting in line at Whole Foods; and discuss Jerusalem’s Upper Room and King David’s Tomb. Plus micheladas and the sublime flavor of clamato.
Raising the Betts #52: Happy Birthday, Church
In this episode, Dom and Melanie Bettinelli celebrate Pentecost and the birthday of the Church; watch SpaceX make history in space; keep grilling new recipes; notice the kids’ prayers become more profound during the lockdown; and discuss the significant role of the Upper Room as the place where four sacraments originated.
Raising the Betts #51: Lots of Grilling
In this episode, the farmers market is open again and the Betts discuss how different is now (hint: drive-through), plus they made lots of great recipes on the grill (because the weather’s been so nice), and then Cardinal Seán’s homily on Jesus’ last two commands: Love one another and make disciples of all nations.
Raising the Betts #50: The JohnPauls
In this episode, the Betts had a parade for their nephew JohnPaul, who once embraced his namesake saint in Rome and has now become a US Army officer. Plus a daughter’s birthday, a Mother’s Day out, movies recommended and shows not recommended, and remembering to give a reason for your hope with gentleness.
Raising the Betts #49: When We Can Go Again
In this episode, Dom and Melanie Bettinelli share their own family discussion of how they will decide when they can go back to Mass, when it’s available to them, taking into account their own family situation. Plus, book discussion of Crimson Bound and their shared enjoyment of TV show The Rookie.
Raising the Betts #48: The Great American Backyard Campout
In this episode, Dom and Melanie Bettinelli have a full-on campout in their backyard, build a new garden, cook up a ton of great food, watch the new series everyone is talking about, The Chosen, and ponder what parish life will be like when we can have that again.
Raising the Betts #47: Bad Time to Hate Homeschool
On the latest episode of Raising the Betts, the Betts are back and rebutting a Harvard Law prof’s attack on homeschooling; catching up on bird-watching and outdoor adventures; and watching shows (Ahem, Tiger King) and reading new books. Plus, the road to Emmaus and the Eucharist.
The Church Needs to Plan for the Recovery
Cue the cliché: We are living in unprecedented times. Actually, in some ways we aren’t. The world–and specifically here I’m going to address the situation of the Catholic Church–has faced pandemics before and much worse ones at that. We’ve seen lockdowns and separation from the sacraments and all and I don’t want to retread that familiar ground.
But what’s unprecedented this time is the ability to connect with one another despite our separation. Since the the beginning of the US lockdowns in March (and before that in Italy and other places in Europe), we’ve seen how we can still connect, do our work, go to school, order groceries and takeout, entertain ourselves, and most importantly, pray together through our computers and phones and tablets. It’s especially gratifying to see how our priests and parishes have responded in an almost entirely grassroots manner to provide us with live-streamed Masses when we were cut off from our communal celebrations in our churches (sometimes to hilarious, Facebook-filter effect). Kudos to the men of the collar for stepping up, often in areas they weren’t comfortable in, to figure out to get connected and online and streaming, almost instantly.
But as the weeks drag on and we receive increasingly dire predictions for how long we’re going to be like this, questions arise. Yes, even as some states have started to ease restrictions, many lockdowns will last into June at least. And even then, we are warned, life will not go back to pre-February 2020. We will continue to have restrictions on gatherings and requirements to maintain distance and/or wear masks and more. We are also warned that a second wave of the coronavirus will probably hit us in the fall, perhaps even worse than the first wave. This is our life for the time being.