An Army of Normal Folks - Sparky Reardon: The Most Loved Dean Ever (Pt 1)

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Sparky Reardon worked in student services for 36 years at Ole Miss, including his final 14 years as the Dean of Students. His stories span the hilarious to the tragic and he is a one-of-a-kind leader who thousands call a mentor and a friend, including Coach Bill Courtney.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If I could teach college students anything, I would teach them to be empathetic. To try to understand other people, to understand where they are. I look at these guys over here and think they're freshmen and what they're going through and they're bringing with them their pain from home. They're bringing with them their joy. They're bringing them with their successes, their worries. And when I would deal with them, I'd always try to understand what you're going to What's going through this guy's head or what's going through this woman's head in terms of where are they?

If we had a class in teaching people how to empathize, I think we'd be a whole lot better off as a society. I think normal folks need to learn how to do that. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, and I'm a football coach in inner city Memphis. And the last part a few years ago led to an Oscar for the film about a team I coached. It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people and nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. That army is us.

Just you and me deciding, hey, you know what, I can help. That is exactly. what Sparky Reardon has done his whole life. He's the voice you just heard. Sparky is a living icon in the Ole Miss community, and he's one of my mentors. He worked in student affairs for 36 years, including the last 14 of them as the dean of students.

He's truly a normal guy who's faced personal and professional challenges, mentored thousands, and his leadership lessons can benefit the entire army. I genuinely cannot wait for you to meet my friend and mentor Sparky right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Sacred Scandal,

we pulled back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Masiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ. My name is Elena Sada and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determine survivor as Elena explained. poses the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him.

Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel, as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech and culture podcast, There Are No Grows on the Internet. There Are No Grows on the Internet is not just about tech.

It's about culture and policy. in art and expression, and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emile Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the internet for both good and bad.

They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice at the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service, therefore we're not trading rice this season. It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the internet. Platforms exist because of the regular people on them. And I think that's a real important story to keep repeating. I created there are no girls on the internet because the future belongs to all of us. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Listen to there are no girls on the internet on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I had this like overwhelming sensation that I had to call it right then. And I just hit call. I said, you know,

Hey, I'm Jacob Schick, I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation, and I just wanted to call on and let her know. There's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling, and there is help out there. The Good Stuff podcast, Season 2, takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a non-profit fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat army veteran, and he actually took his own mark to suicide. One tribe, save my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place and it's sincere. Now it's a personal mission.

I don't have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission. I ended up having amputation below the knee of my right leg and a traumatic brain injury because I landed on my head. Welcome to Season 2 of The Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential.

I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, like you're not going to choose an adapted strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it if it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to say like go you go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just strengthen.

extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress, seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walk the other way. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denials is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving, meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed.

There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop.

Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sparky Reardon in Oxford, Mississippi, I can't believe I'm hanging out with you today. I'm surprised, too. Everybody, welcome to an army of normal folks. We are live, as you can hear, with an audience about 300 people in Oxford, Mississippi. Today's guest is Sparky Reardon. Don't really know how to introduce Sparky properly because I want to say he's my friend, but I almost have too much reverence for him to call him my friend. He's been a mentor, he's been a confidant, he's been

an inspiration, and he is my friend. Sparky worked in student affairs for 36 years at my alma Amid or Ole Miss, where we are today on campus. And the last 14 years of those 36 years, he was the Dean of Students here. And I count myself among the lucky ones that spent all of my years at Ole Miss under the tutelage of Sparky. Sparky is the author of a new book, The Dean, Memoirs and Nissives, which is available at Square Books in Oxford, for those of you that are here, but for those listening across country, Amazon.com, and bookstores throughout the Southeast region. I always say I'm so glad to be

with you to all of my guests, but tonight I really mean it. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad to be here too, and thank you for having me. I'm to the Ole Miss Women's Council for making this possible. Yeah, absolutely. I have a quick question for you, but I've got to tell you something that I've never told you before I asked the first question that I want to tell you. Oh, hell. And I thought about this, really, on the way down here. I first became aware of you at freshman orientation, which was in the chapel at that time, when you stood up in front of everybody with a green jacket on and said, no, I'm not the Grove.

Yeah. And I thought, well, that's kind of funny. And he was the deed of students. And so, you know, as a freshman, you spend most of your time trying to avoid any interaction with the dean of students because you assume that just means you're in trouble. So I did things to avoid you. And then as a sophomore and junior, I became a little more aware of you. And then as a junior, I really became indebted to you, both by some things.

you said to me after I wrote a column and then also when I had this crazy idea to start this thing called the Charity Bowl. And then my senior year, I took your leadership class and grew from you. And the weird transformation that took place over those four-year sparky is I didn't do things against the rules at first because I just didn't want to get in trouble and I was scared of you. By the time I left college, I wanted to do things right because I didn't want to disappoint you.

And I cannot think of a more poignant example and illustration of what true leadership is when you convince somebody just through your actions that you are worthy of not being disappointed Sparky, you had such an effect on my life and so many others. And I don't presume to be the most affected person by you

because, my gosh, there are thousands. But I just want you to know on a very personal level, I still to this day don't want to disappoint you. I appreciate that, Bill. Thank you very much. Well, I appreciate your praise. And I just don't feel worthy of it. I just came to work and did what I did.

and I don't deserve all this. I got paid for what I did. I had a great life, and I loved every second of it. And I put it in the book, and that's why I ended up here tonight, I guess, because of the book. Maybe, but without the book, I'd still want to do this with you. So here we go. You write in your introduction of the book, I think it was Mark Twain, who said, the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why.

tell us up the day you figure out why you were born I think it was the day I retired really yeah that when I look back on everything that was given to me the people who supported me the opportunities that I was given I realized how blessed I was and I guess my why a lot of it has to do with my faith and that I feel like that we have an obligation to lead to chastise, to rebuke, and I did some of that. But to also serve, and I like to think that some of what I did was service.

You tell a story about when it clicked that you thought, hey, I might want to be a dean of students. It was actually when you were in trouble or something, I think. Well, I was a social chairman of my fraternity. That's already a ticket to trouble. And Lester Williams would tell you, I was real damn good, too. So good, in fact, that Tom Hines called me to his office, who was the director of student activities at the time, it could have been a curfew violation, a noise violation, a fight, or could have been that there was some alcohol involved. I'm not sure. But I was a pre-law major, and I had no interest in being a lawyer.

Everybody in Clarksdale had told me I was involved in debate, I was involved in student leadership, did stuff with the church, and everybody said, well, you need to go to law school at Ole Miss. You need to go to law school at Ole Miss. And that came from some men that I greatly admired. So I came to law school at Ole Miss and had about a 2.24 my freshman year and didn't supersede that the second semester. So I had no idea what I was. wanted to do, but I was a good social chairman. So when I got, when I got called into his office, I just looked across the desk. He wasn't really hitting me hard. He wasn't getting on me. He was, he was teaching me. And I thought to myself sitting there, it's kind of like the clouds rolled back, the sun shone through, the angel sang, and I said, somebody's got to do what this guy's doing, you know, and it was at that point that I decided that I wanted to become an education major. and my grades went up exponentially. They had to, but I wanted to be the Dean of Students at Ole Miss

and kind of carved my career path in that direction. Before you became the dean, you were a teacher and a coach in Clarksdale and worked in student activities at Ole Miss and student services. And we're going to dive into that through the lens of your book. but to open the lens of your book, you wrote something that I've reread now, probably six times. And it's best in your words.

So would you just mind reading this excerpt from your book? And then let's talk about it. Well, if I could give a little preamble to this. What you would. That people would always ask me, I said, what does the dean of students do? And so, you know, you couldn't tell them you did all these other things.

So I had this kind of little pat answer. I'd say, well, every day I work with CEOs, and I work with doctors, and I work with lawyers, and I work with farmers, and I work with military people, and I work with criminals. And so that's a little precedent to this. My first day on the job at Ole Miss was August 15, 1977. the day before Elvis died, and I retired in 2014, April of 2014. That's approximately 12,500 days.

Those days were a blessing, fulfilling, unpredictable, fun, and sometimes heartbreaking. It was a long, strange ride. I endured the tenures of, here you go, I'm going to get on a roll here. I endured the tenures of four chancellors, six vice-chancellors of student affairs, nine head football coaches and four popes. I witnessed the long, shaggy pike haircut. Some of y'all are going to remember some of this. I witnessed the long, shaggy pike haircut, the butt cut,

the SEC Frat Boy Swoop, 1980s, big hair, hiking boots, chocos, and flip-flops, the preppy handbook, planking, spanking, the internet gossip site, juicy campus, hellfire and brimstone preacher, brother Jim, the KKK, the skinheads, animal house, the Hangover, The Society for Creative Anachronism, the Old Miss Pagans, potato guns, surgical tubing, slingshots, beer funnels, pledges fishing in the Five

Mew Fountain, flash mobs in the Old Miss Student Union, raves in the library, streakers at football games, home run showers in right field, looking for the doorknob to the universe, crawling through the steam tunnels and selecting a mascot. I watched and prayed as our students marched off to three wars in Kuwait, Iraq, and after Afghanistan. I survived the impending doom of Y2K, the swine flu, killer bees, the ice storm of 1994, the earthquake prediction of 1990, and the remnants of Hurricane Katrina. I spent many sleepless nights, weekend nights, waiting for parties like Patty Murphy or Derby Day or Ivy League or South Sea Island to come to an end. I went with UPD to shut down parties at 2 a.m. and was on a first

name basis with EMTs, law enforcement officers, and ER nurses, and doctors. The coroner had me on speed dial. Nervous and scared, I watched his students knelt and prayed in the Student Union on September 11, 2001. I've received scotch for Christmas. I've made students pour out their scotch, and way back when, in a more sensible age, I taught a student to drink Scotch like a gentleman. I brought in concerts with the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Commodores, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, and R.M. But you might ask, what does the Dean of Students really do? I've been asked this so frequently that I crafted a clever go-to response.

I tell anyone curious enough to ask, well, every day, I collaborate with CEOs, doctors, lawyers, educators, engineers, senators, ministers, and yes, even criminals. I always like to think that I might be working with the person who would write the next great American novel or find a cure for the incurable. At a beautiful dinner that friends gave to celebrate my retirement, I looked around at the people in the room and thought of the emails and notes that I had received since announcing my retirement. I realized that my answer was not so frivolous. As I started to speak, I found myself looking at a room full of CEOs, doctors, lawyers, bankers, educators, engineers, ministers, directors, farmers, and others. And I feel sure that criminals would have been there had they been able.

And now a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, I hope you'll follow us on your favorite social media channels where we share more powerful content, including reels from our video studio, and testimonials from Army members. We're at Army of Normal folks on every channel. Give us a follow. We'll be right back. At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Secret Scandal,

we pulled back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Masiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ. My name is Elena Sada and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determine survivor as Elena explains. poses the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light.

Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel, as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the Tech and Culture Podcast, their Arnold grows on the Internet. There Are No Grows on the Internet is not just about tech. It's about culture and policy.

art and expression, and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emile Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the internet for both good and bad. They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice at the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service therefore we're not trading rice this season it's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the internet platforms exist because of the regular people on them

and i think that's a real important story to keep repeating i created there are no girls on the internet because the future belongs to all of us new episodes every tuesday and friday listen to there are no girls on the internet on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast i had this like overwhelming sensation that i had to call it right then and i just hit call Said, you know, hey, I'm Jacob Schick. I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation, and I just wanted to call on and let her know. There's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling. And there is help out there.

The Good Stuff Podcast, Season 2, takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a non-profit fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat army veteran, and he actually took his own life. I have to suicide. One tribe, save my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place, and it's sincere. Now it's a personal mission. Don't want to have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission. I ended up having amputation below the

knee of my right leg and a traumatic brain injury because I landed on my head. Welcome to Season 2 of the Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, like you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it if it's going to be beneficial to you.

Because it's easy to say like go you go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just drink the extra beer it's easy to ignore to suppress seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walk the other way avoidance is easier ignoring is easier denial is easier drinking is easier yelling screaming is easy complex problem solving meditating you know takes effort listen to the psychology podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your Podcasts. December 29th, 1975,

LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing

at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back.

In Season 2, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. As I read that, the last line killed me. I just started dying laughing because there's a story there that's all the way to the very creation of this book. Why write the damn thing anyway?

Well, I loved to write. And so when email first came out, I would have people, some of y'all probably, would email me and say, what's going on up there? You know, and I would type out, well, we're getting ready for a football game. Leaves are changing. It's pretty, you know, that kind of stuff. And then I kept getting more and more and more, and people started circulating those things. And so I just put them all in one body.

And it was called from the desk of the dean. And it ended up being about 200 people in this email that I, I would send out every Friday. And really what it was was I was kind of gigging the people because it said, I'm here and you're not. You know, and I'd talk about football Fridays, and I'd talk about snow in the grove, and I'd talk about the square on a Friday night.

And so when social media started, I started writing just, I guess I'm a disappointed columnist, and I would write essays that I would post on social media and got great responses to those. and a wonderful woman here in town who has been my biggest supporter through this, a woman named Kay Bryant, had pushed me to write a book. And she kept saying she would send me messages on Facebook. You need to write that book.

You need to write that book. And I'd get that from other students. And so at a party in 2024 at the home of the McClarties, who are good friends of mine, I see sent in there, They would, we were sitting there, and Kay pulled Ann Abaddy aside. Anne worked at the center for the study of Southern culture and was very familiar with the University Press in Mississippi. And so she, Kay said, now, Anne, we're going to make him write this book,

and we're going to have coffee Wednesday. So we had coffee, and that turned into the next Wednesday and the next Wednesday and the next Wednesday, and the book was coming along. And sadly Anne passed away that summer, and the book was dormant. Fast forward, in October of last year, a year ago, former student and good friend Neil White is doing a book that's over in the Delta, and he wanted me to go with him. He knew where he was going, but he didn't know how to navigate the history and the weirdness of the Delta. And so he wanted me to go with him.

And we had a great visit over there. And on the way back, he just said, how's your book coming? And I told him, I said, well, it's pretty much dead. And we talked about it. And he said, well, send me some stuff. And then he got back with me and said, let's do it. And so Neil White is just, I mean, he's become a better friend than he was through this process. But a funny story is, if you have not read Sanctuary of Outer,

outcast, then you really need to read Sanctuary of Outcast. It is a wonderful book about reflection and redemption, and it tells about Neil and his stint in federal prison in Louisiana. And so we were doing a reading around my dining room table with two copy editors, and Neil and I, and I was reading, and so I read that passage, and I got to the point where I said, and the criminals would have been there if they could have, and Neil raised his hand and said,

I was there. And Neil is Nautilus. Yeah. It's just been an amazing collaboration with Nautilus Press and this thing. The sport is unbelievable. And you're about to do an audio version, right? Yeah.

A little nervous about that because a couple years ago, there was a video that came out. out. Some of you might have seen. The COVID year, I wrote a letter to the Ole Miss Baseball called Dear Old Miss Baseball, and it ended up on YouTube, had 100,000 views, and I read the letter, and Merrick McCool, who's very talented videographer, put scenes from Ole Miss baseball to it, and it got a lot of response on social media. But I was reading the comments on YouTube, and somebody said, who's that reading? Forrest Gump? And now you're going to read your whole book.

I've read my whole book. Well, Sparky's stupid is as stupid does. You wrote that it's interesting how behavior of students is something that has been with us since the beginning of time. That Plato said, of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. I also think Plato was the same person who said the penalty for not engaging in politics as you end up being governed by your inferiors. So Plato said some pretty profound stuff. I think that's why we still know about them today.

Exactly. Yeah. So he said, of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. At the very first class, everybody, at the University of Mississippi, it was apparently pretty unmanageable too. You write, one professor described them as disorderly and turbulent, idle, uncultivated, and ungovernable. At the end of the first academic year of 80 students in the inaugural year of our beloved

University of Mississippi, only 47 had lasted through the full term. Five had been expelled, eight had been suspended, 12 had been allowed to withdraw, and eight had absented themselves from the university their whereabouts unknown. As I read that, I thought about my freshman year. At Ole Miss in 1876, in addition to hazing kangaroo cords, gambling, drinking, cheating, and disrespectful behavior toward faculty, students were also fond of pursuing their favorite pastime of tying balls of flaming rags to the tails of faculty's cattle at night. and watching the animals run through the dark.

I guess one could say... Students, don't get any ideas, okay? I just wonder if one of them ever caught a forest on fire. Anyway, I guess one could say that the bad apples with which I had to deal 150 years later hadn't fallen far from the tree. I always viewed student discipline matters as both the best part of my job

and the worst part of my job. Justice might be blind, and while on a college campus, might need to be near-sighted or far-sighted. I experienced that from you, by the way. Grace. Tell us more about how and why you approached these issues, sometimes with near-sightedness and other times with far-sightedness.

Tell us why, as a leader of young men, which is exactly what you were, that every offense didn't have a specific reaction and every action, the reaction changed depending on the people involved and the situation and why you were so

and how you were so creative in your response to these type of issues and feel free to roll with some metaphorical examples of these times. Well, I think the one that really means most to me is we had five students who got caught for stealing the flag from behind the union. And they were ROTC students.

And one of them, they had been to the square because one of them was being deployed to Afghanistan. And they had gotten drunk and they had come back to campus and they decided that they were going to take the flag down and give it to the one going to Afghanistan. And, of course, they got caught on the camera, and the police report came to my office. And I looked at it, and I called the ROTC commander, and I said, if this young man wouldn't be suspended, but if he's disciplined, what's it going to do to his deployment?

And he said, it'll probably cost him his commission. And so I thought about it. So I said, well, bring the five of them into my office, and I have the flag that they stole and bring another flag. And so I let them talk, and we had a process where if a student would take responsibility for their actions, then it was left up to us to issue a sanction or whatever. But they had to say, we did this. And so I let them talk, and they talked, and they said, we did it.

We were sorry. We were doing it because we were celebrating his leaving and wanted him to have some. something to take with him. And so I said, okay, and I had the two flags folded, and I took the new flag that the commander had brought, and I handed it to the four that were staying here. And I said, your job until you graduate is to put that flag up at dawn every day and take it down at dusk every night. And I'm going to check and know that you're doing it. And to the one who was going to Afghanistan, I took the flag that they had stolen. and I handed it to him

and I said, take this with you and your job is to bring it back to me. We'll be right back. At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Secret Scandal, we pulled back the curse.

on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Masiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ. My name is Elena Sada, and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive, and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it, Witness the journey from devout follower to determine survivor

as Elena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get her podcasts. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech and culture podcast, their arno grows on the internet.

Their arno grows on the internet is not just about tech. It's about culture and policy and art and expression and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emil Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life,

but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the internet for both good and bad. They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice at the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service, therefore we're not trading rice this season.

It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the internet. Platforms exist because of the regular people on them, and I think that's a real important story to keep repeating. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I had this overwhelming sensation that I had to call it right then. And I just hit call. I said, you know, hey, I'm Jacob Schick. I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation. And I just wanted to call on and let her know. There's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling. And there is help out there.

The Good Stuff Podcast Season 2 takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a nonprofit fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month. So join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat Army veteran, and he actually took his own life to suicide. One Tribe saved my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place, and it's sincere.

Now it's a personal mission. I don't have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission. I ended up having amputation below the knee of my right leg and a traumatic brain injury because I landed on my head. Welcome to Season 2 of The Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast.

Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills, and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy, which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it, if it's going to be beneficial to you.

it's easy to say like like go you go blank yourself right it's easy it's easy to just drink the extra beer it's easy to ignore to suppress seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walk the other way avoidance is easier ignoring is easier denial is easier drinking is easier yelling screaming is easy complex problem solving meditating you know takes effort listen to the psychology podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed.

There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being low. voted into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight.

That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I get it's kind of like I felt when I did that, and I looked over to the commander, and he was wiping tears from his eyes, too. But, you know, I think he might have learned as much from that had we had put him on probation or suspended him or whatever.

I just felt like that there's discipline. one, you know, that you can, you've got to be careful, too. The one part in the book I tell about amnesty, where fraternities have a, and guys don't take that, don't get any ideas again, but they have this thing where they will still composite, sororities do it too, so don't, they would still composites and trophies and different things from different houses. And so we were having a bad problem with that, so I declared Amnesty Day. and so that said that if you had something at your house

that had been stolen from another fraternity or sorority you could bring it to my office and there wouldn't be any sanctions no questions asked just bring a tie office and we'll get it back to the right house next day a couple of them brought trophies in and then I started getting calls from the sorority house directors and one said sparky these boys over here taking plants off our porch and you said you said it was okay and one called me and said they just stole the portrait out of our chapter room and and i said where are you going at that he said

settle down ladies sparky's got it covered on this and so it was the last amnesty we ever had we never had another one so creativity doesn't always work yeah it doesn't work but there there was some humor We did have a student who was a freshman. He lived in Hettleston, and under his bed, he was growing marijuana plants with the glow light. And the police who discovered it said they were the most perfect plants that you had ever seen. They were all perfect color. They were all the same height. And there must have been at least 200 of them under his bed.

and they were about this tall. And so they took them, confiscated him. He came in, of course, that was pretty serious. That was going to cost, that was intent to distribute. And so he came into our office, and he went through a judicial hearing, and I was in there, and he was expelled. And so we were sitting there while they were filling out the papers, and he was crying.

He said, Mr. Sparky, what am I going to do now? I got a smart aleck streak in me, and I said, well, you could start a nursery. Pretty good at it. He was crying. He blew snot bubbles out of his nose. There's another part of the job where leadership and just being a normal guy doing a big job. There's another part of the job besides discipline

and that's handling trauma the one closest to me and I'm going to try to do this without breaking up and I was reminded of it driving here two hours ago when I passed by the memorial I was a freshman

when the coyotes were hit that had to have been certainly was traumatic for our town and our campus and certainly the Kaos and anybody who was here then, when I talk about it, I know they feel it. I know you feel it. How do you even deal with that as a dean? As someone who's supposed to lead kids, and we were just kids. And for those listening who don't know, I don't want to be, I don't want to sensationalize it. there was a walk and the coyotes were raising money on the highway a truck with a trailer and some lawn equipment came over a hill the highway patrol was not escorting them for some reason and hit a car in the truck and the car and the trailer overturned and scattered through a large group of girls walking on the side of the road and five pairs but many were injured in oxford at that time

it was every ambulance fire truck and police probably within a 30-mile radius on the scene and it shut us down and it paralyzed us and you were on the front lines of that I really I really wasn't on the front lines I see my my good friend and supervisor Dean Trott here you're about to say Judy Trott's here yes you're Judy Trott holy smokes hi please stand up stand up please

stand up please you get another round of a pause for everybody listening that doesn't know basically sparky handled the knucklehead boys and Judy Trott was the dean for the lovely ladies

at Ole Miss at the time pretty much and so I guess you were partnered on this mess. Well, the day it happened, it was just a pristine spring day. And we had an incredible team at the time with Gerald Turner and Tom Meredith and Don Frisier and Robert Cayet and everybody scattered and went to different places. Memphis, the trauma center, the emergency room.

And I got a call from the Cairo House and nobody was there. And they said, can somebody come over here? So I went to the Cairo House, and I didn't realize at the time what that was going to mean because I ended up serving as the conduit between the administration, the university, and the chapter, and the advice. And I'll tell you, the Ka Omega advisors were unbelievable in what they did in making that thing happen. The hardest part was that Gerald Turner called me. Who was the chancellor at the time?

and said, can you get the girls together and we want to tell them that two of the women have passed away? And I said, well, who do you want to do it? And he said, you. And so that's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I think I write in the book that we'd call the campus ministers over. And my good friend Duncan Gray came over. And before I did it, I asked him to offer a prayer. And I said in the book that while he was, was talking to God, I had him on a different line asking him to help me to what I was going to say. But the university's response to that was pretty amazing. And there was a group from a D.C., a federal funded program, the National Organization of Victims Assistance came in,

and they shepherded us through that process. But there were no right answers. There were no wrong answers. You just took care of what was in front of you. And it just something kicked. in. And until this day, I talk to women who I got to know through that. How do you, you have to be there for the people you're serving. You have to lead them through this trauma, this pain. But you're only a human being. I mean, as a dean, you're the dean and everybody, that's the dean. This is the person in charge. This is our leader. This is whatever. But when all of it's over, you haven't had a chance to mourn. You haven't had a chance to decompress. You haven't had a chance to self-care. How does that work? We did some debriefing as a staff and working with counselors for ourselves.

The National Organization Victims Assistance pulled me aside and said, you're going to hit the wall when it's all over, that your adrenaline is going to keep pumping, and there's going to be nothing to do. And that'll drive you crazy. You know, where you... You're wanting to do something, you're pumped up, and there's nothing to do. And so it really did hit me hard. Almost eight months later, we lost a student that I was very close with and ended up giving the homily at his memorial service in Florida. And I'd learned from the Cairo incident how to handle it.

So when I got back from Florida that night, I got me turned out the lights, on a Jimmy Buffett album and lay it on the floor with two Hanukins and cried, everybody handles it differently. There's no right way or wrong way. I think you just do what your heart tells you. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Sparky Reardon, and trust me, it gets better. You don't want to miss part two.

It's now available to listen to. Together, guys, we can change this country, and it starts with you. I'll see you in part two. Sacred Scandal is back, the hit true crime podcast that uncovers hidden truths and shattered faith. For 19 years, Elena Sada was a nun for the Legion of Christ. This season, she's telling her story. When I first joined the Legion of Christ, I felt chosen. I was 19 years old when Marcia and Masel, the leader of the Legionaries,

took me in the eye and told me I had a calling. Surviving meant hiding, escaping took courage, risking everything to tell her truth. Listen to Sacred Scandal, the many secrets of Marseal-Massiel on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's important that we just reassure people that they're not alone, and there is help out there. The Good Stuff Podcast Season 2 takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a non-profit fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. One Tribe, save my life twice.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the Tech and Culture Podcast, there are no girls on the Internet. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Aneal Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the Internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake.

It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the internet. Listen to there and no girls on the internet on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In sitcoms, when someone has a problem, they just blurt it out and move on. Well, I lost my job and my parakeet is missing. was your day. But the real world is different. Managing life's challenges can be overwhelming. So what do we do? We get support.

The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have mental health resources available for you at loveyourmindtay.org. That's loveyourmindtay.org. See how much further you can go when you take care of your mental health. This is an IHeart podcast.