Bruce Clements: How We Are All Still Children

From Faith Middleton: How do we "curate" our own personalities—ditching self absorbed childish behaviors, yet maintaining a child-like sense of wonder about the world? Bruce Clements and I explore this human conundrum.

Questions to consider:

1. What are childlike qualities to admire and deplore? (Curiosity vs. Lord of the Flies)
2.  What do adults mean when they demand, "Stop acting like a child?"
3.  Is it vulnerability that last a lifetime, through childhood and adulthood? What happens in childhood to keep us from revealing vulnerability later in life?
4.  Is injury one of the key ways we revert to childlike behavior?
5.  Why was Lily Tomlin so funny playing a child as a grownup?
6.  What made Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse a thing adults and children wanted to watch on TV?
7.  As long as your parents are alive, will you always be seen as a child? 8. Can you discuss childlike ways in adults without discussing power?

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GUEST:

• Bruce Clements - longtime contributor and author

MUSIC:

• “Gne Gne,” Montefiori Cocktail
• “Life in Technicolor,” Coldplay
• “Where It’s At,” Beck
• “Telephone and Rubber Band,” Penguin Cafe Orchestra