The Iron John Podcast
The Iron John Podcast is a production of the Minnesota Men’s Conference (MMC).
The Minnesota Men's Conference was founded by poet, author, and storyteller, Robert Bly in 1984. In the past decades, the conference as reached out to men of all ethnicities, orientations, nationalities, backgrounds, life experiences, and ages. Any person who identifies as a man is welcome to participate. We welcome men from all over the country, from large cities to rural communities, and from all over the world. In general, the men who attend our conferences are interested in living the question of what it means to live a mythically-informed life of depth and purpose, a life of soul.
Podcasting since 2023 • 18 episodes
The Iron John Podcast
Latest Episodes
Paul Bendix and Two Decades at the MMC in a Wheelchair
In 1996 Paul Bendix attended his first Minnesota Men's Conference. He continued to attend the annual conference for nineteen years and has continued support the conference and its mission. This episode has a number of the memories he carr...
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21:17
The Iron John Podcast: Literacy from Oral Traditions-- A conversation between Ben Dennis and Robert Bringhurst
Mythologist and storyteller, Ben Dennis speaks with the author, poet, and translator Robert Bringhurst, about why oral and written traditions should work together and not displace one another. Both men will participate in the 2025 Minneso...
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51:29
The Iron John Podcast: Replanting Story Seeds—Asher Packman and Walton Stanley Discuss Story and Soul
In this episode, Walton Stanley of the Minnesota Men’s Conference and Asher Packman of the mythopoetic community Fifth Direction discuss stories and the role that story and myth have played and continue to play, in men’s soul work.If thi...
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47:30
The Iron John Podcast: Poetry, Our Companionable Animal
In preparation of the 2025 Minnesota Men's Conference, October 7-12, 2025, Timothy Young spoke with poets, Jonathan Stensland and Jesse Dermody, about the importance and value of poetry at the conferences and how poetry is our "companionable an...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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59:27
The Iron John Podcast: Watering the Ring of the Conference Tree
Since 1984 the Minnesota Men’s Conference has seen its presence and Robert Bly’s influence on men wax and wane a few times in the public eye. That is not necessarily a bad thing. New generations of men are finding Bly’s work and our conference’...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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1:03:41