5 Great Questions

Like the flag, I'm tornApril 15, 2026Should God (still) Bless America?by Alden OlmstedAs a Gen-Xer, I grew up fairly apolitical, but while the 90's gov't seiges woke me up, the Clinton era had me wanting higher gov't official standards, and 9/11 got me a tad more patriotic - the societal losses began to outweigh the wins, and now in 2026 according to the data, the last 50 years have been especially hard on kids.Teenagers of today are less happy than ever, having less sex, higher mental issues, less friendships and meaningful relationships, and marrying later if at all, and we consumers and convenience obsessed Americans are largely to blame. From the addictive smart phone, to self-image destroying social media, to the confusing transgender push, we have let our teenagers down, no matter who you might think is to blame.The bigger question I'm asking is this: Should a loving God bless a country that can’t protect its own children?Read full post on Substack: https://aldenolmsted.substack.com/

Should God Even Bother - with a people too immoral or too distracted to care?No revival, no rebirth, a President's Easter F-BombAldenolmsted.substack.comFull post available on Substack: https://aldenolmsted.substack.com/p/should-god-even-bother-with-a-people

If you attended Mexicali Outreach with Azusa Pacific University from 1988 - 2004 +/- chances are you sung along to songs by Reggie Coates.From 'Radically Committed' to 'Go The Distance,' and 'Take A Stand' Reggie wrote songs for three of Azusa's most popular themes of the 1990's.Hope you enjoy this episode - walking down the dusty memory lane that was the Mexicali Outreach ministry.Links:https://heartfeltmusic.org/https://www.youtube.com/ReggieCoateshttps://mexicalioutreach.org/Contact and more info on Alden:https://www.aldenolmsted.com/

Young people are flocking back to church - but do they need yet another interpretation?For the full post visit Substack

5 Great Questions | The PodcastEpisode 7 | Erin FridayErin Friday is a Northern California mom, lawyer, and advocate for children and teens to be allowed to grow up happy in their own bodies.Erin and I crossed paths at the Orange County premiere of the film 'Dysconnected' - a film on detransitioners I shot with longtime collaborator Don Johnson.Erin and her daughter's full story can be heard on Prager U at:https://www.prageru.com/video/how-erin-friday-saved-her-daughter-from-the-trans-cultErin's non-profit is https://ourduty.group/In the summer of 2023 Erin sued California's AG Rob Bonta: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article283648963.htmlSacramento Bee and Erin Friday on California's AB1314: https://fb.watch/uUz9muCNpzFollow Erin on @ErinFriday75490Alden on X @alden_olmsThanks for listening

5 Great Questions | The PodcastEpisode 6 | Sasha StoneBorn in Southern California towards the end of the hippy era, Sasha had a bit of a cliched life growing up in Topanga Canyon in the 1970's. Free sex, free drugs, and a single mother with a revolving door of boyfriends,Sasha found her salvation in movies, eventually leading to a self-started career begun in the early days of the internet, with the popular Academy Award prediction site 'Oscar Watch' (now Awards Daily), a successful site valued by Hollywood studios and publicists.A lifelong liberal, Sasha grew up like so many children of baby boomers, assuming and KNOWING that the Republicans were the bad guys. Full of bad people and bad policies. All bad.Until the summer of 2020.The hypocrisy of the covid panic - so strangely discarded when the George Floyd protest riots were deemed more important than safety during a global pandemic - was her Red-Pill moment. You can hear the full story in many of her great podcasts (link below).Sasha and I both found solace during the pandemic via the 1997 prophetic book The Fourth Turning by Strauss & Howe. Although I'm a lifetime center-right independent I soon found that neither political party could be counted on for the truth, a very unsettling realization.Our shared California backgrounds and love of movies led to many online conversations and we decided it was finally time to meet, if only by audio.Hope you enjoy this casual interview.Follow Sasha at https://substack.com/@sashastoneWatch Sasha's early life on Netflix by David Fincher:https://www.netflix.com/title/80990130Alden on Substack at https://substack.com/@aldeno?Watch Alden's BMX Doc on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/30-Bikes-Story-Homestead-Bicycles/dp/B09J2PJXRT

Wade Baynham was a founding member of the 90's coffee house band the Basics. Together with his wife Kelly and a revolving door of drummers and sound men, the Basics toured constantly between 1991 and 2005, from San Diego to Seattle and back, mostly playing at small venues in Palo Alto and Santa Cruz, summer camps like Mt. Hermon, and Coffee Houses like Mountain Roaster's in Felton, where I first saw them.Wade and the Basics never acheived the success they sought, and attempts to measure that success would bring much pain - even causing Wade and Kelly to split. However the hundreds and thousands of fans who came to see them over the years will always cherish their music and the memories of the magic of discovering a new band at a little,often funky coffeehouse.For fans of the Basics, the wandering souls that followed their journey, they will always be part of the singer - songwriter 90's, and those great songs still resonate today.Follow Wade a https://wadebaynham.bandcamp.com/Basics albums are on Spotify and iTunes.Apologies for the audio delay at the beginning.

Welcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers.My guest on episode 4 is a former roommate, but only for three months some 18 years ago. And yet somehow that short stint at a NorCal bachelor pad was part of a pivotal season for Jeff Dunkin of Bellingham, WA.Jeff's story is likely relatable for many early 20-somethings, especially those who left college prematurely, who sensed something else pulling them altogether. From Northern Washington, it isn't hard to see how San Diego would send the siren call to a 20 year old wanderer, drawing Jeff with the promise of perfect weather and surfing with dolphins. Reality can be a b*tch though and Jeff had to pivot quickly, ending up at his cousins' house just north of San Francisco, just ten minutes from a little house with a cool yard that I was living in at the time, with two friends both getting married and on their way out. I'll let Jeff take it from here.This is a great episode and I hope you enjoy the many nuggets a 40 year old can glean from (at the time) seemingly random events, that led him now to a happy life. If you'd like to be on a future episode go to aldenolmsted.com and tell me your story.Enjoy ::

Episode 3Alden OlmstedSari LamelaWelcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers.My guest on episode three is longtime friend Sari Lamela, a powerhouse entreprenuer and promoter who left Hollywood to become a happily married woman in Northern Virginia. In episode three Sari answers the question: "Tell me about a loss you've grieved, other than a death."A tough but relevant question almost everyone can relate to. Sari delves into her Hollywood dream, when it ended, and what she did to get through it. Alden leads her through the five stages of grieef and how they have manifested themselves in her life through this loss.Alden ends with a Billy Joel Hollywood story that's new to Sari, and maybe new to some listeners.Want to be on a future episode? Tell me why at [email protected] content ©2024 Alden Olmsted

Episode 2Alden OlmstedChristopher SellWelcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers.My guest on episode two is longtime friend and former lost teenage soul Christopher Sell. Chris is a middle school teacher in middle California and is a multi-talented storyteller specializing in thoughtful acoustic songs and the occasional screenplay. Chris is happily married with three kids, one dog, and a trampoline in the backyard.I introduce the podcast and welcome Chris, and then I unleash him for a ramble of a story that is sometimes excruciating, sometimes profound, and entertaining throughout. The question of what to do when your "Plan A" fails is almost as universal as teenagerism itself. Chris sets the stage of how and why he thought a trip from San Diego to Wilmington, NC would be a good idea after failing out of law school.Did he make it to Wilmington?Did he take up smoking?Did he take his screenplay to Screen Gems and apply for a job?We answer these questions and more and finally circle back (in multiple attempts!) to help Chris recognize the larger meaning of his journey. And the purpose of such a worthwhile trip.Lastly Chris shares a fun short involving an ex-gf and caller ID - and why he would have never picked up the phone today.Like to be on a future episode? Let me know at: [email protected]:aldenolmsted.comStories and blogs on Medium:https://alden-olmsted.medium.com/Christopher Sell on YouTube:https://youtu.be/7jLq34_GZac?si=u1sifoDCu9BcFwtR