Conversations with Calliope- Bully Pulpit

(Monastery Pulpit)
JOE: Good afternoon Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good afternoon Joe. I trust you had a nice trip to New York.
JOE: Indeed it did. Memorable in many ways.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about one.
JOE: I visited a monk at Immaculate Conception Monastery in Queens where I once lived. It brought back many memories and helped me settle some things in my mind.
CALLIOPE: Such as?
JOE: Reading and writing for one thing. There were books I was forbidden to read (Kant, Descartes, etc) which I read anyway. I saw the locked room where they were then kept.
CALLIOPE: What memories did that bring back?
JOE: My own somewhat incendiary writings from the time which eventually got me sent out of the monastery. It was the first time my writing made a difference to anyone.
CALLIOPE: Quite a start. How about now?
JOE: I don't write anything quite so inflammatory. Now I just offer my readers a chance to look at their lives in a more subtle way. The brashness of youth!
CALLIOPE: Amazing isn't it. Where did the experience leave you?
JOE: Wondering about what topics I should address these days and in what manner.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a useful thought.
JOE: We shall see. Talk with you tomorrow.