ConverSapiens Podcast

Cara Jewell worked as a House Parent for girls group homes in Alabama. In this episode of ConverSapiens, she joins us to talk about the foster system and her experience in it. The foster system is in constant need of new foster parents and volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, you can find more information at adoptuskids.org. You can also contact local group homes to volunteer and learn how you can help.  If you enjoy the show, visit our website at conversapienspodcast.com. You can support the show by becoming a patron through our Patreon page and by liking ConverSapiens on Facebook and other social media platforms. 

Dungeons & Dragons is a cultural phenomenon that has grown like wildfire since its inception in the 70s. The world's definitive table-top role playing game has influenced the video game industry in countless ways and continues to grow, despite its association with the 1980s. This week Turner from the Gimme Da Loot podcast joins ConverSapiens to enlighten us on the history of DnD and give us an in depth look at a game that has massively impacted our culture.  Check out Turner's podcast here!

Ben Kitchings is the host of The History Voyager, a 2020 podcast that is aimed (in the current season) at documenting the historic context and background of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. On his show, Ben explores the true stories of the Spanish Flu to compare and contrast it with the current COVID19 pandemic. He interviews different experts in Spanish Flu era history as well as modern people to learn how the coronavirus has impacted their lives. In this episode of ConverSapiens, we jump down a few historic rabbit holes that include discussion of the Spanish Flu and COVID pandemics, the collapse of the Roman Empire, the rise of cryptocurrency and what it all could mean for the future of the United States. Check out The History Voyager on apple podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are played!

Jordan Crestwood is the author of the apocalyptic tale Within the Flame: After the Fall, a new fiction series that explores the dark depths of the human psyche when confronted with the collapse of society and the nature of true heroism in the face of utter chaos. Crestwood (pen name of Josh Geckles) has been a lifelong writer who only recently entered the public sphere with the publication of After the Fall, Book 1. In this episode of ConverSapiens, he discusses his process as a writer and some of the influences on his life that led to the creation of the Within the Flame series. Check out Within the Flame: After the Fall Book 1 on Kindle/ Amazon today!Where you can find Jordan:jordancrestwood.comfacebook.com/jordancrestwoodtwitter.com/jordancrestwoodinstagram.com/jordancrestwood

Krista Thom is a woman who has not sat down in nearly 3 years! Due to a sitting disability caused by sciatica, shew must either stand or lie down at all times. Sitting causes her a whole host of issues including extremely painful cramping and eventual sleep deprivation as a result of nights full of pain. Even sitting for a short period of time causes these symptoms for her. In this episode of ConverSapiens, she shares with us about her life full of lots of walking, tons of standing, and some lying down, but no sitting. My Upright Life: https://myuprightlife.com/Krista's website, which is about living with sciatica and a sitting disability. Sitting Disability Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sittingdisabilityOne of the few online support resources for those dealing with sitting disabilities. BackFitPro: https://www.backfitpro.com/This is the website for Dr. Stuart McGill's company. He ran a research lab at the University of Waterloo that investigated low back issues. Krista mentions his books, Back Mechanic and Low Back Disorders. Both can be found on this site.

Michael Tucker is a martial artist who owns A.C.T. Defense, a dojo in Birmingham, where he teaches Bujinkan budo taijutsu. He has been practicing taijutsu since 1992 and holds a 13th degree black belt in the art. Michael also teaches Defensive Pistol courses, Women's Protective Measures, and Personal Protective Measures open to the general public. In today's episode we discuss the many philosophical implications of budo- traditional Japanese martial arts like that one we practice.  

Anna Coburn is the creator of a new 6-part serial podcast called Wildish that chronicles the wild horse population problem in the Western United States. The show is done in partnership with High Country News and Alan Wartes Media. In our conversations, we talk about the Bureau of Land Management and its strategy for managing wild horse populations after the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 protected the animals to virtually the same degree as wild bald eagles. Anna interviewed many people on all different sides of the wild horse issue, including BLM employees and volunteers, wild horse activists, authors, ranchers and more to illustrate the complexity and controversy surrounding an issue that people living outside of the West may be completely unaware of.  Here's a description of Wildish taken from its website on High Country News magazine:From High Country News in collaboration with Alan Wartes Media, Wildish is a six-part podcast series that chronicles the complicated world of wild horse management in the Western United States. Wildish is meant to confound you. It does not offer a simple solution to one of the region’s most intractable natural resource conundrums. It is a serial on humans. You’ll hear from the activists who ache for freedom — for the wild horse to be wild — and from those who flinch at the mythology attached to the species. You’ll also get to know some of the well-meaning people inside the Bureau of Land Management, the agency stuck in the middle, faced with balancing the horse as a relic of the Wild West with its undeniable impacts on the modern Western landscape.Be sure to listen to Wildish wherever you listen to ConverSapiens to support Anna and her amazing show! Tell a friend about ConverSapiens and if you enjoy the show and want more, visit our website conversapienspodcast.com . You can read articles about the episodes and find links to all platforms where ConverSapiens exists. 

Soul Sisters Paranormal is an all female team of paranormal investigators that visit haunted sites with a goal of gathering evidence of paranormal activity and telling then stories of places thought to be haunted by spirits. Kristy Sumner is a leading member of the team who joined ConverSapiens this week to discuss their work and talk about some of her experiences with ghosts! Taken from soulsistersparanormal.com:"In 2014, investigators Kristy, Michelle, Jenny, and Cara decided to officially form the Soul Sisters Paranormal team. Investigator Kim, joined the team in 2017, and guest investigators have also been invited on some of our adventures. While we are based mostly in central Florida, we have traveled (and are willing to travel) across the country in order to investigate interesting locations. Each member of the team has always had a fascination with the paranormal, and small impromptu investigations occurred before the formal organization of the team. Individually, each member of the team is an accomplished professional in her respective field, and each holds an advanced PhD or JD. Paranormal investigations and education are just parts of the services that we provide, and each member of the team takes their role as an investigator seriously."To hear more conversations with interesting Homo sapiens, check out our website at conversapienspodcast.com and be sure to subscribe for new episodes every Monday! You can also support the show through our patreon (linked to our homepage) and by sharing your favorite episode with a friend or on your social media. 

Kaci Parvin and Mandy Barnett are two women who live with mental illnesses. In this episode of ConverSapiens, they describe their diagnoses and offer insights into how depression, anxiety, ptsd, and borderline personality disorder have impacted their lives. We discuss stereotypes and stigmas about mental illness and treatment options they have explored in their mental health journeys. This episode heavily features discussion about intrusive thoughts, self-harm, and suicide. Those may be sensitive subjects for some listeners. If you are experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, call 1-800-273-8255 or go to https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

In this episode developmental psychologist Dr. Jonathan Adams joins the podcast to talk about… developmental psychology! We discuss the issues with old schools of thought such as Freud’s psychosexual stages and Piaget’s stages of development as well as other ideas about learning and development like Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. What do nature vs. nurture, the Milgram experiment, learning styles, and standardized testing all have in common? They are all discussed in episode 5 of ConverSapiens! If you’re interested in psychology, learning, education or podcasts, this episode is for you!Check out the ConverSapiens official website at http://conversapienspodcast.com and follow us on all social media. Tell your friends about ConverSapiens and get them into the Sapiens Nation! One of us! One of us!Congrats to the Sapiens Nation on 5 beautiful episodes. 

Cushing's Syndrome is a term used to describe hypercortisolism and the many strange effects that massive overdoses of cortisol - the stress hormone - can have on your body. People who experience Cushing's can be either endogenous patients, meaning they their body produces too much cortisol naturally because of pituitary or adrenal issues, or exogenous, usually meaning they are taking in synthetic cortisol in the form of corticosteroid medications such as prednisone. In this episode of ConverSapiens, host and exogenous Cushing's survivor Caleb Wilemon talks to 2 endogenous survivors about the side effects of too much cortisol, including weight gain, moon face, buffalo hump, striae, memory loss, increased irritability, personality changes, hyperglycemia, hypertension, insomnia, skin sensitivity, and in rare cases, even psychosis.Shauna Nelson survived a many years long struggle with misdiagnosis and eventual treatment which lead her to create The Many Faces of Cushing's, an online support group for Cushing's patients with over 4,700 members who share their knowledge and experience with other active Cushing's patients seeking proper diagnosis and treatment. Kelsey Zeman is a recent Cushing's patient who has undergone 2 surgeries in the pursuit of a cure for her hypercortisolism. She recently underwent transphenoidal brain surgery to remove the pituitary tumor responsible for her Cushing's symptoms. If you or a loved one has symptoms of hypercortisolism, talk to an endocrinologist about it and pursue cortisol levels testing. Plug into groups such as The Many Faces of Cushing's to learn more about the disease. If you are a medical professional, keep an open mind about your patients' expression of their symptoms. As you will hear, it is very hard to get a proper diagnosis for people with Cushing's because of their experiences being too quickly dismissed. If your patient is gaining weight uncontrollably and displaying other symptoms of hypercortisolism, dieting will not fix the issue if they have Cushing's Disease.  If you enjoyed this show, tell a friend about ConverSapiens! Also check out our website, http://www.conversapienspodcast.com and consider supporting the show through our Patreon. 

In this episode of the ConverSapiens podcast, we talk to Ethan Hammond, who is a mobility specialist, a yoga tuneup instructor, and a CrossFit coach in England. Ethan runs a service known as E.H. Mobility where he works with clients to increase range of motion, resolve athletic dysfunction that leads to pain, and promote better mobility habits that lead to improved health over time, for athletes and nonathletes alike. In today's episode Ethan and Caleb discuss the five most common mobility issues that Ethan sees in his practice. Ethan also offers advice for how to begin addressing those common mobility issues, which include chronic lower back pain, chronic neck pain, the inability to run well, the inability to breathe well, and the unfortunate cultural phenomenon of sedentary lifestyles that lead to greatly reduced mobility in the hips, resulting in pain and athletic dysfunction.  Ethan describes his own journey as a cross country runner who spent many hours in physical therapy offices because of poor running technique and heel striking. He also talks about his journey into the world of mobility and the influence of the book Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett, which led him, along with the subpar treatment he saw, to drop out of the collegiate athletic training program he fought to get into and instead pulled him into the world of mobility focused treatment. If you are interested in athletics, sports, mobility, CrossFit, yoga, running, cross-country, track, or just have an interest in general fitness and healthy lifestyle, or if you have experienced back pain, neck pain, limited range of motion, or any other mobility related issues that traditional physical therapy hasn’t been able to resolve, you'll find this episode of ConverSapiens interesting.  Be sure to check out our Patreon to support the show, and check out our brand-new website where we post articles derived from what you hear right here on ConverSapiens. You can also find us Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube and anywhere podcasts are played. Thanks for listening to ConverSapiens.

In this episode of ConverSapiens, Duncan McCrary joins the show all the way from Chiba Prefecture in Japan, where he teaches English as a foreign language. In our conversation, he discusses aspects of Japanese culture, including the famous Japanese efficiency, their cultural dedication to detail, the duality of honne and tatemae, and much more. We also discuss the unfortunate worldwide fascination with grammar in Foreign Language Education and we talk a little bit about the Bujinkan budo taijutsu, the martial art Duncan studies in Japan.  Check out the ConverSapies website, conversapienspodcast.com, and consider supporting the show through our Patreon, which is linked on the homepage.

In this debut episode of the Conversapiens podcast, host Caleb Wilemon interviews 19-year high school art teacher and artist, Chris Screws. The conversation centers around art education, how artistic inspiration manifests, and the philosophical value of learning to draw, paint, sculpt, etc. Chris describes his unique Special Effects class, the Insanitarium Haunt he runs that features his SFX students' work each fall, and his mask store, where he sells one of a kind latex masks that he designs, molds, and casts. We also briefly discuss the impact and influence of animated art (Batman, Avatar The Last Airbender, The Midnight Gospel) on kids who grow up to be artists and his new YouTube channel "Create Art with Chris" where he offers his expertise in video art lessons available online. Links:Create Art with Chris YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm2xHKHyoDZ3y3jOJSa2hkwhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm2xHKHyoDZ3y3jOJSa2hkwThe Insanitarium Haunt:http://insanitariumhaunt.com/Catacomb Chris mask store:https://www.catacombproductions.com/