Conversations with Charlie Dyer

Can you imagine living in thirteen houses and five countries by the time you were nine years old? Even that seems excessive for members of the military. You might think it's unusual, but you don't question it too much as a child growing up like that because that's all you've ever known. But, when the authorities show up at your house and you find out your family has been living a lie and your name isn't even your own, you know something isn't right. Tyler Wetherall writes about the experience of living life on the run and her drug-smuggling Dad's attempts to stay one step ahead of the law in https://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Home-Memoir-Life/dp/1250112192/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=No+Way+Home%3A+A+Memoir+of+Life+on+the+Run&qid=1618191423&s=books&sr=1-1 (No Way Home: A Memoir of Life on the Run). 

In this country's first two centuries, only three cases brought before the US Supreme Court required an interpretation on the Second Amendment. But over the three decades since, few debates have proven so persistent and so polarizing. On one end of the issue are those who believe that the Second Amendment champions unfettered access to and use of whatever firearms one chooses. On the other are those who believe our founding document ties gun ownership to participation in a militia, and thereby argue it lawful for government to limit firearms in any way it sees fit. But, Jonathan Hennessey argues that both sides are misunderstanding the intentions of the Founding Fathers in his documentary, You Don't Understand the Second Amendment. Documentary http://www.2atruth.com/#new_tab (Website Link) Guest https://www.jonathanhennessey.com/ (Website Link)

In 1968, Andy Warhol said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” It seems with the endless ways of getting attention these days, particularly in the Internet age with the oversaturation of all things media … everyone is constantly sharing a joke or a funny video or a funny meme. It's like we're all obsessed with finding the humor life. Is being funny in one way or another at the heart of how many people are striving to achieve that 15 minutes of fame? Author and Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings says everything is getting funnier in his book https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Funny-Comedy-Ruined-Everything/dp/1501100602/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Planet+Funny%3A+How+Comedy+Took+Over+Our+Culture&qid=1618191690&s=books&sr=1-3 (Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture).

As a child, Eric Borsuk wanted to be an FBI agent. But, he wound up becoming a criminal instead. Disillusioned with his freshman year of college, along with two of his childhood friends they were determined to escape from their mundane Middle-American existences.  The three hatched a plan to steal millions of dollars' worth of art work and rare manuscripts from a university museum.  Sounds like something out of a Hollywood heist movie.  Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction, as you'll read in Eric's book, https://www.amazon.com/American-Animals-True-Crime-Memoir/dp/168442450X (American Animals: A True Crime Memoir).

It's common knowledge that the best teams are more than just the people that make up those teams but working together in a collaborative way can be very challenging and so often success is eludes those teams. Studies and stats show passionate, hard working people consistently outperform teams, but there are a small number of Dream Teams that buck those trends and manage to pull off amazing things together, well beyond what any single person can do. How can you be a better team player? Is there a secret sauce? Shane Snow, author of https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Teams-Working-Together-Without/dp/0735217793/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Dream+Teams%3A+Working+Together+Without+Falling+Apart&qid=1618192016&s=books&sr=1-3 (Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart), talks about it on this episode of Conversations.

From obsessively taking selfies to tweaking what you look like with filters and apps, it seems that technology has played a role in muddying the waters of what's acceptable, beautiful and desirable. Not to mention, society's never-ending struggle with defining what's too fat, too thin, perfect and problematic is a topic that everyone has an opinion about. Even before anything was available for folks to read, Kristan Higgins' novel https://www.amazon.com/Good-Luck-That-Kristan-Higgins/dp/045148939X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Good+Luck+With+That&qid=1618191228&s=books&sr=1-1 (Good Luck With That) was causing quite a stir online as she challenged readers to think about their views of weight and body image. 

There's no doubt that Climate Change is well, changing the climate and we can see that in our own backyard in the Coachella Valley with both winter and summer temperatures less predictable the past few years. Not to mention the effects of the drought that was declared in 2012 in California are still being felt with the huge increase in wildfires across the Golden State just this year in part due to the enormous number of dead trees and other vegetation. But, what can we do, right now, in the landscapes of our own backyards and communities? We discuss all of this with Ginny Stibojt, author of https://www.amazon.com/Climate-Wise-Landscaping-Practical-Actions-Sustainable/dp/0865718881/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Climate-Wise+Landscaping%3A+Practical+Actions+for+a+Sustainable+Future&qid=1618189707&s=books&sr=1-1 (Climate-Wise Landscaping: Practical Actions for a Sustainable Future).

The focus of much of our attention in society and culture continues to put the spotlight on “bad boys.” We embrace and revile them at the same time. From criminal behavior to the glorification of acting out in movies and TV, “boys will be boys” is still the easy way we brush broad strokes across all boys and what it means to be a boy. Why are we stuck with this two-dimensional image and not talking about the complex reality of boy's lives? In this episode we have a conversation with Dr. Adam Cox, author of https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Boy-Code-Understand-Talk/dp/0865718768/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Cracking+the+Boy+Code%3A+How+to+Understand+and+Talk+with+Boys&qid=1618189583&s=books&sr=1-3 (Cracking the Boy Code: How to Understand and Talk with Boys).

In the late 1970s, Paul Kitagaki, Jr., author of https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Barbed-Wire-Searching-Incarcerated/dp/0991541812/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Behind+Barbed+Wire%3A+Searching+for+Japanese+Americans+Incarcerated+During+World+War+II&qid=1618190322&s=books&sr=1-1 (Behind Barbed Wire: Searching for Japanese Americans Incarcerated During World War II), learned that the great documentary photographer Dorothea Lange had photographed his grandparents, father and aunt in 1942 as they awaited a bus in Oakland, to begin their journey into a Japanese detention camp. Several years later, while looking through over 900 of Lange's photographs at the National Archives he found the original images of his family, and of many others.  He grew up in California and knew very little about the incarceration of Japanese people until his teens. Then he started asking his parents about their experiences, but they wouldn't talk. So, he decided to track down the subjects of many of the famous photos.

Everyone has good ideas but few of us rarely act on them. Why is that? I'll bet you can think of at least one example right now of that “one that got away” because…well…why was it that it got away from you? What's been stopping you from pursuing that inspiration that seems to come out of nowhere? Why did you dismiss it or just ignore it? Did you think you're not smart enough and that only natural-born geniuses have what it takes to rise above us mere mortals? That kind of thinking is deeply ingrained in our culture and Allen Gannett, author of https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Curve-Develop-Right-Idea/dp/1524761710/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=The+Creative+Curve%3A+How+to+Develop+the+Right+Idea%2C+at+the+Right+Time&qid=1618190104&s=books&sr=1-3 (The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time), says it's all just a big fat myth.

It wasn't all that long ago that what we now think of as the Gig Economy didn't even exist. And, yet the granddaddy of disruption is not only a household brand, Uber has become synonymous with all forms of ridesharing. So, ordering an Uber or a Lyft or even a completely different service that isn't even a rideshare service is an Uber just as brands like Kleenex are what people say instead of facial tissue. For better or worse, Uber is the face of the Gig Economy and remains the largest rideshare company in the United States recruiting and signing up tens of thousands of drivers every month but leaving them to largely fend for themselves. Harry Campbell, author of https://www.amazon.com/Rideshare-Guide-Everything-Ridesharing-Companies/dp/1510735313 (The Rideshare Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Driving for Uber, Lyft, and Other Ridesharing Companies) continues to be one of the voices in the wilderness trying to help people along the path to becoming a successful rideshare driver. https://therideshareguy.com/ (Website Link)

The world was in ruin at the end of World War II: from the Blitz in London to the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A small group of Army soldiers witnessed it all. They also photographed Germany's last push, the Battle of the Bulge, and they rode into Germany and saw unimagined destruction. They documented the Burma Road, which opened Mainland China to supplies, and saw war atrocities as far away as the Philippines. These soldier photographers are acclaimed for their war photographs, but their work has never been compiled in a book. Richard Cahan and his co-author (Mark Jacob) want to show what total war is really like in their book, https://www.amazon.com/Aftershock-Haunting-Americas-Soldier-Photographers/dp/099154188X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Aftershock%3A+The+Human+Toll+of+War+Haunting+World+War+II+Images+by+America%E2%80%99s+Soldier+Photographers&qid=1618190604&s=books&sr=1-1 (Aftershock: The Human Toll of War Haunting World War II Images by America's Soldier Photographers).

Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new—conspiracy without theory. And this new kind of conspiratorial thinking has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. Are we living in a golden age of conspiracy theories? Russell Muirhead, author of https://www.amazon.com/Lot-People-Are-Saying-Conspiracism/dp/0691188831/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1616637118&sr=1-1 (A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy) says these theories are not only thriving — they're also getting more absurd, less substantive, and harder to refute.

Meredith May, author of https://www.amazon.com/Honey-Bus-Memoir-Courage-Saved-ebook/dp/B07CHP7TVZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Honey+Bus%3A+A+Memoir+of+Loss%2C+Courage+and+a+Girl+Saved+by+Bees&qid=1616636986&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 (The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees), was five when her parents split up and she suddenly found herself in the care of her grandfather, an eccentric Big Sur beekeeper who made honey in an old military bus in the yard. As they bonded over the art of beekeeping, she discovered that everything she needed to know about life and family was right there before her eyes… in the secret world of bees.  

Do you ever feel crushed under the weight of your own expectations? Do you often lose sleep ruminating over a tiny mistake or worrying about what someone else thinks of you? Do you run yourself ragged trying to do it all at home and at work, with a smile and not a hair out of place? Have you ever passed up an opportunity – a new relationship, new job, or new challenge – because you're afraid you won't immediately excel at it? For you, is failure simply not an option? In a book inspired by her hugely popular TED Talk, Reshma Saujani, author of https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Not-Perfect-Celebrating-Imperfection/dp/1524762350/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Brave%2C+Not+Perfect%3A+Fear+Less%2C+Fail+More%2C+and+Live+Bolder&qid=1616636812&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 (Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder), says you're not alone and she challenges women to look at their lives through a new lens.  

When she was six-years-old, Dr. Jennifer Harvey, author of https://www.amazon.com/Raising-White-Kids-Bringing-Children-ebook/dp/B0735KLL9B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Raising+White+Kids%3A+Bringing+Up+Children+in+a+Racially+Unjust+America&qid=1616636677&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 (Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America), had a realization — she was white. This new awareness came after an innocent conversation with a fellow student at school, followed by confusion and shame after a teacher's anxiety-induced response left her with the knowledge that there was something loaded about race — but with no idea what it was. Children today have those same realizations. For parents and teachers knowing how to respond to those realizations — and the inevitable questions about our racially unjust society they raise — is essential. 

Liberal and progressive frustration, grief, and alarm over former President Donald Trump's destructive political agenda and behavior have prompted mounting disdain for his supporters and other conservatives. This reaction is contributing to political polarization and unwittingly serving to strengthen Trump's hand as he sows divisiveness and hatred. Erica Etelson, author of https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Contempt-Liberals-Communicate-Across/dp/0865719179 (Beyond Contempt: How Liberals Can Communicate Across the Great Divide), is going to show you how to communicate respectfully, passionately, and effectively across the political divide without soft-pedaling your beliefs.

Today's children are becoming increasingly depressed with the world around us as catastrophic global warming is already baked into the climate system and they face a future entirely unlike that of their parents. How can we maintain hope and make a difference in the face of overwhelming evidence of the climate crisis? Harriet Shugarman, author of https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Your-About-Climate-Change-ebook/dp/B07V3BM45Z (How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change: Turn Angst into Action), helps parents explain the climate crisis to their kids, overcome overwhelming fear, and find hope to galvanize positive action.  

More than 60 years later, the Academy Award-winning movie Giant still feels as fresh as it did during the Eisenhower years with it's exploration of big progressive themes of race, gender, class, money and power. Our guest, Don Graham, tells us everything old is new again as we continue to wrangle with many of the same issues today.    Click to get more information and to order his book: https://www.amazon.com/Giant-Elizabeth-Taylor-Legendary-American/dp/1250061903/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=GIANT%3A+Elizabeth+Taylor%2C+Rock+Hudson%2C+James+Dean%2C+Edna+Ferber%2C+and+the+Making+of+a+Legendary+American+Film&qid=1615858925&s=books&sr=1-1 (GIANT: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Making of a Legendary American Film)

With Donald Trump winning the presidency and all the media attention fixated around the idea of a celebrity being our president, there's been many words used to describe his rise to power like historic, unprecedented, groundbreaking and on and on but he's not the first person or even group of people to use their celebrity status for political gain as we learn from our guest, Nancie Clare. That happened nearly 100 years ago in 1923 not surprisingly right here in Southern California, not Hollywood, but Beverly Hills. Click to get more information and to order her book: https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Beverly-Hills-Independence-Celebrity/dp/1250121345/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=THE+BATTLE+FOR+BEVERLY+HILLS+-+A+City%E2%80%99s+Independence+and+the+Birth+of+Celebrity+Politics&qid=1615859087&s=books&sr=1-1 (THE BATTLE FOR BEVERLY HILLS - A City's Independence and the Birth of Celebrity Politics)

With the passage of the Immigration Act in 1924, the United States closed the door at Ellis Island. We went from allowing more or less unlimited immigration to a harsh country-by-country quota drastically cutting the number of Jews, Italians, Greeks, and Eastern Europeans that could enter the country and banned East Asian immigration completely for the next 40 years. Our guest. Daniel Okrent, says it was the end of a decades long campaign eugenics movement using a junk science that claimed certain races and ethnicities were morally and genetically superior to others — all to keep America from being overrun by nonwhite people. Sound familiar?   Click to get more information and to order his book: https://www.amazon.com/Guarded-Gate-Eugenics-Generations-Immigrants/dp/1476798036/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=THE+GUARDED+GATE%3A+Patricians%2C+Eugenicists%2C+and+the+Crusade+to+Keep+Jews%2C+Italians%2C+and+Other+Immigrants+Out+of+America&qid=1615858643&s=books&sr=1-1 (THE GUARDED GATE: Patricians, Eugenicists, and the Crusade to Keep Jews, Italians, and Other Immigrants Out of America)

American musical theater conjures images of bright lights and big cities, but its lifeblood courses through local and amateur productions around the country. Our guest, Stacy Wolf, examined the widespread presence and persistence of musical theater in United States culture as a live, pleasurable and participatory experience. She traveled from Maine to Hawaii, visiting schools, performance festivals, summer camps, outdoor theaters, community theaters and dinner theaters, where she interviewed over 200 practitioners and spectators, licensors and administrators. She's here to illuminate musical theater's enduring power as a joyful activity that touches millions of lives.  Click to get more information and to order her book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Broadway-Pleasure-Promise-Musical/dp/0190639539/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=BEYOND+BROADWAY%3A+The+Pleasure+and+Promise+of+Musical+Theatre+Across+America&qid=1615858214&s=books&sr=1-1 (BEYOND BROADWAY: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America)

It is often at our darkest moments that we humans assemble our hopes for brighter days and imagine a more compassionate and sustainable future. Our guest, Martin Schoenhals, draws on research from anthropology, biology, history and psychology and introduces us to a Utopia where money is no longer king, joy is central, life's necessities are universally guaranteed, work is optional, learning is pleasurable, nation states are dismantled, and media is a means of promoting equality and community instead of feeding the cult of celebrity. He not only offers policy points from which to begin the discussion of how such measures could be achieved, but invites each of us to join him in creating a future we might wish for our children. Click to get more information and to order his book: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Learning-Utopia-Martin-Schoenhals/dp/1138549517/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Work%2C+Love+%26+Learning+in+Utopia%3A+Equality+Reimagined&qid=1615858445&s=books&sr=1-1 (Work, Love, and Learning in Utopia: Equality Reimagined)

In 2018, an impressive third of Americans reported spending two hours or more per day on political activity. But, four out of five of those people reported that none of that time was spent on real political work – rather, we feel engaged and satisfied when we consume political news, engage on social media, and complain with friends and family. In short, what many of us are doing is political hobbyism – not making real change. Our guest, Eitan Hersh, tells the stories of several normal-people-turned-activists and how they became involved in their communities – approaching change on a local level and advocating for political candidates in face-to-face interactions.  Click to get more information and to order his book: https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Power-Beyond-Political-Hobbyism/dp/1982116781 (POLITICS IS FOR POWER: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change)

https://www.amazon.com/Humility-New-Smart-Rethinking-Excellence/dp/1523089296/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=edward+hess&qid=1615264331&s=books&sr=1-3 (Edward Hess) warns that the Smart Machine Age will lead to tremendous unemployment and under- employment and that we as a society are ill prepared for the social and economic disruptions that will follow.  As he observes Smart Machines are creeping into more and more of our public and private lives. He has come to believe that nothing less than a revamping of Capitalism will allow us to thrive.

There are no accidents. That's the conclusion of https://www.amazon.com/Dying-Work-Injury-American-Workplace/dp/1501735845/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=jonathan+karmel&qid=1615264486&s=books&sr=1-1 (Jonathan Karmel) as he traveled around the country talking to injured workers and surviving family members in many different occupations, including store clerks, hotel housekeepers, miners, nurses, grain handlers, and others about unsafe working conditions. He ultimately concluded that “all of these deaths and injuries were preventable,” and he wants you to understand that the stories he collected in his new book are “the tip of the proverbial iceberg” in terms of the deadly hazards that workers face across the country every day.

Mindfulness has exploded in popularity in recent years, but someone's interest in mindfulness does not necessarily translate into that person becoming a mindful leader. Understanding mindfulness can be challenging; even more difficult is making it a regular practice in your everyday life. These ancient practices were not developed in order to improve business. They are meant to shift our consciousness and way of being in the world. Yet our https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Practices-Mindful-Leader-Monastery/dp/1608685195/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=marc+lesser&qid=1615264146&s=books&sr=1-1 (Marc Lesser) says these practices are essential to mindful leadership and to creating the type of supportive organizational culture that allows business and people to thrive.  

We're taught that compromise is a necessary part of growing up. “Selling out,” on the other hand, is stepping over a line. To be a “sell out” is to be greedy, uncaring, selfish, maybe even traitorous in some way, like the politician who leaves campaign promises unfulfilled after meeting with deep-pocketed lobbyists, or a musician who turns his back on his roots after signing a big record deal. But what if “selling out” isn't necessarily such a moral failure? And what if we could actually learn to sell out “ethically”? Our guest https://www.amazon.com/Ethical-Sellout-Maintaining-Integrity-Compromise/dp/1523085843/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Lily+Zheng&qid=1615263618&s=books&sr=1-1 (Lily Zheng) offers her “sell-out story” and argues for a more expansive context for the ethical challenges we're all faced with in our daily lives. 

In his previous book, https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Tides-Ecologists-Journey-Anthropocene/dp/0865719098/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alejandro+frid&qid=1615263883&s=books&sr=1-2 (Alejandro Frid) explored how to maintain optimism in the face of the irrevocable changes that humans are forcing upon Earth—everything from climate change to the loss of ancient forests to the extinction of large predators, and more... Now, in his new book, he continues to explore coming to terms with changes that continue to threaten our earth—looking to indigenous cultures for inspiration, resource management, and ultimately how to tell a different story—one of co-existence with our shared resources, and not depletion.

There are no accidents. That's the conclusion of https://www.amazon.com/That-Good-Night-Medicine-Eleventh/dp/0735223327/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dr.+sunita+puri&qid=1615264663&s=books&sr=1-1 (Dr. Sunita Puri) as he traveled around the country talking to injured workers and surviving family members in many different occupations, including store clerks, hotel housekeepers, miners, nurses, grain handlers, and others about unsafe working conditions. He ultimately concluded that “all of these deaths and injuries were preventable,” and he wants you to understand that the stories he collected in his new book are “the tip of the proverbial iceberg” in terms of the deadly hazards that workers face across the country every day.

Few groups of people in recent memory have been so vilified by our president and in our media as have Latin American migrants. Charlie speaks with Kelsey Freeman, author of No Option But North: The Migrant World and the Perilous Path Across the Border. In 2016, she went to Mexico to teach English at a university and study migration. During her stay, she found the local migrant shelter, became a frequent visitor and spent much of the next year interviewing people passing through. 

On this episode of Conversations, Charlie speaks with Carolyn White, author of The Archaeology of Burning Man: The Rise and Fall of Black Rock City. Every year, thousands come and leave and just as it rises from the sand, it must also completely disappear before the last person leaves the desert. As you'll hear, that can present some difficult circumstances for an archaeologist! Available from Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Archaeology-Burning-Man-Archaeologies-Landscape/dp/0826361331/ (https://www.amazon.com/Archaeology-Burning-Man-Archaeologies-Landscape/dp/0826361331/)