The Undefined Gen

This week I talk to Mara Kubrin, a Speech Language Pathologist based in San Francisco. She is currently working at a rehabilitation center with elderly people, helping them recover speech and language skills as well as teaching them how to swallow. Mara has done so much work with people and knows a ton about different types of therapy including ABA therapy for kids with autism who she worked with before she went to school for her masters in speech language pathology. We also take a moment to discuss Mara's concerns with repealing the Affordable Care Act. Finally we'll talk about an app that Mara worked on with Smile Train, to help children around the world born with cleft palates learn to speak properly.

This week I talk to Marica Petrey who is a writer, actor, and director as well as Founder and one of the Artistic Directors of Radix Troupe which is an experimental theater troupe based out of Berkeley, California. She is a freelance journalist and videographer with California Magazine. She is cellist and member of Mad Noise, a bluesy funk, soul, punk band that has traveled to Africa through the State Department's American Music Abroad Program. She is a dancer and a singer and just recently started another band called Girl Swallows Nightingale. We first talk about Zoey and the Wind-Up Boy and how Radix Troupe creates projects together. Then we talk about the sound and art direction of Zoey and the Wind Up Boy. Finally we'll talk about how Marica got into performing arts and an opportunity she recently had to shadow acclaimed director, Amma Asante.

This week I talk to Maximilian Uriarte, Veteran Marine and Creator of the widely popular webcomic, Terminal Lance. He did two tours of duty in Iraq and during his second tour took on the role of Marine Corps Artist and Photographer, giving him the opportunity to fly all over and document the Marine Experience in Iraq. Last year he released his first graphic novel, the White Donkey which was on the New York Times Bestseller list and received rave reviews for its honest depiction of the life and struggles of a Veteran Marine.

This week I talk to Albrey Brown, who is a programmer and community leader here in the Bay Area. He is currently working as an Enrollment and Diversity specialist at Hack Reactor which is a coding bootcamp based out of San Francisco. Albrey was a student at Hack Reactor and was brought on to the team after he graduated. After noticing the lack of diversity in the Hack Reactor family, he pitched an idea to the founders and founded his own branch of the school called Telegraph Academy that focuses on finding students from underreprestend minorities. Albrey was also recently invited to speak at the White House at the first ever Demo Day about his experience and his belief that industries, especially tech, need to be more diverse. We'll also touch on his newest project, Progressive Patriotism.

This week, I talk with Blimes Brixton, rapper, singer, and songwriter born and raised in San Francisco and currently living in Los Angeles. Blimes took her career in a new direction this year, changing her name to Blimes Brixton and is bringing the world new rad music. She also Started a new label called Peach House Records which is home to works from Gavlyn, Olivia Braga, and Lou Koo. The label is a collaborative project for female artists and they've been steadily releasing singles this last year. We talk about Blimes new direction and her experience running her label thus far. We also get into her music videos and creative process. Finally, we discuss Blimes Brixton's image and how she's fighting to break the stereotypes.

This week I talk to Karen Chiang, a former Peace Corps volunteer who was stationed for over two years in a small town in Senegal. Karen was a economics and international business major at UCLA and used her skills to help the community implement a business model that made their plastic waste into something profitable and sustainable. She talks about the culture, the people, and her overall experience as a Peace Corps volunteer.

This week I talk to astronomer, Meredith Rawls about her work with a Large Synoptic Survey Telescope being built in Chile set to be finished in 2020 and while take the highest resolution video of the sky so far over the course of a decade. Meredith's team is working on software to process in real time the many terabytes of data being collected a day as well as scan for things of interest in the sky. We'll also talk about her work with red giants and how she uses starquakes to understand the mass and make-up of a star. Finally, we get into teaching and diversity in astronomy and Meredith will tell us if she thinks there's aliens!

This week I talk to Ellen Huffman, a Lindy Hop dancer based in San Francisco. Every year she organizes a Lindy Hop and Jazz Workshop called Fog City Stomp where she invited experts, live bands, and DJs to come teach, perform, and judge competitions. She's danced for many troupes and currently runs the Someday Sweethearts. We'll get into the history of swing, some influential members of the community, and fashion!

This week I talk to my friend Chad Leto, He's a cinematographer working for G-Ram films and has worked on documentaries, music videos, and commercials. He's also been the cinematographer with so many projects including an award winning feature film called Parallax. Chad also filmed a hilarious and totally wacky web series called “Don't call it Frisco” about a Boston transplant who moves to San Francisco and has to adjust to the liberal and totally crazy culture of the city. Chad will also tell the crazy disastrous story of his trip to Burning Man this year.

This week I talk to Charlie Furman, an Activist and Digital Organizer who creates campaigns focused on creative internet organizing to spread movements quickly and meaningfully over many channels. Charlie was a campaign manager for Fight for the Future and faught hard for Net Neutrality and against the Trans Pacific Partnership and was also a digital organizer for 350.org, People's Climate movement, and Demand Progress. He's so active and has so many insights into how we take issues we feel strongly about and turn our thoughts into actions. Finally we talk about his latest project GOPcausedTrump.org, a timeline of how we ended up with Donald Trump as the Republican Presidential Candidate.

Bonus Episode! I talk with Nick Parker and Bubbles, a Bay Area celebrity, about the party scene in San Francisco. Nick talks about how to get into after hour parties and Bubbles takes us through San Francisco nightlife from the 90s to now. Also, listen for Nick and Bubbles track from their new band, The Sensible Whats!

This week I talk to Jada Baca and Sawyer Sverre-Harrell about life at their unique public charter high school. They are both passionate about art and activism and are involved in many programs in their community. Sawyer is a theater major and self-taught cosmetologist who loves making people feel beautiful in their own skin. Jada loves drawing and photography and enjoys capturing the beauty in things that other may have forgotten. Both are also working on documentaries which will be out soon!

This week I talk to Eliza Lutz who recently started her own record label in Santa Fe, New Mexico called Matron Records. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitar player who has been preforming and touring since high school. Her business savvy and finance prowess have allowed her to be a mentor to many bands and she's incredibly passionate about helping bands understand money so that that can fund their art. We talk about her two bands, Future Scars and GRYGRDNS and discuss how GRYGRDNS has changed her idea of what it means to be feminine in the music industry.

This week I talk to Kelsey Atherton a staff writer at Popular Science Magazine. He primarily covers unmanned vehicles and defense technology. First we look at drones and different development projects being worked on as well as current and potential legislation surrounding drones. Then we move into automated technology and discuss moral dilemmas that come with programming machines to think for themselves using an example by MIT called the Moral Machine. Finally, we get into defense technology and some old weapons that are relevant today as well as future technologies. Kelsey also weighs in on some ethical questions of warfare.

This week I talk to Eamon Armstrong, Creative Director at Fest300. Fest300 is an online festival resource that brings together festival communities all over the world. Eamon is a master of building community through social media and travels all around the world meeting people at these diverse festivals, building the global festival community. We talk about so many fun things including the nature of a festival, psychedelic first-aid, and personal growth. Photo by Colin Shoff McDonald

This week I talk to Gabi Holzwarth, referred to by many as the Violin Girl of Silicon Valley. She is a very talented violinist, she has perfect pitch, and has performed at many events around the Bay Area and the world. She quit her job in sales and started playing the violin in the street full time. It was there that many tech executives discovered her and she began playing at private parties and events. Finally, Gabi discusses her ongoing struggle with eating disorders and has some advice for people entering into recovery.

Part 2: This week I talk to Ida Naughton, a PhD student at UC, San Diego who is studying the diverse ant populations on the Channel Islands. Ida is stationed on the Santa Cruz Island and is staying on the land owned by the Nature Conservancy. Listen to the episode to learn about the questions she's asking while doing field research, the process of grant writing, and lots more ant facts mixed in between.

This week I talk to Ida Naughton, a PhD student at UC, San Diego who is studying the diverse ant populations on the Channel Islands. Ida is stationed on the Santa Cruz Island and is staying on the land owned by the Nature Conservancy. Listen to the episode to learn about the amazing colony structures, wacky behaviors, and the overall complexity of one the world's most industrious creatures.

This week I talk to Khafre and JP of Hip Hop For Change. Khafre is the founder and executive director and JP is the events coordinator. We discuss the inherent problems of corporate media promoting a singular narrative of hip hop and the reason why diversifying hip hop is important for kids in inner city communities. Hip Hop For Change teaches classes about the rich history of hip hop in Oakland schools as well as art classes that help kids deal with PTSD and trauma that they are suffering due to inner city violence. They also serve as a collective for artists. They have teamed up with local MCs, DJs, dancers, and graffiti artists and offer free and low cost studio recording services for artists in the Bay Area.

This week I talk to Johnny5, the founder and director of TURFInc, a company in Oakland that teaches kids turfing. Turfing is a style of street dance that came out of hyphy in the 90s. TURFInc gives them opportunities to make money and helps them stay off the street by learning marketable skills. Johnny5 has worked with tons of big name artists, he's been featured and finds talent for Yak Films, the premiere dance film company in the world and he's an all around awesome guy with lots of stories about Oakland.

This week I talk to Lily Williams about her short film FINconceivable, an award winning informational short about the importance of sharks to our ecosystem. We talk about her upcoming illustrated children's book called If Sharks Disappear which will be published next year through Roaring Brook Press. Finally, we discuss her newly released web comic that she co-created with Karen Schneemann, called The Mean Magenta. The Mean Magenta seeks to destigmatize periods by providing entertaining comics as well as health resources.

This episode, Sylvee Esquivel talks about her journey from Tamal stand to food truck to her brick and mortar restaurant called Hella Vegan Eats in Downtown Oakland. She discusses the exciting food they have on their menu and the her love of intense flavors. We talk about how her business has evolved, how Hella Vegan eats helped her transition, and finally, her music. Photo By An Hoang

This week, Mogli Maureal who is a musician, sound designer, and photographer, talks about his band, Mad Noise. He talks about how their roots as street performers, their musical style, and their recent trip to West Africa with the US Department of State Program called American Music Abroad. Then we talks about his works with Radix, an experimental theater troupe. He does all of their music and sound design for their innovative theater and live performance works. Finally, we talk about his photography and his aspirations.

This episode, Alex Vlahov talks about his work with the New York Neo-futurists and their collection of 30 plays performed in an hour called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. We also talk about experimental theater in general and some of the plays that Alex has written and directed that have interesting approaches to topics that cover a range of social issues and humanity's dilemmas. Finally, we discuss Alex's latest play which is still untitled. The play is about Father Eric, a priest from our high school who was murdered in 2013.

This episode, Tia Lebherz talks in depth about saving water and other threats to our environment. First, we talk about her work at WaterNow Alliance and how WaterNow is bringing together people to find innovative ways to save water on the West Coast. Then we'll talk about her work for Food and Water Watch as the California organizer and the importance of banning fracking, specifically in California. Finally, we'll wrap up with a discussion of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement signed in February that poses a serious threat to our access to safe food and water.

This episode, Eric Garcia talks about his drag performances and keeping a gritty low budget drag show in a changing San Francisco. We discuss his performance company, Detour Dance and their evolving mission and maturing body of work. We also talk about his work for Sean Dorsey, an acclaimed dancer and head of Fresh Meat Productions, a company devoted to transgender and queer arts. Finally, we get into identity and how Eric is using dance to explore himself as a person of color and as a gay man.

This episode, I talk with Elizia Artis about what it means to build a community around education. She works in Flint, Michigan for the Crim Fitness Foundation and works with the school and communities there to solve problems effecting the students and parents. Elizia was an AmeriCorps volunteer and now manages other AmeriCorps volunteers in Flint so she'll give some information about civil service and what some of those responsibilities look like. Lastly, Elizia explores some of her thoughts about issues effecting people of color and the Black Lives Matter movement.

This episode, David Lauer is interviewed about his experience at Contact in the Desert, a conference that focuses on aliens, paranormal activity, and high weirdness. David first gives background into the conference and then tells the story of a UFO sighting he had there and six possible explanations for what this sighting could have been.