Podcasts about aids

Episode: 1516 In which we must save the lore as well as the plants.  Today, we have to save more than the endangered plants.

Sarah is all hot and bothered for the "gay hockey show," Heated Rivalry, and she explains why lesbians would enjoy male on male heat. Susie is all wound up about something totally different: umbrellas. To each their own. We learn about a practice that was created in the 1980s where people dying of AIDS would sell their life insurance policies to investors, and we debate the ethics of betting on someone's death. We discuss the difference in written communication between women and men, and the reason women have to track their punctuation and balance perceived warmth and competence. We find out which celebrities are mentioned the most in pop songs, and the three factors that can increase your chances of being name dropped. Plus, Susie shares big news in the true crime world, where two of the biggest unsolved cases in history have been solved--and the same person (allegedly) did both.Brain Candy Podcast Website - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/Brain Candy Podcast Book Recommendations - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/books/Brain Candy Podcast Merchandise - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/candy-store/Brain Candy Podcast Candy Club - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/product/candy-club/Brain Candy Podcast Sponsor Codes - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/support-us/Brain Candy Podcast Social Media & Platforms:Brain Candy Podcast LIVE Interactive Trivia Nights - https://www.youtube.com/@BrainCandyPodcast/streamsBrain Candy Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braincandypodcastHost Susie Meister Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susiemeisterHost Sarah Rice Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imsarahriceBrain Candy Podcast on X: https://www.x.com/braincandypodBrain Candy Podcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/braincandy (JOIN FREE - TONS OF REALITY TV CONTENT)Brain Candy Podcast Sponsors, partnerships, & Products that we love:Go to https://thrivecausemetics.com/braincandy for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order.Get $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to https://nutrafol.com and enter the promo code BRAINCANDYHead to https://cozyearth.com and use my code BRAINCANDYBOGO to get these pj's for you and someone you love! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"We watch a Holocaust play and we know that all of these people are gonna die. We watch an AIDS play and we know how badly it's gonna turn out." So what does it mean for a musical to be a period piece marked by tragedy? In this Season 9 premiere of Scene to Song, host Shoshana Greenberg sits down with dramaturg Deborah Blumenthal to explore how musicals like Rent and Falsettos have transformed from contemporary stories into historical texts. They examine these iconic Broadway shows through the lens of the AIDS crisis, discussing how audiences experience them differently now than when they first premiered. The conversation also features an analysis of "New York" from the 2024 West End musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). In this episode, you'll hear about: How Rent and Falsettos function as AIDS-era period pieces The evolving audience relationship with tragic historical musicals Deborah's dramaturgical approach to reviving classic shows Her upcoming production of Heartbreak Hotel What makes a musical become a "period piece" You can write to scenetosong@gmail.com with a comment or question about an episode or about musical theater, or if you'd like to be a podcast guest. Follow on Instagram at @‌ScenetoSong and on Facebook at “Scene to Song with Shoshana Greenberg Podcast.” And be sure to sign up for the new monthly e-newsletter at scenetosong.substack.com. Contribute to the Patreon. The theme music is by Julia Meinwald.  

My frequent conversation partner Blake Smith is back on the pod today to talk about his book-in-progress on the pioneering gay editor Michael Denneny as well as a related essay, “For the Love of the Gay World,” just published in a new anthology.In both endeavors, I think, he's doing some version of the same thing, which is to make his case, that gay men briefly had, then lost, but could have again a coherent, self-reflective cultural and intellectual world by and for themselves. As he writes:Part of what the playwright Larry Kramer called, two decades ago, the tragedy of today's gays is that in order to begin a potentially generative, or productively divisive, conversation about the state of male homosexuality (its culture and politics, its problems and affordances) we must undergo an ordeal of conceptual and historical clarification. Without doing so, we are likely to miss the real objects of our agreement and disagreement, wasting time with opinions expressed in each interlocutor's jumble of inherited, half-comprehended categories.It is hard for gays to talk sensibly to each other about where we are and how we got here; the ideas by which we understand that ‘we' and its emergence in time are so contested and confused. This makes gay thinking peculiarly dizzied, harried and disoriented. It is often in doubt whether there is any gay ‘we' (or any gay thinking) —or whether ‘we' do in fact wish for our talk to reach out to such a ‘we' rather than merely confirm ourselves individually in what we already take ourselves to think and know.In the following I will try to do two things at the same time. I will try to clarify the routes through history by which certain concepts have come down to us, and to trace their relationships and contradictions. Disentangling homosexual, gay, and queer, and the movements by which these terms were conceived and contested, may allow us to talk more with more clarity about the objects of our dis/agreement. At the same time, as I lay out—in a sketchy, rapid, and admittedly contestable fashion—this history, I will show how there came to be, at a few different times and places, a self-conscious articulation of the interest and pleasure that we take in talking to each other about ourselves, and of the desire to perpetuate ourselves individually and collectively that is adumbrated in this talk.Our talking together both reflects and forms what Hannah Arendt (whose relevance to gays will become clearer over the course of this essay) called a world. Which is not a physical place. A world, in this sense, is what is communicable to a group of people, what they can hold together in their talk. It is also the set of practices by which that communicability is maintained (the fact, for instance, of our having a shared vocabulary and grammar, but also of our having reasonably similar psychologies and common objects of perception). Worlds can expand and contract, and also collapse. Whether we want to speak to someone about an apparently external object or an apparently internal thought, the possibility of our doing so successfully depends there being already a world that contains us, our intended interlocutor, and the topic we want to address.His framework involves a periodization of three distinct eras: the “homosexual” phase of the late 19th and early 20th century, when doctors, psychologists, and the men they studied were constructing new categories of identity; the “gay” era that emerged in the mid-20th century and flourished after Stonewall; and the “queer” phase that began in the 1980s and now dominates how we talk about sexual minorities.His argument, stripped down, is that the gay era represented something genuinely new in the world. Before that point there existed various ways of characterizing sex between men, but there wasn't a publicly visible and accessible identity oriented around the idea of two men being together as romantic equals, without one becoming feminized, without requiring a status differential, old and young, top and bottom.This emerged organically from bars and cruising spots and men finding each other in mid-century American cities, and then from that base there evolved a self-conscious culture, one in which Denneny, through his magazine Christopher Street and his editorial work at St. Martin's Press, was a central figure.Then in some respects this culture died, or attenuated. Literally died, in many cases, with so many deaths from AIDS. But also at the hands of the queer paradigm, which supplanted it first in the universities, and then much more broadly in the culture. Queer as an identity, in Blake's construction, did a few things. It conceptualized the queer as a potentially universal, or universally accessible, counter-normative, transgressive force. Anything could be queer, or queered, if it stood or was understood at certain angles to the normative.More problematically, from Blake's stance, it subsumed the gay male identity into a larger queer collective identity that included first lesbians and transgender people but soon anyone, including old fashioned straight folks, who wanted to align themselves with the queer. And this has meant, among other things, that there is simply less psychological and cultural energy available for the maintenance and development of the gay world, as Denneny understood it, particularly in the aftermath of the death of so many gay men from AIDS and particularly because gay men don't biologically reproduce themselves. They need more conscious, deliberate reproduction of their culture, their world.A subtext of our discussion, which we reference but don't really delve into, is that Blake's political orientation has shifted a lot over the last year or so, since Trump was left. He hasn't gone left, precisely. His policy preferences remain roughly the same, basically old new school new deal left liberal social democracy-esque. He's just not interested anymore in aiming his fire at certain elements of the left.I think I've undergone a shift as well, though to a much lesser degree, and with no guilt. I'm more interested in critiquing and thinking about the flaws of the right, now that those flaws are so evident and so damaging to the country. That's definitely a shift. But it still feels important to me to critique the left, in part because that's just my beat, but also because the stakes are really high.To this point, my brother Jonathan said something to me the other day that I hadn't thought about but made a lot of sense. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has been involved in the organizing there against the ICE invasion. What he said is that it's pretty clear to him that people in the Twin Cities have internalized the hard lessons from mistakes made after the George Floyd killing. They're thinking, much more strategically than the last time, about how to act so as to elicit sympathy rather than aversion from the broad mass of people in the middle politically. They're sidelining the idiots from antifa and the abolish the police crowd. They're super conscious of the need to avoid riots and looting. Etc.And you can see the results, how powerful and effective their opposition has been. I think critique is a small but important element in the process that leads to that result. So I'll keep being a pain in the ass on that front, but spend more time looking at the right and also try to spend more time in the space where I think blake is right now, which is trying to think constructively, creatively about new possibilities for culture and politics that we might want to explore on the other side of the culture wars. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danieloppenheimer.substack.com/subscribe

One year ago, the United States was winning the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Thanks largely to American leadership, infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS have dropped precipitously over the past 20 years, ever since the U.S. government made combating the disease a global priority. Some once–hard-hit countries in sub-Saharan Africa were even on track to become AIDS-free by 2030. But then, suddenly and without warning, Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 24, 2025 that all but ended U.S. funding for global HIV/AIDS relief. One year on, people have lost access to treatment, and the specter of a resurgence of HIV/AIDS—after years of steady decline—now looms. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is cutting bilateral deals with countries like Zambia, releasing health and development assistance in exchange for access to natural resources and mining concessions. Joining me from rural Zambia is journalist Andrew Green, who is in the midst of a reporting project documenting the impact of these cuts on HIV/AIDS prevention efforts around the world. We kick off by discussing the historic role the United States played in the fight against HIV/AIDS before turning to what has been lost—and how countries across sub-Saharan Africa are responding.

The path that connects can't be seen when you're looking forward, but there are values, hunches—and maybe even whispers from the future—that nudge us onto the path that matches our spirit and heart.In this History Series conversation on Qiological, we take a trip in the Wayback Machine with Misha Cohen to the early days, when her interest in health and wellbeing crisscrossed paths with Chinese medicine—an unconventional grandmother, a sudden onset of back pain, and the goings-on at Lincoln Hospital quietly setting the stage for her later work with AIDS and cancer patients on the other side of the country.Misha's curiosity has kept her at the leading edge of weaving Chinese medicine and biomedicine together—without flattening either one. In practice, that means clearer thinking, better collaboration, and a steady reminder that acupuncture and herbs often fill a hole in the modern medical system.Listen into this conversation for a glimpse of what integrative medicine can look like when it's practiced with an eye toward honoring the value—and the real clinical power—of Chinese medicine.

Jonathan Gleason joins us to talk about his debut essay collection Field Guide to Falling Ill. Drawing from personal experience, history, and medical science, Gleason's moving book explores “the human lives behind the corporate, legal, and cultural practices that shape disease.” During our conversation, we discuss what inspired this book and the techniques Gleason used to create it. He reads from the essays “Inheritance,” about the origins of Taye-Sachs disease, and “Blood in the Water,” which illuminates the life of Gaëtan Dugas, a gay flight attendant who became known as “patient zero” in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.Gleason is the winner of the inaugural Yale Nonfiction Book Prize and was described by contest judge Meghan O'Rourke as a "layered, reflective, and unusually poised debut." He was a recipient of a 2023 Elizabeth George Grant and a finalist for our very own 2024 Granum Foundation Prize. His work has appeared in the Best American Essays, The Sun Magazine, New England Review, and Kenyon Review. He teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago.Host: Davin MalasarnThe Artist's Statement is brought to you by ⁠The Granum Foundation⁠.

Leila Philip at the Hubbard Brook watershed discusses how beavers act as a keystone species that aids environmental recovery, challenging the necessity of lethal culling given modern non-lethal management options. She notes that beaver complexes actually increase trout and salmon populations and provide millions of dollars in free ecosystem engineering services.1892

Topics discussed on today's show: National Spouses, NFL Playoffs, Icy US Weather, What did you do this weekend?, Space Trash, Baby Sonogram, Curing Caner with AIDS, Silver & Gold, Pop Quiz, Big Bummer, Get The Fake Out, Wedding Mess Ups, Nicknames, Nasty Town, and Apologies.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, requires museums, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American ancestral remains and cultural items to their original tribes. Though the law passed nearly 35 years ago, many institutions have failed to fulfill its requirements.     Oregon State University recently opened a new facility designed to advance its NAGPRA obligations. The two buildings house a records room, a laboratory and a space to consult with tribal members as they move through the repatriation process. The new buildings are also better equipped than the old facility to store cultural items and remains of tribal ancestors awaiting return.   Dawn Marie Alapisco is the director of the NAGPRA Office within OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity. She joins us to share more about the new facility and how institutions should be approaching their NAGPRA requirements.

Episode: 1514 The resistance movement: a look at ongoing evolution.  Today, we watch creatures evolving around us.

In this week's episode, both of our storytellers confront the real-world consequences of misinformation—and how it can spread faster than the truth.Part 1: Growing up, Modesta Abugu knows firsthand the challenges rural African farmers face. But when she discovers that misinformation is making things worse, she sets out to change the narrative. Part 2: While living in South Africa, Fiona Tudor Price witnesses how AIDS misinformation devastates an entire nation. Modesta N. Abugu recently obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University, where she conducted research to identify genetic tools that can be used to improve flavor in sweetpotato, guiding the development of high-quality varieties. As a National Science Foundation interdisciplinary research fellow at the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, NCSU, she examined the scientific, policy, and public-engagement dimensions of agricultural biotechnology within integrated food, energy, and water systems to help develop sustainable and responsive solutions that bridge innovation, policy, and societal needs. Modesta is also passionate about communicating science to the public, especially on the potential of agricultural biotechnology tools in promoting food security. She has been widely involved in grassroots campaigns geared towards creating an enabling policy environment for farmers to gain access to new agricultural innovations globally. Through her awareness and advocacy efforts, she contributed to the passage of Nigeria's biosafety bill into law, and the commercialization of Bt cowpea in Nigeria. Modesta obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria, and an MSc in horticultural science from the University of Florida. Outside of work, she loves to hike and visit new places.Fiona Tudor Price is a seasoned producer, director, and science communicator with a unique blend of expertise in biology, media and education. With a BSc. Hons. in Biology and Film & Television Studies, Fiona began her career at TVOntario and Corus Entertainment, contributing to award-winning environmental and science documentaries. In 1999, she moved to South Africa and founded Atomic Productions, where she directed and produced impactful natural-history content for global networks including National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and WWF. Transforming complex scientific concepts into compelling, human-centred narratives, Fiona earned a reputation for making science accessible to broader audiences. A passionate advocate for women in media, Fiona founded Women in Film and Television South Africa (WIFT SA), providing a platform for mentorship, networking, and empowerment within the industry. She is deeply committed to educational equity, particularly for learners with dyslexia. Fiona collaborated with Decoding Dyslexia, Ontario, to initiate the transformational Ontario Human Rights Commission's Right to Read inquiry, to address systemic issues in education for learners with dyslexia. Currently, Fiona is a Digital Media and Accessibility Specialist at Humber Polytechnic, focusing on the intersection of multimedia, AI, and accessibility in education, driving innovation at the crossroads of education and technology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week's Q&A was a fun mix of behind the scenes Florida move updates, rider position chat, and a really great discussion on groundwork.We talked about using the inside leg on a circle and why it isn't something you hold on constantly. Instead, the idea is a "breathing leg" so your horse stays responsive and balanced. From there we break down the “point and shoot” idea for turning, pointing the line of travel first, then sending the horse forward from a balanced moment with the legs while the hands allow.We also answer questions about half halts on hot horses, there's a great discussion around fussy contact and we share why groundwork and lunging can be such a helpful support for horses that are still finding their balance.We touch on simple ways to release tension in your lower back, including an easy stretch at the walk and the wood and jelly idea to help you notice when you're locking up. We also reflect on why groundwork matters so much, not just for training, but for real life moments like travel, loading, and busy environments, when you really need your horse to feel confident and connected.Thanks so much for listening and being part of this community. I'm really grateful you're here.Happy Riding,AmeliaPS. Sunday is the last day to join the Groundwork Superpack, check it out here!

This week, Megan tells Dave and Evan about H IS FOR HAWK (2:48), based on Helen MacDonald's memoir about losing their beloved father and, while grieving, adopting a stubborn hawk. Then all three of them talk about DOOBA DOOBA (11:31). This found footage horror film rubbed them all the wrong way. Some of them really wrong. Finally, Megan and Evan discuss THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO (36:46). Both Evan and Megan were moved by this movie's embrace of queer joy while it's simultaneously an AIDS allegory. Over on Patreon, we watch the Safdie Brothers' 2017 film GOOD TIME

In 1981, during the height of the War on Drugs, police raided a San Francisco apartment expecting a major drug dealer. Instead, they found a grandmother in an apron baking brownies.Her name was Mary Jane Rathbun, later known as Brownie Mary, a woman whose arrest would help change how America viewed medical marijuana, the AIDS crisis, and compassion under the law.As young men died alone in hospital wards during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, Mary broke the law to feed, comfort, and care for patients no one else would touch. Her quiet rebellion challenged the criminalization of cannabis, exposed the cruelty of drug policy, and helped pave the way for medical marijuana legalization in the United States.This episode explores the life, motivations, and legacy of Brownie Mary, and asks a deeper true-crime question: What happens when the system treats compassion like a crime?Because sometimes the most extreme crimes aren't committed by monsters but by people the law refuses to understand.Follow and join the conversation:

The weekly podcast from The Lynch & Taco Morning Show on 101one WJRR in Orlando, FL

Ron DeSantis' final legislative session is not all kumbaya, why may thousands lose aid for a critical AIDS medication and Venezuelans clamor for democracy while Trump focused on oil. Antonio Fins, Ana Goni-Lessan and John Kennedy of the USA Today Florida Network explain it all.

Father Francis Gargani entered religious life as a teenager and has remained in the Church through seasons of change, challenge, and growth. Over the years, his ministry has taken many forms—from parish life and campus ministry to caring for people with AIDS and walking alongside LGBTQ Catholics seeking spiritual community. Throughout it all, he reflects on what has helped him stay rooted: community, prayer, and a deep trust in God's presence. Together, host Julie Rose and Father Francis explore what it means to stay when faith becomes uncomfortable and how community, compassion, and a deep conviction in God's love can sustain a life of service. ABOUT THE GUEST Father Francis Gargani was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1971 and is a member of the Redemptorists of Baltimore Province (https://redemptorists.net/). Episode transcript - https://uncomfypodcastbyu.blogspot.com/2026/01/serving-on-edges-60-years-of-catholic.html CHAPTERS (0:00) Introduction (0:37) Meet Father Francis Gargani (1:08) Early Religious Journey (4:14) Challenges in Pastoral Ministry (7:35) Campus Ministry and AIDS Outreach (11:30) LGBTQ Outreach and Controversy (13:53) Intentional Communities and Modern Ministry (17:12) Finding Peace and Staying Hopeful (19:23) Conclusion

Jonathan Larson's Rent premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 26, 1996. The modern rock-opera take on Puccini's La Boheme instantly captivated critics and audiences alike, bringing much-needed attention to the devastating AIDS crisis, inner-city class warfare, drug addition, and featuring bold and unabashed queer characters and storylines. While Larson tragically died the night before the show debuted, his masterpiece would go on to run on Broadway for 12 years, win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical, gross hundreds of millions of dollars, and create a whole new crop of Broadway stars out of much of its original cast. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the ground-breaking show, so join the Great Pop Culture Debate as we attempt to name the Best Song from Rent. Songs discussed: “La Vie Boheme,” “Will I?” “Today 4 U,” “Out Tonight,” “Rent,” “One Song Glory,” “Goodbye Love” “What You Own,” “Take Me Or Leave Me,” “Santa Fe,” “Without You,” “Tango: Maureen,” “Seasons of Love,” “Another Day,” “Light My Candle,” “I'll Cover You”Join host Eric Rezsnyak and GPCD panelists Bob Erlenback, Curtis Creekmore, and Joelle Boedecker as they discuss and debate 16 of the most powerful songs from this modern Broadway classic.For the warm-up, in which the panel discusses every song from Rent that did NOT make the bracket, become a Patreon supporter of the podcast.To see a video version of the debate, subscribe to our page on YouTube.EPISODE CREDITS:Host: Eric RezsnyakPanelists: Bob Erlenback, Curtis Creekmore, Joelle BoedeckerEdtor: Bob ErlenbackIntro/Outro Music: "Dance to My Tune" by Marc Torch#rent #rentbroadway #rentmusical #musicals #broadway #broadwaymusicals #seasonsoflove #outtonight #lavieboheme #laboheme #idinamenzel #anthonyrapp #tayediggs #jesselmartin #adampascal #jonathanlarson #tonyaward #pulitzerprize #dramadeskSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if the most transformative thing you can do for your writing craft and author business is to face what you fear? How can you can find gold in your Shadow in the year ahead? In this episode, I share chapters from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words. In the intro, curated book boxes from Bridgerton's Julia Quinn; Google's agentic shopping, and powering Apple's Siri; ChatGPT Ads; and Claude CoWork. Balancing Certainty and Uncertainty [MoonShots with Tony Robbins]; and three trends for authors with me and Orna Ross [Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast]; plus, Bones of the Deep, Business for Authors, and Indie Author Lab. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn  Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoir as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. What is the Shadow? The ‘creative wound' and the Shadow in writing The Shadow in traditional publishing The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author The Shadow in work The Shadow in money You can find Writing the Shadow in all formats on all stores, as well as special edition, workbook and bundles at www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words The following chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn. Introduction. What is the Shadow? “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.” —C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul We all have a Shadow side and it is the work of a lifetime to recognise what lies within and spin that base material into gold. Think of it as a seedling in a little pot that you're given when you're young. It's a bit misshapen and weird, not something you would display in your living room, so you place it in a dark corner of the basement. You don't look at it for years. You almost forget about it. Then one day you notice tendrils of something wild poking up through the floorboards. They're ugly and don't fit with your Scandi-minimalist interior design. You chop the tendrils away and pour weedkiller on what's left, trying to hide the fact that they were ever there. But the creeping stems keep coming. At some point, you know you have to go down there and face the wild thing your seedling has become. When you eventually pluck up enough courage to go down into the basement, you discover that the plant has wound its roots deep into the foundations of your home. Its vines weave in and out of the cracks in the walls, and it has beautiful flowers and strange fruit. It holds your world together. Perhaps you don't need to destroy the wild tendrils. Perhaps you can let them wind up into the light and allow their rich beauty to weave through your home. It will change the look you have so carefully cultivated, but maybe that's just what the place needs. The Shadow in psychology Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychologist and the founder of analytical psychology. He described the Shadow as an unconscious aspect of the human personality, those parts of us that don't match up to what is expected of us by family and society, or to our own ideals. The Shadow is not necessarily evil or illegal or immoral, although of course it can be. It's also not necessarily caused by trauma, abuse, or any other severely damaging event, although again, it can be. It depends on the individual. What is in your Shadow is based on your life and your experiences, as well as your culture and society, so it will be different for everyone. Psychologist Connie Zweig, in The Inner Work of Age, explains, “The Shadow is that part of us that lies beneath or behind the light of awareness. It contains our rejected, unacceptable traits and feelings. It contains our hidden gifts and talents that have remained unexpressed or unlived. As Jung put it, the essence of the Shadow is pure gold.” To further illustrate the concept, Robert Bly, in A Little Book on the Human Shadow,uses the following metaphor: “When we are young, we carry behind us an invisible bag, into which we stuff any feelings, thoughts, or behaviours that bring disapproval or loss of love—anger, tears, neediness, laziness. By the time we go to school, our bags are already a mile long. In high school, our peer groups pressure us to stuff the bags with even more—individuality, sexuality, spontaneity, different opinions. We spend our life until we're twenty deciding which parts of ourselves to put into the bag and we spend the rest of our lives trying to get them out again.” As authors, we can use what's in the ‘bag' to enrich our writing — but only if we can access it. My intention with this book is to help you venture into your Shadow and bring some of what's hidden into the light and into your words. I'll reveal aspects of my Shadow in these pages but ultimately, this book is about you. Your Shadow is unique. There may be elements we share, but much will be different. Each chapter has questions for you to consider that may help you explore at least the edges of your Shadow, but it's not easy. As Jung said, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” But take heart, Creative. You don't need courage when things are easy. You need it when you know what you face will be difficult, but you do it anyway. We are authors. We know how to do hard things. We turn ideas into books. We manifest thoughts into ink on paper. We change lives with our writing. First, our own, then other people's. It's worth the effort to delve into Shadow, so I hope you will join me on the journey. The creative wound and the Shadow in writing “Whatever pain you can't get rid of, make it your creative offering.” —Susan Cain, Bittersweet  The more we long for something, the more extreme our desire, the more likely it is to have a Shadow side. For those of us who love books, the author life may well be a long-held dream and thus, it is filled with Shadow. Books have long been objects of desire, power, and authority. They hold a mythic status in our lives. We escaped into stories as children; we studied books at school and college; we read them now for escape and entertainment, education and inspiration. We collect beautiful books to put on our shelves. We go to them for solace and answers to the deepest questions of life. Writers are similarly held in high esteem. They shape culture, win literary prizes, give important speeches, and are quoted in the mainstream media. Their books are on the shelves in libraries and bookstores. Writers are revered, held up as rare, talented creatures made separate from us by their brilliance and insight. For bibliophile children, books were everything and to write one was a cherished dream. To become an author? Well, that would mean we might be someone special, someone worthy. Perhaps when you were young, you thought the dream of being a writer was possible — then you told someone about it. That's probably when you heard the first criticism of such a ridiculous idea, the first laughter, the first dismissal. So you abandoned the dream, pushed the idea of being a writer into the Shadow, and got on with your life. Or if it wasn't then, it came later, when you actually put pen to paper and someone — a parent, teacher, partner, or friend, perhaps even a literary agent or publisher, someone whose opinion you valued — told you it was worthless. Here are some things you might have heard: Writing is a hobby. Get a real job. You're not good enough. You don't have any writing talent. You don't have enough education. You don't know what you're doing. Your writing is derivative / unoriginal / boring / useless / doesn't make sense. The genre you write in is dead / worthless / unacceptable / morally wrong / frivolous / useless.  Who do you think you are? No one would want to read what you write. You can't even use proper grammar, so how could you write a whole book? You're wasting your time. You'll never make it as a writer. You shouldn't write those things (or even think about those things). Why don't you write something nice? Insert other derogatory comment here! Mark Pierce describes the effect of this experience in his book The Creative Wound, which “occurs when an event, or someone's actions or words, pierce you, causing a kind of rift in your soul. A comment—even offhand and unintentional—is enough to cause one.” He goes on to say that such words can inflict “damage to the core of who we are as creators. It is an attack on our artistic identity, resulting in us believing that whatever we make is somehow tainted or invalid, because shame has convinced us there is something intrinsically tainted or invalid about ourselves.” As adults, we might brush off such wounds, belittling them as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We might even find ourselves saying the same words to other people. After all, it's easier to criticise than to create. But if you picture your younger self, bright eyed as you lose yourself in your favourite book, perhaps you might catch a glimpse of what you longed for before your dreams were dashed on the rocks of other people's reality. As Mark Pierce goes on to say, “A Creative Wound has the power to delay our pursuits—sometimes for years—and it can even derail our lives completely… Anything that makes us feel ashamed of ourselves or our work can render us incapable of the self-expression we yearn for.” This is certainly what happened to me, and it took decades to unwind. Your creative wounds will differ to mine but perhaps my experience will help you explore your own. To be clear, your Shadow may not reside in elements of horror as mine do, but hopefully you can use my example to consider where your creative wounds might lie. “You shouldn't write things like that.” It happened at secondary school around 1986 or 1987, so I would have been around eleven or twelve years old. English was one of my favourite subjects and the room we had our lessons in looked out onto a vibrant garden. I loved going to that class because it was all about books, and they were always my favourite things. One day, we were asked to write a story. I can't remember the specifics of what the teacher asked us to write, but I fictionalised a recurring nightmare. I stood in a dark room. On one side, my mum and my brother, Rod, were tied up next to a cauldron of boiling oil, ready to be thrown in. On the other side, my dad and my little sister, Lucy, were threatened with decapitation by men with machetes. I had to choose who would die. I always woke up, my heart pounding, before I had to choose. Looking back now, it clearly represented an internal conflict about having to pick sides between the two halves of my family. Not an unexpected issue from a child of divorce. Perhaps these days, I might have been sent to the school counsellor, but it was the eighties and I don't think we even had such a thing. Even so, the meaning of the story isn't the point. It was the reaction to it that left scars. “You shouldn't write things like that,” my teacher said, and I still remember her look of disappointment, even disgust. Certainly judgment. She said my writing was too dark. It wasn't a proper story. It wasn't appropriate for the class. As if horrible things never happened in stories — or in life. As if literature could not include dark tales. As if the only acceptable writing was the kind she approved of. We were taught The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that year, which says a lot about the type of writing considered appropriate. Or perhaps the issue stemmed from the school motto, “So hateth she derknesse,” from Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women: “For fear of night, so she hates the darkness.” I had won a scholarship to a private girls' school, and their mission was to turn us all into proper young ladies. Horror was never on the curriculum. Perhaps if my teacher had encouraged me to write my darkness back then, my nightmares would have dissolved on the page. Perhaps if we had studied Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or H.P. Lovecraft stories, or Bram Stoker's Dracula, I could have embraced the darker side of literature earlier in my life. My need to push darker thoughts into my Shadow was compounded by my (wonderful) mum's best intentions. We were brought up on the principles of The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and she tried to shield me and my brother from anything harmful or horrible. We weren't allowed to watch TV much, and even the British school drama Grange Hill was deemed inappropriate. So much of what I've achieved is because my mum instilled in me a “can do” attitude that anything is possible. I'm so grateful to her for that. (I love you, Mum!) But all that happy positivity, my desire to please her, to be a good girl, to make my teachers proud, and to be acceptable to society, meant that I pushed my darker thoughts into Shadow. They were inappropriate. They were taboo. They must be repressed, kept secret, and I must be outwardly happy and positive at all times. You cannot hold back the darkness “The night is dark and full of terrors.” —George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords It turned out that horror was on the curriculum, much of it in the form of educational films we watched during lessons. In English Literature, we watched Romeo drink poison and Juliet stab herself in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. In Religious Studies, we watched Jesus beaten, tortured, and crucified in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and learned of the variety of gruesome ways that Christian saints were martyred. In Classical Civilisation, we watched gladiators slaughter each other in Spartacus. In Sex Education at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the mid-'80s, we were told of the many ways we could get infected and die. In History, we studied the Holocaust with images of skeletal bodies thrown into mass graves, medical experiments on humans, and grainy videos of marching soldiers giving the Nazi salute. One of my first overseas school field trips was to the World War I battlegrounds of Flanders Fields in Belgium, where we studied the inhuman conditions of the trenches, walked through mass graves, and read war poetry by candlelight. As John McCrae wrote: We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Did the teachers not realise how deeply a sensitive teenager might feel the darkness of that place? Or have I always been unusual in that places of blood echo deep inside me? And the horrors kept coming. We lived in Bristol, England back then and I learned at school how the city had been part of the slave trade, its wealth built on the backs of people stolen from their homes, sold, and worked to death in the colonies. I had been at school for a year in Malawi, Africa and imagined the Black people I knew drowning, being beaten, and dying on those ships. In my teenage years, the news was filled with ethnic cleansing, mass rape, and massacres during the Balkan wars, and images of bodies hacked apart during the Rwandan genocide. Evil committed by humans against other humans was not a historical aberration. I'm lucky and I certainly acknowledge my privilege. Nothing terrible or horrifying has happened to me — but bad things certainly happen to others. I wasn't bullied or abused. I wasn't raped or beaten or tortured. But you don't have to go through things to be afraid of them, and for your imagination to conjure the possibility of them. My mum doesn't read my fiction now as it gives her nightmares (Sorry, Mum!). I know she worries that somehow she's responsible for my darkness, but I've had a safe and (mostly) happy life, for which I'm truly grateful. But the world is not an entirely safe and happy place, and for a sensitive child with a vivid imagination, the world is dark and scary. It can be brutal and violent, and bad things happen, even to good people. No parent can shield their child from the reality of the world. They can only help them do their best to live in it, develop resilience, and find ways to deal with whatever comes. Story has always been a way that humans have used to learn how to live and deal with difficult times. The best authors, the ones that readers adore and can't get enough of, write their darkness into story to channel their experience, and help others who fear the same. In an interview on writing the Shadow on The Creative Penn Podcast, Michaelbrent Collings shared how he incorporated a personally devastating experience into his writing:  “My wife and I lost a child years back, and that became the root of one of my most terrifying books, Apparition. It's not terrifying because it's the greatest book of all time, but just the concept that there's this thing out there… like a demon, and it consumes the blood and fear of the children, and then it withdraws and consumes the madness of the parents… I wrote that in large measure as a way of working through what I was experiencing.” I've learned much from Michaelbrent. I've read many of his (excellent) books and he's been on my podcast multiple times talking about his depression and mental health issues, as well as difficulties in his author career. Writing darkness is not in Michaelbrent's Shadow and only he can say what lies there for him. But from his example, and from that of other authors, I too learned how to write my Shadow into my books. Twenty-three years after that English lesson, in November 2009, I did NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and wrote five thousand words of what eventually became Stone of Fire, my first novel. In the initial chapter, I burned a nun alive on the ghats of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges River. I had watched the bodies burn by night on pyres from a boat bobbing in the current a few years before, and the image was still crystal clear in my mind. The only way to deal with how it made me feel about death was to write about it — and since then, I've never stopped writing. Returning to the nightmare from my school days, I've never had to choose between the two halves of my family, but the threat of losing them remains a theme in my fiction. In my ARKANE thriller series, Morgan Sierra will do anything to save her sister and her niece. Their safety drives her to continue to fight against evil. Our deepest fears emerge in our writing, and that's the safest place for them. I wish I'd been taught how to turn my nightmares into words back at school, but at least now I've learned to write my Shadow onto the page. I wish the same for you. The Shadow in traditional publishing If becoming an author is your dream, then publishing a book is deeply entwined with that. But as Mark Pierce says in The Creative Wound, “We feel pain the most where it matters the most… Desire highlights whatever we consider to be truly significant.” There is a lot of desire around publishing for those of us who love books! It can give you: Validation that your writing is good enough Status and credibility Acceptance by an industry held in esteem  The potential of financial reward and critical acclaim Support from a team of professionals who know how to make fantastic books A sense of belonging to an elite community Pride in achieving a long-held goal, resulting in a confidence boost and self-esteem Although not guaranteed, traditional publishing can give you all these things and more, but as with everything, there is a potential Shadow side. Denying it risks the potential of being disillusioned, disappointed, and even damaged. But remember, forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. Preparation can help you avoid potential issues and help you feel less alone if you encounter them. The myth of success… and the reality of experience There is a pervasive myth of success in the traditional publishing industry, perpetuated by media reporting on brand name and breakout authors, those few outliers whose experience is almost impossible to replicate. Because of such examples, many new traditionally published authors think that their first book will hit the top of the bestseller charts or win an award, as well as make them a million dollars — or at least a big chunk of cash. They will be able to leave their job, write in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean, and swan around the world attending conferences, while writing more bestselling books. It will be a charmed life. But that is not the reality. Perhaps it never was. Even so, the life of a traditionally published author represents a mythic career with the truth hidden behind a veil of obscurity. In April 2023, The Bookseller in the UK reported that “more than half of authors (54%) responding to a survey on their experiences of publishing their debut book have said the process negatively affected their mental health. Though views were mixed, just 22%… described a positive experience overall… Among the majority who said they had a negative experience of debut publication, anxiety, stress, depression and ‘lowered' self-esteem were cited, with lack of support, guidance or clear and professional communication from their publisher among the factors that contributed.” Many authors who have negative experiences around publishing will push them into the Shadow with denial or self-blame, preferring to keep the dream alive. They won't talk about things in public as this may negatively affect their careers, but private discussions are often held in the corners of writing conferences or social media groups online. Some of the issues are as follows: Repeated rejection by agents and publishers may lead to the author thinking they are not good enough as a writer, which can lead to feeling unworthy as a person. If an author gets a deal, the amount of advance and the name and status of the publisher compared to others create a hierarchy that impacts self-esteem. A deal for a book may be much lower than an author might have been expecting, with low or no advance, and the resulting experience with the publisher beneath expectations. The launch process may be disappointing, and the book may appear without fanfare, with few sales and no bestseller chart position. In The Bookseller report, one author described her launch day as “a total wasteland… You have expectations about what publication day will be like, but in reality, nothing really happens.” The book may receive negative reviews by critics or readers or more publicly on social media, which can make an author feel attacked. The book might not sell as well as expected, and the author may feel like it's their fault. Commercial success can sometimes feel tied to self-worth and an author can't help but compare their sales to others, with resulting embarrassment or shame. The communication from the publisher may be less than expected. One author in The Bookseller report said, “I was shocked by the lack of clarity and shared information and the cynicism that underlies the superficial charm of this industry.” There is often more of a focus on debut authors in publishing houses, so those who have been writing and publishing in the midlist for years can feel ignored and undervalued. In The Bookseller report, 48 percent of authors reported “their publisher supported them for less than a year,” with one saying, “I got no support and felt like a commodity, like the team had moved on completely to the next book.” If an author is not successful enough, the next deal may be lower than the last, less effort is made with marketing, and they may be let go. In The Bookseller report, “six authors—debut and otherwise—cited being dropped by their publisher, some with no explanation.” Even if everything goes well and an author is considered successful by others, they may experience imposter syndrome, feeling like a fraud when speaking at conferences or doing book signings. And the list goes on … All these things can lead to feelings of shame, inadequacy, and embarrassment; loss of status in the eyes of peers; and a sense of failure if a publishing career is not successful enough. The author feels like it's their fault, like they weren't good enough — although, of course, the reality is that the conditions were not right at the time. A failure of a book is not a failure of the person, but it can certainly feel like it! When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Despite all the potential negatives of traditional publishing, if you know what could happen, you can mitigate them. You can prepare yourself for various scenarios and protect yourself from potential fall-out. It's clear from The Bookseller report that too many authors have unrealistic expectations of the industry. But publishers are businesses, not charities. It's not their job to make you feel good as an author. It's their job to sell books and pay you. The best thing they can do is to continue to be a viable business so they can keep putting books on the shelves and keep paying authors, staff, and company shareholders. When you license your creative work to a publisher, you're giving up control of your intellectual property in exchange for money and status. Bring your fears and issues out of the Shadow, acknowledge them, and deal with them early, so they do not get pushed down and re-emerge later in blame and bitterness. Educate yourself on the business of publishing. Be clear on what you want to achieve with any deal. Empower yourself as an author, take responsibility for your career, and you will have a much better experience. The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author Self-publishing, or being an independent (indie) author, can be a fantastic, pro-active choice for getting your book into the world. Holding your first book in your hand and saying “I made this” is pretty exciting, and even after more than forty books, I still get excited about seeing ideas in my head turn into a physical product in the world. Self-publishing can give an author: Creative control over what to write, editorial and cover design choices, when and how often to publish, and how to market Empowerment over your author career and the ability to make choices that impact success without asking for permission Ownership and control of intellectual property assets, resulting in increased opportunity around licensing and new markets Independence and the potential for recurring income for the long term Autonomy and flexibility around timelines, publishing options, and the ability to easily pivot into new genres and business models Validation based on positive reader reviews and money earned Personal growth and learning through the acquisition of new skills, resulting in a boost in confidence and self-esteem A sense of belonging to an active and vibrant community of indie authors around the world Being an indie author can give you all this and more, but once again, there is a Shadow side and preparation can help you navigate potential issues. The myth of success… and the reality of experience As with traditional publishing, the indie author world has perpetuated a myth of success in the example of the breakout indie author like E.L. James with Fifty Shades of Grey, Hugh Howey with Wool, or Andy Weir with The Martian. The emphasis on financial success is also fuelled online by authors who share screenshots showing six-figure months or seven-figure years, without sharing marketing costs and other outgoings, or the amount of time spent on the business. Yes, these can inspire some, but it can also make others feel inadequate and potentially lead to bad choices about how to publish and market based on comparison. The indie author world is full of just as much ego and a desire for status and money as traditional publishing. This is not a surprise! Most authors, regardless of publishing choices, are a mix of massive ego and chronic self-doubt. We are human, so the same issues will re-occur. A different publishing method doesn't cure all ills. Some of the issues are as follows: You learn everything you need to know about writing and editing, only to find that you need to learn a whole new set of skills in order to self-publish and market your book. This can take a lot of time and effort you did not expect, and things change all the time so you have to keep learning. Being in control of every aspect of the publishing process, from writing to cover design to marketing, can be overwhelming, leading to indecision, perfectionism, stress, and even burnout as you try to do all the things. You try to find people to help, but building your team is a challenge, and working with others has its own difficulties. People say negative things about self-publishing that may arouse feelings of embarrassment or shame. These might be little niggles, but they needle you, nonetheless. You wonder whether you made the right choice. You struggle with self-doubt and if you go to an event with traditional published authors, you compare yourself to them and feel like an imposter. Are you good enough to be an author if a traditional publisher hasn't chosen you? Is it just vanity to self-publish? Are your books unworthy? Even though you worked with a professional editor, you still get one-star reviews and you hate criticism from readers. You wonder whether you're wasting your time. You might be ripped off by an author services company who promise the world, only to leave you with a pile of printed books in your garage and no way to sell them. When you finally publish your book, it languishes at the bottom of the charts while other authors hit the top of the list over and over, raking in the cash while you are left out of pocket. You don't admit to over-spending on marketing as it makes you ashamed. You resist book marketing and make critical comments about writers who embrace it. You believe that quality rises to the top and if a book is good enough, people will buy it anyway. This can lead to disappointment and disillusionment when you launch your book and it doesn't sell many copies because nobody knows about it. You try to do what everyone advises, but you still can't make decent money as an author. You're jealous of other authors' success and put it down to them ‘selling out' or writing things you can't or ‘using AI' or ‘using a ghostwriter' or having a specific business model you consider impossible to replicate. And the list goes on… When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Being in control of your books and your author career is a double-edged sword. Traditionally published authors can criticise their publishers or agents or the marketing team or the bookstores or the media, but indie authors have to take responsibility for it all. Sure, we can blame ‘the algorithms' or social media platforms, or criticise other authors for having more experience or more money to invest in marketing, or attribute their success to writing in a more popular genre — but we also know there are always people who do well regardless of the challenges. Once more, we're back to acknowledging and integrating the Shadow side of our choices. We are flawed humans. There will always be good times and bad, and difficulties to offset the high points. This too shall pass, as the old saying goes. I know that being an indie author has plenty of Shadow. I've been doing this since 2008 and despite the hard times, I'm still here. I'm still writing. I'm still publishing. This life is not for everyone, but it's my choice. You must make yours. The Shadow in work You work hard. You make a living. Nothing wrong with that attitude, right? It's what we're taught from an early age and, like so much of life, it's not a problem until it goes to extremes. Not achieving what you want to? Work harder. Can't get ahead? Work harder. Not making a good enough living? Work harder. People who don't work hard are lazy. They don't deserve handouts or benefits. People who don't work hard aren't useful, so they are not valued members of our culture and community. But what about the old or the sick, the mentally ill, or those with disabilities? What about children? What about the unemployed? The under-employed? What about those who are — or will be — displaced by technology, those called “the useless class” by historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book Homo Deus? What if we become one of these in the future? Who am I if I cannot work? The Shadow side of my attitude to work became clear when I caught COVID in the summer of 2021. I was the sickest I'd ever been. I spent two weeks in bed unable to even think properly, and six weeks after that, I was barely able to work more than an hour a day before lying in the dark and waiting for my energy to return. I was limited in what I could do for another six months after that. At times, I wondered if I would ever get better. Jonathan kept urging me to be patient and rest. But I don't know how to rest. I know how to work and how to sleep. I can do ‘active rest,' which usually involves walking a long way or traveling somewhere interesting, but those require a stronger mind and body than I had during those months. It struck me that even if I recovered from the virus, I had glimpsed my future self. One day, I will be weak in body and mind. If I'm lucky, that will be many years away and hopefully for a short time before I die — but it will happen. I am an animal. I will die. My body and mind will pass on and I will be no more. Before then I will be weak. Before then, I will be useless. Before then, I will be a burden. I will not be able to work… But who am I if I cannot work? What is the point of me? I can't answer these questions right now, because although I recognise them as part of my Shadow, I've not progressed far enough to have dealt with them entirely. My months of COVID gave me some much-needed empathy for those who cannot work, even if they want to. We need to reframe what work is as a society, and value humans for different things, especially as technology changes what work even means. That starts with each of us. “Illness, affliction of body and soul, can be life-altering. It has the potential to reveal the most fundamental conflict of the human condition: the tension between our infinite, glorious dreams and desires and our limited, vulnerable, decaying physicality.” —Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul The Shadow in money In the Greek myth, King Midas was a wealthy ruler who loved gold above all else. His palace was adorned with golden sculptures and furniture, and he took immense pleasure in his riches. Yet, despite his vast wealth, he yearned for more. After doing a favour for Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, Midas was granted a single wish. Intoxicated by greed, he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold — and it was so. At first, it was a lot of fun. Midas turned everything else in his palace to gold, even the trees and stones of his estate. After a morning of turning things to gold, he fancied a spot of lunch. But when he tried to eat, the food and drink turned to gold in his mouth. He became thirsty and hungry — and increasingly desperate. As he sat in despair on his golden throne, his beloved young daughter ran to comfort him. For a moment, he forgot his wish — and as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek, she turned into a golden statue, frozen in precious metal. King Midas cried out to the gods to forgive him, to reverse the wish. He renounced his greed and gave away all his wealth, and his daughter was returned to life. The moral of the story: Wealth and greed are bad. In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is described as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.” He's wealthy but does not share, considering Christmas spending to be frivolous and giving to charity to be worthless. He's saved by a confrontation with his lonely future and becomes a generous man and benefactor of the poor. Wealth is good if you share it with others. The gospel of Matthew, chapter 25: 14-30, tells the parable of the bags of gold, in which a rich man goes on a journey and entrusts his servants with varying amounts of gold. On his return, the servants who multiplied the gold through their efforts and investments are rewarded, while the one who merely returned the gold with no interest is punished: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Making money is good, making more money is even better. If you can't make any money, you don't deserve to have any. Within the same gospel, in Matthew 19:24, Jesus encounters a wealthy man and tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, which the man is unable to do. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Wealth is bad. Give it all away and you'll go to heaven. With all these contradictory messages, no wonder we're so conflicted about money! How do you think and feel about money? While money is mostly tied to our work, it's far more than just a transactional object for most people. It's loaded with complex symbolism and judgment handed down by family, religion, and culture. You are likely to find elements of Shadow by examining your attitudes around money. Consider which of the following statements resonate with you or write your own. Money stresses me out. I don't want to talk about it or think about it. Some people hoard money, so there is inequality. Rich people are bad and we should take away their wealth and give it to the poor.  I can never make enough money to pay the bills, or to give my family what I want to provide. Money doesn't grow on trees.  It's wasteful to spend money as you might need it later, so I'm frugal and don't spend money unless absolutely necessary. It is better and more ethical to be poor than to be rich. I want more money. I read books and watch TV shows about rich people because I want to live like that. Sometimes I spend too much on things for a glimpse of what that might be like.  I buy lottery tickets and dream of winning all that money.  I'm jealous of people who have money. I want more of it and I resent those who have it. I'm no good with money. I don't like to look at my bank statement or credit card statement. I live off my overdraft and I'm in debt. I will never earn enough to get out of debt and start saving, so I don't think too much about it. I don't know enough about money. Talking about it makes me feel stupid, so I just ignore it. People like me aren't educated about money.  I need to make more money. If I can make lots of money, then people will look up to me. If I make lots of money, I will be secure, nothing can touch me, I will be safe.  I never want to be poor. I would be ashamed to be poor. I will never go on benefits. My net worth is my self worth. Money is good. We have the best standard of living in history because of the increase in wealth over time. Even the richest kings of the past didn't have what many middle-class people have today in terms of access to food, water, technology, healthcare, education, and more. The richest people give the most money to the poor through taxation and charity, as well as through building companies that employ people and invent new things. The very richest give away much of their fortunes. They provide far more benefit to the world than the poor.  I love money. Money loves me. Money comes easily and quickly to me. I attract money in multiple streams of income. It flows to me in so many ways. I spend money. I invest money. I give money. I'm happy and grateful for all that I receive. The Shadow around money for authors in particular Many writers and other creatives have issues around money and wealth. How often have you heard the following, and which do you agree with? You can't make money with your writing. You'll be a poor author in a garret, a starving artist.  You can't write ‘good quality' books and make money. If you make money writing, you're a hack, you're selling out. You are less worthy than someone who writes only for the Muse. Your books are commercial, not artistic. If you spend money on marketing, then your books are clearly not good enough to sell on their own. My agent / publisher / accountant / partner deals with the money side. I like to focus on the creative side of things. My money story Note: This is not financial or investment advice. Please talk to a professional about your situation. I've had money issues over the years — haven't we all! But I have been through a (long) process to bring money out of my Shadow and into the light. There will always be more to discover, but hopefully my money story will help you, or at least give you an opportunity to reflect. Like most people, I didn't grow up with a lot of money. My parents started out as teachers, but later my mum — who I lived with, along with my brother — became a change management consultant, moving to the USA and earning a lot more. I'm grateful that she moved into business because her example changed the way I saw money and provided some valuable lessons. (1) You can change your circumstances by learning more and then applying that to leverage opportunity into a new job or career Mum taught English at a school in Bristol when we moved back from Malawi, Africa, in the mid '80s but I remember how stressful it was for her, and how little money she made. She wanted a better future for us all, so she took a year out to do a master's degree in management. In the same way, when I wanted to change careers and leave consulting to become an author, I spent time and money learning about the writing craft and the business of publishing. I still invest a considerable chunk on continuous learning, as this industry changes all the time. (2) You might have to downsize in order to leap forward The year my mum did her degree, we lived in the attic of another family's house; we ate a lot of one-pot casserole and our treat was having a Yorkie bar on the walk back from the museum. We wore hand-me-down clothes, and I remember one day at school when another girl said I was wearing her dress. I denied it, of course, but there in back of the dress was her name tag. I still remember her name and I can still feel that flush of shame and embarrassment. I was determined to never feel like that again. But what I didn't realize at the time was that I was also learning the power of downsizing. Mum got her degree and then a new job in management in Bristol. She bought a house, and we settled for a few years. I had lots of different jobs as a teenager. My favourite was working in the delicatessen because we got a free lunch made from delicious produce. After I finished A-levels, I went to the University of Oxford, and my mum and brother moved to the USA for further opportunities. I've downsized multiple times over the years, taking a step back in order to take a step forward. The biggest was in 2010 when I decided to leave consulting. Jonathan and I sold our three-bedroom house and investments in Brisbane, Australia, and rented a one-bedroom flat in London, so we could be debt-free and live on less while I built up a new career. It was a decade before we bought another house. (3) Comparison can be deadly: there will always be people with more money than you Oxford was an education in many ways and relevant to this chapter is how much I didn't know about things people with money took for granted. I learned about formal hall and wine pairings, and how to make a perfect gin and tonic. I ate smoked salmon for the first time. I learned how to fit in with people who had a lot more money than I did, and I definitely wanted to have money of my own to play with. (4) Income is not wealth You can earn lots but have nothing to show for it after years of working. I learned this in my first few years of IT consulting after university. I earned a great salary and then went contracting, earning even more money at a daily rate. I had a wonderful time. I traveled, ate and drank and generally made merry, but I always had to go back to the day job when the money ran out. I couldn't work out how I could ever stop this cycle. Then I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, a book I still recommend, especially if you're from a family that values academic over financial education. I learned how to escape the rat race by building and/or accumulating assets that pay even when you're not working. It was a revelation! The ‘poor dad' in the book is a university professor. He knows so much about so many things, but he ends up poor as he did not educate himself about money. The ‘rich dad' has little formal education, but he knows about money and wealth because he learned about it, as we can do at any stage in our lives. (5) Not all investments suit every person, so find the right one for you Once I discovered the world of investing, I read all the books and did courses and in-person events. I joined communities and I up-skilled big time. Of course, I made mistakes and learned lots along the way. I tried property investing and renovated a couple of houses for rental (with more practical partners and skilled contractors). But while I could see that property investing might work for some people, I did not care enough about the details to make it work for me, and it was certainly not passive income. I tried other things. My first husband was a boat skipper and scuba diving instructor, so we started a charter. With the variable costs of fuel, the vagaries of New Zealand weather — and our divorce — it didn't last long! From all these experiments, I learned I wanted to run a business, but it needed to be online and not based on a physical location, physical premises, or other people. That was 2006, around the time that blogging started taking off and it became possible to make a living online. I could see the potential and a year later, the iPhone and the Amazon Kindle launched, which became the basis of my business as an author. (6) Boring, automatic saving and investing works best Between 2007 and 2011, I contracted in Australia, where they have compulsory superannuation contributions, meaning you have to save and invest a percentage of your salary or self-employed income. I'd never done that before, because I didn't understand it. I'd ploughed all my excess income into property or the business instead. But in Australia I didn't notice the money going out because it was automatic. I chose a particular fund and it auto-invested every month. The pot grew pretty fast since I didn't touch it, and years later, it's still growing. I discovered the power of compound interest and time in the market, both of which are super boring. This type of investing is not a get rich quick scheme. It's a slow process of automatically putting money into boring investments and doing that month in, month out, year in, year out, automatically for decades while you get on with your life. I still do this. I earn money as an author entrepreneur and I put a percentage of that into boring investments automatically every month. I also have a small amount which is for fun and higher risk investments, but mostly I'm a conservative, risk-averse investor planning ahead for the future. This is not financial advice, so I'm not giving any specifics. I have a list of recommended money books at www.TheCreativePenn.com/moneybooks if you want to learn more. Learning from the Shadow When I look back, my Shadow side around money eventually drove me to learn more and resulted in a better outcome (so far!). I was ashamed of being poor when I had to wear hand-me-down clothes at school. That drove a fear of not having any money, which partially explains my workaholism. I was embarrassed at Oxford because I didn't know how to behave in certain settings, and I wanted to be like the rich people I saw there. I spent too much money in my early years as a consultant because I wanted to experience a “rich” life and didn't understand saving and investing would lead to better things in the future. I invested too much in the wrong things because I didn't know myself well enough and I was trying to get rich quick so I could leave my job and ‘be happy.' But eventually, I discovered that I could grow my net worth with boring, long-term investments while doing a job I loved as an author entrepreneur. My only regret is that I didn't discover this earlier and put a percentage of my income into investments as soon as I started work. It took several decades to get started, but at least I did (eventually) start. My money story isn't over yet, and I keep learning new things, but hopefully my experience will help you reflect on your own and avoid the issue if it's still in Shadow. These chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn  The post Writing The Shadow: The Creative Wound, Publishing, And Money, With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

This week's Memoir Nation show shares a story of poverty, and shines light on a particular kind of story that's much more prevalent than many of us would like to think. Guest Suzette Partido writes in her new book, Love Will Save Us, Right?, about how she slid into poverty, the struggles she and her family face given that everything is uncertain. And yet, this is a book about love and looking out for family, and about how we survive, and how we brace for what we cannot control. This is a tough but also sweet and heartfelt episode about writing into the challenges of our lives without pity—and even with humor. Suzette Partido has worked as a community developer and non-profit organizer for three decades. She trained as an AIDS chaplain, street outreach worker, substance abuse counselor, reproductive health educator, volunteer coordinator, and public speaker. She managed an HHSA community liaison for children's public behavioral health and served as the Director of Education for a local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She lives with her neurodivergent young adult son and her wife inside a ten-by-ten canvas tent in her mother's backyard in San Diego, and her memoir is Love Will Save Us, Right? .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when art confronts indifference, fear, and political inertia? We talk with Tomáš Eštok, founder of Spare Parts Theater, Bohdan Metenkanych, director of their upcoming production The Normal Heart, and Seán MacDiarmada, actor and co-host of Slovak Sound Check, about their unique English-language theatre in Slovakia and its strong social and political commentary. The conversation centres on The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's powerful play about the AIDS crisis, and its renewed — and at times surprising — relevance in post-pandemic Slovakia. As always, the programme concludes with a new edition of our language corner, Slovak Sound Check.

Dr. Paul Benson is the founder, owner, and Medical Director of Be Well Medical Center in Berkley, Michigan, a family medicine practice established 45 years ago. He is proud to share he was the first LGBTQ physician to open a medical practice in Metro Detroit, creating a safe, affirming space for patients of all backgrounds, especially those too often overlooked or mistreated in healthcare. While he did not set out to become an HIV specialist, the timing of opening his practice in 1980 placed him at the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic, when fear and stigma kept many providers from treating gay men. What began with caring for friends quickly grew into a trusted medical home for LGBTQ patients and a lifelong commitment to HIV medicine and advocacy.In this candid conversation, Dr. Benson and Dr. Joe Kort reflect on the early years of the epidemic, the loneliness many patients endured, and the enormous changes that arrived as treatments evolved and prevention became possible. Dr. Benson explains why HIV care is an intellectual challenge, not just medically, but emotionally and psychologically, because great care requires seeing the whole person, including mental health. They also discuss today's realities. PrEP is highly effective, but many people who could benefit from it still are not using it consistently. Dr. Benson shares optimism about long acting injectable prevention options and the future of cure research, and he gives a clear, reassuring answer to a question Joe hears often. If someone is not having intercourse, do they need PrEP or other HIV prevention medications? His answer is no.The episode also dives into gender affirming care and what responsible, ethical transgender healthcare actually looks like in a primary care setting. Dr. Benson talks about his decades of experience providing hormone therapy, why careful lab monitoring matters, the risks of using higher than recommended dosing, and his measured approach to puberty blockers and surgical interventions for adolescents. He closes with a message he wants every listener to hear. Mental health is a vital part of total healthcare, and patients deserve a strong support team, including providers who collaborate and patients who advocate for themselves, and who cancel appointments when they cannot make them.Listen to this Smart Sex, Smart Love episode as Dr. Joe Kort talks with Dr. Paul Benson about LGBTQ affirming primary care, the evolution of HIV treatment and prevention, the reality behind transgender medicine, and why mental health support belongs in every healthcare plan.Support the show

Thirty years ago, we never imagined we'd be navigating conversations about gender identity and sexuality with our children, but here we are. In this powerful conversation, Dannah Gresh from Pure Freedom Ministries shares biblical wisdom and practical tools to help you confidently guide your kids through today's confusing culture.In this episode, you'll discover:✅Three key Bible passages every child needs to understand about their body and identity before the world tells them lies✅How to have age-appropriate conversations about gender and sexuality without robbing your children of their innocence✅The critical difference between accepting and affirming when someone you love is walking through gender confusion✅Why your child's maleness or femaleness is directly connected to reflecting God's image in the world✅Practical strategies for responding with both truth and compassion when your kids encounter gender ideology at school or onlineReady to equip yourself with biblical truth? Grab the resources Dannah mentions in this episode to start these important conversations with confidence.Get your FREE Basic Pass to Life Skills Leadership Summit 2026 to give you confidence that your kids will be ready for adult life: https://HowToHomeschoolMyChild.com/lsls26Resources Mentioned:It's Great to Be a GirlLies Girls BelieveLies Girls Believe Mom's GuideLies Young Women BelieveLies Women BelieveIt's Great to Be a BoyLies Boys BelieveLies Men BelieveDannah Gresh is the founder of True Girl, a ministry dedicated to providing tools to help moms and grandmas disciple their 7–12-year-old girls. She is the co-host of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth's Revive Our Hearts podcast and Revive Our Hearts Weekend. She has authored over twenty-eight books, including a Bible study for adult women based on the book of Habakkuk. Dannah and her husband, Bob, have just released a new book and limited-series podcast called Happily Even After which tells their marriage redemption story. They live on a hobby farm in central Pennsylvania.Show Notes: Introduction: A Topic We Never Imagined FacingKerry: Well hey everyone, Kerry back here with Life Skills Leadership Summit. Today I'm excited—not because of the topic, because it's a really difficult topic on sexuality and gender—but Dannah Gresh, I've just gotten to know her from a distance through podcasts and Revive Our Hearts and reading one of her books as well. But I do know that she has got a lot to say on this issue. So Dannah, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.Dannah: Oh, I am so honored and delighted. Thank you for having me.Kerry: So before we get started, let me just pray for us and we'll let God guide this conversation.Father in Heaven, thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for Zoom. Thank you that we can have a conversation and we can share it with many, many people. We thank you that you are sovereign, that you're the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we can rest in that no matter what's going on around us. And there's a lot of mess going on around us, but we can have our hope in Jesus.We just thank you for Jesus and the bond that we have in Him through the blood that He shed for us. I thank you for Dannah being here. I pray that the things that you want said will be spoken through this conversation, that you will be glorified, and that the ones that are listening, you will just really touch their hearts and show them what types of practical steps or spending more time in the Word—whatever you want them to do—and just to be led by the Holy Spirit. We pray all these things in Jesus' powerful name, amen.Dannah: Amen.About Pure Freedom Ministries and PartnershipKerry: Okay, for those of you that don't know, Dannah has Pure Freedom Ministries and this has two parts: True Girl and Born to Be Brave. By the time y'all listen to this, you probably already heard one of my kickoffs because we do one on Sunday night before the whole week and I'll explain it.But they are our organization that we are supporting through this Summit. So we'll take the profits that we make on anyone that upgrades from free to VIP. If you upgrade to VIP, 5% of our profits will go to this organization. And then some of our speakers—you've probably heard about the ones that have chosen to—if they decide to donate 5% of their commissions, then I will match that 5% as well.So hopefully, you know, that will be just a little way that y'all can support what Dannah and her team are doing. So I just want to make sure everyone understands that before we get going.Dannah: What a blessing. Thank you so much.Dannah's Story: From Teenager to Ministry LeaderKerry: Well, let's before we start this topic, can you just tell people a little bit about yourself?Dannah: Sure. Well, I love Jesus first and foremost, and He is the best part of everything about my life. I came to know Him when I was a really little girl through Child Evangelism Fellowship five-day clubs. I just love Child Evangelism Fellowship to this day because I remember that moment when I surrendered my heart and my life to Jesus. So precious.But fast forward—at the age of 15, I was a teacher for Child Evangelism Fellowship. I was teaching Sunday school in my church to three-year-olds, and I loved the Lord like crazy. But I was in a Christian dating relationship and was blindsided by sexual temptation.I just thought that was not possible in my life because I loved the Lord so much. And it became this great shame and this great heartache of my life until I was about 26. I just really understood that even though it had been so long since I'd experienced that sin and chosen that sin, I hadn't really received the redemption and the freedom that Christ died to give me.When I did, my life changed. And I had to get out my megaphone—my proverbial megaphone—and tell teenage girls. And then as I was doing that, ministry just kind of exploded.I was praying, "Lord, let me graduate to college girls and adult women." And the Lord said, "What about my little women? What about my 10-year-olds and what about my 9-year-olds and what about my 8-year-olds?"I was like, "Lord, that's really great. Somebody needs to do children's ministry, but what about me graduating from high school girls to the older women?" And He was persistent. The Lord just kept opening doors.Before we knew it, we really are one of the largest ministries that takes biblical truth to 8 to 12-year-old girls. And now we have boys—we just added them in the last few years—through live events, box subscriptions, Bible studies, online Bible studies, at-home Bible studies with mom. We want to put mom in the driver's seat. We believe that's what God's Word says—that mom and dad belong in the driver's seat of a child's moral development.Now we fast forward to this year. We live in a time and a day and age when the government and a lot of different political entities believe that parents aren't equipped to make moral decisions about their children. Well, we still believe they are.And now I understand why the Lord has put us in this critical position. One of the things we've done really well through the years is take whatever the difficult issues of the day are—when we started, that was AIDS—and we look at it through a biblical lens.Today, that biblical lens that we look through, we're looking at the issue mostly of gender and identity. And when you think about how do we talk to an 8-year-old about that biblically without robbing them of their innocence, and also just the depression and anxiety these kids are at the tip of the spear...Teens have long been at the tip of the spear, but the enemy has moved the line backward. And now it's those 8 to 12-year-olds that really are having to grapple with things that their little hearts and minds aren't ready for. But we know how to do that in a way that's safe and biblical and most importantly keeps mom and dad in the driver's seat.The Trends We're Seeing in Gender IdentityKerry: That is so good. And I know I'm on y'all's True Girl mailing list, and so they have things and I have downloaded a few things just to find out exactly what they are. I'm giving my daughter some of y'all's books as well. I think it's the Lies Young Girls Believe, something like that. I'm not quite sure what it was.But I do have to tell you, all of a sudden I have one more connection with you because I grew up with Child Evangelism Fellowship and I became a believer at a Good News Club. I started, went to their CEF training as a teenager, and then we did the five-day clubs in Houston. So I was like, oh wow, that's so interesting. Small world.Dannah: They are a fruitful ministry. Look at us—we're passing, we're the fruit, we're passing on fruit. We're the fruit of their fruit.Kerry: My parents, they're in their 70s and 80s, and a while back they would lead Good News Clubs in the public school for like five years. They're still going on with it and all. So I love it. It does work.So okay, so we are in a just a strange time. And if you had asked us 30 years ago, we'd be going, "No way, we wouldn't be dealing with these issues." So what kind of trends are you seeing right now when it comes to gender identity and sexuality?Dannah: Well, you know, I would say heterosexual is definitely not in style. And what we see is a lot of teens claiming to be pansexual, where they're just willing to erase anything that has a baseline of truth to it and embrace everything. Basically, is what pansexuality is.A lot of teens in terms of gender are saying they're non-binary. That's just what's in style right now. And you might say, "Well, but there really is a problem. There are some kids that definitely struggle with gender dysphoria."Absolutely, that's true. Historically, we've known for decades that children—a very, very small percentage of them—are born with things like Klinefelter syndrome, fragile X syndrome. These are syndromes like Down syndrome where there are chromosomal abnormalities in that child's body.And the parents and the physicians have to work together to decide, how are we going to raise this child? Most cases, they can take a blood test and they can determine this child is clearly male or clearly female. But we have some issues that we're going to have to deal with because of these syndromes.But in most cases, they can really figure out what's happening there. And so that's the good news. But I think it's an important thing for us that we have to be compassionate because for some people that you meet on the street that you're not quite sure—are they male or female?—that's not a choice. It was something that they were born with. That's very difficult and painful. So we have to be careful.But on the other end of the spectrum, what we're seeing right now is—well, let me explain it this way. In about the year 2011, there was a shift from transgenderism being predominantly a male problem to now, it is today predominantly female. You see more teenage females transitioning than males.So the intellectually honest sociologists will say, "What happened to make that really dramatic shift happen?"And I think probably the person that's been bravest about it is a woman named Abigail Shrier. She's a journalist, not a believer as far as I know, conservative though, and yet very intellectually honest. Some parents kept writing to her and saying, "We need somebody to research this."And she brought together some of the bravest sociologists, some of the bravest intellectually honest ones. And what they found was clusters of girls transitioning. So in other words, a school district or a school or a city was seeing a lot of girls transitioning, and there were pops of this all over the United States.Now if this were a more intellectually honest occurrence, you would have seen it happening more evenly over the culture. But that's not the case. What's happening is cluster contagion. And that's what we're calling it now, which basically is peer pressure causing girls to say, "I don't feel comfortable in my body."Now let me remind you, there aren't very many of us that felt super comfortable in our body in seventh grade. But we weren't having somebody sit there next to us and telling us that might be because you're not really a girl.So I guess what we're seeing is a lot of confusion. Majority of what we're seeing is mass confusion that we need to prepare our children for and that we need to speak into truthfully. But we can't forget the compassion because there's a sliver of people struggling right now where this really is a deeply painful thing and not something that they chose.Why This Topic Is Critical Right NowKerry: That is something. So I mean, to me it seems pretty obvious, but why do you think this topic is so important right now?Dannah: Well, it's—let me say, take that from two angles. One reason it's important is because your children are being lied to, and we need to speak truth into their hearts and into their minds. We have to put so much truth into them that there's not room for the world's lies.When they see or hear a counterfeit, they immediately know, "That's not what I learned from God's Word. That's not what I learned from my parents whom I trust to be true." And they come to you and they say, "Hey, I just heard this." And you help—might not know the answers, but you help them figure out.But here's why I think it's really important, and this is why it's been important since the beginning of time. In Genesis 1:26 and 27-28, in that chapter we see God saying that He's made us in His image. And then He could have listed almost anything about us that would have made us like Him—our language proficiency, our ability to compose sonnets, our creativity, the fact that we would figure out how to defy gravity and fly to the moon. All these things about us are so God-like. Our even our emotions—animals are emotive, but not to the degree that we are.And yet God says one thing: "In the image of God He created them, male and female He created them."Our maleness and our femaleness is a distinct part of representing the image of God on this lost world. That's why it matters more than anything. And that's what our children need to know more than anything.How Parents Can Communicate God's TruthKerry: That is so good. I mean, it really is. We need to—and I love what y'all do is always going back to the Bible, you know. And this is a Christian conference. There's plenty of things out there for parents, but we want to make sure we're always going back to the Bible.So what are some things that parents could do? Like you want them to—one of the things that I know I've heard you say many times, we need to speak truth to our soul, but first we have to teach our kids what the truth is. How can parents communicate God's truth in regards to gender and sexuality and identity?Dannah: Well, I obviously encourage them to get them in the Word and some of these key passages that talk about our bodies. And I basically have three key passages that I think our kids need to study about this. I write about them in It's Great to Be a Girl. My husband and one of his co-authors writes about them in It's Great to Be a Guy. That's for kids aged 8 to 12, somewhere in that range.First one is in the book of 1 Corinthians. It says that our bodies exist to glorify God. That the purpose of our body is to glorify God. You know, we get really sidetracked and we think our bodies are for us to feel good, for us to feel pleasure, for us to look good and be this just vision of beauty or handsomeness, whatever it is.Our bodies were created to glorify God. That's why they exist—to showcase Him, to give honor to Him. That's why we dress carefully and tastefully and modestly. That's why we use language that's becoming and careful. That's why we don't get into the dark.I'm always concerned when we get into really dark-looking countenance and clothings and styles because Jesus is light and He is love and He is joy, and we want our countenance to reflect that. But my body doesn't exist for Dannah. My body exists for God.Then the second thing is the one I just mentioned earlier: Genesis 1:26 and 27, that the purpose of my body—how I glorify God—is as a female or male image-bearer. Because glorifying Him—I like to say that the moon glorifies the sun, okay? The moon doesn't have any light of its own, but it reflects the light of the sun, and that's why we have a full moon. They're so beautiful.Well, in the same way, we have to look like God. That's what glorifying Him means. And Genesis 1:26-27 says we do that best in the defined roles, the binary roles of maleness and femaleness. So they matter. They're important.And then the other verse that I think is really important is in Romans 12:1 and 2. It says, "I beg you brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice."So when my body, which was created to glorify God, doesn't feel like glorifying God as a female image-bearer of God, it becomes a sacrifice to God because I choose to live sacrificially according to the purpose of my body as a female image-bearer.Now I don't know that those are the only passages that your children need to get into, but those are three of the big ones that they need to memorize, dissect, be familiar with, understand. And that's going to give them more than studying all the counterfeits. That's going to give them the fuel they need for the conversations that are going to come up in their lives at one point or another.Age-Appropriate Conversations About TruthKerry: That's so good. Because we don't know what's going to happen in 20 years, you know, and what things they're going to need to know.When you think about even these three passages or talking about truth at different ages, because you've talked about 8 to 12 and then we've got teenagers, would you approach them differently or do you have any suggestions about that?Dannah: Well, with teens, of course, I'm going to be a lot more forthright. Although more and more—we just had a mom communicate with us that her child is attending a private school, not a Christian school but a private school. And just this year, the daughter came home and said, "Hey, we have Teacher X teaching at our school." And I'm not going to say the name. And it's not Mr. X or Mrs. X, it's Teacher X.And of course this mom said, "Well, do you know if Teacher X is male or female?" And she kind of said, "Well, this is what I think, but that's probably—they're trying not to look that way." So there's obviously some gender confusion there.What was really interesting is that when they have a student teacher, this parent had previously gotten a letter that said, "This is the teacher, this is what you need to know about them, I want to introduce them to you, they'll be starting on this date, they'll be ending on this date." In this case, that didn't happen.So that child is in about fifth grade. So we're not—and I've heard in my own school district of kindergarteners who are being told, "You get to pick your pronoun in my class. Maybe you weren't allowed that opportunity at home, but in my class you get to choose what you are, who you are."And so more and more we are having to have more of a conversation that we want, especially if we've chosen for our children not to be homeschooled or not to be in a space where their teaching is governed by truth. And that's not you, but it may be your friends, and it may be someone you're conversing with or having coffee with, you know, needs to know—hey, some crazy stuff is happening in some of these schools.And they don't believe it until it hits them. And then that's how this mom was. She's like, "I heard about it in California and I heard about it in this state and that state, but my state?" Yes, your state.So I think it's really important that we let them drive the questions though. So at high school we maybe are being, you know, we're talking about transgenderism, we're talking about all the different language that is used—the LGBTQ+, non-binary, binary, pansexuality.Mom, dad, you got to do some vocabulary work on this one. You've got to know the words, and that's going to help build your credibility. If you have a child who has been exposed, if you don't know a word, just say, "I'm not really sure what pansexuality is. Let's look it up and learn together, and then we're going to go to God's Word and figure out what He says about it."But when you're under, I would say 12 years old, I would just stick to God's truth. And what you're going to find, and what we have found as we have taken moms and daughters through It's Great to Be a Girl online Bible study or It's Great to Be a Guy online Bible study, is that studying it in the Bible and having mom and dad sitting there talking with you about it brings up the questions.They'll say, "I heard that so-and-so down the street has two dads," or "I heard that this friend at church has a brother who's becoming a sister." And you have the opportunity then to talk to them about that stuff.But I really like to let them drive that rather than us introducing things. And there's such a fine line there. And what I want to say is we don't—we have to be very careful about being afraid of the topic of sex because God isn't. He's not afraid of the topic, and we don't need to be afraid of it.But there are developmental phases where our children are more ready for some of these things than others. And if you can delay some of these conversations until they are developmentally ready, I think that's wise.The Importance of Reclaiming Biblical SexualityKerry: I think that's really good. And I appreciate you saying that we need to talk to them about sexuality more than just what sex is or how do we have kids, that type of thing. Because I know I heard on one of y'all's podcasts, you know, if we don't reclaim the sexuality and what's going on, the world is going to take over, which is what it's doing. And the church really does need to understand it. And if moms and dads don't, they need to do some research and stuff.Dannah: Well, and Ephesians 5:31 and 32 says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." And then it's almost like the Apostle Paul has ADHD or something. Because it's like he changes the subject. He says, "I'm really talking about Christ and the church."And this verse probably more than any other in Scripture tells us that marriage is meant to be a picture of the love Christ has for His bride, the church. But you can see that taught from Genesis to Revelation. It's a very important picture in the body of Christ.And if we do not wake up to really protect and defend that picture, we're going to wake up one day to see the gospel completely marginalized—not just marriage, but the gospel.And I guess my question for all of us is: if sex and marriage really does represent the love of Christ, the gospel, how motivated is Satan to see that picture destroyed in our lives, in the lives of our children? We have to be vigilant. We have to be informed. And we have to be so full of grace for those moments when we mess up or our kids mess up.Navigating With Grace and CompassionKerry: Yeah. And I think you just said that—I was coughing—grace and patience. Because you're talking about having compassion for these people that are really dealing with issues. And I think sometimes the church gets so, "Oh my goodness, look at them, they have children that are homosexuals or whatever."And yet we—I mean, no, we don't tolerate—I mean there's a blend between tolerating, but we also need to show grace at times because the compassion of God is what draws people back. The kindness and stuff. Would you have anything to say about sort of where you draw the line? And not that we want to judge people, but we do want to come alongside.So we've got moms here that want to help with their kids, but then they may have people in their family or in their church or something. What are maybe some practical things that they could do to handle these situations?Dannah: Well, some practical things are teaching our kids grace. Teaching them a gracious response.Bob and I, my husband and I, discipled a young man for many years who is non-binary now. Young adult man. And we still will have lunch with him. He doesn't live locally, but when he's coming through, he still wants to visit with us and talk with us.I got a birthday text from him that said, "You're like my second mom," because we have blessed him with our love and our presence, which is genuine. It's not fake. We adore him. He is easy to talk to, intelligent. We had so many high hopes for how he would—and still do—influence people for Christ.But we do not—we accept, but we do not affirm. We accept, but we do not affirm.So he knows—one of the last big conversations we had about his journey into homosexuality and a non-binary lifestyle was very pointed where my husband said, "I believe you've been set apart, and I believe that you have different desires, and that you have to obey the Lord with Romans 12:1 and 2. You need to sacrifice your desires for the purpose of your body glorifying Christ."And it was a very pointed conversation. And we haven't talked about that since then, but he knows where we stand.So we're honest, you know. One of the things that's really a challenge right now is the question of pronouns, right? Do we use the pronouns or do we not use the pronouns?And with this individual, I avoid using pronouns because the pronouns he wants are "they" and "them." I will not do that because God's Word commands me not to lie, and it's not truthful. However, I'm not going to rub salt in a wound of all the struggles that he's walking through.So I do my best to navigate through just not using either his new name that he wants or the pronouns. He knows that's what I'm doing.I know another woman who—she did transition for nine years. She had her breasts cut off, she had hormones, she was bearded, she was talking like a guy, she lived as Jake for nine years. Her name was Laura.Her mom stayed on her knees, stayed in a prodigal prayer group. And when it came to the name—she wanted to be called Jake—her mom said, "I can't call you that, but I know it's going to offend you. Can I call you honey? I'll do that."And it was a compromise they made together. So you see, accepting but not affirming is a really important line we have to make.Because this is the question that Rosaria Butterfield asked in a recent book that she's written. I believe the title is Five Lies of Our Post-Christian Culture. But she says, "Is your church, is your home, is your family a safe place for someone to repent of their sin of homosexuality or gender—" I'm not going to call it confusion, but rebellion. Okay?Because gender confusion, I would say, is probably going back to some of those syndromes I'm talking about, right? You're going to feel some confusion when you're not quite sure how your body is showing up, right?But gender rebellion, I would say, is what my friend Laura went through. She knew she was a girl, but she wanted to stick it to her mom and stick it to God. And she did for nine years. And then the Lord got a hold of her heart.But partly, I think the Lord got a hold of her heart because her mom never accepted Jake, never accepted the lie, never used the pronouns. And yet she still loved and accepted the child.Kerry: Fine line.Dannah: So good.The Reality of Dealing With These IssuesKerry: Yeah, we've got to love. And I, for one, I mean, these aren't just teenagers. You know, I had friends whose kids have transitioned, and the parents, the mom and the dad don't even agree on the pronoun issue, you know. And that's a really hard thing.What I really like about what you just said is she communicated with her daughter and they talked about it instead of just doing this and then, you know, that child getting angry and then blocking them out of your life kind of thing. And so communication just seems to be vital as well, even if they're going down that path.Dannah: Yeah, so communication before and after is key. And it's not easy. It's hard. And there'll be tears on both sides and disagreements. But you want to walk through it in such a way that you maintain a place where they know what the truth is and they know where to come when they finally do understand what the truth is.Kerry: Yeah, I always tell—because I host a prodigal prayer group too—and the two things I'm always like, we can always love and we can always pray. You know, we cannot change them, but we can pray and we can never give up. You know, God's not giving up on us, so we shouldn't be giving up on our kids or other family.Dannah: Yeah. And you know, when it comes to praying, I find that people that I love that aren't walking with the Lord—they might be offended if I start asking them, "Who do you think Jesus is?" But they're never offended when I say, "How can I pray for you?"They might define it differently, but it keeps that door open of them knowing, "I care about your spirit. I care about your spiritual life. I care about you." They know that praying is important to me.And when I just say, "How can I pray for you?" their hearts often just flood open with things that they want prayer for.How Did We Get Here?Kerry: That's a really good point too. Okay, let's—how have we talked about all this? How do we get where we are today? Because, you know, like we said, 30 years ago we would have never thought—yeah, you know, there was homosexuality back then, but that was pretty much it. How do we get here?Dannah: Oh, I think that it's how we got here is, you know, we were an Augustinian worldview. The United States of America had this worldview that was predominantly established by Augustine, St. Augustine of Hippo. He believed that love was the highest good in humanity and that that love should be reflective of the truth of the Bible.And that really was the worldview of our culture. And that meant that there was one man and one woman marriage.And then when it really started to break down, honestly, was Freud, who felt that the highest good was sex. He thought that that was the highest need in a human body. And so the conversation started to change as Freud, who did bring us some decent diagnostic tools in terms of understanding and being more aware of our emotions and our mental health—but psychology doesn't do anything, really, if you look at the stats of recovery from psychological methods. Hardly anything outside of Jesus.I mean, single-digit recovery. In my mind, if I'm having some mental health problems, I don't want to go to a place that can give me a single-digit percentage chance of getting better.But then enter Alfred Kinsey. Alfred Kinsey came into the scene, and he was a very unwell man emotionally and mentally. And so he was really excited about the things that Freud taught and believed that he could prove that not only was his theory correct—that our highest need was sex—but that most of the sexual things that these prudish Americans thought were, quote-unquote, sinful were actually very normal behavior. Things like homosexuality and even pedophilia.And he said, "I'm going to prove that those are okay." So he did the Human Sexuality Volume 1 and Volume 2 reports. And his research was really horrific. He hired pedophiles who had been jailed for pedophilia to conduct experiments on children.And it was really child sexual abuse that was recorded in those volumes. But nobody talked about that. Nobody said who did the research and how did you get it done. At that time, it just became the playbook for the sexual revolution of the '60s.But they said, "Look, look, we do want sex. We do need sex." And then the sexual revolution—during that time, a virgin in college named Hugh Hefner read those volumes that Kinsey wrote and said—and this is a quote—"I'm going to be Kinsey's pamphleteer."And as you know, then he went on to create his pamphlet, which was Playboy, normalizing objectifying women. I'm not going to call it anything other than what it is.And so it was this—it was a lie we all wanted to believe. Not me, not you, but the culture wanted to believe because it justified their sin and their desires instead of controlling them. They could justify those sins and desires.And I think when we had about a 30-year climb to making gay marriage legal, but that was kind of a floodgate moment. You know, I feel like from the night that the White House was covered in rainbow colors until today, it's just been a floodgate of Sodom and Gomorrah-esque sin.And whereas it was this slow, steady climb for decades, now it's just a playground.Signs of Hope and BacklashDannah: Now, I am thankful that we're seeing some—I guess what I would call backlash against some of this. In Canada, this year—last year, rather—we saw the first case where a patient who underwent transgender gender reassignment surgery is suing the physician for what happened to her body.Because she said, "I came to you with a mental health problem, and when I was very mentally unwell, you told me the solution was to cut up my body." And she's suing that doctor.Tavistock, which is a gender assignment clinic in the UK, has been shut down because so many of the doctors and nurses are saying, "You only saw these patients two or three times before you let them self-diagnose that they were gender-confused and began treating them." And the doctors and nurses said, "That's not okay. We didn't adequately find out if they really did have gender dysphoria. We're just letting them self-assign."And that's still happening in the United States. But because Canada and the UK are ahead of us, I'm encouraged that we're going to start to see backlash very soon.So don't stop using the correct pronouns. Don't stop calling girls "she" and "her," and don't stop calling boys "him" and "his." Like, we are not crazy. We just feel crazy because the conversation happening in our culture is a little mad.But we are going to start to see a backlash in the next five to 10 years.Kerry: It sounds depressing, but it is encouraging.Dannah: And our hope is in Jesus, who we know can—always, just like I didn't think the education system could ever get fixed, and then COVID hit. And I was like, "Oh my goodness, look, God can do something when it looks like everything's falling apart."He can do the same thing with the gender and sexuality issues. And—excuse me—and even our hope isn't even in this world. I just have to say that. Like, more and more, as it gets crazier and crazier, it makes me hungrier for heaven and the new heaven and earth that we will know after Jesus' return.And for anybody, you know, who maybe you're listening to this and you're the one that cut up your body, you allowed that to happen—you know, when Jesus returns, the new heaven and the new earth, He's going to perfect you and receive you as He created you and fix everything that this world can't fix. And there is such hope in that.Kerry: That is so good. Thank you so much. And yes, He can. And He redeems ashes to beauty all the time. So amen.So I know y'all have some resources that I think would be helpful. Could you share a little bit about that?Resources to Help FamiliesDannah: Sure. Well, I mentioned It's Great to Be a Girl and It's Great to Be a Guy. Those are two books that we take parents and kids through an online study on, but you could do it at home. You can do it as part of a homeschool curriculum.Another book that I have is Lies Girls Believe and A Mom's Guide to Lies Girls Believe. Those go together because I think this extends beyond gender. It's a battle for truth.And the interesting thing about truth is that we know Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was truth. So this whole conversation is an assault on Him.And so that book, and Lies Young Women Believe, introduced teen girls and tween girls to really studying: What is truth? What does it mean? And how do I figure out when I'm believing a lie? And what God's Word says about it, and what is true?So I would say those are really important books. We're working on Lies Young Men Believe, but we also—my friend Aaron Davis just wrote Lies Boys Believe. So good tools.We've had lots of friends tell us they've used them as homeschool curriculum. And I would love to see you explore them. They are great. They really are.Kerry: I have—well, I've done Lies Women Believe. And then I will say, too, for those of you—this probably doesn't pertain to a lot of you—but they have them in Spanish. I used to work in El Salvador and go down there once a month and work with a school down there. And we started with Lies Women Believe, but they had a teen girl Bible study, so then they did the Lies Young Women Believe.I don't know if they've done the girl, but when I was looking at your site, I was like, "Oh, they have Spanish books too." So if y'all are in another country, just know that there are resources for you there as well.Dannah: So wonderful.Closing EncouragementKerry: Well, as we close, is there anything you would like to say just in closing?Dannah: Just I think it's so important right now that we are just so deeply in love with Jesus. It's one thing to know all these things in our head, right? But until it gets here...The reason we have prodigals prodigalizing and the reason we have deconstructors deconstructing is because there was a lot here, but we didn't quite maybe get it here. And so what I'm learning is that I can't push it here in the kids I'm teaching, but I can do what I need to do to sit at the feet of Jesus and minister to Him in worship, in prayer, and opening the Word.I don't want to just know the facts of what I read in my Bible this morning. I want to know that I had an encounter with Jesus.So my prayer for you is not just that you would know the facts about all these hard conversations that we're having to have right now, but that more than anything else, you would be so in love with Jesus that your heart beats to reflect His image.And so I pray that for you, and I pray that for your children too.Kerry: Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks for just taking a little time out of your day to be with us. I really appreciate it.Dannah: Oh, it was so good to be here, Kerry. Thank you. God bless you. I pray that you're so blessed by this conference.Kerry: Very good. Well, I am Kerry Beck with Life Skills Leadership Summit. We'll talk to you next time.

New York Times Magazine staff writer Jonathan Mahler talked about the 1980s forces, events, and characters that defined and shaped New York City. His book features Donald Trump, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani , Ed Koch, and Al Sharpton - and highlights New York's experiences with homelessness, AIDS, racial tensions, and the crack epidemic. The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City hosted this event Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times Magazine staff writer Jonathan Mahler talked about the 1980s forces, events, and characters that defined and shaped New York City. His book features Donald Trump, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani , Ed Koch, and Al Sharpton - and highlights New York's experiences with homelessness, AIDS, racial tensions, and the crack epidemic. The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City hosted this event Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marion and Tony are madly, deeply in love. But there are obstacles to their relationship, namely Tony’s sexual preference. When Tony loses his life to AIDS, Marion discovers just how many obstacles there really were. This year is the 30th Anniversary of Marion Winik's memoir, First Comes Love.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Jon Imparato to talk about his new memoir The Good Inside the Grief, in which he writes about everything from his Catholic childhood to his challenging relationship with his father to volunteering to man the shaving cart and shaving AIDS patients at the height of the pandemic. Jon also talks about the moving and surprising reactions he's gotten to it so far and what it was like to write about such difficult topics as losing three lovers to AIDS, having two difficult heart-to-hearts with his father 45 years apart and getting sexually assaulted by a guy he met in acting class at 19. He also writes about working with gay youth at the LA LGBT Center, teaching writing to queer seniors at Triangle Square in LA and discovering the magic of being in "vagina world" when he booked Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues as his first big show as Director of the Cultural Arts Department of the Center in the late 90's. Other topics include: why he used to call people for two rings and then hang up, the pleasure of Sunday Sauce, befriending a Canadian soldier while traveling in Bali and having it change his life forever, the wisdom of Betty White and a psychic Stevie Nicks story that will blow your mind. https://www.jonimparatowriter.com/

Once A DJ is brought to you by:https://www.vinylunderground.co.uk - 10% off your next order using code onceadjhttps://www.sureshotshop.com/ - Record adapters (including customs) & accessorieshttps://myslipmats.com/ - Custom and off the shelf Slipmats, dividers and more.Once A DJ is a https://remote-ctrl.co.uk productionOther ways to support the showFollow the show on Spotify or Apple PodcastsAny feedback or questions? Hit up the Once A DJ Instagram PageSubscribe to the Once A DJ PatreonBuy your Once A DJ Sureshot 45 adapter clampsAmo/Tidy Trax links:https://www.instagram.com/tidytrax/ (label)https://www.instagram.com/tidyamo/ (Amo)https://www.youtube.com/@tidytraxIn part one of this two-part conversation, we sit down with Amadeus Mozart (Lee Marlow), one half of The Tidy Boys and the architect of the Tidy Empire that defined UK hard house.Born in Kettering in 1965 into a working-class family, Amadeus traces his musical journey from his audiophile father's obsession with the Moog synthesizer to becoming a disco devotee in the punk rock era. We explore his formative years being bullied at school for loving Village People while his classmates embraced The Clash, his discovery of London's underground gay club scene in the 1980s, and navigating the AIDS crisis while waving the flag for gay rights.This episode covers the crucial early years: his friendship with Darren Kennedy, the influence of classical music through his gay housemate Norman, and the loss of his father in 1996 just before his breakthrough success. It's a story of passion, persistence, and staying true to your musical vision against the odds.Key Topics:Growing up with Spotlight on the Moog (1968) - the pre-Kraftwerk electronic revolutionBeing into disco during the punk rock movement (1977-79)The UK's reaction to the "Disco Sucks" movement

How did bitcoin donations lift the lives of 76 children? $ BTC 95,142 Block Height 932,227 Today's guest on the show is Brindon Mwiine, who joins me to share his story of how he used Bitcoin education and donations from people all over the world via Geyser.fund to drastically improve the lives of 76 children. If you feel inspired to contribute to the orphanage, follow this link: https://geyser.fund/project/schoolofsatoshiuganda?hero=danielprince All sats received from boosts and streams are going to the orphanage - Ligthning address - bitcoinkampala@primal.net Find Brindon here: NOSTR - npub1ee6m4c35nqzv4f05m69w3am4hd2czd05zfzpm83jlz8yyfk969js78tfcv Website - https://brindonmwiine.com/ X - @BrindonMwiine Key Topics: Discovering Bitcoin through a scam. Building a Bitcoin circular economy around an orphanage and school. The role of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in Africa. The vision behind GorillaSats and Bitcoin mining in Uganda. Adopting Bitcoin East Africa conference. Check out my book ‘Choose Life' - https://bitcoinbook.shop/search?q=prince Pleb Service Announcements: Join 19 thousand Bitcoiners on @cluborange https://signup.cluborange.org/co/princey Support the pod via @fountain_app -https://fountain.fm/show/2oJTnUm5VKs3xmSVdf5n CONFERENCES: BTC PRAGUE - 11th - 13th June 2026 http://btcprg.me/BITTEN - Use code BITTEN for - 10% Shills and Mench's: RELAI - STACK SATS - www.relai.me/Bitten Use Code BITTEN BITBOX - SELF CUSTODY YOUR BITCOIN - www.bitbox.swiss/bitten Use Code BITTEN PAY WITH FLASH. Accept Bitcoin on your website or platform with no-code and low-code integrations. https://paywithflash.com/ SWAN BITCOIN - www.swan.com/bitten GEYSER - fund bitcoin projects you love - https://geyser.fund/ PLEBEIAN MARKET - BUY AND SELL STUFF FOR SATS; https://plebeian.market/ @PlebeianMarket ZAPRITE - https://zaprite.com/bitten - Invoicing and accounting for Bitcoiners - Save $40 KONSENSUS NETWORK - Buy bitcoin books in different languages. Use code BITTEN for 10% discount - https://bitcoinbook.shop?ref=bitten SEEDOR STEEL PLATE BACK-UP - @seedor_io use the code BITTEN for a 5% discount. www.seedor.io/BITTEN SATSBACK - Shop online and earn back sats! https://satsback.com/register/5AxjyPRZV8PNJGlM HEATBIT - Home Bitcoin mining - https://www.heatbit.com/?ref=DANIELPRINCE - Use code BITTEN. CRYPTOTAG STEEL PLATE BACK-UP https://cryptotag.io - USE CODE BITTEN for 10% discount. ALL FURTHER LINKS HERE - FOR DISCOUNTS AND OFFERS - https://vida.page/princey - https://linktr.ee/princey21m Brendan from Uganda shares his journey into Bitcoin, the creation of GorillaSats, and the impactful Bitcoin circular economy project he's built around an orphanage and school, now extending to a tourism company. Key Topics: Discovering Bitcoin through a scam. Building a Bitcoin circular economy around an orphanage and school. The role of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in Africa. The vision behind GorillaSats and Bitcoin mining in Uganda. Adopting Bitcoin East Africa conference. Summary: Brendan, a Bitcoiner from Uganda, shares his journey into the Bitcoin space, which began in 2016 after discovering it through a scam. This led him to research Bitcoin and eventually build a Bitcoin-only company called GorillaSats. He emphasizes the importance of community and sharing knowledge in the Bitcoin space. His personal journey is intertwined with the evolution of his community, starting with sharing Bitcoin knowledge with friends, then university students, and eventually leading to the creation of a Bitcoin circular economy. Brendan recounts winning a ticket to BTC Prague in 2023 after pitching his circular economy idea, which he crowdfunded through Geyser. At the conference, he met Haman and Fernando, who inspired him to realize that he was already building a circular economy. Upon returning to Uganda, he focused on finding a place to build this economy, which led him to an orphanage already accepting Bitcoin. The orphanage became the perfect place to start, addressing the needs of the children and the community. They implemented the "Fruits for Sats" project, providing daily fruits to the children and paying with Bitcoin using bolt cards. They also improved the orphanage's premises, providing beds, mattresses, and paying for healthcare and tuition fees, all funded by Bitcoin donations. By the end of 2023, the project had received 1.4 BTC and significantly improved the lives of the children. However, they faced a setback when the owner of the school where the children attended decided to close it. Brendan and his team signed an agreement to use the school for two years and eventually bought it, planning to design a Bitcoin-focused curriculum and provide hands-on skills to the children. The orphanage and school are now fully Bitcoinized entities, with teachers being paid in Bitcoin. Brendan highlights the importance of addressing a community's problems with Bitcoin to facilitate its adoption. Brendan discusses the unique challenges faced by the community surrounding the orphanage, including a high ratio of children to adults, early marriages, and a lack of family planning. The orphanage was founded by a barren woman who wanted to give back and provide family love to orphaned children. The main causes of death in the community include poor health habits, AIDS, and drug abuse. Despite these challenges, the project has been successful in improving the health and well-being of the children. GorillaSats is a tourism company focused on East Africa, with a competitive advantage of saving clients money by accepting Bitcoin. Brendan explains that the company's name represents their belief in the tourism space in East Africa and their commitment to Bitcoin values. He sees SATs as the future layer of transaction in Africa. The company aims to remove the high transaction fees associated with traditional payment methods in the tourism industry. By accepting Bitcoin, GorillaSats saves clients and service providers money and enables instant payments. The company has also created a small merchant ecosystem in Uganda, where people can on-ramp and off-ramp via Lightning from GorillaSats. Brendan is piloting Bitcoin mining in Uganda, partnering with a local power generator who uses bio-waste and solar to generate electricity for a local community. The project aims to create a proof of concept for Bitcoin mining in the country, which has a lot of excess energy. GorillaSats also offers itineraries that combine tourism with visits to Bitcoin projects and energy sites. Looking ahead, Brendan will be at Adopting Bitcoin Cape Town in January and is organizing Adopting Bitcoin East Africa in June 2026 in Nairobi, aiming to connect and share knowledge among East African Bitcoin builders.

In this episode of Acta Non Verba, host Marcus Aurelius Anderson sits down with Denny Giamazzo, leadership and resilience speaker, veteran, and author of the new bestselling book "Wired for Action." Denny shares his powerful journey from childhood trauma and foster care to becoming an infantry sergeant and successful software sales professional. This raw conversation explores authentic leadership principles forged in combat and tested in the corporate world, emphasizing the importance of taking action, building the right network, and leading with both strength and empathy. Episode Highlights: 1:08] - Overcoming Adversity Without Special Operations Background Denny discusses why he almost didn't write his book, feeling his story wasn't "special" enough without a Green Beret or SEAL background. His mentor John Doolittle convinced him that his relatability—surviving childhood abuse, foster care, and combat—makes his message even more powerful for everyday people facing their own battles. [10:05] - The Leadership Lesson That Changed Everything Fresh into a leadership role before deploying to Afghanistan, Denny shares his critical mistake of leading without empathy. He reveals the turning point when he learned that demanding respect doesn't work—you have to earn it by showing your team you genuinely care about them while maintaining high standards. [34:22] - Nearly Dying Before Deployment Denny recounts the harrowing story of almost dying twice during surgery from an infected wisdom tooth extraction at the end of basic training. This medical emergency kept him from deploying to Iraq but gave him time to earn his sergeant stripes ahead of peers who did deploy. [50:03] - The Power of Strategic Networking Denny explains why he turned down multiple introductions to Nick Lavery before finally meeting him in person at a speaking event. He emphasizes that networking isn't about kicking down doors or DMing everyone—it's about being strategic, adding value, and doing it the right way. Denny Giamazzo is a leadership, resilience, and business engagement speaker, bestselling author, and U.S. Army veteran (11 Bravo Infantry). Born two months premature and raised in foster care after experiencing childhood abuse and losing his mother to AIDS, Denny defied statistical odds to serve his country and build a successful career in software sales at companies like Oracle and Workday. He co-hosts the "Be the Standard" podcast and is a key member of Nick Lavery's Forge community. His new book "Wired for Action" is currently #1 in the military category on Amazon. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was recorded for my UK Column show.Kenneth McCarthy, whose main focus is the health system, discusses his book 'Diabolical Errors', highlighting the deep flaws in modern medicine.He draws historical parallels between the AIDS and COVID pandemics, suggesting that both were shaped by flawed narratives and systemic failures. During COVID, he notes, dangerous hospital practices emerged, driven by financial incentives, and many patients were harmed as a result.He argues that medical education in the US is heavily influenced by pharmaceutical interests, and that the medical system has been increasingly corrupted since the 19th century.The title 'Diabolical Errors' reflects how harmful practices persist unchecked, hidden within the 'black box' of modern medicine, keeping patients in the dark.Ken stresses the importance of returning to observational medicine, urging greater scepticism towards current protocols to achieve better health outcomes.➡️ Ken's book can found at Amazon✉️ Subscribe to my very addictive newsletter

Professor and senior associate dean of engagement Janet A. Jokela discusses her article "Reflecting on the significance of World AIDS Day from the 1980s to now." Janet shares harrowing memories from her time as a medical student in the mid-1980s, recalling the fear and stigma that surrounded the early days of the AIDS epidemic. She traces the evolution of treatment from a time of hopelessness to the revolutionary arrival of protease inhibitors and the global impact of PEPFAR. The conversation highlights touching patient stories that illustrate how a diagnosis once considered a death sentence has become a manageable condition, allowing people to live full and service-oriented lives. Join us to honor those lost and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit in the face of a terrifying disease. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

Send us a textWe grow up waiting for permission. But at what point do we stop waiting and start taking it for ourselves?Mentor, facilitator and permission advocate Jillian Reilly took hers early on in her career, during a US-sponsored AIDS programme that she was leading in Zimbabwe. Shaking in her shoes, she chose to speak her truth and honour her integrity, even if it meant going against the grain of expectation.For our first unscripted exploration of Unprofessionalism, Jillian - bestselling author of The 10 Permissions - joins me to deliver an important reminder: no one is coming to give us permission. We must resist the micro-moments of suppression, we must break the invisible rules of what we think is allowed, and we must take up the space we deserve.Find out about:How to give ourselves permission to show up with truth and integrityThe cultural components and privilege at play when giving ourselves permissionGetting clear on our boundaries in professional settings for greater self-alignmentWhy leaders must make the invisible rulebook explicit, turning it into a conversationWhy suppressing your needs will dull your agency, waste time, and make it harder to instigate changeLinks:LinkedInThe 10 Permissions WebsiteSupport the show✨✨✨You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

In episode 65 of Going anti-Viral, Dr Gerald Friedland joins host Dr Michael Saag as the recipient of the IAS–USA Lifetime of Leadership Award, established nearly 15 years ago to honor individuals whose contributions have left a profound and lasting impact on HIV medicine, scientific education, and the mission of the IAS–USA. Dr Friedland discusses his extensive journey in the field of HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases, reflecting on his early career, the challenges faced during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and the evolution of treatment strategies. Dr Friedland and Dr Saag emphasize the importance of collaboration, compassion, and the pursuit of knowledge in addressing public health crises. Dr Friedland also discusses his research on tuberculosis and the integration of HIV treatment, highlighting important findings that have impacted healthcare practices.0:00 – Introduction 3:03 – Early life and medical journey5:43 – First encounters with HIV/AIDS8:39 – Understanding transmission and stigma11:22 – Coping with the AIDS crisis14:53 – The AZT trials and early treatments16:31 – Advancements in HIV treatment19:30 – Research on tuberculosis and HIV27:32 – Reflections on a lifelong careerResourcesIn-person or virtual registration for the presentation of the IAS-USA Lifetime of Leadership Award at the Scott M. Hammer Annual Update on HIV Management in New York, New York on March 16, 2026: https://www.iasusa.org/events/hiv-update-2026-new-york/__________________________________________________Produced by IAS-USA, Going anti–Viral is a podcast for clinicians involved in research and care in HIV, its complications, and other viral infections. This podcast is intended as a technical source of information for specialists in this field, but anyone listening will enjoy learning more about the state of modern medicine around viral infections. Going anti-Viral's host is Dr Michael Saag, a physician, prominent HIV researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and volunteer IAS–USA board member. In most episodes, Dr Saag interviews an expert in infectious diseases or emerging pandemics about their area of specialty and current developments in the field. Other episodes are drawn from the IAS–USA vast catalogue of panel discussions, Dialogues, and other audio from various meetings and conferences. Email podcast@iasusa.org to send feedback, show suggestions, or questions to be answered on a later episode.Follow Going anti-Viral on: Apple Podcasts YouTubeXFacebookInstagram...

What if everything you’ve been told about aging is a lie? What if your 50s and 60s aren’t about fading into irrelevance, but about finally becoming who you were always meant to be? In this transformative episode, bestselling author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson dismantles the cultural narrative that treats midlife as a slow decline. Instead, she reveals it as the most powerful awakening of your life—a time when the wisdom you’ve accumulated can no longer stay silent, when you stop caring what others think, and when you finally have the courage to say what needs to be said. This is a conversation for anyone who’s been conditioned to fear aging, who’s carrying shadow figures from their past into their present, or who’s ready to claim the grandeur that only comes with lived experience. The Accidental Calling Marianne Williamson didn’t set out to become one of the most influential spiritual teachers of our time. In her 20s, she discovered A Course in Miracles and was captivated by its psychological mind training on forgiveness—dismantling a thought system based on fear and accepting one based on love instead. “At first it was just what it was doing for me,” she explains. “The career niche that I inhabit today didn’t even exist at that point.” She started with a small study group in a bookstore. Then she moved to Los Angeles, and the AIDS crisis burst onto the scene. Gay men flocked to her lectures because “in the middle of this horror, there was this then young woman talking about a God who loves you no matter what and about miracles.” One thing led to another. She published a book. Oprah Winfrey loved it. A Return to Love became a mega-bestseller, and a quote from it—”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure”—became an anthem for seekers worldwide. But Marianne’s journey wasn’t always smooth. She ventured into politics, running for the Democratic nomination for President in both 2020 and 2024, and encountered a level of public scrutiny and mean-spiritedness she’d never faced in the spiritual world. “We all made mistakes in our 20s, but they weren’t written into the ethers of the internet to be with us forever,” she reflects, lamenting how young people today are denied the freedom to grow without permanent records of their missteps. The Shadow Figures We Carry One of the most powerful teachings Marianne shares is about forgiveness—not as a platitude, but as a practice of liberation. “A Course in Miracles says that if you bring the shadow figures of your past into the present, then you are programming the future to be just like the past,” she explains. Many of us replay painful memories, trying to forgive by reliving them. But this approach backfires. “Every time I brought it in and thought about it, it was almost like visceral, like it was reenacting what took place,” Catherine shares. Marianne’s response? Accept that it happened. Know that the love was real, the love you gave and received was eternal, and “the rest was literally a kind of shared illusion or nightmare, a kind of hallucination of consciousness, and you don’t have to carry it with you.” The ego, however, wants to keep bludgeoning you with it. What they did, what you did, what you didn’t do. But healing doesn’t come from endlessly analyzing where the wounds came from. “Knowing where you got this has done me no good,” Marianne admits. “Knowing you are this way, Marianne, and be willing not to be, and ask God’s help. That’s the miracle.” The Moment-by-Moment Practice Spiritual practice isn’t theoretical. It’s what you do when you wake up at 3 a.m. with your thoughts spiralling. It’s choosing whether to grab your phone and scroll through chaos or to ground yourself in meditation and prayer. “If you wake up in the morning and you go directly to the news, you go directly to social media, it’s like you’re saying to the chaos, come on, eat me alive, I’m open and available for that,” Marianne warns. But if you ground yourself in spiritual practice first, “it makes all the difference because it’s kind of like the yoga of consciousness. You get yourself in the correct position of alignment with the ever-unfolding thoughts of love.” The Course in Miracles teaches that there is no such thing as a neutral thought. Every thought either takes you toward greater oneness and peace or into anxiety, depression, and separation. “Every single moment is a moment of choice,” Marianne emphasises. “We either make that choice consciously or we make it unconsciously to either open the heart or to constrict.” When you constrict, you deflect the miracle. But here’s the beautiful part: “It’ll come back around again. It’ll be held in trust for you until you’re ready to receive it.” The Awakening to Power Midlife grief is real. You have to move through the loss of what you no longer have to receive what is only yours now. “I have found myself saying to younger women, you have things I don’t have anymore, but I have some things you don’t have yet,” Marianne shares. “And that’s what we’re awakening to.” At 50, she stopped caring what other people thought. But at 60? “I felt this level of power that is almost like not only do you not care what other people say, you have to. It’s like when a woman is breastfeeding, the milk has to express itself. The wisdom you have in you can’t not say it.” This isn’t about arrogance. It’s about recognising that we live in a culture where the undertow constantly whispers: you’re over the hill, you’re invisible, you’re all used up. “So we have to counter that undertow,” Marianne insists, “because it’s a new dawn for us. And the new dawn for us, we know can be of help in bringing a new dawn to the world.” When Catherine mentions people asking about retirement, Marianne’s response is instant: “I’m just getting started, honey.” The Evolutionary Moment Marianne sees humanity at a critical crossroads. “We’re living at this moment of parallel phenomenon, one world crumbling, another world struggling to be born. And we are called on to be death doulas and birth doulas.” This is not a time for the wounded bird, the ditzy female, or woundology. “It’s a time to really call ourselves and each other into the highest place.” The human race has reached a point where our collective behavioural patterns are no longer sustainable. We either take an evolutionary leap forward or face extinction. That leap begins with individual transformation. “Wake up every morning and ask, where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?” Marianne teaches. “Love, use me. Use my hands, use my feet.” You might be assigned to talk about personal transformation through a podcast. You might work on the environment, peace, food systems, or healing. But whatever your assignment, “everything else is ultimately meaningless.” Three Golden Nuggets for Your Journey Golden Nugget #1: Ask Who You’re Not Forgiving Identify who you haven’t forgiven and be willing to realise that the love they gave you was real, the love you gave them was real, and everything else was just a shared illusion. Put it in the hands of God and refuse to bring those shadow figures into your present. Golden Nugget #2: Be a Spiritual Athlete This is not a moment to indulge in moderate drinking, moderate drug use, or junk food. This is a moment to truly be in shape—physically, mentally, and spiritually. Your spiritual discipline and practice matter now more than ever. Golden Nugget #3: Reach Out to Someone Who Needs Help Think of someone in your life who could use support. Reach out. That simple act of extending love creates the field in which miracles occur naturally. About Marianne Williamson For more than four decades, Marianne Williamson has been a leader of spiritually progressive circles. She is the author of 16 books, four of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. A quote from the mega-bestseller A Return to Love, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…” is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers. Her other bestsellers include A Woman’s Worth, The Law of Divine Compensation, Tears to Triumph, The Gift of Change, Everyday Grace, and The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love. With her books and online classes, she has taught millions of people universal spiritual themes at the heart of all the great religions of the world. Williamson founded Project Angel Food, a non-profit organisation that has delivered more than 19 million meals to ill and dying homebound patients in the Los Angeles area since 1989. She has also worked throughout her career on poverty, anti-hunger, and racial reconciliation issues. In 2004, she co-founded The Peace Alliance and supported the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. She ran for the Democratic nomination for President in both 2020 and 2024. Key Takeaway Midlife is not an ending. It’s the moment you finally have enough experience, enough failures, enough humility, and enough fire to become who you were always meant to be. The grief you move through unlocks access to a power you’ve never known. The wisdom inside you can no longer stay silent. And when you stop abandoning yourself to avoid being abandoned by others, you discover that real peace comes from alignment with love, moment by moment, choice by choice. You’re not over the hill. You’re just getting started. Watch the Full Conversation on YouTube SEE MARIANNE LIVE IN AUSTRALIA: Brisbane – February 22, 2025 Get Tickets Melbourne – February 25, 2025 Get Tickets Sydney – February 26, 2025 Get Tickets Find Out More About Marianne Williamson Website: Marianne.com Substack: MarianneWilliamson.Substack.com Instagram: @MarianneWilliamson YouTube: @MarianneWilliamsonCommunity

In the oceans of ink devoted to the monumental movie star/businesswoman/political activist Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (1932-2011), her beauty and not-so-private life frequently overshadowed her movies. While she knew how to generate publicity like no other, her personal life is set aside in this volume in favor of her professional oeuvre and unique screen dynamism. In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide (Oxford UP, 2024), her marriages, illnesses, media firestorms, perfume empire, violet eyes, and AIDS advocacy take a back seat to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress. Taylor's big screen credits span over fifty years, from her pre-adolescent debut in There's One Born Every Minute (1942) to her cameo in The Flintstones (1994). She worked steadily in everything from the biggest production in film history (Cleopatra in 1963) to a humble daytime TV soap opera (General Hospital in 1981). Each of her sixty-seven film appearances is recapped here with background on their inception, production, release, and critical and financial outcome. On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide is a cradle-to-grave chronology of Taylor's life, noting key events, achievements, and milestones. This book offers a work-by-work analysis of her entire career told in chronological order, each film headlined with year of release, distributing studio, and director. This in-depth overview provides an invaluable new way of understanding Taylor's full life and work, as well as the history and nuances of the film industry as it existed in the twentieth century. Kennedy engagingly reassesses Taylor's acting and the nuances she brought to the screen - this includes a consideration of her specific art, the development of her voice, her relationship to the camera, and her canny understanding of the effect she had on audiences worldwide. Kennedy also provides an elucidating guide to her entire filmography, one that speaks to the quality of her performances, their contours and shading, and their context within her extraordinary life and career. On Elizabeth Taylor is a beautifully comprehensive overview of a singular actress of the twentieth century, offering new ways to see and appreciate her skill and peerless charisma, in turn placing her among the greatest film stars of all time. Matthew Kennedy is a film historian based in Oakland, California. He is the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, biographies of actresses Marie Dressler and Joan Blondell, and of director-screenwriter Edmund Goulding. He has introduced film series at the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Pacific Film Archive, and written for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Turner Classic Movies, and the National Film Registry. He is currently host and curator of the CinemaLit series at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco. Daniel Moran earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers and articles on G. K. Chesterton and John Ford, he teaches research and Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the oceans of ink devoted to the monumental movie star/businesswoman/political activist Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (1932-2011), her beauty and not-so-private life frequently overshadowed her movies. While she knew how to generate publicity like no other, her personal life is set aside in this volume in favor of her professional oeuvre and unique screen dynamism. In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide (Oxford UP, 2024), her marriages, illnesses, media firestorms, perfume empire, violet eyes, and AIDS advocacy take a back seat to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress. Taylor's big screen credits span over fifty years, from her pre-adolescent debut in There's One Born Every Minute (1942) to her cameo in The Flintstones (1994). She worked steadily in everything from the biggest production in film history (Cleopatra in 1963) to a humble daytime TV soap opera (General Hospital in 1981). Each of her sixty-seven film appearances is recapped here with background on their inception, production, release, and critical and financial outcome. On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide is a cradle-to-grave chronology of Taylor's life, noting key events, achievements, and milestones. This book offers a work-by-work analysis of her entire career told in chronological order, each film headlined with year of release, distributing studio, and director. This in-depth overview provides an invaluable new way of understanding Taylor's full life and work, as well as the history and nuances of the film industry as it existed in the twentieth century. Kennedy engagingly reassesses Taylor's acting and the nuances she brought to the screen - this includes a consideration of her specific art, the development of her voice, her relationship to the camera, and her canny understanding of the effect she had on audiences worldwide. Kennedy also provides an elucidating guide to her entire filmography, one that speaks to the quality of her performances, their contours and shading, and their context within her extraordinary life and career. On Elizabeth Taylor is a beautifully comprehensive overview of a singular actress of the twentieth century, offering new ways to see and appreciate her skill and peerless charisma, in turn placing her among the greatest film stars of all time. Matthew Kennedy is a film historian based in Oakland, California. He is the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, biographies of actresses Marie Dressler and Joan Blondell, and of director-screenwriter Edmund Goulding. He has introduced film series at the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Pacific Film Archive, and written for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Turner Classic Movies, and the National Film Registry. He is currently host and curator of the CinemaLit series at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco. Daniel Moran earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers and articles on G. K. Chesterton and John Ford, he teaches research and Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

In the oceans of ink devoted to the monumental movie star/businesswoman/political activist Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (1932-2011), her beauty and not-so-private life frequently overshadowed her movies. While she knew how to generate publicity like no other, her personal life is set aside in this volume in favor of her professional oeuvre and unique screen dynamism. In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide (Oxford UP, 2024), her marriages, illnesses, media firestorms, perfume empire, violet eyes, and AIDS advocacy take a back seat to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress. Taylor's big screen credits span over fifty years, from her pre-adolescent debut in There's One Born Every Minute (1942) to her cameo in The Flintstones (1994). She worked steadily in everything from the biggest production in film history (Cleopatra in 1963) to a humble daytime TV soap opera (General Hospital in 1981). Each of her sixty-seven film appearances is recapped here with background on their inception, production, release, and critical and financial outcome. On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide is a cradle-to-grave chronology of Taylor's life, noting key events, achievements, and milestones. This book offers a work-by-work analysis of her entire career told in chronological order, each film headlined with year of release, distributing studio, and director. This in-depth overview provides an invaluable new way of understanding Taylor's full life and work, as well as the history and nuances of the film industry as it existed in the twentieth century. Kennedy engagingly reassesses Taylor's acting and the nuances she brought to the screen - this includes a consideration of her specific art, the development of her voice, her relationship to the camera, and her canny understanding of the effect she had on audiences worldwide. Kennedy also provides an elucidating guide to her entire filmography, one that speaks to the quality of her performances, their contours and shading, and their context within her extraordinary life and career. On Elizabeth Taylor is a beautifully comprehensive overview of a singular actress of the twentieth century, offering new ways to see and appreciate her skill and peerless charisma, in turn placing her among the greatest film stars of all time. Matthew Kennedy is a film historian based in Oakland, California. He is the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, biographies of actresses Marie Dressler and Joan Blondell, and of director-screenwriter Edmund Goulding. He has introduced film series at the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Pacific Film Archive, and written for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Turner Classic Movies, and the National Film Registry. He is currently host and curator of the CinemaLit series at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco. Daniel Moran earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers and articles on G. K. Chesterton and John Ford, he teaches research and Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Episode Summary In this special feed drop episode, Please Me host Eve Hall shares a powerful conversation from the Shameless Care Podcast, exploring the history of HIV and AIDS—from its devastating beginnings to today's life-saving medical breakthroughs. This episode traces how fear, misinformation, and stigma shaped the early AIDS crisis, how science and activism transformed treatment, and where we stand now with modern prevention tools like antiretroviral therapy (ART) and PrEP. It's a vital conversation about education, access, consent, and the importance of shame-free sexual health care. The first reported HIV/AIDS cases in the early 1980s Early misconceptions, panic, and stigma surrounding transmission The discovery of HIV and the development of testing Why AIDS was once considered universally fatal The role of public health leaders, including Dr. Anthony Fauci Activism, government response, and public education efforts Breakthroughs in HIV treatment and combination therapy (HAART) The meaning of Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) How PrEP has transformed HIV prevention Why HIV still affects communities today due to gaps in access and awareness  Connect With the Hosts Website: https://shamelesscare.com Podcast: Shameless Care Podcast Connect With Eve  Website: https://pleaseme.online Social Media & Contact: https://pleaseme.online/contacts Substack Newsletter: https://pleaseme.substack.com Patreon (Ad-Free & Bonus Content): https://patreon.com/PleaseMePodcast Be a Guest: Apply via PodMatch https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/beaguestonpleasemepodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this show, we are extending our ongoing Mike Nichols Marathon as our journey through his filmography takes us deeper into the 1990's where we finally take on the 1994 Wolf. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about this movie's positioning among other classical horror archetypes explored by other filmmakers (such as Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein, or Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear), whether this big budget production could be considered a comeback for the aging Nichols and how it reunited him with Elaine May. We also discuss the many readings one could apply to this film, ranging from commenting on the AIDS epidemic and corporate politics to discussions about masculinity and the director's own life trajectory, and we also explore the friction between the film's ambition and its own ability to deliver on character and theme development. Finally, we chuckle at Jack Nicholson's sharpened senses and find out that Jakub might not be able to pronounce the title of the movie correctly at all. Tune in and enjoy!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head over to our website to find out more! (uncutgemspodcast.com)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and IG (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy us a coffee over at Ko-Fi.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (ko-fi.com/uncutgemspod)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)

Welcome to Season 7! We start our fifth year recording with some loose ends that need to be tied. First off the 1993 legal drama that garnered Tom Hanks his first Best Actor Oscar. As well as finally getting to talk about one of the greatest actors ever, Denzel Washington. With serious topics like AIDS,homophobia, and workplace discrimination what's not to love?! Follow Billy and Raul on Bluesky @masterofpuns196 and @raulvaderrdz as well as the main show @synspod

THE EROSION OF NEUTRALITY AFTER POLAND AND FRANCE Colleague H.W. Brands. H.W. Brandsoutlines the erosion of neutrality following the fall of Poland and France. Roosevelt maneuvers to adjust neutrality laws and aids Britain via the destroyers-for-bases deal, despite isolationist skepticism. Lindbergh and his allies fear these steps are a trap leading to inevitable war. Meanwhile, Churchill's correspondence with FDR becomes increasingly manipulative, desperate to secure American support against Germany, while Lindbergh warns that the British are seeking a US bailout. NUMBER 3

What happens when a school district demands you teach content that isn't legally required? Military wife and homeschool mom Jennifer Moye found herself in exactly that situation when New York officials insisted she add AIDS education to her sixth-grader's curriculum—or face truancy charges. In this episode of Refining Rhetoric, Jennifer shares her unexpected journey from compliant homeschooler to constitutional defender. After moving to upstate New York in 2019, she faced increasing demands from her local school district, culminating in a requirement that went beyond what homeschool law actually mandated. With three boys to educate and a military family's already complex life, Jennifer had to make a choice: comply with government overreach or stand her ground. In this episode, you'll discover: How Classical Conversations provided consistency and community through four military moves  The moment Jennifer realized she needed HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) The surprising number of families facing similar harassment from school officials What happened when attorneys showed up to defend her rights—at no cost to her family Why this fight mattered for every homeschooling family in New York How she's now empowering the next generation through Turning Point USA This is a must-listen for every homeschooling family who thinks these battles are behind us. They're not. And Jennifer's courage reminds us why defending our freedoms matters for every generation.   This episode of Refining Rhetoric is sponsored by: Woke and Weaponized: How Karl Marx Won the Battle for American Education—And How We Can Win It Back – A new book written by Robert Bortins and Alex Newman. Discover the shocking truth about how current education reform efforts may actually accelerate the destruction of educational freedom. Through meticulous research, Woke and Weaponized traces the philosophical roots of educational corruption from Robert Owen and John Dewey to critical race theory, while offering practical strategies for families ready to pursue genuine educational independence. Join our exclusive list to be notified the moment it becomes available — plus receive special launch updates and insider information. www.WokeAndWeaponized.com   National Number Knockout 2027 Does your student think math is boring? What if they stopped seeing math as drill work and started seeing it as an exciting mental sport? That's the power of National Number Knockout, a nationwide mental math competition that's transforming how students think about numbers. Here's how basic Number Knockout works: Students ages 10-14 use three dice and a 6x6 grid to create as many mathematical equations as possible in just 60 seconds. It's fast, strategic, and seriously addictive. In spring of 2027, 16 national finalists will compete aboard a Caribbean cruise for grand prizes. But the real win? Whether your student makes it to nationals or just plays at home, they're building lightning-fast mental math skills and genuine mathematical confidence—watching them fall in love with mathematics. National Number Knockout—where math becomes a game, and every student can win. Visit https://classicalconversations.com/national-number-knockout/ to find free resources and learn about the 2027 competition.

NOBEL SNUBS AND LATER CONTROVERSIES Colleague Professor Paul Halpern. In the aftermath of the Big Bang's confirmation, Gamow fought for recognition of his prior theoretical contributions before his death in 1968. Halpern discusses the controversy surrounding the Nobel Prize for nucleosynthesis, which was awarded to William Fowler but excluded Hoyle, possibly due to misconceptions by the nominators. In his later years, Hoyle became a controversial figure, promoting panspermia—the idea that diseases like AIDS come from comets—and rejecting Darwinian evolution. Halpern concludes by describing both men as intuitive, "seat of the pants" thinkers who preferred spontaneity over rigid archival research. NUMBER 4 1960

Send Us an Email to Chat!This week we delve deep into 1990's Demon Cop! What was this movie? Why is it all ADR? Why was it called Demon Cop when he's a Werewolf Parole Officer? Whatchu got in that bag sweetie? This is a movie!! KELLY!Follow us on Instagram:@Gaspatchojones@Homewreckingwhore@The_Miseducation_of_DandG_Pod@QualityHoegramming@MullhollanddazeCheck Out Our WebsiteSupport the show

Original Air Date - 8/22/24 Comedian and host of Normal World, Dave Landau, sits down with Bridget for a fun conversation about how they should start their own morning show, Dave's childhood in Detroit, their respective struggles with addiction, Agent Orange, AIDS, parents with mental illness, dealing with Satanists in rehab, their experiences in mental hospitals, how Dave's teacher suggested he get into stand up, the ups and downs of his career, and stumbling into the culture wars. They cover texting each other when Trump was shot, living in a country where the middle class has been eviscerated, how we're becoming a country that we're not supposed to be, the rise of billionaires, how people want to be inspired, what he loves about America, finding happiness, and Dave shares his advice for people struggling with depression. Sponsor Links: - Quest offers 100+ lab tests to empower you to have more control over your health journey. Choose from a variety of test types that best suit your needs, use code WALKINS25 to get 25% off - https://www.questhealth.com--------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy - Podcast Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn't conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there's no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she'll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns. https://www.phetasy.com/ Buy PHETASY MERCH here: https://www.bridgetphetasy.com/ For more content, including the unedited version of Dumpster Fire, BTS content, writing, photos, livestreams and a kick-ass community, subscribe at https://phetasy.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bridgetphetasy/ Podcast - Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/walk-ins-welcome/id1437447846 https://open.spotify.com/show/7jbRU0qOjbxZJf9d49AHEh https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I3gqggwe23u6mnsdgqynu447wvaSupport the show

This is a re-release celebrating a decade of love and allyship on A Gay And A NonGay. This week we're throwing it back to May 2020... We've heard about 'expendable' populations before, but last time they meant gay people. 32 million people have died of AIDS related illnesses since the 1980s and in 2018, 770,000 people died worldwide because of the virus. The London Patient: A Cure For HIV? is the first episode in a brand new two-part series - funded by the Wellcome Trust and the British Podcast Awards Fund. Both episodes were recorded in accordance with government social distancing measures. On this episode, we look at the start of the epidemic, chat to AIDS activist Sir Nick Partridge OBE and head to Oxford to meet Professor John Frater who explains the science behind HIV. Trigger warning: Contains upsetting audio. Incredible advances in medicine now mean that if you are HIV+ and on effective treatment, you can't pass it on. Undetectable = Untransmittable. And in March 2019, it was revealed that a second person had been cured of HIV - The London Patient. What does the London Patient's story tell us about a cure for HIV? Plus in the age of Covid19, can the story of HIV and AIDS offer the world any hope? This episode is bought to you with thanks to the ⁠MTV Staying Alive Foundation⁠, the ⁠Terrence Higgins Trust⁠ and the ⁠National AIDS Trust⁠. Follow A Gay & A NonGay TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gaynongay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gaynongay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gaynongay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gaynongay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gaynongay.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email Us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠us@gaynongay.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get MORE Bad Friends at our Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/badfriends Thank you to our Sponsors: Shopify & Rocket Money • Shopify: Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at https://shopify.com/badfriends • Rocket Money: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to https://RocketMoney.com/BADFRIENDS today. YouTube Subscribe: http://bit.ly/BadFriendsYouTube Audio Subscribe: https://apple.co/31Jsvr2 Merch: http://badfriendsmerch.com 0:00 Bobby Skellington & Santino Grinch 5:00 Thanksgiving w/ Michael Bay 10:00 The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives 15:00 Banana Ketchup 21:30 Biggest in Hollywood 27:00 Bombs Have an Essence 32:00 Rudy Loves Guava D 37:00 Under the Mistletoe 40:22 The Whole Bloody Affair 47:45 Bad Friendsmas Jeopardy 55:00 What is Aids? 1:00:00 The Big C Returns! 1:07:00 White Vans & Mad Libs More Bobby Lee TigerBelly: https://www.youtube.com/tigerbelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbyleelive Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobbyleelive Tickets: https://bobbylee.live More Andrew Santino Whiskey Ginger: https://www.youtube.com/andrewsantinowhiskeyginger Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheetosantino Twitter: https://Twitter.com/cheetosantino Tickets: http://www.andrewsantino.com More Fancy SOS VHS: https://www.youtube.com/@7EQUIS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancyb.1 More Bad Friends iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-friends/id1496265971 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badfriendspod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/badfriends_pod Official Website: http://badfriendspod.com/ Opening Credits and Branding: https://www.instagram.com/joseph_faria & https://www.instagram.com/jenna_sunday Credit Sequence Music: http://bit.ly/RocomMusic // https://www.instagram.com/rocom Character Design: https://www.instagram.com/jeffreymyles Bad Friends Mosaic Sign: https://www.instagram.com/tedmunzmosaicart Produced by: 7EQUIS https://www.7equis.com/ Podcast Producer: Andrés Rosende This video contains paid promotion. #bobbylee #andrewsantino #badfriends #sponsored #ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Alexes Hazen—board-certified plastic surgeon, microsurgery specialist, and founder of Zen Essentials—for a thoughtful conversation on skin health, ethical aesthetics, and why real results can never be separated from whole-body well-being. With a background that spans public health, global medicine, and some of the most technically demanding surgical training, Dr. Hazen brings a rare depth to how she thinks about beauty, healing, and care.Her path to medicine was anything but linear. From working with the New York City Department of Health during the AIDS crisis to serving in the Peace Corps in Honduras, Dr. Hazen learned early that medicine isn't just technical—it's human. Those experiences shaped a philosophy she carries into every aspect of her work today: outcomes are influenced as much by mental health, sleep, nutrition, and support systems as they are by surgical skill.Throughout the conversation, Dr. Hazen challenges the surface-level thinking that dominates skincare culture. Skin, she reminds us, is an organ—and it reflects what's happening internally. No product can compensate for chronic stress, dehydration, or exhaustion. When those fundamentals are addressed, skincare finally has the space to work as it should.She also speaks candidly about ethics in aesthetic medicine—why board certification matters, why saying “no” is sometimes the most responsible choice, and how listening to patients should always come before selling solutions.That same restraint and intention led to the creation of Zen Essentials, born from Dr. Hazen's own struggles with severe skin sensitivities. Designed to be effective yet calming, the line reflects her belief that skincare should support the body—not fight it.Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Alexes Hazen unpack holistic healing, ethical aesthetics, and why real skin health starts with caring for the whole person.SHOP Zen Essentials and learn more on social media!CHAPTERS:(0:02) - Introduction & Guest Welcome(0:46) - A Nonlinear Path Into Medicine(1:26) - Public Health, AIDS Education & the Peace Corps(2:46) - Falling in Love With Surgery & Plastic Surgery Training(3:01) - Early Burn Injury, Scars & Coming Full Circle(4:12) - Why Holistic Care Matters in Surgical Outcomes(8:40) - Skin as a Reflection of Whole-Body Health(11:22) - Ethics, Training & Responsibility in Aesthetic Surgery(26:21) - The Origins of Zen Essentials & Sensitive Skin SciencePlease fill out this survey to give us feedback on the show!Don't forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.Reach out to us through email with any questions.Sign up for our newsletter!Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!*This is a paid collaboration Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.