Podcasts about blue mountain center

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine, First, Mark Dunlea brings us coverage from a lawsuit filed against New York State centered around greenhouse gas emissions. Then, Sina Basila Hickey speaks to Head Chef Intaba Liff-Anderson about the Blue Mountain Center. Later on, Lennox Apudo talks to the founder of AuesomeTech, Darlene Bowman as part of Autism Awareness Month. After that, Brad Monkell talks about the Albany hip hop scene with local rapper and producer Soo Do Koo. Finally, Ellie Markovitch brings us another segment with Jessy of Fermentation Friday.

Up the Adirondacks, by a lake, equipped with 22 beds, a garden, and recreational activities, Blue Mountain Center offers a social-justice oriented artist residency and conference program. Food is central in this experience, and there is currently an opening for a kitchen assistant. Blue Mountain Center Head Chef Intaba Liff-Anderson spoke with Sina Basila Hickey for Hudson Mohawk Magazine. Learn more: https://www.bluemountaincenter.org/blue-mountain-center-is-hiring

Kendra Sullivan's latest book of poetry, Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2024), cycles through a series of operational exercises that gradually enable her to narrate an attempted escape from the trappings of narrativity—plot, character, chronology, and the promise of a probable future issuing forth from a stable past. From deep within a narrowly constrained relational data set sometimes defined as memory, sometimes identity, and sometimes collectivity, Sullivan explores, by turns, the open sea as a mode of knowing and means of conveying knowledge; the fluidity of beings, nonbeings, and the forces animating both; maps, countermaps, and the restructuring of shared worlds. Kendra Sullivan is a poet, public artist, and activist scholar. She is the Director of the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she leads the Andrew W. Mellon Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research and coleads the NYC Climate Justice Hub. She is the publisher of Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative and the co-editorial director of Women's Studies Quarterly. Kendra makes public art addressing waterfront access and equity issues in cities around the world and has published her writing on art, ecology, and engagement widely. She is the co-founder of the Sunview Luncheonette, a cooperative arts venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and a member of Mare Liberum, a collective of artists, activists, and boatbuilders. Her work has been supported by grants, awards, and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Waverley Street Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the Montello Foundation, the Engaging the Senses Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the T.S. Eliot House, among many others. Her books include Zero Point Dream Poems (Doublecross Press) and Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse). Tyler Thier is a faculty member and administrator in the Department of Writing Studies & Rhetoric at Hofstra University. He regularly writes and teaches cultural criticism, and his scholarship is concerned with malicious rhetoric and dangerous media—specifically, extremist manifestos. 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

Kendra Sullivan's latest book of poetry, Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2024), cycles through a series of operational exercises that gradually enable her to narrate an attempted escape from the trappings of narrativity—plot, character, chronology, and the promise of a probable future issuing forth from a stable past. From deep within a narrowly constrained relational data set sometimes defined as memory, sometimes identity, and sometimes collectivity, Sullivan explores, by turns, the open sea as a mode of knowing and means of conveying knowledge; the fluidity of beings, nonbeings, and the forces animating both; maps, countermaps, and the restructuring of shared worlds. Kendra Sullivan is a poet, public artist, and activist scholar. She is the Director of the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she leads the Andrew W. Mellon Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research and coleads the NYC Climate Justice Hub. She is the publisher of Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative and the co-editorial director of Women's Studies Quarterly. Kendra makes public art addressing waterfront access and equity issues in cities around the world and has published her writing on art, ecology, and engagement widely. She is the co-founder of the Sunview Luncheonette, a cooperative arts venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and a member of Mare Liberum, a collective of artists, activists, and boatbuilders. Her work has been supported by grants, awards, and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Waverley Street Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the Montello Foundation, the Engaging the Senses Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the T.S. Eliot House, among many others. Her books include Zero Point Dream Poems (Doublecross Press) and Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse). Tyler Thier is a faculty member and administrator in the Department of Writing Studies & Rhetoric at Hofstra University. He regularly writes and teaches cultural criticism, and his scholarship is concerned with malicious rhetoric and dangerous media—specifically, extremist manifestos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Kendra Sullivan's latest book of poetry, Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2024), cycles through a series of operational exercises that gradually enable her to narrate an attempted escape from the trappings of narrativity—plot, character, chronology, and the promise of a probable future issuing forth from a stable past. From deep within a narrowly constrained relational data set sometimes defined as memory, sometimes identity, and sometimes collectivity, Sullivan explores, by turns, the open sea as a mode of knowing and means of conveying knowledge; the fluidity of beings, nonbeings, and the forces animating both; maps, countermaps, and the restructuring of shared worlds. Kendra Sullivan is a poet, public artist, and activist scholar. She is the Director of the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she leads the Andrew W. Mellon Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research and coleads the NYC Climate Justice Hub. She is the publisher of Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative and the co-editorial director of Women's Studies Quarterly. Kendra makes public art addressing waterfront access and equity issues in cities around the world and has published her writing on art, ecology, and engagement widely. She is the co-founder of the Sunview Luncheonette, a cooperative arts venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and a member of Mare Liberum, a collective of artists, activists, and boatbuilders. Her work has been supported by grants, awards, and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Waverley Street Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the Montello Foundation, the Engaging the Senses Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the T.S. Eliot House, among many others. Her books include Zero Point Dream Poems (Doublecross Press) and Reps (Ugly Duckling Presse). Tyler Thier is a faculty member and administrator in the Department of Writing Studies & Rhetoric at Hofstra University. He regularly writes and teaches cultural criticism, and his scholarship is concerned with malicious rhetoric and dangerous media—specifically, extremist manifestos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry

Artist Lindsey Guile (she/her) draws charcoal images of nude, fat people…on canvases that are eight-feet tall. Her fat bodies literally take up space and tower over viewers. Lindsey shares what motivated her to embrace fat liberation (spoiler: gallbladder disease and an eating disorder) and use her artistic talents to challenge the hierarchy of art.Lindsey Guile is a body and fat-liberation artist exploring concepts of self-image through the lens of contemporary feminist theory. Lindsey's practice embraces an intermedia approach that utilizes drawing, printmaking, and ceramics in her explorations into how body image affects self- worth. Her work has been exhibited at The Arnot Museum, The Dorsky Museum, The Birke Art Gallery, The Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Untitled Space Gallery, Women's Work Gallery, The Williamsburg art & Historical Center, and more. She was an Artist in Residence at the Blue Mountain Center in the summer of 2021.Lindsey is an Assistant Professor of Visual Art at Dutchess Community College. She is also the Director of the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery on campus. She has an MFA from SUNY New Paltz and a BFA and MA degrees from SUNY Oswego. Lindsey currently lives in Poughkeepsie, New York. Please connect with Lindsey through her website and Instagram.This episode's poem is called “Keeping Still” by Pablo Neruda.Connect with Fat Joy on the website, Instagram, subscribe to the Fat Joy newsletter, and watch full video episodes on YouTube. Want to share some fattie love? Please rate this podcast and give it a joyful review. Our thanks to Chris Jones and AR Media for keeping this podcast looking and sounding joyful

Michael Nagler is Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley, where he founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Prof. Nagler has spoken and written widely for campus, religious, public and special interest groups on the subject of peace and nonviolence for many years,. He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is President of the board of METTA: Center for Nonviolence Education and of PeaceWorkers, and on numerous other boards, and has recently co-founded Educators For Nonviolence (info@efnv.org). He has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970's and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. In addition to his many articles on peace and spirituality, he is the author of America Without Violence (Island Press, 1982), The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 1987) and most recently The Search for a Nonviolent Future (Inner Ocean Publishing) which won the 2002 American Book Award and is being used in many courses as well as reading groups around the country (Italian translation appeared in 2005; pending in Korean and Arabic). Michael Nagler is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center's ashram in Marin County since 1970.

In today's episode, Gina discusses the wisdom of author and spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran. These teachings helped Gina improve her skill set for handling the wild anxious mind she was suffering with, and she hopes to impart this knowledge on her listeners. Embracing mindfulness and incorporating mantra into your daily practice will serve you well in your anxiety recovery journey. Listen in for Eknath Easwaran's ancient wisdom on this and enhance your practice today! Please visit our Sponsor Page to find all the links and codes for our awesome sponsors! https://www.theanxietycoachespodcast.com/sponsors/ Thank you for supporting The Anxiety Coaches Podcast. Find even more peace and calm with our Supercast premium access membership! https://anxietycoaches.supercast.com/ Here's what's included for $5/month: ❤ New Ad-Free episodes every Sunday and Wednesday ❤ Access to the entire Ad-free back-catalog with over 600 episodes ❤ Premium meditations recorded with you in mind ❤ And more fun surprises along the way! All this in your favorite podcast app! To learn more go to: https://www.theanxietycoachespodcast.com Join our Group Coaching Full or Mini Membership Program  Learn more about our One-on-One Coaching What is anxiety? Quote: It is the mind that makes one wise or ignorant, bound or emancipated. -Sri Ramakrishna Chapters 0:00:24 Finding Peace and Calm in the Frantic Mind 0:01:08 Inspiration from Eknath Eswaran: A Spiritual Teacher's Wisdom 0:02:16 Slowing Down the Mind for Deep Relaxation and Concentration 0:07:42 One-Pointed Attention: Unifying Consciousness and Deepening Concentration 0:09:24 The Power of Mantras: Transforming Consciousness through Repetition 0:12:26 Discovering the Power of Mantras 0:13:17 Exploring the Teachings of Akhenath Aswaran 0:14:42 Embracing Ancient Wisdom for a Calm and Peaceful Life 0:17:03 The Power of the Mind in Wisdom and Freedom Summary In this episode of the Anxiety Coaches Podcast, we explore the wisdom of spiritual teacher Eknath Eswaran. Eswaran, founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and meditation instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, emphasizes the power of slowing down the mind to reduce stress and tension. By practicing meditation and slowing our pace of life, we can cultivate resilience and make choices with clarity. Eswaran's book, "Words to Live By," provides daily guidance and inspiration, outlining his eight-point program that includes practices such as meditation, mantra repetition, and focused attention. The idea of having a mantra resonates deeply with me personally. I have found that listening to podcasts while driving and focusing on a chosen mantra helps me stay present and attentive. Eswaran's second point in his program is the repetition of a mantra, or what he refers to as a mantram. These powerful spiritual formulas can transform consciousness when silently repeated in the mind. Every religious tradition has its own mantras, such as the name of Jesus, Hail Mary, Blessed art thou, Allah, and Om Mani Padme Hum. It is important to choose a mantra that deeply appeals to us and to stick with it, as changing mantras may hinder the deep benefits they can provide. Repeating our chosen mantra silently throughout the day, during activities like walking, waiting, or doing chores, can help us stay relaxed and alert. The calming effect of the mantra can also alleviate negative emotions such as anger, fear, and worry. From my personal experience, I have been using the same mantra since the mid-90s and have found it to have a profound impact on my life. It pops up unexpectedly and grounds me in moments when I need it most. I highly recommend exploring Eknath Eswaran's teachings and reading his other books, including "The Unstruck Bell." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Ito began reading at the age of three, and writing stories at the age six. She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At Heart's Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in The Writer, Growing Up Asian American, Choice, Hip Mama, Literary Mama, Catapult, Hyphen,The Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is a MacDowell colony Fellow, and has also been awarded residencies at The Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center. She has performed her solo show, The Ice Cream Gene, around the US. Her theatrical adaption of Untold, stories of reproductive stigma, was produced at Brava Theater She is a member of the Writers' Grotto, and teaches at Mills College/Northeastern University and Bay Path University. She was one of the co-organizers of Rooted and Written, a no-fee writing workshop for writers of color. She lives in Northern California.Website: https://www.thesusanito.com/bioMusic by Corey Quinn

You're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about anti-fat bias, diet culture, parenting, and health. I am Virginia Sole Smith. Today I am chatting with Lindsey Guile. Lindsey is an Associate Professor of Art at Dutchess Community College, and a body and fat liberation artist.  Lindsey uses large format drawing and ceramics to explore concepts of self image, body image and self worth through the lens of contemporary feminist theory. Her work has been exhibited at The Arnot Museum, The Dorsky Museum, The Birke Art Gallery, The Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Untitled Space Gallery, Women's Work Gallery, The Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, and so many others. Lindsey currently lives in Poughkeepsie, and is someone I know locally through fat activism work here in the Hudson Valley. She is awesome! Seeing Lindsey's eight foot tall drawings of fat bodies in person was one of the most powerful experiences I've had since I started writing and thinking about bodies in the way that I do. We are putting lots of images in the show notes, so definitely check them out and definitely follow her on Instagram. But know that these images are not doing her work justice. The actual size and scale of these drawings is something you have to experience in real life. Lindsey is a total delight. I love talking to her about her process, about how she thinks about this work, and about the power of drawing bodies. So here's Lindsey! PS. If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following us (it's free!) in your podcast player! We're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Pocket Casts! And while you're there, please leave us a rating or review. (We like 5 stars!)Episode 105 TranscriptLindseyI am a self-described feminist, body neutral, fat liberationist, body liberationist, figurative artist. I know there are a lot of terms there, but there is a lot that I want to embrace. I work mainly in large-scale drawings that explore the idea of femininity from the feminine gaze. I have people who model for me, they can be clothed or nude. It's totally up to them. I create an atmosphere that's really based on consent. And I've been doing this regularly for about five years, although the series started about 10 years ago.VirginiaBring us back to 10 years ago. What made you say “I not only want to draw bodies, I not only want to draw people, but I would like to draw them eight feet tall. I would like them to take up all of the space?”LindseyHow often do feminine folks get to just take up space unapologetically? That's one thing that really stuck in my brain in terms of size, is that I wanted them to really just command a room—quietly though, because I do draw versus paint. And I think painting, while wonderful, is a lot louder. I think there can be such a power and sometimes subtlety to drawing. But where it started was me white knuckling my way through my own recovery from diet culture and disordered eating which was just so difficult for me, especially when I was in my Master's of Fine Arts program. I remember laying on the floor in my studio apartment having a panic attack, knowing that I could either continue to engage in diet culture or I could pass my classes. It took up so much of my brain power to do all that. And it got to the point where it just was not sustainable. I finally had to be like, I can't do this anymore. I started following some folks online who were fat and I was like, look, these people are doing this. It's okay, I can let this go. I've always been a figurative artist. I love drawing the human figure. So I was like, “You know what, maybe I need to draw myself nude.” I had always been interested in being a nude model. But my body shape wasn't what people drew when I was a student. So it seemed very cut off to me. One of my friends was like, “Hey, I think you need to draw yourself.” So I drew myself, collarbone to thigh. It actually hangs in my bedroom now, that drawing. And it was difficult, because I was dealing with my own body image issues—but then people were coming into my studio like, “Oh my gosh, like, look at the draping on the stomach from all the weight fluctuations. This is really beautiful. And this is such a great drawing. I love how you're honoring that body.” I didn't tell people it was me.VirginiaOh, that's interesting. So you're really getting their unfiltered response. They weren't like, “Oh, it's Lindsey so I should say something nice to Lindsey about Lindsey.” LindseyYeah. Then it was like a light bulb that went off, which was: I can use the system and the hierarchy of art to start flipping the narrative and draw fat bodies. And figures that are not just fat—although I think a lot of larger people come to me because I am larger, and it's a safe space to start to tell people's stories in that way. Also, having drawn myself and understanding how difficult it was to look at myself in that way, I think it gave me extra compassion for the people coming in, where I know this is a very scary thing for them to do.VirginiaSince you brought up drawing yourself, I'm curious to hear how that experience changed how you relate to your body? LindseySo I joke with people that the only time I've ever been small was when I was born because I was super early. I'm also just shy of six feet tall, so I've never fit into a certain beauty narrative. And even when I was the most engaged in diet culture, I still have always been plus-sized. To see myself there in this drawing and to see it as an artist and as the person who drew it was really profound. I did my first drawing of me on a large scale in 2019 and it was really nerve wracking to see that in a gallery and people interacting with it. I remember actually it was in a college I teach at, one of my students was like, “Does that look like the person?” and I felt like saying “Well, I don't know, does it?”I guess it's a little weird to put yourself out there, but I've learned to look at myself with the eyes of an artist rather than the eyes of the patriarchy and diet culture. It's taught me a lot of kindness towards myself. I'm not saying I don't struggle with it, but it's given me so much more.VirginiaIt feels like a way of reclaiming your body.LindseyOne thousand percent. That's actually a big theme for a lot of people I work with: Reclaiming their body in some way, shape, or form. Actually, I was telling a friend this morning I just started a new drawing of myself. I'd wanted to do one when I hit 40 and then I just wasn't in the space to do it. But I've done a lot recently with therapy. I got a bunch of tattoos, a nose ring. I was like, “I think I'm ready to tell that story of me again.”VirginiaI was just thinking how tattoos are often another way people reclaim their body. And so many of your subjects have tattoos and you draw tattoos really beautifully. LindseyThe first tattooed model I drew, that's specifically what she talked about. She's a larger woman and she talked a lot about how people would stare at her and she decided that she was going to give them something to stare at. She has so many tattoos. In fact, it's funny—she's a dear friend now—she'll be like, “Lindsey, I have more tattoos. When do you want to draw me again?” She's also a tattoo apprentice so it's like wrapping around.VirginiaLet's talk about your process a little bit. I don't speak Fine Art particularly fluently, but I do think there's an image we have of figure drawing of the model being just this sort of amorphous body, right? It's like men painting women because they're beautiful and nothing else. They're not people apart from the bodies. But your process is so different from that. LindseyI've been working as a figurative artist for for over 20 years and I've seen exactly what you're talking about. I've even joked with my students that [the model is] a still life that breathes. And I realized I was still objectifying our models which, obviously was a problem. With my process, I usually use social media and I'm like, “Hey, I'm looking for models.” I explain the whole process, that you don't have to be nude. It's consent driven, so you can tell me—I had a model once who was like, I'm okay with being fully nude but I don't want you to show my vulva. And I was like, perfect, not a problem, we'll pose around it. So they reach out to me, we set up, we usually have a little bit of a chat. And I utilize the college's drawing studio to photograph because I just don't have room in my studio at home. And while they are up on a podium, that's more for just so I can get the right angles. I try to create this atmosphere that is just really respectful. Usually, when they come in, they get to the level of dress or undress that they're comfortable with. We get ready to start and I say, tell me about the story of your body. What are those things that have influenced you? They know that they can tell me anything. But they can also say, “Please don't utilize this in an artist talk.” So I do tell them, “I'm going to give talks. What can I say? And what can't I say?” And we go from there. Some models are like “I don't know how to pose” and I say I just want something really natural, what feels comfortable to you? How do you like to stand? How do you like to sit? And a lot of times my goal when I first start in talking with them and just getting them comfortable, is so that they stopped noticing the camera.VirginiaI have a similar thing with hoping they don't notice the tape recorder, so I can relate to that. LindseyAnd it's also important to know that if at any point it becomes very emotional for them, which it definitely has, that I will actually put the camera down. Because I'm not there to exploit feelings. It's happened a few times where a model was just so overcome with that moment that I set the camera down and they said “You can keep photographing.” I'm like, I want you to have this moment for you. So it usually takes about an hour to photograph. I zoom around, like I'm on the floor, I'm on a roll-y stool. I photograph all the models from below so that when you as a viewer are in a gallery and they're larger than life, they look down on you. It's very deliberate to put the viewers in a position of submission to the figures. It's usually pretty subtle because I don't want to smack the viewer side of the head with it. But I really want them to feel it. VirginiaI wonder is that vulnerable for your subjects? Because I'm just thinking of how women are trained to photograph ourselves and from below is never the angle that we're told is the right angle.LindseyNo one's really ever said much because I do explain why this is. They can also say, “I'm really insecure about this part of me or that,” and we'll work around it in photographing. But I can also say, “well, let let me try this shot and then I can let you see if you want to see.” I think I've only had three models who actually wanted to see the photographs of them. Oftentimes they're like, “I trust you to do what you do.” And we'll go from there. Then I choose the image that I draw from. I haven't had anyone complain yet because I usually find an image that felt like our session. I try to keep the technical aspects of a drawing out of it and just think, what did this feel like for them? Were they really tentative? Were they just really empowered? Were they somewhere in between? And go for it. There have been a few times where I'm photographing and I knew the shot the minute I got it. There was a model, she'd model for me once, and she was like, “Can I model for you again?” And I said, “Yeah, let's do it.” She came in. She's like, “I don't want to talk.” Okay. She was like, “I have some emotions I have to get out and I know you're a safe person. I'm okay with you photographing it. And I'm just gonna move around. I'm probably going to cry. I just want to get it out.”VirginiaWow.Lindsey And she did it. And I knew the minute I took the photograph, it was just incredibly powerful.I work primarily in drawing because I feel that charcoal especially is just so beautiful. It's very tactile. I wanted them to feel the hand of the artist in there. One thing that comes up is when people are like “Oh, people who don't love themselves, they must stand in front of the mirror and like shake their stomachs,” or something like that. For me, it was very different. For me, I disassociated from myself. I just pretended I wasn't there from the neck down. VirginiaPrior to drawing yourself?LindseyPrior to drawing myself. So I don't go to hyper realistic drawing because I feel like I've been given such a gift by the people who model for me. I want there to be a sense of touch, that they've been loved and cared for, this image that they've given, and that's one of the most important parts to me. That they know that in this space that they've been cherished and their stories are so important. And charcoal does that for me. I think it's just very eloquent and can do a lot without telling people how to feel at least in the way that I handle it. VirginiaI was going to say there's such a softness to your work, which isn't quite right. There is softness to the bodies. The work itself feels very strong to me, but there's a loving quality to it that comes through. I'm guessing that's what you're talking about here with the medium and wanting to be clear that this isn't a photo of somebody's body, even though you also are amazingly realistic. Like, the way you draw people's tattoos is mind blowing. There is a level of insane precision here, just so we're clear. But yes, it is clearly an artist's view of someone, not a photo of someone.LindseyI love it when people bring up the tattoos. My piece “Brazen” is of the woman I mentioned earlier who talked about using her body to reclaim tattoos. I have three drawings of folks who are heavily tattooed. One I just finished this summer [above] and it probably was the most nerve wracking thing for me to figure out artistically. I thought I had it with the first two drawings I did. And then the one I just finished, the title is called “Unwavering” if people want to look it up. She has so many tattoos. Usually I draw the form of the body first, and then I add the tattoos on. I had to draw the tattoos first.VirginiaOh, wow. You put her body around her tattoos. That's fascinating.LindseyAnd I was like, how do I do this? You're drawing other people's artwork.VirginiaSo no pressure there. LindseyYeah, no pressure, no pressure. And it's on a 3D form. And all three of those models are tattoo artists.VirginiaSo they would know if you miss something. LindseyAnd they're all good friends of mine. And I every now and then I'll message them, like I did the model I just finished, I was like, “I kind of guessed.” She's like, “I won't tell anybody.” I'm like, “Okay, perfect.”VirginiaLet's talk a little bit about the response to your work. I'm curious both what the models think but then more broadly, when you're doing shows and showing your work, what kind of reactions do you get?LindseyYou know, overwhelmingly positive. I have not had a model say, “I don't like it.” Probably one of my favorites was early on in the series, I had worked from a former student and she came to a show early to see the piece. She was crying in front of the piece and she said, “you made me look beautiful.” And I said, “I didn't make you anything you aren't already.” It's funny because I'm a bit of an awkward person, socially awkward.VirginiaI mean, I disagree, but keep going.LindseyI project a lot of confidence. Years of working retail, right? But inwardly, sometimes I'm screaming “I don't know how to interact.” But I love it when people are like, “I want to show this to my friend or my daughter,” or something like that. There's been a few times though, where I've gotten a few like “ew, gross.” I had a small solo show here in Poughkeepsie and I was watching the gallery and a gentleman came in, and probably gentleman is a kind word here. VirginiaGenerous. LindseyAnd he didn't see me. He was like, “ugh, ugh,” and he kept making these gross sounds. Then he looked at me, looked me up and down, and said, “you must be the artist.” And I was like, “Yes, I am.” And he was like, “Well, I wouldn't hang these in my bedroom. Why can't you draw normal people?” And of course, this is the town I work in and I'm kind of a public figure so I had to be very nice, which hurt me. VirginiaI love that he thought art should be drawn for him to…hang in his bedroom. That's such an interesting way to think about art. Do you know what I mean? That's how entitled he feels to these bodies. Interesting.LindseyHe was like, “I wouldn't want to wake up to them.” And I'm like, “well, I don't want you to wake up to my drawings regardless.”VirginiaSir, I would not want to wake up to you.LindseySomeone didn't say it to me, they said it to someone related to the gallery, that they thought my work was pornography.VirginiaJust because some people are naked?LindseyYeah, just because the nudity. And actually I go out of my way to not portray anything overtly sexual. It's just not what I'm focusing on. So part of me wants to be like, “Wow, your porn must be really boring.”VirginiaNot a lot happens in your porn.LindseyTo each their own!VirginiaI mean, I guess there is a group of people who just think nudity equals pornography no matter what. Do they not ever go to Italy? Did they not hear of the Renaissance? I don't understand because we have centuries upon centuries of naked people in art. But I wonder if there are some folks who are especially quick to go there because you are showing are fat bodies?LindseyI think so. Because the work does make people uncomfortable. Because they're not Photoshopped, because they're not the beauty ideal. I think it forces a lot of people to confront their own biases. So it might be an easy way to say, “This is inappropriate.” Hopefully those are the people that even afterwards think about the work and let it kind of sit in the back of their head and maybe changes a little bit of what they think. You know, that's all I can hope.VirginiaThis is like the same with the trolls who message me about my work saying, “I don't think fat chicks are attractive.” And it's so interesting to me, because nothing I write about has to do with whether men find fat woman attractive. I think it taps into the fact that there are some men who do find fat women attractive and yet feel like they can't be public about it. So then they have to turn that negatively onto fat women. I said that, awkwardly, but you know what I mean? LindseyIt's their denial. It's interesting that the few people I've known that have said this about my images being pornographic are older women.VirginiaOh, so it's tapping into their own stuff.LindseyI think a lot of the way that they grew up, that thinness was ideal, you got it through whatever means necessary. To then see people really living in their own bodies, and not just in bodies, but then modeling in art, and nude. It challenges a lot of those preconceived notions.VirginiaThis is making me think of something you told me previously, I can't remember if it was a professor of yours or someone who commented on a pose, and was like, “Oh, she's so ashamed of her body because she's covering.” Do you want to tell that story? LindseyYeah, it was about my first large drawing of myself, actually. When I took the photo, I'd cross my arms and one is kind of underneath my chest and one's kind of going over top and it's meant to be like this hug. It was more of like, “It's going to be okay” for myself. And because I'm busty, I kind of caught my bust in my arm. I remember my professor was like, “Well, that's not correct anatomically.” And I'm like, “Pretty sure it is.” And she was like, “well, I feel like this figure is just ashamed of herself. And like, she's sitting in the mirror hiding.” And I'm like, “This is a very kind of loving hug. And she's not covering anything unless you count the sternum, right?” The stomach was there. The vulva is there. The breasts are there. And I said, “I really think that you're projecting your own insecurities onto my figure.” And everybody was just kind of quiet. VirginiaI think they knew. I mean, the first time I saw your pieces in person, you were there— I cried. And, I was thinking before we started recording, like, why did I cry and what it was. It felt just very visceral. It was so healing to be in the presence of fat, beautiful bodies like that, and feel the power that they held. But I can see, for someone who's in a different place with fatness with their own body, it's going to bring that up and be really challenging and that's also really good. LindseyThat's exactly what I want. I want people to go in there and really start investigating for themselves and reevaluating how they see themselves and see others and how they judge others. I generally don't care what people think about my artwork. Took a long, long time to get over that.VirginiaThat sounds very evolved of you. I'm impressed.LindseyWell I kind of had to, because I'm a very sensitive person and I want people to like me. But it took a long time for me to realize that this is what I want to do. People are not going to like it. But there are people who it's going to move. VirginiaTell us a little bit about your teaching process, and how this comes into play.LindseyI'm an associate professor of visual art at Dutchess Community College. In particular, I teach the figure drawing class. You know, when we look at art history—which, I love art history, but a lot of it is women drawn by men, women in a very subservient position in the pieces—it's very much drawn from the male gaze. So I'm very aware of that. One of the things I do when I teach the class is, I focus a lot on bringing in contemporary figurative artists. I tell my students that this represent sthe wonderful diversity that we have in the class. But also, in many ways, I take body liberation and stretch it out to not just include weight. The classroom is, to me, fully inclusive, to the best of my ability and I will keep learning. We have trans and non binary models, we talk about using language beyond the binary. I talk with my models ahead of time, and I say, “when I talk about your figure, and I'm going to have to, what terms are you most comfortable with?” But then it's also making sure I have a lot of body diversity, as much as I can. Though sometimes you're limited by just the model roster. I've also been known to say like, “Okay, we're looking at this model, and this is how this anatomy shows, but it's going to show on someone different like me who is larger.” And it neutralizes this idea of fat and largeness. They seem to respond really well, which has been great. For a while, we didn't have many curvy models. We had one of our long-standing models, she can only model once a semester. She came in and after she left, the next class, they were like, When is she coming back? We love her. You can see so many different things.”VirginiaWhat a powerful way to give them an appreciation of body diversity.LindseyI used to be very insecure about my chest. And I saw how chests come in all shapes and sizes and I'm no longer self conscious about that anymore. In fact, I'm a nude model myself.VirginiaSo do you do that for other artist friends? How does that work?LindseyI model up at Woodstock School of Art in the summers. I just tell them when I'm prepared and I model for their classes and their open studios. So I get to work with a lot of different artists there. VirginiaWhat is that like, the experience of nude modeling? It feels like it's probably a lot more work than people realize.LindseyYes, I joke that all I have to do is sit still look pretty, right? Or just sit still. I don't have to look pretty. But sitting still can be so hard.VirginiaSo hard! Oh, I'm terrible at it. I would not last five minutes.LindseyUsually you get a break every 25 minutes. But if you go into a 25 minute pose oftentimes you're like, “Is my leg still there? Oh, no, my leg is there. It really hurts.” Or, “I have sweat running down my back, or my nose itches.”VirginiaThe nose itches would be killer. I bet you regret a lot of poses like 18 minutes in. You're like, this was not the pose.LindseyYou learn the capabilities of your body as you've been doing it. But sometimes I'm like, “Oh, yeah, I totally put my hand there and it's supporting all my weight.” I said it'd be fine for 20 minutes and then like 10 minutes in and you're like, I'm going to die. VirginiaI don't have a wrist anymore. It's fine.LindseyBut it's also very empowering because it is a safe space. There's only been one instance where I've been modeling and someone was clearly upset that they had a plus size model. And I just stared them down. Because he wasn't drawing! VirginiaOh, he was just sitting there sulking?LindseyYeah, he was sitting there sulking. And that is not acceptable. As someone who also teaches the course, you do work. I never stare people down because I don't want artists to get nervous. But I stared him down until he started working.VirginiaI enjoy that greatly. ButterLindseyI hope it's okay to just give a shout out. And I think it's to tattoos.VirginiaYay. That's fun!LindseyThe way we reclaim our bodies with them, and the inspiration they've given me. Particularly a shop that I absolutely love, if that's alright, is Guts'n Glory in Rosendale. That's where those three tattoo artists work. They've given me such amazing work and made me feel so much more myself and empowered me. It's an amazing shop. There are queer folks there. It's just absolutely beautiful. So they're my butter.VirginiaI love that. I do not have any tattoos. Yet, I should say. Life is long, we'll see. I've just never been able to commit, but I have a deep appreciation for them. I think that's the overthinking thing I can really relate to. I'm like, “They're so wonderful I couldn't possibly pick one!” Which is, you know, anyway, we can unpack that later. But I love hearing what they do for people and their relationship with their body. So, that's such a great butter. I was also overthinking what my butter should be today, when I realized it's very obvious. Since I am talking to Lindsey Guile my butter is “Valiant” by Lindsey Guile, [above] which is the most incredible drawing that I just got from your “Unapologetic” series. This is a present that Dan and my family all went in on together, as a congratulations for my book. So it's really special that they wanted to do something nice to celebrate the book. But also the fact that they picked Lindsey's artwork and then it led me to get to know Lindsey—I'm so excited about it. I'm currently on the hunt to find a framer who can frame something this large.LindseyIt's only almost 80 inches. It's fine. VirginiaI emailed my local frame shop who are so lovely and do such good work, and they were like, “We are not set up for that.” But you've given me names of a couple places. So this is my Butter Project. I'm going on a little framing odyssey with it. And you came over and we picked the wall in my house that it's going to hang on. It will not be done by the time this episode airs, but I will definitely do a follow up when I have it in the house so everyone can see it. It's just amazing. And there is an incredible space tattoo on Hannah. It was one of the details I really loved about it. And I just love her expression. LindseyI'm so glad, too, because Hannah was fantastic to work with as well. And one of the few times I've actually gotten to talk with someone who occupies this body liberation space.VirginiaWe should say the model is Hannah Noel Smith, who is a therapist and fat activist who specializes in eating disorder recovery. She's also a buddy of mine from the Body Liberation Hiking Club. Did you get to know her through drawing her? Or how did that work?LindseySo I had an artist residency at the Blue Mountain Center and I put out a call on social media that was looking for local models and she got right ahold of me. It was really funny because when we met, she was like, “I found you shared by another fat creator.” And then was like, “Oh, my gosh, you're in Poughkeepsie? I'm in Poughkeepsie!”VirginiaSmallest world. Well, it is really exciting because the fat activism community is, of course, large and spread out all over. But here in the Hudson Valley, we don't have so many of us. It's been fun to start to come together a little more. LindseyI think all my friends are like, “Yes, we know Virginia, you posted about her.” I'm like, “She's really cool.”VirginiaSame, same. Definitely a mutual admiration society. Lindsey, thank you for doing this. Why don't we wrap up telling folks where we can follow you? And how we can support your work?LindseyFirst of all, again, thank you for having me. This has been absolutely delightful. You can follow me on Instagram at Lindsey Guile Studio and I have a website. In terms of support, I have no shows right now. I'm working right now to show later. I do have two solo shows coming up in the spring of 2024, one here in the Hudson Valley, one out in the Rochester area. So if you follow me and you can come to an opening, that's absolutely wonderful. And if you ever have an interest in buying something, just send me an email. I'd love to have a shop, but I already have a full time job.VirginiaWell, when you have details on the show, we'll put them in the newsletter and make sure folks know and go. And I can't wait to go to the next one. LindseyThank you so much. The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by me, Virginia Sole-Smith. You can follow me on Instagram or Twitter.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing and also co-hosts mailbag episodes!The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

As past panelists for the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, Traci Brimhall, Melissa Faliveno, and Tanya Rey share what it was like to read and judge applications. They discuss what made an application stand out, how writers can craft the narrative and philosophy statements to good effect, the importance of submitting polished work, the inherent subjectivity of the process, persistence in the face of rejection, and more.   About the Panelists: Traci Brimhall's fifth poetry collection, Love Prodigal, will be published by Copper Canyon Press in 2024. She is also the author of Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod (Copper Canyon Press, 2020); Saudade (Copper Canyon Press, 2017); Our Lady of the Ruins (W.W. Norton, 2012), selected by Carolyn Forché for the 2011 Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Rookery (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010). Her children's book, Sophia & The Boy Who Fell, was published by SeedStar Books in March 2017.   Melissa Faliveno is the author of the debut essay collection Tomboyland, named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, New York Public Library, Oprah Magazine, and Electric Literature and recipient of a 2021 Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement from the Wisconsin Library Association. Her writing has appeared in Esquire, Paris Review, Bitch, Literary Hub, Ms Magazine, Brooklyn Rail, Prairie Schooner, and in the anthology Sex and The Single Woman (Harper Perennial, 2022).   Tanya Rey is a queer Cuban-American writer whose work has appeared in Guernica, Granta, The Sun, Roads & Kingdoms, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Georgia Review, and Catapult, among others. She holds an MFA from New York University and has received fellowships from The Georgia Review, Rona Jaffe Foundation, San Francisco Writers Grotto, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, UCross, Blue Mountain Center, I-Park, and others. Rey has worked as managing editor for One Story and fiction editor for Epiphany and has taught creative writing at New York University and Writing Pad in San Francisco.   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Twitter or on Facebook.

Taking a look at the evolution of playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with special guest LISA DRING Lisa is a writer, director and actor originally from Hilo, Hawaii and Reno, Nevada. Her play SUMO will be co-produced by La Jolla Playhouse and Ma-Yi Theater Company in 2023. She has recently worked on multiple projects with Meow Wolf and was a member of The Geffen Writers' Room. She was honored as a recipient of the 2020/21 PLAY LA Stage Raw/Humanitas Prize. Her play The Wicked One was a finalist for the Relentless Award, a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin, a piece she co-wrote with Chelsea Sutton, was nominated for 7 Ovation Awards including Best Production (winner of 5). Lisa's work has been developed/produced by The New Group, Actors Theatre of Louisville, East West Players, Circle X, SCF @ Son of Semele, Playwrights' Arena, Rogue Artists Ensemble, UCSB Launch Pad Series, The Motor Company and Theatre of NOTE. Lisa has been awarded fellowships at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center and Yaddo. Her play SUMO was recently named as a finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Lisa graduated from the University of Southern California. She was awarded the 2021 Dorothy and Granville Hicks Residency at Yaddo, which honors one promising young writer a year, and was nominated for an Emmy for Welcome to the Blumhouse Live, a project she co-wrote and co-directed with Matt Hill. Shows Discussed: Part 1: An Octoroon Part 2: Gloria Part 3: Everybody SUBSCRIBE. RATE. REVIEW!! THEME and Stingers: Ryan Thomas Johnson IG: @theatre_theater_pod Twitter: @the_theatre_pod Gmail: theatretheaterpod@gmail.com tiktok: @theatre_of_the_absurd LA SPOTLIGHTS: A New BrainIG: @CelebrationThTr www.celebrationtheatre.org Resources below FGM Education Resources https://www.fgmeducation.com/post_resources/fgm-medical-resources/ BLM Donation and Education LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/NationalResourcesList Black Owned Businesses in LA: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18w-0RBhwBBlXDN9kRV9DVSCAGSCjtHb9K0Pq2YBv18U/htmlview?usp=sharing&pru=AAABcpXptV0*XfoiE2Ay5SJUCEO3tXROGQ&urp=gmail_link MPJI https://marshap.org/ Petitions https://linktr.ee/petitions_123

In episode 33, Chris and Emma talked with David Sweeney, a fellow traveler on the path to authenticity. Identified as gifted late in life, David shared his introduction to positive disintegration, his understanding of giftedness, and insights into how trauma early in life shaped his abilities.We discussed discovering the theory of positive disintegration and overexcitabilities, dealing with sensitivities in daily life, and then talked about some of the reading rabbit holes David tumbled down like Alice! This includes his reading into giftedness, researching neuroscience, and discovering how trauma relates to his experience of being adopted.The conversation then turns to mysticism, having mystical experiences, and some of the complications of discussing those experiences in the modern world.Links from this episodeFor more on Elizabeth Mika, see Episode 17InterGiftedPersonality-Shaping through Positive Disintegration by Kazimierz Dabrowski (2015 reprint)PositiveDisintegration.comThird Factor MagazineLiving with Intensity by Daniels & PiechowskiKelly PrydeGifted Mindfulness CollectiveFrames of Mind by Howard GardnerThe Highly Sensitive PersonThe Mind Illuminated by John YatesThe Primal Wound by Nancy VarrierComing Home to Self by Nancy VerrierEknath Easwaran's Blue Mountain Center of MeditationSocial links and other info:Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/positivedisintegrationpod)Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/positivedisintegration_podcast/)Twitter (https://twitter.com/DabrowskiPod)Join the Adults with Overexcitabilities group on FacebookJoin Dabrowski Center and Positive Disintegration Community on FacebookPlease, consider supporting the podcast. Positive Disintegration is brought to you by the Dabrowski Center.Subscribe here for the Dabrowski Center's monthly newsletter and information about the 2024 Dabrowski Congress.If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit positivedisintegration.substack.com

In The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father's violence and their mother's worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home. So far Publishers Weekly calls it a “moving debut”; Booklist says it's “vivid and otherworldly.”Soraya Palmer is a Flatbush-born-and-raised writer and licensed social worker who advocates for survivors of gender-based violence who are facing criminal charges related to their abuse. She has been awarded a residency at Blue Mountain Center and interviewed for her work against police brutality, gentrification, and violence in The New York Times and BuzzFeed News. She lives in New York.________________________________________________SUPPORT Caribbean writers and the BCLFBUY a copy of  The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter from the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Bookshop here

This Thursday on Killer Women Podcast, our guest is Jillian Medoff. Jillian's fifth novel, WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, is a story about privilege, power, consent and dirty, sexy money. It garnered many accolades; it was a Book of the Month Club selection, an Apple Books Best of the Month, an Audible Editor's Pick, a PEOPLE Pick of the Week, a Town and Country Magazine and O Daily favorite and a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book, among others. She is the author of four other novels including the national bestseller, I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE, the acclaimed workplace novel THIS COULD HURT, and HUNGER POINT, which was made into an original Lifetime movie starring Christina Hendricks and Barbara Hershey and directed by Joan Micklin Silver in 2003. A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center and VCCA, Jillian has an MFA from NYU. She studied with Mona Simpson (her thesis advisor) and Jonathan Dee; and took master classes with Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, and Joyce Carol Oates. In addition to writing novels, Jillian has a long career in corporate consulting. Since her early days at Max Factor and American Home Goods, she's worked for a wide range of employers, including Deloitte and Aon. Now with Segal Benz, she advises clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience. Jillian lives with her husband, Keith Dawson and three adult daughters, who come and go. She reviews novels for the New York Times Book Review, and is currently working on a new book called THE COMMITTEE, a story about medical ethics and race in Seattle, circa 1961. Killer Women is copyrighted by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #podcast #author #interview #authors #KillerWomen #KillerWomenPodcast #authorsontheair #podcast #podcaster #killerwomen #killerwomenpodcast #authors #authorsofig #authorsofinstagram #authorinterview #writingcommunity #authorsontheair #suspensebooks #authorssupportingauthors #thrillerbooks #suspense #wip #writers #writersinspiration #books #bookrecommendations #bookaddict #bookaddicted #bookaddiction #bibliophile #read #amreading #lovetoread #daniellegirard #daniellegirardbooks #jillianmedoff #whenwewerebrightandbeautiful #harpercollinspublishing #harpercollins

Today's guest on Killer Women Podcast is Jillian Medoff. Jillian's fifth novel, WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, is a story about privilege, power, consent and dirty, sexy money. It garnered many accolades; it was a Book of the Month Club selection, an Apple Books Best of the Month, an Audible Editor's Pick, a PEOPLE Pick of the Week, a Town and Country Magazine and O Daily favorite and a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book, among others. She is the author of four other novels including the national bestseller, I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE, the acclaimed workplace novel THIS COULD HURT, and HUNGER POINT, which was made into an original Lifetime movie starring Christina Hendricks and Barbara Hershey and directed by Joan Micklin Silver in 2003. A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center and VCCA, Jillian has an MFA from NYU. She studied with Mona Simpson (her thesis advisor) and Jonathan Dee; and took master classes with Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, and Joyce Carol Oates. In addition to writing novels, Jillian has a long career in corporate consulting. Since her early days at Max Factor and American Home Goods, she's worked for a wide range of employers, including Deloitte and Aon. Now with Segal Benz, she advises clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience. Jillian lives with her husband, Keith Dawson and three adult daughters, who come and go. She reviews novels for the New York Times Book Review, and is currently working on a new book called THE COMMITTEE, a story about medical ethics and race in Seattle, circa 1961. Killer Women is copyrighted by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #podcast #author #interview #authors #KillerWomen #KillerWomenPodcast #authorsontheair #podcast #podcaster #killerwomen #killerwomenpodcast #authors #authorsofig #authorsofinstagram #authorinterview #writingcommunity #authorsontheair #suspensebooks #authorssupportingauthors #thrillerbooks #suspense #wip #writers #writersinspiration #books #bookrecommendations #bookaddict #bookaddicted #bookaddiction #bibliophile #read #amreading #lovetoread #daniellegirard #daniellegirardbooks #jillianmedoff #whenwewerebrightandbeautiful #harpercollinspublishing #harpercollins

Today's guest on Killer Women Podcast is Jillian Medoff. Jillian's fifth novel, WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, is a story about privilege, power, consent and dirty, sexy money. It garnered many accolades; it was a Book of the Month Club selection, an Apple Books Best of the Month, an Audible Editor's Pick, a PEOPLE Pick of the Week, a Town and Country Magazine and O Daily favorite and a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book, among others. She is the author of four other novels including the national bestseller, I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE, the acclaimed workplace novel THIS COULD HURT, and HUNGER POINT, which was made into an original Lifetime movie starring Christina Hendricks and Barbara Hershey and directed by Joan Micklin Silver in 2003. A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center and VCCA, Jillian has an MFA from NYU. She studied with Mona Simpson (her thesis advisor) and Jonathan Dee; and took master classes with Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, and Joyce Carol Oates. In addition to writing novels, Jillian has a long career in corporate consulting. Since her early days at Max Factor and American Home Goods, she's worked for a wide range of employers, including Deloitte and Aon. Now with Segal Benz, she advises clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience. Jillian lives with her husband, Keith Dawson and three adult daughters, who come and go. She reviews novels for the New York Times Book Review, and is currently working on a new book called THE COMMITTEE, a story about medical ethics and race in Seattle, circa 1961. Killer Women is copyrighted by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network #podcast #author #interview #authors #KillerWomen #KillerWomenPodcast #authorsontheair #podcast #podcaster #killerwomen #killerwomenpodcast #authors #authorsofig #authorsofinstagram #authorinterview #writingcommunity #authorsontheair #suspensebooks #authorssupportingauthors #thrillerbooks #suspense #wip #writers #writersinspiration #books #bookrecommendations #bookaddict #bookaddicted #bookaddiction #bibliophile #read #amreading #lovetoread #daniellegirard #daniellegirardbooks #jillianmedoff #whenwewerebrightandbeautiful #harpercollinspublishing #harpercollins

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine: We begin with a look at Congress's recent push to require railroad unions to agree to a new contract, with a perspective from a long-time labor activist. Then, we hear from Reshma Saujani, frequent author and the organizer of the Marshall Plan for Moms about her initiative to support gender equity for working moms. Later on, we hear about the testing of Hudson River water by the Water Justice Lab from Doug Reed, one of the citizen scientists involved in the effort. After that, we turn to food! Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks provides a space for activist retreats and conferences and food is central to their concept. Finally, retired meteorologist Hugh Johnson joins us for our weekly look at climate and weather. This time we'll talk about tornadoes in the Southeast, rain in California, and upcoming weather here in the capital region.

Blue Mountain Center is a place for regeneration and food and rest are central to this. Intaba Liff-Anderson is their head chef (also involved with Sanctuary Kitchen) who provides 3 incredible meals per day. Producer Sina Basila Hickey spoke with Blue Mountain Center program managers.

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine: We begin with coverage of the recent vote on the budget by the Albany City Council. Then, for our peace bucket, we hear about the role of fossil fuels in the war in Ukraine. Later on, we hear about a new report from the New York Civil Liberties Union about government drone use. After that, we hear about the People's Health Sanctuary open house that is this Saturday, December 3rd. Finally, we talk with the program managers at the Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks.

The board and staff of The Sanctuary for Independent Media were invited to stay at Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks. This retreat in based in constructive planning but also rest and rejuvenation.

A life of making documentary films takes moxie, and Anne is proof of that. She has sought out people with moxie who do what they can to make lives better for themselves, their families, and their communities. Her films put real faces to issues such as social justice and marginalization, human rights, and the intersections of cultures. Native American history and contemporary life have also fascinated Anne. In this episode, Anne explores the quest for a good story but knows the story can take an arc she didn't expect, and she needs to bend with it. She is also profoundly grateful to her subjects. Allowing her and her lens into their lives is an honor she does not take for granted.  Anne immerses herself in every aspect of her award-winning documentaries–from conceiving ideas, finding collaborators and funders, building trust with her subjects, filming, writing, editing, and distributing the finished product. For over three decades, she has shown grit and determination in the lengthy and tenuous process of bringing an idea to life on screen.She has received fellowships supporting her work from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and residencies at MacDowell, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, and the Blue Mountain Center. Anne's films have been broadcast nationally on PBS, HBO, and Showtime and internationally on the BBC, Channel 4 (UK), ZDF in Germany, Arte France, and Australian, Norwegian, Dutch, and Swedish public television; they have screened at Sundance, the Whitney Biennial, and festivals worldwide, winning many awards, including a national primetime Emmy.  Most of her films have a strong presence in the educational market and are available for streaming on her website, MakepeaceProductions.com.Her most recent feature documentary, Tribal Justice, aired nationally on POV/PBS and screened at more than 30 festivals. It won Best Documentary Feature at the American Indian Film Festival and the Charlotte Film Festival, the Rigoberta Menchu Grand Prix at the Montreal First People's Film Festival, and the Directing Award at Cinetopia.  Anne's documentary We Still Live Here was broadcast on Independent Lens/PBS and won the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride MountainFilm and the Inspiration Award at Full Frame. She has also written many screenplays, including the feature film Thousand Pieces of Gold. Anne Makepeace Filmography contains a complete list of Anne's films. For more information about Anne, visit her episode show notes on the Main Street Moxie website.This episode is proudly sponsored by Hammertown and Thorunn Designs. 

Join Chris in a sit down with Saida Agostini Bostic, author of Let the Dead In (Alan Squire Publishing), about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry! Saida's first collection of poems, let the dead in, was a finalist for the Center of African American Poetry & Poetics' 2020 Book Prize as well as the New Issues Poetry Prize. She is the author of STUNT (Neon Hemlock, October 2020), a chapbook exploring the history of Nellie Jackson, a Black woman entrepreneur who operated a brothel for sixty years in Natchez, Mississippi. Her poetry can also be found in the Black Ladies Brunch Collective's anthology Not Without Our Laughter, Barrelhouse Magazine, Hobart Pulp, Plume, and other publications. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow, Saida has been awarded honors and support for her work by the Watering Hole and Blue Mountain Center, as well as a 2018 Rubys Grant funding travel to Guyana to support the completion of her first manuscript. She is a Best of the Net Finalist and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Writer Jillian Medoff joins Rhett to discuss her upcoming book release, balancing her career with the creative obstacles of being a writer, and persevering through adversity. Jillian shares the story behind becoming a writer, and explains why her work is a ‘life-sustaining force'. Jillian Medoff is the author of four (soon to be 5) acclaimed novels including Hunger Point, which was made into an original movie in 2003. A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA and Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, Jillian has been taught by some of the best, and received her MFA from NYU. She studied with Mona Simpson and Jonathan Dee, and took master classes with Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, and Joyce Carol Oates. In addition to writing novels, Jillian has a long career in corporate consulting, advising clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience. Wheels Off is brought to you by Osiris Media. Hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Co-produced by Kirsten Cluthe in partnership with Nick Ruffini (Revoice Media). Editing by Matt Dwyer. Production Assistance by Matt Bavuso. Music by OLD 97's. Episode artwork by Katherine Boils. Show logo by Tim Skirven. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Please leave us a rating or review on iTunes. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Will Forte, Lydia Loveless, Allison Moorer, Ted Leo, Paul F. Tompkins, Jen Kirkman, and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, writer and teacher Emily Stone talks with Resort founder Catherine LaSota about her life in Los Angeles, the ways her teaching practice has grown and developed during the pandemic, and how there are some things we simply cannot do alone as writers. Emily and Catherine also talk about astrology, aging, and raccoons. Born in New Orleans and raised in Brooklyn, Emily Stone is a writer, teacher, and content alchemist with over 25 years of experience working with authors of all ages to distill the power and impact of every story. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Emily is also known as the College Essay Whisperer, and she's taught Latin at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights, fiction writing at Hunter College, where she got her MFA, and drama at Stern College. Emily has taught many wonderful classes at the Resort, on topics like dialogue, plot, scene structure, and more. Her Fiction is Friction course, about writing amazing dialogue, is available for purchase in our online Resort network. It's a self-paced course that includes bonus content on outlining your book. Sign up for Emily's self-paced Fiction is Friction class at The Resort here! Find out more about Emily Stone here: https://www.emilybstone.com Join our free Resort community, full of resources and support for writers, here: https://community.theresortlic.com/ More information about The Resort can be found here: https://www.theresortlic.com/ Cabana Chats is hosted by Resort founder Catherine LaSota. Our podcast editor is Jade Iseri-Ramos, and our music is by Pat Irwin. Special thanks to Resort assistant Nadine Santoro. FULL TRANSCRIPTS for Cabana Chats podcast episodes are available in the free Resort network: https://community.theresortlic.com/ Follow us on social media! @TheResortLIC

A painter and arts writer, Sharon Butler is widely known as the founder of Two Coats of Paint, a project which includes an influential art blogazine about painting, an artists' residency, online conversations, a small press, and other initiatives. Her geometric abstractions, which explore the tension between digital and handmade, and are based on drawings that she makes in a phone app. Solo painting exhibitions in 2016, 2018, and 2021 at Theodore Gallery were written about in Hyperallergic, artcritical, The New Criterion, The James Kalm Report, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine. In a review of her 2021 solo, artist-critic Laurie Fendrich called her work “beautiful and grittily compelling” and suggested that “the future of abstraction will be owned by those who accept a post-compositional approach to their paintings. Right now, Sharon Butler has the best of both worlds.”  She has received awards and residencies from Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation, Connecticut Comission on the Arts, Connecticut State University, Pollock Krasner Foundation, Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, Pocket Utopia, and Counterproof Press. Sharon has served as a lecturer and/or Visiting Artist/Critic at many notable art programs and organizations, including Brown University, Cornell University, Vermont Studio Center, Penn State, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hoffberger School of Painting(MICA), School of Visual Arts, and Parsons School of Desgin. She currently teaches in the MFA programs at the New York Academy of Art and the University of Connecticut. Sharon Butler, Baselitz (2021) oil on canvas, 52x45 inches Sharon Butler, Quarto, May 10, 2019 (2021) oil on canvas, 52 x 45 inches Sharon Butler, Trade Painting-- November 19, 2019 (2020) oil on canvas, 12 x12 inches

"'I came to see the mountains as an outpouring of our modern lives,' Roy writes, 'of the endless chase for our desires to fill us.' Readers of Behind the Beautiful Forevers will be drawn to this harrowing portrait." — Publishers Weekly Claudia Cragg (@claudiacragg) speaks here with journalist Saumya Roy about her new non-fiction work, .  All of Mumbai's possessions and memories come to die at the Deonar garbage mountains. Towering at the outskirts of the city, the mountains are covered in a faint smog from trash fires. Over time, as wealth brought Bollywood knock offs, fast food and plastics to Mumbaikars, a small, forgotten community of migrants and rag-pickers came to live at the mountains' edge, making a living by re-using, recycling and re-selling.   Among them is Farzana Ali Shaikh, a tall, adventurous girl who soon becomes one of the best pickers in her community. Over time, her family starts to fret about Farzana's obsessive relationship to the garbage. Like so many in her community, Farzana, made increasingly sick by the trash mountains, is caught up in the thrill of discovery—because among the broken glass, crushed cans, or even the occasional dead baby, there's a lingering chance that she will find a treasure to lift her family's fortunes.   As Farzana enters adulthood, her way of life becomes more precarious. Mumbai is pitched as a modern city, emblematic of the future of India, forcing officials to reckon with closing the dumping grounds, which would leave the waste pickers more vulnerable than ever.   In a narrative instilled with superstition and magical realism, Saumya Roy crafts a modern parable exploring the consequences of urban overconsumption. A moving testament to the impact of fickle desires, Castaway Mountain reveals that when you own nothing, you know where true value lies: in family, community and love.        Saumya Roy is a journalist and activist based in Mumbai. She has written for Forbes India magazine, Mint newspaper, Outlook magazine, wsj.com, thewire.in and Bloomberg News among others. In 2010 she co- founded Vandana Foundation to support the livelihoods of Mumbai's poorest micro entrepreneurs by giving small, low interest loans. She has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, Blue Mountain Center, Carey Institute for Global Good and Sangam House to write this book. She attended a conference on environmental humanities at KTH, Stockholm in 2017 to share her research, and contributed a chapter to Dharavi: The Cities Within/ (HarperCollins, 2013), an anthology of essays on Asia's largest slum. Roy was a fellow of the National Foundation of India in 2012, and has Masters Degrees in journalism from Northwestern University and Mumbai's Sophia College, where she teaches magazine writing.  

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Saumya Roy, Author of “Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai”About Harvey's guest:Saumya Roy is a journalist and activist based in Mumbai. She has written for Forbes India magazine, Mint newspaper, Outlook magazine, wsj.com, thewire.in and Bloomberg News among others. In 2010 she co- founded Vandana Foundation to support the livelihoods of Mumbai's poorest micro entrepreneurs by giving small, low interest loans.Her book is entitled, “Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai”, and it opens our eyes to a little known community of over a thousand people living on the outskirts of Mumbai, India at the edge of the massive Deonar garbage mountains.   These people, living in small shacks and tents, are trash pickers.  They make their living by foraging through this massive dump filled with torn rags, plastic, broken glass, crushed cans, and even toxic waste, looking for anything they can sell, so they can live another day.    This non-fiction book is a deeply moving love story with unforgettable characters, set against the backdrop of this real-life harrowing world in India, of excruciating poverty and squalor in the shadow of enormous wealth.She has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, Blue Mountain Center, Carey Institute for Global Good and Sangam House to write this book. She attended a conference on environmental humanities at KTH, Stockholm in 2017 to share her research, and contributed a chapter to Dharavi: The Cities Within/ (HarperCollins, 2013), an anthology of essays on Asia's largest slum.Roy was a fellow of the National Foundation of India in 2012, and has Masters Degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University and Mumbai's Sophia College, where she teaches magazine writing. For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com#SaumyaRoy  #CastawayMountain  #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Carolyn Salas was born in Hollywood, CA. She earned a BFA in sculpture from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA from Hunter College.  She has attended residencies at the Abrons Art Center A.I.R. Space Program and The NARS Foundation, New York, NY; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY; the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT;  and the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM. She has also been a Chashama Studio Space recipient, and an Elizabeth Foundation Studio Program/Space awardee. Selected exhibitions include the Berkshire Museum, Berkshire MA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA; Casey Kaplan, Koenig & Clinton, Brookfield Arts, SPRING/BREAK Art Show and Kate Werble Gallery, New York, Mrs., Maspeth, NY; Terrault Contemporary and Towson University, Baltimore, MD; Páramo Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico; and NADA Special Projects, Miami, FL.  Most recently, Salas was awarded Artist-in-Residence at Stoneleaf Retreat, NY, for summer 2021. She is the recipient of the 2021 Queens Council on the Arts/ individual grant and is in an upcoming August Group show with Rachel Uffner and Mrs. Gallery at Foreland upstate in conjunction with NADA.

Jenny Johnson is the author of In Full Velvet (Sarabande Books, 2017). Her honors include a Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and a NEA Fellowship. She has also received awards and scholarships from the Blue Mountain Center, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Yaddo. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, New England Review, Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics, and elsewhere. After earning a BA/MT in English Education from the University of Virginia, she taught public school for several years in San Francisco, and she spent ten summers on the staff of the UVA Young Writer’s Workshop. She earned an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University, and she is on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program. For more about Jenny, please visit her website: https://www.jennyjohnsonpoet.com/

Are you interested in getting your writing published? Do you want tips and tricks on how to become a published author of Africanfuturistic novels or short stories? Or learn how to self-publish in the genre? Then join us for a panel discussion and Q&A on how the genre reflects the societal and cultural struggles of African people and their descendants here and abroad. Come along on a journey to explore how to get this type of work published in a world where black and brown people are still seen as the “other”. Panelists include: Nnedi Okorafor, Jalynn Harris, Saida Agostini, and Afua Richardson. Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author of Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism for children and adults. Her works include WHO FEARS DEATH (in development at HBO into a TV series), the BINTI novella trilogy, THE BOOK OF PHOENIX, the AKATA books and LAGOON. She is the winner of Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards and her debut novel ZAHRAH THE WINDSEEKER won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Her next novel, IKENGA, will be in stores August 2020. Nnedi has also written comics for Marvel, including BLACK PANTHER: LONG LIVE THE KING and WAKANDA FOREVER (featuring the Dora Milaje) and the SHURI series, an Africanfuturist comic series LAGUARDIA (from Dark Horse) and her short memoir BROKEN PLACES AND OUTER SPACES. Nnedi is also cowriter the adaptation of Octavia Butler’s WILD SEED with Viola Davis and Kenyan film director Wanuri Kahiu. Nnedi holds a PhD (literature) and two MAs (journalism and literature). She lives with her daughter Anyaugo and family in Illinois. Saida Agostini is a queer Afro-Guyanese poet whose work explores the ways that Black folks harness mythology to enter the fantastic. Saida’s poetry is featured and/or forthcoming in Plume, Barrelhouse Magazine, the Black Ladies Brunch Collective's anthology, Not Without Our Laughter, amongst other publications. Her first collection of poems, just let the dead in, was a finalist for the Center of African American Poetry & Poetics’ 2020 Book Prize, as well as the New Issues Poetry Prize. Her chapbook, STUNT (Neon Hemlock Press, October 2020) explores the history of Nellie Jackson, a Black woman entrepreneur who operated a brothel for sixty years in Natchez, Mississippi. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and Pushcart Prize nominee, Saida has been awarded honors and support for her work by the Watering Hole and Blue Mountain Center, as well as a 2018 Rubys Grant funding travel to Guyana to support the completion of her first manuscript. She lives online at saidaagostini.com Jalynn Harris is a poet, educator, and book designer from Baltimore, MD. She founded SoftSavagePress for the sole purpose of promoting visual and literary works by Black people. She earned her MFA from the University of Baltimore, where she was the inaugural recipient of Michael F. Klein fellowship for social justice. Her work has been featured in Transition Magazine, Little Patuxent Review, Scalawag, and elsewhere. Exit Thru the Afro, queer museum in verse, is her first poetry chapbook. Recorded On: Thursday, February 18, 2021

Podcast: This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Michael Nagler, founder of The Metta Center for Nonviolence in 1982, and author of The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature. The Metta Center provides educational resources on the safe and effective use of nonviolence, with the recognition that it's not about putting the right person in power but awakening the right kind of power in people. The Metta Center advances a higher image of humankind while empowering people to explore the questions: How does nonviolence work, and how can I actively contribute to a happier, more peaceful society? As Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, Michael co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. His previous books include The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World; and The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action. He is a student of Eknath Easwaran, who founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and he has lived at the center's ashram in Marin County, California since 1970. More information about Michael Nagler's work can be found at: Michael Nagler's personal website: michaelnagler.org, The Metta Center website: mettacenter.org, The Third Harmony film website: thirdharmony.org, Nonviolence + Science = New Story: mettacenter.org/nonviolence/newstory/, Blue Mountain Center of Meditation website: www.bmcm.org.

Onnesha Roychoudhuri is a writer, speaker, and educator with over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of storytelling and social justice.She is the author of The Marginalized Majority: Claiming Our Power in a Post-Truth America, named one of the best books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews. (NOTE: you can buy it at RoughDraft in Kingston.)Onnesha regularly leads writing and storytelling workshops for organizations across the country, including the Moth and the Reproduction Health Access Project, as well as at universities such as San Francisco State University, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Pratt Institute, and Western ConnecticutState University, where she is an instructor in the graduate writing program.Part of this work involves trainings to advocates working on the frontlines of the fight for social justice and equity.A 2013 fellow at the Center for Fiction, Onnesha's writing has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, Kenyon Review, n+1, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, The Nation, The American Prospect, Salon, and Mother Jones. She is a 2011 and 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee, and has been awarded residencies at Hedgebrook and Blue Mountain Center.Today we had some fun and deep moments discussing topics like journalism, her book, white male objectivity, #metoo, protests, Black Lives Matter, truth, social justice story telling and self care. One of my favorite quotes from her book, “To believe that non-violent protest is unnecessary, pointless, over the top or reflective of an unreasonable impatience presupposes that your day to day existence is tolerable and acceptable.” Truth!Onnesha is participating in a virtual Moth Mainstage on August 6th, mark your calendars!Today's show was engineered Manuel Blas from radiokingston.orgWe also heard music from Shana Falana!Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.orgLeave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who has what you want and why! (845) 481-3429** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IThttp://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcastITUNES | SPOTIFY | STITCHERITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCASTITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/she-wants/i-want-what-she-has?refid=stpr'Follow:INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcastTWITTER * https://twitter.com/wantwhatshehas

Coronavirus has uprooted the fabric of our lives. The global pandemic has unveiled gaping holes in our economic and social systems, unleashed humanity's capacity for goodwill, and propelled us into an uncertain future. How do we embrace not-knowing, recognize fear without giving into it, and respond with a heart of compassion? What would Gandhi do? How do we align with the laws of love and nonviolence in such times? On Sunday 10th May at 9AM IST, Gandhian scholars, social change luminaries and "love warriors" will dive into these questions, and more. We invite you to join us. In this inaugural Awakin Talk webinar, our panel will be composed of ... Rajni Bakshi, the Mumbai-based journalist, author and activist who, for more than 40 years, has used the power of storytelling to navigate the complex interface of India’s social and spiritual fabric to affect social change. Her 1988 book, Bapu Kuti: Journeys in rediscovery of Gandhi, was the inspiration behind 2004 Indian Blockbuster film, Swades. A child of India's partition, advocate for transforming market systems, and fearless voyager into uncharted territory, Rajni's visionary conversations reflect her deep search for truth overlaid on the breadth of her knowledge and experiences. [more] Prof. Michael Nagler is a world-renowned Gandhian scholar and founder of the first Peace and Conflict Studies program at University of California, Berkeley. His university lectures have supported over 20,000 students to absorb and incorporate ahimsa in their personal and social lives. The copious author is a recipient of many awards, including prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Award for promoting Gandhian values outside India. Based in Northern California, Michael serves as President of Metta Center for Nonviolence Education, which released the documentary The Third Harmony in 2020. Michael resides at Eknath Easwaran's Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, where he has been based since 1970. [more] Drishti Trivedi, our youngest panelist, launched into experiments in service at the ripe age of eighteen. Galvanizing friends to do acts of kindness on the streets of Mumbai -- from gifting friendship bracelets and tea to strangers, to sweeping the city streets, to organizing distributed clothing drives, befriending slum children (and eventually hosting an informal street school!), and beyond -- her experiments in the power of small has naturally nurtured values-based community, unleashing umpteen ripples of goodness. Upon graduating university, she delved into NGO sector working with differently-abled populations, and has been a compassionate volunteer, witty conversationalist, big-hearted "love warrior," and unsung force of goodness in India's Moved By Love ecosystem. This powerful story of listening conveys her dynamo spirit. The panel will be moderated by Nipun Mehta, founder of ServiceSpace, a global community at the intersection of technology, volunteerism and gift-economy. Most recently, their pandemic response has showcased the unique beauty of its global ecosystem. Nipun was honored as an "unsung hero of compassion" by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US. Yet the core of what strikes anyone who meets him is the way his life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in his heart: “I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. That's me.” [more]

COME TO OUR LIVE SHOW AT CAVEAT IN MANHATTAN: https://www.caveat.nyc/event/la-mezcla--3-19-2020 follow us on IG and Facebook: @lamezclapod follow Adrian: @adrian.burke Andrea Thome is a Chilean/Costa Rican-American playwright. Her play Pinkolandia received the Lark Play Development Center's Launching New Plays fellowship and a rolling world premiere at INTAR, Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater, Two River Theater (NJ), and 16th Street Theater (Chicago). For the Public Theater, Thome created Troy with Public Works' ACTivate Ensemble. Her plays include Undone (Queens College, Victory Gardens, Lark), Worm Girl (Cherry Red Productions) and her play translations have been produced by the Public, CTG, La Jolla Playhouse and others. Thome co-directs FULANA, an all-Latina satire collective, has directed the Lark's Mexico-U.S. Playwright Exchange Program since 2006, and teaches theater at SUNY Purchase. Residencies include Blue Mountain Center, MacDowell, SPACE on Ryder Farm and Keen Company. She was a New Dramatists resident from 2009-2016. Andrea teaches theater at SUNY Purchase college. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"When I would come up from Virginia I would go there and I would take pictures and I would be like, okay if I take a picture then he'll live until next time." Paolo Morales and I met to record at SVA during his short break from teaching at Hollins University in Roanoke Virginia. We talk about what it has been like for a New York City kid to relocate to Virginia to keep working and talk about his most recently exhibited work, The Blind Leading the Blind and Memphis Tulips, which deal with dislocation, isolation, and gentrification. We also discuss Paolo's take on his identity as an Asian American and a photographer as revealed through his work. Paolo Morales is a photographer who was born and raised in New York City and currently lives in Virginia. Exhibitions include Hamiltonian Gallery, The George Washington University, New York Asian Film Festival, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and Capital One Bank Headquarters, among others. Residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Blue Mountain Center, and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. He received an MFA in photography from Rhode Island School of Design and is Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Hollins University. https://www.paolomorales.com/ https://www.instagram.com/paolojmorales/ This episode sponsored by the School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video, & Related Media - Charles Traub, Chair. http://www.mfaphoto.sva.edu/ Visit realphotoshow.com @realphotoshow on Twitter/IG/FB

This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on July 11, 2017, with Angelica Baker (Our Little Racket), Lisa Ko (The Leavers), and Courtney Maum (Costalegre). About the Readers: Angelica Baker was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. from Columbia University. She now lives in Brooklyn. Lisa Ko’s fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, Apogee Journal, Narrative, Copper Nickel, the Asian Pacific American Journal, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Writers OMI at Ledig House, the Jerome Foundation, and Blue Mountain Center, among others. She was born in New York City, where she now lives. Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre (a GOOP book club pick and one of Glamour Magazine’s top books of the decade), I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, and Touch (a New York Times Editor’s Choice and NPR Best Book of the Year selection), and the handbook Before and After the Book Deal: A writer’s guide to finishing, publishing, promoting, and surviving your first book, forthcoming from Catapult. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 1937 and rural Tennessee is still recovering from the Great Depression. The construction of a huge dam brings job seekers, fortune hunters, and the promise of electricity to the area. Claire, a young mother of two, realizes her marriage is over when she wakes up with a sexually transmitted disease brought home by her husband. Nathan is an engineer with a shameful secret who changes his name to get work at the dam. Everyone in this colorful cast of dog-fighting neighbors, beer-guzzling ex-husbands, and power-hungry employers is trying to survive in the mosquito-infested heat of a southern summer. Mark Barr has been awarded fellowships from Blue Mountain Center, I-Park Artists Enclave, Jentel Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Millay Colony, and Yaddo. Favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, his debut novel, Watershed (Hub City, 2019), was featured in the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s fall Okra list and Deep South Magazine's Fall/Winter Reading List, and named as one of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "12 Southern Books You'll Want to Read This Fall" and one of Nashville Lifestyles Magazine’s "Four Fall Reads." Mark holds undergraduate degrees from Hendrix College and University of Iowa, and an M.F.A. from Texas State University. He lives with his wife and sons in Arkansas, where he develops software and bakes bread. If you enjoyed today’s podcast and would like to discuss it further with me and other New Books Network listeners, please join us on Shuffle. Shuffle is an ad-free, invite-only network focused on the creativity community. As NBN listeners, you can get special access to conversations with a dynamic community of writers and literary enthusiasts. Sign up by going to www.shuffle.do/NBN/join G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 1937 and rural Tennessee is still recovering from the Great Depression. The construction of a huge dam brings job seekers, fortune hunters, and the promise of electricity to the area. Claire, a young mother of two, realizes her marriage is over when she wakes up with a sexually transmitted disease brought home by her husband. Nathan is an engineer with a shameful secret who changes his name to get work at the dam. Everyone in this colorful cast of dog-fighting neighbors, beer-guzzling ex-husbands, and power-hungry employers is trying to survive in the mosquito-infested heat of a southern summer. Mark Barr has been awarded fellowships from Blue Mountain Center, I-Park Artists Enclave, Jentel Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Millay Colony, and Yaddo. Favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, his debut novel, Watershed (Hub City, 2019), was featured in the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s fall Okra list and Deep South Magazine's Fall/Winter Reading List, and named as one of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "12 Southern Books You'll Want to Read This Fall" and one of Nashville Lifestyles Magazine’s "Four Fall Reads." Mark holds undergraduate degrees from Hendrix College and University of Iowa, and an M.F.A. from Texas State University. He lives with his wife and sons in Arkansas, where he develops software and bakes bread. If you enjoyed today’s podcast and would like to discuss it further with me and other New Books Network listeners, please join us on Shuffle. Shuffle is an ad-free, invite-only network focused on the creativity community. As NBN listeners, you can get special access to conversations with a dynamic community of writers and literary enthusiasts. Sign up by going to www.shuffle.do/NBN/join G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 1937 and rural Tennessee is still recovering from the Great Depression. The construction of a huge dam brings job seekers, fortune hunters, and the promise of electricity to the area. Claire, a young mother of two, realizes her marriage is over when she wakes up with a sexually transmitted disease brought home by her husband. Nathan is an engineer with a shameful secret who changes his name to get work at the dam. Everyone in this colorful cast of dog-fighting neighbors, beer-guzzling ex-husbands, and power-hungry employers is trying to survive in the mosquito-infested heat of a southern summer. Mark Barr has been awarded fellowships from Blue Mountain Center, I-Park Artists Enclave, Jentel Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Millay Colony, and Yaddo. Favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, his debut novel, Watershed (Hub City, 2019), was featured in the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s fall Okra list and Deep South Magazine's Fall/Winter Reading List, and named as one of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "12 Southern Books You'll Want to Read This Fall" and one of Nashville Lifestyles Magazine’s "Four Fall Reads." Mark holds undergraduate degrees from Hendrix College and University of Iowa, and an M.F.A. from Texas State University. He lives with his wife and sons in Arkansas, where he develops software and bakes bread. If you enjoyed today’s podcast and would like to discuss it further with me and other New Books Network listeners, please join us on Shuffle. Shuffle is an ad-free, invite-only network focused on the creativity community. As NBN listeners, you can get special access to conversations with a dynamic community of writers and literary enthusiasts. Sign up by going to www.shuffle.do/NBN/join G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes.

This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on July 11, 2017, with Angelica Baker (Our Little Racket), Lisa Ko (The Leavers), and Courtney Maum (Costalegre). About the Readers: Angelica Baker was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. from Columbia University. She now lives in Brooklyn. Lisa Ko’s fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, Apogee Journal, Narrative, Copper Nickel, the Asian Pacific American Journal, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Writers OMI at Ledig House, the Jerome Foundation, and Blue Mountain Center, among others. She was born in New York City, where she now lives. Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre (a GOOP book club pick and one of Glamour Magazine’s top books of the decade), I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, and Touch (a New York Times Editor’s Choice and NPR Best Book of the Year selection), and the handbook Before and After the Book Deal: A writer’s guide to finishing, publishing, promoting, and surviving your first book, forthcoming from Catapult. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing “Fierce”, thirteen powerful, entwined biographies and memoirs that describe a staunchly Feminist approach: “To thine own self be true.” Historical documentation of human affairs informs the past, but what of the understated and overlooked herstories of half of the world’s population? Fierce explores the lives of “masterless women” in education, entrepreneurship, religion, the armed forces, the arts, adventuring, and activism, celebrating their strengths and achievements while questioning the systems that erased the significance of their influence and importance. The writers range in age from their 20s to their 60s, and they hail from diverse heritages and orientations. By sharing the rich context of their unique life experiences, the authors emphasize their connection to each of their herstorical subjects, whose various provenances span continents and centuries. These essays shine a light on the shadowy, lesser-known impact that women have had on global history through the importance of each of these herstories. Caitlin Grace McDonnell was a New York Times Fellow in poetry at NYU and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her poems and essays have been published widely, most recently in FIERCE, Essays for and about Dauntless Women from Nauset Press. She published a chapbook of poems “Dreaming the Tree” (Belladonna 2003) and a book “Looking for Small Animals” (2012). Currently, she teaches English at CUNY, lives in Brooklyn with her ten-year-old daughter, and is at work on a novel.  The post Dauntless Women – Ep 59 with Caitlin Grace McDonnell appeared first on Read Learn Live Podcast.

" In the end there's really no way to know how much my misshapen body shaped me except to know that it did. My feelings about this body are likewise difficult to sort out. Indeed I may never untangle these strands - vexed from blessed, bitter from sweet. " Patricia Horvath Patricia is the author of the book All the Difference (Etruscan Press), a memoir about her journey through scoliosis and spinal fusion surgery. Her stories and essays have been published widely in literary journals including Shenandoah, The Massachusetts Review, New Ohio Review, The Los Angeles Review, and Confrontation. She is the recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in both fiction and literary nonfiction and the Goldenberg Prize for Fiction at Bellevue Literary Review, and has held residency fellowships at Hedgebrook, The Millay Colony for the Arts, and The Blue Mountain Center. She teaches creative writing at Framingham State University in Massachusetts. Patricia's website is https://patricialhorvath.com

Lisa Ko is the author of The Leavers, a novel which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and will be published by Algonquin Books in May 2017. Her writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, The New York Times, Apogee Journal, Narrative, O. Magazine, Copper Nickel, Storychord, One Teen Story, Brooklyn Review, and elsewhere. A co-founder of Hyphen and a fiction editor at Drunken Boat, Lisa has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the MacDowell Colony, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Writers OMI at Ledig House, the Jerome Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, the Van Lier Foundation, Hawthornden Castle, the I-Park Foundation, the Anderson Center, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. Born in Queens and raised in Jersey, she lives in Brooklyn.

Zohar talks to labor lawyer John Provost, this year's Boren Chertkov Resident, about his background in journalism, his law practice, and the book he completed while at Blue Mountain Center.

Zohar talks to Jenny Johnson, a poet and lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, about her work, her interest in nature, and her residency at Blue Mountain Center.

PLAYWRIGHT | FICTION WRITER -James Magruder is a playwright, translator, and fiction writer. His stories have appeared or will appear in The Gettysburg Review, The Harrington Quarterly, Bloom, Subtropics, The Normal School, Mary, and the anthologies Boy Crazy and New Stories from the Midwest. He teaches translation and adaptation at the Yale School of Drama, where he received his doctorate. His produced translations and adaptations of works by Marivaux, Moliere, Lesage, Labiche, Gozzi, and Dickens have been produced on and off Broadway, across the country, and in Japan and Germany. He also teaches dramaturgy at Swarthmore College. His plays have been staged in Baltimore, Atlanta, and New York and published in The Art of the One-Act, Arts & Letters, and Third Coast. His writing has been supported by the Maryland State Arts Council, the New Harmony Project, the MacDowell Colony, where he was named a Thornton Wilder Fellow, the Ucross Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Jerome Foundation. The University of Wisconsin Press published his debut novel, Sugarless, last October. It was named one of “Twenty Indies to Watch” by Publishers Weekly. It is one of five nominees for a Lambda Literary Award and a semi-finalist for the Cabell First Novelist Award.