Podcast appearances and mentions of chad michael snavely

The truth is that we lose someone to suicide every 45 seconds. It impacts every community on the planet. Suicide isn't a bad word. We can and should talk about it because talking about it is how we quell stigma and silence the shame that has latched on to it for ages. Suicide has impacted and will impact so many. There are those we've lost to suicide, there are those who are thinking about suicide, there are those who attempt and survive, there are those who are grieving because of suicide, and there are those who are worried about someone they love considering it. We believe we all have a role to play in working to prevent these tragedies.    One piece of the puzzle that is suicide prevention is giving space for those who have been directly impacted by this epidemic, and that includes people who have lost those they love to suicide. Within the grief of losing someone, there are waves of guilt and waves of shame. Those continuing on in the aftermath are left with questions and often little to no answers. They might wonder why, they might ask what they could have done differently, and they might think it's wrong for them to smile or laugh or hope ever again.    There is a common thread between the two individuals joining us on today's episode. They have both lost sisters to suicide and they are both wanting and willing to exist in this awkward and vulnerable space for the sake of healing and hope and help. While they go about it in different ways, their goals are similar. Our two guests are none other than Billy Dwyer and Austin Andrew, and we are eager to introduce you to them.   Billy Dwyer (he/him) is a Licensed Social Worker who works as a Legislative Assistant for his personal Member of Congress in Washington, D.C. As a suicide loss survivor, he is passionate about sharing his sister's story and advocating for headache disorders. Billy is a proud TWLOHA intern alum and has helped represent the organization at events across the US. Beyond professional work, Billy enjoys being outside, drinking coffee, cooking, and lounging by the nearest body of water.   Austin Andrew (he/him) has studied outdoor adventure leadership and when he is not guiding, he can typically be found (or rather not found) outside riding his bike or climbing some mountain. Austin is the founder of a non-profit called We Shall Continue with Style, and is an ambassador for Kona Bikes and the Maxx G Foundation. Austin shares his story of living with grief after loss and works to support others through their own grief. At the present moment, he is cycling through the Americas on a bike.   Show Notes (Links of ours and guests):   Download a transcript of this episode at twloha.com/podcast.   Follow TWLOHA on social media at:   twitter.com/TWLOHA instagram.com/twloha/ facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at twloha.com/find-help/.   Get connected for free, 24/7 to a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741.   Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com.   Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast. Download TWLOHA's daily-use self-care app, The Hopeful, at twloha.com/thehopeful/.  To read Billy Dwyer's blog, go to https://twloha.com/blog/author/billy-dwyer/.  To read Austin Andrew's blog, go to https://twloha.com/blog/author/austin-andrew/.  To learn about We Shall Continue With Style, visit https://www.weshallcontinuewithstyle.com/.  For support for survivors of suicide loss, check out https://afsp.org/ive-lost-someone/.  Purchase a copy of Brene Brown's “Daring Greatly” at https://brenebrown.com/book/daring-greatly/.    Credits:   This episode of the TWLOHA podcast was hosted by Chad Moses and produced by Rebecca Ebert. Music assistance was provided by James Likeness and Ben Tichenor.

My name is Lila, and I love sleepovers, spooning, sharing, storytelling, sex, and stargazing, among other things. I’ve metaphorically rolled them up in audio form and called it a podcast. Horizontal with lila is Slow Radio. It’s intimacies of all kinds. It’s consensual eavesdropping. It’s us lying down right next to each other, wearing robes, sharing secrets, in your ears. During Seasons 1 and 2, I got horizontal with one guest at a time, but Season 3 will be mostly comprised of threesomes: myself plus two guests who are in some kind of relationship with one another. Typically, each conversation is between two and three hours long, and divided into two parts — the part ones are available in all the podcast places, and the part twos are available exclusively for my patrons. But this episode is something truly remarkable. We recorded for over five hours, and we went both broad and deep. I’ll be dividing this conversation into four parts: the first two, episodes 78 & 79, will be available in all the podcast places, and the last two 80 & 81, will be exclusive to patrons of the horizontal arts. To become a patron, go to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila — at the base tier of $10/month, you get access to The Full Horizontal, including all the part twos (or in this case, threes and fours) plus access to the secret patrons Facebook group, and a monthly video of intimacy tips and a love poem. In this and the following 3 episodes, I lie down with two of the people I love most in the world, Tiana and Orion. I’ve known Orion for 13 years, and Tiana for 1. They are: my people. I cherish them. With great regard. I believe in them. I believe in them like a good parent believes in their kids. I see them. Orion is a massage therapist, a father, a personal trainer, a polysaturated lover, and a newly-minted kink educator. Orion and I met at the very beginning of my yoga teaching career. We worked at the same gym. I knew him when he had dreads. I knew him when he was married. I knew him when he became a father. For many years, we saw each other every single week — I’d teach him a private yoga class, and he would give me a massage, and we would tell each other all about our lives. He is one of the most overscheduled people I have ever known, but he always always made time for me. It was therapeutic in so many ways. He healed my body when I was training acrobatics. He made space for my moods and did not judge my depression. He knew of every heartbreak, every abandoned project, every new desire, all the plans and all the schemes. He was a primary confidant. He is firmly in my corner. Tiana is the glittersaurus: the sparkliest, most fabulous human I have ever personally known and loved. She is an entrepreneur with a pet-care business, a professional dominatrix, a model and a stylist for fun, a craft-er, and not for nothin’, one of the most gorgeous women that exists. She is so beautiful, and yet focuses so little on the physical beauty of her lovers, that I joke that she’s like Fleur from Harry Potter, “I am beautiful enough for ze both of us!” She has singlehandedly inspired me to live into the Burning Man principle of radical self-expression with the way I present myself every single day. I think some people might be surprised that before a year ago, I wasn’t fully self-expressed with my clothing. But I wasn’t. I was always concerned about being “too.”  “Too too.” But Tiana, because of her willingness to be gloriously bold, to tolerate the attention that that brings (and it brings all kinds), and to go larger, bigger, shinier when she feels challenged, not LESS, she unlocked that for me, and I am so grateful. Tiana and Orion are polyamorous, which means they have many loves, and they are primary partners, which means that they prioritize their connection, even though they are linked romantically and/or sexually to multiple other partners and lovers and romantic friends. In this episode, Tiana, Orion, and I talk about natural musk, her parent’s divorce, commuting between the two households, what Tiana & Orion’s parents have in common, face-sitting on teddy bears, first inklings of exhibitionism, being a good girl, then fucking til you die, Tiana meeting her husband in middle school, the story of her marriage, a tip for good anal play, the taint, camming on Chaturbate, looking for threesomes on Feeld, Tiana’s first polycule and first triad, and how her ex ended their marriage by wiping out their accounts. And this is just the first quarter of our conversation. (!) This podcast was edited by Chad Michael Snavely- he's Chad Michael.com on the interwebz. My intro music was created by Alan Markley, @plasticcannons on Instagram, and my sensual cover art was illustrated by Shana Shay, whom you can find on 99 Designs.  Come lie down with us, in the Bronx.

Welcome to Season 3 of horizontal! This is the podcast of intimacies recorded while reclining.   It’s still Slow Radio. It’s still consensual eavesdropping. It’s still us lying down, sharing secrets, in your ears. But while the first two seasons had me lying down with only one person at a time, season three will often add another guest to my pillow.   I’ll be lying down with people who are in some kind of relationship with one another. And I intend to encompass as many types of human relationships as I can. They might be friends, family members, teammates, mentors and acolytes, business partners, lovers, exes, metamours, co-parents… You know what this means, right? That’s right: This season is going to be a Lila sandwich.   My first two guests of Season 3, Dan and Jimanekia are a manager and her client, as well as friends.   Jimanekia is a Sex Educator, Queer media consultant, Sexual Assault expert, and Trauma Specialist. She is widely-studied and deeply-informed. Her work comes from the well of her own transformations, her personal navigation through profound pain and culture shock after culture shock, and the fierce desire to protect others from suffering at the intersection of sexual assault, race, class, privilege, and trauma.   She is the host of the podcast Trauma Queen, a mini-series about healing for assault survivors and their allies. She speaks with survivors, therapists, partners, educators, and experts. Her podcast a gift to the world, a resource for survivors and those who love them, and, everyone with a beating heart, really, with each episode providing actionable, practical steps. She teaches without teaching, educates without educating. You’ll see. Find Jimanekia on her website Traumaqueen.love and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @Jimanekia.   Dan — also known as Dannielle — Owens is a queer Femmeboy activist, and Jimanekia’s manager. Dannielle also manages two other previous horizontal guests, Stevie Boebi, the go-to lesbian sexpert on YouTube, episodes 42 & 43, and Meghan Tonjes, singer-songwriter and accidental leader of the booty revolution, episodes 24 & 25. Dan uses the pronouns he/him as well as she/her, interchangeably. Let me model how that might go for you:   He is the CEO of genderfluid clothing label & inclusive marketplace Radimo, which plays with gender the way I love to see gender played with, and focuses on directly supporting clothing made by queer, trans, black, POC, plus-size humans, women, and disabled small business owners. Radimo’s pieces are modeled by folx with different body types, skin tones, and gender identities. You can find the whole line on the website Radimo.LA … She engages in all sorts of glorious gender fuckery, on Instagram with the handle @boygodking , on YouTube as Dannielle Owens-Reid, and her forthcoming book, “From One Cult To The Next,” is a memoir about ending toxic relationships and the healing thereafter.   Many of you know that all the part twos of each episode are available exclusively to patrons of $5 a month and up. I’ve revamped my Patreon tiers with shiny new perks, and the upgrades will all go into effect next Friday, April 12th, alongside the release of part two of my conversation with Dan & Jimanekia. If you become a patron of $5 a month in the next seven days, you will be grandfathered in with access to The Full Horizontal, and my gratitude for being an early patron of the horizontal arts!   After April 12th, the first tier of patronage will be $10 a month, and it will include: access to all the part twos & the secret patrons Facebook group with behind-the-scenes access, along with a monthly video with curated intimacy tips! If you adore the love poem of the month, fret not, O patron my patron, it will be part of the video! The perks for $25, $50, and $100 a month are even more delectable, and include my favorite new perk, in which I will plan a monthly date for you! With yourself or with a friend or a family member or a lover. Check Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila for all the saucy details.   I’m also running a sweet little special offer. If you become a $10/month patron by the end of April, I’ll send you a handwritten thank you love note and a bit of horizontal swag (maybe a magnet, maybe a bumper sticker, maybe something else) in the actual MAIL. Sigh! I still Love getting mail as much as I did when I used to send bedazzled letters back and forth with my friend from summer camp in 1995. Also, I’ve been told that my handwriting is “ridiculous,” “astonishing,” and “like a font!” These are actual reviews, with no exaggeration.   In this first part of this episode with Dan and Jim, we tell our origin stories, which include loneliness, divorce, cancer, sex-positivity, intimacy, braces, bio dads and adoptive dads, relocating 10 times by the age of 9, latchkey kids, alcoholism, bipolar disorder / intervention, manipulation, therapy PTSD / advice columns, gaslighting, inclusivity, gender neutrality / queerness, microaggressions, racism, sluthood, LGBTQIA in the black community, rape, eating disorders, being an empath, burnout, sex ed   ….and how we came to possess our superpowers.   We cover a lot of ground in this one. We’d better get into it.   Come lie down with us in Los Angeles, California.   ***   Chad Michael Snavely has edited every horizontal episode since the beginning of Season 2. He’s a podcast impresario, and you can find his whole body of work on chadmichael.com. Alan Markley composed the intro music, and he’s busy being a rock star on Instagram as plasticcannons. Shana Shay created my saucy cover art, and you can hire her on 99 Designs.   Next week’s episode, part two of my episode with Dan and Jimanekia, in which we dig into their relationship with each other, is available exclusively to patrons of the horizontal arts. Remember that if you’d like access to The Full Horizontal for $5/month, you’ll need to become a patron before April 12th, next Friday. And if you become a $10/month patron before the end of April, I’ll send you a handwritten thank you love note in my glorious handwriting, plus a bit of horizontal swag!   Until next week: may you have someone (or someones) to love, something to do, and so many things to look forward to.

This conversation is not like the others. It's still Slow Radio. It's still a conversation about intimacies of all kinds. But this time, to close out Season Two, this time we recorded while sitting relatively upright, because my guest, is my Dad. We recorded about a year ago, sitting on a somewhat noisy leather couch sectional, in a house that’s perpetually under construction, because my father loves the process of things. My father’s name is Anthony, but he’s Anthony only to the family, and Tony to his friends. He’s always been “Dad” to me. He was born in Boro Park — at the time a half-Italian, half-Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. It’s also where I was born. He almost became a priest, but become a child psychologist instead. I suppose he would have ministered to souls either way. As far back as I can remember, my father’s greatest love has been carpentry. The house I grew up had a garage that functioned exclusively as my dad’s woodshop. I didn’t share my father’s fascination with building things, but to this day, I love the smell of sawdust, and have a great warm respect for those who craft with their hands. My Dad’s a Catholic. I am not. The story goes: my parents gave me the choice between Hebrew School and Sunday School, and I chose neither. They didn’t force me to go. As a teenager, I became a Unitarian Universalist. My Dad has always respected my choices and approved of me. After the age of 12, when my parents got divorced, I didn’t live with my father. My mother moved us down to Florida, and my father stayed in New York. In this conversation, I ask him questions I had never questioned before. When I was 17, and I moved back to New York to go to college at NYU, my father moved me in and out of the dorms. He came to every play and avant-garde piece I did in college (like the Antigone I did in the fountain at Washington Square Park), and for many years thereafter. He has been free with his affirmation, and has always supported any choice that I enthusiastically made for my life. While my mother questioned the prudence of studying theatre in college, and threatened to pull her support if I persisted, my Dad said that he would support me to the best of his ability. He approved when I wanted to become a yoga teacher. He approved when I wanted to become an AcroYoga teacher. He approved when I wanted to dance Argentine tango in Buenos Aires. He said yes when I asked him to loan me his car for two months in the summer of 2008 to make my first cross-country road trip, teaching AcroYoga all along the way. He didn't mind that I put 10,000 miles on it. He approved when I decided to move to Portland. He approved when I had a Saturn Return crisis and all I wanted to do was travel for a year. He received me when I burned out 9 months into that year and spent a couple of months at my mom’s place, and then flew up to stay a cold winter in his fixer-upper house with him, stacking firewood and nursing myself back to adulthood. He approved when I told him that I lived in a sex-positive intentional community whose mission is to eradicate shame and encourage freedom of expression. He approved when I started a podcast, even though I’m broadcasting my secrets out into the universe, and he is a very private person. And, though a private person, he agreed the moment I asked him to make an episode with me, even though he has no interest in being recorded anywhere else. You see, he still has the capacity to surprise me. But maybe it's exactly true to character. Because this*is my* project. And my father has always, always supported what I mean to do in the world. So you see, my father has been easy to love. In this episode, the first part of our conversation, we talk about his father, a grandfather I never met, also named Tony: who battled with the prejudice against Italians, beat his kids with a machine strap, gave a eulogy in Harlem, never told my Dad that he loved him, and raped at least one of his daughters. My father broke the cycle of abuse. It only takes one generation to break a cycle, and that generation can be yours. We also talk about why my father decided to go to seminary, the ad hoc sex ed that he got by asking priests, and why he decided not to be ordained (it's probably not what you think. At least, it's not what I thought.) Dad regularly goes on tangents, so we meander a lot here, even more than usual, and there’s a lot of reminiscing. He also uses the word “whatnot” more than anyone I’ve ever heard. Actually, I can't recall hearing anyone else use the word “whatnot.” *** In just a few weeks, I’ll be transitioning to a very different Patreon model and streamlining my tiers. The lowest tier will be $20 / month, and will give access to x unreleased, raw episodes (with never-before-heard guests) plus other choice, what do the kids call it these days? Premium content. If you want to be grandfathered in with access to The Full Horizontal, all the part twos at $5, $10 (which includes the monthly love poems), or $15 per month (which includes a ticket to a live event), now is the time to become a patron of the horizontal arts! Go to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila, if you want to be a part of my mission to cultivate intimacy across the globe. This is the best conversation I’ve ever had with my Dad in my life. And I had it, because I was making something for you. So: come sit down with us. *** Chad Michael Snavely is my editor. He’s a podcast maven. Find his full roster on chadmichael.com. Alan Markley composed my intro music. Seek him on Instagram as plasticcannons. Shana Shay created my cover art. Hire her for graphic design and character illustration on 99 Designs. This episode comes with a call to action: If they are alive, accessible to you, and you are willing and curious — interview your parents. You don’t how many chances you’ll get. And if you never recorded them, you might wish you did. In next week's episode, the second half of my conversation with my Dad, we discuss how he met and married my mother in Brazil, the day of my birth, forgiveness, feminist vs. mainstream pornography, how my mother left my father, why my Dad didn’t move to Florida to be close to me, how he feels about the fact that I don’t want kids, and the kind of partner that he seeks now. He also tells me a story about my Grammy and a radio agent. For access to that episode and all the part twos, become a patron of the horizontal arts now, before the tiers go up in a few weeks! Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila Until next week, may you have someone to love, something to do, and many many many things to look forward to! Thank you for being, in this case, relatively upright, with us.

We're sharing a special behind-the-scenes look at the Live. Life. Love. Benefit Concert held last December in Nashville, TN. This bonus episode features interviews with Kim Petras, Jake Miller, and Caroline Kole. Thank you to Robin Fomusa and the entire team at 107.5 The River - Nashville for putting on this wonderful event and for inviting us to be part of it.  Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: Thank you so much to 107.5 The River - Nashville and the entire team that put on this Live. Life. Love. Benefit Concert. We want to thank all the artists that performed to make such a special evening and specifically want to thank the artists featured on this episode: Kim Petras, Jake Miller, and Caroline Kole. This episode was produced by Mark Codgen with editorial support provided by Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force. Music assistance was provided by James Likeness and Ben Tichenor. Lindsay Kolsch and Aaron Baccash served as the hosts for this episode. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

My name is Lila, and I love sleepovers, spooning, sharing, storytelling, sex, and stargazing, among other things. So I metaphorically rolled them up in audio form and called it a podcast. Horizontal with lila is Slow Radio. It’s intimacies of all kinds. It’s consensual eavesdropping. It’s us lying down right next to each other, wearing robes, sharing secrets, in your ears. Each horizontal session with a guest is between 2 and 3ish hours long, and divided into two episodes. Part ones, like this one, are available anywhere you get your podcasts, and part twos are available exclusively to patrons of the horizontal arts. As you might imagine, the part twos go deep, since we’ve been marinating in conversation for over an hour. And at the very very end, my guest tells me a story of some intimacy. For access to The Full Horizontal,go to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila, and become a patron of $5 or more per month, because... Fair warning, horizontal lovers! When I launch Season 3, (and it is happening Soon) I’ll be shifting some things, revealing a couple of surprises, and revamping my Patreon tiers: If you’ve already become a patron, you’ll be grandfathered in with access to all the episodes and my gratitude for being an early listener. In this episode, recorded in a slender little apartment in Brooklyn, New York, I lie down with Lee. Lee is a Pleasure Guide: a Tantrika, a Bodyworker, an Intimacy Coach. She’s a Sensuality specialist. I first met Lee when she was working with a friend of mine at The Women of Venus (which you’ll hear about in part two, episode 71). I’ve been trying to get her to move in with us at Hacienda Villa for about a year now. When I’m around Lee, I feel warm and grounded. She is exceptionally supportive and clear-eyed, at the same time. Her belief in the version of me that I love the most, my favorite self, and my potential to embody that self and act beautifully on the world is like … an amulet that she has made by hand. She has her finger on the pulse of the Great Mystery, without being a prig about it. She’s a girl’s girl, a woman’s woman, with a generous dash of humility, and a fierce commitment to stand for her own growth, and for yours. For all of the information about Lee’s Intimacy and Pleasure Coaching practice, find her on LeeNoto.com  This episode was recorded in Lee’s bed, in another part of Brooklyn, and though you are spared the trains screeching around the bend like they do when I record in my room, there’s a few sonic visitors: an old heating unit, a creaky ceiling that is someone else’s floor, some pretty raucous neighbors, and… a plane or two. City living. Local color. In this part of our conversation, we talk about slow-going sex and celibacy, plant medicine journeys and masturbation, objectifying yourself and faking orgasms, promiscuity as rebellious self-expression, pushing buttons just to know what they’re for, the glorious practice of bragging, a Tiger Mom, and driving herself to perfection so hard that her face paralyzed itself to get her attention. To see pictures from this recording session, and get behind-the-scenes access to horizontality and my sex-positive life, follow @horizontalwithlila on Instagram, and sign up for my missives on horizontalwithlila.com And now, come lie down with not one, but two recovering perfectionists, in Brooklyn, New York. *** Let me give some credit where credit is due: Chad Michael Snavely is my editor. He’s a podcast maven, and you can find his full roster on chadmichael.com. Alan Markley composed my intro music, and his exploits can be witnessed on Instagram as plasticcannons. Shana Shay created my cover art, and you can hire her for graphic design and character illustration on 99 Designs. In next week’s episode of horizontal, the second part of my conversation with Lee, episode 71, we discuss intentional masturbation, receiving oral sex, fantasies of auto-cunnilingus, giving yourself what you wish for a partner to give you, the indefinable mystery of tantra, red tantra, white tantra, urban tantra, a tantric temple called The Women of Venus, Mama Gena’s practices of Trinities, Swamping, and Spring Cleaning... And Lee & I do something unprecedented on the podcast, something I’ve never heard recorded anywhere else: we each do a Spring Clean on a topic we’re struggling with in real time, stream of consciousness style, and entirely unedited. I feel a little bit nervous to share it, actually, but that’s when I know I have something really worthwhile to reveal. Next week’s installment is available exclusively to my beloved patrons of the horizontal arts. Become one and get access to The Full Horizontal catalog on Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila On Saturday, March 16th, Lee is curating an event called Eating Out: an Erotic Feast inspired by oral sex. She calls it an Edible Education. For all the details, visit her at LeeNoto.com and sign up for her mailing list. On Thursday, March 28th, I’m leading The Art of Trust: an Intimacy Games Workshop. If you’ve seen any of the shots from my Intimacy Warriors photoshoots, you might have an inkling of what this workshop will be like. We’ll play games like Sphinx, Hot Seat, Human Conveyor Belt, and the Touch Gauntlet. Details coming soon. Until next week, may you have someone to love, something to do, and many things to look forward to! Thank you for getting horizontal.

This episode is a little different than the others. It’s a quickie. If you’ve been listening to horizontal, you know that: at the end of every conversation with a guest, I ask them to tell me a story. Each full conversation is between two and three hours long. It gets divided into two parts and released as two episodes. Part ones are available to everyone in all the podcast places. Part twos are available exclusively to my patrons through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila. Sign up there for access to The Full Horizontal. Naturally, our conversations get deeper and deeper as my guest and I drop in together. So when, at the very end of those part twos my guest tells me a tale, (except in the case of Annie Lalla, because we ran out of time!) it is a tale of intimacy of some kind. Any kind. It can be about friendships, lovers, family. It has been about being carried down a mountain on the back of a hunky guide, a literal and figurative friend death, the first time ejaculating where stuff came out, a big fat freaky wedding, and a miscarriage, among many, many other things. I always tell my guest that it can be any story that falls under the umbrella of intimacy, with any kind of tone or outcome, as long as it’s a story that they truly desire to tell it to me. This quickie episode (which consists of three little stories, rather than one big one) was recorded live at my last Horizontal Storytelling Pajama Party, which was held at Hacienda Studio in Brooklyn. At Horizontal Storytelling, we all donned pajamas, had milk and cookies, got exceedingly cozy,  and curled up together, all 50 of us, to listen to just the stories, back to back, by six storytellers, one after the other. I got horizontal with my guest just like we do when we record a full episode, wearing robes, sharing a pillow, microphone positioned above us, gazing upward as though stargazing, or post-coital, or the wee-morning hours of a really good sleepover. I’m planning to host another one (or something like it) in the Spring of 2019, so make sure you’re on the mailing list through horizontalwithlila.com and all the details shall come! In this quickie I get horizontal with Kenneth Play, my friend, my housemate, and world-renowned Sex Hacker, Sex Coach, Sex Educator, and co-founder of Hacienda Villa, the intentional community in which I live and love, and where I am a founding member. We’ve been living in the same house for four and half years. I introduce him quite fully in the episode, so I’ll just say here that I have been privileged to live in the same house as a Master of Sex. Kenneth taught me how to verbalize specifically the kind of oral sex that I desire. He taught me how to insert and operate my nJoy pure wand dildo. He also taught me the most nourishing technique I've ever come across for grounding with my lover after sex. And now he's gathered all these tips, tricks, and techniques from his teachers — some of the greatest sex educators and coaches and tantra masters alive — as well as from hours upon hours of, let's call it "laboratory practice," and distilled them into a Sex Ed video series that is accessible to everyone. It focuses on giving pleasure to women and those with vulvas and consists of The Oral Course, The Squirting Course, The Penetration Course, & the Sex Hacker Bundle This quickie was edited by Mr. Chad Michael Snavely, bearded man, podcast impresario. His roster is available on chadmichael.com. My sensual cover art was illustrated by Shana Shay based on my photograph. Hire this woman through 99 designs. And my intro music was composed by Alan Markley, rock star, and plasticcannons on Instagram.   Speaking of Instagram. Feel free to reach out to me there if you have any questions, ideas for dream guests, or musings spurred by any of the episodes. It’s lovely to know that you’re listening, and pondering.   And if you want access to The Full Horizontal, right now you can still get that when you become a patron of $5 a month and up. Very soon, I’ll be launching Season 3, and with it, I’ll be streamlining my tiers and raising the bar for patronage. But if you lock it in now, baby, you’ll be grandfathered in, with my gratitude for being an early patron of the horizontal arts. I have big dreams, and every single patron helps me happen them. Patreon.com/ horizontalwithlila In other words, come lie down with us, in Bushwick, Brooklyn.  

I love sleepovers, spooning, sharing, sex, storytelling, and stargazing, among other things. So I metaphorically rolled them all up in audio form and called it a podcast. horizontal with lila is Slow Radio. It’s intimacies of all kinds. It’s us lying down, wearing robes, sharing secrets, in your ears. Each session with a guest is between 2 and 3 hours long, and divided into two episodes. Part ones are available anywhere you get your podcasts, and part twos are available only to patrons of the horizontal arts. Become a patron of $5+ per month soon, because... When I launch Season 3, I’ll be shifting some things, revealing a couple surprises, and revamping my Patreon tiers: If you’re already in as a patron, you’ll be grandfathered in with access to all the episodes at the 5 - 15 dollar level. Fair warning, lovers! *** This Thursday night in Brooklyn, come Valentine’s with us! Valentine's Day is in less than a week, and I would usually be fretting about what to do.This was especially true if I was single, but it was also very much true when I was part of a couple. What could I do that wouldn't have me feeling lonely? How could I turn this day of forced romance and commerce and couples privilege... into a day that would actually be nourishing for Me?I tried dating myself on Valentine's. I tried friend-time. I tried tango festivals. I tried Galentine’s Day. But what I actually desired was an intimate, pleasure-focused experience for myself. I desired sensation play, delicious treats (that were safe for me to eat), titillating performance, immersive theatre, and one-on-one connection. I really wanted to make Valentine's day about delighting all of my senses, not about the arbitrary fact of whether I was romantically linked to another person on that day.So I’m curating it. It's called 14 Rooms, and it will be on Valentine’s night. It’s an event for everyone, whether you’re not in a relationship, in a relationship, in a polycule, in a situationship — no matter what our quote unquote status is, we can gather and explore intimate moments of different kinds. Together. As a community celebrating pleasure, our senses, and our aliveness. Celebrating Big Love. Come Valentine's with us. It will be delicious.It's the Valentine's I've always wanted. P.S.  If you’re short on funds but full of enthusiasm, send me a message through horizontalwithlila.com or Instagram to see about a possible volunteer shift. *** Apropos of everything - in this episode, I lie down with Annie Lalla, Goddess of Love and world-class relationship coach. Annie stands for true love. She is a gladiator of empathy. In this first part of our conversation, we talk about the correlation between self-esteem and soul mates, how couples cross-train each other, footnoting our parents for the superpowers born on the back of their crazy, optimizing for aliveness, empathy algorithms, integration and differentiation (the inhales and exhales of relationship), the phrase “I’m angry, but I love you more than I’m angry,” and using your creativity to adjust your emotional response to your reality. I first met Annie when she gave a talk about true love in the Speaker Series I co-lead at Burning Man 2018. The theme was The Year of the Robot, and we had... technical difficulties. The mic was down, so somebody found Annie a little toy bullhorn, and we all gathered round her like children at storytime, to press our burning questions into her hands like love letters. She is one of the most poignant extemporaneous speakers that I’ve ever witnessed on stage. I took copious notes, because I’d literally never heard anybody speak about love the way that Annie does. These are some of the words I captured: “cartographer of love” “kilojewels of energy” “There’s an I that has to be sacrificed on the altar of us. If you’re not feeling terror, you’re not actually playing the game.” “the sacred mirror” And “Nothing compares to the gymnasium, to the dojo of a true love relationship.” I imagine by now, you know how I feel about words. I savored Annie’s words, wrote them down in red ink, and fervently hoped that she would get horizontal with me someday. The time wasn’t right at Burning Man. But when I booked my ticket to Miami, taking a loving risk to go meet a man I’d been communicating with for four months, but had never met in person (a risk I imagined that Annie would approve of mightily) and I found out that Annie was in Miami! Well! Come lie down with us on a big white bed with a view of the ocean, in Miami, Florida. *** For horizontal photos and behind-the-scenes videos (like the one I took of Annie’s glorious red carpet ocean-view apartment), follow @horizontalwithlila on Instagram. I’ve been getting reallly into Instagram lately, and I have a cache of colorful photos to share. If you are in need of the services of a Love Coach (and really, who isn’t?) you can commune with all things Annie through annielalla.com This episode was edited by Mr. Chad Michael Snavely, bearded man, father, and podcast impresario. Have a peek through his roster on chadmichael.com. The character illustration and graphic design for my cover art was drawn by Shana Shay. Look her up on 99Designs. And my sweet intro music was composed by Alan Markley, rock star father and @plasticcannons on Instagram. Next week’s episode, 68, part two of my conversation with Annie, will be available to patrons of $5 a month and up. The Patreon tiers will change in the next month or so, so lock in access to The Full Horizontal at the grandfathered rate by becoming a patron now! Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila Welcome to my newest patrons, Bob & Lee! And so much gratitude to Julene for raising her Patreon pledge. After my trip to Miami, I’m feeling turned on by life. I wish you that! And as always, I wish us someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. Thank you for becoming horizontal.  

In this and next week’s episode, I lie down with my college friend, the actor-romantic, Triple Threat, improviser, mimic, voice-over artist, chameleon, ham, and all-around delightful, well-adjusted human, Burl Moseley.   He’s such a phenom that he recently got his own song on the musical TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. If I were you, just before listening to this episode, I’d go straight to YouTube and type in “Don’t be a Lawyer.” He sings, acts, and dances the bejeesus out of it, in a full-on bright-pink 90s suit with a chunky tie. I have watched it an embarrassing number of times, I have insisted that my housemates watch it, and when I arrived at Burl’s apartment to record this episode in early December, I danced around his place singing it back to him. I’m reaally into it. And if you’ve ever known a lawyer (and I’ve dated two!) I’m pretty sure you'll be into it as well. Burl and I both went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for Drama. He was a luminary in my favorite improv troupe, and I always made it a point to show up to their shows and cheer them on. Improv was never my thing, but Burl is a natural improviser … I think that’s part of the reason he’s so good at life-ing. In this first half of our conversation, we talk about the origins of being such a live wire,  the two types of military kids, making as many friends as possible, casual misogyny and male friends, Burl’s “showing out” at school, and my attitude problem, our childhood crushes, how Burl felt about his parent’s PDA, the first kiss ritual, the mom & dad sofa, and trying to undo the damage that Disney has done. If you enjoy cozying up with us, and want to listen to next week’s episode with Burl (episode 64), become a patron of the horizontal arts. Patreon is the love child of crowdfunding and a subscription service, and you can access all the part twos of every episode by becoming a patron of $5 a month or more. Welcome to my newest patrons: Michael and Daniel, and an extra joyous thank you to Tiana, Rex, and Donald, for raising their pledges this month! I’m deeply committed to Intimacy Maven as a career choice, and continuing to create work that diminishes loneliness, dispels shame, and alchemizes human connection, in multiple mediums. You can help me happen it. Next week’s episode will be released next Friday and available to patrons of $5 and up. In it, we discuss the three C’s of relationshipping, reflective listening, Burl’s first kisses, willyoubemygirlfriendyoucananswermetomorrow, how movie sex and porn sex are like pro wrestling, my theory about why young people are having less sex, relationship takeaways, how Burl feels about marriage now, and a story about emotional release. I’ve got just a few more episodes in Season Two, and the grand finale is something really special. I can’t wait to share it with you. And then, I have some exciting twists coming for Season Three, which will start in the next couple of months, and I’ll also be revamping my Patreon tiers then, so if you want to be grandfathered in at the $5 level (meaning that the tier will go up, but you’ll still get access to all the episodes) go to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila and become part of my mission to make the world a more intimate place! For more horizontality in your inbox once a week-ish (okay, full disclosure, lately it’s been once a month-ish), sign up on horizontalwithlila.com for my raw personal writing, photos of me horizontal in unexpected places, images of my guests and links to the show notes, and the occasional bit of additional fabulosity, like a plug for my sex educator housemate’s online course on how to be a great lover. Here are the humans who helped make horizontal happen: Chad Michael Snavely edits horizontal. Peruse his podcast roster on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew horizontal. Hire her through 99designs. Alan Markley scored horizontal. Find him on Instagram as plasticcannons. And now, come lie down with us, in a place called Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California.

I often say that this show is about intimate relationships of all kinds. Not just romantic and sexual relationships, which tend to be the only ones that our society considers to be under the umbrella of “intimacy,” but also family relationships and friendships and mentorships, platonic love affairs and business partnerships, and all the rest of the meaningful relationships a human can have. We also deepdive into the one relationship that is intrinsic to all of these, and yet not always named as such: our relationship to ourselves. The lion’s share of this episode is about self-intimacy. How we think to ourselves, how we talk to ourselves, how we treat ourselves, care for ourselves, how we mother ourselves, and how we pick ourselves up… In this episode, recorded on my trip to Los Angeles in early December, I lie down with Bevin, aka queerfatfemme, fearless torchbearer of body-positivity and positivity in general, warrior for self-love, creator of Fat Kid Dance Party aerobics, former lawyer, empress of tea, and purveyor of radically colorful fabulosity. She’s also a reiki practitioner and a Life Purpose Coach. Go swimming in all things kind and sparkly and jubilant on queerfatfemme.com She describes her gender as Dolly Parton and Miss Piggy. I pretty much wanted to talk to her forever. I settled for 3 hours. This is the first half of that conversation. It's a helluvan episode. In it, we talk about a gender-expansive lifestyle, seasonal affective disorder, self-love, self-compassion, self-care for Future Us, fatphobia, multiple coming-outs, soulmates, and systems of oppression that, in Bevin’s incisive words, “intersect on the body and bloom.” Next week's episode, 62. we can be benefits, but not friends... contains the second part of our conversation, in which I tell the entire 17-year story of the romance that led to my abortion in October, is available on Patreon to patrons of $5 and up per month. Patreon is the love child of crowd-funding and a subscription service. When you sign up, you’ll get a special RSS feed (that’s the stream of episodes that are available to my patrons - which includes love poems of the month, for my $10 and up patrons). You add that to your podcast player, and it gives exclusive access to all the episodes, every part two, going back to the beginning. Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila  Welcome to my darling new patrons this month: Pan, Nick, Louis, Ava, David, Emilee, Donald, Jacob, Charles, Olivia, Sheila, Trep, Renata, Greg, and Taekia, Nicole, Ariana, and an extra happy dance for Christian, who upped his patronage in December! I’m deeply committed to Intimacy Maven as a career choice, and continuing to create work that diminishes loneliness, dispels shame, and alchemizes human connection, in multiple mediums. You can help me happen it. Patronage begins at $2 a month, and I absolutely cherish every single patron. All patrons are invited to my secret Facebook group, where I share fascinating sex-positive articles, and behind-the-scenes things, and my Feels and goals and musings. I know some friends of mine have been hesitant to be a patron if they could only do $2 a month, but let me assure you: If everybody who was positively impacted by my writing or this podcast became a $2 a month patron, it would change my life. That’s the beauty of this new era of creation. And here’s an extra special perk from now until the end of the year: When you become a patron by January 1st, I’ll send you a handwritten thank you love note & a saucy horizontal sticker. My handwriting has been described as "perfect!" "ridiculous!" “like a font!” I’m just saying. For more horizontality in your life, you can receive my words in your inbox once a week(ish). I call them missives, and they are full of my personal writing, bits of the show notes for each episode with links to the whole thing, invitations to my live events, and horizontal photos, often in unexpected places. The last missive was titled “how does it feel to want?” and was all about longing.   Sign up for all that goodness on horizontalwithlila.com and add lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book, because email servers are frustrating and strange and sometimes treat my email like Spam, which it is Not. If you used to get my emails and don’t anymore, that might be why! Rescue them, please!   Here are the humans who helped make horizontal happen: Chad Michael Snavely edits horizontal. Check him out on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew horizontal. Hire her through 99designs. Alan Markley scored horizontal. Find him on Instagram as plasticcannons. Now, dear one, come lie down with us and a Persian squashy-faced cat named Biscuit Reynolds, in Los Angeles, California.

In the final episode of season one, TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski talks with Chris Sullivan. Chris opens up about his background as an actor and his experience dealing with mental health issues, how he takes care of himself, and why he doesn’t consider This Is Us a sad show. Chris Sullivan is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Taserface in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. He first gained attention for his portrayal of Tom Cleary on the Cinemax drama The Knick. He played Benny Hammond in Stranger Things and currently stars as Toby on the NBC drama This Is Us.   This conversation was recorded live on Sunday, December 16, at Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Our friend Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) performed at the event. Part of his set is featured in this episode. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast.   Connect with Chris by checking out his website and social media profiles: http://sullynyc.com https://twitter.com/SullivanTweet https://www.instagram.com/sullivangrams/?hl=en   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/ Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Jon Foreman for the music featured in this episode and for Chris Sullivan for spending some time with us. Jamie Tworkowski served as the interviewer this week. This episode was produced by Mark Codgen with editorial support by Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force and Becky Ebert. And music assistance provided by James Likeness and Ben Tichenor. I'm Lindsay Kolsch. Thank you so much for listening. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

Horizontal is a podcast of intimacies recorded while lying down. Think of it as consensual eavesdropping. Together, we’re making private conversations public, in order to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and alchemize human connection. Brene Brown, the world-renowned researcher/storyteller and expert on vulnerability, shame, and courage, states that shame (in a petri dish) needs 3 things to survive: secrecy, silence, and judgement. If you put the same amount of shame in a petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can't survive. I envision this podcast as a douse of empathy. In this episode, I lie down with Samia Mounts in my bed at Hacienda Villa, the sex-positive intentional community in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Samia is a singer, actress, voice-over artist, creator of music, and a polyamorous podcaster of political proportions, with a voice built for stadiums and arenas. Currently based in Korea, I was fortunate enough to get horizontal with her when she was in town to sing at the Kennedy Center. She is a bisexual babe, a military kid, a half-Jordanian woman who grew up largely in South Korea, an advocate for nontraditional relationship structures, and a great believer in horizontality. You may remember that I enthusiastically recommended Samia’s political podcast: Make America Relate Again. In it, Samia did something I'd never heard before in my life — she had respectful conversations about politics with women who voted for Donald Trump. Pretty much all the political conversations I hear between liberals and conservatives are acrimonious and combative. Make America Relate Again is based on the premise that if we can communicate respectfully with people whose viewpoints frustrate, enrage, or sadden us, we can cultivate more compassion in this sorely-divided country of ours. And if we stoke the fire of that compassion, we can work together to create positive change. Samia managed to put the humanity back into politics for me. I am impressed and astonished that she had the reserves of compassion and empathy to engage wholeheartedly in this way for two entire seasons. I find her to be brave in a way that I am lacking, and this had me tuning in. Now in 2019, lucky for us, she'll be applying those skills to a new podcast called Future Love, one about polyamory and unconventional relationships and and sex and love, in which she aims to help people have more authentic, passionate, longer-lasting romances by forgoing the conventional rules, and instead, writing their own. To be apprised when her new podcast launches, and for all things Samia, including her articles about polyamory for Huff Post and Refinery 29, point yourself to samiamounts.com, and sign up for her mailing list! Since our episode was recorded in my room, you’ll get a little local color from the Symphony Orchestra of Bushwick, but when you hear the crackling sounds of a Yule Log, that’s Samia, vaping. In this first part of our episode, we discuss growing up as a horny little beast on a military base, playing lumberjack, dry-humping girls at 8, coming out as bi at 14, the year of the purge, a play I was in called An American Family Takes a Lover, Sex at Dawn, my new fashion friend, ordering food while fucking, Samia’s night with her new 48 year-old lover — we call him “Wild Man,” being multi-orgasmic, and cultivating lifelong sexy relationships. We cover a lot of ground! To listen to the second part of my conversation with Samia, which will be released next Friday as episode 60, in which she tells me the most epic love story of her life, and the most epic friend-love story of her life, become a patron of the horizontal arts! Patreon is the love child of crowd-funding and a subscription service. As a $5 month patron, you’ll get a special RSS feed that you can add to your podcast player, and it gives you exclusive access to all the episodes, every part two, going back to the beginning. I’ve made a little video tutorial for it, in case the RSS is confusing. It’s available on my Patreon page. (See what I did there?) Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila And now, come lie down with us in Bushwick, Brooklyn. *** For more horizontality, you can receive my words in your inbox once a week(ish). I call them missives, and they are full of my personal writing, bits of the show notes for each episode with links to the whole shebang, invitations to my live events, and horizontal photos, often in unexpected places. Sign up for all that goodness on horizontalwithlila.com and add lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book, because email servers are frustrating and strange and sometimes treat my email like a message Mr. Jim Carlos who misspells your name as well as several third grade words while asking you to wire money — which I’m pretty sure is not something that people do anymore. Please rescue my thoughtful, well-crafted emails from the depths of folders like “Spam” and “Promotions” and “Updates.” Thank you. Here’s the credits: Chad Michael Snavely edits horizontal. Check him out on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew horizontal. Hire her through 99designs. Alan Markley scored horizontal. Find him on Instagram as plasticcannons.

In this episode, TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski talks with Denny Kolsch. Denny opens up about his experience struggling with anxiety and an opioid addiction, how he got sober, and what he’s doing now in an effort to save lives in his community and beyond. Denny is a licensed mental health counselor. He is also the co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Peace Club, an opioid recovery community located in Cocoa Beach, FL. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast.   Connect with Denny and his work online by checking out his website and social media: https://peace.club https://www.instagram.com/withpeaceclub/ https://www.facebook.com/withpeaceclub   Watch “The Story of Denny Kolsch” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZn2-1mtABQ   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Denny Kolsch for sharing his story with us and Copeland for the original music featured here. Jamie Tworkowski served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, Rebecca Ebert, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com  

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Hannah Brencher about her experience writing love letters to strangers, what it was like to get a diagnosis of depression, and how she's needed connection in a holistic approach to treating it. Hannah is a writer, TED speaker, and online educator with a heart for building leaders. Her second book, Come Matter Here, is available now. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast.   Connect with Hannah online by checking out her website and social media profiles: http://www.hannahbrenchercreative.com https://www.instagram.com/hannahbrencher/ https://twitter.com/hannahbrencher   Buy her books here: http://www.hannahbrenchercreative.com/the-books/   Read her writing here: http://www.hannahbrenchercreative.com https://twloha.com/blog/author/hannah-brencher/   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Hannah Brencher for sharing her story with us and Copeland for the original music featured here. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, Rebecca Ebert, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com  

Horizontal is a podcast of intimacies recorded while lying down. I’m really glad you’re here. You can think of it as consensual eavesdropping.Together, we’re making private conversations public, so that we can dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and alchemize human connection. If you’ve been horizontal for a while, you know that each conversation is about 2-3 hours long, and gets divided into two episodes, released a week apart (by popular demand). For instance, this is episode #57. Next week’s episode, #58. the love drive, will feature part two of my conversation with Shaun. As I said in the last couple of episodes, I’m making a big shift in the way horizontal is released, and it just went into effect on Wednesday. All the part twos have now disappeared from your apps (unless you downloaded them, as I suggested! Thanks for being an early adopter!). They are now gated, and available to patrons at $5 a month and up. This is my first serious step toward making this work a sustainable career path. I intend to untether myself from my bread-and-butter job and continue expanding the horizontality … into videos, books, a TV show. I have big big dreams to SPREAD INTIMACY ACROSS THE GLOBE. And you can help me happen it. Patreon is the love child of crowd-funding and a subscription service. As a $5 month patron, you’ll get a special RSS feed that you can add to your podcast player, and it gives you exclusive access to all the episodes, every part two, going back to the beginning. I’ve made a little video tutorial for it, in case the RSS is confusing. It’s available on my Patreon page. (See what I did there?) In this episode, I lie down in my bed in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with Shaun Galanos. I live in Hacienda Villa, a sex-positive intentional community, and, just like most places on the vanguard, our neighborhood is (still) fairly gritty. So be advised: Bushwick— is a very noisy place. Trains and sirens and construction and unidentifiable buzzings and whirrings… let’s just say, you’re definitely gonna hear some local color in this episode. We’ll call it...verite. Shaun Galanos is a 30something silver fox, a Canadian, an American, a 12-time burner, a dog dad, and the host of the podcast The Love Drive, which aims to make sex and love less awkward. He’s also a street performer who gives Free Love Advice. He sets up a sign and his recording kit all over the place, in public parks, at Burning Man, while waiting for transportation, and, before he got chased away for soliciting the customers, at the airport. Point yourself towards thelovedrive.com for everything Shaun (including that free advice he talks about). Shaun and I met on the interwebz and started flirting and brainstorming and podcast-conspiring on Instagram. He’s handsome and charming and skilled in cheeky banter. He makes cute videos in which he talks directly to camera, Ferris Bueller-style. He cares about intimacy! He’s single! So when he came to New York, naturally, we hopped into bed. But only to record. (More on that in the episodes.) In this first part of our conversation, we talk about cruising chat rooms and cybering, wizard sleeves and uncircumcised cocks, the pics of naked men that turn Shaun on, the pics of naked women that turn me on, self-voyeurism, check-ins, and our level of sexual attraction. If you want to hear the second part of our conversation, released next Friday, in which we discuss our pheremones, the hierarchy of relationships, touch-starvation, Old Spice, my breasts, and Shaun tells me a story about risky wedding sex, become a patron of the horizontal arts! And now, come lie down with us in Bushwick, Brooklyn. (whispers) We’re naked. Let’s do the credits! Chad Michael Snavely is my editor and a podcast maven. He has a slew of podcasts you can check out on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay is my illustrator and graphic designer. She specializes in good-looking character illustrations from photographs, like the one you see in my podcast cover art. Hire her through 99designs. Alan Markley is a rock star touring musician, and he created my intro music (with a little bit of sex vox from me - those are the breathy sounds). Find him on Instagram as plasticcannons. Shaun and I also got vertical together. We recorded episode 28 of The Love Drive: how to get invited to a play party in Shaun’s borrowed apartment in Williamsburg. (Despite the title, I make no promises.) But if you’re curious about what a Hacienda sex party is like, well, darlin’, we made you an episode. At the end of that recording, Shaun asked me if I had a parting thought. I said all I could think of was the E.M. Forster quote, “Only connect.” I don’t think that we will regret any of the time we’ve spent trying to connect with other humans. What I mean is: the time we spent cultivating intimacy in our lives is time worth spending. It is among the worthiest of pursuits. So thank you, thank you for getting horizontal with us. To listen to the rest of our conversation, as we unpack our own challenges getting intimate with each other: Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila Until next week, I wish you someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Joel L. Daniels. Joel opens up about growing up without the language to talk about mental health, what happened when he called a crisis helpline, how writing has helped him start important conversations, and what his daughter is teaching him. Joel L. Daniels is a writer, performer, actor, MC, and father. His book, A BOOK ABOUT THINGS I WILL TELL MY DAUGHTER, is available now. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast.   Connect with Joel online by checking out his website and social media profiles: http://mydaughtermayhave.com https://twitter.com/JoelakaMaG https://www.instagram.com/joelakamag/   Buy his book here: https://products.bottlecap.press/products/tell   Read his writing here: https://medium.com/@joelakamag/latest https://twloha.com/blog/instead-of-killing-myself-i-called-a-suicide-hotline/   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Joel L. Daniels for sharing his story with us and Copeland for the original music featured here. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, Rebecca Ebert, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Kelly Jensen. Kelly discusses the issues with how mental health is portrayed through dramatic story arcs found in pop culture, why her career as a youth librarian inspired her to create a mental health anthology, and the five lies depression told her. Kelly Jensen is an editor for Book Riot, as well as a writer and editor of young adult novels. Her most recent project, “(Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health,” is available for purchase now. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast.   Connect with Kelly online by checking out her website and social media profiles: http://kellybjensen.com https://twitter.com/veronikellymars/ https://www.instagram.com/veronikellymars/   Buy her latest anthology here: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Me-Crazy-Conversation/dp/1616207817 Read her writing here: http://kellybjensen.com/selected-writing/ https://twloha.com/blog/five-lies-depression-told-me/ https://twloha.com/blog/there-is-no-one-way-to-get-it-right/ https://twloha.com/blog/what-yoga-taught/   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Kelly Jensen for sharing her story with us and Copeland for the original music featured here. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, Rebecca Ebert, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

This week and next week’s episodes are the last ones recorded on my horizontal does america tour, which took place in October & November of 2017. Lucid Studios NYC provided a car, and I went on a solo road trip adventure, circumnavigating the U.S., covering 10,700 miles and recording with people in their homes, in their cities. We recorded this episode in Austin, Texas, in a color-saturated cottage sanctuary filled with art and altars, called the Blue Star Temple. In this episode, I lie down with Epiphany Jordan. Epiphany is a nurturer by trade, a professional cuddler, aka the Chief Oxytocin Provider of Karuna Sessions, described as the “rolls royce” of cuddling experiences,” a 2-on-1 deepdive immersion in mothering energy and loving touch. Her forthcoming book, Somebody Hold Me: The Single Person's Guide to Nurturing Human Touch. Keep your eye out over the next few months for its release, by going to the website somebodyhold.me You can also find her on karunasessions.com and bluestartemple.com She is a reader of the tarot, proprietress of the Blue Star Temple guest house and sanctuary space. We recorded this episode there, and I can attest to the coziness, color therapy, and great good juju of the place. At Blue Star Temple, Epiphany offers services like Cross-Dress for Success, Design a Ritual, and the iconically-titled Sanctuary. I love that she offers Sanctuary as a service. We could all use some Sanctuary, don’t you agree? In this part of our conversation, we discuss Epiphany’s Muslim / Jewish / Catholic upbringing, being a sexual rebel in Reno, Nevada in the 70s, the cyclical nature of sexual mores, society’s touch deficit, and my complicated relationship with my mother, and my mother’s touch. If you enjoy lying down with us, and believe in my mission to spread intimacy across the globe, that’s how you can make sure that this podcast remains ad-free, and remains a podcast. Become a patron of the horizontal arts. Patreon is the love child of a subscription service and crowd-funding. You offer a monthly contribution, and you get a level of special access to me and my work. Beginning in the next couple of weeks, the second part of my conversation with each guest will be gated, meaning roughly every other episode will be free, and every other episode will be paid — but all episodes will always be available to patrons at $5 a month and up. So, download all the episodes while you can, and become a $5 a month patron for full access going forward. Thanks to my newest patrons: Evyn, Melani, Mark, Christopher, Antonio, and Rex, I’m now halfway towards breaking even on the current podcast expenses! After breaking even, the next goal is to hire a transcriptionist. I’ve been painstakingly transcribing my show notes by hand in order to create gorgeous, informative, accessible to differently-abled folx blog posts. (And pssst, you can get my writing and photos and links to the blog posts in your inbox weekly, by signing up on horizontalwithlila.com and adding lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book.) Since I am both unskilled and extraordinarily meticulous, each set of show notes takes me about 10 - 12 hours to put together. When I hire someone, 90 percent of those hours will be freed up to conduct more interviews, offer more live events, and create more horizontal goodness for you! Just before we dive into the episode, I want to make this super clear: a lot of friends have told me that they've been hesitant to become my patrons because they feel embarrassed to only be able to give $2/month. Oh My goodness, if everybody who loves the podcast or my writing became a patron at $2 a month, it would CHANGE MY LIFE. Every patron is so incredibly valuable to me, and the beauty of crowd funding is precisely this - when many people give a little bit, it adds up appreciably, and with each new patron, I can feel how many people out there believe in me and my mission to spread intimacy across the globe. Plus, I do a happy dance every time. Go to: Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila You can also follow the link in my Instagram bio that reads “patron of the horizontal arts.” Dear Ones, did you know that I send what I call “missives” to my email list once a week? They include my personal writing, resources from the episodes, links, videos, saucy photos, and other miscellaneous bits of ephemera, like articles about my sex-positive intentional community … To receive all that goodness directly in your inbox, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com and add lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book, for good measure. I’ve heard that my missives have gotten buried in some “Updates” in Gmail, or even that they’ve gone to (gasp!) Spam. They are not Spam. Please rescue them. Season Two has been edited by Chad Michael Snavely. Check out his slew of podcasts on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew my sensual cover art, and you can hire her through 99designs. And the rock star / father Alan Markley created my intro music. He’s plasticcannons on Instagram. In next week’s episode, the second part of my conversation with Epiphany, we talk about her forthcoming book, Somebody Hold Me, about getting your touch needs met, what exactly is involved in a Karuna Session, and getting together to cuddle your friends. Now darlin’, come lie down with us in Austin, Texas.

In this episode, TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski talks with Levi Macallister, also known as Levi the Poet. Levi opens up about losing his dad to suicide and how that informed his own understanding of mental health. He also touches on his creative process and how he's working to take better care of himself. Levi Macallister is a writer, musician, and spoken word artist. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Connect with Levi online by checking out his website and social media profiles: https://www.instagram.com/levithepoet/ https://levithepoet.net https://twitter.com/levithepoet https://www.facebook.com/levimacallister https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi9YOy0LDpIQA0SojTPedNQ https://open.spotify.com/user/levithepoet https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/correspondence-a-fiction/id925371205   Learn more about "Getting Things Done" here: https://gettingthingsdone.com    Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Levi Macallister for sharing his story with us and Copeland for the original music featured here. Jamie Tworkowski served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, Rebecca Ebert, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Anxy Magazine creator Indhira Rojas. Indhira talks about why she was inspired to create a beautifully designed magazine about our inner worlds, covering issues like anger and masculinity, and why seeking counseling for trauma she experienced in her childhood was so important. Indhira Rojas is a designer and the founder of Anxy Magazine. Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Follow Indhira and Anxy Magazine on social media by visiting: https://twitter.com/redindhi https://www.instagram.com/redindhi/?hl=en https://twitter.com/anxymag https://www.facebook.com/anxymag https://vimeo.com/anxymag https://www.instagram.com/anxymag/   Support Anxy Magazine’s Kickstarter for their Masculinity issue here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redindhi/anxy-the-masculinity-issue?ref=cdl16v   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits: We’d like to thank Indhira Rojas for sharing her story with us. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

Horizontal is a podcast about intimacy. It's recorded while lying down, wearing robes, sharing a single pillow. I take you into my bed (or in the case of these episodes, recorded while I was on the road across America, someone else's bed), and let your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations. The goal is to make private conversations public, in order to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and alchemize connection. In this installment, I lie down with Wry of Wry Polytalks, a nonmonogamy consultant,  a clear-talking, thoughtful advocate for alternative relationships and kinky stuff, an entertainer, a Dominant, a consent activist, public speaker, social justice warrior, and the host of many, many a panel. Wry Polytalks are panel discussions with relationship experts that he moderates on a web of topics related to nonmonogamy. I got to see his showmanship in action when he hosted the Ethical Slut social at Hacienda Studio (twice!), and lead two such panels in our event space. His ringmasterishness sure can command a room! He's also passionately involved in the movement to destigmatize the conversation around mental health. As the daughter of a woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who has been fighting for her health nearly all of my life, and as a person who experiences depression myself, along with, or possibly caused by, undiagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder, this advocacy is very dear to me. Wry's voice sounds like whiskey and a rec room with burgundy leather armchairs. I like it. In this part of our conversation, we talk about playing 90210, internalized slut-shaming, choosing heartbreak, relationship anarchy, PREP, and how herpes is really not that big of a deal. I want to let you know about a change that's coming up. I have big big dreams,  like making a pilot for a horizontal TV show, and I realize that I need more freedom to be able to achieve them. And that means finances. I'm deeply committed to making this my career, and I'm still holding to my intention to bring you independent, uncensored, and ad-free radio. The podcast doesn't yet break even. Patreon covers less than half of the monthly production expenses. And it's time for my project to grow up. I need to experiment with different models of income. Going forward, the second part of my conversation with each guest will be gated, meaning roughly every other episode will be free, and every other episode will be paid. All episodes will always be available to patrons at a certain level and up, and they'll be available for purchase individually as well. If you enjoy lying down with us, and believe in my mission to spread intimacy across the globe, This is how you can make sure I continue to create independent, uncensored, ad-free radio: Become a patron of the horizontal arts. It’s a cross between a subscription service and crowd-funding for artistic patronage. You offer a monthly contribution, from $2 a month on up, and you get a level of special access to me and my work. Since in the next few weeks, every other episode will be free, and every other episode will cost a small amount, Patronage will be the way to unlock all the gated episodes. And I just want to make one thing super clear: many friends have told me that they've been hesitant to become my patrons because they feel embarrassed to only be able to give $2/month. Oh My goodness, if everybody who loves the podcast or my writing became a patron at $2 a month, it would CHANGE MY LIFE. Every patron is so incredibly valuable to me, and the beauty of crowd funding is exactly this - that when many people give a little bit, it can add up to something really meaningful, to something that supports me to fulfill my purpose. Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila You can also follow the link in my Instagram bio that reads “patron of the horizontal arts.” And now, come lie down with us in L.A. *** I send what I call “missives” to my email list once a week. It’s like lobbing a thousands messages in a bottle out to sea. I share my writing (the most recent missive was about my abortion and the right to choose), I share resources from the episodes, I share saucy photos, and other miscellaneous bits of interest, like that time I was in Playboy … talking about dating outside of your political party in the era of Trump. To receive all this goodness directly in your inbox, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com and add lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book, for good measure. We don’t want it getting lost in some “updates” tab or something, do we? Indeed no. No we do not. Season Two has been edited by Chad Michael Snavely. Check out his slew of podcasts on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew my sensual cover art, and you can hire her through 99designs. And Alan Markley created my intro music. He’s plasticcannons on Instagram. Next week, Wry and I get deep into kink, BDSM, and a wild FetLife story. Until then, may you have someone to love, something to do, and lots of things to look forward to. It’s been a pleasure getting horizontal for you.

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Whitney Fenimore about her experience with mental health, having to walk away from music to find help, and what it was like getting a second chance at her dream thanks to “The Voice.” Whitney Fenimore is a singer/songwriter who appeared on Season 13 of NBC’s “The Voice.” She currently lives in Nashville, TN. Follow Whitney on social media by visiting: https://twitter.com/WhitneyFenimore https://www.facebook.com/whitneyfenimoremusic/ https://www.instagram.com/whitneyfenimore/ Check out her website at https://www.whitneyfenimore.com.   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/ Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. To support TWLOHA by donating your birthday on Facebook, visit TWLOHA.com/birthday. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com. Learn more about the podcast and previous episodes at twloha.com/podcast.   Credits:   We’d like to thank Whitney Fenimore for sharing her story with us. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, and Chad Michael Snavely. Special thanks to Whitney Fenimore and John Coggins for letting us share their song "Drift” in this episode. You can find this song and others by Whitney on her new EP "Battle Within.” Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

This episode was recorded on my horizontal does america tour in November of 2017. I took to the road in a little blue car and drove solo around the country with two intentions: to feel as free as I could possibly feel, and to lie down and record as many episodes with fascinating humans as I could manage. In this quickie episode, recorded right before she headed in to therapize people in the morning, I lie down with the sex therapist Dr. Cat Meyer. Dr. Cat is a spritely, sensual whirligig, with big green eyes and big brown hair and a slender, bendable body. She’s a yoga teacher, a creatrix, a playful creature, a dancer of her prayers, a licensed relationship therapist, and a reiki practitioner. If you live in Beverly Hills, where Dr. Cat sees people in her private practice, she could be your sex therapist. Cat’s own podcast, eatplaysex, which just sounds like whipped cream in podcast form, doesn’t it? explores subjects in the very same wheelhouse as this one. On her Instagram, sexloveyoga, which I follow voraciously, and I suggest you do as well, she shares the writing she spins from thoughtfulness, self-inquiry, gentle nudging, and a vision she holds for us all to open the most profoundly to our deepest longing, pleasure, and confidence… her posts are little gifts for us, and each serves as a reminder of her mantra, “I choose myself powerfully.” Find her on the interwebz at sexloveyoga.com and catmeyer.com. We first met at a birthday party in Ojai, a 40th birthday extravaganza that was more like a miniature festival than any birthday party I’d ever seen, complete with food trucks, a musical amphitheatre carved of rocks like a miniature Sedona, an elaborate sensual ritual invoking the energies of masculine and feminine to infuse the man we were celebrating, and a giant bathtub truck with a Dr. Bronner’s “foam experience,” like the one at Foam Against the Machine at Burning Man. The amount of glorious attention and effervescent love paid to this man made me burn with a heady potion of envy, admiration, and inspiration. “I want people to come together over me in this way,” I thought. “I want to facilitate this experience for someone else, too.” Inside the house by the pool, in a room made for cuddling and love, festooned with pillows and soft things, people were practicing AcroYoga. Having taught for so many years, and drifted away from the practice for many more, I sometimes move away from people who are in the throes of it, the ones who fly people at every opportunity, every park visit and ecstatic dance and house party. But this time I was drawn in. I offered a therapeutic flight to a friend of my friend. His first. That looped me in as one of them and built a bridge for them to talk with me. One of them was an AcroYoga teacher as well. When I told him about the podcast, he said, “Oh my God, There’s someone here you HAVE to know.” And he called Cat over. Six months later, we were lying on a shaggy rug in her living room, her pet bunny hiding out in the corner, California morning light insistent through the blinds, shaking off sleep and recording this story. We talk about threesomes and the right to change your mind, delayed emotional responses, how the point of sexual no-return is an illusion, being satisfied before orgasm, asking ourselves if it still feels good, looking for yeses and nos in the body as expansions and contractions, and how meditation and affirmations don’t have to look like what we were taught they look like. If you enjoy lying down with us, this is how you can make sure I continue to create independent, uncensored, ad-free radio. Become a patron of the horizontal arts. It’s like a subscription service, crowd-funding for artistic patronage. You offer a monthly contribution, from $2 a month on up, and you get a level of special access to me and my work. You know that you are a direct catalyst for making the world a more intimate place. And I do a happy happy dance, and then get horizontal again. Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila  I have big plans, big big dreams for what’s next in the world of horizontal, and you can help me happen it. Also, I send what I call “missives” to my email list once a week. It’s like lobbing a thousand messages in a bottle out to sea. I share my writing (the most recent missive was about my abortion and the right to choose), I share resources from the episodes, I share saucy photos, and other miscellaneous bits of interest, like that time I was in Playboy … talking about dating outside of your political party in the era of Trump. To receive all this goodness directly in your inbox, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com and add lila@horizontalwithlila.com to your address book, for good measure. We don’t want it getting lost in some “updates” tab or something, do we? Indeed no. No we do not. And now darling, come lie down with us, and a little white bunny.   *** Season Two has been edited by Chad Michael Snavely. Check out his slew of podcasts on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew my sensual cover art, and you can hire her through 99designs. And Alan Markley created my intro music. He’s plasticcannons on Instagram. On next week’s horizontal, I lie down with Wry of Wry Polytalks, a super-entertainer, a clear-talking, thoughtful advocate for alternative relationships, kinky stuff, destigmatizing conversation around mental health, and the host of many, many a panel. His voice is like whiskey and a rec room with burgundy leather armchairs. You’ll see. Until next time, I wish you someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. It’s been a pleasure getting horizontal for you.

In this episode, TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski talks with Najwa Zebian about the loneliness that came with moving from Lebanon to Canada and how that affected her teaching, why she uses social media to fight the stigma surrounding mental health, and how she processes her struggles through writing. Najwa Zebian is a celebrated Lebanese-Canadian poet, speaker, and mental health advocate.   Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Follow Najwa on social media by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/najwazebian1 https://twitter.com/najwazebian https://www.instagram.com/najwazebian/ https://www.pinterest.com/znajwa/ https://www.youtube.com/najwazebian   Find more information about Najwa and her books at https://najwazebian.com.   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com.   We’re currently accepting applications for our intern program. If you’d like to apply and learn more, visit https://twloha.com/jobs.    Credits:   We’d like to thank Copeland for providing the original music featured here and Najwa Zebian for sharing her story with us. Jamie Tworkowski served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

On this final episode of Sonderlust the Podcast, Sarah revisits each of the four areas of the challenge and discusses how she’s grown over the past year. And she does it with three of her favorite people: John (her life coach), her mom, and previous guest Rev. Lisa Yebuah from the episode, "Dating a Lady of the Clothe."Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.To listen to all the episodes of Sonderlust, visit SonderlustThePodcast.com.

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch interviews Amy Clover. They talk about Amy’s struggles with depression, OCD, and eating disorders, how she let go of control and embraced freedom through movement, and why she’s helping people become strong inside out. Amy Clover is a writer, fitness personality, motivational speaker, teacher, and mental health advocate. She is the founder of Strong Inside Out.   “I was so afraid of work in the very beginning of both my depression recovery and my eating disorder recovery, but it's so rewarding to do it. And it just doesn't feel like work because you actually do feel better after you do it.” - Amy Clover, Strong Inside Out founder   Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Find information on Strong Inside Out at https://stronginsideout.com. Find Amy’s writing at http://stronginsideout.com/writing/. Follow Amy on social media by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/stronginsideout https://www.instagram.com/stronginsideout/ https://www.pinterest.com/StrongInsideOut/ https://twitter.com/StrongInsideOut   Follow TWLOHA on social media at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741. Connect with our team by emailing podcast@twloha.com.   Credits:   We’d like to thank Copeland for providing the original music featured here and Amy Clover for sharing her story with us. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

Welcome back to horizontal! I missed you. This is the podcast of intimacies recorded while lying down, wearing robes. It aims to make private conversations public in order to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and alchemize connection. After a hiatus, during which I went to Burning Man, also known as: surviving a giant art project in the middle of the desert, and then came home and felt very sad to no longer be out adventuring slash surviving said art project in the middle of the desert, and then questioned nearly everything about my life, as is, apparently, rather typical, I’m back on schedule! This episode marks a couple of horizontal milestones. And because I’m rewiring my nervous system for joy, I’m committed to celebrating successes of every size and volume. So… This is episode number 50! And in a bit of neat numbership, horizontal just surpassed 50,000 downloads. Thank you so much for listening, and for sharing this work with your people. Don’t stop. Keep sharing it. Let’s have a revolution! For all things horizontal, including photographs of me horizontal-in-unexpected-places, intimacy resources, and my writing (some recent titles have been “the Wednesday night meltdown,” “the right to choose,” and “brave on the rocks, or, choosing to open when you want to shut but you know it would really be better if you opened”), sign up on horizontalwithlila.com In this episode, I lie down with Pamela Samuelson. Pamela is a bodycare witch, a sex ed teacher, a renegade, an instigator, a libertine. Or perhaps she’s really more of a wizard than a witch. A sexy female Dumbledore minus 50 years. Gravitas and twinkly eyes. As a bodywork specialist, she is trained in sexological bodywork, holistic pelvic care, and the Arvigo techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy. This means that she works on the pelvis and the pussy, inside and out. She's a warrior of bodily empowerment, Rosie the Riveter with a speculum. We first met the day before we were supposed to record, in the gender neutral bathroom at an event called Cycles & Sex, which is about pussies, not bicycles. Pamela was leading roomfuls of women in a campaign called “Take Back the Speculum,” which is part anatomy lesson, part show and tell, and part hands-on practice. Pamela shows the sexual anatomy of her own body, by inserting a speculum, and allowing the participants to see her cervix with a flashlight. Then, the participants are given a speculum, and get to try it on their own. I didn’t do it that day. You’ll find out why in the episode. In this part of our conversation, we talk about ambiverts, cervical self-exams, femme-drag and bespoke suits, wonder women, moving people’s wombs into a more optimal position, arousal vs. wetness, the husband stitch, and Pamela’s viral rant. My dear listener. Come lie down with us. Patronage is what makes it possible for me to continue making independent, uncensored, ad free homemade radio. When my crowd-funding grows, I’ll be able to dedicate myself to intimacy work. I believe that when we make private conversations public, intimacy becomes contagious, and the more intimate relationships we nourish, the happier our lives. For $10 a month, you’ll get access to the love poem of the month, a private recording of one of my favorites. For $15 a month, you’ll get a ticket to a live show, or access to a secret episode, and so on. Be part of making the world a more intimate place. Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila. Season Two has been edited by Chad Michael Snavely. Check out his slew of podcasts on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay drew my sensual cover art, and you can hire her through 99designs. And Alan Markley created my intro music. He’s plasticcannons on Instagram. Until next week, may you have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.

In this episode, TWLOHA’s Co-Executive Director Lindsay Kolsch talks with Jamie Tworkowski about TWLOHA’s surprising history, how the conversation about mental health has changed over the last 12 years, and how he practices the advice he gives to those struggling. Jamie Tworkowski is TWLOHA’s founder. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of If You Feel Too Much. “You are not alone and you are not meant to be alone in the places that hurt, in the parts of your story that you don't like.” - Jamie Tworkowski, TWLOHA founder Download a transcript of this episode at www.twloha.com/podcast. Read the original TWLOHA story at https://twloha.com/learn/story/. See what shirts TWLOHA is selling now at www.store.twloha.com.   Learn more about TWLOHA at www.twloha.com. Visit our FIND HELP page of mental health resources at https://twloha.com/find-help/. Get connected for free, 24/7 with a trained crisis counselor via Crisis Text Line by texting TWLOHA to 741741 in the United States, and 686868 in Canada. Find information on Jamie’s HEART CAMP at http://heartcampwithjamie.com.   Connect with our team at podcast@twloha.com. Follow Jamie on social media by visiting: https://www.instagram.com/jamietworkowski/ https://twitter.com/jamietworkowski Follow TWLOHA online at: https://twitter.com/TWLOHA https://www.instagram.com/twloha/ https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/   Credits: We’d like to thank Copeland for providing the original music featured here and Jamie Tworkowski for sharing TWLOHA’s story. Lindsay Kolsch served as our host for this episode, which was produced by Mark Codgen, Claire Biggs and Jennie Armstrong of Lore de Force, and Chad Michael Snavely. Chad Michael Snavely: http://www.chadmichael.com Lore de Force: https://www.loredeforce.com

On this episode, Sarah calls up her friend and former intern, Abby, to talk about the new experiences she’s facing from working with a dating coach. Sarah also calls up her best friend (and life coach) John to talk about her dating insecurities. You’ll hear part of that conversation in this episode, but we’re saving the full conversation for the season finale. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

This episode marks the one-year anniversary of Sonderlust the Podcast. It was a year ago, on Sarah’s 37th birthday, that John and her had the phone call that would set this whole challenge in motion. So now, as Sarah celebrates her 38th birthday, she’s taking this episode to look back at how it all started (yes, we’re going to play snippets of her first conversation with John), and listening to the words of her friends as they embrace her with birthday messages of love and encouragement as she moves forward. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

Throughout this entire 52-week challenge, the most difficult part for Sarah has been improving her dating life. So, she decided to work with a dating coach, and is now in what she refers to as “dating bootcamp.” But as awkward as it might be, Sarah is finding that there is plenty to learn - from her coach, about her dates, and most importantly, about herself. So in this episode, Sarah calls up her big brother Jonathan to get some advice. They talk through the struggles both of them have had over the years in finding and keeping relationships, and what the road ahead looks like for Sarah. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

On this episode, Sarah continues her conversation with Jonathan Martin about her feelings of burnout, and what it takes to feel alive again. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

horizontal is a podcast of intimacies recorded while lying down. In this episode, I lie down with sexual folklorist Dixie de la Tour. Dixie is the founder, curator, and host of Bawdy Storytelling, the longest-running sex storytelling series in the United States. Samia Mounts, of the “Make America Relate Again” podcast, was the first to mention Bawdy to me in the late summer of last year, and she insisted that I SIMPLY MUST attend the RISK & Bawdy collaboration show at the Bell House last September. I did. I saw. I played Bang-o. I started courting Dixie immediately. She is a mesmerizing storyteller. Her Southern lilt, her flagrant nonchalance and nonchalant brazenness, her heart-o-gold, her heaving bosom. She’s not just a Connector, in the Malcolm Gladwell sense of the word, she’s a Super-connector, a Mmmega-connector. Her shows get people laid (it’s happened so often that there’s even a song for that!); her shows spark romance, start relationships, and, I believe may have even been tangentially responsible for a bawdy baby or two. I was tickled and honored and seam-burst-ing with joy when I finally had the chance to get horizontal with Dixie in her chosen hometown of San Francisco, California. We recorded in the guest room of a 24-ish member intentional community in SOMA. One of my classmates from NYU lives there. It’s like the Parthenon of intentional communities. For tales from the road, like the one about how I got totally infatuated with a guy there and wound up acting like a 13 year-old, for pretty pictures of my adventures and horizontality in unexpected places, for invites to live shows, and my writings about intimacy of all kinds, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com While I was driving cross-country solo on my horizontal does america road trip, I didn’t listen to music. I just didn’t have the impulse to. I listened to books, I listened to podcasts, I talked to friends on the phone, I talked to myself, I sang to myself, or I drove along in meditative quiet. I listened to episode after episode of Dixie’s Bawdy Storytelling podcast. After a while, Dixie started to feel like a road spirit, an auditory escort, my most frequent aural (a-u-r-a-l) companion. Behind the wheel of my borrowed Honda Civic, while listening to Bawdy, I repeatedly squealed, laughed, teared up, and said OH. MY! all the way across America. We are so fortunate that Dixie has centered her life around living stories, telling them, and getting other people to tell them. What do they say about living legends? She’s a national treasure. Explore her body of work, pun intended, on Bawdystorytelling.com. If you enjoy our horizontal storytelling, become a patron of the horizontal arts, darling! You can become a patron for $2 on up, and the rewards get more delectable as you increase. For instance, for $10 a month, you’ll get access to the love poem of the month, a private recording of one of my favorites. For $15 a month, you’ll get a ticket to a live show, or access to a secret episode, and so on. Patronage is what makes it possible for me to continue making independent, uncensored, ad free homemade radio. I believe that when we make private conversations public, intimacy becomes contagious, and the more intimacy we cultivate, the happier our lives. Be part of it through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila. Your patronage helps make the world more intimate. In this first part of our conversation, we talk about Bawdy, Bang-O, craigslist personal ads, the unknown hookup, and being a porn magnet. And Dixie tells me a tale about a porno booth (with glory holes everywhere). Stick around at the end of the episode for a little treat: a bawdy song by Jefferson Bergey! And now, come lie down with us in San Francisco, California. The credits! Here are the people who made this episode possible. Chad Michael Snavely has edited every episode in Season Two. Check out his roster of podcasts on chadmichael.com. Shana Shay created my cover art, and you can hire her through 99designs. And Alan Markley created my intro music. He’s plasticcannons on the Instagram.

Sarah has been in ministry for a long time. And, as is often the case, people who “do ministry” every day get to a point where they just need to take a break. The relentless pace is just unsustainable. That, along with the normal pressures of everyday life, can leave a person feeling completely overwhelmed. Jonathan Martin knows all about this. After starting a church, pastoring, going through a divorce, moving, writing, pastoring some more, and in the process of it all, finding himself again, Jonathan is the perfect person to talk to Sarah about her decision to take a renewal leave from the church.This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation. On this episode, Jonathan helps Sarah realize that by taking a renewal leave, she’s doing the right thing - for herself, her relationships, and her ministry. The best thing she can do is learn how to slow down … and … just … stop. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

horizontal is the podcast of intimacies that’s recorded while lying down. In this episode, I get the opposite of vertical with Marcia B., co-founder of Cuddle Party, creator of The Good Girl Recovery Program, and co-leader of weekend intensives like “Make Hot Play Happen” and “The Wanted Man,” that teach humans to have more fun, deeper connections, and hotter sex. Her co-teacher for these weekends is Midori, the renowned sex educator and doyenne of Japanese bondage. Marcia is an educator, a writer, a wild-permission giver, a generator of joy. She's funny and warm and lovely and clear. Marcia is a boundary expert, and the set of rules that she co-created for Cuddle Party have inspired a legion of hosts, including pretty much everyone who hosts an event at Hacienda Studio — the event space housed in Hacienda Villa, the community I live in. The Cuddle Party rules are so good, so simple and yet so profound, that I am compelled to share them here: Pajamas stay on the whole time. You don’t have to cuddle anyone at a Cuddle Party, ever. You must ask permission and receive a verbal YES before you touch anyone. (Be as specific in your request as you can.) If you’re a yes, say YES. If you’re a no, say NO. If you’re a maybe, say NO. You are encouraged to change your mind. Respect your relationship agreements and communicate with your partner. Get your Cuddle Party Facilitator or the Cuddle Assistant if you have a question or concern or need assistance with anything during the Cuddle Party. Tears and laughter are both welcome. Respect people’s privacy when sharing about Cuddle Parties. Keep the Cuddle space tidy We got horizontal in Kensington, California (Marcia says that I should say Berkeley, because even people from the Bay Area don’t seem to know that there is a Kensington). My San Francisco stop was right in the middle of my horizontal does america cross-country road trip tour. For synchronicitous stories and pretty pictures, sign up for the missives on horizontalwithlila.com We are in Marcia’s “Room of Requirement,” a designation borrowed from the world of Harry Potter (which I loooove. I used to re-read all the books every year, for comfort). It’s a space that converts into whatever the seeker needs it for most at that very pressing moment, if they know where to find it. Marcia’s Room of Requirement is a sometime office, sometime guest room, often living room, occasional Cuddle Party space… you get the picture. It’s exactly the opposite of an austere apartment where you feel like you probably shouldn’t touch anything or sit down. In Marcia’s house, you should plop down straightaway. Purrrfect for getting horizontal. In this first part of our conversation, we talk about Marcia’s coming of age during the AIDS crisis, the some/many/most model of sex information, boundaries boundaries boundaries, the abnormality of “average,” saying no gracefully and… asking for what you want.   *** If you enjoy lying down with Marcia and I, become a patron of the horizontal arts. You could receive monthly love poems, tickets to a live horizontal storytelling show, or horizontal pillows so that you too can get horizontal with lila. Every bit of patronage goes into continuing to make independent, uncensored, ad free homemade radio. I believe that making private conversations public makes intimacy contagious, and the more intimacy we have in all different forms, the happier we are. Be part of my mission to spread intimacy across the globe through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila. Show me you believe in what I'm doing. Patronage begins at $2 a month, and as it increases, the rewards get more sumptuous. *** Now, dear ones, come lie down with us in Berkeley, California.   Credits! Chad Michael Snavely is horizontal’s editor-at-large. He and the rest of his coterie of podcasts can be found at Chad Michael.com. Alan Markley created my intro jams. He’s plasticcannons on Instagram. And Shana Shay drew the sensual me that comprises my cover art. You can hire her through 99designs. On next week’s episode, Marcia and I discuss the dog/cat/bird model of play party personalities, touch deprivation, what is “queer enough,” bi-erasure, constellations, poly pods, and the post-nuclear family. Also, Marcia reiterates that “if you can’t say no, your yes is worthless.” Until next Friday: may you have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.

In an effort to get her dating life back on track, and to continue pushing herself outside her comfort zone, Sarah visits her friend Kevin who reads her tarot cards. Kevin is a trained reader and believes he does it through the Holy Spirit, but even still, this was quite uncomfortable for Sarah.And then she has a conversation with Lisa Shield, an expert dating coach in L.A. who is currently finishing up her first book, “Naked Dating.” Lisa talks to Sarah about love, divorce, marriage and the significance of becoming the person that others will find attractive. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

Recently, Sarah got word that - due to an ADHD diagnosis - her brain isn’t exactly what she thought it was. And her best friend John - who has had 14 concussions - is also dealing with his own brain-related trauma. So in this episode, Sarah and John invite you into an honest and vulnerable processing conversation. John shares about his ongoing battle with depression, and Sarah comes to grips with the overwhelming feeling that at the end of the day, she’s just not doing enough. And as these best friends reveal their struggles and share hopeful words, they both come to the realization that because of these lifetime conditions, they have an entirely new set of coping skills to learn. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.

Welcome to horizontal, the podcast about intimacy of all kinds. It’s recorded while the opposite of vertical, but you probably know that. This episode was recorded in October, 2017, on horizontal does america, my 10,000 mile cross-country road trip and recording tour. Through a series of fortunate events which I will call “six laughable fortuities,” in honor of Milan Kundera, I wound up at the house of Dr. Lindsey Doe in Missoula, Montana. And Stevie was there. (Go back and listen to the intro of episode 40: sexplanations, for the full story.) Stevie, like Dr. Doe, is a huge ginormous YouTube star, but they both somehow agreed to put on robes, lie down with a stranger and record a spontaneous podcast. Stevie Boebi is the creator and host of the first Lesbian Sex Ed video series. She’s also a cat mom. (They make special guest appearances in her videos, including one in which she slightly annoys them for our amusement.) Stevie... is gorgeous. She has long purple hair. And luscious lips. And a thousand watt smile. And pretty vivacious eyebrows. Detect you some admiration? Indeed. Indeed you do. She’s also hilarious, charming, winsome, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and passionate about dismantling stereotypes, questioning identity politics, and teaching fact-based sex ed. As opposed to the other kind. Which exists in myriad forms, to our great chagrin. Her full-on commitment to these topics is evinced by her (also ginormous) lexicon of YouTube videos with titles such as, “Lesbian Third Wheel,” “Can Lesbians do butt stuff?” “How to Survive a Breakup,” and “Gay Men Touched my Vagina for the First Time: Q&A and Afterthoughts.” (By the way, I definitely watched - and enjoyed - the “Gay Men Touch Vagina for the First Time” video before I met Stevie and only realized that she was the vagina model when I went to write this intro!) Just to be uber clear though, a vagina refers to the internal anatomy of a pussy, and vulva refers to the external anatomy, so, unless they were fingering her (which it seems like one of them may have been?) they were actually touching: a vulva. I suggest you fire up her YouTube channel when you wanna go down a rabbithole of loveliness, humor, pussy, and kickass straightforward tell-it-like-it-should-be sex ed. You can find her under Stevie Boebi on Twitter and Instagram, and just plain Stevie on YouTube. In the first part of our conversation, we talk about getting punished for telling someone what a blow job is, her first girlfriend, daddy issues, the film festival premiere of her “how to eat pussy” video, being bi-romantic, repressed memories, molestation, a two-person game of Spin the Bottle, and the Love Feast. Come lie down with us! You’re already lying down? Oh good. Credits! All of season two is edited by Chad Michael Snavely. He’s got lots of other podcasts on his plate, too. Check them out on ChadMichael.com. The nicest rock star on the planet, Alan Markley, created my intro music. He’s plastic cannons on the Instagram. The lovely little me-drawing (complete with painted toenails!) on my cover art was designed by Shana Shay. Find her on 99 designs. Hire these people if you can! Tune in next week on horizontal for the second part of my conversation with Stevie, in which I tell her the story of my great unicorn threesome.

In 1998, Sarah graduated from Oak Grove High School in southern Mississippi. She was in the yearbook Hall of Fame, was voted Most Likely to Succeed by her peers, and had no aspirations of ever becoming a pastor.But now, 20 years later, Sarah is going back for her reunion. And through the experience she comes to the conclusion that in order to find happiness in her future, she must first find peace and happiness in her past.So in this episode, Sarah talks about her fears and insecurities with her good friend Brian Ford (a Southwest pilot, former nurse and deep thinker) and then gets the wise and loving parental perspective from Dr. Robert and Mrs. Christine Heath. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts. For more, visit SonderlustThePodcast.com.

Horizontal is the podcast about intimacy that’s recorded while lying down. Wearing robes. This episode was recorded on my horizontal does america tour, in October 2017. For two months, I circumnavigated the U.S. in a little blue Honda Civic. It was 10,000 solo miles of adventure with two intentions. 1) to feel free, and 2) to record with as many fascinating people as possible. I knew that I wanted to go to Montana. I’d missed the entire state on my first cross-country road trip, in 2009. A friend said, “Go to Missoula!” By the grace of my friends, go I. So. I went. How I came to be horizontal with Dr. Lindsey Doe goes like this: I drove the 6 hours from Billings to Missoula and arrived in a pile of yellow leaves next to a Ghetto Gypsy bus. (That’s what it said on the front.) I didn’t have a plan for Missoula. I didn’t know anyone who lived there or have any recordings lined up or really anything specific in mind at all. I just wanted to see Big Sky Country. After 4 years of living in a room at the Villa the size of a postage stamp, so small that I had to loft my bed in order to turn around, I longed to feel spaciousness. I still long for that. I drove in around dinnertime and strolled into a clothing shop next to an extremely happening biergarten. A place of microbrews. It felt like Portland. I drink no beers, because of the glutens, but I thought, “Ach! My people!” The next day I went to a yoga class and the instructor gave me a 15-minute walking tour of downtown Missoula. He left me on a street full of local shops. I poked around a store called “Upcycle,” where everything is made out of something that used to be something else. Donovan, the proprietor, was sweet and chatty and we got to talking podcasts. He listens to them as he crafts. It’s his thing. I told him about horizontal, how I’m finally making my own thing and actually putting it out into the world, how I’m actually making good on my mission to cultivate intimacy, seven years after my revelation that this is my thing. “Oh,” he said. “Are you here to interview my friend Lindsey Doe?” “No,” I replied, “But I’d like to be!” I only half-recognized the name, but I had a good feeling about this. Lindsey, or Dr. Doe, is the creator of the wildly popular YouTube series Sexplanations, a doctor of Human Sexuality, and a certified clinical sexologist. She’s the sex ed teacher you never had. She’s the sex ed teacher you wish you’d had in high school. She’s the sex ed teacher you wish you had in middle school! She’s direct and clear, playful and enthusiastic. She’s matter-of-fact, but fun about it, like a medical doctor who gets excited about “cool anatomy.” She’s brilliant at breaking things down in a way we can all understand, without talking down to us, and imbuing it all with a certain kind of Hermione-like, academic, striped-sweater sort of cheerfulness that I find entirely refreshing. In that way, she reminds me of one of my favorite educators of all time, my high school Art History teacher, David Bewley, who would practically dance about while teaching on particularly exciting eras like the Renaissance, and create helpful acronyms like DIC, D.I.C., in order to help us remember the order in which columns were invented — as you can hear, I still remember. (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian) Lindsey gave Donovan permission to give me her phone number. I texted straightaway. When I didn’t hear back the whole evening, I chalked it up. Figured it was too last minute. Sometimes my spontaneity works in my favor and sometimes, not so much. I decided to drive up to Glacier National Park the next day, because it was the answer to the question, “What is the most breathtaking place in Montana?” I figured that I’d head across Idaho from there. I treated myself to a hotel in Whitefish, a fancy little ski town, because I was too tired to make it to Idaho that night. The following afternoon, determined to hit a hot springs on the way, I set my course for Quinn’s. As I was poking around the shops in Whitefish, and buying myself a plaid shirt because I was in Montana so it felt important, the yoga teacher from Missoula messaged to say that I shouldn’t go to Quinn’s because it’s man-made. He told me to go to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs instead. Okay, then. I changed course. The Maps app routed me back through Missoula. Forty-five minutes north of Missoula, I got a message from Lindsey Doe asking if she’d missed me! And also, “what is it you’re doing again? What’s this with the robes?” She sounded highly skeptical and yet game at the same time. I felt vaguely worried that she wouldn’t like me. “Stevie Boebi‘s in town right now, too. She’s the go-to YouTuber on lesbian sex. Would you want to record an episode with her?” YES. “Okay, I’ll see if she’s interested.” I drove to Lindsey’s house straightaway, listening to her YouTube videos en route. I arrived back in Missoula after sunset, and recorded these episodes, back-to-back. And that, is the story of how Lindsey Doe came on the podcast. We have so much to learn from her. In the first part of our episode, we talk about body hair, strong jawlines, Puritan sexuality, cognitive dissonance, the real definition of intercourse, anal sex, puckering, and happy trails. Come lie down with us. *** If you are educated by this work, become a part of it through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila - if you aren't familiar with it, Patreon is a life changer for independent artists with the desire to make lawless, uncensored, and undiluted work. It allows each of you to become a patron of the horizontal arts, and to gain access in various ways to this process of spreading intimacy. You can become a patron at the base level for $2 a month, and the awards get more sumptuous as you offer more! *** Credits! All the episodes in season two have been edited by Chad Michael Snavely. Peruse his roster of podcasts on ChadMichael.com. My intro music was created by the nicest rock star on the planet, Alan Markley, plastic cannons on the Instagram. My lovely cover art was drawn by Shana Shay. Find her on 99 designs. Hire these people if you can. *** Until next week, when Dr. Doe and I discuss the Tinder game, sexual disgust, mate pools, and demisexuality, as well as the matching hypothesis, the t-shirt experiment, chemistry, poly-tana, and sushi on naked bodies… may you have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.

Last week, Sarah attended a wedding with her friends Logan Grubbs (a priest) and Blake McIver (an actor). When the wedding was finished, Sarah recorded conversations with them about what it looks like to maintain a sense of worth, when everything in our culture is fighting against that very idea.Then, Sarah decided to catch up with her best friend John. As always, John provided a listening ear as Sarah talked through some of her current fears and struggles, and in turn, John - like the great life coach that he is - gave Sarah all the wisdom. Wherever you are in this journey of life, be encouraged and know you’re not alone. You matter. You have worth. And you are loved. You can follow Logan on Instagram and Twitter, and you can see what movies Blake has been in, and then follow him on Instagram and Twitter.Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts. We also want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who backed our Kickstarter. Thanks to you, we surpassed our goal (109%!!) and now we get to make the rest of Season 1. We are so grateful for your support!For more info and other great episodes, visit SonderlustThePodcast.com

This is a special edition of horizontal, the podcast that takes you into my bed and lets your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations. horizontal aims to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and cultivate connections. This conversation was recorded last week at Hacienda Villa, the intentional community and center for sex education in Bushwick, Brooklyn: my home. In this episode, I lie down with Madison Young. Madison is a performance artist, an author, a sex educator, and a feminist pornographer. Last week, Hacienda Studio, our event space, hosted three performances of Madison Young’s one-woman show Reveal All Fear Nothing. It is literally like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Reveal All demystifies, illuminates, and celebrates the often-misunderstood worlds of kink, porn, and BDSM, through the words and body of an insider. It is important work. It needs to be seen. And it needs to be seen by you. I don’t want to reveal too much for her, because you should watch her reveal it yourself, but I must tell you this: I haven’t even seen my own g-spot yet… but I’ve seen Madison’s. Did you even know that was possible? You could say, quite accurately, that I was moved. In so many ways. Throughout the night, I laughed, I danced, I gasped, my heart hurt, I ran upstairs during intermission and gave my date a blow job … I cheered, and I was left with this liquid pool of gratitude at the astonishing generosity with which Madison has crafted this piece. She made us a gift. Go enjoy it! Madison will be performing THIS WEEKEND in a two-night-only limited engagement at The Tank in Midtown Manhattan on Friday the 8th and Saturday of the 9th of June, 2018. Make it your mission to be there. You can get your tickets on RevealAllFearNothing.com - There is radical sexual healing to be had, merely by being a witness to this work. In the first half of our episode, we talk about Madison’s memoir, titled “Daddy,” saturations, rainbow unicorn bondage, self-aftercare, how a porn star prepares, and the petition that stopped Madison from going to church. And now you can do something that legions of fans have only dreamed of. You can come lie down with us. *** If you are moved by this work, become a part of it through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila — if you aren't familiar with it, Patreon is a life changer for independent artists with the desire to make lawless, uncensored, and undilutedwork. It allows each of you to become a patron of the horizontal arts, and to gain access in various ways to this process of spreading intimacy. You can become a patron at the base level for $2 a month, and the awards get more sumptuous as you offer more! *** Credits! Time for some credit. This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely, podcast maven. Check out his entire roster by heading to ChadMichael.com. My lovely intro music was created by the nicest rock star in the world, Alan Markley. He's on Instagram as plastic cannons. The horizontal cover art was illustrated by Shana Shay, and her playful, sensual work can be found on 99 designs.

This is horizontal, the podcast about sex, love, and relationships of all kinds, recorded while lying down. On horizontal, we make our private conversations public, for their shame-dispelling, loneliness-diminishing, and connection-cultivating properties. As listener ghostheart put it in their silver-tongued review, this is the podcast that takes you into my bed and lets your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations. In the second part of this episode, recorded in early October on my horizontal does america road trip, I lie down with Kennedy in Omaha, Nebraska. Horizontal does america was a 2-month long, 10,700 mile road trip and recording tour that I enjoyed during October and November of 2017. I miss being on the road! Kennedy is the young wife of my college friend, Thom. The last time I visited Thom was on my first cross country road trip, in 2009. He was single and frustrated and working as a bartender. Now, he has a two year old, a house, a truly delightful wife, and he teaches carpentry at a magnet high school. It’s like seeing the end of a movie where you were really rooting for the tortured underdog hero, and then you get to see the movie after the credits, where the character makes a life out of what he’s always wanted. I’m so happy that he’s happy. At 20 years old, Kennedy is a mother, a college student, a giver of care, a seeker, a brave and humble warrior. She is a survivor of sexual assault who would prefer not to use the words “victim,” “assault,” or “survivor.” She doesn't wish to identify with victimhood, or run the risk of people seeing that as her whole identity. This is a prime example of a great sickness in our society, that a woman who is harmed, is likely to be blamed for having been harmed, and then further judged and blamed for using the term “victim” to accurately describe the role forced upon her by sexual assault. I am appalled and deeply saddened that Kennedy should even had to worry about this. It’s only a small part of the story of Kennedy - but it is a part of that story. And we know that silence doesn't help. We know that silence and secrecy have caused women to suffer more egregiously than their wounds ever necessitated. We know that silence and secrecy has kept many of us from receiving proper treatment for trauma. We know that silence and secrecy degrades our mental health. We don't want this to happen anymore. Not to any girls. Not to any women. Not to any trans folx. Not to any. One. We want freedom. We want the liberty to express our sexuality in any way that feels right and meaningful and joyous to us. We want the liberty to love and fuck and marry whomever we wish to love and fuck, and marry, whenever we wish to love and fuck and marry them. We have the right to speak aloud about the things that have happened to us. To paraphrase the writer Anne Lamott, and I think about his all the time, “If they wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” My wish for us: is that we continue, unabashedly, to put forth our own stories in the hopes that others may not need to live in shame. I am deeply honored by the generosity required for  Kennedy to share her vulnerability with me, and by extension, with all of you. I hope you feel it, and you honor her for it, too. In the first part of our episode, titled "you can make a human: horizontal with a young mother," we discussed topics that have never before been broached on the podcast — placenta fajitas, childbirth and misogyny, bodily fluids, being a young mother, and marrying a 36 year-old at 18 In this second half of the episode, we discuss sexual assault — I name it that, because that is its name. We also talk about victim-blaming and slut-shaming, trauma, comforting boys, the seven-year itch, sharing your partner, and the desexualization of mothers. Then Kennedy tells me a story about the first time she kissed a girl. I’m pretty sure you want to lie down with us. *** If you are moved by this work, become a part of it through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila — if you aren't familiar with it, Patreon is a life changer for independent artists with the desire to make lawless, uncensored, and undilutedwork. It allows each of you to become a patron of the horizontal arts, and to gain access in various ways to this process of spreading intimacy. You can become a patron at the base level for $2 a month, and the awards get more sumptuous as you offer more! *** Credits! Time for some credit. This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely, podcast maven. Check out his entire roster by heading to ChadMichael.com. My lovely intro music was created by the nicest rock star in the world, Alan Markley. He's on Instagram as plastic cannons. The horizontal cover art was illustrated by Shana Shay, and her playful, sensual work can be found on 99 designs.

Jeffrey Lawler is many things…an athlete, spartan warrior, former trainer, theologian and entrepreneur. But he’s also someone who deeply believes in the importance of taking sabbatical time, especially when it comes to social media and technology. Earlier this year, Jeffrey turned off his phone and didn’t pick it back up for thirty days! So in this conversation, Sarah and Jeffrey dig into the importance of going on social media fasts, and why doing this consistently is part of the way that Jeffrey has chosen to live his life. Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts. If you’d like to support the show and make sure the rest of Season 1 gets made, check out our Kickstarter! Visit http://kck.st/2KpeVzs to learn more.Thanks to all the wonderful people who have already backed the Kickstarter: • David Trotter • Katie Hedd • Dan Staeven • George Bell • Cristi Jernigan • Dan Wiles • Michael Kotick • Laura Dickens Rosenberg • Amy Gutierrez • Andy Kim • Marc Stephenson • Chris & Kim Hawley • Susan SalleyFor more info and other great episodes, visit SonderlustThePodcast.com.

This is horizontal, the podcast about intimacy of all kinds that’s recorded while the opposite of vertical. Horizontal aims to make private conversations public, in order to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and cultivate human connection. To paraphrase my eloquent listener ghostheart, I take you into my bed and let your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations. In this episode, recorded on my horizontal does america road trip, I lie down with Kennedy. Kennedy is the young wife of my college friend, Thom. Thom and I went to theatre school together at NYU. I think he graduated one year before me, in 2002. I had a thing for Thom. I'm pretty sure we had sex. He's pretty sure we didn't. We're friends now. I visited him on my first cross country road trip, in 2009, when he was single and working as a bartender. And I visited him on my second, now that he has a two year old, a house, a wife, and works as a schoolteacher at a magnet high school. During October and November of 2017, I drove 10,700 miles in a Honda Civic. By myself. Every single mile of it. Oh it was delicious! I circumnavigated the U.S. with two intentions: 1. To feel free, and 2. To record with as many fascinating people as possible. At 20 years old, Kennedy is a mother, a college student, a giver of care, a seeker, a brave, humble warrior. She is a survivor of sexual assault who doesn't like to use those words. She doesn't wish to identify with victimhood. She doesn't want people to see that as her whole identity. It is a prime example of a great sickness within our society, that a woman who is harmed, should be blamed for having been harmed, and then further judged and blamed for using the accurate term: “victim” to describe the role she has been forced into. I am appalled that she even had to worry about this. It is only a small part of the story of Kennedy— but it is a part of that story. And we both know that silence doesn't help. We know that silence and secrecy have caused women to suffer more egregiously than their wounds ever necessitated. We know that silence and secrecy has kept many of us from receiving proper treatment for trauma and our mental health. We know that we don't want this to happen anymore. And that she, like I, wants us to be free. To express our sexuality in any way that feels right and meaningful and joyous to us. To love whomever we wish to love, whenever we love them. To speak aloud about the things that have happened to us. To put forth our own stories in the hopes that others may not need to live in shame. I am deeply honored by Kennedy's vulnerability, and the generosity required of her to share that vulnerability with me. At first, when I arrived at Thom’s place, I was concerned that Kennedy might not like me. As it turned out, she was concerned that I might not like her. Because due to some disappointingly backwards closedmindedness, more than a handful of Thom's friends, and I say that in quotation marks, "friends," were unkind to both of them when they got together. It is hard for me to understand why a true friend would stand in the way of you loving another consenting adult. But. That's what happened. I was delighted to see my friend so happy. In this episode, we discuss topics that have never before been broached on this podcast — childbirth and the sex afterwards, mismatched libidos, being a young mother, and ... placenta fajitas. Let's get into the episode, dear ones. Come lie down with us. *** If you are moved by this work, become a part of it through Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila — if you aren't familiar with it, Patreon is a life changer for independent artists with the desire to make lawless, uncensored, and undiluted work. It allows each of you to become a patron of the horizontal arts, and to gain access in various ways to this process of spreading intimacy. You can become a patron at the base level for $2 a month, and the awards get more sumptuous as you offer more! *** Time for some credit. This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely, podcast maven. Check out his entire roster by heading to ChadMichael.com. My lovely intro music was created by the nicest rock star in the world, Alan Markley. He's on Instagram as plastic cannons. The horizontal cover art was illustrated by Shana Shay, and her playful, sensual work can be found on 99 designs.

Brady Smith is an actor, a husband (to Tiffany Thiessen), a father (to a daughter and a son), and a friend to Sarah. So in this episode, Sarah and Brady talk about life, work and why spending time with your family is better than anything.Throughout the conversation you’ll hear Sarah and Brady talk about the importance of putting family first, meeting (and dating) someone who might seem intimidating, how Brady got his start in acting, how Brady and Tiffani first got together, finding someone who loves you for being you...not for what you’ve done, making space for the work your significant other is doing, navigating social media as a “public family,” online dating (is it “Bumble" or “Bubble"??), and the little things that make all the difference in a relationship.Sarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts.If you’d like to support the show and make sure the rest of Season 1 gets made, check out our Kickstarter! Visit http://kck.st/2KpeVzs to learn more.

Welcome in to horizontal, the podcast about intimacy that’s recorded while: the opposite of vertical. My guest and I wear cozy robes and lie down, shoulder to shoulder, with the microphone positioned above us. It’s as though we’ve talked all night, and we’re still stargazing, but the sun is just starting to make itself known in yellows and oranges around the horizon. Horizontal aims to make private conversations public, in order to dispel shame, diminish loneliness, and cultivate connection. In this episode, I lie down with my friend Josh. Josh and I met at Circling, which is a sort of inter-relational meditation. Whereas in meditation with oneself, I will sit silently with my eyes closed, observing my internal landscape, the sensations In my body, my cloud-thoughts as they pass and my hamster-wheel thoughts as they come back around, In Circling, I have my attention not only on myself, but also on the others around me, how their presence and the shifts in the room affect me, the stories I make up about them (sometimes thought of as assumptions), and what I imagine about their internal landscapes. In Circling, I try to hold an awareness of myself while also endeavoring to be deeply present with others. When it's done right, it seems to me to be a practice of deep empathy, both for what it might feel like to be someone else, but also, empathy and a certain kind of respect for what it feels like to be me in the moment. A reverence for the truth of the moment. That is the context in which Josh and I met. And at first, I had the story that Josh didn't really like me very much. It is a vibe I sometimes get from particular gay men and from pretty, unkind women. I've never asked him how he felt when we first met, but I was delighted to learn, when he hugged me some months into Circling together at Amy Silverman’s Connection Movement nights in New York City, that he had a positive regard for me. Josh is a fashion design-trained, floridly creative visual artist of many mediums, baker, cook, and new Circling facilitator. In Circling, he acts as an emotional lightning rod and visionary. He often expresses through sound, vibration, and convulsions, emotions that feel present in the room but latent— that others are either unwilling to express or unaware they exist. When I say that he is a visionary Circler, I mean that he literally has visions. He'll often have his eyes closed and when he opens them, he sometimes shares the images that came to him during someone's expression— there's usually something uncanny and relevant about it. Sometimes an object in the image is meaningful to the person, at otter times her seems to intuit what they desire in the moment but haven't thought to ask for. I often feel awe when he describes these images, and hearing him so bold with his associations has opened a gate for me to be bolder with mine. We recorded this episode in his trailer at the Omega Institute, an expensive spiritual adult version of short-term sleepaway camp. Josh was towards the tail end of his work commitment there when I came to visit. I arrived late and tired, so we decided to record in the morning, during a rainstorm. The pitter-patter of the rain on the tin trailer is a sweet lulling to me. (I won't be offended if you fall asleep!) If you enjoy lying down with us, become a patron of the horizontal arts! Patronage allows artists like me to make independent, uncensored, ad-free work, schedule recording tours, and devote my time to creating more horizontal goodness, for you! Becoming my patron has delicious benefits, ranging from quarterly lullabies to bonus episodes to tickets to live recordings to handwritten postcards! You can become a patron for $2 a month on up, and the rewards just get more sumptuous. In the first half of our episode together, we talk about Josh's first gay stirrings, the right vegetables to put up your butt, spandex guy, porn energy work, and unintentional celibacy.  For some of my favorite yoga people, who have been asking me, “Which episode is the gayest?” Get ready. It is this one. Here. I'll prove it. Come lie down with us. *** Here’s the moment where I give credit where credit is due: This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely! Peruse Chad’s other podcasts on chadmichael.com. My delectable cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay, whom you can hire through 99designs— she’s such a pleasure to work with. Horizontal’s theme music is by Alan Markley, rock star and newly-minted Dad. You can find him on Instagram as plasticcannons.

When Sarah asked her health coach, Bethany Wood, to be on this episode, she had no idea that it would result in an agreement to go on a social media cleanse. But that’s exactly what happened. And now…Sarah is questioning her decision to ever start a podcast. One week with NO social media? But there’s a reason Bethany challenged Sarah to go dark on social media for a week (it all started after watching the “Nosedive” episode of Black Mirror). And now, Sarah wants YOU to join her on this cleanse. Are you in? Here are the rules:For the week after this episode airs (May 1 - May 7), commit to no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any other social media. You can still email, text, listen to podcasts and use the internet in general. But we recommend that you either delete the social media apps from your phone for the week, or just do whatever you can to make the apps less accessible and tempting. Also, turn off all social media notifications and alerts on your phone, iPad or watch so they don’t distract you or make you tempted to check them.You can use the hashtag #sonderlustcleanse when you post your last social media post before going dark, and when the cleanse is done, Sarah and Bethany would love to hear about your experience and what you got out of it. This is going to be fun! (At least that’s what Sarah keeps telling herself…)If you’d like to connect with Bethany, email her at bethanywood.healthcoach@gmail.comSarah Heath is the host of Sonderlust the Podcast. The show was edited and mixed by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at CMStudio. Graphics are by Allie Fleming, website is by Alex Maldonado and the Sonderlust theme song is by Daniel Roberts. You can visit us online at SonderlustThePodcast.com.

Welcome back to horizontal, the podcast that makes private conversations public, or, in the words of listener ghostheart, “takes you into my bed and lets your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations.” In this episode, I lie down with my closest friend from high school, Joe McCue. I have a couple of guys who went to other high schools that I considered my “older brothers,” whom I'm still in contact with, but you might say that people from that time in my life are few and far between. Which makes my friendship with Joe all the more precious to me. Joe and I went to an arts magnet school at Gibbs, called Pinellas County Center for the Arts, or PCCA for short. His major was Visual Art; mine was Performance Theatre. He was one year ahead of me in school. Joe is now an osteopath. He spent eight years in undergrad, because he just adored the act of study, and kept starting majors and nearly finishing them, only to become swept away by another major and course of study (or at least, that’s how it seemed to me). Eventually, he decided to become a doctor, and went to school for, I don’t know, 9 more years or so. He’s now finishing out his fellowship in Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine in Bangor, Maine. This episode was recorded in Joe's sweet old house in Bangor, where he lives with two cats, a wife, a child, and the occasional miscellaneous borrowed pet. Joe's house was the second stop on my 10,000 mile cross-country road trip, and this episode marks the first release from the series of recordings I made on my “horizontal does america” tour. In October and November of 2017, I, a couple of suitcases, and my recording equipment circumnavigated the United States in a Honda Civic - in order to lie down with people in their homes, in their cities. Joe and I got horizontal in his guest room — his wife next door making phone calls from their bedroom, baby asleep, cats locked out, dog-sitting dog downstairs, cars going by on the sleepy country street. The next morning we went to Treworgy farm and did a photo shoot among the pumpkins. (For visual aids, such as photos of my Vargas girl-style pinup among the pumpkins, head to horizontalwithlila.com and sign up for the mailing list. You'll get behind the scenes images, special stories, and discounts on live shows delivered directly to your inbox!) If you enjoy lying down with Joe and I, become a patron of the horizontal arts! Patreon is an innovation in the life of the artist. It’s a website that crowdsources income on a monthly basis. It can make it possible for me to continue creating independent, uncensored, ad-free, homemade radio. There are lovely perks when you become my patron. For instance, for $25 a month you’ll recorded love poems (the upcoming poem will be “She Walks in Beauty”). You’ll also get two tickets to a live recording of horizontal, quarterly lullabies, an invitation to my secret FB group, and a post of what I call GPG: Genuine Public Gratitude (or not! If you want to remain a private patron, I will honor you privately!) There’s loads of other perks on patreon.com/horizontalwithlila Because I cannot bear to see them go to waste, here are some other titles I considered for this episode: the paper anniversary the nose couple And the vanilla episode So you know what you should do, right? You should come lie down with us. *** Credit where credit is due: Here’s the moment where I give credit where credit is due: This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely! Peruse Chad’s other podcasts on chadmichael.com. My sinuous cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay, whom you can hire through 99designs - she’s a pleasure to work with. Horizontal’s theme music is by Alan Markley, on Instagram as plasticcannons.

Welcome in to horizontal with lila, the podcast that makes private conversations public. We discuss the details of intimacy while the opposite of vertical, wearing robes. In this episode, I lie down with my dear friend of 11 years, Matthew Stillman. Matthew Stillman is a genius. Matt’s friendship, ingenuity, sheer breadth of knowledge and depth of compassion, keen interest, curiosity, and the ability to forge connections between seemingly unrelated subjects illuminates exactly what you were trying to unearth in essence but perhaps didn't have the cultural or historical vocabulary for ... He's changed my life. He's made my world bigger many, many times over. I owe my life at the Villa (and thus, this podcast) to his curiosity and insatiable desire to share. In 2012, Matt loaned me a series of books to read (sometimes I think of it as my independent study / book club of one in human sexuality) and made himself available for all sorts of conversations surrounding those books. Each one vastly expanded my perceptions of what is true and possible. First came Arousal: the secret logic of sexual fantasies. Then Sex at Dawn. Then Esther Perel’s mating in captivity. For years, Matthew enacted a beautiful social experiment slash performance art piece. He sat in Union Square with a table and two folding jars, and a jar with a sign on it that read, “CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT: PAY WHAT YOU LIKE OR TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.” He used his astonishing breadth of knowledge and ludicrous reserves of memory to offer people an expansion around their problems. My book club of one was not the most out-of-the-box creative approach Matthew has ever offered me in my life (that probably had something to do with “sacred rage”), but I didn't know about those books before then, who knows if and when I would have found my way to them if it wasn't for Matthew. They form the beginnings of how I started to live into my purpose. As a person who knows a little bit about a few things, I had never personally known anyone who knows so much about so many things. Perhaps you are seeking a creative approach to something you’ve been thinking about. If so, get yourself over to stillmansays.com - The reason you should have a creative approach session with Matt, more than anything, more than the knowledge, more than the widsom, is his cavernous capacity for empathy. It is from a landscape of empathy that he will draw on all the reading and all the study and all the discourse that lives within him. Without his empathy, this wouldn't strike the chord that translates through you into action. But with his empathy, the springing forward, the impetus, the desire to shift, is the real gift of this work. If you enjoy lying down with Matthew and I, become a patron of the horizontal arts! Patreon is a great advancement in the life of the artist, a website that crowdsources income. It can make it possible for me to continue creating independent, uncensored, ad-free, homemade radio. For $25 a month you’ll get a monthly recorded love poem, two tickets to a live recording, quarterly lullabies, an invitation to a secret FB group that I curate, and a post of what I call GPG: Genuine Public Gratitude (or not! If you want to remain a private patron, that’s ok too!) There’s loads of other perks on patreon.com/horizontalwithlila And if you want to lie down with us in person, the next horizontal storytelling pajama party will be held in Brooklyn on Sunday, April 29th. Details when you sign up for my lovely mailing list at horizontalwithlila.com In the first half of this episode with Matthew, we speak of villagemindedness, our elders, orphan wisdom school, Matt’s first great love, his wife, and proceeding as if you are needed. Come, dear one. Come lie down with us. *** This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely! Listen to the rest of the podcasts in his catalogue through chadmichael.com. My sumptuous cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay, whom you can hire through 99designs. The theme music is by Alan Markley, on Instagram as plasticcannons. In order to hire Matthew’s brain to help you creatively approach your challenges, find him through stillmansays.com

Heyyy, Welcome back to season two of horizontal, the podcast that makes private conversations public, or, to paraphrase my listener ghostheart, the podcast that “takes you into my bed and lets your ears watch as I unzip intimate conversations.” We record while the opposite of vertical, wearing robes. It’s a thing, the robes. It makes a difference! In this episode, I lie down with Bryony Cole. Bryony is the host of one of my hands-down favorite podcasts, Future of Sex, which explores the intersection of the “evolving worlds of sex and tech.” Her work grapples with questions like: how will VR affect relationships? Does sex with a humanoid robot constitute cheating? Bryony also moderates live panels with some of the most fascinating innovators and radicals in sexuality and technology. She organizes and hosts sex tech hackathons across the globe, seeding innovation in the field. She’s also, I must say, a stunningly gorgeous Australian beach babe, which would be a little difficult to deal with, if she wasn’t also one of the sunniest, most accommodating humans on the planet. Her soft Australian accent makes my brain tingle ... To follow all things Bryony and Future of Sex, get yourself over to FutureOfSex.org If you enjoy lying down with us, become a patron of the horizontal arts! Patreon is a website that crowdsources income for artists. It can make it possible for me to continue making independent, uncensored, ad-free, homemade radio. For $10 a month you'll receive quarterly lullabies, sung by Lila. For $20 a month you’ll get two tickets to a live recording! Lots of other perks on patreon.com/horizontalwithlila For show notes (photos! vocab! resources!) and behind-the-scenes stories from the horizontal does america tour, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com In the first half of our episode, we talk about catholic school skirts, the time I slapped a girl, being spared sex, and going to the chapel. We got horizontal in Williamsburg, in Bryony’s bed. It was summertime, and though I asked Bryony turn off her air conditioner, there was nothing to be done about … other people’s air conditioners. At one point, the condensation from an air conditioner above her air conditioner began to drip drip drip … Ah, the sounds of summer in Brooklyn, ladies and gentleman. If I were you, I’d come lie down with us. Credit Where Credit Is Due: This episode was edited by Bryony’s “Future of Sex” editor, Chad Michael Snavely! Thank you, Bryony! Listen to the rest of the podcasts in Chad’s catalogue through chadmichael.com. My sumptuous cover art is by the illustrator Shana Shay, whom you can hire through 99designs. The theme music is by newly minted papa Alan Markley, on Instagram as plasticcannons. May you have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. Thank you, for lying down with us.

Welcome to the second episode of the second season of horizontal with lila, the podcast about intimacy recorded while lying down.  In this episode, I lie down with my sweet friend Fiona. Fiona is an architecture student, a first generation Nuyorican, a bisexual woman, and one of the most deliciously sensual humans I’ve ever known. At the time of this recording, she had recently trained as a tantrika and was giving erotic massage at a Tantric Temple, which is where she headed right after we finished recording … she was late! Since then, has retired that persona, feeling that, while she fully supports the rights of women to do tantric sex work, it wasn’t for her. However, she’s dabbled in educational sex work as well, and really enjoys being a demonstration model in an intimate environment — for instance, showcasing hands-on sexual techniques during workshops given by the sex educator Kenneth Play. This episode was recorded on a marathon day of podcasting in my friend Owen’s basement — which is far less creepy than it sounds, as his basement is a combined recording studio and mother-in-law suite with a queen-sized bed, making it perfect for horizontal. Fiona holds the record at the Villa for having sex with the most housemates. It seems that everyone is attracted to her! And, lucky for them, she enjoys many flavors of human. Also ... some of my housemates are— very good at sharing. In the first part of our episode together, we talk about being child-free, various forms of birth control, swallowing come, tumblebugging, and coming out as poly. If you enjoy lying down with us, become a patron of the horizontal arts. Patreon, the website that gives artists a platform to crowdsource income, can make it possible for a modern day broadcaster-golightly, such as myself, to make independent, uncensored, and, to this day, ad-free work. For five dollars a month I’ll add you to my secret FB group, where I post behind-the-scenes photos and curate the most fascinating articles about love, sex, and relationships. There are lots of other perks as well, like free tickets to live horizontal storytelling shows, where you can lie down with us in person. Right now, you’ll just have to pretend. You know how to pretend, right? You just put your mind to it … and come lie down with us. Credit where credit is due: This episode was edited by Chad Michael Snavely, podcast impresario. Check out his impressive catalogue on chadmichael.com. My lovely cover art is by Shana Shay, hire her through 99designs.com. And my congratulations to the creator of my theme music, Alan Markley, plasticcannons on Instagram, on becoming a father. For my show notes, stories from the horizontal does america road trip, and discounts on live shows, sign up on horizontalwithlila.com

Welcome in to season two. Horizontal is the podcast about intimacy - sex, love, and relationships of all kinds - that’s entirely recorded while lying down. We were on hiatus while I made a 15,000 mile solo road trip, circumnavigating the US on a tour I called “horizontal does america.” I got to lie down with my guests in their homes in their cities. You'll hear those episodes, like one with Dr. Lindsey Doe, of YouTube’s Sexplanations, and another with Marcia B, co-founder of Cuddle Party, later on in the season. In this episode, I lie down with my dear friend Meghan Tonjes, YouTube sensation, singer-songwriter, accidental leader of the booty revolution, Instagram darling, podcaster, and body positive role model. I first met Meghan when she visited the Villa to interview us as the host of Sex-ish, a documentary TV series produced by Morgan Spurlock’s company, that will hopefully grace your screen … one fine day. Meghan is a warrior of deep intimacy and vulnerability, sharing so candidly about her internal emotional landscape as well as her external physical landscape, that she clears a path for the rest of us to do the same. For all things Tonjes, including her music, podcasts, and extremely articulate YouTube rants, find her on meghantonjes.com This episode was recorded while horizontal in Meghan’s bed at her home in Los Angeles, California, about seven months before I went on the road. In the first part, we talk about sexting, how I met my partner, the feelings ambush, getting disowned, and her grandma, who was her person. C’mon darling. Come lie down with us. *** Credit where credit is: Horizontal’s theme music was created by Alan Markley, plasticcannons on Instagram. The cover art is by Shana Shay, you can find her on 99designs.com. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chad Michael Snavely - check out his other podcasts, including one of my favorites, Bryony Cole’s Future of Sex, on chadmichael.com *** The second half will be released next week, by popular demand. In it, we discuss Meghan’s estranged father, the booty revolution, dating in L.A., body positivity, and how she deals with trolls. You’ll receive exclusive content and discounts on live shows when you sign up on horizontalwithlila.com! We know it’s been a while since our last episode, but you were ready to hop back under the covers and snuggle. Thank you so much for lying down with us.

I'm not kidding when I say Enneagram Nines (The Peacemakers) are well represented in my universe of relationships. My wife Anne is a Nine. My daughter Maddie is a Nine, and as you'll soon learn, a disproportionate number of my friends are Nines as well. On this week's show we decided to try something new. We invited not one but a panel of FOUR Enneagram Nines into the studio to describe what it's like to be members of the Peacemaker tribe. Why host a panel? In my experience, people learn more about different Enneagram types when they hear people who self-identify as that type talk about their lives. Why listen to me talk about a type when you can hear from folks who live it everyday? This week you'll meet four of my closest friends—Singer-songwriter Andy Gullahorn, guitarist, businessman, (and five time Grammy nominee) Randy Williams, Sobriety Coach and counselor David Hampton, and Chris Gonzalez, PhD, a Marriage and Family Therapist, and Director of the MFT program at Lipscomb University. We honestly didn't know what would happen when we stuffed me, my guest co-host Rabbi Evan Moffic, my producer Chad Michael Snavely, and four others guys into our tiny recording studio with a six pack of beer but as you'll soon hear -- it was magic. This is one of the most entertaining and enlightening shows I've ever been a part of. My panel today happens to be all men, but we've already scheduled a panel of four women to be on the show in the next few weeks and a mixed gender panel as well, so keep your eyes and ears open for those shows! ​​Suggested Readings for Enneagram Nines: - Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, by Michael Hyatt - The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life with Everyday Courage, by Mel Robbins Be sure to listen to Episode 24 of The Road Back to You Podcast with Enneagram Nine Chris Gonzalez. My wife, Anne, is a Nine and she's listening to it! ---- To download a PDF of a chapter from Ian's book called Finding Your Type, visit TypologyPodcast.com. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you like the show, we'd love for you to go over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review. It helps us know what you think, and it helps others find out about the show.

Religion & Politics. Two of the most exhausting topics known to mankind. Jonathan Martin is a pastor & author who takes a prophetic, bold approach to these issues... especially on social media. In this episode, Jonathan & I discuss the tension of engaging in politics without becoming partisan. We'll also dive into his period of doubt & deconstruction, which led him to integrate liturgical formation & sacramental theology into his Pentecostal faith. _____________________________________________________ SHOW NOTES FOLLOW JM ONLINE: twitter: @theboyonthebike instagram: @jonathanamartin JONATHAN'S BOOK "Prototype" https://www.amazon.com/Prototype-Happens-Discover-Youre-Jesus/dp/1414373635/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502318977&sr=8-2&keywords=jonathan+martin "How to Survive a Shipwreck" https://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Shipwreck-Help-Already/dp/0310347971/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502318977&sr=8-1&keywords=jonathan+martin TD Jakes' "The Polemics of Politics & the Pulpit" Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCPyRVKjCMQ Part Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK-0LqWMjbY Produced & Edited by Chad Michael Snavely – http://chadmichael.com http://illuminate.us

Urban Doxology is a ministry that writes the soundtrack of reconciliation in the racially diverse & gentrifying neighborhood of Church Hill, Richmond, VA. An “urban doxology” is any liturgy, preaching, or music & arts that crosses boundaries in ethnicity, race, & class that prepares God’s people for the City of God. In this episode, David Bailey (Founder & Executive Director of Arrabon) talks about his church's creative ministry of reconciliation in a community historically plagued by racism & socio-economic divisions. And out of their ministry flows the most interesting & unpredictable art... both musically & visually. ________________________________________________ SHOW NOTES Follow David Bailey on Twitter – @davidmbailey, @urbandoxology & @wearearrabon http://ARRABON.com http://urbandoxology.com (best place to see their modern urban iconography) Please donate & buy their music! Edited & produced by Chad Michael Snavely - http://chadmichael.com

This is Part Two of Jeremy's Stanley's story of experiencing the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem the day before Easter. His encounter with the flame left his skeptical soul filled with wonder & mystery. And it left his expensive camera with a few burn marks. Jeremy Stanley is a world-traveling photographer & videographer; he's also one of my best friends in the world. _________________________________ Jeremy Stanley - @jeremystanley For photos from his trip to Jerusalem, check out his Instagram: @jeremystanley jeremystanley.tv To learn more about Eastern Orthodox Christianity, check out the following resources: – HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH podcast: "Orthodoxy, with an Eastern Flavor" – "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Kallistos Ware Music: Intro track: “Christos Anesti” by Petros Gaitanos Outro track: “Song of Every Soul” by Young Oceans Edited & produced by Chad Michael Snavely (chadmichael.com) For more info on art, liturgy & projection technology, visit my site: illuminate.us

Did you know that (almost) every year, mysterious fire shoots out from the tomb where Jesus was buried? Yeah... neither did I. Not only is Eastern Orthodoxy the most ancient Tradition of Christianity, it also continues to be one of the fastest growing. But despite this fact, the Eastern Orthodox Church & it's practices remain a mystery to most Protestant & Evangelical Christians. One of the greatest mysteries in the Orthodox Tradition is the ancient celebration of the Holy Fire, which takes places annually on Holy Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. (This is the site where they believe Christ was crucified & buried.) One of my best friends in the world, Jeremy Stanley, a world-traveling photographer & videographer, went to Jerusalem this past Holy Week & experienced the Holy Fire ceremony first-hand. But his journey towards the flame was not without great trial & conflict. _________________________________ Jeremy Stanley - @jeremystanley For photos from his trip to Jerusalem, check out his Instagram: @jeremystanley http://jeremystanley.tv To learn more about Eastern Orthodox Christianity, check out the following resources: – HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH podcast: "Orthodoxy, with an Eastern Flavor" – "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Kallistos Ware Music: “Song of Every Soul” by Young Oceans “Christos Anesti” by Petros Gaitanos “Thin Place (Abbreviated)” by Tony Anderson Edited & produced by Chad Michael Snavely (http://chadmichael.com) For more info on art, liturgy & projection technology, visit my site: http://illuminate.us

What can superheroes teach us about worship music & Christian art? More than you might think. Tyler Huckabee has a fresh & honest perspective on faith, culture & the arts... one that I really enjoy. In this episode, we discuss everything from religion & politics to current trends in worship music. And as it turns out, Chance the Rapper & comic book superheroes can teach us a lot about style vs substance when it comes to our art. Tyler Huckabee – @TylerHuckabee Some of Tyler's favorite voices: Jonathan Martin – @theboyonthebike Alissa Wilkinson – @alissamarie Bradford Davis – @_BWD_ "Who killed the contemporary Christian music industry?" http://theweek.com/articles/555603/who-killed-contemporary-christian-music-industry "Table for Two" by Caedmon's Call (from 40 Aces) Outro Theme music by Thad Kopec & Mason Self Produced & Edited by Chad Michael Snavely

2016 was quite the year. So much that I flew all the way to England over New Years to meet up with some close friends, just so we could put up in some small, old pubs & vent about all that's taken place in the past year. One of the pubs we went to was The Eagle & Child in Oxford. The Eagle & Child has been home to some of the most fascinating & inspiring conversations between artists & writers such as C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien & their misfit band of "Inklings." While we are far from Inkling-status, we still thought it would be fun to hang out with their ghosts & partake in a somewhat riveting conversation about the status of the world's craziness. Luckily, I brought my podcast mic along. Enjoy. ___________________________________ SHOW NOTES Tom Read: @tom_read + http://chariotsmusic.com Jeremy Stanley: @jeremystanley + http://jeremystanley.tv Theme Music by Thad Kopec & Mason Self Produced & Edited by Chad Michael Snavely

Hosted by: Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Michael Romero ... @mromero   Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael   Connect with Gradient:   Web … Gradient.is/podcasts  Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis Show Notes:   - Story Five: The Chicago Cubs Win the World Series http://atmlb.com/2fzfcW2 - Story Four: Hulu Makes Moves http://usat.ly/2fpLDT3 - Story Three: The Election is Coming!  http://reut.rs/2f7ohn6 - Story Two: Beyonce Performs at the Country Music Awards  http://bit.ly/2esGiYQ - Story One: Dave Chappelle and Tribe Called Quest to Join SNL http://bit.ly/2edsUN9  

This week sees the return of fall television, along with a new season of SNL. Also, Snapchat is changing things up and Elon Musk is thinking dreamily of getting humanity to Mars.   Hosted by: Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Michael Romero ... @mromero Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes Story Five: Snapchat unveils new tech-inspired glasses. What could go wrong? http://grdnt.is/2dtwttR Story Four: ‘SNL’ season 42 kicks off this weekend. Again, what could go wrong? http://grdnt.is/2dxuOJ4 Story Three: Backstreet’s Back. Alright? http://grdnt.is/2d1REDi Story Two: Fall TV is here, and we’re ready to break down the shows you need to be paying attention to: http://grdnt.is/2cHlOKZ Story One: Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars. If that surprises you, you don’t know who Elon Musk is: http://grdnt.is/2d1T6po

This week, Donald Trump Jr. compared refugees to poisonous skittles, Facebook came clean about how popular their videos actually are, Yahoo got hacked and the 5-second rule got debunked.   Hosted by: Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Two separate shootings of unarmed black man kept this nation’s most infuriating, tragic national narrative alive. http://grdnt.is/2cXEHNS Story Four: The five-second rule is done for good: http://grdnt.is/2cXE9ar Story Three: Yahoo got hacked this week, which begs the question: if you got hacked, how would you want to get hacked? http://grdnt.is/2cXXruK Story Two: Facebook’s reporting on how successful its videos are was just slightly off. Just slightly. http://grdnt.is/2cNCfIH Story One: Jeremy Courtney of Preemptive Love Coalition joins us to chat about what the refugee situation is really like: http://grdnt.is/2db12ZI

This week, we predict The Emmy winners, the NCAA championships pull out of North Carolina, scientists got paid to lie about sugar’s effect on the heart, a young woman sues her parents over childhood images on Facebook and dolphins talk to each other.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael    Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Our picks for The Emmy Awards this Sunday. (http://grdnt.is/2cjRNnA) Story Four: The sugar industry paid scientists to blame fat for the cause of heart disease 49 years ago. (http://grdnt.is/2cjReKP) Story Three: Dolphins talk to each other in an advanced language (http://grdnt.is/2cPoyIS) Story Two: Woman sues her parents for childhood pictures on Facebook. (http://grdnt.is/2cFwY3g) Story One: NCAA moves championships because of North Carolina’s civil rights laws. (http://grdnt.is/2cFi2m4)

This week, Apple announces the next iPhone and Apple Watch, Congress fails to pass Zika legislation, Starbucks announces fall drinks featuring the new Chile Mocha, Airbnb takes steps to prevent racial discrimination, and ‘Humans of New York’ shares a powerful story from Hillary Clinton.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael     Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Apple announces new iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch Series 2 (http://grdnt.is/2cc0bEm) Story Four: Congress fails to pass Zika legislation once again (http://grdnt.is/2ctTj4D) Story Three: Starbucks announces fall drinks featuring the new Chile Mocha. (http://grdnt.is/2cA0VTf) Story Two: Airbnb is taking steps to prevent racial discrimination (http://grdnt.is/2bY4TUn) Story One: ‘Humans of New York’ shares a powerful story from Hillary Clinton. (http://grdnt.is/2ct4oEz)

This week, Chris Brown and Chipotle got into some hot water, but not as much as the African population of elephants. Donald Trump got in trouble too but what else can you expect?   Hosted by: Bradford Davis ... @_bwd_ Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee     Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Chris Brown got busted, duh: http://bit.ly/2c4Fa0q Story Four: Chipotle is getting sued, big time: http://bit.ly/2cgKH1v Story Three: SNL is on the hunt for new hosts: http://bit.ly/2cu8QGh Story Two: Elephants are vanishing at a terrifying rate: http://bit.ly/2cu9gMS Story One: Donald Trump’s big pivot was not a pivot at all: http://bit.ly/2c5qhte

Today we react to Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Nye on Netflix, Africa’s elephant population and Trump’s visit to Mexico.     Hosted by: Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael    Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: https://t.co/ZH1DnrK6uU https://t.co/i6vzU3uIaw http://bit.ly/2bWeH3X https://t.co/uK0lHDN2lR

Today we react to De La Soul, Chinese 'Jason Bourne' viewers, the family of an ISIS hostage victim, and Oklahoma City Thunder fans   Hosted by: Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael    Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: http://grdnt.is/2bv2Ngj http://grdnt.is/2c1Wu6F http://grdnt.is/2bmkYGs http://grdnt.is/2bFtC0p

This week, Larry Wilmore’s ‘Nightly Show’ was canceled, Aetna announced it was mostly leaving Obamacare, Louisiana was flooded and disconcerting news was reported about the sex habits of millennials.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee Bryony Cole ... @bryonycole   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Show got the axe. http://grdnt.is/2b6tkii Story Four: Aetna is mostly pulling out of Obamacare. http://grdnt.is/2bsPDTg Story Three: What was the song of the summer? http://spoti.fi/2b3odE2 Story Two: The Louisiana floods were ignored until they couldn’t be ignored any longer. http://grdnt.is/2bsP8IZ Story One: Millennials are having less sex than previous generations. The host of our upcoming sex and tech podcast Bryony Cole explains why that might be. http://grdnt.is/1Ug9AMl

This week, President Obama relaxed laws about medical marijuana, a new all-female ‘Ocean’s 11’ reboot was announced and SNL shook up its cast a little. Also, the Department of Justice released a damning report on the Baltimore police department.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Simones Biles and Manuel dominated the Olympics. https://t.co/qcCahxMuw4 Story Four: President Obama is making it easier for scientists to study the effects of marijuana. http://grdnt.is/2bdBMRS Story Three: Ocean’s 11 is being remade as Ocean’s 8, starring an all-female cast. We try to figure out who’s going to play who. http://grdnt.is/2aRodIy Story Two: The Department of Justice’s report on Baltimore’s police department is horrifying. http://grdnt.is/2bmFXrD Story One: SNL is axing two longstanding cast members. Good luck, fellas! http://grdnt.is/2b4wnK6

The Olympics kick off in Rio this week, so who better than Gradient’s resident sports expert Tyler Huckabee to give us the inside scoop for what to expect from this year’s games, the controversies surrounding Rio’s preparedness, and who will take home the gold?   Hosted by:   Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis

This week, the DNC nominated a woman for the presidency, Netflix’s spooky new series became an instant hit, Apple bought ‘Carpool Karaoke’ and scientists discovered the benefits of cockroach milk.    Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: The Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton to be President of the United States: http://grdnt.is/2aeivLu Story Four: Apple’s taking a big gamble on ‘Carpool Karaoke’: http://grdnt.is/2aa4zS3 Story Three: Scientists discovered what the rest of us have known for years: cockroach milk is nutritious: http://grdnt.is/2awEfnt Story Two: Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? Of course you do. Turns out, it was all worth it: http://grdnt.is/2auoXkL Story One: ‘Stranger Things’ is Netflix’s excellent new hit, and we’ve got an expert to give you the lowdown: http://grdnt.is/1sxLbHJ

This week, Twitter finally banned @Nero, Facebook took some early steps towards providing internet access to undeveloped countries and Republicans nominated someone for president.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: The Republicans decided that Donald Trump should be President of the United States. http://grdnt.is/29Uat9E Story Four: The brain has been mapped like it has never been mapped before. http://grdnt.is/2aBASKZ Story Three: Lots of great television has been launched in the past few days, like Mr. Robot. Especially Mr. Robot. http://grdnt.is/29UlHuG Story Two: It took a while, but Twitter has finally, thankfully, beautifully banned the awful, awful Milo Yiannopoulos: http://grdnt.is/29RMBcn Story One: Facebook is launching drones to bring the internet to people who don’t have it yet. http://grdnt.is/29R2UVq

This week, a terrorist attack devastated Nice, France, Modern Family managed to get a spot in the Emmy nominations, and Carmelo Anthony used the ESPYs as a platform for social reform.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Bradford William Davis ... @_BWD_   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Terrorism struck in Nice, France this week leaving nearly 84 dead. grdnt.is/29YAsPr Story Four: Forbes released their highest paid celebrity list with Taylor Swift at the top. grdnt.is/29DZkPI Story Three: The Emmy nominations are in, and we are all confused why Modern Family still manages to make the list. grdnt.is/29BN7W9 Story Two: At the ESPYs, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and other NBA stars call for an end to violence. http://grdnt.is/28YffCj Story One: A new dating app with a twist is in the marketplace: Ohlala. http://bit.ly/29ZiuMt

This week, IKEA volunteered to recall some potentially lethal dressers, VINYL got scratched, self-driving cars have to start making some tough choices and people mourned terrorism in Istanbul. Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Terrorism struck in Istanbul this week, leaving nearly 50 dead. http://grdnt.is/29csvc4 Story Four: IKEA recalled millions of dressers in the wake of six deaths. http://grdnt.is/29jx44e Story Three: Vinyl was renewed for a second season, and then canceled. We get right to the important question here: What’s next for Ray Romano? http://grdnt.is/28Nkpk7 Story Two: Barnes and Noble is going to put the LIT back in literature by selling booze. http://grdnt.is/28YffCj Story One: Self-driving cars are going to have to make some tough moral decisions on the road. How will they do that? http://grdnt.is/298723c

This week, the Democrats held a 14-hour filibuster, Apple announced its new iOS, Gladwell announced his new podcast, and America’s favorite Mexican food chain is not very good.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Chris Murphy led Senate Democrats on a 14 hour marathon filibuster for increased gun control measures following the Orlando tragedy. http://grdnt.is/1UEc0k2 Story Four: Apple hosted its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference and rolled out a bunch of new software your annoying friends are going to want, like, immediately. http://grdnt.is/1Ugmfki Story Three: Malcolm Gladwell started a new podcast, just a little too late to make our list of the year’s 16 best podcast episodes. http://grdnt.is/28C5xA1 Story Two: Moe’s Southwestern Grill is America’s most popular Mexican chain. Better luck next year, Chipotle. (http://grdnt.is/1tue6wl) Story One: Studies suggest Americans are now more generous than they’ve ever been, so there, Bernie. (http://grdnt.is/261Rl4s)  

This week, the Democrats mostly decided on a nominee, a judge came under fire for his ruling in the Stanford case, Buzzfeed made a tough advertorial call and The Greatest went home.     Hosted by: Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee Bradford William Davis ... @_BWD_   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Hillary Clinton is officially the first female candidate of a major party: (http://www.gradient.is/muhammad-ali-was-miraculous/) Story Four: A federal judge is under fire for giving a former Stanford athlete just six months in jail for raping an unconscious woman. (http://www.gradient.is/reactions/before-brock-turner-stanford-had-a-rape-every-two-weeks/) Story Three: Pretty much everyone got hacked on Twitter this week. Sorry, everyone! (http://www.gradient.is/reactions/3-ways-the-nfl-hacker-could-have-dramatically-improved-his-nfl-hacking/) Story Two: Buzzfeed called off an ad deal with the Republican Party over its impending nomination of Donald Trump. (http://grdnt.is/1UlNoR0) Story One: The late, great Muhammad Ali called himself the Greatest, and deserved it. (http://grdnt.is/1UqQL54) 

This week, Paul Ryan finally caved to Donald Trump, Kit Harington spoke out about how hard it is to be handsome in Hollywood, and people started to get real about the Zika virus.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: The NBA Finals are in full swing, and we’ve all got thoughts. (http://grdnt.is/25F3tbA) Story Four: Just because we knew Paul Ryan would eventually cave doesn’t make it any easier to talk about. (http://grdnt.is/1RRKQnH) Story Three: Jump Ball: What TV shows are we streaming this summer?  Story Two: The Zika virus has finally started to get some real attention. (http://grdnt.is/1t6nBlT) Story One: It’s very hard out there for people who are as beautiful as Kit Harington says Kit Harrington. (http://bit.ly/1TOPnyT)

In the premiere episode of "The Sports with Tyler Huckabee," Gradient's resident expert in all non-sports related things gives us his unique take on the NBA Finals.   Hosted by:   Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis

This week, a new wrinkle in Hulk Hogan’s Gawker lawsuit, and a new trailer for the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake. Also, Millennials are living at home more (surprise!) and we talk about the new seven-hour OJ Simpson documentary (bigger surprise!).   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee Bradford William Davis ... @_BWD_   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Millennials just can’t seem to move out of their parents’ house. (http://bit.ly/1P0Alnv) Story Four: An elusive billionaire funded Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker. (http://bit.ly/1Wq3bQE) Story Three: Beauty and the Beast has a live action remake in the works, starring Emma Watson. (http://bit.ly/1sxIiGk) Story Two: ‘The Biggest Loser’ has some very serious accusations being thrown its way. (http://bit.ly/1OTfqCM) Story One: ESPN has dropped a new seven-hour OJ Simpson documentary and it’s fascinating. (http://bit.ly/24bzUs3)

This week, ‘The Good Wife’ came to a close, Washington Post released a controversial new study on the Washington Redskins, Facebook met with Conservative leaders and one of Nigeria’s missing girls was found.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Tyler Huckabee ... @tylerhuckabee   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: One of the missing Chibok girls was found: (http://bbc.in/1TkpnLr) Story Four: Facebook meets with Conservative leaders over accusations of news suppression. (http://bit.ly/1TjVo6i) Story Three: ‘The Good Wife’ calls it a quits, and we talk about other spinoffs we’d like to see (http://eonli.ne/20gHvVa) Story Two: Terrorist action is suspected in an AirEgypt’s crash into the Mediterranean Sea. (http://bit.ly/1qwZHO1) Story One: A new poll found that nine out of ten Native Americans aren’t offended by the Washington NFL team’s mascot. (http://bit.ly/20bI4zy)

This week, Pope Francis said he’d explore the idea of female deacons in the Catholic Church, while Chance the Rapper took the whole world to church with his new album. Also, Lyft had to seriously up its settlement, and Paul Ryan began to swallow a bitter pill.   Hosted by: Michael Romero ... @mromero Josh Babyar ... @joshbabyar Alyssa McNally ... @alyssaamcnally Chad Michael Snavely ... @chad_michael Bradford William Davis ... @_BWD_   Connect with Gradient: Web ... Gradient.is Twitter ... @gradientdotis Facebook ... /gradientdotis   Show Notes: Story Five: Paul Ryan has a closed door meeting with Trump that went fine, just fine, no more questions. thanks. (http://bit.ly/1R0rz2V) Story Four: Pope Francis is exploring the idea of allow women to be deacons in the Catholic Church. (http://cnn.it/1s84wyA) Story Three: Instagram has a new logo and a lot of people are not feeling it. (http://onforb.es/1NtBIL1) Story Two: Lyft is still trying to pay its drivers more, sort of. (http://bit.ly/1rI7gmo) Story One: Chance the Rapper released a new album this week and oh my God. (http://chanceraps.com/)