Podcasts about fscj

Part 1 of this discussion examines psychology, philosophy, religion, spiritually, science, and medicine, a panel of five (5) people opens with the question, 'where am I?' and 'what is going on [in the world]?' and refers to James Hillman, ideas and action as an artificial distinction, are they the same thing? How are they interlinked? The poet Major Ragain is quoted, 'contemplation alters the course of rivers.' From the Bhagavad Gita: Freedom from action is not accomplished by abstaining from action, so how is it accomplished? Relinquishing the fruit of action Ghandi's, 'through service, I find myself.' The Panel begins to examine the Taoist concept of non-action, Wu Wei. How do we cultivate Wu Wei? The Panel explores Univerisal Truths. Natural action arises, we have a deep intrinsic calling, how do we find and express it? What is our reason for being here? To receive the Divine Will is a part of choiceless action. Biographies of Panel: Dr. Bob Insull is an New York State Licensed Psychologist with more than 60 years experience teaching, training, and treating in the arena of human behavior. In his clinical practice, he has worked across the developmental stages (children to golden-agers), across the diagnostic spectrum (chemical dependency, severe mental illness, relationship issues, depression, anxiety, and PTSD), and treatment settings (clinics, inpatient psychiatric centers, and private practice). During the closing years of his practice, he became interested in the area of psychological trauma and worked with survivors in individual and group settings. He has been retired from active practice for about 15 years and spends his time engaged in self-discovery on the Sufi Path and social-change activities with his church. Brian Mistler is a Missouri-hillbilly curious about Reality. He has lived as a computer scientist, psychologist, running and growing businesses, and helping entrepreneurs, hospitals, and healthcare providers. Mid-life Brian had a partially debilitating nerve injury and soon after met a true Vedanta teacher who spent 30+ years in India and trained under Swami Chimayananda, Sawmi Dayananda, and others. This refocused his study of the classic non-dual wisdom as presented in the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. Learn more at http://www.stillcenter.media. Hari Om Tat Sat. Peace, peace, peace. Richard Grego is Professor of philosophy and cultural history at FSCJ. His research interests focus on cross cultural themes in religion and science - including philosophy of mind, comparative world religions/world civilizations, and the metaphysical - theological implications of theoretical physics and cosmology. His publications have included studies in the history - philosophy of science and conceptions of nature in the history of western philosophy, as well as cross-cultural perspectives on mind/ consciousness in western philosophy - psychology and the neo-Vedanta Hindu tradition. Prior to his academic career, he was a criminal investigator - polygraph examiner for the Florida Office of the Public Defender and in the private sector Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute and International Academy of Polygraph Science in Florida, and national Academic Director of the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council. Joel David Lesses is President and Executive Director of Education Training Center, Inc. and his work experience is in education, psychology, and counseling for people marginalized by trauma, addiction, and psychological distress. He is deeply vested in addressing the effects of mental health distress and its marginalization including, incarceration, homelessness, and institutionalization. Joel is dedicated to reframing mental health distress as a potential spiritual marker and existential opportunity. He holds dual Master of Science degrees from University at Buffalo in Rehabilitation Counseling and Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Epidemiology. Henry Cretella, M.D. studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for several years along with training in martial arts. He then immersed himself in the more universal Sufism of Inayat Khan, an Indian mystic, for close to twenty years. He functioned as a senior teacher in the Inayati Order and the Sufi Healing Order before pursuing his independent practice and study of mysticism. He now integrates what he has learned and experienced over these many years. He graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and completed his psychiatric training at Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. His professional career spanned over 40 years as a general and child and adolescent psychiatrist and included teaching, administration, clinical practice and consultation in the greater Rochester and western NY areas. This, along with his spiritual and especially mystical interests lead him to certification as a mind body practitioner through the Center for Mind Body Medicine and Dr. James Gordon. He retired several years ago from active psychiatric practice, but continues to incorporate what he has learned into his spiritual practices and offerings.

Send us a Text Message.Welcome world!! Today's episode is a bit different from the others, I sat down with Troy University's Evan Brown, South Florida State's Jayleen Rivera, and FSCJ's Kymora Mason to share some valuable stories and wise words through their journey throughout their lives. Stay for the bloopers it's worth it! as always...Enjoy the show!!!

Artistic Lifeyness: Exploring Place, Body, Art and Identity Across Cultures   In this conversation, three artists based in the Jacksonville area, Jennifer, Shameera, and Thorne, share their unique perspectives on place, embodiment, and art. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, these women discuss how their work is influenced by their identities and their sense of location, both in a physical and spiritual sense. They talk about the dual experiences of feeling embodied and disembodied as artists, referring to the process of bringing ideas from the abstract world of imagination into the physical reality through their art. The artists also touch upon the idea of home and the importance of creating cultural bridges through art.  What are the pros and cons of living in Jacksonville as a creative soul? And how do you become more embodied as an artist? Listen up and find out! _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Connect with host Professor Sarah @book_of_lifeyness on TikTok and Instagram Thorn works in graphic design, jewelry making, theater and screen acting, origami and more. See her work and connect with her here: The Urban Atelier Shameera Din Wiest is a digital artist, poet, sculptor, weaver, former diplomat and political analyst. See her work here on Instagram:  @shameerawt Jennifer Chase is a storyteller, musician, professor, producer, and playwright. See more here: jennchase.com   A special thanks to the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida whose Ignite program first brought these artists together! https://www.jaxcf.org/     Episode Outline: Part I: Introduction inspired by birds, Jacksonville, and the words of Rick Rubin Part II: Art and Place--We can smell you from here, Jax. Part III: Embodiment--Make a body for your idea! Part IV: Take from the spirit world and bring it down to Jacksonville Part V: Identity--How your own prism informs your work...and pajama party :-) Part VI: Disembodiment and Embodied Art Part VII: Taking up space in Northeast FL   And here's an AI-created Timestamp Outline: 00:00 Introduction: The Search for Self 00:21 The Power of Acceptance 00:55 Finding Home in Unfamiliar Places 02:34 Exploring Northeast Florida 03:23 The Role of Artists in Society 03:59 The Struggles of Living in Jacksonville, Florida 04:55 The Journey of Self-Discovery 05:33 The Power of Art and Creativity 06:07 The Connection Between Place and Art 07:01 The Importance of Being Present 07:06 Art as a Form of Self-Expression 07:34 Interview with Three Talented Women Artists 10:54 The Influence of Geography on Art 11:46 The Role of Motherhood and Womanhood in Art 12:45 The Power of Listening and Being Present 16:54 The Impact of Jacksonville on Personal Growth 18:18 The Role of Spirituality in Art 20:02 The Importance of Nurturing in Art 25:36 The Connection Between Art and Embodiment 33:51 The Power of Conversation in Art 35:07 The Power of Listening and Connecting 35:43 The Journey of Self-Reflection 36:17 Shamaya's Artistic Journey and Cultural Heritage 38:19 The Struggles and Triumphs of Shamaya's Life 39:21 The Intersection of Femininity and Art 40:53 The Power of Personal Stories 42:57 The Influence of Identity on Art 46:34 The Power of Art in Public Spaces 49:51 The Role of Art in Society 56:46 The Importance of Embracing Failure 01:06:20 The Power of Art in Building Cultural Bridges     Full script below, generated by Descript   What I've been learning is that everywhere I go, there I am, I am a home, you know, you're, we're always looking outside of ourselves. I think it was Wayne Dyer that, um, said something along the lines of, we're always looking, we've lost our keys and we're looking for our keys outside the house when the keys were sitting there at the front door.  You know, you have to decide that you're going to leave this behind and say just no to it, or you have to kind of change your space. Or, you know, you. Acceptance. You, you have to accept it. Yeah. You have to fully accept it. Mm-Hmm. . And once you do that, then all of that energy that you, that took up your spirit saying, well, I don't really like this town. Like this isn't, you know, where are all the people,  and all of that. Yeah. The people, it goes to another place and you start building it yourself. Yeah. I definitely feel that, like  I'm going through that whole.  I don't belong here. There's no one that looks like me there. I can't find my food Like I mean, it's just yeah, it's hard But I am trying to find ways to and no one's telling me to leave this time. So that's also hard  Yeah   And this will be your place in some way, you know, because it was the place where you decided to take care of your people.  It feels like  comfortable  skin,  not just confident, but also pain free, healthy.  Think about the most robust version of your own childhood.  This is what Lifeyness feels like, a joyful spirit and a vibrant physical state of being.  I'm your guide professor, Sarah storyteller, teacher and wellness enthusiast.  Reach into the vitality of your own  to supercharge your grownup life.  So I think I'm being kind when I say I live in a slightly dysfunctional city, marked with a lot of cultural blanks.  It's this place where.  We all just kind of landed somehow or another.  It's not really even designed like a typical American city.  They say it's a city of neighborhoods, which really means it's a giant, sprawling suburb.  But stay with me. I love this place.  And today, on this episode of Lifeyness, I'm going to be exploring Northeast Florida.  It is a home for many of us, and we've made it sacred by filling it with our children,  artwork, our classes, our educations. Our activities.  Like any body, we adorn it and try to keep it healthy,  but more than anything, we live inside of it day in and day out,  and that is what makes a city a city.  It's what makes a human life have meaning.  So welcome back to Lifeyness.  This is Professor Sarah, and I'm super excited about this episode and the next, which will conclude the first season.  Today, we're talking about place, body, and art.  Specifically, how do artists find embodiment both in their work and in their geography?  If you've listened to any of this podcast, you know that staying grounded in your body, staying playful in your space and in your work,  and accepting the moment in front of you with a whole heart,  these are some of the keys to living the good life  and to finding joy.  So I'm going to give you a little bit of insight into the place that I live.  I always thought that Jacksonville, Florida lacked a sense of the sacred.  And I think to a certain degree, it still kind of does. It doesn't have that ritualized admiration that you see in cities like New York and Toronto and San Francisco, like where tourists go, they know where to go, they know what to love and how to dress.  Northeast Florida in general can feel like a cultural wasteland at first.  In fact, not long after moving here in 2007, I wrote a short story about a young woman who had gone mad from the cultural void.  Flintstoning her way through the same desolate strip mall freeways, the backdrop always the same tire shop, Best Buy, Walmart, Michaels, and Winn Dixie.  It was not far off from how I was actually feeling about this weird town.  To be clear, I hated it.  And yet, I managed well enough to get permanently stuck here by way of marriage, children, divorce. Later,  I would learn that many of my friends and colleagues have had similar experiences.  Jacksonville, the present place, is a liminal space for some, an in between.  Perhaps what we're feeling is that we haven't yet made Jacksonville as sacred as we could. We haven't worshipped it enough,  or worked our fingers over it like a sculptor works clay.  Rick Rubin, the producer of countless music artists, says that the reason we're alive is to express ourselves in the world, and that creating art might be the most effective way of doing so.  So the quote I'm about to share with you from his book, which is called The Creative Act, it makes me think of  the artists that are on the show today.  He says, the artwork is the point where all the elements come together, the universe, the prism of self, the magic and discipline of transmuting idea to flesh.  What I didn't expect to hear from these artists today is how a sense of place and their particular sense of place is so entangled with their art and also with this feeling of embodiment or disembodiment.  Years ago, I remember a veterinarian who specializes in birds told me that when they are singing or calling to one another, that the gist of what they're saying is simply, I am here.  And then calling to others, asking, are you there?  And then of course the reply is, I am here. Are you there?  And so on and so forth. And to some degree, I feel like this is what humans are doing all the time. This is all we're saying to one another. Whether it's through a book or a TikTok video or, or whether you're just reaching across the couch to your loved one,  it can all be boiled down to this.  I'm here. Look at me.  Are you there?  Art is the embodiment of a moment in our energetic human experience. It is that emotion and energy of life that's captured in an artwork, whether it's a collection of words, a pattern of music, or a painting.  It's basically the artist saying,  I am here, just like the birds do,  but they're saying it through paint or piano or an arrangement of flowers.  To discuss this idea of art as embodiment and self expression, I'm speaking with three talented women from northeast Florida.  Thorne is a passionate activist. She's a graphic designer by training. She's a jewelry maker. She's a community organizer.  My name is Tracy and I work under the moniker Thorne. I grew up here in Jacksonville, um, and I do realize that being from here has It's really made a huge impact on the work that I do. Um, I do a number of different media. I actually went to school for graphic design and printmaking.  I started making jewelry because I wasn't finding what I wanted to wear. And at that point in time, I had just come back from Peace Corps  when I first started. And a lot of the things that influenced me at that point. And her  family's been rooted in this town for many generations.  Jennifer Chase is a playwright, a musician, uh, she's a writer and college professor. And her latest book, I Can Smell You From Here, explores her relationship with the city of Jacksonville. But  I grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and have been most of my adult life in Jacksonville. And went back to college as a non traditional, um, adult single mother right here in Jacksonville at FSCJ, where I now teach.  Yeah. Like Thorne, um, I did. Adopt a, a pen name has  Shaina. Um, so some of my work is under.  And then in contrast we have Shaira Dean Weist, um, she's a mixed media artist. She's a sculptor and a weaver. Um, and she's been here less than  three years. And I'm an Indian American artist. I came, I'm an immigrant and I moved to the U. S. in 1982 when I was 12 years old, so you can do the math. I create visual performance, poetry, photography, and digital art, and I feel like each of these are embodied in some way with the female, where my choice of imagery in the tapestries, sculptures that I create have elements of woman. I use my body as a vehicle in performance art. Um, I write poetry that, um, touches on elements of being an Indian woman. And I worked in Washington, um, as a political analyst. Um, I traveled overseas as a diplomat.  Today  we're having a conversation in person. In the flesh, at my dining room table together, in downtown Jacksonville,  um, in my well loved historic home built in 1911.  So we all gathered here on a winter day, when even in Florida it was chilly outside and cozy inside.  Thorne and Jennifer and Shamira are from diverse backgrounds, but they all show up in their art with the bravery it takes to say, I am here. Are you there?  Welcome to our conversation about being an artist www. artistrenjitha. com In a body, in a city, don't forget to connect with me at Book of Lifiness on TikTok, where you can see images and videos of this wonderful conversation and these amazing artists.  Let's start with place because I am invited you here to talk about embodiment, embodied art. Right. But I think, you know, like we're sitting here in Jacksonville, Florida. All together in the same space, which I think is so special considering, like I said before, a lot of my interviews I do virtually today, you know, but you know, we all met at Ignite, right? And that was such a special morning, you know, where we all came together. And, um, so I want to ask each of you kind of how do you use your geography in your art? Where does it show up in your art? And we'll start with Jen because she had the show the other night. Your story felt so parallel to mine  and it made me feel, when I looked around the audience, I was like, how many people here feel this way? And part of that is.  Motherhood. I think part of that is being a woman. Part of that is not feeling at home in Jacksonville because I, I'm not from here either. You know, and I think a lot of us are not from here. Um, but there were so many different like touch points that I was like, Oh, wait a minute. Not only did I feel like now I know you and you were able to tell your story, but I feel known. Even more. And a lot of that had to do with that, this antagonistic relationship that I've had with Jacksonville, where I feel kind of stuck here. But also this is where I do my nurturing and raise my children and make my, my own art. So tell us a little bit about that.   Well, I think first we have to be sure that we're telling ourselves the truth.  Um, and I had to take a look at sifting through the excuses, the fears, the, um, empowerment of all the experiences that I've had here. Um, I think it's a complicated question because  James Baldwin, for example, talked about this idea of cultural assumptions, and the idea that, um,  we don't realize the assumptions that we're living under until we live under another set of assumptions, and I bet Shamira has a lot. To add about that, I'm sure Thorne, too. Ironically, a lot of the, the empowerment and the appreciation of the present in Jacksonville involves the concept of time,  which I learned a lot more about in places like Senegal, living in Senegal and living in France for shorter periods of time, but enough that I thought, oh,  There's a different way, and it's not related to money, it's not related to earning money. There's a different way of appreciating the present and a meal and a conversation.  And  every time I come back from  another place where the concept of time involves shutting everything down at two o'clock and having a two and a half hour lunch with your family, I come home. gung ho to adopt that. And I have varying degrees of success with that, but I find that  for my artistic expression, for happiness, for real connection and feeling  a sense of place, it involves being aware of the present. being aware of the ability to get outside of the assumptions I've lived under and look back into them and I can see myself in my life a lot more objectively when I'm able to look at it from the outside. And then you come back and you feel differently about your surroundings and you look at things. and yourself differently. So it can be a painful experience sometimes. Um, when I looked back over 30 years at raising children,  one of the lines of my song says, um, these are the days that will be memories someday. And the whole song is just about hanging clothes on the line and watching my little girl who was then three dancing around to a Beatles song. And the whole song is about that. Yeah. It's called Mundane. Yeah. And now I'm, I just finished re recording that song and I thought, that's funny because these are now gonna be someday the moments that I think That was nice when your husband made you a coffee after work and just looked you in the eye and asked about,  you know, and got you a special cloth napkin and a little, the way you put out,  it's more about the present and how we view it. So I think that's my,  my thing. And it resonated. It really did. Thank you. It was beautiful. Thanks. Shamira, do you want to say something about kind of the way that geography informs your art? Yeah,  that's um, I mean, having a fact that I've been moving  for, you know, since, since I first moved as an immigrant, almost every three to four years I've moved for the last 34 years of my life, I think.  There is no specific place for me. I mean, I know I think the place that I most connect to is the place I was born and everything is always trying to pull me back to that. You know, having my mother live with me definitely brings that back every day. Um, so It's like I'm not connected to any place and yet I try to make the most of the opportunities that are in that place. Um, the last place I lived before moving to Florida was China and I was there for three years and I was a complete outsider. Not only, you know, it was either the western community or the Chinese community and then there's me, brown, you know, and they're not sure whether I'm Mexican or where I'm from but, and then having Not having the language, um, and not having, not being able to, or allowed to work because these are the laws of the diplomatic community where you're not, the spouse doesn't work on the local economy. So either you work in the embassy much lower than your education level, or you. Um, and then I decided to become an artist. So that's what I did.  Yeah.  Yeah. So that's when I started making art is when I started moving. But so as far as place, I mean, I don't have, I don't feel a strong connection to a geography, but I feel like the personality that I bring to each place taken from another place connects me to everyone new. And yet keeps me in contact with all my old contacts. And so I keep building these relationships with new people and keeping old people. Yeah.  I don't know how that works out,  but we're certainly happy to have you in our community now.  How about you,  Thorne?  I think it's funny. I'm the only one that's from here. Yeah. And so, but I have, I've traveled away from here, um, a number of times. I've lived in San Francisco and I've lived in Philadelphia. And then of course, as I mentioned earlier, I was in the Peace Corps. And so, So having grown up in the Bible Belt, spirituality, spirit, gospel music, all the things that you would stereotypically connect to the South are a huge part of my work, huge part of what makes me, me. I was singing a gospel song with my mom this morning  and we were just reminiscing about a church we used to go to. Music is such a huge part of my life, like, Jen, and I just actually got through, not just got through, but recently read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. And so understanding, right, really good. I'm a fan. Yeah. And so understanding that where we are now in this moment is the most important place we're ever going to be. As opposed to leaving pieces of ourself out in the future, you know, where Shamira's going to a new place, or anticipating going to a new place, and thinking about the places where we've been. And what I have realized is Jacksonville,  for me and for, I think, a lot of other people, is this type of place  that's kind of metaphor for  Where people have a really hard time being, but know that that's where they need to be at the given point in time that they're there. So, you have your reasons for being in this area, Shamira, Jen, you have your reasons. You have your reasons for staying and being here. I came back here, um,  to regroup. I was in San Francisco where I was more of like a she she homeless. I was moving around from hotel to hotel and I also used, um, hostels. I was looking for a place to stay. I was going out there to live my artist dream, believing that you had to be in this specific place to have a life of an artist. And so once again, connecting back to this.  whole idea of being in a specific place at a specific time and I really thought that that was where I was supposed to be. And, um, It wasn't. It wasn't. And I realized it not too long after and this is just, uh, another part of my background, um, that has also fed into my work. I got back here, if you want to say air quotes, just in time for my mom to be, uh, diagnosed with breast cancer. And so I was right where I needed to be in order to support her in the best way that I could. And a lot of the work that I did When I was taking care of her as well as work I was doing, you know, in the home as well as outside the home comes back to,  you know, who I am at this point in time, which is someone who's had to learn to be a nurturer, someone who gets hired, you know, as an actress, because she's seen as a nurturer. So this space, this place at that point in time, totally shaped, you know, who I've become as an artist, especially as an actress, I'd say.  I never saw myself as a caregiver, um, even though I took care of my brother growing up, but I just, I never saw myself as that type of person. And it manifests. in my work as an actress, for sure. Because that is what people see in me when I'm cast. It's,  yeah, we see you as a mom. And it's like, I don't have kids.  I love them. I think they're great. And I love the energy they bring to any room, any space. Yeah, uh, just that I didn't really ever think of myself specifically as a nurturer. I feel like Being a nurturer is such a higher evolution beyond just I babysit my brother or, you know, I was helping out at my grandmother's house. It's not the same thing. Being a nurturer and a caregiver is a totally different level of connection with another person where you're really focusing in on What their needs are at a given point in time and to be cast as a nurturer or to be thought of as a mom when people see me, it's really quite flattering, um, to be thought of, or that my spirit gives off that type of energy. So, um, and it's so funny to think about my, my work in that way as well.  Because once again, I don't think that that's necessarily something that comes across, but if we think of a lot of the work that I do is. Um, I see a lot of my artwork as spiritual practice, and so I could imagine that that's something that comes across as well. Yeah.  You give birth and you nurture your artwork. Oh my God.  Absolutely. What a wonderful way to put it. Yes. You are birthing. You are bringing into world. You are manifesting. And so that's really important to me to make sure I'm looking at my work clearly, but also Before I'm even taking into consideration the way somebody else is looking at it, I want to understand what I'm doing and what my own personal intention is.  But basically, like, you know, if you want to release that energy, you have to either, you know, you have to decide that you're going to leave this behind and say, just no to it, or you have to kind of change your space or, you know, you have to accept it. Yeah. You have to fully accept it. And once you do that. Then all of that energy that you, that took up your spirit saying, well, I don't really like this town. Like this isn't, you know, where are all the people  and all of that, yeah, it goes to another place and you start building it yourself. Yeah. I definitely feel that.  Like I'm going through that whole, I don't belong here. There's no one that looks like me there. I can't find my food. Like, I mean, it's just, yeah, it's hard, but I am trying to find ways to, and no one's telling me to leave this time. So that's also hard. Mm-Hmm. And it's your choice. Yeah. . Wow. You're like,  yeah. But then we have these commitments that, you know, we have to stick to and take care of the elders that are in our life and not just kind of dump 'em off in a home somewhere. So  yeah, it's hard, but,  and the truth is you don't have these moments back, you know? Yeah. Like Jen was saying, like this, these are special moments. Like, it's just like when your children are small. You know, they're really hard. It's really hard to take care of people, whether they're really, you know, young or really old and you won't have these moments. And then, and this will be your place in some way, you know, because it was the place where you decided to take care  of your people. Right. Jacksonville is a quiet in between, honestly, like it's not necessarily the place where people visualize.  coming to. It's not necessarily the sexy place with, you know, it's not, it's just not, it's like very much a Southern town, you know, people aren't thinking in terms of being cosmopolitan, but it very much is a place where you can find yourself. I think, I think it's. Quiet enough where you can make decisions there's so there there's a lot of things to do very much nature based But once again, it's the space where you can hear yourself Think if you stop resisting for a minute, yeah, you can hear yourself Think yeah, you can hear the waves crashing on the shore or the leaves the leaves being rustled by the breeze you know, however you choose to To take a moment, and that could be anywhere, and what I've been learning is that everywhere I go, there I am. I am my home. You know, we're always looking outside of ourselves. I think it was Wayne Dyer that um, said something along the lines of we're always looking, we've lost our keys and we're looking for our keys outside the house. When the keys were sitting there at the front door all the time. Yeah. So, we're always looking outside of ourselves. For the meaning and for home, when we carry home with us, wherever we go. Yeah. Or the  possibility of it. And it sounds like you're saying we can really take up space here, right? Like we can take up space. So what I want to do is just kind of go around and ask you, you know, what does embodiment mean to each of you? My podcast, I call it joyful embodiment, but I know that embodiment is not always. Fun or joyful. Um, and so kind of with both of these concepts in mind, geography and art, like where does embodiment come in? What does embodiment mean to you, Jen?   Well, completely and literally for me, the performative aspect of the expression, the artistic expression is present, vital, urgent.  It's not really rehearsed. It's not going to be the same ever. Um, so I would say the process and the performative aspect of my process involves complete utter immersion in the present experience and reaction to,  reaction to an audience, reaction to collaborators. Um,  so this is flash round, so I won't go there. Flash round. Ha ha  ha. So I, with me, I mean, the primary art that I make is that I weave plastic. And a lot of my work is very chaotic and messy and raw, like strings hanging out all over the place, the knots are wrong. I used, uh, materials that don't look good together. They're not like pretty little things to put on the wall. These are like me and everything that I've been through in my life. All the struggles, the losses, everything. So, um, I think that's the embodiment is me connecting with this piece that I'm making. That's all me and all my mistakes or struggles or victories.   I was thinking about this, you know, when you mentioned it, um,  and really what the definition of embodiment is to me, uh, it's an idea or something. abstract that is manifest. So we have these ideas and then it's taking something from our mind and bringing it into the world. Um, in some cases, I do believe it's part of the artist's purpose. to be or to help bring to life the manifestation or incarnation of certain abstract ideas.  I feel like that's part of the work that I do is to, um, to help people who've been thinking about certain things, you know, that don't necessarily see themselves as an artist. I believe everybody's a creative, but not everybody's an artist and, you know, and has the lexicon and vocabulary or the dexterity to necessarily bring those things to life. And I think that's the difference between being a creative. and an actual artist that manifests things. Um, and sometimes artists themselves are perception personified, you know, and so it's our idea to perceive and to look and to bring to life. Um,  and sometimes we're translators or guides to offer a better understanding of something. And, you know, for myself, spiritually, Um, you know, human connection figures so heavily into my work, you know, maybe for me it's that I can possibly help others, uh, see more clearly in that regard in terms of once again, taking the abstract idea of, you know, spirituality and what is that and what does it look like? And, and bringing that into some, some place in this world, whether it be visual art, whether it be me as an actress, whether it's adornment, whether it's even origami or any type of sculptural work I may do.  That's interesting. Cause it sounds like all of you are talking about taking something from the spirit world in a way and making a body for it in the real world, in the physical world. And when I think of embodiment kind of like through a wellness lens or a health lens, I think of  getting grounded in your body and kind of trying not to get caught up in your mind, not get caught up in the, you know, the, the thoughts that kind of keep churning. And that can be a really good. I don't know, like, uh, a practice to stay mentally well, right? I know, like, the background of this podcast, the whole reason I started it is because my daughter had issues with addiction. And one of the predecessors of the problem was this disembodiment,  this feeling of, like, not being connected, right?  And so I wonder, like, taking the idea of, like, you know, bringing art from the spirit world down to our physical world, but also. You know, being a healthy body and soul, being kind of connected together, um, I wonder how like the being a female artist plays into this, right? Like we are these bodies that can generate new bodies, right? Like we are, we have to be embodied sometimes, whether we want to or not. Like I wonder how this plays into that, um, feeling of being able to take from the spirit world and create.  I think it's not a choice. Yeah, it's definitely not a choice regarding  being informed by this maternal,  um, whether we are literally parents of children or not. We have these, as artists, I think, and women, maternal instincts of caring, caring, nurturing for each other. Um, I also think that while we are all creatives,  I think being an artist is rarely a choice. It's something we have to do.  Um, we don't sit and wonder, I mean, we, against all odds, right? Grant or no grant, money or no money, time or no time, collaborative partners or not, it's just this, you have to, it's a force.  A while ago I did an experiment called Words Matter, in which I was really influenced by Marina Abramovich and her. Mm-Hmm. . Um, I was gonna ask  you about her artist present piece. I'm glad  you brought her up. Um, I was an artist at Cork for 10 years. I had a space and every year they have cork open studios and artist, two things in the gallery. And I'm not a painter or a performer, so I thought, I'm gonna do something. Marina Abramovich inspired. But it's going to involve allowing the other person to talk and to practice really giving my body, my attention, my soul to each person.  For many, that maybe is  Just easy to do. Um, so I admire people that are great listeners, but for me, I thought this is a practice I need to, I'm older and I need to get better at truly being present for someone in this. And I thought to myself. that people, I had a very over inflated idea of how much people would want to hear my wise,  sage response. And no one asked. Some sat across from me in Cork  and I had a little piece of paper that said, your words matter. I'll listen and you can tell me whatever you want.  And I concentrated on listening and people talked for sometimes 45 minutes. Oh, wow. And never said, what do you think? I know you're not supposed to.  Nothing. They were perfectly satisfied. And through that performance art, truly, um, they were the performers and I was the audience. And I learned. That through restricting myself to not,  um, say something back, that my mind was totally with them because I wasn't thinking ahead about something clever. Absolutely. Something clever I could say. Yeah. Some solution. That's where we spend our time. Thinking about what we want to say. We spend our mind thinking like, I'm going to tell them, and I think this is great advice, or I'll tell them this story that relates. I didn't have that. So true. So I was able to really give them and embody that  space. Yeah.  Wonderful. Well, it shows just how in alignment we all are here because my project for, um, my grant was TalkTalk Convo. And so in this, in the same realm, Except in post height of the pandemic, post lockdown, where we've all been so disconnected and in our own little individual silos, trying to encourage people to authentically.  And intentionally speak and, you know, I felt like I needed to give people prompts to give, to get conversation going because people really were, have been very scared, you know, also taking into consideration, um, where we've been politically, you know, just speaking about this country, not even going around, which is, you know, a whole other bag of chips, but, um, just where we are here. And people are scared to share their opinions. And there's, we spend a lot of time in fear in general. And so it felt so important to me. And it actually got the idea pre pandemic. Same artist inspired me.  She didn't inspire me. She's, she's not in the same way. I loved the way, um, Maria Bravonomic. I always mispronounce her last name. But, um, the way she was there for people and she. held space for them to just be as opposed to, well, I need to say this, you know, just as you were saying. A lot of our time with other people is spent thinking about what we are going to say next. And it's not about listening and truly, you know, tapping into this other person and their energy and what they're sharing. And so, once again, I was, I was, uh, moved to do the same thing and truly connect with others. And that was why I had started that project. But I was looking at an old bio this morning. And when the project was in development, it was called Good Advice because I thought, Oh, I have all this stuff that I want to share with people and I have such really great insight. It was so funny. I was like, Oh my God, look at me thinking about myself.  Save your complex. Once again, you know, we were talking about that earlier. And so same thing, you know, when you move yourself out of the way, it's a clearer path to another person. It really is.   What about you, Shamaya? What about being a woman in the  world of sculpture? I'm so caught up with what you guys are saying that I've not been thinking about what to say. That's perfect.  I like what was the first question. Um, so I'll just talk about my most recent. solo exhibition, um, which was funded not by that grant, by another grant, but I got this computer, which I did a lot of work. Um, it was called The Veil of Maya, and in the Indian culture, Maya is the word in the Bhagavad Gita for illusion. So, like, I've made all these sculptures, um, that are like these white, Fluttery things and nobody really knows what it's from but it's actually like this insidious material that's like choking our planet which is waste plastic and um, somewhere in there is that woman of me as a savior trying to save the plastic but there's also the weaving that I picked up which my grandmother in rural India was um, spinning cotton to earn a living for the family while my grandfather was a prisoner of war in Singapore during World War II. He, he had, um,  so this is India with like, he had five daughters and this is the country where, you know, girls are thrown away because the girl child is not needed. Uh, it's the male that needs to take care of the family. So my grandfather with these five girls didn't have enough money,  went to war. Um, and was taken prisoner, but my grandmother earned the, was actually the one sitting at home earning a living weaving. So I wanted to connect with her in some way with my mother now living with me and my father recently passed away, um, from a lung disease. So all this is happening like while we just moved back to America. And so I just picked up what was right there in front of me, which is the grocery bags. And I'm like, what can I make with this? And the first thing I made was an Ivy bag because my dad was in the hospital at the time and I couldn't go because it was COVID, you know, and he was in Washington.  So, um,  yeah, I think that was the time of. Making the art, you know, being a caregiver for my mother, and then I did end up going to the hospital and caregiving for him for a couple of weeks before he left and,  um,  all these are there, like my grandmother, my stories of my history, um, culture that I'm far from, uh, and I, as I've told you, like, our culture is very quiet. You know, we don't make big issues about the political things that are going on in our country or the poverty that we come from. Like I grew up Very poor. I mean, we all slept in one room. We all slept on one bed. We had an outhouse toilet, you know, so there's all these things that I've lived through and I just don't talk about it. I keep moving forward. I educate myself. I get these jobs. I have a good life, but it's all the things that make me and I guess I'm weaving them  like my grandmother was weaving cotton. So I think that's where the female is.   Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very feminine craft  that you're doing.  But I'm trying to also make it masculine because I'm putting in this hard plastic in some of my works to make them into sculptures, which is why I call them tapestry sculptures, um,  because I'm sort of like in a world with my jobs as an engineer, as a political analyst, a male. Dominated fields, which I mean, I never felt that I was lesser. In fact, I felt better than most of them. So that's not a concern for me, but, um  Because I, I mean, you know, you educate yourself and you can put yourself in front of people if you know what you're talking about. And, um, I wasn't concerned about that, but  yeah. yeah. That's  wonderful.  Yeah. I, um, so we're talking about, you know, identity and identifying as a woman Yeah. But we identify in all these different ways, which you've mentioned. Mm-Hmm. , you know, your background. Yeah. Um, how, how else does your identity, any one of you. Your different, you know, ways of seeing the self inform your work beyond the feminine.  I think we're a matrilineal society. The whole time that Shamira was talking, I was just thinking about,  I don't think there's anything more metaphorical and straightforward truth of the stories that you're literally weaving  and carrying this.  I think, gosh, let me, I'm going to write a play about it.  I think that's a  beautiful movie. Watch out, she will definitely write a play about  that. I'm just, I'm completely captivated by people and their own stories. I would never, I can't act, I don't want to act,  but I would. I would encourage you to, oh gosh, I can't stand it. That's such a beautiful story, and I think, That's only a little part of it. I'm sure. Yeah. But that's a thread. Like, that's a really important, I think it could be so cool to stage that in a, Yeah. In a solo storytelling format. My father was an  actor, so he did, Hm. Yeah. Oh, wow. Probably why I'm drawn to you.   And it brings us all together. Mm hmm. But. You know, we identify on a global level, I think, as women with each other, and I don't know that men  do that as much, but I think there's a certain, um,  well, there's a certain empathy and understanding and love that women just normally have for each other, regardless of religion, and that's why it's so important to have these solo.  Stories have, because I think the, the hatred that  happens in the world happens when we do big broad strokes across individuals and we clump them into faceless, nameless people where we would never do that,  um, to some of the historic stories that we've lifted up. And so that's why I think, um, first of all, I think the art that doesn't involve words.  Um, is fascinating to me that the story that you're telling,  um, through your art. I think is, it's breathtaking and the visual of it as you're in the process is part of the storytelling, which I think is so cool. Um, so yeah, it's maternal for  sure. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.  Um, Thorne, you have identified as coming from the Bible Belt, which I think is interesting. And I think, I think is it probably brings something very different from say like Shamira's background to your art and also being a Black woman in Jacksonville, you know, multi generational Jacksonville. How are these identities shaping or how have they shaped your art?  I'll probably say I felt even more motivated and, um,  just moved to.  Be me, as opposed to following through on other people's expectations based on the fact that I am of the African diaspora, based on the fact that I am a female. You know, it's forced me to not necessarily do the opposite, just to  antagonize other people, but just to, because it's been me, like, I grew up in between two brothers, so I read comic books, which was just kind of outside of the norm. You know, when I was growing up, I think now it's a lot more People talk about, you know, women who, you know, work in the comic book world or who work in that world. You know, I grew up doing printmaking. I've been doing printmaking since I was in high school. You know, when  that type of work was also seen as male dominated. And so, um, it was so funny. I had One of my printmaking teachers in college, he could not remember my name. I had been in, like, four years of classes, and I was a major. Could not remember my name. But once again, it was because he didn't necessarily see me as someone he needed to take into consideration. And that's fine. You know, I don't necessarily shape myself by other people's um, expectations of me. Uh, and that's what I've just had to learn. You know, whether it had anything to do with race, or whether it had anything to do with me being a woman. And that's fine. Um, because I think so often we look at the lack or what we don't have as women or what we're not allowed to have or what's been taken away. And I feel like there's a whole bunch of people around to, you know, study those statistics and all the demographics. And I think that's very important, but what has helped to shape me more often than not is what I've done in spite of the lack or what I've done in spite of the things that haven't been. available to me as a woman, because I was really thinking about what is it that I haven't had, or what is it that I haven't? known about because I was a woman or because I am, you know, a brown person. It's because I don't know what I didn't know.  Exactly. I don't know. Nobody told me.  And sometimes, you know, you don't find about it until afterward. So is it, you know, taking once again into consideration the whole idea of the power of now? Is it? Really serving me to be upset about something that I didn't even know about. And I probably came out on the other end of things a whole lot better having made my way through. Not being given a thing, you know, and so I mean, because I can probably look back a number of times, whether it be, um, you know, grants or whether it be different sets of circumstances where I've asked for resources, and I know that maybe it did have an, you know, Whether it was race or me being a woman and not being taken seriously, definitely had an impact. But unless people are fully authentic and honest with you, which. A lot of the time, they're not, they, they feel ashamed of those things that really influence their opinions. So, they're not going to tell me, well, I made this decision to not give you this because women aren't good with money. You know? And so, I mean, you know, we found that a lot of female artists just aren't good with money. So, we have a tendency not to give them the larger grants. Like, you know, and people so often aren't even aware of what their prejudices and their biases are.  probably even more proud of myself, um, for whatever accomplishments I've, I've had or made, um, in spite of the lack and, and for the ignorance of, you know, not knowing what was not given to me and what. Yeah. And what was taken away from me before I even realized it was available.   That's interesting. Cause we talk a lot about privilege now and the privileges that we're not even aware of, you know, and, and kind of like becoming aware of them. It's so important, but it's, I think you're talking about almost the flip side of that, which I think I've experienced this as well, too. Like not knowing what I didn't have.  Not being, cause I'm the same way. I have two brothers. Right. And it's like, when you compare yourself to your siblings, you're like, well, he got this and I didn't get that. So you're like aware of that, but there are some, sometimes you don't even know what's available to you. You don't know how unprivileged maybe you were and you were just kind of like working through that. Like, you know, Shamira, it sounds like your background, you just kept on moving forward and you kept going. But I think it is important to be aware of, you know, the privileges we have and obstacles also that we've kind of come across. It's  usually after it's usually, you know, someone else's. You know, um, view of a situation, which is why connecting with other people is so important. And have, and talking to people about your story, and people can enlighten you. You know, as opposed to us being in these silos where we never share our story, which is one reason why Jen and storytelling, I think all of us are storytellers, you know, sitting here today. Um, that's why it's so important, you know, to find out, you know, though it's not necessarily my focus, because I'm telling you, if I spent, time really getting into the things that I wasn't given. I would do that all day, y'all. I mean, I don't know what else I'd do.  Yeah, I would just cry. I mean, I don't know what else I would spend time doing. And so, it's important to know and to be aware. Um,  I'm not gonna say that ignorance is bliss because it's not necessarily bliss. It's simply, once again, I've been made stronger. By having to work harder. And I've had to be grateful for that. Not that I wouldn't have loved for it to the road to have been a little bit easier and a whole lot less bumpy. And at the same time, I'm so grateful for the person I am today and what these experiences have made me. Um, I wouldn't give it back. Yeah. I want to know once again, I do want to know. And at the same time, I love me. And I'm so grateful for the type of artist I am right now in this moment that I otherwise would not have been if I didn't have this story to share. Yeah.  It occurs to me that there are so many similarities  among the three of you as we're talking about just kind of this, you know, this being in the feminine space. It's interesting how many challenges are, are the same, you know, even as diverse backgrounds as we have. But yeah, I mean, I definitely, cause I, I don't rem, I don't know if you guys saw this. Question because I kind of put it in the body of one of the emails, but I did want to know if any of you have felt  a particular time when you felt really disembodied, like really disconnected and maybe if that informed your art or the opposite, like you felt really embodied, like really kind of like moved by the spirit. So if you have, you know, an anecdote, um, I'd love for you to share that because it seems like those are where. You have some similarities, you know, through the process, you know, you say the process is everything is more, much more than the product.   Um, so I actually, um, I guess I can think of any time when I felt really embodied was I had to do a performance piece, um, at the U S or the Swiss embassy in China,  and, um, it was me and another. Chinese feminist artist who's a performance artist and a professor, and we barely can connect, like we, she doesn't speak much English, my Chinese is very Yi Dian Dian, and like, um, we, we were in the embassy and we put out this long scroll on the grounds, took off our shoes, and she brought this bowl of ink, and we held a thread between the two of us on opposite sides of the scroll and started painting. And there are all these, like, Swiss ambassador, American ambassador, all these diplomats around us. And here we are, like, on the floor, rolling around with the ink. And then we started tying each other up with ink and, like, put it in our teeth. And she was guiding me because I'm, I wasn't as free as her. She's, she's done performance art where she's, like, You know, uh, gone into a tank full of water or a tank and then they poured water over her and she stayed under because her themes are about like, uh, the women's issues in China. So she was guiding me through this process, but here we are like talking about environmental issues, women's rights, human rights in China. At the feet of all these diplomats and as nervous and scared as I was, you know, it was just, it was, I think, a moment of complete embodiment as these two women taking on these like senior figures and, you know, world politics or whatever, and it was pretty cool. Yeah.  That's really cool. Do you have footage of that? I have. Yeah.  Oh yeah, I've got it. It's on my, it's on the Instagram, but I have a lot more pictures as  well.  Can I say both?  I feel a lot of the time, like the work that I do. Um, it's something working through me and it's so there's disembodiment and a disconnection because I feel as if I'm seeing myself from the outside and manifesting this because that is my purpose. Um, and connection when. I'm still here, grounded, and really working to connect with somebody as opposed to letting it happen. So, once again, my project Talk Talk Convo that I finished over the summer, um, I was in those spaces. I created a space. Uh, made from recycled, uh, retail bags, made from probably about 500 or more, I stopped counting, of, of recycled, uh, retail bags. And I went from library to library, building, building these walls and taking these walls down. I didn't even realize how symbolic it was in that moment. Um, but building these walls, putting walls up and taking walls down and creating this space that was intentionally to interact with other people. And that was their space. For two minutes, and that was why we were there. That was the only reason we were there. That's the only reason those walls were there. And I wanted to do it in a space that was accessible. Um, you were talking about diplomats and I was at the other end of the spectrum, you know, where it was anybody that wanted to come into this space, uh, was able to come into this space and try to connect if that was what they wanted to do. And so it was in those moments that I felt more embodied and more. Connected and grounded.  And once again, it's, it's usually when I fully released and I let down and let go of the resistance of trying to control things is. So many of us artists are, we are always trying to control the outcome as opposed to letting things happen and we want to know what it's going to look like and we try and plan it. But I feel like we all have, I think being disembodied might. Get a bad rap, you know, like being freed from and being untethered in being allowed to just Let things be and let things go like what shamira. It sounds like that was what you were doing for sure You were just letting go of what your expectation is and I feel like I feel like a better creative overall. I feel you know just  More connected to the work when I let myself go, not, not in some, you know, erratic way or totally like mentally untethered way, but in this way where you're fully allowing. I see it as spirit working through me in that way. Like I said, I do see art as a spiritual practice and I think that's part of what my purpose is. So I think both of them. And I think both can be good, you know, depending on how you receive it and how you see it.  That's  why we're called creators.  Artists are creators.  Yeah, absolutely. Creating worlds and spaces. Absolutely.  And you work in the imagination which has, is boundless, right? And that's the point of it, you know, it doesn't have a body. But then you have to pull it into, and I think I, I was sharing that Rick Rubin quote with you guys because I just watched his documentary, I read his book, and I loved how he talked about how it's not so much about the product, it's about the process, and we do create these little artifacts here and there. And those are kind of like the body part of our vast imagination, right? So when you create, even if it's a beautiful, wonderful, amazing, you know, play. Or book, or novel, or sculpture. It's really just a little piece of your vast imagination. You know, there's so much else going on in there. And your  capability. And, you know, all that you are capable of doing. Yeah.   Jen? Wild thorn. You want to have a pajama party now? Let's do it. And just stay up all night. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's do this conversation.  Well. Yeah, for sure. It, it sounds like if I can paraphrase for what Thorne, what I heard Thorne saying about the disembodiment part and how it gets a bad rap, which isn't a paraphrase. Um, well, I think about failure. I did a presentation for students last year called Finding Freedom and Fun in Failure.  It connects. to I think what we've, what I've talked about as far as listening, it connects to the sense of place where  if I had been a single mother writing my first album, In New York, well, it wouldn't have happened. I didn't have the space and the place to fail and try stuff. It wouldn't have been possible. So, here we have,  um, the opportunity to try stuff that works, try different ways, collaborate. Some partners that you're working with might disappear at some point. For some things, not. Um, and, and I do, what I do involves, Solitary work and collaboration often,  um, on one project. And I was thinking back to when I got my Rotary ambassadorial scholar, ambassadorial scholarship to go to Senegal.  When I went to the doorway of no return on Goree Island,  I saw,  well, I'm a white person, um,  that carries a healthy degree of.  Sadness for hatred and, um, a lot of the periods of, um, of our world history as people who have been incredibly cruel and  disgusting to each other. And so standing at the doorway of no return, where thousands of Enslaved people from the continent of Africa were loaded onto slave ships. Um,  that moment, I had heard about a little 13 year old girl who was taken from Senegal and, uh, gone through the doorway of no return and ended up here in Spanish owned Florida named Anna Kingsley.  And I just, at that time, there was a tiny little monograph about her that someone sent me. He said, I've heard you're going to this place, Senegal. Guess what? I think this person, and at the time, no one knew the story in Senegal or here, very few people.  And when I went home to my host families, and so I cried for her.  And it was profound. My daughter was lonely, kind of, you know, learning the language. She was in a French school here, which everybody thought I was crazy to put her in Johnny Ford Public Magnet, immersed in French, but, so she could get by fine in French, but, um, you know, she was the only, sometimes we saw, Dakar is a major city, but we went to lots of villages where no one had ever seen a white person before. And when I wrote the song, I cried for Anta Majigunjai, this little girl, and I thought about my daughter on the beach that day meeting another little  girl, a little Senegalese girl, and it brought me back to my best friend. Who we are celebrating 49 years of friendship that I met on a beach when I was 10 and um, and so I connected those two stories and it felt real. It felt, this is my purpose. I didn't question at all the song that I wrote and brought it to a Senegalese group. And they had tears streaming down their faces, and we collaborated and recorded the song. And I had no doubts. It's when doubt comes in. It's when you say, maybe I don't have a right to tell this story. I don't, I'm not in it. Or, when those things come in, then, um, I would say you feel disembodied. And the disembodiment is the business of art. It's always the business of art that I, that you question and doubt. And it's so painful because money,  When, once money gets involved and you're in charge of it, or you have to promote was  very abstract compared to being in the physical living of world, like of the world, you know, it's like now we have to put a number to everything that we do and that we imagine, but, but yeah, I'm just thinking about the other night at your show. It was a very embodied audience because. Of the smells, so she passed around the different smells from different like eras of her life where she remembers it, you know, remember there were good smells there, but in little jars, I've been wondering about that, in little jars, yeah, there were mostly, um, and so to me that felt like a way of you pulling the audience into, into their bodies, you know, into their senses. That was wonderful. Totally taken in there. Yeah. So I guess what we, the way we can wrap up really is let's kind of touch back on the themes of geography and embodiment and taking up space in the city. Like, where do you see? Yourself and your own art and maybe any other organizations that you're connected to, how do you see your, yourself taking up space in? Yes, I can start.  Um, well, you know, we were just having this conversation about, um, me and my role. With art in public places, and I really did see my role as helping people to understand that everybody deserves art, and it should be everywhere. It shouldn't just be in certain neighborhoods with certain, you know, income demographics and certain, you know, um, housing, you know, being 200, 000 and up. And those are the people that deserve art. And a lot of the time when I work with art in public places, and I was essentially, you know, we can say lobbying advocate or whatever. Yeah. That I harassed a lot of a lot of, um, you know, people that work with the city, including city council members at the time that I was first appointed, um, to understand that  there is a space, there's a huge gap, there's a chasm  in between where You know, people have access to art there where art is made and then people have access to it. So much of the time things are in a gallery or in other spaces and maybe in a theater where a lot of people don't even feel comfortable, you know, and I'm not saying that everything should just be, you know, in a grocery store. And at the same time I say, sure, why not? You know, like, why not try, you know, doing art, you know, in, in unexpected spaces. But for, for this specific, um, goal that I had with Art in Public Places, it was about making the process of art going into the community, one that was a consistent, process and one that was facilitated, you know, by a system because they understood that this w this is a need. And so I, I feel so much of the time that we don't all fully understand. I think artists, of course, because we're artists, we feel that art is essential, but so much of the time people don't fully understand that art is essential. Like. You know, art that challenges us, art that's pretty, art that, you know, is not only amazing to look at, but art that teaches us. And I feel like that's a huge part of what my work is here. Not just the work that I create, but also advocating for that type of work as well, supporting other people that do that type of work. And, um,  And always working to, to push the idea of arts access forward is a huge part of my purpose.   That's wonderful. I can definitely see that.   I don't have any grandiose  plans. I mean, I think I'm just going to keep picking up everyone's trash and just making my work. That's a part of it, yes.  And if there's an opportunity to work with a group setting to like weep together, that would be fun. And have, you know, like, sort of like a weaving circle.  We've, we've sculpt with the waste, I think, I mean, that's, I don't have big plans because I'm also going to try to educate myself some more, so.  Those  are big plans, by the way. Changing something that was seen as trash into something. Yeah. Different and useful and giving it a second chance. Yes. Absolutely.  Yeah. I'm uplifting it. I mean, I'm aware of all the, uh, metaphors and themes that go into the work, but I'm just doing, you know, a few pieces at a time. Trying to do, do my part for  society, so. Yeah,  makes me think of mushrooms, because I don't know if you've seen the, it's Fantastic Fungi. They talk about how mushrooms, if we didn't have, um, life forms like that, they'd eat dead wood. That eat, you know, old things and discarded things, then they would just pile up. It was something I'd never thought about before, but that's almost what you're  doing. You're a little mushroom. You're a cute little  mushroom. Mushrooms are great and have many wonderful uses. Absolutely.  Lion's Mane is great. It is. It's  beautiful. What  about  you, Jen? So, um  I was listening to a, um, a guy named Jim Carrick, I, on,  uh, First Coast Connect the other morning, and I hadn't thought about him in a long time. I lived in St. Augustine a long time ago. He's a guitarist that knew, The legendary folk  artist, Gamble Rogers,  and he was doing all these kind of gamble isms, quoting Gamble Rogers, and I already knew this one, that Gamble Rogers said, life is what happens while you're busy making plants. I love that, but I heard a new one that I hadn't heard before, and um,  experience is what happens when you don't get what you want.  And I love that. So true. Um, And so I would say my, the geography of my presence and my art and the connection between goes back to those early days where I was instructed as an ambassadorial scholar to create a cultural bridge between Dakar and Jacksonville. And I had no idea. I wasn't inspired at all until I immersed myself there and heard a story. And so I thought, Okay, you're good at that. You're good at finding connections between people, whether it's I felt like it hurt me to hear you can't find your food  because culinary art is so important. Whenever I do an artistic or a performance, I try to include the elements of the senses, the smells and the tastes and the feel, um, and the sounds of a, of a moment or of a story. And so to me, um, Um, I, I just want to keep creating those cultural bridges that come naturally to me. There's a lot of things that don't, but that's my language and  from their home, right? And a lot of what we're talking about is home,  right? And what home, how do we bring whatever that home is, or, and then you talked about how you carry home with you, you know, you wear it, right? Um, all these things. So to me, um. It's all about that. Just finding what our language is and continuing to do it and build those bridges.   That's so important. Yeah, I do cuckoo a lot.  I'm coming over   because my mother's there and she can  guide.  Thank you so much, Jen and Shamira and Thorne. Thanks for being on the show and gathering here. It was so special that you were here. Speaking of home, like in my home, what  a great conversation. Thank you, sir.  Absolutely. Thank you for even thinking of bringing us together. 

Welcome back to the Conference Room. This week on the Business of Race Podcast, we are joined by Myisha De Nose, the Director of Program Development, TRIO Veterans Services at FSCJ. Join us and Myisha for a conversation about supporting continuing education for veterans. Remember to leave a comment, like, and subscribe. #BusinessPodcast #Education #Veteranshttps://bit.ly/904wardtree

The Spirit of Place Tim Gilmore is a prolific local history author who has written extensively about Jacksonville. As the writer and creator of www.jaxpsychogeo.com, a project that explores place and catalogs the Southern Gothic, he has told more than 700 stories of strange and historic locations in and around Jacksonville, Florida. He has also published 22 books. "Ever since UNF English Professor Alex Menocal introduced me to the concept of psychogeography years ago, I've been enthralled with it," Gilmore says. "It's a portmanteau word, the psychology of geography, [meaning] something like the spirit of place. It's where the name for my website, jaxpsychogeo, comes from." Gilmore seems equally fascinated with Jacksonville and its people. He is also the founder of JaxbyJax. A literary arts festival, now in its 10th year, JaxbyJax was built on the theme of “Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville.” Few writers have written about Jacksonville more than Gilmore. He joined us last November to talk about his latest book, The Culture Wars of Warren Folks.  Tim Gilmore has written 22 books including Box Broken Open: The Architecture of Ted Pappas; Murder Capital: Eight Stories, 1890s-1980s; Channeling Anna Fletcher; Repossessions: Mass Shooting in Baymeadows; The Book of Isaiah: A Vision of the Founder of a City, illustrated by Shep Shepard; Devil in the Baptist Church: Bob Gray's Unholy Trinity; and The Mad Atlas of Virginia King. Four of the works he's written for the stage have been produced by Florida State College at Jacksonville DramaWorks and his writing has appeared in numerous publications both locally and nationally. JaxPsychoGeo has received mention in publications including The Miami Herald, The Washington Post and The New Yorker and was featured in the A24 book Florida! A Hyper-Local Guide to the Flora, Fauna and Fantasy of the Most Far-Out State in America. Gilmore teaches Literature and Writing at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He's received awards from FSCJ, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Jacksonville City Council. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. You can also read his twice-weekly newsletter, Tim Gilmore's deadpaper, at timgilmore.substack.com. Interviewer Shep Shepard is a professor of English at FSCJ's Nassau Center. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida and has worked as a full-time instructor at FSCJ for twenty years. In his spare time, he produces music under various monikers, edits fiction and nonfiction prose, creates digital art, and enjoys time with his wife Ana and their dogs Meka and Moxie. READ Check out Tim's work from the Library Catalog: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=AUTHOR%3D%22tim+gilmore%22&te=  Tim Recommends: Pyschogeographical Works I've long been a huge Cormac McCarthy fan. I've assigned The Road to numerous classes over the years. Of all the McCarthy I've read, I most highly recommend The Road and two of his earlier novels: First, there's the 1973 novel Child of God, which somehow manages to be one of the most horrifying things I've ever read and one of the most beautiful. Few writers could achieve that strange incongruous feat, perhaps none better than McCarthy. Meanwhile, his 1979 novel Suttree paints as detailed a picture of down-and-out Knoxville, Tennessee, as Joyce ever painted of Dublin. It's perhaps the greatest American psychogeographical work. When I recently read John Oliver Killens' 1954 novel Youngblood, I couldn't believe I'd not read him already. This novel, alongside Harry Crews' newly reissued 1978 memoir A Childhood, has to be among the best writings ever to come out of Georgia. The two of them work like split-screen, a Black childhood and a white childhood, both so different and so similar. Both writers had ties to Jacksonville. Crews said mid-20th century Jax was the place poor Georgia farmers went when the crops failed. Various artists and writers have used psychogeography in different ways. I've returned time and again to my favorite such writings, which I can't recommend enough – novels like Peter Ackroyd's Chatterton and Hawksmoor and Toni Morrison's Beloved. On the face of it, Ackroyd and Morrison couldn't be more different, but they both explore how culture is haunted by history and how patterns of history present themselves as ghostly. Then there's Joseph Mitchell's Joe Gould's Secret, a nonfiction account of a homeless Greenwich Village icon who claimed to have written the longest book in the world. Tim Recommends: Other Jax Authors I'd be negligent if I didn't give a shout-out to our local literary community, which runs so much deeper and wider than most locals realize and includes works like Julie Delegal's Seen and Andres Rojas's Third Winter in Our Second Country and Johnny Masiulewicz's Happy Tapir zine series. I could name dozens of other writers I admire and their works, but as soon as I attempt a long list, I'll foolishly omit someone and lose a few nights' sleep. (I already see 15 or 20 people in my mind's eye whose names I didn't mention, but could have, just now.) Anyone who wants an extensive list of writers participating in the Jax community, just look at the archives for the last nine festivals at jaxbyjax.com. I'll just say this is the 10th year of JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, which my wife Jo Carlisle and I founded and then relinquished to the more capable hands of Darlyn and Brad Kuhn. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

In Part 1 of this three part episode, Joel lassoed Rich Grego and Lisa Carleyinto a conversation recorded weaving threads through time and space and love, itself. This conversation meanders among these three old, dear friends, and touches on nihilism, dissolution and romanticism, Dharma decay andDharma renewal, changes and transformations. Is there room for Hope in the world today? Optimism? Does the state of the world allow a falling away so that things might improve, a sense something better might come. What does Enlightenment look like? What does Enlightenment feel like? In this deeply intimate talk, Rich, Lisa, and Joel explore aspects of the existential path requiring courage and bravery, and the conversation deconstructs aspects of the work required to build a strong existence or spiritual foundation. Lisa, Rich, and Joel examine challenging and evolving social constructs, darkness versus light, mission and meaning and purpose, how do we find mission meaning and purpose? Asking 'how' versus asking 'why?' Fundamentally, what makes us feel we are far from where we should be, what makes us feel we are far from 'home.' Richard Grego is Professor of philosophy and cultural history at FSCJ. His research interests focus on cross-cultural themes in religion and science— including philosophy of mind, comparative world religions/world civilizations, and the metaphysical - theological implications of theoretical physics and cosmology. His publications have included studies in the history- philosophy of science and conceptions of nature in the history of western philosophy, as well as cross-cultural perspectives on mind/ consciousness in western philosophy - psychology and the neo-Vedanta Hindu tradition. Prior to his academic career, he was a criminal investigator-polygraph examiner for the Florida Office of the Public Defender and in the private sector Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute and International Academy of Polygraph Science in Florida, and national Academic Director of the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council. Lisa Carley is passionate about India, existential and phenomenological philosophy/psychology and maternal mental health. She chooses to explore her passion through travel, connection with others, and writing. She holds a degree in English Literature from SUNY Albany, has worked toward a Psy. D. in Clinical Psychology with a Masters in Existential Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook, is a mother, student of Philosophy and English, artisan, and poet.

Hometown talent, Creekside High School alum and Jaguars corner Darious Williams joins John Oehser for The O-Zone Podcast. Darious opens up about the defense's hot start to the 2023 season including his 2 interceptions. He also shares his incredible origin story starting at a Jacksonville area high school and becoming a starting NFL corner.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hometown talent, Creekside High School alum and Jaguars corner Darious Williams joins John Oehser for The O-Zone Podcast. Darious opens up about the defense's hot start to the 2023 season including his 2 interceptions. He also shares his incredible origin story starting at a Jacksonville area high school and becoming a starting NFL corner.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman, Heart-Shaped Box, and others. Much of his work has been adapted for film, including Horns (starring Daniel Radcliffe), the Blumhouse smash The Black Phone (adapted from his short story), and Locke & Key, a hit Netflix series based on the comic he co-created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. He lives in New England. Interviewer Badr Milligan is a project manager by day and a podcast creator by night. Since 2012, he has been vocal in sharing his interests with the world and amplifying the stories of others. He's the creator and host of the award-winning podcast, The Short Box: A Comic Book Talk Show (https://www.theshortboxpodcast.com), and recently launched The Nexxt Spin (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1787208) podcast for music lovers. In 2018, he helped form the Jax Podcaster's United Group (https://jaxpodcastersunited.com/), a collective of podcasters and audio creators dedicated to helping one another through collaboration and community. Badr is also an FSCJ alumnus and veteran of the Florida Air National Guard, using both experiences to run his own small business, The Short Box Entertainment Company (https://theshortboxentertainment.com/).  Check out all of Joe's work from the library: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=AUTHOR%3D%22joe+hill%22&te= JOE RECOMMENDS "Here in the early part of the 21st century, everyday life is full of noise and digital distractions – which makes it all the more important to find time for the cup of tea, the quiet corner, and a good novel. Even if all you can manage is twenty minutes of peaceful reading time, your brain will thank you. At the moment I'm especially stunned and moved by the work of Willy Vlautin. I guess he's the best American novelist writing right now. Check out The Night Always Comes but brace yourself – this novel comes hard for your heart. It's about one violent, bewildering, endless evening in the life of a young woman living on the ragged edge of poverty, and it left me staggered." "I'm a horror guy, so no one will be surprised to hear that so far my favorite movie of the year has been Evil Dead Rise. It's really a film about the dissolution of the American Family… by way of woodchipper and chainsaw. Fellini it ain't; more like a bloody, gore-clogged, R-rated episode of The Three Stooges. So it's not for all tastes – but it suits mine just fine." "For a long time, I wrote with the stereo on and the volume turned way up. AC/DC and Led Zeppelin were my noise of choice. These days, though, I tend to work in silence, the better to hear the voices in my head (and one of the best things about being a writer is I can spend all day listening to imaginary voices and I get paid for it instead of locked up). But when I'm doing some light revision, I might throw on some moody indie singer-songwriter stuff full of heartache and distorted guitar. The record by boygenius fits the bill and has been in regular rotation since it came out." --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

JTA moves forward with plans for autonomous vehicles; the Artist Series at Florida State College at Jacksonville will debut next month; songs have been added at The Independent.

Leela Corman is a painter, educator, and graphic novel creator, working in the realm of diaspora Ashkenazi culture and third-generation restorative work. Her books include the Unterzakhn (Schocken/Pantheon, 2012), which was nominated for the Eisner, the L.A. Times Book Award, and Le Prix Artemisia, and won the ROMICS Prize for Best Anglo-American Comic. Her latest, a short comics collection called You Are Not A Guest, was released by Field Mouse Press in 2023. Her graphic novel Victory Parade, a story about WWII, women's wrestling, and the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, will be published by Schocken/Pantheon in 2024. Her short comics have also appeared in The Believer Magazine, Tablet Magazine, Nautilus, and The Nib. Corman works primarily with Polish-Jewish history and life, in both her fiction and nonfiction comics, as well as women's history, 20th-century New York history, trauma, loss and (occasionally) music. Interviewer Badr Milligan is a project manager by day and a podcast creator by night. Since 2012, he has been vocal in sharing his interests with the world and amplifying the stories of others. He's the creator and host of the award-winning podcast, The Short Box: A Comic Book Talk Show, and recently launched The Nexxt Spin podcast for music lovers. In 2018, he helped form the Jax Podcaster's United Group, a collective of podcasters and audio creators dedicated to helping one another through collaboration and community. Badr is also an FSCJ alumnus and veteran of the Florida Air National Guard, using both experiences to run his own small business, The Short Box Entertainment Company.  Check out Leela's work from the library: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=leela+corman&te= Unterzakhn by Leela Corman: A mesmerizing, heartbreaking graphic novel of immigrant life on New York's Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century, as seen through the eyes of twin sisters whose lives take radically and tragically different paths. For six-year-old Esther and Fanya, the teeming streets of New York's Lower East Side circa 1910 are both a fascinating playground and a place where life's lessons are learned quickly and often cruelly. Leela Recommends “I am a recommendations factory!” Places to visit in Florida: The Springs! Visit with care and gentleness for their fragile ecosystems and be amazed at their hallucinatory beauty. They're Florida's best-kept secret! Chamblin's Book Mine in Jacksonville. Hear Again Records, the amazing Third House Books, and Volta Coffee, all in Gainesville. Podcasts Leela Recommends: Maintenance Phase! Essential listening for debunking all the wellness pseudoscience, diet culture, and anti-fatness we all grew up with. The BMI episode alone should be required listening. Plus it's very funny!   Conspirituality, a weekly deep dive into the intersection of cults, yoga and wellness culture, right-wing extremism, mis- and disinformation, and politics. On The Media, essential investigative journalism and media literacy. Reveal, one of the best investigative journalism podcasts I've heard, especially in the areas of systemic racism and abuses of power in the US, hosted by the fantastic Al Letson, who I believe is a Florida native. [Editor's note: An Orange Park High School grad!] Artists Leela Recommends: Wangechi Mutu Clarity Haynes Jinal Sangoi Jeanne Mammen Joan Semmel William Kentridge Kara Walker Television Leela Recommends: Reservation Dogs, a funny and heartbreaking series about contemporary Indigenous life in Oklahoma, created and starring Indigenous folks. Pose, set in the queer ballroom scene of New York in the late 1980s and early 90s, starring, among other greats, national treasure Billy Porter. This is going to sound strange, but I'm really into German detective shows on Netflix, especially Dogs Of Berlin, Same Sky, NSU German History X, and Kleo, all of which deal in various ways with the end of the Cold War, the rise of racist movements after the Wall fell, and the complexities of immigration and contemporary Germany. CW for violence and depictions of racism. Severance is an excellent sci-fi, reminiscent of the very best of Philip K Dick's work. Films/Directors Leela Recommends: Pedro Almodóvar Fatih Akin Ildiko Enyedi Jim Jarmusch Preston Sturges Busby Berkeley That documentary about Little Richard, I Am Everything. What a beautiful person he was!  Music Leela Recommends:  Come, the best band of the 1990s, who've been re-issuing their back catalog and playing reunion shows everywhere. Bill Orcutt Quartet, "Music For Four Guitars", very up my Branca/Verlaine alley. Chris Brokaw, "Puritan". Thurston Moore Group. Prose Leela Recommends: Lisa Carver books. Jewish Currents magazine, the best of contemporary diaspora thought and politics. Girls They Write Songs About by Carlene Bauer, the most pitch-perfect Gen X novel I have yet encountered. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, by Tadeusz Borowski. A corrosive work written a few years after the author's release from Auschwitz, that is required reading for high school students in Poland. Comic Creators Leela Recommends: Emil Ferris Lauren Weinstein Rina Ayuyang Megan Kelso Jaime Hernandez 4Ever! Miscellaneous Recommendations: Casey Johnston's newsletter She's A Beast, in which she writes about weight lifting, debunking and dismantling diet culture and fitness pseudoscience and anti-fatness, and celebrates getting swole.     --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

Jim Rugg is an Eisner and Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist, designer, and YouTuber. His comics have been published by Marvel, DC, Image Comics, AdHouse Books, New York magazine, Dark Horse Comics, Titan Books, and Fantagraphics. Rugg's comics career began with the publication of Street Angel in 2004. Street Angel comics are part of the National Archives and the Smithsonian Collection. In 2007, Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg created The PLAIN Janes, launching the Young Adult graphic novel explosion. Rugg's graphic novel Afrodisiac was honored on the AIGA 50/50 list for book design. In 2018, Rugg started Cartoonist Kayfabe on YouTube with Ed Piskor (X-Men Grand Design). Cartoonist Kayfabe celebrates all things comics – with creator interviews, history, tutorials, and discussions about comics. In 2020, Jim Rugg created the world's 1st blacklight comic book, Mtsyry: Octobriana 1976. He taught visual storytelling at the School of Visual Arts from 2012-2022. Rugg has run one marathon so far and lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and cats. Interviewer Badr Milligan is a project manager by day and an audio creator by night. Since 2012, he has used a mic to help others share their stories. He hosts the award-winning show, The Short Box Podcast, and recently created the Nexxt Spin podcast for fellow vinyl lovers. Inspired by the expanding podcast medium and community around him, he assembled the first Jax Podcaster's United! meet-up in 2018, a now regular event with a fast-growing collective of podcasters and audio enthusiasts dedicated to helping one another through collaboration and community. Badr is also an FSCJ alumnus and veteran of the Florida Air National Guard, using both experiences to run his own small business, The Short Box Entertainment Company. --- Sign Up for Library U to hear about the latest Lit Chats and catch them live! — https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/library-u-enrollment   Jim Rugg Borrow Jim's books from our collection: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=%22jim+rugg%22&te= Website: https://www.jimrugg.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimruggart Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimruggart/   Badr Milligan/The Short Box Website: https://www.theshortboxpodcast.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheShortBoxJax Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortboxjax/    Jacksonville Public Library Website: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl  Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

Duval County Public Schools named in federal lawsuit; the senior vote; FSCJ Artist Series; What's good Wednesday

Contrast Project co-host Shelton Hull is joined by Nick Bateh of Bold City Civics for an exclusive interview with FSCJ business professor Dr, Erick Aguilar, a US Navy veteran who is currently running against incumbent Rep. John Rutherford in the Republican primary for Florida's 4th Congressional District in 2022. Lots of fun https://erickforcongress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ErickForCongress https://politics.raisethemoney.com/en/eaguilar --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-contrast-project/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-contrast-project/support

Here's Part II of my conversation with Mr. Isaac Brown! We speak on my current role with Resonate Recordings, the popular trends of podcasting, and more. I enjoyed speaking about the journey! #TOTHETOPFollow all socials and subscribe to my website: https://mralpete.com and subscribe to The MPN Network website: https://mpn-llc.com.Instagram: @mralpeteTwitter: @mralpeteYouTube: https://youtube.com/mralpetePowered by MPN Network. Music production and audio engineering by myself.You can listen to this podcast on MPN Network site: https://mpn-llc.com, Buzzsprout, and on all podcast platforms. Want to start a podcast?? Buzzsprout got you right HERE!Want to turn your podcast into video?? Ecamm got you right HERE!

I had the honor to speak with my past college Digital Media professor Isaac Brown's class about my world of podcasting. I get into how I got into podcasting, what helped me get comfortable with the sport, and what steps I take when creating a show. I also spoke on my internship with WJCT and working on the Oddball Podcast w/ Lindsey Kilbride. The second part will be released next week. Enjoy.  Follow all socials and subscribe to my website: https://mralpete.com and subscribe to The MPN Network website: https://mpn-llc.com.Instagram: @mralpeteTwitter: @mralpeteYouTube: https://youtube.com/mralpetePowered by MPN Network. Music production and audio engineering by myself.You can listen to this podcast on MPN Network site: https://mpn-llc.com, Buzzsprout, and on all podcast platforms. Want to start a podcast?? Buzzsprout got you right HERE! Want to turn your podcast into video?? Ecamm got you right HERE!

A Northside man was shot twice after confronting two men suspected of burglarizing neighborhood cars. More info will be updated on-air and on the WOKV app as it becomes available.

Americans are reeling from a dark day in our nation’s history Wednesday.

A Jacksonville-based data scientist says the way Florida presents COVID-19 data to the public is misleading, and he worries it’s being done deliberately to help support efforts to reopen the state. Christopher Perle is a Professor of Biology at Florida State College at Jacksonville. Perle has been keeping a close eye on Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard since it first launched. He joined us to explain his concerns about the state data. Related: FSCJ Data Scientist Says The Way Fla. Presents COVID-19 Numbers Is Misleading 'Folio Weekly 2.0' After folding in May after 33 years due to the economic realities of the pandemic, Folio Weekly is making a comeback . Local criminal defense attorney John Phillips is the principal investor in the new Folio Weekly 2.0 and joined us with why he thinks the community needs to support independent journalism. Weekend Events We looked at the events around town this weekend, including the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, which will reopen to the public in

On Friday’s episode of First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross , our Media Roundtable examined some of the major stories impacting Northeast Florida this week, including:

Ask Win is a podcast where you are a VIP. It’s a friend, family, and international show. Win wants to focus and teach people more and Cerebral Palsy. You’re welcome to ask questions about anything that you want. CP questions but mainly life questions on how to deal with CP or not. Win can ask you base questions if you want. Please let us know or there will be no base questions. If you have any questions for Win please email her at askingwkelly@gmail.com. Ask Win Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/ask-win-22507. Please donate to Ask Win by going to https://www.paypal.me/WCharles. Patron Checkout: https://www.patreon.com/join/Askwin?. Simplecast's Brand Ambassador Program: http://refer.smplc.st/rtTvG. Check out Win's books at https://www.amazon.com/Win-Kelly-Charles/e/B009VNJEKE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1538951782&sr=1-2-ent. To buy Win’s new book, Smile with Dictation, go to https://bookhttps://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/i-win-hope-and-life/id1476934916s2read.com/Win. I, Win: http://books2read.com/Iwin. I, Win audiobook in iBooks:. I, Win audiobook in Google Pay: https://play.google.com/store/books/category/audiobooks?hl=en. I, Win audiobook in kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/i-win-5. I, Win audiobook in Nook: https://www.nookaudiobooks.com/audiobook/1005661/i-win. I, Win audiobook in Scibd: https://www.scribd.com/book/275801773/I-Win. I, Win audiobook in Beek: https://www.beek.io/libros/i-win. Check out Danielle's books at https://www.amazon.com/Danielle-Coulter/e/B00OFIOY3C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?qid=1483655853&sr=8-2&linkCode=sl2&tag=paradimarket-20&linkId=8490a064c62cededb762ed5b949ed144. Check out Win’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGN0mfJdlpKG8IdJTBjKTow. Please read Outsource Your Book to a Wall Street Journal Bestselling Press: https://leaderspress.com. Born with Cerebral Palsy author of I,Win | podcaster| by win charles: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/win-charles-107a4S3520. 5 Secrets for a Successful Podcast: https://youtu.be/eUTXwrx2ZIc. Apple Podcast on Amazon Smart Speaker: https://apps.apple.com/us/story/id1491094491. Podcast voice coaching: https://www.fiverr.com/share/kLrbLw.   On Ask Win today (Wednesday, March 25, 2020), Best-Selling Author, Win C welcomes Romina Muhametaj. Romina (MOO-HA-MEA-TAY), while attending FSCJ and working on her B.S. Business Administration degree she also hosts RM Podcast FL. RM Podcast FL launched last June and keeps growing every day. The listeners come from 39 countries so far. On her podcast, she interviews professionals of different careers and asks them fundamental questions on how one can overcome career and life obstacles. Her goal is for the audience to learn at least one new thing per episode so they can take that knowledge and apply to their lives. Romina moved to the US by herself at just 17 years old. Her American dream is like a roller coaster, a lot of highs and a lot of lows. During those highs and lows, she was able to learn and make her mistakes teachable moments.  After being a college drop out for years, she finally took the courage to start her educational path again.  For the two years now she also holds the President Chair position for FSCJ-SHRM Student Chapter where she works closely with the college advisers to put the events together and find professional guest speakers. Each event averages about 60 attendees. Since she moved to Jacksonville, five years ago, she often devotes her time and volunteers to different organizations around town. Romina has assisted Junior Achievement of North Florida and Mercy Support Services by giving back to our community. She  recently launched Six 7 Radius LLC, a consulting firm. One of her big life goals is to create the Six 7 Radius Scholarship and help FSCJ exceeding students by paying the tuition of their last course. This way can worry about their degree and finding a life-changing job instead of covering tuition fees. She loves HOPE theory, Help One Person Every day. Life is too boring when you enjoy your success by yourself so you share it with others. If you would like to connect with Romina and grab a coffee, exchange ideas and know more about her,  you can find her at www.connectwithromina.com.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! Dadgum and Reekus tackle another musical...no, you didn't read that wrong, we decided to break the rules all over again and get out of the theater and to the stage. It's a wicked good time (Boston accent) as the crew takes a scattered look at the Broadway smash hit, Wicked. Listen to Gordon, once again, try and explain why musicals don't translate to the big screen! Hear about Luke's infatuation with the sign language crew at the production! And the girls...well, the girls got their work cut out for them in a whirlwind of fact checks! Now go eat your turkey! Show Credits: Music by Beat Lab 7 Artwork by Ally Torelli Show Cast: Luke "Dadgum" Pettrey Gordon "Reekus" Strickler Tatum Pettrey Maria Strickler

Playwright, musician, professor, Jenn Chase’s creative journey has taken her from her childhood home in Cape Cod to Dakar, Senegal, before bringing her here to us in Jacksonville where she works out of her studio in the CoRK Arts District, and as a professor teaching writing and humanities at FSCJ. A free spirit, who has failed as spectacularly as she has succeeded, and persevered to produce a significant body of work, including five albums, six theatrical productions and a variety of film and television projects on three continents. She joins us on Scribbler's Corner to talk about how bad choices have taught her the best lessons in life.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/bkuhnfl)

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Scribbler's Corner caught up with one of Jacksonville's rising stars. Andres Rojas was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. at age 13. He attended Florida Junior College, now FSCJ, here in Jacksonville and went on to earn an M.F.A. and a J.D. from the University of Florida. His work has been featured in numerous literary magazines and included in the 2017 edition of Best New Poets. His first chapbook, Looking for What Isn’t There, is forthcoming from Paper Nautilus.For all of that success, however, Rojas has wrestled, for decades with severe clinical depression and the kind of self doubt that all writers struggle with from time to time. He shares how he came to terms with his inner critic by learning to accept self doubt, and submit anyway, recognizing that you miss 100 percent of the shots not taken.The song, Southbound Lane, featured in this episode, was written and produced by Andres Rojas and performed by Eclepto Funk America. It is used here with the Author's permission. If you know and love Andy (And we are happy to say we do!) do yourself a favor: Pour yourself a drink and binge watch his archived front porch concert series available in the video section on his facebook page. It will make you smile. And it will make you want to have him over for songs and Sangria.UPDATE: Looking for What Isn't There is now available.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/bkuhnfl)

Tim Gilmore writes about the haunted South.Gilmore is the author of 17 books, including a historical novel about the founder of Jacksonville, The Book of Isaiah: A Vision of the Founder of a City, illustrated by his colleague Shep Shepard, and creative nonfiction such as Goat Island Hermit: The State of Florida vs. Rollians Christopher, The Devil in the Baptist Church: Bob Gray’s Unholy Trinity, In Search of Eartha White: Storehouse for the People, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, and Stalking Ottis Toole: A Southern Gothic. Gilmore adapted Stalking Ottis Toole as a play, which FSCJ (Florida State College at Jacksonville) Dramaworks’ Ken McCulough directed at the school’s Wilson Center in Spring 2017. Dramaworks will produce Gilmore’s The Repossession of James Edward Pough: Mass Shooting in Baymeadows in April, 2019. Repossession will be McCulough’s 50th production with FSCJ.Gilmore is the founder of JaxbyJax, a literary arts festival built on the theme of “Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville.” He’s the writer and creator of www.jaxpsychogeo.com, a project that explores place and catalogues the Southern Gothic, telling the stories of nearly 450 locations in and around Jacksonville, Florida.Gilmore’s work has appeared in numerous national and Jacksonville area publications including Mark Ari’s EAT Poems, Andrei Condrescu’s Exquisite Corpse, Fiction Fix, Perversion Magazine and Jacksonville’s Folio Weekly. His first stories for Folio appeared in the mid-1990s. In late 2018, his essay “The Stories That Roam Jacksonville’s Streets” appeared in Bridge Eight Press’s anthology 15 Views of Jacksonville.Tim Gilmore has presented at numerous events and venues, including the Jacksonville Historical Society (where he’s spoken on the history of murder in Jacksonville, Eartha White, Virginia King and Rollians Christopher), the Florida Historical Society, ASALH (the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History), various Popular Culture Association and Modern Language Association conferences, the Douglas Anderson Writers’ Festival, Sleeping Giant Film Festival, and JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival. When his book In Search of Eartha White, Storehouse for the People appeared in 2014, he gave the keynote address at the Pearls and Cuff Links Fundraiser Gala for the Clara White Mission. In February 2019, Gilmore will be the keynote speaker at the University of Florida’s English Graduate Organization symposium.Gilmore teaches Literature and Writing at Florida State College at Jacksonville, where he was awarded a 2018 Distinguished Faculty Award. The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville named Gilmore tSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/bkuhnfl)

You are listening to Dare2Dream Podcast with Rev. Lisa Ealy and this is Episode 17: Interview with Dr. Linda Woodward   Take the time right now to join my mail list and you will receive an invitation and a free gift.  Just by texting the word “DREAM” to 216-868 7899.   Who is Dr. Linda Woodward?   Dr. Woodard has over 20 years of experience in workforce and career development. In July 2017 and 2018, Dr. Woodard’s company (LDW Group LLC) won competitive bids and was selected as the One-Stop Operator for the comprehensive American Job Centers (AJC) for CareerSource Northeast Florida (Region 8) and CareerSource Central Florida (Region 12). The One-Stop Operator ensures that the AJC partners provide a seamless customer-focus delivery to services to customers who utilize the One-Stop Center. From 2015-2017, Dr. Woodard served as the Associate VP of Workforce Education and Economic Development for Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ). There, she provided strategic oversight for Continuing Education (CE) open enrollment programming, Corporate Learning and Training Solutions (CLTS) (engagement with the business and industry community to provide contract training, professional services and programs), the affiliated registered apprenticeship programs and federal grant programs including FSCJ’s $5 million DOL Florida Apprenticeship Grant. In her first year at FSCJ, Dr. Woodard and her teams eliminated deficits in both entrepreneurial centers (CLTS and CE) and exceeded revenue goals by nearly 50 percent. She developed fast-track short-term training to meet the needs of employers in the College’s service area; these programs were designed to articulate to the PSAV (Postsecondary Adult Vocational), A.S., and B.A.S. workforce program pathways. Dr. Woodard is knowledgeable of LMI and uses the information to make data-driven decisions. Prior to relocating to Jacksonville, Dr. Woodard was the VP of External Relations and Funding in the workforce division of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, Ohio. She served two tours of duty at Tri-C from 1998 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2015. While at Tri-C, Dr. Woodard managed multi-million- dollar workforce grants while having oversight of the division’s resource development, grants management, quality assurance, and the Job Link Services (JLS) department. During her time at Tri-C, Dr. Woodard earned two of the College’s highest awards for a stellar performance: The President’s “Professional Excellence” Award & Executive Vice President’s “Excellence In Action” Award.     Interview Questions: What drives you? What is your Secret to your success? Describe yourself in a few words on one sentence? What Practical steps did you use the get your results? Or to get to where you are today? If you could send a message to yourself 30, 20, 10 years ago what would it be and why? Describe your daily routine What is your mindset/strategy? Where does your inspiration come from? How do your values show up at work? Do you have a mantra or scripture you love by? How do you keep balance in your life? What do you want your legacy to be?     Information Mentioned in this Podcast: Linda Woodward Bio - http://bit.ly/D2DPodcast2Pf6ZYh LDW Broken Arrow - http://bit.ly/D2DPodcast2Ph0xQv   I sincerely hope you have been enjoying If you’ve been listening to this Free Podcast and have enjoyed it or it is touching you, subscribe, share it with a friend. I’d love for you to give a 5-star rating this will make it easier for others to find it.   Connect with me: Schedule your Discovery Call:  https://bit.ly/2rIJ462 Facebook: https://bit.ly/2sO4n6D Instagram: https://bit.ly/2A2PVxG YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ND6VfU Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisaealy www.dare2dreamcareers.com   

Kandice Jacobs-Armstrong holds a Bachelor of General Studies from Texas Woman’s University and Associate of Science in Funeral Services from #fscj. In 2016 she launched her own #business, Kandice Jacobs Creations, where she helps equip you to live life abundantly & leave a lasting legacy.”

Kandice Jacobs-Armstrong holds a Bachelor of General Studies from Texas Woman’s University and Associate of Science in Funeral Services from #fscj. In 2016 she launched her own #business, Kandice Jacobs Creations, where she helps equip you to live life abundantly & leave a lasting legacy.”

Student aid option for FSCJ.

A behind the scenes look at Florida State College's newspaper The Campus Voice

This video will show you how to edit beautiful video.

Student from FSCJ Lighting for Video class describe different shot sizes used in filmmaking.