Podcasts about Merritt College

Sonia Marie Reed, a resilient native of the East Bay, has conquered countless hurdles in her remarkable journey. As a mother of three and a grandmother of six, Sonia's path has been marked by the challenges of homelessness, substance abuse, and domestic violence. However, her life took a positive turn when she discovered the path to recovery while serving time in prison. Upon her release, Sonia, who had faced 13 felony convictions and 28 arrests, secured employment with Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, where she found the stability, she needed and sustainable housing. Fueled by an unwavering determination to transform her life, she enrolled in Merritt College and successfully fulfilled the necessary requirements to receive a COSER Certification. Sonia's unwavering dedication to helping others propelled her to pursue certifications in peer support and drug and alcohol specialization from the prestigious Brining Institute. Presently, she actively engages with Bonita House, Inc., IHOT program supervisor a reputable organization that offers rehabilitation and mental health services in Alameda County. Not only does Sonia make significant contributions to the field of recovery and mental health, but she is also the visionary founder and chair of the East Bay Recovery Community Organization 501(c) (3). Through her influential role, she tirelessly works to empower her community and support others in their pursuit of personal goals. Sonia's indomitable spirit and unwavering commitment to making a difference in the lives of others make her an inspiration to all who have the privilege of knowing her.

Beyond the Buckets | Episode #160 | Asha Thomas - Sacramento State Women's Assistant Coach Asha Thomas, a standout former player from the University of California, Berkeley, has recently joined the Sacramento State women's basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach. Thomas had a remarkable collegiate career at Cal, where she set the school record for three-pointers made with 233, ranked fourth in career assists with 485, and finished 15th on the all-time scoring list with 1,001 points. Known for her durability and leadership, she started 130 out of 131 games during her four years with the Golden Bears.Thomas's playing career was distinguished by several accolades, including an All-Pac-12 selection and an All-Freshman team honor. She helped lead Cal to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances and achieved three consecutive 20-win seasons. Notably, she excelled in her junior year, averaging 12.8 points per game and leading the Pac-12 in free throw percentage.Before joining Sacramento State, Thomas served as an assistant coach at Merritt College and contributed to her former AAU team, the California Ballaz. Her professional playing career includes stints overseas with teams in Germany and England. Thomas graduated from Cal in 2019 with a degree in media studies and is highly regarded for her ability to connect with players and contribute to team success​. #podcast #beyondthebuckets #show #basketball #coach #life #lifestyle #coaching #entrepreneur #business #ceo #lifecoach #mentalperformance #YouTube http://ow.ly/3kdI30qOSc6   #Applehttp://ow.ly/cAeV30qOSc8   #Spotify http://ow.ly/7EIe30qOSc9  

The four Peralta College presidents join the Desk to talk about what it means to lead a college, with Dr. Pamela Luster, College of Alameda, Dr. Denise Richardson, Berkeley City College, Dr. Rudy Besikof, Laney College, and Dr. David Johnson, Merritt College.

Our guest today is Pastor France Davis, a mighty force for God, Jesus and the church in Utah.   My introduction to Pastor France Davis of Calvary Baptist Church occurred very early in my time in Utah.  He is the embodiment of encouragement and hospitality.   Our discussion today is intended to help church leaders with thoughts from the perspective of a Black Pastoral Leader on Black History.  (February is Black History Month.)  Pastor Davis' resume is extensive.  I cover some in the podcast and pointed to here in the notes for his degrees.  Pastor Davis has degrees from Laney College (1971), Merritt College (1972), University of California (1972), Westminster College (1977), University of Utah (1978) and Northwest Nazarene (1994).   If this podcast resonates with you in any way, please share it with others.   Send thoughts to dennis @ mantuan . org -- copy that and delete the spaces (done to confound the bots harvesting email addresses).   

In this episode of the Bonsai Time Podcast, Kevin and Ryan welcome Dennis Makashima. Dennis has been a witness and active participant in bonsai history as he learned from many of the greats of California Bonsai and even inherited many of their trees. Although Dennis is a second-generation Japanese American, he found himself drawn into the same line of work as many Japanese were at that time - gardening and aesthetic tree pruning. This is what ultimately drew him into bonsai and eventually a bonsai apprenticeship in Japan. Ultimately Dennis' own contributions to the art stand proud as he taught aesthetic tree pruning at Merritt College and served as president for the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Dennis also went into great detail regarding how he worked to improve GBSF during his tenure for the clubs and local scene. We hope you enjoy his many BS stories as much as we did! The video version is available here: https://youtu.be/MpqON33Y9zg Show notes, relevant pictures, and links to parts 1 and 2 of the interview are available here: ⁠⁠https://www.invivobonsai.com/2023/10/bonsai-stories-and-other-bs-with-dennis.html⁠⁠ See you in the next episode! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guest Info: Dennis Makashima is a long-time pillar of the Bay Area and the greater California bonsai scene. We are grateful for his time and for sharing his experiences! You can learn more about Dennis' life story in his upcoming autobiographical book "Mr. Omoshiori: Journal of a Sansei Baby Boomer and Bonsai Sensei". The book will come out in early 2024. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Podcast Info: You can help keep the podcast going by supporting us on Anchor. All donations go back into the podcast such as for our web hosting, recording gear expenses, etc. Even $1/month would be a great help! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Bonsai Time Podcast is hosted, edited, & produced by Kevin Faris and Ryan Huston. Learn more about the podcast at the links below. We expect to post new interviews and reflections monthly! www.BonsaiTimePodcast.com https://www.instagram.com/bonsaitimepodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/Bonsai-Time-Podcast-104034165522854 Your hosts can be found below: https://www.instagram.com/kevin_farispnw/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Music by MIDICANCER. Find more music by them at the links below. https://soundcloud.com/midicancer https://midicancer.bandcamp.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Bonsai Projects by Ryan: Read more about Ryan's bonsai blog below. https://www.InVivoBonsai.com/ Find my bonsai seeds for sale here. Each seed kit sold comes with my full 10-year bonsai-from-seed guide. https://www.invivobonsai.com/p/sales.html#Seeds Find me on Facebook and Instagram as well if you need more bonsai in your feed. https://www.facebook.com/InVivoBonsai/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Also, check out some of my video editing work for the Puget Sound Bonsai Association and Columbus Bonsai Society's demonstration archives below. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtYWnc5qvsHk1UPjcPhalIQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMUxTwUO5Ja2zXIRetMqjPQ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support

In this episode of the Bonsai Time Podcast, Kevin and Ryan welcome Dennis Makashima. Dennis has been a witness and active participant in bonsai history as he learned from many of the greats of California Bonsai and even inherited many of their trees. Although Dennis is a second-generation Japanese American, he found himself drawn into the same line of work as many Japanese were at that time - gardening and aesthetic tree pruning. This is what ultimately drew him into bonsai and eventually a bonsai apprenticeship in Japan. Ultimately Dennis' own contributions to the art stand proud as he taught aesthetic tree pruning at Merritt College and served as president for the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Dennis also went into great detail regarding how he worked to improve GBSF during his tenure for the clubs and local scene. We hope you enjoy his many BS stories as much as we did! The video version is available here: https://youtu.be/l3Xu6JRGrDs Show notes and relevant pictures and links to parts 1 and 3 of the interview will be available here: ⁠https://www.ry2tree2.com/2023/10/bonsai-stories-and-other-bs-with-dennis.html⁠ See you in the next episode! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guest Info: Dennis Makashima is a long-time pillar of the Bay Area and the greater California bonsai scene. We are grateful for his time and for sharing his experiences! You can learn more about Dennis' life story in his upcoming autobiographical book "Mr. Omoshiori: Journal of a Sansei Baby Boomer and Bonsai Sensei". The book will come out in early 2024. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Podcast Info: You can help keep the podcast going by supporting us on Anchor. All donations go back into the podcast such as for our web hosting, recording gear expenses, etc. Even $1/month would be a great help! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Bonsai Time Podcast is hosted, edited, & produced by Kevin Faris and Ryan Huston. Learn more about the podcast at the links below. We expect to post new interviews and reflections monthly! www.BonsaiTimePodcast.com https://www.instagram.com/bonsaitimepodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/Bonsai-Time-Podcast-104034165522854 Your hosts can be found below: https://www.instagram.com/kevin_farispnw/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Music by MIDICANCER. Find more music by them at the links below. https://soundcloud.com/midicancer https://midicancer.bandcamp.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Bonsai Projects by Ryan: Read more about Ryan's bonsai blog below. https://www.InVivoBonsai.com/ Find my bonsai seeds for sale here. Each seed kit sold comes with my full 10-year bonsai-from-seed guide. https://www.ry2tree2.com/p/sales.html#Seeds Find me on Facebook and Instagram as well if you need more bonsai in your feed. https://www.facebook.com/InVivoBonsai/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Also, check out some of my video editing work for the Puget Sound Bonsai Association and Columbus Bonsai Society's demonstration archives below. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtYWnc5qvsHk1UPjcPhalIQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMUxTwUO5Ja2zXIRetMqjPQ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support

In the latest episode of the Bonsai Time Podcast, Kevin and Ryan welcome Dennis Makashima. Dennis has been a witness and active participant in bonsai history as he learned from many of the greats of California Bonsai and even inherited many of their trees. Although Dennis is a second-generation Japanese American, he found himself drawn into the same line of work as many Japanese were at that time - gardening and aesthetic tree pruning. This is what ultimately drew him into bonsai and eventually a bonsai apprenticeship in Japan. Ultimately Dennis' own contributions to the art stand proud as he taught aesthetic tree pruning at Merritt College and served as president for the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Dennis also went into great detail regarding how he worked to improve GBSF during his tenure for the clubs and local scene. We hope you enjoy his many BS stories as much as we did! The video version is available here: ⁠https://youtu.be/pJVbaIfnXsM Show notes and relevant pictures and links to parts 2 and 3 of the interview will be available here: https://www.ry2tree2.com/2023/10/bonsai-stories-and-other-bs-with-dennis.html See you in the next episode! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guest Info: Dennis Makashima is a long-time pillar of the Bay Area and the greater California bonsai scene. We are grateful for his time and for sharing his experiences! You can learn more about Dennis' life story in his upcoming autobiographical book "Mr. Omoshiori: Journal of a Sansei Baby Boomer and Bonsai Sensei". The book will come out in early 2024. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Podcast Info: You can help keep the podcast going by supporting us on Anchor. All donations go back into the podcast such as for our web hosting, recording gear expenses, etc. Even $1/month would be a great help! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Bonsai Time Podcast is hosted, edited, & produced by Kevin Faris and Ryan Huston. Learn more about the podcast at the links below. We expect to post new interviews and reflections monthly! www.BonsaiTimePodcast.com https://www.instagram.com/bonsaitimepodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/Bonsai-Time-Podcast-104034165522854 Your hosts can be found below: https://www.instagram.com/kevin_farispnw/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Music by MIDICANCER. Find more music by them at the links below. https://soundcloud.com/midicancer https://midicancer.bandcamp.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Bonsai Projects by Ryan: Read more about Ryan's bonsai blog below. https://www.InVivoBonsai.com/ Find my bonsai seeds for sale here. Each seed kit sold comes with my full 10-year bonsai-from-seed guide. https://www.ry2tree2.com/p/sales.html#Seeds Find me on Facebook and Instagram as well if you need more bonsai in your feed. https://www.facebook.com/InVivoBonsai/ https://www.instagram.com/InVivoBonsai/ Also, check out some of my video editing work for the Puget Sound Bonsai Association and Columbus Bonsai Society's demonstration archives below. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtYWnc5qvsHk1UPjcPhalIQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMUxTwUO5Ja2zXIRetMqjPQ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bonsaitimepodcast/support

07-15-23Support the show: https://www.loveneverfailsus.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica interviews Brad Balukjian, Entomologist & Journalist. Brad studied journalism and island biogeography at Duke University and earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. Brad founded the Natural History and Sustainability program at Merritt College, where he teaches today. In 2020, his first book, The Wax Pack, reached #7 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR's Best Books of the Year. He's now working on a new book, The Six Pack, to be published by Hachette in 2024, about myth vs. reality and shifting identity in the world of professional wrestling. He's written for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Slate, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. You can check out Brad's work at bradbalukjian.com. Are you a high achiever, a leader, or an Ampersand who's recently taken on more responsibility at work? Jessica works with people just like you. She coaches individuals and leadership teams to rise to new challenges - with a unique blend of analytical & creative approaches, plus 18 years of invaluable experience working in companies and startups. Visit ⁠jessicawan.com⁠ or BOOK AN INTRO CALL: ⁠https://calendly.com/jessicawancoaching/intro-call-coaching⁠ Credits Produced and Hosted by ⁠Jessica Wan⁠ Co-produced, edited, and sound design by ⁠Naomi Tepper⁠ Theme music by ⁠Denys Kyshchuk⁠ and ⁠Stockaudios⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

In this episode, host Dave Karol, Managing Director at Ridge Capital Investors and industry veteran, Tawni Sullivan discuss the CREATE program and the reality of the enormous talent gap in commercial real estate. CREATE, The Commercial Real Estate Alliance Tomorrows Employees, is a unique collaboration between NAIOP-SFBA, BOMA SF, BOMA East Bay, and IREM that educates a diverse workforce and connects career-ready candidates to employers. In partnership with San Francisco State University and Merritt College, CREATE provides signature a program that allows students learn the fundamentals of the industry and about career opportunities.

One Talk, two Presidents. Laney College President, Dr. Rudy Besikof, is joined by Merritt College, Dr. David Johnson.

Discussing the history of the Accordion throughout the years with the Professor of Music, Monica Ambalal from Merritt College in Oakland, California. Recorded: February 3, 2023 Running Time: 30 minutes 18 seconds

Discussing the history of the Accordion throughout the years with the Professor of Music, Monica Ambalal from Merritt College in Oakland, California. Recorded: February 3, 2023 Running Time: 30 minutes 18 seconds

Episode 3 of Tales Of The Town covers the student organizing history of the Black Panther Party's co-founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, at Oakland City College in the early 1960's. The Soul Students Advisory, the first iteration of a Black Student Union, paved the way for Black Student organizing across the world, and its impact is still felt today! This episode also looks at the Afrikan Black Coalitions fight to force the UC school system to divest from private prisons! Guests: Dar: Former BPP member, student at Merritt College during time of the Panthers Judy Juanita: Former BPP member, editor of Black Panther Party newspaper. Author. Professor at Laney College in Oakland. Anthony Williams: former organizer at UC Berkeley, PhD student at UCLA.

Nik Bertulis is a serious serial cooperative founder, collaborator and water systems expert. He is the Director at Ritual Biology and Chief Technology Officer at Deep Blue Institute. He co-founded Dig.coop and was faculty in the Environmental Management and Sustainable Science Program at Merritt College in Oakland, CA. https://ritualbiology.com/ https://www.deepblue.institute/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq0MRXCtki4 https://www.scribd.com/podcast/593114066/Episode-11-Nik-Bertulis-on-Pee-Poo-and-Symbiogenesis  

Sarah Rose is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. She received a BA in Judaic Studies from UC Berkeley, a Certificate in Environmental Restoration and Watershed Management from Merritt College, and most recently a Masters's Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from New Mexico Highlands University. She is also a cult survivor and wrote about her harrowing experience in her book “Escape Through the Window” which is available now on Amazon. Sarah's breathtaking story was also covered in Season 2 of Identification Discovery's series “Dangerous Persuasions” Sarah joins Rachel to detail some of the traumatic experiences she writes about in her book, sharing survival tactics from her long and ongoing journey towards healing. Throughout their intimate conversation, Rachel offers Sarah insights gained from her decades of helping people recover from cultic abuse, and together they examine the pitfalls and benefits of writing about experiences that have caused lasting traumas. Before You Go: Rachel offers advice on how to reassess first impressions and explains the dynamics of secrecy and transparency in high control groups or relationships. You can find Sarah's book here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21134900-escape-through-the-window Watch her story as portrayed in Investigation Discovery's Dangerous Persuasions series here: https://tv.apple.com/us/episode/hes-my-master/umc.cmc.5sdlt6e4nzgbn1iubg0582wl9?showId=umc.cmc.5y5pglgl3kmwftqwkgnjfpwq4 Thanks to all of our newest Patreon supporters: Aisha Mitchell Camerer, Ingrid Holm, Kirsten Blackburn, Will, Ali Vaughan, Baylie Freeman, Mavis Seehaus, Rebecca L Walter, Cat, Jessica, Julia, Jess, and Sarah O'Mahoney To help support the show monthly and get bonus episodes, shirts, and tote bags, please visit: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: www.paypal.me/indoctrination You can help the show for free by leaving a rating on Spotify or Apple/ iTunes. It really helps the visibility of the show!

An APA Heritage Month special: Join us for an online panel discussion with two AAPI women touching on the lived experiences of being an AAPI woman today. They'll cover a wide range of issues, including the mental health impact of issues such as racism, gender violence, and oppression. Show editorially warning About the SpeakersOakland City Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao grew up in poverty, the 7th of 10 kids. Her parents met in a refugee camp in Thailand after each fled their home country of Laos and the genocide against the Hmong people. Thao's parents immigrated to America, settling in Stockton, where they would make a living farming vegetables. It was here Thao was born. She left home at the age of 17. When her son Ben was 10 months old, Thao got a job at Merritt College and also started taking classes. And, with the help of welfare and a Head Start program for Ben, she put herself through school. She became class valedictorian, then transferred to UC Berkeley, where she co-founded a food access program for low-income students and graduated with a degree in legal studies. She eventually ran for Oakland's City Council District 4 and won, becoming the first Hmong-American woman Councilmember in California history. She's currently Council president pro tem and chairs the Rules and Legislation Committee. Thao received the 2021 Powerful Women of the Bay Award for her work on behalf of Oakland's diverse neighborhoods, and has been honored by the Alameda Labor Council for her record of delivering for working families. Thao is also president of the League of California Cities API Caucus, and has served on boards for the Redwood Heights Association and Oakland Asian Cultural Center. She is an Oakland mayoral candidate. Connie Wun, Ph.D., is the executive director and co-founder AAPI Women Lead. As a part of her work in ending racial and gender-based violence, she leads national research projects on race, gender, and violence. Wun is a 2020 Soros Justice Fellow, a former National Science Foundation fellow, and a recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus Excellence in Civil Rights award and 2021 Gold House A100 award. Her research has been published in academic journals, anthologies, and online platforms. She is also a former high school teacher, college educator, sex worker, and sexual assault counselor. SPEAKERS Sheng Thao Oakland City Council President Pro Tem Connie Wun Ph.D., Executive Director and Co-founder, AAPI Women Lead Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode: Freedom Reign from Stereo and myself discuss the history of the Black Panther Party (links to sources below) Please share with friends and on social media. Join me LIVE on the Stereo App www.stereo.com/andanotherthing IG - https://www.instagram.com/andanotherthingwithdave/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNCfTUB80eIIuToWeBxaoIg Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaveSmittth TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@andanotherthingwithdave Not many people are familiar with the history and true story of The Black Panther Party. We take a deep dive in this episode. I hope you enjoy. The Black Panther Party was created in 1966 in Oakland by two students at Merritt College, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton. The Panthers began as a community self-defense program to defend minority communities from state sponsored terrorism.. Police in Oakland were killing black people at a feverish pace when pulled over for basic traffic stops. In response to this The Black Panthers equipped themselves with police scanners and guns and would show up at a traffic stop and armed with guns, they would film the cops and make sure the police would not go on a murderous rampage like they had been doing. The Black Panthers started a breakfast program to deal with the epidemic of children going to school hungry. At their peak they were serving 10,000 breakfasts a day. A child cannot learn with an empty stomach, so they were directly addressing this passive form of oppression. The Black Panthers gained national notoriety by carrying guns in public, most notably at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, when Governor Ronal Reagan was there. This did not go over well. There was much more to The Black Panthers than an armed community protection group. They also had schools, tuberculosis testing, legal aid, transportation assistance, ambulance service, and the manufacture the manufacture and distribution of free shoes to the poor. Despite the benefits they were bringing to black communities all across the United States, The FBI labeled The Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to democracy. How is that for irony, as the FBI most likely had a hand in the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. The FBI and CIA went on to target The Panthers, murdering the leaders or throwing them in jail on trumped up charges. To this day Mumia Abu Jamal is still in jail for a crime he did not commit according to witness testimony. I have included links to more information below as well as the Panthers 10 point program. Thank you for listening. Please share if you dig what I am doing. Thank you All Power To All People !!! The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxwTABwtnU&t=151s Eyes On The Prize Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sQxt8BKE&t=4346s Eyes On The Prize Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb76CK3Cwc&t=3315s Plutocracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQjtRufr3M&t=188s --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andanotherthingwithdave/message

In this episode: Freedom Reign from Stereo and myself discuss the history of the Black Panther Party (links to sources below) Please share with friends and on social media. Join me LIVE on the Stereo App www.stereo.com/andanotherthing IG - https://www.instagram.com/andanotherthingwithdave/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNCfTUB80eIIuToWeBxaoIg Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaveSmittth TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@andanotherthingwithdave Not many people are familiar with the history and true story of The Black Panther Party. We take a deep dive in this episode. I hope you enjoy. The Black Panther Party was created in 1966 in Oakland by two students at Merritt College, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton. The Panthers began as a community self-defense program to defend minority communities from state sponsored terrorism.. Police in Oakland were killing black people at a feverish pace when pulled over for basic traffic stops. In response to this The Black Panthers equipped themselves with police scanners and guns and would show up at a traffic stop and armed with guns, they would film the cops and make sure the police would not go on a murderous rampage like they had been doing. The Black Panthers started a breakfast program to deal with the epidemic of children going to school hungry. At their peak they were serving 10,000 breakfasts a day. A child cannot learn with an empty stomach, so they were directly addressing this passive form of oppression. The Black Panthers gained national notoriety by carrying guns in public, most notably at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, when Governor Ronal Reagan was there. This did not go over well. There was much more to The Black Panthers than an armed community protection group. They also had schools, tuberculosis testing, legal aid, transportation assistance, ambulance service, and the manufacture the manufacture and distribution of free shoes to the poor. Despite the benefits they were bringing to black communities all across the United States, The FBI labeled The Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to democracy. How is that for irony, as the FBI most likely had a hand in the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. The FBI and CIA went on to target The Panthers, murdering the leaders or throwing them in jail on trumped up charges. To this day Mumia Abu Jamal is still in jail for a crime he did not commit according to witness testimony. I have included links to more information below as well as the Panthers 10 point program. Thank you for listening. Please share if you dig what I am doing. Thank you All Power To All People !!! The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxwTABwtnU&t=151s Eyes On The Prize Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sQxt8BKE&t=4346s Eyes On The Prize Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb76CK3Cwc&t=3315s Plutocracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQjtRufr3M&t=188s --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andanotherthingwithdave/message

In this episode: Freedom Reign from Stereo and myself discuss the history of the Black Panther Party (links to sources below) Please share with friends and on social media. Join me LIVE on the Stereo App www.stereo.com/andanotherthing IG - https://www.instagram.com/andanotherthingwithdave/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNCfTUB80eIIuToWeBxaoIg Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaveSmittth TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@andanotherthingwithdave Not many people are familiar with the history and true story of The Black Panther Party. We take a deep dive in this episode. I hope you enjoy. The Black Panther Party was created in 1966 in Oakland by two students at Merritt College, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton. The Panthers began as a community self-defense program to defend minority communities from state sponsored terrorism.. Police in Oakland were killing black people at a feverish pace when pulled over for basic traffic stops. In response to this The Black Panthers equipped themselves with police scanners and guns and would show up at a traffic stop and armed with guns, they would film the cops and make sure the police would not go on a murderous rampage like they had been doing. The Black Panthers started a breakfast program to deal with the epidemic of children going to school hungry. At their peak they were serving 10,000 breakfasts a day. A child cannot learn with an empty stomach, so they were directly addressing this passive form of oppression. The Black Panthers gained national notoriety by carrying guns in public, most notably at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, when Governor Ronal Reagan was there. This did not go over well. There was much more to The Black Panthers than an armed community protection group. They also had schools, tuberculosis testing, legal aid, transportation assistance, ambulance service, and the manufacture the manufacture and distribution of free shoes to the poor. Despite the benefits they were bringing to black communities all across the United States, The FBI labeled The Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to democracy. How is that for irony, as the FBI most likely had a hand in the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. The FBI and CIA went on to target The Panthers, murdering the leaders or throwing them in jail on trumped up charges. To this day Mumia Abu Jamal is still in jail for a crime he did not commit according to witness testimony. I have included links to more information below as well as the Panthers 10 point program. Thank you for listening. Please share if you dig what I am doing. Thank you All Power To All People !!! The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxwTABwtnU&t=151s Eyes On The Prize Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sQxt8BKE&t=4346s Eyes On The Prize Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb76CK3Cwc&t=3315s Plutocracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQjtRufr3M&t=188s --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andanotherthingwithdave/message

In this episode: Freedom Reign from Stereo and myself discuss the history of the Black Panther Party (links to sources below) Please share with friends and on social media. Join me LIVE on the Stereo App www.stereo.com/andanotherthing IG - https://www.instagram.com/andanotherthingwithdave/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNCfTUB80eIIuToWeBxaoIg Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaveSmittth TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@andanotherthingwithdave Not many people are familiar with the history and true story of The Black Panther Party. We take a deep dive in this episode. I hope you enjoy. The Black Panther Party was created in 1966 in Oakland by two students at Merritt College, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton. The Panthers began as a community self-defense program to defend minority communities from state sponsored terrorism.. Police in Oakland were killing black people at a feverish pace when pulled over for basic traffic stops. In response to this The Black Panthers equipped themselves with police scanners and guns and would show up at a traffic stop and armed with guns, they would film the cops and make sure the police would not go on a murderous rampage like they had been doing. The Black Panthers started a breakfast program to deal with the epidemic of children going to school hungry. At their peak they were serving 10,000 breakfasts a day. A child cannot learn with an empty stomach, so they were directly addressing this passive form of oppression. The Black Panthers gained national notoriety by carrying guns in public, most notably at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, when Governor Ronal Reagan was there. This did not go over well. There was much more to The Black Panthers than an armed community protection group. They also had schools, tuberculosis testing, legal aid, transportation assistance, ambulance service, and the manufacture the manufacture and distribution of free shoes to the poor. Despite the benefits they were bringing to black communities all across the United States, The FBI labeled The Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to democracy. How is that for irony, as the FBI most likely had a hand in the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. The FBI and CIA went on to target The Panthers, murdering the leaders or throwing them in jail on trumped up charges. To this day Mumia Abu Jamal is still in jail for a crime he did not commit according to witness testimony. I have included links to more information below as well as the Panthers 10 point program. Thank you for listening. Please share if you dig what I am doing. Thank you All Power To All People !!! The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxwTABwtnU&t=151s Eyes On The Prize Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sQxt8BKE&t=4346s Eyes On The Prize Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb76CK3Cwc&t=3315s Plutocracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQjtRufr3M&t=188s --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andanotherthingwithdave/message

In this episode: Freedom Reign from Stereo and myself discuss the history of the Black Panther Party (links to sources below) Please share with friends and on social media. Join me LIVE on the Stereo App www.stereo.com/andanotherthing IG - https://www.instagram.com/andanotherthingwithdave/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNCfTUB80eIIuToWeBxaoIg Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaveSmittth TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@andanotherthingwithdave Not many people are familiar with the history and true story of The Black Panther Party. We take a deep dive in this episode. I hope you enjoy. The Black Panther Party was created in 1966 in Oakland by two students at Merritt College, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton. The Panthers began as a community self-defense program to defend minority communities from state sponsored terrorism.. Police in Oakland were killing black people at a feverish pace when pulled over for basic traffic stops. In response to this The Black Panthers equipped themselves with police scanners and guns and would show up at a traffic stop and armed with guns, they would film the cops and make sure the police would not go on a murderous rampage like they had been doing. The Black Panthers started a breakfast program to deal with the epidemic of children going to school hungry. At their peak they were serving 10,000 breakfasts a day. A child cannot learn with an empty stomach, so they were directly addressing this passive form of oppression. The Black Panthers gained national notoriety by carrying guns in public, most notably at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, when Governor Ronal Reagan was there. This did not go over well. There was much more to The Black Panthers than an armed community protection group. They also had schools, tuberculosis testing, legal aid, transportation assistance, ambulance service, and the manufacture the manufacture and distribution of free shoes to the poor. Despite the benefits they were bringing to black communities all across the United States, The FBI labeled The Black Panther Party as the greatest threat to democracy. How is that for irony, as the FBI most likely had a hand in the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. The FBI and CIA went on to target The Panthers, murdering the leaders or throwing them in jail on trumped up charges. To this day Mumia Abu Jamal is still in jail for a crime he did not commit according to witness testimony. I have included links to more information below as well as the Panthers 10 point program. Thank you for listening. Please share if you dig what I am doing. Thank you All Power To All People !!! The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxwTABwtnU&t=151s Eyes On The Prize Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sQxt8BKE&t=4346s Eyes On The Prize Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb76CK3Cwc&t=3315s Plutocracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQjtRufr3M&t=188s --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andanotherthingwithdave/message

In this episode Keta & Dani of the East Oakland Collective and I talk about the changes they're creating  in Oakland to increase accessibility. We all know there's no damn reason for communities of color to be under-resourced other than whyteness doing what it does! And Dani let us know that no community, even if it's underdeveloped, ever goes unmapped or unplanned. So what can we do about houselessness, transportation, and making sure our communities thrive? How can we be the ones to stand up for our cities to increase access? Bc let's face it, we've always known WE gotta take care of US.! How can we create what we want to see and get the resources for it? Listen, learn, and get involved! ABOUT WEEZE Louiza Doran, known and referred to as Weeze, is a cis-het Amazigh* female-identifying human who uses she/her/they/them pronouns. She's known as a coach, podcast host, advocate, agent of change, strategist, and educator (to name a few) but is ultimately a compassionate provocateur that is out to help folks uncover their path of possibility.   ABOUT KETA & DANI Marquita “Keta” Price (she/her/Goddess), aka “The Hood Planner,” is a third-generation East Oakland native serving as the Director of Urban and Regional Planning for The East Oakland Collective. Keta's formal passion for urbanism came about during recreational research on how gentrification has impacted low-income Black “hoods” across the nation. As director, Keta is the lead on several East Oakland neighborhood & transportation planning projects, participates in the development of local urban and regional planning, and holds the city of Oakland accountable to equitable zoning and land use in East Oakland. Her early activism and care for community is rooted at Merritt College, where she served as the Vice President of The Black Student Union, President of the Kem(istry) Club, President of the Associated Students of Merritt College (ASMC), and served as a Student Trustee of the Peralta Community College School District. Keta's initial goals were to restore the intellect and militancy of Merritt's student government. Seeded by Chairman Bobby Seale and other former Black Panthers, ASMC focused on leveraging the institution's resources to address the socioeconomic issues from the flatlands prohibiting students from thriving academically. Keta's political and social goals pulled her away from studying chemistry to deeply exploring how societies, communities, and cities are planned, designed and constructed.  As a chemistry major, Keta received an achievement award for the completion of The Center for Educational Partnerships NIH-UCB internship. During this project Keta synthesized pro-fluorophores used for live-cell RNA imaging. Keta also received recognition and commendation from the California Legislature Assembly and State of California Senate and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for her student advocacy work with the Tobacco-less Club at Merritt College. Keta has an Associates of Science in Mathematics and Natural Science. When the opportunity presents itself, Keta plans to further her education in Urban Studies, Data Analysis and Design. Danielle "Dani" Dynes is a dedicated community planner who was born in East Oakland and raised in West Oakland. As a planner, she focuses on the present needs of residents and while creating strategies to deal with the challenges of the future. She works to bring more resources and infrastructure to Oakland and ensure we have safer, healthier, and well-connected communities moving forward. Danielle has a B.A. in Urban Studies and Planning from San Francisco State University. She has previously worked at the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) in their Planning and Project Development section. Several of Danielle's projects at OakDOT prioritized equitable and culturally relevant change in the East Oakland community. She facilitated events around the 90th Avenue Scraper Bike Way and conducted community outreach for the East Oakland Mobility Action Plan. She also helped manage Sustainable Transportation Planning grants while interning at the California Department of Transportation. Before she studied planning Danielle taught website design and visual communication to students in Oakland and Richmond. In 2016 she was honored as a Youth Development Fellow by Coro, a civic leadership training organization. In her leisure, Danielle enjoys photography, crafting, hiking, and gardening. IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT How EOC's founder, Candace Elder, said hell nah to the ways her community was deteriorating due to gentrification and decided to address issues like pollution + houselessness. The fuckery with folks seeing systemic challenges and thinking it's random or beyond our control, but it's not! We knowwww this! Why disparities and underdeveloped communities even exist, when communities are always mapped out and planned.  How the white flight outta of East Oakland and left the whole area for dead!. There's no designated funding to give to communities to plan their own communities surprise surprise, so a lot of that grunt work falls on nonprofits, grassroots people, and individuals to fill that gap. How a lack of economics, transportation, and accessibility affects communities + what we can do to help! CALL TO ACTION Support the East Oakland Mobility Action Plan. Get involved with the Mobility 4 All program, their new clean mobility fellows, and an upcoming project funded by the STEP Grant to explore the feasibility of implementing a zero-emission bus shuttle to bridge access to nearby local/regional park-The Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eq-twyoJeB5ipLs7kbAWjF0Kgq210WRO/view?usp=sharing FOLLOW WEEZE TO STAY ENGAGED  Website: https://www.accordingtoweeze.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accordingtoweeze Podia: https://accordingtoweeze.podia.com/weeze   FOLLOW KETA & DANI TO STAY ENGAGED Website: https://www.eastoaklandcollective.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastoaklandcollective/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/eoakcollective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eoakcollective

(4:12) Brad describes the origins of his passion for baseball, and the contrarian criteria he used to identify his heroes(8:37) Art and science, connecting: How the premise of The Wax Pack was linked to Brad's study of Tahitian bugs, and the parallels Brad sees more broadly between science and journalism(15:46) Refusing to be taken out of the game (as a character in his own book)(19:30) Journalism as therapy, and discovering the power of embracing vulnerability(22:59) How to write the telling details (27:26) Some of Brad's favorite (and surprising) moments from his time on the road with retired players: Rick Sutcliffe, Don Carman, Rance Mulliniks, and others (32:10) Giving yourself the freedom to let go of expectations In 2020, Brad Balukjian's first book The Wax Pack reached #7 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR's Best Books of the Year. The book was formulated on a breakthrough premise, evident by its universal reception––lifelong baseball lovers and the merely curious followed Brad as he tracked down all the players in a single pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards, drawing unexpected connections between their lives and his own in the process.In his talk with Jesse, Brad dishes on his unconventional journey to becoming a celebrated chronicler of the remarkably human 'afterlives' of uniquely talented athletes. You'll hear about the early connections he made between the scientific method and journalism, how he's currently embracing what he calls a 'hybrid career,' and of course: scores of anecdotes and special insights from his time on the road with retired major league ballplayers. Guest BioBrad Balukjian teaches natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun.Brad, a Filipino-American, studied journalism and island biogeography (yes, that's a thing) at Duke University and earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley.Helpful LinksWaxpackbook.comBrad's past work for Rolling Stone, National Geographic, and more An interview with Brad on MLB.comBrad on LinkedIn and Twitter

Tolerating uncertainty, unpredictability and other forms of psychological discomfort is frequently a requirement for being  able to pursue longer-term, values driven goals and activities - especially in the context of challenges related to mental health.   Freelance science journalist & author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller and one of NPR's Best Books of the Year for 2020, The Wax Pack, Brad Balukjian, Ph.D., joins host Dr. Pete Kelly, C.Psych for a wide ranging discussion around:  an overview of the origin of his idea for The Wax Pack and why he adopts such a personal tone in the book, including his personal journey with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)Brad's reflections on the impact that symptoms of OCD have had on him at various stages of life as well as his experience with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and in particular, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP)the gifts that can be obtained through tolerating uncertainty, impermanence, uncontrollability and unpredictability, both in the context of OCD as well as life more generally the role of mindfulness and awareness of one's values in helping to cope with uncertainty & uncontrollabilityBrad's creative process, how he managed adversity and rejection in trying to bring The Wax Pack to life and the importance of sticking to one's values/creative integrity, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles  an overview of the The Wax Pack itself, including insights from the process of putting together the book, conversations with the former major league baseball players interviewed, managing impostor syndrome & the importance of vulnerability in building trust    managing his own internal expectations for future projects based on the success of The Wax Pack Brad Balukjian, Ph.D. is a freelance science journalist and has published over 100 articles in National Geographic, Discover, Rolling Stone, and several others.  His first book, The Wax Pack, reached #7 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR's Best Books of the Year for 2020.  He has a bachelor’s degree in island biogeography from Duke University and a Ph.D. in entomology from UC Berkeley. In addition to teaching at Merritt College in Oakland, California, Brad is the developer and director of Merritt College’s Natural History and Sustainability Program.  https://bradbalukjian.com/https://waxpackbook.com/

This special episode features Mark Egan (Former CIO of Symantec as well as VMWare).  Mark discusses what he looks for during interviews with CISOs, what executives need to demonstrate during their first 90 days to be successful, and how he helps the next generation of cyber professionals at Merritt College.   Three Questions to ask during any interview: What do you like best about this role? What are the most challenging pieces of this role? What does success look like for this role one year into the future? Five Step Plan for New CISOs: Start with an assessment of the current “As-Is” IT architecture Perform Business Requirements Analysis (What are the strategic objectives, tactical issues, and business environment). Design of the Future “To Be” IT architecture (application architecture, organization architecture, network architecture, infrastructure architecture) Gap Analysis = (Future - Present).  This is the most important step as you need to determine a good list of alternatives for management.  Talk to consultants and peers in other companies to see how you can come up with a wide range of solutions. Options to Bridge the Gaps = (Cost, Time, & Business Environment).  Present management with alternative approaches for transforming the organization.  Remember speak in business terms and specify ways that align with business objectives.  In terms of cyber it might be Ensuring Financially Significant Applications don’t have operational disruption, ensuring revenue and brand protection by securing internet facing applications, meeting compliance and regulatory concerns, etc. Merritt College Overview Link Volunteer to Help Merritt College Link Contact Merritt College Link Mark Egan LinkedIn Profile Link

Tune in to our all-new series chatting to College Athletic Directors from around the USA about the state of Nil. Socials: Instagram ➭ https://www.instagram.com/sportsfinda/ Twitter ➭ https://twitter.com/Sportsfinda TikTok ➭ @Sportsfinda Facebook ➭ https://www.facebook.com/Sportsfinda Business Inquiries ➭ support@sportsfinda.com Website ➭ https://sportsfinda.com/

Brad Balukjian is director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He's also a scientist. Specifically, he's an island biogeographist. (Yeah, Brad didn't know what that was either. He studies evolutionary diversity on islands!) Of course he's written one of the most interesting baseball books—The Wax Pack—to come out during the pandemic. So, grab a cold beer and swing by the Jam Bunker as the two Brads talk science, baseball cards, and the state of writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and scientist Brad Balukjian joins the GrottoPod's summer reading series this week to share an excerpt from his new book, The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife. The Wax Pack. Out now, Wax Pack is the true story of tracking down all the players in a single pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards on a 11,341-mile road trip across the U.S. Balukjian is also a professor of biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California, where he teaches about the amazing plants, animals, and other organisms that cover our planet. His journalism has appeared in National Geographic, Discover, Rolling Stone, and many others.

Eddie Dunbar is an entomologist, the Founder and President of the Insect Sciences Museum of California and Adjunct Professor at Merritt College. With 38,000 species of insects in California alone, we need people like Eddie to help make sense of it all.Eddie's passion is to engage the public with insects so they can understand how they fit in our environment. Through the Insect Sciences Museum of California, Eddie promotes this engagement through numerous events such as “Bug Camps” and bioblitzes, and online through a popular Facebook group. The museum has portable displays, a large insect collection, and provides thorough field guides to parks of the Bay Area at bugpeople.org. In fact, Eddie and his volunteers have embarked on an immense project - creating an Insects of the San Francisco Bay Area virtual field guide.Eddie's unique background, including working with the UC Berkeley cooperative extension and researching pesticides, allows him to uniquely engage the public, who often see insects through the lens of pest control. Eddie has years of experience helping people change their views and understand the wide array of ecosystem services insects provide.In this episode we talk about Eddie's unique journey that led to the founding of the museum, his methods and tactics for engaging people online and in person, methods to create virtual field trips using Google Earth, ISMC's projects, and how others can participate in ISMC or launch similar projects of their own.Full show notes are on podcast.naturesarchive.comMusic Credits:Opening: Fearless First by Kevin MacLoedClosing: Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLoedhttps://incompetech.filmmusic.io/

THE PREMISE The Wax Pack: On the open road in search of baseball's afterlife is the true story of tracking down all the players in a single pack of 1986 Topps on a 11,341-mile road trip across the U.S. What started out as a fit of nostalgia became something much bigger than baseball: A meditation on the loss of innocence, what it means to grow up, and the surprising gift accessible to us all: Impermanence. Brad Balukjian is a doctor, but not one who can write you a prescription (unless you're a sick insect). He hated school when he was little, but now loves it so much that after graduating from the 23rd grade, he has moved to the other side of the desk to teach natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He has strong opinions about the value of education, exposure to nature, and utility infielders from the 1980s, and is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun. He chose this path because he never wants to stop learning and apparently has a strong aversion to money. This is his first time writing in the third-person. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/steve-richards/support

A seasoned, successful women of color who has navigated the world of leadership in Fortune 100 companies, Janet Miller Evans has a plethora of knowledge to share. In our conversation, Janet and I speak about the difficulty for leaders to speak up, and how to bring your authentic self. How do women teach our girls to form successes early? What does it take to be seen and heard in meetings? Listen to this week's Getting to 50-50 Podcast with Pratima Gluckman._____________________________________________________________________________Janet Miller Evans, MPA, PCC, EQCC, is President of Entevos, an international coaching and consulting professional services company. Recognized as a business and community leader, Janet is known for achieving results through effective strategic planning, hiring and coaching winning teams, building excellent client relationships, and practical negotiation skills. She shares the knowledge gained from extensive and diverse business, professional, and personal experiences, to guide others to reach their goals. Following her passion for coaching and motivating executives, teams, and individuals to unleash untapped areas of their potential, Janet founded Entevos, In her role as International Coach, Janet guides clients to re-engineer their current thinking and act on self-identified possibilities enabling a complete transformation. Through administration and debriefs of neuroscience research and artificial intelligence assessment tools, along with the use of mindfulness practices, Janet assists clients in creating solutions to reach their goals. Using knowledge gained and lessons learned through 30 years of sales, operations, P&L, and entrepreneurial experience as the foundation, Janet founded Entevos. The principal tenet of Entevos is to foster a culture of trust that inspires motivation, innovation, and optimum levels of engagement. She guides clients to co-create environments for success that unleash empowerment for "being you." Janet specializes in coaching business executives, organizational team development, and individuals in transition. Her certifications include the International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Coach (EQCC), and Envisia Learning NeuroView Assessor. Janet is a Network Leader for Six Seconds and an Alliance Associate with Envisia Learning, Inc. Partial client list includes Mills College, AT&T, San Jose Evergreen Community College, Merritt College, National Black MBA Association, Inc., San Francisco Chapter, employees of UN/UNICEF, PG&E, Fire Fighter’s First Credit Union, California State Bar Association, IT, financial services, lobbying, legal, real estate, telecommunications, and internet industries, and in the countries of Africa, Sudan, Canada, and France. Janet began her career in the government utility industry and progressed thru Fortune 100 companies in the healthcare, logistics, IT, internet, and telecommunications industries. She held various roles in TVA, FedEx, IBM, UPS, and Comcast, including leading sales and delivery project teams. Janet received excellent reviews for fostering successful client experiences, as well as many honors and recognition. She has led teams of over 150 employees. Janet attained target revenue goals of 450 million dollars, managed P&Ls up to two million dollars, and consistently delivered on key performance indices. Janet was the first African American female field sales manager at Federal Express. She was named National Account Manager of the year and achieved five President’s Club awards. While at IBM, she participated in the Executive Leadership Council. Clients included companies in the commercial real estate, health care, financial services, pharmaceutical industries, small and medium businesses (SMB), and non-profit organizations. Janet’s community leadership experience has includ

My name is Mubarak Osiremiza Haruna, I am an international student athlete from Nigeria. I am a Mathematics and Computer Science major and an incoming junior transfer student at Saint Mary’s College of California from Merritt College, Oakland CA.I was raised in Ojota, a ghetto area in the city of Lagos. We lived on a relatively small income.

Brad Balukjian's work has appeared  in  Rolling Stone, National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. His bio on his website states he is a doctor, but not one who can write you a prescription (unless you're a sick insect). He hated school when he was little, but now loves it so much that after graduating from the 23rd grade, he has moved to the other side of the desk to teach natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He has strong opinions about the value of education, exposure to nature, and utility infielders from the 1980s, and is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun. He chose this path because he never wants to stop learning and apparently has a strong aversion to money. He joins the show to talk about his great new book "THE WAX PACK: ON THE OPEN ROAD IN SEARCH OF BASEBALL'S AFTERLIFE" Tune in each week on 540 am in NY NJ CT and streaming on www.sportstalknylive.com as well as facebook live at 7pm Sundays for the live broadcast.Please take a moment to like our fan page WLIE 540 AM SPORTSTALKNY and follow us on twitter @sportstalkny and please check out Mark Rosenman and AJ Carters author page on amazon to purchase any of their books.

In this episode, Keisha Shields has a Conversation with a Friend, Sharonda Bingham. Sharonda talks about how she was given her African name, Haneefa Olufemi. Keisha & Haneefa discuss the differences and importance of understanding both interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and how to mediate conflict and criticism that arises in both. Haneefa shares her guidance and advice regarding how to start with self when it comes to navigating tense, uncertain, unresolved matters in our relationships and she advises us on 6 areas that we need to identify in ourselves that will help us navigate dialogue smoothly and with fairness.  Keisha & Haneefa also discuss how when we are triggered we are no good for ourselves or for others and that we must remember that people's experiences are valid. Haneefa shares the importance of being transparent without "fake faces" and loving self so that we can learn from each other.  Please let us know your thoughts on this episode!   Sharonda Bingham is a certified Marriage, Family, Business & Divorce Mediator and Conflict Resolution Trainer. Sharonda earned her Associate's degree in Community Social Services with an emphasis in Substance Abuse Counseling from Merritt College in Oakland, California. Her Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology was earned from Argosy University which is known for its high standards of rigor, professionalism, and ethical standards.  Sharonda is currently pursuing a Master's of Science in Educational Psychology through Purdue Global University.     Sharonda and her sister, Sharon, co-founded their nonprofit, CHOICES- CHanging Outcomes In Children & Establishing Sustainability CHOICES' mission is to offer social, emotional, and physical health support services to families, children with special needs, and those in the foster care system living in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties.  CHOICES' also wants to support them in changing their outcomes and establishing social, economic, and academic sustainability by preparing them for life after high school and entry to college.   In order to change the outcomes for children, through CHOICES, both Sharonda and Sharon want to help establish sustainability for the family as a whole.  When families are capable of self-sustenance in areas such as their educational, economic, mental, and social/emotional health, they will begin to change the outcomes in their lives. They help families build life skills, offer literacy programs to promote academic success, and teach nutrition education to promote an optimal way of eating.  They also provide violence prevention trainings and workshops to teach children and families how to effectively communicate inter-personally. The areas of focus include: life skills building, conflict resolution, money management, financial awareness, college readiness, social & emotional health, along with physical health. By exposing youth and families to these proficiencies they will make better choices.

BRAD BALUKJIAN hit the sweet spot of the baseball in his new book WAX PACK. The book is a joy for baseball freaks but also serves as a fantastic memoir on relationships and life. The LA Times Bestselling book is a road trip journey of history and the psyche. Built on the randomness of a fifteen pack of baseball cards with a crisp stick of tongue cutting gum, Brad builds a 10,000 mile adventure into the strange character of American baseball. Brad is a Ph.D., a fighter for the underdog and the working stiff, a writer and a Rhode Islander who now lives on The Best Coast.Brad tells a bit about himself here:"Brad Balukjian is a doctor, but not one who can write you a prescription (unless you're a sick insect). He hated school when he was little, but now loves it so much that after graduating from the 23rd grade, he has moved to the other side of the desk to teach natural history at Merritt College in Oakland, California. He has strong opinions about the value of education, exposure to nature, and utility infielders from the 1980s, and is pursuing a hybrid career of teaching, writing, and research to get the word out that science is accessible and (gasp!) fun. He chose this path because he never wants to stop learning and apparently has a strong aversion to money. This is his first time writing in the third-person."

In this episode we have the privilege of talking with Ericka Huggins who was a professor of Sociology and African American studies at Merritt College in Oakland along with other institutions and for 35 years she has advocated for restorative justice. She is also a member of the iconic Black Panther Party. She shares her story with us about her trying experiences during a tense time in our history from losing her husband in an assassination to being a political prisoner for two years. Ericka’s story is powerful and shows the community focus of the Black Panthers which has been misconstrued over time.

In this episode, hear about the amazing study abroad program to Belize from Egbert Higinio and a student named Linda who joined the program as well. Also, a Merritt College student who went to Ghana and an International student who is studying in the U.S. from Ecuador. The crew discusses International Valentine’s Day traditions as well, hosted by Drew Gephart, PCCD International Services Manager.

Today we are joined by Brad Balukjian, author of the book The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (University of Nebraska, 2020). A combination of Charles Kuralt and Lawrence Ritter, Balukjian’s work examines 14 baseball players pulled from a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards. Balukjian takes the reader on a cross-country tour to meet these now-retired players, who have dealt with being out of the spotlight in different ways. Some stories have a melancholy tone, while others demonstrate that life does not end when a player hangs up his uniform for the last time. Balukjian is a savvy observer of people, and his interactions with the former players are sprinkled with personal observations and the author’s own personal issues. There is a chapter devoted to each player, plus a narrative of Balukjian’s visit with former employees at the Topps factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Balukjian owns a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he spent a year in Tahiti working on his doctorate. He currently is director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Regardless of his academic standing, Balukjian remains a baseball fan at heart and still remembers the excitement of opening cards during the wax pack era. Not only did Balukjian thumb through a pack of cards; he met most of the men pictured on them and shared their compelling stories. Bob D’Angelo earned his master’s degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and spent more than three decades as a sportswriter and sports copy editor, including 28 years on the sports copy desk at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. He is currently a digital news producer for Cox Media Group. Bob can be reached at bdangelo57@gmail.com. For more information, visit Bob D’Angelo’s Books and Blogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Brad Balukjian, author of the book The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (University of Nebraska, 2020). A combination of Charles Kuralt and Lawrence Ritter, Balukjian’s work examines 14 baseball players pulled from a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards. Balukjian takes the reader on a cross-country tour to meet these now-retired players, who have dealt with being out of the spotlight in different ways. Some stories have a melancholy tone, while others demonstrate that life does not end when a player hangs up his uniform for the last time. Balukjian is a savvy observer of people, and his interactions with the former players are sprinkled with personal observations and the author’s own personal issues. There is a chapter devoted to each player, plus a narrative of Balukjian’s visit with former employees at the Topps factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Balukjian owns a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he spent a year in Tahiti working on his doctorate. He currently is director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Regardless of his academic standing, Balukjian remains a baseball fan at heart and still remembers the excitement of opening cards during the wax pack era. Not only did Balukjian thumb through a pack of cards; he met most of the men pictured on them and shared their compelling stories. Bob D’Angelo earned his master’s degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and spent more than three decades as a sportswriter and sports copy editor, including 28 years on the sports copy desk at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. He is currently a digital news producer for Cox Media Group. Bob can be reached at bdangelo57@gmail.com. For more information, visit Bob D’Angelo’s Books and Blogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Brad Balukjian, author of the book The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (University of Nebraska, 2020). A combination of Charles Kuralt and Lawrence Ritter, Balukjian’s work examines 14 baseball players pulled from a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards. Balukjian takes the reader on a cross-country tour to meet these now-retired players, who have dealt with being out of the spotlight in different ways. Some stories have a melancholy tone, while others demonstrate that life does not end when a player hangs up his uniform for the last time. Balukjian is a savvy observer of people, and his interactions with the former players are sprinkled with personal observations and the author’s own personal issues. There is a chapter devoted to each player, plus a narrative of Balukjian’s visit with former employees at the Topps factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Balukjian owns a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he spent a year in Tahiti working on his doctorate. He currently is director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Regardless of his academic standing, Balukjian remains a baseball fan at heart and still remembers the excitement of opening cards during the wax pack era. Not only did Balukjian thumb through a pack of cards; he met most of the men pictured on them and shared their compelling stories. Bob D’Angelo earned his master’s degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and spent more than three decades as a sportswriter and sports copy editor, including 28 years on the sports copy desk at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. He is currently a digital news producer for Cox Media Group. Bob can be reached at bdangelo57@gmail.com. For more information, visit Bob D’Angelo’s Books and Blogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Brad Balukjian, author of the book The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (University of Nebraska, 2020). A combination of Charles Kuralt and Lawrence Ritter, Balukjian’s work examines 14 baseball players pulled from a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards. Balukjian takes the reader on a cross-country tour to meet these now-retired players, who have dealt with being out of the spotlight in different ways. Some stories have a melancholy tone, while others demonstrate that life does not end when a player hangs up his uniform for the last time. Balukjian is a savvy observer of people, and his interactions with the former players are sprinkled with personal observations and the author’s own personal issues. There is a chapter devoted to each player, plus a narrative of Balukjian’s visit with former employees at the Topps factory in Duryea, Pennsylvania. Balukjian owns a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he spent a year in Tahiti working on his doctorate. He currently is director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Regardless of his academic standing, Balukjian remains a baseball fan at heart and still remembers the excitement of opening cards during the wax pack era. Not only did Balukjian thumb through a pack of cards; he met most of the men pictured on them and shared their compelling stories. Bob D’Angelo earned his master’s degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and spent more than three decades as a sportswriter and sports copy editor, including 28 years on the sports copy desk at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. He is currently a digital news producer for Cox Media Group. Bob can be reached at bdangelo57@gmail.com. For more information, visit Bob D’Angelo’s Books and Blogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview with Nehanda ImaraNehanda Imara is an East Oakland resident, dedicated activist, organizer, educator and adjunct teacher for African American and Environmental Studies at Merritt College. Nehanda created the first Environmental Racism/Justice course at the Peralta Community College District.  Read more about Nehanda's accomplishments in the Examiner.com article:  “Nehanda Imara, Oakland's mother of environmental justice.”Nehanda was part of the leadership team at the inception of East Oakland Building Healthy Communities since 2010. Nehanda served on the interim steering committee and worked to shepherd in the implementation phase of the initiative.Currently Nehanda chairs the Land Use/Built Environment Working Group and serves on the Leadership Council. Nehanda is an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment and in this capacity engages residents and youth in fighting for a “Just Transition” away from dirty pollution systems and for clean more sustainable environmental policies and programs.As an organizer for CBE, her outreach and recruitment work has built a strong core membership and broad support base of youth, students, residents and community partners in the Oakland area. She organized the first CBE ‘Love Yo Mama Earth Day' in 2009 in collaboration with community partners in deep East Oakland, a community suffering deeply from the present global ecological crisis, bringing information and resources to youth and residents that typically lack access.Nehanda also serves as Co-coordinator of Merritt's “Black Consciousness Raising Tours to Ghana, West Africa. Nehanda has traveled to over 10 African countries as well as the Caribbean and Central America.http://www.merritt.edu/wp/afram/nehan...http://www.cbecal.org/wp-content/uplo...

My guest today is NASA advisor, author, and YouTube videographer Ariel Waldman. Ariel describes what she does as making “massively multiplayer science” — that is, “creating unusual collaborations that infuse serendipity into science and space exploration.” In this episode, we focus on her recent sojourn documenting microscopic life in Antarctica, and how managing information in such a remote, demanding environment calls for self-reliance and thoughtful preparation. Listen to the full conversation https://theinformeddotlife.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/the-informed-life-episode-13-ariel-waldman.mp3 Show notes Ariel Waldman NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program Science Hack Day Ariel's Spacetime on YouTube National Science Foundation Writers and Artists grant McMurdo Station San Francisco Microscopical Society Merritt College Microscopy program Adobe Premiere Ariel on Patreon Photo: Silicon Republic via Wikimedia Commons Read the full transcript Jorge: Ariel, welcome to the show. Ariel: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. Jorge: I'm very excited to have you here. I want you to introduce yourself to our listeners. I'm going to prompt you by bringing up a phrase that I read in your website. You described what you do is “making massively multiplayer science.” I would love to hear what that's about. Ariel: Yeah, I mean for me massively multiplayer science is all about getting people from completely different disciplines and backgrounds together at the same level to collaborate and sort of make more serendipitous awesome stuff in science. So it is taking a bit of a page from massively multiplayer online games where a lot of times if you have a team, but everyone has the same skills, you're not able to accomplish as much but often times if you have a diverse team of people who all have different skills that they're all coming in at the same level and sort of equal level playing field, then you can take down a big monster or you know, accomplish interesting tasks and things of that nature. So it's really just about everyone coming together from different areas to make science better. Jorge: Can you give us examples of how that manifests in projects were works or things that you've done? Ariel: Yeah, so a little bit about me. So I'm an advisor to the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program that is looking into different ways in which concepts today could be transformative to future space missions, maybe 20 to 40 years down the line. So it's kind of investing in sort of the more sci-fi out there ideas that maybe we can't yet do today but we can begin​ the research to see if it's viable. I'm also the global director of Science Hack Day, an event that gets people together from all different backgrounds to see what they can rapidly prototype in one weekend with science and both of those projects are really for me focused on that massively multiplayer science idea. With the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, I specifically try and look for people who are working outside of the space sector. So people in tech or biosciences​ or neuroscience a bunch of different areas who are doing interesting research that, when applied to a space mission context could be transformative. So I find a lot of the time that people are working on research that is considered very present-day​ for them, but when it's applied to something different like space exploration, it can be game-changing. So I'm always keeping an eye out for people who ​are doing interesting work like that. With Science Hack Day, it's really just about getting as many different types of people as you can in the same room and sort of just letting people go and giving them an excuse to play around for a weekend and not necessarily know where ideas are going, but just to sort of work together and come up with stuff whether it's silly or serious. So that's really about less directed I guess play with science to see what surprises might emerge the other side. Jorge: It sounds to me like you're sort of a cross pollinator, where you're taking the taking the stuff that is happening in one discipline and bringing it to science, right? And perhaps vice-versa as well. Would that be a fair description? Ariel: Yeah, absolutely. Jorge: So I know a lot of your work has been focused on the exploration of space — you were mentioning the work that you're doing in NASA — and in preparation for for this interview, I was watching some videos of yours that that you've published on YouTube. The most recent ones about a project you did in Antarctica. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Ariel: Yeah, so I over the course of becoming a space geek in my life, I got really obsessed with the idea of going to Antarctica because it has so many analogues to space exploration. And I started trying to figure out how I could go to Antarctica, and I learned about a grant called the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers grant, which sends artists to go to Antarctica and do interesting work. And since my background is originally going to art school and in graphic design, I thought, “well, maybe this is my path even though I do a lot of space and science work nowadays my background still in art.” So I began speaking with researchers in Antarctica about what would be useful to them, because I wanted to do something that sort of bridge the gap between art and science. And a lot of them talk to me about how even though we send a lot of biologists down there, to tell us what life-forms exist down there to do a lot of DNA sequencing, they rarely take any photos of these creatures. So there's not actually a large community resource of just knowing what all these microbial, tiny creatures that live in Antarctica look like and move like. There's maybe a couple of photos often taken, and then they go into a scientific paper and then no one really sees them ever again. So I thought that that would be an opportunity for me to propose essentially doing microscopy — becoming somewhat of a wildlife photographer at the microbial scale — and going to Antarctica. So I worked for five years, which was way longer than I intended, to get this grant. Applying multiple times and getting better about applying to government grant which is a whole other system in itself. And I finally got the go-ahead to go last year. And and so I spent five weeks in Antarctica going on top of Glaziers, going underneath the sea ice, sampling the subglacial ponds to look and film these microbes in action in their natural habitat. Jorge: I saw those videos with my kids and they were totally into them. And I thought that… I felt looking at them like, wow, this is such an awesome way to get kids — and grownups too — but especially kids whose lives are ahead of them just interested in science because you're making it kind of come alive, right? Ariel: Yeah. Jorge: We read so much about what it's like to be in Antarctica, but you're actually like showing all these things. And there's a there's a part in the first of the two episodes — I don't know there are more coming but there are two on on YouTube right now — and there's a part in the first one that I wanted to like delve into because it can relates to the subject of this show, which is you had just landed in its McMurdo Station. Is that right? You had just landed in McMurdo Station and we're giving us the tour of the place and showing us around and then you hold up a beeper and you go, “and this is what I use to communicate here.” Ariel: Yeah. Jorge: What was that about? Ariel: Oh my God. Yeah, so, you know, there's not many satellites that go that have polar orbits. So that's sort of where you start with technology and Antarctica. So, very few satellites have polar orbits. They're more difficult, you need to launch from different sites. So because of that you don't really have a lot of bandwidth in Antarctica. And McMurdo is the largest station in Antarctica. It's a station that hosts at its peak in summer. It can host up to a thousand people. So it was a lot of people in a remote location. That doesn't have a whole lot of satellite coverage. There is satellite coverage, but not a thousand people-worth, really. So they try to manage the bandwidth by essentially not allowing anyone to have internet on their phones. And then only you researchers typically even have access to plug in their computers to an ethernet port. Most other people at McMurdo have to use shared computers or things of that nature. Again all just to try and limit the bandwidth so that it's even usable and so yeah, they give people landlines and pagers and that's how you connect with people. So it was really strange for me. You know, it's like I'm just old enough where I remember when pagers were a thing when I was a kid, but yeah the whole like you have to agree when you're going to meet up with someone, but if you're running late you really don't have a way of telling them unless you page them or something of that nature and… Yeah it just a much slower method of doing everything. And they keep calendars and notes and notebooks with pencils so that they can erase them. And yeah, it was a very different way of organizing information there and I found myself getting a little stressed out about if plans change just how much effort you would have to put into contacting someone so that you just didn't leave them stranded waiting for you somewhere. Jorge: I'm really intrigued about this idea of being in a place where communications are so constrained as compared to what they are here, for example in the Bay Area. What was that like and how did it impact your ability to manage your information? Ariel: Again, as I said, I think there was a lot of things about stress about like if I had a random question knowing that I would have to take a few steps to bug someone. So it made me sort of rethink whenever I wanted to ask someone something. You know, I did have access to a computer that I could plug into an ethernet and I was communicating a lot with other people who had access to computers who can plug-in. So there was definitely more of a concept of working hours and non-working hours because it was just enforced like you'd go back to your dorm — and most people have their dorm don't have access to an ethernet cable — so that would be it. So you it's this weird thing where you had to balance contacting people ahead of time enough so that they will actually see the email that you send them. But everyone is so busy that if you were to, you know, contact them a week or two out about something they probably forget it. So so yeah, it just made you a lot more thoughtful about timing and expectations that you couldn't expect someone to get something instantly. You know, I mean, it really is just going back to a lot of the things that many people had in the 90s where it was just you didn't have constant all access at all times. For me, I really missed reading the internet at night in bed, which is a terrible habit, but you know, like I would have to download articles on Instapaper and read from there, but I couldn't really stay up to date with what people were doing and the midterm elections were happening while I was in Antarctica. And so I really was disconnected from a lot of that for better or worse. Because also Twitter is utterly unusable on the bandwidth than Antarctica. So it's like when even when you're plugged into an Ethernet, you can do email that's fine. You're not allowed to watch any videos at all and Twitter is unusable. So you get a very… You're sort of like looking at the internet through a tiny pinhole. Jorge: You said that you were doing — I love this phrase — “wildlife photographer at the microbial scale.” Ariel: Yeah. Jorge: And I'm wondering about how you managed that, the actual information tools for doing that. What was your workflow like? Ariel: Yeah, I mean well certainly leveling up to that point was a lot of work. Anyone can hop on a microscope fairly easily and began using it to get better images and to be confident about using it so much that that you are confident that you can fix anything that's broken when you're in Antarctica took a lot of time. So at first I was self-taught in microscopy. I got a microscope and started just Googling around and figuring out whatever I could figure out. And then I joined the San Francisco Microscopical Society. I always get that wrong. The San Francisco Microscopical Society, so that I could join a community of other people who were into microscopes who could help me learn more information. And then finally it was recommended to me to go into the Merritt College microscopy program to let other people teach me how to use a microscope. And the biggest thing that I got out of that program because at that point, I was already self-taught for a few years, but for me going through that program finally made me confident about microscopes and confident to fix on myself and have some sort of certainty that I knew what I was doing, finally. All of that helps for when I actually deployed and because it turns out that a lot of scientists and researchers and people even that use microscopes really don't know a whole lot about microscopes. And they don't need to you know, they just need like a basic image often times and that's good enough. But a lot of scientists and researchers actually aren't microscope experts at all or even close. So going to Antarctica meant that if something broke or something went wrong, I was the only person who could fix it, which was definitely terrifying because my whole project was about spending five weeks there using microscopes attaching my cameras to microscopes and filming this stuff if something went wrong, I didn't have anyone to turn. You I was a team of one and and I knew that even though I was surrounded by very smart people that they might not necessarily know anything about microscopes. So that was all terrifying. And then when it comes to information management of just dealing with microscopes, knowing what parts you need, knowing how to fix them, I don't know… The microscope world is really really really archaic. They don't make a lot of information available on the web that includes prices of things. So they still very much operate and on a system where you have to call a representative and eventually that representative will get back to you and then you have to engage in a multi-week discussion into figuring out what parts you need or how much something costs. It's just so outdated and so frustrating. So pretty much you have to keep spreadsheets of your current knowledge of okay, I think this part fits with this other part and it costs this much. I can't do the thing that I want to do on this other scope. And again, just no amount of Googling will help you because they're complex systems and I understand but it's just that industry is not really been modernized. So you're really are working with information that comes from talking to people over weeks, which is maddening. I don't like it at all. But unfortunately as you level up in microscope world, that seems to be how knowledge is managed, through talking to people. Jorge: You mentioned that you're attaching your camera to these things and my expectation is that at the end of the five weeks you would have a pretty hefty collection of photographs of all sorts of things. And that's also information, right? Like this stuff that comes out of the project. I wouldn't expect that you'd be using just like the stock photos app on the computer, right? Ariel: Yeah, so I came back with something around 500 videos of microbes and 400 videos of the experience which is the stuff that's on my YouTube channel. And the way I organized it, I don't know that it's the best way but it's the way that just is most straightforward for me, is a couple of things. So with the microscope photos, going through the Merit microscopy program at that community college, is what really taught me about the importance of keeping a lab notebook, which they still do with paper and pen because often times you're in shared lab spaces and you're needing to share microscopes. And having a lab notebook is an easy way for whenever someone sits at a new microscope they can pull up and see what the last person was looking at. But that's just really a file naming system so that consists of the file names being converted to date, sample location, the type of microscope you're using, the objective you're using, and then finally the description of what microbe you're looking at? Oh, and I guess also what lighting technique you're using. So in microscopy, that would be bright field or dark field or fluorescence or things of that nature. So it's a lot of a file naming system. With all the experience videos, however, I found that much more daunting to figure out because these are things where I'm not just needing to locate one particular thing. So with the microscope photos it'd be like, “okay, I need to find a tardigrade that's using a 20x magnification or objective,” and I can go and find that specific one. But with all of the experience videos, so that's me filming. You know, what McMurdo Station looks like or I'm talking to camera or I'm filming divers going underneath the sea ice. I'm needing to really be able to parse through all of those videos so that I can compile them into YouTube videos. And so the file naming system I developed for that that helped me the most is actually starting with location. So first and foremost, I can think when I'm wanting to pull together a video, you know, where am I wanting videos from? So location. Then I would do category, and category would be one of four things. It would be either an action shot. So someone's doing something but not talking to camera. A vista shot. So something where it's just like I'm panning, looking around at you know, an iceberg or something. Talking. So when I'm talking to camera or when someone else is talking the camera. And I think there's one other I had that I'd have to pull up. But you know, I started organizing them into sort of three or four different categories like that so that I could know what type of footage it is. And then finally I would do the date in the description on those file names. But I found that organizing by location and then type of footage helps me so that when I go into Adobe Premiere and I'm just going like, “okay, I know that in this next bit I need an overview of what everything looks like from this location.” I could quickly find it. I will say though, it took me to go through like 400 videos and watch them all and categorize them all like that, that took me about two months of work. It was no joke. It was a lot of work. And I was getting really depressed because I was like, I'm spending all this time just renaming files. It was a bit ridiculous. But again, sort of that team of one thing is like just the only way out is through. Jorge: So you did the organization of the videos after you came back from Antarctica, is that the case? Ariel: So I did basic organization while I was there. So I was at least organizing everything by day and location and I was hoping that that would be enough. So I was keeping track of everything, organizing it, you know, it wasn't totally the wild west but. But when I came back, I realized well like this is just… Knowing what day and location it was, was not enough information for me to quickly go through in a video editing program because I needed to know which are the things where I'm talking to camera, which are the things where I'm looking out over a landscape, which other things were someone's diving into something. Oh, yeah that fourth category was transit. So anytime I was like on a plane, on a helicopter, on a snowmobile, what have you, I had that as a separate category as well just to show like the transition from one space to another. Jorge: If I sounded a little surprised when you said that, is that when looking at the videos they are very professionally produced. And this is not a place where you can go back to get second shots, right? Ariel: No, yeah. Jorge: If you miss it, you missed it. And like you were describing this, like yeah, you have the establishing shot, you have the more context-setting, like you're getting closer, then you have the… It's like you got the right shots, which makes me think like even if you did the organization after the fact, you must have gone into it with the knowledge that we need to bring the viewers along. So we need to show the airplane kind of about the land in McMurdo Etc. Ariel: Yeah. I mean I certainly had just a rough idea of how to show everything. So I think and I guess some of that comes from doing video for a couple of years now. And I tried my best to write out different episode ideas before I went there, so that I had an idea of what I wanted to shoot. If I'm being honest, when I got there the idea of trying to like get each episode just was it was it was not very realistic. So I had like an overarching idea of like, I know I want to show these sorts of locations in these things. But anytime I try to actually plan it out, I was like that's not going to work. I'm going to have to just shoot as much as I can and see what I have on the flip side. And that's you know, typically I found that usually the best way for me at least to do video is just shoot as much as you can try to talk to camera as much as you can and then see what you have on the other side. So as I said, I've got around 400 videos of the experience, but you're not going to see all 400 of those videos. Now you're going to see the ones where I'm like, okay these ones actually work. Jorge: Yeah. Well, they do work and I want to congratulate you because they're very effective and I think they accomplish the mission that kind of bringing us along and making us excited about what you were doing there. Thank you for sharing that with us. We have a few minutes left and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to get your take on where the exploration of space is going next. I was thinking recently just watching the news that we seem to be in a resurgence of interest in space exploration, what with the commercial entities coming in and the government seems to be putting renewed effort into things like the exploration of the moon. And this is crewed exploration, not just robotic exploration. So I just wanted to get your take on where things are going next. Ariel: Yeah, I mean you ask different people you'll get different answers for me, I started to get into space exploration when I randomly got a job at NASA in 2008. And so that was at the very end of the Bush Administration and the party line at that point was, we're going to go back to the moon and this time to stay. So it's been very interesting for me now, a little over a decade later, that they're trying to bring them party-line out again. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's interesting for me now that I've been in the industry long enough to see the cyclical sort of nature of it. And I think certainly things have changed in the last ten years a lot. Ten years ago, NASA was not as good about being open and sharing as much stuff as they do now. They were trying but it was still very much a struggle. So they've gotten better on that. And then certainly there's no longer a monopoly on space exploration because of commercial companies, which is definitely really exciting. The disappointing part for me is that you would think that because because there's more commercial companies in this space and because they do not have the same legal requirements as NASA does for maintaining their workforce, you would think that these commercial companies would be more diverse than NASA, but they're actually less diverse than NASA when you look up at their workforce numbers. So things like that are a bit disappointing to me. In terms of where I think space is headed, to me one of the most exciting emerging disciplines regardless of human space flight or not is astrobiology, which is all about looking at life here on Earth so that we can better understand how we could look for life in outer space. And one of the things that's an interesting time to be alive for is that NASA is very good at telling us when other planets or other moons are habitable or not, but they still don't have the technology to tell us whether or not they're looking directly at a fish. So if there's a fish on another moon, that technology doesn't exist to conclusively say, “yes, this is a fish. This is a living creature. We have detected life. Let's celebrate.” And there's so many different ways in which you could be detecting life. You could be doing it through biological methods, like looking for proteins or alien proteins, or you could be doing it through microscopes, or you could be doing it through different sort of radar technologies. A lot of different ways to do that. So to me, one of the most exciting things I think that is in the future of space exploration, regardless of if we're going to the moon or Mars or what have you, is that it's a very creative time for people from different disciplines to be trying to help us figure out if we can detect life in our solar system, or even life on exoplanets — planets around other stars. Because we're only going to be getting better information about all of those things over our lifetime. So to me, that's the really exciting bit. But of course, you know, it's a bit biased because I think astrobiology is like a lot of fun and exciting. But from the human spaceflight perspective. I was involved in writing a whole report to Congress and NASA and the White House about the future of space exploration out to the 2050s, specifically to human space flight. And you know, I think the biggest takeaway to wrap it up I guess is that it's not guaranteed in our lifetime that we will be able to — that anyone will be able to — send humans to the surface of Mars. Like actually landing humans on the surface of Mars. It's not impossible. It could totally happen. But my biggest takeaway was that it's not guaranteed. It's not just the moon, but a little bit harder. It's going to require so much unprecedented collaboration, so much unprecedented information management, and political will and funding, and a different way of doing things that if we do it it will be something to be extremely proud of that it happened in your lifetime. Because it's not certain. And that makes it both scary, but also exciting, to see if it will actually happen or not in our lifetime. Jorge: Well, that's an amazing note to wrap it up on. And I consider your work and important part of the effort to get folks excited in the project. So I want to thank you for the work that you're doing. And just in case folks are interested in following up with you, where should they go? Ariel: I guess my YouTube channel would probably be the easiest so you can actually see a lot of the things that we discussed today. So that's just a youtube.com slash Ariel Waldman. Jorge: Thank you for being on the show, Ariel. This was a pleasure. Ariel: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me

In this episode, we hone in on drill music, a sub-genre that has gained notoriety since 2012 due to its nihilistic, dark, hyper-violent lyrics and sonic elements. Dr. Charity Clay, a Sociology professor at Merritt College in Oakland, CA weighs in to provide understanding of the social, environmental, and historical conditions in Chicago. The aim is to provide alternate perspectives to audiences that dismiss its cultural value, and write it off as pathological to city conditions.

Professor Manu Ampim is an historian and primary (first-hand) researcher specializing in African and African American history and culture. He earned a Masters of Arts degree in History & African American Studies from Morgan State University in 1989. He joins us to speak about the Save Nubia Project which has a program this Sat., Sept. 27, 1-3:30 at Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Drive at the John & Jean Knox Center, 2600 Mission Bell Drive, San Pablo, CA http://savenubia.org/about-us/who-we-are Currently, Prof. Ampim teaches history at Contra Costa College (San Pablo, CA), and a Africana Studies/Study Abroad course at Merritt College in Oakland, CA. He also teaches a pioneering 7-Step Primary Research Methodology Course at Advancing The Research. We continue our conversation with Mr. A. Dwight Pettit, attorney and author of the recent memoir, Under the Color of Law (2014). www.iuniverse.com We close with UbuntuTheatreProject.com members to talk about the closing performances this week of 4 plays in three locations: Sept. 24-27: N'Jameh Camara - Actress (Dance of the Holy Ghosts, Marguerite to Maya Angelou: a moment in prose) - Playwright (Marguerity to Maya Angelou: a moment in prose) Walker Hare - Actor (Campo Maldito, Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, Waiting for Lefty) Emilie Whelan - Director (Grounded, Waiting for Lefty) - Actress (Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, Waiting for Lefty)

Dr. Siri Brown, Ache Lytle & Mama Naomi Diouf join us to talk about a recent grant the Department of African American Studies at Merritt College received which took them and other educators to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. There is a reportback tomorrow at Merritt College 10-12 where the educators will share curriculum developed during the intensive month long Fulbright project which looked at, Culture as Power: Teaching Afro-Brazilian History, Politics, and Culture--A Curriculum Development Project for Community College and High School Educators. The project reflects African American Studies' deep-seated commitment to providing access to a global Pan African education for undeserved, students of color and it offers educators opportunity for professional and curriculum development and consisted of educators. Visit www.merrittafram.com Dr. Eugene B. Redmond, Poet Laureate of East St. Louis, Illinois (ESLI); Emeritus Professor of English, Founding Editor of Drumvoices Revue, and former Chairman of Creative Writing Committee at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, joins us from ESLI, to talk about the Black Arts Movement at almost 50 years and Malcolm X on the anniversary of his killing in 1965. Visit http://eugenebredmond.com/home/biography/ We close with a conversation about healing with Sister Omitola Akinwunmi, KuumbaKreates, Life By Divine Design - Azikiwe Health. She is a clinician who has completed Level 2 Kemetic Reiki which is being offered once again this weekend by Kajara Nia Yaa Nebthet who arrives this evening for a book talk at Wose House of Amen Ra, http://wosecommunity.org/ 

Today we're talking about permaculture–a design science and philosophy of living rooted in observing the stability and resiliency of natural ecosystems. In some circles around the Bay Area today, taking a course to become a certified permaculture designer has become a sort of rite of passage, and many see this as a very promising development. We discuss permaculture education with three teachers from around the Bay Area: David Cody of the Urban Permaculture Institute in San Francisco, Christopher Shein of Merritt College in Oakland and Penny Livinston-Stark of the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas. The post Terra Verde – March 16, 2012 appeared first on KPFA.

Farmageddon director, Kristin Canty joins us to talk about Americans' right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack presently, especially those small family farms who make such choices available. Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers to take action to preserve our quickly vanishing right to produce these foods safely free from unreasonably burdensome regulations.The recent cantelop recall is testiment to the danger of commercial farm practices, dangers not inherent to the smaller agri-businesses. We see how these regulations and practices which favor, overwhelmingly the corporate structure of agri-production is tied to political support from these multibillion dollar industires which look less at healthy choices for the consumer, not to mention the animals and the land or soil, and more to profit--a shortsighted and limited way of thinking. If one is dead or sick, how useful is a huge bank account? Visit farmaggeddonmovie.com Mill Valley Film Festival 34 opens Oct. 6-16, 2011 and features many African films, among them, FESPCO winner 2011, Pegasus, dir. Mohamed Mouftakir. Fouad Challa, director, joins us from Morocco. The film screens at MVFF Oct. 7 & 9. Visit mvff.org We close with Rafael Jesus Gonzalez and Laura Inserra who speak about the second annual Art in Nature: The Nature of Art, A Free Multidisciplinary Arts Festival, October 2, 2011, 11 AM to 5 PM at the Stream Trail of Redwood Regional Park, in Oakland. Visit artinnaturefestival.org There will be shuttles leaving from Merritt College. Get tickets in advance at the program website.

The East Bay is home to a rich mix of advocacy organizations that promote social change by coordinating stakeholders from across society—from the grassroots to governments. Today we discuss community colleges as a particular kind organization that is apt to connect people from disparate sectors of society and in different stages of their careers, bringing them together around one table, or one field site as the case may be. Community colleges thus serve as a forum for interaction and integration, enhancing environmental efforts at large. Joining me in the studio to share their experiences at community college are three East Bay locals, Janis Poon, Jorge Valencia, and Robin Freeman, chair of the Environmental Management and Technology Department at Merritt College. The post Terra Verde – August 19, 2011 appeared first on KPFA.

We have two prerecorded interviews this morning, the first is with Melba Moore, who is bringing her one woman show, "Still Standing" to the Black Rep this weekend, April 30 to May 2, 2010. For information call: (925) 812-2787, (510) 652-2120 or www.BLACKREPERTORYGROUP.COM, and www.melbamoore.com. To see a promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SATYk0FUXwQ The second interview is with Alameda Supervisor Keith Carson who hosts: "African American Organizations Making Connections" this weekend, Saturday, May 1, 2010, 8:15-2 PM at Merritt College at the Huey Newton-Bobby Seale Conference Room, 12500 Campus Dr., Oakland, CA. There is free parking. AC Transit stops right in front of the campus. Oh, there will be free light refreshments. For information call (510) 271-5151 or visit www.acgov.org/board/district5/makingconnections.htm

This Thursday on Bloody Angola: A Prison Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman We bring you the story of Corey Miller, the brother of famed rap entrepreneur Master P and sibling to a business dynasty known as No Limit Entertainment.In 2009 C-Murder was sentenced to life in prison with no parole and made his way to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola but has always maintained his innocence.With stars such as Kim Kardashian and Monica advocating for his release, Woody and Jim bring you not only the case itself but some information you will hear for the very first time.#nolimitrecords#masterp#CMurder#truecrimepodcast#rap#truecrime#kimkardashian#louisianastatepenitentiary#angola#woodyovertonpodcast#bloodyangola #JimChapmanPodcast #WoodyOverton #RealLifeRealCrimeThe Rise and Fall of C-Murder!FULL TRANSCRIPTJim: Hey, everyone. Welcome to this edition of Bloody-Woody: Angola.Jim: A podcast 142 years in the making.Woody: The Complete Story of America's Bloodiest Prison.Jim: And I'm Jim Chapman.Woody: And I'm Woody Overton.Jim: Look, we've gotten more requests of this really in the past couple of months than we've ever had.Woody: Right. It's a really, really interesting case, actually born out of Louisiana, but known worldwide.Jim: Global.Woody: We're going to tie it into Bloody Angola but let's tell you about the case first. See, y'all today we're going to be talking about Corey Miller, also known as C-Murder, and he was a famous Deep South rapper. Corey was part of No Limit Records, and his brothers include the founder of No Limit and rapper Percy Miller known as Master P. And Vyshonn Miller known as Silkk the Shocker, and his nephew, Romeo Miller, known as Lil' Romeo.Before we tell you the full story regarding C-Murder, we have to tell you where he came from. He was born and raised in the very rough 3rd Ward Calliope Projects of New Orleans. His oldest brother, Percy, known as Master P, was a basketball star in high school and received a basketball scholarship to play for the University of Houston. However, Percy dropped out months into his freshman year and transferred to Merritt College in Oakland, California, to major in business. After the death of his grandfather, Percy inherited $10,000 as part of a malpractice settlement and opened up a record store called No Limit Records. Jim: That's right. In 1990, his older brother Percy released his first cassette tape. Yep, cassette tapes, remember, y'all?Woody: Cassette tape. [crosstalk] Jim: It was called Mind of a Psychopath. In that same year, he became Master P.Woody: Master P.Jim: Now, that same year, Corey's brother Kevin was killed in New Orleans. Master P, he kind of used that as motivation to get his record label off the ground and get his family out of the New Orleans projects where they were from, y'all, in the third world, the Calliope Projects. Very, very, tough, tough neighborhood. Woody: Let me tell you about this real quick. Let me interject. In the prison system in Angola or DCI, wherever you're at, all the convicts will refer to-- someone asking, I'll say, "Where are you from?" "The city." Well, the city means New Orleans. They automatically say, "What ward?" New Orleans is broken down into wards, most famously known for the 9th Ward. But each ward had its own project. Now, that's not a derogatory term. Back then, before Katrina, you literally couldn't go two blocks in any direction, even if you were on St. Charles in the richest neighborhood and you hit--Jim: Where Mike lives.Woody: Right, where Mike Agovino lives, and you hit projects. These are big high-rise buildings that the government used for low-income housing. They had their own police force even though they're part of NOPD, but they wouldn't even go in there for a shots fired call unless they had two or more units. Jim: That's right. Woody: It was rough. Jim: Yeah, it was rough. Obviously, oldest brother Percy, known as Master P, it was his goal to get his family out of the ghettos of New Orleans. It was kind of from this start that No Limit Records became a full-blown empire. Master P, in particular, became a beast in the way of business investments. I mean, just about everything this guy touched turned into gold. He was no idiot at all. No Limit invested in all kinds of successful ventures. They had an energy drink company, a sports management company, a publishing company, fast food companies. No Limit Enterprises became so successful, in fact, that in 1998 alone, the company grossed $110,000,000. Woody: That's a lot of duckies.Jim: That is a lot.Woody: Homegrown, right? Jim: Yep.Woody: Corey Miller was growing, y'all, at this time as a rapper, and his rap name was C-Murder. I know y'all have heard of that. Corey was the top of his game, and he had been the focal point of No Limited Records, and he was one of the wealthiest and most popular artists on the label until February 12th, 2002, when a Jefferson Parish grand jury indicted him for the murder of 16-year-old Steve Thomas in a New Orleans nightclub. In the early morning hours of January 12th, 2002, Deputy Brian Singleton received a call to respond to a shooting at the Platinum Club in Harvey, Louisiana, y'all, which is a suburban yours. When he arrived, Officer Singleton observed a large crowd of over 100 people screaming and running out the door of the club in a hectic state. As he made his way through the crowd, he observed over 100 to 150 people still inside. It was at this time he saw the victim, later identified as 16-year-old Steve Thomas, lying on his back, suffering a single gunshot wound to his chest. Deputy Singleton leaned down and tried to speak to the victim, but the victim was unresponsive, and the deputy radioed for medical assistance. Jim: Now, other deputies, they started to arrive, and Deputy Singleton then requested that all the doors be locked and all the officers start canvassing the club. They were going to get statements. Woody: Right. It's an active crime scene.Jim: Darnell Jordan, he worked security at the club that night, and he stated that a fight broke out between the pool table and the dance floor, and 15 to 20 people were beating down the victim. He said the victim was lying on his back and kind of trying to cover himself up. Turtling, as we call it. He was getting kicked and punched. That is when he kind of ran in and he tried to break up the fight.He said he grabbed C-Murder and told him, "Hey, man, chill out." C-Murder responded, "Aight." He then said he heard a gunshot. He also stated he never saw C-Murder kick or punch the victim, but he was about a foot away when C-Murder reached his hand into the pile of people, and the next thing he knew, he saw a flash at the end of it. In the 911 call, it's important to mention that Darnell never mentioned knowing who the shooter was. It's also important to mention that his story has changed many times regarding the identity of the shooter. Woody: Right. Which makes his testimony not worth a shit. But Denise Williams, who was also interviewed that night and said that the shooter was an individual named Derek Taylor. Detective Donald Clogher, who had been handed the lead in the case, stated that he could tell she was not being truthful, and later she admitted to having lied. She stated it was because she was fearful for her own safety, although she never identified C-Murder as the shooter. Corey Miller agreed to give a statement but was not willing to offer a recorded statement. He said he was, in fact, at the Platinum Club the night of the shooting, and he was talking to the DJ when heard the shot and was pushed out of the club at that point by an unknown individual.One of the key points, y'all, is that the detectives made note of during the questioning was that he asked about specific facts of investigation, inquired as to if witnesses were cooperating and was fishing to find out who they were. The detectives believed he was asking all these questions so that he could ascertain anyone who was cooperating with police to make threats upon them if they talk. They're talking about C-Murder, y'all.Jim: Yeah. And, Woody, you've interrogated countless amounts of individuals. Is that something that would raise a flag with you if they were asking--?Woody: Yeah. That's almost like people coming back to revisit the crime scene to watch or whatever and interjecting themselves in an investigation. The fact that he's coming back in and he's like, "Who's talking? Who's talking?"Jim: Yeah. "Y'all got any information on the case?"Woody: "Who's talking?" That's definitely the right red flag. Jim: Almost showing too much interest in what's going on. Kenneth Jordan was also a witness at the club that night. Now, he stated that the celebs, they get to skip the line and that although a metal wand is used for weapons checks, y'all have all seen that, the airport or whatever, they scan you up and down with that metal wand. He stated they don't really do that for celebrities, of which C-Murder was one. At this time, y'all, he was big. He was killing it everywhere, everything he touched.Woody: No pun intended.Jim: Yeah, [chuckles] no pun intended. He stated there was a rap contest that night, and the victim was in the contest. He said after the victim got off the stage, someone in a CP3 hoodie ran up and attacked the victim. And, y'all, let me tell you about CP3. CP3 stands for the Calliope Projects. It's basically CP and then 3 is for Third Ward, which is what hood C-Murder grew up in. Kenneth Jordan continued to say that the victim was fighting for his life when he got jumped by six or seven people and that C-Murder was not throwing punches and just watching the fight. He said once the fight was over, Corey Miller stood over the victim and shot him once in the chest.Now, it's important to note that this entire statement by Kenneth Jordan took place about a year after the murder. The case was brought up to Kenneth Jordan when he was in another case as a material witness involving the death of his baby. He said he did not initially speak to police because he feared for his life.Woody: Yeah, that's--Jim: A year later.Woody: So, on February 28th of 2002, C-Murder was indicted, y'all, for the murder of Steve Thomas. In September of 2003, he was convicted. However, in 2006, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction, and Corey Miller was granted a new trial based on the claim that prosecutors improperly withheld criminal background information on three of their witnesses. The defense, who was not made aware of the criminal records of the witnesses, stated they would have attacked the credibility of those witnesses if that information had been turned over. That's Brady, y'all. Everybody, you've got to turn it over. Jim: I do wonder though, Woody, you would have thought a defense attorney, when they see a witness list, they would just run a background check. Woody: But they don't have to, because under the Brady law, everything the prosecutor has in their file, they have to give it to them. So, the criminal records would have been in the file, but guess what? Somebody pulled them out. Jim: I got you. Technicality. Woody: That's why it was turned over. The state of Louisiana decides in 2009 to give it another shot. They set a trial date for August of 2009. This is where things get stupid crazy. Just three weeks from the trial date, a friend of C-Murder's named Juan Flowers comes out and says that he killed Steve Thomas. The questionable thing really was his confession, or with his confession was Juan Flowers was already serving a life sentence in jail by this point. It's not uncommon for lifers to try to admit to other killings to save their friends. Believe it or not, the other issue is that he changed and recanted that confession several times after that. So, the trial moves forward, and on August 10th, 2009, Corey Miller, C-Murder is convicted again and sentenced to life with no parole in Bloody Angola. Jim: Wow. Look, that confession by Juan Flowers, that's something that the attorneys for C-Murder and those that are fighting for his release, that's something they bring up. The issue with that is this guy really had nothing to lose. He was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. Woody: He was going to die in prison.Jim: He was a friend of his. Woody: If he can get C-Murder, this famous rapper off--[crosstalk] Jim: Famous friend.Woody: Famous friend. And get him off by saying, "Hey, you know what? I did it." Jim: Yeah, he can get favors in jail for the rest of his life. Woody: I mean, his family would have been taken care of and everything else. Jim: Yeah. He did come out after making that statement and basically recanted the whole thing and said, "I didn't kill him." So, C-Murder in Bloody Angola. Two weeks after he was sentenced, guess what? He gets an additional 10 years added to his sentence for a court case involving the attempted killing of two people in a Baton Rouge nightclub in 2001, y'all. And I remember this vividly. Now, Miller was in Club Raggs. That was a club in Baton Rouge, which was very, very popular.Woody: Hotspot. Jim: Hotspot. He got in an argument with security after refusing to allow them to search him. He yanks a gun, pulls the trigger on a bouncer, and the nightclub owner, and guess what? Gun jam.Woody: Gun jam.Jim: Thank God for that. He's probably glad that it jammed too, because he didn't get charged with murder right there. This was all captured on camera. One of the bullets actually ejected after the jam. That's how close it was to going off. So, you know that he actually pulled the trigger if one of the bullets ejected.Woody: It just didn't fire. Jim: That's right. It's really important to mention that he was free on bond with that case when the case with the nightclub incident involving the killing of Steve Thomas took place. That's huge. Woody: It's crazy.Jim: You know what? Stay out of the bars at that point. You're already in trouble, and you go out and this happens. Time marches on, and C-Murder, he's kind of working through this appeals process, which it pretty much gets exhausted in 2014. Then in 2018, Kenneth Jordan? You remember those two Jordans I told you about, which incidentally, they're not related. Kenneth Jordan, one of the prosecution's star witnesses, comes out and states he was pressured to finger Miller for the killing or face a 10-year sentence for another crime he was involved in. Then the very next month, the prosecution's other star witness, Darnell Jordan, recanted his statement, stating he was detained and locked in a hotel room by police who pressured him to testify against Miller. And, y'all, as I said, these guys are not related. They just share the same last name. Woody: It's crazy. I'm going to interject a little bit of a personal knowledge about C-Murder, Corey Miller, y'all. So, he's up in Angola. He's doing his time. He's famous. Like I said, he's doing his time. Whether he could have told who the actual shooter was, if he wasn't or whatever, he's living by the street code. He ain't saying dick. But he's doing his time, not letting his time do him. Now, my mother-in-law was the head of security for the visitation room at Bloody Angola. Guess who is very popular to be visited? Corey Miller. All right, I'm going to tell you, I talked to her. My wife talked about it and I listened last night because I remember her telling me about C-Murder back in the day when you brought the story up and said, "Call her and ask her anything that she could tell us about him." All right. What she said, he was very tall, maybe 6'6". Jim: Listed as 6'4".Woody: But this is her memory. She said he was skinny, not real muscular, but it showed that he worked out some prison muscle, but he was still skinny, but said he was very nice. He liked you. He was super polite to you. And he liked you, he let you know it. Master P, his brother, would fly in on a helicopter and land inside the wired Angola, and they took him to the ranch house. Now, we talked about the ranch house in past episodes. Ranch house is where Burl Cain would hold his meetings with dignitaries, and they would cook them the prison meals and all that. Well, guess what? Master P got to have his visitation in the ranch house. It's pretty cool. She said that they developed this personal relationship, and she called him C instead of Corey Miller. Sometime during his incarceration, he had a video that came out, and C actually asked my mother-in-law to go watch and say, "What do you think of the video?" Jim: Wow. Woody: She told him about what she thought of it. She said there also was another famous short rapper in there, she couldn't remember his name, that couldn't stand C-Murder. Jim: Come on. Woody: Yeah, so there was a beef between them. They couldn't have visitation at the same time, everything else. They probably would have killed each other. Jim: Wow. Woody: So, she was made aware of that. He told her directly. He said, "You know what? I believe I have more purpose in this life." She said he would stop in the visitation room while other people were there in there. It's a massive room, y'all, with all these tables and some vending machines, and they get screened. Family members come in, and people would come up to him while he's in his visits, say, "Hey, will you give me your autograph?" And he'd do it. Said he was a cool, nice guy. Said he took good care of his girlfriend. His girlfriend came every other weekend to visit. She doted on him. Also, the son of the girlfriend thought of C as his daddy. And he had a big family, and they would come see him almost all the time, every chance they could. The family also went to every one of his court dates during this appeal process we're talking about. But check this out, C-Murder, all hardcore, right? Was a mama's boy. Jim: Hmm.Woody: Absolutely doted on this mama. She said his mama was a big woman, big boned, and she always wore a T-shirt that said "Free C-Murder" when she came to visit. Jim: Wow. Woody: Master P ended up buying their mama house on Tchoupitoulas. She got to hang out with him and talk. You know what she said? If you didn't know he was in prison for murder, she said, "Hell, we were friends. He could have spent the night in my house." Jim: Wow. You've got some scoop there, Woody Overton. Look, that's inside info. Woody: That's the Bloody Angola scoop.Jim: You can't get nowhere--[crosstalk] Woody: Bloody Angola scoop. So, that's a personal account. Of course, she's now long since been retired, probably five or six years. Jim: Very interesting. A helicopter, huh? Woody: Helicopter flying inside the wire and getting private visitation at the ranch or whatever. Jim: That's pretty cool. Woody: All right, so, y'all, he was popular. In 2020, a series of tweets were placed by a very well-known celebrity and influencer, Kim Kardashian. Everybody knows about Kim. She joined the fight to free C-Murder after hearing all the inconsistencies in his case. In a series of Twitter posts, she stated she is teaming up with R&B singer Monica, C-Murder's ex-girlfriend, in the fight to get the 49-year-old rapper's murder conviction overturned. "My heart goes out to the family of Steve Thomas. I can only imagine how hard this is. My intention is to never open up this painful wound, but to help find the truth behind this tragedy. True justice for the young man requires that the person who actually killed him be held responsible and that Corey Miller be returned home to his kids." Y'all, that was Kim Kardashian's statement. Jim: That's right. With no further ado, we'd like to welcome our guest, Kim Kardashian, to this sh-- No, we-- [crosstalk] Woody: Kim, how are you doing?[laughter] Jim: But, Kim, if you want to come on--Woody: Kim, didn't you just graduate from law school? I think she did. Jim: [laughs] I think you're right. She's not really here, y'all. Woody: Yes, she is.Jim: If she'd like to come on, come on.Woody: You can just bump up the ratings. Kim, come on down. Jim: That's it. Yeah. A lot of people out there advocating for C-Murder and think that he, for lack of a better term, got screwed on his conviction. As recently as March 3rd, y'all of this year, so just occurring-Woody: Last month. Jim: -last month, C-Murder is making headlines, and his manager released a statement related to a recent hunger strike he's undergoing to protest conditions at Elayn Hunt, where he was transferred in 2018 from Angola. In 2018, commonly-- well, I don't know how common it is, but prisoners will get transferred to different prisons after being at Angola so long. [crosstalk] Woody: It could be some security reasons also. Like that little rapper my mother-in-law was talking about, it could be he used his influence and maybe Master P can't afford a helicopter anymore. And Elayn Hunt is a hell of a lot closer to New Orleans than Angola is, being right outside of Baton Rouge, y'all, in St. Gabriel. It's pretty crazy.Jim: In these hunger strikes that they do, this is common. One of the most powerful ways that convicts have to protest, especially conditions in prison, is through starving themselves. And it gets attention. Woody: Not Burl Cain's, let me tell you that.Jim: Not Burl Cain, yeah.Woody: Burl Cain is on tape. One inmate or convict came up and said, "Warden, I need to talk to you." Well, Burl Cain knows his business. He told him, the inmate, the convict, said, "Aren't you on hunger strike?" He said, "Yes, sir, I am." Burl said, "Well, boy, I'm not goi--" Not boy. Jim: [chuckles] Woody: He said, "Sir, I'm not going to talk to you while you're on hunger strike. You go ahead and get you a good meal and I'll come back and talk to you." Jim: There you go. So, he didn't put up. But we're going to read this statement from his manager regarding that. It says, "On behalf of the Miller Family in an ongoing campaign to have justice served, Lisa Jackson, publicist, and Steve Johnson, manager for Corey Miller/C-Murder, are requesting the release of information to the public about Corey and his current situation at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center. We are asking Kim Kardashian, as the prison reform legal team representing Mr. Miller, to help bring immediate public awareness to Corey's situation, wrongful conviction from the state of Louisiana, the state of Louisiana's suppression of evidence, inhumane treatment conditions at the prison, and it is imperative now more than ever that a quick strategy move is made as his health has significantly declined due to the prison system's inhumane conditions. Fortunately, and unfortunately, we have a disturbing visual and written information about Mr. Miller's situation." He goes on to say, "Mr. Miller recently passed out. He received no follow-up medical care in response. And because Mr. Miller asked for and did not receive an investigation in the circumstances of his passing out, he was placed in solitary confinement as retaliation. Corey continues to suffer from chronic dental issues that have led to significant weight loss and have been denied much needed thyroid medication because the state of Louisiana says they cannot obtain the necessary medications. Because conditions at Elayn Hunt have not improved, Mr. Miller is engaging in a hunger strike that began on February 23rd to bring awareness to his and all his inmates' neglect and abuse at the hands of the penal system. The neglect of inmates in the penal system has been well documented by Mr. Miller and others." So, basically, his manager, he's basically saying Corey Miller ain't doing so well right now. Woody: Yeah, well, you know what? Listen, I'm going to call bullshit--[crosstalk] Jim: I knew you would. [chuckles] Woody: You can only go like five days without eating or less time without water. I'm pretty sure C-Murder has gotten couple of Ramen noodles passed through his door or whatever. The whole medication thing and all that, if that's true, they better believe they're going to get that shit straight. But one of the reasons they may have moved though to Elayn Hunt is they do have a, believe it or not, a better medical staff. I can't say better, but they have more access to the local hospitals and everything else. So maybe he's needing to see specialists? I don't know.But the problem with this, y'all, is Steve Thomas is dead. From what I understand, this garnered a lot more national attention. What was the show? I like that show. They go in and investigate cases and see if there's been an injustice in it. He was on this show. And, Jim, you sent it to me. Actually, he was on it by phone interview but his family, his ex-wife and his daughter brought this cracker jack investigative team in, one that was a defense attorney, the other one was a career criminal investigator like me, and they investigated the case. Jim: Yeah. And it was called Reasonable Doubt. Woody: Reasonable Doubt. That's it. I think it's like Season 2, Episode 3 if you want to check it out. They worked it. And C-Murder basically said on the phone, basically he knew did it, but he ain't saying. Jim: Yeah. The interesting thing about this show was they brought up several key points of evidence. One was the fact that somebody had confessed to it. We already told y'all the story there. The guy just is not believable. He keeps changing his story. In addition to that, they brought up a chain. There was a chain that-Woody: That Steve Thomas was wearing. Jim: -Steve Thomas was wearing that when he got killed. Somebody yanked that chain off him.Woody: Yeah, during that fight with the beat down. Jim: The DNA did not match C-Murder's DNA. Woody: It really didn't match anybody.Jim: Correct. Woody: He couldn't be excluded or whatever, but it doesn't matter, y'all. DNA is not like you think it is. Just every time you touch something for a second, doesn't mean your DNA is going to be on it. They proved it by an expert that if somebody just grabbed and yanked it off, chances of their DNA being on there are very slim. Jim: Yeah. They basically dispelled most of the cases, I guess, for his release. There just wasn't anything there. In that interview, as Woody said, where C-Murder was actually on the phone, I guess you could say he alluded to the fact that he kind of knew who did it, but he has a code that he lives by.Woody: One of the witnesses said that it was one of C-Murder's crew that actually pulled the trigger. They exited the club and when they asked them where the weapon is, and they said they threw it in the Mississippi over a bridge coming back in New Orleans because Harvey is across the bridge. Jim: Yeah, and the problem with that was C-Murder was with them and he becomes a what? Woody: Accessory. Jim: Yeah.Woody: Same thing. He would have got-- Principal 2-- Louisiana Vice Statute 1427 principal 2, basically accessory and he'd have gotten the same charge. But they said he's standing up and doing his time. It is what it is. Jim: It is what it is. Woody: I don't know how you get it, but he's no longer in Bloody Angola. But he did some time. Jim: Yeah, and as of this recording, he's still serving the rest of his life in prison for this. Look, man, if you didn't do it, you're going to have to say who did or you're going to ride that sentence out till you die.Woody: That's it. Jim: That's just the bottom line. We wanted to bring this episode to you. We had a lot of people ask us too. There were a lot of questions with regard to C-Murder. He's a very popular part of society, even still 21 years after this has taken place. Woody: Well, people don't even know that he was a veteran. Jim: Yeah, he was. That's right.Woody: A military veteran. The same war that I was veteran of, the first Gulf War. You'd think him and Master P, they display themselves as the gangster life, whatever. Master P got a college education. Jim: Let me tell you, that is a persona and that guy is a businessperson. You cannot reach that level of success in life without being very smart and have a very high business acumen. That's the bottom line. Woody: I think when you start believing your own height, and certainly you're the most popular person at nightclub held about 400 or 500 people, y'all, Platinum did or Platinum, whatever they call it. Supposedly, Steve Thomas was on stage rapping. It was like a rap battle. He got off the stage and maybe C-Murder's crew didn't like it and they gave him the beatdown. Jim: Well, there was even a rumor out there saying that in that contest, he out-rapped everybody else and a lot of people were saying he was better than C-Murder, and that basically he was killed because of that. And C-Murder responded to that in that TV interview and said, "Man, I have way too much to lose. I'm not going to kill a guy because everybody thought he was better than me that night or whatever." I believe that. I don't think that's why.Woody: A lot of people said that Steve Thomas was actually C-Murder's biggest fan. Yeah. Jim: Yeah. His own family. His mom and dad said he had posters of Master P. Woody: He's a huge C-Murder fan. Jim: Yeah. Woody: He ended up dying, [unintelligible 00:34:08] for them. You know what? The silent code-- A lot of times I say the streets talk, that's what they say. The streets talk, but a lot of times, they don't. In this case, he wants to die in prison for that. Now, I think it's too late. All these people recanting stories and all that, it's just to validate you as a witness on the appeals process. My prediction is like Rocky 3. They ask Mr. T, "What's your prediction?" "Prediction is pain." My prediction is C-Murder is going to die in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Jim: Yeah. Just a tragic waste to what-- He could have kept on going and just rocking it in the rap world. We say it all the time, I say this a lot, and that is you're one decision away from ruining the rest of your life. Woody: One split second, man. [crosstalk] Jim: All it takes. Woody: That's it. Jim: Yeah. And he's a prime example of that, sadly.Woody: Lifestyle called him. Y'all, I want to thank our Patreon members. You are absolutely the best. Jim: Oh, they are. Couldn't do this without them.Woody: Curious every single month. Our Bloody Angola is rocketing up the charts. This past week, it jumped 20 something. Jim: 22 spots. Woody: 22 spots. I predict next week after Real Life Real Crime Dateline--Jim: 22 more spots. Why don't you put it in negative too? [crosstalk] [laughs] Woody: We're going to be in negative too. I predict we're going to number one, y'all, but Patreon members, we couldn't do without you. If you want to become a patron, you can go to patreon.com and type in Bloody Angola. It has all the different tiers. Jim: We do transcripts on there, Woody, for our upper tiers. But even the very first tier, you're going to get commercial-free early episodes every week. We release extra and bonus episodes as you go up those tiers. Woody: [crosstalk] -episodes. Jim: Yeah, we got several locked up that nobody's ever heard on the regular Bloody Angola series. Woody: And never will. They're for our Patreon members. You know what? It takes money. This is a business and takes money. And we love doing it. We're always going to do it. Y'all have been so great to us. If you would, make sure you subscribe and like us, and if you get a chance, go, leave us a review.Jim: Very important. Those have kind of slowed down as of late. So, please.  Woody: Leave us a review. We love and appreciate each and every one of you.Jim: And look, we got a Facebook page. We don't want to forget to mention that. Go to the Facebook, give it a follow. It's been building. I love seeing those analytics on Facebook grow and grow. That's just what it's been doing. But nobody will know if you don't tell a friend. Woody: Also, every week now, we're going to list every single episode of Bloody Angola in the Real Life Real Crime community app. Also, the advertisement, whatever the episode is going to be, if you're scrolling through that app, you'll be able to see it there also. Jim: Yeah. Go to Real Life Real Crime, download the app and you'll have access to those episodes. Last thing we want to mention. This is Thursday, so tomorrow, 8 o'clock Central, 9:00 Pacific. Real Life Real Crime, two-hour special, Who murdered Courtney Coco? Dateline, NBC. 16 million viewers.Woody: 135 million in 30 days. Jim: Wow. Woody: Between their podcast and everything else. And y'all, horrible story. We were very blessed to have Lifers and fans, and most of them are fans of Bloody Angola also, y'all helped solve that case. Go tune into it. Share it. It's a beautifully tragic story.Jim: It really is. It'll give you the amazing story of this man across from me and what he did and went through to really see that justice was done for Courtney, which is amazing.Woody: I'm going to do a little spoiler alert, if I could say it, spoiler alert. One day we can do an episode of Bloody Angola at the conclusion of a Dateline story because somebody's in Bloody Angola. Jim: Yeah, that's right. Tune in, please. 9 o'clock Pacific, 8 o'clock Central on NBC on Friday. And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman. Woody: And I'm Woody Overton.Jim: Your host of Bloody-Woody: -Angola.Jim: A podcast 142 years in the making. Woody: The Complete Story of America's Bloodiest Prison. Unison: Peace. Jim: [laughs] [Bloody Angola theme playing]Our Sponsors:* Check out Factor and use my code bloodyangola50 for a great deal: https://www.factor75.com/ Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy