Podcasts about Nepal

In this inspiring podcast episode, we sit down with Nepali entrepreneur Sonika Manandhar to explore her incredible journey from growing up in Nepal to becoming a leading innovator in fintech and green technology. Sonika shares insights into Nepal's digital finance landscape, discussing the challenges and opportunities in loans, assets collateral, and how her work is helping solve problems in Nepal's digital financial market. Dive into her educational journey, including her passion for aerospace and aeronautics, and learn about her unique experience being part of a Google-sponsored program that shaped her entrepreneurial mindset. Discover how Sonika met her co-founder and launched Aloi, a groundbreaking startup empowering female electric bus drivers in Nepal. She also talks about her contributions to EV Tempos, Nepal's eco-friendly electric vehicles that are transforming public transport and promoting sustainability. Additionally, Sonika sheds light on the role of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in Nepal's evolving digital economy. Finally, get a glimpse of her upcoming ventures and vision for Nepal's green economy and technological future. Whether you're interested in entrepreneurship, fintech, green transport, or Nepal's economic development, this episode with Sonika Manandhar offers valuable insights and inspiration. Don't miss this deep dive into innovation, technology, and social impact in Nepal! GET CONNECTED WITH Sonik Manandar: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18ciTrM1hi/  

Listen to this week's top stories from Nepal. - नेपाल सरकारले विपद् व्यवस्थापनाका लागि ड्रोनको प्रयोग गर्ने, अमेरिकी सरकारको मिलेनियम च्यालेञ्ज कर्पोरेसन (एमसीसी) अर्न्तगतको परियोजनाले नेपालमा निरन्तरता पाउने र जलविद्युत आयोजनाहरूबाट सरकारद्वारा आर्थिक वर्ष ८१/८२ मा तीन अर्ब ८० करोड ‘रोयल्टी' सङ्कलन लगायत नेपालका यस हप्ताका प्रमुख समाचार सुन्नुहोस्।

Arjun Bhattarai is the President of the NGO Federation of Nepal, representing over 6,000 civil society organizations nationwide. A seasoned activist and policy advocate, he co-led the landmark Nepal Country Inequality Report 2025 with Oxfam. His work centers on civic freedom, inclusive governance, and social justice. Internationally, he amplifies Nepal's civil society voice in forums like the UN and GCAP.

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Ritu Singh Vaidya, a multifaceted personality who takes us through her remarkable journey from her early life and educational background in Anthropology and Evolution, revealing insights from her childhood that shaped her path. We delve into her intriguing foray into beauty pageants, culminating in her crowning as Miss India World 1991, where she candidly discusses the differences with present-day beauty pageants and her unique experience with no sponsors. A significant part of our discussion centers on her role as a judge on Shark Tank Nepal, where she shares her crucial investment metrics, observations of entrepreneurs, and exclusive behind-the-scenes rules of Shark Tank, emphasizing what she looks for in a pitch. Ritu also opens up about her dedicated approach to fitness, including her surprising workout routines and views on protein supplements. The conversation then transitions to her conscious decision of quitting the limelight at her career's peak to embrace entrepreneurship, detailing her experience in starting a fashion line and masterfully balancing career and personal life. She passionately explains her choice of entrepreneurship over the entertainment industry, further elaborating on her significant role in the automobile industry as the NAIMA president, discussing the NAIMA organization and her vision for the NAIMA auto show. Finally, Ritu shares her deep interest in books and reviews, challenges the dropout cliché, and offers invaluable advice to young people, concluding with her top three book recommendations. This episode offers a wealth of wisdom, candid stories, and practical insights from a true trailblazer. GET CONNECTED WITH Ritu Singh Vaidya: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ritu.singh.vaidya/  

Citações e trechos do livro “Gates to Buddhist Practice”, de Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche.Nascido no leste do Tibete (Kham), Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche (1930 - 2002) foi um lama da escola Nyingma de Budismo Vajrayana tibetano. Aos quatro anos ele foi reconhecido como um tulku (encarnação de um mestre de meditação), e um recebeu treinamento rigoroso, aprofundoando seus estudos em extensos retiros.Em 1959, ele escapou da ocupação comunista do Tibete e viveu exilado em comunidades de refugiados na Índia e no Nepal até se estabelecer nos Estados Unidos, em 1979. Em 1994, mudou-se para o Brasil e começou a construção do seu centro principal, o Khadro Ling, no Rio Grande do Sul.Ao viajar e ensinar constantemente, irradiando entusiasmo e compaixão, tornou-se o lama do coração de centenas de alunos e foi uma inspiração profunda para milhares de outros.Quando lhe perguntavam por que, aos sessenta e quatro anos, mudou-se para a América do Sul ao invés de permanecer confortavelmente nos Estados Unidos, respondia: “Percebi a fé dos brasileiros e o seu interesse no Budismo e quis ensiná-los”.

Episode-245. Sajha Nepal 2082-04-10 {Swornima Shrestha} Final

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„Jeigu turime nepalūžusias moteris, turėkime ir atsidavusių vyrų metus”, – reaguodamaį nutarimą 2027-aisiais minėti Nepalūžusių moterų Dalios Grinkevičiūtės, Lidijos Meškaitytės ir Liūnės Sutemos metus, sako lyčių lygybės ekspertė Rugilė Butkevičiūtė. Jai kliūva pasirinktas pavadinimas. Kodėl trims Lietuvai nusipelniusioms moterims nutarta rengti bendrą minėtinų metų programą? Domisi Justė Luščinskytė.2022-aisiais 33 dienas Bučą buvo okupavę ir civilius kankino bei žudė rusų kariai. Du šimtus tris žmones iš okupuotos teritorijos išvežė Konstantinas Gudauskas – lietuvių kilmės Kazachstano pilietis vėliau pramintas Bučos angelu. Jo pasakojimas tapo filmo „Buča“ scenarijumi. Su Bučos angelu bendravo Kotryna Lingienė.Murano stiklo menas – šimtmečius, dažniausiai vyrų amatininkų puoselėjama tradicija. Jau kelerius metus šio nelengvo meno mokosi ir Italijos lietuvė Ugnė Gelgotaitė. Neseniai šią jos kūrybą įvertino ekspertai, o dabar su ja susipažinti galima ir Venecijos bienalėje. Pasakoja Marius Eidukonis. Pasaulio kultūros įvykių apžvalgoje – JAV išstojimas iš UNESCO, nykstanti prancūziška čiužinių gamybos tradicija bei Varšuvos centre Stalino laikus menančio dangoraižio 70-metis. Pasakoja Rūta Dambravaitė.„Šiandieninis menininkas turi išmokti laviruoti – tarp savęs ir algoritmo, tarp dėmesio ir autentiškumo, tarp pagarbos kūrybai ir gebėjimo ją parduoti“, – sako skaitmeninės rinkodaros ekspertas Darius Gerulis. Jis parengė komentarą apie kūrėjų šokį pagal socialinių tinklų dūdelę.„Turint omeny pastarojo meto polinkį sugrįžti prie įvairiausių senienų, galbūt žmonėspradės namuose įsirenginėti telegrafus ir po dešimtmečio siųsime vieni kitiems telegramas?“ – svarsto vienas iš parodos „Adresatas šiuo metu yra... pasiekiamas“ kuratorių Jurgis Atroškevičius. Žvilgsnis į besikeičiančias komunikacijos technologijas pateikiamas Vilniaus miesto muziejuje Vokiečių 6. Parodoje apsilankė Indrė Kaminckaitė.Šią savaitę festivalyje „Midsummer Vilnius“ pasirodė britų grupė Fink, viešinti Vilniuje jau ne pirmą kartą. Akustinės melancholijos meistrai, balansuojantys tarp indie-folko, bliuzo ir subtilios elektronikos, šįkart pasirodė su orkestru, diriguojamu Jievaro Jasinskio. Grupės lyderis Finas Greenallas sako, kad pats kūrėjas yra vienintelė įdomi muzikos dalis.„Visus akordus, kuriuos sugrosiu, jau esu grojęs, visi juos yra girdėję. Visas melodijas, kurias sukursiu, taip pat visi girdėjo. Bet aš esu vienintelis unikalus instrumentas studijoje, todėl turiu atiduoti viską.“ Kaip jis įsileido netobulumą į savo kūrybą ir kokius iššūkius kėlė šis priėjimas koncertuojant su orkestru, teiraujasi Urtė Karalaitė.Ved. Marius EidukonisRed. Indrė Kaminckaitė

American farms are facing an unprecedented workforce crisis as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs for multiple countries terminate this August, threatening to remove an estimated 76,000 agricultural workers from the labor force. But what does this mean for food security, rural economies, and the future of legal farm labor?Immigration Nerds Host, Lauren Clarke, is joined by immigration attorney LJ D'Arrigo to reveal how farms following the law through H-2A visa programs face greater penalties than those operating in gray areas, creating a dangerous compliance paradox.D'Arrigo breaks down the "August 5th cliff" – the simultaneous termination of TPS designations for Nepal, Cameroon, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Haiti – and explains why states like Florida (357,000 TPS holders) and Texas (124,000) will be hit hardest. While the Department of Labor signals potential H-2A streamlining efforts, the reality is stark: many longtime farm workers with decades of loyalty to their employers face impossible choices between self-deportation or living in the shadows.From the human cost of breaking up farm families to the economic impact of losing trained workers, this episode explores practical solutions farms can implement now, the enforcement climate creating fear even among legal workers, and why seasonal agricultural visas may be the one area where immigration reform is actually possible. Essential listening for anyone navigating the intersection of immigration policy and America's food supply.GUEST: Leonard J D'Arrigo (LJ), Harris Beach Murtha PartnerHOST: Lauren Clarke, EIG Senior Managing AttorneyPRODUCER: Adam Belmar

The peak representive body Nepalis in Australia, the Non-Resident Nepali Association Australia, is holding its election on Saturday, July 26 to choose its new leadership. SBS Nepali spoke with Melbourne-based lawyer and NRNA Australia former president Tonnou Ghothane about the aspects voters need to know, the recent controversies surrounding the NRNA and needs of the growing Nepali community. Listen to the second part of the conversation. Ghothane also served as the Chief Election Commissioner during the 2023 NRNA election. - गैर आवासीय नेपाली सङ्घ अस्ट्रेलियाको निर्वाचन शनिवार, जुलाई २६ मा हुँदै गर्दा, उक्त संस्थालाई लिएर पछिल्लो समय देखिएका विवाद र अस्ट्रेलियामा एनआरएनए अस्ट्रेलिया लिमिटेड नामक वैकल्पिक संस्थाको हुँदै गर्दा आगामी दिनमा प्राप्त हुन सक्ने अवसर तथा देखा पर्न सक्ने चुनौतीहरू विषयमा एसबीएस नेपालीले टोनु घोथानेसँग गरेको कुराकानीको दोस्रो भाग सुन्नुहोस्। घोथाने एनआरएनए अस्ट्रेलियाका पूर्व अध्यक्ष हुनुका साथै सङ्घको सन् २०२३ को चुनावमा मुख्य निर्वाचन आयुक्त रहेका थिए। साथै उनी एक कानूनी व्यवसायी पनि हुन्।

This week's Encounters dives into the dark, strange, and often terrifying world of urban legends that turn out to be a little too real. La Llorona, BEK, Goat Man, The Devil's Tree and Slender Man?! Are these just haunting tales passed around the campfire? What happens if they turn out to be real?! These listener stories might just prove that they are.  We're getting into: A nighttime visit to Red Ash Cemetery turns terrifying when a ghostly woman on all fours transforms into something... not quite human. A grandmother in Nepal encounters a black eyed kid — and nearly loses her life. A cursed tree with ties to a real serial killer might be responsible for a listener's heartbreaking paranormal loss. A game of midnight hide-and-seek with Slender Man that reveals a ghost girl phasing through a fence. A listener sees their mother at their bedroom door… except she never got out of bed that night. Whether you're chasing cryptid legends, playing paranormal games at 3 a.m., urban legends sometimes have roots in something very real — and very haunted.  Movie mentioned: Force Majeure Watch the video version here. Have ghost stories of your own? E-mail them to us at twogirlsoneghostpodcast@gmail.com New Episodes are released every Thursday and Sunday at 12am PST/3am EST (the witching hour, of course). Corinne and Sabrina hand select a couple of paranormal encounters from our inbox to read in each episode, from demons, to cryptids, to aliens, to creepy kids... the list goes on and on. If you have a story of your own that you'd like us to share on an upcoming episode, we invite you to email them to us!  If you enjoy our show, please consider joining our Patreon, rating and reviewing on iTunes & Spotify and following us on social media! Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Discord. Edited and produced by Jaimi Ryan, original music by Arms Akimbo! Disclaimer: the use of white sage and smudging is a closed practice. If you're looking to cleanse your space, here are some great alternatives! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your role as an aunt or uncle, plus lessons learned in climbing mountains, and house rules for when a roommate starts dating. Featured musical artist: David Dunn Roundtable: Influence Your Nephews and Nieces Having nieces or nephews is a tremendous amount of fun — but do you know you can also have a huge impact on their lives? Spending time with them, setting a good example, teaching life skills, and just letting them know they’re loved; these all make a huge difference in their development and sense of identity and belonging. Our conversation includes practical ideas for connecting as an aunt or uncle, plus how to stay in your nieces’ and nephews’ lives even if they live far away. Watch This Segment on YouTube Send Us Your Show Ideas Leave Us a Voicemail Culture: Climb Every Mountain (Or at Least One) July 30th is National Climb a Mountain Day, and we’re celebrating by chatting with hiker-adventurer Jen Smith. Jen shares how she got into mountain climbing, the benefits it provides, how she meets God (and others) on the trails, and lessons she’s learned from training and traveling (including a trip to Nepal!). She’ll also give preparedness tips for safe and successful hiking. Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family’s Faith Through God’s Creation Inbox: When a Roommate Starts Dating How do you adjust when your roommate starts dating and wants to hang out in your home with their boyfriend or girlfriend? Should you set ground rules? Boundaries? Kasie Ewing weighs in. Find us on YouTube

In this inspiring podcast, join Sunil Khadka, the Guinness World Record holder for the most clap pull-ups in one minute, as he shares his incredible fitness journey and the story behind his record-breaking achievement. Discover Nepal's current level of physical fitness and explore the reasons behind the decline in physical activities across the region. Sunil talks about how he got into physical fitness, including his transition to karate following the 2072 Nepal earthquake and starting calisthenics after the lockdown. Learn valuable insights on the best times to work out, along with Sunil's detailed weekly workout schedule that helped him achieve peak performance. Nutrition, supplements, and recovery strategies, including creatine use, are also discussed to provide a holistic approach to fitness. Gain motivation from Sunil's belief systems and his plans to push limits by breaking more pull-up records and building endurance. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or looking to improve your physical health, this podcast offers practical advice and inspiring stories that will help elevate your fitness game. Don't miss out on Sunil Khadka's expert tips on calisthenics, bodybuilding, and workout routines that can benefit anyone aiming for excellence in physical fitness. Subscribe now for more fitness and endurance content! GET CONNECTED WITH Sunil Khadka: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunil_the_reptitan/  

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) will celebrate its 16th edition from August 14 to 24, 2025, featuring 75 films in 31 languages, including selections from Burma, Bhutan and Nepal. The festival will kick off with the Bengali film 'Baksho Bondi,' starring Tillotama Shome, and will host Aamir Khan as the chief guest, along with other Bollywood stars. - इंडियन फिल्म फेस्टिवल ऑफ मेलबर्न (IFFM) 14 से 24 अगस्त, 2025 तक अपने 16वें संस्करण का जश्न मनाएगा। इस बार इस फिल्म महोत्स्व में 31 भाषाओं में 75 फिल्में शामिल होंगी जिनमें बर्मा, भूटान और नेपाल की फिल्में भी होंगी। यह फेस्टिवल तिलोत्तमा शोम की बंगाली फिल्म 'बक्शो बोंडी' के साथ शुरू होगा। इसके अलावा, कई बॉलीवुड सितारों के साथ मुख्य अतिथि के रूप में आमिर खान इस फेस्टिवल में नज़र आएंगे।

In this inspiring episode of IsraelCast, host Steven Shalowitz welcomes back Dr. Tsvi Sheleg, Deputy Director of the Galilee Medical Center (GMC), to discuss the groundbreaking innovations and unwavering resilience of Israel's northernmost hospital. Broadcasting from just five miles south of the Lebanese border, Dr. Sheleg reveals how GMC transformed wartime challenges into opportunities for technological and humanitarian leadership. Dr. Sheleg—an accomplished ophthalmologist, medical administrator, and decorated Israel Defense Forces officer—shares how GMC's underground, missile-proof facilities enabled continuous care during recent conflicts. He also spotlights the hospital's innovation hub, “GMC Playground,” which has launched dozens of health-tech collaborations and startups, with support from Microsoft and Viz.ai. A vocal champion of diversity, Dr. Sheleg describes how Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Circassians work side-by-side at GMC, treating soldiers and civilians alike—including over 3,000 wounded Syrians during their civil war. His call to action is clear: support Israel's Galilee, where health-tech meets heart, and where healing transcends borders.   Dr. Tsvi Sheleg, MD, MBA, serves as Deputy Director of the Galilee Medical Center, overseeing emergency preparedness and founding the hospital's renowned Innovation Program. An ophthalmologist by training, he continues to perform cataract surgeries and was recognized for his leadership as COVID-19 project manager. A decorated IDF officer, Dr. Sheleg serves as medical director of the IDF Field Hospital and has led humanitarian missions to Haiti, Nepal, and Turkey. He earned his medical degree from Ben-Gurion University and an executive MBA from Tel Aviv University. Born in Tel Aviv, he lives in Mitzpe Hila with his wife and two children.

Born in Bhutan and raised in Nepal's refugee camps for two decades, Meg Nath and Durga Prasad Rimal eventually made their way to Australia, where they now represent the Bhutanese community in Albury, a regional town in NSW bordering Victoria. SBS Nepali spoke with the Rimal brothers about their journey, challenges, mental health, autism, and the challenges faced by second-generation Bhutanese in Australia on the occasion of Refugee Week (June 15 to 21). - न्यु साउथ वेल्स र भिक्टोरियाको सिमानामा रहेको अब्री निवासी मेघनाथ रिमाल र दुर्गाप्रसाद रिमाल दुवै जना भुटानमा जन्मेर नेपालमा २० वर्ष लामो शरणार्थी शिविरको बसाइ पछि संयुक्त राष्ट्रसङ्घ अन्तर्गतको शरणार्थी उच्च आयोग, युएनएचसीआरको पहलमा पुनर्वासका लागि झन्डै दुई दशक अगि अस्ट्रेलिया आइपुगेका शरणार्थी हुन्। शरणार्थी सप्ताह (जुन १५ देखि २१)को अवसरमा रिमाल दाजुभाइसँग साहित्य, मानसिक स्वास्थ्य, अटिजम् र अस्ट्रेलियामा भुटानी शरणार्थीका दोस्रो पुस्ता बारे एसबीएस नेपालीले गरेको कुराकानी सुन्नुहोस्।

In this episode, Lasata and Robert discuss Nepal's globally praised community forestry model. Unpacking its evolution from early experiments with user groups to the 1991 political revolution and 1993 legislation, they discuss how local communities learn to govern forests and explore transferability as global interests in the model rise. They also investigate tensions around inclusion, power, and decision-making, and consider what makes community forestry both promising and problematic—then and now. Dr. Robert Fisher is an anthropologist and human geographer with decades of experience in the social dimensions of natural resource management. His long association with community forestry began in Nepal, where he worked with the Nepal–Australia Forestry Project in the late 1980s. Since then, he has worked in various capacities across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, with a focus on issues such as land tenure, conservation, and local livelihoods. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast. If you liked the episode, hear more from us through our free newsletter services, PEI Substack: Of Policies and Politics ( ⁠⁠https://policyentre.substack.com/welcome⁠⁠ ), and click here ( ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/podsbypei⁠⁠ ) to support us on Patreon!! 

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) will celebrate its 16th edition from August 14 to 24, 2025, featuring 75 films in 31 languages, including selections from Burma, Bhutan and Nepal. The festival will kick off with the Bengali film 'Baksho Bondi,' starring Tillotama Shome, and will host Aamir Khan as the chief guest, along with other Bollywood stars.

 A pair of letters from life down under. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Story 1:  Can I Hold Your Hand The guy who had something extra, gives it to her. By Baztrachian My name is Dennis. Growing up on our ranch in Western Australia, I lived a pretty isolated life. Starting at around age twelve, I was bussed into town, and had to adjust to big classrooms, and girls. Some of them were already well developed by the time I hit my, shall we call it, ‘growth spurt'?  I noticed I had a weird effect on girls but more so on women. If they touched my hands they'd act weird and sometimes just get quiet and stare at me. It was weird so I didn't tell my parents but by the time I was thirteen I wore gloves all the time. That way I could do all the normal things everyone else did like shake hands and stuff like that without causing a problem. At first, Folks assumed I had an injury or skin rash.Soon folks thought I had some OCD about germs. Yes, as hard as it was to wear gloves all the time it was even harder not to wear them. You never know how much people touch each other with their hands until you can't do it. Try refusing to shake someone's hands sometime. You'll see. Fortunately for me the hand thing had no effect on my own household members, including my mother & sister. Perhaps it's a pheromone thing, I don't know? At a family reunion when I was 14, my female cousins went numb like the girls at school, so after that, I always wore gloves around them. Unless I wanted them to shut up, then it was kind of handy! As I transitioned from middle school to high school, the female reactions to my touch brought on more immediate & expressive sexual attraction. The younger girls were confused by their feelings, the older and sexually active girls weren't confused at all. They knew they were horny. Granted, I took off the gloves like when I was out with my Boy Scout troop, playing sports at school, and some other social events where there were no women around. Avoiding girls as a practice, made some people think I was gay; so it was a relief when I went off to Perth for Curtin University, where being weird was much more acceptable. But more to the point here, is I wasn't gay. I really did want a girlfriend. In my speech class I met a cute girl named Melody. She was perky, a little offbeat, average in size, and she wore her dark hair in very feminine pixie cut that showed off her sexy neck. Taking a chance, I started to hang out more with Melody and her group of friends from Bunbury, a city further south on Australia's west coast. One night she came to a rugby game I was in. Afterward, she came down on the field & impulsively leaned in and kissed me on the lips, before going home with her gals. I discovered that I could kiss her and she was just fine, with no odd side effects. A month later, a few of us were in her off-campus apartment after class, for lunch. After eating, the others suddenly left for class, leaving just the two of us. Mel was looking at my gloved hands. She asked why I wore gloves around campus, but not in always? She even saw me at Rugby practice last week without gloves on. I tried brushing it off with a witty joke. I had several rehearsed one-liners ready, for such inquiries. She laughed, then added; “But seriously; why? I tried a tall-tale far-fetched narrative for my next come back. That didn't deter her persistency either. I paused, then decided to risk it and just explain to her about the gloves and the true impact of my hands, but I think she thought the truth was just an even crazier tale to cover for some Obsessive Cumpulsive thing on my part. "Dennis, do you think it would be okay for me to touch your hands without the gloves? Do you trust me?" It had been a few years since the last time I'd deliberately touched a woman, and that was in another place, hours away from college. Maybe here & now it would be okay? Besides, I was longing to touch her and feel her lovely skin. "Alright, but don't say I didn't tell you what might happen." With that I removed my gloves. "Your hands look so soft! I've never seen a guy with hands as soft as yours..." and that's where her sentence ended. Mel had her hand on mine and now she had that glazed-over look, which I remembered so well. As she sat there staring at me, I took the chance to gently touch her face and then steal a caress of her gorgeous neck. That stirred her up a bit. "Oh, my God; that's amazing!" she finally said. Then her face turned a little red. "What's it like?" I asked her. Hate to admit but I was really curious about it. "It's like riding a roller coaster and getting that feeling you get when it goes over a hill!" She squirmed in her seat. "Oh, that's doing things for me!" Then she got up and strided over to her bathroom. I got up and cleared the table, grabbed my gloves, then sat on the couch. A couple minutes later she came back out, looking calmer. She sat down by me and said; “I thought I might have peed my panties. False alarm; sort of.” She sat back down at the table & looked at me in wonder as the effect started to wear off. "Fuck, Dennis! You weren't lying were you? Oh my God, that must have been a bitch to grow up with that. You poor thing." Her hands impulsively went to mine again, and she touched me before I had a chance to react. Her head dropped back against the backrest, & her jaw went slack. She just seemed to melt into the couch. I let go of her hands and her recovery was a little faster this time. She was definitely experiencing it pretty intensely. She was looking at me like she was starving and I was a bacon cheeseburger. (Yeah, virgin Dennis was stupid enough not to realize that she was sexually aroused.) "Oh, my. I think we need to explore this a little more..." she said as she reached for me again. This time I pulled my hands back and slipped on my gloves. "Mel, I think I'm gonna to the library, and maybe let you get yourself together, okay?" I stood up and left her on her couch. She looked a little confused so I left, to let her recover in private. It was maybe twenty minutes later when she texted me, asking me to come back to her place. I sighed and texted back that I was on my way. I figured if she was okay enough to text me then she was okay, right?  I guess I had some responsibility to make sure she was okay. It was twenty minutes for me to walk back to her place. When she opened the door for me, I caught my breath. The object of my desire was standing before me in a long t-shirt. I immediately noticed her stiff nipples, and concluded that the t-shirt was perhaps the only thing she was wearing. She still had that craving hungry look. She managed to compose herself & politely invite me in, and had me sit on her couch. "I think we need to talk." she said, as she sat down next to me and let her soft boob lean against my horny arm. "Okay,” I said. “About what?" Then she looked me in the eyes and boldly said; "I think you need to fuck me so we can find out what this does." She said this with an impish smile while reaching for down my cock, which was hard. To be honest, I'd been very smitten by Mel since we first met on campus. Hence, it was usually hard when I was around Mel, so this wasn't all that remarkable. What was remarkable was my virgin cock getting its first female attention. I immediately decided that I liked this. Loved this. Quite a lot. "Mel, this is probably going to be a very bad idea. Are you sure you want to do this, because I know I do." She bit her lip and in a very exaggerated nod, said; “God, yes.” Leading me to her bedroom, she unbuttoned my shirt and pushed it off my shoulders. My shorts came next and I let them drop as I stepped out of my sandals. I was almost naked except for my gloves. Mel pulled her t-shirt over her head, and there she was. In all her feminine glory! She smiled at me and then kissed me lightly on the lips. Her hands went to my gloves. "Mel, I have to tell you something..." She looked a little surprised and she smiled. "Okay, the hand thing wasn't enough? What else? And please don't tell me you have herpes." "I'm a virgin." She giggled and smiled as she held her hands against her chest, "So am I! Isn't this crazy? I was planning to wait, but now all I can think about is you!" She yanked my arm and tugged me to the bedroom. Then she pulled back the blankets and climbed onto the middle of the waterbed. Patting on the bed she meant for me to join her. My cock jutted out from my body like a diving board. I briefly had an ethical discussion with myself about what I was doing and if it was fair to Mel. I quickly realized that I loved her, I wanted to be with her, and sooner or later we were going to have sex so why not now? Besides, she liked me, right? I went to get on the bed and had one knee on the blankets when she held up her hand. "Gloves. Off. Now." I drew in a breath for the moment of truth and took off my gloves. Being careful not to touch her too soon I got onto the bed next to her and laid on my side. She rolled over to face me, we rocked a bit from the waves. "Touch me." she said. "Where?" She smiled. "Any damn where you want. But do it now." I slowly moved my hand to her breast and then gently palmed it. Her reaction was instant. She sighed as a feeling of arousal and euphoria swept over her. I may have been a virgin but I knew what serious arousal looked like and this was it! Her face was flush, again. The glassy look in her eyes returned, but she held it together better. We kissed and started making out. Her hands were all over me and my hands were all over her. I noticed that her pelvis was rhythmically rocking. I don't think she knew. It wasn't maybe even two or three minutes when she rolled onto her back and pulled me on top of her. I had no idea what I was doing but my cock certainly knew where it wanted to be and I started pushing and prodding. "Here." she said, as she reached between us and firmly grabbed my rod and guided me until my sensitive tip felt her warm cunt. She moved my cock across her furrow a few times and then suddenly I felt the silky smooth wetness of her treasures. I hesitated and looked into her eyes. "Please." she lusted. I slipped into her glorious heaven. It was snug and tight and shallow, but with a twerk of her hips, she burst open her depths. “Ah, ahah!” she groaned for a moment, her eyes expressing some pain. And then she rocked her hips up and swallowed my full length. It was wet, warm, & snug. And it blew my mind to finally have my cock inside the girl of my dreams. "Oh, Jesus...fuck..." she uttered as I started to fuck her. Her eyes rolled back and then she closed them, panting heavily. She fell limp as my hips rose and fell on hers. I'd love to tell you it went on and on but, you know...virgin. I was new to this, and too soon I felt my cum rising. I think my last wet dream last longer than this. The college health class came back to me at that moment. I briefly thought about stopping. Then looking at Mel, my desire took over and I pressed deep into her and let loose! It felt so great to cum in her. We laid there embracing for a few more minutes as her breathing relaxed. “Look at me, Dennis,” she said. As I looked at her, she started twitching and moaning. Her hips moved to meet mine and I shot out another few squirts of cum. We did this routine again, until my cock and balls were starting to feel a little sore from the effort. When I was done, Mel lay there senseless. She was still twitching and moaning, and now her hands felt her own body. It was amazingly erotic. This thing she was doing went on and on, but then tapered off for several minutes at which point she fell soundly asleep. I got up and turned around to look at the lovely woman who gave herself to me. I looked down at my spent dick. It had a bit of a blood stain at the base. I guess this is what's referred to as ‘popping her cherry?' I grabbed my clothes and took a quick rinse in her shower, then got dressed enough to be presentable. Sitting down in her living room I fiddled with my hands and eventually turned on the TV. The sun set in the west. Right around eight o'clock  I heard her stirring. When she came out of the bedroom she had this silly smile on her face. And the t-shirt. Just the t-shirt. I could tell she was still aroused. Anyone would have seen that. "Lover, that was absolutely fucking ah, mazing!" "You're okay?" Really I was concerned for her. I loved her after all. She sat down on the couch next to me and kissed me. "I'm fine. I had no idea that was what sex was supposed to be like. Fuck." Her hand went to my chest. "Dennis, you're like the best psych drug ever invented!" "You've done drugs?" I asked. "Only when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. And this was way the fuck better than that! When your dick touched me it was like the whole world felt at peace and everything was going to be wonderful and then you started fucking me. Damn, that was intense! When you came in me it was like getting injected with a rainbow!" She went on and on about the experience, and as she did it was pretty clear she wanted more. I touched her face and she flushed with arousal; and this time we didn't even make it back to the bed. I fucked her right there on the couch. I lasted a little longer before I felt the unstoppable urge to cum in her. This time she gave a little cry and then fell limp. It took me a little time to calm down and when I did, I picked up Mel and carried her to the bedroom. She was totally passed out and I figured to let her sleep it off so after covering her up I got dressed and headed to my dorm. She called me late the next morning, explaining how she'd slept in and missed her morning classes. She didn't seem to care about it too much, and told me she would make her afternoon classes. But she also insisted I had to come over for dinner. Naturally I spent my time in class thinking about Mel. By the time I made it to her place I was getting hard before I got to her door; with the near certainty that I was going to get laid. When she opened her door for me she radiated sexiness. Her movements were different and she simply appeared more beautiful than before. It harkened to me some classic literature references to ‘the power of a woman's glamour', her charms, as another author phrased it. She was a new woman. A viral woman, a woman awakened to seduction and seducing. There was also a resoluteness to her now, and she made clear that she desired me. I knew that most of this was from my condition, the potent effect of my bare hands upon a female prospect. Still, it was getting me laid, right? We made it through dinner and then we managed to talk for a short time. Mel was amazed at herself for what she was doing with me. She said it was totally against her nature and upbringing to have given up her virginity, and to keep risking pregnancy with me; but she couldn't help herself. Twenty minutes later she passed out after I'd filled her cunt again. As she lay there sleeping it off I realized that when she got a dose of my cum it was sedating her, so the little swimmers in my semen would have time to travel upstream into her womb. I looked at the sleeping girl and realized that my cum was doing double duty trying to get her pregnant. When she woke up, she wanted to go again and so did my cock. In due time, she quit school because she didn't care about it anymore. And then the day she told me she was pregnant, the tears were flowing and she was crying...right until I took off my gloves and touched her face. I took her to visit my parents that next weekend; apprehensive of my parents' reaction. My father spoke first; “Son, this is a huge relief. My health issues require that I stop ranching, or get a lot of help. I was hoping to delay the matter until you finish college, but I was going to ask you to come home and take over the business. If the two of you could settle down here with us, I'll get the home builders out here, next week. We'd just gotten our first royalty check from the new natural gas wells that were drilled last year. Dad needed a way to reinvest it in the ranch, or he'd have to pay some very high taxes on the windfall. We got married the following month in Mel's home town. Then my parents threw a big reception at the family ranch a few weeks later. As the baby grew Mel became very calm and tranquil. She definitely had a ‘baby glow'. We'd still fuck and it still had the same effect on her; but even when we weren't fucking she'd still be very Zen-like. I understood it, when the baby was born; and Mel would get a sedated, glazed-over expression whenever little Gary (named after my father), put his hands on her tits and latched on to suckle them. It didn't sexually arouse her, but it still sent her into a trance-like condition. My boy was going to be a chip off the old block! I nicknamed him ‘Chip'. By Baztrachian for Literotica Story 2: New Step Siblings In Aussie Lockdown Teens meet in Melbourne for their parents' wedding, then get left together in locked-down Australia. By Baztrachian When my father told me that he was getting married again I accepted it as good news. He'd been alone and depressed since the divorce and when he met Debbie she clearly brought back his smile and his joy. So of course I was happy for him. It was just after Thanksgiving in 2019 when they decided on getting married the following June. The plan was for four of us to take a family trip together instead of doing the traditional honeymoon vacation. The four of us included my father, Debbie, myself, and my new step-sister, Taylor. The June date was set to coincide with Taylor graduating high school. Taylor was pretty happy about the plan to take a trip to Australia because their drinking laws would allow even a freshly minted eighteen year old to enjoy a visit to a bar. Over the ensuing months I got to know Taylor fairly well and we ended up getting along despite some serious differences. Where I was a devoted outdoorsman who loved hiking, off-road sports, climbing, and working out Taylor was your typical ginger. She was alabaster white and would get sunburned if she was in the sun for much more than a few minutes. She was also nearsighted and she had to wear glasses to see past her arm. She was cute in a dorky sort of way and I had no problem enjoying her company. The news of COVID started up in January but most everyone I knew dismissed it as being an overhyped flu. Granted, we took it more seriously as time went on but we still had plans to visit Australia and we kept to them. The wedding took place the weekend after Taylor's graduation. The next morning was a flurry of activity as we headed off to the airport. There had been a lockdown in Melbourne that May but it ended soon enough that our plans were not affected. It wasn't easy to get into Australia but we did and when we arrived we headed off to the house we'd rented for the vacation. We'd be there three weeks and we'd head home on July 9th just as planned. One thing we quickly discovered is that July is in the depths of winter, for the Aussies. The rental house was pretty amazing. It was in the town of Port Campbell situated on the ocean and that meant I had quite a lot to do every day. I quickly found myself a kayak and spent several of my days exploring the coast and getting in some decent fishing. My father and Debbie had a good time, of course, and Taylor made the best of it staying in the shade and catching up on her books. You know how when you go on vacation you allow yourself to detach from the world and not have much care for the news? Yep, that was our mistake. Living in our little vacation bubble we had no idea that not only had COVID not blown over but it was getting worse. We only got an idea that things were getting serious when my father got a toothache and decided to cut the honeymoon short by a couple days and go home. Turned out that a lot of Americans were trying to get out of Australia at that point, so airline seats were at a premium. The best my father could pull off were two seats for himself and Debbie. Taylor and I would have to wait for our flight on July 9th before we'd get home. Where we'd only be waiting a couple days for the flight my father paid for me and Taylor to stay in a decent enough Melbourne apartment with a view of the beach and the cruise pier. It was a great location and even though we'd just be there a couple days I was looking forward to making the most of the winter-time beach. The airport situation was a little crazy so we ended up saying our goodbyes at the apartment and then Taylor and I watched as the taxi took our parents away. That afternoon we went to a local store to get a few things and noticed that the other shoppers were all stocking up. Something about their faces alarmed me. "What're you doing?" asked Taylor as I put down our handbasket and instead took a 'trolley' as they call grocery carts down under. "I'm just being cautious is all. Look at these people, they're all freaked out and getting ready to hunker down. I don't know what's really happening but I want to make sure we've got everything we might need just in case." Taylor was a little irritated as I started picking up sundries, snacks, toiletries, and enough food for a couple weeks. I told her that if nothing happened then I'd just leave the stuff out for someone else. She made a remark about how I was wasting my money and I ignored her. On the way back to our apartment I slipped into a liquor store and picked up two cases of beer, six liters of vodka, six liters of whisky, and assorted mixers. Just in case, of course. The news that evening confirmed my fears. Melbourne was going into six weeks of lockdown. We were going to be shut into our apartment and only allowed outside for two hours of exercise and one hour to go visit a store. I made a few frantic calls to the airline and it was the seventh time I tried that I got through to find out our flight was cancelled. A few more calls followed and I confirmed we weren't going to be allowed to leave for at least the entirety of the six weeks. That led to calling my father back at home in the US. He handled the news with aplomb as if this was no big deal. I appreciated his confidence and doubly appreciated his promise to drop enough money in my account to see me and Taylor through the six weeks of lockdown. I felt better when I got off the phone and shared this news with Taylor. The next day was the start of the lockdown and it was immediately apparent that the police were in no mood to play with anyone. We looked over the balcony of the apartment and saw people on the beach getting chased away or even arrested by the aggressive police. At one point one of the cops even yelled at us to go inside or get arrested! It was really shocking to see the city become a big prison. You just don't expect that kind of thing to happen in a Western country and in this case it had happened so fast that there wasn't even time for anyone to protest. Although we were supposedly allowed to go out to exercise I convinced Taylor to stay in due to wanting to avoid a problem with the police. Where we were set on food for a while I also decided against going shopping until we absolutely had to. When we'd arranged for the apartment I was sleeping on the couch and Taylor had the bed. But a couple days into the lockdown Taylor had me switch because the bed was going to be more comfortable for me. Hate to say, but I didn't argue with her about that. We passed our time talking a lot. I got to hear about her high school experience, her debate club victories, her attempts at art, and her plans to study higher mathematics in college. Taylor got to hear about my hiking trip to Nepal, my fishing adventure in the Red Sea, my close encounter with a bear in Alaska, and etc. We even made it six days before I opened a case of beer. Despite the cold weather we made a point of sitting out on the balcony at night. We would sit and chat and sip a drink and enjoy breaking one of the oppressive rules. Naturally we stayed out of sight because even though we were rebels we didn't want to push our luck. An odd thing took place during our confinement as we tacitly agreed on some domestic practices. We never had to discuss it as we started doing laundry, cleaning dishes, and doing all of the normal things you do when you live together. For whatever reason we got along well as roommates and one day we both acknowledged this fact and each considered ourselves fortunate to have family we could like. I don't recall precisely which day it was but a day came along where we didn't need to leave the apartment and neither of us bothered to get dressed. I spent the day in a t-shirt and boxers, and Taylor spent the day in her night-time chemise and panties. That started a habit with us of being rather casual around the apartment. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to giving her body serious consideration. I did my best to play it off but when I was in the shower by myself I found her to be the object of my fantasies as I'd relieve my pent-up needs. July 31st was a Friday, and that particular day stood out to me. Taylor and I had been into drinking a bit more than usual and when it came time for bed she followed me into the bedroom. It was cold and cloudy outside and the apartment had a bit of a chill to it so Taylor's explanation made sense. "It's too fucking cold to sleep on the couch," she slurred, "hope you don't mind but I'm in here tonight." It was the first time I'd heard her swear. Myself, I didn't mind the prospect of her company so I held up the blanket and let her slide in. Then I cuddled up behind her and my prescription from Doctor Johnny Walker put me to sleep. In the morning I woke to feeling Taylor's warm ass pressing against my body. It was a couple moments before I realized that my cock was out of my boxers and snugly gripped by Taylor's panty-protected thigh gap. I really had to fight back the urge to try to fuck her but at the same time it just wasn't right. She gently moved against me as I withdrew my cock. I swore she was wanting me, but I had to tell my ego to calm down. I got up from the warm bed and headed out to the kitchen to make some much needed coffee. As the coffee was brewing I went out on the balcony to get some cold air. That helped me wake up and it also settled down the spike jutting out from between my legs. The day that followed was more or less normal. I was quietly relieved when Taylor didn't speak of what my cock had been up to during the night and I was quite set on making sure there were no repeat performances. At the same time the thought that my cock had been separated from Taylor's cunt by just a flimsy bit of fabric had me somewhat aroused all day. Around noon there was a knock on the door from one of our neighbors. I opened the door after putting on the requisite mask and the cheerful fellow mentioned how he'd overheard us on the balcony talking about vodka. He needed some and we had it. A trade was completed and now we had a bottle of gin and a couple bottles of tonic water. That night Taylor and myself sat down watching Sky News mostly because they were the only channel with news from the USA. At a certain point Taylor got up and made two pint glasses full of gin and tonic. Needless to say by bedtime we were both toasted and the two drinks were just a bit more than half gone. I made my move getting up to go to bed while Taylor put the two leftover drinks in the fridge. When she joined me in bed she had me spoon up behind her and then she snuggled into me. I have to admit that it was really nice. When I put my arm around her she didn't mind that my hand ended up holding her tit. Sleep overtook me before anything else happened and at the moment I was grateful. Sometime during the night I woke to feeling Taylor's ass pushing back at me. It was a very gentle motion but it was enough that my cock was responding. I couldn't help myself but to pull her tight against myself and strain to push my crotch at hers. She pulled away just enough to get her hand between us. She went right to my cock and rubbed it under my shorts. Again, she was very gentle but she was also making clear what she wanted. Fishing around my shorts she found the opening and I sighed as her soft hand wrapped around my pole and pulled it out of my shorts. Her hand exited the space between us and I felt her ass push up against me again. My cock rubbed between her ass cheeks. They felt silky and smooth. She moved again and this time lifted a leg to allow my cock to fit between us. The tip of my cock rubbed against something warm and moist. I woke up a bit more and did an exploratory thrust and realized that she wasn't wearing panties. "Taylor?" I asked. "Yeah?" she huskily replied. "Do you want me to stop?" She didn't hesitate. "No." She pressed her ass at me and I couldn't help myself but to thrust. We bumped a few times and then we both caught our breath as my cock found the right place. My cock was just pressed into the mouth of her cunt. I took a moment to savor the feeling and then felt her press back. I didn't move and instead felt her body open up for me as the first inch or so of my cock entered her. My instincts took over at this point. "Uh, ah!" she exclaimed as I started to drive myself into her. I felt her body twitch as I tried to get deeper. "Oh, God." she uttered as she moved her hips allowing me to plunge all the way inside of her. Between the effects of the alcohol and my need I wasn't the least bit interested in being gentle. All I knew was my cock was in her cunt and it was absolute Heaven! I started fucking her hard and my hands wrapped around her. I mashed one of her tits while she grunted from getting her cunt slammed. She put a hand on my hip to try to push me back a little and all I did was fuck harder. Taylor cried out as I drove deep and started spewing my load into her. She tried to move away from me and I held her tight until I was done shooting my cum into her. She was silent in the aftermath of our coupling. When my cock finally relaxed and slipped from her body she moved away from me just enough to get some space. As I started to feel the embrace of sleep I swore I could hear her quietly sobbing. It was a bit before sunrise when I awoke. The memory of the evening flooded in on me and I had that brief moment of disbelief where I thought it could have been a dream. During the night Taylor had moved to where she was sleeping a little away from me. I explored her body with a hand and felt her bare thigh. Moving up I found her bare hip and the fact that she was naked below the waist made me hard again. I brushed her hair with my hand and then caressed her cheek. "Taylor? You awake?" I asked. Her snoozing continued informing me she was deep in sleep. My hand moved down her body. I undid the ties on her chemise and treated myself to feeling the soft skin of her breasts. She gave a pleasant little purr as my fingers played over her nipples. I removed my hand and let her go back to snoozing. Taking her hip with my hand I gently pulled her against me. As her body moved against me my cock neatly fit into her thigh gap again. She lay quietly as I gently rutted against her. When I poked her in the right place she moaned and moved her leg. I stopped for a moment and then started gently moving again as I heard her moan in approval. When she'd moved her leg she exposed her cunt to me and it wasn't long before I felt her moisture on my cock. As gently as I could I changed my angle and pushed. Her cunt opened for me and I stifled a moan as I slipped into her again. I was determined to be gentle and took my time getting myself fully embedded in her. Taking a little time just to savor the moment I started a very slow and deliberate rhythm. Somewhere along the line Taylor stirred. She reached between us to where our bodies met and explored. Then she just relaxed and let me keep going. Soon enough I felt her hips moving in response to mine and then I felt her tense. "Fuck..." she whispered as she came. I felt her cunt clench around my cock and that did it for me as I unloaded my cum into her again. We had a moment where I just held her but then she was up and off to the shower. When she was done she excused herself to the kitchen and it was my turn to clean up. I needed it. And after I was dressed decently I went out to talk to her. "Good morning." I said, wondering what her response would be. She smiled at me. "It is." Naturally we had to talk about our new relationship. And that's what we did for a while before deciding to take a walk together. It was eerie to be in a big city and have it so quiet. We got over to the beach but between signs saying the beach was closed and glares from the police we decided to stay close to the apartment. Lunch was a simple affair of bread and cheese. While we ate I asked Taylor why she'd wanted to be more to me than just a step-sister. "I guess I never would have known you if our parents didn't get married. You're like the total opposite of me. But being around you I got to know you and then there's the thing where you're not so hard to look at, Mister." I smiled at her. "You're not so hard to look at yourself." When I asked her about the possibility of pregnancy she just shrugged. "I can go to the store if you want me to." I offered. "What if I didn't want you to?" she asked. "You mean you don't want to have sex anymore? I can understand that." She shook her head, "No, what if I just want us to keep doing this; whatever it is. Would you be okay with that?" I looked in her pale green eyes and realized that I was looking at the woman I'd marry. "Of course I would." And that, my friends, was the closest we ever came to a marriage proposal. After that it was just a given that we would marry and have a family. Naturally, it was no surprise that when we were finally allowed to return to the USA, Taylor was sporting a very modest bulge. I guess my biggest surprise in all of this was when we got home and broke the news to our parents. They looked at each other, smiled, and then my new step-mom says, "Yeah, we kind of figured you two would find a way to pass the time." By Baztrachian for Literotica

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Continuing our series on belief in China, we look at the revival of Buddhism, which is being embraced by citizens and the Chinese state. While temple visits increase, the state is funding temples and martial arts academies from Nepal to Tanzania. As Xi Jinping extols Buddhism with Chinese characteristics, the Chinese state is leveraging Buddhism diplomacy to its advantage. To find out more, Louisa and Graeme are joined by anthropologist Gareth Fisher from Syracuse University, the author of From Comrades to Bodhisattvas, and political scientist Chien-Peng Chung from Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Image: c/- Bitter Winter. Weibo image of Xi Jinping visiting Hongjue Temple, 18 June 2024. Transcripts available at https://ciw.anu.edu.au/podcasts/little-red-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today's migration to Japan is colonial Britain's presence in Nepal's neighbour, India. I'll leave today's guest, visual anthropologist Dipesh Kharel, to draw out that thread for you. He says that the link has led to a current population of about 230,000 Nepalis in Japan — five times more than the number of Indian migrants. One sign of how fully settled they have become in their new country is that many women no longer return to Nepal to give birth. By the way, Dipesh mentions the Japanese currency, the yen, a couple of times. As of today, 1 Nepali rupee was worth 1.07 yen. ResourcesAbout Dipesh KharelNepali students' destinations (2023-24)Tell us how we're doing, or just say hiSupport the showYou can subscribe to Nepal Now for as little as $3 a month. Your support will help to cover the costs of editing the show and for our hosting platform. And you'll also get a shout-out in a future episode. You can also show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:LinkedInInstagram BlueSkyFacebook Sign up to our newsletterMusic by audionautix.com.Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole and Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studios. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Raffaele Bertola"D'Acord Fest"Lagnasco (Cuneo) dal 25 al 27 luglio 2025www.dacordfest.itIl D'Acord Fest è pronto a tornare nei Castelli di Lagnasco, confermando la sua vocazione: portare musica e cultura in luoghi che non sono scelti a caso, ma che risuonano di storia e possibilità. Dentro e fuori i Castelli di Lagnasco, gli spazi si aprono e diventano accessibili, accoglienti, vivi. Un invito a partecipare, a sentirsi parte attiva di un'idea che cresce, si consolida e continua a cercare il proprio spazio nel cuore del territorio.Quest'anno il festival intraprende un viaggio alle Origini – un tema che abbraccia molteplici significati: le origini dei suoni, delle parole, delle ispirazioni e dei luoghi. Un ritorno alle radici che è anche una spinta verso nuove consapevolezze.C'è un punto di partenza. Una scintilla, una causa iniziale, da cui tutto prende vita. Per noi è la terra: feconda, accogliente, capace di ascoltare. Le Origini del D'Acord Fest sono questo: uno spazio aperto, vivo, pronto ad abbracciare tutte le voci, tutti i passi, tutte le storie. Uno spazio dove c'è spazio per tutti.25 luglio, ore 21 | MAX CASACCI – Earthphonia GroovescapesLe origini sono nei suoni. Nei suoni della terra: il ronzio delle api, il crepitio della corteccia, il respiro dei campi. Ma anche nei suoni dell'uomo: di chi la terra la vive, la coltiva, la trasforma ogni giorno. Chi meglio di Max Casacci – musicista, produttore e membro fondatore dei Subsonica – poteva tradurre tutto questo in musica? Una musica senza strumenti, creata unicamente catturando i suoni della natura e del lavoro dell'uomo. Suoni che si trasformano in vibrazioni elettroniche, in un'esperienza sonora capace di fondere ambiente e tecnologia. Questa potente performance trasformerà per una notte la corte interna dei Castelli di Lagnasco in una dance hall immersiva e suggestiva. In via del tutto eccezionale, l'evento si svolgerà nel cuore più affascinante del complesso architettonico, con le facciate di Ponente, Centro e Levante a fare da scenografia a uno show unico, ad alto impatto visivo e sonoro. Ad aprire la serata sarà un intervento di divulgazione tecnico-scientifica a cura di Agrion, dedicato ai cambiamenti climatici e al loro impatto sull'agricoltura – un tema strettamente connesso alle origini e al futuro della nostra terra.L'ingresso è gratuito, reso possibile grazie al fondamentale sostegno della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Saluzzo, co-organizzatrice della serata.26 luglio, ore 21 | THE ORIGINALS (AFRICA UNITE & THE BLUEBEATERS) + MAHOUT Un suono che arriva da lontano, ma che parla la lingua delle origini. The Originals non è solo un progetto musicale: è un gruppo che sono due, una fusione di storie e identità. Da una parte, l'eredità reggae degli Africa Unite.Dall'altra, l'anima ska dei BlueBeaters. Due formazioni storiche, due percorsi artistici che si intrecciano sul palco per dare vita a un'esperienza collettiva, fluida e irripetibile. Dieci musicisti – cinque per ciascuna band – si uniscono in un'unica formazione, per costruire un concerto che è molto più di una scaletta di pezzi: è un viaggio attraverso le radici giamaicane del reggae, reinterpretate con le sfumature e le sonorità che da sempre caratterizzano le due realtà. Un evento speciale che celebra due delle band più longeve e influenti del panorama alternativo italiano. Ad arricchire la serata ci saranno anche i Mahout. Pinerolesi come gli Africa Unite, i Mahout portano sul palco l'energia di una nuova generazione musicale. Il loro sound, che contamina il reggae giamaicano con il punk californiano, il garage e il funk, è un'esplosione di ritmo e freschezza. Un doppio concerto che ha già il sapore di una grande festa.Evento realizzato con il contributo di Borgate dal Vivo e con il sostegno di Occit'Amo Festival.OMAGGIO per diversamente abili e un accompagnatore, bambini fino a 10 anni compiuti.27 luglio ore 21 | ANNA CASTIGLIA + GIULIA MEIUna chiusura di festival in grande stile: sullo stesso palco, due delle voci più interessanti e originali del nuovo cantautorato italiano. Anna Castiglia e Giulia Mei sono pronte a conquistare il pubblico lagnaschese con la loro musica fresca, irriverente e ricercata. Un incontro tra talento, espressività e sperimentazione per una serata che si preannuncia indimenticabile.Anna Castiglia / Con una creatività fuori da ogni schema, Anna ha costruito un universo musicale personale e riconoscibile. I suoi brani, densi e coinvolgenti sia dal punto di vista emotivo che musicale, riflettono un'estetica unica, che mescola ironia, profondità e uno sguardo sempre sorprendente sul mondo. Una vera e propria ventata d'aria nuova nella scena cantautorale italiana.Giulia Mei / Il live di Giulia Mei è un viaggio sonoro che intreccia cantautorato, pianismo classico e barocco, musica elettronica e sperimentazione. Accompagnata da una formazione in trio – con Luca Zeverini (in arte Vezeve, alla loopstation e ai synth) e Dario Marchetti (batteria e synth) – Giulia presenterà in anteprima i brani del suo nuovo disco. Uno spettacolo pensato come un vero flusso di coscienza, dove la narrazione passa attraverso le canzoni, i momenti strumentali, le atmosfere minimaliste e le esplosioni sonore più audaci.Un'occasione imperdibile per ascoltare due artiste che rappresentano il futuro della musica italiana – e forse, ne sono già il presente.OMAGGIO per diversamente abili e un accompagnatore, bambini fino a 10 anni compiuti.27 luglio | ARTE, ARTIGIANATO E IMPEGNO SOCIALELa giornata conclusiva del D'Acord Fest sarà un'esperienza da vivere a tutto tondo, non solo con la musica. Per tutto il pomeriggio, i cortili e le sale dei Castelli di Lagnasco si animeranno con attività, incontri e laboratori pensati per coinvolgere grandi e piccoli, in un clima di scoperta e condivisione.Nel cuore della corte interna, l'Associazione IdeArte di Manta proporrà un laboratorio creativo davvero speciale: i partecipanti potranno dipingere un oggetto o un soggetto a tema, lasciandosi ispirare dall'ambiente suggestivo, mentre gustano un aperitivo a base di prodotti locali. Un momento rilassato e stimolante in cui arte e sapori si incontrano.Nel resto degli spazi, prenderanno vita laboratori artigianali che offriranno la possibilità di sperimentare tecniche come la ceramica, il lavoro a maglia, la scultura del legno e molte altre forme di manualità tradizionale. Un'occasione preziosa per riscoprire il valore del “fare” e la bellezza del tempo dedicato alla creatività.Nel tardo pomeriggio, all'interno della sala conferenze, sarà presentato il documentario “Dil Kumari” di Gabriele Testa. Girato in Nepal, il film racconta la quotidianità della casa famiglia Dil Kumari, che accoglie bambini e ragazzi provenienti da situazioni di abbandono e povertà. La struttura è stata realizzata dall'associazione Cecy Onlus di Revello, che da anni opera in Nepal per offrire sostegno concreto ai più vulnerabili. Attraverso immagini suggestive e interviste ai giovani ospiti e agli insegnanti della scuola locale, il documentario offre uno spaccato autentico della vita in un villaggio rurale nepalese. Alla proiezione saranno presenti il videomaker Gabriele Testa, i rappresentanti dell'associazione Cecy Onlus e alcuni volontari, che condivideranno con il pubblico le loro esperienze dirette sul campo.Una domenica intensa e coinvolgente, dove arte, artigianato e impegno sociale si intrecciano, regalando al pubblico un'occasione unica per vivere il festival in tutta la sua ricchezza.Durante le giornate del festival sarà possibile visitare i Castelli di Lagnasco e il Giardino delle Essenze.Per ogni informazione relativamente ai percorsi museali:www.castellidilagnasco.it | in fo@castellidilagnasco.itIL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Feedback? Comments? Questions? Send us a text message now! 1 in 100 people die trying to climb mount Everest every year. We ask Tim Beckett, a husband and father of 2, is it worth the risk? Tim, recently go back from Nepal alive and  shares his highs & lows of summiting mount Everest. FIND OUT MORE

Ashma KC, the reigning Miss Nepal, is a social work student and entrepreneur with a deep passion for women's empowerment. Karuna Rawat, Miss Nepal International 2024, is a registered nurse committed to advocating for children's mental health. Both queens are now preparing to pass on their crowns to their successors at the upcoming Miss Nepal 2025 pageant.

In this exclusive podcast, Cabinet Shrestha takes us behind the scenes of Shark Tank Nepal, sharing fascinating insights into the challenges of selecting the right pitch, deal valuations, and the dynamics between sharks. Discover how entrepreneurship in Nepal has evolved post-COVID, with a focus on creating effective business systems and upcoming developing cities. Dive deep into the electric vehicle industry in Nepal as Cabinet explains current regulations, tax flaws, and the future outlook of the EV market, highlighting the urgent need for policy-level conversations to support sustainable growth. He also opens up about managing a diverse business portfolio and how he balances passion, hobbies, and stressbusters in his busy life. Gain valuable advice on government's role in promoting Nepali entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of policy changes to foster innovation and business growth. Additionally, Cabinet shares his unique investment philosophy outside of Shark Tank, offering entrepreneurs and investors alike practical tips to succeed. From his early fascination with biology and software coding to founding Agni Group and navigating the complexities of Nepal's business environment, this podcast is a must-watch for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, EV industry trends, and investment strategies in Nepal. Don't miss these compelling insights that can inspire and inform your own business journey GET CONNECTED WITH Cabinet Shrestha: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cabinet_shrestha/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EQUHupSgR/  

Indra Ban came to Australia back in 1975 and went on to become the first Nepali to receive the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). Over the past 50 years, she's played a big role in guiding and supporting the Nepali community here. In this 10-part special series, we'll hear about her journey and experiences in Australia. In this eighth episode, Indra Ban spoke to SBS Nepali about the visit of Nepal's then Crown Prince Dipendra Shah to Australia during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. - सन् १९७५ मा अस्ट्रेलिया आएकी इन्द्रा बन, मेडल अफ द अर्डर अफ अस्ट्रेलिया वा ओएएम पाउने पहिलो नेपाली हुन्। ५० वर्षभन्दा बढीको आफ्नो अस्ट्रेलिया बसाइको क्रममा उनले नेपाली समुदायको अभिभावक बनेर यसलाई डोर्‍याउने काम गरेकी छिन्। दश अङ्कको विशेष पोडकास्ट शृङ्खला अन्तर्गत यो आठौं भागमा चाहिँ, इन्द्रा बनले सन् २००० को सिड्नी ओलम्पिकको बेला नेपालका तत्कालीन युवराज दीपेन्द्र शाह अस्ट्रेलिया आउँदा भएका केही रमाइला अनि बिर्सन नसकिने अनुभवहरू बारे एसबीएस नेपालीसँग चर्चा गरेकी छिन्।

In this remastered episode (originally aired 18 December 2020) of Guerrilla History, we are joined by Hisila Yami to talk about The People's War in Nepal, and the role of women in it. Hisila Yami was a leader in The People's War, a three times minister of Nepal, a former member of the Constituent Assembly, and the author of People's War and Women's Liberation in Nepal.  She can be followed on twitter @HisilaPost.    Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory  We also have a (free!) newsletter you can sign up for, and please note that Guerrilla History now is uploading on YouTube as well, so do us a favor, subscribe to the show and share some links from there so we can get helped out in the algorithms!!

Listen to this week's top stories from Nepal. - नेपाल सरकारले विदेश भ्रमणमा जाने नेपालीहरूले लैजान पाउने रकमको सीमा बढाएर ३,००० अमेरिकी डलर पुर्‍याएको छ। आगामी आर्थिक वर्ष २०८२/८३ को मौद्रिक नीतिमा उक्त रकम बढाइएको हो। यो लगायत पछिल्लो सात दिनका नेपालका समाचार सुन्नुहोस्।

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists.   Important Resources: Asian Refugees United: Website | Instagram | Learn about the Disappearances of Bhutanese American refugees: Website | Toolkit Hmong Innovating Politics: Website | Instagram Lavender Phoenix: Website | Instagram Minjoona Music: Instagram   Transcript: Cheryl (Host): Good evening. You're tuned in to Apex Express. I'm your host, Cheryl, and tonight we're diving into the vibrant summer programming happening across the AACRE network. That's the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality Network. AACRE is made up of 11 Asian American social justice organizations working together to build collective power and create lasting movements .  Throughout tonight's show, we'll be spotlighting a few of these groups [00:01:00] and the incredible work they're leading this summer. First up, we're joined by Pratik from Asian refugees United Pratik. Thank you so much for being here. Do you mind introducing yourself and to kick things off in the spirit of tonight's show, maybe share what's something that's been bringing you joy this summer? Pratik (ARU): Hello, namaste everyone. My name is Pratik Chhetri. He, him. I'm the program manager at ARU, Asian Refugees United in Pennsylvania. I'm originally from Nepal. I grew up in Nepal. I am an immigrant, came to the for college long time ago. And I've been working in social justice, health justice field for over 15 years now. Initially it was mostly around advocacy policy relating to access to medicines, issues, especially in lower and middle income countries, and the past six, seven. More than seven [00:02:00] years. I also started an organization, a nonprofit organization in Nepal, that works at the intersection of social, economic and climate justice. And with ARU, I got introduced to ARU back in 2020. So by that time I had some skills that I felt I could bring to the community. Even though I'm not from Bhutanese refugee community, I speak the language, I understand the culture to a certain extent. So I felt with the linguistic skill I could be of some help. I think right around that time COVID happened, everything and end of 2021 is when I reconnected with Robin and started talking about possibilities. For about two years, I was part of the CAMP for Emerging Leaders, the leadership program ARU has, and [00:03:00] starting last year, early this year formally, I am a staff, for ARU. I'm in charge of programs under wellness, education, and civic engagement largely but depending on time and resources, I become available for other programs as well. It's a joy working with ARU. I was just telling Cheryl earlier that it doesn't feel like work ‘ cause I enjoy it, working with people, getting to work on impactful programs, and being a part of an organization that has so much potential, so much responsibility, but also trying to find new ways to become, useful for the community. That's very exciting. Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): That's great. I'm glad that your work is what's bringing you joy this summer. That's so special. And before we get into some of that impactful programming that you've been running this summer, could you [00:04:00] tell us a little bit about, ARU, Asian Refugees United  Pratik (ARU): Sure. ARU started back in 2016 in California and back then all of the programs used to be in California. The community that ARU serves since then, and even to this day are Nepali speaking, Bhutanese refugee community and Vietnamese community, Korean and other Pan-Asian community. After the pandemic, there has been a lot of secondary migration of the Bhutanese folks from across the United States to two major locations. One being central PA around Harrisburg area and Pennsylvania, and the second one around Columbus, Ohio, and other major cities in Ohio. The secondary migration mostly to Pennsylvania triggered a, shifting of ARU programs, to Pennsylvania as well in addition to [00:05:00] California. So at this point in 2025, the Pennsylvania side of ARU caters to the Nepali speaking Bhutanese folks. And the California side of ARU works with Vietnamese, Korean, and other Asian communities. I work with the Pennsylvania, ARU, and here we have four different pillars around health and wellness, education, art and storytelling. And the fourth one is civic engagement, and that is the newest one. I can talk about programs under each of the pillars but for summer the programs that is bringing me joy, not only for me, but also ARU's staffs is this longitudinal five month long leadership program called Camp for Emerging Leaders, where we recruit Nepali speaking folks from all across United States, and they go through virtual sessions every other [00:06:00] week on, history to the story of displacement, intergenerational trauma. How it started, how it used to be back in Bhutan, how it used to be in the refugee camps in Nepal, and now how it is in the US and Canada, wherever they are. So end of summer, end of July, early August is when all of those cohort members, the youth leaders will come physically to Harrisburg and we'll spend a few days here connecting with each other, building that trust, but also working together to build projects for the community, addressing community challenges that's happening. And for that I think five or six of the ARU staff from California are also coming. We have guest speakers. I think one of them is coming from all the way from Australia. It's fun. Largely I think [00:07:00] I'm looking forward to meeting with all of these youth leaders who have so much potential to do, so much good, not only for Bhutanese community, Nepali speaking, south Asian community, but also, their potential goes beyond that, yeah.  Cheryl (Host): It is powerful to hear how ARU's work has evolved and now spans across the nation, and also how Camp for Emerging Leaders is creating space for Nepali speaking Bhutanese youth to reflect their community's history, build deep connections, and grow as leaders. You mentioned that during the summer youth leaders gather in Harrisburg to create community projects. Could you share more about what kinds of projects they're working on and what kind of issues they're hoping to address? Pratik (ARU): For education, one of the main ones that we just concluded is, so we started high school success program called First Step Forward. And the interesting thing, the exciting thing about this program [00:08:00] is the concept of First Step forward from one of the Camp for Emerging Leaders cohort from two years ago. And similarly so that's how most of ARU programs have been. The ARU Youth Center, the ARU Office, that concept also started from the camp for emerging leaders. There are a couple other programs ARU does. Youth Wellness Day. That started from the camp as well. For the First Step Forward, what we do is early winter of, I think January or February we accepted a cohort of 10. These were high school juniors and seniors, and largely the purpose of the program is to make sure that they are well equipped for college and for any other professional avenues they end up going even if higher education is not for them. We did a lot of like leadership sessions, public speaking [00:09:00] sessions, like how to write essays, how to apply for different scholarships. We just concluded it literally last Saturday, we went hiking and went to one of the Six Flags amusement parks. But learning from that program, we are scaling it up. We're taking 20 people next year, and we will do it a year long cohort. So starting from September up until May, June. We'll integrate college tours, not only for the kids, but also for their family because in Bhutanese community and Nepali speaking folks a lot of the times the parents do not understand how the system works, even with their best intent and best intention. So along with the students, it is very important for us to work with the family, the parents as much as possible to take them through the process, right? On education, we also do a lot of cultural navigation training to [00:10:00] different county level and different governance agencies. Some of the cultural navigation trainings that we did in the past year that I can think of is we did one for the. Panel of judges from Dauphin County, which is where Harrisburg is. We did similar thing for different school districts in Dauphin and Cumberland County, different nearby counties for juvenile probation unit, child and youth services. And while we do that, as an organization, it gave us a better sense of where the gaps are, especially for parents to run into difficulties. 'cause a lot of times, for example, if a kid is sent home with a sheet of paper, even when it's bilingual, because their movement happened from Nepal to Bhutan, such a long time ago, a lot of the folks in the community speak the language but do not understand how to read or write the [00:11:00] language. So there are double language barrier, right? When a kid is called into a meeting or a disciplinary meeting, the parents a lot of times don't even look at the sheet of paper or don't know where to show up or how to show up or what to expect. Based on those things we're using that knowledge and experience to design further programs in the future. That's just for education. With civic engagement, for example, this 2024 cycle was the first election for our community members to vote in their lifetime. Back in Bhutan they didn't have that opportunity and then they spent decades in refugee camps, and it took most of them some time to get the green cards and five years after Green card to secure their citizenship. So we saw a lot of even elderly folks show up to voting. That was their first time that they were voting. And when that happens, it's not [00:12:00] just generic voter education. It's teaching the community how to register, where to register, where to show up at the precincts. A lot of precincts we were seeing, 30 to 40% of the folks show up to the wrong precincts. So there's a lot of need, but also in 2024 we saw, unfortunately, a lot of folks fall victim to misinformation and disinformation. So there's that need to do something about that part as well in the future. One of the things we started doing under civic engagement work is not just teach folks where to register, how to register on voter education, but also preparing some of the community members to run for office.  Two or three weeks ago, mid-June, we did our first round of run for office training. We partner up with another organization called Lead PA. And even for the folks who showed up, all of us [00:13:00] are politically inclined, educated to a certain extent, and a lot of the things that were shared in that training, it was mostly new to us, especially around local government. Like what are the positions that they are and how so many important positions, people run unopposed and what kind of ramifications that might have for our daily lives. Right. Starting 2026 election cycle, we're hoping some of our trainees run for office as well, starting from school board to all the way, wherever they want to. And there are wellness focused events, youth wellness Day that I talked about, around mental health is one of the great needs for the community. One piece of data might be very important to mention, based on CDCs 20 12 data, there was a report out, the research was conducted in 2012, and the report came out in 2014, basically what it said [00:14:00] was, Bhutanese folks in the US have the highest of suicide in the whole nation, and that's something that has not received a lot of attention or resources because generally those numbers get mixed up with generic Asian data and the numbers get diluted. Right. So one of the things, what, as an organization, what we are trying to do is bring awareness to that number. And the other thing is like, it's been over 10 years since that study happened and there has not been a follow-up study. What we are seeing is previously how mental health and it's ramifications how it was affecting the community, it was mostly about 10 years ago, mostly affecting older folks. Now we are seeing a lot of younger folks commit suicide or suicidal attempts. So there is a lot of work in that respect as [00:15:00] well. These are also some of the very crucial topics to work on. But as an organization, we are taking baby steps toward being able to efficiently address the community needs. I missed some of them, but overall, our organizational goal is to empower the community in one way or the other. And one of the tools that we use is focusing on youths because youths in the community, similar to other immigrant communities, our youths are mostly bilingual, bicultural, and many times they're the translators and system navigators for their whole family. And in many cases their extended family as well. Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): Wow. There are so many layers to the work that you all do. From developing leaders to run for office, to supporting mental health, to helping folks navigate voting and helping folks access higher education or career pathways.[00:16:00]  That's such a wide scope, and I imagine it takes a lot to hold all of that. How do you all manage to balance so much, especially with a small team, is that right?  Pratik (ARU): Yes. Technically we only have one full-time staff. Most are part-time, but ranging from. 10% to 80%. Largely we rely on the community members, volunteers, and we pay the volunteers when we can. And other times, I think it speaks to how much time and effort and how genuinely, folks like Robin, who is the co ED of ARU and Parsu who is the office manager, and other folks in Harrisburg, connected with different community leaders, folks of different subgroups over the years. So. When ARU moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania post pandemic, it took them a while to get the hang of the community, the growing community. Back then it used to [00:17:00] be 10, 20,000 max in central PA and now our estimation is like 70, 80,000 in central PA. It took them a while to create space of trust, that ARU are people that they can come for when they run into problems. And even when we don't have a lot of resources, people show up. People volunteer. People volunteer their time, their spaces for meetings and events. Yeah. And that's how we've been running it. I feel like we do five or 10 x amount of work with the resources that we have, but that's largely because of the perception the community has about Robin, about Parsu, about other individuals, and about the organization.  Cheryl (Host): That's so amazing. ARU clearly has such deep community roots, not just through the incredible work that of course Robin, [00:18:00] Parsu and so many others you have named have done to build lasting relationships that now sustain the work in the organization, but also I think it's also evident in the examples you've shared through Camp for Emerging Leaders, how you all really listen to youth and learn from their experiences. And you all shape programs that respond directly to the needs that you're seeing. And in that same spirit of care and commitment that is reflected in ARU's amazing staff and volunteers. I'm curious, are there any moments or memories from camp for emerging leaders that stand out to you? I imagine there must be so many.  Pratik (ARU): Yeah. Many stories. I started attending and facilitating the sessions for the camp I from 2022 cohort and maybe even 23 cohort. I think this is the third one that I'm doing. I'll talk about Kamana. [00:19:00] Kamana joined the 23 cohort and at that time she was still in high school. But you know, she was bubbly, full of energy and she was one of the pretty active members of the cohort and eventually after the cohort, she ended up joining ARU as initially, I think as an intern, and now she is the lead of the education program. She will be a sophomore or rising junior, starting this fall. But now she'll be running the education program, First Step Forward. Primarily it was internally us staff, we see the growth in them with experience. But also I think one of the things that ARU does is we create a sort of non-hierarchical structure within our office space in the sense that anyone can [00:20:00] design a program or any idea, and they do not feel intimidated to speaking up. I think because of that, people like Kamana, I can talk about other folks like Nawal. Them growing within ARU space shows not just with experience, but also I think the kind of open and inclusive and non hierarchical space that we create they feel comfortable enough in leading. A lot of times when we have , X, y, and Z needs to be done in the group chat, people just volunteer. Even when they don't get paid, we see our staff, our volunteer base just show up time and time again. Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): Wow. ARU is such a special container. You've created this beautiful space where people can grow and then also have agency to shape that container in whatever way that they want. That is so special. How can listeners support your work this [00:21:00] summer? Whether that's showing up or donating or volunteering or spreading the word.  Pratik (ARU): One of the things is for the listeners, I feel like not a lot of folks know about Bhutanese community much. So yes, they speak Nepali. They sometimes they identify as Nepali because it's just easy. , Bhutanese folks normally identify as either Bhutanese or Nepali or American or any combination of those three identities. A lot of folks do not know, including folks from Nepal about the atrocity, the trauma that the community went through had to go through the forced persecution out of Bhutan and then living under very limited means while in the refugee camps in Nepal and even the number of challenges the community still [00:22:00] faces. I talked a little bit about mental health needs. There's. There are needs around, health seeking behavior and similar to other immigrant communities as well, but also, on education. Because of the historical division around caste and class and other demographic details, certain folks in the community are geared towards success versus others aren't. And we see that. We see the pattern quite distinct by their indigeneity, by their caste, by their last names. In our community you can tell what their caste is, what their ethnic background is with their last names. So I would invite the audience to learn a little bit more about this community and if you have that space and resources [00:23:00] to be, if you're a researcher, if you want to do some research studies, if you want to bring some programs. If you have scholarship ideas, if you want to create any scholarship for the kids in the community, or if you have means, and if you can donate, either or. It doesn't have to be just, financial resources. It can be sometimes being available as mentor to some of the kids to show them these are the possibilities. To summarize, learn more about the community if you don't know already including some of the new atrocities, the community's facing right now with ICE detention and deportation, even when the community was brought in to this country after years and years of approval through the process. And if you have resources and means help with knowledge sharing, being available or with [00:24:00] financial means either or. I just wanted to mention that I work with ARU and I work with the Bhutanese community, but like I said, I'm not from the Bhutan community. I grew up in Nepal. I speak the language, I understand the culture to a certain extent, but I definitely cannot speak for the experience of going and living as a refugee. So,, if you have any question, if you want to learn more about that, Cheryl and I, we are happy to put you in touch with folks with incredible stories, inspiring stories of resilience in the community. Cheryl (Host): Thank you so much. All of the links, whether to learn more, donate or get involved, as well as information about the disappearances impacting the Bhutanese American community will be included in our show notes. A huge thank you to Pratik from Asian Refugees United for joining us tonight. We're deeply grateful for the work you do and the love you carry for our [00:25:00] communities. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We're going to take a quick music break and when we come back we'll hear more about the summer programming happening across the AACRE network with folks from Lavender Phoenix, and Hmong innovating politics. So don't go anywhere. Next up, you're listening to a track called “Juniper” by Minjoona, a project led by Korean American musician, Jackson Wright. This track features Ari Statler on bass, josh Qiyan on drums, and Ryan Fu producing. Juniper is the lead single from Minjoona's newest release, the Juniper EP, a five track p roject rooted in indie rock, 60 throwback vibes, and lyric forward storytelling. You can follow Minjoona on Instagram at @minjoonamusic or find them on Spotify to keep up with upcoming releases. We'll drop the links in our show notes. Enjoy the track and we'll be right back. [00:26:00] [00:27:00] [00:28:00] [00:29:00] [00:30:00]  And we're back!!. You're listening to APEX express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley. 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. That was “Juniper” by Minjoona.  Huge thanks to Jackson Wright and the whole crew behind that track [00:31:00] Before the break, we were live with Pratik from Asian Refugees United, talking about the powerful summer programming, supporting the Nepalese speaking Bhutanese community in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Now I'm joined by from Blair Phoenix. From Lavender Phoenix, who's here to share about her experiences as a summer organizer In Lav N'S annual summer in Lav N's annual summer organizer in Lav N'S annual summer organizing program. Hi Mar. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for being here. Do you mind introducing yourself to our listeners? Okay. Mar, do you mind for our listeners out there who are just tuning in, do you mind introducing yourself? Mar (LavNix): Yes. Thank you, Cheryl. Hi, y'all. My name is Mar Pronouns, [00:32:00] she/siya/any! I come from the lands of the Ibaloi people in the Philippines or “Maharlika”. I am a queer Muslim and yeah, I'm just happy to be here. Cheryl (Host): Yay. We're so happy to have you here, mar! For those who might not be familiar, Mar is joining us from Lavender Phoenix as part of this year's summer organizing program. Mar,, could you start by giving our listeners a quick introduction to Lavender Phoenix? And then could you tell us a little bit about the summer organizing program and what it's all about? Mar (LavNix): Yeah, of course. Cheryl. Let's start with Lavender Phoenix. Lavender Phoenix is a really awesome nonprofit over here in the Bay Area who focus on trans queer, API. Work basically. I really love Lavender Phoenix because of their unwavering commitment to collective liberation [00:33:00] and the very specific focus and centering around trans queer API leadership because our leadership is often underrepresented and because there's so many intersections there, we need to have trans queer API leadership to be able to move the work. And so really fond of lavender Phoenix's ethos and mission values. This year for the summer 2025, I'm part of their summer organizer program, which is a cohort of organizers both emerging, established and wanting to learn, and we learn a lot of transformative interpersonal organizing skills, but also building our more technical skill sets alongside with that. So we're actually three weeks from graduation [00:34:00] nooooooooo!. Anyways, yeah, just really happy to be in this cohort. I'm feeling really aligned in that I am here and it is transforming me in the way I had intentions for when I applied for it. Cheryl (Host): Wow. It sounds like this was a really impactful program for you. I wanna know what kinds of projects are you all working on?  Mar (LavNix): Yeah, so it's really beautiful because it's not just like a single project the cohort works on, it's kind of a myriad of things. We have two folks who are doing projects with other organizations, and then we have the rest of the folks working on two projects within Lavender Phoenix's programming. And so for my group, my very awesome group, we are doing the River of Life Project, and the River of Life Project is a five week long cohort where we practice storytelling in a very vulnerable and honest way, and this is for the [00:35:00] purpose to really witness one another and to cultivate our storytelling skills because our stories and narratives is so important. There's whole states and governments trying to take that away from us, and so our project is to guide and facilitate this project and meet with members across rank. It's super cool seeing the different facets of lavender Phoenix come together and be down, to be in the act of vulnerability and honesty and that is their praxis for collective liberation. Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): Yeah. Yeah. That's so well said. And it's so important that we have these spaces to practice that vulnerability because we are so often punished for being who we are. Right. So, mm-hmm. These programs are so crucial as you have uplifted for us. I am so curious to learn more about this River of Life project, but [00:36:00] also before we even get to that, I wanna zoom out a little bit and focus on your growth and who are you now as you get closer three weeks from graduation?  Mar (LavNix): Ooh, that is such a beautiful question, Cheryl. Yeah. I've been really reflecting on how this program transformed me this summer and to bring us back to when I first applied. I first applied sometime in March, I believe. I remember 'cause it was around Ramadan. I was at a point in my life where I felt stagnant in my organizing journey. I would attend all these workshops, I would keep reading, but there was a disconnect in how my mind wanted to move next. So here we are in 2025, I was accepted into the program. I was like, yay, my people. And you know, [00:37:00] my expectations was met. In fact, it was exceeded. Very exceeded because I didn't know these things that i'm learning now. I didn't know how much I needed them until I learned them. In my time with Lavender Phoenix, as I'm reflecting to this point, graduation being three weeks out, I realized that before joining this cohort, my heart and my spirit was in a really bad place, and I think a lot of people could resonate. There's genocides, ethnic cleansings, and just terrible things happening all over the world, and there's like a dichotomy of people who are trying so hard and then there's a dichotomy of people who are unaffected by it. And so my spirit and my heart was so broken down seems really dramatic, but it wasn't being rejuvenated for sure. And so, being in this space and being in a [00:38:00] container that's just honesty and vulnerability and it's all rooted in each other's liberation really replenish that cup. The teachings and the knowledge and the wisdom that I'm getting, it's helping me add more to my North Star, which I'm really thankful of because I didn't know this is what I needed in March. Cheryl (Host): That is so beautiful. So much of what's going on right now by the systems that be, the powers that be, it's meant to isolate us and to make us feel exactly what you said. Capitalism isolates us and keeps us in that place because that's how it benefits . So Lavender Phoenix is summer organizing program, what I'm hearing from you is this revolutionary space that is counter to that. It's filled with hope and dreaming for a better world. So how is that being informed in River of Life, in the storytelling leadership development that you are developing within Lavender Phoenix's membership?  Mar (LavNix): Oh, yes. I'm [00:39:00] understanding the responsibility on how I move in this space. And so before the cohort of the River of Life project presents, it's actually gonna be me and another facilitator going to share our stories. And so we're also in the act of being vulnerable and honest and really wanting the others to witness us as we will witness them. We've removed kind of that superiority in that space. When I think of this, it brings me back to Freire's idea of an engaged pedagogy, but not necessarily like an educator and a student, but like removing hierarchies, which I think is really, a value that's rooted in, or lavender Phoenix is rooted in that value. There's no hierarchy, but there is ranks and we all see each other as equals. It's really beautiful to be able to see that and then know how I move in this [00:40:00] space to prepare our cohort. I hope that my storytelling, I can only hope, I do not know how it's gonna be received inshallah it's received super well. But I really do hope that they see how vulnerable I also get and how I'm doing this so that I could build deeper relationships with these people as I continue my journey with Lavender, Phoenix and to them as well. I hope these values, if not already present in our people, this project helps them cultivate that even further.  Cheryl (Host): I wanna ask what is something you want to share with our listeners who were in a similar space as you who felt lost and that they wanted something to grow in. What advice would you give?  Mar (LavNix): This is a really beautiful question [00:41:00] and So many things flooded my brain as you were asking this question, but i'm feeling more pulled and called to share this one thing . As I'm going through the summer organizer program, I really realized the importance of tending to myself so that I could show up for others. I have to be able to know how to advocate for my needs and what I need so that I can be in spaces with other people. It's so important that I know how to acknowledge my shame or whatever pain points I'm experiencing and let that not be a hindrance to the work, but integrate it in a way that I will tend to it, and by tending to it, I can continue doing the work. And I know it's really [00:42:00] hard to prioritize yourself when it feels like you should prioritize everything else in the world right now, but I am really learning that that's what I needed to do. When I say prioritize myself, I'm not saying oh, I need to go do this and I need to go drink all my water. Yes, also care for our physical bodies and our mental bodies, but also taking time to know who I am as a person and what I could offer to the movement, and knowing how to communicate to others in the movement so that I could show up as a better organizer. And so the final words that I will have to share is I hope everyone who's hearing this shows the love that they have for other people to themselves [00:43:00] too.  Cheryl (Host): That was so beautiful. What you just shared right now about tending to yourself that's part of the work too. And that's so counterintuitive, I feel. This project that you're leading, the river of life where the focus is so much on your story and honoring who you are, I think that is the true essence of what it means to be trans and queer. Showing up with your whole self and embracing that. And in turn, by doing that, you are holding everybody else too, that very practice. To find out more about Lavender Phoenix Mar, how can our listeners plug into Lavender Phoenix's work?  Mar (LavNix): Follow us on Instagram or check out Lavender, Phoenix website. We post a lot. Sign up for the newsletter. Volunteer. We're really cool. Or just look at the staff and see if anybody calls you and you wanna hit them up. We're so awesome. Cheryl (Host): Thank you for joining us on tonight's show, Mar, and for sharing your experiences on Lavender Phoenix's [00:44:00] summer organizing program with all of All of the links that Mar mentioned on how to stay in touch with Lavender Phoenix's work be available in our show notes as per usual. We are so grateful, thank you again, Mar! Next up, we're joined by Katie from Hmong Innovating Politics. Katie. Welcome, welcome. I'm so happy to have you on our show tonight. Would you mind introducing yourself to our listeners? Katie (HIP): Hi everyone. My name is Katie. I use she her pronouns. My Hmong name is ING and I mainly introduce myself as ING to my community, especially elders because one ING is my given name. Katie is like a self-assigned name. In my work with HIP I've been trying to figure out what feels more natural when, but I do catch myself introducing myself to my Hmong community. And yeah, I'm totally cool if folks referring to me as Katie Oring and my ask is just pronouncing my name correctly. Who are my people? Who's my community? I would say my community is my family. And then the young people that I work [00:45:00] with, the elders in my community, the ones who would like to claim me, my team. I would say Hmong women that I've met through some of the work that I do at my volunteer org, and oh my goodness, there're so many people. My friends, oh my gosh, if my friends are listening to this, my friends are my community, they're my people. They keep me grounded, alive and fun. My siblings. All of the folks in Fresno and Sacramento that have been a part of the spaces that I've shared at HIP and the spaces that we've created together.  Cheryl (Host): You are a community leader through and through . For folks who are listening and don't know, Hmong Innovating Politics is one of the AACRE groups and it has two different hubs basically in Central California, one in Sacramento, and one in Fresno. Katie, do you mind sharing a little bit about HIP and the work that you all do? Katie (HIP): Yeah. So, we are a power building organization and what does that mean, right? One is that we are [00:46:00] a part of empowering and supporting our community to become active change makers in their community. We believe that those who are most impacted by issues should also be the ones that receive resources and training to lead solutions and design, the dreams of their community. A framework that we use is called Belong Believe Become. We want to create space where young people feel their belongingness, know that they are rooted here in their community, and that they have a place. The believing part of our framework is that we want young people to also see themselves and see themselves as leaders. In their community and leadership can mean many forms, right? There's like passive and active leadership, and we want young people to know that there is enough space in this world for everyone in whichever capacity, they're choosing to show up in their community. The important piece of believing is that, believing that you also like matter and that your decisions are also impactful. And then become is that. [00:47:00] we share this framework and it's circular because we notice that some people can come into our space feeling like I know exactly who I'm gonna be. I know exactly what I wanna do, and feel really disconnected from their history and their, and the multiple parts of their identities. belong, believe become is cyclical and it's wherever you're at. And in this third piece of becoming it is that our young people know that they are leading the charge and transforming systems. That they are shifting the narratives of our community, that they get to own the narratives of our community, and that they are a part of the Power building our community as well. Cheryl (Host): Yeah, I love that . As we're talking, I'm noticing that you talk so much about young people and how so much of your work's framework is centered around young people. Do you mind giving context into that? So much of HIP's programming is on youth leadership, and so I'm wondering what does that look like programming wise and especially right now in the summer? Katie (HIP): Yeah, so it's more [00:48:00] recently that HIP has been identifying ourselves as a power building organization. Before we had claimed our work as base building, and this is through our civic engagement work for voter engagement and empowerment, and turning out the vote that, that is like what we, our organization was like centered on. Through that work, what we noticed was that like cycles and seasons after season, it was young people coming back and then they started asking are you all gonna have like consistent programming space for us, or is it just gonna always be around the election cycle? Through our civic engagement work, a framework that we use is the IVE model, integrated voter engagement. And that is that you are relationship building year after year, even outside of the election season. And so then it was how do we be more intentional about centering the people who are coming to us and centering the people who are shifting and challenging and pushing our leadership. And that was to [00:49:00] then move and prioritize the young people in our community. I think it's been maybe four or five years since this shift where we've really prioritized young people and really centered our work around youth justice. So then we had to create these spaces. Civic engagement work had primarily consisted of phone banking and canvassing and through that I think a lot of young people were then getting firsthand experience of this is like what it's like to be angry about these issue in my community. This is also what it's like to hold space for other people to go through and process their emotions. And then it was like, how do we train and skill up our young people to not only listen to their community, but be able to strategize and lead and take their ideas and dreams and put 'em into action. At the time folks working in our civic engagement programs were high school youth, college transitional age, young adults who are not in college. And we even had parent [00:50:00] age folks in our programs as well. In figuring out how do we better support our young folks was that a lot of young people were asking for more like designated space for youth that are in high school. The other request was can you all not be college based because not all young adults go to college in our community, yet we still wanted to access the programs. We had to strategize around these pieces. Also at the time when we were running civic engagement program, we were also building up our trans and queer work in the Central Valley and figuring out like what is HIP's place in this work? So that landed us into three programs. We have a program called Tsev which is TSEV. Um, and that means House in Hmong, but it's an acronym. It stands for Transforming Systems, empowering Our Village, and the reason why we named our youth program that is in the Hmong community, we refer to our community a lot “lub zos” which means village in English. And so that is why we wanted to name our program with something around the word village and then also [00:51:00] home, belongingness, right? We wanted our program to signify belonging. And so that is what landed us in this program. This program is based at a high school and we train cohorts of youth and the curriculum that we cover in all of our programs are pretty similar, but they are adjusted to be more relevant to the age group and the experiences that we are serving. So we have our high school program. We have our trans and queer young adult program called QHIP, queer Hmong intersectional Pride. And then we also have a young adult program called the Civic Engagement Fellowship, but I feel like we're gonna be revamping next year, so we might have a new name next year. And that one is, open to all young adults of all gender and sexuality. The projects that is focused in that is what's coming up on the election. So specific propositions and measures or whatever we are bringing to the ballot. And then with QHIP, it is very focused on intentionally building up leadership in the trans and queer community. [00:52:00] Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): You all tackle power building in so many different intersections, and I think that's so brilliant. You really tailor these spaces to the needs of your community and you're always listening to your community. That is honestly such a theme within the AACRE network. Could you tell us how these groups stay active during the summer?  Katie (HIP): Yeah! During the summer, we close off the cohort in June when the school year ends. And so we're actually in the assessment phase of this program right now. Our seniors throughout the summer go through a one-on-one exit with one of the staff in Fresno or Sacramento. After the senior exit closes out, then we'll be doing a overall annual assessment with all of the young people that were in the program this year. We're actually closing both these pieces out next week. We try to make things fun, right? So for the one-on-ones, we'll all come to the office and we'll have the one-on-one exit interviews and after that we'll go get lunch. somewhere cute, somewhere fun. Then with the end of the year evals, after we complete them for everyone, we'll just hang out. This [00:53:00] year we're planning to do like a paint by numbers night. And then we always somehow end up karaoking. For QHIP, our trans and queer young adult program we actually partner with Lavender Phoenix and have them attend the leadership exchange program that's happening right now. We did our own onboarding and then we celebrated the month of pride. And we also celebrated the trans march. Then after that transition into the leadership exchange program at Lavender Phoenix. After that program, I believe our lead members are going to be designing some projects this summer. And then they'll have the rest of the summer and hours to do their projects, and then we'll eventually close out with a retreat with them. Cheryl (Host): And for our listeners out there, do you mind giving a quick a preview on what lavender, Phoenix's leadership exchange program is and how you all work in tandem with each other?  Katie (HIP): Yeah. Okay. I know in the past, we've sent our more new to organizing leaders [00:54:00] to the leadership exchange program. This year the intention is that we wanted to send leaders from our community who might already have some organizing experience who have some experience in social justice and movement work. And so, during this I think some of my favorite things from the leadership exchange program is teaching folks how to ask for help. I think a lot of our young adults navigate their lives not knowing who to turn to for help and how to formulate and ask that is clear and supportive of their needs. So that's something that we really appreciate through the leadership exchange program. And another piece is mutual aid funding. Lavender Phoenix trains up leaders around fundraising support and that's something I'm really looking forward to our young people gaining. The other piece is ultimately training of trans and queer leaders in our community so that we can continue to sustain this movement and this lifelong work of trans and queer liberation. The leadership exchange program has been able to equip folks with very necessary skills so that they can continue to sustain trans and queer [00:55:00] leadership. I bring in the fundraising piece because, I think a lot of young people that I work with, they're so scared to ask for resource support, especially money. And I think a lot of it comes with our own family trauma around finances, right? So, I'm excited to see what they debrief about and what they reflect on.  Cheryl (Host): That's so amazing. It really sounds like all of these programs that you all do are really building up leaders for the long term of our movements. Asking for help is so related to navigating money, trauma and is so key in shaping liberatory futures. For folks out there who wanna get plugged into some of HIP's programming work, how can we stay in touch with you all? Katie (HIP): Our Instagram is the best spot. And then on our Instagram you can click on the little short link to sign up for our newsletter. We have some volunteer opportunities coming up in the month of August so if folks in the Central Valley wanna support with one of our community engagement [00:56:00] surveys, either to partake in the survey or to support us in doing the outreach and getting the word out so that folks complete the survey. There's two ways that you can participate with us. Yeah.  Cheryl (Host): Thanks, Katie, and of course all of those links will be available in our show notes. Thanks so much for coming on our show tonight, Katie, and thank you to our listeners for tuning in. We'll see you next time. [00:57:00] [00:58:00]  The post APEX Express – July 17, 2025: Summer Programming in the AACRE Network appeared first on KPFA.

Join comedian and content creator Utsav Sapkota in this fascinating podcast where we dive deep into a wide range of topics that shape our world today. From nostalgic memories of old days and the evolution of roads and infrastructure to the booming tourism industry in Nepal, Utsav shares his unique perspective with humor and insight. Explore the rich flavors of Nepali food and coffee culture, and learn about the restaurant business and how the EV (electric vehicle) industry is transforming the market. We also discuss billionaires, jets, and the impact of AI technology on our future. On the political front, Utsav offers sharp commentary on political affairs, geopolitics, and even touches on philosophical and sci-fi ideas that spark imagination. Whether it's making money in the Nepali market or understanding economic indicators, this podcast covers it all. Perfect for fans of engaging conversations blending comedy, culture, business, and technology, this episode with Utsav Sapkota is a must-watch for anyone interested in Nepal's growth and global trends. Don't miss out on these insightful and entertaining discussions! GET CONNECTED WITH Utsav Sapkota: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utsav.sapkota_/  

It's Wednesday, July 16th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Christians losing property rights in India, Nepal and Pakistan International Christian Concern reports Christians are losing their property rights and access to land in South Asian nations like India, Nepal, and Pakistan. In particular, India's second-most populous state of Maharashtra plans to demolish hundreds of church buildings within six months. Officials claim the structures are unauthorized, and many of them are in tribal areas.  The government also plans to enact an anti-conversion law. Such laws are often used to target Christians in the country. Currently, 12 of 28 states in India have anti-conversion laws. South Asian nations like India are ranked on the Open Doors' World Watch List as some of the most difficult places to live as a Christian.  World population growth slowing down Pew Research recently released world population projections for the next 75 years. The global population more than tripled over the last 75 years from 2.5 to 8.2 billion people. However, population growth is expected to slow down, only reaching 10.2 billion by 2100. Currently, the most populous countries in the world are China, India, and the U.S. China's population is expected to shrink by more than half over the next 75 years, while the U.S. and India are expected to grow slightly.    Global population growth is projected to primarily come from nations in Africa like Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.  10th anniversary of undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood This week marks 10 years since the Center for Medical Progress released their first undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood. Executives for the abortion giant were caught discussing how they sold the body parts of murdered babies. The undercover investigation has contributed to efforts for defunding Planned Parenthood. Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, served as a founding member on the board of the Center for Medical Progress. He said, “I am honored to have been a part of this historic investigation, even though it came at great personal cost to those of us involved in revealing the horrific truth about the illicit trade in aborted baby parts. Today's Planned Parenthood is vastly different from what it was in 2015. It is a weaker organization with waning political influence that is now collapsing from within.” Proverbs 6:17 says that among the seven things God hates are “haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.” Trump threatens Russia with tariff to get peace deal with Ukraine In a public meeting with NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened severe tariffs on Monday if Russia doesn't come to a peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days. TRUMP: “One of the reasons that you're here today is to hear that we are very unhappy, I am, with Russia. We're very, very unhappy with them. And we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%. You'd call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means.” (His comments occur at the :45 mark of this video) Trump also said the United States will sell top-of-the-line weapons to countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In turn, NATO countries would then be able to provide such weapons like the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.    Trump wants Federal Reserve to lower interest to save trillion dollars The U.S. consumer price index rose by 0.3% last month. That put the 12-month inflation rate at 2.7%. Prices have been generally decreasing over the last year, but the inflation rate is still above the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.  Trump responded to the news by calling on the Fed to lower interest rates by three points. He said this would save an estimated one trillion dollars on debt payments.  Bible readers most likely to volunteer in community And finally, the American Bible Society released the fourth chapter of its State of the Bible USA 2025 report. The chapter evaluated activities that promote wellbeing like physical exercise, spending time with a friend, volunteering in the community, meditation, and praying to God. The study found people who engage the most with the Bible are also the most likely to engage in those activities, especially volunteering in the community.  Such activities were also associated with higher levels of hope and lower levels of stress, anxiety, and loneliness. However, people who attend church regularly experienced even better results in those areas. 1 Timothy 4:8 says, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, July 16th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Skylar DuBois has returned from Nepal just in time to interview Dr Zeke Norman about Cyberware Induced Neuro Neoplastic Syndrome. Skylar DuBois- MaddieRoxy Webb- CydDr. Zeke Norman- EricFEATURING: The incredible What the Dice!! Find them here:https://linktr.ee/whatthediceEditor/ Producer- Cyd

Sabin Rai & The Pharaoh is one of Nepal's most iconic rock bands, blending poetic lyricism with bluesy guitars, folk textures, and cinematic stage presence. Fronted by Sabin Rai, whose voice shaped a generation the band evolved in 2016 into a powerhouse of live performance, sound design, and emotional storytelling. With songs like “Samarpan” and “Komal Tyo Timro,” they bridge eras, cultures, and continents; redefining what Nepali rock can be.

Two guests: the author of a young adult graphic novel, and Chico author of a children's book set in Nepal.

Kate is joined by the incredibly beautiful Juliana from Boho Beautiful—yogi, creator, truth-teller, and rebel soul—for a heart expansive, deeply inspiring conversation on what it really means to live an unscripted life.They go beyond the pretty Instagram version of freedom and explore the raw, courageous truth of walking away from the conventional path… and choosing alignment, authenticity, and soul over the perception of safety. Together, we dive into: What it took for Juliana and her partner to leave everything behind and create an expansive lifeThe spiritual initiations that come when you break the rules and trust your own path The power of trusting yourself when the world doesn't understand your choicesWhat's actually waiting for you on the other side of the scriptThis conversation is a love letter to the woman who knows she was made for something different. Who's ready to say no to the life she should live… and yes to the one her soul is starving for.A glimpse into possibilities, even when you're married with kids - you can still live an unscripted life!! The Immersion - April 25- May 2, 2026 https://www.theunscriptdwoman.com/the-immersionTo book a Free Call to explore working with Kate - click the link below: https://calendly.com/expanded-love/exploration-call-cloneAbout the Guest:Juliana Spicoluk is a globally recognized yoga and wellness teacher, author, and visionary co-founder of Boho Beautiful—a conscious lifestyle brand and digital movement that has touched the lives of millions around the world. With over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and over half a billion video views, Juliana has redefined what it means to bring spiritual practice into the modern world, offering a unique blend of yoga, meditation, Pilates, and mindful living that resonates deeply with a global audience. Her journey began after a career-ending injury shifted her path from being an Olympic-level rhythmic gymnast to a lifelong exploration of healing, self-inquiry, and inner transformation. Holding her yoga teacher training certifications from many yoga schools in India and Costa Rica, as well as spending a large amount of time studying mindful meditation practices in Nepal and Tibet, Juliana channels her experiences into content that merges physical movement with deep spiritual intention. Through Boho Beautiful's viral videos, best-selling books, transformational programs, and philanthropic work—including a 52-city charity yoga tour—she has built not just a brand, but a mission-driven platform dedicated to elevating consciousness, empowering others to return to their truth, and living with grace, compassion, and purpose. Alongside all of this, Juliana is also a devoted mother to two children, a role that continually deepens her spiritual practice and fuels her passion for creating a more conscious, loving world.Connect with Juliana:YouTube: @bohobeautifulInstagram: @bohobeautifullifeBoho Beautiful App: https://bohobeautiful.tv/Website: www.bohobeautiful.life

SUMMER PODCAST: TRAVEL & SPIRITUALITY // Ep 3 Dr. Curt Lindquist // TRAVEL BY WALKING

In this insightful podcast episode, renowned writer Gurung Sushant takes us on a compelling journey through Nepal's rich literary landscape, exploring the intricate connections between book writing, political literature, and Nepali movies. We dive deep into the evolution of Nepal's literature review scene and analyze the impact of political texts, including the influence of Mahendra Maala in our education system. Sushant Gurung also sheds light on how literature and movies shape ideologies and belief systems, discussing the transition and change in Nepali cinema, the role of talented theatre actors, and the ongoing conversation about censorship. This episode further explores how media shapes people's perspectives and the cultural and religious diversity of Nepal, addressing knowledge gaps and the importance of understanding cultural history. Whether you are interested in the political analysis of literature, the evolution of Nepali movies, or the role of culture and religion in shaping society, this podcast offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion. Don't miss Gurung Sushant unique insights on conveying messages through novels and where to find his book. Tune in for a deep dive into Nepal's literature, movies, politics, and culture that will broaden your understanding and spark meaningful conversations. GET CONNECTED WITH Gurung Sushant : Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Jk7J44KwR/  

In this episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, I sit down with the one and only Vaibhav Nahata, a.k.a. “Happy” (www.speakervideos.com)—a joy-fueled video marketing pro, teen speaker, and TV show producer from Nepal who has turned discomfort into his superpower.Once the bullied kid at school, now a bold entrepreneur interviewing CEOs and inspiring youth around the world, Happy's story is a wild ride of risk, resilience, and saying “yes” even when you have no clue what you're doing. (Sound familiar?)We're talking about: 

Devu Thapa has represented Nepal both as a judo player and coach. From participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics to coaching Nepal's national team, she also teaches judo and self-defense to young children. On the occasion of International Olympic Day marked on 23 June this year, our Nepal correspondent Pratichya Dulal spoke with Thapa about her athletic journey and future plans. A warning, this episode contains details of an event that some listeners may find distressing. - देवु थापाले खेलाडी र प्रशिक्षक दुवैका रूपमा नेपाललाई पदक दिलाएकी छिन्। जुडो खेलाडी थापा सन् २००८मा सम्पन्न बेइजिङ ओलम्पिकमा खेलाडीका रूपमा सहभागी भएकी थिइन् भने प्रशिक्षकको रूपमा ओलम्पिकको अनुभव बटुल्ने अवसर पनि पाएकी छन्। यो वर्ष २३ जुनमा रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय ओलम्पिक दिवसको सन्दर्भमा थापासँग उनका खेल जीवनको अनुभव र भावी योजना बारे एसबीएस नेपालीका लागि नेपाल संवाददाता प्रतिक्षा दुलालको कुराकानी सुन्नुहोस्। चेेतावनी: हामी तपाईँहरूलाई जानकारी गराउन चाहन्छौँ कि यस कुराकानीका केही अंशमा व्यक्त गरिएका विवरणहरूले केही श्रोताहरूलाई विचलित पार्न सक्छ।

En el año 2015, tras un fuerte terremoto en Nepal, muchos pueblos quedaron sin acceso a agua potable. Sin embargo, en el distrito de Sindhupalchok, un antiguo pozo cavado por misioneros cristianos décadas atrás siguió proveyendo agua limpia. Mientras los manantiales naturales colapsaban, ese pozo se volvió el sustento de cientos. El alcalde local declaró: “Lo que ellos dejaron fue más que infraestructura... fue esperanza”. El Señor Jesús le dijo a la mujer samaritana que Él podía dar “agua viva”. Esa agua no se contamina ni se agota. Brota aún en el desierto más árido de la vida. Por lo tanto ¿Estás bebiendo del pozo correcto o estás intentando saciar tu sed con fuentes rotas? Una vida fundamentada en la Palabra y en la comunión con Dios es un pozo profundo. De modo que cuando llegan los temblores de la vida, tu pozo permanece. La Biblia dice en Juan 4:14: “...el que bebiere del agua que yo le daré, no tendrá sed jamás...” (RV1960).

Born in 1962, Malcolm Smith was raised in Western Massachusetts. Captivated by the sound of Tibetan ritual music in 1984, he began his study of the Dharma. He met his first formal teacher, H. H. Sakya Trizin, in 1989. He studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language under the guidance of Khenpo Migmar Tseten for the next five years at Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1990 Malcolm travelled to Nepal to receive lamdré from the late H. H. Sakya Dagchen.He received his first Dzogchen teachings from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in 1992. In 1993 he met his second Dzogchen teacher, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, receiving important transmissions. During this year he entered a three-year solitary retreat. In 1998 he met H. H. Penor Rinpoche and received the complete empowerments of the mahayoga section of the Nyingma Kama as well as teachings on the Namchö preliminary practices. In 2001, he met his third Dzogchen teacher, the late Kunzang Dechen Lingpa, from whom he received the Nyinthig Yazhi in its entirety, as well as the formal Ngakpa empowerment in 2004. He met his fourth Dzogchen teacher, H. H. Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, in 2001, from whom he received the entire transmission of the Gongpa Zangthal in 2010, as well other transmissions. He received the transmission of the Seventeen Tantras from Khenpo Tenzin Thinley in 2012 and again from Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche in 2022. Since 2018, he has been studying under Khenchen Namdrol Tsering of Namdrol Ling MonasteryIn addition, Malcolm has received Sakya, Kagyü, and Nyingma teaching cycles from many other lamas.Malcolm Smith was awarded the title of acarya by Khenpo Migmar Tseten of Sakya Institute in 2004. In 2008 Malcolm was granted the title of lama by Lama Ngawang Tsultrim, abbot of Dhongag Tharling. In 2009 Malcolm graduated from Shang Shung Institute of America as a doctor of Tibetan medicine, completing an internship in Xining, in the Amdo province of northeast Tibet.Since 1992 Malcolm Smith has worked on a wide variety of texts for Sakya, Drikung Kagyü, and Nyingma groups, as well as medical and astrological texts.Thank you to all the listeners who are supporting the show. If you would like to support the show with a monthly donation please visit our website somaticprimer.com, or at our online learning platform on Patreon.Support the show

Dr. Thorson has published many articles on C.S. Lewis as well as a book called Joy and Poetic Imagination: Understanding C.S. Lewis's “Great War” with Owen Barfield and its significance for Lewis's Conversion and Writings. This weekend we will dive into C.S. Lewis's conversion. What the steps were that led to his conversion to Christ and what his Christian view of the world and human beings was afterward. Stephen has also written the majority of topical articles in The Applied New Testament Commentary and The Applied Old Testament Commentary translated into many languages and circulated around the world. Stephen has also taught Theology in Nepal for over 30 years and also at Bethany Global University and at the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute. 

We're 10 years old!!! And we’re still reelin’, reminiscing, and replaying the bangers that made our indie hearts beat faster. This week, we’re flashing back to the not so distant past - our Best of 2023 – a year that gave us Assamese jazz-pop, Urdu blues, Punjabi folk, and a Marathi abhanga with a guitar solo that’s soooo good, it deserves its own Aadhaar card. We even celebrated our 300th episode that featured a cult band from the early 2000s, and went gaga over a shoegaze dream pop band from Nepal who put across a strong case that momos from Nepal were the best EVVVAAAAAA! This re-release comes with a fresh intro by Senior Producer Ruchi — whose official review of the episode is just one word: “CHILLS.” So plug in, get comfy, and vibe out to the voices that made 2023 unforgettable. Song List: Zero - Take Me Away (04:32 - 09:32) Sampriti - Xathor (10:07 - 16:02) Sameer Rahat - Tasalli (17:37 - 23:02) Banat - Daachi Waaleya (23:38 - 27:09) Swarupa Ananth - Happy Dance (27:54 - 30:54) Abhanga Repost - Aise Kaise Zhale Bhondu (32:14 - 37:47) Nimisha Shankar - Duniya (39:32 - 42:33) Phosphenes - Are You Gonna Leave Me? (44:14 - 48:18) Come be our friend: Instagram @maedinindia Twitter @maedinindia CREDITS: Host: Mae Instagram: @maemariyam Twitter: @maebemaebe Producer: Shaun Fanthome and Meghna Gulati Sound Edited & Mastered by: Kartik Kulkarni Artwork: Alika Gupta

Superpowers for Good should not be considered investment advice. Seek counsel before making investment decisions. When you purchase an item, launch a campaign or create an investment account after clicking a link here, we may earn a fee. Engage to support our work.Watch the show on television by downloading the e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or AmazonFireTV. You can also see it on YouTube.Devin: What is your superpower?Shree: DeterminationClimate change often feels like a distant, abstract concept, but Shree Gurung, Founder & CEO of worldvlogchallenge.com, is bringing it to life through an innovative reality TV show filmed on Mount Everest. By blending adventure, competition, and impactful storytelling, Gurung aims to draw global attention to the alarming speed at which Himalayan glaciers are melting.The groundbreaking project, World Vlog Challenge, features YouTube creators from around the world competing in a grueling trek to Everest Base Camp while documenting the effects of climate change on the region. The competition offers a $100,000 prize and has already premiered on Amazon Prime in the US and UK, with a global release planned for August 7.The show's purpose goes beyond entertainment. Gurung explained, “The springs, rivers, and waterfalls that feed billions of lives downstream originate here. Through this challenge, we show YouTubers—and their audiences—the source of freshwater and the critical role glaciers play in our ecosystem.”The melting of Himalayan glaciers, once a slow, natural process, has accelerated dramatically due to human influence. “Normally, it would take hundreds of years to form a meter of glacier,” he said. “Now, they're melting in just ten years. That speed is dangerous.”What sets the World Vlog Challenge apart is its focus on engaging younger generations. Recognizing that traditional scientific communication often struggles to reach this audience, Gurung chose YouTubers as his storytellers. “These creators are great storytellers and can bring the stories of the glaciers to life in a relatable, engaging way,” he said.Funding such an ambitious project posed significant challenges. After exhausting traditional investment channels, Gurung turned to regulated investment crowdfunding via WeFunder. “We're asking the community to support something that promotes Nepal, the Himalayas, and awareness about climate change,” he shared.Through determination and creativity, Gurung has created a show that is both educational and entertaining. By focusing on the human drama of the trek and the urgent message of climate change, World Vlog Challenge stands as a testament to the power of storytelling and collaboration.Those interested in supporting the project can visit the Wefunder campaign at [wefunder.com/challengerseverest] and watch the show when it becomes available globally on August 7.tl;dr:Shree Gurung's World Vlog Challenge uses reality TV to highlight climate change and melting glaciers.YouTube creators compete for $100,000 while trekking to Everest Base Camp, documenting the journey.The show blends adventure and education to engage younger audiences on critical climate issues.Shree's determination enabled him to overcome funding and production challenges for this ambitious project.The show is now on Amazon Prime, with a global release set for August 7.How to Develop Determination As a SuperpowerShree Gurung describes his superpower as determination, the ability to persevere through challenges and setbacks. In today's episode, he explained, “There were so many moments I wanted to give up, but I didn't have a choice. I knew I was doing something good for the community, and that kept me going.” Shree's determination has fueled his ability to produce a groundbreaking reality show about climate change, overcoming obstacles like lack of funding and global skepticism about a Nepal-based production.Shree shared how his determination enabled him to produce the World Vlog Challenge. Despite rejections from sponsors and studios, he single-handedly managed production, marketing, and logistics for the show. “For around 45 days, I didn't sleep properly,” he recalled. Coming from a rural Nepalese village and lacking traditional resources, Shree drew on his experiences of hardship to push forward, creating a globally recognized project that showcases both Nepal's culture and the urgency of climate change.Tips for Developing Determination:Find Your Passion: Shree emphasized that clarity of purpose drives determination. Identify what inspires you.Break Down Challenges: Focus on one step at a time, especially when the big picture feels overwhelming.Seek Community Support: Surround yourself with people who validate your mission and provide encouragement.Embrace Responsibility: Commit fully to your goals, even when quitting feels easier.By following Shree's example and advice, you can make determination a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!Guest ProfileShree Gurung (he/him):Founder & CEO, worldvlogchallenge.comAbout worldvlogchallenge.com: An Impact media startup from the Himalayas, uniting creators from across the world to raise awareness about climate change: Their journey is a reality show.Website: worldvlogchallenge.comCompany Facebook Page: facebook.com/WorldVlogChallengeOther URL: shreegurung.comBiographical Information: I am a film graduate, communication PhD scholar with over 2 decades in media, events & hospitality.Personal Facebook Profile: facebook.com/theshreegurungLinkedin: linkedin.com/in/shreegurungInstagram Handle: instagram.com/theshreegurungSupport Our SponsorsOur generous sponsors make our work possible, serving impact investors, social entrepreneurs, community builders and diverse founders. Today's advertisers include FundingHope, DNA, DealMaker, Rancho Affordable Housing (Proactive). Learn more about advertising with us here.Max-Impact MembersThe following Max-Impact Members provide valuable financial support:Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Hiten Sonpal, RISE Robotics | Lory Moore, Lory Moore Law | Marcia Brinton, High Desert Gear |  Matthew Mead, Hempitecture |  Michael Pratt, Qnetic | Dr. Nicole Paulk, Siren Biotechnology | Paul Lovejoy, Stakeholder Enterprise | Pearl Wright, Global Changemaker | Ralf Mandt, Next Pitch | Scott Thorpe, Philanthropist | Sharon Samjitsingh, Health Care Originals | Add Your Name HereUpcoming SuperCrowd Event CalendarIf a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.Impact Cherub Club Meeting hosted by The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, on July 15, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Each month, the Club meets to review new offerings for investment consideration and to conduct due diligence on previously screened deals. To join the Impact Cherub Club, become an Impact Member of the SuperCrowd.SuperCrowdHour, July 16, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Devin Thorpe, CEO and Founder of The Super Crowd, Inc., will lead a session on "Balance Sheets & Beyond: The Impact Investor's Guide to Financials." If terms like “income statement” and “cash flow” make your eyes glaze over, this session is for you. Devin will break down the fundamentals of financial statements in clear, simple language—perfect for beginners who want to better understand the numbers behind the businesses they support. Whether you're a new investor, a founder navigating financials, or simply curious about how money moves through mission-driven companies, you'll leave this session more confident and informed. Don't miss it!SuperCrowd25, August 21st and 22nd: This two-day virtual event is an annual tradition but with big upgrades for 2025! We'll be streaming live across the web and on TV via e360tv. Apply for the Live Pitch here. VIPs get access to our better-than-in-person networking, including backstage passes, VIP networking and an exclusive VIP webinar! Get your VIP access for just $25. A select group of affordable sponsorship opportunities is still available. Learn more here.Community Event CalendarSuccessful Funding with Karl Dakin, Tuesdays at 10:00 AM ET - Click on Events.Devin Thorpe is featured in a free virtual masterclass series hosted by Irina Portnova titled Break Free, Elevate Your Money Mindset & Call In Overflow, focused on transforming your relationship with money through personal stories and practical insights. June 8-21, 2025.Join Dorian Dickinson, founder & CEO of FundingHope, for Startup.com's monthly crowdfunding workshop, where he'll dive into strategies for successfully raising capital through investment crowdfunding. June 24 at noon Eastern.Future Forward Summit: San Francisco, Wednesday, June 25 · 3:30 - 8:30 pm PDT.Regulated Investment Crowdfunding Summit 2025, Crowdfunding Professional Association, Washington DC, October 21-22, 2025.Impact Accelerator Summit is a live in-person event taking place in Austin, Texas, from October 23–25, 2025. This exclusive gathering brings together 100 heart-centered, conscious entrepreneurs generating $1M+ in revenue with 20–30 family offices and venture funds actively seeking to invest in world-changing businesses. Referred by Michael Dash, participants can expect an inspiring, high-impact experience focused on capital connection, growth, and global impact.Call for community action:Please show your support for a tax credit for investments made via Regulation Crowdfunding, benefiting both the investors and the small businesses that receive the investments. Learn more here.If you would like to submit an event for us to share with the 9,000+ changemakers, investors and entrepreneurs who are members of the SuperCrowd, click here.We use AI to help us write compelling recaps of each episode. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe

Memoir Nation has a touching episode this week with fashion designer Prabal Gurang, who shares about his relationship with his mother, who, in allowing him to pursue his joy, encouraged him also to pursue his dreams of fashion design. We discuss the power of reading a memoir aloud and the emotions that evokes, and about authenticity on the page when you set out just to write the best story you can write—not necessarily coming to your memoir as the best or most trained writer in the world, but rather as someone with a story that matters. Much inspiration here this week! Prabal Gurang is a famous fashion designer who is also a memoirist. His new book, Write Like a Girl, tells the story of his childhood in Singapore and Nepal, education in India, and career in the U.S. fashion industry, where he was subjected to racial discrimination. A reviewer for Kirkus called the memoir “an insightful and entertaining look into the life of a famous fashion designer.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shaun (@thebrownshaun) was nice enough to come on the pod and discuss his new movie "Ben and Suzanne: A Renunion in Four Parts" (SXSW), which is having its theatrical premier on 7/18 and 7/19 at The Roxy in NYC! We also discuss good-bad movies, action movies as inspo, the politics of "being brown" and mkaing films, and more! Def check out his movie, it's great!

Learn about the largest festival in human history that happens once every 144 years, and how to become a remote writer. _____________________________ Subscribe to The Maverick Show's Monday Minute Newsletter where I email you 3 short items of value to start each week that you can consume in 60 seconds (all personal recommendations like the latest travel gear I'm using, my favorite destinations, discounts for special events, etc.). Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram ____________________________________ In Part 2 of this episode, Lolly Spindler talks about her personal growth and healing journey in Mexico City.  She then describes her trip to India and Nepal, the incredible hospitality she experienced, and her experience attending the largest festival in human history, the Maha Kumbh Mela, which only happens once ever 144 years.  Lolly then talks about getting certified in trauma-informed yoga so she can teach it to prisoners.  Next, she takes us on her journey of how she developed her politics and her socially conscious travel lens.  Lolly then gives tip for becoming a freelance writer and explains how she optimizes her productivity and designs her lifestyle.  Finally, Lolly makes a number of free offers, including a special Pride Scholarship for people in the LGBTQIA+ community to take her writing course at no cost.  FULL SHOW NOTES WITH DIRECT LINKS TO EVERYTHING DISCUSSED ARE AVAILABLE HERE. ____________________________________ See my Top 10 Apps For Digital Nomads See my Top 10 Books For Digital Nomads See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that's not traditionally virtual) Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn  See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use) ____________________________________ ENJOYING THE SHOW? Please Leave a Rating and Review. It really helps the show and I read each one personally.  You Can Buy Me a Coffee. Espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes! :)