I feel like improv is a great way to grow as a musician, alongside other musicians. It's also a great conversational skill for interviews. The interview let-down is real though. I had my interviews on Saturday (group + individual + immersion networking) and am recovering in part by putting these together for you. So, thank goodness for music. Whenever your soul needs a little tender loving care, music will be there for you, and hopefully your loved ones too.

#1 of 9 excerpts is shared above, and all 9 are attached as mp3's below, Patron-only downloads. 

I may put a few or all of these out on the podcast tonight. We were way more critical of ourselves this time, and there was some self-deprecating energy around our creative blocks. But listening back for excerpts, I found myself liking quite a bit of what we did, and finding creative bursts here and there. 

Hope you enjoy these. Sending some of this TLC your way :) 

Aldís

p.s. Noah's also on YouTube documenting his improv and composition journey while also handling a Titanic-load of work, so props to you Noah. Hang in there, any of you who are also juggling two passions. And thanks Noah, once again, for a wonderful musical collaboration.

p.p.s. for general vibes of each (unless you want each to be a surprise, in which case don't read on)... or feel free to comment with your personal impressions and would-be titles! :D

• 1. tuning riff, new age, discovery
• 2. finding yourself, uncertainty... this is my least favorite one, but 3:51-4:13 (sad beauty <3) ... anyway we definitely found each other: our last three notes were exactly the same.
• 3. anew, angry, angsty... rebirth around halfway mark
• 4. determined chord riff, triumphant especially around 2:30 minutes, hopeful striving
• 5. coming to terms with something
• 6. homecoming and transcendence 
• 7. some anime soundtrack?? cherry blossoms, wistful... then forging ahead!
• 8. broad, sweeping, and nostalgic, graduation vibes
• 9. reminiscence cont. (a continuation of 8) - liked the ending, so put it last :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I really appreciated the way Jack was so open with specific visions and goals within his band, Pomplamoose, and gave real anecdotes about the creative process. It was an awesome, uplifting workshop, and the chat was the liveliest I've ever witnessed. Thanks to the Patreon team for this.

Searching "how to set and hit your creative goals" gets tons of potentially helpful results in Google. These are just 7 steps that Patreon co-founder and Pomplamoose musician, Jack Conte laid out in the workshop, along with questions you can ask yourself if you're building an annual plan of any sort, particularly the creative sort.

Why build a plan?

• It’ll help you focus, figure out what you want, and live your dream

What should the plan consist of?

• Vision statement
• Key results
• Focus areas

Step #1: Get introspective for a moment

• What do you want?
• Why?
• What are your top strengths?
• What attracts people to your work?
• What are their comments like?
• What do you want to be doing 5 years from now?
  • Put on rosy spectacles and dream away
  • This exercise should make you feel good not stressed thinking about it

Step #2: Look back to move forward

• Some people call this a retrospective or a “happy crappy”
  • What worked?
  • What didn’t work?
  • What improvements will you make?
• Turn “what didn’t work” into concrete problem statements
  • I need/I want an agent/manager/assistant… is not a problem statement
  • I had trouble with marketing channels… is a problem statement
  • I spent too much time on social media… is a problem statement

Step #3: Visualize your perfect year and write about it in past tense

• What did you accomplish?
• How did it feel?
• Who did you collaborate with?
• How many people did you reach?
• How much money did you make?
• How much were you able to pay out to your team?
• Where were you?
• What did you prioritize or de-prioritize?
• What platforms did you use or not use?

Step #4: Organize your responses by category

• Within your problem statements and your vision statement, what categories keep recurring?
  • Production quality, content release, relationships, growth, income, team
  • Three of my buckets were collaboration, strategy, and education.
  • I also organized by type of art/work so that I could narrow down key focus areas like violin, writing, and grad school.

Step #5: Write a vision statement

• Take 90 minutes to 2 hours to go deep and write in the future tense (“I will…”)
• By the end of this, your brain should be “hyper freakin’ engaged!” – Jack Conte
• Make each point specific, ambitious, and achievable
• Make it clear as a photo (or collage)
  • One of my friends actually made a vision board, collecting physical cut-outs from magazines and printouts: all outdoorsy, adventurous, and eco.

• Credits to: Meaghan.t
• It’s pretty much what her Instagram looks like too, so vision boards work!

Step #6: Define your key results

• Make them binary: you achieved it or you didn’t
• Quantitative or qualitative (you feel great about your work at least 80% of the time)
• Looking at the list should make you feel excited to achieve each result

Step #7: Choose your areas of focus

• 2-3 areas that will direct your day to day goals and work
• Their scope should be broad enough so you can work on these areas for a year (or however long you’re planning for)

Miscellaneous tips from Q&A

If something gets in the way or goals change, adjust your plan and keep going

To stay positive: Keep your eye on the horizon. Remember the troughs are local, and keep climbing that mountain. Also it’s ok to feel down; acknowledge whatever the emotion may be rather than repressing it.

Share some of your vision with family, friends or fans to help it become a reality (they can keep you accountable, or fuel your excitement, or point you toward helpful resources and connections).

Know your why:

• Jack’s why for co-founding Patreon is to help creators get paid, so creativity can be a viable, sustainable livelihood.
• My reason for creating, doing climate work, supporting other artists, and pursuing graduate studies is to have a climate-positive and humanitarian influence.
• What's your why? Comment and inspire :)

Speaking of supporting other artists!

I met a ton of fellow creators during this workshop, and decided to support two more of them here on Patreon: composer Chris Huelsbeck and Dutch-American photographer of NYC Richard Koek, along with everything-artist Amanda Palmer, whom I've been supporting since September and been a fan of since I discovered her book The Art of Asking in 2019.

Keep on creating; keep on dreaming. Thank you for your support.

Have a wonderful day!

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Acast 
• Spotify 

Music in this episode:

• (0:00) "Improv in NYC - 1" by Noah Fechtor-Pradines
• (15:30) "My Song 37 Longer" by Noah Fechtor-Pradines

Noah Fechtor-Pradines is a quantitative researcher living in New York City who composes music and plays the piano in his free time. Most recently he has also picked up the violin and started taking socially-distanced lessons! We talk about his creative process, music theory as the "grammar" of music, and improvisation as the "immersion" of becoming fluent in the universal language that is music.

An improvisation 'jam' session in Eliot House, 2019.

Podcast zoom call, 2020.

Abbreviated transcript follows:

• I was 11 years old I think.

(0:30) That’s when Noah first started playing the piano.

• Sometimes I hated lessons and practicing but I loved the piano.
• I think it was something my parents suggested as something I should consider, and I was like sure! But then I loved it and continued.

(0:50) His first exposure to improvisation was at the end of high school, at school assemblies, when people would come in and out of the auditorium for the national anthems.

• I went to a British school so we'd sing the British and United States national anthems.
• And afterwards, I’d stick around, just playing things easy on the ears, not like elevator music but pleasant things.

(1:30) When he’s alone with the piano it’s a very intimate process of creativity.

• I just turn off all the lights, and play by feel. It’s very much a mood thing.

(2:30) I asked if he was then comfortable making such improvisations public on YouTube.

• I get full control over what I put up there, and I’m comfortable playing in public.
• And I’m getting more comfortable with making mistakes in a recording and still posting it.

(2:55) I was also curious whether putting his improvisations up on YouTube changed what he played in any way.

• Well there’s meter and dissonance … joke about band tripping over missed beat.
• But even the set up is a barrier.
• [You need a real piano, I say, and laughter].
• I do need a real piano. I really do.
• Actually one of the things I miss is trying out pianos at the Steinway Store.
• I think they’re willing to bet that in 20 years, there’s a high chance I’ll have such positive associations with them that I’ll buy a Steinway over another brand.

(6:00) We talked about some of the other things he misses during COVID lockdown, like live concerts and jam sessions with fellow musicians.

• It’s been like over a year.
• [Netherlands street musicians]
• So jealous… I live for that stuff!
• I was at a salsa dance gathering in Boston and there was one of those  "Play Me I'm Yours" pianos. I started playing and some guy joined me - it was great!
• There’s a spot in Union Square where people often play music, and I'll be going to work or coming back from work, and there'll be a saxophone screaming down the subway. Those are the moments that make life exciting. I miss it so much.

(8:10) Being around people in person, and hearing live music (or YouTube productions of novel scores) function at the core of his improvisational inspiration.

• Sometimes It’s hard to be creative when there’s nothing to draw inspiration from.
• When I hear something I don’t understand, the process of understanding it is one of the most creative moments for me.
• A big part of my process is just figuring out what I liked about what I heard, and playing it in as many different possible ways as I can think of, and that happens over the course of maybe 5 hours.

(9:04) Those are the kernels of inspiration. And I love that he calls them kernels because it's such a mathematical expression.

• It's 100% a mood thing, you just have to be in the mood in the moment.
• [I remember you were very inspired after a movie and composed "my song longer 37"]
• I have a whole bunch of unfinished thoughts that I just abandoned… don’t really know where they are now… [oh no!]

(10:40) You know Neil Gaiman, the writer? There’s his idea of compost pile that all of our previous writings or experiences go into this compost pile of our imagination and then out come the flowers of the next composition, the next thing.

• So poetic! Yeah, it sort of needs to sit there for a while, before the flowers bloom.
• [and sometimes methane comes out]
• Right, we don’t record those… [laughter]
• [Or we do and delete them... so they never see the light of day]

(12:09) What have you been doing musically creatively? he asked me.

• [Actually I've started improvising on violin. I was inspired by you, and the way you can create sweeping phrases and beautiful sounding chords… but I don’t know much music theory.]
• I actually have an opinion about music theory…
• First of all, everyone’s biased toward the way they learned things, but I think I knew a lot more music theory from just improvising.
• So taking music theory class was just learning what those things were called.

(13:54) It’s like grammar for language… music theory for music.

• Yeah, like who do I consider more fluent: someone who knows all the grammatical rules for Spanish or someone who lived in Spain for three years and speaks it fluently?

(14:08) So improvisation is the immersion of the musical world of communication and creation.

• I think one of the things that’s bolstered my violin the fastest is I have this practice regimen... but then I explore what’s possible, and what the patterns are.

(15:50) And he’s almost done with book 1 of Suzuki after 2 months. Suzuki is popular among teachers of beginner violinists.

• My teacher makes my progress sound impressive but then he’s comparing me with 7 year olds [laughter]
• [Once you learn one instrument, easier to learn the next]

(16:17) But he’s got a unique goal that sets him apart from students, possibly of any age.

• I just want to be familiar enough that I can understand it and play creatively and write stuff that involves it.
• [Cool because composers need to know how to play the other instruments they write for…]
• It’s so different! The attack is different.
• When I see a whole note over two measures, piano brain sees that and thinks nothing’s happening.
• [So it’s going to change what you write for violin]
• Yeah, yeah it’s going to change.
• But I’m already having a ball just squeaking out notes.

(18:06) There is a violin store that’s open, and Noah’s been trying out violins.

• The guy Lukas Wronski was like, here you try this one, I'll be back in an hour.
• This violin better, try. There were 8 violins to try. You play, you play, you play.

(18:59) He ended up finding out the violin-maker’s story at the violin shop while he was trying out violins… so we’ll close with this anecdote.

• When he was 14 he went to get his violin fixed, and the maker ended up teaching him how to fix it himself. Eventually he started making his own violins!
• There’s so much craft that goes into these things... damn.

(19:40) Thank you Noah for joining me for this final highlight of the year! 

Keep on creating, y'all.

Aldís

P.S. You can check out more of Noah's music here on YouTube.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 20-minute episode I reconnect with one of my violin teachers, Emma Colligan. You can find the episode on Spotify and Acast or listen here on Patreon! 

With Emma, 2009

Emma Colligan now teaches 50 young violin students at her School of Violin in New Zealand. 

She also performs with Orchestra Wellington and does freelance gigs. 

(0:11) In 2006, Emma was studying her Violin Performance Masters at the Longy School of Music and ended up structuring all her courses around her favorite teacher and mine: Mr. Mark Lakirovich. 

• "I was like, this is great! I get to structure my whole program around my favorite teacher!"

(1:22) While learning pedagogy with Mark, Emma also taught me and other students. I asked  if anything from Mark's lessons carried over in her current teaching. 

• "Totally! Basically everything!"

(2:13) Before delving into her teaching experience in New Zealand (and online teaching during lockdown, and lockdown itself), we reminisced about Longy and lessons with Mark. 

• "You couldn't really repeat that time of my life. I was in the right place at the right time to get that experience; just kind of lucky." - Emma
• "I just remember spending hours in that teaching room, and he was always an hour behind - and it didn't bother me at all! – and you kind of just knew that if you were last you were not gonna start on time, but you had to show up on time just in case." - Emma 
• "Time just disappeared! You'd get to listen in to the previous lesson, and that was such good teaching too." - AE
• "Or the next lesson! I just found it fascinating, watching. Especially when he was working with younger students. I'd never seen him working with such talented kids where it makes a massive, massive difference how you deliver and what you give." - Emma

The Generations Concert. Mark and Emma are pictured first on the left. Original PC: N.L.'s dad.

(4:16) Emma would always have a notebook with her at lessons. She still has those books, and read back on some entries.

• "First of March, 2006. Wohlfahrt Etude. Aldís. There are two kinds of bow directions. Down bow and up bow. Have you invented a third kind? Sideways?" –Emma quoting Mark
• "You've knocked on the wrong door. D-flat is D's neighbor." – Emma quoting Mark

(5:40) The long-lasting value of Mark's practice techniques. 

• "Rhythm practice, double stop practice...staccato, martelé..." -AE
• "Yeah, that whole system– I teach that now to my students too." - Emma

(6:13) Emma's students love her.

• "I just try to get them to love violin, but I actually think most of them – barring maybe 5 to 10 cause I've got about 50 kids – I think most of them just come to hang out with me, and talk to me about stuff that's going on at school. They just think that it's fun. But at the same time that's good too. Obviously we're still doing violin stuff. If you enjoy that part of your day it will translate into you liking the violin." - Emma

(7:40) It's not all jolly fun, of course. Teaching 50 students can take a lot out of you. 

• "You get pretty tired quite quickly; it's a lot of energy. And you always have to be thinking ahead and if you're not really feeling it you have to act like you are."
• "But the kids usually make me feel better and they'll say something really funny. Sometimes I have to write them down without letting them see that I'm writing them down. Cause I know that I'll find it funny later."
• "Now I'm on my long break. No teaching until first of February. And I find that I really need that time. Kind of like your June-July." 

(9:47) This year isn't the year for a summer academy. But speaking of music academies, this year, and keeping in touch with old teachers...

• "Remember how he'd always say when his phone rang? 'Oh! Must be Bach!'" - AE [laughter] Mr. Mark would pretend his phone calls were from composers whose music we were playing during the lesson.
• "His phone was always ringing!"- Emma 
• "And then he'd answer in Russian and be like, 'Da, da. Horosho. Baka.' [more laughter] That's all the Russian I knew." - Emma

(10:27) I asked her if she'd talked to Mr. Mark recently.

• "Yeah, actually, he asked me if I wanted to teach at Cremona this year." Cremona, Italy is where Mark and others have organized an International Music Academy for several years.

My first recital at the music academy in Regensburg, Germany, 2009. PC: Emma.

Cremona, Italy, 2013.

• "But then he sent me a funny email – you know how he is, and it was like: I don't think we'll be going to Cremona because of Corona, and I thought it was a joke but then I saw the news." 

Using the radiator as a music stand.

(11:46) So things got real. But it didn't seem like it in the beginning.

• "I remember thinking nah it's gonna be fine. Nothing ever happens in New Zealand."

(12:57) How New Zealand handled the COVID crisis – perks of being a kiwi? You get to live in an essentially COVID-free country!

• "Everyone did what we were supposed to do. People really care about each other and our country. And if you weren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, people would look at you like you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing."

(13:30) After this conversation I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

• "Our Prime Minister and government officials in NZ made it easy to follow rules at each level of lockdown. ... I kind of wish I was best friends with her. The other week I played a gig for the opening of Parliament, so I snuck a photo in." 
• "During lockdown level 4, which lasted 8 weeks, that's when I did all my online teaching. In the end sometimes I had a kid who was like kind of in the corner – and I just had to be like, ok, just keep going – and I'd only see the top of their head or their scroll." [laughter]

(15:20) Where do Emma's students get their violins? 

• There's this generic-type Paganini brand! It's decent. (Paganini: a virtuoso violinist and composer with huge hands who could play tenths like nobody's business and who was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil so he could achieve such mastery in his performances).

A luthier in Cremona, showing how he painted varnish on the back of a violin.

Recreating the scene in scratch art, 2014.

(16:04) Story of the mysterious full-size violin and its surprise restoration value :)

• "So the mother who'd initially found this violin for $20 got it to put over her fireplace as a decoration. She might've even used it for firewood later, it being only $20. But she gave it to one of my students to see if she could play it. It looked like it had character. When they took it to get restored, turns out it was worth 4000 dollars! But the funny thing was it didn't come with a case, so when she brought it to lesson, its scroll was sticking out of one of those reusable shopping bags, just holding it like this." [laughter]

(18:42) Final anecdote and life-lesson quote coming full circle to the story of her first lesson with Mark Lakirovich: 

• "He asked me to do double stop scales the first lesson and I was like oh God... is he gonna be one of those teachers who's like, double stop scales! do this! do this! – but then I think he realized that I was gonna work hard and we were gonna get along. If you work hard but don't take things too seriously, it's fine, you know?" - Emma

Adorable video here where her students give her rave reviews. https://www.nzmusicteachers.co.nz/emma-colligan/ 

A big thank you to Emma Colligan for joining me in this amazing and humorous conversation. She's paving the way for these up and coming Kiwi rockstar violinists! And a big thank you to our beloved teacher Mark Lakirovich for teaching us all, his students.

If you feel so inspired, reach out to someone who's made a big difference in your life, and thank them. Do it before it's too late. Not to be morbid, but who doesn't love to be appreciated and be able to savor it while they're alive and well?

Thanks for tuning in or scrolling through. Stay well and take care :)

Have a wonderful day,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cameron Akker, a 2019 Electrical Engineering graduate from Harvard University, now works on global supply management for micro-mobility at Lyft. Occasionally, he also writes amazing articles on Medium. One is the basis for this episode! Check out his article, "Overcoming the Harvard Psyche" here: https://medium.com/@camakk/overcoming-the-harvard-psyche-b812f224e1ab.

• (0:30) Introducing Cameron!
• (1:04) What is the Harvard Psyche and how did you come up with the idea? (1:24)
• (20:08) How to overcome/deal with the Harvard psyche?
• (4:30) You defied the call to “specialize in one thing” with your experience taking 13+ courses by cross registering at MIT.
• (10:10) Let's talk about bandwidth – how did you manage?
• (14:03) Moving into career experiences, how’s it going with micro-mobility at Lyft?
• (16:24) Based on your experience, what is your advice for early graduates pursuing tech and project management?
• (25:22) What is the narrative behind your career arc? Universal access to education (25:40)
• (30:12) Ties back to how you structured your own education. Big proponent of self-education.
• (32:05) How to provide free access when everyone's so focused on making money? How to get around the homo economicus?

(33:10) "That's the result of wanting to get your worth for what you put into it. My motives for doing this kind of thing is that I've been helped immensely by the free resources in everything I've tried to learn. It's much like the open source software community. If you're trying to implement something for your own project, you tap into the community knowledge database and can pull something from it, with the expectation that you'll give back at some point in the future." – Cameron Akker

• (34:03) Check out Superminds by MIT Professor Thomas Malone

(34:17) "The future isn't going to be decided by a bunch of individuals. ... The shared intellect of a large variety of people might be the largest resource yet when it comes to progressing humanity. Think of Wikipedia. Very small ownership team, basically maintained by the same internet that uses it. So in the model of wikipedia, how can we have more of these types of platforms? ...enriching the society that engages with this material. I think that investing in education that is freely available is not pouring money into the void; it is pouring it into a society that then reflects that back, much in the way that something like wikipedia reflects that value back onto itself." – Cameron Akker

• (35:45) Super elucidating! Thank you!

You rock, Cameron. Keep walking the talk!

To you, dear Patron and listener – thank you for reading or listening, and have a fantastic day.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey,

I hope you all had a refreshing weekend.

Exciting development over here – working on a super-quality trailer / wrap-up for the show! 

Collecting all the voices we've heard on the podcast, sifting through the layers of depth and meaning each conversation added to the idea of "Walking the Talk."

I'm pouring a lot of heart into this one, and I just couldn't wait share it with you. 

Anyway it's almost mid-way through December. 

Close enough.

This is a preview and work in progress. It's almost there.

There's at least one more highlight to bring us to the close of the year (a beloved former violin teacher of mine who now teaches 50 students in New Zealand. Her name's Emma).

I might rearrange voices and quotes accordingly.

The title? Walk your talk.

Transcript

I started this podcast to share stories and sources of inspiration along that well-worn cliché of accountability and integrity in what you stand for and how you approach your life’s work and relationships.

Thanks to people who were willing to share their thoughts and personal stories, this show has grown into so much more. Today I want to give a big shout out to 24 highlights who’ve offered layers of depth and meaning about what it means to Walk the Talk.

***

It’s the way you go about asking life’s biggest questions – from everything that’s here on earth, to everything that’s out in space.

• Bob: having seen the effects of climate change first hand…
• Kamran: found myself reading about Woodrow Wilson, Aldís…
• Catherine: I’m focusing on ancient climate change...
• Shubham: I'm working the atmosphere of Venus. It's like a living hell for humans.

It’s about how you approach your day to day, with grit and dedication.

• Aryn: one time I walked 60 blocks because the compost wasn’t where it usually was
• Daniel: get some sweat in, shower, and I’m ready to start my day… 6AM except Sundays

It’s about how you take care of yourself and others in times of need.

• William: When you do the white coat ceremony, you remember you’re really here to take care of people and patients.
• Adam: Everyone in my family is under my care of the longevity diet and I’m happy to report they’re doing quite well.

How you find ways to be whole in a system that seeks to channel you in one way or another

• Assaad: I went back into ballroom dancing; there’s more to life than – at that point – law school

And it’s about setting an example, whether or not others choose to follow it – by inspiring others to choose their own course of action on the causes they care about.

• Audrey: I have this whole stack of old t-shirts and a forever shortage of underwear, and I recently had the brilliant idea to just turn those darn t-shirts into underwear!
• Erik: I don’t want to compromise in the way I live my life, and so going electric feels like small way to say I’m committing to a better future.
• Sydney: Once you’ve committed for enough time, I’ve noticed that I don’t view animal products as food anymore.
• Shannon: That's a good example for my biology students because we talk about conservation and I’m running and biking and so simultaneously reducing my carbon footprint. [yay!]
• Gabrielle: It’s difficult to walk the talk if you don’t have people who’re going to check you. You need those friends who're going to say 'you said you weren't going to eat chicken today, why are you eating chicken?'

It’s about stepping into your role as an authentic creator of whatever it is you do in your life. Asking how you can best apply yourself to problems that really matter, and what it is you truly want to pursue – not because someone says you should but because you want to.

• Aryn: What is a better way to plug in so that poverty isn’t criminalized? [ADD]
• Gabby: I have a poem to write and that’s ok [ADD]
• Stan: aerobus zero gravity experiments
• Sushen: going deep into a subject of interest ← insatiable curiosity [ADD/REPLACE]
• Peter: to address accessibility problems with AI
• Neil: because I started to realize that business is a good way to bring about changes that can be hard to make in the public or non-profit sector. [SHORTEN]
• Aldís: It's really a lifelong goal to be part of this climate movement and move the dial forward on solutions for the planet and its people
• Kamran: I always want to be a first an ideas person before I’m a technical or legal professional if you will
• Brabeeba: So actually I didn't have a specific concentration; I switched every year. [gasp!]
• Aryn: take everything that everyone says, and put it on paper - would this be fundamentally cool for me? [ADD]

It’s about defining your identity (Peter, Kamran) and building relationships that enhance your life and tapping into your immense capacity to love many people in no particular order.

• Peter: I fall somewhere in the mushy middle of the spectrum [ADD]
• Sydney: Why not explore? [ADD]
• Peter: I have a lot of love for my metamour (~)

Upending existing power structures in politics, law, the workforce; alleviating the visceral burden on people of color in a system that favors white.

• Kamran: All of these movements at their core are really about injustice and unjust power
• Gabrielle: When I do embody that power that I have as a Black femme, they don’t know what to do with it!

It’s about having the tenacity to see your visions come to life through music, multimedia art, movement, everyday objects, physical canvas, digital media, and your writing.

• Emma: [ADD]
• Assaad: Just plugging along with my writer’s group; at the time of recording, I'm writing Chapter 7.
• Gustav: Essentially my life has been mostly about art.
• Nathan: We built this little device that can do digital contact tracing (for COVID)
• Cameron: We’re drawing from a ton of collective knowledge, enriching the hive mind, the collective...

It’s about how your life may be an expression of your most radical and daring ideas when you have the courage to speak your mind and walk your talk.

• Sinwah: anytime I can earn money, but to chase my dream is something I can only do when I’m within (my) 20s.

This podcast is a place where we openly explore these questions and your unique answers. What’s your talk, and how do you walk it?

***

I'll release the final version on Dec 31. 

Perfect for year's end :)

In the meantime, I'll write you the 17th with the next highlight.

Have a great week.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. William Lo is a resident physician in radiation oncology in St. Louis, and MD-PhD graduate from Harvard Medical School. We talk about his journey into medicine (including recent experience on the COVID front line), engage in a rapid-fire round of personal questions, and top it off with career and relationship advice.

• (0:00) The lake where he took our call for this podcast (PC: William)

• (0:33) Introduction
• (1:08) How the residency program works and fits into the overall training program for doctors and physician-scientists
• (2:30) Recent experience with pediatric cancer cases, thinking about how to optimize radiation dosage to reduce recurrence rate and minimize potential long-term complications.
• (4:21) Connecting three dots getting to where he is today – from the Canadian Red Cross to summer classes (6:35) and a research program with the Princess Margaret Cancer Center (7:00) alongside an undergraduate computer engineering degree to personal experience with cancer care in the last year of medical school (7:44).
• (9:03) Being on COVID front line- what was that like?

"All of a sudden, hospitals were filled with COVID patients. Overnight, some of the wards were turned into intensive care units [with beds for the patients], and nurses were told they're now ICU nurses and had to get trained really quickly." (9:40)

"As a physician you remember your oath – you really are dedicating your life to the welfare of these patients. So this was really the time to walk the talk. We volunteered our time to cover for each other and take care of the patients." (10:48)

"Imagine wearing an N-95 mask for 30 hour shifts." That's what it was like. (11:50) 

"The toughest part was figuring out how to let family members come in and say goodbye, when there was nothing else that could be done in the ICU." Coming up with ways for family members to visit in person with enough personal protective equipment (PPE) or virtually with iPads, thinking about tough end of life conversations and moments. (13:34)

• (16:15) Deciding whether to do rapid fire questions to lift the mood or dive into advice right away... went with rapid fire questions!
• (16:49) One thing everybody should know about maintaining their health – eat well, exercise, maintain mind body and spirit.
• (17:14) Most outlandish other career path you would pursue... pilot and astronaut!
• (18:12) Favorite thing to do in free time – drive around, take road trips, explore new places, (like the lake where he took my call).
• (18:50) One of your ultimate life questions, or something you've been thinking about recently.

"Being exposed to cancer care reveals how unpredictable life can be, so how can you really do everything that you love to do within the time you have, and do the best you can so that you don't regret it? How do you seize every opportunity to expand your horizons and do things you didn't think were possible?" 

• (20:02) Something somebody has said that made you feel awesome ... gratitude from cancer patients, especially with respect to how the care was provided. 

"It's the way you go about it, the way you explain things to people. People don't really remember how smart you are, until you show them how much you care about them as an individual, whether or not you are able to cure their disease." 

• (21:27) Three core values you strive to live by... #1 Integrity (true to your word and yourself), #2 Happiness (enjoy what you do), #3 Optimism (that things will be better)
• (22:34) Top advice for people who want to go into medicine 

(22:53) "Have the perseverance and dedication" to see it through. It's a long career path, but also really rewarding. We work very very long hours, especially during our training. There's a lot to learn and sometimes very little time to learn all of it. But this is a good time to go into medicine because things are transforming with telemedicine and using tech to overcome challenges associated with the pandemic."

• (25:07) Advice for relationships e.g. patients, family, or personal life. 

(25:28) "You can build the best relationships with people if you're really genuine about each interaction." (26:04) "You can build relationships with a lot of people, but you can also build very deep relationships with fewer people, but really meaningful ones. There's obviously a balance there." 

So, value your long-term deeper relationships, and remember the people who've helped you along the way. We're all standing on the shoulders of giants, as the saying goes.

William's one of those people who's helped me along my journey as my freshman advisor in college. Thanks William, you rock! Keep walking the talk :)

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for tuning in!

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen in for a wide-ranging conversation with Stan Broere, who is living in the Netherlands and studying Applied Physics Masters at Delft University.

Time stamps and notes:

Part 1.

• (0:15) Intro
• (1:09) A prospective zero-gravity experience for Master's thesis!

Journey into Astrophysics

• (1:36) How you became interested in astrophysics
• (2:14) Lots of books, self-study, documentaries and watching Cosmos by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
• (2:31) Advice – "just find a book in a library, and just start reading it"
• (2:47) Astrophysics in a Hurry, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson – good beginning
• (3:10) "Instead of watching Netflix, you can find a lot of good educational videos on YouTube"
• (3:30) "People tell you what's important, instead of you finding out. But reading the book is also good, to see the complete version."
• (3:48) What's something recent you read that blew your mind?
• (3:57) Rocket science and propulsion!

Machine Learning with Digital Art (Van Gogh style!)

• (4:58) On the side you do digital art – how's that going?
• (5:09) Machine learning to convert your pictures into Van Gogh style portraits!

Artwork courtesy of Stan Broere below:

Experience in Sydney, Australia  – Cultural Observations

• (6:32) Experience abroad in Sydney Australia – full of stories and culture
• (6:50) Differences – more laid back, relaxed instead of 9 to 5
• (7:03) Was it a factor of your role there?
• (7:14) Also in general, people are a little more relaxed
• (7:26) In NL people are on time, but (7:43) it depends on the person
• (7:52) In the NL we're also more direct – right, more frank with what you mean
• (8:29) How was the directness in Sydney?
• (8:38) "Sometimes my directness was a problem, like when I went out to a bar and got overcharged, and then went back the next day to say something. Apparently I was a bit too direct, and he was put off guard, so I didn't quite see that coming."

Vlogging in Sydney

• (9:26) Started vlogging while there – why?
• (9:35) Other friends had done a lot of filming – finally gotten around to editing, and hopefully release in December first episode (travel to Sydney and leading events)
• (10:25) Did you see anyone like, what's he doing? (Not yet, but probably!)

Internship – Cube Satellites!

• (10:42) Purpose in Sydney
• (10:47) Went there to do another internship at University of Sydney to research possible propulsion fuel for cube satellites "cube sats"  (11:44) used as secondary payloads on a rocket
• (11:57) "The fetish for the tiny satellites is that you only need to spend 10,000 euros for the cost of going upstairs, so it's easier for universities to do some experiments."
• (12:28) What happens to the satellites after they break down out there?
• (12:58) They come back down into the atmosphere and burn on the way in. Metal wire and electric current induced in it by the Earth's magnetic field results in a net force downward.
• (13:55) You want more space up there. Some satellites from 70s are still orbiting – and they're not providing data anymore or operating – so you want them cleared out. Some people are developing mechanisms to pull them down.
• (14:56) GHGSat cool initiative to put out a train of satellites to take high resolution measurements of methane emissions on the ground
• (15:15) You can let a lot of cube satellites orbit around the earth, and take a lot of pictures to track more places at once instead of the big satellites.
• (15:55) Big satellites cost many millions, but tiny satellites cost tens of thousands.
• (16:14) Can track Amazon, or forest fires in CA and Australia.
• (16:26) Juliette Anema's work at SRON: time scale of fires in Australia – got published on various platforms
• (16:58) "It's really nice to see when people are so passionate about something that they just do it... even when it's not required."  –AE

Part 2.

Cultural reflections on the Netherlands

• (17:15) "How did you experience the Netherlands?" – Stan
• (17:34) Main takeaway was how you can make a city so beautiful by investing in the care of your streets and having bike paths, canals, and vegetation (of course, environmentally dependent)
• (18:04) Biking around everywhere, without any worry of the cars – so well structured! clear lanes, clear lights. Can be unsafe otherwise
• (18:44) Simon van Diepen (another officemate) was saying how important it is in Dutch drivers' tests to be aware of bikers
• (19:03) Whole roads painted red that are specifically for biking ... because climate change, but also because a lot of people love to bike from one place to another.
• (19:27) HUGE bike garages – we're basically on a rant at this point, it's great!
• (20:12) Biking to grocery stores... backpack, or basket, or wheelbarrow

COVID

• (20:41) How is it now with COVID? Masks? "It changes every minute...  but we're currently climbing up in numbers but slowly decreasing, amidst the 2nd wave. Governance is currently promoting wearing masks. Whereas previously they were a bit more skeptical."
• (21:53) Disinfecting shopping carts, etc.
• (22:04) Similar in U.S. with groceries – people are more cautious now
• (22:20) Netherlands initial response was not quite Sweden. Sweden decided to let it run through, but in NL we still had the six feet society. Six feet distancing. "Social distancing." "Ander halder mader sama leving." [idk how to spell it but that's what it sounded like!] Six feet apart society. (22:51)
• (23:00) Some traveling bans even between neighboring countries, museums and restaurants closed, amusement parks...

Part 3.

Working with Dyslexia and ADHD

• (23:51) Working with having dyslexia and ADHD – it's mostly just about practicing
• (24:30) Easier to consume more audiovisual cues rather than reading
• (24:50) Reading more and more over, now with over 20 years of experience
• (25:08) I always though that dyslexia was about words getting mixed up while reading
• (25:21) "Sometimes I think it says something instead of something else, so I think I understand, but 'Oh, it didn't say that, ok...' so I'm assuming and jumping to conclusions."
• (25:52) ADHD concentrating and focusing – you excel in what you do, so how do you do it?
• (26:07) "That's also a learning experience – currently with everything going on in the pandemic, it's been difficult. No one's supervising. So I just try to disconnect from the Internet, lay back, and just read it, and say I'll just do some gaming after I've done this and this, and if I don't then I don't game."
• (27:33) "Enjoy what you do, don't force yourself, so you don't have a mental breakdown."

(27:53) Closing Notes

• (27:59) "Love your family, enjoy the new year, and hopefully we have a White Christmas,* stay inside with warm choco and listen to your podcast!" – Stan

^^ That! :)

Thanks for tuning in or reading!

Have a wonderful day,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Nathan Manohar shares theoretical concepts and practical projects from his computer science journey in cybersecurity and cryptography: from applications in secure genome analysis and software obfuscation to digital contact tracing for COVID. Nathan is a PhD candidate in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

• (0:10) In what ways do we encounter cybersecurity in our lives without really realizing it?
• (1:25) Key exchange
• (3:00) What questions guide your research?
• (4:20) Secure genome analysis
• (5:13) Functional encryption
• (6:03) Applications in software obfuscation
• (6:45) Super-schemes for security
• (7:32) Beyond or within your studies, what are you most passionate about?
• (7:56) Journey into cryptography, starting with Sherlock Holmes
• (9:33) World War II applications, the German Enigma machine, and U.S. Navaho code-talkers
• (10:04) Imitation Game
• (11:33) From theoretical to practical projects – digital contact tracing for COVID
• (12:42) Production
• (13:41) Signal strength for communication security
• (14:33) TLS as distinct from Bluetooth
• (15:16) Started in June
• (16:20) Collaborating with the health community to develop a secure digital contract tracing method for COVID
• (21:15) How many people need to have this device for this to be effective?

"People have a hard time admitting that they're not experts in everything; you need the health people to admit that they don't know about computer security, but you need the computer security people to admit that they don't know about how contract tracing is done by the health community." – N. Manohar

Hope you enjoy this one!

Have a great day,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney Grange is an assistant garden manager at Ecology Action where she is helping to manage a program to grow food according to dietary needs, from root vegetables to leafy greens with the vital addition of dual carbon-calorie grains like quinoa. You'll hear about how the team maintains the 7,000 square-foot garden ecosystem and grows a "whole diet" array of crops, along with some tips for home gardeners in the first quarter of the episode, and then we dive into Sydney's journey into veganism, environmental justice, and sustainable food production, starting with college at Warren Wilson in Asheville, North Carolina. Join in for the wild and super insightful ride!

• (0:36) Intro
• (1:07) Current work as assistant garden manager at Victory Gardens for Peace through "biointensive gardening, which works to grow complete diets in the smallest amount of space possible while conserving resources and building soil."
• (2:15) Crops: "Carbon and calorie crops (rye, wheat, barley, oats, sunflowers, quinoa) things that sequester a lot of carbon and produce a lot of biomass which help us reach our compost needs and they're super nutrient -rich in the seeds they produce so they end up being important for the diet. Root vegetables are great for reducing the amount of space you need to grow your own food (potatoes, leeks, garlic, parsnips). Then there's leafy greens like kale, chard, and other crops like beets, onions, and carrots which are super important for vitamins, minerals, and flavor."
• (4:30) 7,000 square feet = 0.16 acres (almost a quarter of an acre) "The less space we need to grow our food, the better. We try to emulate an ecosystem by bringing in pollinators, and things of that nature."
• (5:41) Advice for aspiring gardeners who want to grow their own diet at home. "Just really enjoy the process and the rhythms of nature, being in tune with the seasons and cycles of life and death. And if you feel so inspired, try to grow some of your own compost and your own calorie slash carbon crops. It's pretty easy to process grain and seeds on a small scale (threshing and winnowing the chaff) so you can utilize it for human consumption, and if you get to that point you might as well save some of your own seed."
• (7:34) Journey
• (8:00) "Wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't chosen what I'd chosen"
• (8:10) Started with college at Warren Wilson – "I wanted to walk the talk on values of sustainability and also to have an alternative education experience"
• (9:10) Environmental and social justice crew at Warren Wilson. "Middle-upper class people with a certain amount of financial mobility are raised in society to act like consumers, which also informs how we see solutions to changes. So then coming to this convergence and joining this crew of very aware people [Environmental and Social Justice crew at Warren Wilson], who were aware of systems of oppression and power – really opened my eyes to the actual world, and how our response has to be movement-based, on the ground, grassroots, and not individual."
• (9:20) Earth First - putting bodies in front of pipelines (10:52) to stop them from being built; living in trees to stop them from being cut down
• (12:41) "Oh cool, they had cows and pigs on their brochure, and I thought how fun that would be to work with those pigs and cows! And then I get there and I'm like oh f*, because even with humane animal agriculture, they end up having to act in a lot of the same unethical ways that I had problems with, like with factory farming."
• (15:12) Farmed animal sanctuary, Animal Place
• (16:21) Experience with Beyond Extreme Energy
• (17:37) Getting arrested while protesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee's policies about fossil fuel infrastructure
• (21:40) Influential classes in college: "race and the politics of crime, and critical race theory gave a tangible understanding of these systems of power and white privilege and what it looks like and how it operates, and what dynamics were going on in that [arrest] situation."
• (22:07) Horticultural work at a women's prison
• (22:50) Dr. Breeze Harper's Sistah Vegan. "I guess this year was pretty influential for me." "This book provided perspectives from black female vegans talking about health, food, identity, and spirituality."  "Of course as it always seems to happen, white people have co-opted it, and in mainstream, veganism has a pretty white presence." Veganism and whiteness has led to the exclusion of people of color and racism in the movement.
• (24:17) Shifted focus to food access and ethical food production, which coincided with involvement in horitcultural program – people growing their own foods who wouldn't have access otherwise.
• (25:03) Some people will argue that you can't grow food without animal products – bone meal, feather meal, animal manure, fish emulsion – but there's this whole movement of "veganic agriculture" that doesn't require any captive animal inputs.
• (35:13) Vegan advice. "At some point you do have to commit. And once you've committed for a enough time, you don't even see animal products as food anymore. You don't need willpower anymore. Also be really intentional about why you're choosing to be vegan, and connect with that. Is it for your health, the animals, the earth? Keep it and come back to it, because sometimes you can forget especially in a society where eating like that is not the norm."
• (29:18) Life advice. "Find your passion by being aware of what lights an emotional response and investigate that because there's a lot of powerful energy behind that to put towards something super fulfilling."
• (30:30) Relationship advice. "Just follow what feels good. If it's not harming yourself or anyone, why not explore? Let's question these conventions a bit more and figure out what we actually want, what actually makes sense, and what we enjoy."

Book mentions/recommendations:

• A. Breeze Harper's Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society

You rock, Sydney! Keep walking the talk :)

Thanks for reading and listening!

Have a great day.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erik Gonzales-Kramer is a writer, storyteller, and environmentalist! Join in for the story of his journey into writing, publishing his first short story, virtual reality, and walking the talk on climate change by upholding a long-ago promise to purchase an electric vehicle as his first car! Erik is the 6th of seven PLANterns to join us on this show, who interned at the Post-Landfill Action Network in the summer of 2016.

• (0:34) Intro
• (2:00) Story-writing with the Post-Landfill Action Network
• (3:40) Using story-telling in our day to day: "Stories are powerful and the more we can use them, the more we can change."
• (5:04) At the 10-day countdown for first published short-story! (as of October 20, 2020)
• (5:30) Journey into writing
• (9:30) Community and writing
• (12:28) Publishing process for the short story
• (14:43) General publishing advice
• (16:35) Life advice and top skills - your commitment to exceeding expectations will be noticed
• (18:22) Quote from Secrets of a Millionaire Mind
• (19:12) Virtual reality
• (23:39) Plans moving forward and movements to tackle climate change
• (25:39) Electrical vehicles and walking the talk on climate change
• (27:27) Closing notes, committing to a better future!

Thanks for sharing your stories, Erik! Keep them coming, out into the world.

Thank you so much for tuning in! Have a wonderful day.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audrey Kriva is an MBA Candidate at Presidio University. She is remotely based in Seattle, Washington. We met through our work at the Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN)! Audrey is the fifth of seven former "PLANterns" to appear on this show :)

(0:40) Journey into MBA in sustainable solutions and circular economy

• (1:10) "Waste only matters because of its impact on all of these other systems: biodiversity, toxicity, human life, and the injustice of the ways it's handled. And as I started to think about all the tentacles of its impacts, I started to think about more system-level solutions."
• (1:43) "PLAN gave me a wonderful birds-eye view of companies striving to create change in their own world of solutions. I loved seeing that system and wanted to dive in and be a part of it."

(2:23) Presidio Graduate School– what it's like studying there

• (2:43) "It takes a non-traditional approach to business and attracts values-driven people seeking change. The structure of the program is that it puts the breaks on that solutions-oriented mentality in the first semester, and asks us to just sit in the problems. We take classes like systems, sustainability and social justice; political economics."
• (4:08) "It also attracts deep thinkers who care a lot about the world around them; I've loved being a part of that community."

(4:24) Most recent interesting tidbit learned

• "Framing from a guest speaker: how we form our perceptions on the world ... (4:44) the core of this tidbit is that our nerves can send millions of bits of information every second (11 million), but our brains can only pay attention to about 40 of those bits at a time."
• "How attention frames experience, and how attention leads to having certain beliefs, judgements, and theories about the world. (5:33) I've been thinking a lot about how my attention is managed by me and also other forces acting on me."

(6:03) Top skills

• (6:20) Facilitation... and finding ways to frame challenges and topics in a way that brings everybody in and gets everybody on the same page.

(6:51) Women and leadership – observations or advice

• (7:15) Fortunate to have worked in largely women-led groups and teams.
• Lean into some ways that my femininity is powerful in a leader context.
• (7:50) Leadership class series over 3 semesters; first one focused on nurturing our own direction and values; emotional intelligence. "In my reading of those articles, the message seemed to me to be: believe it or not, feeling matter!" (8:30) that felt to be connected to a traditionally "professional front" that we put onto certain types of interactions in a way that makes them much less effective.
• "People first then workers second"

(9:34) Problem you want to devote your life to

• Circular economy
• (10:05) fits well with logistics skills and way of thinking
• (10:15) "This challenge is ultimately a logistics challenge"
• (10:45) "I see the circular economy as a door-opener to bigger social change that I'm also excited about... valuing people more."

(11:22) Step back to talk about circular economy

• (11:48) "Materials are extracted from the ground, processed somehow, shipped somewhere, used sometimes for minutes, sometimes for years, and ultimately sent to a landfill or incinerator for them to be disposed of. This system – in addition to being toxic and exploitative at every step – is just illogical. There's so much continued value in the materials that we have."
• (12:49) "So how do we design our system so that there is no waste; so that we treat every output as an input? A sort of waste as food framing"
• (13:15) There's an organic cycle and a technological cycle (everything we might mine or that's man-made), and there are different strategies.
• (13:46) "Reuse: finding ways to ensure that our stuff isn't left or discarded prematurely, but that it's design to be reused from the beginning, instead of being designed to be thrown away."

(14:20) Changes you want to see

• (14:33) Reuse of consumer goods, e.g. start-up Dispatch Goods (15:00), food-delivery with reusable packaging

(15:36) Plans moving forward

• In job search, looking for a role to continue building this vision of a more circular world.
• (16:03) "I've been leaning more into my logistical, operational mind, and thinking about how to use those skills to solve the challenges that come with challenges of designing new systems"

(16:31) Relationships – huge part of business, leadership, management – advice?

• (17:10) "Outside of work, we naturally see people as people, yet in business, that perception is not embraced. (17:46) Each party puts on airs rather than engaging in their shared experience and this makes them less able to collaborate."
• (18:30) "At meetings, I make a point of check-in questions to ask about peoples' creative outlets, childhood stories"
• (19:16) Staying in touch with people, by sending them things that reminded you of them, even after your shared experience is over.

(19:40) What are your thoughts Aldís?

• (20:06) "I think the most recent way of thinking I've come across is from a book called Connect First by Dr. Melanie A. Katzman – it's about connecting with people at work as people first, like  you said."
• (20:42) "It's not just what you do, where you studied, what you studied, or your status. It's about: What drives you? How do you structure your life around that? Getting to know people on this level is definitely a step forward."
• (21:03) "Living together, cooking dinners together – that kind of experience never goes away."

(21:31) Business relationships versus personal relationships... any carry-over, transferrable skills?

• (21:50) "In the course, Economy, Society, Governance, Society, and Business – which promises to teach you everything you need to know – taught by Prof. Khalid Kadir, we read Undoing the Demos by Wendy Brown. It's about how this neoliberalism that has pervaded our political theories and economic systems is also pervading our personal lives, and is pushing us to engage as homo economicus rather than socially and emotionally. We unthinkingly, unintentionally, have started thinking of our relationships transactionally in terms of what people can give us. Even in our dating lives. We unconsciously try to see ourselves as investments, and try to hitch our wagon to people who are going to bring us forward. And that, while economically is a good approach, on a more holistic human level, it can be so toxic and exhausting to think of ourselves as investments all the time, and leaves so little time to celebrate the joys of being human."
• (24:10) "I think it's less about how I can bring business thinking into my personal relationships, and more about the reverse: how can I bring more of my humanity into business relationships?"

(24:50) What has someone said that made you feel amazing and inspired?

• Wendell Berry: "The impeded stream is the one that sings."
• (25:25) "That's a reminder that in my life, challenges are the things that make me thrive... that challenges are kind of the point of it all, and have value in and of themselves."

(26:05) What would you say to thank someone in your life who's made a big difference?

• To the people who make the media e.g. podcasts, who are vulnerable enough to share their thoughts before they're perfect or polished: (27:03) "I get so much value and inspiration and new ways of thinking from people who have the bravery to step out and publicly play with ideas, and just push themselves to think in different ways and just think out loud."

(28:23) Any funny/inspiring/raw/honest anecdotes about walking the talk?

• (28:48) "As a hobby during the pandemic, I've started sewing... plenty of old t-shirts into underwear! What can I make with the stuff I already have?"

Thank you, Audrey! You rock. Keep walking the talk.

And to all of you lovely people reading this now, you're doing awesome. 

Keep going. 

Take care.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are some of the questions people are asking as they go about their personal journeys, studies, and careers.

• (0:17) Sinwah Lai
• (0:24) Assaad Lyn
• (0:30) Gabrielle Greaves
• (0:34) Kamran Jamil
• (0:40) Adam Wong
• (0:59) Audrey Kriva – Nov 20, coming soon!
• (1:14) Aryn Aiken
• (1:26) Gabrielle Greaves
• (1:37) Shubham Kulkarni
• (2:37) Brabeeba Wang
• (3:01) Peter Ku
• (3:20) Sushen Joshi
• (3:40) Sinwah Lai
• (4:03) Aryn Aiken
• (4:12) Gustav Ferri
• (4:22) Aldís Elfarsdóttir, in conversation with Stan Broere – Dec 8

Behind-the-scenes:

Enjoy, and keep pursuing those answers! 

Have a wonderful day :)

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's a funny 2:42 minute blooper reel for you! It doesn't contain everyone's highlights yet, but just a few laugh-worthy segments, most of which became 'deleted scenes' in the edited versions of the recordings, and most of which came from a recent talk-show style call I did with Stan Broere. There will probably be more blooper reels, esp. if you like this! 

(I think the recency of Stan's call made it easier to identify which funny segments I had to cut out to meet the 30-minute target for the real thing).

Links are to their highlight episodes, available on Spotify: 

• (0:00) Aryn Aiken
• (0:10) Nathan Manohar – Nov 30
• (0:26) Shubham Kulkarni
• (0:35) Adam Wong (this actually ended up in the episode)
• (0:58) Stan Broere – Dec 8

Hope this brings a smile or a laugh to you when you listen! 

If you want something more serious but also relatable, I just posted a Career Journeys episode to Spotify (also available on Acast). Here's what it looks like behind the scenes:

Apparently Acast is partnering with Patreon to be their "exclusive provider of secure podcasts." So that should be cool! I'm not sure how it'll impact the way I share future episodes with you, but I'll keep you in the loop as I find out more.

It's not going to be on Spotify unless I change my mind about making my sometimes maniacal laugh public or unless any of you request otherwise. :) Also give me a heads up if you don't want to be in any future blooper reels. 

Have a wonderful day!

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabrielle Greaves is a Black queer femme, artist, writer, singer, herbalist in training, and English teacher residing in Brooklyn New York (they/them, she/her). Gabrielle is the fourth of seven fellow PLANterns (former interns at the Post-Landfill Action Network) to appear on this podcast. 

Starting thoughts:

• (0:35) “If white supremacy identifies you as not a part of it, it becomes violent towards you.” –– Gabby Greaves

(1:00) Gabby's introduction

(1:43) Black Lives Matter. What is your take on this moment in history, with respect to racial justice? 

• (2:00) “I believe that the protests in the United States were the most attended marches in the world up to this date. So we see a lot of people joining this movement, really frustrated with their living conditions and the negligence they’re experiencing from the government. And this is an opportunity for people to sustain this movement. One, that’s amazing, and two, we have so many different resources at our fingertips about how we can get involved, and how we can sustain this movement.”

(2:54) Have you noticed any changes in the way people have treated you or seen you, since before the Black Lives Matter movement or before 2013?”

• 2012 was the murder of Trayvon Martin, “it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. The movement was started by Black queer women. And although it has kind of taken different directions, the essence of the movement lives on in every city, especially every major city where Black people reside."
• “I wasn’t invited in certain space: they knew that if Gabrielle was going to be there, you could not say x,y,z. It was actually me being protected from certain types of violence, but I didn’t see it that way.”
• “Black people may feel like I’m not going to say anything, because I’m always the one calling out the situations of injustice. But what it is is you’re speaking to the violence.”
• “I had to realize this wasn’t an attack on me; it was an attack on the work I’m doing. I still think I’m wrestling with that too.”

(5:45) In A Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys, a Queer-identifying Black man suggested that it’s not white people who should be “allies” to Black people who then would be seen as shouldering the burden of this movement; rather it’s Black people who should be “allies” to the white people who must shoulder the burden of changing the system that has served them so well. What is your take on the idea of allies and allegiance in this movement? 

• "It’s very difficult for women, Black people, to be calling out these injustices all the time."
• "In that benefitting and those privileges, you have a lot more access to a lot more spaces. If we can depend on these people with the privilege to speak up in the face of injustices, then you are literally saving my life; you are allowing me to not have to take on that form of labor. In thinking about the type of labor that people take on, marginalized system should not shoulder that burden."
• “If we can pledge our allegiance to liberation… it would be amazing if white people could take on that burden.”

(8:45) How white people can work better in this movement.

• Actively listening: letting go of arrogance or the belief that you know. Go in with the idea that there’s something more to know
• Always have people in your circle who are doing it consistently. “You need the friends who say uh-uh, I’m not giving you chicken because you said you weren’t going to have chicken today.”
• “White people definitely definitely need to be doing twice the reading, because it is not their lived experience.”

(11:40) Working within your spheres of influence

• Be your authentic self; when you’re trying to network, be discerning about knowing where your lane is, so you can find the person or group of people with whom to build a network. Sometimes the person who is going to keep you engaged and up to date with relevant information are the folks who might not have a title that has been validated in academia.
• Don’t tokenize: aka “Oh, I have that Asian friend too.” 
• You have to do the work for people to start gravitating toward your authentic self. (13:45) 

(14:03) Advice for facilitating race relations on and off campus.

• Don’t forget the needs of the community. Many universities are built on indigenous land and tend to push out people of color to acquire land. Thinking of Roxbury, Northeastern, Columbia University.
• Whenever you start multicultural events on campus, break out of the university bubble. Realize it’s not a bubble: it takes water, energy, time to build up the campus from the surroundings.
• The communities should always be considered – go out and ask what community needs (newspapers where people can write letters to the editor, or suggestion boxes)
• “We’re not learning this knowledge just to hoard it; we owe it to the communities that we reside in to give back some of that knowledge.”
• (16:00) Leaning on pop culture to talk about these issues. E.g. Miley Cyrus on the MTV awards and conversation with Niki Manaj, “Miley, what’s good?” Pop culture is a very easy way to start having conversations about race. People will have these deep racial debates without even realizing it. 

(17:28) Inspirational figures

• Angela Davis – prison abolition, Race, Women, and Class
• Audrey Lorde “may the Lorde be with you” – talks to this fearlessness that POC should walk around with.
• Assata Shakur – she’s still on the FBI's most wanted list, amazing work, how she maintained hope in this fight.
• James Baldwin, phenomenal writer, being hopeful for our future in America

(19:00) Getting real about patriarchy. What’s the heart of the issue?

• “It’s this power dynamic.”
• (20:15) Definitions of power. “One is the capacity to direct or influence behavior or course of events. That’s how we usually think about power. But it’s also the ability to do something or act in a particular way. Power is also your own ability to move authentically and have autonomy in your own body.” –– Gabby Greaves
• (20:50) “With patriarchy there’s this illusion that the power only moves one way. In reality, when the patriarchy is faced with the other version of power – me moving authentically, me speaking how I want to speak, not crossing my legs like a lady” – they don’t know what to do. It makes them uncomfortable. They don’t know what to do with it. If I’ve never been in that space before, if that invitation hasn’t been rescinded yet… You get called a variety of names. I think a lot of femmes and non-cys people face this. (22:00) “And what it is is insecurity. They’re noticing something in you that they don’t have in themselves.”–– Gabby Greaves

(22:40) How do we dismantle the patriarchy and build more egalitarian relationships?

• When we share our experiences, we realize they’re pretty common.
• Let’s think of a strategy to call it out and create policies so it doesn’t happen.
• Building communities and spheres of influence.

(24:17) Inspiring figures in gender equality

• Audrey Lorde
• Belle Hookes (25:00) “So many of our problems stem from a lack of humanity/common humanity. Remind each other that love is our birth right.right to shelter, food, water… so easy to forget that given the systems we live in. 
• Gerda Learner, how Goddesses were flipped into God, different power systems, the patriarchy tries to hoard all this power…
• Oyeronke Oyewumi

(25:45) Sometimes it feels like we need to fight in movements because it’s part of our identity. Do you feel you have a choice in each of these fights, or do you feel that your identity compels you to focus your energy on racial justice and gender equality when – in an alternate reality – you would pursue other ambitions?

• (26:00) “First of all, thank you for asking this question. In all the years I’ve been doing this work, you are the 2nd or 3rd person to ask me that.”
• (26:15) “If we lived in an alternate reality, I would write sci-fi, it would be Afro-futuristic; I’d have an album out, a collection of poems. I really felt a lot of pressure to do it. They heard me talk and put the burden on me to talk. I’m just really good at observing this and putting one and two together. 
• (26:30) “When I first started doing this work, I think people read some of my essays and then turned to me to talk about these things. I wasn’t basing it in the passions or hobbies that would keep me interested, I started experiencing burn out because I was doing what was expected of me as a Black femme in the way I’d been socialized to nurture and take on labor when it’s not my labor to take on.”
• (27:30) “One of my biggest regrets was I lost out on two editing opportunities, and one was about editing an indigenous collection of poems, but I had to organize protests and sit in on policy meetings with the president, which I was never compensated for. And it was reflected in my grades, all the other projects I was working on. Ended up being completely edited by a white woman.” 
• (28:30) “When white people do not assume some of the work, black people miss out on these authentic experiences that are at the essence of our being. I have made it a commitment to myself that I’d find a white person, and say, this is your work; I have a poem to write.”

(29:00) COVID impacts on teaching. 

• (29:30) I always thought I’d teach at the university-level, but when I started doing that, I was like, I need to get out of this for a bit.
• In the burrow I grew up in. Right next neighborhood. Give back to the community that gave so much to me. 
• “I do find it difficult to empower students during the pandemic. There’s a lot of violence here, and a lot of people don’t have access to resources; they’re homeless and just in need of a lot of support.”
• (30:45) Extending compassion and empathy toward the students. Make sure they know that education is really important. Now’s not the time to be strict with deadlines. Just make sure they’re getting the support they need.

(31:00) How are you putting your resolution into action moving forward.

• Her friend wrote a blog: “The thing about hobbies and passions; how to turn your hobby into your passion.”
• Having an outlet is really important. To express myself, and remind myself of my purpose here. 
• The reason why I live is not to dismantle the system. That’s not my main purpose; it’s something else. Racism and sexism and transphobia get in the way of me achieving my purpose. 
• (32:00) Even though I write books and essays about these things, my purpose is to be a writer or sculptor. 
• (32:20) Remembering what your purpose is outside of these movements – you can use those passions to help you be a part of the Black Lives Matter movement or the Feminist Movement. These systems are really just constructions. We can look beyond that. Collectively we can imagine more.

(32:45) Closing remarks

• (33:03) “Center black people and indigenous people at the beginning of any of these conversations. What land you’re on. Look it up quickly: what indigenous tribe/group lives here. And acknowledging the Black folks who toiled the land, and those who are deemed less than. ... even if the conversation isn’t going to be about race, gender, or class. Because they were brought up first.”
• (33:30) “Just because it’s the function of white supremacy to silence, if we can constantly be naming the things that white supremacy tries to eradicate, that just makes the job a lot harder for folks."

Thank you all for tuning in, reading through, and supporting this art and practice in human connection! You can find these conversations on Spotify and Acast.

Have a wonderful day.

Spread the love.

Take care.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kamran Jamil just graduated with a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, and is continuing on as a law student at the University of California, Berkeley. We talk about labor issues in the Indian subcontinent from the 1930s and their relevance to labor issues today, the issue of colonialism inherent in this study, top skills for research (including friendship!), movements as a means to bring people together on egalitarian terms, and big picture thoughts on this moment in history (from both of us).

(0:30) Master’s thesis at University of Cambridge

• He found a 500-page report written in 1931 about Laboring conditions in the Indian subcontinent. That was the root of his thesis.

(1:33) What did they find?

• Issued by Parliament, King George V, huge inquiry
• Findings: conducted over 2 years, tasked with the questions of “How can we improve people’s daily lives?” “What kinds of policies can we begin to enact?” “How can the government begin to move to improve them?” 
• Royal commissioners, led by John H. Whitley began in Karachi (where Kamran’s parents are from!) in 1929, holding public hearings and interviewing working people.

(2:35) What did they do to improve working lives?

• There wasn’t a lot of regulation in factories, mines, or ports. By not having regulations, you allow people to work for really long hours and bad money-lenders to take advantage of working class people. 
• Major recommendations were to reduce factory hours, and make it illegal for people to be outside workplaces collecting debts from people – predatory money-lending – and the coolest idea lasting into the 1940s, established a central body where workers and business owners to meet on a monthly business; nurseries in factories 4:00 
• "There were over 350 recommendations… among them a cool form of cooperativism that we don’t see today" – Kamran Jamil

(4:15) How do we apply this 100 years later?

• “These issues we see, of people not having a livable wage is a continuing issue. It’s one part amazing and evoking to see that these issues have existed for a hundred years. Government officials and labor specialists saw this and developed actions to address them.” – Kamran Jamil
• “It was a huge call to arms; citizenship for them meant having an economic say, and having enough time to enjoy your afternoon, which was a motivating factor for them” – Kamran Jamil
• (5:45) life of John Whittley, born to modest means in Halifax, UK, worked in a factory himself growing up; saw the benefits of industrialization, became representative to Westminster, and to become speaker of the house of commons, and became speaker for hometown; made chairman of this commission to investigate lives of working people in India; 
• “One huge takeaway in modern times is to say people who’ve been driven by their religion, spirituality, or awareness of how these issues cut across every line and geographical area to use that as inspiration in asking: ok what can we do with our lives, careers, and our time?”

(7:00) Top skills that have helped him along

• #1: Friendship, love, companionship 
• #2: Be motivated by what you’re interested in (8:00) “If I didn’t have the interest, I would’ve just stopped at reading the report itself – what did this report say, what did it look at, and what were its recommendations? Instead I asked, what motivated these people to be so committed to the working lives of other people, and what happened to those recommendations? How did the recommendations enter the 1930s and 40s, and how did they inspire people decades after their writing?” – Kamran Jamil
• #3: A love of reading – e.g. Reading Woodrow Wilson, on progressive policies. 

“What Wilson wrote in his progressive agenda had vast acoustics across the world. We have all these cool things as a result of industrialization, but what about all these people it’s left behind or what about all these people who are left without jobs they previously had? Wilson and his agenda are also influencing discussions in the UK and those discussions are also finding their way into the text of legislation in India. … Just like in this moment, there’s a global discussion to be had across boundaries by people who care about these issues [Black Lives Matter, COVID health crisis].” – Kamran Jamil

(10:11) Raising the issue of colonialism, Wilson and Whittley are white men imposing recommendations on the Indian people. How do you grapple with that? Are they imposing or are they raising people up?

• Yeah, Nehru, one of the modern founding fathers of India, made that exact point in 1929 at Nagpur in India in the final closing speech to the All India Union Trade conference: he said that Whittley’s commission was an Imperial commission; one that was going to take advantage of the Indian economy, and should be boycotted entirely.
• (11:30) But some of the first labor activists in India were some of the first people to sign on in support of this commission.
• Neil Joshi and Chowan (founders of the All-India Trade Union Congress and Social Service League for working class interests) ended up commissioning the Royal Commission with Whittley as their chairman

(13:03) What movements do you feel most connected to?

• “There’s Black Lives Matter, the movement to end police brutality;the movement for women’s rights; and, after the travel ban, the movement to support Muslims in America… and I feel like all of these movements at their core, are about injustice and unjust power. When I think about the movements I align myself with, I don’t think it’s one movement, but I think it’s an overall approach to thinking about: who has executive, judicial, legislative power over us, and are they using that power in the right way?” – Kamran Jamil
• “It seems so clear that our officials who ignore what’s happening to our air and who are not paying attention to huge destruction in impoverished areas, also don’t care about the abuse of police discretion and lack of health care in many parts of America.” – Kamran Jamil
• “The fundamental thing is: do the people in power really have an egalitarian commitment? And the answer is really clearly no at this moment. The cause for us will be: instead of focusing on discrete movements, bringing everyone together around the idea of equity and care and going from there.” – Kamran Jamil

(15:24) He asked about my view on changing the system.

• I shared what I thought about how it’s hard to get the people in power to change the systems that serve them so well, and how that point came up in a recent movie, Enola Holmes (historical fiction about a hypothetical reality in which Sherlock Holmes had a sister). But with all the people I’ve been talking to, the change of getting more egalitarian-minded people up there is on the way, and it’s uplifting to hear what that’s what drives us forward.
• [Relating to climate change, it’s also why people don’t feel moved to act if they do not feel directly impacted by it, let alone if they don’t believe it’s happening at all – AE, afterwards].

(16:30) This made Kamran think about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and her quote: we need to find causes that we can pursue and bring other people along in that pursuit. We are part of a broader collective; bringing people into the conversation is a huge deal. 

• “This is not an individual solution.” – Kamran Jamil
• “We still need to be really hopeful that our generation and those that are coming behind us can identify these problems, see them, and speak about them with their peers and colleagues, and also do something about them too, and bring people in it. Less about leading, this is about hearing a call and answering that.” – Kamran Jamil

(17:58) What career options are you considering moving forward?

• “The main thing that’s motivating me is the question of: how do I use the law as a tool and engine, and not to become a servant of the law in and of itself? I really want to marry the law with an idea that society can be improved and people can feel like they have a voice.” – Kamran Jamil
• “What that means is hard to pinpoint, but I could see myself running for state legislature – by the way, this is still new to me because I was pre-med in undergraduate and always thought I would be found in a biology lab.” – Kamran Jamil
• “What’s beautiful about liberal arts education is that it removes preconceived notions, throws you into a lot of different knowledge, and then throws you the task of thinking where do you go from here with this education under your belt?” – Kamran Jamil
• “I always want to be first a thinker and ideas person before I am a technical or legal professional.”– Kamran Jamil

(20:15) Building friendships 

• "Gets complicated in COVID context. Being with people, just in their presence, is a huge blessing in and of itself. There’s an intangible about being with people." – Kamran Jamil
• “Reaching back to people you’ve been allowed to meet, who intersected with you on the sidewalk here and there.” – Kamran Jamil
• “I’ve just been messaging 2-3 different and new people that I remember when I used to walk around our college campus, or the high school teachers I really enjoyed.” – Kamran Jamil
• “For new relationships, trying to learn more about family and be with them in new and different ways. I hope we can come back to society really having cherished the time that we have lost.” – Kamran Jamil

(22:00) How COVID affected work-life balance, living situation, and family

• “I spent the first month and a half of this pandemic reading a lot of news, also because I’m a policy nerd. It was exciting and dismaying for me to learn about how policy was being handled.” – Kamran Jamil
• “A key part has been making sure weekends stay weekends.” – Kamran Jamil
• “The hardest part will be for the younger kids, who don’t have much experience meeting other people and making friends.” – Kamran Jamil

(24:30) Closing thoughts and final advice for recent graduates

• “Do it if your heart’s in it. Do it as a way to explore intellectual curiosity and adventurism” – Kamran Jamil

(25:57) How are you thinking about this moment? (he asked me!)

• “Sometimes I feel like they are my filters, and I listen to what they have to say about what’s going on.” – Aldís Elfarsdóttir
• “With this education under our belt, it’s so vital that we leverage that, and that we uplift everybody who can’t stand for themselves.” – Aldís Elfarsdóttir
• “I’ve been reaching out to so many people from past and present, who are deciding where they’re going to go from here. It gives me solace to hear a lot of people being really real about the tons of different directions we can go from here. That gives me so much inspiration.” – Aldís Elfarsdóttir
• “This moment kind of gives us pause. Our emissions were reduced by a certain percentage while everyone was on lockdown. This tells us that if we pause, we can all think a little bit more before acting on our next step, and potentially make a significant change in doing so deliberately.” – Aldís Elfarsdóttir
• “We have the possibility of doing something really cool, not just in the national political light, but also in our own personal lives. Can we find that deep peace and contentedness and can we see that mirrored and reflected in the world we want to live in. That is the hardest question and one that we have to continue to grapple with” – Kamran Jamil

As always, thank you for supporting this podcast and these conversations.

You can find them on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2HMUoJ5.

Take care <3

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello podcast listeners! 

Here are my notes and take-aways from my conversation with environmental consultant, Neil Chavan, who has been working at Newry Corps in Cleveland, Ohio for 13 months and recently got appointed to the Lakewood Community Relations Advisory Commission in Lakewood, Ohio. 

It's a 25 minute episode – super concise, and worth a listen if you have the time! 

(1:54) About non-profit grant-writing work at the Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN):

• (2:38) Neil says: "it's very much about storytelling and that's really the key; it's about sharing your journey, your mission, your vision, how you inspire others, and trying to get people to subscribe to what you're doing."

(3:35) The kinds of projects he's gotten to work on:

• Materials science, carbon capture, and lots of other things that are mostly confidential!

(5:45) People say the economy rewards specialization. But  consultants are highly valued. So how does that work out?

• "In some sense, there's certainly value to being a specialist in a certain field. But especially nowadays, you have industries being changed at the drop of a hat with the introduction of a new technology, and it's actually valuable to have experience across a broad range of industries. Many people are also saying that the future is for generalists; in the future, generalists are going to thrive. Being a specialist might mean you can't as easily transfer from one skill space to another."  – Neil Chavan

(7:45) Advice for graduates considering consulting to start their careers:

• It's a good opportunity to figure out where your skills and interests are, and how you can apply those in a way that fulfills you.
• He came from an engineering background with little business experience: "Coming into consulting was certainly intimidating. I felt almost like an imposter like how did I get here? And didn't feel qualified in business. But you don't need any other qualifications than just curiosity and interest in learning and understanding why things happen, how to make things better, or just solve problems." – Neil Chavan

(9:22) Other key skills and qualities helpful in growing into a consulting role?

• Good and clear communication 
• Being collaborative and thought-sharing
• Creativity in how you present solutions or go about finding and creating datasets.
• It helps to have a strong quantitative background as well. (11:29)

(12:35) Building client relationships where they like you, and keep coming back to you:

• Still in early stages, but "being able to put yourself in the shoes of the client and really understand what drives them and what they need at that time" is really important. 
• Empathy is key; "understand what they're going through and how you can help them in the best way."

(13:50) COVID and work-life balance:

• "Overall, COVID has certainly blurred the lines between work and home or non-work life. It has become more of a challenge, especially for a lot of people in consulting who are workaholics, you're just used to going and going, and producing the best output for the client."

(15:17) Raising kittens in quarantine:

• You can foster kittens through the Humane Society: "they give you all the supplies, you don't have to pay for anything you just provide a home and love for the animals." 
• "They are quite messy and they can be destructive, but there's so many more positives to having them."

(16:48) By request from Aryn Aiken, whom I interviewed last week, I asked Neil how he got appointed to city government, and how that's all going:

• Ever since PLAN, Neil has been interested in the public sector. Upon his recent move to Lakewood, he reached out to all the city council members expressing interest in getting involved in city government. The President ended up appointing him to the Community Relations Advisory Commission for Lakewood, where they're starting an antiracism task force and making sure the right people are selected for it.
• "COVID has kind of thrown a wrench in things." re: being able to make progress within the commission

(20:12) Great example of how you just have to ask!

• "Especially in school, I was always so nervous to ask for anything. But when you're a student, everyone wants to help you; but once you're out in the real world, it's almost like there's something that changes and people are less willing, sometimes, to help out. But it never hurts to ask, and you never know who will be willing to help you out." – Neil Chavan

(21:00) Looking ahead at the options in public vs. private sector

• He wants to get back toward mission-oriented work, whether it's full-time or volunteerism through city commissions. "It's hard to say what or how or when I'll get back to that kind of work, but I want to leverage the passion I have for these problems, especially in the environmental space, to really make a difference."
• (23:15) "One of the reasons I decided to go into consulting right after college instead of non-profit was I realized that business is actually a really good way to bring about some of the social changes that can be really hard to accomplish in the public sector or non-profit sector. Learning business strategy, knowing that one day I'll be able to apply these strategies to solving the climate crisis or other areas; that's what's keeping me in this role."
• "This year has been such a crazy year with COVID, the ongoing-struggle with police brutality, racial tensions, and the forest fires in California has stirred something in me; I feel I need to really get more involved in mission-oriented work, and get back to that in some capacity, whether in full-time work or just serving on this commission." 
• (24:00) Potentially grad school in a subject to be determined with further experience. "Time will tell but it's on my radar."

And then he closed with super nice and encouraging remarks about the podcast!

You can find Neil Chavan at:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-chavan/ 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neil.chavan.96/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avocadoneil/

Take care, and spread the love and peace today. 

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Keefe recently returned from a two-year service with Peace Corps Senegal 2018-2020, and is the second of seven interns from the Post-Landfill Action Network 2016 cohort to be featured on this podcast. Robert generously supplied all the pictures and captions that accompany this post (and the companion article also posted to Medium – same content here as there).

September 2019 — A photo from the mangrove reforestation event in Goudem, Fatick, Senegal, my two-year site with PC Senegal. This was a collaborative effort with many of my friends and family members in Goudem, as well as a free Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) from around the Fatick region. In this picture we are getting ready to commence planting at low tide, with the bean-like mangrove propagules we collected the previous day in our hands. This event took place in the Sine-Saloum river bed about 1km away from Goudem, and the shells of mollusks as well as burrows of fiddler crabs can be seen in the background. From left to right — my host brother Kéba, myself, and neighbour as well as tree enthusiast Modou. — Robert Keefe

(0:30) Intro

• Robert Keefe (also Bob or Bobby) was born and raised in Milford Connecticut, studied forestry at University of New Hampshire, and has worked forestry and landscaping jobs. Works at Bridgeport Community Gardens as a liaison with some other non-profit organizations and community groups.

(1:20) At PLAN, Bob coordinated the move-out program, Trash to Treasure.

• Learned about organizing volunteer groups; everything from dealing with customer satisfaction, financial management, and the other PLANterns. "It's been a big part of who I am today."

(2:35) Peace Corps Senegal.

• In September 2018, departed to Senegal.
• Volunteered in agroforestry, which consisted of assisting local folks with projects related to fruit tree management, education in pruning and care of trees, planting of spiky trees or live fences: "a fence that a cow cannot knock down" is the direct Wolof translation.
• Fatick pre-service training between September and December 2018, very applied 10-week language classes
• Culture-based training, went to live with host family, cultural
• Goodem in Fatick was the site, west coast of Senegal – mangroves, small and dense forests; low vegetation but dense.
• Often during dry season, livestock isn't tied up, and roam free so they can pose a real threat – especially goats – to trees and crops planted.

Group photo at the mangrove event, after 2,364 propagules. Six other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) were involved. Standing, left to right: Aliou, my work counterpart Saliou, with whom I assisted in facilitating projects, PCV Imani, Amadou, PCV Jaclyn, Abdou Salaam, Ndeye Fatou, Marïama, Boubacar, Awa, Aminata, Abdou Salaam, & Sira, my Cultural Integration Facilitator (CIF) who helped me to understand the lay of the land in Goudem, introduced me to everyone in the village, patiently helped me learn Wolof (I had to have asked her to repeat herself over 1000 times in learning the language), and was always there when I needed support or help. Middle row: Aïda, Luca (PCV), Alex (PCV), Ariana (PCV), Abdoulaye, Julie (PCV), Ousmane, Awa, Ramou. Front row: Abdou Salaam, Ousmane, Fatimah, Moustapha. Not pictured: Kéba, Ibrahima, myself. — Robert Keefe

(5:33) Cultural sensitivity and cultural exchange

• Leaders of health programs, safety and security are all Senegalese nationals with a better understanding of the culture than any expat
• Subjects on things that Americans might see as inappropriate or uncalled for, which is more often than not part of the culture in Senegal
• People ask, in simple introductions: do you have a husband? do you have a wife? "While that may be seen as intrusive in the US, it's quite common practice in Senegal, and doesn't have the same connotations, per say."
• "When people see a white person in the street, children especially might be compelled to yell "toobab" which is not offensive. People will vocally point out differences, and acknowledge you; that they see you there."
• "Ousmane, yangui toog" literally meant: "Ousmane, you're sitting"
• "They're not ignoring your presence; they're glad to see you and understand you're there too."

(8:40) Learning Wolof

• By the time he was evacuated in March (due to COVID), he wasn't completely fluent.
• Some fun words to learn: root, pulling water from a well for human consumption; foot, taking water from a well for washing; boot, giving the water to animals.

July 2019 — My host brother Ibrahima, working on cementing the fence posts for the construction of a chain link fence around the school. — Robert Keefe

(10:18) Ousmane was his name in Senegal

• It's an Arabic name, originating from rich man close associate of Prophet Mohammed, one of the holiest names in Islam and one of the most common names he came across in Senegal

(11:03) Some other activities involved in agroforestry on a daily basis

• Long dry season happens between November to June end so a lot of work is focused on vegetable farming and small-scale gardening (which can be watering)
• During rainy season, large-scale field farming; 5-6 hectare fields need rain to be watered
• watered gardens, planted vegetables, worked with a women's group, plant nurseries during cold season (December to early March) seeds, and tree sacs and water them and encourage other people to do the same. distributed Peace Corps tree seeds to people in the village. kept trees in sacs until August, which is when it starts to peak in the rainy season – that's when you dig the holes and plant the trees for the season. one smellifora tree every meter = 400-500 trees to plant a live fence around the perimeter of a hectare sized field
• Busiest time was July to September 2019 "unfortunately only there for one rainy season"
• Side note in regard to cold season; "By 2019, my definition of cold had changed"
• Most proud of mangrove reforestation in Goudem, about 1 km away from the Sine-Saloum river which drains into the ocean – high tides come into the river, so water there is much saltier, so mangroves grow in the tidal areas. Since 1970s when village population grew, a lot of mangrove forests were cut down, which caused a big problem of salination in the surrounding soil areas. So they coordinated a mangrove reforestation event: 2,364 mangrove propagules of risoforia mongule into the sand and mud there. Mangroves provide fish habitat for nesting and eggs; they naturally assimilate salt and store it long term in their tissues. "Very vital weapon in preventing coastal erosion and rehabilitate land that has been rendered infertile by salt"
• Hoped to extend to position specifically with mangroves, but got evacuated due to COVID.

July 2019 — Planting a residential mango tree at my HF’s neighbour’s compound — clockwise from top from left — Babacar, me, Awa, Aliou Aïssatou (sitting) and Marïe. — Robert Keefe

(17:30) COVID evacuation

• Over 48 hours, all 262 Peace Corps Senegal volunteers left the country on the last outbound flights.
• Gave lots of credit to Peace Corps staff and volunteer leaders who were up 24/7 arranging for the closing of bank accounts and telling communities the situation: "it was a lot of work and they were on it the whole time; I could not be more grateful to them for doing what they did."
• In continuation of his work: he began writing a manual for mangrove reforestation in October; is hoping to distribute that to future volunteers in agroforestry
• Translated a book on establishing a French and Arabic school (from French to English)
• Translated a CADDEL Consulting publication from French to English about measures to rehabilitate a community forest in Goudem and surrounding area
• Has been in close contact with host family over WhatsApp, as well as with other volunteers
• "These friendships will endure for the rest of my life; that particularly has been helpful in this time of uncertainty especially in March, April, and May when pandemic really began"

(20:28) Options moving forward

• "Honestly, a lot of what I've been doing lately feels like Peace Corps round two," with not a lot of pay and work focused on working as a liaison with groups and communities
• As soon as Forest Service and Federal Government returns to regular functions; Will sign up for wildland fire fighting; another area of long-time passion, "especially seeing more forested regions in Southern Senegal have seen some really destructive bush fires in recent years"
• "rest of region in Sahel are among the folks at the forefront of the crisis of climate change"
• "Sahara desert has been encroaching on northern Senegal grasslands and savannas; land that was arable back then is not now. Senegal's government has put forth a green wall initiative to (22:51) 15km by 4900 km long from Senegal to Somalia to combat desertification from Sahara Desert. It's a wall of trees, I should say."
• "Having seen the effects of climate change first hand and this doesn't even go to say how they're effecting people in Pacific Islands and Maldives, I ultimately am hoping to engage in work where I can help those who are affected by it first and hardest."
• "I can't really expect anything. One thing I learned was how to roll with the punches on the Peace Corps. There's a lot of difficulties in Peace Corps service: adapting to new culture, not understanding what people are saying a lot of the time."
• "Ultimately I hope to apply what I've learned with newfound grip of French and Wolof (where a lot of English words actually come from) – in the future. But I don't want to have expectations."
• "I want to do what I can to be there for others who don't have the resources or clout to stand up to climate change as well as many injustices like we're seeing in the U.S. right now, as with the unfortunate case of Breonna Taylor and many others. If it's alright, I would like to dedicate a moment – just a moment of silence and thought for Breonna and her family."

(25:30-26:45) Moment of silence, and a prayer for racial justice and solidarity.

(27:00) Advice for people applying to Peace Corps in a non-COVID reality

• "This world is full of such great, kind, and helpful people. Everyone just about everyone I met in Senegal, nobody hesitated to get up and help me when I needed it. People would gladly take large chunks of time out of their day to show me where the best tailor or boutique was for buying small creme du glass packets if I asked. Ultimately, while these people may not always get the attention that their adversaries do, it is important to remember that this world is full of amazing great people, and I've really come to see that as I've lived in Senegal."
• "Absolutely, do it. It is challenging without a doubt to adapt to new cultures and learn a language, but it becomes so worth it because you develop such long-lasting and enduring connections with people of all walks of life. And when you come back here, you'll have so many friends – especially among host country nationals as well as other Peace Corps volunteers who understand what being in the Peace Corps was like. I've done my fair share of talking people's ears off with Peace Corps stories – like I'm doing right now"
• "You will have a perspective that most Americans won't have, as well as long-lasting connections and friendships that according to every Peace Corps volunteer I've ever talked to – will last the rest of your life."

(30:45) Thank you!

April 2019 — Me and my friends Adama and Awa (writing and drawing in my notebook) — Robert Keefe.

p.s. a note from Robert about Senegalese Music Artists!

"It would be impossible to mention Sénégal without touching upon the music, which is renowned as some of the best in the world and among the most popular in Africa. Senegal is regionally known for the Saint-Louis Jazz Festival, which occurs annually in the Senegalese city of the same name. It is known worldwide for hosting a massive array of music artists from Senegal and Africa as a whole. Here are some of just a few of them:

Youssou Ndour - Likely the most famous Senegalese national of all, he has penned and sang music of all genres, never missing the opportunity to innovate and incorporate multiple genres into his songs. He is often credited with the worldwide popularisation of the "Mbalax" genre. Mbalax is ubiquitous throughout Senegal, and almost always dance-themed; it incorporates traditional Wolof and Serere music styles with genres from throughout west Africa, as well as Afro-Cuban styles, jazz, reggae, and blues-rock. Youssou is also a prominent activist and change agent, even serving as Senegal's Minister of Tourism in 2012 and 2013. Papa Youssou has too many great songs to name, most of which are in Wolof, but a good place to start are with "Bul ko door" , "Plus fort", and "Xale Yi Rew Mi".

The long-running band Super Diamono, with a huge variety of music genres from Afro-Cuban to Mbalax-blues based sounds. Many famous musicians, including Youssou himself, had their springboard in this band.

Baaba Maal - A world-famous jazz musician, boasting an extensive catalogue largely sung in the Fulani dialect of Pulaar.

Aïda Samb - An icon of womens' empowerment in Senegal and beyond, she is an amazingly talented singer-songwriter, with eclectic styles of dance-pop, mbalax, EDM, and hip hop. Her song "Lan La?", tackling issues of difficulties in marriage and domestic life, is a favourite among young folks in Senegal.

Wally B. Seck - Currently at the forefront of the Senegalese music scene, his 2018 song "Taxi Love" broke records as one of the biggest ever hits on the Senegalese charts. During my time in the Peace Corps, you had a very low chance of being in a public place without hearing its infectious riff and chorus on the radio.

Souleymane Faye - Another artist bursting at the seams with talent, his style of mbalax is known for its lyrical and intellectual depth.

ElectrAfrique - The EDM and dance club scenes in Senegal boasts talents including DJs Leuz Zarak, TchoubTchoub, Cortega, and many more.

The catalogues of rapper Carlou D, Mama Sadio, and GuneYi are pure delights!

(The below artists are not from Senegal, but are indeed very culturally significant there)

Rokia Traoré - A stunning voice and beautiful catalogue, largely in the Bambara language.

Aya Nakamura - Of Malian-French background, her song "Djadja" made waves in Senegal and worldwide in 2019. A feminist anthem, ode of empowerment, and statement against abuse through false rumours, this soulful number is as likely to be heard at a party as at a protest. Aya has a well-deserved reputation as a worldwide francophone music star.

Of course, we can't include all of the great music artists from the region, but I hope that the introduction of these few artists can acquaint anyone unfamiliar with the local scene!"

- Robert Keefe

Thank you so much Robert! Keep walking the talk. I am going to be listening to your Senegalese music recommendations – thanks for that artistic touch :)

To everyone tuning in: warm greetings, thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day!

Take care,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen in for relationship advice from 6 highlights on the show. Here are time stamps of their first audio-appearance, and links to their highlight episodes or dates of episode release:

• (0:03) Daniel Getega – Sep 9
• (0:30) Audrey Kriva – Nov 21
• (1:41) Peter Ku – Aug 31
• (2:05) Sydney Grange – Nov 30
• (2:31) Adam Wong – Sep 18
• (2:43) Assaad Lyn – Aug 22
• (2:45) to the end = a mix of the above peoples' beautiful voices
• (4:27) Aldís Elfarsdóttir hello + closing blurb :)

Hopefully it's not too small, but this screenshot captures the gist of the tidbits in case you're curious but don't have time to listen! It's only 4:45 min though :D

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for tuning in. Go build some great relationships. <3

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryn Aiken is the first of seven 2016 intern-alums from the Post-Landfill Action Network (aka. PLANterns) to appear on this show. She washes her hair with apple cider vinegar and baking soda. Join us as we talk about what it's like to work in e-commerce (selling shampoo), phone-banking, why we fight for movements, what it might be like to move away from selling a product in the future, and how we can let our curiosities guide us in deciding what to do next (like Elizabeth Gilbert says!). We top it off with a solid 4 minutes of eco tips!

• (1:00) Visual media internship at PLAN
• (2:00) What it's like doing e-commerce and creative outreach for marketing
• (3:05) Overlap between people skills for phone-banking and customer care/outreach
• (5:40) Movements she feels connected to (environmental justice, queer liberation, reproductive rights)
• (7:23) Options moving forward
• (11:23) What difference do you want to be making?
• (12:30) Re: being ok with not knowing what's to do next. "As we're trying to walk the talk, we might not know how. We might stumble and we need to be there to catch each other."– Aldís
• (13:31) What would you say to advise someone in your position? "Don't be afraid to not do the thing that other people think is most useful or that someone else thinks you have the skillset for. Let yourself be curious."– Aryn Aiken
• (14:40) The problem with people-pleasing
• (15:06) Other advice: "just take that class" – Aryn Aiken
• (15:50) Eco habits, personal action items: "The personal action piece rubs me the wrong way because we can't buy our way out of a problem that's deeply rooted in our economic system and the way we prioritize things politically." – Aryn Aiken. But some things we as individuals can still do: use reusable utensils and storage containers, toilet-sink combos to wash your hands with the water that'll flow back into the toilet, natural substitutes for chemicals, e.g. using soap nuts instead of detergent, compost (there's such a thing as "freezer compost" where you store it in your freezer so it doesn't attract flies – we did this at PLAN), and voting for people who will support climate policies. "One time I walked 60 blocks to take my freezer compost to the facility, because the usual one wasn't there." – Aryn Aiken

Quotes:

"For so many people, you don't get to choose to fight for these issues; your connection to a movement either is deeply rooted in your identity and doesn't feel like a choice, or is something you have the privilege to tap into because you feel passionately about it." – Aryn Aiken

"It was a big departure for me, to go from digital media for non-profits to all of a sudden analyzing sales data for consumers for e-commerce." – Aryn Aiken

"The world doesn't need more shampoo." – Aryn Aiken

"Take everything that everyone says, put it on a list, and say, 'does this seem like something that could be fundamentally cool for me?'" – Aryn Aiken

"We can't buy our way out of a problem that's deeply rooted in our economic system and the way we prioritize things politically." – Aryn Aiken

Recommended media:

• The "On Being" podcast episode with Elizabeth Gilbert, who says "Follow your curiosity, not your passion."

Have a wonderful day. Go be curious and put out the eco vote if you can!

You can find this episode on Spotify now: https://spoti.fi/2HMUoJ5.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen in for an intellectually enriching conversation with Brabeeba Wang, MIT PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (but actually cognitive neuroscience with a basis in rigorous mathematical frameworks). He, like Einstein did, also plays the violin  ;)

Musical snapshots and backstory:

• Starting piano at the age of 3 (parental impetus, by middle school turned into self-initiative after he came to truly appreciate classical music during a live symphony concert)
• Playing (and singing) Christmas carols on the 2nd floor above his dad’s dentist office
• Picking up violin in sophomore spring; auditioning every semester for a place in one of the campus orchestras; after sometimes blatant rejections upon two measures of playing; landed a spot in Mozart Society Orchestra by senior spring – by the way, this is amazing, within 2 years of learning! 

College trajectory at Harvard: 

• Came in with strong math background 
• Year 1: explored computer science
• Year 2: explored neuroscience, different kind of thinking
• Year 3: explored philosophy, the teaching fellows didn’t like his writing
• Year 4: went back to math to write a thesis on algebraic topology (describing surfaces with mathematical functions)

Me: How did you manage to explore so many subjects?

Brabeeba: I switched my concentration every year. 

And now, at MIT…

Questions he is working to answer through his PhD, and taking the time to explore:

• How does the brain learn?
• What is the math behind how we learn languages? 
• What is the math behind how we understand and appreciate aesthetics like music?

Me: Why not a Math PhD?

Brabeeba: I found that what made me unique and irreplaceable was not my strengths in the field of algebraic topology (my advisor could probably do anything I could do, which felt redundant) but my interest in a lot of different areas and different ways of thinking: for example, asking philosophical questions about neuroscience, and then finding ways to answer them through rigorous mathematical frameworks.

The prefrontal cortex’s role in decision-making and personality is based on its models of the world as our minds come to know it:

• There's an experiment that can be performed to determine whether the prefrontal cortex is functioning properly. Given a set of cards that can be sorted for color, shape, or number of objects, "normal" patients can quickly identify when the rules of the sorting have been changed by the doctor who's telling them whether they've sorted the cards right or wrong. But patients with a lesion or damaged prefrontal cortex keep making mistakes and cannot identify the underlying rules, or whether they've changed.
• ADHD (an attention deficit disorder) is explained in the ways the prefrontal cortex interacts differently with basal ganglia (for tasks) and thalamus (for attention)
• Schizophrenia (a personality disorder) is currently treated by medications that – in some cases – target dopamine feedback systems, but Brabeeba points out the potential to come up with new treatments that target the underlying cognitive model, after understanding the ways in which it models the world differently
• Brabeeba’s hypothesis is that the brain chooses the simplest model to explain phenomena that it experiences, and has some preliminary findings for simple linear examples. But the nonlinearities of nature and the ways in which inputs to our brains can be affected by our various movements and actions (e.g. a turn of the head) –– is something he is continuing to unravel and explain with a rigorous basis in math 

Advice for grad school:

• Social life basically comes with college in the way housing and activities are structured; to build out a social network in grad school you need a new strategy. So, tips: meet friends of friends and organize get-togethers over common interests (think outings to symphony hall, and poker nights); find a social life beyond your research group, though your lab mates can be a good social network as well.
• Do your research so you end up in the right department
• Interview the students of your prospective advisors so you can get a sense of their supervision style: hands on or hands off? more input or more encouraging of your creativity?

Me: What about people who feel constrained by funding, to finish their PhDs in 4-5 years or less?

Brabeeba: I recognize that stress in a lot of humanities PhDs; they have to go after whatever fellowships they can find. But STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) PhDs can usually get funding from their programs for however long they need.

Me: And how important is it to publish papers in your PhD?

Brabeeba: It depends on the field. There's a lot of pressure to publish quickly in Computer Science. So they're likely to focus on easier, more feasible problems at one time. In Biology, you'll likely work for a long time on one major project and then publish one major publication. I don't like the mentality of having to publish quickly or a lot; I just want to take my time to study the problem, then write a good paper about it.

Fun facts: 

• He self-taught English by reading books.
• His name combines his favorite composers: Brahms, Beethoven, Bach.

Where you can find and follow Brabeeba Wang: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brabeeba/?hl=en
• Publications: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.06171

Alright my dears, have a wonderful day! 

Stay bright like you are. This episode is on Spotify now: https://spoti.fi/2HMUoJ5.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest motivational, self-help episode is up on Acast. Take a listen if you feel you are having an energy crisis and want to hear an empathetic perspective from someone who has been there, and is doing that... still working on it.

Here's how I've been dealing with a bit of an energy crisis and how you might too, if you find yourself in such a situation. You've got this. We can all manage ourselves better.

• (1:40) Getting caught up in the inertia, spending hours in flow
• (2:30) How it becomes a damaging cycle - bandwidth snapping this way and that
• (3:22) Scarcity: How having so little can mean so much by Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan
• (3:50) Dealing with this mental and physical energy crisls and cycle
• (4:30) We can use this to learn - I am actively doing so, and sharing the process
• (4:59) Some ways I've been trying to manage myself better - organizing plans for the next day
• (5:50) If this is actually a problem, if I'm doing too much – what can I cross off the list?
• (6:30) Getting back on track with sleep – setting time limits on work at night, aiming for consistency and self control
• (7:05) Have respect for yourself. If I was my own boss and my own subordinate... I would kind of hate my boss. Make sure you get along with your own boss. Being your own best boss is something that I'm ever working toward.
• (8:08) Pull the pieces of yourself apart, take a look at them, then when you bring them back together, make sure they all get along.
• (8:27) Aligning your time allocation with your goals – e.g. online and offline goals
• (8:57) Phone detoxes

I'm actually proud of how forcing myself to reflect on this particular topic from memory allowed my thoughts and insights to evolve away from the original chapter of inspiration: "Manage your energy, not your time" by Schwartz and McCarthy in HBR's 10 Must Reads On Managing Yourself.

So, my dears. Try to be your own best boss today, and every day. Manage yourself well. Take care of yourself. 

Have a wonderful day. :)

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey,

I've published the first mash-up of maybe eight that I'll be sharing over the course of the next few months – this one combines 19 people's voices on the topic of top life skills and advice, from highlights you have heard from and have yet to hear from!

For some behind-the-scenes sneak-peeks, organized by voice...

and by theme... (e.g. top skills)

It was honestly one of the greatest revelations to start labeling audio tracks in Audacity. Learning as I go over here, weee! :D You can find the Top Skills mash-up episode on Spotify, here on Patreon, or over on Acast :)

In order of first audio-"appearance" – with links to their highlights and scheduled release dates:

• Adam Wong – Sep 18
• Kamran Jamil – Nov 11
• Gabrielle Greaves – Nov 12
• Shannon Mueller – Aug 13
• Shubham Kulkarni – Oct 16
• Umar Khan – Nov 20
• Daniel Getega – Sep 9
• Robert Keefe – Nov 2
• Brabeeba Wang – Oct 24
• Gustav Ferri – Aug 4
• Peter Ku – Aug 31
• Neil Chavan – Nov 3
• Audrey Kriva – Nov 21
• Aryn Aiken – Oct 25
• Sinwah Lai – Oct 6
• Catherine Langford – Sep 27
• Sushen Joshi – Oct 15
• Assaad Lyn – Aug 22
• Aldís Elfarsdóttir

If you are new here on Patreon, welcome! It's so great to have you. Thank you for your support. 

As always, thank you so much for your receptive ears and hearts! I am open to your feedback at any time. You can leave comments on this post, or send me a message.

Have a wonderful day,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss his journey into aerospace, his thesis on the atmosphere of Venus, changes he wants to see in higher education and space agencies, and life philosophies about balancing work and wellness, using our electronics better, doing away with money, and navigating cross-cultural workplace relationships. 

(0:45) Journey into aerospace

• Association of Amateur Astronomy in India
• TU Delft was the only university he applied to apart from U.S. 

(2:08) Thesis on the atmosphere of Venus

• “It’s basically a living hell for humans [on Venus]”
• Due to such huge pressure, almost all the missions observed some failure with sensors
• “I’m trying to fill in this gap and put new constraints using thermal observations in infrared. My thesis is in collaboration with DLR in Berlin.”

(3:15) Experience at internship with DLR in Stuttgart

(3:45) Work ethics there

• “Everyone was there at 7:30am, and without taking any breaks, the work would go on until noon.”
• “They will usually finish lunch in 10 minutes, and they will always be back around 12:20.”

(5:45) Options moving forward

• Job to pay back educational loan – ”hopefully in the space sector: instrumentation, analytics, image processing, or propulsion. However my main aim is to do a PhD in planetary sciences and joining the research field again.”

(6:30) Changes to see in higher education and space agency level

• “Even just to watch TV we need satellites. Soon enough, to use the internet, we will need to use another satellite.
• “I see a lot of changes happening including space-related courses in education.”
• “For space agencies, we are only looking at a handful of space agencies: NASA, European Space Agencies, and India, Japan, China, Russia. But most of the world does not have their own launchers or space programs. So in order to really advance, we need a contribution from each and every country. And here, I think space agencies should provide aid for the nations which cannot provide stations on their own.”

(8:45) More programs of study to include industry experience

• He got a taste of this with an industry internship at DLR, as part of his Masters program at TUDelft.
• “Where I came from, we had almost no practical, application-oriented knowledge exposure.” 

(10:30) Influential experiences while abroad, and how they’ve shaped interests

• Got to use remote observations from Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii 
• “For a long long time, I’d been working with observatories housing small telescopes, so this made me change from technical mechanical field to planetary sciences field.”
• Becoming independent / self-reliant for cooking, grocery shopping, chores. Back in India, someone else could be hired to do the small chores, or there would be easy access to discounted restaurants for students.
• “Following the Indian style of meals, I spent 2-3 hours a day on cooking, while still managing everything else. In the beginning it was a bit difficult.” 

(13:58) COVID impacts on studies

• “Badly, is what I would say.”
• Both positive and negative: working from home has been an adjustment (not getting to work at the university library or department, and not being able to work at the DLR facilities in Berlin). On the positive side, learning how to manage yourself.
• “You won’t always get a stimulating work environment, and even so, you should be able to keep up with your work and do it fully.”

(15:45) Advice on balancing academics and wellness?

• “My main advice would be to have a second task: whether it’s a sports activity which will keep you fit, or a new type of dance, learning a musical instrument, or exploring.”
• “Sometimes we are only doing one task at one time, and you mentally get constrained by the task and it’s difficult to think of new things.”
• It can help you return to work with more energy.

(17:34) People’s relationships with technological devices. How can we use our technological capabilities better or should companies develop their apps differently?

• “Imagine you’re on an autobahn highway in Germany, without any speed limit and you have the fastest car in the world – let’s say a lamborghini – but there is one small clause: there are no partitions on the road, no rules about driving in any specific lane, and there are 7 billion more people on this road with their very high-tech and super fast cars. And so, what do you think would happen?”
• “There would be some fraction of adaptable people who quickly understand the working of the car, and come up with a plan that they would only drive in one lane. But for most of the people, they would struggle and there would be chaos. And even if you are good with your management, someone will come and knock you down. And in my opinion this is what we have with our social media applications and various websites.”
• “Our technological devices are very powerful technologically, but they are not being properly used, and the main point here is that the majority of the population is not aware that something wrong is currently happening. A lot of social media apps are being very carefully designed to be addictive. While governments do emphasize privacy issues, the attention given to the psychological effects to social media that almost everyone in this era is currently facing is really undermined.”

(21:30) The problem is lack of awareness and rules on the highway.

• (21:49): “It’s not the case that it’s really bad. It’s because of technology that we can record this podcast. But there should be certain rules about how social media platforms should be used, and moreover they should be designed in such a way that people can focus better on the tasks at hand and connect with the people in the room.”

(23:00) Social Dilemma 

(23:34) Doing away with money problems in our lives, and just contributing our best while here on Earth. 

• (24:15) “In our society, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And it’s because of the way we deal with economics.”
• (24:48) “To make a change, food and shelter should be free. Because you are already born on earth, you are entitled to some space, and some amount of food. Just the way it was in the earlier days, our basic needs were taken care of by nature itself. But as we progressed technologically, we made our own rules and built the foundation of the current economic systems. The basic needs of human beings should be fulfilled, and then the ranks or status of the individual should be determined by the contribution of work that they are doing.”

(28:15) We close with advice for building relationships across cultures

• Communication, patience, and tolerance are key.

Episode should already be up on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2HMUoJ5 :)

Have a wonderful day,

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are some notes as I process this interview with Aerospace Master, Sushen Joshi (you all get sneak-peeks of everything ;)). This description is a little different than what will be up on Spotify 10 days from now. I tend to keep my remarks shorter there.

Project at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (we met through our respective internships at SRON):

• developing a method to better quantify and locate methane emissions at the 1km x 1km scale

Current thesis at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands:

• analyzing light polarimetry data from NASA's Cassini mission to estimate relative amounts of methane, ethane, and other hydrocarbons in the liquid lakes on the surface of Saturn's most popular moon, Titan (popular because it's the only known exoplanet with a dense atmosphere and stable liquid bodies at surface level, a little bit like Earth).

Weighing graduate school options for aerospace studies:

• India: Hard to switch between tracks (e.g. from Computer Science to Aerospace)
• US: International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) makes it hard for international students to work in fields that contain sensitive information regarding aerospace development
• Europe: Technical University of Delft has one of the largest space technology programs and faculty, combining science and technology. Free, open, beautiful country with a nice environment.

Future potential steps after PhD in planetary sciences/atmospheres:

• Pushing the boundaries of planetary science by joining a space mission
• Becoming involved with space mission design or human space flight
• Perhaps a professorship at a university or research with an institute

Changes Sushen wants to see in the way we approach space exploration:

• Having a more multi-national approach to space missions: "If we want to make humans a multi-planetary species, it is a difficult thing for just one nation to do."
• The Indian Space Research Agency's motto is "Harnessing space tech for the welfare of the nation" and Sushen aims to broaden the "nation" goal to "planet or entire world."

Sources of inspiration, biographies of whom he's read:

• Political leaders like A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian president, from humble beginnings to building out large programmatic missions
• Scientists like Albert Einstein and George Washington Carter
• Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Larry Page

Take-away life advice:

• Based on biographies of those who've made significant contributions in their field, Sushen realized it's also important to offer a big picture vision and perspective along with your particular contributions to your field
• Go deep into what you care about; dive all the way into the fundamentals or basics
• Never give up; have resilience
• Maintain an questioning attitude and curiosity; don't accept something because someone or everyone said it is so

When making tough decisions:

• Go through Thought experiments; decision matrices; listening to your gut
• "Focus on the signal over the noise"
• Apply dynamic or greedy programming methodologies to your decision-making: our ideal solution is that we know every sub-solution on the way to finding the optimum solution. But sometimes reality boils down to the greedy approach: choosing the best solution you can move ahead with, giving the information you can collect. 
• Don't give up; keep moving toward deeper self-discovery.

Book/Author mentions and recommendations:

• The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz: we have only one life; we should strive to live it out to the highest humanly possible contribution we can muster.
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Feynman
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
• Pale Blue Dot and Cosmos by Carl Sagan
• Neil deGrasse Tyson
• The Fabric of the Cosmos by Bryan Greene

Other resources:

• Toggle for time management tracking and analysis
• https://www.mindtools.com/

Sushen's social/professional links are: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushenjoshi/?originalSubdomain=nl
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sushen.joshi.1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sushenspacejoshi/?hl=en
• Email: sushenjoshi93@gmail.com

Hope some of this is interesting and helpful to you! 

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some tips for journaling, which I'll flesh out in a separate article at the end of this month:

1) Organize. 

2) Find a time. 

3) Find a frequency. 

4) Find a place.

5) Silence your inner critic. 

6) Don't look back too soon.

7) Be mindful of your mental health. 

Thanks, love, and see you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am SO pumped by the new music you'll be hearing in this podcast from here on out! (I have to go through and update all the ones I pre-released up here on Patreon, but it's so worth it. Just take a listen on Spotify if you want to follow along with the next ones).

A special big thank you to all of you because YOU have made this upgrade possible with your support on Patreon. It feels truly incredible to be investing in something that brightens your day as much as it pumps up my spirit too. 

...

As for the actual content of the episode, it's a quick one today:

Readers don't want to be bogged down by details. Keep them hanging onto your words by saying just enough to get their imaginations rolling. Style your writing to capture snapshots of a whole slew of experiences and moments; only give details where necessary for visualization or clarity.

This is tip 9 of 10 for writing a memoir that I've derived from my analytical reading of Dani Shapiro's memoir, Hourglass.

Case in point: the subtle ways in which she portrays intimate chemistry make the explicit implicit.

“A man flirts with me at a party. From time to time, a business card offered, pressed into my hand. A cocked eyebrow. A sweeping glance. A suggestive e-mail. An invitation. The husband of a friend. A writer at a conference. It has been easy to shut down even a whiff of an offer. But then there are the ones — I’m sure M. has them, too — who would have caught my interest in another life.”––Dani Shapiro

This style of writing also gives you snapshots of a whole slew of experiences and moments, without taking up too much space on the page.

Have I left anything out that you were curious about? ;)

...

The song is called Light Up the Way, by Die Hard Productions. I feel lit up by it, and I hope you do too. I feel it's symbolic on many levels, and perfect for the theme of this show. Again, thank you for making this all possible! Enjoy.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, loves. Thank you as always for tuning in. Take care, talk to you tomorrow, with some more great tunes and tips.

Aldís

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tip 8 of 10 from reading Dani Shapiro's Hourglass is to leverage the repetition and evolution of those voices (and your own voice) in your writing.

Examples: 

• Mary Midgley's philosophy of our many selves --> all of Shapiro – "the whole crowd" wants to know why she wants to write this memoir so badly now

• Grace Paley's remark on the "seconds" between the ages of 50 to 80 ––> Shapiro is 52, and writing this, coming up with different metaphors for time: sands, dominoes, shuffled tarot decks

As always, thank you for supporting each episode here. I know I repeat myself every day by saying this, but hopefully I've been adding a phrase each each time to make it interesting and meaningful to you, especially in these past 10-12 episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1) While studying or between schools, you can work to gain life experience and save money.

2) You can always earn money later; chase your dreams in your 20s.

3) Success is about deeply reflecting on your life; considering how you want to live in relation with yourself and others, and setting targets to get there while having a positive influence and not harming others.

4) Specialize. Establish your niche area(s) of work, so people can recommend and refer to you in future projects.

5) Art therapy isn't just about group drawing sessions to calm you down; it involves specialized approaches, tools, and methods.

6) If you're curious about a field, contact experts in it and ask how long it took them to learn the skills they use in their day to day work. Sinwah has been doing this kind of background research out of curiosity for the field of art therapy, her prospective next big career step.

7) Recognize when your work is not serving you; for Sinwah, art administration and desk work wasn't allowing her to create, so she moved on once she'd saved up.

8) Decide what form of art you want to engage with, and take your time discovering what it is you want to communicate through it.

You can find Sinwah at https://sinwahlai.blogspot.com/.

As always, thank you for supporting each episode. 

Have a wonderful day today. Go chase your dreams, pursue your curiosities, and work joyfully toward specializing in your chosen field or niche intersection!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally from Hong Kong, she studied creative arts in Taiwan and has performed in an international art 'marathon' in Berlin, Germany. 

In this episode, Sinwah shares stories about her past and ongoing art projects pertaining to food, languages, and spirituality, as well as tips on specializing your craft to build a reputation for project referrals and commissions. 

Sinwah's view of success is to go deep in your life reflections and set targets to have a positive influence on the world; that is, to not harm others. 

Her future plans include entering the field of art therapy. You can find and contact Sinwah at https://sinwahlai.blogspot.com/p/bio.html to continue this conversation!

As always, thank you for supporting my creative journey. As Sinwah says, the 20s are a time to chase your dreams, and you are helping me chase mine–– so a big heartfelt thank you for your support!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just like we experience our days: do all moments stick with you? Or do some fall by the wayside? Let the moments that matter come to the surface and form your story.

Book mentions: 

• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, also written in stream of consciousness

Here's a (possibly) fun activity to try, if you're just itching to see how this could work in practice. I just thought of it while writing up this episode description, and it's something I practice occasionally while journaling.

• Notice how you go about your days. Try writing a memoir-of-the-day, and see which moments resurface as you reflect on your day. It may take a while to get the hang of stream of conscious, but the key is to not overthink it too much, and not judge each thought that arises. Just transfer each thought to the page, and read them later. Maybe much later.

Thank to all of you for supporting me here! I can recall moments with each of you that have stuck with me and shaped me to this day, so know that you are an integral part of my life and journey. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the same way, Dani Shapiro alludes to the power of "writing about what could have happened but didn't." She hints at whiffs of affairs that she has brushed aside, but also the feeling that there is a real possibility that in a different life, she could have ended up with them. Shapiro also writes about the worst-case-scenarios that flashed through her mind in nerve-racking situations like driving in snow storms and driving people to the hospital.

What are your what-ifs? Would you have the courage to write about them in your memoir?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As always, thank you for supporting each episode! Hopefully I am keeping you curious and satisfied at once.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Hourglass, Dani Shapiro says: "the onrushing present" is "the only place from which the writer can tell the story."

Other book mentions:

• Marlon Brando: The Way It's Never Been Done Before, by George Englund

As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each episode here. You are my present, in all senses of the word. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dani Shapiro says: "the onrushing present – the only place from which the writer can tell the story – continues to shift along with the sands of time. Why not attempt to tell the story as I'm inside of it?"

Book mentions:

• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

• Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts

Thank you my dear Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me here. Life is beautiful with you in it.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some of Dani Shapiro's sources/people/philosophies:

• Mary Midgley: we are many selves

• Richard Klein and Ira Glass: you can stay in love for 18 months; after that it becomes admiration, respect, affection, and other things

• Adrienne Rich: refining the truths you can tell your loved ones

• Donald Hall: third things in relationships

As always, thank you to each of you for supporting me here. You are among the sources of inspiration and wisdom that I have encountered in my life. 

Bless you and bless your life <3

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are some of the umbrella themes under which your experiences can collect and hold readers' interests and affinities?

As always, this episode is dedicated to and supported by each of my Patrons, friends, and family members. Thank you so much!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finishing her Geology PhD from the University of Iceland during COVID lockdown back home in England, Catherine Langford is preparing 3 papers for near-simultaneous publication in three noteworthy journals, and a thesis! In the previous podcast, we discussed her research; definitions of success; future plans; PhD advice; relationship advice; how to relate to someone with Asperger's (a form of autism); and motivational tips for your work! Packed with great content you'll love Episode 69 if you're seeking a talk with entertaining anecdotes and candor.

This episode unpacks some of the key take-aways from our conversation, for you to take home with you or take to heart.

Success is...

1) Success is in the little accomplishments: finishing sorting through that batch of microfossils!

2) Success is looking back at what you've done to see that you've come so far.

3) Success is less red proofing on your papers and improving your craft.

4) Success is not having your computer break down while processing your code! (Super relatable)

5) Success is publishing multiple papers around the same time so you get to cross-reference them. (Way to go, Cat! Best of luck be with you throughout review and publishing, but I know you can do it anyway).

6) Success is being able to envision your future. Catherine hopes to someday give lectures at the Natural History Museum of London.

When pursuing a PhD...

7) Have savings to begin with, and be frugal

8) Don't panic – it can seem overwhelming, but you'll find your stride.

9) Make friends outside of your department.

10) The farther on you go, the more time-consuming the research will get. Establish social bonds early!

11) Try not to do 24-hour days or pull all-nighters. Funny stories abound here, but really: you want to be lucid and fresh, don't you?

12) Stay in contact with your friends and family; they are ever the source of comfort and encouragement. Truly. Amen to that.

13) When networking in the workplace ... nice chats far surpass elevator pitches.

14) It's a small world whenever you're in a niche field.

15) Try to go to the icebreakers or meals at conferences, so people will see you and may recognize you or talk to you later. It builds common ground.

16) Observe the attire people in your profession wear so you can fit in (or stand out!)

When relating to a friend with Asperger's or meeting someone with Asperger's...

17) Don't reference mainstream TV characters with autism. It can be highly offensive and generalizing. People have unique idiosyncrasies that they'd rather be recognized for than being lumped into a category.

18) It may take someone with Asperger's more time to recharge from social interactions. Give them time and space.

19) Take it step by step, and communicate feedback gently and lightly.

20) Many people may mask that they are on the Autistic spectrum, but for Catherine it has actually facilitated her social interactions letting people know about Asperger's as a condition, and how it might impact their relationship; what to expect. It helped me in getting to know her as well, so I'm glad she was open about it. And she's been glad to have her friends and family be understanding and accepting about it too.

21) Meeting one on one or in a mellow park or hometown can often be easier and less overwhelming for someone with Asperger's than meeting in groups or in a crowded public place..

When motivating yourself to get to it....

22) Stick to a schedule that works for you

23) Get out and take a breather

24) Chat with friends or officemates

25) Give yourself some active off-time (e.g. don't just procrastinate on work you have to do; actively enjoy yourself)

When motivating yourself in lockdown...

26) Give yourself 1-2 goals per day (remember: success is in the small achievements! e.g. writing down a couple of paragraphs).

27) Give yourself a dopamine kick and inertia boost by doing something you like first, then moving on to something you need to do. (Great life hack, this one!)

If you'd like to connect and follow up on any these and other topics with Catherine Langford, her email is ceg4@hi.is.

Thank you, as always, to my Patrons, friends, and family for your support: for listening to these podcasts, for following my work on Patreon, for sending your encouragement and feedback where and when it counts! (It always does to me, so thank you!) You can find me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/aldisart?fan_landing=true. Click Follow to receive updates in your inbox.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a concert with Sinfóníuhljómsveit Áhugamanna (the Icelandic Amateur Symphony Orchestra)

Working on finishing her Geology PhD from the University of Iceland during COVID lockdown back home in England, Catherine Langford is preparing 3 papers for near-simultaneous publication in three noteworthy journals, and a thesis! Join in as we discuss her research; definitions of success; future plans (publications and beyond, she wants to work and give lectures at the Natural History Museum of London); PhD advice; relationship advice; advice on relating to someone with Asperger's (a form of autism); and motivational tips for your work! Packed with great content you'll love if you're seeking a talk with entertaining anecdotes and candor.

If you have questions about pursuing a PhD, studying geology and micropaleontology, or if you want further advice on connecting with someone with Asperger's, you can contact Catherine at her email: ceg4@hi.is. Later in the year, you can search for her on Google Scholar for her publications :)

As always, thank you to my dear Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each and every episode and making this all possible. You are my heroes. To follow my latest work, you can click "Follow" and create a free account on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/aldisart?fan_landing=true.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This recipe is my modification to a a cinnamon bun recipe from a Gourmet's Weekends book that I got from a used-book bookstore. 

This recipe does involve some waiting time. It's not one of those things you just stir together and pop in the oven. But it's worth it! And it basically only uses 2 bowls: a large bowl (for the flour mixture) and a small bowl for the yeast mixture.

This recipe makes 1 family-size jumbo Snúður.

Like with pizza, you're going to want to proof some yeast first. 

• heat up 3 tablespoons of water to 110-115ºF, stir in a spoonful of honey, and sprinkle 1.25 tsp active dry yeast on top. set aside

The dough:

• combine 1.25 cups all purpose flour with a pinch of salt
• add 1/8 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 egg, and 1/4 cup of unsalted butter (softened in microwave or on stovetop for 20 seconds)

The waiting part and shaping part: 

• let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes
• work with the dough and roll out into a long snake on parchment paper (preferable to aluminum foil)–– it was my mistake not to make the spiral shape on parchment paper, then swirl into a spiral
• let it rise again under a wet towel or paper towel for 50 minutes

Baking part:

• heat the oven to 350ºF and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top
• tap and you'll hear slightly hollow sound if it's risen well

Topping part:

• you can simply sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top, or make a chocolate glaze
• to make chocolate glaze, start with a 1:2 ratio of cocoa powder to powdered sugar (I used 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar), then add a tiny bit of milk at a time, until it starts to form a smooth paste that you can spread over the roll
• Top and serve!

As always, this episode is dedicated to and supported by each of you. 

If you'd like a version of this recipe in European metrics, here's one that looks good: https://www.icelandfoodcentre.com/snudur-icelandic-bakery-style-cinnamon-roll/

Thank you so much <3 Hope you enjoy! 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Warning that some of the following is unpleasant, but truthful, and makes a convincing case against eating animal products:

• EGGS: hens in factory farms hardly have room to spread their wings over the course of their egg-laying years. ON THE UPSIDE: a small group of hen advocates in England took to court the case of these "battery cages" – the ones in which hens could never walk around freely or lay eggs in a nest – and eventually brought about a ban on battery cages by 2012, but there is still work to be done toward truly cage-free eggs.

• CHICKEN MEAT: chickens raise for meat are packed into sheds that house over 20,000 birds. These industrial farms shear off the chickens' neuro-sensitive beaks in a painful un-anesthetized process so that the chickens cannot peck each other or smell the build-up of ammonia in all their excrement. They are bred to gain weight so fast that they reach market weight in only 42 days but some collapse and soon die from being unable to access their food and water because their bones have not matured fast enough to support their weight.

• MILK: cows are impregnated so that they begin to produce milk for their newborn calf, but the newborn calf is taken away from the cows so that their milk can be used for human consumption. [I have physically been to farms that do this differently and raise the calves with the cows and only siphon off a small portion of cow milk for human consumption, but we are talking about industrial scale milk production here; the type that dominates the market.]

• TURKEYS ON THANKSGIVING: about 46 million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving in America each year, out of 300 million eaten annually. 99% of them are raised on factory farms that shear off (without anesthetic) the turkeys' beaks, talons and "snood" – the fleshy protuberance at the top of their heads – before letting them grow up in crowded, dimly-lit, poorly-ventilated sheds. Breeding of American turkeys has selected for the "Broad-Breasted White" which is so broad-breasted that it cannot mate. So, how do turkeys get produced? Artificial insemination is the answer, and it is a traumatizing experience for male and female turkeys. 

"People will say that turkey is traditional at Thanksgiving. In fact it isn't clear if the pilgrims ate wild turkey at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, but one thing is sure: they didn't eat a factory-farmed Broad Breasted White." –– Peter Singer

• FISH: Fish that latch onto baited hooks on commercial long-line fishing nets that span lines 50-100 km long are likely to remain fully conscious as they are dragged for many hours through the sea and then left to suffocate on the boats when pulled aboard. Fish that get caught in gill nets may suffocate in the net with their gills constricted, or they remain trapped for hours before the net is pulled in. 

"Allison Mood, the report's author, has put together what may well be the first-ever systemic estimate of the size of the annual global capture of wild fish. It is, she calculates, in the order of one trillion, although it could be as high as 2.7 trillion [wild fish]." –– Peter Singer

You might think I am quick to change on the basis of this book. I went pescatarian in 2016 after bonding with a group of activist friends, one of whom was vegan, during my summer internship with the Post-Landfill Action Network. 

My switch to complete veganism has been a long time coming. It's about time I say goodbye to personal consumption of animal-based food products altogether. There is too much suffering in the commercial business of it for it to be personally ethical for me to consume whatever I have access to in commercial markets and stores like Costco, Shaw's, or even Whole Foods, though many products claim "organic," "free-range" and "pasture-raised." The veracity of those claims is subject to further investigation, and I don't necessarily have the time to track down each source and make sure I can eat their products guilt-free. 

It'll be easier to just go animal-free. I will make exceptions for our home-grown eggs, since we make sure our chickens are very happy and get to roam under supervision (lest the hawk gets them!) but we don't have a home-grown cow, so I will probably switch to soy milk. Goodbye fish. I understand your pain and I won't have you on my plate soon anymore.

My intention is not to offend or polarize any of you who choose to continue eating animal products for your own reasons, but merely to bring up the ethics of food as food for thought as we close out this Food Week.

Love to you, and love to the animals.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join me in the kitchen as I walk you through how to make your own homemade pizza. I recommend making two batches simultaneously if you are feeding 4 people. One batch is good for 2 people, and you'll want a side dish if you're feeding 3 with one batch.

You're all set with materials and ingredients if you've got an oven that can reach 450ºF, aluminum foil or parchment paper (preferred), a stove or microwave or water boiler to heat water, a large bowl, a small bowl, water, active dry yeast, salt, olive oil, and all-purpose flour. 

You'll also want to have handy some pizza toppings of your choice: canned or fresh pineapple, grated cheese, tomato sauce, onion, broccoli, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, kale, ham, etc. If you've got leftover potatoes or eggplant dishes in the fridge, you can even use those as toppings for a fusion-style pizza :) 

Optional ingredients are dried spices (garlic powder, basil, oregano), and sugar or honey.

Let's have at it! 

• WET INGREDIENTS: in a small bowl, heat water to 110-115ºF (to keep yeast alive) and stir in a spoonful of sugar or honey (optional for the yeast). Sprinkle 2 and 3/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast on top of the water. Set aside for 5 or so minutes to "proof" or foam up as you combine the dry ingredients
• DRY INGREDIENTS: in a large bowl, combine 2 and 1/3 cups of flour with a pinch or two of salt, and dry spices of your choice (e.g. garlic powder, basil and oregano are classic for Italian-style pizza, but you can go ahead with turmeric, chili powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and curry powder if you're feeling it!)
• COMBINE the wet and dry ingredients in the large bowl, and add 2 teaspoons of olive oil before working the dough with your hands. Add a bit of flour if it seems too wet, or add tiny amounts of water or olive oil if it's too dry.
• Let the dough rise to roughly 2x its size in a warm spot as you preheat the oven to 425-450ºF.  (Don't put it in the oven or it'll bake as the oven preheats). Rising takes ~30 minutes.
• Punch out the dough and spread it into whatever shape you'd like until it's roughly the thickness you'd like your crust to be, then poke holes all over the crust with a fork before popping it in the oven. I skip dribbling olive oil over it.
• Pre-bake the crust for 8-10 minutes to make sure the crust is fully cooked before you top it.
• Top it with tomato sauce, cheese, and your readily-available topping selection! Here I used: chopped anchovies, less than a quarter of an onion, and a single large mushroom, as well as one stock of green onion for garnish.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes on parchment paper
• Cool slightly (it'll be super hot), slice, and serve.

My model source for the pizza dough is Sam from SugarSpunRun: https://sugarspunrun.com/the-best-pizza-dough-recipe/

Hope you enjoy your proudly homemade pizza :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello my friends, 

Join me in the kitchen for the making of one of my favorite Indian deserts! This one takes a while. It is rich and sweet. You'll need one 12oz can of evaporated milk, 4-8 cups of whole milk – preferably not lactose-free (I tried using lactose-free whole milk this time and the cheese didn't turn out that well) – a couple drops of lemon juice, and 6-12 green cardamom pods (crush the seeds, discard the husks), and a half-cup of white sugar. For garnish and taste, slice a few almonds or pistachios if you have them. The recipe asks for a pinch of saffron for taste and color, but I have substituted a pinch of turmeric.

Steps: 

• boil 4-8 cups whole milk
• once it boils, add a couple drops of lemon juice and stir 
• lower heat to a low boil or simmer until the liquid mostly evaporates and the milk all curdles into cheese (45min-1hr)
• drain the resulting cheese using a muslin – or if you don't have a muslin, use a paper towel in a strainer (about 3 hours unattended)
• knead the cheese for 1 minute
• roll into cherry sized balls, 8-16 or however many you can make
• OPTIONAL: dissolve some spoonfuls of sugar in enough water to soak the balls for 10 minutes and drain them before adding to the evaporated milk mixture (next step). NOTE: mine disintegrated when I did this with half the batch, so maybe skip this step, and put them directly into the following mixture. But then again, I used lactose-free whole milk this time so that might be why. When I've used regular whole milk it's been fine.
• The delicious soup base or sauce for this desert is made by heating up the 12oz of evaporated milk, dissolving the half-cup of sugar in it, and adding the crushed seeds from 6-12 cardamom pods and sliced almonds or pistachios. Let it cool.
• If you skipped soaking the balls for 10 minutes in sugar-water, just let them soak in the cooled evaporated milk mixture and leave them in the fridge until ready to serve.
• Enjoy! Hopefully yours stick together :)

This recipe comes from the book The Indian Cooking Course by Monisha Bharadwaj: Techniques, Masterclasses, Ingredients, 300 Recipes.

As always, thank you for supporting each and every episode!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Using 1 cup of lentils in this recipe can feed about 2 hungry people for a single meal.

• Rinse 1-2 cups of split red lentils 4-5 times until the water is pretty clear
• Boil in water until soft and mushy; make sure there is enough water so the lentils don't get burnt or stuck while boiling. For more flavor, you can boil the lentils in veggie broth, but go easy on the salt later.
• Meanwhile, dice a whole white onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and a piece of ginger about half the size of your thumb.
• If you have a mortar and pestle, you can use that to grind the garlic and ginger into a paste.
• Heat a big spoonful of oil or ghee (clarified butter) –– enough to fry the onion –– in a large deep pan (deep because you'll be adding the boiled lentils to it later).
• When the oil is hot, add a pinch of cumin seeds, and 2 pinches of mustard seeds. Sprinkle them around. They'll start to pop all over when hot. Put 3-4 dried red chili peppers in there too, along with 4-5 bay leaves or 10-12 curry leaves.
• Let the aromas seep in without letting the spices burn.
• Add the onions, sprinkle in 2-3 pinches of salt
• Fry the onions for a 2-5 minutes until halfway golden-brown, then add the chopped/mashed ginger-garlic.
• Wait until the raw smell of ginger and garlic goes away.
• Add the boiled lentils with some or all of their water, depending on the consistency you want: do you want it more thin and soupy or more thick and porridge-like?
• According to your taste: stir in some turmeric, ground cayenne pepper, garam masala, and two pinches of fenugreek leaves.
• Garnish with coriander (aka cilantro) and serve over rice.
• Enjoy!

The above method comes from experience cooking with friends. If you need a reference recipe, check this one out: https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/dal-fry-how-to-make-prepare-dal-fry-recipe/. 

Let me know if you liked this episode – I make them all for you :) As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These cookies have earned me a great baker's reputation at coffee breaks and gatherings. Rave munching comments about how crunchy they are on the outside yet how soft they are on the inside. 

Let me tell you what I've learned from online bloggers and expert bakers: the secret is to *freeze the dough overnight.* Put it in an airtight container, but make the dough balls first, so you won't have to hack at a frozen lump of cookie dough in the morning. 

So... if you've got all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and baking soda, step into the kitchen with me and let's make some amazing cookie dough! 

Here's the recipe I use for non-vegan chocolate chip cookies: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10813/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/

And here's the recipe I use for vegan chocolate chip cookies: https://food52.com/recipes/39132-ovenly-s-secretly-vegan-salted-chocolate-chip-cookies

Here are the general steps with my modifications for the non-vegan recipe. If you don't have official cup measures or teaspoons etc, not to fear. You can still finagle your way through this recipe. A "cup" is like a teacup but a bit bigger (maybe fill a standard mug halfway) and a "teaspoon" is just a small spoon – not a tiny one and not a soup spoon.

• Don't preheat the oven, because you're going to be freezing the dough.
• Take the butter and eggs out of the fridge first so they can get to roughly room temperature. This just helps with mixing and cohesion, but you can work with them cold if you must.
• Use the blender or a fork to cream together 3/4 stick of butter (the recipe asks for a whole stick), 1.5 cups of white sugar (the recipe asks for 1 cup white, 1 cup brown – use brown all the way if you have it) until smooth. This will take a while if you're using a fork.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Stir in a small spoonful of vanilla (1 teaspoon)
• Trick for the baking soda: dissolve it in two small spoonfuls of water (1 tablespoon) before mixing it into the batter.
• Add a small pinch or two of salt (1/2 teaspoon) 
• Sift in (or don't sift if you don't have a strainer) 3 cups of flour, a cup at a time and stir in between. 
• Add the chocolate chips and nuts if you want them. 
• Use the "two-spoon method" to make dough balls if you don't want to touch the dough with your hands. Or go ahead and use clean hands to roll the dough into little balls. If you feel the dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour. If it's a bit too dry, add a tiny bit of water.
• Roll them in a bit of flour then arrange them into an airtight freezer container (or tightly wrap a glass/ceramic bowl in a leftover plastic bread bag, and put it in the freezer).
• *Tap the secret: wait overnight for the dough to freeze*
• The next day, or whenever you want to bake them thereafter –– which is the beauty of freezing the dough! –– set the oven to 375ºF or 176ºC, and bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes until they look just less than done on the pan. They might not get browned, but take them out anyway, and let them rest and harden on the hot pan. If they have not set after 10-15 minutes, you probably need a bit more time in the oven.
• Enjoy! Share with friends, family, and housemates.

As always, this episode is dedicated to and supported by you, my Patrons, friends, and family! Thank you so much :) 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is the recipe I followed: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/85389/gourmet-mushroom-risotto/, and my modifications below: 

• Dice a whole onion
• Boil 6 cups of water in a pot; dissolve 2 cubes of chicken or veggie bouillon in it
• Grab another pot and heat some oil in it; wash the mushrooms while you wait
• Fry the mushrooms then put them aside in a bowl
• Use the same pan with remnant mushroom juice to heat some more oil
• When the oil is hot but not smoking, start frying the diced onion (yum!)
• Add 1.5 cups of raw rice to the semi-fried onions
• When the rice looks pale/golden, add half a cup of wine or some equivalent alcoholic content of whatever alcoholic beverage you can find (I used a couple spoonfuls of 6.5% Vermouth)
• Stir until the wine seems to be "fully absorbed," whatever that means ;)
• Add broth to the rice-onion pot in half-cup measures; stir in between
• Stir occasionally for 15-20 minutes so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan –– until the rice becomes "al dente"; chop some chives, coriander, or other garnish while you wait (optional); or grate some cheese (optional)
• Remove from the heat, and add the mushrooms with their juice
• Stir in 2-3 tablespoons of butter (I cut it down from 4)
• Garnish with chives, coriander, and/or grated cheese if you took those options.
• Eat and savor! 

Let me know if you liked this episode or tried cooking while listening. Will be  excited to see your comments and reactions in Patreon. Bon appétit!

As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each episode. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1) Culinary fluency: being able to make something out of anything, and let your personality show through the food you make

2) Minimalist essentialism: simpler whole foods, Japanese philosophy, eating everything like an apple (cabbages, onions, kiwis, oranges...)

3) "Hunger makes the best seasoning, and absence makes the heart grow fonder"

4) "MacDonalds is a molecular gastronomy for the masses."

5) "Mass consumer products' particular flavor profile have been the PhD theses of scores of students."

6) Spiritual cookbook, the social bonds

7) Food touches all the senses.

8) Life is too short, and maybe it doesn't have to be that way

9) Biological, artificial intelligence, and cryogenic methods toward longevity

10) Tug those earlobes ;)

11) Avoid wheat, preservatives, gluten, and alcohol to reduce inflammation

12) Monitor diet heart rate, and exercise regularly

13) Calisthenics help your joints and tendons stay flexible

14) Analytical Space and optical lasers for communication

15) Gap years are a great way to gain perspective and refocus your continuing studies

16) In the real world you learn about grindstones and noses, and who's at the dinner table or on the dinner table.

17) Improv isn't just being able to riff on ideas and impress people; it's based on empathy and human understanding

18) To succeed in relationships, focus on avoiding the pitfalls of the lesser angels of your nature. Be kind to yourself first, and know what it takes to make yourself feel good. From there you'll be less likely to hurt other people out in the world.

19) Read multiple books at once, and new ideas will emerge.

20) It takes patience, a kind soul, and a positive outlook to care for yourself and become a better person.

21) You can bring fluency to whatever it is you do in your life's work.

22) "Life is art and art is life."

You can find Adam Wong on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamsulliwong/.

As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each episode! Let me know which ones you like best by liking them on Patreon or shooting me a message.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam shared so many mind-blowing ideas in this podcast, you'll want to hear them all and savor each word. Since appearing on MasterChef in 2018, Adam graduated from Harvard in Anthropology and started a job leading Regulatory and Governmental Affairs at a company called Analytical Space. They are developing optical lasers so that when we send people to Mars, we can communicate with them to see how it is out there. Currently, Adam is also working on a spiritual cookbook: a second-level cookbook to help us tap into the social bonds and other dimensions that food creates. He has also practically considered all the ways to live to over 200 years old. Want to pick up on his longevity strategies, from healthy foods to regular exercise and calisthenics? Listen in for the full blast :)

You can find Adam Wong on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamsulliwong/.

As always, thank you to my lovely dear Patrons, friends, and family for supporting my episodes and encouraging me to push forth in this journey. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's a taste of personal stories and journal excerpts on this podcast. I'm guessing it's relatable because it has to do with social media: how we use it to further our goals, and how it uses us too. Being able to find your voice out there and not be too attached to outcomes is key, along with sticking with your personal goals and what matters to you.

As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me! Your support sustains my faith in social platforms to do some good in the world <3

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many people recommend starting your days out right. What about ending them out right? Think of the implications this could have for how we handle end-of-life as well, when we look back with few regrets and loads of gratitude, and a feeling of accomplishment. I end my days by journaling –– being thoroughly honest with what went well, and what didn't –– stretching, and meditation. How do you end your days?

If you'd like to get my podcasts in your inbox, you can "Follow" me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart?fan_landing=true. Just sign up for a free account, and click "Follow." Easy job!

As always, a huge thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family who are supporting me in this journey.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Also, check out my new intro-outro jingles! By listener request, I have made the intro-outro jingles my own. Comment if you like them or want to see any other changes. I'm open to your feedback and requests.

Thank you to my lovely Patrons, friends, and family members for supporting me in my art journey :) 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 votes: positive frameworks and motivational things like the Rise and Grind, Zero to One tips (Ep. 10-14), Chakra Boost series (Ep. 26-32), or Creativity habits (Ep. 35-36), synthesized from books I've read

3 votes:

• highlights featuring people: conversations about art, relationships, careers, identity, life advice

• summaries and take-away life advice from highlights

2 votes:

• musical interludes: playing some violin, some recordings

• sharing personal stories, poetry, journal excerpts, writings

1 vote:

• musings on books, love, relationships, internships, finances (like Ep. 8-9 but indoors)

• cooking/baking episodes where I talk while actually going through a recipe

• movements (like Black Lives Matter series Ep. 19-23, potential ones on Zero Waste, Zero Hour, etc...)

• soundscapes and voice-overs (like Graduation Reminiscence, Impromptu Masterclass, Street Musician Audio Tour)*

*The frequency of soundscape episodes will highly depend on the availability of found-audio in my personal archives :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adding one on to the list of 20 tips from first month and more of podcasting: when you're in a production rut and feeling like you don't know what to produce next, it probably means you haven't been taking in much input from other informational or inspirational sources. Give yourself a break, figure out what you're doing that's burning you out, and seek outside input and inspiration to reinvigorate yourself. You can do this! Keep going for your goals, as long as they are in alignment with where you want to go.

Thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each podcast and giving me encouragement and feedback! You can find, follow, and contact me via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/aldisart.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Performance:

1) Once you're on stage, take ownership of your space.

2) Perform for yourself, not just for other people. This makes you less self-conscious. It lets you express yourself; nourishes your spirit.

Art:

3) The world doesn't appreciate artists and dancers enough.

4)There's a threshold past which artists start to make a lot of money. But before that, it's very minimal.

Habits:

5) Get your sweat in early.

6) Plan and schedule your goals in weekly time sheets.

Education:

7) Reflect on your why in terms of educational background and future needs when choosing your field of study.

8) While doing the coursework, work with friends. Allow yourself to be taught by each other.

9) Let go of your pride because pride makes it harder to learn.

Relationships:

10) Golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.

11) Keep communication lines open; set expectations with each other.

12) Don't hide behind excuses. Just be upfront and honest.

13) Be able to unlearn old habits in order to meld best with your current partner(s). It doesn't help to compare current partner(s) with past ones.

14) Take your time in relationships, to build them up.

15) Check in on yourself: why are you in the relationship? What do you bring to it? What do you seek from it? Pull it together from there.

You can find Daniel Getega on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1e_Sfxj0IU and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniel_getega/.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Getega has been supporting me throughout my art journey as both a Patron and a dear friend. He’s also been providing quality feedback that helps improve each new episode! Thank you, Daniel. This episode showcases his latest career achievements in Electrical Engineering at Harvard University, as well as the art in his life that has taken the form of dancing, breakdancing, and capoeira, a martial art. At the end, Daniel offers relationship advice: what's worked best, and how to be better. You can find Daniel Getega on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1e_Sfxj0IU and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniel_getega/.

And as always, thank you to you, my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me in each and every episode!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to hear the inside scoop and gather some takeaways on my podcasting process? This 50th episode compiles the tips and tricks I've learned from the field.

1) You can always get farther ahead of yourself. Sometimes you just need to take the next step, which might be to sleep.

2) It will help if you like the sound of your own voice, when you're editing your own podcast :) luckily, I do.

3) The closer you zoom, the easier it is to nit-pick all the umm's and ahh's. But too many edits can make it unbelievable!

4) Just guess at the waveform of your intended phrase; you just might land on it.

5) There's a difference between alone time working hard, and alone time hardly working. Sometimes you need to give yourself a break.

6) Each person has distinct waveforms in their speech, and certain sounds they characteristically make. It's cool to see in Audacity.

7) Rotating your head to and from the mic makes a difference in sound production. Try to be intentional about it, or have your notes and mic right in front of you.

8) Most people on social media don't actually click to follow through on your feed or stories. And that's ok; it's social media's fault.

9) Most people don't listen to you podcast every day, and that's also ok. I like to browse around too, or wait for episodes to pile up so I can pick and choose the ones that interest me across various shows.

10) I'll be doing an audio compilation highlight reel of sorts–– stay tuned!

11) Editing audio has become easier than editing video, with all this practice.

12) Consistent volume is important throughout. I use decibel cut-offs so I don't hurt your ears with loud near-mic interjections or laughter :)

13) It saves time to figure out file type import/export logistics, and software in the beginning. Well worth that initial time investment!

14) What started as walking and talking became recording inside, based on feedback and preference.

15) It's been nice having a small familiar community of listeners, rather than jumping into broader distribution platforms like iHeartRadio. Thank you to those of you who have been giving me feedback on episodes you like and aspects that can improve!

16) People like your honest self; their compliments and criticisms are all trying to preserve the person they know you to be and know you capable of becoming.

17) When someone says you've done great, it doesn't mean you can't do better.

18) Don't get tendonitis. If you do, take a rest. Always take care of your body. Sun ti geen hong! That's the sound-spelling of how to say "Cheers to Body & Health!" in Cantonese.

19) Your sanity is precious. Get enough sleep to preserve it.

20) It's a great feeling to be on top of your goals. I hope you find that in your life, in the day-to-day and long-term!

Thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart. You can find Noah, the pianist, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing games is another great way to improve your early language skills while learning, because it's fun and engaging, and you get to learn random colloquial slang like: "the one who wins first will lose until their pants fall down." As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family who have been supporting my podcast and art journey, updates of which can be found on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart.

If you like the pianist in the jingle, you can find Noah on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro, you can find him on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each episode, and to all my listeners here on Spotify! You can find me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart. You can find Noah the pianist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each episode. You can find me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/aldisart.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro, you can subscribe to his channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g. :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noah F.P. the pianist is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As opposed to ferocious independence. Join me in musing about the limitations of being ferociously independent –– insisting on your own living space, financial independence, alone time, washing your own dishes and clothes, etc. –– and the possibility of the opposite: radical interdependence.

How much more and how much easier would you integrate with your familial, friend, or home communities if you embraced the idea of radical interdependence? Or is there a middle ground between having your own autonomy – living by your life values – and embracing the ways in which you rely upon the people and natural systems around you?

I am growing into the notion of radical interdependence as I welcome new Patrons to my Patreon page, and as I learn how best to cohabit with friends and families across cultures. I send a big thank you to all the people who have supported and guided me in my life thus far. You can find my latest work here on Patreon! 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary

Thematic segments:

1. Family: Social housing, Conferences, Village life
2. Identity: Horizontal identities, Gender identities, Raising kids
3. Relationships: a) Relationship anarchy: Buffet style building relationships from the ground up, Less hierarchical prioritization of relationships (acquaintance, platonic, romantic, familial). b) Polyamory: Dealing with jealousy, the term Metamour: your partner's partner

Book mentions:

• Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

• The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy

If you would like to continue this conversation with Peter Ku, you can find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SonderInSerendipity

For early access to episodes and monthly bonus content, subscribe to my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart. As always, a big thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family who are supporting my art journey.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro, you can subscribe to Noah F.P. on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g. If you like the violinist, you can also find me on YouTube :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary

Peter Ku is someone who has inspired me to think differently about life, career, and relationships ever since we met in college, and who has been supporting me on this art journey as both a friend and a Patron. I invited them on this podcast to share their inspiring and possibly life-changing perspective with you as well. After we hear about Peter’s career plans to start working at a very niche intersection of accessibility and machine learning after 3 years at Amazon, we discuss their unique exploration of gender identity, polyamory, and a village vision that supports the upbringing of the next generation. These are super hot topics! If you would like to continue this conversation in any way with Peter, you can message Peter Ku on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SonderInSerendipity.

Book mentions/recommendations:

• Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon

As always, thank you to my dear Patrons, friends, and family for supporting each and every episode here! You can get early access to episodes and bonus artsy content on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aldisart.

Pianist Noah F.P. is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g. Subscribe if you like our intro-outro clips. :)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, find Noah F.P. on YouTube :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, find Noah F.P. on YouTube :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, find Noah F.P. on YouTube :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, find Noah F.P. on YouTube :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you like the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, find Noah F.P. on YouTube :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P. the amazing pianist in the intro-outro, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P. the amazing pianist in the intro-outro, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Career:

1) Work in the field and network with future tribe members. Also advice by other featured highlights!

2) There's more help out there than you realize; be ok with asking for and receiving help.

3) It's good to get by on your own merits, but also let people advocate for them and get you further.

4) Get your name out there by building an online presence: social media, blog, website, portfolio.

5) For creative projects, put something down on paper first.

6) When setting something up: use templates carefully. Customize them fully so that the content is yours.

Relationships:

7) Manage expectations. This goes for client relationships especially, but can also apply to romantic partnerships.

8) Respect each other, don't take them for granted, recognize each person's humanity. This of course helps with staying friends after dating.

9) Own up to your own insecurities.

10) Make time for the things you love to do.

Final thought:

11) Contemplating relocation: do you live in a location conducive to your desired kind of work and contributions?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen in for advice on how to build your online presence, manage expectations in your client-provider relationships and network in professional settings. We close with our thoughts on the art of maintaining a good relationship, including what it's like to stay friends after dating, how to respect boundaries, and the personal growth task of owning up to and overcoming personal insecurities.

For legal advice, networking, and referrals, you can find Assaad Lyn at http://www.assaadlynlaw.com/. As for social platforms, he is on Twitter https://twitter.com/blazeknyt and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aelynlaw/. Feel free to reach out and drop a note if you want to carry out your own conversation. :)

As always, thank you to my Patrons, friends, and family for supporting me on this journey: https://patreon.com/aldisart.

You can find Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1. Collaborative small-group learning can be more enriching than a lecture-based format.
2. Embrace the politics of administration in order to increase diversity among the student body and increase resources to support all students' learning.
3. Energize your day by staying active.
4. Try out different professions.
5. Meet the tribe members in your prospective field, and see if you feel a good fit.
6. Teach For America can help you set up your Masters degree and teaching credentials. Other 2-3 year teaching programs and residencies work too.
7. An alternative to teaching programs is getting a Masters in education, then applying to teach at schools.
8. Figure out whether you like teaching by volunteering, tutoring, and working with students.
9. Stay humble and be open to learning from your elders even if you feel like a hot-shot coming out of your training :)
10. Give it five years to become a good teacher, and stick with it if you want to do it in the long run.
11. Innovation is a form of success; you achieve success if you never get bored. Keep bringing new ideas into and out of the classroom.
12. You don't have to study specifically to become a teacher. You might end up teaching what you study; e.g. biology.
13. Working with international people can make you a better teacher.
14. Living with family friends can help you with finances; get along with each other because you can really help each other out.
15. Shorten your checklist when it comes to your ideal companion.
16. For some checklist ideas: passion for life's work, athleticism, value alignment, moral drive, egalitarian household management, open-mindedness.
17. All you need is one good match; stay positive and stay still long enough for them to catch up with you (or catch up with them!)
18. Do the things you love to do, and you might find them that way.
19. Dating apps can help you find a match, even within your first month online.
20. Support teachers in your locality by voting for public school funding and valuing their efforts.

You can contact Shannon Mueller at shannonmueller12@gmail.com, or find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-mueller-6b076a43.

You can find me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/aldisart.

You can find Noah F.P. intro-outro pianist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All my episodes are dedicated to and supported by my Patrons, friends and family. Thank you for your support, dear ones!

If you liked the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, you can find Noah F.P. on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you'd like to hear more from Noah F.P., the pianist in the intro-outro jingles, check YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can find amazing pianist (in the intro/outro jingles), Noah F.P. on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1) Build movements by talking to and gathering a small group of people first. 

2) Find your identity and know what you want to say with what you've learned. 

3) Build your portfolio with your most recent work and set the bar high to improve your chances at landing opportunities. 

4) Be kind. 

5) Success is being able to turn your ideas or vision into a reality. 

6) "You've just gotta eat and paint, and that's about it." 

7) Send words of encouragement to people because it can positively change their life. 

8) Contacts can help connect you to opportunities. 

9) Push yourself to overdeliver because you will get more out of it. 

10) Be resourceful with your money when seeking to learn, but also be ready to invest in yourself. 

Did you like the new intro/outro jingle? Let me know by liking or commenting on this episode. You can find amazing pianist Noah Fechtor-Pradines on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqLC-KycMQrVL5hGjXha8g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do I structure my days (tip 1) to sell (tip 3) "secrets" (tip 2) such as early access to podcasts and behind-the-scenes footage of my art and career journey? Why do I think for myself when I encounter new tips for self-improvement? So that I can move the dial forward on climate solutions. 

What do you think about incorporating these tips in your life or not?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I ask myself, 'What's the most loving thing I can do for myself and others right now?' Then I get to it." – Leo Babauta in Tim Ferriss' Tribe of Mentors (p. 237)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shout-out to Anangsha Alammyan and Ruchi Das, editors of Books Are Our Superpower, for celebrating each of my article submissions and encouraging me as I channel my creativity into writing on Medium. Thank you both so much!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.