Mary has the magical title of star lore historian, “safeguarding the human imagination by protecting our access to the night sky and it’s stories.” She is perhaps best known for founding the 9th International Dark Sky Park in the world in Emmet County Michigan in 2011. In this podcast Mary offers us a wealth of poetic knowledge of the night sky, what it stirs in us, and what it can tell us about ourselves as human beings. She shares about her spiritual path as an anthroposophist and about her personal contact with the spiritual world. What has stayed with me most is her insistence that we as human beings need to “ennoble the sense of self as opposed to diminishing the sense of self.”

Tazeen is an Arabic professor at Henry Ford College, a singer-songwriter, and host of a weekly live series called Digging Deeper on Instagram and Facebook. What a pleasure it was to have the opportunity to sit in Tazeen’s home and hear some of her story. A few of my favorite points covered while chatting were: How she finds balance between trusting the “divine order” of things and taking action. How she learned not to expect anyone to be her “everything”. A beautiful description of her Sufi Muslim faith which includes “a meditative prayer where you can sit and chant Devine names and Devine attributes in hopes that you are connecting yourself with the Devine presence and also taking in the attributes and embodying them.”

Patricia is a writer, storyteller, sometimes wedding planner, and producer of the critically acclaimed The Moth StorySLAM series in Detroit and Ann Arbor. After Losing her partner to suicide at age 24, Patricia shares how the suicide loss survivor support groups she has attended all over the country have helped her heal and fueled her love of storytelling. She talks of the mindfulness required to not allow this tragedy to become the thing that defines her, while staying engaged with and helping others who have been through the same thing. Patricia also shares about her love of food and community, and how ritual has helped her deal with an immense, new kind of grief after losing her father suddenly to a brain aneurism 3 years ago.

Mariah is a librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library, a musician, and a triple-negative breast cancer survivor. In this podcast we talk about scarcity mindset vs abundance mindset, and how her role as librarian fosters the question of “How to get across an attitude of generosity or a feeling of abundance” to help people feel like there’s enough. She also shares about the many aspects of her experience fighting cancer: chemo, surgery, radiation, going through it without a belief in a particular god, thinking at one point the experience had just made her “kind of a dick”, and the freedom that comes with surrender. Enjoy!

Mary is the Program Coordinator at Eastern Michigan University’s LGBT Resource Center. She also happens to be a superstar emcee for events around town ranging from TedX to Drag King Rebellion. In this episode we discuss her daily practice which includes “witchy shit with a side of praise songs”, the tricky work of navigating relationships during this politically polarized time in our country, how learning more about her ancestors is helping her know herself, and the importance of community and the feeling of safety it can bring. There’s a lot of laughter in this one, friends. Enjoy!

Bekah is a mom and cofounder of the beloved Cultivate Coffee and Taphouse in Ypsilanti. I caught up with her during a time of great transition and growth, which is being reflected back to her perfectly by this spring season. She shares generously about how her 13 year marriage keeps working though so many changes, how being so involved in her large community can feel lonely sometimes, leaving her craving a smaller tight-knit community of her own, and how new challenges in her life have triggered a new kind of anxiety, through which she is learning to be more vulnerable and open with those around her. This one is about bravery, sacrifices, long-term growth, and vulnerability. 

This super fun episode is with the incomparable Kristie Brablec! Kristie is a world-traveling, adventure-seeking lady pilot, and the new head of Zingerman’s Food Tours where she will be taking people around the world to learn about different food traditions. She talks openly about the risk-taking required for her to leave her ok job for her dream job, how good things usually come out of the feeling of “uncomfortableness”, and how curiosity can become a form of courageousness. If you are afraid of big change or of failure, this episode has some inspiration for you! 

 In this episode we go deep with grief. Jill lost her father last year and shared generously about how her life was changed by the many different faces of grief, including the physical, emotional, and spiritual. We also discuss the importance of having people around you who allow you to be all the different versions of yourself, the importance of neighbors that will have your back but not be in your shit, and how communication and respect are the keys to unifying people and creating community. 

Lauren fell in love with fly fishing over 20 years ago, and since then it has been a muse for her in many ways. She shares about how it lead to her starting her business, The Painted Trout in Dexter, MI, which has also become her spiritual journey. We talk about her experience with anxiety being “the fabric” of her life and how she has finally found something that works for her.   Come for the fly fishing and the 30 years of sobriety, and stay for the no-bullshit take on therapists, female role models, and craft fairs. This is a good one, friends. 

I spent some time with the amazing Lynne Settles who is an Ypsilanti High School art teacher and one of the 2017 DTE Educators of the Year. We talked about how she became an educator who comes from a place of grounded love and connectedness, and the effect that that has had in her classroom. We also touch on the importance of community, how she fostered a connection between her students and the elders in Ypsilanti, how taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of other people, and the necessity of finding the courage to let your voice be heard.