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HOW TO LOOK BACK AND LEARN: One Full Year of Podcasting

10/26/2020

How many 1-year-olds can say they conversed with 47 notable geniuses, fomented community, provided solace to at least dozens of friends and strangers, and emboldened others to take a creative plunge into unknown waters?   You know a toddler like that?? Cool. We need to interview that kid. But seriously.

The one-year-old I’m talking about is, of course, the Rocket Feather podcast. And while we have had a blast building this first year, and only a few arguments, we could not have done it without you - the intrepid Rocketeers. You have been willing to go with us to the difficult places, the challenging places, the confusing, painful, weirdly joyful places. And it’s made all the difference, especially in the year of covid, for us not to have to make this journey alone. Sharing our fears and questions and solutions with our 47 amazing guests and with our brilliant and beautiful listeners has made the most challenging year - debatably - of our lives, not only tolerable, but full of meaning and real joy. So come with us on a walk through some of our favorite moments over the last year as we remember, make meaning, and plan for what’s next.

One of the big themes of this podcast - the Rocketfeather podcast - is that we do the personal work in order to be in relationship, so we can be of service. This is how we have designed this walk down memory lane today. While most of our interviews touched on all three of these phases, we have grouped them according to where we remember having our minds blown and our hearts opened.   This episode would be 14 hours long if we included every bit of goodness, so by necessity, we pared it down to the high points that struck us this week as we were assembling it, which was a delicious torture. It was like cutting up a gorgeous piece of velvet yardage - so hard to cut into when the whole thing is so stunning, but necessary to make the garment we wanted to make.  So we hope you like what we made. Nobody ever promised that creativity was devoid of tough choices.   So true. Anyway - enough preamble - let’s get started!

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Music Credits: Singing Bowl Meditation by Ahjay Stelino at mixkit.co

SHOW NOTES
Key Takeaways:

We do self-actualization so we can be in better relationship, so we can be of service
Self-actualization is never complete.
We are each 100 percent responsible for our relationships.
If you see something, do something.
You don’t have to suffer to do good.

Episodes We Reference:

How to Self-Actualize
- Episode 4: Opening Your Heart w/ Tony Himes
- Episode 15: Living an Epic Life with Claire Louge
- Episode 35: How to Pull a 180 with Hayden Gebler
How to be in Relationship
- Episode 44: How to Be Authentic with Kate & Colby Martin
- Episode 33: How to Empathize for a Living with Matt Ruff
- Episode 19: How to be a Better We with Rowdy Duncan
How to Be of Service
- Episode 29: Don’t Worry Child with Candace & Drew
- Episode 49: How to Get off the Couch with Rosy & Ren
- Episode 8: The End of Homelessnes with Jessi Hans
- Episode 51: How to Raise the Bar with Ruth Ellen & Tim Elinski

Resources:

Our Episode Gallery
Tony Himes’s Arizona Gestalt Institute
Claire Louge’s Prevent Child Abuse AZ
Kate and Colby Martin’s Church Sojourner Grace Collective
Rowdy Duncan’s Inclusive Activism Podcast
Drew & Candace’s song, Don’t Worry Child
Rosy Dixon’s Prescott Indivisible
Jessi Hans’ Coalition for Compassion & Justice
Tim and Ruth Ellen’s Pindrop Travel Trailers

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HOW TO RAISE THE BAR

10/19/2020

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What’s it like to take an unpopular stand for something you know is important? What’s it like to make public service a pillar of your life? What’s important in making a good life for your family? Join us for a chat with the First Family...of Cottonwood, AZ as we learn about leadership, service, entrepreneurship, adventure, and more.

Cottonwood, for those who don’t know, is a former smelter town in Central AZ that nearly dried up and blew away when the mines closed 70 years ago. Over the last decade, though, it had a powerful and surprising renaissance, becoming actually hip... kinda. Now it’s struggling, like many other small towns, with covid, economic chaos, and divisive politics.

Tim and Ruth Ellen Elinski are right in the thick of it. Tim is the current and recently re-elected mayor of Cottonwood. He is also a contractor, specializing in historic renovations AND builds retro mini camping trailers. His wife and business partner, Ruth Ellen, is an award-winning nonprofit leader and entrepreneur who is currently a Business Analyst for the Small Business Development Center at Yavapai College. Together they are working to build the economic and community strength of a their rural region while raising two daughters and maintaining their new business - Pin Drop Trailers

Full disclosure - Tim and Ruth Ellen are old friends of Kelly's. They are super busy, involved people - the kind we love to have on this podcast - and I’m so grateful they made time to talk with us. We get into what it was like for Tim, as mayor, and for the Elinskis as a family, to face protesters in front of their house after Tim’s controversial mayoral proclamation. We go exploring with them to the wilds of Miami, Arizona and the birth of their most recent business venture. And we find out what it means to them to serve and support their community - the whole community, even the people who boldly disagree.

Show Notes:
Do a Science:

Go for a walk outside. Stop. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Take another.
Think about a person you’re put in that “I don’t like [him/her/them] box.” Make an effort to reach out and connect about something. The goal is not necessarily to learn to like that person, just to connect.

"It’s going to take time to get people out of their shells. I think we’re looking at a few years of hard work of getting people to come out and engage and remember why connection is important.” Ruth Ellen Elinski

References:

Resources:

Arizona Local Business Directory
If you are a small business not in AZ, here are organizations that are likely in your community to support your efforts.
Join the rest of the Rocket Scientists on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rfcomlab
Follow us on Instagram @rocketfeather1

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Sign up for the Live Podcast:
www.here_together.eventbrite.com
Music Credits:
Singing Bowls by via www.mixkit.co

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HOW TO BE A LOCAL HERO

10/12/2020

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What would it be like for the businesses near us to be owned by our friends and neighbors? What would it be like if the money we spent in those businesses stayed in town and enriched our whole community? What if we all felt like partners in our economy instead of just customers?

Today’s guest, Thomas Barr, is the Executive Director of Local First Arizona, the largest coalition of local businesses in North America. A proud Arizona native and graduate of Arizona State University, Thomas leads the business coalition of Local First Arizona by advocating for the economic and cultural benefits provided by building strong local economies.

Thomas’s work is fueled by his values. In this episode, he reveals some of the personal and family stories that forged his values around justice and inclusion. He also explains how his advocacy for a strong local business community contributes to building vibrant, equitable prosperity across the state.

In his free time, Thomas volunteers with many causes and organizations throughout the Valley including Young Nonprofit Professionals, Equality Arizona, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Heritage Square Foundation and Phoenix Legal Action Network. Thomas was honored in 2018 as one of Phoenix Magazine’s 40 Under 40, he’s an alumnus of Arizona Leading for Change, and the Valley Leadership Institute's 40th cohort.

We were so happy that Thomas Barr was able to join us this week to share his passion and plans for a thriving economy. He also shared the sometimes wrenching stories of businesses and business owners that Local First Arizona is working to keep afloat during Covid, the biggest challenge to small business in a century. Keep listening to the end when Thomas reveals his secret “smell test” to find out instantly whether a business is locally owned or not, and for his powerful vision for the next 20 years.

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Music Credits:
Atop A Mustang by Arulo via www.mixkit.co

SHOW NOTES
Key Take Aways:

Local business contributes to multi-generational community wealth
Big national chains can actually be seen as “extractive” structures that remove wealth from a community
Local First AZ believes that focusing on sustainability, diversity, and economic justice are integral to supporting local communities and businesses.
Ten Reasons to Buy Locally

Do a Science:

Find out if the businesses you patronize are locally owned. Ask an employee if they know the owner. Thomas says this “smell test” is nearly infallible.

“If I’m going to do something that not only contributes to building a great place but restructures our systems to be more centered on building stronger wealth locally, the answer is helping local entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need… So we’re not so reliant on extractive and dominant big businesses.”

References:

Resources:

If you are a small business not in AZ, here are organizations that are likely in your community to support your efforts.
Join the rest of the Rocket Scientists on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rfcomlab
Follow us on Instagram @rocketfeather1

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HOW TO GET OFF THE COUCH

10/5/2020

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What would make you get off the couch and take to the streets in the name of justice? Justice for people like you? Justice for people who are “different”? We continue to struggle with these questions, but our guests today got off their respective couches long ago. Find out what activism is like here in the Prescott area for Ren Manning and Rosemary Dixon, as they fight for healthcare, freedom, and basic respect for all of our neighbors.

Rosemary Dixon lived all over the world before settling in Prescott 9 years ago. She earned her graduate degree at the University of the Western Cape, in South Africa, and lectured in gender, race, racism and whiteness at the University of Nevada, Reno for eleven years. She is a steering committee member of Prescott Indivisible and the of chair of the recently formed AREA-P (Anti-Racist Education and Action-Prescott). This group operates to educate primarily white people on the hierarchical system we have created, but also acts to spotlight racial injustice and white supremacy in all its forms.

Ren Manning is a local artist, organizer, and educator who is deeply committed to transformation and justice. They moved to Prescott in 2011 from Silver City, New Mexico. They’ve also lived and organized in Tucson, New York City, Guatemala, Mexico, and Maasailand, Kenya. Experiences within international struggles for freedom have influenced their moral, ethical, political, and spiritual growth.

Ren graduated from Prescott College with a Bachelors of Arts in Social Movement Studies and a Masters of Arts in Social Justice and Human Rights. They have taught courses in US/Mexico border studies, anti-racist organizing, landscapes of neoliberalism, art & agency, and community outreach.

Their organizing work includes establishing a full ride scholarship for undocumented students at Prescott College called Freedom Education Fund, two years as the Social Justice Coordinator at Granite Peak UU Congregation, research on US involvement in global border militarization for Todd Miller’s most recent book, and helping form a local deportation defense network, Keep Prescott Together. Ren co-founded and performs with the local Preskitt Drag Cabaret Troupe. They are currently working for the Judy Stahl for AZ State House campaign in Legislative District 1, Co-Director of BorderLinks, and on the Board of UU Justice Arizona.

I’m amazed that we could even get time with them to record this podcast, they are so busy, but I’m thrilled that we did.

This is an intense conversation, but we left it feeling inspired, hopeful, and most important, ready to take action to make things better for ALL of our neighbors. We hope you’ll come along with us for this talk and then we’ll see you at the meeting after. I’ll bring the cookies

SHOW NOTES:
Do a Science:

Learn more about the concept of race
Volunteer for a campaign
Be curious about what you hear about race and justice organizations

References:

The Open Letter to the Community
Find Your Local Indivisible Group
Prescott Indivisible
Keep Prescott Together
AREA-P (Anti-Racist Education and Action-Prescott)
- Email: piar072020@gmail.com
Volunteer for Judy Stahl’s Campaign
Volunteer for other AZ Campaigns
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective
Black Lives Matter

Resources:

Books
- Pedogogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Fiere
- Just Mercy - Brian Stevenson’s
Movies
- Bisbee 17
- Hidden Figures
Video
- Message from the Future: The Years of Repair
- Race: The Power of An Illusion

Quote:

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” - Audre Lorde

Music Credits:

Singing Bowls from Mixkit.com

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HOW TO LOOK BACK AND LEARN: One Full Year of Podcasting

HOW TO RAISE THE BAR

HOW TO BE A LOCAL HERO

HOW TO GET OFF THE COUCH

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