Episodes
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
EPISODE 14: Saluting the women history makers you've (likely) never heard of
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
In this episode, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, kicks off March and Women's History Month with a little personal history about how and why she and co-author Jerri Bell created their book, It's My Country Too: Women's Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan, and their surprising discoveries along the way. Until this project, Tracy confesses, "We had no idea on whose shoulders we'd been standing, in whose shoes we'd been attempting to fill...." despite their thirty years of combined military service. Their pact, she explains, was that this book would not devolve to a warmongering collection. "Truth is," she says, "Jerri and I wouldn't wish the war experience on anyone." Their goal was to give a voice to so many silenced women -- in many cases, silenced for more than a century -- and to allow their stories to be told in their own words from their letters, journals, depositions, media interviews, oral histories, and published and unpublished memoirs. "The curators and librarians were downright giddy," Tracy says, and led them to stacks and stacks of unpublished memoirs. As Tracy reveals, for more than two thousand years women have lived largely oppressed. "The waking has been slow and painful," she says. "It's time to wake up, Holy Rebel Goddesses." Wake up, Holy Rebel Goddesses!
Thursday Feb 28, 2019
Thursday Feb 28, 2019
In Part 2 of this series, Tracy interviews former Army paratrooper, Alfredo Hurtado, about the injuries he suffered in Iraq after his Humvee was destroyed by a roadside bomb, and how music and modern dance restored his desire to live. We're even treated to a musical performance by Alfredo -- one of his original compositions. When asked what misperception about veterans he wishes we'd move beyond once and for all, Alfredo begins with, "We're not robots..." and provides heartfelt examples about the reality veterans and their families face every day. We'll also discover, in real time with Alfredo, what has surprised him most about his life so far! And this makes us wonder...how would we answer that question? What has surprised us most about our lives so far?
Click on the links for more information about Alfredo and the Black Box Dance Theatre troupe.
Tuesday Feb 26, 2019
Tuesday Feb 26, 2019
In Part 1 of this two-part series, Tracy interviews former Army paratrooper, Alfredo Hurtado, about the injuries he suffered in Iraq after his Humvee was destroyed by a roadside bomb in 2004, and how music and modern dance restored his will to live. Alfredo's injuries were physical, and included a traumatic brain injury. The inability to return to who he was, or to who he thought he was, before the injuries nearly cost him everything, including his life. Traditional therapy helped some. But Alfredo says he made the turn when his wife handed him a journal one day with orders to write, write it all down. Eventually, his journal entries led to songwriting, and the songwriting led to an introduction to a local modern dancer, who invited Alfredo, the musician, to play at her events. Before long, she nudged him toward dancing, and Alfredo has been dancing ever since. Listen in as Alfredo shares what he's discovered about the healing power of creativity through music, and of all things, modern dance.
Click the links for more information about Alfredo and the Black Box Dance Theatre troupe.
Thursday Feb 21, 2019
EPISODE 11: A liberal arts student of life, he's "drunk" on science, storytelling
Thursday Feb 21, 2019
Thursday Feb 21, 2019
In this episode, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, reunites with Eckerd College alum, Norris Comer, a 29-year-old native of Portland, Oregon, and managing editor of Northwest Yachting Magazine, to discover how Norris combines his passion for science and nature with his passion for storytelling. With a willingness to approach each day as a study in liberal arts, Norris finds plenty of "fodder" for storytelling. "Life can be scary," he says, "if you live in a bubble...and much more enjoyable through knowledge and a willingness to appreciate the interconnections of all things." Making connections through story seems to come natural to Norris. "Everything needs a storyteller," he says, and shares how storytellers help to breathe life into scientific discoveries overwhelmed with data. On his LinkedIn page, Norris states, "I think Forrest Gump is a great role model," and he tells Tracy why: "Forrest Gump is a man who doesn't project himself onto the world. He's an observer, present for the moment, and his sense of humor and acceptance resonate with me." Norris shares how he, too, enjoys the serendipity of life -- whether fishing in Alaska when the Valdez decision was delivered and firsthand witnessing the anger and frustration of local fishermen or attending the first inauguration of President Barack Obama and helping to Occupy Wall Street. After a summer of Alaskan fishing, he delayed college for a year to travel around the world, and traveled by train throughout Russia, even visiting Siberia. "I called my dad and said I wasn't so sure now that this was the best idea -- visiting Siberia in February. My dad said, 'It's the best time to visit Siberia!'" When Tracy asks Norris what he believes his 80-year-old self would one day wish to tell 29-year-old Norris, he says, "I'd probably encourage young Norris to get in more trouble. 'Go out with that woman...bad idea...but you learned a lot. Take that job...bad idea...but you learned a lot.'" So let's listen in, as Tracy and Norris reunite, share a little of their history with one another, and discover Norris's insightful take on what it means to him to live a creative life.
To read articles by Norris, visit Northwest Yachting Magazine.
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
EPISODE 10: How the study of creative arts sharpens critical thinking skills
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
Tuesday Feb 19, 2019
In this episode, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, shares a personal teaching experience that reveals how the study of creative arts can sharpen one's critical thinking skills. Drawing from her academic experience, Tracy takes us through an icebreaker exercise she used often for a college course on persuasive writing with freshmen and even with her adult classes who included mostly active-duty military from the intelligence field. What we discover is how the outcomes with her traditional freshmen classes of 18 and 19-year olds significantly differed from those of her adult classes with a median age of 35. "How was this possible?" she asks. Tracy insists that this is not an indictment of military intelligence officers, because several of her closest friends are retired military intelligence officers and "...are brilliant, and would have easily aced this exercise." But, as Tracy ponders, this was also no anomaly. Each time she used this exercise with her adult classes, she witnessed the same results. So, she wonders, what does this mean? Could it be that as we age, she asks, we're so bombarded with distractions and stressors that we fall into "ruts of thinking and patterns about how we view, or should view, the world?" Are we sheep being led to slaughter, or are we living fully engaged -- awake to various messaging techniques of manipulation? Are we so deep in the ruts of patterned thinking, she muses, that "we can only see what's happening inside the ruts"? What are YOUR interpretations! And remember, Tracy reminds us, "interpretation is not fact."
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
In part 2 of this two-part series, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, discovers how special guest, Michael Lancaster -- a West Point grad, Vietnam combat helicopter pilot, and former professor of literature and moral philosophy -- uses poetry as a way to witness and honor the divinity within everything. Whether Mike is writing about the kingfishers around the salt ponds, or the tidal flows affecting the salt ponds, themselves, nothing escapes his attention. "I notice things," he says. "And they matter to me." Mike confesses his lifelong struggle with Catholicism, though doesn't shy away from crediting a Catholic priest for providing the most life-changing wisdom to date: about the value of emptying ourselves before the one we love so that we remain truly present. "Empty it all out," Mike repeats. "Empty the poems in your head, empty it all out, like the tides leaving the salt ponds...and then let it all rush back in to fill you." Mike also shares intimate details about losing Ellen, his wife of 51 years, to cancer a few months ago. And he gifts us with readings of two poems, including an enlightening story about writing his first poem in the presence of a friend while the two were enjoying the sights and sounds of the salt ponds. So let's listen in as Mike shares how he's learned to live his most creative life!
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
In part 1 of this 2-part series, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran talks with special guest, Michael Lancaster, a West Point grad and Vietnam veteran/combat helicopter pilot, about how he uses metaphor as a model for his life, and about the influence of literary icon and environmentalist, Wendell Berry. "Why poetry?" Tracy asks. Mike confesses he asked Wendell Berry the same question while attending grad school at the University of Kentucky. Berry was on the faculty, and Mike says he and Berry -- the warrior and the writer -- approached each other at first with a degree of skepticism. Finally, Mike said to Berry, "Wendell, I get novels, your short stories and your essays, and I read poetry, but poetry? Why poetry? I just don't get it." Berry, in true Socratic method, replied, "One day you'll know." And Berry was right. Fast-forward years later...a weary traveling Mike happened upon an airport bookstore one evening and bought a copy of Berry's collection of poems, Sabbaths. Despite his exhaustion, Mike says he read that collection cover to cover, several times, and the experience was life-changing. He sent word to Berry, "I got it!" And Mike has been writing and publishing poetry ever since. Now retired and living among the salt ponds of tidal Virginia, Mike says the salt ponds have become the metaphor of his life, much the same way as the return to the family farm did for mentor, Wendell Berry.
Return Thursday, Feb. 14, to hear Mike read his poems and share how the salt ponds, faith, and poetry have sustained him these past eight months since the passing of his wife, Ellen.
Thursday Feb 07, 2019
Thursday Feb 07, 2019
In this episode, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, talks with retired military nurse and LAPD reserve police officer, Bernardine Donato, "Bernie," to everyone who knows her, about how this veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, uses visual art to replace the constant slide show of traumatic images from her past. Creating something from nothing, Bernie tells us, creates a better life overall. By broadening our everyday awareness, Bernie says we're able to "see more things out of others." Safe to say, Bernie sees the details, and value, in everything and everyone -- in the way bricks are used to form the corner of a building, in the competitive expression of a wounded warrior, in the clothing worn by a homeless man. The details, she shares, reveal stories that inspire and inform her artful, award-winning creations. When asked what myths she'd like to debunk once and for all about veterans, Bernie holds nothing back, so brace for impact. And we believe she's right! A cancer survivor who's currently battling two autoimmune disorders, Bernie says she's determined to live each day to the fullest, and this dynamo of positivity inspires her fellow veterans at the Durham, North Carolina, VA where she gives back by teaching art classes as a form of therapy, and her local chapter members of Team Red, White, and Blue. She's also earned top praise and national recognition from the Veterans Administration.
Click here to discover even more about Bernie and her art!
Tuesday Feb 05, 2019
Tuesday Feb 05, 2019
In Episode 6, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, talks with TV reality breakout star, Carleigh Fairchild, about how the ancient art of basketry proved invaluable during Carleigh's 86 days of solo-living in the wilderness of Patagonia during the History Channel's survival series, ALONE. Carleigh's profound connection and reverence to the land quickly earned her status as a fan favorite. Today, Carleigh shares that her basketry skills provided the architectural framework for building a debris shelter to withstand heavy snows and bitter cold, and for harvesting and storing edible plants. As Carleigh explains, her baskets were investments in her future -- in her ability to sustain solo-living for as long as might be necessary to win the contest. Ultimately, as fans will recall, Carleigh was medically pulled from the show, and against her protest, after 86 days because of severe weight loss; the victory went to the only other ALONE contestant still in the game. Today, Carleigh travels around the country, teaching basketry and survival skills, giving inspirational presentations, and serving as an ambassador to LT Wright Handcrafted Knives -- one of the few items she was allowed to take into the wilderness with her for those 86 days.
For more information about Carleigh, or to book a class or presentation, visit her website. To purchase one of her artful baskets, visit her Etsy page. You can also follow Carleigh through Facebook and Instagram.
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
EPISODE 5: Former Army medic/MP paints a pathway toward self-healing
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
In Episode 5, podcaster Tracy Crow, an author, writing coach, and Marine Corps veteran, interviews special guest, Renee Neal, a visual artist, mom to four sons, and a former Army medic and military police office, about her explosive, seemingly overnight success as an abstract artist. Renee shares how art literally saved her life. You see, Renee's life has been filled with enough drama and trauma to fill, as she puts it, "two Lifetime Channel movies," and during her darkest of dark times Renee confesses she contemplated the unthinkable. But one day, Renee tells us, she recalled her grandmother's childhood advice. "'Renee,'" she'd tell me, "'whatever you tell yourself, you are'...and my grandmother, not that I know of, had ever read a motivational book." With her grandmother's words of encouragement filling her thoughts and pushing away the negative self-talk, Renee reveals that she felt compelled to reach for a handful of crayons -- yes crayons! -- and began coloring a whole new life for herself. "It's about using what you have...starting where you are," she says. As for all that trauma that could fill two Lifetime Channel movies...we can't wait to see what Renee creates for Lifetime movie #3!
For more information about Renee and her artwork, visit her Art and Soul page on Facebook.