Calling in the Healers

Today we've got a special two-part conversation about migration, belonging, and what it means to make a home in a place. Over the past year, conversations about immigration have become increasingly visible in Lawrence and across the country. While our community members have been experiencing the harmful impacts of immigration policy for years, new policies, enforcement actions, and public resp...

In Part Two of this special series on migration and belonging, I sit down with my neighbors, Chuck and Camille Olcese, to explore the journeys that brought them to Lawrence and the experiences that shaped their commitment to welcoming "our newest neighbors." Together we trace stories of family migration, international education, faith, community, and the surprising ways that "home&q...

This week on  Calling in the Healers , I sit down with Mona Cliff (Aaniiih/Nakota) — multidisciplinary artist, seed beader, and community member — to explore creativity, responsibility, and what it means to carry culture forward in a world where it can feel like (another) apocalypse might be just around the corner. In her work and life, Mona emphasizes indigenous joy and resilience alongside the,...

This week on Calling in the Healers , I walk the fields with Amy June — seed keeper, farmer, community member, and co-founder of Goodway Farm — to explore how seeds, soil, and the slow rhythms of land stewardship can change our inner lives and the ecosystems we share. Amy June invites us into the deeper memory held inside every seed: a lineage carried across continents, braided into hair during fo...

This week on  Calling in the Healers , I sit down with  Moniqué Mercurio:  Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation, Detribalized Mission Indian, Indigenous entrepreneur, mom, creative, and community builder, and Director of Operations at Douglas County CORE. Moniqué invites us into the deeper story behind her work: how entrepreneurship, when grounded in ancestral values, becomes more than transactions, it...

This week on Calling in the Healers , I sit down with Dr. David Tamez , philosopher at the University of Kansas and co-lead at KU’s Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics, to explore how artificial intelligence and human communities shape each other—right here in Lawrence, Kansas . From courts and classrooms to hiring and city services, David helps us ask better questions: What decisions belong to tools...

This week on Calling in the Healers, I sit down with Vanessa Johnson (Diné), Assistant Director at Lawrence Montessori School and proud Haskell alumna, to reflect on her journey from New Mexico to 20 years of community-rooted life in Lawrence, Kansas. Vanessa tells us about her journey as an , partner, mom and educator and her work supporting families and peers in early childhood, Vanessa brings w...

This week on Calling in the Healers, I sit down with Travis Campbell (Cherokee, Choctaw, Delaware), Director of the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum, to reflect on the transformation of Haskell - from a federal boarding school built to erase Native identities, to a living space where students from 574 tribes gather to celebrate culture, language, and community. We talk about: What sovereignty...

We already intuitively know that food is more than fuel. We know that it is real medicine on so many levels! It is energy, nutrition, health, memory, beauty and straight up YUM. So why do we need to be reminded so regularly? In this conversation  Ashley Ferguson Combs reminds us to SIT, SAVOR and HEAL (instead of grab and go). Mom, founder of Breda's Bentos, and Holistic Nutritionist at Atma I...

In this episode of Calling in the Healers , host Nick Pineda sits down with Rebekka Schlichting (Ioway) —filmmaker, Professor of Practice at the University of Kansas, story keeper, and community healer in Lawrence, Kansas. Rebekka shares about how tending stories across generations and the land is part of generational healing , navigating the challenges of growing up native in Lawrence (for her mo...

Are you organizing your life so you can move the way you want to for the rest of your life? In this episode of Calling in the Healers , we sit down with Zach and Whitney Schneider , personal trainers and co-owners of a community gym in Lawrence, Kansas . Together, we talk about movement. Both how movement heals, as well as the work it takes to heal when we can't move the way we want to (e.g., reco...

What if the land could teach you everything you forgot you knew? In this episode of Calling in the Healers , Nick Pineda sits down with Courtney Eddy King—Indigenous scientist, cultural steward, and greenhouse manager at Haskell Indian Nations University—for a conversation about the work of healing land, memory, and self. Courtney shares her journey into ecological restoration and her relationship...

In this opening episode of Calling in the Healers , host Nick Pineda sits down with Cris—great-grandmother, sponsor, and longtime member of the Lawrence recovery community—for a conversation that is equal parts laughter and tears. It's about being honest and showing up for yourself so that others can do the same. Together, they reflect on what it means to say yes to change, the role of truth-telli...

Mabuhay & Welcome! I'm Nick Pineda, Lawrence resident and host of this new, hyper-local podcast all about what it takes to renew, restore, repair, regenerate, reimagine and actively build the future of Lawrence, KS. This is a teaser episode that gives you a preview of what to expect in upcoming interviews. All guests featured on this show: Have local roots : They were born in, currently live i...