Only One In The Room

Imagine being a conman doing a lengthy prison sentence for a variety of bank fraud charges and finding that instead of the yard or the track, you feel drawn to the library. Matt Cox, former conman and true crime author, spent years in prison writing stories, starting with his own and then going on to write the stories of his fellow inmates. But what would you do if you realized that once you were...

Hari says this about gender language: “I stopped forcing myself into the category of ‘male’ which never seemed to fit me long ago, and though ‘maleness’ is the language that most tongues wrap easiest around when I am seen, it is not the language that makes room for my existence in this world.” Hari Ziyad is a cultural critic, a screenwriter, and the editor-in-chief of RaceBaitr. They are a 2021 La...

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of The Only One In The Room, today’s On My Nightstand reading is the essay that started it all. After this 2018 Huffpo article I authored went viral, I received five hundred and sixty-eight direct messages, all from people who connected with the feeling of being othered. Many of those messages were accompanied by this hashtag #theonlyoneintheroom and so we dec...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Kristin Casey right after the show. Special thanks to our Sponsor Betterhelp: Start living a happier life today! As an Only On In The Room listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at Betterhelp.com/One. Join the over one million people who have...

From the beginning, she was someone who viewed sex differently from her peers. Sexual desire wasn’t something to be ashamed of or hidden away. It was something to be openly explored and cherished. Intimacy coach Kristin Casey, was a sex worker for years before she discovered that she had abilities to help people, men who were victims of sexual trauma, experiencing performance anxiety or things lik...

Today’s On My Nightstand Reading is from chapter four, Drunk On The Road from Under The Wave At Waimea. Timed to Theroux's eightieth birthday, UNDER THE WAVE AT WAIMEA is the story of aging big-wave champion surfer, Joe Sharkey. Joe’s struggling to come to terms with the fast-approaching end of his career when he accidentally kills a stranger near Waimea, Hawaii after a night of drinking. As Joe a...

The Only One In The Room presents: Good Words with Kirk Franklin. Kirk Franklin welcomes people from every cross section of life seeking inspiration and empowerment and through intimate conversations they explore faith, redemption and the realities of today’s world. Kirk invites us to see ourselves in the shared moments between himself and his guests. The show provides a fun and energetic outlet t...

Yesterday you heard the first-ever podcast interview with Robert Chelsea, the first African-American and oldest full-face transplant recipient. Today we’re offering you a rare Only One In The Room follow-up with the man who saved his life. Richard Robles, 49-year-old General Superintendent, husband and father of six, lost his way while returning home one night after work and stumbled upon a fiery...

Imagine, a drunk driver slams into your car at such a high rate of speed that it explodes before you can get out. Robert Chelsea, seventy-year-old father, and salesman, was pulled from the wreckage of a burning car in August of 2013, but not before over 75% of his body was burned, leaving his hands, arms, and face unrecognizable. But what would you do if no one had ever successfully completed a fu...

Usually, people start out gambling for fun, and they end up chasing their losses until all their money is gone. And in many cases, people are gambling because they have faced emotional and financial losses and they are trying to console themselves. Most people don’t realize that problem gambling is a real disorder, just like alcohol or drug addiction. The good news is that most people who get trea...

April is Autism Awareness month, so we wanted to bring this powerful essay about autism by phenomenal writer, mother, and teacher, Robyn Wessler Wisinski.  Robyn’s bio reads: My name is Robyn Wessler Wisinski. I'm a wife and a mom, and I am currently buried in my 32nd year of teaching. Kindergarten on Zoom is challenging, and amazing, and heartbreaking, and joyful. Every day. I am in awe of what A...

The last few months have been taxing for Black people in a myriad of ways, but for Black journalists these have been uniquely challenging times. For decades, Black people have been invited inside the halls of journalism, but not too many at a time. Even fewer advance to the levels where decisions are made about news coverage, reporter assignments, promotion and pay. When we think about journalists...

When I asked Google for the stats on Black women podcasters, I found about ten articles. When I asked for the number of Black podcasters overall, I got more hits, two or three pages at least. But Google seems to be a bit stumped when I ask for the stats on white podcasters. Why? Because even though there was a Black podcasting boom in 2020, white podcasters are still the norm. 85% of American podc...

John C Hagan III wrote about NDS or Near Death Syndrome: Imagine a medical syndrome affecting as many as 20% of people who are resuscitated after almost dying in a medical or surgical setting. Realize that this means that as many as 8 million to 20 million Americans have experienced the syndrome. Understand that the syndrome itself is easy to diagnose and treat, but improper diagnosis and treatmen...

I heard Robin read this piece at a Storytelling Show last month and I was so blown away that I asked her if I could share it with you. Robin Reiser is a writer, award-winning comedian, actress, and the co-author of The Tao of Zero Fucks. Robin wrote and plays all the roles in the new web series PINK EYE, directed by Sarah Feeley. In addition to being an audience favorite on Last Comic Standing and...

In this episode, podcaster Sara Dean of the Shameless Mom Academy Podcast, talks to us about what it’s like to be a white woman during the current Black Lives Matter movement. Sara is a friend, a generous resource for women, mothers and her fellow podcasters. She also gave me the honor of being the opening keynote speaker at Shameless Mom Con 2020 and has been a huge supporter of The Only One In T...

Many of us have struggled during the pandemic with feelings of anxiety, angst, and loneliness. In a time of such unprecedented uncertainty, some of us have sought out meditation and mindfulness as a means of keeping grounded and to stay positive. Apps such as HeadSpace have skyrocketed in popularity in the last 9 months. To help us dive into this we have Katie Krimitsos. Katie is an ever-curious w...

When Black and brown girls don’t see black ballerinas in the world’s most prestigious troupes, they don’t know that dancing is something that’s possible for them. A career in professional ballet is already a long shot for MOST girls, but the odds are even more stacked against Black girls who rarely, if ever, see prima ballerinas of color succeed. So when my dear friend Riva Lombardi told us about...

Today’s reading is from Part One of the best-selling, critically acclaimed book, Bed/Time/Story, by author Jill Schary Robinson.  Jill Schary Robinson was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of two artists. Her father was Oscar and Tony winner Dore Schary, head of MGM during the ‘40s and ‘50s, the only writer to ever run a film studio. Her mother, the painter M. Svet, studied at the Art Students Lea...

Leila Marchbanks is a fifth grade teacher in Los Angeles and the creator of the website, A Book At The Table. Leila was able to restructure the 5th grade Language Arts program at her school to remove stories of traditional protagonists that excluded people of color and include literature that reflected diverse children along with their complex experiences. Her curriculum evaluates race, systemic r...

Can you visualize a world where women are barred from eating lunch at certain restaurants or routinely charged more than men for things like, alterations and dry cleaning? Can you picture what it was like before women had the power of choice when it came to their own bodies or were taken seriously when violently assaulted? What if you had to do more than visualize it, but you had to live it…again?...

Damares Ocona Perez writes: "Hollywood is probably the only place on earth where it's acceptable for a woman who weighs 105 pounds to be told she's fat". Luckily, more and more Hollywood starlets are proudly speaking out about staying at a healthy weight and refusing to cave to crazy body-weight demands. The scary part? Production companies seem to have no qualms demanding women to lose weight, an...

Today’s reading is from the essay titled, The Incredible Shrinking Woman from the collection of essays, The Incredible Shrinking Woman by author Athena Dixon. Athena Dixon is the author of The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and No God in This Room. Her work also appears in The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. Athena’s work has appeared in various publications including GAY Magazine and Narra...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Guy Michlin right after the show. Don't miss our new Friday series On My Nightstand. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonly...

Imagine finding out that your wife, your partner, the mother of your three young children has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a-my-o-TROE-fik LAT-ur-ul skluh-ROE-sis), or ALS. Guy Michlin, CEO, businessman, and Stanford graduate, was working 80-100 hour weeks when his wife discovered that she couldn’t move her finger, and went to the doctor to see what was wrong. But what would...