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Send us feedback! Looking at our world today can leave you feeling hopeless… so where can you find hope for the future? There’s so much out there to make us believe we live in hopeless times. But hope is out there. It really is. We just need to look harder to get past everything that’s happening to see it. For me and my guest, David Fields, our faith informs how we breakthrough to finding hope. An...

Send us feedback! About 19 million people in the U.S. live more than a mile from a grocery store. These areas have been called food deserts by the folks who create names for such things. But more recently they’re being referred to as areas of food inequality, and some are beginning to call this condition, food apartheid.  It’s a big problem. Fortunately, there are a lot of organizations out there...

Send us feedback! Here are the facts on the things we heard from both voters… Mary and Mark had a lot to say, respectively, about Joe Biden and President Trump. In this episode we dig into their comments on all the topics we covered and have presented a fact check on their information.  Whatever your political stripe, I hope that what both guests had to say and the information in this episode will...

Send us feedback! Hear from two fellow citizens on why Joe Biden is wrong and right for our country. In our last episode, we peeled back the layers on President Trump. Today we’re giving Joe Biden the once over. As in the last episode, we’ll begin with our guest Mark on why he’s not the guy to move our country forward. Then we’ll give the floor to Mary to hear the reasons why Biden is the right pe...

Send us feedback! Hear from two fellow citizens on why Trump is wrong and right for our country. We hear it every four years… “this is the most consequential election in our lives/history.” My personal opinion is that the 2020 election might be just that. Our political discourse is more divisive than ever. When people hear beliefs or opinions about politics or social issues counter to their own, t...

Send us feedback! In difficult times, the simplest steps can feel like the hardest steps. There’s no questioning the fact that we live in divisive times. People are becoming increasingly hard-wired to reject ideas that run contrary to their own. So much so, that even beginning a dialogue can feel next to impossible. But once you make a habit of opening yourself up to and studying contrary ideas yo...

Send us feedback! The risks in beginning the 2020 fall term aren’t limited to contracting COVID. As schools start the fall 2020 semester during a pandemic there’s no consistent plan on how to get the year rolling without risk to both teachers and students. And that’s not just in terms of contracting COVID-19. Younger students will certainly suffer in terms of their ongoing education, but also from...

Send us feedback! In a stressful world, any advice on how to find some calm is a welcome thing. So where to turn to for that advice? Plants, of course! That’s right. When we tune into plants, their music – yes, they are musical - and connectedness can help us find our center and get our feet back on the ground. Tigrilla Gardenia (Masters in Futuro Vegetale, Univ. of Florence) explains how plants c...

Send us feedback! Most folks are familiar with the character Forrest Gump. A guy who lived a remarkable life that intersected with Presidents, legendary coaches, international affairs and so much more. Sounds like a pretty good story, and it was. But there are folks out there who aren’t that far off the Forrest Gump mark. David Mucci is just such a person. His Gumpian life has ranged from politics...

Send us feedback! If you’ve ever been through or alongside someone in a fight with cancer, you know how brutal that battle is, and how much a support circle can make a difference. So many people face that fight alone and many of them may not have the resources – medical, financial, family – to help them navigate the journey.  Dianne Danowski-Smith, Founder of Answer2Cancer, had all of those resour...

Send us feedback! We are living in unprecedented times. How do the leaders of our cities cope with what’s happening while continuing with the programs and initiatives that were underway prior to the pandemic and the cries for social justice and racial equality? And then, in an election year, how do those leaders keep their campaign moving ahead? Why not ask someone who is doing it, right? Denny Do...

Send us feedback! I’ve been a dog lover my whole life. In fact, I can think of only maybe 2 or 3 years that I didn’t have a furry pal in my life. Can’t image life without one. If you’re like me and always want a dog as part of your family, a rescue agency is a good way to go, provided they’re doing it right.  Must Love Dogs NW is a rescue/fostering agency that absolutely is.  Courtney Givens, the...

Send us feedback! As we celebrate Independence Day and look at the state of affairs in our country, we may struggle to see much of a reason to celebrate. Certainly, we don’t appear to have realized the self-evident truths that the Declaration of Independence refers to. Taking a read of it will help to bring us back to the reasons for the founding of our country. And in that light, the Declaration...

Send us feedback! Mass shootings, unfortunately, have become normalized in our country. They can happen anywhere, anytime – on a crowded street, at work, in a store, in schools at every level, even in places of worship. There’s no place that any of us is truly safe as we go about our lives. So, what should you expect from first responders and what should you do, if, God forbid, you find yourself c...

Send us feedback! Our Declaration of Independence doesn’t bury the lead. It starts with the core element of what this country is supposed to be about: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  Unfortunately, that statement has beco...

Send us feedback! A story of life on the road and the guy who helps to make it pay off. Think about the last time you went to the grocery store. There are fruit and veggies in the produce section. The are plenty of meat and deli products. And the shelves are well stocked. That doesn’t magically happen. There’s a whole string of people who work to get these products to your local grocery store. Tha...

Send us feedback! He’s a guy with a vision for what our government services might look like in the future as technology continues to permeate our lives, and customized services become ubiquitous.  Think about it… the traditional way we get government services are as follows… we get taxed. Those revenues go toward paying for things that the government delivers – roads, schools, and yeah defense, an...

Send us feedback! Bob Borra has lived a life of service to every community he's lived in. His is a story about a guy who wanted to be a cop, became a firefighter, then an Elk and a bingo caller, and so much more. Bob also tells us how to deal with a mouse in your trousers. In the episode, I mention an episode of Malcom Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast - Descend into the Particular...

Send us feedback! A couple recent books - On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides and Devotion by Adam Makos - include and tell the story of Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, an extraordinary tale of friendship and sacrifice. Brown was the first African American to win Navy "Wings of Gold," and Hudner was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions in attempting to save his friend. This is their sto...

Send us feedback! In the first part of our Memorial Day 2020 episodes, Tom Tesmer served in Vietnam during 1969 and 1970, and then in the National Guard in the mid-70s. He shares his experience and how Vietnam impacted his life from the moment when he decided to enlist, while a young college student, until the present day. Tom tells us what bootcamp was like, his first action, losing friends, adju...

Send us feedback! It's Mother's Day, so I'm talking with my ma, Normandie Byrne. She dishes on witnessing five generations of mothers, motherhood and all of that wisdom that came from growing six kids of her own. Mother does know best... Interested in stories about loyalty, love, friendship, crime, and the bonds that shape a lifetime? Check out The Make-Right Man: A Chicago Reckonin...

Send us feedback! Al Stubitsch talks about changing the world through building wells through The Water Project ( https://thewaterproject.org/community/profile/midwestpond5th ). He also shares what it was like growing up as a differently-abled kid and how it provided wisdom and shaped him throughout his life and in particular in how he approaches parenthood. Oh, and we'll also touch on his all...

Send us feedback! Rob McMaster, philosopher, caballero, primo piscator, licensed minister, beer taster, bug killer and a guy with a lot – and I mean a lot - of stories to tell riffs on life as a pest control pro, and more. Along the way we learn a lot about that itchy feeling - a thing called delusional parasitosis, exotic American cats, and where to find the fish and beer. Interested in stories a...

Send us feedback! We're talking with my daughter, Tess Zagorski, about depression. Tess has struggled with depression since her later middle-school years. She's persevered, with the help of both talk and pharmaceutical therapy, and moved forward with her life to pursue her dreams. Tess tells her story of awareness, her cry for help, and how the therapy she's continuing with enables...

Send us feedback! Theresa Springer, Sales Manager and Senior Loan Officer with Movement Mortgage in Vancouver, Washington talks about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on loan applications in progress, mortgages in general - from a residential and commercial perspective, and what first-time buyers should be doing to get themselves and their finances in order to purchase a home. And she also dish...