Episodes

  • Hector Garcia Encourages His Students To Silence Their Phones And Listen To Vinyl

    Hector Garcia Encourages His Students To Silence Their Phones And Listen To Vinyl
    Nov 4 2024
    Put down your phone. Pick up a real book, and give yourself time to think deeply. That's the message of this episode's guest, my Amherst College classmate Hector Garcia. Don't mistake his perspective for a desperate clinging to a fading past, though. This guy loves to teach young minds at Loyola University Chicago, and he never stops innovating through course design. Along the way, he reminds his students - and us - that there's a great big world to explore. We can't engage it meaningfully if we subject ourselves to always-on digital stimuli. In this episode, you'll learn: The patterns Hector sees in the last 60 years of social unrest, including protest at Amherst College in the early 1990s How he innovates through course design and instruction The balance he strikes in the classroom and beyond between the timeless and the contemporary His unlikely journey from Chicago to Amherst The Amherst classmates Hector would like to hear from next So take a break from non-stop election coverage, pop in a cassette, or better yet, catch up with Hector in this episode. He'll make you feel better about the world. To get in touch with Hector or learn more about his work: LinkedIn Email: hgarci1@luc.edu Taller de Jose, an organization that delivers companionship and personal attention to people who have difficulty finding their way in a complex social services system Follow Makelit on X
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    52 mins
  • Susan Antebi Studies The Legacy Of Eugenics in Modern Mexico

    Susan Antebi Studies The Legacy Of Eugenics in Modern Mexico
    Sep 20 2024
    Susan Antebi has built a career based on both the depth and breadth of her fascinating interests. In recording this episode, she taught me so much about things I had never considered. Susan is Professor of Latin American literature at the University of Toronto. Much of her award-winning writing and research focuses on ways the disabled or abnormal are depicted in Mexican culture. She traces some of these depictions to the eugenics movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I know a bit about eugenics and its awful place in US and German history, but I didn't know anything about its presence in Mexico. In this episode, you'll learn: The origin of Susan's passion for cultures and languages The ways in which the eugenics movement shows up today in Mexican culture How some reality TV programming can be seen as the modern day manifestation of the carnival freak show Why she's researching depictions of the paranormal The Amherst classmates she'd like me to interview next To get in touch with Susan, email her at susan.antebi@utoronto.ca or contact her on Facebook.
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    43 mins
  • Anibal Martinez May Not Travel The World, But The World Comes To Him

    Anibal Martinez May Not Travel The World, But The World Comes To Him
    Sep 9 2024
    Raised by a single dad in the Bronx, Anibal Martinez developed an eagerness to see the world at an early age. Anibal studied abroad not once but twice during his four years at Amherst College. He served in the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea. Before enrolling in law school, he worked as a flight […]
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    50 mins
  • Yutaka Tamura, Owen Stearns, & Seth Reynolds On The Founding, Crisis Point, And Ascension Of Excel Academy Charter Schools

    Yutaka Tamura, Owen Stearns, & Seth Reynolds On The Founding, Crisis Point, And Ascension Of Excel Academy Charter Schools
    Aug 26 2024
    In a Pre-Made Podcast first, I have not one but three guests. They were Amherst College classmates who became colleagues in the creation of a charter school, and they have a remarkable story to tell. Yutaka Tamura (Amherst Class of 1994) founded Excel Academy in 2003. He recruited classmates Owen Stearns and Seth Reynolds to join him on his board. Serving primarily lower-income households in East Boston, Excel nearly collapsed after its first year. This episode reveals not only how and why Yutaka created the school. It takes us inside its first tumultuous year and explains how, with the support of Owen, Seth, and others, he laid the foundation for the academy to become one of the top performing public schools in all of Massachusetts. I learned so much about the importance of culture - what it is and how to build it right. You will, too. In this episode, you'll learn: Why a crisis of culture nearly doomed the school - and what we all can learn about how to build and nurture a distinctive, healthy culture in our own workplaces How Excel Academy pulled itself back from the brink to become one of the top public schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in just a few years The ways in which the Amherst College liberal arts vision informs Excel Academy even to this day The Amherst classmates Yutaka, Owen, and Seth want me to interview next To learn more, visit: Excel Academy (excelacademy.org) nXu (nxueducation.org), Yutaka's latest endeavor. According to their website, nXu "helps young people explore the unique set of joys, strengths, and values that intersect to drive each of us in a meaningful direction." In doing so, participants "learn to see our identities as powerful and essential for charting fulfilling future pathways."
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Dr. Aki Hosoi Brings Warmth And Wisdom To Mental Health Therapy

    Dr. Aki Hosoi Brings Warmth And Wisdom To Mental Health Therapy
    Aug 17 2024
    If you were thinking of becoming a therapist, you'd be hard pressed to find a better instructor and mentor than Dr. Aki Hosoi. Now a senior staff psychologist and the director of training at Colorado State, where she oversees a graduate-level training program that provides clinical training master’s and doctoral level clinicians, her career path is winding and varied. After graduating from Amherst College in 1994, Aki spent a year doing internships, including working with endangered cranes and conducting whale research. While completing her dissertation in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she began volunteering at the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center. That's where she found her true calling. She went on to earn a second PhD, this time in Counseling Psychology, at Colorado State University, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship at the San Francisco Veteran’s Hospital. For the last 13 years, she has worked as a therapist for university students at the Colorado State University Health Network. In this episode, you'll learn: Aki's take on the state of mental health on college campuses today How the tactful introduction of clinician authenticity and vulnerability can improve care and results How the mental health market, including both the supply and demand-side, has evolved post-Covid The surprising and most memorable professional feedback she ever received The Amherst classmates she wants me to interview next For more information on Aki and the work she does, click this link to her training website. You also can email her at aki.hosoi@colostate.edu.
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    45 mins
  • Stephen Jackson Harmonizes Faith, Science, and Community

    Stephen Jackson Harmonizes Faith, Science, and Community
    Jun 27 2024
    For many people, devotion to both science and faith is impossible. That's not the case for my Amherst College classmate, Stephen Jackson. Stephen earned a PhD in cellular and molecular biology and immunology; these days, he consults pharmaceutical companies, medical schools, and nursing homes. He also is an ordained minister and a man of deep faith. But that's not all. He teaches dance, runs a videography business, and he founded a not-for-profit that helps underprivileged communities learn about the basics of human health so that they can better advocate for themselves when seeking care. In this episode, you'll learn: The ways in which Stephen finds evidence of the divine in the natural world and in human society The parallels between the symbiotic, complex ways communities and genes both work How surviving bullying during his upbringing in South Central Los Angeles fortified his sense of self What prompted him to leave corporate America to start not-for-profit and for-profit enterprises The remarkable method he used to make his college decision The Amherst classmate he wants me to interview next For more on Stephen, visit: smjpec.com steviejdance.com
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Zenzi Gadson Crafts Elegant Spaces Through Collaboration

    Zenzi Gadson Crafts Elegant Spaces Through Collaboration
    May 30 2024
    In this episode, I talk to Zenzi Gadson. She's the co-founder of Maurice Gadson, an interior design firm based in Venice, CA. Interior design has become the subject of dining room conversations in my home ever since my eldest child entered the field, so it was such a treat to talk to someone who has been doing it so thoughtfully and at such a high level for more than 20 years. If you've ever wondered what skills and perspectives it takes to be an interior designer, or if like me, you're parenting or mentoring someone who is pursuing that career, Zenzi's story is a must-listen. In this episode, you'll learn: The surprising skill that every aspiring interior design needs to refine Her approach to producing delighted customers The "Art of War"-like technique she uses to minimize the chances that her clients will make bad design choices The travel destinations that inspire her design thinking The three people she wants me to interview next For more on Zenzi and her work, visit https://www.mauricegadson.com/
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    58 mins
  • Rob Bernstein Tackles the Titans, From Wrestling Rings to AI Things

    Rob Bernstein Tackles the Titans, From Wrestling Rings to AI Things
    May 11 2024
    Rob Bernstein, like many in the Amherst College Class of 1994, graduated just as the internet became a consumer-facing proposition. But unlike yours truly, Rob hitched his career to the internet. As a result, over the last 30 years he has managed to stay ahead of the curve, navigating a pivot from print media to digital, and from the WWE to agency work at the highest levels. As Chief Innovation Officer for Ketchum, a global communications firm, Rob spends his days peering around corners. The top question on his clients' minds these days: what will be the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we work, live, and create? (Full disclosure: AI helped me write the title of this episode.) In this episode, you'll learn: Why Rob is ambivalent about AI How we can learn more about AI, and the ways in which it's already changing the way many of us work What the WWE was like from the inside, and what it was like to work with the likes of wrestling superstars John Cena and The Rock, as well as WWE founder Vince McMahon The Amherst College classmates he'd like me to interview next Here are links to the resources Rob recommends to learn about AI: Newsletters: Neuron (https://join.theneurondaily.com/), TLDR (https://tldr.tech/) AI tools: Claude (https://claude.ai), ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/), Gemini (https://gemini.google.com/) To connect with Rob, visit his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbernstein/
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    53 mins