​Do you like poetry? Do you care about art? Do you wonder, sometimes, how art fits into society? How creativity fits into your life?

This week’s guest is Jim Natal. Jim wrote his first poem when he was in high school but let poetry go when adult demands got in the way. Jim had a successful but ultimately unsatisfying career working for the National Football League, shepherding big corporate deals, and polishing the brand. After 25 years, and in spite of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s assertion, Jim managed to create a second act for himself. Six books later, Jim is an award winning poet, teacher, and event promoter.

For the last 12 years, Jim has worked to draw renowned authors for readings and interviews to the little city of Prescott, Arizona. His efforts have built a literary culture where Jim had originally found none.  This week on September 25th, we’ll be watching online as Jim welcomes Lisa Ko to the Literary Southwest Virtual stage. Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers is a 2017 National Book Award Finalist and was on Best of lists at NPR, LA Times, Buzz Feed and, yes, Oprah Magazine.

The link for the event. 

Although Jim joined us ostensibly to talk about Literary Southwest, we wrung him dry for his insight into the purpose of poetry, that nature of creativity, and whether there is a place for art in the apocalypse. Jim also reads two of his poems, both of which are incredibly relevant to the moment.

Our original interview with Jim lasted two and a half hours and was full of fascinating anecdotes, inside stories, and generous ruminations. We whittled the audio down to something a little more digestible for the average listener, but if you would like to hear the whole conversation, email us at Charles@rocketfeather.com and we’ll send you a Dropbox link to the unedited version.
​
In the meantime, stay tuned as we talk writing, connection, and self-discovery with Jim Natal. We think you’ll finish uplifted, more hopeful, and see a pinch more beauty in your world.
Do a Science: 
Read a poem this week. 
Music Credits:  ​
Singing Bowl Meditation by Ahjay Stelino at mixkit.co ​

Show Notes  
Key Takeaways: 

• Everyone has a creative spark
• Poetry - the life it saves might be your own
• Poetry is a way to express the inexpressible
• Literature is a way to understand the full spectrum of humanity

References:

• Literary Southwest - An Evening with Lisa Ko
• Jim Natal’s Website

Reading List for Enrichment & Empathy

• Poets: 
  • Mark Doty
  • B.H. Fairchild
  • Naomi Shihab Nye
  • Marvin Bell
  • Phillip Levine
  • Pablo Neruda
  • Billy Collins 
  • Federico Garcia Lorca - Rider’s Song
  • W.B. Yeats - The Second Coming 
  • W Auden Poem - September 1, 1939
• Authors 
  • Lisa Ko - The Leavers
  • Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  • Ben Fountain - Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
  • Susan Orleans - The Orchid Thief 
  • C.J. Box - Back of Beyond 

How are you?  Are you doing ok?  If the reality is that you’re not doing awesome right now, we’re here to say that’s ok.  You’re not doing it wrong.  
If you’re feeling great, that’s ok, too.  Hang out with this conversation anyway, because if you can show up for your loved ones who are struggling, that’s a good thing. #alwaysbebuildingempathy.
We just wanted to check in with you and spend some time today talking about anxiety and depression and the complex emotional landscape that we are all walking through right now.  It’s a big challenge, but we can help each other and maybe even wind up stronger on the other side.  

We know a lot of podcast episodes (ours included) follow a certain format…. Here’s the problem… Here’s our expertise with this problem…. Here’s three simple steps you can take to solving that problem. Now a word from our sponsors. 

But we’re choosing not to follow that formula and instead just have a rich, rambling, revealing conversation. Because that’s what life is. Because there IS no three step solution. Because healing and growth take place in the presence of a witness, not necessarily an expert or guru. Because we believe we, as pod hosts are part of a community. Because we believe that you are part of this community. 

So… yeah… I have to say that some days I’m not OK. And that those days are more frequent these days. And that’s one of the reasons we’re recording and sharing this podcast. I’m not OK, Kelly’s not OK, maybe you’re not ok ... and that’s OK. 

Zokni of the Week - Ernst

Key Takeaways: 

• Emotions are signals
• Repressing emotion tends toward depression
• Expressing our universal emotions is a way to connect and trigger empathy
• Controlled expression of emotion takes awareness and practice
• Emotions are calls to action, especially anger and anxiety

References:

• Alex Antionio’s Why So Angry? Podcast
• James Hillman Book He
• Dak Prescott Interview
• Zokni post
• Captain Tom Moore raises £1000 by walking in his yard 
• Preet Bahara Podcast The Merit Trap (with Michael Sandel)
• Diana Kander Podcast - The Art of Fear with Kristen Ulmer
• Kristen Olmer’s Book

 Resources: 

• Check out this guide to the best online counseling services:  
• National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255  https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
• List of all sorts of mental health support agencies in AZ 

 Music Credits: Singing Bowl Meditation by Ahjay Stelino at mixkit.co 

Do a Science:
This week’s science assignment is to reach out. Reach out for help, support or connection if you need it. Reach out with support and connection if you have it to give. ​

We are sharing an episode from another podcast we produce - The Prescott Woman Podcast. We think the themes in this interview: community, collaboration, and shared mission are a perfect fit for this channel.
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What is NACOG? We’ve all heard of it. Most of us can’t seem to remember what it stands for. But after this episode of the Prescott Woman Podcast, you will know and remember, thanks to Teri Drew, the smart and savvy director of the Economic/WorkForce wing of NACOG, the Northern Arizona Council of Governments. They are doing the hard and important work of economic development, community support, early childhood education, and so much more. They coordinate with local and county governments across Apache, Coconino, Navajo, and Yavapai counties here in Northern Arizona to make life better for all of us. Teri is with us today to talk about the work she has done for over 40 years to lift individuals out of poverty via career development and at the same time, support local businesses in building effective, sustainable workforces.

We hope you will come away from this talk feeling as hopeful and inspired as we did that we have such devoted, competent people working to make our communities function well for all of us.  If you, or someone you know, is struggling with job loss amidst this economic apocalypse, look up NACOG - their link is in the show notes - and find out what they can do to help.

SHOW NOTES 
References:

• www.nacog.org
• Prescott Woman Magazine
• The Launch Pad Teen Center

Music Credits: Local Musician “Rachel Plays Guitar”

Guest Bio:
Teri Drew has worked in economic and workforce development for over 40 years and is the Regional Director for the Northern Arizona Council of Governments, Economic Workforce Development Division. Her area of responsibility includes 24 communities in the four-county Economic Development District of Apache, Navajo, Coconino, and Yavapai counties. Teri currently serves as Chair of the Arizona Workforce Association (AWA), and was recently appointed to the United States Workforce Association (USWA). She was active on the Board of Directors for the Greater Prescott Regional Economic Development Partnership until 2017. Teri was appointed by Arizona Governor Brewer to serve on the Digital Arizona Council (DAC) from 2012 – 2014, and has served several terms on the Yavapai County Workforce Development Board (WDB) including the Executive Committee. She served on the Arizona Association of Economic Development (AAED) Board of Directors from 2003 – 2014, serving as President of AAED 2012-2013 and Past President 2013-2014. Teri received the AAED Workforce Practitioner of the Year Award in 2008. In 2018 she was honored with the inaugural Prescott Chamber Excellence in Economic Development Award, U.S. Congressional Recognition and a City of Prescott Certificate of Recognition.

Some of Teri’s accomplishments include Prescott Area Leadership’s Woman of the Year 2012 and service on several boards and councils locally, statewide and nationally. Teri is a Promise Maker sponsor of Yavapai County Big Brothers Big Sisters. A graduate of the
University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute, Teri is committed to economic and workforce development and has been the recipient of numerous regional, state and federal innovation awards.

Come on a journey with us, in which our heroes grow up together in a safe but restrictive community, begin to question that community, fall down a slippery slope, crash their Jenga tower, lose everything, find their authentic selves - including their anger, gain everything, discover a new kind of joy, and then create a sanctuary where all are truly, deeply welcome. Turns out it was the sanctuary that they needed all along. 

This successful heroes’ journey is a story that we hope will give you joy and hope for your own complicated journey.  We all fall down (or get kicked out), but our guests this week are here to remind us what’s on the other side.  This is the third episode in our bounce-back series and we hope you’ll get a lot of value from it.

Our guests this week are Kate and Colby Martin, co pastors of Sojourn Grace Collective, a progressive Christian church in San Diego, California.  Their church is a fully inclusive, open and affirming community that welcomes all and works for justice. How they got there is not easy. 

Kate and Colby have known each other since childhood, growing up in the same conservative evangelical church.  Colby became a successful youth pastor in a megachurch, but he and Kate both began to question what they had been brought up to believe.  After years of soul-searching and growth, the two left (were thrown out, really)  the safety of that harbor for the uncharted seas.  I’m happy to report that, while their journey was difficult and painful, they have landed on a beautiful shore and gone on to build their own kind of paradise together with their 4 sons and their community in San Diego. 

At first glance, Kelly and I are not the obvious guides for Kate and Colby’s story. Neither of us grew up in a church and I, at least, am pretty skeptical about divinity and an afterlife. That said, this episode turned into a meeting of the minds and hearts. Our “outsider” status and questions actually helped the Martins unlock some old meaning. Their grounded, but inclusive faith gave us a path back toward our spiritual selves. 

Prepare thyself for a gorgeous deep dive into the nature of God, dogma, imperfection, depression, and authenticity, on this fabulous double date episode.  We did have a snafu at the beginning of the session and lost a chunk of the recording, so there might be a couple of references that seem untethered, but what we did get was fucking fantastic, if I do say so, myself. To compensate for the loss of part of the conversation, we include, in this recording, the mid-roll banter that we usually cut out. We want you all to have as much Kate and Colby as possible. 

Key Takeaways: 

• There are lots of different kinds and sources of depression/authenticity -  circumstantial, spiritual, etc.  
• We grow and mature by adding and accessing all the parts of ourselves not by repressing them
• Childhood wounds are often caused by people trying to “fix” us back then, so revisiting them isn’t necessarily the way to heal.  Just bring the littles along.
• Childhood wounds are often caused by people trying to “fix” us back then, so revisiting them isn’t necessarily the way to heal.  Just bring the littles along.

​
Quotes:

• “I apologize for being fabulous” - KR
• “We need to have a better conversation about depression” - KM

References:

• Sojourn Grace Collective - Kate and Colby’s Church
• Cobly Martin’s Website
• The Kate and Colby Show Podcast
• Umhair Haque on existential depression

​
Resources: 

• The Shift at Indie Bound
• The Forgotten Tradition of Sin - Colby's TEDx Talk

Music Credits: “All Our Life” mixkit.co 

We know so many of our listeners are people who are working in the community to make things better for people who are marginalized and therefore, the community as a whole.  But we're guessing that even you powerhouses might feel at a loss sometimes, especially in these crazy times.  

"What can I do that is effective?  What will actually  help?  What is my capacity to take on more?  These are all questions I struggle with regularly and maybe you do, too. "

Our guest this week is serial entrepreneur and problem-solver Laura Fitton.  A college chum from my Cornell days, Laura and Charles spent a lot of time together at Cornell Outdoor Education leading backpacking trips, teaching rock climbing and developing communication and leadership skills.  Even back then, Laura stood out with her intelligence, drive and courage. Those characteristics showed up in the first thing she chose to do after college. She got a job cooking for an educational program on a tall ship sailing back and forth across the Atlantic. She took that job despite being prone to sea-sickness because she believed in the Sea Education Association and its mission. 

Laura eventually took her smarts and passion and started her own internet start up called oneforty.com after the original character limit on then-nascent Twitter. She sold her company to a large inbound marketing company and got to host a major annual conference featuring some pretty amazing speakers. 

Laura went on to start a company to address climate change (the Enough Company) and the pandemic (The PPE Index). The throughline in all her ventures was seeing a need and deciding to do something to meet it, with her trademark intelligence and empathy.  

This episode started off talking about the nature of entrepreneurship but ended up diving into the nature of evil and how to avoid it. No, seriously… the nature of evil. 

So be prepared to get inspired, enlightened, and frankly, a little challenged. There are some very clear calls to action in this episode.

Key Takeaways: 

• How to be an early adopter/evangelizer
  • Your ideas are something to SHARE - that’s what gives them attractive value
  • Be fascinated
  • Your anxiety can be adaptive if it helps you see new things on the horizon. But it’s mal-adaptive if it makes you freeze. Use your anxiety to notice things but tame it so you can function for yourself and the world. 
  • Instead of pitching someone (trying to convince them to do something for you) … find out how to be useful to them.
• How to help solve the Climate Crisis
  • Your energy spending, food purchasing, and banking decisions can make a difference. 
  • Purchase your power from Arcadia.com.
  • Choose to bank at an institution that invests in ways that backs up your beliefs. Credit Unions are great options.
• How to Be Good
  • Focus on empathy
  • Remember: 
    • The binary is a myth
    • People are not objects
    • Don’t get lost in your own shit
  • When we fall into all three mistakes, that’s where evil comes from

References:

• Cornell University College Scholar Program
• Sunrise Movement
• Environmental Justice
• Guy Kawasaki
• The Enough Co.
• 7 Pillars Facebook Live 

Resources: 

• Arcadia Power Sign Up
• Prescott Farmers Market Double UP
• Hewlett Packard Foundation
• Blog post on how Covid is a “Grey Rhino.” 

 Do a Science: 

1. Support your closest, hardest-hit, community

Coronavirus cases by county

1. Find an organization in that community
2. Ask them what they need

OR Just Choose
Dine (Navajo) Nation Recovery Fund
​

What if you could reinvent yourself?  What if you did it again and again?  If you haven’t already done it yourself, can you even imagine where such a journey would take you and who you would become?  

Our guest this week is Melanie Banayat, owner of Wing Space Co-working here in Prescott.  Her career has included graphic design, resort management, holistic health coaching, and fine art. Through each career, Melanie was a typical entrepreneur, grabbing opportunities, working hard, and creating success so she has a ton of experience to share. 

After having to reinvent herself a number of times, Melanie now helps others do the same.  Not just a place to rent a desk and make copies, Wing Space fosters budding entrepreneurs in all the areas they need to succeed.  In response to the Covid Crisis that is forcing so many of us to retool our business or turn our side-gig into an enterprise, Melanie and the folks at Wingspace have created Launch, an incredibly valuable class for folks going through the business start up process. It is a six-week, self-paced virtual class with dozens of video tutorials PLUS peer-to-peer coaching in an accountability group (Called a Mastermind group.) A class like this would normally cost thousands of dollars. Your jaw will drop when you hear how inexpensive Melanie had made it. 

We recorded 3 episodes this week and the thread that ran through all of them was what happens when your life burns down.  All of our guests found the grit and tenacity to keep going when it looked like all was lost, and in that darkness, found gifts that helped them build new lives that turned out to be more authentic, more meaningful, and more powerful than those they left in the ashes.  

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Do a Science This Week
Find something to do that has a high likelihood of failure and do it anyway. Make sure to pick something where failure has low consequences. Some examples: 

• Make a challenging recipe from scratch like a souffle or something involving puff pastry
• Try to learn a new musical instrument or brand new sport
• Pitch your wildest idea to someone you don’t know well

​Notice how you feel before, during, and after. Keep track of what you learned. Let us know in the comments for the episode what you tried and how it worked out.

If your relationship isn’t all bliss all the time, you’re doing it wrong.  Right?  That, of course, is nonsense. 
​ 
We get taught a whole slew of behaviors and attitudes (packaged as strength or righteousness) that actually inhibit joyful, lasting relationships. It’s hard to unlearn those lies, but we here at Rocketfeather are working hard to help you have easier, more successful partnerships with the people who matter to you.  Stick around to find out how going for the win-win will revolutionize your experience of being in relationship.

SHOW NOTES
References:

• Untamed - Glennon Doyle
• Hormones and Leadership - Simon Sinek
• The Gottman Institute
• How to Be an Adult  - David Richo
• Power of Unconditional Love - Ken Keyes
• Episode 4 - Tony Himes
• Episode 20 - Relationship Quickie
• Leave a voice message for us

Music Credits: 

• River Flow from Mixkit.co

What if we decided to honor all the parts of ourselves and each other….the masculine, the feminine, the earthy and the gold? What would it look like if you could express the full spectrum of yourself?  What would the world look like if we all decided to break down and recycle the boxes we’ve been expected to live in?

Come with us as we explore not only the mundane but the sacred feminine and masculine and find out how diving into them can change the world for the better.
We had an enriching double date this week with our friends Doug Eagan and Dawn Delvecchio.  
​
Dawn is a scholar, entrepreneur, martial artist, and priestess who is encouraging women to reclaim their feminine power  Just this year she interviewed 39 priestesses from around the world and multiple spiritual traditions. In this interview, she shares some of what she learned in that process. Dawn is offering a reduced-cost intensive online coaching program to help women cultivate inner strength and engage the mission of their souls.  Doug Eagen is a men's work leader, and mentor for boys who has been active in Boys to Men and the Mankind Project helping to craft a healthy masculinity.
​

References:

• Return of the Priestess 
• Dawn’s Priestess Alchemy Course

 Resources:

• Dawn Delvecchio’s website
• ManKind Project 
• Boys to Men Mentoring
• Zokni of the Week

 Music Credits: 

• Alejandro Magaña at https://mixkit.co/

How can we develop more ease and authenticity inside ourselves? How can we build more capacity and resilience to face current and future difficulties?
And what if, the same methods for adding to our lives created better relationships and more effective leadership?
How much would you pay for this? But wait, don’t answer…
This episode is full of just the sort of conversation and questions you’d hear if you were hanging out with us in the kitchen. Kelly and I regularly rassle with these ideas around healthy personal growth, uplifting relationships and inclusive, sustainable community. We get pretty agitated about the topic and the possibilities and sometimes Bill the Cat has to come in from the living room to yell at us to quiet down.
Or maybe he’s just agreeing loudly. It’s hard to tell
We offer up this conversation with both great passion and great humility. Our passion comes from all the years we’ve been working through these ideas personally and professionally. Our humility comes from the fact that we are very human and are working through all of this ourselves. We are doing our best not to preach or lecture [though it might sound like it sometimes - we do get excited], but we think there’s something good and powerful in facing these uncomfortable truths and we want to talk it through with you, together.

Show Notes
References:

• Carl Jung
• Anima/Animus
• The Shadow
• Nonviolent Communication Book
• Set This House in Order
• Nominate Satchel at The Rocket Feather Podcast Page 

 Resources:

• Episode 34 with Matt Ruff
• Episode 19 with Rowdy Duncan
• Art Therapy Resources

Music Credits: Mixkit.co

What if parenting, teaching, or just hanging out with teens could be easier and less stressful. What if we adults could adopt a few simple techniques to help kids make good decisions, free up their own authentic wisdom, AND build closer relationships. 

This week, we’re talking with Adam Young. Adam spent 10 years as a classroom teacher and nearly as long as a mentor and program director for Boys to Men Mentoring. (The nonprofit org I used to head)
At Boys to Men, Adam was key to the expansion of our school circles - we talk about “circles” a lot in this episode. They are simply hour-long support groups consisting of 8-10 boys and 3-4 adults. At our peak, BTM was conducting 16 weekly circles in half a dozen schools. This model is in use in schools all around the country and the world.

These days, Adam is one of the principals of a new consulting and training program called Circle Dynamics Group. The Circle Dynamics Group works with schools to train teachers and education leaders to quickly build interpersonal connections that encourage trust and deeper conversation with students. They have an open set of workshops coming up July 21st - 30th.
You might want to strap in a little more tightly than normal this week. Some of the ways that Adam works with teens - the radical trust, the abandonment of adult privilege and power - might rock your world and your assumptions a bit.

SHOW NOTESReferences:

• Circle Dynamics Group
  
• Boys to Men Mentoring
  
• Niobe Way - Deep Secrets: Boys' Friendships and the Crisis of Connection
  
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 
  

 Resources:

• Validate in Place TEDx Talk
  
• Episode 28, How to Vote for Your Best Self with Stasia Rivera
  
• Episode 15 Better Together: Teens, Community, and Activism
  
• Redefining Strength Facebook Group
  
• RocketFeather Community Lab Facebook Group
  

 Music Credits: Music provided by Audio Library Plus