Allison Kolarik is part of the team responsible for <a href='https://www.asburyparkdinnertable.org/'>Asbury Park Dinner Table</a>, a charity formed in March of 2020 in order to provide meals to those with food insecurity. In just 3 months the charity has donated thousands of meals and raised tens of thousands of dollars. She also runs East Coast Comic-Con. And is an author. And other stuff.  We had such a great conversation. The fact that Allison is non-binary/trans may have come up. She taught me more about the real meaning of these words and what it feels like to be uncomfortable in your assigned gender in the few hours we spoke than I have ever learned anywhere before. Learning the pronouns is the easy part. Getting past all that and meeting Allison is the gift. <a rel="payment" href="http://patreon.com/lightersidepodcast">Support the show</a> (http://patreon.com/lightersidepodcast)

The Message - Recovery and Redemption with Frederick Shegog

It started as a weight loss podcast, which quickly became a mental health podcast, which somehow became a pandemic podcast.  Jay, your host  (anxiety/depression/OCD/childhood trauma/family addiction)  lost 185 lbs after having bariatric surgery.  Guests have ranged from actor Ken Marino to a woman you have never heard of who lost 250 lbs, to a recovering addict, to essential workers during COVID-19. In 2020, the show became daily and ran for 100 episodes in 100 days. The culmination of everything The Lighter Side strove to be, Jay created an oral history of the pandemic, as told through the voices of the people who lived through it. There's something for everyone on the Lighter Side.