Organizing: We take on harm reduction, labour organizing, what happens if we succeed in dismantling capitalism, and why we need access to nature — Can we actually find labour that is not extractive but meaningful and fulfilling, and so. much. more!So…next time you’re at Thanksgiving Dinner, why don’t you ask around and find out a little more about your cousins? Maybe you might have an activist sitting next to you?My northern California cousin is in the Wild and Precious House this week — I feel really blessed / lucky to be able to talk with James Tracy, long-time social justice organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the founder of the San Francisco Community Land Trust and has been active in the Eviction Defense Network and the Coalition On Homelessness, SF. He has edited two activist handbooks for Manic D Press: The Civil Disobedience Handbook and The Military Draft Handbook. His articles have appeared in Left Turn, Race Poverty and the Environment, and Contemporary Justice Review.He’s also in conversation at an event tomorrow night 7:00 PST through San Francisco State University called Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Amy Sonnie and James Tracy, reading and in conversation.This is the first part of what likely will be 3 part conversation on topics ranging from labour, organizing, working toward a just society and onward from there.This stuff is important — wouldn’t it be lovely to start with ourselves, create functional families, and then…one day, live in functional communities? I think it’s possible. It all starts with us doing the necessary work to learn to love ourselves (even the mucky unlovable bits)Notes:James Tracy Author — This is where it all starts. Linton Kwesi Johnson— Wow - singer mentioned in the podcastAnd Beauty for AllJeannie LittleSarah L. JaffeNancy FraserWild and Precious Patreon — Contribute if you feel like it. Or don’t - that is more than okay!Wild and Precious NewsletterWild and Precious BlogOnward. As we heal the otherness in us, in our communities, in our world.The Underbelly Project: Visit us at underbel.liIf you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Otherness: What happens when we are bullied, isolated, left out and “othered” — let’s learn how to heal that part of us so we can move into “Togetherness”New month, new podcast episode! I am so happy to have had a chance to talk with Dr. Stacee about her new book: The Healing Otherness Handbook.Our conversation goes from speaking about how to muck around in the compost of our lives and do our small things to create more beauty — to how to free ourselves when we are in isolation — to Jewish faith and the idea of Tikkun — to transgender ideas and how we can adapt to more pronouns :) and just what a lovely, fluid moment we are in right now.Notes:Dr. Stacee Reicherzer — Her website is full of resources and other good stuff.Dr. Stacee at TEDx — Taking Power Back from the COVID-19 BullyWild and Precious Patreon — Contribute if you feel like it. Or don’t - that is more than okay!Wild and Precious NewsletterWild and Precious BlogOnward. As we heal the otherness in us, in our communities, in our world.The Underbelly Project: Visit us at underbel.li If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Flourish: To get to flourish, you start with learning how to care — for yourself, your work colleagues, your neighbour.This episode marks our return to podcasting. Season 2 let’s call it. Beginning in February, I needed to take a break due to a family situation. If you want to learn more, I have written about it here.Wild and Precious Conversations returns today, however, with a conversation that will fill you with tools, enthusiasm, and motivation to create a more caring world where we can all flourish.We talk about how hard it is to talk about, the grief that happens with diagnosis and how hard that is to process while holding down a job. We talk about how everyone benefits when we make work places more human.We talk about suicide prevention and how important it is to know how to QPR. We talk about how important it is to have agency in your recovery and diagnosis managment. In other words, there are lots of ways to manage your illness/disorder. You need to work with your psychiatrist to find what works best for you. We talk. This conversation is close to my heart and I am in deep deep appreciation. Notes:Emily Morrison on Instagram @iloveyouspoonEmily Morrison on Twitter @iloveyouspoonBasic Information on Bipolar — from NIHKnox County Suicide Prevention CoalitionQPR — Suicide PreventionMental Health First AidEarly Assessment and Support AllianceROSC oriented system of care — This is specifically geared toward substance use but I felt like it was well laid out and easy to understand.Wild and Precious Patreon — Yup - always a joy to make Wild + Precious Conversations happen and support is welcome. Support feels a bit like a hug sometimes, a high-five, a bit of confetti.Wild and Precious NewsletterWild and Precious BlogOnward. As we flourish.The Underbelly Project: Visit us at underbel.li If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Refresh: I know I needed a refresh this week and so I am delighted to share this conversation with Reena Friedman Watts: Entrepreneur, podcaster, mom of four kids, wife, coach, community grower, storytelling junkie.You’ll want to listen for the recurring chorus of fail better, keep doing your best, tell your story, your voice matters, shine on.Reena’s podcast is called Better Call Daddy, and, yes, it turns out that her daddy is her talisman, her go-to in the times she needs a boost, and her champion. It was so heartwarming and a huge boost to hear about her relationship with her daddy.We also connected over our knowledge of Los Angeles culture — which anyone from Los Angeles will agree is a bit different. I have lived in so many different places, none compares to Los Angeles.(Sidenote: Go LA - doing a great job getting the population vaccinated. Amazing roll out!)Near the end of our conversation Reena shared a great vignette about acceptance and the need to know when to keep going. The recording cut out the first bit, so that’s a bit awkward. I introduce it at around the 25 minute mark, so listen for that.Notes:Reena on LinkedIn Better Call Daddy Reena on InstagramOnward. Refreshed:The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong. If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Renwal: Our theme for the week led me to a new podcast series: “Loving the Unlovable” First up, a conversation with my sister, Tamara Brown. Her MA in Human Development is what got me to call her but it was our relationship as sisters that helped us talk about the unlovable.What makes us lovable? Why is that such a cringey question? My sister and I dive in, staying on the edges of her professional background as a child development expert but really talking a lot about where we are as far as our lovability.The idea for this series came from fellow podcaster, Leah Carey, whose podcast, Good Girls Talk About Sex is, IMHO, a must listen. Learning to love the unlovable bits about us — including the unlovable bits in our friends and neighbours suffering from narcissistic personality disorder or similarly challenging mental illnesses — is really in large part what being human is all about.If you come from a Christian perspective (as I do) your one job is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Our first step, then, is to learn to love our unlovable bits to pieces so that we can go out into the world and love each other to the same degree.Tammy and I talk about weight, sexual orientation, disordered eating, sexual abuse, racism (though we just touch on this as neither of us is a POC), and more. We learn that one of us feels that she loves herself while the other isn’t quite there yet.Notes:James Fallon — Neuroscientist who discovered that he suffers from psycopathy and has since become an advocate for the disorder; challenging people to train themselves to be pro-social (my cliff notes)Onward. With deeper love:The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong. If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Perception: It’s all in how you see — the angle, the lens, the depth. This week, we continue our conversation on family, immigration, vulnerability and beauty with Stan Smith, adjunct professor of social work at USC.You have to wait until the 37 minute mark to get there, but this is where we end up:“I think it's true. Family is beautiful. Not Just the family that I think I deserve to have, or my kid deserves to have, or the family you deserve to have, or the one sitting across the pew from me at St.Charles or whatever church body that I claim affiliation with, not just the ones that are part of the same school or part of the same culture. Family is beautiful simply because of what family is. Period. Family is beautiful across our. Institutional lines and across our affiliations of culture to a central more deeper place that I think that has meaning with our species.”It’s worth it, though. I have been learning all along, but recently set aside still more time to learn sound editing — I think you will agree that it paid off. We speak about keeping families together, the work many people are doing to keep kids safe, the reason that our own vulnerability or lack of vulnerability keeps us from making positive changes, and so much more.It’s all in our perception.Notes:Stan Smith — Contact email for Stan.Hull House — Jane Addams, the “patron saint” of social work.Onward. With deeper perception:The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong. If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Persist! It’s those little efforts we make that, over time, move mountains. Today I get to share the first part of a two part conversation with Stan Smith, social worker and adjunct professor of social work at USC (University of Southern California).So, awhile back, I asked Stan about children as possibly the most vulnerable members of our society.He responded with: “We are the vulnerable ones who are afraid of that vulnerability.” I start this episode off with that exchange, and we go from there. It’s obvious that Stan has taught for a decade because it didn’t seem to matter what question I threw at him, he answered with a depth and grace that I am really honoured to share.This episode is divided into two parts. Today, we mainly tackle what we as a society should provide families and children so that they can thrive. What should that framework look like?At around the three minute mark, Stan notes that what we might value is not necessarily what we make rules and regulations around because the stuff we value isn’t necessarily stuff that can be commodified. Unlikely adoptions are shared, where families end up with more children than were planned for, and what a positive outcome that can be.How having enough abundance, enough affluence, makes it sometimes more difficult to see the cracks in society.At around the 19 minute mark: “Think about it, right? Because that is in essence what a civil society is trying to do, right. Is create a commons for which children have certain basic needs met.”At around 28 minutes, I ask, “what if we just flip that script and when we see somebody suffering and it could be a welfare region suffering — instead of wanting to punish them, we ask them what they need and we give it to them.”We end with: “If somebody points a finger and says, this woman went into a job interview and she committed abuse while doing it, that's one perspective. Another perspective was she didn't have enough resources.”Another perspective…Next week, we continue this wild and precious conversation. Thanks for listening!Notes:Dare mo Shira Nai — Nobody Knows — I mention this movie in the introduction to this episode. It’s a 2004 movie set in Tokyo. Four kids are living alone in an apartment as they try to figure out how to survive.Onward. We persist.The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong. If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Joy! This week, Anna Katarina and I speak about Rumour Mill, the band she created with Aline Daigle — and why you (we) should all sing, support live music, and music, music, music.Sing! Singing helps us move from our reactive (fight, flight, freeze or fawn) “lizard-brains” and into our grounded, responsive, fully-alive, fully-human selves.Singing makes it possible to access a full range of emotions. We *know* this, but sometimes we need a reminder.Anna Katarina (with lifelong friend Aline Daigle) created Rumour Mill, a West Coast Canadian indie band that has brought be to tears more than once.I feel so honoured to have had a chance to have a conversation with Anna recently. We speak about shame - and how it seems to stop us from singing, when really, singing should be part of our daily experience.We talk about harmony, and the lovely tension of harmony, where we all follow our own path, coming together on the same note, moving away again, then coming together. And - Rumour Mill will be performing live(stream) at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson, BC, on Friday, December 18, at 7:00. Link below. For a taste of their music, I included Song for a Winter Night and Only Love at the end of this episode. Enjoy!Notes:Rumour Mill — Aline Daigle (violin and vocals) and Anna Katarina (piano and vocals)Capitol Theatre Instagram post about Rumour Mill Livestream — Friday, December 18Rumour Mill Livestream at the Capitol Theatre — December 18, at 7:00 pm (PST)Onward. Toward a more joyful way of living together.The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong! If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Wild and Precious Conversations. This week, a conversation with Dr. Jennie Barron, executive director of the Mir Center for Peace.Jennie spoke with me about her dissertation which is her research into urban orchards.Urban orchards is code, I found, for some awfully subversive ideas.Jennie unpacked these for me as one might a series of very cherished gifts — first, by challenging my understanding of ownership. Imbuing it with the sense that it’s something we’re responsible to. (@10:55)There’s a decoupling of inputs and outputs…”they thought not what they were getting from the community orchard, but really what they were giving”We talk about the “Why” of the community orchard, and one response given is “It makes us whole”We are ostensibly talking about orchards but what happens when we use an orchard — a friendly, nonthreatening concept like a bunch of fruit trees — to talk about concepts like giving and gifts and sharing and community is that we are able to talk about our responsibility to one another and how we can live together in harmony, in peace, without touching a nerve.Have a listen. This conversation goes very well with last week’s conversation with Cam Brewer, also about the Commons.Notes:Community Orchards and Hyde’s Theory of the Gift — by Jennie BarronMir Centre for PeaceOnward. Toward a more peaceful way of living together.The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe laugh a bit together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong! If you enjoyed this conversation, a small ask: Share with anyone you know who might like what we’re doing over here. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Wild and Precious Conversations. This week, a conversation with Cam Brewer, lawyer, activist, author.I told Cam that we would be speaking about the commons.Ha.I planned to have this conversation and then put it out as a helpful adjunct to another couple conversations I am waiting to share with you about both our collective responsibility as a society and our how we can use that collective responsibility as an empowering force for good in the world.Well, as we conversed, I realized wholeheartedly that this conversation was filling me with hope.Hope for us as humans. Hope for us — that we really can wrap our brains around the idea that we are enough, we have enough, and we can share. As much as we had to learn that as little children, as much as we teach our own children.We can step into our responsibility and make really mature, good, healthy choices about how to use our natural commons, our economic commons, our digital commons and our communities. Have a listen!Notes:Cam Brewer — Bio in the TyeeGrameen BankFounders of BioNTechOnward. Excited to begin more conversations again. I have HOPES and plans for the next few weeks. Stay tuned :)The Underbelly Project: A weekly workout for your emotional strength and flexibility. If you’re not afraid to get dusty and maybe shed a few tears together, join me and let’s get emotionally strong! And please, if you know anyone who might like to share this journey, share this project. Excited to stay in the arena with you. Get on the email list at underbelly.substack.com