We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream: Recent Episodes
We Are Chaffee
We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream is a conversational podcast of humanness, community, and well-being rooted in Chaffee County, Colorado. It is part of the We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
Show notes and transcripts are available at wearechaffee.org. Follow the podcast on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
Ken Brandon seems to be a kind of philosophical Stoic, Buddhist, absurdist Spartan, who is known for riding a bicycle around Salida, Colo., while wearing a giraffe head and a three-piece suit. And yet he describes himself as "boring." Ken also is a designer, a painter and a screenwriter, and he's the creator of Box of Bubbles in Salida, Colo.
Adam talks with Ken about his “boring” approach to life and his appreciation of the surreal. They dabble in Dalí and da Vinci, Taosim and Dadaism. And talk about Ken’s astonishing collection of American idioms, which is 20+ years in the making. Among other things.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment's Office of Health Equity.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffeepod.com, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; and Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator.
Anna Heinauer is an integrative nutrition health coach and she’s co-owner of The Lettucehead Food Company. Host Adam Williams talks with Anna about many things nutrition. Like, what is it, really? And why should we care about it?
They talk about the value of local food sources and the costs of short- versus long-term nutritional choices. They also talk about why the food pyramid chart that so many of us grew up with is bogus and what nutritional guidance has replaced that pyramid.
Adam also gets Anna’s insights on some “tricky foods,” and asks about the impact of genetics and bio-individuality on one’s health. Among other nutritious things.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment's Office of Health Equity.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffeepod.com, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; and Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator.
Jon Pray and Ken Matthews join host Adam Williams for a half-interview, half-coffee chat episode.
Ken hosted a radio show called Chaffee Housing Report for several years. Jon was the radio engineer behind the scenes on that show as he often is for Looking Upstream. Adam pulls back the curtain to learn more about each of these guests and to get them to tell a bit on each other along the way.
Jon tells stories of interviewing Mick Jagger on the radio years ago, and covering a clash between the Black Panthers and riot police at a basketball game. Ken talks about his history with rugby and, on the softer side, gardening. Among other things.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment's Office of Health Equity.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffeepod.com, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; and Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator.
In this short episode of We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams is solo. He highlights episodes and topics from the past two years of the podcast and talks about what's on his mind for Looking Upstream's growth and evolving future as the show heads into year three.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
Julie Speer Jackson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary director and producer. In this conversation, she talks about how she went from studying biochemistry in French, while a college student in Brussels, Belgium, to theater and eventually a career in filmmaking.
She talks with Adam Williams about her innovative DocuReach approach to making films. It’s a model for social change that makes filmmaking a team sport, rather an ego-driven, command-and-control kind of endeavor.
They also talk about the evolution of technology throughout Julie’s career, from digibeta to the role of the Internet and YouTube, to her becoming an FAA-licensed drone pilot and her thoughts on the use of AI. Among other things.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
Michael and Carrie Fox are a married musical duo that perform as Known Odyssey. Michael also is a poet and video artist. Carrie also is a writer, music therapist and grief counselor.
Carrie has published writing about grief and loss. She was a music therapist for hospice patients for years, and she lost her dad to pancreatic cancer when she was 22 years old. Michael lost his mom to lung cancer when he was only 17, and his dad rarely was involved in his life.
This incredible conversation dives into the human experiences of grief and loss, healing and gratitude, resilience and forgiveness. And a whole lotta love.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
Thuy Nguyen is a poet, writer and speaker on self-empowerment. She came up in a cult-like religious environment. When Thuy was a teen, she was preyed upon by a church leader and, ultimately, shunned by that community. Adam talks with Thuy about those experiences, how she broke free from the church, and what she’s learned about leadership, accountability and forgiveness in the process.
They also talk about mental health, including Thuy’s experience of postpartum depression – the fear, the extreme paranoia – and how she worked her way through that and found the light again.__________
We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
Mahting Putelis grew up in a Latvian community in Kalamazoo, MI. It was extraordinarily formative, and is a source of great pride for Mahting. Adam talks with him about that upbringing and community, and its influences on him.
They also talk about Mahting’s history with photography, the realities of trying to thrive as an adventure photographer, and the emergence of artificial intelligence and its effect on Mahting’s photographic work. Among other things, like being a “dirtbag” climber and adventure guide living in a van throughout his 20s.
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We Are Chaffee's Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of We Are Chaffee’s Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Jason Marsden, executive director of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA), rights advocate and former newspaper reporter.
Adam talks with Jason about his early years growing up on a farm, his studying post-WWII poetry at Harvard, and his time as an environmental reporter at the Casper Star-Tribune. They also talk about the state of journalism and truth in the media today.
And they talk about Jason’s friend, Matthew Shepard, who became the subject of national and international media coverage in the wake of a violent hate crime committed against him, in 1998. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of We Are Chaffee’s Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Silvana Montero.
Silvana, a road cyclist, recounts the harrowing experience of when she was hit from behind by a motorist driving more than 45 miles per hour -- and the divine instruction that she heard in that instant that might have saved her life. That led to the first of two traumatic brain injuries that Silvana has been living with since.
They talk about how her life has changed, including the social isolation and grief that came with loss of friendships along the way, and how we all can show up for our loved ones in those critical moments. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of We Are Chaffee’s Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Jennifer Dempsey, founder of the Salida (Colo.) Circus and former director of the Belfast Community Circus in Northern Ireland.
They talk about what a social circus is and the good it serves in a community. They talk about what it was like for Jenn to live in Belfast for 12 years, using the circus as a tool for bringing people together during “The Troubles.”
Jenn tells about how, as a two-time college dropout who was, in her words, “the world’s worst waitress” and a “terrible employee” for others, she figured out the unconventional path of her own life and not only has thrived but has helped so many others along the way.
They also talk about solving life’s quality problems, getting past our own self-consciousness and developing our skills of humor to create resilience. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Shane McNeil, singer-songwriter-guitarist, auto mechanic and jack-of-all-trades.
In this conversation, Adam talks with Shane about tattoos and Shane’s autobiographical song, “Guy with the Chevy Tattoo.” They talk about the early influences in Shane’s life, including straight-edge punk rock music and the ethos behind it. They talk about why Shane is so restless and optimistic, and about the most valuable lesson he thinks anyone can learn.
Adam and Shane explore being a “gray area” person in a world that wants to box people into black and white, bumper-sticker identities. Toss in a love story, Shane’s relationship to cannabis and psilocybin, and his thoughts on regrets in life, among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Gloria Esparza, an 18-year-old high school senior and a youth advisor through Chaffee County (Colo.) Family & Youth Initiatives.
Adam talks with Gloria about her upbringing in a home with three generations and two languages, teen mental health, loss of identity as an athlete due to significant injuries and generational disconnects in communication. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Thordis Simonsen, the founding director and curator of the Museum of Authenticity in Salida, Colo. Thordis is a painter, photographer, writer and curator. She’s the author of three books, including "You May Plow Here."
In this conversation, Adam talks with Thordis about how she came to leave a career as a school teacher to go live in a small Greek village, where she would spend years interviewing villagers and documenting their life in photographs. Never mind that Thordis did not know Greek.
That initial experience would lead to Thordis selling her Ford Pinto station wagon and buying dilapidated sheep stables in that Greek village with the proceeds: $2,000. She would spend 10 years rebuilding that stone structure by hand into a house for herself, and participating in a 40-year relationship with that village.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Ray Nypaver. Ray is a nature-based psychotherapist and running coach, essayist and poet whose newest book is "Light & Dark: Reflections on the Human Experience."
She studied at Naropa, a Buddhist-inspired university in Boulder, Colorado. Adam and Ray delve into matters of spirituality, and how we all can be our highest, truest selves. They talk about fear and love, ego and death, magic and joy. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Zac Baird, keyboardist and composer. Zac is known across musical genres for his skills with synthesizers and computers. He has toured the world far and wide, playing with various artists and bands for more than 30 years, including for more than a decade with the metal band Korn.
Adam talks with Zac, who had just returned home from nearly a year working and touring in Europe and North America with Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour. They talk about his early years with music, including his attending a performing arts high school in Dallas, where he was in English class with Erykah Badu. They talk about life on the road, and what happened when the covid-19 pandemic put a stop to Zac’s work.
Zac started touring as a musician when he was a teenager. He lived in Los Angeles for years. He’s now a dad in his 50s and living in a rural mountain town in Colorado. They talk about what’s changed and what has stayed constant in Zac’s decades-long musical career. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Jed Selby, co-developer of South Main in Buena Vista, Colorado. That includes the Surf Hotel, the bar and restaurant Wesley & Rose, and the concert venues of the Ivy Ballroom and the Lawn, among other things.
Jed is a former professional kayaker and former U.S. Freestyle Kayak team member. He’s a passionate lover of live music and has contributed a lot to the local area music scene for nearly 20 years.
Adam gets to know something about who Jed is behind the public reputation. They talk about motivations and how Jed has felt about criticism of his South Main work. They also talk about community crisis issues, like affordable housing, short-term rentals, water needs and how to build the future. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this short episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams goes solo. He looks back at the diverse guests on the podcast in 2023. He also gives a heads up to the three guests who will kickoff the biggest month, so far, on the podcast in January 2024.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram @wearechaffeepod, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Rob Dubin, a former filmmaker who has become an expert and international keynote speaker on happiness and resilience.
Rob and his wife, Dee, made national news 30 years ago when they survived several days in the backcountry during a phenomenal blizzard near Aspen, Colorado. Adam talks with Rob about that experience and not only how but why survival against all odds was possible.
A few years later, Rob retired from filmmaking at 42. He and Dee sold their home and bought a 40’ sailboat. They sailed the world for what would become a 17-year-long adventure, and a study of human happiness and fulfillment.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, logo and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Alpheus “Alf” Rudd, a master blacksmith with a family lineage in the trade, dating back to at least the 1600s.
Adam and Alf take a ride through history and stories of a time gone by, personal, family and otherwise. Alf was abandoned by his father from the get-go, and his stepfather was lost at sea in the Pacific during World War II when Alf was only a baby. He has stunningly vivid memories of being run over by a car driven by his grandfather when he was six years old. His mom was a Rosy the Riveter type, a welder who died when Alf was 10.
And there’s more. But Alf focuses on the grandparents who raised him, teaching him all the life skills that an old-world agrarian family and community in the Deep South had to teach at the time.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Katie Brown, the renowned rock climber that Climbing magazine named the “best female climber of the millennium” in 1999, and the author of ‘Unraveled,’ a memoir of Katie’s journey through darkness and back.
Adam talks with Katie about her growing up in isolation that was, at least in part, dictated by religious fervor in the household. She shares about how she walked the confusing tightrope of that isolation, of the expectations of god and her parents, and the fact that she was a rock climbing phenom of historic proportions, traveling the world, winning all kinds of big competitions, becoming a world champion as a teenager … And all while suffering deeply and unseen in silence.
That suffering included disordered eating, self-harm and the mental, emotional and physical tolls of years of struggling to be the world’s best climber through all the turmoil. Alone. Katie would end up leaving the sport. Sort of, disappearing. Many climbers and fans of climbing had little or no idea why. Until ‘Unraveled,’ Katie’s memoir, was published a year ago.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Keith Baker, Chaffee County (Colo.) Commissioner, retired U.S. Navy Commander, and former owner of The Trailhead (Buena Vista, Colo.), to name just a few chapters in Keith’s story.
Keith talks about his country roots in Georgia and his perception of life as a child in the Sixties, a decade that had its challenges, for sure, but Keith was formed as an optimist from his early years on and overall saw it as as a golden era of possibility and progress, like with space flight and the moon landing in the summer of ’69.
They talk about Keith’s ambitions to be a Naval aviator, though he ultimately would become a career Surface Warfare officer instead, and would serve closely with General Colin Powell, and other top leaders, at the Pentagon.
Keith shares his thoughts on the hallmarks of great leaders, and what it was like to work with a consummate leader like Colin Powell, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Eddie Sandoval. Eddie might be most known as chef and owner of the Asian Palate (Buena Vista, Colo.), along with his wife, Brynn. In recent months, he also became concert manager for the Surf Hotel.
In this conversation, Adam gets to know more about where Eddie comes from, his Midwest upbringing and his young adult years on the East Coast. They talk about how food came to be a central passion for Eddie, though he’d initially thought he’d become a school teacher. They also talk about music’s place in Eddie’s life and about influential travel experiences, including several months in Southeast Asia. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Mars and Ashley Fite.
The Fites are married digital creators who were early to living adventures on the road before #vanlife became a thing on social media. Ashley and Mars share fantastic insights and perspectives on life, travel, parenting and creativity.
They tell how their van life actually started with a monthslong 48-state road trip in a Honda Civic with their then 2-year-old daughter. They talk about how they came to be featured on HGTV’s show “Tiny House, Big Living,” when they were converting a cargo van into a home.
Adam finds out what Mars and Ashley have learned from life on the road, and from the diverse array of people they’ve met, and how that has influenced their concepts of community, in real life and online. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with historian and rancher Suzy Kelly.
Suzy is a local historian and nearly lifelong resident of the Arkansas Valley here in Colorado. She holds a wealth of knowledge on the history of the area, and has built a legacy of preservation as a founding board member of the local Heritage Museum for the past nearly 50 years.
Adams asks about some of the local stories Suzy knows, just as she learned many of them by asking those who could tell the stories before her. They talk about Buena Vista, Colo., landmarks like the historic courthouse and McGinnis Gym, and Cockeyed Liz’s brothel, which still stands today, on Main Street. They talk about change during Suzy’s decades living here.
Suzy shares some of her personal story, too, like how her father’s World War II experience fighting in the Alps led him to move his family from Iowa to the mountains of Colorado when he returned home. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with entrepreneur, author, speaker and coach Laurie Benson.
Laurie talks with Adam about her experiences working on climate issues around the world. They talk about her connection with indigenous women, and her work with mothers and children seeking safety and support at the U.S. border with Mexico. They talk about accepting life with a neutral spirit, and the power of perception to shape how we see and move through the world.
Laurie also shares about her current work, Inward Bound, which brings together women and highlights tools for women to recognize what they have to offer and to stand stronger in their own purposes.
They also talk about Laurie’s recent book, “Leading from the Feminine,” and her forthcoming book. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with entrepreneur and activist Kimi Uno.
Kimi shares about the influence of the Riot Grrrl movement on her life when she was coming up in the Pacific Northwest. She and Adam talk about female empowerment and feminism, multiculturalism and anti-racism, and her history of activism.
They also talk about the U.S. government’s internment of Japanese-Americans, including Kimi’s family, during World War II, and the lasting effects it’s had on generations of a family and community at large.
Kimi also shares her views on entrepreneurship and intentions behind the “Howl,” of Howl Mercantile & Coffee, her curated retail shop in Salida, Colo.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Joe Parkin.
Joe was a pioneering American professional cyclist in Europe in the 80s and 90s. He also has been a professional and/or highly competitive BMX, mountain bike and motorcycle racer.
He’s been an aerobatic pilot. He spent several years as a highly accomplished long-range rifle shooter. He has been on several tours with the rock band of the actress Juliette Lewis. He has published two books and later worked as a magazine editor and writer. He’s owned a bar and bike shop, is a Liege waffle connoisseur and continues to read books in Flemish to stay in touch with his formative years as a cyclist living in Belgium.
Joe shares his inside perspective on the entrenched history of doping in the sport of cycling, the nuances of race fixing, and his levels of participation in both. Among other stories from his many interesting life turns and adventures.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this short episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams goes solo. He looks back at the diverse guests and topical threads of conversations in the first year of the podcast. He also takes a look at the guests’ stories that will kick off year two.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Rick Bieterman and Katy Welter.
Katy and Rick are married partners in a life of ranching and historic renovation, and other adventures. They met on a 75-day outdoor leadership adventure in the mountains. They had come to that experience as individuals, strangers, who unwittingly had both traveled from Chicago to get there, and they left as a couple.
Adam talks with Katy and Rick about leaving behind careers as a lawyer and a teacher, respectively, in the Midwest to, ultimately, take a leap of faith in buying an historic 180-acre ranch in the Arkansas River Valley in Colorado.
They talk about learning on the job at their Watershed Ranch, and the 50-year project they see in it. And about how they came to be owners of an historic renovation project of a 1936 gymnasium. They also talk about leadership, land conversation, and a passion for serving the community. Among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Eric S. Lee, executive director for Full Circle Restorative Justice.
Eric has a rich history of entrepreneurship and service to others, including as a chef and restaurateur, life coach and fitness trainer, book author and restorative justice facilitator. He and Adam talk about Detroit and the Motown era of Eric’s early years, and other influences in his life as a kid coming up there in the 1960s and 70s.
They talk about how Eric ultimately left behind a wayward lifestyle and came to the spiritual practices and positive attitude that have led him to his many life successes, including his current community leadership role in restorative justice for youth.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with professional endurance athlete and author Travis Macy.
Travis has a new book out, “A Mile at a Time.” It’s a collaboration with his father, the legendary endurance athlete, Mark “Mace” Macy, and Patrick Regan.
Adam and Travis talk about the impact of Mace’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and the ambiguous sense of loss and grief along the way. They talk about the role of humor and choosing happiness, and facing life with courage. They also talk about Travis and Mark’s relationship, as father and son, and about love, optimism and resilience. Among other things that spark laughter and maybe a few tears, too.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with artist Brinkley Messick.
Brinkley dropped out of art school, yet here he is, one of this area’s most recognizable artists with work that is known up and down the Arkansas River Valley and beyond. Brinkley describes himself as “naturally subversive.” He and Adam talk about how that, his study of anthropology, and his parents have influenced his work as an artist.
Brinkley shares about his upbringing and early influences in life, and why he loves music but feels like he hasn’t succeeded in making music himself. Adam asks Brinkley about his love of horses, mountains and trails, and they talk fatherhood, too.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Elisia Parham, poet, activist and social worker.
Elisia is a poet who grew up in unconventional circumstances. She and Adam talk about how those circumstances helped her to develop resilience and her voice, which she has used not only as a performing slam poet but as an activist.
Adam talks with Elisia about her path from being an activist out of righteous anger to being an activist out of love, and one who recently earned her Master’s degree and is starting a career as a social worker.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Sophia Herzog Gibb, a two-time Paralympic medalist swimmer.
Sophie retired from world competition after the Tokyo games were held in 2021. She grew up in Fairplay, Colo., at first with dreams of being a competitive skier. We talk about what led her from skiing to glory as a swimmer. We talk about her growing up with a disability and how that affected her life in a small rural school, and fueled her fire to excel at academics and athletics.
Sophie was born with dwarfism. She has said if she had a choice between being born with dwarfism again or of average height, she’d choose dwarfism. She shares why that is in this conversation. And plenty more insights and stories, including her love story with Paralympic cyclist (and now husband) Nick Gibb.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Wendell Pryor, the retired former executive director of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in Chaffee County, Colo.
Wendell tells about growing up in what was then a rural area outside Denver, coming up in a two-room schoolhouse without indoor plumbing, and spending weekends in the city with cousins. His dual-environment childhood and being surrounded by family values would be shaping factors in his life. Wendell would end up leaving the States as a teenager, however, to go to high school in Germany, where his civil servant father took a career stint for some years.
Adam asks Wendell, who would have a lengthy career in public service himself, about his experiences and insights as civil rights director for Colorado and in other roles, including as executive director of the EDC. In that position, he would help to bring broadband internet to this rural slice of central Colorado, empowering a surge of intellectual and entrepreneurial capital to move into the region, among other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Monica White, founder of the Colorado Tick-Borne Disease Awareness Association.
Monica enjoyed a career as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service for a number of years, and then experienced a life-changing illness that took years just to get support for diagnosis, let alone treatment. It’s her path with Lyme disease, and that of her husband and their two children getting sick with it, as well, that inspired her to become an advocate in the field of tick-borne diseases.
In this conversation, Monica talks about the brutal shift, physically, mentally and emotionally, from an active, adventurous outdoor life to one of years long, ongoing isolation and grief, for her and her family.
She talks about why it was so extraordinarily difficult to get the medical community’s support in her diagnosis, and why Lyme disease continues to be such a challenging illness, in general, to get treatment for.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Andrea Carlstrom, director of Chaffee County (Colorado) Public Health.
Andrea and Adam reflect on the recent past, with the three-year mark of the first COVID case noted in Chaffee County in mind. During the time that would follow, Andrea lived not only her own version of what everyone experienced with the pandemic, she also felt heavy responsibilities and stresses as director of Public Health responding to a health crisis in the face of political and social division. That included receiving politically motivated threats to her safety and calls for her removal as director of Public Health.
Adam talks with Andrea about what motivated her to persevere and continue serving the community, rather than walking away for her own wellbeing, as her loved ones at times urged her to do. They also talk about free-spirit Andrea, who tells about her New England upbringing, shares her love of jam band music, and her story of meeting her husband on a Phish tour.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer;Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; andHeather Gorby, graphic and web design.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Amy and Lenny Eckstein, the married couple and entrepreneurial energy behind the craft distillery Deerhammer.
Lenny and Amy tell about their East Coast origin story, how they met and made their way west, and why they left behind successful careers in other realms to buy a building on Main Street in a rural mountain town in Colorado and start a distillery.
Amy shares fantastic stories about growing up with a dad and family that hustled to make business ideas happen in Boston. And Lenny introduces Adam to the sport of squirt boating, a form of whitewater kayaking Adam had no idea existed. Among other topics that come up.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Jonathon Stalls, author of the book, “Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up and Connect at 1-3 Miles Per Hour.”
They talk about Jonathon’s 242-day walk across the United States as a pivotal experience for him, and the deeply painful buildup, including a suicide attempt, that led him to that mental and emotional space where a cross-country walk made sense to him, even if he had no idea what he was doing when he started it.
What Jonathon learned while walking from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, fuels his personal life practices, and advocacy and community organizing today.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Les Messamer, a 96-year-old World War II veteran who one might swear has lived multiple lives simultaneously. Adventurous ones and otherwise.
Les tells about his upbringing in a fundamentalist religious farm community in Iowa, and why he defied its wishes and enlisted to serve in World War II, only to be shunned when he returned home.
Adam talks with Les about his post-war adventures as a sea-going cowboy taking several hundred heifers across the Pacific to Shanghai, China, and surviving near-death experiences along the way. Among other big moments from a life full of stories.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Tayte Pollmann. Tayte is a writer, trail runner, Nordic skier, traveler and, it turns out, a lover of Liège waffles, artisan cheese and many other things.
Adam and Tayte talk about a roving range of topics, including food and their shared love of living in the mountains, and memories they both have of their dads introducing them to Nordic skiing.
Tayte also talks about his experience of living with five housemates in a time and place when housing affordability has become increasingly difficult. They talk about earthship architecture and sustainability, and Tayte shares his thoughts on the concept of home.
Adam also asks Tayte about an exciting book project in the works for which he plans to travel to Nepal this spring. Among many other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Dominique Naccarato, executive director of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) and city council member in Salida, Colo.
Dominique’s story is Salida’s story, at least in part. She talks with Adam about growing up in Salida in the pre-Internet era and wanting to leave and never come back. And she did leave. And then she came back some years later and, ultimately, took on leadership roles that will have far-reaching influence on the future of her community and the generations to come.
Adam talks with Dominique about the personal and family story she has that is so deeply interwoven with the waves of change that have come to the area in the past 50 years.
They talk about Dominique’s vision as executive director of GARNA, with its mission to protect the natural environment in Chaffee County, Colo., and how she balances that with the critical issues of housing affordability in the area as a member of city council.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Jenny Davis, founder of Achieve, Inc., and Little Engine Eatery.
Jenny’s story of a Midwest upbringing and parents who divorced when she was a teen highlights her entrepreneurial spirit. Jenny and Adam talk about her setting aside the Christian faith of her parents and exploring Eastern philosophies, ultimately coming to identify as Buddhist. Jenny tells how she had to persuade her parents that, in fact, did not mean she had joined a cult. It would, however, lead to a frantic search on one Sunday morning in Boston to find the right kind of tea pot for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who was visiting.
Adam and Jenny talk about meditation practices, and why people who so often try it once and think they just really aren’t any good at it, actually are and just don’t recognize it. And they talk about her volunteer work in the correctional facility in Buena Vista, Colo., where she leads a Buddhist meditation and study group for those incarcerated there.
They also talk about neurodiversity, and Jenny tells about the inspiration for her having founded Achieve, Inc., which is for advocacy on behalf of those who are neurodiverse.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Mike Orrill, a retired Presbyterian pastor of 35 years.
Mike describes himself as a “poster child for doubt,” as he and Adam discuss faith and the dangers of certainty. They talk about Mike’s personal evolution over nearly 50 years from fanatical believer who needed absolute answers to his questions, to transparently fallible human who has become relatively comfortable with life's ambiguity. Mike shares how faith, belief in the afterlife, and even belief in God have never come easily to him.
“I think doubts are really important,” Mike says. “The moment we become really certain, whether it be matters of faith or politics or whatever, when we become really certain, maybe that’s when we begin to have conflicts with each other, because we’ve stopped listening. … I celebrate people’s doubts, because I think that’s our growing edge, that’s where we learn.”
He also shares his passion for the power of listening and storytelling, and what he’s learned about where answers to life’s questions actually come from. … Among other things.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks again with Beck Cerón, picking up where they left off in their previous conversation.
Adam and Beck go deeper into Beck’s story as a transgender man and the freedom he feels in his queer identity. Beck shares about his experience with gender dysphoria, as male in a female body. He talks about how that experience of himself tied to his use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, and ultimately how he would get clean and sober, and transition into the full, confident humanness of himself as a man.
Adam and Beck also talk about allyship through the public use of pronouns (they/them, she/her, he/him). And Beck tells what it feels like to him to finally be able to look in a mirror, and love and trust who he sees there.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Rob and Sarah Gartzman, a married couple who also are entrepreneurial partners who own multiple restaurants (The Biker & The Baker, Sweetie's Sandwich Shop) in the town of Salida, Colorado.
Sarah and Rob met as high school seniors in Evanston, Illinois, somewhere around 20 years ago, and they’ve taken a really compelling path together – and for a bit apart – and have ridden some big ups and some scary downs.
Rob tells about the unwritten rule in their lives that keeps them going through dark-early morning wake-ups, being bosses for nearly 40 employees, being creators, risk-takers and parents, and everything else they’re juggling.
They also get into the seriousness of a truly life-threatening, frightening emergency that led Sarah to the hospital during an already extraordinarily difficult time. And they touch on a topic that not only is critical in Chaffee County, and throughout Colorado, but across the country and, really, the world: housing affordability and the dominoes that can fall in a community without it.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Miki Hodge and Becky Gray. Becky and Miki share stories from their extraordinary lived experiences, and about how those tie to their roles in the development of Jane’s Place, an innovative housing, nonprofit and commercial project in the town of Salida.
Becky also talks about her years following the Grateful Dead around the country and being part of the Rainbow Family, living in a van with her then-infant son, and eventually their reentry into Babylon, which is what the Rainbow Family calls conventional society.
Miki tells how the tragic loss of her parents at a very early age, naturally, had a big impact on her life, and what was the critical difference-maker in the path she would take to become the first in her family to graduate from high school, and then from college. Miki would go on to get her dream job as a wilderness guide, who also spent some years living in a van, and eventually founded a nonprofit for mentoring youth.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Beck Cerón.
There has been an intensity to Beck’s life. Adam and Beck talk about survival and the self-taught, self-reliant, hands-on kind of energy that his life has demanded from him. They talk about a sliding-doors moment in Beck’s youth and about addiction. They also touch on his sobriety, which has come during a nearly 10-year career as a distiller of whiskey, gin and so on.
Beck and Adam also got into another incredibly important and huge topic of identity. And in Beck’s case, the likely correlation of his identity and his addictions, and ultimately his getting clean and sober and loving who he is.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Tanya Wait and Abigail Smedly, deeply empathetic public health nurses in Chaffee County, Colorado.
Abigail tells about a life-changing experience that happened in the country of Kazakhstan when she was 16 years old. Tanya tells about how her nursing career nearly was derailed before it began, due to, of all things, a public health crisis.
Adam asks what makes “public health” nursing different from the typical role nurses hold in hospitals and doctors’ offices. And Abigail and Tanya elaborate on the definition of “social determinants of health,” which are at the heart of Looking Upstream's mission.
They also talk about the mobile health clinic in Chaffee County, which Tanya and Abigail staff, mental health and tangible expressions of love.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
Art Hutchinson joins Adam Williams, host of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, to talk about a rare history and perspective in Chaffee County, Colorado.
The Hutchinson Homestead & Ranch is located along highway 50 between Salida and Poncha Springs, Colorado. The ranch has been a keystone in the community since before there even was a community, having been founded in the 1860s, soon after the Civil War. That’s before Colorado was a state, before nearby Salida was a town, before … well, nearly everything that’s come to be established in Chaffee County.
Art and Adam talk about that family history, about the weight of legacy, and about change and conservation. Art not only knows about that as part of the seven generations of Hutchinsons to have lived in the area, but he also served more than three decades in the National Park Service, including as superintendent of the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Now, in retirement, Art brings that experience – and a reasoned voice – back to Chaffee County.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
Nikki Ray and We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream host Adam Williams talk about Nikki growing up in a family that struggles with addiction, and how she too would end up experiencing many years of active drug addiction, starting at a pretty young age.
Nikki and Adam talk about her growing up in that environment and how it would lead to some significant losses in her life. They talk about why those losses pushed Nikki deeper into using drugs, rather than being the wake-up calls that might have helped her to shift course. In the process, she gives listeners insights into the disease, as experienced by someone in active addiction.
They talk about run-ins with the law, and shame and guilt. And, ultimately, self-acceptance and recovery, and getting clean and sober. Nikki now serves the community as a crisis peer at Sol Vista Health in Salida, Colo., and as a peer coach who leads a local meeting for others struggling with addiction, through Peer Empowerment Recovery Community Solutions.
Nikki also talks about how her lived experience affects her perspective as a mother to a teenage daughter and a toddler son.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
Alexandra Restrepo and We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream host Adam Williams talk about Alex’s early childhood with an abusive, drug-addicted mother, and the love and sacrifices of her father.
We talk about her leaving the United States and growing up with her father’s family on a farm in Colombia, South America. Alex tells how she ended up falling into a pattern of toxic relationships and instability again, as she reached adulthood. Thankfully, that’s not where the story ends.
Seven years ago, Alex moved to Colorado. It was an escape. It also would be where her biggest dreams would come true. But not without a fight. As you listen to Alex talk, you’ll notice that she’s got that resilient, courageous spirit of a fighter.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities.
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.
Lisa Martin, producer for the new We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast and Community Advocacy Coordinator for the We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative, and Adam Williams, host of the new podcast, talk with Ken Matthews on the Chaffee Housing Report radio show on KHEN 106.9 in Salida, Colo.
The conversation is the second of a two-part transition from the Chaffee Housing Report to We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream, a human-forward, conversational, storytelling podcast that will focus on upstream health factors such as housing and living conditions, social inequities, and many related policies and systems in Chaffee County, Colo.
In this interview, Lisa elaborates on those upstream health factors, talks about the broader We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative, and announces who the first guests will be on the podcast. Adam shares some of his background, approach and energy for hosting Looking Upstream.
Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority, talk with Ken Matthews on the Chaffee Housing Report radio show on KHEN 106.9 in Salida, Colo.
The conversation is the first of a two-part transition from the Chaffee Housing Report to a new podcast, We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream, which will focus on upstream health factors such as housing and living conditions, social inequities, and many related policies and systems in Chaffee County, Colo.
In this interview, Andrea and Becky give a broad overview of the complementary work they do in the community, focusing on social determinants of health, including housing affordability. The We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative, which is launching Looking Upstream as a human-forward, conversational storytelling podcast, is part of that work.