Life Studies: Recent Episodes
Deb Hart and Sally B
Roberta Gubbins is pictured here in the 1950s when she was part of the University of Michigan men's rifle team (other Big Ten coaches tried to kick her out of 'the club' because their team was so good).
Gubbins shares her stories here of how she got to stay on the men's rifle team, why she left one of her first jobs out of college, becoming an attorney, spending a year in Moldova and writing a book about it. Roberta's in her 80s now and still writing murder mysteries when not taking boxing classes.
"Move forward, go with love and just be open to the possibility," says Metro Melik Brown, owner of Metro Melik 517 in Old Town Lansing.
Deb Hart (currently writing in third person), who sounds like she swallowed fistful of gravel and had a personality removal prior to this interview, has known Melik for over 25 years, best their math can cipher. The conversation weaves in personal relationships, pursuing career dreams and conscious efforts to be their best selves. You might also call it, in part, a love letter to the 'Queen of the Corner House'.
It's good stuff.
LoveLansing
Soon after the birth of her son, Megen Hurst began having significant joint pain that doctors didn't properly diagnose for thirteen years. Once it was determined she has Rheumatoid Arthritis, the treatments weren't very helpful or sustainable (seriously, low grade chemo?).
Megen shares how her body's healing took her and her husband into the world of becoming chocolatiers, the co-owners of the wildly popular "Oh Mi Organics".
Henry Meyer opened up Eastside Fish Fry & Grill after he did three years in prison for a non-violent marijuana federal conviction. He shares his perspectives here on work ethic, cannabis and the treatment of felons once they've served their time. BTW, he goes out of his way to hire those who are re-entering society.
podcast #cannabis #reform #eastsidefishfry
Mark Marquardt spent years as a zookeeper, tending Black Rhinos and countless other creatures, but had another dream to follow. A desire to own a pet store led him to another passion of advocating for a raw food diet for our beloved dogs and cats, which is a sometimes controversial topic. He made Deb Hart a believer!
We reached out to Jeri Jo Meyer to talk about starting Inspired Home Real Estate and Staging. She said she could certainly discuss that, but the story she really wanted to tell was how she was the textbook case of the one child in her family singled out for abuse. She describes here what saved her and what keeps her going.
Whitney and her husband started Two Sparrows Farm out of passion for food that optimally feeds our bodies. She says many of her customers have auto immune disorders (as she does) and other gut health issues, which is what brought them to her farm. Her knowledge of food and passion for humane, sustainable and healthy nutrition is inspiring for those who want to feel better, live better.
Jerry Norris is a CEO/Entrepreneur, a podcaster, the founder of The Fledge, a radically inclusive space where he says they, "reinvent ourselves every single day. We're not normal."
Norris also says, "I always tell people I'm the Forrest Gump of Lansing, because you won't believe the things I've been through. I was born into poverty, thinking I was the only poor kid in school. I am a Dr. Anderson survivor. I've seen a lot of violence. I've had guns pulled on me."
He's also delighted with the Lansing State Journal article that said The Fledge 'may be the weirdest building you'll ever walk into.'
thefledge #connection #uplift #517lansing #survivor
"It's the one thing that lets us, literally, look under the hood of the brain," says Gretchen Morse, owner of Mid-Michigan Neurofeedback.
Life Studies Co-Host Deb Hart shares her experiences with neurofeedback in efforts to assist mental challenges she experiences.
"Things scare me, but I think it's about managing through the feeling," says Dan, now 32 years old. When he was 6 years old, doctors gave him a 15 percent chance to survive cancer. Treatment and dozens of surgeries later, he's still in the game. Literally. The guy plays so many sports!
"I was an insecure little girl and didn't see that I had any value...they believed in me and loved me like nobody had before," said Laura DeLong about a family that treated her as their own daughter, at a time when she most needed it.
Sally B and Deb Hart talk with Laura about how she built her successful real estate company, Laura DeLong Realty, despite a lot of obstacles in the way.
"I graduated from grad school on May 2nd and had all these grand plans of starting my PhD...I had a three year old daughter, it's gonna be the summer of fun...I got my cancer diagnosis May 25th. It was not the summer of fun," said Renee Hall, who has so many titles you can just assume she can do whatever you think she might.
Renee is a cancer survivor, advocate and author of the Everything Here is Damaged blog. She's engaging, funny, brilliant and bold.
Click here to follow Renee on Instagram.
"The way humans interact, their body and their brain together, makes the quality of their life. You've got to know a lot about bodies, and you have to know a lot about brains, psychology, emotion, philosophy and sacredness...to be of use. The more I can learn about those things, the more I can be useful," says Sue Grady when describing how she sees her role as a human.
Sue Grady shares her story of a vehicle wreck in 1991 that left her with brain and physical injuries, her recovery process and what it means to be of use in the world.
"How can we make it better? That's a part of kindness, that's a part of being there for someone else," says Dr. Greg Grady.
Dr. Grady was recommended to Deb Hart when she was in search of a new dentist a few years ago. What struck her most about Dr. Grady was his trauma sensitive approach to his patients, his compassion and humor.
And Sally B shares a funny, embarrassing story about a dental experience when she was a teenager.
"I listen between the lines," says Deborah Graham, Energy Therapist/Healer.
Graham says that increasingly people are coming to her for trauma release/trauma clearing, especially when they're not getting relief in more traditional avenues.
Graham came from the world of business before turning her full attention to her metaphysical practice that offers healing.
When her 13 year old son with a known, significant mental illness was sentenced to a blended prison sentence, Lois Pullano says, "I didn't know that we have a significant number of individuals on the inside who suffer from severe mental illness or cognitive impairment. It was a wakeup call for me. I used to think that 'you do the crime, you do the time', that people were getting what they deserved."
Living with her son's imprisonment, and realizing how all families suffer along with their incarcerated loved ones, led Lois to start Citizens for Prison Reform.
"Everybody though that I'd burnt out and that I was going to go find myself and then come back to work great...but, I actually knew that I was going on a new journey," said Jason Keusch, founder of Varhaus.
Jason shifted his work life from that of a chef and restaurant owner to the life work of an artist.
"I spent a lifetime carrying this unnecessary baggage and I just wanted to be able to help kids," says Vicki Hamilton-Allen, author of The Itchy Secret, a children's book written to inspire kids to tell their 'itchy secrets' to adults they can trust.
When we spoke with Vicki in December 2021, she was the President/CEO of Habitat for Humanity Capital Region, but has since stepped down. Likely we will talk with her about her next venture into change-making and empowering others. She tells her story here about how the book came about, what prompted her in her late 40s to write it and what's happened since then.
"Life and Corporate America and keeping up with the Jones'...starts to become a looming cloud...I would rather have experiences and adventures than have stuff."
William Trinkle was a radio broadcaster for many years, which is how he and Deb Hart became friends in the early 1990s while working at WMMQ in Lansing, MI.
In the early 2000s, Bill and his wife Porter decided to take their life on the road, working remotely while traveling the US in their RV.
After earning their Masters Degrees in Education at Michigan State University, Jenny Justis and her husband signed up to teach for a year at a remote village in Alaska, a really remote village, with a population of about 130 Native Alaskan people. She shares her perspectives with Sally and Deb about that first teaching job, which was a pretty unique experience.
They made their way back to the mainland to teach in an urban setting, then back to a very rural setting on an island off the coast of Michigan.
Their latest adventure is opening Sleepy Dog Books in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
We connected with Tracey Wirth to talk about growing up in small town Michigan, graduating from MSU, becoming a Surface Pattern Designer/Artist living in San Francisco, then moving back to the Mitten.
Unexpectedly, but greatly appreciated, Tracey openly talked about the lifelong depression she navigates. And we laughed a lot, because talking about depression doesn't have to be, well, depressing.
"What people are surrounded by impacts them, but also speaks of them in a way that language doesn't," says Kate Grady, Executive Film Producer.
Deb and Sally talk with Kate Grady about how she made her way to becoming a movie maker and what came with that.
"For a person who grows up powerless, (selling drugs and) the power that goes with it can be intoxicating," says Tony Gant, who grew up in a housing project, served twenty years in a Michigan prison for a crime committed when he was a teenager.
He took advantage of education opportunities while incarcerated and became a paralegal. Tony expected that as soon as he got out of prison, he would get a legit job and become become a productive member of society, but was hobbled by the stigma of a felony conviction on his record.
Most recently, Tony started working for Nation Outside, an organization whose mission is "to drive policy and practice reforms that build transformative systems of support for justice impacted people."