Fringe Voices

Today I welcome a very special guest Niles Heckman. Niles is a documentary photographer & filmmaker, essayist, and speaker who's work focuses around themes of ageless wisdom for our modern times. Sharing insights in his films, spoken-word essays, podcast An Infinite Path also his productions with the films Transmutations and Shamans of the Global Village. He has also worked on multiple Academy Award-winning teams in Hollywood with New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Marvel Studios.

Some things we discuss:

• What draws you to do the work you do? You have worked in Hollywood and sometimes Hollywood can be a bit generic but your work is very unique.
• What was your life like growing up, what’s a bit of your background?
• How did your early years influence your later life?
• Take aways from his popular film Shamans of the Global Village
• What’s your spiritual journey been like and what spiritualities are you drawn to and why?
• How Niles approaches being a parent in this modern era
• Niles recommends some great media:

1. The Master Key System (book)
2. As a Man Thinketh (book)
3. The Kybalion (book)
4. The Habit Poem (Anonymous poem)
5. Ron Fricke Documentaries
6. David Attenborough (documentarian)
7. Finding Vivian Maier (documentary)
8. Hearts of Darkness (documentary)
9. Blood Road (documentary)
10. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (documentary)
11. Exit Through the Gift Shop (documentary)
12. Living Myth podcast
13. Psychedelic Salon podcast
14. The Higherside Chats podcast

Today, I welcome Micah Uetricht. Micah Uetricht is the deputy editor of Jacobin and host of Jacobin Radio's podcast The Vast Majority. He is the author of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity and coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism. Micah can also be found on Twitter.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is Democratic Socialism?
• Isn't there socialism for big businesses and the rich in the USA?
• Will Democratic Socialism ever dominate US politics?
• A bit of Micah's personal history
• The Bernie Sanders campaign
• His newest book cowritten with Meagan Day
• A strategy for progressives to transform current politics
• The missing Joe Biden campaign
• A bit about Jacobin and his podcast
• A great historical book recommendation

Thanks Micah!

Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe and support through Patreon if you enjoy this show!

Today, I spoke with Rachel Balkovec, she is the first female full time hitting coach in MLB. Rachel is extremely hard working, she has 2 Master's degrees in Human Movement Science and has played multiple sports herself. She is an amazing person and she shares her challenges to becoming the first female hitting coach in the MLB with the New York Yankees. Her stint in the Latin American league and learning Spanish to prepare for this experience. This was a long, winding journey for Rachel and it wasn't easy and there was a lot of grit, resilience and perseverance on her part. She spoke about being a waitress, working at a retail store and having an unpaid internship before being hired by the Yankees.

We also talk about the possibility of the first female baseball player, her favorite podcasts and books and her additional work helping females in their own careers through her Virtual Handshake Academy. 

Links to visit

• Rachel's personal  website and Virtual Handshake Academy website that helps other females in their careers.
• Rachel's Twitter
• Rachel's podcast The Theta Wave Podcast
• Rachel's favorite podcasts: MindStrong Project, Finding Mastery, Laughter Permitted and The Gabby Reece Show

Today, we welcome back Vinay Gupta. Vinay, who is based in London, is the CEO and cofounder of Mattereum. Vinay is also a renaissance man and futurist interested in the technological transformation of society and commerce, Vinay has a strong track record of thought leadership in environmental and infrastructure risk, failing states, energy policy (with five years at the Rocky Mountain Institute) and disaster management.” He was also responsible for launching the cryptocurrency Ethereum.

Please check out Vinay on Twitter and at his website. Also please check out his colleague, Lucas Gonzalez on Twitter.

Today we spoke about what exactly a pandemic is, what SCIM is, the politics of this issue, importance of people on the frontlines of this crisis, societal challenges with intergenerational families responding to the coronavirus and some different scenarios of what may happen. Thanks again for listening and if you wish to support the show, rate and review it, subscribe and also consider going to my Patreon page.

Fringe Voices is show that interviews interesting people with interesting ideas. If you like the podcast and would like to support it, I have started a Patreon account. Thanks in advance for your support! 

Today, we welcome Professor Harvey Kaye. Professor Kaye is a professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and author of several books, more recently Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again, The Fight for the Four Freedoms, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. Professor Kaye also has an upcoming book, that is available for pre-order, entitled: FDR on Democracy: The Greatest Speeches and Writings of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also can be found on Twitter @HarveyJKaye. 

We discussed Professor Kayes early life and inspiration along with his early introduction to Thomas Paine that has stuck with him ever since. Professor Kaye explained the importance of Thomas Paine to us, as American citizens, and why we should care about Thomas Paine. We then take a deep dive into the importance of FDR during his time and what we should take away from his Presidency for today. How Bernie's policies align with FDR and what we can learn from the FDR presidency. Professor Kaye also has some helpful suggestions for the Bernie Sanders camp on how he can realign his message with FDR. Towards the end we discussed some other radical figures in US history that are of importance as well.

I hope you learn something that you can use in your own life. Thanks for listening!

This is a bonus episode for the increasing worries about Coronavirus. I interviewed Vinay Gupta, who is based in London, and along with being the CEO and cofounder of Mattereum is also a renaissance man and futurist interested in the technological transformation of society and commerce, Vinay has a strong track record of thought leadership in environmental and infrastructure risk, failing states, energy policy (with five years at the Rocky Mountain Institute) and disaster management.” He was also responsible for launching the cryptocurrency Ethereum.

It was an honor to speak with Vinay and his balanced, pragmatic and thoughtful approach to this pandemic. There are some real nuggets of wisdom throughout but especially towards the end of our conversation. 

Please check out Vinay on Twitter and at his website. Also please check out his colleague, Lucas Gonzalez on Twitter. 

Again, if you like this episode please rate and review on whichever platform you are listening on. Thanks!

In this episode I spoke with Sole an awesome rapper about his music, the state of the music industry, politics and the coronavirus. Check out his  Twitter and webpage. Also check out his podcast The Solecast.

On today's show I had a great conversation with Jamaal Bowman, a middle school principal and former teacher running as a Democrat for US Congress in NY-16. We talk about meditation instead of detention, treating students like humans instead of cogs in a machine and community schooling, among other things. Please consider supporting Jamaal's run for US Congress by visiting his website, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Today we welcome New York State Senator of the 34th Senate District, Alessandra Biaggi.  

Alessandra came out of nowhere, it seemed, with the last state senate election and strongly defeated an incumbent Democratic senator. She has had numerous successes with legislating since being elected on November 6, 2018. We have a great conversation in which Alessandra discusses some of her personal struggles that enable her to face the challenges of her senate run. Alessandra also provides some real nuggets of wisdom about the political process itself and she takes a hard stance on the recent crackdown of subway fare evaders. As a resident of the district she represents I can attest that she is working very hard to help our district.  

New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi can be found on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Here are some links to some helpful items mentioned in the show: 

New Leaders Council 

The Pied-à-terre tax is a proposed tax on a second, luxury home that could potentially generate $800 million a year in revenue for New York. 

Silver v. Pataki is the case that was referred to by the Senator surrounding the New York state budget process. 

Today we step away from the Bronx to interview NYTimes best selling author and Professor of Economics, Bryan Caplan about his book Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration. We also discuss his future book about Poverty and some other interesting "food for thought" topics. Note: Not all of the views Bryan expresses in this episode are a reflection of my own, I just wanted to present someone with a different perspective on these ideas.

Bryan Caplan can be found on Twitter and at http://econlib.org

Today we welcome Ed Garcia Conde of the successful publication Welcome2TheBronx.  We discuss the emerging gentrification of the Bronx and community land trusts as a strategy to defeat gentrification. We also talk about what true affordable housing means.  Ed also discusses healthy food as a right of all residents regardless of income and we highlight some people and organizations that are working on this issue. You can find Ed on the web at Welcome2TheBronx, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for listening!

Dave Lopez the co-owner of Gun Hill Brewery, in the Bronx, discusses the brewery’s involvement in the community and how to make running a business enjoyable for the community and owners. You can find out more about the Gun Hill Brewery by visiting their website.  Also find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest information and upcoming events.