Art is everywhere, and according to most definitions, can be pretty much anything. Yet somehow when art is put indoors, into a formal setting, it somehow can become pretty intimidating. Like somehow just putting it in a frame and on a wall makes us second guess if we really ‘get’ it, or if we’re even capable of getting it. Our overly self conscious hang-ups aside, today’s guest argues that we can all appreciate art. Ann Hazel’s is a wonderful, down to earth gallery owner that just wants you to have a great experience with art.
Parent Defense Attorney (with Diana Rugh Johnson)
The American justice system is quite a paradox. It’s a beacon of hope and justice for anyone accused of crime in America. On the other hand, it can be a big and complex world that swallows the accused up without much thought to reformation and rehabilitation. No one knows more about this dichotomy than defense attorneys, and perhaps no defense attorney knows this more than a parent defense attorney. Parent attorneys are charged with the difficult task of defending parents accused of abuse and neglect, and helping them get their children back. As you might imagine, many people find these parents to be indefensible, guilty before proven innocent. Today’s guest Diana explains why they do indeed deserve defense, and how the justice system is reforming to put families first.
Pet Detective (with Sarah Sypniewski)
For many of us, our animals are like our children. We dote on them, share pictures with anyone willing to look, and tell stories about how great they are. Thinking about my life without my dog is…unthinkable. Yet if our animals manage to run away from home, or get lost, whom are we supposed to call? Today’s guest, that’s who! Sarah is a lost pet specialist/pet detective, and when animals in Los Angeles lose their way Sarah knows all the tricks to help track them down.
Grief Counselor (with Pascale Vermont)
Most of us live in a world where we, above all other things, value happiness. Some people, like Buddhists, live in a world of non-attachment to good or bad. Today’s guest, Pascale Vermont, has devoted her life to the opposite of all of this, getting up close and personal with the whole range of human emotions that fuel grief. Sadness, anger, guilt, and anxiety are just some of the things that are a part of her daily life. She’ll tell us why grief doesn’t have to have be something we avoid, and how we can navigate its treacherous waters.
Children's Author (with Sarah Lynn Scheerger)
Fictional storytelling is such a gift. It allows our minds to run wild and transports us away to another world where absolutely anything could be possible. It also helps us digest complex topics in a more palatable and easy to comprehend way. Perhaps for this reason, while the number of adults that reads falls, the number of adults reading to their children, and children reading in general, holds steady. While we may feel too busy to read, we know how valuable it is for a small child to have a fun conduit to learn, grow, and explore. Today’s guest is mother, and a writer of children’s books and teen fiction. We’ll discuss why writing a children’s book isn’t as easy as it looks, and what writing with a teen voice is like.
Experiential Psychologist (with Michelle Wang)
I don’t know about you, but I sure am good at over-thinking things. I think it’s a trait that humans developed when we realized we were capable of abstract thought. We just started abstract thinking the hell out of everything! Then, as part of a solution to our over thinking and various other struggles, we came up with psychotherapy. Using the mind to help heal the mind, what a natural fit. Today’s guest is a psychotherapist, but believes in stepping outside of the usual psychology role, and incorporating your body and other experiences into the therapeutic sphere. I say anything that gets me thinking a bit less sounds good to me.
Metalworker (with Andrew Crawford)
The world of art is about as deep as any there is. There are so many different mediums, so many different styles, and so many different makers and admirers that an endless number of creations can be made. Today’s guest thought he wanted to go one direction in the world of art, but was then introduced to metal. This introduction completely shaped the rest of his life, and the way he thought about art. He still uses metal to make traditional fine art, but he’ll also make you a fence for your back yard. Who’s to say what can and can’t be art anyways?
Flight Attendant (with Carin Ryan)
Oh sweet irony. Here I sit, on a plate, writing this sentence. I’m on my way to Japan for my honeymoon, and so far my flight attendants have been the most important part of my journey. They brought me these amazing rice cracker snacks that I wish every flight had, they gave me water to take my melatonin with, and they brought me coffee 4 hour later, seemingly just in time to bring me out of my melatonin induced coma. Yep, things are going pretty well for me up here thanks to my flight attendant crew. But is it as cool as them as it is for me? According to today’s guest, in fact, it is.
Wine Maker (with Sterling Kragten)
Any fan of Half Hour Intern knows we love our adult drinks around here. Social lubricating, tension easing, great tasting drinks; what’s not to love? I’m typically a beer and wine man myself, and as such I’ve already done a couple of interviews with people that get to drink wine for a living (I still can’t believe jobs like that exist!), but today we finally speak to one of the wonderful people behind the juice. Get ready for a lesson in the delicate balance of art and chemistry.
Prosthetist (with Kevin Carroll)
There are very few things that can happen to you that will forever change your life; very few events that change the way that you think about and interact with the world. I think that it’s safe to say that losing a limb would fall into this category. Up until modern times losing a limb would’ve very likely also meant death. Thanks to people like today’s amazing guest, losing a limb is no longer a death sentence, and they are working hard to make it less and less of a life changing event. Whether you are veteran that lost a leg, a dolphin that lost it’s tail, or a turtle that lost a fin, today’s guest is here to help.
Influencer Marketing (with Kristy Sammis)
We humans are a fickle breed. There’s part of us that loves to be told what to do, what to wear, and what to spend our money on. Yet there seems to be an even bigger part of us that hates all of those things. I think a big part of it is that while we’re being told what to do, we don’t want it to seem like we’re being told what to do. What a predicament we’ve put the world of marketing in. Tell us what we should like, but don’t tell us directly lest we feel like we’re being given some corporate line. Enter the world of influencer marketing. No more direct company messaging, no more fickle consumers.
Paranormal Psychic (with Adrian Lee)
Ghosts and ghouls and goblins, oh my! Do you believe in ghosts? Like religion, your belief in the paranormal can really be swayed by the culture you belong to. For some reason in America we don’t really embrace the idea of ghosts, and yet over 80 percent of our population believes in the afterlife. Today’s guest explains that if an afterlife exists, those that are a part of it would likely want to come back from time to time to check in on us. I say the more the merrier and stop hiding from me already! Let the haunting begin.
Street Artist (with Cameron Moberg)
Forms of art can be like fuel for the soul. Music, paining, sculpture, photography, and countless other art forms have a way of cutting to our core. Forget your prefrontal cortex, that music is gonna get that toe tappin and that painting is gonna head straight for your pleasure center. As a city dweller, one of my favorite forms of art is kick as street art. Big, bold, bright murals that enhance an otherwise bland, and sometimes even run down, building. Not only is it great in sheer aesthetics, but the way you happen upon it is just the best. No tickets to a museum. No art gallery needed. No planning at all. You’re just walking down the street and BAM, awesome thing in your face! It’d be like going for a walk and all of the sudden this amazing band was just playing on the street corner. The combination of beauty and surprise is one that I have absolutely no problem with. Today’s guest is one of the best at making these awesome surprises a reality as he takes the otherwise mundane and turns it into art.
Middle School Music Teacher (with Tim Cassell)
Music is the freakin’ best. They say that you can’t stay upset or depressed if you put a smile on your face. I say you can’t stay upset or depressed if you just put on some music. Music is like a shot of pure serotonin that bypasses your brain and hits your right in the soul. In order to have this wonderful drug we have to have people that make music, and in order to have that we need to have those that teach and inspire. Today’s guest is a Jr. High school band director that inspires kids to connect with music and create it for themselves.
Pastor (with David Massey)
Atheism and agnosticism may have growing numbers in the Western world, but they still pale in comparison to that of Christians. As a self described, ‘I don’t know what I believe in’, it’s hard for me to understand how anyone has 100% faith in anything. Be it Christianity, atheism, the current model of space and time, I don’t really know if we have any of it right…or wrong…or whatever. I mean, I’m only human. Today’s guest is also only human, but he does have 100% faith that we’ve been shown the way to faith, spirituality, and eternal life through Jesus Christ. David is a super awesome, super kind pastor that sat down with me for over two hours to discuss our differing belief (or disbelief) systems. This is part one where we also discuss just what the heck a pastor does all day.
Ayurvedic Practitioner (with Jackie Christensen)
Is technology always a good thing? I don’t just mean electronic gadgetry; I mean any form of scientific advancement. This past century has been such an interesting one where we’ve come SO far with science and medicine, only to realize that moving forward is not always progress. We can grow more crops than ever thanks to pesticides and genetically modified seeds, only to realize that our food doesn’t carry the same nutritional value, and our fruits and vegetables don’t look and taste the same as they once did. We can double the size of our pigs so that we can have bacon on just about everything, but the super-sized pigs are so fragile that they can’t even go outdoors or they’ll die from disease or infection. We have a plethora of antibiotics to kill off pathogens, and we now have a growing list of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Perhaps it is due to this that more than ever people are skeptical of the ‘better by science’ approach and are trying old school methods for health and well being. One of the more popular and interesting approaches is Ayurveda. The ancient Indian science/study/philosophy of health and well being is REALLY old school, but as you’ll hear, many of it’s ideas and principles seem to be popping up all over lately.
Creative Marketing Prodigy (with Brent Underwood)
The world sure has become a fast moving place. Everything is ever-changing, and trying to gain a handle on it all feels more and more impossible. Just when I start to feel like I really understand a current technology or app, another ‘must have’ is just around the corner or already taking its place. There are some amazing people though, that seem to thrive in this setting. Those special few that stake their claim in a field and proclaim that they will be at the forefront, they will be the ones seeing and making change. They do not get left behind as they do not wait for any playbook, and boldly venture out into unknown frontier to swiftly meet whatever success or failure lies ahead. Today’s guest is one of these people in the field of marketing, and his company’s ideas will expand and/or blow your mind.
House Cleaner (with Two Girls One Mop)
I want you to think for a moment about the top 5 things that you hate doing. My made up survey says that the top answer on that list would be cleaning. Ugh. I don’t even like writing the word! You know something is no good when everyone can easily do it, and yet TONS of individuals pay other people to do it for them. Today we hear finally hear about the not so bad side of cleaning…and the weird side; it’s really a good, bad, ugly sort of situation. We’ll learn about what it’s like to be on the other side of the mop, getting paid for it.
Documentary Film Maker (with Jeremy Newberger)
Documentary film is a truly amazing form of art and storytelling, and thanks to the rise in popularity of streaming services like Netflix, we seem to be living in the golden age of the documentary. From gripping crime stories, to heart-opening human connections, to downright eye-opening, world-view-changing film, documentaries don’t just entertain, they educate. And as Sea World can tell you post Blackfish, that education has a lot of power. So what is it like to wield that sort of power? What is it like to have your audience demand that you both entertain them, and give them some food for thought?
Sportscaster (with Scott Lynn)
Is there a better unifier of people than sports? For that matter, is there a better divider of people than sports? What a unique thing to completely bring groups of strangers together out of a shared love for their team, and tear others apart out of their geographical patronage. That sure is some intense emotion that sports stirs up! I, for one, love sports and its unadulterated expression of hard work and teamwork ultimately paying off. I also just love being able to watch people who are the best at their craft do their thing. Seeing Steph Curry hit three after three really is a beautiful thing. Today’s guest, Scott Lynn, has spent his life watching and commenting on sports. As you would imagine, he feels like a very blessed man, and has a lot to say about a life spent with the greats.