Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Tania Marien is an independent environmental education professional and the Director of Talaterra — "Speak Earth" — a network of independent environmental education (EE) professionals who contribute to lifelong learning and environmental health in communities. OK, that's Tania's official bio. After talking with her for a couple of hours and studying what she does and how she works, I prefer to describe her as a "citizen for our age": she's a connector, an organizer, a contributor, a doer, a giver, and infinitely smart about how to approach the highly complex topics of the environment and climate change.

My guest in this episode is Steve Ehrlich. Steve is semi-retired, but now applying his life-long experience in adult learning, psychology, and literature to a new chapter — bringing the transformative lessons and stories gleaned from the fly fishing environment to support personal and professional growth. In this episode, we will wade into the literature of fly fishing — a contemplative, lyrical, and often poetic genre that examines water and our association with nature as a metaphor for life.

My guest in this episode is Dr. Donna Curtin, a historian serving as the Executive Director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum. Pilgrim Hall is "the oldest continuously operating public museum in the country and America's museum of Pilgrim possessions. I wanted to talk to Dr. Curtin because as a former high school history teacher and developer of social studies classroom materials for more than 35 years, I'm very concerned about the restrictions being placed on what some history teachers can teach especially on the theme of racism. Having met Donna on a tour of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, I felt she would bring the professional historian's view of the role and value of history for young and old alike.

My guest in this episode is Bradley Wright, a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and host of the "School of Purpose" podcast. When I began to investigate curiosity, Bradley's focus on purpose was one of the first ideas that intrigued me because I don't ever remember saying to myself, "That's why I'm here! That's what I meant to do in life!" Instead, it was more like, "Well, maybe I could teach." Curious as I am, I wanted to explore the relationship between my passion for curiosity and the appeal of discovering life's purpose. So, too, it turns out, did Bradley.

How do you go about telling a very inviting and understandable story in film? My guest in this episode, Rita Grant, is an award-winning documentary film cinematographer, director, and producer, and the driving force behind Sweet Sage Pictures. In our conversation, she explains how she harnesses her technical skills, curiosity, instinct, and heart behind the camera.

Today I'm joined by Erica Nelson, a member of the Navaho Nation. Erica is a fly fishing guide, host of the "Awkward Angler" podcast, and a contributor to the "Awkward & Clueless Beginning Fly Fishing" show on YouTube. She is a Brown Folks Fishing ambassador, a community that cultivates the visibility, representation, and inclusion of people of color in fishing and its industry. She is also the passionate co-founder of REAL Consulting, which focuses on bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion to the world, including the world of fly fishing.

Bill Whiteside is a sales and marketing executive turned software salesman turned writer of narrative non-fiction, specifically a forthcoming book about an incident in Winston Churchill's tenure as Britain's Prime Minister during World War II. Our conversation explores the incident, which we then use as an opportunity to examine what makes a great leader great, what constitutes the art of writing great, truthful narrative non-fiction, and Bill's personal journey to satisfy his curiosity.

We rarely reveal our true self to others, and sometimes (very often?) we don't reveal it to ourselves. Sadly, we can't interact effectively with others if there are layers of our personal onion between us. Diane Wyzga, a self-described story doula works to help professionals pull back the curtain and get to the heart of their message — their authentic story.

What can we learn from non-traditional sources if we're willing to look at things differently? How can we break out of our often self-imposed boundaries to see what the universe is offering us? For example, this podcast is broadly about "K12 education," but it's really about thinking and doing things differently to get different results. And in the case of this episode, what can a fly fishing guide, Spencer Seim, tell us about leadership? And what can we learn from seemingly random events?

The "Trauma in Schools" podcast series focus primarily on the trauma that students carry with them into the classroom. But, many school faculty, staff and administrators are also experiencing trauma. COVID has dislocated relationships and put pressure on educators to quickly address "learning loss." There is a critical need for school leaders at any level to promote self-care through mindfulness training. Mindful leadership expert, Michael Bunting, explains the first safe steps.