The Broken Brain

Michael Caven is a Restauranteur, Advocate, Abuse Survivor, and Writer. He is currently writing his memoir about his experiences of coming out as a Gay man in the 1970s and 80s, suffering sexual and emotional abuse, and healing. Michael co-founded Out On Main in Columbus Ohio, the first LGBTQ themed restaurant in the USA. Follow his work at www.michaelcaven.com In part 1 of this interview Michael focuses on how he escaped his abuser and beginning of him putting his life together. Go to www.baketheirday.org to check out the highlighted charity for this month. Bake Their Day is a nonprofit bakery in Guam, making birthday cakes for youth in custody.

Monday Mental Health Tip: Shrink your goals to help get started in new behavior, habits, Hobbies, or even Hobbits. But don't shrink Hobbits too much...they're already quite small. www.baketheirday.org is our highlighted charity this month, providing birthday cakes and a humanizing feeling to youth in custody in Guam.

Megan Wennberg is a Filmmaker and Director who joins to talk about her documentary "Dances With Cranes," which tells the story of the innovative way in which a team of conservationists and scientists managed to bring the Whooping Crane from the brink of extinction to a thriving species. You may be surprised how they did it. This is the monthly Thursday Thistory available to all listeners, our look at psychological and cultural history. Weekly History episodes are available to Patreon members the rest of each month. Go to www.patreon.com/brokenbrain to sign up and hear them all.

Filmmaker & journalist Nick Beaulieu talks about his documentary "My Omaha," where he recorded communication with his father while Nick covered racial equality issues in West Omaha. Very much opposed in their politics, Nick and his dad face the challenges of holding different political & ethical beliefs from someone deeply close and loved. Follow Nick's @nick.beaulieu on IG The highlighted charity this month is www.baketheirday.org, a nonprofit bakery in Guam that helps youth in custody feel normal by bringing them birthday cakes.

What are the most important things you would like to do? We often have a difference between our philosophical values and our behavioral priorities. Today's quick tip is about how we can use things (like Mario Day) to put the highest value activities first. Oh yeah, and HAPPY MARIO DAY! The highlighted charity this month is www.baketheirday.org, a nonprofit bakery in Guam that makes birthday cakes for youth in custody. Share and support them, they're pretty cool!

Tiffany Kim Stevens is the Director and Co-Writer of the film "Trigger Happy," an indie film set in an alternate society where gender roles are reversed, gun ownership is required to qualify for health insurance, and a murder is being planned. Tiffany describes the process of telling a quirky story with many unlikeable characters and balancing the humor and the darkness of the tale. Visit www.baketheirday.org to see the highlighted charity for this month. Bake Their Day is a nonprofit bakery in Guam that bakes and delivers birthday cakes to youth in custody.

David Rosen is a composer, musician, and the creator of the Piecing It Together Podcast. He and I sat down to discuss a strange new sub-genre of Biopic: Musical Artists with the surname Williams who are portrayed as a nonhuman. In the case of "A Better Man," Robbie Williams is portrayed as a CGI Chimp Man (think Planet of the Apes), while "Piece by Piece" presents Pharrell Williams and his surrounding world in Lego. Visit www.dcoffeyfoundation.org to support a wonderful nonprofit that helps kids pursue their education through athleticism and scholarship.

What's with all of these weird science experiments? Waste of money and time, right? wellllllll.......probably not. This week history dive looks at 2 examples of when science sounded crazy but delivered something cool. A full half of the episode this week is available to non-subscribers, the rest is on the Patreon feed for you super-cool supporters of the show. Check out www.dcoffeyfoundation.org for this month's highlighted charity.

Benjamin Cohen & Max Strand are the Writers and Directors of "Rocky's" a new coming-of-age film focused on the lives of several young adults spending time in the local hangout, Rocky's Deli. They joined me to discuss their film, character development, growing up, and storytelling. Check out our February Nonprofit-of-choice: The D Coffey Foundation, which helps youth in need to find athletic scholarships to advance their education.

Telling inspirational stories about disabled people is all over the internet, which raises the question: do we treat them as individuals, listening and learning from them? Or do we fall into the trap of identifying people by their disability, or as an inspirational meme?