Best 14th Street Studios Podcasts (2024)

1
Our Whiteness is not Connected to Our Humanity with Maleeka Jihad 57:23

1d ago57:23

57:23

Today's conversation with Maleeka Jihad (MJ) dives into the difference between whiteness (white ideology), white identity, and humanity. MJ is the Executive Director of the MJCF: Coalition and runs a consulting business. She's also earning her PhD in Leadership and Development and Social Change. When we first met, she was co-facilitating a training…

1
Journal Entry: Making the Invisible Visible 10:29

8d ago10:29

10:29

I recorded this week's journal episode about 15 minutes after the weekly Proximity Podcast Club ended. I had a plan for this week's episode but the conversation that played out in the Podcast Club changed my plan. One of our goals for this show is to use it as a platform to build community and then have conversations with that community that help p…

1
Likable Villain (Alan Rickman) 1:05:59

11d ago1:05:59

1:05:59

This person died in 2016, age 69. In an acting career spanning more than 40 years, he played a panoply of fascinating characters. He had his early successes in stage works involving the Royal Shakespeare Company. Though he was never nominated for an Academy Award, he shrugged off the value of awards in general. He gained a worldwide audience in “Di…

1
TPR and the Michigan Supreme Court with Vivek Sankaran 47:05

20d ago47:05

47:05

In our first conversation with Vivek Sankaran, we talked about the morality, necessity, and constitutionality of Terminating Parental Rights. At the end of the conversation, he mentioned that he would be presenting two TPR cases to the Michigan Supreme Court in May. That has happened and, in this episode, we hear from Vivek about how it went, what …

1
Episode One Reboot: My Proximity Problem 38:58

26d ago38:58

38:58

We're doing something new! We decided to bring back episode one, which goes into a bit of my origin story! We've added a lot of new listeners over the past couple of months and I thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce myself and the inspiration for the show. And, quite honestly, it's helpful to take a pause from producing new episodes every…

1
Purple Reign (Prince) 1:18:25

25d ago1:18:25

1:18:25

This person died in 2016 at age 57. He won an Academy Award in 1985, and a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He was still a teenager when he was signed to Warner Bros Records, in a deal that included full creative control. His work inspired the formation of the Parents’ Music Resource Center, which pressured record companies into labeling a…

1
From Agent to Advocate to Activist with Dr Jessica Pryce 1:05:54

1M ago1:05:54

1:05:54

I'm excited to bring you this week's conversation with Dr Jessica Pryce. Dr Pryce's new book, Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services, gave us a great backdrop to a wide-ranging conversation. At the beginning of the book, she lays out a framework or process of moving from being an agent of the child protection system to becoming an advocate …

1
Hungarian Socialite (Zsa Zsa Gabor) 56:26

1M ago56:26

56:26

This person died in 2016 at age 99. She appeared as a nightclub manager in Orson Welles’ 1958 “Touch of Evil”, and the same year as a sexy alien in “Queen of Outer Space.” She appeared on scores of talk shows, game shows, comedy specials, and episodic dramas. In 1989, she was arrested for slapping a police officer. She was married at least eight ti…

1
My Journal: Am I Afraid to Address Racism Publicly 7:56

1M ago7:56

7:56

This episode is a follow up to the previous journal episode, Am I Biased? One of our ambitions with this show is to build community and engage the community in a conversation. So, the series of episodes about termination of parental rights led to some feedback that prompted the episode about my biases. And that episode prompted past guest Corey Bes…

1
Ask Me Anything with guest host Kathleen Creamer 46:38

2M ago46:38

46:38

I'm super excited to bring you the first ever (but not the last) Ask Me Anything episode. We put out a call for questions and you all came through. We received more questions than we could get to in one episode. We also asked the Proximity Podcast Club if someone wanted to guest host. Again, lots of interest but there could only be one host. Kathle…

1
Poetic Justice (Maya Angelou) 1:09:42

2M ago1:09:42

1:09:42

This person died in 2014 at age 86. She was a Tony-nominated stage actress, and a calypso dancer for a period of time.. In 2011 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was a college professor and a ubiquitous presence on the lecture circuit, and also made several appearances on Sesame Street. Throughout her writing, she explored the …

1
My Journal: Am I Biased? 12:33

2M ago12:33

12:33

In this week's episode I start with the journal prompt, am I biased? This was prompted by some of the feedback to our most recent episodes on Termination of Parental Rights. I thought I would let you all into my process of how I try to approach feedback that is critical or raises questions about my intentions. Rather than defending anything that is…

1
Termination of Parental Rights with Vivek Sankaran 1:01:13

2M ago1:01:13

1:01:13

This week's episode continues our series of conversations about Termination of Parent Rights. I wanted to talk to Vivek Sankaran because he has a unique depth of knowledge to bring to the thought experiment that we've been bringing to these episodes, which is to imagine what if TPR was no longer an option. Vivek directs the Child Advocacy Law Clini…

1
Love and OJ Jokes (Norm Macdonald) 1:11:41

2M ago1:11:41

1:11:41

This person died in 2021, age 61. His brother Neil once told a reporter that he almost joined the newspaper business as a young man, but that he had deliberately botched an interview. By 1984, he spent four months opening for the comedian Sam Kinison. His sense of humor sometimes got him in hot water. A 2018 article about him said “The dedicated fa…

1
Termination of Parental Rights with Mollie Warren 52:23

2M ago52:23

52:23

Today's guest, Mollie Warren, is the Director of Family and Children's Services in Boulder County, Colorado. I wanted to return to the conversation about Termination of Parental Rights with someone who is in a "practitioner" role and a position to make decisions about to the use of TPR on a regular basis. One of my goals in these conversations is t…

1
My Journal: Notes from the Podcast Club 8:22

3M ago8:22

8:22

In today's journal episode I share some of the questions and ideas that came up on this week's Proximity Podcast Club conversation. The jumping off question this week was what shifts are happening for each of us as we think more deeply about prevention. In other words, what are we trying to prevent, how, and for whom? This led to a really dynamic c…

1
The Masterclass Act (Philip Seymour Hoffman) 1:02:45

3M ago1:02:45

1:02:45

His mother was a former family court judge, and his father worked for the Xerox corporation. The New York Times once said “He does terminal uncertainty better than practically anyone.” He was a sleepy-looking man with uncombed hair who favored rumpled clothes. He was perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation. He…

1
Prevention as Social Justice with Dr Melissa Merrick 48:40

3M ago48:40

48:40

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month. This is a perfect time to step back and ask ourselves, what is prevention? What values and narratives underpin our ideas of who and what we are preventing? In my conversation with Dr Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, I wanted to understand prevention from the…

1
Taking Personal Responsibility with Mike Shaver 1:08:38

3M ago1:08:38

1:08:38

Today's episode is a conversation I had with my friend and colleague, Mike Shaver, who is the CEO of Brightpoint in Illinois. Brightpoint began as Children Home & Aid in 1883 and is going through a significant shift in how they see their role in advancing justice for families. Mike and I talked about the leadership challenges and successes he's exp…

1
Professor on Elm Street (Wes Craven) 52:03

3M ago52:03

52:03

He taught English at Westminster College in Pennsylvania, and was also a high school teacher. He directed the drama “Music of the Heart,” based on the true story of a woman, who taught violin to underprivileged children in Harlem. He directed his first feature film In 1972 , “Last House on the Left.” He directed the first four movies of the “Scream…

1
My Journal: A Practice for Avoiding Status Quo 11:30

3M ago11:30

11:30

In this week's journal episode, I talk about a simple practice that I have used throughout my career to remain curious, adaptable, and in service of people. This is something that you can start doing today. This practice has helped me avoid falling into status quo and one I've observed it do the same for other leaders. The practice is to listen to …

1
Measuring the Right Problem with Susan Smith 53:47

3M ago53:47

53:47

I remember learning about the 2020 Vision in 2007 when I started working in child welfare. It was a new national initiative with the goal of reducing the number of kids in foster care by 50% by the year 2020. I was working with kids aging out and watching the impact of growing up in foster care play out in front of my eyes. I remember being inspire…

1
My Security Comes from Knowing Who I Am 10:06

4M ago10:06

10:06

This week's episode is a journal entry that was prompted by the Proximity Podcast Club conversation. We were talking about a question posed to the group by Corey Best, who am I without the family policing system? This immediately got me thinking about a few fundamental questions that I talk about in this episode. What did the system provide me? Wha…

1
Mind Traveler (Oliver Sacks) 1:03:18

4M ago1:03:18

1:03:18

When he moved to California in the early 1960s, he befriended the poet Thom Gunn, began entering weight-lifting competitions and joined the Hells Angels on motorcycle trips to the Grand Canyon. As a medical doctor and a writer, he achieved a level of popular renown rare among scientists. He first won widespread attention in 1973 for his book “Awake…

1
Termination of Parental Rights with Kathleen Creamer 54:48

4M ago54:48

54:48

Today's episode is a conversation with Kathleen Creamer that you don't want to miss. Kathleen is the Managing Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia where she and her team use a holistic family defense model to help parents maintain custody of or reunite with their children. We center the conversation on the necessity of Termination o…

1
Defiant One (Sidney Poitier) 1:02:42

4M ago1:02:42

1:02:42

In 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Although often simmering with repressed anger, his characters responded to injustice with quiet determination. He once wrote “I felt very much as if I were representing 18 million people with every move I made.” In a departure from acting, he directed the 1980 comedy “Stir Crazy,” starring …

1
Father and Son Reunion with Corey Best (pt. 2) 1:03:16

4M ago1:03:16

1:03:16

This is part two of my conversation with Corey Best. You may want to go back and listen to episode one where Corey talks about growing up in DC, his son being born, and his experience of termination of parental rights (TPR). We end that conversation as Corey was hours away from reuniting with his son after 19 years. We pick up Today's episode with …

1
Father and Son Reunion with Corey Best (pt. 1) 1:11:39

4M ago1:11:39

1:11:39

This is part one of a two-part conversation with Corey Best. We cover a lot of ground in these conversations, but we center around Corey's relationship with his son who, until very recently, he hadn't seen or talked to in 19 years. We get into Corey's early years of growing up in DC, some of the pivotal people and experiences in his life, and the e…

1
Surely You Can’t Be Serious x Famous & Gravy 1:09:35

5M ago1:09:35

1:09:35

Imagine this: You’re on a desert island, and you can choose one actor or actress – and ONLY ONE – for whom you get their entire IMDb catalog to pass the time. It’s just you, a palm tree, a DVD player (streaming hasn’t reached desert islands), and the IMDb catalog of a single performer. Who would you choose? This thought experiment was first propose…

1
My Journal: Repeal CAPTA? 10:31

5M ago10:31

10:31

This week is a journal episode. This episode was inspired by the recent Hill Briefing that was organized by the Repeal CAPTA Coalition. What came across so clearly in the briefing is that we don't have to wait for justice, we can act now to advance justice. Part of the proposal of the Repeal CAPTA Coalition is to shift funds from Title I of CAPTA t…

1
Leaving Well with Naomi Hattaway 40:09

5M ago40:09

40:09

This week's episode is a recently released conversation I had as a guest on the Leaving Well with Naomi Hattaway podcast. Naomi is a skilled interviewer, and it was a joy to talk to her about my experience of leaving well, including the one regret that I had in the process. I think Naomi's work has a lot to offer the community we are building aroun…

1
Foul House (Bob Saget) 58:54

5M ago58:54

58:54

In his last year of college, he won a student Academy Award for a documentary. After his sister died of a rare autoimmune disease called systemic scleroderma, he became a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. He was cast in the 1987 Richard Pryor film, “Critical Condition.” He directed “Dirty Work,” a comedy starring Norm Macdonald a…

1
My Journal: From Lens to Mirror 13:23

5M ago13:23

13:23

On this episode I share some of my reflections on Shawn A Ginwright's book The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves. I talk about the first pivot, which is from lens to mirror. The way Shawn talks about this pivot speaks directly to how I have come to understand the proximity process. My reflections are related to how I understan…

1
Making the Invisible Visible with Dr. Kimberly Offutt 52:56

5M ago52:56

52:56

Today's episode is a conversation with my friend, colleague, and Podcast Club collaborator and co-host, Dr. Kimberly Offutt. We tell the origin story of how we decided to create the weekly Proximity Podcast Club. The story starts with Kim listening to episode one and calling me to say, "I feel like I was punched in the gut". Our conversation moves …

1
Sentient Princess (Carrie Fisher) 1:00:56

6M ago1:00:56

1:00:56

She was just 19 years old when she first played her most iconic role. She offered wry commentary in her books on the paradoxes and absurdities of the entertainment industry. Her first book was made into a movie, directed by Mike Nichols. She had a recurring role on the British comedy “Catastrophe”. She dated Dan Aykroyd and was married to Paul Simo…

1
My Journal: Work Life Balance Myth 9:06

6M ago9:06

9:06

We are at the beginning of 2024 and many of us are thinking about resolutions, intentions, and goals. In this episode I talk about the early days of 2023 and how I set intention to handle some of the challenges and uncertainties of leaving my job. A conversation with a friend prompted an intention that shaped 2023. The intention is to be whole in w…

1
My Proximity Process 1:02:16

6M ago1:02:16

1:02:16

Tex is back as the guest host of today's episode. We decided that he would interview me again so we can dive a little deeper into my own process. We start the conversation with how we met 25 years ago and then reconnected a few years ago. When Tex found out I was going through a difficult time in my life he decided to pick up the phone and call me …

1
Golden Rose (Betty White) 1:20:36

6M ago1:20:36

1:20:36

During World War II she drove a truck delivering soap, toothpaste and candy to soldiers. She began her career in radio by saying one word - “Parkay” - on a popular comedy show. In the early 1960s she was best known as a busy freelance guest with game shows as her specialty. She had a longstanding interest in animal welfare. Her television career sp…

1
When Your Future Knocks Answer the Door 13:11

6M ago13:11

13:11

This is the last episode of 2023 and Season 1. Thank you for listening to the show, it means a lot to me. I can't wait to continue building this community in 2024. Today's episode is a piece of wisdom that my coach, Brendalyn King, shared with me about connecting to our future. This framework has helped me be more aware of when I'm making decisions…

1
A Court Update with Ryan O'Donnell 33:15

6M ago33:15

33:15

Today's episode is a conversation I had with Ryan O'Donnell on December 15, one day after Garnell had a Permanency Planning Hearing in court. In his first episode, Ryan tells his story of being a foster parent to a little boy and how meeting this boy's father, Garnell, changed everything. Ryan immediately knew that Garnel loved his son and that his…

1
Let's Get Metaphysical (Olivia Newton-John) 52:41

6M ago52:41

52:41

She amassed No. 1 hits, chart-topping albums and four records that sold more than two million copies each. Her consistently benign music and initial squeaky-clean image caused many to compare her to Doris Day. More than anything else, she was likable, even beloved. For years she was a prominent advocate for cancer research, starting a foundation in…

1
Taking the Leap with Cheri Williams 55:04

6M ago55:04

55:04

Today's episode is my conversation with friend and colleague, Cheri Williams. At the age of 49 and 25 years into her career, Cheri made the decision to take the leap. She left an Executive Vice President role with an international non-profit where she had led a multi-state foster care and adoption program. Cheri and I dive into her process, how she…

1
My Journal Entry: Systems Don't Change Until People Change 11:22

7M ago11:22

11:22

As a career macro-level social worker, I've arrived at a major shift in perspective. The unit of change is more about people than policy. Today's episode is about how I came to the idea that systems don't change until people change. In other words, I believe that systems change strategies are important, but they are insufficient in advancing justic…

1
Father of the Bride (William Goldman) 1:02:42

7M ago1:02:42

1:02:42

He wrote his most famous screenplay while teaching creative writing at Princeton University. Eight of his films each grossed more than $100 million domestically. He was an outspoken critic of the movie industry, and made headlines when he declared, “Nobody knows anything.” He was called the world’s greatest and most famous living screenwriter. He w…

1
Does Justice Happen in the Courtroom with Adam Ballout 50:10

7M ago50:10

50:10

Today's episode is a conversation I had with Adam Ballout who is an attorney and public defender in Everrett, WA. The conversation centers around something Adam said to me in a conversation that piqued my curiosity, "justice doesn't happen in the courtroom." I wanted to understand why an attorney would say this and where he thinks justice happens. …

1
My Journal Entry: Day One, My Decision to Leave 10:58

7M ago10:58

10:58

Today's episode starts with me reading straight from my journal. I read the "day one" entry from August 8, 2022, when I made the decision to leave my job. What follows are some reflections about whether or not I've stayed true to what I set out to do. The episode ends with a bit about my daily journaling practice and how it continues to bring me so…

1
Higher Power (Bill Russell) 1:07:38

7M ago1:07:38

1:07:38

He was once described by his coach as “the single most devastating force in the history of the game.” He took part in the 1963 March on Washington and was seated in the front row for Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In 2011, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was remembered for his ability to enhance t…

1
Am I Solving the Right Problem with Ryan O'Donell 1:09:26

7M ago1:09:26

1:09:26

Today's episode is a conversation I had with my friend Ryan O'Donnell. Ryan is a tech entrepreneur, creative problem solver, and a former foster parent. Our conversation spans his decision to become a foster parent, what that experience taught him about the system and himself, and how he is reckoning with what he can do invest in the well-being of …

1
My Journal Entry: Budgets are Moral Documents 9:13

8M ago9:13

9:13

As a non-profit executive, I spent a lot of time developing, reviewing, and managing budgets. It was a weekly activity. But I never considered budgets as moral documents, until now. In this episode, I share where I first heard the idea, how I've been thinking about it, and how I'm applying it in my work with Proximity Design Studio clients. I also …

1
America's Mustache (Burt Reynolds) 1:08:56

8M ago1:08:56

1:08:56

His early passion was for football, and he played halfback at Florida State University. He was part Cherokee. He had an often turbulent career that spanned some 100 films and countless television appearances. He had a volatile temperament, but he himself projected an air of nonchalance and professed not to take his career too seriously. He was a se…

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