Something (rather than nothing)

Morgan Parker is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel Who Put This Song On? [https://www.getunderlined.com/books/592224/who-put-this-song-on-by-morgan-parker/]; and the poetry collections Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night [https://www.amazon.com/Other-Peoples-Comfort-Keeps-Night/dp/0986187615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483403242&sr=1-1&keywords=other+people%27s+comfort+keeps+me+up+at+night], There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé [https://tinhouse.com/product/there-are-more-beautiful-things-than-beyonce-morgan-parker/], and Magical Negro [https://tinhouse.com/product/magical-negro/], which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a Pushcart Prize, and has been hailed by The New York Times as "a dynamic craftsperson" of "considerable consequence to American poetry." Parker's debut book of nonfiction, You Get What You Pay For   [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576870/you-get-what-you-pay-for-by-morgan-parker/9780525511441/] is available at your favorite bookstore.

Ruby Roth [https://www.rubyroth.art/work]'s work is defined by the female form and depicts the inner lives of women through emotionally visceral representations of the bodies they inhabit. For the past several years, amidst a radical transition from a decade of familial life as a best-selling children's book author-illustrator to self-determined independence as a single female artist, Roth has explored the deep end of the feminine spectrum and its archetypes. Roth's work often features solitary women navigating inner and outer wildernesses. In vast emptiness, surrounded by hints of nature, her wild women and "girl gods" find their way through physical and spiritual dimensions of darkness and light, bondage and freedom, apocalypse and utopia, life and death, transmuting nourishing or toxic forces into usable means. Roth has been a keen observer of the body since childhood, having been diagnosed with scoliosis, which required 13 years of aggressive and painful treatment. Rooted in academic anatomy and pop surrealism, her artwork——often created in live-model sessions——exaggerates and distorts female forms to reflect them as vessels of powerful, feminine processing. Roth is based in Los Angeles, CA. SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Mark Ostler joins the show to kick around comic books - specifically his work Ivar the Boxer and Waltzing Carpet Juliette [https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/listing/870231142/ivar-the-boxer-waltzing-carpet-juliette?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F] We also talked about Warning: Danger!  [https://warningdanger.net/about.php] Mark Ostler is a comic book writer and publisher.  In 2023, he wrapped up a 4 issue mini-series titled, "Waltzing Carpet Juliette" about the dangers of consumerism.  In 2024, he began a new self-published comic book series titled, "Ivar The Boxer". Mark Ostler can't draw comics.  Thankfully, he's got talented friends who are skilled artists.  Thus far, 37 different illustrators have contributed artwork to these collaborative comic books.  What began as a creative daydream has blossomed into an incredible comic book community.  Together, we're creating "Waltzing Carpet Juliette" and "Ivar The Boxer". Mark is also the lead singer of "WARNING: DANGER!" – a Seattle based punk band.  They have released 7 different albums, embarked on 3 West Coast tours, produced 4 different videos, featured on 2 compilation albums and 1 movie soundtrack.  Check out WARNING: DANGER!'s music on all major streaming platforms. Sometime soon, a major publishing house might pick up Mark's comics or music.   Check out Episode 265!!! SRTN [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

This episode is very different than others. Jim LaBelle, this episode's featured guest, passed away recently. I wish, hope and pray that our conversation gives tribute to Jim's contributions and advocacy. Thank you and farewell Jim.  Host Ken Volante "There are certain individuals that go under the radar their entire lives despite being one of the most resilient people in the room, and that is without question Jim LaBelle. A father, world traveler, lawyer, disability advocate and professor, Jim's story isn't well known to many, but we hope to change that. A quadriplegic since 1969 and passing on April 21st, 2024, he was paralyzed for nearly 55 years and showed a life can be well lived in spite of paralysis."  Spinalpedia Blog "For over fifty years, I have been pushing my chair. I graduated from law school and passed the bar exam in three states. My travels took me to twenty-three countries. My story is not an inspirational anecdote; it's about finding love, losing love, grief, joy, and single parenthood. Don't call me 'bound' or 'confined' to my wheelchair. My chair gives me freedom. A wheelchair user today has more rights than one did fifty years ago. Yet there are still many obstacles in finding housing, transportation, employment, and medical care. I am not trying to be a role model, just a possibility. There are obstacles, and people may not always treat you properly, but there is progress." Jim LaBelle

Blend a background in fast-paced PR, political campaigns, and a lot of roll-up-your-sleeves energy, and you've Stuart Collective founder and CEO Kathleen Stuart. Kathleen founded Stuart Collective in 2017. With a crystal-clear mission to support changemakers in securing progressive wins, Kathleen works every day to win campaigns, pass high-profile legislation, and influence public opinion. Kathleen brings over a decade of on-the-ground political work in campaigns and leading PR strategies. As a result, she advises leading progressive organizations that impact all the spaces — from healthcare to housing to infrastructure and more — that Stuart Collective shares with its clients. Stuart Collective  [https://www.stuartcollective.co/who]

Ivana Yellowback is a member of Manto Sipi Cree Nation – God's River (maternal family) and a relative to Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (paternal family). She is both Asiniskow Ithinew ekwa Muskego Ininew (High Rock and Muskeg Cree). Ivana an Associate Producer, Writer, Cree host, and English co-host of Eagle Vision's and APTN's 7TH GEN Home (7thgen.ca) [https://www.7thgen.ca/] \ Cree Webisodes | 7TH GEN [https://www.7thgen.ca/cree-webisodes-1] (2022/2023/2024). She has also acted as principal characters in "DJ Burnt Bannock" (2021) The Team — DJ Burnt Bannock [https://www.djburntbannock.com/the-team], along with "Little Bird" (2023) 'Little Bird,' From Fremantle, Rezolution: Jennifer Podemski Talks - Variety [https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/little-bird-canada-stolen-generation-rezolution-pictures-1235509434/]. Ivana holds a 4-year Bachelor of Arts HONOURS degree at the University of Winnipeg (4-Year Honours BA: Sociology, Minor: Conflict Resolution Studies), and a Bachelor of Social Work degree at the University of Manitoba. She is also starting her Masters of Social Work degree this upcoming Fall at the University of Manitoba. Ivana holds 10+ years of experience in social services work, spanning from program development and implementation, facilitation, and workshop trainings (various), youth mentorship and leadership, and social advocacy and counselling. Ivana is an Executive Training Facilitator (with Indigenous Leadership Development Institute Inc.), an executive board member for sakihiwe festival, and is an oskâpêwiskwew (helper) member of the Indigenous Helpers Society.  She is also a trained Traditional Family Parenting facilitator, a Grief and Loss Facilitator, and Indigenous Life Skills Coach. Ivana's most important roles and work is being an aunty, pipe carrier, lodge carrier, drum carrier and singer. SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Teghan Hammond and Mel Hammond are sisters who grew up punching each other whenever they saw a P.T. Cruiser, dying their hair blue together, and fabricating a fake band in which their middle brother was (allegedly) the lead singer. Writing Lucy, Uncensored was their first time co-writing. Unless you count the summer they spent scribbling down recipes for the strangest sandwiches you've ever heard of, like the Tax Exemption Wrap (Teghan) and the Nail Gun Sandwich (Mel). Today, Teghan lives in northern Indiana, where she drinks excessive amounts of coffee and volunteers for LGBTQIA+ causes. When she's not tearing down gender norms, Teghan is probably watching cartoons or gaming. Mel lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she writes books in a rainbow-painted room. Besides writing, she loves walking in the woods and eating dairy-free ice cream. Between the two of them, Teghan and Mel have four adorable cats. * www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/750113/lucy-uncensored-by-mel-hammond-and-teghan-hammond/ [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/750113/lucy-uncensored-by-mel-hammond-and-teghan-hammond/]Folks can also preorder from their local indie bookstores. ISBN is 9780593814055. Publisher is Knopf Books for Young Readers * Website: www.melhammondbooks.com [http://www.melhammondbooks.com/] * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hamtasticduo * Mel's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamsandwichmel/ * SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Special Spring 2024 NYC Fringe Festival episode with three dynamic creators! Lauren O'Brien presents Lolo's Boyfriend Show [https://www.frigid.nyc/event/6897:630/] - a new comedic solo show, the writer is also the performer; Suzanne Bachner presents Conversations with My Divorce Attorney [http://conversationswithmydivorceattorney.com/] - the playwright also directs the two hander play which she started writing many years ago when she was getting a divorce. Her current husband stars as her divorce attorney; Jude Treder-Wolff presents FASTER [https://www.frigid.nyc/event/6897:627/] - real life therapist and playwright wrote a new show about how technology is speeding up our lives. She also performs the play. SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/] NYC Fringe [https://www.frigid.nyc/festivals/frigid-festival/]

From Page Stephenson [https://www.mynameispage.com/creative]: "Sometimes my life feels as though I am both the director and the directed. As I attempt to navigate the vast ocean of choices, I often find myself adrift. It's in these moments that inspiration often bubbles to the surface. My creative adventures have enabled me to collaborate with giants like Google, Red Bull, Patagonia, and Netflix. These projects have sent me around the globe, expanding my perspective beyond my wildest dreams. I have been fortunate enough to play with robotic arms, fast computers, remote aircraft, and even real movie cameras. For me, it isn't about the gear, brands, or crazy stories; it's the journey of the self. I spend my time lost in video games, cinema, and researching new tools of expression because I love doing so; it is a way of life and it has sculpted me. Hopefully, I can sculpt a small bit in return." SRTN podcast [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

M.J. Bassett [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1068186/] is an English director, writer, and producer of film and television. She began her career directing the cult horror films Deathwatch and Wilderness, the dark fantasy Solomon Kane, and the video game adaptation Silent Hill: Revelation. Since 2012, she has worked as a director and writer on high-profile television series like Strike Back, Ash vs Evil Dead, Power and Altered Carbon. Check out ROGUE with Megan Fox and the upcoming RED SONJA movie! SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Ben Tanzer [https://www.tanzerben.com/]'s work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Tanzer is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award, and has received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.  Tanzer has also also written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter.. The Missing releasing March 21, 2024, nearly contemporaneous contemporaneously with this special episode release! SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Philip Barasch [https://www.dancingchapman.com/] has maintained a lifelong interest in sequential art. He is the creator of HandHewn, a magazine designed to explore the Graphic Short Story art form. His years in Portland, Oregon included involvement with The Stumptown Comic Book Convention, Sequential Art Gallery and Talisman Gallery. Philip and his wife, Charis, relocated to Astoria, Oregon in 2018. Charis departed this world in 2022, radically altering Philip's art form. He is now creatively consumed by this forced, revolutionary reinvention. SRTN Podcast [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Guest host Kinneret Ely [https://www.youtube.com/@KinneretEly] interviews opera star Nicholas Tamagna [https://www.operabase.com/artists/nicholas-tamagna-13040/en] Nicholas Tamagna's meteoric rise in recent years has made him one of the world's most fascinating alto voices. Highlights of the last few seasons were undoubtedly his interpretation of Ermano in the award-winning CD recording of Gismondo, re di Polonia (Leonardo Vinci) on the Parnassus label and its extensive concert tour, his MET debut in March 2020 in Sir David's McVicar's re-visited production of Händel's Agrippina as Narciso, at the side of Joyce DiDonato, Harry Bicket, Kate Lindsey and Brenda Rae as well as the worldwide cinema broadcast of the performance and his spectacular interpretation of the Händel roles Ruggiero in Alcina and Silvio in Il Pastor Fido at the Händel Festival in Halle, Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Göttingen Händel Festival, and most recently his debut at Bayreuth Baroque 2022 as Timagene in the highly-acclaimed production of Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie from Max Emanuel Cenčić, at the side of Bruno de Sà, Franco Fagioli, and Jake Arditti. In future seasons, he will be heard at such prestigious houses as San Francisco Opera, Israeli National Opera in Tel Aviv, Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria, Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, Australia, and Bayreuth Baroque. SRTN Podcast [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Chimen Kouri is a writer based in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey. Her work has been featured in Goat's Milk Magazine, Blood Moon Poetry, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and more. She fell in love with storytelling one Christmas morning during a power outage when she and her parents laid in bed while her father told stories about his life in Lebanon. She is currently writing two full-length poetry and prose collections, What Haunts Me the Most and The Old Dutchburn House, and her first novel, Miss America Is Burning. When she isn't writing, you can find her cuddling her dogs and cats and rewatching The Last Kingdom on Netflix. For more of her work, check her out on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/grandma_g0th/] SRTN  [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

TJ McGowan aka The Everyday Bite [https://www.theeverydaybite.com/about] is a Bronx based writer, poet, and spoken word artist who has performed all over the Tri-State. His written work has been published in Flash Fiction Mag, Collective Unrest, 35MM, Mojave Heart, Vamp Cat, United: Red, BX Writers, to name a few. His body-autonomy poem, I Am Not Her Bones, and its incendiary performance was recipient of the 2019 Poem of the Year at the Word Masters Poetry Gala. The written version can be found in Wide Eyes Publishing's anthology, War Crimes Against the Uterus. He has one full-length poetry collection, We Are Not One Thing, currently available for purchase. In addition to that, he is one half of the the trip-rock poetry and meditative metal duo, Subtle Bodies, most recently writing/directing the short poetic film for their debut EP, Apocalyptic Hearts. When not slinging poetry or music, he spends his days as an Associate Producer for a Film & TV company based in NYC, contributing to script and creative copy on most of the productions that pass through the doors. He is also way more interesting than this bio, so come out to one of his shows and chop it up with him. Contrary to the stage name, he does not bite...unless provoked. SRTN Podcast [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Mortal Emblem [https://www.mortalemblem.com/]owner Olivia Britz-Wheat is a multimedia artist who has been tattooing for over 15 years in Portland. She hails originally from Colorado, attended college in Missoula, Montana until learning how to tattoo under Phil Roberson and Jed Dillon. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation and regale in thoughts about art, Depeche Mode, Portland, The Lloyd Center mystique and VHS love. SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

ART FUN with the hosts of the Baroque B**ches Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/baroque-b-tches-an-art-history-gossip-podcast/id1714175986]! How much fun can you have on a podcast? I dunno but this was hella fun. Join this wildly ranging art, life, and raunch conversation to discover what you did not want to know but, really, c'mon, you actually really did want to know. Art Scholarship for the People!!! BB Website up in here [https://baroquebpodcast.com/] SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

Death is the high cost of living. The weight of that knowledge can feel crippling but is it there we find the deepest and most important knowledge of how to live? After tragedy struck in 2013, Elizabeth Coplan turned to writing to express her personal grief. She wrote many published essays, and later, after experiencing three losses in less than a year, she turned to writing plays focused on this global experience known as death. In 2016, Elizabeth developed the groundbreaking play, Grief Dialogues, and built the nonprofit Grief Dialogues [http://griefdialogues.com/], a theatrical movement creating new conversations about dying, death, and grief. Elizabeth is the script consultant, director, and producer for Juntos Nos Ayudamos/Better Together, a film about a Hispanic family surviving suicide. She is also the creator and the co-host of the podcast, Out of Grief Comes Art [https://griefdialogues.com/podcasts/], and the Executive Producer of 8 AM, an award-winning short film on traumatic loss. 'Til Death, Elizabeth's full-length play about one mother's choice that unveils a family's long-buried secrets, opens Off-Broadway in November 2023 under the direction of Chad Austin, Producing Director of the Abingdon Theatre. The play stars Two-Time Tony Award Winner Judy Kaye, Tony Award Nominee Robert Cuccioli, with Whitney Morse, Dominick LaRuffa Jr., Michael Lee Brown, TV and film star Amy Hargreaves. In addition to an updated production of Grief Dialogues scheduled to open in New York City 2024, Elizabeth is currently working on The Book Club, a new play highlighting the lives of five senior women. She is collaborating with Ina Chadwick on The a Chronicles, a theatrical series of stories that spark conversations about women's reproductive rights, and on a TV sitcom pilot Act Three, a coming-of-age story about a late-in-life emerging playwright. All before she turns 70 in June 2024. Elizabeth Coplan  [https://elizabethcoplan.com/] SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]

ALLYSON MCCABE [https://www.allysonmccabe.com/]is a journalist whose work is heard on NPR's newsmagazines, public radio stations and programs, and podcasts. Also appearing in publications such as the New York Times, New York Magazine/Vulture, BBC Culture, Wired, and Bandcamp, McCabe is also the author of WHY SINEAD O'CONNOR MATTERS, UT Press, 2023. SRTN Podcast [https://www.allysonmccabe.com/]

Katherine Yeske Taylor [https://linktr.ee/Taylorkatnyc] began her career as a rock critic in Atlanta in the 1990s, interviewing Georgia musical royalty such as the Indigo Girls, R.E.M., and the Black Crowes while still a teenager. Since then, she has conducted several hundred interviews and contributes regularly to Billboard, Flood, Spin, and American Songwriter, among others. She is a longtime New York City resident and is extremely active in the downtown rock scene. SRTN Website [https://www.somethingratherthannothing.com/]