Many of us have struggled during the pandemic with feelings of anxiety, angst, and loneliness. In a time of such unprecedented uncertainty, some of us have sought out meditation and mindfulness as a means of keeping grounded and to stay positive. Apps such as HeadSpace have skyrocketed in popularity in the last 9 months. To help us dive into this we have Katie Krimitsos. Katie is an ever-curious woman who continues her evolution as a loving being of light - who is having fun being a mom, wife, c...
Mar 22, 2021•41 min
When Black and brown girls don’t see black ballerinas in the world’s most prestigious troupes, they don’t know that dancing is something that’s possible for them. A career in professional ballet is already a long shot for MOST girls, but the odds are even more stacked against Black girls who rarely, if ever, see prima ballerinas of color succeed. So when my dear friend Riva Lombardi told us about 16-year old Imani Lindsay, who is one of the only Black dancers at the National Ballet School of Can...
Mar 21, 2021•33 min
Today’s reading is from Part One of the best-selling, critically acclaimed book, Bed/Time/Story, by author Jill Schary Robinson. Jill Schary Robinson was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of two artists. Her father was Oscar and Tony winner Dore Schary, head of MGM during the ‘40s and ‘50s, the only writer to ever run a film studio. Her mother, the painter M. Svet, studied at the Art Students League in New York. During the ‘60s, she wrote on revolutionary women’s issues for Cosmopolitan and cove...
Mar 19, 2021•15 min
Leila Marchbanks is a fifth grade teacher in Los Angeles and the creator of the website, A Book At The Table. Leila was able to restructure the 5th grade Language Arts program at her school to remove stories of traditional protagonists that excluded people of color and include literature that reflected diverse children along with their complex experiences. Her curriculum evaluates race, systemic racism, gender spectrum, and eliminating microaggressions and biases. Leila now wants to share her re...
Mar 17, 2021•41 min
Can you visualize a world where women are barred from eating lunch at certain restaurants or routinely charged more than men for things like, alterations and dry cleaning? Can you picture what it was like before women had the power of choice when it came to their own bodies or were taken seriously when violently assaulted? What if you had to do more than visualize it, but you had to live it…again? And what if there was no one fighting to keep the status quo of the past...in the past? In 1966, Gl...
Mar 16, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Damares Ocona Perez writes: "Hollywood is probably the only place on earth where it's acceptable for a woman who weighs 105 pounds to be told she's fat". Luckily, more and more Hollywood starlets are proudly speaking out about staying at a healthy weight and refusing to cave to crazy body-weight demands. The scary part? Production companies seem to have no qualms demanding women to lose weight, and some have even suggested they leave the industry altogether. Thankfully, more and more women of Ho...
Mar 14, 2021•29 min
Today’s reading is from the essay titled, The Incredible Shrinking Woman from the collection of essays, The Incredible Shrinking Woman by author Athena Dixon. Athena Dixon is the author of The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and No God in This Room. Her work also appears in The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. Athena’s work has appeared in various publications including GAY Magazine and Narratively. She is the founder of Linden Avenue Literary Journal and is the co-host of the New Books in ...
Mar 12, 2021•15 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Guy Michlin right after the show. Don't miss our new Friday series On My Nightstand. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbins like live even...
Mar 10, 2021•15 min
Imagine finding out that your wife, your partner, the mother of your three young children has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a-my-o-TROE-fik LAT-ur-ul skluh-ROE-sis), or ALS. Guy Michlin, CEO, businessman, and Stanford graduate, was working 80-100 hour weeks when his wife discovered that she couldn’t move her finger, and went to the doctor to see what was wrong. But what would you do if your wife’s disease forced you to look at how you defined yourself? Would you try and keep...
Mar 09, 2021•48 min•Season 8Ep. 80
No matter where one lives, what one does for a living often defines how they’re perceived, for better or for worse. When a person with multiple sclerosis or other chronic conditions desires to work, that person and their employer face numerous issues - some legal, some moral, and some practical. During the first decades of the MS movement, people with MS had little or no protection against employment discrimination because of disability, and there were some who thought that those with a diagnosi...
Mar 07, 2021•35 min
Today’s On My Nightstand reading is titled, “Hi, My Name Is Laura…” and is a favorite from my blog archives. Although it’s a few years old, I feel the message is more relevant now than ever. Especially with the spike in alcohol consumption and overdose-deaths during the pandemic. Along with the whole “sober curious” movement that’s currently sweeping the nation. You can find this post and more of my blogs here: On our THE ONLY ONE IN THE ROOM WEBSITE Or on LAURA'S BLOG WEBSITE Laura Cathcart Rob...
Mar 05, 2021•14 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Kim Strobel right after the show. Don't miss our new Friday series On My Nightstand. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbins like live even...
Mar 03, 2021•17 min
Imagine feeling like you were the only one in the room dealing with crippling fear? Podcaster, happiness, educational, and empowerment coach, Kim Strobel dealt with panic attacks as a teen and young adult. She struggled to do simple things, like drive to work or even walk to the mailbox. But what would you do if it got so bad that you pleaded with God to take your life, and you received a message that you were made for more? Would you dismiss it as a delusion and prepare to die? Or would you bec...
Mar 01, 2021•54 min•Season 8Ep. 79
Asian Americans have fought in every American war since the civil war (on both sides) and yet they make up only about 4% of today’s US armed forces. The fact that today’s guest has toured on the USNS Mercy three times definitely piqued my interest. But the fact that hate incidents and violence against Asian-Americans have increased sharply during the COVID 19 pandemic, inspired me to contact him. I wanted to know how it felt to be an Asian-American aboard a hospital ship during a pandemic that w...
Feb 28, 2021•32 min
Today’s On My Nightstand reading is from the essay titled, The Reveal, from the critically acclaimed, bestselling essay collection, Greyboy: Finding Blackness In A White World by Cole Brown. Cole Brown is a Philly kid; he matured in the city's predominately white private schools and neighborhoods. During his undergraduate years at Georgetown University, Cole began writing his first book, Greyboy: FInding Blackness In A White World. You can listen to Cole’s episode of The Only One In The Room: Co...
Feb 26, 2021•14 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Irina Gonzalez right after the show. Don't miss our new Friday series On My Nightstand. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbins like live e...
Feb 24, 2021•19 min
What if while growing up, the messaging you got as a girl was that either you were “normal” and were attracted to boys, or you were a lesbian and were attracted to girls? Nothing in between. Editor, freelance writer, and podcaster, Irina Gonzalez, knew from an early age that either the messaging was wrong or there was something wrong with her because she was just attracted to people, regardless of their gender. So what would you do if after discovering that you were bisexual, the person with who...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 8Ep. 78
“Here’s the thing, I’m not hating on anyone who decides that homeschooling, Catholicism, or being a stay-at-home-mom is their path. What I’m hating on is how so many people, women included, impose on other women how they’re supposed to live. It’s like there’s only one good way to mother and everything else falls in the “not good enough” category.” -Mia Hemstad Mia Hemstad is a mom of two little kids, a full-time paid family leave advocate, mental health advocate, and self-care coach. She began c...
Feb 21, 2021•38 min
Today’s On My Nightstand-read is from the chapter titled, Terrors from the New York Times best-selling memoir, Heavy, by Keise Laymon. Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019, Andrew Carnegie Medal, for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs...
Feb 19, 2021•15 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Kiese Laymon right after the show. Don't miss our new Friday series On My Nightstand. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbins like live eve...
Feb 17, 2021•17 min
Picture this: You have a book to write, a memoir which contains so much raw truth that you'd rather write a lie instead. Writer, author, and professor, Kiese Laymon, wrote about the weight: The weight of racism, the weight of obesity, and the weight of sex, gambling, and familial love. And addressed the whole thing to his mother. But what would you do if publishing your book would mean naming all the secrets you’d spent a lifetime avoiding? Would you put your life on blast and let the whole worl...
Feb 16, 2021•55 min•Season 8Ep. 77
How many people can say that they grew up on studio lots and learned one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets from their mother? We’re truly excited to bring this conversation with Hollywood/literary legend, Jill Schary Robinson. Jill Schary Robinson was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of two artists. Her father was Oscar and Tony winner Dore Schary, head of MGM during the ‘40s and ‘50s, the only writer to ever run a film studio. Her mother, the painter M. Svet, studied at the Art Students League ...
Feb 14, 2021•33 min
Today’s On My Night Stand-read, Enter-Racial, was written by Laura Cathcart Robbins. It is the story of when she flew to Richmond, Virginia to meet her boyfriend Scott’s father for the first time, while he lay dying in the ICU. You’ll hear her talk about the fear of being a Black woman walking into the seat of the confederacy and meeting a man on his deathbed, who up until that moment, had no idea that she was Black. Laura Cathcart Robbins is an author, freelance culture writer, and host of the ...
Feb 12, 2021•13 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Rebecca Metz right after the show. Don't miss our new On My Nightstand series releasing every Friday. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbi...
Feb 10, 2021•18 min
What if, while growing up, you found that you preferred sneakers to heels and jeans to dresses? And because you didn’t really fit in with your peers, you thought maybe if things were different, if you were different, life might be easier. Actress, Rebecca Metz, chimed in once on set and joined the chorus of women talking about going on a diet. But what would you do if your co-worker wondered aloud why you would want to alter yourself for a part, when you were already working? Would you dismiss h...
Feb 09, 2021•53 min•Season 8Ep. 76
In December of 2010, the House and Senate voted in favor of repealing and over-turning the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." President Obama then signed it into law in December of 2010 and then the following year, the nation decided that homosexuals would no longer fear discharge from the military by admitting to their sexual preference. Over 13,000 servicemen and women were discharged for being gay while the don't ask, don't tell policy was in effect. Today, we have Vaughn Rush, a male e...
Feb 07, 2021•35 min
I was one of those bookish kids who grew up to be a bookish adult. I love to read almost as much as I love to write - and writing is like oxygen for me - it’s that essential. But reading fills me up and makes me whole in a way that little else does. So as a result, I always have a pile of articles, blog posts, dog-eared chapters, memoirs and essays, stacked on my nightstand. Every one of them is precious to me, to be cherished, read over and over, highlighted, and stickie noted. I’m so excited t...
Feb 05, 2021•3 min
Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Cara Jones right after the show. Don't miss our Now Normal series releasing every Thursday. Be sure to join our Facebook Group for the most up-to-date info on guests, episodes and more. You can also DM us on Instagram @theonlyoneintheroom or email us via the website at www.theonlyonepod.com Also visit the website for the latest from our host Laura Cathcart Robbins like li...
Feb 03, 2021•16 min
Imagine being born into a cult, and being told that you were a rarity, a Blessed Child, born without original sin. Cara Jones, story coach, writer, former Emmy Award-Winning journalist, and documentary filmmaker was raised in the Unification Church, and at nineteen years old, got married in a stadium along with 10,000 other couples to a man chosen for her by its leader, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. But what would you do if after leaving the church, you wanted to reexamine what it was like to gro...
Feb 02, 2021•53 min•Season 8Ep. 75
When I was a kid, everyone in our neighborhood knew about sickle cell disease. That is...we all knew that it made Black kids sick, sick enough to go to the hospital sometimes. We knew that it was painful and that the bouts came on suddenly, and caused kids to miss school, families to miss work. The parents of kids with Sickle Cell Disease made a big deal out of every single sneeze and canceled long-awaited sleepovers during flu season, out of what felt like an overabundance of caution. Looking b...
Jan 31, 2021•32 min
