This is Part 1. Part 2 is on Andy's podcast: On The Block Radio. Check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Dec 07, 2015•1 hr 46 min
First episode of the SOMA series. We start in Norway, head to Mississippi, Mexico, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Senegal, and then back to Rehab Mountain in Malibu. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Dec 05, 2015•1 hr 3 min
I met Lois in her 83rd year. We talk about her loves, her passions, some of her famous friends, and reflect on special moments from a very special life. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 30, 2015•2 hr 9 min
Sheldon Solomon is a psychologist and professor of social psychology at Skidmore College, best known for developing Terror Management Theory, along with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski which is concerned with how humans deal with our own sense of mortality. Solomon co-authored the book The Worm at the Core: On the role of Death in Life with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ...
Nov 23, 2015•1 hr 27 min
Mark Davis, ND is a founder and the medical director of Good Life Medicine Center, and his naturopathic practice, Bright Medicine Clinic, focuses on gastroenterological health. Dr. Davis is one of a handful of physicians in the North America with clinical expertise in fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Nov 16, 2015•2 hr 7 min
After spending some time in Thailand teaching tigers not to eat people, Ben went to Chile, bought an old VW camper van, and set off for Alaska. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 09, 2015•2 hr 9 min
Roger has worked in film and television as a director, writer, producer and editor. He's worked with lots of famous people (Larry David, David Spade, Leonard Nimoy) and has made a series of unique documentaries about fringe communities and thinkers: Trekkies, Suckers (about car salesmen), Six Days in Roswell (UFO enthusiasts), The Nature of Existence. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subsc...
Nov 02, 2015•1 hr 31 min
Jonathan is the host of Outside TV's The Road Less Traveled. We talk about everything from the wonders of Colombian women to the dangers of swimming naked in cold water to what Robert Frost really had in mind. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 26, 2015•2 hr 3 min
This bonus episode was recorded last week at The Strand bookstore on Broadway, in New York. The three of us talk about intimacy, sexuality, and the often opposing appetites for novelty and intimacy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 21, 2015•1 hr 34 min
Neil and I became friends after he'd already outgrown The Game , his colossal best-seller. The Truth , just released this week is one of the bravest, funniest, most vulnerable books you'll ever read. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 18, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Jenn and Bryan left the security of good jobs and a nice house in Portland in an old VW van and spent a year meandering south with Karma, their dog. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 12, 2015•1 hr 26 min
West stopped in Portland on his way back to Cambridge from a research trip to the Amazon. This episode features music by his pal, Kim Churchill. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 05, 2015•2 hr 19 min
It seemed like a good idea at the time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 04, 2015•23 min
Lead singer/songwriter of the Canadian band Man Made Lake, Colin is a deep, smart, talented, and very funny man. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 28, 2015•2 hr 39 min
Elliott graduated from the Naval Academy and worked as an analyst for the Air Force for six years. This is the third in my series of conversations with veterans. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 21, 2015•1 hr 48 min
Justin has been there and done that. From western Nepal to Sumatran jungles to Black Rock Desert, he's left footprints and gathered memories. A man after my own heart, Justin travels the way it should be done. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 14, 2015•2 hr 29 min
Nathaniel started at the Mexican border in April and has been walking north ever since. He's covered thousands of miles through deserts, valleys and ridgelines. We talk about the sorts of people he's met on the trail, the highs and lows of walking several thousand miles, and what sorts of insights one gets about home from wandering so far from it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 07, 2015•1 hr 14 min
Alice recently resigned her position as a professor at Northwestern University's Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program over her refusal to surrender academic freedom. She's the author of Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 31, 2015•2 hr
Eric Berkowitz is a San Francisco-based author and human rights lawyer. His journalistic work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, California Lawyer, and the Washington Post, as well as websites such as Huffington Post, AlterNet and Salon. His books on sex and the law both kick serious ass. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 24, 2015•2 hr 2 min
Jon was an active-duty US Army infantryman from 2003 to 2006. A third generation service member, his first tour was in Korea. While there, Jon was part of a historic deployment of an already forward-deployed unit that sent his unit to the Sunni Triangle in September of 2004. They mostly operated in and around the town of Habbaniyah, which was about halfway between Fallujah and Ramadi. Jon is now in Portland, where he lives and works on a small organic farm run by a lesbian couple ... typical Por...
Aug 17, 2015•2 hr 5 min
Susan Block has done everything from organizing orgies to climbing the Golden Gate bridge in the middle of the night. She's an adventurer in many realms, but is most well known for her work in sexuality. She's hosted TV programs on HBO, published books and essays far and wide, is a well-known sex therapist, and puts together one of the most bizzare and interesting parties in Los Angeles every Saturday night in Bonoboville, the former motel she and her husband converted into a suite of offices an...
Aug 10, 2015•1 hr 38 min
Mark is a very good writer, blogger, and author. We have a lot to talk about: travel, women, writing, negotiating our need to write about our lives versus the right to privacy of the people in our lives, etc. You can learn more about Mark's work at http://markmanson.net . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 03, 2015•1 hr 39 min
Aaron uses various methods to help people inhabit their bodies in the best way possible, from rolfing to massage to structural realignment. We had a good time talking in Burnside Park, where we took a break every fifteen minutes or so to allow Aaron to run around, do handstands, and other health-inducing activities. Meanwhile, I shifted my weight from one butt cheek to the other... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis...
Jul 28, 2015•1 hr 17 min
Rod and Justin ( episode 99 ) met years ago fighting forest fires. Justin and I drove up to Rod's amazing spread east of Mount Rainier and spent a night in Paradise. As you'll see in the photos below, Rod's building skills are equal to his firefighting abilities. He's a tough, smart, open-hearted, humble man who'll no-doubt be embarrassed at being called "legendary," but everyone else says that's the word for him. Get a copy of Rod's book ! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...
Jul 27, 2015•1 hr 38 min
David Steinberg is an author, photographer, and a radically sane guy. We talk about his inadvertent work with the CIA, what it was like to be plugged into the anti-war political world of San Francisco in the late 60s, and his lifelong refusal to accept shame as a sensible response to human sexuality. Join us in Portland's Laurelhurst Park for this wide-ranging, intimate conversation. Music: Opening theme: Basin and Range . Kim Churchill , "Don't Leave Your Life Too Long." iTunes link . Closing t...
Jul 20, 2015•2 hr 31 min
From a very cold houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar to the Deluxe Video Coach, this one is all about changing plans at the last minute. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Jul 16, 2015•1 hr 3 min
In their 23rd year of marriage, Sonya's husband, Richard, suffered a brain trauma that erased his memories of their life together. He didn't know her, didn't recognize their children, and had to re-learn how to live his life. He'd forgotten everything—even sex. An excerpt from her book on Salon.com . Music. "Flag" by Ed Dupas , "Love" by James Thomas & "Smoke Alarm" by Carsie Blanton . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episo...
Jul 13, 2015•1 hr 43 min
Jared joined the Marines just before 9/11, and participated in the invasion of Iraq with the Marine Corps in 2003. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe
Jul 06, 2015•1 hr 33 min
Joe Winke and Shannon Drake are partners in crime and commerce. We talk about what it's like to get a socially-conscious business up and running, the winding paths they each took, their aspirations for the future, and what it all has to do with a little dog called Jambo. Music: Going Through the Motions, Joel Havea . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Jun 29, 2015•2 hr 47 min
For just an instant, Devlin Baker created a tiny star in a warehouse outside Bellingham, WA. He's working on a project he (and his backers) hope will result in medical technology, the production of vital materials, and eventually, cheap, clean, limitless energy. Devlin's site is here . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe...
Jun 22, 2015•2 hr 4 min