//podcastplus.net/feed/podcast~284a396bc29b66f93cc659e6af33280e8cc1292a7b674e91df73474c4865f87f Why is there something rather than nothing? This podcast is a philosophical and psychological exploration into the act of creation (poets, musicians, writers, painters, thinkers, all of us) by: Ken Volante Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:32:52 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/686e2ad4649dcd96ca83a614/size/78923376/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/40884fcf-2cf6-47c9-91bb-9217fbad9989.mp3 Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast Episode 300!!! We talk ABOLITION. Calvin John Smiley, Ph.D. is an associate professor of sociology at Hunter College-CUNY. His research and scholarship broadly focus on issues related to justice, inequality, and race. Smiley is the co-editor of  Prisoner Reentry in the 21st Century: Critical Perspectives of Coming Home  (Routledge, 2020). He is the author of the award-winning  Purgatory Citizenship: Reentry, Race, and Abolition  (University of California Press, 2023), which explores how system-impacted individuals navigate and negotiate the reentry experience with diminished legal rights and amplified social stigmas. Further, he is the author of  Defund: Conversations Towards Abolition  (Haymarket Books, 2024), which considers how #defund can bridge the divide between reform and abolition, becoming a catalyst to help organizers realize abolitionist visions. Finally, Smiley has published in an array... Wed, 09 Jul 2025 08:39:48 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/686e2ad4649dcd96ca83a614/size/78923376/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/40884fcf-2cf6-47c9-91bb-9217fbad9989.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/6862f531217338c7ba4fdfa0/size/92405234/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/948b09d0-b423-47af-9075-69fe75a84a4f.mp3 Katie Marie is a Cherokee/Choctaw educator, Indigenous Wisdomkeeper, and decolonial guide who works at the intersection of healing, community, and education. Enjoy this ranging conversation into matriarchy, wellness of being, Indigenous futures, our planet, Art & Philosophy! Something Rather than Nothing Mon, 30 Jun 2025 20:36:01 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/6862f531217338c7ba4fdfa0/size/92405234/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/948b09d0-b423-47af-9075-69fe75a84a4f.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/6853372617e91c11f73610ac/size/43731513/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/c9a5ca8c-22df-4c79-a611-7afa2bee5745.mp3 Annabel McConnachie (she/her) is an actress, writer, singer, dancer and content creator. She is originally from Sydney, Australia but is currently based in New York City. She is best known for her work in the critically acclaimed miniseries 'IKEA Heights - The Next Generation'. Her much anticipated new play 'Archive of My Own' made its stage debut in a moved reading at the Tank. THANKS FOR LISTENING! Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:01:10 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/6853372617e91c11f73610ac/size/43731513/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/c9a5ca8c-22df-4c79-a611-7afa2bee5745.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/68409d96c6cf8d595155dd3a/size/84095285/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/5829fdf2-6868-4ff6-ab3d-dc7e8c9f72d4.mp3 Sophia Hembeck is a bilingual writer and artist based in Edinburgh. She has published three books (Things I Have Noticed, 2020 & Things I Have Loved, 2023 & Thiings That Are Different Now, 2025) which are compromised of her essays and short prose as well as artwork that she specifically created for the books. They are part of her poetic-memoir trilogy." She’s a fierce advocate for literary essays and teaches essay writing classes for writers of all levels. You can buy her books here. Instagram: @sophiahembeck Wed, 04 Jun 2025 19:25:10 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/68409d96c6cf8d595155dd3a/size/84095285/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/5829fdf2-6868-4ff6-ab3d-dc7e8c9f72d4.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/682fead11c0b03479304e8b6/size/51483332/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/d83ff91e-7fcb-4f69-b5f0-a3b6e1261641.mp3 This episode was recorded and captured LIVE on Independent Bookstore Day (April 26, 2025) from Browsers' Bookstore in Albany, Oregon.  Pete Dryden : Photographer, cabinet maker, professional overthinker. Hiding out in Albany, Oregon—dodging small talk, chasing meaning in the grain and the frame. Restless mind, calloused hands, too many questions and never enough quiet. Abe Richmond : Owner of Browsers’ Bookstore . If spotted in the wild, he is reading totally tubular titles. We talk about bookstores, Edward Abbey, Kathy Acker, Morrissey, Hunter S. Thompson and so much more. Celebrate Independent Books & Bookstores!!! Fri, 23 May 2025 03:26:09 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/682fead11c0b03479304e8b6/size/51483332/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/d83ff91e-7fcb-4f69-b5f0-a3b6e1261641.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/681ce90dbc4dc660aed9ffb5/size/37904117/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/6629ec68-c75d-4c13-8608-34a816d31033.mp3 About Craig Randall - I've loved stories and literature and writing for as long as I can remember. For just as long, I've also struggled with anxiety and depression. They have loomed over me, all my life, threatening to steal away whatever hope and joy i've worked so hard to build. All my work, the fiction and the poetry, was born out of this struggle as I worked to overcome and deal the hardships these struggles brought on. There's so much to the story, which I will write about later. In the mean time, just know you're not alone. You are brilliant and strong and are not a product of whatever's held you back. You got this! We got this! Oh, one of my main hopes is let men know it's okay to feel, it's okay to express, it's okay that we're not always sure how, but real strength is found in taking that step forward and bearing ourselves to those we love. We can all feel whole! Thu, 08 May 2025 17:25:33 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/681ce90dbc4dc660aed9ffb5/size/37904117/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/6629ec68-c75d-4c13-8608-34a816d31033.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/681267c0df7e4d17cdce67f7/size/66226617/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/9d635153-9917-4c92-a574-b22a0ce025b7.mp3 Shippentower is named Co-Captain of the Oregon Ravens Football Team! Kola Shippentower is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She has co-founded and is the Director of The Wisáwca Project - Enough Iz Enough, a non-profit organization working together for change, for better communication and involvement. Kola has developed a Safety Plan to be utilized by anyone in identifying safety methods, contacts, and procedures to keep one safe whether in an abusive relationship or a plan to track a missing person. She is a professional fighter and brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Welcome back to the show Kola!!! And we talk women's football and MMIW . . . Oregon Ravens SRTN Website Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:11:12 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/681267c0df7e4d17cdce67f7/size/66226617/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/9d635153-9917-4c92-a574-b22a0ce025b7.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/680171c9c62c7329e09f982d/size/75999212/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/18b8e0b0-1745-4c8a-b557-3157078cd664.mp3 Meghan Lamb is the author of Mirror Translation (Blamage Books, 2025), COWARD (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022), Failure to Thrive (Apocalypse Party, 2021) All of Your Most Private Places (Spork Press, 2020) and Silk Flowers (Birds of Lace, 2017). Her work has also appeared in Quarterly West, DIAGRAM, Redivider, and Passages North, among other publications. She currently teaches creative writing through the University of Chicago, Story Studio, Hugo House, and GrubStreet. She is the fiction editor for Bridge Books and the nonfiction editor for Lover's Eye and Nat. Brut. Music here Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:25:29 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/680171c9c62c7329e09f982d/size/75999212/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/18b8e0b0-1745-4c8a-b557-3157078cd664.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/67f82125da1680647aef6055/size/91875316/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/30e219c9-f6ff-4df6-9c3f-2d009855567d.mp3 Raechel Wolfe is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Portland, OR, whose work spans film, writing, modeling, and Creative Direction. She made waves by creating FINK, the world’s first Instagram-exclusive short film, and was a founding member of the core team behind Buckman Journal. Raechel continues to push creative boundaries, now adding curator to her dynamic portfolio. Featuring co-host and model/artist Jenny Peterson. For Your Eyes Only Thu, 10 Apr 2025 19:51:01 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/67f82125da1680647aef6055/size/91875316/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/30e219c9-f6ff-4df6-9c3f-2d009855567d.mp3 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/67c3ad1991df1a4481de6089/size/54563761/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/e683291b-fed9-47c4-896f-b24db46d7d25.mp3 elle nash is an electrifying writer based in glasgow, scotland this is about her book 'deliver me' -  At a meatpacking facility in the Missouri Ozarks, Dee-Dee and her co-workers kill and butcher 40,000 chickens in a single shift. The work is repetitive and brutal, with each stab and cut a punishment to her hands and joints, but Dee-Dee’s more concerned with what is happening inside her body. After a series of devastating miscarriages, Dee-Dee has found herself pregnant, and she is determined to carry this child to term. Dee-Dee fled the Pentecostal church years ago, but judgment follows her in the form of regular calls from her mother, whose raspy voice urges Dee-Dee to quit living in sin and marry her boyfriend Daddy, an underemployed ex-con with an insect fetish. With a child on the way, at long last Dee-Dee can bask in her mother’s and boyfriend’s newfound parturient attention. She will matter. She will be loved. She will be complete. When her charismatic friend Sloane reappea... Sun, 02 Mar 2025 00:58:01 +0000 https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/67c3ad1991df1a4481de6089/size/54563761/audio-files/5fa83d79fd3045009269cc67/e683291b-fed9-47c4-896f-b24db46d7d25.mp3