Chris Younce received a Bachelor’s Degree from Goddard College for his thesis work on Evolutionary Theory. Chris’s experience was indeed very Goddardian as he changed his focus six times from film to the psychology of sport to art to Buddhism and then looked at autism spectrum disorder before he began exploring the origins of consciousness. He dedicated the book which was spawned by this process, Cognitive Liberty, to the school. Its focus pays homage to the multi-disciplinary approach as it links the fields of psychology, biology and ecology.  Currently, Chris works as a case manager for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He advocates for a person-centered approach which allows individuals to claim as much agency as they care to. He is also an active and proud member of the Vermont Beekeepers Association where his work in mycology has led him to champion a mushrooms for bees campaign as certain species of mushroom seem to mitigate colony collapse disorder. Recommendations: Accepted (film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384793/Wherever You Go, There You Are, Jon Kabat-ZinnTerence McKenna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_McKennaPaul Stamets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_StametsHudson Valley Wine and Food Festival: https://www.hudsonvalleywinefest.com/ Keep up with Chris: Buy Cognitive Liberty at bookshop.org or anywhere you get books. Support Chris’s favorite independent bookstores: Bear Pond Books, Montpelier: https://www.bearpondbooks.com/Bridgeside Books, Waterbury: https://www.bridgesidebooks.com/Phoenix Books, multiple VT locations: https://www.phoenixbooks.biz/ Follow Chris on Instagram: @harmonic_homesteading Sam & Amanda’s Projects: Pre-order Sam’s novel Edenville on Amazon, bookshop.org or anywhere you buy books. Support Sam’s favorite independent bookstores:   Oblong Books, Millerton & Rhinebeck: https://www.oblongbooks.com/Inquiring Minds, Saugerties & New Paltz: https://www.inquiringbooks.com/   Mark your calendars for the inaugural TLAN Virtual Salon on April 22, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. (ET)/2:00 p.m. (PT)! The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) virtual salon will feature presenters who are active members of TLAN. Each presenter will have 5-7 minutes to present their written, spoken, or sung work followed by an artist talkback.  Join or renew your TLAN membership: https://www.tlanetwork.org/MembershipIf you are a TLAN member and would like to present, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/MiP1ZKM3eMLEmUyc7.   Support the Goddard Staff Union in their current strike:  Read the press release on the strike: Goddard Staff Union votes no confidence in Dan Hocoy : to strike.pdfSign the petition in solidarity: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/for-a-just-democratic-goddard-collegeIf you’re local to Vermont, join the picket in the upper lot. Email the board and Dan Hocoy to tell them you support the staff in utilizing their rights to bargain for fair wages and dignity. Follow @goddardalumni on Facebook and Instagram for continuing updates. Sign up for the Goddard Alumni website and newsletter: https://goddardalumni.com/signup/

Poet and artist Dennis Rush grew up on a remote 100-acre tobacco farm in Kentucky. It was at the end of a gravel road, a mile from the nearest house, which was often unoccupied. He spent much of his time walking through the woods, fishing and just being in nature.   His most recent book, Mayfield is an account of his volunteer experience in Mayfield, KY helping a community which had been devastated by tornadoes. He took his two youngest kids with him to work  at a food distribution center, which was a giant grocery store made of donations.   Keep up with Dennis on Instagram: @dennisrrush Buy a signed copy of Dennis’s books: www.dennis-rush.com

Kali Meister is an established writer, public speaker, college educator, academic and actress. She is also a sensitive empath and tarot reader. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee and an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. She found her way to Goddard from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville based on the advice of the program chair Marilyn Kallet who saw Goddard as a place where she’d fit in. In Vermont, Kali found the cold but also like minded spirits such as then program director at the time Paul Selig who is himself a channel. She focused on playwriting which she sees as a kind of poetry. Her thesis play was based on her family. A true polymath, Kali has also been a laughter yoga guide, taught reiki and done tarot reading workshops. She’s always open to new tarot reading clients from whom she learns so much about the world.   Keep up with Kali: Website: https://www.kalimeister.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kali.meister.5/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kalimeister

Stephen S. Mills, award-winning author, poet and playwright had, as many of us did, a rather circuitous route to becoming a member of the Goddard community. He grew up in Indiana reading and writing. His first inspiration was the work of Gary Paulsen, writer of Hatchet and other books for young adults. He went to a small liberal arts school in the southeast corner of the state, Hanover College. After graduation, he moved to Tallahassee after being accepted by Florida State’s MFA program. As one of a very few queer people in the program, Stephen was often subjected to more personal examinations of his work. Upon earning his masters, he moved to Orlando where he taught at a for profit school. He taught mostly on-line courses for four and half years. Later, he wrote an essay which was  published on The Rumpus about his experience. It was also during this time he wrote his first book, He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, which came out six months before leaving the sunshine state for New York. While working at an HIV outreach program, he was approached about interviewing to become part of the Goddard Faculty. He has now taught at the low-residency MFA program for three semesters and has been wowed by the supportive community of students. Stephen loves being able to mentor so many queer writers. Stephen’s writing draws from history and pulp culture. His most recent book, Not Everything Thrown Starts a Revolution, found its inspiration in a “This American Life” episode, which looked at suicide by proxy, a phenomenon in which people would kill a child and confess in order to be executed. The first part of the book is a fictionalized version of a perpetrator/victim. The second half is set in the modern day with more personal poems that look at the criminal justice system. In his current creative work, he’s looking at slasher films of the 70’s and 80’s for queer themes. He explores the connection the queer community has to these movies, especially in the way it allows members of the community to identify with the villains in the way in which they are othered.  Connect with Stephen Stephen's Work: "Surviving a For-Profit School": https://therumpus.net/2013/07/17/surviving-a-for-profit-school/He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices: https://siblingrivalrypress.bigcartel.com/product/he-do-the-gay-man-in-different-voices-by-stephen-s-millsA History of the Unmarried: https://siblingrivalrypress.bigcartel.com/product/a-history-of-the-unmarriedNot Everything Thrown Starts a Revolution: https://siblingrivalrypress.bigcartel.com/product/not-everything-thrown-starts-a-revolution-by-stephen-s-mills Follow Stephen: Website: https://www.stephensmills.comInstagram: @stephenscott22

BUY Amy Cutler’s debut novel Shadow of Love out now: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-shadow-of-love-amy-s-cutler/17846952?ean=9781684339402   Amy S. Cutler is a writer who earned her master’s degree in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Her work can be found in Tales to Terrify, wow-women on writing, the Pitkin Review, Wellness Universe, Elephant Journal. She was recently published in Slut Vomit: An Anthology of Sex Work, by Outcast Press (available on Amazon), a collection of stories that explore the adult entertainment industry. Her second novel, To Have and to Hold, to Love and to Kill: An Agreement of Souls" will be published by Black Rose Publishing in August 2023. Amy is steeped in spooky stories, not just reading about them but living them. She once had a dog which, in a dream, foretold its own death. She also spent her summers in a haunted house in the scariest place one can imagine: Upstate New York. As a little girl, she loved scary stories and would read them sitting with her back to the attic door to keep the spirits from coming down. She scares easily, relishing the rush of adrenaline she feels. She also loves scaring people even in the simplest ways like hiding and jumping out at them. Shadow of Love began simply as a scary story about a woman fleeing an abusive marriage and taking refuge in a haunted house. The feedback at Goddard helped her see where the book could go and allowed her to take it to a place it might not have gone. Just being at Goddard, a place widely thought to be haunted, helped her stay in touch with the ghost realm. She currently resides on Mt. Peter in New York, where she runs a ski area. She’s lived there her whole life and found her earliest inspiration from her summertime strolls through the woods. It was a lonely childhood that she filled by making up stories. An early short story of hers centered on a convict escaping from the nearby jail and coming to terrorize the folks living around Mount Peter. Her husband, who’s worked on the mountain for 17 years, is her partner in her writing as well. A keen editor, he’s also proven a great ear to bounce story ideas off. Currently, Amy is working on a story about reincarnation. Keep up with Amy on Instagram: @AmysHippieHut Amy’s Website: AmysHippieHut.com Visit Amy’s ski lodge: https://www.mtpeter.com/

For latest updates about Meghan's work, please visit her website and sign up for her newsletter: https://www.meghansguidry.com/ For more information on Kinesiophobia: https://thetherabooks.com/pages/kinesiophobia-1 To preorder Kinesiophobia: https://thetherabooks.com/products/kinesiophobia Meghan Guidry explores grief through writing that not only cuts across genres but combines them in unexpected ways. With her latest book, Kinesiophobia (forthcoming this fall from Thera Books), she set out to write about her father’s death in a way that transcends memoir and captures the emotional core of how it felt. The title refers to a rare psychiatric condition in which an injury lingers after healing in the form of fear of reinjury so great it is felt as actual physical paralysis. This sort of paralysis might be thought of as one of grief’s most lasting and definitive legacies since, as Meghan points out, we as a society don’t make the room or time to deal with it properly.    Grief haunted her childhood. At seven, her mother began showing signs of mental illness, drifting away from reality. She’d read tarot cards for hours and hours, thinking she was communication with the spirit realm. Meghan dealt with it empathetically, trying to understand her mother’s world view, which she now understands as a kind of grief.  She found a kind of comfort in Egyptian mythology and specially in the story of Sekhmet goddess of destruction and healing in the 3rd grade, which helped her understand the duality which ruled her mother. Meghan began writing poetry and then short stories for school. She earned an English degree with the intent of becoming a lawyer but realized she wanted to be a writer. Her mother told her about Goddard whose one-on-one approach appealed to Meghan. Before she got accepted, her mother passed away suddenly of a hemorrhage which then led to irreparable brain damage and forced Meghan to make the choice of taking her off life support. With this weight upon her she began her time at Goddard under the tutelage of Rachel Pollock. During her last semester with Rachel, Meghan learned that her father had esophageal cancer. Before her final assignment packet was due, he went into septic shock. Though the surgery to correct this was a success, he never woke up again. Meghan mentions this in her last letter to Rachel, who becomes a lifeline for her in the difficult months that follow. She plans to launch No New Mythology, a monthly literary series that braids an aspect of a myth and what it teaches about grief. She’ll use her own experiences as a jumping off point. It will be a newsletter that you can sign up for at her website. Her latest WIP extends her exploration of grief by asking if the pain of loss for a person hurts less does it mean you love them less. Kinesiophobia will be available on the Thera Books website this fall.   Recommendations Books The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales  by Bruno Bettelheim The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Positions with White Roses by Ursule Molinaro Incubation A Space for Monsters by Bhanu Kapil Games Lunar The Silver Star Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Okami Chocolates: WhitePistachio Mousse in a Dark Chocolate ShellEarth Truffles

Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s stories have appeared in many publications, including Generation X-ed, Horror Library Volume 7, Lovecraftian Microfiction Volumes 6 & 7, Wicked Creatures, Crow & Cross Keys, Dancing in the Shadows: An Anne Rice Tribute Anthology, Dead Stars & Stone Arches, and others; work is forthcoming in Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters. Her novel, Bad Apple, will get a 10th anniversary release this year, and her short story collection, The Shadows Behind, will be followed by a second collection in 2024. She is also currently curating the anthology Wicked Sick for Wicked Creative. She holds an MFA from Goddard College, has held three Norman Mailer Writers Colony residencies, is founding editor of the journal 34 Orchard, is a board member of the New England Horror Writers and is co-chair of the Horror Writers Association’s Connecticut Chapter. She lives in the Connecticut woods, where she enjoys watching birds with her husband, Nathan.    From the time that Kristi was a child, she had full access to the library in her dad’s den which contained  1970s thrillers like Jaws, Stepford Wives, Rosemary’s Baby. We talk about Kristi’s childhood, as she weathered her mother’s illness and death and had to grow up quickly to take care of her siblings. Only later did she come to realize that her childhood “wasn’t normal” - but growing up this way strengthened her multitasking abilities to resiliency in weathering destabilization (which came in handy during the pandemic).     Kristi is an experienced writer and literary magazine editor and this conversation is incredibly valuable for any writer who wants insight from both sides of the submission process. Keep up with her writing, literary journal and news at the links below:   Keep up with Kristi Website: https://kristipetersenschoonover.com/Facebook & Instagram: @kpschoonover   Recent: “Floor Song Tango” in Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters by Timber Press“Beware Burning Snow” in Siren’s Call   Published:  The Shadows BehindThis Poisoned Ground“A Bone to Pick” in Toasted Cheese Literary Journal Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole: Tales from Haunted Disney World   34 Orchard: https://34orchard.com/   Read Kristi’s archive of work online: https://kristipetersenschoonover.com/where-to-read-me/   Recommendations:  Books: Jaws, Peter BenchleyStepford Wives, Ira LevinRosemary’s Baby, Ira LevinThe Sweet By and By, Jeanne Mackin Movies: Nope, Jordan PeeleGet Out, Jordan PeeleMidsommar, Ari AsterHereditary, Ari AsterThe Witch, Robert EggersFire of Love, Sara Dosa

Vince DiPersio is an award-winning documentary film writer, director, and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, for his films Blues Highway, Death on the Job, and Crack USA: County Under Siege and was nominated for an Emmy award for 5 American Kids – 5 American Handguns. His film, The Kennedy Detail, about the Secret Service Agents who were with JFK the day he was assassinated is streaming now on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Discovery Plus. Vince tells the stories behind some of his documentaries including Memphis PD: War on the Streets where he rode with a police officer for months; and recently Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project about the inequities of the prison system. Vince sees himself as a funnel or channel for the subjects of his documentaries. He tries to tell stories that are more complicated than what the news would allow and not preach to the converted. We talk about how empathy can get lost when people are siloed and go to their separate corners. Vince is excited for the future of documentary, from the voices that we’ve been kept from hearing who are finally getting access to make their films post #oscarssowhite.   Select Filmography: The Kennedy Detail, available on Discovery+: https://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-Detail-Season-1/dp/B092DP67FF Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project: https://www.oxygen.com/kim-kardashian-west-the-justice-project   Recommendations Georgetown University Prison Scholars Program: https://prisonsandjustice.georgetown.edu/programs/scholarsprogram/ Harlan County USA: https://www.criterion.com/films/777-harlan-county-usa

George Sapio is a playwright/director/producer/dramaturg. His play “Ghosts” won the 2001 Mildred and Albert Panowski Award. He produces and hosts the podcast “Onstage/Offstage,” now in its tenth year, featuring interviews with theatre professionals from around the world and live readings of new short plays. His book “Workshopping the New Play: A Guide for Playwrights, Directors, and Dramaturgs” is published by Hal Leonard/Applause Books. He was the founder and artistic director of the Ithaca Fringe Festival (2013-2017) and founder of Wolf’s Mouth Theatre Company and Bad Dog! Productions. He is also a photojournalist whose book “Collateral Damage” features his pictures from two trips to Iraq in 2003. He earned his MFA in playwriting at Goddard College. We talk about George’s childhood in the Bronx and how he got the theater bug in high school, when he would go down to the city and get half-price tickets to shows like Grease and Equus (the latter of which he took his 10th grade English class to – from his Catholic school. One of George’s early writing teachers gave him advice that he continues to abide by in his playwriting and teaching, “Write the story, don’t write the nonsense that goes with it.” George’s book “Workshopping the New Play: A Guide for Playwrights, Directors, and Dramaturgs,” details the workshop process and how to flesh out the play and “bring it to its best possible fruition.” George’s dad set an example for what it was like to be a news photographer (as well as introduced George to photojournalism and darkroom techniques), which served George well when he worked at Newsweek. George and his wife Maura (also a Goddard graduate) went to Iraq twice in 2003 and put out a photojournalism book called Collateral Damage, about the people (especially children) who didn’t want to go to war but were the ones who suffered from it. George’s 10-year-old podcast (and Ithaca radio show) Onstage/Offstage, covers theater people around the world including actors, directors, dramaturgs, set designers, lighting designers, and artistic directors. The podcast addresses current issues in the theater like why women over 40 aren’t getting paid attention to, and “how persons of color are finally getting a very tiny leg up into the opportunities that have always been predominantly for old white guys like myself.” We talk at length about the role of the dramaturg, which George discusses in his book “Workshopping the New Play: A Guide for Playwrights, Directors and Dramaturgs.” He also directs short play readings for the podcast that he puts out open calls for. FINALLY, George talks about his home and B&B, La Casa de la Luna Feliz (“House of the Smiling Moon”) in Costa Rica, designed for people who are in recovery of any sort, “We cater especially to people recovering from illness, injury, trauma, heartbreak, and activism burnout (and theater recovery).”   Keep up with George and his projects: www.gsapio.com https://www.facebook.com/george.sapio https://newplayexchange.org/users/785/george-sapio   Onstage/Offstage Podcast: www.onstageoffstage.org Buy the book: www.workshoppingthenewplay.com Book a stay: www.casalunafeliz.com   Recommendations: Equus, Peter Shaffer Drama Bookshop: https://www.dramabookshop.com/ NYC Playwrights: https://www.nycplaywrights.org/ Playwrights Center: https://pwcenter.org/ Honor Roll!: https://www.honorrollplaywrights.org/

Georges Drouin is a legacy Goddard graduate having attended Northwood campus at its inception, from 1965 to 1968. He is of French and French-Canadian descent. His work at Goddard focused on psychology, teaching, modern dance, the I’Ching and T’ai Chi. Georges has served on a School Board, served as a small town councilor, founded a soccer school for young people with his two sons, and founded an elite soccer team in Quebec. He has trained in Hatha Yoga, Zen Shiatsu, intuitive T’ai Chi, Meditation and Mindfulness and Therapeutic Touch from the early 1980s up to present day. We talk about Georges’ early introduction to progressive education from his mother, who was an educator inspired by Montessori and Rudolph Steiner philosophies, to her correspondence with Tim Pitkin. Georges started Goddard before the Northwood campus was built so spent his first year in Goddard San Juan. He remains passionate about the future of Goddard and bringing other legacy alumni back into the fold. Georges is an experienced meditation teacher and holds regular meditation sitting spaces for Goddard alumni. Please contact him via email for a current schedule of meditation, and for meditation resources.   Resources: Email: georges dot drouin at gmail dot com OR georges dot drouin at goddard dot edu   Jewels of Refuge Meditation Group (behind Goddard Alumni Association member wall): https://goddardalumni.com/groups/weekly-on-line-meditation-qa-sessions/

Join Goddard MFA grad Kali Meister and The Chattery for an online Erotica Writing workshop this Saturday, September 3, 2022 from 11 AM - 1:00 PM. $25. Sign up at: https://www.thechattery.org/classes2/2022/9/3/erotica-writing   About this event: Tackle the taboo topic of sex in your writing with a level of understanding and expertise that even some famous and prize-winning writers never achieve. Whether you want to write a single sex scene in a larger work of non-erotica or you want to pen the next version of THE STORY OF O, this workshop is for you. In this workshop you will learn to overcome the boundaries of failure and move to a place where it is possible to embrace a broader use of language and let go of ideas you have about writing that limit you as a writer. This workshop is a writing workshop, not a sex workshop. It will be a fun environment but not one for children.   Supplies needed: Pen, paper or other writing surfaces — the class will participate in writing exercises.   For more about Kali, visit kalimeister.com.

Nita Sweeney attended the MFAW program in Port Townsend from 2006 to 2008. She is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving.   While Nita always dreamed of being a writer, she didn’t know her own stories had merit. Nita took a path to writing that had stopovers in training dogs, playing the flute, and becoming a partner at a law firm. She was a follower and student of Natalie Goldberg’s, author of Writing Down the Bones, before she became Natalie’s assistant in Taos, New Mexico. At 49 years old, Nita took steps to becoming a marathon runner, chronicled in her memoir Depression Hates a Moving Target. “I thought the story was ‘middle-age woman takes up running,’’ Nita says, “but it was about ‘middle-age woman tries to save her life.’” Nita’s new book, Make Every Move a Meditation is available for pre-order now. In it, she will explore how movement and exercise can be a meditation, “Why not make walking your dog a meditation?”   To learn more about Nita visit: https://nitasweeney.com/ Buy the books: https://nitasweeney.com/the-books/ Join her communities: https://facebook.com/groups/mindmoodandmovement/https://facebook.com/groups/thewritersmind/ Recommendations Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: https://nataliegoldberg.com/books/writing-down-the-bones/ Shinzen Young: https://www.shinzen.org/ NaNoWriMo: https://nanowrimo.org/ Couch to 5K: http://www.c25k.com/ Writers League of Texas: https://writersleague.org/

Kate Chapman is a performer, writer, visual artist, teacher, and coach. Her Broadway performing credits include Mary Poppins, Les Misérables, Pajama Game, Sweet Smell of Success, Saturday Night Fever; also, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Mrs. Claus for 5 seasons), Shakespeare in the Park, Lincoln Center and countless others. A 24-year member of the Tony award-winning Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV), Kate sings with BIV at many events each year, works with BIV’s outreach programs at Covenant House and The Ronald McDonald House, and is the organization’s copywriter. Kate holds a Bachelor of Music Education (Boston University), a Master of Arts in Health Arts and Sciences (Goddard College), and trained with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Wayfinder Life Coach Training.   Kate is an exuberant spirit who combines her Broadway talents with health and life coach training to help people explore play and make them feel better. We had a very fun conversation that sometimes wanders into different directions!   We speak at length about Kate Chapman’s Broadway career and the physical expectations placed on her throughout, whether or not those expectations kept her healthy (spoiler alert: they didn’t). However, because of her Broadway career, Kate was invited to be a part of Broadway Inspirational Voices in her late 20s, discovering gospel music and becoming involved in BIV’s outreach programs that use music to support and inspire homeless and runaway youth, as well as sick children and their families.   Kate found Goddard after training with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). She studied the self-healing model, medical anthropology (“how did we get to…a very harsh medical system that deals with quieting symptoms and not causal issues?”), and how talk shows are created.   Kate wrote A Pixie’s Prescription: A Fun Toolkit for a Feel Better Life, available now on Amazon. Her friend told her “it’s a wonderful toilet read.” In the book, Kate explores aspects of her life that she tries to keep at the forefront that make her feel better (such as curiosity, play, relationships, home environment, health, exercise, education). She illustrates each aspect with an anecdote from her life, such as learning play from Marvin Hamlisch (composer of A Chorus Line, Sweet Smell of Success).   For more about Kate visit the following: Kate’s website: www.thekatechapman.comA Pixie’s Prescription: A Fun Toolkit for a Feel Better Life: https://www.amazon.com/Pixies-Prescription-Toolkit-Feel-Better/dp/0692285563YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KateChapmanKate Chapman Health: https://www.facebook.com/KateChapmanHealth Recommendations: Covenant House: https://www.covenanthouse.org/ Broadway Inspirational Voices: https://broadwayinspirationalvoices.org/ Nancy Norbeck, Follow Your Curiosity: https://fycuriosity.com/noticing-our-patterns-with-kate-chapman/

Matt Mulligan has been a nanny, a professional fundraiser, a para educator in a public school and is now a master’s level mental health counselor. He has lived all over the country, traveled all over the world, and now resides in his hometown of Barre, Vermont. Growing up in Vermont, a relative local to Goddard’s Plainfield campus, Matt appreciated Vermont’s extreme beauty, the physiological effect of having his feet in grass and being able to spend so much time outdoors. While he has had challenges his whole life – from being born early and living with hydrocephalus, to figuring out in high school that he was gay, to learning at age 40 that he has a learning disability – Matt has a positive and giving attitude that he brings to his current work as a mental health counselor in his community. “I get to see people rise,” Matt says. He believes that when we’re struggling, we’re at our strongest.   Matt has written an children’s book called Tomatoes and Peppers, available for sale now. In Matt’s words, “Tomatoes and peppers grow side by side, but the tomato needs much more support because of the nature of the tomato and the plant. We don’t think things about the tomato, or make assumptions about the tomato because it needed support.” Matt wrote the book to get people to think differently, especially when working with children. “ I would like to see the question move from what’s wrong and how do we fix it, to what’s different and how do we help?”   To snag the book: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/tomatoes-and-peppers

Rachael Rice is an artist, writer and certified weirdo who crafts scroll-stopping content for people who want to shape change. We talked about Rachael’s childhood aspirations to her current work as an artist, from drawing in condensation on windows to moving into fine art and acrylic paint, to moving back toward folk art and alternative mediums with salvaged materials and natural earth pigments that may not stand the test of time (like her initial draw towards art making in window condensation). Originally recorded in June 2021, our conversation still resonates a year later. Though our conversation is placed in time by references to the heat wave in Portland Oregon, the George Floyd racial reckoning, and discussions about the Covid vaccine, so much of what we talk about is still at issue: the planet and how we’re going to solve the climate crisis (according to Rachael: it’s not going to be by rounding up purchases at Whole Foods!); how do we decide to actually sit back and reckon with the connections between racism, power and privilege (according to Rachael: internalized capitalism is a spell, it’s in our bodies now); and how to deal with our/American/white cultural avoidance of death (according to Rachael: we’ve got to befriend death if we want to live and live more deeply; and we need to work across difference with our neighbors  and strengthen community care). This conversation is incredibly fascinating, and Rachael is an exceptional all-around human. Follow her at: https://rachaelrice.com/https://www.instagram.com/rachaelrice/

Welcome back to Mike Alvarez and Sam Rebelein for Goddard in the World’s Spooooooooky Halloween episode! We talk about Mike and Sam’s horror inspirations from childhood to present day and how horror stories helped them cope with their own fears and anxieties. Plenty of recommendations to check out to wrap up the spooooky season! For more on Mike Alvarez: Season 1 interview: https://goddardalumni.com/alumni-spotlight-mike-alvarez/Website: https://www.mfalvarez.net/The Paradox of Suicide and Creativity: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498523820/The-Paradox-of-Suicide-and-Creativity-Authentications-of-Human-Existence For more on Sam Rebelein: Season 1 interview: https://goddardalumni.com/alumni-spotlight-sam-rebelein/Website: https://www.srebelein.com/Current publications: https://www.srebelein.com/work Find Mike and Sam on Twitter at @mfalvarez121 and @HillaryScruff. Recommendations: Books: R. L. Stine, Goosebumps series with special shoutouts to Say Cheese and Die, Stay out of the Basement, and Night of the Living DummyPriya Sharma, All the Fabulous Beasts Movies: Friday the 13th series, originally created by Victor Miller & Sean S. CunninghamNightmare on Elm Street, Wes CravenHellraiser series, originally created by Clive BarkerMidsommar, Ari AsterHereditary, Ari AsterSaw series, originally created by James Wan & Leigh WhannellThe Blair Witch Project, Daniel Myric & Eduardo SanchezThe Cabin in the Woods, Drew GoddardTeeth, Mitchell LichtensteinFear Street, Leigh JaniakThe Thing, John CarpenterScream, Wes Craven Series: Caitlin Doughty, Ask a Mortician (YouTube)Motherland: Fort Salem, created by Eliot Laurence (Freeform)

Welcome to Season 2! I'm excited to share this conversation with the Goddard Alumni Council. If you're interested in joining us on the Council, please fill out the nomination form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIwqSqsmU0WetUY4uMU11-fwhM8fnmdfv2Wy38kUs_pO1bfg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR2qMiX1-WzwmA6XeZYKLjrq8Sl4rmtTYxM_ZN4Bu7OVA9HNVFgk-ibiT1w   If you're not able to join us on Council this year, please keep up with our activities, volunteer through a task force, sign up for the newsletter at: https://goddardalumni.com/

Welcome to a special summer episode about Goddard’s upcoming Alumni Weekend with Kailina Mills! We talk about summer blueberries in Maine, fall New England weather, and most importantly the Goddard Alumni Weekend which is taking place virtually and on campus in Plainfield, Vermont from October 8-11, 2021. Kailina takes us through the four keynote workshops being put on by Goddard Alumni including: John Ollom, Internal Landscapes: Moving into Authentic Expressions (check out his Goddard in the World podcast interview where he describes his methodology: https://goddardalumni.com/alumni-spotlight-john-ollom/)Christina Gerard, CPTSD: Awareness, Rights, and VisibilityHillary Hawk, Random Harvest Market, Café, and Community Space: Creating a Worker-Owned, Anti-racist Business and Relational Food Economy in the Hudson Valley since 2019Rod Rylander, Creating Sustainable Communities: Homestead on a Budget We also talk about other fun ways to participate in-person including Pecha Kucha presentations, Writers Salon, Cabaret, business tabling, bonfire hangs (with margaritas!), and nature walks. The Alumni Association meeting will be open to anyone, whether or not you’re registered. Please make sure your email is updated with the college so you receive the link: https://www.goddard.edu/alumni/stay-connected/update/ This year the virtual option will include the four keynote workshops. The in-person option will include all of the above. To register and for more information, please visit: http://www.Goddard.edu/alumniweekend We hope to see you there!   For more information on Goddard in the World or to become a guest please visit: https://goddardalumni.com/podcast/

Welcome to Goddard in the World’s Season One Finale! We are so excited to end the season with an incredible writer and guest Sam Rebelein.   Sam Rebelein is a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Goddard College. His work has previously appeared in Bourbon Penn, Planet Scumm, Shimmer, Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. He lives in Poughkeepsie, NY and will be starting a PhD at Texas Tech University in 2021 focusing in English Literature and Film, specifically Horror and Trauma Studies.   As an only child, Sam grew up playing by himself and making up stories. We talked to him about how his childhood homes from Minnesota to Ohio to the Hudson Valley influenced his storytelling interests, from landscapes where you can see the weather coming three days away, to woods which are full of power, mystery, and claustrophobia. Reflecting upon why interest in the horror genre demands an explanation, Sam talks about horror as a safe environment to experience fear and address it, and how horror reflects anxieties that are already present in the storytellers and audience, “Horror felt like the one area where stories would be honest about there being something out there or people being terrible…there’s something familiar and cozy about it if you already have it in your head.”   Sam started out writing comedy, sketch and theater at Vassar and then pivoted to horror, “both genres depend on catharsis, build up and tension…you’re geared up to have some kind of release whether it’s a laugh or startling.” At Goddard, Sam wrote a collection of short horror stories which is currently being represented and shopped around for publication. “Goddard helped me develop my taste and vibe, I found my voice.”   Sam will be starting a PhD program at Texas Tech University in fall 2021, where he hopes to study grief and trauma in horror, how it’s manifested and how it can be utilized. We talk about some movies that illustrate these concepts (spoiler warning for The Babadook!).   Check out (and buy!) all of Sam’s current and forthcoming publications at: https://www.srebelein.com/work   Follow Sam on Twitter: @HillaryScruff   Recommendations: Books: R.L. Stine, Goosebumps series Stephen King, Carrie Bram Stoker, Dracula Stephen King, On Writing   Movies: Carrie, Brian De Palma (1976) Murder Party, Jeremy Saulnier (2007) The Babadook, Jennifer Kent (2014) Hereditary, Ari Aster (2018) Midsommar, Ari Aster (2019)   Music: Florence + The Machine, “No Choir”

Max Harrick Shenk (MFA, EDU) was born in Carlisle, PA in 1964. From as far back as he can remember, he says he enjoyed not only writing, but creating his own ‘zines and publishing his work. Max also has delved into the mystical teachings of Neville Goddard and has published two e-books of quotes pulled from Neville’s teachings. We talk to Max about his interests in writing, radio, and teaching which came early to him and parallel his dad’s journey. “My dad was a PA announcer at the high school and local college…I always had a sense that you could do stuff with your voice and make it a job.” Post-undergrad he threw himself into music and songwriting, then writing fiction which eventually led him to Goddard’s MFA program. One of the most valuable things he learned from his advisers was just to keep writing, “The real work of writing is the work of revising and crafting a piece. Put the horrible stuff on paper, then you print it, then you revise it, then it gets a little better. You can’t revise a blank page.” A few years after receiving his MFA, Max returned to Goddard to pursue an MA in the EDU program, writing a thesis in how nontraditionally trained musicians learn music. While Max has published his work in traditional formats (periodicals, books and e-books), he also experimented with drafting stories in his characters’ voices, first via email, and then later via multiple character pages on Facebook. Keep up with Max at the links below: Website: https://maxshenkwrites.com/ Store: https://maxshenkwrites.selz.com/ FB & Instagram: @maxshenkwrites Search #facebookflashfiction on Facebook Welcome to Quaker Valley: https://www.facebook.com/groups/welcometoquakervalley   Recommendations: Books Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones Donald M. Murray, A Writer Teaches Writing John Steinbeck, The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication Groucho Marx, The Marx Brothers Scrapbook Other Authors: Edward Abbey, Neville Goddard, Henry Miller Film Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian (documentary)