Abstract Essay

Abstract Essay is a podcast that explores the deeper layers of thought, creativity, and the human experience. Blending the reflective tone of personal essays with the conversational energy of an intimate dialogue, each episode takes listeners on a journey through ideas that challenge, inspire, and illuminate. From philosophy and art to culture and identity, the podcast invites guests who are thinkers, storytellers, and visionaries to share their insights in a free-flowing, thought-provoking format. Abstract Essay is not about quick takes—it's about meaningful exploration, where each conversation unfolds with intention, curiosity, and heart.

  1. 2 days ago

    Master the Art of Managing Violence: Christopher Thompson on Self-Defense, Survival & Dragonfly Academy

    Christopher ThompsonInstructor Thompson of Dragonfly academy of integrated defensive arts and My self defense studio.. Salutatuons! I'm instructor Thompson, a firearms instructor, range safety officer, certified firearms specialists ( allows me to testify in court on firearms and ammunition) and a martial arts instructor. I have twenty seven years in as a teacher, and a practitioner of 31 in Ed Parkers Kenpo.To keep it brief in 2014 a student of mine was brutally, murdered with a knife. He wasn't just a student. He was a family friend and ever since and for more than a decade, I have been studying, creating and building solutions that were not generally known and much of which wasn't even publicly available. As a student first I started cross training in everything I could possibly find. Looking for a solution to how to stop a knife attack. At the time I thought I knew, I was wrong! I promised his parents who were friends of mine that I would always keep his name alive in the bravery of his actions trying to stop someone who just and took the life of his best friend in front of him. I went to Kali, Muay Thai and firerarms. I've spent every day since studying in practicing on how to survive a stabbing event. I run a couple of companies and with my business partner. Those words, " a stabbing event" belong to my colleague Michael. His own experiences were similar to mine, and what he says is, knife defense doesn't exist. There's simply surviving a stabbing event! We created Dragonfly academy of integrated defensive arts. Specializing in managing violence, and specifically on a mission to help serve marginalized communities like LGBTQ+, indigenous and native population, and groups that face targeted acts of violence. We built this to help save lives, because self defenses is for everyone! But not everyone has equal access, our mission is to help those who really need it survive! Our mission is for those groups but our work is for everyone. We want to help as many people as we can and ensure they understand what survival looks like across the spectrum. Because violence and self defense training are not one thing, they're both many things!

    Master the Art of Managing Violence: Christopher Thompson on Self-Defense, Survival & Dragonfly Academy
  2. 6 days ago

    Todd Sarner: The Calm and Connected Parent Attachment-Based Parenting for Raising Resilient Children in the Age of Screens, Stress, and AI

    Todd SarnerTodd Sarner is a licensed psychotherapist, parent coach, and founder of Transformative Parenting. Since 2004, he has helped thousands of parents create calmer homes, stronger relationships, and more cooperation with their children without relying on punishments, scripts, or constant power struggles.Todd’s work is grounded in attachment science, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. He is a former faculty member of the Neufeld Institute and was mentored within Dr. Gordon Neufeld’s developmental, attachment-based framework. His approach helps parents look beneath behavior to understand what is actually driving their child’s struggles, while also helping parents build the emotional steadiness and leadership needed to create real change.He specializes in helping thoughtful, high-achieving parents who often feel overwhelmed, discouraged, or stuck between harsh discipline and overly permissive parenting. Through his Transformative Parenting Process, Todd teaches families how to strengthen attachment, improve regulation, create a healthier home environment, and respond to behavior in ways that are both effective and relationship-based.Todd is also the author of The Calm & Connected Parent, which offers an attachment-first blueprint for raising resilient children in a world shaped by screens, stress, and AI.

    Todd Sarner: The Calm and Connected Parent Attachment-Based Parenting for Raising Resilient Children in the Age of Screens, Stress, and AI
  3. 24 Jul

    Abstract Essay in its sixth season, features Jobert E. Abueva the Author of The Janus Planmy guest.

    Jobert E. Abueva Author, The Janus Plan (Sept 2026) | TEDx Speaker | Driving Global Impact: Philanthropy, Marketing, Nonprofit Board Service Jobert E. Abueva grew up between worlds. Born in the Philippines and raised across Nepal, Thailand, and Japan through his father's academic work, he has spent his career learning that the hardest threshold to cross is the one inside yourself. The Janus Plan is what he found on the other side. A global marketing and philanthropy executive at ETS (Princeton, NJ) whose career spans Fortune 500 leadership and international brand building, Jobert burned out running one of the world's most recognizable beauty brands, Clairol Herbal Essences, and turned that reckoning into a framework for beginning again. He is the author of Boy Wander: A Coming of Age Memoir (Rattling Good Yarns Press) and earned the Lambda Literary J. Michael Samuel Prize. His fiction, essays, and journalism have appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fortune, and Entrepreneur, among other publications. In April 2026, Jobert delivered a TEDx Talk, “Beyond Resolutions: The Art of Beginning with Intention,” at the University of Texas at Dallas, his first public presentation of The Janus Plan framework. He also publishes the newsletter Past • Future • Present, a growing community exploring intentional living and purposeful transitions. Jobert holds a BA in Economics and Asian Studies from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He serves on nonprofit boards including the WHYY Community Advisory Board, the Lambda Literary Foundation, and the ACME Screening Room. He shares his time between New Hope, Pennsylvania, and New York City.

    Abstract Essay in its sixth season, features Jobert E. Abueva the Author of The Janus Planmy guest.

About

Abstract Essay is a podcast that explores the deeper layers of thought, creativity, and the human experience. Blending the reflective tone of personal essays with the conversational energy of an intimate dialogue, each episode takes listeners on a journey through ideas that challenge, inspire, and illuminate. From philosophy and art to culture and identity, the podcast invites guests who are thinkers, storytellers, and visionaries to share their insights in a free-flowing, thought-provoking format. Abstract Essay is not about quick takes—it's about meaningful exploration, where each conversation unfolds with intention, curiosity, and heart.

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