i want what SHE has Theresa Lyn Widmann

Today on the show I get to speak with Nancy April, a ceramicist and master gardener and Leonora Wiener, an executive and career coach. They are both officers of The Pacama, a Conservation Collaborative, Inc., which was established in an effort to preserve the rural character of the Olive, Marbletown, and Rochester communities in Ulster County, New York, by a group of concerned neighbors. The group came together in 2020 to strategize how to protect local wetlands, animal habitat, and native plant species in the face of growing development in the area and insufficient town oversight of that development. They created this non-profit conservation corporation, to hold land in trust, preserve its natural character, and educate the community about the beauty and unique attributes of the area.

Today they share how they were personally impacted by the proposed development in Olive, and what they did to limit the size of the development so that it was aligned with the needs and preservation of the natural environment, from letter writing, to attending planning board and town board meetings to filing an Article 78 Petition following the town's negative declaration of an environmental impact. Through their combined expertise, dedication and successful fundraising, they eventually came to an agreement with the developers to purchase a portion of the land. They formed Pacama as a non-profit organization to hold this land as “forever wild” for the benefit of the larger community, and the environment, which so desperately needs protection.

Amy Daughters, A lauded Award-Winning Author and dynamic Keynote Speaker, whoenvisions unity in diversity, where our disparities intertwine as bonds rather than divisions. By revitalizing the age-old art of handwritten letters, she revives human connections in anincreasingly digital age. Infused with wit and humor. Amy draws from her experience crafting 580 handwritten letters to all her Facebook friends, illuminating the path to profound connectionsin the unlikeliest corners. With acclaimed works like "Dear Dana" and "You Cannot Mess This Up," Amy inspires others to embrace vulnerability, proving that genuine kinship thrives even inunexpected spheres.

Today she shares the compelling story about reconnecting with a childhood camp friend through handwritten letters and how that changed the trajectory of her life from writing 580 of her Facebook "friends" letters to learning the art of connecting despite our perceived and even real differences. Her ability to convey the magic in her lived experience is truly contagious. She emphasizes how you do not need to be a writer to write letters, and encourages everyone to try it at least once to see how it may impact themselves or another.

Woo hoo, it's a solar eclipse, a partial one at least, and we're broadcasting live from outside the radio station having some fun talking about what the eclipse has meant to others, means to us, might mean to you, and how Marielena spent the last full solar eclipse.

New Moon Solar Eclipse Blessings to YOU!

Today, my guest is Joanna Leffeld, more famously known as the “Moolah Doula.” She’s worn many roles in her life including certified financial planner, mom, yoga teacher, artist, and hospice volunteer. She was a guest on the show a few years ago where she laid the foundation of what and why she does her work. In the past few years, she's gone deeper into her own healing as it relates to trauma and ancestral trauma. Today she talks about how this relates to her work, how it's helped her surface her gifts and how it she will be supporting others to do this work as well. As a trained end of life doula, she sits bedside with terminal patients, and listens to regretful stories of lives not lived to the fullest, missed opportunities, and hopes and dreams unfulfilled. This profoundly shaped her perspective on why living a conscious life in alignment is essential to health and abundance. Drawing from these unique and varied experiences, she has created a powerful process to help individuals and couples heal and align their relationship with money.

Today on the show I am joined by Martha Williams who has spent her life as a serial creative firebrand. She is an award winning filmmaker, writer, and choreographer, and kept the lights on with creative direction, video production, consulting, coaching and training. After 20 years of following her calling Martha realized that even though she was lucky (or crazy) enough to be making art she was still not making the difference she set out to make. While her art was activist in nature, squeezing out work in a world where people are choking on “content” and mindlessly consuming life, didn’t seem aligned with her greater mission to help communities reclaim and restore soulful connection to self, other and the world around them. This is when her work as a conversation activist began. Martha and her partner run Culture Shift Agency and BreakBread World, working to reweave our common humanity through the art of conversation and the power of soulful gathering.

Our conversation weaves through the meaning of conversation activism, how Martha found this work, the patriarchy, the embodiment of the masculine and the feminine and so much more.

Jami Smith is a music journalist and creator of Songs That Saved Your Life, a queer rock history newsletter on Substack. She has also written for The Advocate, OUT magazine, and OUT Traveler. Jami believes that if “Rock & Roll Jeopardy” were still on the air, she would’ve beat Mark McGrath.

Her new show on Radio Kingston, "Songs that Saved Your Life" shines a spotlight on the often untold stories of rock & roll. Each week, she’ll celebrate her favorite icons and allies with genres ranging from synth-pop, punk, soul, hip-hop, glam, and disco. Tune in from midnight to 2am every Monday night into Tuesday morning (starting on 3.25) for a tiny bit of history and a whole lot of music.

Today on the show Jami schools us in some deep music history, starting with rock and rolls roots, which were undoubtedly very queer. We also learn about Jami's past life as a stand up comedian, and what we can expect to hear on Songs That Saved Your Life. Check it out. I highly recommend! Along with her Instagram!

In the second half of the show I welcome Barbara Bravo, a dedicated gardener with more than 30 years’ experience reclaiming neglected gardens as well as establishing new beds and an enclosed vegetable garden at her home in Saugerties. She is a Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteer and Garden Day Coordinator which is taking place on April 6th this year. She has lectured on many gardening topics and this year at Garden Day will be presenting Ground Covers - Better than Mulch. When not in her garden, Barbara can be found in her studio creating nature inspired works of art in clay and painted paper collage.

Today, Barbara helps me through some of my gardening snafus, tells us about her own roots in gardening and what to expect during the often sold out Garden Day! Did you know that you're not supposed to pull "weeds" out? Tune in to learn why and what you should do in today's episode.