32 episodes
Imperfect Paradise LAist Studios
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- Society & Culture
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4.7 • 400 Ratings
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Imperfect Paradise is a longform narrative podcast showcasing California stories with universal significance. Each story takes on something essential about California -- its progressiveness, its reputation as a home for dreamers and schemers, its heartbreaking inequality, its varied and diverse communities, its unique combination of dense cities and wild places -- and each season breaks it down into multiple 20-40 minute episodes that will be released sequentially. Season 1 sheds light on divisive housing issues in Orange County. Season 2 investigates the death of Chicano activist Oscar Gomez. Season 3 unravels the controversy surrounding LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Season 4 asks how Katie from rural Maryland became Guru Jagat of Venice—and how a former yoga and wellness star fell down the far-right rabbit hole.The stories will be reported by the KPCC/LAist newsroom and contributors (journalists, storytellers) from around the state.
Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
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“Queen of Conspiracy Theories”
Guru Jagat starts the pandemic with an understandable skepticism of official medical advice, but quickly grows to embrace an array of far-right conspiracy theories.
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Kundalini Royalty
Katie Griggs, a young woman from rural Maryland, discovers Kundalini yoga in her early 20s and goes all in. She transforms herself into Guru Jagat, a beloved and controversial yoga and wellness influencer in Los Angeles. In this episode, her friends, family, and coworkers grapple with how she changed in the final years of her life. And we explore the connections between yoga and conspiracies like QAnon.
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Kundalini Yoga’s #MeToo Moment
In early 2020, just as fears about coronavirus are worsening, women begin accusing the founder of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, of sexual assault. Guru Jagat’s surprising response sets the stage for her radicalization during the pandemic.
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Introducing Season 4: Imperfect Paradise - Yoga's "Queen of Conspiracy Theories"
Before her sudden death in 2021, Guru Jagat had become a famous Kundalini yoga teacher based in Los Angeles. But as the global pandemic grew, she started talking like a far-right coronavirus conspiracy theorist. What does her journey down the rabbit hole tell us about the appeal of conspiracies in the yoga and wellness community?
This 3-episode season explores Guru Jagat’s rise to fame and follows along as she responds not just to the pandemic, but to a #metoo movement scandal that rocked the Kundalini yoga world in early 2020. It also explores themes of misinformation, how a healthy distrust in government and medicine can turn dark, the "relativism around truth" in the wellness industry and the influence of social media on radicalization.
Episode #1 will be available to stream on January 3rd.
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Sheriff Villanueva - Part 1
We begin with a scene of a very strange press conference: Sheriff Alex Villanueva is threatening to open a criminal investigation into an LA Times reporter, and our host, Frank Stoltze, is questioning him about it. Through Frank’s reflections on his time covering policing in LA County, we learn that Villanueva is the product of a department that has been riddled with scandals for decades: racial profiling, jail violence and deputy gangs. We learn how Villanueva sees himself as the man to fix it.
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Sheriff Villanueva - Part 2
When retired Lt. Alex Villanueva announces his candidacy for sheriff in 2017, no one takes him seriously. But with the support of the local Democratic party, immigrant rights activists, and lots of political savvy, he pulls off a shocking defeat of the sitting sheriff – something that hasn’t happened in over 100 years. Almost as soon as he takes office, Villanueva re-hires a former deputy (and friend) who was fired for domestic violence and lying, and things begin to go off the rails.
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Customer Reviews
Great
Hearing more about the Guru Jagat story made me cackle honestly. Bless her heart. Season 1 definitely made me want to punt all the the self victimizing neighbors. Frustratingly typical arguments from hard-headed people preventing necessary care because they have some fantasy that permanent supportive housing is The Ritz for Free™️. We’re sliding back into the age of dumping undesirables into asylums just to not see them, lest we face our deep seated guilt over not trying at all to solve the housing crisis. Safe housing is a human right and I’m sure plenty of the naysayers thump bibles in their free time while spreading their bogus hysteria.
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More episodes?
Was interested in this podcast. Will there be more episodes? :)
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