We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream We Are Chaffee

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Andrea Carlstrom, director of Chaffee County (Colorado) Public Health.
Andrea and Adam reflect on the recent past, with the three-year mark of the first COVID case noted in Chaffee County in mind. During the time that would follow, Andrea lived not only her own version of what everyone experienced with the pandemic, she also felt heavy responsibilities and stresses as director of Public Health responding to a health crisis in the face of political and social division. That included receiving politically motivated threats to her safety and calls for her removal as director of Public Health.
Adam talks with Andrea about what motivated her to persevere and continue serving the community, rather than walking away for her own wellbeing, as her loved ones at times urged her to do. They also talk about free-spirit Andrea, who tells about her New England upbringing, shares her love of jam band music, and her story of meeting her husband on a Phish tour. 
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer;Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; andHeather Gorby, graphic and web design.

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Amy and Lenny Eckstein, the married couple and entrepreneurial energy behind the craft distillery Deerhammer.
Lenny and Amy tell about their East Coast origin story, how they met and made their way west, and why they left behind successful careers in other realms to buy a building on Main Street in a rural mountain town in Colorado and start a distillery.
Amy shares fantastic stories about growing up with a dad and family that hustled to make business ideas happen in Boston. And Lenny introduces Adam to the sport of squirt boating, a form of whitewater kayaking Adam had no idea existed. Among other topics that come up. 
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority. 

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Jonathon Stalls, author of the book, “Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up and Connect at 1-3 Miles Per Hour.”
They talk about Jonathon’s 242-day walk across the United States as a pivotal experience for him, and the deeply painful buildup, including a suicide attempt, that led him to that mental and emotional space where a cross-country walk made sense to him, even if he had no idea what he was doing when he started it.
What Jonathon learned while walking from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, fuels his personal life practices, and advocacy and community organizing today.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority. 

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Les Messamer, a 96-year-old World War II veteran who one might swear has lived multiple lives simultaneously. Adventurous ones and otherwise.
Les tells about his upbringing in a fundamentalist religious farm community in Iowa, and why he defied its wishes and enlisted to serve in World War II, only to be shunned when he returned home. 
Adam talks with Les about his post-war adventures as a sea-going cowboy taking several hundred heifers across the Pacific to Shanghai, China, and surviving near-death experiences along the way. Among other big moments from a life full of stories.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority. 

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Tayte Pollmann. Tayte is a writer, trail runner, Nordic skier, traveler and, it turns out, a lover of Liège waffles, artisan cheese and many other things.
Adam and Tayte talk about a roving range of topics, including food and their shared love of living in the mountains, and memories they both have of their dads introducing them to Nordic skiing.
Tayte also talks about his experience of living with five housemates in a time and place when housing affordability has become increasingly difficult. They talk about earthship architecture and sustainability, and Tayte shares his thoughts on the concept of home.
Adam also asks Tayte about an exciting book project in the works for which he plans to travel to Nepal this spring. Among many other things.
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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority. 

In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, host Adam Williams talks with Dominique Naccarato, executive director of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) and city council member in Salida, Colo.
Dominique’s story is Salida’s story, at least in part. She talks with Adam about growing up in Salida in the pre-Internet era and wanting to leave and never come back. And she did leave. And then she came back some years later and, ultimately, took on leadership roles that will have far-reaching influence on the future of her community and the generations to come.  
Adam talks with Dominique about the personal and family story she has that is so deeply interwoven with the waves of change that have come to the area in the past 50 years. 
They talk about Dominique’s vision as executive director of GARNA, with its mission to protect the natural environment in Chaffee County, Colo., and how she balances that with the critical issues of housing affordability in the area as a member of city council.
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This episode of We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream was recorded at KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colorado. We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) also partners with KHEN for local radio broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.
The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 
You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.
Credits
Adam Williams, host; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Heather Gorby, graphic and web design; Lisa Martin, producer and We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment, and Becky Gray, Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority.