Lives Radio Show With Stuart Chittenden

Musician and hip hop artist https://marceyyates.com/ (Marcey Yates) shares his determination to grow as a musician and his own evolution as a leader. He also talks about the founding of https://www.culxr.house/ (Culxr House) as a creative community hub, especially during the 2020 protests after the deaths of George Floyd and James Scurlock, and the album https://saddle-creek.com/products/culxr-house-freedom-summer (“Culxr House: Freedom Summer”) that emerged as a response to the 2020 protests. Marcey Yates is a recording artist, music producer, and sound engineer, and the founder of Culxr House, a creative art and community space where artists and entrepreneurs can grow, create opportunities, and enrich their own artistic talents. In addition to his award winning solo work, Yates is one half of the duo Dilla Kids, and, with collaborator Xoboi, winner of this year’s Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards' album of the year for, “Culxr House: Freedom Summer.” This show is supported in part by the https://www.omaha

Journalist Sara Gentzler's motto is to “tell complicated stories simply.” Dedicated to opening up our seemingly inaccessible public entities, in the show, Gentzler shares some of the stories she has written holding government accountable to the people it serves and talks about the importance of journalism in her life and in ours. Gentzler's explorations extend into aspects of our lives that we stigmatize yet are part of the common human experience and she shares her passion project about https://www.saragentzler.com/lettering (menstrual cup enlightenment). Gentzler is a reporter who has found her niche in holding government accountable to the people it serves. She will soon be the state government watchdog reporter at https://flatwaterfreepress.org/ (Flatwater Free Press). Most recently, Gentzler worked at the https://omaha.com/ (Omaha World-Herald), where she broke stories on Nebraska footing the bill (and refusing to admit it) for deploying state troopers to the southern border and the State’s practice of i

Singer and performer Enjoli Mitchell shares some of the highs and lows of her life, talks about music as her purpose, how music brought her through the grief of her sister's death, and the energy she gets from performing. Not only will we be in conversation, but Mitchell sings a cappella live in the studio. Raised in north Omaha, Enjoli Mitchell has been singing since she was young, Enjoli is now the lead singer in the group https://www.facebook.com/EnjoliandTimeless (Enjoli & Timeless). Formed in 2017, the band has opened for acts such as CeCe Peniston, Keith Sweat, Juvenile, Angela Winebush, Lecrae, and Twista. With solo albums under her belt and a forthcoming album from Enjoli & Timeless, Enjoli Mitchell has recently been dubbed “The Voice of the City” and “The Voice of the Street.”

Poet Katie Marya talks about the themes explored in her debut full length poetry collection “Sugar Work,” including womanhood, intimate relationships, the body, divorce and desire. Marya also talks about the experiences that have shaped her life and sense of self. As well as discussing the imagery within and the structure of her book Sugar Work, Marya reads some of her poems. Katie Marya is a writer and literary translator. Her award-winning work has appeared in numerous literary publications and she has received fellowship support from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Nebraska Arts Council. Sugar Work, her first full-length book collection, was the Editor's Choice for the 2020 Alice James Book Award. Originally from Atlanta, she now lives in Nebraska where she is finishing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rebecca Deterding, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Omaha, talks about the YMCA’s history; its intentional culture today of making all feel included; her approach to being a leader, and living up to her purpose in serving others. Rebecca Deterding is the President and CEO of the https://metroymca.org/ (YMCA of Greater Omaha), an organization she had served as CFO since 2015 prior to stepping into the CEO role in March. She is the first woman to lead the organization in its 155-year history. Originally from North Platte, Deterding earned her undergraduate degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, her MBA from Bellevue University, and she holds a CPA certificate. In the show Deterding talks about the transformation of the YMCA from its origins over a century ago to an intentional culture today of making all feel included; the meaning of leadership and Deterding’s approach to being a CEO, and living up to her purpose in serving others. This sho

Rabbi Batsheva Appel is currently the interim rabbi at Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska. In the show Rabbi Appel talks about her journey into the rabbinate, having first studied science and working in the corporate world. Rabbi Appel also talks about the nature of her faith and her own personal passions. Rabbi Batsheva Appel has served congregations in a variety of different roles, as a sabbatical rabbi, rabbi educator, settled rabbi, and interim rabbi, including serving as Director of Rabbinic Services for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, located in Jackson, Mississippi. Rabbi Appel is a trained Mussar facilitator and is a certified Interim Rabbi living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is passionate about community, especially diversity. A native of Seattle, she graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences and Economics, entering the corporate world before her increasing involvement in her faith practice led her to become a rabb

Soprano, musician, performer, and singing teacher https://www.vannordstrandvoice.com/ (Shelby VanNordstrand) shares her love for singing and her passion for expressing stories through music. As well as her classical background, VanNordstrand also creates and performs avant garde music, including r u ok (created with Seth Shafer) which they performed at the 2022 https://www.undertheradaromaha.com/ (Omaha Under the Radar Festival). You can watch a video of that performance via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNnGY1l0Y0 (this link here). https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-communication-fine-arts-and-media/about-us/faculty/music/shelby-vannordstrand.php (Shelby VanNordstrand) has appeared as a soloist with a wide range of ensembles and companies; including Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and the Simon Estes Young Artist Program.  VanNordstrand is passionate about connecting song and opera repertoire to today’s audience

Author Dave Mainelli talks about his short story book collection https://www.davemainelli.com/ (How to Be Lonely) and how the stories test the limits of the human condition and our occasionally tenuous grip on a life well lived. Mainelli also shares how his writing has bridged from the truth of his own experiences with ill health to inspire some of the challenges facing his protagonists. Dave Mainelli teaches creative writing at Wayne State College and, starting in the Fall, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. HIs short story collection, How To Be Lonely, was published by WSC Press in March of 2021. Mainelli draws from his diverse experiences in life to muse on our loneliness with a dark humor and a melancholy recipe. The stories test the limits of the human condition and Albert Camus' so called "serious problem" on whether life is worth living. His writing often delves into the American lower middle class and those living just below the veil of the American dream.

Fontenelle Forest’s Matt Darling talks about the wonders of nature and our essential human need to embrace it. Matt Darling is the executive director of https://fontenelleforest.org/ (Fontenelle Forest), one of the largest nature centers in the country. Fontenelle is made up of two properties and multiple ecosystems, 24 miles of trails, a high ropes course and 2,100 acres of forest, prairie and wetlands. Prior to this role at the Forest, he was the executive Vice President of the Omaha Community Foundation, a role in which he focused on an in-depth knowledge of all giving tools and the benefits of active philanthropy. Darling is heavily involved in organizations throughout Nebraska communities including but not limited to the Hastings College Foundation, Nebraska Land Trust, Central High School Foundation, and is a practicing Nebraska Master Naturalist.

Set jetter Robert Patterson talks about his passion for set-jetting – visiting the sites and scenes captured in movies, tv shows, and music videos – and the documentation of the many locations he captures, the scenes he recreates, the people he has met, and the experiences that he shares through his https://www.set-jetter.com/ (website). As the Executive Director of the nonprofit https://kidscan.org/ (Kids Can Community Center) in Omaha, Nebraska, Robert Patterson leads an organization driven to educate, engage, and inspire children through early childhood care and out of school experiences. Patterson is active with a number of community groups and initiatives and his commitment to community has been recognized with numerous awards. Over a decade ago, Patterson launched a blog that has now become the website Set-Jetter.com that records his passion as an avid set-jetter.

Legendary musician https://dereckhiggins.bandcamp.com/ (Dereck Higgins) is my guest in this week’s show. He talks about his life at the vanguard of musical creativity, his origins in a musical family, music as a form of spiritual expression, and his personal journey with grief and with depression through the healing power of music. Inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 2019, Dereck Higgins is a self taught music creator and a multi-instrumentalist, primarily known as a bass player. His award winning experience ranges from classic rock to reggae to punk to jazz to electronic to improvisation, and more. In his craft, he is dedicated to the moment of music making, listening to allow the music to speak. Some bands, past and present, that Higgins has performed with include: David Nance Mowed Sound, Digital Sex, Son Ambulance, RAF, Hotlines, InDreama, Chemicals, Norman & The Rockwells, Icky Blossoms, and many others. Higgins’ creativity extends to visual art, which he exhibits, and a deep involv

Former Nebraska State Poet Twyla Hansen declares that "poetry can save you." In the show, Hansen talks about making sense of the world and of herself through poetry, her affinity for the sacred, wild, and wondrous places around us, and how poetry can be a salvation in the face of pain and grief. Twyla Hansen was born and raised in northeast Nebraska on the farm her grandparents had purchased as immigrants from Denmark in the late 1880s. Hansen served as Nebraska’s State Poet for the term 2013-2018. Her newest book of poetry, Rock • Tree • Bird won the 2018 Willa Literary Award and the 2018 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of six other award-winning books of poetry and her writing has been published widely in numerous periodicals and anthologies.

Communications professor Jay Leighter shares some personal and professional perspectives on making sense of life through the practice of communication, research and insights into communication, community, and culture, including work with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the ongoing social and ecological consideration of the Nebraska Sandhills, and his own family’s efforts towards creating a sustainable home. https://www.creighton.edu/campus-directory/leighter-james-l (Jay Leighter) is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Sustainability Studies Program at https://www.creighton.edu/ (Creighton University). He teaches courses on communication research and the intersection of culture and communication in everyday life. His research questions how culture influences communication and how people make decisions about the community in which they live. He also teaches a course in sustainability which is modeled after Jesuit teaching practices and discernment. Most recently, Jay i

Scott Jones is the Senior Minister for https://firstcentral.org/ (First Central Congregational Church). In the show, Jones talks about his childhood aspiration to be a preacher, his faith journey, the implications of the pandemic on his ministry and personal life, coming out as a gay man within the church, life advice from his son, and more. Scott Jones grew up in a small town in Oklahoma knowing since the age of five that he wanted to be a preacher. Then at age 29, he came out as a gay man while serving as a youth minister at a Baptist church in Texas, a story that you can read in his book - Open: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Sexuality. Since 2010 Jones has served as the Senior Minister of Omaha’s First Central Congregational Church. Jones earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oklahoma and has taught as a lecturer in the Philosophy Department of Creighton University. Jones enjoys many activities and experiences, but the most joyful is being the father to a wonderfully

Edem Garro is a singer, songwriter, and self-taught multi-instrumentalist who performs as Edem Soul Music. In this show, Edem not only talks about the place of music in her life and the themes she shares through it, but also performs a couple of songs for us live in the studio.  Edem is a 12 times Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award nominee, a 2018 OEAA winner for Best Soul, and a 2020 and 2021 Winner for Outstanding World Music. Playing over 12 instruments including the harp, ukulele, guitar and various forms of African percussion, Edem sings in English as well as in her native tongue ‘Ga’ originating from the Ga Tribe of Ghana, West Africa. Utilizing her gifts, and philosophy of life, Edem curates performances based in the realm of sound, and how it can affect the human spirit. 

Jacob Dahlke is a clinical ethicist and the Director of the Office of Healthcare Ethics at https://www.nebraskamed.com/ (Nebraska Medicine). In this show, he talks about ethics and how they are applied in a healthcare setting, especially in the context of the pandemic and the moral injury and trauma suffered by healthcare workers and himself. Jacob also talks about his own life as an art teacher and his journey to clinical ethics, his endeavors to experience the now and to move towards a form of personal enlightenment, and his advice for facing difficult choices and dilemmas. Jacob is returning to the show as a guest: our previous conversation took place during season two of Lives just as the pandemic was accelerating in March 2020 (that podcast is available on this website). Jacob is a graduate of The Bioethics Program at Union Graduate College – Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. He has contributed to the medical ethics field in Vermont, Colorado, and at Creighton University’s Center for Health Policy and E

Karin Campbell is the Phil Willson Curator of Contemporary Art at the https://www.joslyn.org/ (Joslyn Art Museum) in Omaha. In the show, Campbell shares her first memorable encounters with art, her role as a curator in catalyzing public conversation and the emotional impact of art in and on her life. Since joining the museum in 2012, Campbell has curated several major exhibitions, including 30 Americans, Word/Play: Prints, Photographs, and Paintings by Ed Ruscha, and Sheila Hicks: Material Voices. She oversees Joslyn’s collection of postwar and contemporary art and is the principal curator for the Karen and Doug Riley Contemporary Artists Project (CAP) Gallery, the first space in the museum’s history dedicated specifically to living artists.

CEO and a fifth generation owner of Omaha Steaks, Todd Simon talks about the family legacy, leadership, the nature of the business, and how it and Todd has changed over the years. We also talk about the importance of community and lessons Todd has learned along the way.Todd Simon is a 5th Generation owner of the Omaha Steaks group of companies, currently serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Omaha Steaks. Simon joined Omaha Steaks more than 30 years ago after graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Omaha Steaks and the Simon family have a strong commitment to community leadership and philanthropy, and Todd Simon has been involved in shaping his family’s leadership in supporting the arts as well as social and human services agencies and programs. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Humanities Nebraska Sower Award which is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to public understanding of the arts and humanities in Nebraska. Along w

CharDale Barnes and Teddy Young are the two founders of the brand design firm Stable Gray. In the show, they share how their individual creative talents came together as entrepreneurs dedicated to building a company that adds value to their community as well as to the businesses they serve.Stable Gray was founded in 2015 by north Omaha natives, CharDale Barnes and Theardis “Teddy" Young to help small businesses build strong brands at affordable prices. After developing his creative skills early in life, Barnes went on to study and work in the fields of finance and technology. Young similarly developed his creativity early on before earning his MBA and teaching himself an array of design and content creation skills.This show, one of a year-long series, is supported in part by The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Ashley Kuhn is the cofounder with Maranda Adams of the 100% woman owned and 100% minority owned Real Estate and Construction company, Blair Freeman. In our conversation she talks about the childhood experiences that sparked her fascination with real estate, the community-minded ethos behind Blair Freeman's work, and the business and life lessons Kuhn has learned along the way. Ashley Kuhn has spent a significant amount of time in the real estate development world while helping to start one of the now largest real estate development companies in Omaha. As Executive Vice President of White Lotus Group for 15 years, Kuhn led over $450M in development and construction. In 2018, with the full support of White Lotus Group, Kuhn stepped away to cofound Blair Freeman. Observing the differing conditions of real estate in her North Omaha Neighborhood Kuhn went on to earn her degree at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and at Omaha, majoring in real estate and land use economics and investment finance.&nbs