A New Angle

This week’s guest is Sarah Aswell. Sarah is a writer of many stripes and a stand up comedian. She is a Senior Editor at Scary Mommy and has published her writing in prominent outlets like The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Forbes, MAD Magazine and many others. She lives in Missoula and performs around the country.

In this conversation we learn about Sarah’s journey from biology to comedy, the open mic night that rekindled her creativity, comedy’s #1 rule and the importance of encouraging underrepresented voices in comedy.

Follow Sarah on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/seaswell/?hl=en

Check out the Revival Comedy group on Facebook and join them on the first Tuesday of every month at the Roxy in Missoula at 6:30 p.m. https://www.theroxytheater.org/show/revival-comedy-open-mic/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gllBI7B4aOSBzn2OPeBlfli9kqMgu7SLsymz0P9MaGQ/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is John Twiggs, host of the award winning Montana PBS program Backroads of Montana. This is John’s 35th year in television journalism and he’s been with Montana PBS for over 25 years. Last year, John was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In this conversation we learn about John’s journey to visual storytelling (yes, it was him in Metric Marmalade), what makes a great Backroads story and what John’s advice is for future broadcast journalists.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ts1Ddb_1yC6Q_HgaKKwHVFW99VuwQuXO0mJwgC_2RpM/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week is the June edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend, Bryce Ward, about some of the broader challenges facing our society. This month we continue our social media discussion, with a focus on what social media is doing to our democracy.

In this conversation we talk about some of the benefits of social media in politics, the tradeoffs that come with using social media and the effect of constant engagement on our media environment.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_XHX06tfnNr0TFfphnY_gUPXsZ9wTHDTwxe-ovqlw8/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guests are panelists from The Faces of Trade panel discussion held at the Montana World Trade Center’s Investment Day Conference. The panel included Heather McDowell, VP of Legal, Environmental and Government Affairs for Sibayne-Stillwater, the South-African owned operator of the Stillwater and East Boulder Mines; Patrick Flanagan, Chief Commercial Officer at Administrate, a software firm based in Scotland; Cassidy Marn, Executive Vice President of the Montana Wheat & Barley Committee; and Michelle Huie, the founder and CEO of Vim&Vigr.

In this discussion we hear about the global forces that affect production worldwide, hear from panelists on the challenges within their industries and learn what excites panelists looking toward the future.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AjcrwW4nCY9ShOhPF1HaV0d-Gb-Bqh6ZkAUKHvJlPP8/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guests are Dakota Jones and Nate Bender. Dakota is the founder and Executive Director of Footprints Running Camp and Nate is Footprints’ Marketing Director. These two accomplished mountain athletes are working to empower the activist spirit in folks who enjoy spending time in wild places. Footprints not only takes campers on amazing adventures, but connects them with resources and skills to bring their passion for climate action to life.

In this conversation we hear about Dakota and Nate’s strategy of using the trail running community to inspire collective action on climate change, get a glimpse into one camper’s Footprints project and look at how Footprints’ model could be used as an incubator for other outdoor activities responding to climate change.

Transcript here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/170v9TWmnYUcTCudEtTVEPOLbz9ieACJ8e3_y7JJ0ylg/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Stephanie Wittels Wachs, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Lemonada Media. Stephanie is host of the powerful podcast Last Day. Last Day investigates what’s killing us, and the just released Season 3 takes a hard look at gun violence and suicide in Montana.

We discuss America’s complex relationship with guns, the role fear plays on all sides of the gun debate and the need to focus policy on harm reduction.

Transcript here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1285YlMoNqUBpa8p7UwsVB19iGX6DMurM/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week is our May edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which I speak with economist and friend Bryce Ward, about some of the broader challenges facing our society. This month we talk about social media: What is it doing to us? Can we — and our democracy — survive it?

In this conversation, we discuss emerging science from experts on media addiction, new research that links social media use to the teen mental health crisis, and steps we can all take to assess our relationships with social media.

Transcript here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K7aHjs9AortP6O-BTeS65hoalc6GR7ohNAN5vTx_cUs/edit?usp=sharing

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Stef Sample, serial entrepreneur and founder of Fundid; an exciting new venture dedicated to getting capital to the nearly 96% of American business generating less than $1 million per year. And most of those small businesses are women-owned.

In this conversation, we cover how Stef’s Montana roots has served her well in business, the structural barriers to loans for small businesses Fundid aims to address, and how financial technology groups are changing revenue outcomes for small businesses across the country.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Mike Morelli, the newly minted Executive Director at Missoula Children’s Theater and Missoula Community Theater.

In this conversation, we cover how Mike found his way to the stage, how Missoula Children’s Theater has weathered the pandemic, and how MCT continues to play out its mission in not only making the arts accessible but giving young people a platform and place in their community.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

Today we bring you a story of a man trying to escape from Afghanistan and the amazing people here in Montana trying to help. This is a live situation and this man and his family currently face grave risk. As a result, we don’t reveal his identity and I spoke with him on an encrypted channel from an undisclosed location. Following our conversation, I speak with Lisa Davey, a colleague of our friend who brought his story to us, Marcia Seymore, who has agreed to open up her home to this man and his family when and if they make it to Missoula, and Mary Poole, executive director of Soft Landing Missoula, an organization that welcomes and supports refugees.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe