Katie Clark (she/her) is a public librarian, an aunt of ten, and a queer community builder. After giving up on ever finding an sexual identity that fit, she found out asexuality existed at age 32, and believes that more openness about queer identities when she was young would have changed her life. There's a special place in her heart for anyone recognizing and embracing their queerness later in life.

In this interview, Katie discusses her asexual and aromantic identities, what those can teach us about intimacy and love, as well as her later in life autism diagnosis.

To connect with Katie, please consider following her on Bluesky (katiec1212.bsly.social) or emailing her ([email protected]). To connect with Belong Fox Valley, see their website. For more information on gender detachment, see this article.

Terms used in this interview that might not be familiar to all listeners are: AFAB (assigned female at birth; this includes trans men, nonbinary folk, and cis women, among others), ace (short for asexual; other phrases include ace-spec, meaning ace spectrum, as asexuality, like many other manifestations of sexuality, exists on a spectrum), relationship anarchy (a good resource is Dean Spade's new book Love in a F'cked up World), relationship smorgasbord, and masking (a term used by people with autism in reference to how they might consciously or unconsciously modify their behaviors to closer align with 'neurotypical' individuals). For more information about the practice of and training for certified sexuality educators and sexuality counselors, see AASECT (Allison is listed there).

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line and/or check your favorite podcast provider, as oftentimes they supply transcription services.

If you are interested in more book recommendations, please see Allison's bookshop on Bookshop.org Purchasing books through Bookshop offers greater support to authors as well as curators, such as Allison. Allison reads over 150 books a year, mostly nonfiction, and many of these books are phenomenal resources for common life considerations and needs, such as meaning and relationships. Books included in Allison's shop address asexuality and relationship anarchy.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Katie Clark (she/her) is a public librarian, an aunt of ten, and a queer community builder. After giving up on ever finding an sexual identity that fit, she found out asexuality existed at age 32, and believes that more openness about queer identities when she was young would have changed her life. There's a special place in her heart for anyone recognizing and embracing their queerness later in life.

In this interview, Katie discusses her asexual and aromantic identities, what those can teach us about intimacy and love, as well as her later in life autism diagnosis.

To connect with Katie, please consider following her on Bluesky (katiec1212.bsly.social) or emailing her. To connect with Belong Fox Valley, see their website. For more information on gender detachment, see this article.

Terms used in this interview that might not be familiar to all listeners are: AFAB (assigned female at birth; this includes trans men, nonbinary folk, and cis women, among others), ace (short for asexual; other phrases include ace-spec, meaning ace spectrum, as asexuality, like many other manifestations of sexuality, exists on a spectrum), relationship anarchy (a good resource is Dean Spade's new book Love in a F'cked up World), relationship smorgasbord, and masking (a term used by people with autism in reference to how they might consciously or unconsciously modify their behaviors to closer align with 'neurotypical' individuals). For more information about the practice of and training for certified sexuality educators and sexuality counselors, see AASECT (Allison is listed there).

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line and/or check your favorite podcast provider, as oftentimes they supply transcription services.

If you are interested in more book recommendations, please see Allison's bookshop on Bookshop.org Purchasing books through Bookshop offers greater support to authors as well as curators, such as Allison. Allison reads over 150 books a year, mostly nonfiction, and many of these books are phenomenal resources for common life considerations and needs, such as meaning and relationships. Books included in Allison's shop address asexuality and relationship anarchy.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Lali Metta is a visionary designer, multimedia artist, and storyteller based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Through her brand Metta Visionary Design, she creates furniture and artworks that merge craftsmanship with spiritual resonance. She is also the founder of Holy Bananas Media, offering video production and social media storytelling services, and Golden Sol Surfskate, a lifestyle project inspired by liberation and movement.

Lali’s work is grounded in creativity, community, and consciousness—bringing together design, art, and narrative as pathways for connection and transformation.

In this interview, I focus on Lali’s near death experience – what it taught her, is teaching her, and can teach us, the listeners. Deepest bow to this dear friend; may the listener be changed by her words and experience. 

To connect with Lali, see her website, email, and Instagram (Lali’s, Metta Visionary Design, Holy Bananas Media, Golden Sol Surfskate)

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line and/or check your favorite podcast provider, as oftentimes they supply transcription services.

If you are interested in more discussions about the afterlife and the paranormal, one place to drop in is a death café (these are hosted around the world, including by Allison with Ignite Well-being, once a month, the first Wednesday of the month, registration on their EventBrite page)

For listeners that would like to read the poem Allison wrote about love in Sanskrit, see their Patreon here (and please note that Allison misspoke, as there are 96 words for love).  An additional and related piece of writing that might inspire listeners, about people igniting one another’s lights is by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, called We Were Made For These Times.

Sincere apologies for the sound artifacts in this episode, secondary to the inconsistencies of the signal from a major wifi carrier.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Mary Marshall, a paranormal researcher, medium, medical intuitive, author, and educator, returns, by listener request, for a second episode to discuss more specifics regarding her experiences and the paranormal.

To learn more about, support her work, or connect with Mary, see Instagram: @paranormalmd, her website, or her bio.

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line, or check your device, as several platforms offer transcripts (such as Apple podcasts).

If you are interested in more discussions about the afterlife and the paranormal, one place to drop in is a death café (these are hosted around the world, including by Allison with Ignite Well-being, once a month). Or, in addition to Mary's content, check out some of Allison's perspectives on Patreon.

Sincere apologies for the sound artifacts in this episode, secondary to the inconsistencies of the signal from a major wifi carrier.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.   And thank you to cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Mark is a Christian, a father, a nurse practitioner specializing in slow-growing blood cancers, with a young son, Eli, who was diagnosed with leukemia.  Mark is also Allison (the interviewer)’s brother.  In this interview, he discusses his son’s diagnosis, the impact that diagnosis has had on his family, as well as his supports, like his faith and his wife. 

With the care of his hospital team and family, Eli is in remission.

If Mark's words and Eli's story inspired you to help children fight cancer, please consider donating to Nationwide Children's Hospital, located in Columbus, Ohio, and linked here.

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line.  If you utilize Apple podcasts, transcripts are often easily available over that app.   

Sincere apologies for the sound artifacts in this episode, secondary to the inconsistencies of the signal from a major wifi carrier.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to Cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

In this interview, Kurt Johnson discusses his challenges reintegrating into society after serving time in prison following a murder conviction. Listener discretion is advised, as the topics discussed are for mature audiences.

For more information on Kurt, please see his website, YouTube channel, and Twitter. To contact him, please use the contact page on his website.

For those interested in additional resources about criminal justice, please see the word of Father Gregory Boyle, Grace Boggs, Dean Spade, Mariame Kaba, Angel Davis, Eric Stanley (and the book Captive Genders), Bryan Stevenson, The Prison Yoga Project, The Marshall Project, the documentary 13th, PEN America's Prison and Justice Writing Project. This list is not meant to be complete but as a starting point.

For transcripts of the show, please email [email protected] with 'Transcripts' in the subject line.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to Cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Donna Callaghan is a Doctor of Divinity, Personal Growth Coach, Hypnotherapist, Shamanic Practitioner, teacher, and a workshop presenter.  To connect with Donna, her website is https://www.journeyofthesoul.net/  and her email is [email protected]

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn moreabout Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to Cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

In this brief episode, Allison reviews the intent of this podcast as an intermission, speaking more in depth about the remembrance of ourselves, humility, and building capacity to hold difference.

For listeners that want to deeper dive into humility, spirituality, and building community, here are some resources to consider (in no particular order and not exclusive):

Rumi, Kabir, Joanna Macy, Gary Zukav, Mirabai Starr, Bill Plotkin, Richard Rohr, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rupert Sheldrake, John O’Donohue, Margaret Wheatley, bell hooks, Stephen Harrod Buhner, Octavia Butler, Gregory Boyle, Martin Prechtel, Joy Harjo, Mariame Kaba, Kai Cheng Thom, Ram Das, Krishna Das, Neem Karoli Baba, Paul Selig, Sandra Ingerman, Robin Wall Kimmerer, A Course in Miracles, Babaji, Mary Oliver, Pema Chodron, Joan Halifax, Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Upanishads, Radiance Sutras.

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line.

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.

Diana Hawken Torres is a founder and current Vice President of ALMAS (Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs), the first Latino-led and Latino-serving nonprofit in Naperville. Diana also participates in a variety of other service organizations to foster a diverse and supportive community.

In this interview, Diana discusses her identities as a Latina, an immigrant, and a mother and the world she is helping to build for future generations. 

To connect with Diana’s work, please explore the following links:

·  Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs (ALMAS), Alianza de Latinos Motivando Acción en los Suburbios (ALMAS) www.ALMAScommunity.org

·  https://linktr.ee/almascommunity (resource and action list)

·  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BKT7vbqgoqigXTG_nhz3YfA1drfE--HbZxZq5oc-dR0/edit?usp=sharing (document is in Spanish)

·  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wiTNJvQVbFOGjV6tXvoJJR01_K-uPUB4t7tu6E-5KqM/edit?tab=t.0(document is in Spanish)

·  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mirdzYEt_jc

·  https://mailchi.mp/almascommunity/friends

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line.

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to Cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.

Mary Marshall is a paranormal researcher, medium, medical intuitive, author, and educator. 

In this interview, Mary discusses her spiritual gifts and identity as well as the marginalization related to her gifts.    Mary also dives into her understanding of the afterlife. 

To learn more about or connect with Mary, see Instagram: @paranormalmd, her website, or her bio.

For transcripts of this show, please email [email protected] with ‘Transcripts’ in the subject line.

If you are interested in more discussions about the afterlife and the paranormal, one place to drop in is a death café (these are hosted around the world, including by Allison with Ignite Well-being, once a month).

*Please note that the opinions and experiences of those interviewed in this podcast are not necessarily the opinions and experiences of the interviewer. One of the intents of this podcast is to interview a variety of people with a variety of experiences and opinions.*

If you are interested in participating in a future podcast, which involves thoughtful, caring, and connecting conversations to encourage proximity and a sense of interconnection, please email [email protected] with ‘Participate’ in the subject line.

To learn more about Ignite Well-being, in the suburbs of Chicago, and/or the host, Allison, please see their website, Patreon, or Substack page. Deepest bow to the paid supporters on Patreon, who make this work more financially sustainable.

Thank you to Pixabay and SergePavkinMusic for the song used in the podcast.  And thank you to Cloudconvert and Audacity for making podcasting more accessible.