Connecticut Voice Podcast with Chion Wolf

We’re all writers. I mean, you write an email checking in on a friend, you write a memo on your phone with a great idea for a song lyric or a cool product that should exist, you write a shopping list, you write a passive-aggressive note on the windshield of someone’s poorly-parked car, I mean, who takes up FOUR parking spaces?! Gah!

But what does it take to write a fantasy novel? What kind of relentlessness do you have to be driven by to see that through to the end? And how do you develop the storyline and characters into something special, when there are SO MANY great books, movies, and t.v. shows in the fantasy genre out there already?

Drew John Ladd figured it out for himself with his book, "Wolfsong, Beloved", the first part of a trilogy. We talk about all these questions, and how writing in the fantasy genre can allow an author to say things they never could otherwise, and how critical it is to talk about what it’s like being a gay, Black man in America right now.

And, he talks about how he struggles with the extent to which he lets the intersections of his identity shine through in his writing. You’ll hear.

You can get updates on his book, and support his work by signing onto his Patreon - www.patreon.com/drewwritesstuff.

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Andraya Yearwood is an award-winning track athlete. She’s also been challenged off the track, because she is a member of the transgender community. Some people don’t think it’s fair that she compete among cis-female runners. That her gender identity in this context presents an advantage that keeps other athletes from scholarships.

Connecticut is one of 17 states that allow transgender high school athletes to compete based on their gender identity, and Yearwood has both thrived and paid a price for committing to the track. It’s a lot for a young person to deal with, and at the same time, there’s so much more to her than what goes on around her running shoes.

Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller, another Connecticut track star who is trans, were co-recipients of the 2019 Bob Casey Courage Award by the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance, and given the 2019 action award honorees at Athlete Ally’s annual awards night.

They were also a part of the award-winning documentary, Changing The Game, which won the 2019 Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at OutFest in Los Angeles.

Go ahead, Andraya and Terry!

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This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a652f3 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Connecticut Voice Podcast with Chion Wolf.

Jon Stone is, among other things, the Chief Technology Officer for Kelser Corporation, which offers IT consulting and support in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

When I walked into his office, I noticed… helicopters. Photos of helicopters, photos FROM helicopters, model helicopters… This guy not only loves technology and security, but he loves helicopters. More on that later, and what it has to do with his job.

For more information on Jon Stone, his wonderful team, and everything else Kelser can do, visit www.kelsercorp.com.

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This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a652f3 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Connecticut Voice Podcast with Chion Wolf.

Back when I recorded my conversation with Kamora Herrington, she brought up the “old gays”. How they’re these shoulders that we stand upon as we become shoulders for others to stand upon.

We talked about how it’s as important to listen to the young people on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum

Which brings us to Mel Thomas. Mel is a singer, a pianist, a philosopher, an activist, an educator, an organizer, a playwright, and an old gay.

We recorded this conversation over the course of three hours at his apartment in southern Connecticut, and you should know that it DEFINITELY features profanity and adult themes.

Check out Connecticut Voice Magazine! www.CTVoiceMag.com

Who would be a great subject for this podcast? Email [email protected].

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This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a652f3 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Connecticut Voice Podcast with Chion Wolf.

11 year-old Ella Briggs is the 4th Connecticut Kid Governor, a civics program for 5th graders created by the Connecticut Democracy Center. She’s the first Kid Governor who is gay, and thanks to huge advances in our society - and a few painful obstacles in her life so far - LGBTQIA+ issues are central tenants in her work.

You’ll hear how she got elected (spoiler: it was the popular vote!), what it’s been like in the heat of the public eye, who she looks up to, if she has any future political plans, and whether or not being Kid Governor comes with perks! Like a later bedtime.

We met in the Old State House in downtown Hartford, which used to be a capitol building. Her office there is in the same room where our governors sat between 1820 and 1878, the last occupant being Richard D. Hubbard. Since 2016, this big, boomy room has served as the official office for Connecticut's Kid Governors.

Check out Connecticut Voice Magazine! www.CTVoiceMag.com

Who would be a great subject for this podcast? Email [email protected].

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This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a652f3 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Connecticut Voice Podcast with Chion Wolf.

Carolyn Kuan is the music director and conductor for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. I’ve wanted to interview her for years, because… How does she DO that? What’s it feel like? How do you learn to be a conductor? Does anything ever go wrong? And as a music director for a symphony orchestra, what does she want out of the music she chooses? What’s she looking for?

In this episode, you'll find out all that, and what kind of music she'd like to hear in her final moments on this earth.

Photo by Jill Steinberg.

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Kids who are on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum have to deal with stuff no one else does. Add race to that mix, and things get even more complicated. So who can kids turn to? Who can parents turn to?

Enter Kamora Herrington, with True Colors. Now, full disclosure, when I began to come out as a teenager 1990’s, it was True Colors where I went to my first support group to meet fellow non-straight people, where I met my first girlfriend, and where I went to my first Queer Prom. So clearly, I am a fan.

Kamora runs True Color’s mentoring program, where she matches kids - babies, as she calls them - with older people who can help. But she’s got a lot of variables to work with - What traits is she looking for in someone who can help? What does help even LOOK like? And what don’t we vintage folk “get” about life as a young human being on this spectrum?

Kamora came over to my house, where we recorded this conversation, which is, you should know, peppered with enthusiastic profanity. Also, you may or may not hear my producer, our cat, Whiskey, in the background.

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What's it like when you're ready to get closer to your place on the gender spectrum? Meet Kathryn Tierney, Medical Director of Middlesex Health’s Transgender Medicine Program in Middletown Connecticut. You can find more information on her great work at middlesexheath.org.

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