Ducking Realitea

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What if healing isn't about fixing yourself, but learning to understand yourself?

Dr. Jessica Armstrong joins Siobhan for a fascinating conversation about addiction, childhood trauma, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, chronic pain, and the complicated relationship we have with our own minds.

Jessica shares how growing up around addiction shaped her path into psychology, why our coping mechanisms often make perfect sense when we understand where they came from, and how curiosity and compassion can change the way we approach healing.

Siobhan opens up about her own experiences with chronic pain, traditional medicine, therapy, and a ketamine-assisted bodywork session that gave her something she hadn't felt in years: hope for a life with less pain.

They also talk about the little gremlins in our heads, the importance of connection, and why finding the right therapist can matter just as much as finding the right treatment.

It's a conversation about learning to feel, giving ourselves grace, and remembering that healing isn't a finish line.

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Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

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Ryan LaLonde came to the pond for birthday bubbles and brought stories about family secrets, drag, and a basement full of leather daddies. Naturally, I had questions.

The Alameda artist and school board member joins me to talk ADHD, perfectionism, genealogy, and why good leadership includes preparing someone else to take your place. He also shares his experiences working in the district attorney’s office and the importance he places on transparency.

Then we get personal: 30 years with his husband, Chris, the mini vacations that helped them navigate long distance, and their journey to becoming dads. Ryan opens up about adoption, his son’s wish to meet his birth mother, and supporting him through an unexpected loss.

We round things out with empty nesting, queer art, and finding joy through other people—with an unexpected radio story involving truckers and Little Debbie cakes.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Siobhan talks with Brandi Moore about her journey in the creative industry, what she learned after ten years as an agent, and why trust and reputation matter. Brandi shares her vision for Creative Access, a community where creatives can connect, exchange resources, and find opportunities. They also get real about business ownership, boundaries, burnout, and making the shift from surviving to thriving.

Find more about Brandi and join Creative Access at: https://brandimooreagency.com/

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Mimi’s philosophy is simple: “Do it, see what happens.” It’s taken her from selling her family’s produce as a kid to working in biotech, teaching Pilates, trying stand-up, and launching her own consulting business.

This week in the pond, we talk about the experiences behind that confidence: strict parents, learning to read a room, earning an MBA while pregnant, and finding something fun to do after a layoff. We also get honest about motherhood, chronic pain, protecting your energy, and the pressure to look like you’ve got your shit together.

Plus, my first Muni ride becomes a whole production, Mimi gives me a nudge toward the comedy stage, and somehow we end up making a plank challenge.

Come for the laughs. Stay for the permission to try something before you’ve overthought it into oblivion.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Who gets to decide whether you’re a “real” artist?

J.D. Boychuk joins Siobhan to talk about rejection, public art, pricing your work, and building a creative life that pays some bills and still feels like yours. From Metro Detroit to Shanghai and conversations with monks in Laos, his story is full of unexpected turns, and people who opened doors because he showed up and followed through.

They dig into imposter syndrome, the business lessons art school left out, and why helping other people can change your own path. Plus: a World Trade Center memorial, a world getting way too beige, and the Everywhere Butter Siobhan is slightly obsessed with.

For anyone making things, starting over, or wondering whether the unconventional path still counts.

Find more about J.D. Boychuk at: https://jdboychuk.com/

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Nurse educator and grant writer Ricardo Dukes joins Siobhan for a conversation about the gap between knowing the textbook and knowing how to care for a person. They talk about patient advocacy, chronic pain, the mind-body connection, training future nurses, supporting nonprofits through grant writing, and making space for self-care. If you’ve ever felt unheard in a medical setting, this one will hit close to home.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Billy Ribak turned one kid’s request for drum lessons into 3 O’Clock Rock, a hands-on music program where young musicians start bands, write songs, make records, play real shows, and go on tour.

Billy joins Siobhan to talk about growing up playing music with his brother Marc, building community through rock ’n’ roll, and teaching kids the communication, collaboration, and follow-through that being in a band actually requires.

Plus we talk about the Ogres’ Anh Phoong jingle, recording student songs at Abbey Road Studios, a surprise assist from a rock star, and why every creative person needs to keep their transmitter on.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Chamaine Wofford has been building things since she was a teenager, but opening Vinyl Wine Bar & Shop may be the hardest thing she’s ever done.

She joins Siobhan to talk about growing up gifted and ambitious in South Carolina, spending 12 years in speech therapy, raising children as a single mom, developing her palate through travel, and bootstrapping a destination wine bar at Alameda Point.

They dig into being underestimated as a Black woman, learning to step away from your own business before it steals your joy, and what happens when the strong woman doing all the nurturing realizes she deserves to be nurtured too.

Plus: small-producer wines, Champagne with caviar and truffle chips, Depeche Mode, a few opinions about Napa, and the belief that hospitality matters even more in a world where so many people are lonely.

Good wine. Good music. Good vibes. No proving you belong.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Shawnte didn’t set out to become a yoga teacher or a community healer, she just knew she couldn’t keep living the way she was. In this episode, she sits down with Siobhan to trace her journey from social work and wilderness programs with deeply traumatized youth, to remote-care burnout, to finding an unexpected lifeline in yoga and community.

They talk about moving from Virginia to Florida to Alameda, the loneliness of caregiving and working from home, and what happens to your nervous system when life keeps demanding more than you have. Shawnte shares the story of crying on her mat, asking the universe for an answer, and the stranger who unknowingly nudged her straight into teacher training.

Together, they unpack performance vs. presence, why “comparison is the thief of joy” hits different when you’re reinventing yourself, and how real community, especially among Black and Brown women, can rewrite old narratives about worth and belonging. If you’ve ever felt stuck between who you were told to be and who you actually are, this one’s for you.

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan Mail

Music doesn't put food on the table, but it feeds something just as important.

This week, Siobhan welcomes Dr. Margaret "Marge" Jones, classical guitarist, rock frontwoman of M. Jones and the Melee, teacher, and lifelong student of music, for a conversation that starts with microphones and somehow ends with the meaning of art.

They talk about earning a PhD in music, touring in a minivan, teaching nearly 50 students, surviving layoffs, and why perfection is wildly overrated. Marge shares what it's like being the only woman in the room, how stage fright never completely disappears, and why stepping on stage feels like putting on a superpower suit.

Along the way, they celebrate happy mistakes, unpack the roots of rock and roll, nerd out over music history, and ask a bigger question: if music doesn't technically meet our basic needs... why has every culture throughout history made it anyway?

This episode is for anyone who's ever wondered if their creative life matters. (Spoiler: it does.)

Support the show

Thanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤

Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.

If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.

Follow along:
https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/

And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.

Stay curious, stay joyful…
you’re deeply loved, my ducks.