Fresno's Best

Today, we have Manpreet Kaur on the show. Manpreet is the city council representative for Ward 7 in Bakersfield. Growing up in Bakersfield, Manpreet is intimately familiar with the beauty and challenges of her hometown. After graduating with two master degrees from UW Madison, she decided to return home and run for local office.

Books:

The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs 

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein

Today we have Paola Soares on the show. Paola is the CEO of Camarena Health, the community health clinics that are an integral part of our community health ecosystem. We cover a lot in this conversation, including the history of Camarena Health, care deserts, preventative care approaches, ways to support various demographics, medical expenses, labor challenges, and more.

Books

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know Adam Grant 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones James Clear

The Bosch Series Michael Connelly

Today, we have Vice President of City Council Annalisa Perea on the show. Perea represents District 1 on the Fresno City Council and is a former trustee on the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees. Annalisa was born and raised in Fresno and attended Fresno City College. She graduated with a B.S. in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She is an Accredited City Planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). We covered community college issues, city planning, congestion problems, police and fire, health outcomes in the valley, margaritas, red tape reduction, and more

Today we have Dr. David Jeffcoach. Dr Jeffcoach is a Trauma and Critical Care surgeon who grew up in the Central Valley.  After completing medical school at UC Davis, surgical residency in Tennessee, and trauma fellowship at UCSF-Fresno, he moved with his family to Sodo, Ethiopia where he was the Chair of Surgery and general surgery residency program director for four years at Soddo Christian Hospital.  His primary fields of interest are global surgery, surgical education, and trauma systems management.  He returned to Fresno and is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCSF-Fresno. This is a wide-ranging podcast where we cover a lot of topics, but all around medicine and global health.

Books: 

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery Eric Metaxas

The Brothers Karamosov Fyodor Dostoevsky

Resurrection Leo Tolstoy 

Vincent Catalina is an actor, writer, and filmmaker and his film that he wrote and played a central role in is called Wild Boys, which was shot locally, and it is going to be available on streaming later this year. Additionally, Vincent is planning a number of screenings in the central valley near you.

Books: 

The Name of the Wind: Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1 by Patrick Rothfuss 

The Land by Aleron Kong

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

In this episode, we have a wonderful bike conversation with Julie Congii, from Fresno Bike Station, a wonderful non for profit bike kitchen here in Fresno. Please enjoy our conversation! 

Books: 

Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens

Today, we have a crossover episode from History of California Podcast featuring Dr. Ben Madley. Benjamin Madley is a historian of Native America, the United States, and colonialism in world history. Born in Redding, California, he spent much of his childhood in Karuk Country near the Oregon border where he became interested in relations between colonizers and Indigenous people. Educated at Yale and Oxford, he writes about Native Americans as well as colonialism in Africa, Australia, and Europe, often applying a transnational and comparative approach. Yale University Press published his first book, An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873. Madley is currently co-editing The Cambridge World History of Genocide, Volume 2: Genocide in the Indigenous, Early Modern, and Imperial Worlds, 1535-1914(forthcoming, 2023), with historians Ned Blackhawk, Ben Kiernan, and Rebe Taylor. His current research explores Native American migration and labor in the making of the United States. Please enjoy our conversation.

Today, we have Dustin Maddox on the show. Dustin is the lead pastor at North Fresno Church. A gifted pastor and preacher, Dustin enjoys creating hospitable spaces for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience God’s love, to be transformed, and equipped to join God’s healing activity in our city and world. He enjoys reading broadly with a cup of coffee, meeting new people, spending time with family and friends, and, most importantly, exploring God’s creation with his incredible wife, Robin, and one-year old son, Beckett.

Dustin graduated with a Master of Divinity from Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, and served as Associate Pastor at University Presbyterian Church, Fresno, from 2012-2020. In June 2020, Dustin received the call to become Lead Pastor of North Fresno Church, and he is excited about NFC’s next chapter of being a Jesus people for the sake of others.

Books

East of Eden John Steinbeck 

Digital Minimalism Cal Newport

Today, we have Ethan Chatagnier on the show today. He is the author of SINGER DISTANCE, the novel that came out in the fall and is the focus of this conversation, and of WARNINGS FROM THE FUTURE, a story collection that came out in 2018. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of literary journals and have won a Pushcart Prize and been listed as notable in the Best American Short Stories and the Million Writers Award. He is a graduate of Fresno State, where he won the Larry Levis Prize in Poetry, and of Emerson College, where he earned an MA in Publishing and Writing. He lives in Fresno, California with his family.

Books:

Kazuo Ishiguro

Equilateral Ken Kalfus 

Light from Other Stars Erika Swyler 

Appleseed Matt Bell 

Ted Chiang 

Saturnalia Stephanie Feldman 

What We Fed to the Manticore Talia Lakshmi Kolluri 

Sweet, Soft, Plenty, Rhythm Laura Warrell 

Today we have Talia Lakshmi Kolluri on the show. Talia recently published an amazing collection called “What We Fed to the Manticore,” a series of nine stories all written from the perspective of animals. The book blew me away and, as you’ll hear in our conversation, we have a lot of thoughts about the inner lives of animals. Please enjoy this wonderful and thoughtful conversation. 

Books:

The Great Derangement Amitov Ghosh 

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Ed Yong