Guest

Rick Locke was born and raised in Erie, PA.  He earned a BS in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in finance from Rutgers University.

Rick’s professional career in information technology spanned 39 years.  He completed his career as Chief Information Officer at his last two companies and retired in 2014.Rick became interested in photography around 1980.  He learned the craft through photo magazines and adult education classes.  Initially, family and career demands limited his photographic endeavors to family vacations.  By the early 2000s, with more time to devote to photography, he began to pursue his passion for photography more seriously.

Summary

What makes Rick unique and interesting is that he is now an outstanding photographer despite the fact that he is legally blind, the result of macular degeneration. He can still see out of the corner of his eye, which he wisely named his website, "Out of the Corner of My Eye."

Following the theme of episodes 246 and 247, Rick’s story is a great example of serendipity. The universe puts situations in front of us. Sometimes we see them, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we act on them, and sometimes we don’t. Rick created luck out of what others might have seen as a tragedy.

While he was blessed with support from family, friends, doctors, and technology, Rick’s personality and strength of character encouraged him to look at his challenge from a different and more positive angle.

Links / References

Website: www.RickLocke.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OutoftheCornerofMyE

Guest April Vokey is a fly fishing writer, fly-tyer, and speaker. After guiding in British Columbia for ten years, she now splits her year between camp in northern BC and Australia. She is an FFF certified casting instructor, forager, bowhunter, and mother.

Summary

April Vokey can’t help but look at life differently. From a very early age, April loved fishing and hunting. She’s decided to shun quote-unquote more traditional work and instead start a business where she would be “all in” as a fly fishing guide, provide instructional courses, write, be a keynote speaker, and host a podcast on all things related to her interests while being a wife and mother came.

Her decision came with the expected challenges, but as a female in a male-dominated industry, she faced some challenges that men doing the same work would never have to face.

April is also passionate about the environment and conservation, especially now that she is raising her daughter to be a steward of the Earth.

Links/References

https://www.instagram.com/aprilvokey/

https://www.facebook.com/AprilVokey/

https://www.youtube.com/flygalventures 

Interview with John Dietsch

Summary

In this podcast episode, my cohost, Steve Miletto, of the “Teaching, Learning, Leading K12” podcast, and I talk with Elizabethton, TN High School teachers Daniel Proffitt, Jason Clevinger, and Patrick Roberts. Elizabethton is an XQ Super School with a mission to build a culture for learners to think and act as changemakers.

This episode discusses how the school actualizes this mission at the individual student level through its curriculum, school activities, and professional development. The school advocates for student agency, giving students a voice and choice in what and how they want to learn and promotes curiosity as a core determinant of academic achievement.

The episode also explores how faculty members in traditional core subjects such as Math, English, Science, and History encourage curiosity.

Referenced

Teaching, Learning, Leading K12 podcast

XQ Super School

Elizabethton High School

Summary Cindy House is the author of Mother Noise, a memoir in essays, and is a regular opener for author/humorist David Sedaris on his tours across the country. She teaches in the MFA program at Lesley University. In this brief episode, we follow Dr. Christian Busch’s 3-part process to showcase a beautiful example of personal serendipity — the act of creating personal smart luck. Social Media

>Website: https://cindy-house.webflow.io/

>Memoir: Mother Noise

Referenced For more on the 3-part Serendipity process, see episode #246 with guest Dr. Christian Busch.

Summary

Steve Jobs famously said, “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” Today’s guest would respectfully disagree. As guest Dr. Christian Busch writes, “serendipity is not just about a coincidence that happens to us, but it is actually through the process of spotting and connecting the dots do we start to see bridges where others see gaps.” This episode will explore that process.

Thus, Serendipity is “unexpected good luck resulting from unplanned moments in which proactive decisions lead to positive outcomes. Serendipity is the hidden force in the world.” Serendipity is smart luck versus blind luck.

Guest

Dr. Christian Busch is the author of The Serendipity Mindset and an internationally known expert in the areas of innovation, purpose-driven leadership, and serendipity.

He is the director of the CGA Global Economy Program at New York University (NYU), and also teaches at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is a co-founder of Leaders on Purpose and the Sandbox Network and a former director of LSE's Innovation Lab. He is a member of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Expert Forum, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and on the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 thinkers "most likely to shape the future.

Links/References

Book: The Serendipity Mindset

Twitter: @ChrisSerendip

LinkedIn: Christian Busch

Book: Meaningful Coincidences

Guest

Ted Merwin, Ph.D. is a Senior Writer for the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Before coming to JFNA, he worked as AIPAC’s Synagogue Initiative Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region. For many years, Ted taught Judaic studies at Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pa), where he was the founding director of the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life.

Summary

Look between the slices of rye bread of a traditional Jewish deli sandwich, and a time capsule of Jewish life in America emerges. The Jewish deli – a uniquely American institution – is the story of migration from Eastern and Central Europe and the struggle between wanting to retain Jewish culture and assimilate into American life. The story of Jewish life begins in the crowded tenements of New York City, migrates to the other boroughs, the nearby suburbs, and eventually throughout the U.S.

Key Discussions

How the Jewish deli in America

√ emerged as an institution unlike what immigrants had experienced in the shtetls of Eastern Europe.

√ evolved as a focal point of Jewish identity and remembrance, as a unifier of different immigrant Jewish cultures, and as a communal gathering place, especially for men.

√ had its roots in the culinary habits of German Jewish immigrants

√ rose in importance during the great depression and the rise of the American Nazi Party, especially in New York City.

√ migrated outside of New York City – to the suburbs, Miami and Los Angeles – in the aftermath of World War II.

√ as an institution declined due to various factors.

Social Media/Referenced

ULTRA

Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli at the New York Historical Society (through April 2, 2023)

Guest

Lee Ellis is a nationally-recognized leadership coach, award-winning author, certified speaking professional* (CSP), a Vietnam Veteran and former POW, and USAF Colonel (Ret) | President, Leading with Honor

Summary

Some of the most interesting writing on leadership has come from active and former military personnel, but Lee Ellis has the added dimension of learning leadership lessons the hard way as a five and half year Prisoner of War in the infamous Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War.

Key Discussions

√ How the POW experience influenced Lee’s leadership abilities and practices.

√ The importance of leaders showing vulnerability.

√ The leader’s role in establishing culture.

√ The best leaders integrate a focus on results and on the people doing the work.

√ Why adaptation is a critical leadership skill.

√ Why it’s important for a leader to cultivate a culture that fosters creativity and innovation.

Links/references

Leading with Honor website

Leading with Honor book

Engaging with Honor book

Guest

Founder of “Cherish Your World,” Laura Staley facilitates healthier connections to home, others, and self through decluttering, Feng Shui, and emotional intelligence. She’s the author of Abundant Heart, Live Inspired, Let Go Courageously and Live with Love: Transform Your Life with Feng Shui, & the Cherish Your World Gift Book.

Summary

For good reasons and bad, we surround ourselves with things. In this episode, we look at how "things" occupy our space — not just in terms of the physical world in which we exist, but at how that physical space reflects what’s going on in our head and heart. 

Key Discussions

√ Our things aren’t just things, they have stories attached to them.

√ The three organizational styles.

√ Decluttering the head, heart, and home — and seeing the relationship between the three.

√ The two drivers of clutter.

√ The importance of sharing your abundance with those who have lost everything.

√ The relationship between decluttering and death.

Links / References

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurastaley1/

https://www.facebook.com/laurastaleycherish

https://www.instagram.com/cherishyourworld/channel/?hl=en

Guest

In 2011, coach and author Jane Duncan Rogers was devastated when her husband died.  However, six years later, with two books and a TedX talk to her credit, she now runs her not-for-profit, “Before I Go Solutions.” Its mission is to create a world where people are at ease talking about and planning ahead for death.  It helps accomplish this by providing products and programs so people can create a good end-of-life plan and benefit from the peace of mind this brings. 

Summary

Generally speaking, our philosophy in the Western world is to ignore death and pretend that it's not going to happen. There’s another way to look at things.

Key Discussions

√ Why and how Jane started her organization, “Before I Go Solutions”

√ How she and her husband approached his impending death and why it produced a sense of relief and comfort

√ Why death planning is really an act of love

√ What questions we need to ask when planning for our death

√ How and why we should approach “death cleansing”

√ Why it’s critical to manage “secret papers”

√ The obstacles people put in front of themselves before engaging in death planning

√ The elephant in the room

√ The options to burial

√ What to say to someone grieving

Referenced

Social media

Website

TEDx Talk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beforeigosolutions/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/giftedbygrief

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeduncanrogers/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janeduncanrogers/

Books: 

Before I Go 

Gifted by Grief

The Comfort Crisis

Guests Jeff Carver is an English teacher who has been working in New Orleans charter schools for the last nine years.  Before teaching, he spent the good part of a decade working in music and advertising.  Nia DeCoux is a writer, educator, and activist who believes that when done well, storytelling and teaching become the same practice. Her work has been honored by both the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the National Black Arts Festival.

Summary

While many educators continue to follow the standard 150-year-old approach to instruction and learning, and others are leaving the profession for various reasons, many teachers are helping to ignite their students’ inherent curiosity.

Key Discussions

√ Desired learner outcomes for tested and non-tested courses

√ How student performance against the mission is measured

√ The importance of place-based and project-based learning

√ How kids and parents adapt to the unique New Harmony environment

√ Why Jeff and Nia became teachers, and how their teaching changed over time

√ How to introduce students to the idea of voice and choice

√ How to help teachers experiment with allowing students’ curiosity

 

Social media/References

website:  www.newharmonyhigh.org

Rising by Elizabeth Rush