Omaha-based artist and web developer Brian Wetjen recounts a childhood programming the family’s first computer to make it funnier, leading to the heady early days of web-based businesses and entrepreneurship. Wetjen also shares his transformative plant-medicine journeys that have quieted his anxiety and OCD, and sharpened his attention, presence, and being in the world.

Brian Wetjen is an Omaha-based artist, web developer, husband, and dad who moves between paint and pixels, plants and code—from his home office and Hot Shops Art Center—to create calm, nature-infused art and human-centered websites. A lifelong Nebraskan, his curiosity has recently deepened through plant-medicine journeys that he describes as profoundly transformative, quieting anxiety and OCD and sharpening attention and presence. He shares music, books, and playlists freely, seeing art, psychedelics, code, and culture as different ways to explore, heal, and help people feel more at ease in the world.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

*Bonus content* for Lives members only features exclusive content and more. Find a Lives membership tier that fits you - support link here.

Organizational and community development consultant Sarah Phelps recognized early in life that she was neurodivergent and very very smart. Influenced by her experiences from the rural midwestern town of her upbringing to time in France, India, China and more, Phelps has become a champion for people thriving, bringing a deep care for community at every opportunity.

With an IQ over 160, Sarah Phelps is smart. She is a facilitator, strategist, and community builder who helps organizations weave wellbeing, equity, and innovation into the everyday realities of learning, leadership development, and culture change. Drawing on more than 20 years of nonprofit and corporate experience in strategic HR and organizational development, she’s known for identifying solutions that stick. Phelps has consulted with values-driven organizations nationwide—including OutNebraska and Inclusive Communities—to cultivate inclusive, mission-aligned teams and brave, growth-oriented conversations. She is the founder of the Emerging Speakers Institute, co-founder of Leaders for Equity, Allyship and Diversity, a speaker with Hummingbird Humanity, and Board President of Umbrella US, where she champions neurodivergent and LGBTQ thriving. A voracious reader, gardener, and singer, Phelps brings curiosity, creativity, and deep care for community to every room she’s in.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

*Bonus content* for Lives members only features exclusive content and more. Find a Lives membership tier that fits you - support link here.

Shelby Seier, a multi-disciplinary and disabled artist, transforms the idea of accessibility into an expressive art form—one that invites care, creativity, and community. She reflects on her artistic journey through chronic illness, with improvised quilting, drawing everyday objects of accommodation, and the political power of play. Seier envisions how rest, imagination, and relational design can reshape our understanding of what it means to live well—with and for one another.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

*Bonus content* for Lives members only includes Shelby Seier sharing a favorite snooping story! For that exclusive content and more, find a Lives membership tier that fits you - support link here.

James Eagle Feather is a formerly incarcerated individual returned to the community as a mentor and entrepreneur. Surrounded by gangs and violence in north Omaha, Eagle Feather was incarcerated at 18 and spent nearly two decades behind bars. From those years emerged a story of resilience and redemption in a calling to mentor youth on the same problematic paths. Now a motivational speaker and TEDxOmaha presenter, Eagle Feather shares a journey towards hope, from prison to purpose.

Listeners are advised that today’s show features descriptions of violence that some listeners might find disturbing.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

*Bonus content* for Lives members only includes James Eagle Feather sharing more on the context of his name and heritage and entertaining examples of his discovering new technologies as he returned to the community from incarceration. For that exclusive content and more, find a Lives membership tier that fits you - support link here.

Certified retirement coach and business consultant, Dr. Ginny Curley, as the seventh of eight children, learned early how relationships, and their loss, shape our lives — insights deepened through decades of study and personal experiences in surviving a near-fatal heart attack and cancer. Today, as a certified retirement coach and consultant to family-owned businesses, Curley brings wisdom to questions of meaning, legacy, and what truly matters.

From a big family, Ginny Curley learned early to navigate complex relationships—deepening that knowledge with a theology and sociology degree, a master’s in counseling, and a Ph.D. in educational administration and leadership. After decades in higher education and leading organizational development in industry, she now helps family-owned businesses develop continuity and helps those nearer to retirement navigate change with clarity and confidence. As a survivor of a near-fatal heart attack and of cancer, Curley brings a hard-won clarity about meaning, legacy, and what makes a good life.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

*Bonus content* for Lives members only includes Dr. Curley sharing her perspective on the benefits of studying in Austria and the meaning of life! For that exclusive content and more, find a Lives membership tier that fits you - support link here.

Dr Lucas Schulte, Director of Education and Outreach at Tri-Faith, was raised on a Nebraska farm, tutored in college and divinity schools, seasoned on archaeological digs, and blends grit and thoughtful reflection. As well as deep religious scholarship, he has spent decades asking how people of different faiths live well together. We talk about all that in the show, as well as Indiana-Jones moments, religious identity, and why interfaith engagement matters in a polarized era.

Dr. Schulte leads efforts to promote Religious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through community education and engagement. A Nebraska native, he earned degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Yale Divinity School, and Claremont Graduate University, specializing in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and the ancient Near East. His career includes teaching at universities and seminaries nationwide, archaeological work in Israel, and published scholarship, including a book on the Book of Nehemiah and a chapter in The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah. Today, he brings both academic expertise and practical creativity to advancing interfaith understanding, while also enjoying life with his wife, two children, and passions ranging from biking and cooking to Star Trek and K-dramas.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

Veteran and fundraising professional Kenley Sturdivant-Wilson traces a journey from a childhood in Thailand to a small Arkansas delta town, and from profound loss to a life of service. His story blends tragedy with resilience and weaves a diverse cultural heritage. What emerges is a life committed to equity, hope, and belonging.

Sturdivant-Wilson’s life bridges cultures, tragedy, and service. Born in Thailand to a Thai mother and Black American father, he grew up a military child, moving often but ultimately calling home a small Arkansas delta town. The early death of his mother left a lasting sorrow, yet also shaped his compassion and resilience. Inspired by her courage and his grandmother’s trailblazing achievements in the segregated South, he has dedicated his professional life to philanthropy—strengthening communities through the arts, education, and affordable housing—always grounded in equity, heritage, and belonging.

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Today's show and others are supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

Wellness entrepreneur Glenisha Nelson has faced obstacles in life, including a difficult childhood environment, becoming a teenage mom, and people that doubted her, but through talent, determination, and faith, she built her vision, creating The G Spot Spa & Wellness as a place for healing, balance, and community. Nelson shares her journey of strength, entrepreneurship, and purpose.

Nelson, a Licensed Massage Therapist and Certified Lymphatic Therapist who founded of The “G” Spot Spa & Wellness in Omaha. Nelson has combined determination with vision and resilience with kindness to overcome hurdles in her life, develop her entrepreneurial success, and and respond to a calling to serve people’s wellbeing and healing.

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Today's show and others is supported by the generous membership of Amy and Tom Trenolone.

Entomologist Doctor Jody Green takes us from her roundabout path into entomology to her current role as a science communicator and extension educator. With warmth, humor, and a no-nonsense style, Dr. Green talks about changing perceptions of the buzzing, crawling world around us and the surprising insights and life lessons she’s found through both bugs and people.

Dr. Green is a Board‑Certified entomologist specializing in urban and industrial insects. Originally from Ontario, Canada, she earned an associate’s degree in environmental pest management at Sir Sandford Fleming College and went on to complete her M.S. and Ph.D. in entomology at Purdue University. After working as a pesticide applicator, termite inspector and pest consultant, she joined Nebraska Extension, where she serves as an extension educator for Douglas-Sarpy Extension. She co‑hosts the Arthro‑Pod podcast and appears regularly on the PBS Backyard Farmer program on Nebraska Public Television. Known for her no-nonsense style and motto “stop and think before you step on a bug”, Green enjoys sharing how insects play vital roles in ecosystems. When she isn’t answering bug questions for Nebraskans, Green is a keen runner and volunteer with various conservation and nature groups.

Cartoon artist and comic book author Caitlin Cass creates comics about failing systems, strange historical narratives, and irrational hope. From mail-order zines to Eisner Award winning graphic histories, she crafts stories that are sharp, strange, and full of heart. Hear how ghosts, humor, and historical research fuel her singular artistic world.

Cartoonist and illustrator Caitlin Cass uses comics, cartoons, and installations to explore failing systems, query traditional historical narratives, and pursue irrational hope. Her 2024 book - Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race, and Voting Rights in the US - which won an Eisner Award, dubbed the Oscars of the comic book industry. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Lily, and The Nib. Growing up near Chicago, Cass studied the Great Books at St. John’s College in Sante Fe and earned an MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo, and since 2021 teaches studio art and illustration at the University of Nebraska Omaha.