Tobi Jo Greene's own experiences as a girl growing up in Ojai inspired her to start the Girls Empowerment Workshop nearly 20 years ago. Now expanded to the Empowerment Workshop, teaching girls, and now all youth, skills to help them navigate adolescence and other crisis moments in their lives in a social-media saturated era of identity crisis and confusion.

The goal is to help children learn a deep sense of self-worth, of respecting differences, and communicating effectively.

Since Greene began the program, thousands of youth have been enabled and now the program has been adopted across Ventura County and beyond. She's been honored with the Dr. Robert Skankey Humanitarian Award for her work.

We talked about the lessons she's learned along the way, first as a young girl growing up in Ojai, as a mother and now grandmother, plus exciting new projects on the horizon. We talked about the evolving pressures on young people today. We did not talk about Shintoism, hobo symbology or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Learn more about Tobi Jo Greene's work online at ...

https://thegirlsempowermentworkshop.org/

Ojai Music Festival Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian brings his customary wisdom, wit and insight into a preview for this year's festival (June 6-9) with renowned pianist and conductor Mitsuko Uchida returning for her third time.

Ojai, known for its daring programming, promises to stretch boundaries this year with a mix of familiar music (Haydn, Mozart) and modernists Webern, John Adams and John Zorn.

Guzelimian talks about the massive amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the festival; finding housing for the artists, coordinating the volunteers and interns, the years-long lead time to pull together the talent and the programming, and the audiences who have come to adore the Ojai Music Festival for being the best at what it does in the world.

We did not talk about "Baby Reindeer," this year's NFL schedule or Fermat's Last Theorem.

Check out the Ojai Music Festival at OjaiFestival.org.

Mesa Farm is an innovative program designed to help kids aging out of the foster system, run by Ojai-born-and-raised Dan Parziale. They recently brought in ten tiny homes and are within days of welcoming their first residents.

The Farm gives these youth, ages 18-24, the skills to succeed in life, from job training partnerships with local businesses, farming opportunities on the farm itself, to learning how to prepare resumés, for job interviews and life skills. Half of the kids aging out of foster care end up homeless, and Mesa Farm is one of the few programs designed to prevent that bad outcome.

Dan talks about growing up in Ojai, being educated at Notre Dame, teaching inner-city students and managing nonprofit organizations. We did not talk about flat-lining for yellowtail, precision measurements and instruments or Steve Zaillian's "Ripley."

For more about Mesa Farm, check out https://www.mesafarm.org/

The Ojai that renowned architect Marc Whitman grew up in is very different than it is now. And in the ways that it is better, Marc can take some of the credit, through his prolific career with residential and commercial buildings, such as Saddle Mountain and the Iguana Hotels.

Recently, Marc proposed a plan to convert the 7.5 acres in downtown Ojai to an arts academy and live-work space, literally building on Ojai's reputation as an arts destination. We talk about that project and other concepts, before bridging into a wide range of topics, including his love for Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, being mentored by Zelma Wilson, his artist mother fostering her children's creativity, as well as future projects and plans.

We did not talk about sniper rifles, Soviet-era social organizations or the muskie fishing in southern Ontario.

You can learn more about Marc at www.whitman-architect.com.

This episode we're joined by Besant Hill's Head of School Portia Johnson, and senior Eden Munster to talk about this weekend's Spring Arts Festival (April 19-20).

This event showcases the students' projects but also the legendary school's focus on creativity. With its motto, "Aun Auprendo" - Always Learning - Besant Hill School stays true to its conception as a place where arts and creativity are tightly woven into the fabric of the school's curriculum and life.

We talked about the forces that are shaping education today - from social media's culture of narcissism to the ever-evolving economy. We also talked about alumni and their brilliant post-Besant careers.

Eden and Portia also shared reminiscences about the early days of the pandemic and the challenges of learning remotely, when so much of the student body at the 100-student school lived overseas, and how they managed to create and sustain a sense of community. The memorable Thanksgiving dinner on campus in 2020, when the teachers prepared the dinner for the students, will be a cherished memory, for example.

Johnson, who grew up in Ojai and attended Besant Hill, talked about her experiences at the school, and how it inspired her to pursue a career in education, which, after a college sojourn in West Virginia, led back to where it all started.

We did not talk about modern uses of the abacus, glacial melt or the solstice.

https://www.besanthill.org/upcoming-events/

Cary Odes has been a standup comic for 45 years, coming up through the ranks at the legendary Comedy Store in Los Angeles, sharing the stage with David Letterman, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams, under the tutelage of Mitzi Shore, where he was the very first paid regular.

More importantly to Ojai, he's been teaching standup comedy here in Ojai for more than 20 years, turning a bunch of boring schlubs into comic dynamos, presenting their "tight fives" to adoring crowds. On Sunday, April 14th, his latest batch of comics will perform to a sold-out audience at Kim Maxwell Studios, with another show planned for Friday, April 18th.

We talked about how Cary got into comedy as an extension of him and a friend entertaining themselves, then realizing in college that he had a special talent for making people laugh. After studying in Chicago with the improvisational great Del Close, Cary nearly got his big break on the show "Bosom Buddies," and had his role snatched by a then-unknown Tom Hanks, and has steadily worked every since, touring the country, and now teaching his eight-week master classes in which students learn the components and craft of a joke (the premise, the setup, the act out, the turn) and perform the alchemy in which they take their pain and vulnerabilities and turn into the healing balm of laughter.

We talked about how his style has evolved over the years, the joys of teaching, anecdotes from the trenches of the standup circuit, how to bomb on stage gracefully, and how comedy might be the Next Big Thing in the healing arts.

We did not talk about kitchen knife-sharpening techniques, wolverine-trimmed parkas or the voyages of the HMS Beagle.

Check out more about Cary at his website, thestandupworkshop.com where you can sign up for a class, or private lessons, or enter a joke contest.

And here for some of his vintage work and fashion stylings ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jjW4KPUWc

When not raising children, horses and rabbits at her home in our city, Ojai Police Chief Trina Newman runs the Ojai substation with its 25 Ventura County Sheriff's Deputies, patrolling the Ojai and Lockwood Valleys.

Capt. Newman is a 26-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and has held several positions in her tenure with the Sheriff’s Office including as a school resource officer, backgrounds investigator, mounted unit supervisor, and as a critical incident review supervisor. 

With her characteristic understated affability, Capt. Newman talked about the community she loves, raising her daughter here, and her decades behind the badge. She explained the value of social media such as Facebook, Next Door and Instagram in keeping track of crime and residents' complaints as an extension of community policing.

We also talked about changes in policing over the years, "Broken Windows Theory," the challenges unique to Ojai, property crimes, homelessness and drug abuse.

We did not talk about Shoshei Ohtani's healing process, her favorite "food 'tubers" or "Shogun."

Check out more about Ojai's police at:

https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/392229252/ojai-police-department/

And Broken Windows at ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

Explorer, conservationist, mountaineer and author Rick Ridgeway has lived a life that is best summed up in the subhead of his seventh book, "Life Lived Wild:" Adventures at the Edge of the Map." Each chapter of this book covers a different adventure, all of them told in Rick's compelling style. 

These adventures included climbing uncharted peaks in the Himalayas, searching the rivers of eastern Siberia for tigers, crossing the remote fastnesses of the Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet in search of the calving grounds of the enigmatic and endangered chiru - an antelope-like goat prized for its fur and now protected, and returning to the site of a tragic avalanche to bring closure and comfort to a grieving daughter. He also talks about his efforts helping two CEOs tackle the formidable Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents. Rick served the expedition leader for perhaps the most grueling climb - summitting Antarctica's Mount Vinson. Rick also talks about the death of his close friend Doug Tompkins, founder of North Face and a visionary conservationist, on a kayak trip which nearly claimed Rick's life as well.

Part of a legendary group of adventurers, "the Do Boys," which includes Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Tompkins, Ridgeway's love of the outdoors and testing himself in the most extreme situations came to him at an early age and has never let up.

Besides his incredible life of extreme adventure, we talk about his beautiful Ojai home which he shared with his recently deceased wife Jennifer, which was built by famed black architect Paul Revere Williams. We also talk about Ojai's backcountry, what he would say were he to run into Elon Musk, and how man is not the only species with an exploratory urge.

A long-time Ojai resident, he serves on the board of the Ojai Turtle Conservancy as well as the Tompkins Conservancy, carrying on the work of Tompkins with Doug's widow Kris. We did not talk about Boethius' imprisonment, worm holes or Japanese wood block prints.

(This is a repost of our conversation from 2021)

Few people, perhaps no one, has been more involved in pushing for the removal of Matilija Dam than Paul Jenkin, campaign coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation and founder of Matilija Watch. Paul was there in 2000 when U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt climbed on top of a giant crane and removed a 16,000 pound chunk of the dam.

He's still there now, guiding and directing the process through innumerable delays and complications, including rebuilding bridges and levees, all designed to handle the release of 9 million cubic feet of sediments behind the dam. The dam was built in 1947 and quickly filled because of bad design.

The dam prevents the once flourishing runs of southern steelhead trout from migrating upstream to their ancestral spawning grounds and the sands for replenishing Ventura County's beaches from migrating downstream.

We talked about why it's taking so long and costing so much (est. $200 million) to remove this chunk of aging infrastructure, why it's so important to the region and the entire country to let this river return to its natural state, and the amount of effort it takes to do big things. We also talked about Paul's background, his careers and perspective.

We did not talk about Shohei Ohtani's interpreter's gambling problems, the Reddit IPO or the Benin Bronzes.

You can keep up to date with the status of the dam, and other local environmental issues at VenturaRiver.org where Paul posts frequently.