Passport Podcast

Most of us will grow older, yet few of us are fully prepared for what it can mean–for ourselves or the people we love.

In this episode of The Passport Podcast, host Keith Breitbach sits down with longtime elder-care provider Libby Christianson for a candid discussion about planning for later life. Drawing on firsthand experience, Libby offers practical insight for individuals and families dealing with changing needs, independence, caregiving, and difficult decisions.

Whether you're helping a parent or loved one today or simply thinking ahead, Libby offers perspective that can help you approach the years ahead with greater knowledge and confidence.

After all, if we're fortunate, we'll all get there someday.

This interview originally aired on Community Chat on 103.1 KSCW in Sun City West, Arizona.

Host: Keith Breitbach Guest: Libby Christianson

Late-night streets. Faint sirens. A city that never sleeps and never stops surprising you.

From Washington, DC's unsolved murders to Seattle, San Francisco, and Albuquerque's notorious "Warzone," The Passport Podcast host Keith Breitbach shares unfiltered stories of beauty, danger, and the unreported side of urban life. Set against the backdrop of a national conversation on violent crime, homelessness, and public safety, this episode blends lived experience with vivid storytelling, revealing what it's really like to live in the heart of the city, walk these streets after dark, and why some of us never leave the places we love.

From Railcars to Robotaxis: America's Transit Transformation - From riding the Amtrak Empire Builder as a college student in the early 1990s to working on the launch of Albuquerque's Rapid Transit system, Keith traces a lifetime of movement through America's evolving transportation landscape.

Along the way: cable cars in San Francisco, the rise of ride-share, and the arrival of autonomous vehicles in Phoenix. A first-hand look at how mobility is changing and what it means for the cities and communities we call home.

The geography of change, and what cities remember even when we forget.

In this episode, I revisit Phoenix, where heat, grit, and geography collide. Once the edge of the map and now one of America's fastest-growing metros, Phoenix is where my adult life began.

Through memory, motion, and the lens of place, I reflect on what it means to return to a city that once defined you. From biking wide streets to pondering desert skies, this is a story about growth, disorientation, and how places and people evolve across time and space.

At age 11, Keith Breitbach delivered newspapers through the quiet streets of Dubuque, Iowa, past freshly built homes, union workers, and a corner where men waited each morning for the yellow bus to the John Deere plant. Decades later, he'd watch another kind of worker, young tech professionals gathered at a different corner in San Francisco, bound for Silicon Valley on sleek commuter shuttles.

In this reflective episode of The Passport Podcast, Keith reflects on the subtle, yet powerful parallels between two generations of workers - one shaped by labor, the other by code.

Through personal memory and cultural observation, he explores how economic value shifts, how obsolescence creeps in, and what we can learn from the corners we've stood on.

As AI and automation reshape today's workforce and our society, this story presents a quiet but urgent question: What happens to those the system no longer needs?

In this episode of the Passport Podcast, host Keith Breitbach delves into the powerful teachings of key figures in the New Thought movement. Discover how these insights on positive thinking and the mind's potential, combined with wisdom from history's greatest thinkers, can provide you with essential tools for personal growth and success. Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to elevate your life.

In this dynamic episode, we reconnect with Max Lockwood on the bustling streets of New York City. Max brings us the latest updates on tourism, economic activity, and the political climate, all while sharing insights from his popular American Freedom and Democracy walking tour centered in Manhattan.

Join us for an engaging conversation as Max provides an in-depth look at the current state of the city and the nation, including a discussion of the Biden, Trump, and RFK Jr. and the 2024 election campaigns. Max blends his unique perspective with the vibrancy of New York City.

Don't miss this episode, which features timely observations and thought-provoking commentary from one of America's keenest social commentators.

In this episode, we sit down with Max Lockwood, a New York City-based writer and social commentator whose thought-provoking insights are featured on his popular Substack newsletter, "America is." Max takes us on a journey through his freewheeling life, from his roots in Cambridge, MA, to his diverse roles as a park ranger with the United States Park Service, a position with the Interior Department in Washington, DC, and his ventures as an entrepreneur.

Max's unique life experiences shape his profound and often critical perspectives on the social, political, and economic conditions of America. Join us as we delve into his reflections on the state of the nation, explore his passionate pursuits, and gain a deeper understanding of the forces that have influenced his distinctive worldview. This is an episode you won't want to miss, filled with enlightening discussions and compelling narratives from one of today's most engaging commentators.

In episode 17, I make a trip back to my hometown of Dubuque, Iowa where I meet up with urban farming pioneer Mike Muench.

Mike and his wife Leslie are on a mission to create a community around food - from growing it to cooking it to sharing it with the citizens of this small city located along the banks of the mighty Missississippi River smack dab in the middle of America's heartland.

They've repurposed an old greenhouse turning it into a neighborhood farming operation to include Hydro & Aquaponic gardening, a coffeehouse, event space, commercial kitchen and community education center.

They've named their nonprofit enterprise Convivium - which is the Latin word for "feast" - they're bringing people together in a celebration around food and you can find their website at Convivium-DBQ.com. It's an exciting adventure and inspiring story.

I know you're going to enjoy hearing from Mike about Convivium - It's an inspired 21st-century vision for urban farming and community building in an old industrial river town.

Listen, like, comment, share and subscribe to the Passport Podcast. Now, let's get this show on the road.

Passport Podcast host Keith Breitbach talks with Author John W. Law about his book chronicling the exploits and adventures of San Francisco's avant-guard Cacophony Society and Suicide Club.

One of the original creators and producers of Burning Man, SantaCon, and the Billboard Liberation Front among others, John Law shares his story.

A runaway at 17, Law hitchhiked to the City and immersed himself in the subterranean world of urban exploration, culture jamming, and public performance in the spirit of the Dada movement to bend reality ever so slightly and introduce thought-provoking humor into an absurd world.

Please like, Comment, subscribe and share the Passport Podcast. Listen and enjoy as John Law shares his exciting tales of being a bona fide urban adventurer in and around the City by the Bay.

Visit JohnWLaw.com and Follow on Facebook to discover more.

Urban Exploration is often shortened as urbex, UE, bexing, urbexing and sometimes known as roof-and-tunnel hacking

Photo © by George Post 2017