Resilient Us

Marissa Ruehle is a serial entrepreneur from Wilmington, North Carolina. Her ventures have helped shape Wilmington into one of the most desirable beach towns on the east coast. We discuss her life as early entrepreneur, when, at the age of 15 she bought infrared saunas and leased them to fitness centers across the city. Since then, every venture of hers has improved people's lives.   Her current venture, Casa Blanca Coffee, is Wilmington's only roaster. Additionally, it doubles as Wilmington's premiere coffee shop.    Marissa talks about joys and struggles of building businesses. Most importantly, she discusses why - through all ventures - community is the most important thing she creates.    Moreover, she talks about difficulties of being a woman entrepreneur. Her anecdotes were shocking and a good reminder that we all have biases to face and people to give grace.    Finally, we talked about the coffee industry. It's hard to believe that such a hard-to-harvest commodity is so ubiquitous. As she says, if you've ever had a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop, it was among the best coffee in the world. But she asks, and struggles to answer, whether coffee should be so cheap and accessible? Despite growing awareness in the coffee industry, too many roasters have become "white saviors" in their pursuit for more just economics.   Whatever the answer is for the next generation, it's obvious that the coffee industry will look drastically different in the next generation than it does now. Just as this generation does after Starbucks paved the way for cafe-lifestyle in the United States during the late 70's. 

Mike Lewis is the first federally permitted farmer to grow hemp in the United States since its prohibition in 1937.

We talk about how is path to farming started with a few books on political philosophy, his love for hemp as America's first true crop, and the promises it holds for the future of farming.

Since he first started his campaign to deschedule hemp as a psychoactive drug, Mike has found himself in courts, on the steps of the capitol, and traveling the country to get people to believe in what he's believed for so long - that hemp is a powerful crop that belongs in fields across America. And then, in shirts, fuel tanks, and flags across this great country as well.

Mike talks about the history of hemp and its relation to marijuana and the obstacles he faces in his journey to see the crop grow beyond the fields and into the marketplace in more forms than just CBD Oil.

Additionally, we talk about farming in general, the problems it's facing, and the technologies aiding farmers to predict problems on the ground and in their supply chains.

Today, Mike heads two organizations, Third Wave Farms and Growing Warriors. Third Wave Farms exists to empower American farmers to embrace and sustain today's game-changing crop—industrial hemp. Growing Warriors trains, assists, and equips military veterans with the skills they need to produce high quality, naturally grown produce for their families, communities and country.

You can learn more about Mike on Patagonia's Youtube page, where you can watch short films about him including, Harvesting Liberty and Misunderstood: A Short History of Hemp - among others.

You can learn more about farming by visiting the National Center for Appropriate Technology

Mike's favorite food philosopher is Windell Berry.

I'm on vacation this week! But I didn't want to leave you with nothing to listen to.

This episode I share my three favorite podcasts I've been listening to recently that you can tune into in the absence of Resilient us not releasing an episode this week.

I start with a shameless promotion and ask four things of everyone!

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MIT's Artificial Intelligence podcast, hosted by Lex Fridman. Description: Conversations at MIT and beyond about the nature of intelligence with some of the most interesting people in the world thinking about AI from the perspective of deep learning, robotics, AGI, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, economics, physics, mathematics, and more.

Without Fail, a Gimlet production, hosted by Alex Blumburg (specifically, the episode with Jerry Colonna). Description: Candid conversations with entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, visionaries of all kinds—about their successes, and their failures, and what they learned from both. Hosted by Alex Blumberg, from Gimlet Media.

Man in the Window, A Wondery Series hosted by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Paige St. John. Description: In Man in the Window, Paige St. John, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter has uncovered never before revealed details about the man who would eventually become one of California's most deadly serial killers. From Wondery and the LA Times comes a new series that traces his path of devastation through his victims' eyes.

It wasn't until high school that S.L. McKinley knew he was fat. His cure, he thought, was bulimia. After that morning in the mirror when he saw his flaws he's never been able to unsee them, even now, as a beast of a human and special operator in the U.S. Marines.   S.L. McKinley talks about his journey to being a special operator, his battle to see himself as someone he likes to see in the mirror, and his journey into the arts. When he's not training in the military he's working out himself or his clients at Aggression Athletics in North Carolina, or writing poetry or taking photographs.   S.L McKinley truly embodies every characteristic of a poet-warrior, and that's what makes him such an interesting guest on Resilient Us.

Kendrick Eckman is an actor, comedian, and entertainer studying dramatic arts at the NYU Tisch School of Arts. He embodies the adage that beautiful art is the product through hard times. As a tap dancer growing up in a blue-collar home - and town - Kendrick was often harassed for his love of dance. Today he's envied for it. We talk about his journey from wanna-be-creative to Air Force TAC-P and the battle for self-worth and against alcoholism that's occurred since then and now.    Most interestingly we discuss his renewed relationship with alcohol and his belief that he can actually reshape his relationship with alcohol - even after admitting that he was an addict.    We go deep into the mind of a creative and how at times the pursuit feels completely devoid of worth. Kendrick's story from being a kid in a broken home only dreaming to attend NYU to actually attending the school of his dreams, and with such a grounded mindset, is sure to inspire any listener.    You can keep up with Kendrick via the following handles.    Instagram: @kendrick_Eckman Facebook: Kendrick Eckman

As a symbol of monarchal oppression, tea was rejected, defiled, and as we all know, thrown into the sea. Americans needed a new beverage, one stimulating to the mind and tastebuds, something as exotic and flavorful as, say, coffee.   In the second history episode of Resilient Us I celebrate the beverage that helped colonists unite. I talk briefly about tariffs and taxation from America's first wars, to today's flare-ups with Iran. A history which, I argue, makes fighting for economic means alone justification for a "moral war." I share letters John Adams and his wife wrote to one another about their love for coffee. Finally, we look at the food riots of 1777 - also known as the "female riots" - and recall the abysmal living conditions of revolutionaries and how, above all else, they just wanted a damn good cup of coffee. After all that has changed since then, so much about America has remained the same. 

Phil Jordan is a former infantry Marine turned disaster relief agent.   We talk about the debilitating and mysterious illness that left him unable to walk and how confronting his own mortality led him Costa Rica, where he drank an elixir that practically cured him in an instant. Phil is brutally honest about the lingering effects of his drug abuse after he got out of the military and we talk about how and why he finally started to live clean(er).    We also discuss his dropping out of college and how much anxiety he experienced getting back into the classroom after his time in the Marines.    The sum of these experiences is ultimately about change and separating ones identity from their work, no matter how important their job may seem. In addition to that, we discuss how obscure "home" feels when the reason you left was to never return.   For almost two months now Phil has been doing what he believes is "what's next" for him, working as a disaster relief agent for Team Rubicon. His excitement for the job led Phil to apply for Team Rubicon's exclusive Clay Hunt Fellowship. At the time of this recording is application was being considered by the board.    *UPDATE* As of today, Phil was denied the the Clay Hunt Fellowship. But he's undeterred and has recently decided to move to Houston, where he can continue to work with Team Rubicon and prove to them, for however long it takes, that he deserves the fellowship.    As this journey continues for Phil, I'm hopeful that his resiliency carries him to another great chapter. 

To jump right into the action, start at 5:30.    In the first HISTORY EPISODE of Resilient Us, I take a look at the resilience of Captain James Riley. Captain Riley and his crew were enslaved in Morocco in 1815 after his ship capsized off Cape Bojador, near Morocco. After him and his crew went ashore, local berbers took them as slaves, stripped them naked, and forced them to march across the desert to be sold to the highest bidding tribe.    I recall the horrors of their enslavement through reading excerpts from Captain Riley's autobiography. While this book is largely unknown at this time, it's estimated that as many as 1/5 Americans read the work in the few years following its publication. The results of which informed an entire generation of American's of the atrocities of slavery. Moreover, this book was heralded by Abraham Lincoln as one of the most three influential books of his life, along with the Holy Bible and Pilgrim's Progress.    Considering the influence of Captain Riley's story, it's not too much to suggest that his story single handedly restructured America's relationship with slavery. 

Brasko is a glam-pop artist from Nashville, Tennessee. His music and aesthetics muddle the lines of gendered norms and challenge notions of masculinity. Despite his often shocking lyrics or looks, in this episode Brasko reveals these absurdities are just a reflection of the norms that already exist.

We discuss a myriad of topics in this episode: how he found his voice as Brasko after a lifetime of playing music, how uncomfortable he was when he first started embodying this character, and what "making it" means to him now that he's making and playing music he's always wanted to hear.

His most recent single, lipstick stains, is available everywhere music is heard.

Some links to topics and ideas discussed in this show:

• That word I forgot. . . sapiosexual: finding intelligence sexually attractive or arousing
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Prince
• David Bowie
• Glam-pop
• Brasko: An Artist You Should Get to Know

Ep 1: Chris Jones, Journalist Covering Afghanistan and VA

In this first episode, I sit down with Christopher Reed Jones. Chris is a freelance journalist that covers Afghanistan, US politics, and the VA for a variety of outlets. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Pacific Standard, USA Today, The Washington Post, and the Village Voice. 

If he's not in NYC, you can probably find him in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

Chris and I talked about the trajectory of his life, from growing up in Missouri, to joining the Marine Corps after a freak car accident convinced him to turn around his life. Chris and I had a candid conversation about growing up in the Midwest and how that worldview prepared us for joining the Marines. His four month excursion on the Appalachian Trail after he left service; and his nine visits to Afghanistan since exiting service which have helped him restore himself and his relationship with that country. 

Perhaps most candidly, Chris and I talk about the trappings of veteranhood and the illusion of a veteran "community." On future episodes, Chris and I will discuss our experiences at Columbia and share resources for transitioning veterans to better understand how they too can find themselves into a school they once thought beyond their reach. 

You can read more about Chris here, and read his most recent piece in the NYT here. 

Below are a few of the items we discussed in this episode: 

* LSP * AP Trail * Franklin, NC * Sarah Stillman * Kevin Sykes "the things they cannot say" * Columbia GS * Farshad Houssein * Andrew Bartfield * Kris Goldsmith