Still Curious

The Ungoogleable Michaelangelo is a multidimensional artist and creator of cosmic, comedic, and contemplative content. We discuss the mysteries of creativity and the disciplined use of psychoactive substances to expand one's understanding of the world.

Key Topics

• Why "unconscious printouts" – unexpected creations that arise while doing something else –  often end up being the artist's best work because the artist is not interfering with their own creativity
• Michaelangelo's trajectory as a multidimensional artist, from an early fascination with wildlife, nature, and photography, to pursuing music, film, podcasting, and poetry.
• An unconventional path that includes being a legal squatter in a haunted dentist’s practice, a stage magician, a tour guide in San Francisco, a street artist, a pawn shop worker in Florida, and an extra on an episode of Westworld.
• How Michaelangelo makes disciplined use of psychoactive substances to explore consciousness and the fringes of reality
• How the power of mirroring and finding self-portraits in other people can help us become more accurate reflections of ourselves

Full Show Notes
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s3e4-the-ungoogleable-michaelangelo

Recorded 2 February 2023

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

John Fawole is an International Chess Federation master, chess in education lecturer, and founder of Bruvs Chess Media. John shares his journey to becoming a national chess champion in Nigeria, the transformative effects of chess education, and how the game impacts people's lives beyond the board.

Key topics

• John's journey to becoming Nigerian National Chess Champion, US National Master and World Chess Federation Master
• What chess can teach us about creativity, commitment, patience, and problem solving
• The grassroots advocacy and coaching work John does to advance the state of the game and teach young people important life skills through chess
• How chess is changing thanks to software tools, AI, and representation in popular culture

Episode Digest
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s3e3-john-fawole/

Recorded 15 January 2023

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Lara is a New Zealand-based planner with over 10 years of experience in the field, working on projects across the public and private sectors. With a background in both government processes and business realities, Lara has a unique perspective on the intersection of policy, science, and community engagement. We discuss breaking down institutional knowledge barriers and public participation in planning.

Key topics

• Understanding the challenges of managing climate risk and adaptation in New Zealand
• Lara's squiggly career and personal growth through exploring different opportunities within the planning profession
• How being a grokkist helps Lara break down the barriers between different planning agencies and institutions
• The importance of communication, empathy and public engagement in planning

Episode Digest
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s3e2-lara-clarke

Recorded 13 January 2023

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Sam Hoffman is a multidisciplinary creative with roots in copywriting and content creation for Broadway shows and Fortune 500s. For over a decade, Sam has moonlighted as a part-time high school speech and debate coach with one of the nation's top programs, Ridge High School in New Jersey. He specializes in the competitive categories that allow students to craft a persuasive acting performance geared around subjects they are passionate about. We discuss the creative strategy and seduction of authentic storytelling and storydoing.

Key topics

• Sam’s background and journey in corporate advertising, copywriting and content creation, and why he loves chasing eyeballs
• Sam's journey as a speech and debate coach, and why speech and debate is a great way to develop one's own voice and values
• What Sam means by authentic storytelling with purpose

Detours and Tangents

• The evolving social media landscape and why it makes sense to think of social media platforms like cities
• The time Sam worked on a promotional campaign for comedian Mike Birbiglia
• What it means to have legitimate attention, and the role of competition and coaching in development and growth

Episode Digest
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s3e1-sam-hoffman

Recorded 14 December 2022

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Erich Leidums is the content creator behind That Mountain Life, where he documents his family's outdoor adventures and parenting journey in a small mountain town in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. We discuss the importance of building a fulfilling lifestyle that aligns with your values.

Key Topics:

• The importance of building a fulfilling lifestyle that aligns with your values, freeing yourself from the need for external validation
• Erich’s experiences growing up in Canada and his squiggly career journey through outdoor education, adventure tourism, paramedicine, and becoming a full-time content creator.
• Being an unplanned dad and the challenges and rewards of combining parenting and adventure
• Embracing risk and the power of giving someone a supportive nudge when they are at their edge of their comfort zone
• Why playing poker is a form of meditation, and the one book Erich read in high school that forever changed his life

Full Show Notes
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s2e13-erich-leidums/

Recorded 3 August 2022

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

A conversation all about what happens when a mingling of interests meets a sudden change in priorities. The moments where you change from being one kind of thing into another, how that happens and how you update your self-understanding along the way. Teaching moments and learning moments – the beating heart of education that enables each of us to reflect on our experiences and capitalise on those reflections in ways we can put into practice and that move us forward.

Key Topics:

• What you lose when you stop being a teacher and reconnecting with what you love about education
• Being in the hotseat as head teacher at the start of the pandemic and coming up with a plan to support students, teachers and parents
• Student wellbeing and how education systems fit and discard people
• What teachers making the transition to learning design and operations need to learn and unlearn

About the Guest:  Maria Fernanda Puertas is a Latina, tea lover and cat lady who is passionate about the science of learning and community building. After being a teacher and head teacher for over a decade, she made the decision to move into tech to pursue the mission of reaching a much wider audience with amazing learning experiences, and hopefully help people find what they are looking for. [Maria's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-fernanda-puertas/]

Recorded 21 July 2022


Links:

• Atom Learning [https://atomlearning.co.uk/]
• Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? [https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity]
• Convivencia [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095636384]
• Bed of Procrustes [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes]

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About the Host: Despite never letting school interfere with his education, Danu has nevertheless acquired two social science degrees and an executive MBA. He toils at the intersection of education, technology and society and has worked at various times in teaching, research, project management, business development and customer service. He has so many interests that he has started to outsource them, and his life plan is rapidly running out of alphabet. He is the Founder of Grokkist. [Danu's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danupoyner/]

Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

A conversation all about doing things in a different way and order than you’re supposed to. Not doing what you’re told, leaning into life’s sudden twists and turns, feeling behind, and taking flight, all while figuring out adulting and navigating the exciting challenges, complexity and expectations of cultural identity.

Key Topics:

• Having a family at a young age and living life out of sequence with your career-focussed peers
• Starting undergraduate studies at age 28 and catching up
• Becoming a public school teacher and chafing against the system
• Living and working in Shanghai, China as a Chinese-American
• From educator to entrepreneur to engagement leader

About the Guest:  Grace Liaw is a connector, an educator, and a global citizen-in-progress.

Unlike most of her peers, Grace did not start her undergraduate studies until turning 28, when she began to pursue a degree in Human Ecology and Family Studies at Montclair State University. Finally fulfilling her dreams of being a teacher, Grace taught in New Jersey public schools for a couple of years and realized that public education was not for her. Later, she found herself living and working in Shanghai, China, for 6 years in various private schools. The experience of doing work, life, and family in a foreign land was absolutely transformative. Grace then pursued a Master of Education at Penn State for Curriculum and Instruction.

Now living in New York, Grace is designing and hosting events, creating experiences, and building relationships with global students at Quantic School of Business & Technology, a virtual business school. She is now able to tick all of the important boxes of connecting, educating, and becoming more culturally intelligent.

Grace hates and loves running, is a novice birder, and is obsessed with Canva. She is also excited to see what the second half of life has in store! [Grace's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graceliaw1/]

Recorded 8 July 2022


Links:

• Quantic School of Business and Technology [https://quantic.edu/]
• Falling Upwards by Richard Rohr [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9963483-falling-upward]
• The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23878688-the-5-love-languages]

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About the Host: Despite never letting school interfere with his education, Danu has nevertheless acquired two social science degrees and an executive MBA. He toils at the intersection of education, technology and society and has worked at various times in teaching, research, project management, business development and customer service. He has so many interests that he has started to outsource them, and his life plan is rapidly running out of alphabet. He is the Founder of Grokkist. [Danu's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danupoyner/]

Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Seth is the President & Founder at Banyan Global Learning, a group of educators who deliver live virtual programs in social and emotional learning (SEL), Digital Citizenship, and Global Citizenship. We talk about what it means to design education that helps us find our place in the world.

Key Topics

• How Banyan Global Learning works with schools to help kids find their place in the world by exploring the intersection of language, culture, technology, and social and emotional learning
• Seth's squiggly career, from wanting to be a vet, to studying psychology, to teaching in high-needs public schools, to starting a company that delivers distance education globally
• What happens on a virtual field trip, why live video matters, and what it means to be a camera-ready teacher
• How Seth's experience of homeschooling his daughter during the pandemic connects to broader issues of reform, revolution and student choice in education

Detours and Tangents

• How being a real-life meme (Sad Mets Fan) is a weird kind of fame because you have to tell people about it first
• How Seth's self-understanding of being a person of privilege has evolved over time

Episode Summary
Visit the Grokkist podcast hub for a full digest of this episode including highlights and links to stuff we discussed: https://grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast/s2e10-seth-fleischauer

Recorded 10 May 2022

Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

In this episode: Navigating the dynamics of death, grief and loss, from brain fog to finding a sense of control. Arguing over estates and why 70% of people don't make plans for what happens after they die. Explaining the mechanics of probate with a story about picking berries. Being a stage magician and how magic helps with storytelling. What we can learn from near-death experiences. Why patience matters in law as well as in marriage. Swimming and mindfulness.

About the Guest:  Robert Kabacy has been a lawyer in the estate planning and wealth transfer industries for more than twenty-five years. He grew up in the small town of Canby, Oregon, where he was a competitive swimmer. He attended law school to pursue his passion of helping others navigate a complicated legal and tax world and has an uncanny ability to explain complicated concepts in an easy-to-understand format. About Me is a result of the passing of his mother and experiencing firsthand the difficulty of losing a loved one while navigating the mechanics that go with it. He enjoys reading, stage/parlor magic, and outdoor activities. He still swims almost daily (though no longer competitively). Learn more at robertkabacy.com.

Recorded 6 May 2022

Links:

• About Me: Information You Will Need When I've Passed on Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Kabacy/e/B09VS4QP3P?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000]
• Robert's website [http://robertkabacy.com/]

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About the Host: Despite never letting school interfere with his education, Danu has nevertheless acquired two social science degrees and an executive MBA. He toils at the intersection of education, technology and society and has worked at various times in teaching, research, project management, business development and customer service. He has so many interests that he has started to outsource them, and his life plan is rapidly running out of alphabet.  [Danu's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danupoyner/]

Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

In this episode: Losing your job in the pandemic and reverse culture shock when moving from the US back to Colombia. From English language teaching to instructional design for product managers. Never leaving school and how teachers are more than teachers. Universal design for learning. How teaching expertise is valued in traditional education vs instructional design and edtech and what that means for teachers' freedom and creativity. Filling your cup and finding structure in uncertainty.

About the Guest:  Diego Boada is an educator, researcher, and instructional designer from Colombia with over 15 years of experience. As a Fulbright scholar, Diego earned his M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Learning, Design, and Technology at the University of Georgia in the US. Before recently becoming an e-learning consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank, Diego worked at Product School where he collaborated with product leaders from top Silicon Valley companies to develop training materials and certificates for product managers. Also, Diego is working on his Executive MBA at Quantic School of Business and Technology. [Diego's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-boada/]

Recorded 12 April 2022

Links:

• Ellii (formerly ESL Library) [https://ellii.com/]
• Product School [https://www.productschool.com/]
• Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction [https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/gagne.htm]
• Minerva University [https://www.minerva.edu/]
• Mentimeter - interactive presentations [https://www.mentimeter.com/]
• The Culture Map - breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business [https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/]
• Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory]
• Inter-American Development Bank [https://www.iadb.org/en]

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About the Host: Despite never letting school interfere with his education, Danu has nevertheless acquired two social science degrees and an executive MBA. He toils at the intersection of education, technology and society and has worked at various times in teaching, research, project management, business development and customer service. He has so many interests that he has started to outsource them, and his life plan is rapidly running out of alphabet.  [Danu's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danupoyner/]

Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon

Website: grokk.ist/stillcuriouspodcast | Email: [email protected] | Socials: @grokkist
Music: Kleptotonic Swing by Tri-Tachyon