The Curiosity Hour Podcast

Episode 226 - Allegra Hernandez.

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Allegra Hernandez. Allegra Hernandez is a musician, guitarist, and songwriter from Des Moines, IA. Allegra lets the music speak for itself with intricate dynamics and rich, melodic, guitar on top of heartfelt vocals containing elements of alt-rock, melodic hooks, and splashes of technical skill. They tap into a realm of musical versatility, showcasing many different sides to their songwriting, instrumental composition, and live performance. Strong songwriting and vocals are combined with exceptional guitar playing, big chunky distortion, searing leads, and first-person vignettes. Allegra released their first full-length LP Gift Exchange in November 2022. Allegra plays with bandmates Vimka Nochvay on bass, Aaron Larimer on drums, and is newly joined by Ayla Billick on guitar.

You can find Allegra's music on major streaming platforms and Bandcamp. @allegrahernandezmusic on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. @allegrarocks777 on Twitter.

Website: allegrahernandezmusic.com

Aside from being a performing musician, Allegra is also a music instructor and teaches guitar and bass lessons. They are the Music Director at School of Rock West Des Moines and oversee the school's music curriculum and programming while making sure students are receiving a great education. Allegra works seasonally with a local non-profit organization, Girls Rock! Des Moines (https://www.girlsrockdsm.org), in the summers as a guitar instructor and band coach. As a non-binary and queer individual, Allegra is passionate about uplifting, supporting, and celebrating LGBTQ+ youth.

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Episode 225 - Traci Thomas.

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Traci Thomas.

Traci Thomas is an avid reader and book lover who created the acclaimed podcast, The Stacks, in order to talk about books and the ways they shape our cultural understanding of race, gender, politics, and what it means to be alive. Weekly guests range from academic thought leaders to bestselling authors, from actors to politicians and more; you'll find Ibram X. Kendi, Angelina Jolie, Brit Bennett, Desus and Mero, Quentin Tarantino, and many more on The Stacks. Traci is the creator and host of a live literary event series with LAist called One for the Books. She also writes a monthly bookish advice column on Shereads.com.

Podcast Website: https://thestackspodcast.com

One for the Books Website: https://laist.com/events/one-for-the-books

Advice Column: https://shereads.com/author/traci-thomas/

The Stacks Best Books of 2022: https://shereads.com/the-stacks-best-books-of-2022/

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Episode 224 - Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce

Yung Trybez with Darren "Young D" Metz together are the duo, Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

Website: https://snottynoserezkids.com/

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

Episode 223 - Young D "Young D" Metz

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Young D "Young D" Metz.

Young D with Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce together are the duo, Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

Website: https://snottynoserezkids.com/

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

Episode 222 Katherine Corcoran

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Katherine Corcoran.

Katherine Corcoran is a former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America. She has been an Alicia Patterson fellow, the Hewlett Fellow for Public Policy at the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and a Logan Nonfiction Program fellow. At the AP, she led an award-winning team that broke major stories about cartel and state violence and abuse of authority in Mexico and Central America. Her columns about Mexican politics and press freedom have appeared in the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, and Univision Online, among other publications. She was recently codirector of Cronkite Noticias, the bilingual reporting program at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and is currently the codirector of MasterLAB, an investigative editor training program in Mexico City.

Website: https://www.katherinecorcoran.com

In the Mouth of the Wolf (new book): https://www.katherinecorcoran.com/books

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Tommy and Dan requested and were provided with a review copy of the book in preparation for interviewing Katherine. Thank you to the publisher and Katherine for providing us with these books.

Episode 221 - Ex V Planis / Curiosity Hour Podcast Crossover

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are share a conversation with the host of Ex V Planis, John Killian, and Tommy Estlund

As we shared last year in episode 201, John Killian is a fan of “high weirdness” and loves to explore the spooky in reality *and* in fiction. This episode is a special collaboration between the two podcasts, where John and Tommy sat down to discuss their favorite scary books, culminating in a spirited discussion of their shared love, Mark Z. Danielewski’s “House of Leaves”.

Ex V Planis: https://linktr.ee/Exvplanis

John's original appearance on the Curiosity Hour: https://soundcloud.com/thecuriosityhourpodcast/s10-e201-john_killian

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Episode 220 - Sav Buist and Katie Larson

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guests, Sav Buist and Katie Larson.

Katie and Sav met in their public high school orchestra and became a band after witnessing an immersive workshop by two women that played the same instruments they did. Seeing the possibilities firsthand gave them the courage and empowerment to pursue music beyond the orchestra. They were inspired. They often say that music connected them to friendships and skill sets that changed the trajectory of their lives for the better. Sav and Katie met Liza Grossman, Conductor and Director of Kaboom Student Orchestra when she reached out about recording one of The Accidentals songs with her orchestra. That process allowed Sav and Katie to work with an orchestra on a whole other level. “Liza was one of the most inspirational teachers we have had the pleasure of working with, we learned more from her in a week than in any classroom we have been in.” After 10 years as a band, multiple major and indie label deals and touring over 5000 live shows and festivals, The Accidentals started their own non-profit called Play it Forward Again and Again to provide opportunities for students to experience the inspiration that launched their careers.

The 40-member Kaboom Studio Orchestra, is a Hollywood-style industry ensemble that performs and records all of the music at Kaboom. Kaboom is hands-on creating with professionals, giving students the chance to learn in real time. The Accidentals have a repertoire of cinematic music just waiting to be reimagined with a full orchestra. A partnership was formed. The Accidentals would provide basic tracks and Liza’s students would score, arrange and record ten Accidentals songs alongside industry professionals who would guide their creation in a supportive, encouraging way. That album would be released, and a tour would be arranged for The Accidentals with the Kaboom Student Orchestra. On that tour would be students learning tour management, sound engineering, merchandising, stage crew, hospitality, promotion, marketing, press, and more.

https://www.theaccidentalsmusic.com/

https://kaboomcollective.org/

Reimagined Album: https://hypeddit.com/a89hc3

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Episode 219 - Elena Conis, PhD, MS, MJ

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Elena Conis, PhD, MS, MJ.

She’s a historian of U.S. public health and medicine, with a special focus on the history of infectious diseases, environmental health, vaccines, pesticides, scientific controversies, and the public's understanding of health and health science.

Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Library of Medicine, the Science History Institute, UCLA's Charles Donald O'Malley Research Fellowship, and Emory University, where she was formerly the Mellon Foundation Faculty Fellow in Health and the Humanities and a faculty member in the Department of History.

At Berkeley, she teaches in the Graduate School of Journalism and the Media Studies Program, and she directs the joint graduate program in Public Health and Journalism.

Personal Website: http://www.elenaconis.com

How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT - Book Website: https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/elena-conis/how-to-sell-a-poison/9781645036746/

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Thank you to the publisher and Professor Conis for providing a digital review copy of the book in preparation for interview.

Episode 218 - Beecher Reuning

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Beecher Reuning.

Beecher Reuning is an award-winning, non-binary filmmaker living in East Tennessee with their wife and two daughters. They teach on the film faculty at Middle Tennessee State University as they continue to write and direct their own films. As a common theme of their work, their stories often use comedy to deconstruct oppressive ideologies in favor of living a more authentic life. You can see samples of their content and a list of accolades at beecher.media.

Website: beecher.media

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.

Episode 217 - April Ajoy

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, April Ajoy.

April Ajoy is a content creator who uses humor to shine light on the harmful, toxic and sometimes just weird traits of American Christianity. As a preacher's kid, she was deep in conservative evangelicalism. Some of her evangelical highlights include: singing on the Jim Bakker show, working for the 700 Club and leading worship for over a decade. She now identifies as a "recovering conservative" and is navigating through her own faith deconstruction journey through a comedic lens on social media.

She has been married to her partner, Beecher, for almost 8 years and they have two daughters together. They tell their marriage story in the Non-Binary Marriage podcast. She also co-hosts Evangelicalish, a podcast that talks about the good, the bad and the ugly in American Evangelicalism.

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is hosted and produced by Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund.

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is listener supported! The easiest way to donate is via the Venmo app and you can donate to (at symbol) CuriosityHour (Download app here: venmo.com)

The Curiosity Hour Podcast is available free on 13 platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Soundcloud, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podbean, PlayerFM, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.

Disclaimers: The Curiosity Hour Podcast may contain content not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion advised. The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are solely those of the guest(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Curiosity Hour Podcast. This podcast may contain explicit language.

The Public Service Announcement near the end of the episode solely represents the views of Tommy and Dan and not our guests or our listeners.