The Curious Introvert

By Meredith Hackwith Edwards

A weekly podcast covering societal taboos & cultural blind spots. Join host Meredith Hackwith Edwards as she deep dives with curiosity & nuance into philosophy, society & culture wit

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The podcast currently has 363 episodes available.

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Number 1: Ep. 359: Is Individualism Holding Us Back?? Cowboys & the Prison of Privacy [REMASTERED]
Could the very thing that makes America work also be what's quietly breaking us? James F Richardson is a cultural anthropologist who has studied American society for twenty years. He’s also the author of Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and Its Hidden Discontents. In this episode, we cover the impact of boundless optimism, options & the playground of autonomy. He speaks to the impact our individualism has on our work, mental health, friendships & romantic relationships. This episode originally aired on October 7, 2024. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 192: AM I A BAD FRIEND/? 7 DEADLY SINS OF FRIENDSHIP Guest: https://jamesrichardson.substack.com/ https://a.co/d/3cmICjE Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 1:10 Cowboy vs. Businesswoman Archetypes 2:13 Why the Founder Myth Wins 5:37 Innovation Without Asking "Then What?" 7:56 Is Restriction the Real Opposite? 8:44 Decades of Unlocked Life Choices 9:52 Failure Happens in Private 11:24 What Community Oversight Could Look Like 12:06 We Traded Neighbors for Apps 13:00 Stage-Gate Checks for New Businesses 13:45 The Untouchable 95% Fail Rate 16:08 Shame, American-Style 18:29 Radical Personal Responsibility, Examined 20:44 The Case for Individualism 25:00 "How Do I Make Friends?" 25:54 Friends as Entertainment 27:13 Open vs. Closed Reciprocity, Explained 31:29 James's Own Alienation Cycle 32:42 Asperger's, Therapy, and Energy Management 40:13 Where Does Responsibility End? 44:13 One Life Tip That Matters Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert
August 31, 202647min
Number 2: Ep. 360: FETISHES: Why We Hide What Turns Us On (& Questions You’re Too Embarrassed to Ask)
What's the difference between a fetish, a kink, and just really liking something? Where do fetishes come from? Niki Davis-Fainbloom’s entire job is to help people make peace with their fetish. She holds a masters in psychology, studied sex therapy at the Kinsey Institute & has been working with clients for 8 years. She’s also the author of Fetish: smash taboos & celebrate what turns you on. In this episode, you’ll hear about some of the more unusual fetishes, where fetishes come from, where we draw the line in ethical fetishes (Race? Disability? Yikes!), the difference between a kink & a fetish, why people hide what turns them on (& what happens when they don’t). If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 286: WHAT IS MEDICALLY ASSISTED SEX [REMASTERED]? Guest: https://a.co/d/0165o2Qg https://www.instagram.com/missbloomsexeducator/ https://www.facebook.com/niki.davis.7 https://www.nikidavisf.com/about-niki https://x.com/nikidavisf?lang=en Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 00:00:56 — What Actually Makes Something a Fetish (vs. Just Being a Preference) 00:03:50 — Fetish vs. Kink: What's the Difference? 00:04:27 — Unusual Fetishes: Vore, Macrophilia, and the Wet Floor Sign Guy 00:08:46 — Balloon Fetishes, Online Communities, and SizeCon 00:09:57 — Where Do Fetishes Come From? The Conditioning Theory 00:12:34 — The Baby Fetish, Pregnancy Kink, and Stress as a Factor 00:15:23 — Culture, Decades, and How Your Childhood TV Shapes Your Desires 00:17:02 — Japan's Panty Vending Machines: Normalization and the Fetish Question 00:19:47 — The Most Common Fetishes by Volume 00:21:21 — Sneezing Fetishes, Feet Everywhere, and the Can't-Unsee Phenomenon 00:25:15 — The Neuroscience of Foot Fetishes: Somatosensory Cortex and Amputation Studies 00:27:38 — Is There a Genetic Component? Dopamine, Novelty-Seeking, and Risk 00:30:11 — Disgust, Arousal, and Why Evolution Had to Make a Compromise 00:32:45 — Fetishes and Trauma: Separating Myth from Reality 00:34:28 — Rape Kink, Survivors, and Reclaiming Control 00:35:38 — Is Shame Part of What Makes a Fetish Work? 00:37:50 — Grindr at the RNC, Anti-Gay Preachers, and the Forbidden Fruit Effect 00:40:08 — Tools for Working Through Shame: Postponing Worry, Self-Compassion Letters 00:43:42 — How and When to Disclose Your Fetish to a Partner 00:50:51 — The Ethics of Fetishes: Race, Disability, and Objectification 00:55:21 — DSM Paraphilias, Non-Consent, and Where People Can Get Help 00:57:31 — AI Romantic Partners, Dirty Talk Experiments, and the Capitalism Interruption 01:02:32 — Niki's Documentary, the Book, and Where to Find Her Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert
September 07, 20261h 6min
Number 3: Ep. 358: California Homelessness: Lost Cause? [REMASTERED]
How does a suburban dad end up addicted & sleeping in a Tenderloin doorway? Tom Wolf was a suburban Dad & city employee when he became addicted to drugs. He soon found himself sleeping in a doorway in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco getting high every 90 minutes. Now six years sober, he serves on the leadership council of Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions & is a bridge between the reality of the streets & the meeting room of policy makers. In this episode, you’ll hear his story, the down and dirty about “live & let die,” Chinese fentanyl and Mexican cartel, if housing plus services is really the answer & should we follow the Portugal model? This episode originally aired on September 9, 2024. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 317: LIFE IN THE VEGAS TUNNELS: CLOWNS, CRICKETS & CRANK [REMASTERED] Guest: https://x.com/gooddrugpolicy https://x.com/Twolfrecovery https://gooddrugpolicy.org/papr/ https://www.facebook.com/gooddrugpolicy https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundation-for-drug-policy-solutions/ Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 1:07 The Foot Surgery That Started It 2:23 Buying Pills On The Street 4:21 Switching To Heroin 5:02 The OxyContin Crisis Origins 6:32 Should Purdue Pay? 7:38 Fentanyl's Chinese Precursors 9:09 Working For The Cartel 10:38 Arrested And Released 15:09 Why Not Get Shelter? 16:40 Using Every 90 Minutes 19:43 Housing Isn't Enough 22:20 Six Strikes And Jail 24:37 Sober vs. In Recovery 28:57 Portugal's Decriminalization Model 33:24 Decriminalization vs. Legalization 35:33 Could Plant Medicine Help? 39:25 Pivoting San Francisco's Approach 42:31 A Hostage Takeover Of The Brain 43:12 Alberta And Houston's Success 45:42 Closing Thoughts And Hope Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert
August 24, 202649min
Number 4: Ep. 357: Nutritional Psychiatry? Stopping Symptoms Through Eating! [REMASTERED]
What if your "chemical imbalance" was never actually in your brain — but on your plate? Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard trained psychiatrist who began to experience a host of mystery symptoms in her 40s, including fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, and IBS. When she got relief after experimenting with her diet, she began her path of nutritional studies & later became a nutritional psychiatrist. In this episode, she covers questionnaire collecting vs research, a warning about experimenting on yourself, chemical imbalances vs inflammation & 3 tests you can do at home. This episode originally aired on July 8, 2024. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 251: FOOD ADDICTION: CHARACTER FLAW OR REAL DEPENDENCE? [REMASTERED] Guest: https://www.instagram.com/georgiaedemd/ https://twitter.com/GeorgiaEdeMD https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/ https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaEdeMd https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiaedemd/ Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 1:31 Skeptical Psychiatrist's Turning Point 3:11 Why Nutrition Studies Lie 5:38 Rethinking Chemical Imbalances 7:10 Metabolic vs Nutritional Psychiatry 8:52 Two Diets, Two Goals 11:12 Testing Diets in Prisons? 12:04 How Fast Results Come 14:05 Special Forces Eat Keto 15:00 Is Inflammation to Blame? 18:14 Try 30 Carbs a Day 21:02 Self-Experimenting Without a Doctor 24:25 Test Your Insulin at Home 28:58 Does Red Dye Cause ADHD? 31:06 The Chocolate Craving Mystery 34:00 Inside Food Addiction Research 39:32 Escape the Glucose Rollercoaster 42:11 Her 90-Year-Old Mom's Keto Win 46:08 Hope Is on the Menu Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert
August 17, 202650min
Number 5: Ep. 351: Corruption in Healthcare: Industry Insider Exposes Commercial Incentives [REMASTERED]
Why are Americans paying MORE for healthcare with WORSE results? Dr. John Abramson was a family physician for 20 years who left his practice in 2002 to devote himself to researching the commercial takeover of medical knowledge. He has since served as an expert in medical litigation, served as a consultant to the FBI & US Dept of Justice & authored two books – Overdosed America & Sickening. In this episode, he shares how the power of public conversation could be the key to sustainable change in the American medical system. He also explores why your doctor is a captured agent, answers the question, are Americans too lazy for healthy lifestyle changes?, the drug that that killed more Americans than the Vietnam War & the specific wording you’ll need at your next doctor’s appointment to help your doctor help you. This episode originally aired June 3, 2024. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 204: ARE LOW FAT DIETS HEALTHY? HEART HEALTH & HECKLERS [REMASTERED] Guest: https://a.co/d/9cgu9Ci Sponsors: https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 2:56 A 9/11 every day: 1 million excess American deaths a year 6:42 The good news: 80-90% of your health is in your control 9:53 96% of medical research is about drugs, not health 11:53 The "Americans are just lazy" myth, debunked 13:42 A landmark study: lifestyle beat metformin at preventing diabetes 15:47 Why doctors default to the pill 16:09 Statins cut heart disease risk 20%. Lifestyle cuts it 80% 18:44 How to get real answers out of your doctor 21:14 Your doctor might know less about nutrition than you think 21:47 "A captured agent": why doctors trust bad information 23:42 The peer review system doesn't work like you think 25:45 Is medical research being ghostwritten? 27:01 The Vioxx case: 60,000 dead, nobody arrested 28:15 Inside Merck's cover-up email 36:07 Why the FDA won't stop the ad blitz 38:20 How to actually negotiate with your doctor 39:32 The real math behind whether you need a statin 41:24 What if being an informed patient gets you fired by your doctor? 45:31 Where to find Abramson's books, Overdosed America and Sickening Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/ Follow me in all the places: https://www.meredithforreal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_curiousintrovert/ [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal https://www.facebook.com/curiousintrovert
July 06, 202649min