The Lanyard

Thanks for an incredible first season! Here's what's ahead on The Lanyard.

Marcus Mahlen is from my hometown of Webster, SD (home of the Bearcats). These days he's working in commercial real estate in Sioux Falls and we talked about some of the trends and challenges facing Sioux Falls and the small towns of the Upper Midwest.

Lawrence Diggs is a longtime friend. He challenges everyone to look at the world differently and I learned that at about the age of 15. It was a lot of fun to go into his background of Radio Caroline, life in a commune, vinegar in Japan, building a vinegar museum, and so much more. 

Josh Rieck was going about his music performance degree - specializing in the double bass, when a professor told him he didn't think that was the best path for him. Still wanting to stay in music, Josh pivoted to becoming a luthier - someone who makes and repairs stringed instruments. 15 years later Josh has J. Rieck Lutherie and he has built a following and some beautiful instruments.

Zach DeBoer is an artist, teacher, community builder, and guerrilla urban planner. We had a great conversation about how design our streets, our flags, our murals and more.

Miles Krajewski is a 14-year-old badminton phenom with his eyes set on the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. His father Mike is helping Miles pursue this goal and the two of them have been all over the world. Hear their story.

You can follow Miles on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MilesKrajewskiParaBadminton/

Dennis and Ann Menke sold Boston Shoes to Boots a couple years ago and I wanted to hear some of his philosophies on business and life. It's a good one.

Scott Kooistra conducts upwards of 1500 interviews a year, he does play-by-play, and he is a hall of fame cribbage player.

David Lias is the editor of the Vermillion Plain Talk. We spend some time talking about his background in journalism and the future of print media in the area. We also spend a lot of time talking about Maria Butina, the Russian agent that was recently deported. She spent quite a bit of time in South Dakota with Vermillion-native Paul Erickson.

Shannon Cole and Kelsey Collier-Wise told me they want to start a podcast and that they wanted to sit-in on one of my interviews. Instead I thought I'd interview them to learn their stories and then we talked about podcast possibilities.