Jake Luigi is the mind behind the Less Impressed, More Involved video blog on youtube. In less than a year, I saw his channel grow from a few hundred to well over seven and a half thousand subscribers. Some of his most popular videos have amassed sixty thousand views and continues to grow due to his cerebral, detailed, and cataloged approach to learning the art, the language, and the endless evolution of Jiu-Jitsu. 

In a time that has never seen more opportunity than today for creative exploration and exchange of ideas, I hope that conversations like this one can give some insight into those that want to invest in themselves, their life's work, and the most authentic expression of themselves to what I believe will be the future of designing a flexible lifestyle - in creating content for an open, and shared information economy. 

Just a heads up - this conversation has many Jiu-Jitsu references, but I believe it's a metaphor or an example for learning and mastery. It's a great insight into how to arrange a vast amount of information, organize it, and package it in a practical way that creates value for those seeking improvement. To be less impressed and more involved in our hobbies. And it's a conversation with someone who's very passionate about learning, mastery, and embracing the beginner's mindset. 

I hope with this intention that you find much to take away from this conversation, as I have, and to please check out his channel, Less Impressed, More Involved, on YouTube.

EPISODE COMING SOON!

• SEG 1

• Van life/ Micro-greens

• Differences between mastery and general practitioners

• creating opportunities

• Story of Deer Arriving in Lanai

• Ethical Shot

• Resilience

• What is resilience?

• Thoughts on death and suffering

• Books | Podcasts

• Skin in the Game

GUEST BIO

Our next guest, Stephanie Crawford, is a hospice care nurse and Death Doula. She recently founded Awakened Endings - an end of life service and community dedicated to helping others understand and prepare for a better death.

In this conversation, you’ll hear both a heavy and light-hearted approach to talking about the transition of death. You’ll learn about what a death cafe is, what a “green” burial is, what some commonalities she has witnessed observing people weeks away from their last breath, and much more. It’s an educational tool for those learning how to approach caring for a dying loved one. In piecing this episode together, I noticed that much of what is said during this conversation can also be a metaphor for having meaningful relationships with someone still alive and healthy. Why wait until someone is dying to listen and finally get to know who they really are?

You’ll also hear firsthand what kind of person is willing to take on this role of helping bring death back into our culture - not as a traumatic, avoidable topic of discussion - but a reverent, growth transitioning, healing rite of passage. 

Reach out to Stephanie Crawford, Death Doula:

• Awakened Endings - Website

Show Notes

Segment 1

• Death/ Nihilism

• Practices in place to cope with suffering

Segment 2

• Living in the mind

• Finding meaning through suffering

• Surgeries leading to worse state for elderly

• Light hearted moments working in hospice care

Segment 3

• Being around family and loved ones, how to talk with loved ones about mortality

• Early Advanced Directives

• The Day of the Dead

• Visioning academic paper

Segment IV

• what have you learned about people?

• the process

• The Death Deck Game

GUEST BIO

If you had BBQ in the Bay Area in the past ten years, there’s a good chance the meat was cooked on one of the units fabricated by our next guest – Garnet Geoffroy, also known as G Stacks – proud owner and welder of custom-made, handcrafted smokers and pits right here on the west coast of Northern California. 

Barbecue pits are a great equalizer for entrepreneurs typically bogged down by the seemingly endless fees and regulations imparted on small business owners who have no resources or means of opening up a brick-and-mortar business. Barbecue pits and pitmasters are the embodiments of resilience. The techniques they’ve honed in and feel they’ve developed for cooking come from trial and error. Their cooks are subject to variables in time and weather, so they must be able to adapt and keep their techniques fluid and flexible to adjust as necessary to create consistency in their products. 

G Stacks provides the fabric to turn these barbecue dreams into reality. His units are the legacy of what west coast barbecue is now evolving into – making a name for itself on the world stage. 

I first met G Stacks while we both began our business ventures about ten years ago. With the support of our family, my wife and I started a booth at a local farmers market, which then blossomed into a full-blown catering company in less than five years in business. To help elevate the food and distinguish ourselves, I wanted to get a texas style offset smoker. Still, the closest quick search online led to businesses well outside of California, all the way to Texas even. After a month of searching, I finally found G Stacks and gave him a call, and in talking with him for about a good hour, I quickly learned about his business, passion for barbecue, and craft. His enthusiasm and love for cooking were infectious. 

He went to great lengths to make sure we ended up with a suitable unit for us, and with his build and my work around the fire – we helped bring joy to the people that sought us out to do business with us and eat our food regularly.

This conversation offers everything – your Monday motivation, insight into the systems in place that lead to inequality, and perspective from a resilient being that got to where he is today through hard work, observation, and determination, with a big enough heart and capacity for love to pay it back for those that most of us have forgotten or choose to look away from. 

So as I’m sure with many of you, what started with a shared enthusiasm for something with a stranger – whether it be fire, food, barbecue, or whatever – can transform into a camaraderie that can be rekindled through nothing much other than good conversation. With that, please enjoy this uplifting discussion with a BBQ legend, a man of integrity and pride in his work, shedding light on others and especially his community, the people of Vallejo, CA – please enjoy this conversation with – Garnet “G Stacks” Geffory.

REACH OUT HERE

• https://www.gstackspits.com/

SEGMENT 1 | ORIGINS

• Fout springs

• https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/solano-county/solano-still-trying-to-phase-out-fouts-springs/

• E-40

SEGMENT 2 | THE CRAFT AND THE WORK

• The workers that help him

• Gustavo’s Story – 18 year old worker. Orphan from El Salvador.

• G-Stack’s Mom’s hustle

• Shade and Restoration Trailer

SEGMENT 3 | NEVER QUIT

• Drive through Philosophy

• The Honor System

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/ RESEARCH FOR THIS EPISODE

• https://youtu.be/zeM6j0vO71ghttps://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay-area-bbq-barbecue-flints-everett-jones-kcs-16249865.php

• https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/solano-county/vallejo-historian-releases-new-book-on-communitys-black-heritage/

GUEST BIO

Victor Thai is one of the most interesting people I know. He's the son of Vietnamese refugees growing up as one of the only Asian kids in Richmond, Virginia. 

I met him five years ago, training Jiu-Jitsu at the same gym where we spent a lot of nights after class doing some extra rolls. He was a newcomer to San Francisco from Virginia, and he introduced me to my first few psychedelic experiences. 

He grew his mushrooms from home, stocks a wide variety of colorful teas in his pantry, owns fancy teacups and tea sets, and is one of the most fluid and creative competitors I've ever had the chance to share the mat with. 

One time, I found out that he accidentally took a book I brought with me to read in the Muni on the way to the gym - Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - because it was left outside of my backpack. He apologized for taking the book and quickly returned it with the quip, "I only took it because I thought, who the fuck would read that book from this gym?". 

That's the kind of guy he is, and I admire that in him. He's blunt, says what's on his mind, and relishes in the awkwardness that straightforwardness puts him in, which I feel is very rare these days. 

In this conversation, he shares his personal history, including his parents, that met here in the states as refugees from Vietnam. He talks about his long-term relationship with his ex-girlfriend and the unexpected turn their relationship took after driving across the country with her from Virginia. He shares the impact of psychedelics on his life, how to embrace the comforts of solitude, and more. 

This was a fun conversation hanging out in Tilden Park of Berkley, California, in the botanical garden just a few weeks before the end of winter. 

It's a pleasure to introduce you to one of my good friends, a fellow Jiu-Jitsu practitioner (how cliche is that a guy with a podcast that does jiu-jitsu). A guy, who, to me, represents my future life regression, a guy that genuinely gives much less fucks than I do, a guy who doesn't sniff his own farts, doesn't care what side anyone is on, and even his own. Most importantly, a guy that lives with mindful intention and is always looking for a better explanation without any regard -

The Tech Shaman,  Conduit to the Psychedelic World, Victor Thai. 

SHOW NOTES | MENTIONS

• Vietnam War Refugees

GUEST BIO

Connor McCann is the host of the Brain Drain Podcast. I came across his video about San Francisco's graffiti culture on YouTube, which was a topic that I was very interested in for so many reasons. 

That led me to his other videos, topics about the far corners of the world, geopolitics, organized crime, interwoven between personal stories about growing up during the early to mid-90s as a son of Irish immigrants in the middle of the city of San Francisco at the cross streets of gang violence and cultural diversity. 

In listening to his videos, I noticed the way he recalled information. The way he tells these stories, sometimes seemingly without any pre-written script, connecting the dots between two or more things that, on the surface, have no connection is nothing short of amazing to me because he often finds a way to make it work. On a deeper level, this conversation showed me how little I know and why it's vital to learn deeply about the cultures around us about the cultures around the world. How they affect us, the decisions we make, the decisions our leaders make for us, and how it affects the rest of the world, including some of the people in our communities, if not only because they are interesting stories, but because in learning we might be able to offer a unique observation to contribute ideas that spread love and light in the world. Or admit that we don't know enough and accept the moments that we must sit and listen to the people around us, despite the urge to jump to sudden conclusions.

In taking on a project like this podcast, I thought to myself - how can I possibly contribute ideas that bring people together if I have no idea what deeply divides us in the first place?

I hope this conversation inspires that in you, the way it has inspired me to question the personal, social, and systemic barriers between all of us, the people right next to you, and everyone you might come across on a daily basis. How can we better relate to one another?

Connor McCann joins us from his place in Ashville, South Carolina. A place wherein recent years, he's made home. Although San Francisco is a place he holds close to his heart, he has no plans of returning any time soon. In this conversation, we get a glimpse of his side of the San Francisco cultural landscape, how to see the conflict from a multidimensional perspective, and most importantly, I got a sense of someone that has indeed crossed over the barriers and borders in his mind to seek truth with the awareness that there is always a different answer or explanation, and in embracing curiosity and our pursuit of knowledge, there is a deepening of our relationship with the world and the people around us. 

SHOW NOTES | MENTIONS

• Carabas Barabas (sp?) Russian Mafia

GUEST BIO

Franco Soriano is a Filipino American ultra runner. He started running ten years ago at the age of 40 and gravitated towards the adventure of ultra running. He runs for the love of it. As much as I wanted to uncover a story about grit and willpower, this conversation showed me that sometimes it just takes a stoic mindset, careful planning, and taking it easy to develop mental toughness. It's all about the enjoyment and high you get when you cross the finish line. And then it's on to the next.

I first met Franco searching for a community of Filipino Runners. As someone that loves to get out and run on the trail, I quickly saw that most trail runners are not people of color. For something so simple that brought beauty and self-actualization into my life, I couldn't help but ask myself, why is that? Is it because we just haven't been exposed? Is it conditioning to prioritize other things?

SOME OF FRANCO'S NOTABLE RACES

• Tahoe Rim Trail 100

LEARNING THE BARRIERS TO BREAK THEM

Some of you listening to this podcast may have heard an instance many years ago when I was in high school. I was picking up trash for financial aid at a prestigious catholic high school in the peninsula alongside the football team practice. And a guy yells out between huddles, "haha, you're not out here cuz you're Filipino!". Maybe it was just a joke, but that hit home, and I'm still talking about it more than 20 years later. There was a Filipino guy on the football team, in fact. 

The stereotypes I learned in a less homogeneous environment outside of Daly City were eye-opening. Filipinos love shopping, love to collect clothes and shoes, are only bold in numbers, only hang out in malls and play pool. And to be honest, coming from Daly City, one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in the world outside of the Philippines, it was hard not to argue it, because up until that point, it was all I knew. But as I grew older, I belive that was never true. Yes, just like everyone else, we like nice things - the clothes, the shoes, the material things that everyone else has the right to enjoy. But by my experience alone, if that was the focus on what cultures outside our bubble saw, I knew countless others had more substance to themselves than what I heard in that joke.

Which is why I wanted to seek out people like Franco in the first place. I want to prove those stereotypes wrong. I hope that this conversation will help inspire others to achieve their levels of greatness without any concern or thought for what anything outside of themselves can bring. I wanted to have this conversation to go out of my way to prove those people wrong by using the words in this conversation, and the actions of people like Franco, to fight back and be a measure of the standard representation and not the exception.

NOTES | MENTIONS

• Maria Lorena Ramirez

GUEST BIO

Tom Brown III is the founder of FutureNature and T3Photography. He is a lifelong practitioner and living guide of ancestral skills, a frequent contributor, and a consultant to the Anchored Outdoors network. As a lifelong practitioner of ancestral skills under his father Tom Brown Jr. - prolific author and Founder of Tracker Wilderness Survival School. 

Tom has devoted his life to passing on his knowledge of these skills. He works diligently as an educator, a steward of the land, to help return the connection to the natural world and awareness back to our wild selves.

He joins us from his homestead in Oregon by Mount Hood - his home base for sharing his knowledge and experience through teaching, writing, and photography. He hopes to, in his words, "help people see Nature through his eyes, leading them to understand that spectacular natural beauty can be found anywhere, no matter where you may be."

I believe that our ability to be resilient is not gone; it's simply re-awakening what we already have innately in us through the examples of how our ancestors lived and what people like Tom bring to light. To recognize our abundance, that we do have it all, and that there is always much to learn about our home here on earth and how to undo our distractions, even if only a little bit, to become better stewards of the land.

It was an honor to sit with Tom III and listen intently as he shared his passion for learning and sharing some of the knowledge passed on to him by his father, Tom Brown Jr., and his grandfather, Stalking Wolf, who taught his father. And it was also great to hear some perspective from someone who, through his lifetime devotion to a life outdoors and educating others to find their own way in life, figures out ways of balancing both modern and primitive aspects of our human experience.

NOTES | MENTIONS

TOM BROWN III LINKS AND MORE INFORMATION

• Find Tom's work and more information here https://www.tombrown3.com/

EPISODE NOTES | MENTIONS

• Anchored Outdoors

• Tom Brown Jr. Books

• Prion Disease

"No history, no self.

Know history, know self." 

- Jose Rizal

Many of us don't know about the trauma that our parents harbor. As children of parents that immigrated to the United States, the same trauma they harbor could be passed on to us, and manifested in different ways. 

Some of us might have these questions like - 

Who am I? 

Why do we speak this way? 

Why do I not know anything about you, our grandparents, or relatives? 

Why is it hard to approach my parents with these questions?

Our next guest, Stephanie Balon has taken the first giant steps to help answer these questions, and the countless others we have faced for generations. The idea of providing space, even if only for conversation, might provide a way to heal our forgotten, indigenous, colonialized ways of living - of being together in community. Or as we say in our native language - in Kapwa.

GUEST BIO

Stephanie Balon is a mental health clinician, an expressive arts therapist with a focus on trauma-informed care, narrative and cultural therapeutic approaches. She holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Washington and a Master's in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

With over 15 years in the non-profit sector, and her work as an activist, she helped raise awareness for the Filipina/o/x Community. As a co-chair for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County, she has received recognition for her community activism from District 5 supervisor, David Canepa. For congresswoman Jackie Speier, she served on the Asian American Advisory Committee to devise strategies for community engagement. Stephanie also helped raise over two and a half million dollars with the intention to co-found the first Filipino Cultural Center in San Mateo county that aims to provide mental health and wellness services for the Filipino Community.

NOTES | MENTIONS | RESOURCES

A mushroom cloud - like the ones you see from a distance after a volcanic eruption or a nuclear explosion, is caused by the process scientifically described in the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI).

I don’t intend and am highly unqualified to describe in scientific detail what happens during an RTI. But my understanding (based on what I've found on the interwebs) uses the everyday example of what you see when trying to mix oil and water. 

Water - the lighter fluid in density based on the Earth's gravity will always be below the oil, a much denser fluid that will always float to the surface. 

Let's imagine a physical model of this process by inverting the liquids in two separate jars. Oil in the bottom jar, water at the top. In between the jars, we add a removable barrier between them. 

Once we remove the barrier we should see, in slow motion, the oil pushing to the surface. The oil pushing up from the water, and into the surface will create a mushroom-shaped movement. Some would argue, that moves similar to the wax in a lava lamp or pouring cream into your morning cup of coffee.

In the same way, we saw fidget spinners, Pokemon go, and hoverboards in recent memory - a similar explosion in the 80s and 90s gave us breakdancing. Dance styles like the uprock, popping, and strutting, started regionally in the 70s by kids in the Black and Latino communities in the burrows of New York, and cities all over California. Over time, they all evolved and melded together to what the world widely knows now as breakdancing. Breakdancing will be an official event of the Paris Olympic games in 2024.

The more conversations I have with people from different walks of life, the more I see that all of us have unique outlets of expression. Especially as youths, to gain a semblance of control for what can feel, at times, like an uncontrollable reality. The magnetic pull to immerse ourselves in something like breakdancing, that connects us with a community. To express what might be challenging to put into words through movement. 

We all have our own version of this.

In this conversation, we welcome back Tudor Atienza, a good friend and guest from episode 007, Dazed and Confused in Daly City. Today, he’s a loving husband, father of two girls, and a hardworking manager for one of San Francisco's transportation branches. 

He is where he is today because he overcame a troubled childhood. Losing his mother at an early age, bullying, and much more with what we will unpack together in this and future episodes.

San Francisco has always been known as the home to countless cultural movements, tech innovations, and one of the most expensive places in the world to live. But stories of hardworking, struggling, lesser-known cultures and communities deserve just as much of a platform as the CEOs and cultural figures that we've often heard any and everywhere throughout history.

It’s a story about the children of immigrants like the Filipinos in Daly City and all over the Bay Area, that latched on to an artform that is equally wild, dynamic, and innovative. A story of how a movement spread across the globe without the help of Youtube and masterclass tutorials. And a story about how regular kids from all over the world can come together and work as hard as any world-class gymnast to contort their bodies, expand and string together seemingly impossible moves that appear to suspend them above ground. 

An art form all within the moments that the DJ and breakbeat loop allows, feel a bit more than human. An art form where a battle isn’t settled with detonating bombs, but the eruption you get from the crowd, it seems, with the energy simply made from the style you create from the dynamic movement of the human body.

Welcome back, Tudor Atienza!

NOTES | MENTIONS

• Beatstreet | Battle at the Roxy

ADDITIONAL LINKS

• Oakland Boogaloo, KQED DOCUMENTARY

GUEST BIO

I wanted to speak with Ivan because he connects this idea of the modern human being returning to our wild selves by communing with our indigenous selves. Not only through embracing creativity, but through encouraging and teaching others to pick up a brush to play with colors. Or taking a lump of clay and sitting at a table to be creative together. In this way, we embrace our childlike curiosity to explore and meditate upon the infinite ways of knowing ourselves, just in the same way we were created from virtually nothing.

In this conversation, Ivan shares his creative process, his journey in his lifetime exploration of art, self-discovery, and community.

Please enjoy this stream of consciousness conversation beneath a canopy of redwood trees in McClaren Park San Francisco, on Ohlone Rammaytus land - with the artist, the wild human, the mindfully grounded, Ivan Camilo Lopez.

Ivan's Instagram: @ivanclopez

SHOW NOTES

• Summer Search

• Elderberry

Additional Links and Resources