John and Christie have a chat with Palisadian - and new Western Slope Poet Laureate - Wendy Videlock to talk about her new role, which is to spread poetry far and wide. Wendy also discusses her artistic journey as both a poet and a visual artist, her tendency to write in rhyme and meter (and how she gets through to publications that avoid them), and her recent book of essays and poetry, The Poetic Imaginarium: A Worthy Difficulty. Nobody on this podcast likes small-talk, so John dives deep with Wendy on topics such as: Can bad people make good art? Is there a difference between poetry by men and poetry by women? And, is all poetry actually about death? This is a long one, but we only kept the good parts.

This year, Colorado author, poet, journalist, and Crestone Poetry Festival founder Peter Anderson completed a book ten years in the making. Reading Colorado: A Literary Road Guide takes readers on major and minor highways throughout Colorado, making place-centric literary pit-stops along the way. In this episode, John and Christie talk to Peter about "deepening the map" of Colorado, how a literary map even comes together despite the magnitude of such a project, his career-long fascination with how landscapes affect people, and what you can expect at the upcoming Crestone Poetry Festival (this week!). Other topics include Peter's brief stint living in the ghost town of St. Elmo, and a deep dive into why so many types of people - from spiritualists to cowboys - end up in Crestone. If you love the concept of "place" in writing, you don't want to skip this one.

On September 9th, 2023, the fifth iteration of Slamming Bricks - the largest queer-focused invitational poetry slam competition in the Four Corners region - took place at the Avalon Theater in Grand Junction, Colorado. In this episode, Caleb Ferganchick, the founder and organizer of Slamming Bricks, looks back at 5 years of hard work to tell the colorful story of how the event came to exist, how intersectionality played a key role in helping it grow (from 100 attendees to over 500), and how being "absolutely delusional" is sometimes necessary when you're chasing a big dream. 

Featuring slam poetry performances by Pepper Ruzin, Briana Hammerstrom, Adrienne Cascarella, and Caleb Ferganchick. 

Note: This episode contains recordings of poetry performances that use curse words in the context of artistic expression.

Christie talks to award-winning poet and social media expert, Melody Jones, about all things social media as it pertains to writers. Melody's knowledge spans the basics for beginners, as well as the deeper questions about the use of social media, how to measure success with it, and what on earth to do with it now that we are stuck with it. She also discusses picking which platform to use based on your audience and how e-newsletters can help you keep in touch with your readers.

Melody Jones is an award-winning poet, social media manager, writing and creativity coach, and the President of the Western Colorado Writers' Forum. Learn more about her on her website, MelodyJonesAuthor.com.

John and Christie interview Rick Kempa about the new issue of the literary journal, Deep Wild: Writing From the Backcountry. Rick talks about the ins and outs of running a literary journal, how Deep Wild fills a need in the literary landscape, whether or not Deep Wild could be considered "regional literature," and the importance of writing communities. John and Rick talk shop about their experiences teaching college students to write, and Rick also reads a selection from his own latest book of poetry, Too Vast for Sleep. 

Rick Kempa is a poet, former instructor at Western Wyoming College, and avid backpacker, who founded Deep Wild five years ago. The annual literary journal is headquartered in Grand Junction and gets submissions from all over the world.

Dr. John Lanci and Christie Matherne tackle something every writer likely has to do at some point: Public speaking. Award-winning Toastmaster Director and co-founder of TEDx Grand Junction, Mary Watson, joins us in the studio to talk about dealing with stage fright, avoiding (and counting!) filler words, President Obama's public speaking style, the difference between writing for publication and writing a speech, and how anyone - anyone! - can become a great public speaker. Listen to the episode for a ton of great opportunities to practice public speaking, including local Toastmaster meetings, open mic standup comedy, and open mic storytelling events.

For the first episode of season two, Christie Matherne and Dr. John Lanci talk to Jacob Richards - a local activist, the President of the Mesa County Historical Society, and an avid history writer - about his latest project, People's History of the Grand Valley. Jacob also discusses the ins and outs of activism and working with groups of people, the advent of ChatGPT and how writers can utilize it, getting back to nature to avoid burnout, and moments in his life that shaped his path. Listen through the end of the episode to hear some surprising history facts about Grand Junction and western Colorado.

See his work-in-progress history book at PeoplesHistoryOfTheGrandValley.com.

For the holiday season, Avery and Christie offer the gift of more James Van Pelt. This is the rest of our chat with the award-winning Grand Valley science fiction author. In this half of the interview, James - Jim to his friends - shares his thoughts on the two types of books-about-writing, his early days of writing poetry to get girls, how to accept literary rejection, and that tingly feeling you get when your story is being workshopped. We also talk about the changing self-publishing industry, why it’s not okay to kill the dog (or grandma) in a story, and how science fiction itself has changed since he was young. 

If you need to hear part one of this interview, scroll down and listen to Episode 1.

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Avery and Christie chat with Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, Dr. Laura Tohe, about her native language and recent work. Dr. Tohe shares her journey to poetry, her childhood experience in a Native American boarding school, how she explores culture-wide trauma in her poetry, and details about her interviews with Navajo code talkers for her book, Code Talker Stories.

Find more of Dr. Laura Tohe's work at LauraTohe.com.

In our sixth episode, Grand Junction native and filmmaker Hank Braxtan chats with Avery about the film industry and creating your own definition of success. With films under his belt such as Snake Outta Compton, Chemical Peel, and Jurassic Hunt, Braxtan is a successful director, producer, and screenwriter. In this episode, he shares his journey through the film industry, starting with humble beginnings at the bottom of the totem pole to his experience living in Los Angeles, his recent return to Grand Junction, and his new goal of establishing a film hub here in Western Colorado. For those interested in screenwriting, Hank shares tips and online resources to help you complete your screenplay, along with some possible opportunities for those wanting to get film industry experience locally.

Follow Hank on Twitter @braxtanfilm.