Wide Open Air Exchange

Natalie Clays had a vocational calling after quitting smoking at an Allen Carr's Easyway seminar and made a mid-career change from a successful corporate role to helping other people to quit smoking. Natalie is Director and Facilitator for Allen Carr's Easyway operations in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. I also credit Allen Carr's methods for my own success (Christine Gallagher) with quitting smoking tobacco and quitting drinking alcohol, and we share those experiences.

Science and maths educator Selwyn Holland shares a lesson on physicist Albert Einstein and how his theories of relativity significantly changed our understanding of time and gravity with related findings about the speed of light and the concept of spacetime.

You'll hear about Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity (and with it non-inertial motion, constant speed and time dilation) and his Theory of General Relativity (and with it gravity, acceleration and the curvature of spacetime) and how his famous equation E=mc2 fits in this story.

Selwyn is also enthusiastic about Einstein the person and his humanitarian efforts and influence in the scientific community. This episode covers some of the historical context of his work, his contributions to debate about quantum mechanics and atomic theory, and his prediction of gravitational waves which was only recently confirmed.

Melanie Junghans took up ocean swimming while recovering from a foot injury a few years ago and now she does charity ocean swim events with Can Too, a non-profit organisation raising money to fund early career cancer researchers. Mel swims regularly as part of an ocean swim community and enjoys the mindset of it and the variety of ocean creatures that she sees.

The song featured in this episode is 'The Swimming Song' by O'Shea.

An introduction to transborderism and how living at a borderland region is a formative experience and specifically, in the thesis worked discussed, the perspectives of pupils and students at the Cali-Baja region who routinely cross the Mexico-U.S. border.

Dr Mitxy Mabel Meneses Gutiérrez is a lecturer in International Relations and a researcher at Sheffield Hallam University with interests in postcolonialism and transborderism and a geopolitical focus on the Americas.

We are seeking to feature intergenerational conversations with people aged in their 90s who have some aspect of their vocational history or a special interest that would be a good fit for the Wide Open Air Exchange. Do you know someone who would be interested in sharing their experiences and insights? Find more information at wideopenairexchange.com

Michael Jones has been reviewing movies for a morning radio segment since 1997 and here he shares his approach to film reviewing, what kinds of movies he enjoys, what it is about the cinema experience that appeals to him, some formative experiences watching movies, and other experiences and interests.

Alex Carlton shares what it's like being a travel writer—a vocational speciality she's developed over the course of two decades working as a journalist.

You'll hear Alex's experience of international travel at a time when the world is emerging from the Covid pandemic, and her tips for being prepared when travelling through airports.

Joost Bakker is a zero-waste activist and innovator who is the subject of the documentary film 'Greenhouse by Joost' about his Future Food System: a project of designing and constructing a zero-waste building installed with a self-sustaining urban food system.

Tim Ritchie got his first radio gig as a school student and went on to carve out a place for innovative music on the radio as a broadcaster and music curator in a career spanning 46 years to date.

Tim shares insights from his vocational experiences, including how being an introvert made him suited to radio and being a club DJ, along with philosophical thoughts on the meaning of life.

This episode contains short excerpts of music by Prince Far I, Robert Johnson, Status Quo, Captain Beefheart, Centriphugal, Derek and the Dominos (and The Pogues in our theme).

On hearing the news of the death of Angela Lansbury, I recorded this personal reflection about her influence as a role model of someone doing great work later in life.

I quite often remind myself that I've not yet reached the age that Angela Lansbury was when she made Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and I think of what could be possible in the next few decades of my vocational life.

Coincidentally I had been thinking of Angela Lansbury before going to bed last night and woke up to the news of her death this morning, Sydney time.

I expect there will be others making similar reflections, but here's mine all the same.

Thank you, Angela Lansbury, for being a role model of someone who happily did not retire.