Submerged Stories: An Interview with Doug Harris, Pt. 2

Scott M. Graves, host of the ‘Are We Here Yet? Podcast speaks to us regarding the importance for small cities and towns to take advantage of the opportunity recently presented to solve some of the most pressing economic and social issues of our day. 

‘For we are, I’m sure of this, at the start of a national movement to decentralize the map. For placing venture capital where it’s needed most, for updating outmoded zoning laws so we can start rebuilding our built environments to serve all of our neighbors and financing policies so more Americans can access the housing they desire.  Here’s to transforming our cities and towns for a new generation.’

The Jazz Room w/ Lakecia Benjamin

Meet saxophonist, composer, Lakecia Benjamin. We met briefly after her set at the Newport Jazz Festival. She talks about her CD, “Phoenix” and the story behind the project. Learn more at Lakecia’s Website.

With a background in housing policy, law and international business, author and business leader Peter de Krassel has witnessed the long arc of bad housing policy across the globe.  

He is launching Breaking Housing Matters as a novel means to solve the global housing crisis, one that is designed to address the impasses our current system of financing and policy has created over the last half century or more.

More on Peter’s Book, Custom Maid Housing for a New World Disorder

Breaking Housing Matters (BHM) is a grassroots movement dedicated to delivering affordable housing profitably. We believe landlords and developers must get a reasonable return on their investment while people must be able to afford decent housing.

Our proposed Housing Subsidy Solution (HSS) could become a public-private model for local communities to achieve affordable housing profitably around the world.

Full disclosure: AWHY? Podcast host Scott Graves is now agent to BHM. 

Working with SMGraves Associates, Breaking Housing Matters intends to develop its program to proliferate throughout the United States beginning with the leadership of the city of Rutland, VT, USA.  

Connect with Peter de Krassel

Engage BHM through SMGraves Assoc.  

The Jazz Room welcomes Kurt Elling

Our interview with Kurt Elling at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival includes stories about the people who have lifted him up through the years and his personal observations of The Jazz Room during his visit. Learn more on Kurt’s Website

We’re launching a closer look at Artificial Intelligence; how it has and will shape our society.  How you can shape an informed perspective around what’s sure to play a significant role effecting all of us for centuries to come.  

Rather than do this investigation from a good/bad standpoint, we’d rather treat all of YOU, our listeners as the smart and curious people that you are!  So away we go!

Our guest, Dr. Meltem Ballan, Ph.D. has decades of experience in digital technology, data science, and AI.  She is a leader, entrepreneur, and advisor who is passionate about creating innovative and impactful solutions for complex problems.

She is the principal and founder of Concrete Engine.  Additionally, Meltem is a Venture Partner with Greenlight Equity Partners.  She holds a PhD in complex systems and brain sciences, with a focus on computer vision, visual cortex, and natural language processing.

She is committed to fostering true diversity and inclusion in the STEM domain, especially AI and data science.

We’re looking at AI and neurodiversity in today’s podcast.

Click here for  Meltem's All Things AI Newsletter

Regional Artist and VSU Castleton student Julie Griffin fills us in on the artist response to the latest attempt by Vermont State University to curtail budget constraints by consolidating fine and performing arts programming between its campuses.  

Find out what was the response to the proposed change by artists and students alike, get inspired by their response for when you need to organize and constructively show your dissatisfaction with institutional decision-makers.   

Mentioned in this podcast: MINT Makerspace, Vermont State University, Griff Art Studio

The Jazz Room featuring Singer / Songwriter Jose James

Meet singer/songwriter Jose James. We met with him at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. We talked about his CD “ON and ON”, the challenges of interpreting the songs of songwriters and his work as singing on the sound track for the movie “50 Shades Darker”  Learn more at www.josejames.com

A Definition of Peace from Daniel Parkins. He helps businesses and local civic leaders work with communities to transform conflicts, launch impact initiatives, and achieve sustainable growth.  Find Daniel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielparkins/

and in The Jazz Room: we were able to chat a bit with bassist, Dave Holland just before his set at the Newport Jazz Festival. We talked about the musicians with him on that date and he answered questions from our friend Dave Zox. Learn more about Dave at www.daveholland.com

In an age of decentralizing the map when it comes to venture capital, place takes center stage for an increasing number of communities whose neighborhoods benefit from innovation centers, coworking space, workforce development space and the like.  

Our guest Robert Pieroni has his own story to tell in founding Downtown Launchpad in Houston, Texas.  

He’s a successful VC and is currently Director – gBETA ITA & Director of Italian Business Development for our good friends at gener8tor and he’s with us today to recount his experience building space and the programming to ignite it.

Learn More about gener8tor

Dominic Endicott believes we can redraw our maps for the 21st century. He has a vision for how knowledge-based ecosystems can create the proliferation of entrepreneurship, jobs, real estate and services in demand for a wider spectrum of rural and urban communities.  He spoke with us to talk about his vision as expressed in ‘Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as talent magnets’ which he co-authored with David J. Staley of Ohio State University. 

Dominic is a partner at NorthStar Ventures and an advisor at the MET fund.  

Find out more about the book

To spend some time re-imagining the story of what came well before us on the North American continent has importance for understanding our future path towards a more equitable and just society.  Our modern obsession with consumerism and modernity, emphasizing technology to solve our key issues isn’t working because people, not machines are at the core of our solutions.  Our discussion with award-winning documentarian Ted Timreck invites you, our listener, to more closely examine epigenetics in a re-consideration for the cultures of the peoples who once shaped our continent.  Consider the importance of environment in shaping us and our world, perhaps in doing so we, the technologists building for tomorrow can build that future to include more of us while building sustainability and meaningfulness; technology in its proper context.

Three for the Price of One: We had to take a brief break for summer vacation.  So M the Media Project is giving you three for the price of one!  Joan’s two part interview with our generation’s progenitor of the great American Songbook, none other than Michael Feinstein plus we feature Claire Daly, all in the latest Jazz Room.

Authors John DiCicco, Ph.D. and Robert Cuomo, Ph.D. of ‘The Authentic Leader’ have shared their wealth of experience honed in business ownership and academia in order to complete a crusade of sorts. A crusade to make change where it counts.  

Engage with The Authentic Leader

John and Bob will join Startup Rutland (anticipated fall 2023) in developing a program to engage emerging business leaders to better prepare them for the moral hazards sometimes inherent in complex business models.  They are at the vanguard of creating a more consistently moral and clear-headed technology business community.  This is also aimed at StartUp Rutland’s priority on creating better informed, morally sound technology-based business for our new regional economy to come.