becca

Dorris Walker-Taylor is a survivor of sexual exploitation and addiction, as well as a graduate and now employee of the program that helped save her, Thistle Farms. Dorris landed at Thistle Farms after twenty-six years of addiction. She attributes the women at Thistle Farms for loving her back to life. 

Dorris grew up with her parents in a lovely neighborhood where everyone knew each other. When she was twelve her world shattered—a troubled family member severely injured her mother and killed her father. 

Dorris tried to numb her feelings through marijuana. Once marijuana didn’t have the same effect, she started using cocaine. Dorris was addicted to cocaine, lived on the streets of Nashville and was in and out of jail by the time she was an adult. 

Dorris talks of her mom’s home as a praying home. When Dorris returned home at her mother's request to sing in a choir reunion. Dorris obliged and sang, "You're Looking at a Miracle" by Lemmie Battles.

Dorris  had no idea that her mother's prayers, coupled with this request for her to sing, would change her life just as the song said: miraculously. 

The tagline of Thistle Farms is “Love Heals” and they believe love is the most powerful force for change in the world. Thistle Farms was founded in 1997 by Becca Stevens and helps rescue women from human trafficking, sexual exploitation, addiction and abuse. 

Manny is PREGNANT and we are FREAKING OUT!!! Also Toby does some more hacking. This week on Trail Mix, special guest Luke joins us for a brand new installment of "Backstage with the Bitch!" where we learn all about Degrassi: The Next Generation's production budget. Then, Luke returns for an underwater edition of "Time Travel". 

It’s 20 years since the feminist production hub launched itself onto the world. Since then they have staged countless performances, ushered new female voices into the limelight and brought classic works screaming into the 21^st century. Hear from the women who are making it happen. Find out what a Mayven is – are you one? And hear from other key women in Cornwall’s cultural scene.

Produced and Presented by Karen Pirie for Western Sounds.

Music by Alisdair Stirling 

It's a Thanksgiving miracle! A new episode of Trail Mix is out, and it's dedicated to Liberty's horrendous Napoleon cape. Hosts Becca and Robyn are here to discuss Liberty's floor hockey power trip and Terri's passion for palmistry. This episode features extremely special guests Christy, Ben, and Luke (and their dog Jojo) as they compete in our second game of "Trail Mix Trivia!" They also join us for a rousing round of "Dream Cast."

It's International Day at Degrassi High, and the ninth graders are exploring their cultures! Well, everyone except Hazel is, because she is ashamed of the fact that she was born in Somalia and that she is Muslim. Hazel goes to such great lengths to hide her secret that she bullies Fareeza, a fellow Muslim girl in her class. Meanwhile, Liberty discovers that JT is exceptional at sewing. This episode features the very first edition of a new segment "Random Boners with Spinner" as well as the return of a fan-favorite: "Dream Cast!"

Tricia Carr is a spiritual teacher, empathic channel, 5/1 Reflector, multidimensional medium, certified clinical hypnotherapist, animal telepath, and fairy realm whisperer.

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In today’s episode, Becca Stevens joins me for a conversation about embracing the divine in our everyday ordinary and extraordinary experiences. She recounts her observations of sacredness when she opens her heart and truly listens to the stories of others and shares how redefining and rewriting our own stories leads to lasting transformational healing.

Becca Stevens is a speaker, social entrepreneur, author, priest, founder of 10 justice initiatives, and President of Thistle Farms. She has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, CNN, ABC World News, named a CNN Hero, and White House Champion of Change. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, Becca leads important conversations across the country with an inspiring message that love is the strongest force for change in the world. 

Antranig Kzirian sits down with Becca Stevens, Ara Dinkjian, Ismail Lumanovski, and Tamer Pinarbaşi to discuss their new collaboration entitled "Becca Stevens and The Secret Trio".

2021 GRAMMY-nominated Becca Stevens was in awe witnessing The Secret Trio’s performance at the GroundUP Music Festival a few years ago. The Secret Trio is made up of an oudist, kanunist and clarinetist who came together to create a new type of chamber music, combining the elements of sound, texture and rhythm with new and interesting approaches to their instruments. They perform original pieces and traditional melodies that fuse the microtonal modes and improvisation of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, and elements of jazz, rock, classical and world music. The Secret Trio has played at the most prestigious venues throughout Turkey, including Cemal Reşit Rey Hall.

Michael League, Snarky Puppy bandleader and founder of GroundUP Music, wrote most of the songs with Becca for the Becca Stevens & The Secret Trio album along with producing it. The record focuses on blending Becca’s effortless vocal talent and exquisite compositions with The Secret Trio’s mastered musical traditions. Becca is a highly respected collaborator and has worked with the likes of David Crosby, Jacob Collier, Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding, and more.

Topics include:

• Discussion of the project from the artists’ perspective.
• Dinkjian comments that it’s about music and people, and working with such talented individuals makes the music the easy part.
• Stevens enjoys playing with The Secret Trio (TST) and they all have a great relationship in the collaboration, having met in the studio after learning about each other at a festival in Florida.
• Dinkjian explains that Michael League flew to Turkey to see a TST concert and then invited TST to perform at the GroundUp music festival in Miami. Stevens was a performer at the same festival, and asked League for the “can’t miss” set and League immediately mentioned TST – Stevens was blown away by the group, and her musician colleague Jamie Haddad said “that’s your next band”, and League arranged for them to all meet and plan a project to work together.
• Discussion of the dynamics of bringing different artists in a fusion collaboration together to meld their talents and work to put out new material.
• Dinkjian explained that the recording was a bit of a different experience and the tunes were being learned in the studio by TST, as Stevens and League had written several tunes – this was a departure for Dinkjian, as he writes, arranges and rehearses, and executes compositions in the studio, whereas this was more of a creative process unfolding in real-time in the studio, and this stretched out his experience on the oud and was an exciting situation and a gift for him to learn from working with Stevens – and Dinkjian’s background is in some ways similar and different to the rest of TST’s members as is of Armenian descent, but was also born in America.
• The objective was to make the music bigger with their instruments. Dinkjian notes the significance and example of the album “West meets East” by Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar, which was one of the first fusion records from back in the mid-1960s. In relation, this new style surfacing with Stevens was something to notice and experience for TST.
• Lumanovski explains that the album unfolding was quite natural. Melodically simple structures emerged and were easy for the group to incorporate and together they found a common feeling and fit to project in their performance. Lumanovski remarks that Western music has a different feel rhythmically and this was an exposure for the group and it was an essential part of the recording, but concedes that it was a challenge to reach that point.
• Discussion of “We Were Wrong” and the modal characteristics of the melody with contrasting vocals, and how this juxtaposition is not common in western music.
• Stevens remarked that League is a bassist and works with Snarky Puppy, and dabbles with other instruments, including the oud. League would send voice memos of ideas, and “We Were Wrong” was one of those ideas. Stevens describes it as pastoral and spacious and that it inspired her as she developed the melodies for that song, and the music video was the result of open requests on social media for clips of dancers from all over the world. Chris McQueen (Snarky Puppy) helped them by editing the video footage which gives the viewer the feel of comprehensively choreographed footage, along with footage overseas from Turkey for more of the “West meets East” vibe.
• Dinkjian explains that League initiated many ideas on the oud, and for Dinkjian as an oud player he observed League’s approach as being quite different from his own, and the experience League provided for him was to broaden his work on the oud. Stevens notes that Charango, which is of Peruvian origin, and Ukelele are used on this track which gave it a mandolin, or harp-like sound toward the end of the track.
• Dinkjian notes that with Lumanovski and Pinarbasi, TST itself has a decent amount of experience playing western and classical music, and that the real new component of the project was Stevens and League and the specific flavor that they have, and they found their place in their world. Stevens loved the group when she discovered them, but she was especially fascinated with the kanun as she grew up listening to Appalachian folk music and is thus familiar with the hammer dulcimer. When Stevens learned that Pinarbasi plays the kanun differently than most with his fingers, it really stood out.
• Discussion of “The Eye” and the haunting oud counterpoint of the track. Stevens was inspired to discover and research poets from Armenia, Turkey, and Macedonia, and she found Nikola Madzirov and was drawn to his contemporary feeling. Through Lumanovski’s contacts, they were able to locate this poet, who had just dealt with a harrowing case of covid. They were able to meet, and Madzirov was quite helpful and passionate about assisting the project, and was fascinated that Stevens had found an unpublished poem of his to use for a song.
• Discussion of “California”, which Dinkjian believes is the “least out” of the album’s tracks. Paul Curreri wrote “California” and Stevens has been a fan of his and she kept this in mind for the record and League chose this song to be included, and Stevens notes this track is a bit of a “wild card” that stands apart from the other songs But this also led to a marriage of the sound between Stevens and TST, and her role on the guitar ties things together a bit more on this track, and “California” is a bit more folky and than the rest of the record.
• The album came out on 9/17, and the album release show was 9/13, so the group is in the midst of rehearsals and preparation and they are looking for more opportunities to continue with the project.
• Dinkjian explains that Stevens has a following in Europe and TST does as well, so they hope to take this throughout the world as an example of music to promote the project.
• Dinkjian notes that oud players are trained to make the singer as comfortable as possible, so he would bring two ouds to accommodate the vocalist.
• The group’s song “Bring it Back” is featured at the end of the interview.

Without a doubt, the last 5 years has seen a resurgence of interest in the Celestial Art of Astrology. At base, Astrology is looking at the positions of celestial bodies like the planets and stars, in order to divine information relevant to the past, the present and the future. A discipline unto itself, to say that Astrology was important in ages past is a vast understatement. On this episode of WMiT? we are joined by Scholar, Author and Consulting Astrologer Dr. Becca Tarnas, whose views and eloquence on Astrology are both breathtaking and informative. For those who are weary or have yet to look into Astrology, there can be no better introduction than this episode.

Cedarian "CeeDee" Lamb is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted by the team during the first round of the 2020 National Football League Draft. CeeDee played football at Oklahoma, where he shattered school records and averaged yards per catch touchdowns and receiving yards and has been on the All-American honorary team multiple years running.

In this episode…

You may already know Cedarian "CeeDee" Lamb as the Dallas Cowboys' wide receiver but behind all that fame was a boy who had to survive hurricanes, endure changing cities, and moving houses. But it was during one of those moves that CeeDee took a liking for football. He dabbled into the sport, learned how to play it, and with his passion came the desire for continuous self improvement in the sport he fell in love with.

The man behind the rough and rugged sport is an amazing guy who knows what he values and prioritizes most in life. Since being drafted in the NFL, he has been gunning to break records for the Dallas Cowboys and he has definitely established himself as one of the top young receivers in football.

Tune in to this episode of the I Am Home podcast as Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver, CeeDee Lamb shares his story and the things that he holds close to his heart. He also talks to Tyler, Becca, and Hilary about the rough patches he went through growing up, how his family influences him, and what it was like to redesign his first house and turn it into a home.

Sometimes it’s best to stop, take stock and just shut the F up. When 2020 went left, we had no choice but to press pause... That time has passed. The people have spoken, we listened. We back.

So what’s changed? What’s happened since March? Will TRYP ever be the same? There’s a lot to discuss, but how do you cover the longest seven months in one conversation? Press play to find out.

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Irv Blumkin is the CEO of Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM), where he started working when he was just 8 years old. He rejoined the family business after earning his Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Arizona in 1974. Since then, he has been instrumental in the operations, growth, and expansion of the business, which has led to what it is today. He is one of the grandsons of the legendary Mrs. B, founder of NFM.

Ron Blumkin is the Chairman of Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM). Ron is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and he joined NFM after serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1970-1972. Before being named Chairman in 2017, Ron served as NFM's President and Chief Operating Officer for more than 30 years and oversaw the company's growth from a single Omaha store to the establishment of their stores in Kansas City, Des Moines, and The Colony, Texas.

In this episode…

In the words of legendary Mrs. B, “every family needs a mother and every business needs a boss.”

Indeed, the legacy of the Nebraska Furniture Mart that began with Mrs. B continues to flourish with Ron and Irv Blumkin. The brothers have been at the helm of the company for decades. They are responsible for the company’s expansion outside of Omaha and were instrumental in growing the company into what it is today.

The expansion and growth of NFM was no easy feat, and with each new branch that they opened came a whole new set of challenges and learnings that helped improve the company. In the process of growing their brand, they learned that two things should remain constant: culture and family.

In this second episode with Ron and Irv Blumkin on the I Am Home Podcast, hosts Tyler, Becca, and Hilary learn more about the brothers’ story at NFM and why they’re so proud of what the company has accomplished today. It’s an insightful episode about family dynamics in business, the challenges they have overcome as they grew the company beyond Omaha, and how they keep their customers happy by maintaining Mrs. B’s brand of doing business in their every store. Stay tuned.