In episode five of Stories From Nowhere, Andrew has an in-depth conversation with clinical psychologist, Susan Williams.
Susan and Andrew talk about the ways that dysfunctional family systems and family of origin experiences drive decisions, and how those decisions impact generations. They discuss the ways these systems fuel political crises, and progressive ways that we help one another heal.
For more information about community assistance resources: https://www.211.org
For more information about the term family of origin, visit this link: https://drgabormate.com/
If you are in crisis and need assistance, please call 911 and contact your nearest healthcare provider.
EP #004 Sandra Barefoot
In episode four of Stories From Nowhere, Andrew speaks with Great Britain-based Sandra Barefoot as they share their common bond via the The Forgiveness Project (https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/).
Sandra shares her wisdom, gained from her remarkable work with the incarcerated in Great Britain, and describes how she has helped her own sons navigate challenges they face as members of a society based on race and privilege.
Andrew and Sandra think back on a meeting Andrew had with a mother of an alleged terrorist in the early 2000s, and explore the destructive power of systemic shame. The pair dives in to a discussion about the hopeful elixir of telling one's story from victim to victor, and what should be done with "the troubled boys in the back row of the classroom?"
EP #003 Reverend Robert Musick
On Episode Three of Stories From Nowhere Andrew speaks to Reverend Robert Musick.
Reverend Robert Musick is the Chaplain at Pikeville University in the central Appalachian region of Kentucky.
Reverend Musick’s radical compassion and unapologetic progressivism open the door for dialogue between left and right wing groups within his community.
In this episode, Andrew and Reverend Musick communicate about their own blind spots, the vocational call, and loyalty to ideals that drive personal faith, and political commitment.
On Episode Two of Stories From Nowhere Andrew speaks to Corpus Christi, Texas based artist Stephen Gambill. In this episode, Andrew and Stephen explore intimate stories about cultivating creativity,
growing up gay in rural Texas in the 50s-60s, and the power of ritual in male coming of age rites.
Stephen draws from his experience of co-creating rituals for Richard Rohr's Men's Rites of Passages, and his large canvas paintings and pottery are widely collected throughout the south Texas art communities.
”I decided that if I was going to be honest with myself I would have to paint, as best as I could, the turmoil that was going on inside myself as a man, and that I saw in the world of human experience.
If there was to be any beauty in it, it would have to be a beauty inherent in the human struggle with our own darkness, dreaming of and longing for the light. Today I came across words of Robert Bly in my journal that inform me of what I was seeking in those works then, but wouldn’t have had precise words for:
“Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be.”
~ Stephen Gambill
Stories From Nowhere host, Andrew Monroe Rice, talks with Cleveland, Mississippi-based artist Church Goin’ Mule on the first Episode of Stories From Nowhere. Andrew has visited ‘Mule’ in her artist’s studio in the Mississippi delta, and has experienced JX Farms Artist Residency in Cleveland, where Mule works.
This conversation provides a unique window onto the life of an artist, the symbolism in her work, her fierce loyalty to self and location, and the elusive mysteries of the Mississippi delta, with all that it has to offer.
“Leave room for the unknown. There is meaning in everything.” - Church Goin’ Mule
I decided that if I was going to be honest with myself I would have to paint,
as best as I could, the turmoil that was going on inside myself as a man,
and that I saw in the world of human experience.
If there was to be any beauty in it,
it would have to be a beauty inherent in the human struggle with our own darkness,
dreaming of and longing for the light.
Today I came across words of Robert Bly in my journal that inform me of what I was seeking in those works then,
but wouldn’t have had precise words for:
“Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be.”
~ Stephen Gambill
