Operating in this world with what others may think of as challenges - being black, a little person, gay, and Christian, Clay Rivers reminds us that we all have challenges that we are walking around with. Some people’s challenges are more hidden. Clay wears his out loud.
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Being a mother is an attitude. Not biology. All our stories begin with her. No matter how you slice it, if it's not 1 thing, it's your mother.
Episodes
Jul 4, 2019
Jul 4, 2019
28 min
What's more important-- saying I love you or showing it through our actions?
In this episode we take a look at that.
We're telling stories and having meaningful conversations about whatever they bring up.
Our guest is Katie Manglis. After her mother died when she was just a baby, her grandmother, Yiayia, stepped in to fill the void.
Katie Manglis grew up in Cyprus in the 1970s and 80s and dreamed of becoming a paleontologist and discovering new dinosaurs. Instead, she ended up working in marketing, consulting and Wall Street and has been living in New York City for the past 26 years. She is the mother of two boys who both got to meet and swim with Yiayia.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
Jun 12, 2019
Jun 12, 2019
39 min
When a mother's reaction is disappointing, is not the support you were needing or hoping for, remember to keep a window open in your relationship because, one day she may just surprise you.
We’re telling stories
Rich Valenza is our guest today. He is the Founder and CEO of RaiseAChild,a national nonprofit organization building loving families for foster children®.
RaiseAChild recruits, educates, and nurtures supportive relationships equally with all prospective foster and adoptive parents while partnering with agencies to improve the process of advancing the nations 437,000 foster children to safe, loving and permanent homes. In its six-year history, RaiseAChild has engaged more than 8,500 prospective parents across the country.
In establishing RaiseAChild, Rich has drawn on more than 25 years’ success in marketing and development for broadcast media and nonprofit organizations. He has used his expertise in working with leading national and international corporations to form strategic partnerships with community service agencies, national and regional LGBTQ organizations, and businesses to build RaiseAChild’s strength and influence. Rich serves as a member of the Adoption Exchange Association’s Board of Directors.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
Jun 5, 2019
Jun 5, 2019
39 min
We learn so much from our children. In this episode, Gina Piccalo reads from her not yet published memoir. When you had a troubled childhood and your daughter wants you to tell her bedtime stories from that time, how do you play it?
In this touching story, Gina talks about the gift of seeing her story through her daughter's eyes, and the healing that has since taken place with her relationship with her own mother.
Gina Piccalo spent a decade on staff at the Los Angeles Times covering Hollywood. Her work has also appeared in Emmy Magazine, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Magazine and The Atlanta Journal Constitution. In 2017, she completed her memoir, "The Mother Ache." Now a counseling astrologer based in Nashville with her daughter and husband, she can be reached at GinaPiccaloAstrology.com.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
May 29, 2019
May 29, 2019
45 min
Being a mother is an attitude, not Biology. That is our tagline and that's what this entire episode is about.
SHARI WALKER is a former foster youth who entered the foster care system at age fourteen. She talks about different mothering she received from her birth mom (Bio Mom) and "the first person who wasn't being paid to be with her" (her Heart Mom) after she aged out of the foster care system.
Shari graduated from California State University Northridge, where she majored in African American Studies with an emphasis on Social Science. She is in currently obtaining her Master of Social Work at the USC and continues to write and produce theater and poetry that brings awareness surrounding the transitional experiences after leaving foster care. Shari is currently a part of an ensemble theater performance directed by Kathleen Rubin called "It's Just My Life" where she was able to write "Heart Mom, Bio Mom" during the creative writing workshops. Her one-woman show production to bring awarenesses about youth transitioning out of care entitled Sugar-Free: Foster Care Cognitive Dissonance was selected to receive one of the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival scholarships.
Shari Walker is a renowned keynote speaker and spoken word artist within LA County and currently sits on the Leadership Corp for both The National Foster Youth Institute (NFYI) Homeless Action Committee, steered by board member and U.S. Representative Karen Bass, and the Alumni Empowerment Council, steered by members The United Friends of The Children.
Shari hopes to combine her personal experience and current academia to create social change by spreading awareness through the creative arts for disconnected and transition age foster youth who are exiting care.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
May 22, 2019
May 22, 2019
31 min
I can do it myself! The way he entered into this world was a perfect match for the mother he was born to. She knew that faith, self respect, respect of others and taking personal responsibility was key to fully becoming who you were intended to be. Today’s story is about how the death of Princess Diana reinforced the gratitude he had for his own mother.
Clay Rivers is a writer who writes about the intersection of race, equality, faith and entertainment. His writing credits include most notably The New York Times, the popular Medium publications Crossin(G)enres and The Mission. Clay is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Our Human Family, the new Medium publication that takes a look at racism through the lenses of equality, faith, and the shared humanity of all people.
Clay Rivers has penned three nonfiction books:
Walking Tall: A Memoir About the Upside of Small and Other Stuff,
The Raindancer: Finding Joy in the Storm, and
3 Things I Know: Facing and Embracing Life’s Challenges.
Each takes a different look—first, second, and third person points of view—at how to effectively mine the best from life’s most trying circumstances.
Clay Lives in Orlando and is almost always up for a cappuccino. Or a Manhattan.
Facebook author page: http://facebook.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/clayrivers
Twitter: http://twitter.com/clayrivers
Medium: http://medium.com/@clayrivers
Medium Publication: http://medium.com/our-human-family/
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
Apr 25, 2019
Apr 25, 2019
27 min
Imagine being instantly 8 months pregnant. In this adoption story, our guest Ben Barnz reads an excerpt from his book We: an adoption and a memoir.
He shares how he and his husband came to be parents and how the birthmother of his child made them a We.
Ben Barnz, in addition to being a memoirist, is an independent film and television producer. He frequently collaborates with his husband, filmmaker Daniel Barnz. Together they formed We’re Not Brothers Productions, so named because everyone who doesn’t know them assumes they must be brothers. They are not.
Barnz produced CAKE, starring Jennifer Aniston which premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Barnz’s next film project, I’LL DROP A HOUSE ON YOU, will start production in the fall of 2018, and is the story of Ryan Wash – a young black queer debater who revolutionized the world of debate. Barnz is producing with Plan B and Macro. Barnz is also producing LONESOME TONIGHT about the love affair between Elvis Presley and young Priscilla Beaulieu. He is also producing a one-hour television drama written by his husband and sixteen-year old daughter. The show takes a frank and uncensored look at teenage sexuality and identity, as well as a limited series for NBC .
Barnz's first book is published by Wyatt-McKenzie. WE: An Adoption and A Memoir is about the adoption of his daughter, and the legal (and emotionally fraught) battle that ensued with her birthfather - a battle that began the day after her birth and two days after 9/11. The book interweaves this story with Ben's path to parenthood - beginning with his closeted youth in 1980s New York City, a time when it was statistically more likely he would die from AIDS than become a father.
Born and raised in New York City, Barnz attended Hampshire College.
follow him on twitter @WEbyBenBarnz and on insta @benbarnzwe
link to his book is on our website www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
Apr 10, 2019
Apr 10, 2019
29 min
Here’s a question we are curious about: Do you teach your kids how to party responsibly? Did your mom teach you? Shouldn't we talk about how to parent when it comes to teens’ drinking and drug use? We all know that "just say no" is neither an effective nor a realistic tactic.
Today’s story opens up an honest conversation about drugs, alcohol, teens and our roles as mothers.
Linda Freund shares her day of mushroom trippin' with Bonnie, her mom. And she looks back fondly on the lessons she learned.
Linda Freund is an aspiring novelist, filmmaker and award-winning multimedia journalist based in Barcelona, Spain. She previously worked as a senior video journalist for The Wall Street Journal.
website: www.lblakemedia.com
twitter: @StoryFreund
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
*this story was originally pubished on Medium.com
Mar 6, 2019
Mar 6, 2019
20 min
We’re telling stories
Jennifer Hamm’s story is about learning to raise the child she was given. Her second son was not like her first. She and her husband needed to figure out how to understand him and how to parent him. Through this process she discovered that his emotional intelligence exceeded his ability to articulate and communicate what he was feeling. She shares how she and her husband had to go to therapy so they could get on the same page to effectively parent this son.
As mothers we tend to pad the corners, we are peacemakers so we find ourselves interpreting our your kids to you husband and your husband to your kids.
Writer Jennifer Hamm is from Beverly Hills and has lived between LA and London since 1994. She began writing over 30 years ago in the worlds of film, tv, blogs, travel and now novels. She is a mother to four boys… and her husband.
www.itsonlyforayear.com is a blog about raising her boys between two countries and all the wonderful chaos that comes with motherhood.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Lupe Padilla Mitchell and Katie Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.
Follow us on social media or on our website
Feb 27, 2019
Feb 27, 2019
30 min
We’re telling stories
Debora Perez, shares a sweet story of her mother and a parenting trick she used involving a conch shell. She talks about the memories captured in snapshots of sound. We discuss raising adults, as opposed to raising children. And we take a look at what it is we would like our children to remember us for.
If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Lupe Padilla Mitchell and Katie Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other.
We welcome you to rate and review us. Follow us on social media or on our website
Nov 21, 2018
Nov 21, 2018
1 min
We're telling stories. If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners and songwriters, to stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Find more about us at Insta @ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother and facebook.com/ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother and twitter @katie_mitchll