Best 14th Street Studios Podcasts (2025)

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History Daily | When Bowie Became Ziggy 16:57

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7d ago16:57

16:57

Today on Famous & Gravy, we’re sharing an episode from one of our favorite history podcasts—History Daily, hosted by Lindsay Graham. Why do we think Famous & Gravy listeners will enjoy this show? Because, like us, they believe that history is human. Each daily episode zooms in on a single moment in time, offering a compelling narrative that’s both …

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Space Man (Stephen Hawking) 1:00:43

14d ago1:00:43

1:00:43

This person died in 2018, age 76. He published a non-fiction book in 1988 that has sold more than 10 million copies and inspired a documentary film by Errol Morris. He married twice; fathered three children; and was not above appearing on “The Simpsons,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” or “The Big Bang Theory.” In 1963 he was diagnosed with Lou Ge…

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Mamba Mentality (Kobe Bryant) 59:12

21d ago59:12

59:12

This person died 2020, age 41. He won an Academy Award in 2018 – the first African American to win for best animated short. He was fueled by a seemingly endless reservoir of self-confidence. He gave himself the nickname Black Mamba. Today’s dead celebrity is Kobe Bryant. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Episode 49 “Hammer Time” (Ha…

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Script Doctor (Michael Crichton) 1:00:39

28d ago1:00:39

1:00:39

This person died in 2008, age 66. He changed his major from English to anthropology after a professor’s harsh critique, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard in 1964. He earned a medical degree five years later, then walked away from clinical science altogether. He used fiction to explore the moral and political problems posed by modern technolog…

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Puberty Philosopher (John Hughes) 59:17

1M ago59:17

59:17

This person died in 2009, age 59. He began his career as an advertising copywriter in Chicago. While visiting New York during his advertising days, he hung around the offices of National Lampoon magazine and was published when he showed a gift for comedy. As a writer, he occasionally wrote under his pen name, Edmond Dantès, the real name of the Dum…

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Late Bloomer (Betty Ford) 1:00:17

1M ago1:00:17

1:00:17

This person died in 2011, age 93. She spoke openly in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, and discussed premarital sex. Her dependency on pills began in 1964 after a neck injury, and her drinking worsened as her husband’s political career advanced. When Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election, it was she who read the offi…

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Gonzo Troubadour (Hunter S Thompson) 1:02:31

2M ago1:02:31

1:02:31

This person died 2005, age 67. At his peak, he reached out in his writing to a generation made cynical by the Vietnam War and Watergate, and that was prepared to respond to his visceral honesty. His early work presaged some of the fundamental changes that rocked journalism today. His approach mirrors the style of modern-day bloggers and social comm…

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Corgi Whisperer (Queen Elizabeth II) 1:05:00

2M ago1:05:00

1:05:00

This person died 2022, age 96. She worked to be a rare bastion of permanence in a world of shifting values. During the Covid pandemic, she said, “Many of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe,” and, “I am certain that we are up to that challenge. You can be assured that my family …

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Raspy Maniac (Randy Savage) 1:00:02

2M ago1:00:02

1:00:02

This person died in 2011, age 58. His colleagues said he had charisma and a knack for spontaneity. In the mid-1970s, he played minor-league baseball for about four years in the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds organizations. He acted in the 2002 movie “Spider-Man,” appeared on sitcoms like “Mad About You,” and lent his scratchy baritone to v…

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Indecent Exposure (Jerry Springer) 1:05:46

2M ago1:05:46

1:05:46

This person died 2023, age 79. He earned a law degree from Northwestern University in 1968 and started on a political career. In the 1980s he won or shared multiple Emmy Awards for local news coverage. In 1974 he was embroiled in a personal scandal after he was found to have written a check for prostitution services at a Kentucky massage parlor. He…

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Community Gardener (Penny Marshall) 1:01:06

3M ago1:01:06

1:01:06

This person died in 2018, age 75. She had a self-effacing personality, which colleagues and interviewers often commented on. She was the first woman to direct a feature film that grossed more than $100 million. She also directed “Awakenings” (1990), a medical drama starring Robert De Niro. She got into directing the ‘easy’ way — by becoming a telev…

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Maverick Lawman (James Garner) 1:00:42

3M ago1:00:42

1:00:42

This person died 2014 age 86. In high school he played football and basketball. In 1950, when the Korean War broke out, he was drafted. An understated comic actor, he was especially adept at conveying life’s tiny bedevilments. He was a genuine star but as an actor something of a paradox: a lantern-jawed, brawny athlete whose physical appeal was bot…

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Magical Thinker (Joan Didion) 59:34

3M ago59:34

59:34

This person died 2021, age 87. As a teenager, she typed out chapters from Hemingway novels to see how they worked. Her attraction to trouble spots, disintegrating personalities and incipient chaos came naturally. She came to prominence with a series of incisive, searching feature articles in Life magazine and The Saturday Evening Post that explored…

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Soul Queen (Aretha Franklin) 1:03:56

3M ago1:03:56

1:03:56

This person died 2018, age 76. She had a child two months before her 13th birthday. She started teaching herself to play the piano before she was 10, picking up songs from the radio.In 1969, she dropped her husband as manager and eventually filed restraining orders against him. She also went through a period of heavy drinking before getting sober i…

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Divine Neighbor (Fred Rogers) 59:38

4M ago59:38

59:38

This person died 2003 age 74.He was an ordained Presbyterian minister. He once volunteered at a state prison in Pittsburgh and helped set up a playroom for children visiting their parents. Eddie Murphy parodied him on "Saturday Night Live." One of his sweaters hangs in the Smithsonian Institution. He composed his own songs for his show and began ea…

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Crikey Inner Child (Steve Irwin) 1:00:32

4M ago1:00:32

1:00:32

This person died in 2006, age 44. He was an ebullient staple of American talk shows. His American-born wife was his business partner and on-screen co-star. His fame engendered books, action figures and interactive games. For a time, tube-watching pub crawlers played a drinking game, hoisting a glass every time he said, “Crikey!” or, “Isn’t she a be…

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Pleasure Activist (Julia Child) 1:00:13

5M ago1:00:13

1:00:13

This person died 2004, age 91. Her father was a wealthy farm consultant and investor; her mother was a housewife with a cook and maid. She attended Smith College, and she had some vague idea of being a novelist or a basketball star. After World War II broke out, she signed up for intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Services, hoping to be…

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Time Pilgrim (Kurt Vonnegut) 1:00:45

5M ago1:00:45

1:00:45

This person died 2007 age 84. He studied for a master’s degree in anthropology at the University of Chicago, writing a thesis on “The Fluctuations Between Good and Evil in Simple Tales.” Like Mark Twain, he used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence. With a blend of science fiction, philosophy and jokes, he wrote about the banaliti…

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Ranch Dresser (Paul Newman) 59:47

6M ago59:47

59:47

This person died in 2008 at age 83. In the early 1950s he was accepted as a student at the Actors Studio in New York, where he took lessons alongside James Dean, Geraldine Page, and Marlon Brando. In midlife, racing cars became his obsession. He acted in more than 65 movies over more than 50 years, drawing on a physical grace, unassuming intelligen…

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Total Consciousness (Harold Ramis) 58:29

6M ago58:29

58:29

This person died in 2014 at age 69. In the late 1960s he was hired as jokes editor at Playboy magazine, and he also joined Second City’s touring company. After he had taken a job with SCTV, the Toronto sketch comedy show, SNL approached him to be a writer. His breakthrough came in 1978 when he co-wrote “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” and he made…

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Chief Margarita Officer (Jimmy Buffett) 57:03

7M ago57:03

57:03

This person died in 2023 at age 76. He was an accomplished author, and was one of only a few writers (the likes of Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck) to top both the Times fiction and non-fiction best-seller lists. He moved to Nashville in 1970, hoping to make it as a country singer while working as a journalist for Billboard magazine. He wrote m…

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A Families Fight for Parental Rights with Shrounda Selivanoff: Part Two 52:12

7M ago52:12

52:12

This is episode two of a two-part conversation with Shrounda Selivanoff. We are continuing our ongoing series on Termination of Parental Rights. If you haven't already, please listen to the first episode where Shrounda and I talk about her family's experience of TPR and how they had to fight to maintain custody of her grandson and protect her son's…

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American Royalty (Elizabeth Taylor) 59:39

7M ago59:39

59:39

This person died in 2011 at age 79. Her father was an art dealer who had been transferred to London from New York, and her mother had acted in the theater. She first appeared on screen at age 10, and was one of the world’s most famous film stars before she even completed her teens. Regarding her acting, she once said, “What I try to do is to give t…

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A Practice for Minimizing Decision Fatigue 9:21

7M ago9:21

9:21

In this journal episode I talk about the impact that decision overload can have on us, particularly for those of us who are introverts, and how I keep my energy for the most important things. When you take a minute to think about the quantity of decisions we make every day, week, month, and year it can be staggering. And considering the weight of s…

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A Families Fight for Parental Rights with Shrounda Selivanoff: Part One 1:00:19

8M ago1:00:19

1:00:19

In this episode we return to our ongoing series on Termination of Parental Rights. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Shrounda Selivanoff. Shrounda is the Chief of Parent Representation Initiatives with the Washington State Office of Public Defense. She has a long history as an effective policy director and respected advocate for pare…

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Acerbic Comedian (George Carlin) 59:14

8M ago59:14

59:14

This person died 2008 at age 71. He grew up with his mother and his older brother on West 121st in Manhattan. He dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force, and while stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, worked as a radio disc jockey. During the course of his career, he overcame numerous personal trials – he was arrested several times, he w…

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Getting Unstuck: How to Move from Idea to Action 13:18

8M ago13:18

13:18

This week's journal picks up on the main theme of last week's episode with Jalaycia Lewis. So many of us have great ideas for things we want to do or create but we tend to get stuck in the idea phase. In order to have the impact we want, we have to get out of ideation and into action, but this is difficult, and we need some simple tools. I talk abo…

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Imagination Factory: Live Coaching with Jalaycia Lewis 52:51

8M ago52:51

52:51

This is a particularly exciting episode because we are doing something a little bit different. Today’s guest is Jalaycia Lewis who is part of the Imagination Factory community and someone I’ve been coaching for the past 6 months or so. Like so many of us, Jalaycia has ideas and dreams for what she wants to do in the world. She wants her work to ali…

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Studio Insider (James Lipton) 58:37

8M ago58:37

58:37

This person died in 2020 at age 93. He was the only child of a noted Beat poet. He won his first professional acting job in the 1940s, when he was cast in the live radio program “The Lone Ranger”. On several occasions he recounted a period of months he spent in Paris in the 1950s working as a “mec” – or pimp – for a legal prostitute. His associatio…

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Am I Enough, Am I Doing Enough? 10:19

8M ago10:19

10:19

In this week's journal episode, I share a simple exercise that my coach, Brendalyn King shared with me. Since then, I have shared this with a number of people I work with, and they typically resonate with it and find it valuable. This came to me at a time in my process where I was questioning the impact of my work and if I was doing enough and doin…

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Rerelease: From Agent to Advocate to Activist with Dr Jessica Pryce 1:04:56

9M ago1:04:56

1:04:56

I've been under the weather, so I decided to rerelease a gem from season one. I'm excited to share my conversation with Dr Jessica Pryce. Dr Pryce's book, Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services, gave us a great backdrop to a wide-ranging conversation. At the beginning of the book, she lays out a framework or process of moving from being an …

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Big Adventurer (Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman) 59:27

9M ago59:27

59:27

This person died in 2023 at age 70. A turning point in his career came shortly after a disappointing and unsuccessful audition for “Saturday Night Live” in 1980. He once said “Today, it’s a lot more difficult to stand out. You know, if you want to be weird, good luck.” He had scores of acting credits, including roles on “Murphy Brown,” “The Blackli…

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Imagining a Future Without Termination of Parental Rights 10:56

9M ago10:56

10:56

In this week's journal episode, I wanted to return to the conversation about Termination of Parent Rights. I've been surprised by the number of conversations that are happening around TPR in recent months, more than any time in my career, including national working groups. While we have a long way to go in terms of making significant strides, it se…

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The Building of Together with Families with Sarah Winograd and Andel JonesFoster 56:30

9M ago56:30

56:30

We're excited to bring you an update on what is happening with Together with Families (TwF) since our last episode with Sarah Winograd. TwF is, in my opinion, one of the more innovative organizations working with families impacted by the child welfare system. I had the pleasure of catching up with Sarah and her partner and co-founder Andel Jones-Fo…

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Surely Serious (Leslie Nielsen) 58:54

9M ago58:54

58:54

This person died in 2010 at age 84. His elder brother was deputy prime minister of Canada. Before his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as an aerial gunner during World War II. He had a matinee-idol profile, and was often cast as a serious and earnest hero throughout much of his film career. His big break came i…

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Letting Go: Comforts or Constraints? 11:51

9M ago11:51

11:51

One of the biggest lessons I've learned over the past few years is that the practice of letting go is critical to my process. I've see how letting go has helped me and many others I've had the opportunity to work with. In this episode I talk about letting go as the practice of creating space for our future to emerge. And one of the key elements of …

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Families Should Not be Separated Because of Housing with Dustin Koury 53:34

10M ago53:34

53:34

This is the next in a series of conversations about the intersection of child welfare and affordable housing. Nationally, 10% of children come into foster care simply because their families cannot access affordable housing. Dustin Koury describes how Wisconsin came to a decision that rather than removing children, causing undue stress and harm, the…

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Dirty Dancer (Patrick Swayze) 59:40

10M ago59:40

59:40

This person died in 2009 at age 57. His father was an engineer and a rodeo cowboy. He was a student athlete, and his dancing career was hampered by a severe football injury. In the 1970s he moved from Houston to New York to study dance, becoming a member of Eliot Feld Ballet. He was determined not to be typecast, and said in a 1989 interview, “The …

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Two Ways to Answer the Right Relationship Question 12:54

10M ago12:54

12:54

In this week's episode I return to one of the core questions that not only led to the development of the show but also my decision to leave my job. Am I in right relationship? I share a few thoughts on being in integrity with my values as one way to answer the question. Then I dive more deeply into what has emerged for me over the past year or so, …

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One Year Anniversary Episode: What Does Proximity Mean? 19:20

10M ago19:20

19:20

This is the one-year anniversary of The Proximity Process podcast. Thank you for listening and being part of the community that we are building. To mark this milestone, we thought we'd go back into the archives and pull clips of our guests answering the question that ends every episode. What does proximity mean to you? I also talk about what the pr…

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Simply the Best (Tina Turner) 58:17

10M ago58:17

58:17

This person died 2023 at age 83. In 2013, after demonstrating a proficiency in German, she became a citizen of Switzerland. In 1987, she appeared in a Pepsi commercial alongside David Bowie. She is credited with helping Mick Jagger learn to dance. In 1988, She held a concert for 180,000 people in Rio de Janeiro, breaking the record for the largest …

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Seeing the System Through an Economic Justice Lens 12:22

10M ago12:22

12:22

Why do we remove kids from their family and pay for foster care when stable housing is a better solution? 10% of children in foster care are removed due to unstable or unsuitable housing. Investing in affordable housing programs to prevent foster care is better for kids, families, communities, and its less expensive. When we start to look at the ch…

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Why Housing is the Right Problem to Solve with Carol King 1:00:41

10M ago1:00:41

1:00:41

In this week's episode my friend Carol King joins me for a conversation about why she made the pivot from technology to affordable housing. The story actually starts during her childhood. Carol grew up with her father as the primary caregiver and in an environment that wasn't always safe. She eventually made the difficult decision to remove herself…

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Boundary Breaker (Barbara Walters) 56:36

10M ago56:36

56:36

This person died in 2022 at age 93. In 1976, she became known as the “million-dollar baby” because of a contract with ABC that made her the highest-paid journalist, male or female, in television history. She was married three times, and between marriages she dated many prominent and powerful people, among them Senator John Warner and Federal Reserv…

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A Framework for Being in Right Relationship 10:48

11M ago10:48

10:48

For this week's journal episode, I scrolled back into my photos to see where I was one year ago. I was on production of Standing with Mom's, a short film we produced for Mother's Outreach Network about their guaranteed income pilot. One of the lessons I learned from MON's founder, Melody Webb, is that we should believe in people, invest in people, …

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Michigan Supreme Court's Decision on TPR and What's Next with Vivek Sankaran 57:17

11M ago57:17

57:17

This week's episode is the next in a series of conversations with a variety of guests on the topic of Termination of Parental Rights. The question we've been asking is, what if TPR didn't exist? In past episodes with Vivek, we've talked about two TPR cases he's been appealing and the opportunity he had this summer to present oral arguments to the M…

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More Respect (Rodney Dangerfield) 57:36

11M ago57:36

57:36

This person died in 2004 at age 82. His big break came in 1967 when, at age 44 and relatively unknown, he won a spot on "The Ed Sullivan Show". At one point he quit show business for over a dozen years and worked as an aluminum salesman and house painter. On stage he portrayed a hapless, self-deprecating Everyman slapped around by life and searchin…

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Imagination Factory has Launched 10:32

11M ago10:32

10:32

In this week's episode I talk about why I'm cofounding the Imagination Factory and what I'm learning about myself and the work to advance justice. Systems change, changing the structures of what currently exists, is not enough to advance justice. We need to imagine and create a future where families and communities have what they need to thrive. Wh…

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Systems Change Starts with Personal Transformation with Dr Bruce Perry 58:40

11M ago58:40

58:40

In this episode I talk to leading trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry. I wanted to continue an ongoing conversation Bruce and I have been having about why systems don't change and the important role of storytelling in personal transformation. Dr. Perry is working on a new book about why systems don't change, and we thought it would be great to talk abou…

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Vocal Bedrock (Johnny Cash) 57:30

11M ago57:30

57:30

This person died in 2003 at age 71, He is considered a pioneer of rock 'n' roll, and in 1992 he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after he had also been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In the early 2000s, a video of his won six nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards. He fought a long battle against addiction. His voice…