The Interdisciplinary Life Podcast

Brent Almond is the writer behind Designer Daddy and the artist behind Super Lunch Notes. Brent's blog covers pop culture, parenting and politics, often centered around his experience as a gay dad, but infused with humor, drink recipes and an occasional listicle. A while back, Brent posted on social media that while straight dads get lauded for playing dress up, no one gives him cookies for playing catch with his kid. Identifying this double standard led to a great conversation on performative allyship and advice for the straight parents of America. We also somehow ended up doing a lot of comparisons between rugby and choir. Believe me, it works. 

In 2020, candidate Kamala Harris brought Berkeley, California's 1968 busing program back into the national consciousness. With that, came some small controversy about the history of the program. Dr. Lisa Kingstone was a kindergartner in 1968, the first year of busing in Berkeley. She is writing a book on the topic, looking back on the country's first attempt at voluntarily integrating public schools. In this episode, we talk about her work, the legacy of the busing program, and past, present & future of race in America.

Carin Powell and Vivienne Crews are members of the non-profit studio, Signing Animation. The organization's goals are to produce animated films featuring Deaf characters using American Sign Language, and to find jobs for Deaf animators in an industry that is craving diversity. So how did a non-signing classical musician with single sided deafness become the founder of an ASL based animation studio? What is like being a Deaf artist joining this new venture? Take a listen and find out. Then go back SA's kickstarted for their first short: Liftoff NOTE: This episode was recorded using Zoom with ASL interpreters. The episode will be released as a video with ASL and closed captions. Because of the mechanics of interpreting, there are some portions of the episode that have silent pauses. Thank you for your patience.

The Real World was a 90s cultural phenomenon. In 2000/2001 the show went back to New York, the location of the first season. A member of that cast was a 23-year-old from Berkeley, Ca. named, Malik Cooper. In this episode we talk about the social issues tackled on the show that are still relevant today. We get some behind the scenes accounts of being on reality TV. We talk about WWE super star The Miz, aka Mike from The Real World. Most importantly, we touch on fatherhood and organizing LEGO.

In this episode, I talk with Carolyn Miyakawa Adams who taught in Berkeley schools for over 30 years. Mrs. Adams, a Japanese-American, was sent to internment camp as a child during WWII. She later moved with her family to Boulder, Co before returning to California to attend the University of California. This episode is also part of my campaign to rename the schools where she made her mark, Carolyn Miyakawa Adams Elementary.

In this episode I talk with Sophia Coleman who is raising two boys, one with autism and one just now discovering all that the Internet has to offer. We talk about raising kids during Covid-19, distance learning with special needs and what to do with an iPad full of porn. Sophia is also going through a relationship transition after 20 years with her her partner. What's it like getting out in the dating pool at 41? We talk Tinder, and being friends with your exes on social media. Spoiler alert: Sophia was my high school sweetheart and I'm one of the exes from social media. 

In this episode, I talk to three teachers about going back to school in a time of social upheaval and Covid-19. Berkeley Unified School District teachers, Leah Alcala, Michael Hammond and Shoshana O'Keefe share a unique set of perspectives in that they teach and have kids in the same school district they themselves attended. They share their thoughts on teaching and parenting during this period of social justice awareness and Covid-19 that are applicable to parents and educators across the country.

Ryu and Lou are transgender siblings. They are also my kids. In this episode I talk to them about their different experiences coming into their non-binary identities and what they want the world to know about being a non-binary/transgender kid.