We Are Chaffee Podcast

Adam Williams ties a bow on the We Are Chaffee podcast in this episode, talking once more with Andrea Carlstrom, who, as director of Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health, has supported the show for the entirety of its more than three years and nearly 100 episodes.  They talk about the value of community stories, resiliency and advocacy, and the new programs within the larger We are Chaffee storytelling initiative. They also talk about the goings on with Chaffee County Public Health and its continuing to be a cornerstone of well-being in the Chaffee County community.

Becca Williams wears many hats in the tech world these days, including being the founder of the startup Menopausey, which, as the name suggests, is related to perimenopause and menopause. But she’s also been a newspaper and magazine photojournalist and owned a wedding photography business. She’s been a high school Spanish teacher and a middle school art teacher. She’s traveled in the world extensively and was an HIV/AIDS educator in the Peace Corps in Malawi, in Africa. She was a ski instructor at the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park, many years ago, too. She’s an artist. ... She’s been and done many things. With those stories in mind, she and Adam Williams talk about the seasons of life, including the midlife stage and perimenopause. As founder of Menopausey, Becca is working on an area of women’s health and education that seems to be rising in public awareness right now. But the information that’s out there often is not accurate, not to mention the myths of menopause that are perpetuated in pop culture, makes this a topic that is in need of attention. Becca shares some of the dozens of symptoms of perimenopause and other information that many of you – and those around you – will find relevant, sooner or later. This stage of life affects us all in one way or another, men included.

Dr. Erika Altneu, geriatrician, talks with Adam Williams about the art and science of geriatric medicine. They talk about how she helps her patients pursue a good life and, when it’s time, a good death. They talk about the community connection and creative problem-solving that accompanies being a physician in a small, rural community versus a large urban area like Denver, which has more resources. Erika and Adam also talk about normalizing conversations about death as a matter of life in “death cafes,” and the who, what, when, where and how of the medical aid in dying process. Among other things.

Tommy Gram-Ahlene owns and operates two outdoor adventure businesses in the Arkansas Valley (Colo.): Whitewater Attainment and BV Mountain Adventures. He has built an extraordinary outdoor life and career resume during the past 20 years. He has become a go-to resource and instructor far beyond the valley, too, including teaching swiftwater rescue, kayak instructor training, packraft instructor training, avalanche education and wilderness medical courses. He’s a backcountry guide, as well.  Tommy and Adam Williams talk about the “wicked learning environment” that the wilderness can be, and about taking to heart the life-and-death responsibilities of being a guide and instructor in those spaces. They talk about how Tommy came to have so much experience and knowledge in the larger-scale mountain wilds of Colorado, having grown up in the upper Midwest. They also touch on Tommy’s perspectives on climate change and what might lie ahead for the outdoor industry and his businesses, which are dependent on seasonal snowpacks and river flows. Among other things.

Melanie Roth is a historian who has been a huge part of historic preservation efforts in the Buena Vista, Colo., area, working on many projects during the past nearly 50 years. She talks with Adam Williams about the history of St. Elmo, now known as a ghost town. One of the last full-time, year-round residents of St. Elmo was Melanie’s godmother, Annabelle Stark, who would go to town in October and buy enough food, beer and cigarettes to outlast the high alpine winter. They talk about the 2002 fire in St. Elmo, how it got started, why it became the subject of national news reports that suggested it was due to a meth lab in the ghost town, and why she describes the seven outhouses that burned down, along with several buildings close to Melanie’s heart, as historic treasures.

This is Adam Williams’ annual summer update episode, where he catches his breath in the recording schedule and takes a few minutes to summarize where the podcast has been and where it’s going.

Nathan Ward is the Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker behind “The Rider & The Wolf,” which dug into the legend of mountain biking innovator Mike Rust — and his mysterious disappearance and death. Nathan also is a writer and photographer who has spent many years roving the farflung corners of the globe, in pursuit of adventure and stories. He talks with Adam Williams about some of the influences in his early years that led him out into the bigger world, seeking adventure. They talk about how he went from his first job out of college, in the financial district in Hong Kong, to opening doors for himself as a writer and photographer with no experience. They talk about bikepacking in Mongolia and elsewhere, living in Kathmandu, and the fire Nathan still has in his early 50s for that creative, traveling life.

Lara Richardson is a rancher in Salida, Colo., and author of The Table, a memoir that dives into her and her family’s life on the ranch, growing hay and raising cattle, and connecting deeply as a multigenerational, extended family. She talks with Adam Williams about The Table. They also talk about the daily risks and rewards of working on the ranch, and how constant learning and innovations are critical for ranchers to thrive. And about the dramatically increasing value of agricultural land – monetarily and otherwise – and the increasing pressures of land development. Among other things, including some eye-opening stories from Lara’s memoir.

John and Coleen Graybill, of the Curtis Legacy Foundation, are doing their “life’s best work” in retirement. Through the Foundation, they are focused on raising awareness of indigenous peoples and their cultures. They use the iconic work of Edward Curtis, John’s great-grandfather, to do that. They talk with host Adam Williams about their own lives in photography, as well as Curtis’ life more than a century ago and his 30-something years of documenting dozens and dozens of Native tribes in North America. They also talk about how they are extending that work through their Descendants Project today. Among other things.

MaryAnn Longwell had accrued a wealth of life experience when she made a career change in her early 50s. After years of teaching science and Spanish, she became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and counselor.  She talks about the shaping influences in her life: her early years growing up in a blue-collar family in Bethlehem, Penn., with Ellis Island immigrant grandparents; how John F. Kennedy inspired her as a young woman to serve in the Peace Corps in Belize; and about when she and her husband moved with their teenaged kids from rural Colorado to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  MaryAnn also talks about her belief in our birthrights to grow, heal and evolve. She shares how we can plant seeds of hope and light, even when life feels dark and uncertain.