Walk Talk Listen Podcast

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Jonny Imerman (episode 74)

Jonny Imerman is a young adult cancer survivor who co-founded Imerman Angels, a non-profit organization that connects a cancer fighter (or caregiver) with someone who has fought and survived the same cancer. At 26 years old in 2001, Jonny was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  After doctors surgically removed one of his testicles, he did five months of chemotherapy and became cancer-free.  But almost a year later, four tumors popped up again near his spine.  After another surgery, an 11-inch incision, and three months of recovery, Jonny was back in remission.
 
During his cancer fight, he realized what needed to change in the cancer world.  Despite loving support from family and friends, he was unable to find a cancer survivor like him.  Jonny wondered: “What if every cancer fighter could talk to a cancer survivor, who not only had beaten the same type of cancer, but who also was around the same age and gender as the fighter?”  The cancer survivor would be an angel ⎯ walking, living proof that the fighter could win too.  That amazing connection would provide inspiration, knowledge, and hope.  This is why he created Imerman Angels.
 
Imerman Angels was chosen as “Top 3 Most Innovative Creator Idea in Midwest of 2017” by WeWork (2017 Creator Award), “Top 25 Most Innovative Programs of 2015” by National Journal / Atlantic Media, Haute Living’s #1 Charity in Chicago in 2010; Chicago Scene’s #1 Charity in Chicago in 2010; Chicago Scene’s #1 Charity in Chicago in 2008; and Chicago Social’s #1 Charity in Chicago in 2007.  Imerman Angels has been featured by The Wall Street Journal, Harpo Radio’s “Oprah and Friends” with Dr. Oz, CNN, TEDx, The Huffington Post, Men’s Health, National Public Radio (NPR), Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s “Doctor Radio” - Channel 81, NBC Chicago News, CBS Chicago News, ABC Chicago News, WGN Chicago News, FOX Chicago News, FOX Detroit News, ESPN Radio Chicago, WJR Radio Detroit, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, Detroit Free Press, HOUR Detroit, LIVESTRONG Quarterly, CancerToday, CURE Magazine, Oncology Nursing News, Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, and Nonprofit Chicago Magazine.
 
Jonny received a 2015 Michigan Avenue Magazine 'Chicago's Leading Men' Award; 2015 ‘The 100’ Award from Mass General Cancer Center; 2012 CNN Hero Award; 2012 Salute of Gratitude from The City Council of Chicago; 2012 Lincoln Park Young Professionals ‘Chicago Best of The Best’ Award; 2011 Twilight Foundation Detroit’s Civic Leadership Award; 2012 Susan G. Komen ‘Pink Tie Guy’ Award; 2011 Chicago Social Magazine’s ‘Who is Chicago’ Award; 2010 Jefferson Award for Public Service; 2010 University of Michigan Humanitarian Service Award; 2009 Ulman Cancer Fund For Young Adults ‘Hope Award’; and 2007 Daily Candy ‘Sweetest Thing’ Award.
 
 
The social media handles from his organizations are: Twitter Imerman Angels, Instagram Imerman Angels and Facebook Imerman Angels and Twitter ClozTalk, Instagram ClozTalk and Facebook ClozTalk.
 
The song he picked is added to our playlist #walktalklisten here.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time! We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.

WTL special series: Enough for All - Rodney I. Page (episode 4)

In 1996, Rev. Dr. Rodney I. Page was elected to the position of Executive Director of Church World Service and the Deputy General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Under his leadership CWS split from the NCCCUSA as he explains in this episode of the special series Enough for All of the podcast Walk Talk Listen.  In 1962, Rodney arrived in Portland from seminary where he became Associate Minister at First Christian Church and Campus Minister at Portland State University. During that time, he became active in the Greater Portland Council of Churches and the Oregon Council of Churches. Since the beginning of his career, he focused on building community, and in 1965, he wrote the first service where Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants prayed together, attracting 2,000 people to the service. In 1974, Rev. Dr. Page became the Associate Director and in 1981, Executive Director, of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon where he initiated numerous new programs including Project Linkage, Hopewell House and co-founded the Oregon Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East.  Rodney presently volunteers at Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon by serving on the President's Circle. He is the Chair of the Elders of First Christian Church and has taken various leadership roles with the Kiwanis Club of Portland, including President and Lt. Governor of Division 62. Together, Rev. Dr. Page and his wife, Sandi, volunteer by preparing meals at P:EAR, a program for homeless youth, Meals on Wheels, the Bridge Pedal and Sunday Parkways. In 2017 he received the ageless award honoree of the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation.
 
For more info about CWS, please check out this website.
 
We are also making a special Playlist #CWSsongs consisting of songs chosen by our podcast guests.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Amy Comstock Rick (episode 73)

Amy Comstock Rick, JD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drug Law Institute, having joined in August, 2014.  Prior to joining FDLI, Ms. Rick was the Chief Executive Officer of the Parkinson’s Action Network (PAN) from 2003-2014.  PAN is a Washington D.C.-based national nonprofit focused on educating the public and government leaders on better policies for research and therapy development and an improved quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s disease.  Ms. Rick has also served as the President of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, on the Boards of Directors of Research!America, the National Health Council, and the American Brain Coalition.  Before joining PAN, she was the Senate-confirmed Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics from 2000-2003 and the Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office from 1998-2000.  Ms. Rick began her federal service as a career attorney at the U.S. Department of Education in 1989 and became the Assistant General Counsel for Ethics in 1993.  Prior to her government service, Ms. Rick was an associate attorney at the law firm of Beveridge & Diamond.  She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bard College and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan.
 
The social media handles from her organization are: Twitter and Facebook. The song she picked is added to our playlist #walktalklisten here.
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time! We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.

WTL special series: Enough for All - John L. McCullough (episode 3, part 2 of 2)

My conversation with President Emeritus Rev. John L. McCullough (former President/CEO of CWS for 20 years until January 2021), continues in episode 3 of the special Enough for All series. If you didn't listen to part 1 as yet, please do so.or more info about CWS, please check out this website. The interviews with John took place in 2021.
 
We are also making a special Spotify Playlist #CWSsongs consisting of songs chosen by our podcast guests. I have also added two of my songs.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!

WTL special series: Enough for All - John L. McCullough (episode 2 - part 1 of 2)

Finally the first real episode of the special podcast Walk Talk Listen series: Enough for All - the 75th anniversary of the faith based organization Church World Service. The first episode is my conversation with President Emeritus Rev. John L. McCullough (former President/CEO of CWS for 20 years until January 2021), this is part 1 of a total of two episodes with him. For more info about CWS, please check out this website. The interviews with John took place in 2021.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Merle Collins (episode 72)

Merle Collins is an author and professor.  Between 1995 and 2021, she was a Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of Maryland.  She is now Professor Emerita.  She was born in 1950 in Aruba to Grenadian parents and taken to Grenada shortly after her birth. Her primary and high school education was in Grenada.  Later, she graduated from the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, with a General Arts degree in English, Spanish and History.  In 1980 she was awarded a Masters degree, Latin American Studies, from Georgetown University, USA.  In 1995, she was awarded a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
 
Her first collection of poetry Because the Dawn Breaks was published by Karia Press in 1985. In London she was a member of African Dawn, a performance group combining poetry, mime and African music. In 1987, she published her first novel Angel, which follows the lives of both Angel and the Grenadian people as they struggle for independence. This was followed by a collection of short stories, Rain Darling in 1990, and a second collection of poetry, Rotten Pomerack in 1992. Her second novel, The Colour of Forgetting, was published in 1995. Her critical works include "Themes and Trends in Caribbean Writing Today" in From My Guy to Sci-Fi: Genre and Women's Writing in the Postmodern World, and "To be Free is Very Sweet" in Slavery and Abolition. She has published several essays on politics and society in Grenada. In the podcast she talks about a new book/project (about Louise Langdon Norton Little- mother of Malcolm X), expected to be completed later in 2022.
 
The social media handles from her publisher Peepal Tree Press: Facebook and Twitter.
 
Merle refers to several songs in this podcast and one of them is the song Book of Rules by the Heptones. According to Merle, the lyrics must owe their existence to a poem by RL Sharpe and there are some things about RL Sharpe that remind her of the approach to the 100-mile walk.  RL Sharpe was a poet from the American South (Georgia, I believe) who died around 1951 and you can find his poem "Bag of Tools" here.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Marina Mahathir (episode 71)

Marina Mahathir is a writer, activist, business owner and podcast host. She began her career in advocacy in the HIV/AIDS sector and was a member of numerous international and regional committees on HIV/AIDS. She served as the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council for 12 years from 1993-2005.
 
After leaving her position, Marina went on to focus on issues related to Islam and gender. Currently, she is the chair of the International Advisory Group of Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family. Previously a member of the Board of Sisters in Islam, Marina continues her efforts through fundraising to advocate for justice and equality for Muslim women.
 
Marina writes and speaks regularly on current issues particularly where it relates to gender, human rights and religion. She has authored four books, In Liberal Doses (1997), Telling It Straight (2012) and 50 Days: Rantings by MM (2009). Her latest compilation of her columns, Dancing on Thin Ice (2015), was published in December 2015. During the podcast we talk about her latest book "The Apple and the Tree. Life as Dr. Mahathir's Daughter. ", published by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia.
 
In 2010, Marina was named the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations in Malaysia. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day in 2011, she was one of only two Malaysian women named to WomenDeliver.org’s list of 100 Most Inspiring People Delivering for Girls and Women. In March 2016, Marina was conferred the “Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur” award by the French government. In 2014, she started Zafigo.com that aims to empower women by providing the most useful information they'll need to travel safely and successfully. She currently sit on the Boards of Maybank Foundation, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Petronas Philharmonic Hall.
 
You can find her on social media: FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
The two books recommended by Marina are from Tara Westover and Keggie Carew.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Azza Cohen (episode 70)

Azza Cohen is a documentary filmmaker and historian from Highland Park, IL. and at the moment is a student at Stanford as a 2020 Knight-Hennessy Scholar. Azza earned her bachelor’s in history from Princeton University, where she was awarded the Glickman Memorial Prize for inventive use of filmmaking for public service. She then earned a master’s in Culture & Colonialism from the National University of Ireland, Galway as a George J. Mitchell Scholar. Azza is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar.
 
Azza’s first film, Refugee, Refugee, is a micro documentary profiling a Rwandan refugee adjusting to life in Trenton, NJ. This film was produced for a class taught by Stanford alumna Purcell Carson, who inspired her to believe in the power of moving images to catalyze social and political change.
 
As director, her most recent film Specks of Dust follows a group of activists fighting human trafficking in India. It garnered awards and funding from the Kathryn Davis Foundation, Dalai Lama Fellows, and New York Women in Film & Television, and has been used as part of curricula on human rights and gender studies in high schools and universities around the world.
 
During her graduate studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway, she traveled along the Ireland-Northern Ireland border in the wake of the ‘Brexit’ vote, creating a multimedia dissertation about border towns. This work solidified her desire to use documentary film as a means of interrogating borders -- physical, international, emotional -- and providing a visual medium for people to engage with others on “the other side” of the borders dividing many communities.
 
At Stanford, she is eager to ask questions of documentary film ethics, explore new methods of collaborative documentary filmmaking, and join a community of devoted storytellers.
She is on instagram.
 
Please let me/us know via our email incubationlab@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org (and find out more about our app (android and iPhone) that enables you to walk and do good at the same time!
 
And yes, i just finished the 10th 100mile.org  and there are 10 plus ways to get involved. Indeed, one way is to support my walk with a donation.  The campaign will continue until the end of the year.  #hunger100 #gotheextra100mile #bethechange