American Tributaries

Dr. Douglass Teschner lives in the area of West Lebanon, New Hampshire.  He is an active member of Braver Angels, founded  his own consultancy called Growing Leadership, was involved with the Peace Corps for more than a decade and was a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1988 to 2002.  Doug and host Michael Whidden were connected by prior podcast guest Gabbit Timmis from episode 64.

Doug finds ho...

Dr. Seth D. Kaplan lives in the Baltimore / Washington DC area and is a leading expert on fragile states, lectures at Johns Hopkins University and consults for organizations such as the World Bank and U.S. State Department.  In October 2023, he published an amazingly insightful book, “Fragile Neighborhoods”, about how we can repair American society one ZIP code at a time.

Seth finds hope in all the people he meets that wan...

Greg Gerloff lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he raised his family and pursued a career in healthcare, which concluded with him serving as chief executive officer of Altru Health Systems.  Greg and host Michael Whidden were connected by Greg’s nephew Adam, who was an elementary school teacher for two of Michael’s children.

Greg finds hope in his granddaughter...in his belief that people are basically good people.....

Aviva Sussman lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she was a scientist for Los Alamos National Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories involved with, among things, implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and recently started studies of a new, very different topic: the Torah.

Aviva finds hope in stillness and in our common struggles across the broad breadth of time.

American Tributaries is...

Sara Stahl lives in Port Clinton, Ohio, on the southwest shore of Lake Erie, where she is a social worker in the education system.  Sara grew up in Port Clinton and attended The Ohio State University.

Sara finds hope in her work and the youth and what they can offer the country.

American Tributaries is a podcast sponsored by American Tributaries, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit based in Brooklyn, NY, and dedicate...

Vishwesh Bhatt lives in Oxford, Mississippi, where he is executive chef for the city’s acclaimed Snackbar, a Southern brasserie and oyster bar and was recognized, in 2019, as the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef in the South.  In 2022, he published a book of recipes and stories called “I Am From Here” which was designated as one of NPR’s “Books we Love” for 2022 and one of Garden & Gun’s Best Southern Books of 2022 and receiv...

Reverend Mark Genszler lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he is the rector for Christ Church Cobble Hill, an Episcopal parish first organized in 1835.  Rev. Genszler and host Michael Whidden met this past December at the holiday party of mutual friends.

Mark finds hope in the rising generation’s awareness of the world, in the quiet and stillness of nature and in the enduring power of life on Earth.

American Tribut...

Dr. Ed Tomlinson lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, where he is a Professor of Management at the Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in negotiation and compensation and a Ph.D. seminar on groups and teams.  Dr. Tomlinson is also active with Braver Angels, serving, among other things, as red co-chair of the organization’s West Virginia alliance.

Tami Van lives in New York, New York, where she is the Chief Financial Officer of one of New York City’s premier HVAC contractors.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*her path from Brooklyn Tech High School and New York University into the construction industry
*thoughts on union work
*how she has developed the skills to meticulously manage projects
*the importance of trade work
*shortcomings of...

Max Miller lives in Des Moines, Iowa, where he works for the Federal Trade Commission as an attorney advisor on competition to Commissioner Alvaro M. Bedoya.  Max has experienced living in a variety of different settings, growing up in Des Moines, attending the University of Florida, attending Columbia Law School and working/living in Chicago, London, Geneva and Paris.  But his affection for Iowa has only grown, which is the reason...

Wanda Battle lives in Montgomery, Alabama, where she owns and operates her Legendary Tours company, which teaches about the Civil Rights Era but has a far grander ambition: “to engage in life-changing conversations” that will inspire guests to become their “greatest” selves and be “committed to love, respect, care for all mankind”.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*her family’s involvement with the Montgomery...

Ron Heller is a practicing attorney and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who has lived in Oklahoma City since 1974. Ron and host Michael Whidden were connected by Ron’s son Eric, who worked with Michael in the early 2000s.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*his early days: from the ashes of World War II to the life of an "Army brat" to service in Vietnam
*basketball, taxes and urban revitaliz...

Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she is the Chair of the Department of Applied Communication at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*the negative stereotypes her own family had about Arkansas
*wealth disparity
*her friendship across political lines with a feminist scholar that changed both of them
*working through the “chaos ...

Brady Busby lives in Young, Arizona, where he operates his not-for-profit Ash’s Grove and is running as an Independent for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.  Brady served in the U.S. Army, specializing in special operations intelligence, and concluding his service as a Chief Warrant Officer.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*his seven combat tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan
*post-traumatic-stre...

Jenae Moxie lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area, where she works as a corporate attorney for a venerable global law firm. She has lived in various parts of the nation including California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York but would contend that her current home is the very best.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*her path to becoming a proud Bulldog
*the growing appeal of the siren song of ...

Tamer Kassis lives in Nassau County, New York.  He owns and manages, with his mother Fera, a neighborhood delicatessen and café, Bonafide, in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn.  The deli was started by his father Kameel twenty-five years ago.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*how their business persevered through the pandemic
*the difference between a bodega and a deli
*their most popular sandwiches...

Laura Sibony lives in Portland, Oregon and is pursuing her doctorate in nursing anesthesia at Oregon Health & Science University. She has been a U.S. Army reservist for the last seven years, since graduating from the University of Vermont.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*her path to becoming commissioned as an officer in the Army
*deployments to Madagascar and Niger
*technology, social media and...

Connor Rickett is based in Phoenix, Arizona but, with the remote character of his employment, travels extensively around the United States (especially in the West). In those travels, he studies and photographs wildlife and their surroundings and, perhaps more importantly, has gained optimistic insight into Americans and human beings in general.  This podcast is the result of a chance meeting between Connor and host Michael Whidden ...

Gabriella Timmis lives in New York, New York and is Director of Social Media for Braver Angels, one of the country’s leading organizations seeking to rebuild bridges across the political spectrum. She grew up outside Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Michigan State University and worked at NBC News.

Our discussion covers, among other things:
*her path from news media to bridging media via the 2020 presidential campaign...