Who We Know
Welcome, everybody, to Who We Know, the podcast that explores how we are all joined together in this world, connecting with each other as we move along life’s path. The show is like a conversational game of tag, where each guest nominates the next. We explore who has helped us to become who we are today and offer thoughts on life as we live it.
Conversations that weave across the world
Knowing Kwita Carrington
Ms Carrington and I talk about teaching, SXSW, her family's historic roots in Austin, and her early passing connection to Lloyd Doggett when she was a child. Kwita shares her thoughts on what it means to be happy and the importance of family.
This season on Who We Know, we're taking the "conversational game of tag" to a whole new level. Instead of letting our network of connections wander freely across the globe, host Patrick Aziz has a specific "destination guest" in mind: his very own U.S. House Representative, Lloyd Doggett.
Can an everyday citizen break through the layers of politics, schedules, and gatekeepers to have a real conversation with their congressperson? Using a six-degrees-of-separation approach, Patrick will attempt to bridge the gap between constituent and representative. Will our experiment lead to an inspiring dialogue or reveal just how hard it is to connect with those in our representative democracy? Follow us and find out!
Thank you for listening, Who We Know friend!
Knowing Ernie Kaulbach: Meaning and Being
This is an "out of season" episode to explore connections between religions and ideas and how they may apply to life. I speak with former UT professor of English and Philosophy Dr. Ernest Kaulbach, who talks about his life growing up in 1950s New York, becoming a scholastic, teacher, and still figuring out life as he approaches 90 years old. He has never been moderate in his word choice, so be aware this episode is NSFW, for language. He chose the poop emoji in lieu of photo.
Knowing Andrea Lauer: Fashion and Design
Andrea and I converse about all things fashion, costuming, production design and her work in the world of the arts in NYC. We talk about her fashion brand of stylish jumpsuits, Risen Division, her journey into the performing arts through her skills in textiles as well as her omnivorous curiosity, wherever it leads.
Knowing Frank Rashid: Regarding Real Estate, Religion, and Life
Frank and I start up the new Season Three, spending a lot of time on the idea of "common ground" between us. He talks about his childhood in Africa, coming to the States, and his life as a real estate agent in San Diego. We go deep in exploring religion and examining perspectives on Islam, Catholicism, and other traditions. We round things out with the survey on happiness and living well.
Knowing Gale West: Coach, Author, Podcaster
Gale and I talk about her podcasting, her book, Money, Come Dance with Me, her podcasting, and her thoughts on life and living.
Knowing Mark Hurwich
Mark talks about journey from engineer to entrepreneur to life coaching, his subtle freckle tattoo from his sister, insights on psychotherapy, art, and leading oneself into a more healthy life.
Knowing Meryl Hurwich: Musician and Tattoo Artist
Meryl talks about her life running a tattoo parlor, her early days on the road in music, and her insights on life. She nominates her brother Mark as the next guest on the program.
Knowing Debbie Troche: Actor, Writer, Fitness Instructor
Debbie talks about her experiences growing up and getting the performing bug, becoming an actor, writer, and most recently, a fitness instructor. We talk about the relationship between work and creativity, writing, and the importance of staying strong as we get older. Debbie goes into deep waters in the last minutes, talking about love, fear, and what is most meaningful in life.
Knowing Ricky Ritzel: Singer Extraordinaire
This episode features 22 time MAC Award winner from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, and being honored this year with a MAC lifetime achievement award this Tuesday April 4th 2023 at Symphony Space on Broadway. Ricky is the cabaret warhorse that has worked aside so, so many in the cabaret scene in New York since the mid 80's.
Knowing Kathy Kaefer Dickey: Award winning Cabaret Singer:
Kathy is a beautiful person with a beautiful voice. Her current cabaret piece, Kiss me Once, Stories from the Homefront, shares her love for the generation that came before us who weathered the challenges of WWII. Kathy and Patrick explore Kathy's journey of coming to New York, transitioning from acting to singing, and her putting one foot in front of the other after loss and grief in her life, finding new poignant vistas as she re-emerges into a new chapter in song.
Knowing Shannon Flynn: Emmy Award winning TV director
This episode features Emmy award winning television director Shannon Flynn. It was like talking with an old friend by the time I finished talking with Shannon over two different days of recording. We cover a lot of territory around her personal journey becoming an award winning television director, the power of directing through the facilitation of everyone’s best ideas, some highlights of her current work in children’s television, and her readiness to make a horror movie, a rom com, and a good ole family friendly film. All this and her take on family, life, happiness, over a very short 90 minutes.
Listen to Knowing Shannon Flynn
Knowing Martin P. Robinson: Performer of Telly Monster and Snuffalupagus on Sesame Street
Martin and I talk about his nearly 50 year career as a puppeteer, with 40+ years working on Sesame Street as Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, and lending his hand in the early days to Jim Henson's Kermit and Frank Oz' Cookie Monster, among so many others. We discuss his early days growing up, working with Bill Baird, his development of the puppets for Little Shop of Horrors, and his thoughts on choosing the good path in life.
Listen to Knowing Martin P Robinson
Knowing Bradley Freeman, Jr: Performer of Muppets Wes and Tamir on Sesame Street
Brad and I talk about his journey becoming a puppeteer on Sesame Street and working with Kermit, Elmo, Ji-Young, and the gang. He is the performer for the muppets Wes and Tamir. We wander down various conversational trails, exploring how puppets affect people, how performers develop their characters, and Brad's observations on life and happiness.
Listen to Knowing Bradley Freeman, Jr.
SEASON TWO
Knowing Erika Borrego: Chief Operating Officer of the San Antonio Food Bank
We start off a new chain with my old friend from high school, Erika Borrego, who now is the chief operations officer of the San Antonio Food Bank. We talk about what it takes to run a food bank for a major city, her life growing up in South Texas, and values she learned growing up and that guide her today.
Listen to Knowing Erika Borrego
Knowing Danielle Mason: Model and British Reality TV Star
Danielle and I talk about her start as a model on page 3 of the The Sun newspaper tabloid in 2004 and her subsequent TV work, including starring on My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. We also explore her new cleaning business and her work as a presenter. It was enjoyable to get her take on life, her thoughts on raising children, and her insights into living well.
Listen to Knowing Danielle Mason
Knowing Carl Scott: Gang Member turned Mentor
Carl talks about his unusually challenging childhood of abuse and neglect from the people around him, his turning to the gangs of Nottingham for meaning and support, his time in prison and eventual turnaround six years ago to now work to raise awareness about knife crime and to help kids turn away from the street by sharing his story and engaging in real-world conversations with those still in the midst of gang-related difficulty.
Knowing Paul Stansby: Tattoo Artist and Anti-knife crime advocate
Paul and I talk about his life growing up on the streets, collecting money from reluctant debtors, tattoo artistry, working with kids to turn their lives away from street crime, and his keys to living a happier life.
Listen to Knowing Paul Stansby
Knowing Michael Emmett: Former Criminal turned Mentor and Author
Michael Emmett got caught smuggling the largest amount of drugs in British history when he was arrested in the mid 1980s. I speak with him about becoming a criminal, like his father, doing crime together and serving time together in jail. Michael finally finds hope through a conversion experience, and helps others today turn their lives around through his work in prisons.
Listen to Knowing Michael Emmet
Knowing Mark Dempster: Former Smuggler, current Author and Therapist
Mark and Patrick discuss Mark's growing up poor in Scotland, his halcyon days risking his life smuggling hash and other drugs all across Europe and Asia, his experience in recovery with Eric Clapton, and work now as a writer, speaker, and counselor. Mark nominates another smuggler who turned things around in Michael Emmett.
Knowing Chip Somers: Addiction Expert and Therapist
Chip discusses his challenging journey from a childhood rife with abuse to his turning to drugs and alcohol, the resultant misery that came from addiction, and finally an incredible turnaround during the second half of his life to become a renowned addiction therapist and public servant. Chip founded the acclaimed rehab center Focus12 in England and ran it for 20 years, and continues his life's work in helping others with recovery through his private practice and his podcast, Soberful, with Veronica Valli. He nominates actor Russell Brand to be our next guest, but after Russell realizes what a tiny podcast we are and declines, he reaches out to fellow addiction therapist and former drug smuggler Mark Dempster to be next on the show.
Knowing Alex Norwood Hill: Founder of Cordus
Alex is the founder and chief executive of Cordus, a non-alcoholic drink company. He tells his story of evolution into the Sober Sommelier and real estate entrepreneur from his early days exploring the good life in the English countryside and heading off to formative experiences as a young man in Paris, finally coming into his own through a transformative experience giving him insight to a sober path forward into his next chapter. He nominates addiction expert Chip Somers to follow him on the program.
Knowing Danny Frounfelkner: Founder of Non-Alcoholic Beverage Store Sipple
Danny is the co-owner of Sipple, the non-alcoholic "bottle shop" (think an exclusively zero-proof liquor store) in Houston, the first of its kind in Texas. It's a quickly growing market, made so especially during the pandemic, as folks realized they wanted to enjoy more adult beverage alternatives. We talk entrepreneurship, the power of mentorship in one's career, and thoughts on life in general. He nominates his friend Alex Norwood Hill to be next.
Knowing Laura Silverman: Curator of ZeroProofNation and Producer of the podcast By Volume
Laura Silverman is the creator of ZeroProofNation, a hub for non-alcoholic beverages and the creative sober lifestyle. Laura talks about her harrowing early experiences with the excesses of alcohol as a young woman, how she turned it around fifteen years ago, and how she built this online space as a clearinghouse to help others on their paths in living sober lifestyles. She connects us to Danny, with whom she produces the podcast By Volume.
Knowing Erin Roberts: SciFi and Fantasy Writer
Erin shares some of her inspiration around the world she crafted in the new Dungeons and Dragons book Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, coming out in June. She also talks about her adventures in giving it your all in Crossfit, karaoke, running, and New York nights. She reminds us that there's something so magical like when a song like Sweet Caroline comes on that the whole crowd knows and sings together. She tags Laura Silverman to be our next guest.
Knowing Frederick Luis Aldama: Comic book expert, LatinX Pop Culture mavin and Author.
Frederick Aldama, aka ProfessorLatinX, shares his amazing origin story starting with his political revolutionary dad and tenacious mom, his move at age five to the US, and early encounters with comics at the bottom of a book rack in a small corner store in rural California. He shares with us about his recent creative works in the world, including his film Adventures of Chupacabra Charlie and a bilingual picture book With Papa, Con Papa, for the very young set. He tags writer Erin Roberts to be our next guest.
Knowing Lars Hinrichs: German American Linguist
Lars talks about his journey becoming a linguist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. We learn about his work with Apple to address the challenges of training Siri to properly recognize new proper nouns in the world. Lars also shares about some sweet moments in his life like his early days in Germany, playing in a band, and much later, his joys in becoming a dad and getting into his current groove in Austin. He hands the baton off for next episode to Latinx pop culture maven Dr. Frederick Luis Aldama.
Knowing Mat Garland: Naturalist and Teacher
Mat discusses his early days as a curious kid, figuring out that he liked the natural world through simple experiences of being outside and enjoying critters like the reptiles that his parents' friends brought to the house after an event one day. He currently creates and produces science content for kids through his Nearby Naturalists program online and in person. He taps his neighbor Lars Hinrichs to be the next guest on Who We Know.