ORIGIN Magazine: Issue 20 by THRIVE. ORIGIN + MANTRA Magazines

Patricia

Arquette

Single mothers:

Beauty in Struggle

daft

punk

Prayer + Meditation

Robert

Plant No Regrets

Ani DiFranco

Adam Levine Yoga

Counting Crows Anxiety + Art

the future of

energy

Feminism =

A Path to Peace

Paulo Coelho

Life Lessons + not Making Plans

womEn climate

NYC

A Voice for Animals

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ORIGIN.

ORIGIN TEAM PUBLISHER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Maranda Pleasant EXECUTIVE EDITOR Karen Yin

mindfulness 10 Patty Griffin 22 Paulo Coelho 26 Beth Stern 30 Tara Reid 48 Andy Lally 60 Angie Martinez 66 Sharon Gannon 71 Rod Stryker 74 Ana T. Forrest

creative DIRECTOR Sami Lea Lipman SENIOR EDITOR Paul D. Miller / DJ Spooky Danielle Cormack designed by Melody Tarver copy editor Ian Prichard

contributing editor Robert Piper ANIMAL EDITORS Barbi Twins ECO EDITOR Ian Somerhalder NEW YORK EDITOR Sharon Pi ngitore

16 68

rock and roll 8 Ani DiFranco 16 Jo Dee Messina 18 Patricia Arquette 24 Lyle Lovett 26 adam levine 32 Adam Duritz 40 Robert Plant 44 Tom Petty 46 Yanni

GLOBAL YOUTH EDITOR Ocean Pleasant INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Gina G. Murdock

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY

EDITOR’S NOTE Here’s to the ones that live in color, fail miserably, and get up and start over. Those who are not committed to a life of safety but a life of vibrancy and adventure. Those who live outside the lines. Those who disrupt the system. Those who speak the truth that is not welcomed. I spent the last month with some of the most inspirational and badass changemakers on the climate, women’s rights, equality, and endangered species. It’s time to disrupt the system, create new models, and be committed to action and measurable impact. Time is a luxury we no longer have. Shit is on fire. It is a race to empower our girls globally, give voice to those who cannot speak for themselves, and save the planet. Let’s talk about hard things. I believe we can heal ourselves and the world if we pull the dirt out of our closets, make peace with it, and speak what cannot be spoken. The shame, the secrets— let’s bring them out, all of the skeletons, and dance with them instead of running. See you in New York City in September for the U.N. Climate Summit, Clinton Global Initiative, Ocean Elders, and climate marches. I’m simultaneously excited and exhausted just thinking about it. Maranda Pleasant ORIGIN Magazine • Mantra Yoga + Health • REAL Magazine • THRIVE Magazine Founder / Editor-in-Chief 6 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

PORTLAND EDITOR Sarasvati Hewitt

PATRICIA ARQUETTE Amanda Demme Robert Plant Big Hassle Media

Contact us Head Ninja editor@originmagazine.com Advertising ads@originmagazine.com Media + Events press@originmagazine.com Ideas ideas@originmagazine.com Subscriptions director@originmagazine.com Ad Rates + Specs originmagazine.com/advertise Rates begin at $3400 / Full page PHONE 713.922.8584 Join Our Team team@originmagazine.com

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 7

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Patty Griffin Making her voice heard

Q. Your work is so moving.

Sometimes, it is sad and filled with regret.

A. Everyone is tortured. Do you know anyone who isn’t?

Your music really connects to pain and especially to a lot of women in heartbreak.

A. It’s occurred to me that I need to

laugh at myself more and that I don’t need to be some sad folk singer all the time. I don’t want to be the queen of pain.

Q. Are you spiritual? A. I think there are times when a song

can be a spiritual experience. Just making music, in general, is pretty much that.

Q. Do you believe in God? A. God as “he,” as a patriarchal thing,

is offensive to me. It’s standard fare for America—“he, he, he.” Every time I hear that, it’s like another blow against females. It’s very radical talk at this point for females to say this kind of stuff, but nationwide, I still hear females referring to God as “he.”

Q. What has been a struggle for you?

God as ‘he,’ as a patriarchal thing, is offensive to me. . . . Every time I hear that, it’s like another blow against females.”

PATTYGRIFFIN.COM 10 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

A. I was brought up to express myself

only when asked to express myself and then to do so in a way that’s pleasing to hear. But I’ve always had a need to make my presence known. I was just sort of born that way, I guess. It’s my natural tendency.

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Be mindful, exercise kindness, to yourselves, to each other.

12 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Danielle Cormack What love, laughter & Legos have to do with everything

INTERVIEW: MARANDA PLEASANT

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

DANIELLE CORMACK: Laughter. It connects me to the moment, the people around me. Nothing like a good belly laugh to feel alive. And having sex outdoors, of course.

DC: That nothing is permanent. Joy, sorrow, pain, pleasure— everything is in a constant state of change. Thankfully.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? DC: Being in love. Intimacy on that level can be so exposing. Accepting that vulnerability and allowing myself to be completely transparent is an ongoing process for me.

MP: What truth do you know for sure? DC: I’m not going to live forever. MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

DC: Shooting season three of Wentworth, an Australian series set in a women’s prison. Customizing my motorcycle. Building a city out of Legos with my four-year old. It’s going to be huge!

DC: “Be mindful, exercise kindness, to yourselves, to each other.”

MP: Why are these important to you?

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

DC: My work is one of my passions, so I want to treat it with great importance, whatever the project or role. As any motorcycle enthusiast can probably attest to, getting your motorcycle looking and riding the best certainly holds a high rating of importance. And if I don’t finish the Lego city with my son, then I meet the wrath of an extremely assertive four-year-old project manager.

DC: Dramatically at first. If there were an award given for these moments, then I would have a mantle full of gold statuettes. Then I take stock and seek counsel from people I trust and talk myself into a state of reflection and remember that it won’t last forever. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? DC: I put everything aside and enter my four-year-old son’s world of imagination and play. Both my children’s hugs are the best. Jumping on my motorcycle and riding through the Yarra Ranges in Australia comes a close second.

Danielle Cormack has had an extensive career in film, theater, and television across both Australia and New Zealand. She can currently be seen on the hit TV show Wentworth and previously on Rake and Underbelly: Razor.

PHOTO: GINA MILICIA / FOXTEL ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 13

Natalie Burn INVESTING IN LIFE AND Fulfilling dreams Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

“Tomorrow simply becomes a day closer to your dream.”

Natalie Burn: If I see some amazing painting, performance, or story that touches my heart or makes it skip a beat, that’s what makes me want to develop my own artistic creation. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? NB: That my family isn’t near to help me conquer pain, feel happiness, and share my success. That was the most difficult decision I had to make: leaving my family behind and moving to Los Angeles alone to follow my dream of becoming a Hollywood actress. That move challenged me and made me realize that Hollywood is not built for weak people. It will swallow you, and only the strong ones can come out on top. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? NB: “Stop the wars, protect each other, and cherish the environment we live in. In all problems, there is a nonconfrontational solution.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? NB: When I think about people less fortunate than I am, I quickly realize that my problems are merely a shadow of theirs. Then I just call my mom and go training in the gym or simply go jogging in the park with my dog. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? NB: I have a dog that brings out childish behavior in me and makes me smile no matter how dark the situation is on the outside. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? NB: No matter what happens today, tomorrow will come. Tomorrow simply becomes a day closer to your dream. MP: What truth do you know for sure?

NATALIE-BURN.COM 14 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

NB: The more you invest in life, the more you get out of life. I learned to be more giving even if I don’t get anything in return. It makes me happy to do something good and help people however I can; I get this content feeling in my stomach. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. NB: I’m in The Expendables 3, which debuted last month, playing Mel Gibson’s [character’s] wife. I just finished shooting The Second Coming of Christ. I play a reporter who is a witness to a global crisis. My production company—7Heaven Productions—and I are producing it. The second film I’m producing is called Devil’s Hope, about a New Orleans detective who uncovers a terrifying drug ring. The third film I’m producing is Awaken, about illegal organtrading. The film will be released in October 2014. MP: Why are these important to you? NB: It’s my way of dealing with my current situations in life and a way of bringing awareness to the problems that the world has. MP: What is love for you? NB: Love is freedom. It’s learning how to let go and hope it comes back to you.

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Jaime Murray Taking care of heart, mind, and body

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

“Vulnerability is a beautiful thing: it’s tenderness, authenticity, and risk-taking.”

Jaime Murray: Feeling inspired, being challenged. Learning something new, something meaningful. Knowing change is possible and I can make that happen. Understanding and loving others, feeling truly connected and authentic. Good food, great sex, and belly laughs. All the basic foundations of happiness, really! MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? JM: I honestly think vulnerability is a beautiful thing: it’s tenderness, authenticity, and risktaking. It means you’re living a life where the stakes are high and you are continuing to push your own boundaries and learn new things. It keeps you flexible and young. Fear is vulnerability’s ugly little sister. I fear getting things wrong and messing up, and this makes no rational sense. When I’m mindful and awake, I know mistakes are part of a creative process. But when I become disconnected, I can be incredibly mean and hard on myself. This is an old pattern of reactive behavior kicking in when I’m not conscious, and then the pain of yesterday creeps in and you doubt yourself and even fear the future. Absurd! F—k fear! MP: How do you handle emotional pain? JM: Sometimes I don’t even know I’m in it, and I’m just fighting not to feel it. Isolating, shutting down, and feeling guilt about pain makes it linger so much longer. Reconnecting, trusting, and being open and honest is really the only cure. Reaching out and talking to loved ones and friends is a must. Knowing that pain and conflict is just change trying to happen, that there is something beautiful on the other side, that it is just a cycle is helpful. Humor is always essential. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. JM: Defiance on Syfy. I play Stahma Tarr, an alien, refugee, mother, and wife. One of the most interesting things for me in playing another species is that you want to make them different enough to be alien but have enough human qualities to be relatable. This really

forces you to look at what it is to be human from a totally new perspective! The thing I like about the sci-fi genre is that you get to examine universal themes and polarizing moral choices. The characters have a lot on their shoulders and are often trying to survive in some very difficult and hostile environments. This is particularly true in Defiance. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? JM: I try to stay sane and grounded by hunkering down, eating right, and exercising. I make a routine of spin class, yoga, and

Pilates, places I push my body so hard I can lose my mind. Cutting out caffeine and sugar, being mindful, and getting enough rest are important. I get clarity through quiet time, reflection, reading, and meditation. Finding the space between thoughts gives me the energy to take on new challenges with enthusiasm. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? JM: Everyone’s doing the best they can with the tools they were given. MP: What truth do you know for sure? JM: It’s not personal. MP: How can young people make a difference? JM: Be nice to old people.

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Legendary dance icon

and

Debbie Allen Vivian Nixon,

her daughter Passing the torch Interview: Chelsea Logan Photos: drew xeron Chelsea Logan: You’re here in DC for your production, Brothers of the Knight. Thousands of kids auditioned for this. What was the one thing you looked for? Vivian Nixon: Storytelling. There are so many gifted people in this world; they can do all the dance styles and retain the information. The biggest challenge I had was being in the room and seeing these talented people who lacked the ability to tell a story through their dancing. Who are you in the story? Where’s the joy? Where’s the passion? Debbie Allen: I’m looking for that sparkle, that spirit of the dance that just pervades their whole being and speaks about them before they even start doing a thing. You know, you can tell. I mean, I’ve had a lot of experience auditioning people, and I can do it rather quickly even though sometimes I let them linger and give them time, but I kind of know after I see them do a couple of steps. I know. CL: You mentioned that you look for the spirit of the dance. Is that something that can be taught? DA: That’s something they have or they don’t have. It’s not something that can be developed. Vivian has it; she has had it since she was little.

If you just change one person’s life, you feel like you’ve done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it’s amazing.” —Debbie Allen DEBBIEALLENDANCEACADEMY.COM | BROTHERSOFTHEKNIGHT.COM 18 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

CL: You refer to Vivian as “the next great one.” What greatness do you see in her? DA: Vivian just has this thing about her. She’s so elegant. Her arms, her legs—they are so graceful. At the same time, she is very powerful. She’s dynamic, she can bring tears to your eyes, or she can make you laugh out loud. She’s got it. CL: What does it mean to you when you hear your mom refer to you as “the next great one,” Vivian? VN: That means pressure! [Laughs.] She sees things in people, and she sees things in me, and it means a lot ’cause my mom’s no BS and I respect her. CL: What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in your career? VN: My self-assurance and self-worth. I trained and worked really hard all my life in dance classes. I always fell into the shadows of my mother, and it was hard for me to really realize that I had done the work. Yes, she took me to the best teachers, but I did the work. CL: How have you been able to maintain your mother-daughter relationship and working relationship without the two colliding? VN: Space, respect, and girl time. It’s really important for us to find and carve out those moments where we get to be “Debs” and “Viv,” because she’s so busy. Sometimes, I just have to yank her in a room and be, like, “OK, Mom, we are going to sit down and watch The Real Housewives, and that’s it.” CL: Debbie, you’ve been in this industry for a very long time. What is your secret to longevity? DA: I’m driven by passion. I mean, I am tired right now. I work to a point of abandon. I am fueled by my understanding of the need for selfexpression that exists for young people. This production [Brothers of the

Knight], that’s what this is about. I mean, I do a lot of things: I direct Grey’s Anatomy, I direct Scandal, I’ll be directing Lee Daniels’ new TV show. But what I am able to give to those kids is everything, because it’s changing lives every day. And you know, if you just change one person’s life, you feel like you’ve done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it’s amazing. CL: Throughout all your years in this industry, what have you learned about fame? DA: Fame is fleeting, honey. Fame is fleeting and it changes. There was a time when fame meant that you were either someone who is really gifted in your field or you were making an impact or you are famous because you were a really horrible person, you know? But now, you can become famous by eating a frog. It’s just not the same thing. There are so many famous people now that are not really gifted or talented at doing anything other than getting made up, putting on tight dresses, acting badly, getting married. I mean, what the hell? I don’t know where we are going with this here in America. And we are setting a tone for the world, because everyone looks at what we do. CL: Vivian, what has been the best advice your mother has given you? VN: Keep all your balls in the air. She’s exposed me to so many things: dancing, acting, directing, teaching. Sometimes, it can get confusing as to what you are going to stick with, or sometimes, you are getting pulled in so many directions. I am not the great multitasker that she is at this point of my life. She always encourages me to keep everything going. CL: Every parent wants their child to achieve greatness in the world. What is your greatest hope for Vivian?

I want to inspire people with my work, whether I’ll be dancing, acting, on the big screen, or in the production room.”

DA: My greatest hope for her is that she achieves the degree of success that she wants and that she continues to be a good person. And that somehow the work that she does makes the world better and she’s an inspiration to those that are looking up to her.

—Vivian Nixon

CL: Beautiful. Let’s fast-forward thirty years from now. Looking back on your life, what do you want your legacy to be, Vivian? VN: I want to inspire people to be better, to do better, to dance better, and I want to help to grow this next generation. That’s something that’s really, really important to me, and I just want to be freaking good at everything I do. I want to inspire people with my work, whether I’ll be dancing, acting, on the big screen, or in the production room.

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Jillian Barberie On traveling,juicing, and interviewing Interview: Robert Piper

“I don’t weigh myself . . . I just try to do one of the green drinks nearly every single day.”

Robert Piper:

Jillian, what inspires you in life?

Jillian Barberie: Well, I’ll tell you what: The older you get, you can be less inspired. What inspires me still: travel, art, photography, my kids, the places I haven’t been to yet. Beauty, fashion—but mostly, I’m very creative and I escape in magazines. I have every magazine known to mankind. I just love home decor and travel magazines, and I’m inspired to go visit places I’ve never been. That’s what I really want to do—travel. The older I get, the inspiration changes. Right now, I’m into taking my kids—I want them to see Paris, I’m going to go to Candia this summer to visit my parents, that kind of thing. RP:

How do you stay healthy?

JB:

I try to do a green drink every single day. I’ve been doing it for about, I don’t know, five years. A lot of kale. I don’t diet per se, I don’t weigh myself, I don’t look at a number—I haven’t done that in probably twenty-five years. I just try to do one of the green drinks nearly every single day, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been sick or anything, so I think it really works. I got Whole Foods and spend half my salary on a huge drink, but I do it every day, and I don’t do the fruity ones. So kale, cucumber, celery; no apple, no beet, and no carrot, because that turns into sugar. Because I don’t really work out, I have to eat very healthy if I want to maintain my figure.

RP:

How do you stay balanced with such a hectic work schedule?

JB:

That’s the hard part, because I have two jobs. The radio show is every day from noon to three, which I love; I travel once every two weeks to Florida and do HSN, because I sell cosmetics on there; and the kids live with me full time. But you should do what you have to do. I’m a single mom, and the kids live with me. I do the best I can. I have amazing friends around me that help me. That’s how I balance it.

RP:

In your career, you’ve interviewed a lot of people. Who was your favorite person to interview?

JB:

Probably Howard Stern, because I love him, although I haven’t really interviewed him per se—he’s interviewed me. Second would be Dave Grohl, because I think he’s a genius, a musical genius. Hillary Clinton was fantastic. Celebrities are fun, but you don’t really get a lot out of them. It’s not like they’re going to sit and tell you the most interesting thing, unless you’re friends with them. Jillian Barberie is an on-air personality for TalkRadio 790 KABC, spokesperson for Nutrisystem, ambassador of Too Faced Cosmetics for HSN, and mother. She has appeared on Fox NFL Sunday and Fox’s Good Day LA.

PHOTO: john russo 20 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Paulo Coelho Author of the international best seller The Alchemist

“I don’t make plans. I live my life on a daily basis.”

Oprah Winfrey with Paulo Coelho, author of the international best seller The Alchemist, in Geneva, Switzerland

In the episode, Oprah is joined by Paulo Coelho, author of the international best seller The Alchemist. With more than sixty-five million copies sold, his beloved parable has become one of the best-selling books in history, focusing on the importance of following your dreams. Oprah visits with Paulo from his home in the picturesque city of Geneva, Switzerland, discussing how his colorful and rebellious upbringing influenced the man he is today and how following his heart’s desire has positioned him as one of the most successful authors in the world. In his first-ever interview on American television, Paulo tells Oprah about the process of writing The Alchemist, and how the story of the shepherd boy pursuing his treasure is a universal metaphor for life. His most recent release, Adultery, marks his thirty-first published book. He’s now sold an unprecedented 150 million books worldwide. oprah.com | PAULOCOELHO.COM 22 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Super Soul Sunday airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The two-part season premiere returns with Paulo Coelho, author of the worldwide phenomenon The Alchemist, and, more recently Adultery, Sunday, September 7 and 14 at 11 a.m. ET/PT on OWN.

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Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

Paulo Coelho: People. Even if I live not in a big city, even if I detest to go to parties, I love street fairs and long conversations with people in the countryside. Walking also helps me a lot to feel alive, and I do this every single day, my wife and I. We have long conversations about nature, and we also walk silently, just contemplating.

PC: Walking is almost as important as breathing, for me.

PC: I don’t make plans. I live my life on a daily basis.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

MP: What is love for you?

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

PC: Speaking in front of an audience. Not because I am scared or I don’t know what to say, but because I feel very much uncomfortable, and this leads to vulnerability. Nobody will notice but I—still this is something that I manage to avoid for the past five years.

PC: I am going to die. But I am going to die in peace because I lived my life as intensely as I could.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? PC: “Dare.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? PC: I am not saying that I am different, but I don’t have emotional pain. I may be angry and I may be peaceful, but no emotional pain. MP: How do you keep your

PC: Perseverance brings good luck, as the I Ching says.

MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? PC: Only one, because it demands a lot of effort: my foundation, Paulo Coelho Foundation, that takes care of 430 children in a slum in Rio. MP: Tell me about your yoga or mindfulness practice. What influence has it had on your life? PC: A lot. Helped me to breathe correctly and to relax when I need. As for postures, they are not as important as respiration.

PC: The glue that keeps the stars in place. MP: What is the most important thing for us to do as beings? PC: Not to be cowards. The first spiritual quality we need to have is not faith; it is courage. Paulo Coelho’s latest novel, Adultery, follows the story of a woman who, faced with the uncertainty of her life, unexpectedly reconnects with her high school boyfriend, a temptation too strong to resist (published in August by Knopf). Paulo Coelho is the author of many international best sellers, including The Alchemist (HarperOne), now available in a 25th anniversary edition featuring a new foreword by the author, and Manuscript Found in Accra.

“The first spiritual quality we need to have is not faith; it is courage.”

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 23

I practice Buddhism, so I meditate daily, which helps keep me centered and reminds me not to get my knickers in a twist over the things that are not within my control.

Rosie Fellner

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Celebrating kindness and differences Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

Rosie Fellner: Spontaneous acts of kindness. I had a young girl send me her pizza in a restaurant because she overheard me saying how delicious it looked. In London, there is a section in a newspaper, the Metro, where people write in and thank strangers for their lovely or kind actions throughout the week. It brings me such happiness reading it and makes me know that, ultimately, human beings are amazing.

RF: That love can change everything. Gosh, I sound like my mother!

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? RF: Remembering how short a time we get to be on the planet.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? RF: Before our race, nationality, or religion, we are all human beings. Let’s celebrate our differences and not fight over them.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain? RF: I batter my credit card at Marc Jacobs!

MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? RF: El Faro orphanage in Mexico. Friends of mine opened it fifteen years ago. It was just a single room with no indoor plumbing, and through their organization, they now look after ninety-three children from the ages of two months to twenty-one years. Every child now has their own bed and three meals a day. Those that are old enough go to private school, and most are showing real promise. One kid is in his third year of medical school; another is a mathematical genius. It’s so amazing to watch them reach such potential that could so easily never have been possible.

MP: Tell me about your latest projects. RF: I have a comedy out, called The Trip to Italy, in which I get to sail around Italy in a 1930s sailboat with Steve Coogan. I have also just finished filming The Face of an Angel. Both movies were directed by Michael Winterbottom, who is so brilliant and inspiring to work with.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? MP: Why are these important to you? RF: I practice Buddhism, so I meditate daily, which helps keep me centered and reminds me not to get my knickers in a twist over the things that are not within my control. There is a saying: “If it can be changed, then no need to worry; if it can’t be changed, then no need to worry!”

RF: The Trip to Italy makes people laugh, one of the best things in the world! And in Face of an Angel, I not only played opposite Daniel Brühl, who is so super talented, but the story also centers around the Amanda Knox trial and the chaos surrounding that time in Perugia.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

MP: What is love for you?

RF: After surviving the tsunami in Sri Lanka and facing that moment where I was not sure if I would live to see the next, I learned all that matters is now.

RF: Being teased by my brothers and sisters.

ROSIEFELLNER.COM | FRIENDSOFELFARO.COM 24 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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Barbi Twins: You are a popular TV personality and a former model. The world first came to know you as Mrs. Howard Stern. Today, you’re most known as a national spokesperson for animal rescue. What was the motivation in using your platform to dedicate everything to animal rescue? Beth Stern: I have been passionate about

animals ever since I was a little girl. We always had pets in my household, and even today, I say I sometimes like animals more than humans. For me, that passion for animals has grown into a dedication to spread awareness about the plight of the shelter pet. There are so many great animals in our local shelters that people don’t really know about. Annually, two to four million animals are euthanized, and we can bring that number down significantly by going to our local shelter and adopting and also by spaying and neutering your pets.

BT: Was being an animal lover always an initial requirement to win over Beth Ostrosky?

BS: Animals are a huge part of my life, so

yes, if you are going to be a part of my life, you would need to have the same love for animals. Howard is so great in that aspect and he truly is my partner. We have six resident cats—Walter, Apple, Leon Bear, Charlie Boy, Bella, and Yoda—and we have fostered over fifty kittens in the last year. He even lets the kittens play in his hair! They love it!

saving programs they have, and the mission to rescue, nurture, and adopt but also for the hard work and dedication this organization has to the cause. They have saved over one million lives since their inception, and they are the world’s largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization. The emergency rescue team is ready at a moment’s notice to head into natural-disaster areas—such as Moore, Okla., after the tornadoes or Colorado Springs after the fires—to help save the animals. They even ran a Hurricane Sandy emergency pet shelter on Long Island for four months. Together, we are working on a project to expand the shelter so that more animals can be rescued: Bianca’s Furry Friends feline adoption and wellness center, named after our beloved Bianca, will add a second floor to the shelter, which will be strictly for feline rescues and will open up more space on the first floor for canine rescues. NSALA is so innovative and really always thinking of new ways to help these animals and to further the cause.

BT: You’ve been a great promoter to

adopt older animals, handicapped animals, the ones that are not as adoptable. Can you tell us the horrors of pet shops and puppy mills?

BS: Special-needs rescues and older rescues

have always had a close place in my heart, because those are the ones that tend to get looked over. That is why I love how North Shore Animal League America has their shelter set up. You have to walk through the kennel and check out the older animals before you can get to the puppies and kittens—and let me tell you, sometimes the adopters never make it to the puppies and kittens. Older animals are the best because, number one, a majority of the time, they are already housetrained; number two, you know exactly what kind of personality you are going to be getting with that animal; and number three, they are already full size, so no need to wonder how big they are going to get. Howard and I currently have two specialneeds cats. Bella is our blind cat. We fostered her and her kittens last summer, and we fell so much in love with her that we added her to our clan. We also have Yoda, an older gentleman who has some heart issues, so we are helping him live out the rest of his life in the happiness of our home. They are the best! Ugh, puppy mills. These commercial breeding facilities are horrendous. The animals are kept in tiny wire cages, with little to no human interaction throughout their lives. They are rarely, if ever, seen medically and are forced

BT: Which one of your animals has made you laugh more than Howard? BS: We get a kick out of all of them;

they are all so unique, special, and funny! I always have to smile when blind Bella walks into something. It’s heartbreaking, but she doesn’t let anything get in her way, not even a wall! But Grandpa Yoda has made us smile a lot these last weeks. He has become such a caring old man with our new foster litter of five. Every morning, I wake up and find him spooning with one of the kittens, cleaning their ears . . . or even the other day, he purposely sat himself on the edge of the cat climb so that our foster would not go off the edge. He has become so protective of them, and it is the cutest and funniest thing to watch.

BT: You’re the spokesperson for North

Shore Animal League America and have done some impressive hands-on rescue projects with them. With all the animal organizations that tried to convince you to work with them, what made this organization so special to you?

BS: North Shore Animal League America is so dear to my heart not only for the amazing people that work there, the innovative lifePHOTOS: HOWARD STERN

animalleague.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 27

“Annually, two to four million animals are euthanized, and we can bring that number down significantly by going to our local shelter and adopting and also by spaying and neutering your pets.” to breed over and over again and watch as their babies are taken away from them and sold to pet stores. It is a supply-and-demand business, so the more people stop going to pet stores and choose to adopt instead, the quicker we can put an end to these puppy mills.

BT: Very few animal rescuers focus on cat rescue, and yet you

seem to have made that your focus, giving us “crazy cat women” a sexy makeover. What made you focus so much on cat rescue? Tell us some perks in helping out cats, like hosting the Kitten Bowl.

BS: I like to call myself an “equal opportunist,” as I love both dogs

28 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

and cats, but over the last couple years, both Howard and I have become champions for cats. They are so independent and loving and playful and bring such happiness to our lives. Hosting Hallmark Channel’s Kitten Bowl was such an honor and so much fun! The players had such an amazing time and played their little hearts out, and they were the best costars I could ever ask for. It was also a great opportunity for America to see the types of kittens that are available in shelters. Each one of those players was available for adoption, and ultimately, that is my main message: to raise awareness of the types of animals in our local shelters.

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ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 29

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

tara Tara

reid 30 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Motivated by possibility and positivity

“I really have learned to trust myself in business and in my own life.”

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Tara Reid: The future. I really look forward to knowing that something is always possible. There are opportunities out there for everyone, always. This truly inspires me. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? TR: Loss. It is a very vulnerable feeling to lose something very close to your heart or someone very dear to you. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? TR: “Believe. Believe in yourself. Believe in others. Believe there is positive in everything.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? TR: Loved ones. They are my backbone. They are the people that I turn to when I need the most support and the people who come to me when they are in need. PHOTOs: BRANDON MIESKE

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

international phenomenon. I am still astonished by how much people have embraced the movies and have supported them.

TR: Inner strength. And my daily routine is hitting the gym and working out. When I exercise, I feel better, emotionally and physically.

I have a perfume called Shark by Tara, which I am very proud of, and a horror movie that I shot in Australia called Charlie’s Farm, which comes out in Australia on the fourth of December and internationally following that.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? TR: To trust my gut. I really have learned to trust myself in business and in my own life.

MP: What is love for you? TR: Not being judged.

MP: What truth do you know for sure? TR: Unconditional love. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about?

Tara Reid started acting at age six, and her first film was A Return to Salem’s Lot. Tara’s big break was as Bunny Lebowski in The Big Lebowski. She has been in forty-six movies, including those in the American Pie franchise.

TR: Tomorrows Children’s Fund. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. TR: Sharknado 2, which has been an amazing TARAREID.COM | ATCFKID.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 31

Interview: Robert Piper

bitsie tulloch On dedication and knowing your craft Robert Piper: What inspires you in life?

homework. Every so often, I get stuck in this side job where I have to pronounce really bizarre words, and I have to make sure I have that down. It really depends on how much work will go into the scene the night before.

Bitsie Tulloch: Probably art and creativity, being kind, and driving to be the best version of myself. RP: How’s the show Grimm going?

I did a movie called Parkland a year and a half ago opposite Paul Giamatti, and I probably worked harder on that character than any other character I’ve done. Partially because it was a period film and I was playing a woman who actually existed. So I wanted to honor her as much as I could, so that one really took a lot of work.

BT: I love it! I love Portland. We’re really, really happy up there. The entire cast is pretty much crazy about the city. All of us have moved up to Portland from Los Angeles. Grimm is such a fun show. It gets better and better, and the cast gets along so well. I mean, I can’t think of another cast on another television show that hangs out as much as we all do. Like, we’re all going to Montana for four days together.

RP: How do you find balance in your life?

RP: Can you talk about dedication and what it really takes to commit to a character in acting? BT: It really depends on the character. I think acting for sure takes a lot of dedication, especially when you’re starting out, because it’s so much rejection and it’s so important to really study and know your craft. I was with David [Giuntoli] all weekend in Texas, and he and I were talking about how much work goes into a scene. It really depends on how intense that scene is, if it’s a scene where my character is crying or, season two, my character was losing her mind and she had amnesia. Those scenes took a lot more

“I pray, I meditate, I just try not to take things too seriously.”

BT: I pray, I meditate, I just try not to take things too seriously. You know, I think having a pet has been really important for me. Especially a pet with special needs like mine, because he had a stroke in December. So it’s a lot of just taking the focus off of yourself, because what we do is inherently self-centered and sort of narcissistic. It’s hard to really be thinking about myself all of the time when I have a dog who needs me to be caring for him twenty-four seven.

Bitsie Tulloch is a lead star in the hit NBC show Grimm. Her film credits include Parkland, Lakeview Terrace, and The Artist. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English and American literature as well as visual and environmental studies. PHOTO: DOVE SHORE

32 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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Loving the process

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

34 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Madi Diaz: Spaces, light, and height. Coming upon a space that sounds unique and incredible is just the best feeling. Sometimes, it’s under a bridge or down a stairwell or hallway. Sometimes, it’s pitch-black or incredibly warm or in full daylight on a rooftop. I did a shoot recently for a clothing line, Somedays Lovin. I got to stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean and play my guitar basically all day. It felt endlessly powerful. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? MD: Candlelight and red wine? I don’t know. Vulnerability catches me off guard every single time. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? MD: “There is love.” Someone wrote that for me on a piece of paper in an airport when I probably looked like I really needed to hear it. I did. We all need the reminder sometimes. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? MD: I do my best to write my way through it. It helps the laughing, reflective part come quicker. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? MD: Arts in education is especially important to me. Inspired teachers in our education system is crucial in developing inspired human beings. MP: Why are these important to you? MD: Both of my parents are teachers. One is in the Waldorf school system in Louisville, Ky., and the other runs a music school. I grew up with loving, supportive, encouraging parents that let me make my own world, and I wish that for every single child. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? MD: I run about four days PHOTOs: evan lane

“I grew up with loving, supportive, encouraging parents that let me make my own world, and I wish that for every single child.” per week and do some sort of hike or yoga/ stretching on the other three. Kind of selfpropelling my body and muscles forward in my own controlled chaos helps me find the ground a little bit easier on the daily. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? MD: Loving the process. I learn it over and again and in different ways. I’m speaking particularly to the musical process, but I definitely think that this lesson transcends. Loving the life process. Loving the process of becoming stronger by experiencing something that makes me feel unsteady. The process of speaking and living my truth and making my own path. MP: What truth do you know for sure? MD: I know that truly nothing is for sure. MP: What is love for you? MD: I love the truth. Whether it’s painful or wonderful, it always widens my perspective and changes me. It helps move me forward. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. MD: My new album, Phantom, is out September 30. I started writing this record about ten months after I moved to L.A. It took me over a year. Not because it’s hard to write songs or anything. I think maybe I just needed life to keep happening to me so that I could feel enough feelings to write a properly arced record. Phantom is about a person and a feeling and a whole year of moments and then the disappearance of all of them and how they haunt and follow me. Madi Diaz was home-schooled by post-hippie parents. She released her first album, Plastic Moon, in 2012. Her upcoming album, Phantom, is a chronicle of falling down, getting back up, and heading to the horizon. madidiaz.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 35

BY peter rader

the place where Science and Spirituality become one Y o g a n a n da’ s m e s s a g e “It’s significant that Yogananda’s first speech in America was called The Science of Religion,” says author Philip Goldberg in the new documentary film Awake: The Life of Yogananda. Philip’s book, American Veda, documents how Indian spirituality changed the West, and he dedicates an entire chapter to Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu Swami who arrived on American shores in 1920— the quintessential fish out of water. Yogananda was only twenty-seven years old, barely spoke the language, and looked like he had emerged from the pages of a mysterious storybook recalling tales from the East. “Many Americans were still getting used to having Jews here,” explains Goldberg in the documentary, “and along comes an exotic Swami in orange robes and a turban.”

tours across the country. It felt like modern science was finally catching up with the ancient yogis, who considered one’s spiritual quest to be empirical. The yogis used their own bodies as living laboratories, experimenting with certain techniques of meditation, pranayama (breath control), and asana (posture), and then measuring the results by evaluating how their consciousness had been affected. “Don’t take my word for it,” Yogananda would say. “Try these techniques and see for yourself.” In fact, he welcomed atheists to his lectures. While pundits of the day, like Sigmund Freud, were extolling the death of God, Yogananda declared that the Western conception of divinity was too narrow. Far from the image of a bearded old man throwing down lightning bolts, Yogananda, like many Indians, worshipped God in her feminine aspect—as Divine Mother. In the Hindu tradition, divinity could manifest itself as Love or Joy or simply as Consciousness. It was up to yogis to find their own point of entry—to discover, by trial and error, the aspect of divinity that most readily cultivated feelings of devotion. And then to experiment with how that devotion could deepen the meditative practice and affect one’s consciousness.

“It felt like modern Yogananda had been invited to address the Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, and the science was finally timing was perfect for his message. The Roaring catching up with Twenties was a period of upheaval—a precursor, the ancient yogis, perhaps, to the sixties. The Great War had left who considered its wake of devastation, and the new generation (flappers/hippies) wanted nothing to do with esone’s spiritual quest tablishment values. Everything we had believed in to be empirical.” so vehemently was up for grabs. Einstein’s theory of relativity had paved the way for quantum physThus, there is indeed a place where science and spirituality intersect, ics, which was telling us that solid matter was elusive—creation, mostly according to Yogananda. It’s called “yoga.” empty—and that our awareness could actually influence subatomic particles. But these ideas would hardly have seemed radical to a Hindu Swami. They were akin to the notion of maya from the ancient Vedic teachings of India, which Yogananda introduced to Western audiences in lecture AWAKETHEYOGANANDAMOVIE.COM 36 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Peter Rader, author and screenwriter, produced the documentary film Awake: The Life of Yogananda, in theaters this fall. He wrote Mike Wallace: A Life and is working on a historical biography for Simon & Schuster.

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Scarlett Rabe

“Always listen to that voice that comes from deep within. Even when it sounds crazy.” Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Scarlett Rabe: I’d have to say the obvious: above all, music! But honestly, in a more broad sense, I am hugely inspired by anything new and unexpected: ideas, experiences, challenges. Oh, and foods too! Anything or anyone out of the ordinary. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? SR: I put so much of myself, my heart, my life into the music I make, and it’s an incredibly naked feeling to put it out there for people to take it how they will. I feel so vulnerable, and yet it’s a very empowering feeling at the same time. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? SR: There is beauty in every thing and in every person, even in the most unexpected ways. We can always choose whether or not we see it, but life really can be so wonderful.

Becoming whole through music

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

SR: I am terrible at routine! In fact, once something starts to feel like routine, I automatically scramble it up. But I feel like I take life moment to moment, and when it gets really crazy, I just focus on taking the next breath and the next step. Then the one after that. And then one more, until things clear up and calm down. They always do. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? SR: Always listen to that voice that comes from deep within. Even when it sounds crazy. Follow your gut and you’ll never regret it. MP: What truth do you know for sure? SR: Nothing is permanent. Whether it’s something beautiful and joyful, or painful and tragic, or anything in between, it’s never permanent. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. SR: I’ve been performing my new EP Scarlett with my band, and I’m always writing. I’m excited to be releasing new music really soon.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

MP: Why are these important to you?

SR: I write songs. I process all of my very intense emotions through songwriting.

SR: To me, it’s simply everything.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

Scarlett Rabe began playing the piano at age three. She is known for her song “Battle Cry” on her self-titled album, Scarlett.

scarlettrabe.com 38 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

I N T E R V I E W: M A R A N D A P L E A S A N T

laura regan On alone time, the planet, and keeping her heart open Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Laura Regan: Everything about the morning. Dawn, sunrise. My children waking up. My breakfast smoothie! MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? LR: The changing climate. For instance, the current drought in California is stressing the coastal oak trees, and they are dying in alarming numbers. I recently went for a walk in a state park and found that some of my favorite trees had collapsed. It makes me feel vulnerable, personally and for my children. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? LR: “You are beautiful and you matter.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? LR: I’m still working on that! It’s a constant process for me to learn to take the time to really understand what hurt me and how best to address it or respond. I tend to be reactionary, and that doesn’t help me or others. I do try to keep my heart open. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? LR: I always feel more grounded and stable

when I have balance in my life; I’m a Libra! I’m most often surrounded by people, so what I usually crave is time alone. If I can have even a twenty-minute walk or swim and another twenty quiet minutes to myself at night, I can be much more giving all day long.

LR: I try to follow the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. I have a copy of The Power of Now permanently on my bedside table, and I turn to it whenever life feels challenging. His message is simple but pervasive, and it always helps me to live in each moment at a time.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

LR: That I can still function when I don’t have that balance I crave. I had a tendency to be precious about acting, thinking of it as something mercurial that required all the right conditions, but now I know that even if I don’t get any sleep, I can still work, I can power through. The stars don’t have to be perfectly aligned for me to do a good job. MP: What truth do you know for sure? LR: That more stuff and more money don’t bring more happiness. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? LR: I’m passionate about caring for this planet. I’d like to bring awareness to ways that individuals can reduce their carbon footprints without waiting for governments to change things on a policy level. MP: Tell me about your yoga or mindfulness practice. What influence has it had on your life?

LR: I’m starring in the film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s epic novel from 1957. It features these passionate, principled, larger-than-life characters. I also guest star in the new NBC show Constantine. MP: Why are these important to you? LR: With Dagny in Atlas Shrugged, I really relished the opportunity to play a classic literary heroine. She falls in love with a man whose beliefs are the antithesis of hers. I like the idea that neither makes any romantic move until their philosophies are aligned. MP: What is love for you? LR: Family.

Laura Regan stars in Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?, in theaters September 12. She played the wife of Sterling Cooper’s head media buyer, Harry Crane, on Mad Men.

PHOTO: RUSSELL BAER ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 39

Mike Colter On meditation, good writing, and passion projects Interview: Maranda Pleasant Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Mike Colter: I guess it’s a bit cliché, but as an actor, I really admire good writing. There are a lot of great ideas out there, but it’s the execution that really makes it work. When I find material that gives me a natural yet unique character point of view and has welldeveloped characters throughout the script, it makes the hairs on my arm stand up.

job years ago, and kids who have a rough home life have always tugged at my heartstrings. I also care a lot about animal cruelty.

hopefully lead to more voice-over work. It’s a tremendously popular game that I feel lucky to be a part of.

MP: Tell me about your yoga practice. What influence has it had on your life?

The Good Wife is a show I was a fan of before I started working on it, and it’s just been a real pleasure to see my character, Lemond Bishop, develop over the past five seasons. It’s one of the best shows on TV.

MC: I don’t practice yoga, but it’s on my list of things to try again. I gave it a shot, but the class was too advanced for me, and I felt overwhelmed and a little embarrassed.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

MC: When something tragic happens in the world and I realize that, for the most part, I am powerless to stop it.

MC: I just wrapped an indie film in San Francisco currently titled America Is Still the Place, based on the true story of Charlie Walker and Tower Oil after a tanker collided near Golden Gate Bridge.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? MC: Never take anything at face value. Dare to question and seek the truth. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? MC: I tend to sit with it for a while and ruminate. Then I take a mental note of what it was that caused that pain. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? MC: I rarely feel like I’m in chaos, but when I am, I usually [retreat] and try to find the eye of the storm; if I’m still and listen and don’t engage, maybe the chaos will subside. I don’t have a routine, but I have used meditation to just decompress and focus. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? MC: Never say “never” about anything, because if you do, life has a way of humbling you. MP: What truth do you know for sure? MC: History repeats itself over and over again, but most of us have short memories. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? MC: I worked at a group home for a survival

I also was just at Comic-Con for the official announcement of the release of a series I worked on for Halo, called Halo: Nightfall. I am in the process of doing the voice-over and motion capture for the video game Halo 5: Guardians.

MC: Love, for me, is always wanting the best for the other person even if it’s not what’s best for you. Mike Colter’s film credits include Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, Salt, and Men in Black 3. On television, Mike has a recurring role in CBS’s The Good Wife as Lemond Bishop and previously in American Horror Story: Coven and The Following.

I am also making a return to The Good Wife for season six, which will premiere this fall on CBS. MP: Why are these important to you? MC: The indie film is a passion project. I fell in love with the script and the main character of Charlie Walker. It was a story I felt really spoke to me. He’s a man who happens to be black and is simply trying to make a way for himself in the early seventies. His experiences are unique, but his plight is very relatable because all he wants is a fair shake; he is definitely not a victim nor does he act like he is. He is strong, determined, and I connected with that. Halo: Nightfall is due for release on Xbox Live in November. This project will get my feet wet in the gaming world and PHOTOs: SIERRA PRESCOTT

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MP: What is love for you?

Love, for me, is always wanting the best for the other person even if it’s not what’s best for you.

Never take anything at face value. Dare to question and seek the truth.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 41

Gillian Gibree Interview: Maranda Pleasant

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The key to happiness

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

Gillian Gibree: I love being outdoors. Anything above or beneath the ocean, or up in the mountains, is when I feel most at peace and connected. Activities that require my presence—like downwind paddling, surfing, river paddling—make me feel alive and grateful.

GG: Starting my business was very scary. I moved across the country and lived on a couch for a year in order to squeak by and afford start-up costs. I learned that once you stop worrying, the universe will always provide, but you have to have faith. Making decisions that are fear-based will only make the journey more difficult. Once you come from a place of love, more doors open and it becomes easier to succeed.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? GG: Teaching SUP [stand up paddling] yoga at a major event like the Yoga Journal Conference or getting into big surf or running a tough river on my SUP. It’s good to push yourself and try new things. Sometimes, what you’re most afraid of becomes one of your greatest strengths! MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? GG: “Be nice to each other, and don’t be quick to judge or snap at someone. You never know what that person is going through. Always tell people you love them, because you never know when you will see them again.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

“The mind wants to be in the past or future, but all we really have is right now.”

GG: I allow myself to fully feel it. Once I have fully experienced the pain, then I release it and move on. Holding on to the past will prevent you from progressing and builds up inside you. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? GG: Sometimes, racing and teaching on the road can be a bit stressful. When I’m feeling run-down, I know I need to take my alone time. It helps to meditate and breathe somewhere in nature. I am outdoors almost every day, so that helps keep me centered.

MP: What truth do you know for sure? GG: The key to happiness is being present. The mind wants to be in the past or future, but all we really have is right now. No achievements or possessions will ever be as powerful as love in the present moment with people you care about. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? GG: One of my partners is Ocean Minded, who is very active with environmental organizations. I enjoy helping them with beach cleanups and other efforts to help spread the word about keeping our beaches and local environment clean. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. GG: I am working on my 2015 SUP race and SUP yoga certification and retreat schedule and also finishing an “Intro to SUP Yoga— Gentle Wave” online download. Gillian Gibree, a Massachusetts native, developed her love for the ocean and yoga on Cape Cod. After moving to San Diego, she started Paddle Into Fitness, which offers retreats and certifies instructors to teach SUP yoga. Gillian also competes as a professional SUP athlete.

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44 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

On acceptance and impermanence

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Haley Pullos: Music! I really love music. I would never get into the music industry per se, but listening to music really helps me to concentrate. It’s just a nice way for me to vibe and chill. There’s music for when you’re sad or happy or in love; there’s music for every moment in life. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? HP: A lot of times, identifying with a character in a book or a movie makes me feel really vulnerable. Especially in books, it’s like being able to see an amplified version of yourself, and it’s very surreal. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? HP: “Don’t take life so seriously. Have fun. Enjoy your time on this planet. Try new things, go on adventures, and appreciate every little thing because it may not be as little as you might think.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? HP: I have a little journal that I always keep with me, and when I need to, I’ll write poems and things. It really helps to clear my head. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? HP: I try to remind myself that nothing is permanent. The chaos and the stress of life won’t last forever. Eventually, it will go away and I will once again be left with nothing but happiness. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? HP: Things will go wrong or end up differently than you had imagined, and that’s OK. Life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being the best you can possibly be and finding the good in everything. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? HP: Really, anything that has to do with animal rights. I’ve been very passionate about animals for as long as I can remember, and

Life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being the best you can possibly be and finding the good in everything. ever since I became an actress, I’ve always done my best to get involved with animal charities and such. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. HP: My storyline at General Hospital is getting very big, and it’s definitely been keeping me occupied. And of course, I do Instant Mom as often as I can. It’s completely different than General Hospital; it’s a live-audience comedy. I’m lucky to be involved in two great shows. MP: Why are these important to you? HP: I’ve been working on General Hospital for a little over five years now, so it’s become my second home. I grew up on that stage. I learned almost everything I know there. As for Instant Mom, it’s my first recurring role on Nickelodeon, so I was overjoyed when I found out I booked it. MP: What is love for you? HP: Love is being accepting of all of their flaws. Love is being understanding and compassionate. Love is realizing that they are going to make mistakes but knowing you can’t hold it against them. Love is being constantly supportive. Haley Pullos is best known for her role as Molly Lansing on ABC’s General Hospital. She is also on Nickelodeon’s NickMom comedy Instant Mom with Tia Mowry; the second season premieres mid-September. Haley has guest-starred on many television dramas, including House M.D. and Ghost Whisperer.

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MARK Interview: Maranda Pleasant

DEKLIN On love, parenthood, and making a difference Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive? Mark Deklin: Time spent with my kids, especially when we’re playing together outdoors—ocean, mountains, garden. Nothing better. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? MD: That same intense, overpowering, and all-encompassing love that you feel for your family can also be utterly terrifying. I’m fearful and anxious for my family in ways that I’ve never been fearful or anxious for myself. I’m completely vulnerable to their pain, both physical and emotional. It’s wild. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? MD: The one thing I would tell everyone—myself included—would be to just chill out. Life, by design, provides us with plenty of drama without us having to augment it and invent more. Just chill. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? MD: When I’m at my best, I try to breathe it in, sit with it, see what it has to teach me, cry it out, accept it, own it, and move on. But when I’m not at my best, I can become really angry, bitter, sullen, and resentful. One of the gifts of parenthood is that it forces you to be a bit more conscious about it, if only because you quickly realize that those kids are learning from your every action. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. MD: I’ve been playing Nicholas Deering on Devious Maids. He’s basically a decent guy, but he’s done some really, really bad things in the past that he’d like to bury. I suppose you might say that, unlike Walter White, Nick is attempting to “break good.” MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

In every single moment, there are only two choices: love or fear. I Can tell you from experience that love is exponentially more powerful. And a hell of a lot more fun.

MD: Reading and gardening are really big for me, along with music and exercise. If I go more than a day or two without a run or a bike ride or something, I start to get kind of itchy and antsy. I also do this funny little combo of yoga, martial arts, and Pilates that I’ve put together over the years. And then sometimes, there’s nothing quite like a nice glass of peaty scotch with a single ice cube to take the edge right off. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? MD: My dad, who died a few years ago, was a really beautiful, peaceful man, and he was full of wisdom that I’ve come to appreciate more and more. Two of my favorites are “Accept the gift and honor the giver” and “Learn how to let go and say a good good-bye.” MP: What truth do you know for sure? MD: Love is real. In every single moment, there are only two choices: love or fear. I can tell you from experience that love is exponentially more powerful. And a hell of a lot more fun. MP: How can young people make a difference? MD: Own it. Create the world you want to see. Be bold. Be kind. Be brave. Figure out what you believe in and what you’re willing to fight for, then figure out what your special talents are and apply them to it. Always look for common ground, but don’t ever be afraid to choose sides. Choose love. Teach love. And never lose your curiosity. PHOTO: ANGELO KRITIKOS

46 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Tohoru

Masamune

On pursuing dreams and embracing chaos Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Tohoru Masamune: I love that moment when I feel a connection to another person, however brief or insignificant. I am always inspired by anything created by someone trying to overcome great obstacles. Good tunes never hurt, either. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? TM: When I think about my dad, who passed away in 2003. He would be really proud of me being in [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? TM: “Don’t ever give up on your dream. Ever.” The most valuable thing I have gained from this whole TMNT experience so far is that I now know for a fact that anything can happen. After twenty-four years in this notoriously impenetrable and discouraging business, I was offered this iconic role out of the blue, without any audition or meeting, from people I didn’t know. Stick with your passion, and keep moving forward. You can’t go wrong. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? TM: I believe this all has to do with how I decide to perceive the experience. Pain is part of life and makes you who you are meant to be. I just let it flow through me, at whatever rate it decides to do so. Then I go to the hockey rink and hit a few slap shots. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? TM: This is actually one of my strengths. Chaos is a natural state of being—as natural as structure is—so there is no reason to fear it. On the contrary, one should embrace it. It means something extraordinary and unexpected is about to happen. My routine? I always look forward to sitting down for my morning coffee. I enjoy going to the gym and hitting the heavy and speed PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER PATEY

bag, ice hockey, samurai-sword training. Like everyone else, I get swept along just trying to keep up with that endlessly growing to-do list, but I do my best to treat the day as one big meditation or symphony. I have an elaborate wind-down ritual, which combines reading, ESPN, movies, and jamming the blues on my keyboard. There’s still a part of me that’s a little kid who is psyched because I no longer have a bedtime! MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? TM: One must strive to be as honest as you are humanly capable with yourself and others. It is impossible to move forward otherwise. MP: What truth do you know for sure? TM: I studied engineering at MIT. There, the late, great physicist Philip Morrison introduced me to the idea that, in any system, there exists the inevitability that an event will occur which is completely unrelated to anything that preceded it. It completely changed my perception of “impossible.” MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? TM: I have been involved with science and

Pain is part of life and makes you who you are meant to be.” math education my whole life. My hope is to continue to promote the love of these beautiful disciplines to the next generation. MP: Tell me about your latest projects and why these are important to you. TM: I’m in an indie paranormal thriller movie, Chatter; I play a socially awkward NSA office drone. A film where I play a preacher just got into the Toronto International Film Festival. I produced The Monogamy Experiment Short. Each of these projects seems to address entirely different but essential parts of me. My love of the unknowable in the paranormal thriller, my love of family in the TIFF film, and my wacky mischievousness in the short. MP: What is love for you? TM: A kind heart. An indomitable spirit. A beautiful woman.

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Interview: Barbi Twins

Barbi Twins: What makes you passionate about racing cars, and how did you start? Andy Lally: As a kid, I loved my Matchbox cars, my Big Wheels, and the race cars on TV. When I laid eyes on my first go-kart when I was just five, it gave my desire for making things with wheels go fast a focus. This combined with the fact that I’ve been incredibly competitive since a young age made for the proper mix of passion and aggression to become a race car driver. BT: What inspired you to be a vegetarian for ten years? How did you transition into being a vegan? AL: The choice to become vegetarian was purely for ethical reasons. Like most meat eaters, I was a little concerned with removing meat from my diet. Also, like most meat eaters, I was blind to the horrible ways animals are treated. It was not until months after going vegetarian that I started really learning about all of the health benefits. Going vegan was a little tougher for me. The final push came from watching Gary Yourofsky’s lecture at Georgia Tech in person. The video is now on YouTube. I constantly show it to people interested in learning about why I choose to live the way I do. BT: Your other passions include Brazilian jujitsu and street luge. How does that complement your vegan lifestyle? AL: I’ve seen a big gain in cardio since I went vegetarian and even gained a little more going vegan. Good cardio helps in any athletic practice, but in jujitsu, it has been very helpful late in a sparring session where a long roll starts to take its toll on your cardio. I tend to have a little more left in the tank. On the street luge side, you need to have a solid core and balance. A healthy body is a must in that sport if you want to compete for wins, and my diet has certainly enabled me to make the most of myself. BT: You compete in male-dominated sports. Does anyone give you a hard time about being vegan? AL: Yeah, of course. The vegan thing is an easy target for them, but it’s nothing that I’m self-conscious about in any way. There will always be haters out there, but my haters motivate me to push harder and kick more ass. That simple! BT: If you got to race for a cause, what cause would that be?

On veganism, cardio, and going fast ANDYLALLY.COM | FARMSANCTUARY.ORG | ADAPTT.ORG 48 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

AL: I give to a bunch of different causes every year. My favorite so far is Farm Sanctuary out of Watkins Glen, N.Y. Gene Baur and his vision is a great thing to see firsthand, and the people working at the farm are wonderful. I also try to help Gary promote his ADAPTT [Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow] website, because I think it is helpful information for people making the transition and gets people to watch his lecture. I also like to encourage people to give locally. It’s easy to find and call a local no-kill shelter and see what specific things they need, and believe me, all of them are always in need of something. Andy Lally, four-time winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and three-time winner of the Rolex Sports Car Series, has been racing many kinds of cars since he was eighteen. He drives a Porsche GT3 Cup car in the IMSA series.

“It’s easy to find and call a local nokill shelter and see what specific things they need, and believe me, all of them are always in need of something.”

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Allan

Nothing routine

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Keith Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Keith Allan: Nature, hands down! The intricate complexity of it and the simple beauty of it baffles my mind. It knows what to do and it does it very well, without question. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? KA: When I see people having an emotional reaction to something, I tend to go right with them. That’s why watching the news can be tough. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? KA: “Pick up your trash,” for starters. Then let’s figure a way to make less of it. Much less. We are a smart and creative enough race that we should be able to figure out how to make this work. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? KA: I kind of go with the flow—whatever works when it’s going on, I guess. Sometimes, it’s getting out in nature. Sometimes, it’s hanging out with friends. Sometimes, it’s taking your mind off it with one of your favorite movies that inspires you to not take it all so seriously, like Young Frankenstein. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? KA: If I’m in a creative chaos, I can function really well. I can get a little mind ninja going on when I’m directing. When I’m in chaos that I can’t handle, I’m usually on the phone with my friends. I got a good web of friends that are pretty damn smart and are able to help me reboot, refocus, and put it in perspective. I don’t really have a daily routine. I do brush my teeth every day. I try to watch The Colbert Report every day because he’s a genius. I love yoga and would love to make that part of my routine. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

It drives me insane when people say, ‘I don’t know what I want to do.’ Figure it out!” KA: Things that are important to me today may not necessarily be the things that I care the most about in five, ten, fifteen years. MP: What truth do you know for sure? KA: Our time on this planet is limited, and you should figure out what you want to do and get it done now. Don’t sit on your ass while life passes you by. It drives me insane when people say, “I don’t know what I want to do.” Figure it out! MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? KA: World Food Program. It is unimaginable to me that we cannot figure out how to feed everyone on the planet—especially when it costs so little to do it. MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

KA: I’m working on a show for the Syfy channel called Z Nation that premieres September 12. The character that I play is Murphy, and he is carrying the cure for the zombie apocalypse in his bloodstream, and he’s a dick. Well, some people think he’s a dick; I don’t. My other project is a short film teaser called Hearts Like Fists that I’m directing and acting in. I did the stage play, and I’m developing it into a feature. It’s about supervillains and crimefighters. Very stylized and super fun and dark and weird—I love it. I get to play the Evil Dr. X. MP: Why are these important to you? KA: Because I was born to do this. I pop out of bed every morning like SpongeBob SquarePants with a smile on my face as I proclaim to the world, “I’m awake.” That’s kind of how ridiculously happy this makes me. PHOTO: PETER KONERKO

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Dash Mihok Welcoming vulnerability in life and on screen Interview: Maranda Pleasant

and the writing is rich and deep and challenging. I have the grand fortune of being written a very intricate and multilayered character. Every part of being on this show elevates your game, and I feel like it shows on screen. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

Dash Mihok: New experience. I feel

like my soul yearns to experience something new at all times. That may be an encounter with a new place or persons or a song that plays and urges me to dance in a different way. I come alive when there is a chance to learn or do something different. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

DM: I’m a morning “spinner.” That’s usu-

DM: Being with my family and loved

ally when my brain is thinking too much and I don’t necessarily see things positively. So I sit myself down and remember that I’m making it up. I believe we are creating in every moment—making up our reality, so to speak—so when anything gets chaotic or I feel spun out, I remind myself that everything is an interpretation. I can look at it differently and make it work for me in a more positive light. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

ones. Speaking my truth and then being that in action. Leaving my comfort zone but knowing that risk is going to create something beautiful. I believe I have come to good terms with my vulnerability. I welcome it now, where I didn’t in the past. And of course, playing Bunchy Donovan on Showtime’s Ray Donovan. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

DM: I would ask everyone to remember, in any situation we are experiencing, that we can come from a place of fear or love. I would say, however uncomfortable it may be sometimes to get to that root, to please take that extra time and courage to come from a place of love. MP: How do you handle emotional pain? DM: I do my best to allow myself to really feel it. Cry. Get all in it. Really experience my experience so that I may move through it. And talk about it. I try not to let anything get brushed over and swept under the rug. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. DM: I’m currently working on the second season of Ray Donovan, which I am enjoying immensely. I get to work with some of the most incredible actors ever, PHOTO: PHOTOS: COREY DOVE NICKOLS SHORE

DM: That the past is the past. I do my

I believe we are creating in every moment . . . so when anything gets chaotic or I feel spun out, I remind myself that everything is an interpretation.

best not to bring history into my present. It ain’t ever easy, but it usually creates more opportunity for joyful experiences. MP: What truth do you know for sure?

DM: That I love people. MP: How can young people make a difference? DM: When they believe they are the

difference! That their voice matters and to use the incredible power each one of them has. I work with an amazing young man, Jaylen Arnold, who started a foundation and a movement to educate people about tolerance and to stop bullying, when he was eight years old. He never ceases to inspire me.

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Melanie Iglesias Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Melanie Iglesias: I’m the second oldest of eight kids. I’d have to say, what inspires me is making sure my siblings have a good role model to look up to. Nowadays, influencers do anything to keep up with each other for attention, and it’s not always something today’s youth should mimic. I understand that with great influence comes great responsibility. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? MI: I’ve been burned a few times by people I’ve once considered good friends. When I call someone my “friend,” I open up and share my entire life with them. That always makes me feel a little vulnerable, but I just love the idea of people mutually opening up to each other and sharing wisdom and life experiences together. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? MI: I feel like people focus too much on what other people think of their lives and trying to appear like they have it all together rather than focusing on just being happy. You can’t control the perception of others no matter how hard you try. Do things that promote personal growth and health. Genuine happiness is hard to miss. MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

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The practice of happiness

What inspires me is making sure my siblings have a good role model to look up to." JODEEMESSINA.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 53

Love is the feeling of being at home no matter where on earth you are." MI: I love writing. I love getting lost in creative projects when I’m going through a tough transition in life. I always keep in mind that it’s not the first time something painful has happened, and just like I got through other troubles, the one at hand will pass as well. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? MI: If you think about it, we are always centered in the middle of chaos. It never goes away. It’s important to find your inner peace. For me, it’s literally looking at the bigger picture. When I think about the size of the universe, I feel like any problems I’m surrounded by are so small. I just do my best to react to chaos with love, and hopefully, other people will catch on and do things out of love too. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? MI: I’ve recently learned not to take things personally. We can get offended by anything if we want to. It’s not hard to hurt someone’s feelings; all they have to do is believe what the offender is saying to be true. No one knows me like I know me, and therefore, no one can hurt me. MP: What truth do you know for sure? MI: I know I have an incredibly amazing family that loves and supports me unconditionally. I have a best friend I consider to be a sister, and I’ve recently discovered my true love. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? MI: I have a seven-year-old brother who is autistic. I participate in raising money for Autism Speaks and have taken it upon myself to donate a portion of my merchandise sales to the cause. I’ve also done this for Hope for the Warriors because we need to recognize the people that fight for our freedom and not take that for granted. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. MI: I’m a cohost on an MTV2 show called Off the Bat from the MLB Fan Cave. It airs Sundays at 11 a.m. [EST]. It’s a fun show that combines baseball with pop culture. MELANIEIGLESIAS.COM 54 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

MP: What is love for you? MI: For me, love is the feeling of being at home no matter where on earth you are. It’s a comfort that silences anxieties. It’s the feeling of finding a safe place in the middle of disaster. Love does not judge. Love promotes personal growth. Love is not materialistic. It’s intangible yet somehow an undeniable feeling. You know it when you have it. I have lots of love in my life and I am blessed.

You can't control the perception of others no matter how hard you try." PHOTOS: BENNY HADDAD, HAIR AND MAKEUP: CAT WHITE, STYLIST: FRANZY STAEDTER

“Enlightening” “Life changing” “Thought provoking”

25% OFF CODE: AZIAM

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Michael Adam Hamilton Celebrating life and love Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Michael Adam Hamilton: My mother used to constantly ask me, “Is this constructive or destructive, Michael honey?” That concept really stuck with me. When we are adding to those around us, the world, ourselves, it feels good and right on levels we cannot even consciously connect with. One of my favorite things is watching my children learn something new. The combination of innocence and excitement makes a parent feel truly alive, even if only for a second and peripherally. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? MAH: Uncertainty. I suddenly feel unsatisfied with the answer “I don’t know” because I know, soon enough, someone will ask me that question, someone who looks at me with one hundred percent trust and admiration. So becoming a father has definitely heightened my discomfort with uncertainty. I want to be able to say I know what will happen, when, why. But most of the time, we just don’t know. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

MAH: This is a lesson I continue to learn: Be content where you are! The sooner I let go of the notion that something could only be one way, the way I had planned it, without fail, I have always gotten more done and with far less discomfort. MP: What truth do you know for sure? MAH: That I do not know everything, I never will, and that is OK. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? MAH: The protection of net neutrality. If you do not know what that means, look it up while we still somewhat have it. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. MAH: I have a movie mid festival run called The 10 Year Plan, about two best friends who make a pact that, if in ten years neither has found anyone, they will be together so they don’t end up alone and sad. It’s a cute and fun romantic comedy.

MAH: “Try to understand long before you move to judgment. We are all more similar than we usually realize. So much of the suffering we do in our life is because of obsession with self. If you look outside, help others, suddenly we forget all those cerebral discomforts.”

Another film of mine, Baby Steps, is about to be done, beginning of September 2014, and is expected to premiere at a large international festival. This movie follows the journey of a biracial gay couple who decide to have a baby together and all of the emotional and practical obstacles they must get over.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

MP: Why are these important to you?

MAH: Honestly, probably not very well, according to most people. I kind of just quietly sit on it and hope it will go away. This drives my wife crazy. But there are some advantages to this way of handling pain. When you “take a pause,” as my mother always said, you are able to really take responsibility for how you are feeling and how you could change it before pointing fingers.

MAH: My reason for doing these two films is the same but in opposite ways. The 10 Year Plan is about two best friends, and the fact that these friends happen to be gay is a minor detail. This movie is in a beautiful place and time where two people can be seen for who they are—as whole people, not small details that then become stereotypes and life decisions they are forced to defend. As an artist, I think it is important for us to mark places in history where we have made progress, to celebrate by expressing that reality.

I also found at a young age that emotions aren’t always handled with talking and other emotions. I started ballet, seriously around fourteen, and let me tell you, nothing can give you an emotional reset like a good ballet barre. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? MAH: I try to simplify: What can I do right now that I will feel good about and accomplished with? I try to not let there be too many steps between what I am mostly focusing on and what I am physically doing. If you are constantly standing back and looking at the whole map, you are going to miss a lot of turns and feel overwhelmed. When you have kids, I think it makes them feel safer and be in a space to grow more and recognize patterns when routines exist. One thing I have been doing since I was around seventeen is this twenty-minute high-intensity workout. It doesn’t require any equipment nor too much space. It is long enough to be effective but not too long. So long as I have one eye on the babies, I can eventually get through the workout.

Baby Steps, in stark comparison, is a reminder that although here—Los Angeles 2014—we can have a lighthearted movie about romance and living your life without persecution, that freedom does not exist in the rest of the world and not even in the rest of our country. There are places where they are going backward, away from freedom. Places where same-sex couples are beaten, killed, not allowed to raise families, forced to hide their lifestyle. And I think that as we watch and enjoy movies like The 10 Year Plan, it is important to remember the struggle that others are still going through just to live their lives the way they want. MP: What is love for you? MAH: Love is the feeling we get when we recognize the positive attributes in another. You have to continually and actively watch for the best parts of someone else that will let you experience love. I like this definition of love because it’s not just for the romantic lovers out there but the love of a friend, a mother, sibling—all kinds of love.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? MICHAELADAMHAMILTON.COM 56 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

PHOTO: MALACHI BANALES, GROOMING: BRITTANY PAIGE

As an artist, I think it is important for us to mark places in history where we have made progress, to celebrate by expressing that reality.â&#x20AC;? PHOTO: AMANDA DEMM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 57

“I love the people I work with , so it doesn’t feel like work.” Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Riley Smith: Each day. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? RS: Love. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? RS: “Peace.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? RS: I lean on my family. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? RS: My loved ones keep me grounded. And prayer. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? RS: My father gave me a card with his five essential keys to being a good man. I’ve carried it in my wallet since I was fifteen. Honesty, self-discipline, desire, pride, and determination. That was a great lesson. MP: What truth do you know for sure? RS: All you need is love. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? RS: Guillain-Barré and Children’s Hospital. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. RS: True Blood on HBO and a back-door pilot from Nicholas Sparks called Deliverance Creek, airing on Lifetime September 13. MP: Why are these important to you? RS: The scripts are great, and I love the people I work with, so it doesn’t feel like work. MP: What is love for you? RS: My heart.

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Riley Smith Bites of wisdom

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

“I’ve always been a people person, and I love people. You could drop me off in the middle of a sea of people, and I’m happy.” Robert Piper: Tasha, what inspires you in life? Tasha Smith: Creativity inspires me. It’s like crazy right now: I’m in the process of directing a movie. I love actors, and I’m passionate about the creative process of acting and filmmaking. Humanity inspires me, people inspire me, I’ve always been a people person, and I love people. You could drop me off in the middle of a sea of people, and I’m happy. We were on vacation—we went to the Caribbean—and I said to my husband, “Let’s go over to Anguilla, that part of the island, and I didn’t tell him that that day they were having a Caribbean festival. I told him we could go up there, and it will be nice and quiet. When we got there, it was like five, maybe six, thousand people. And I couldn’t be happier—it was just so much fun! I mean, those are just some of the things that inspire me.

On the joys of listening and learning Interview: Robert Piper

RP: You said people make you happy. How? TS: I think just hearing their stories and hearing their experiences, their journeys in life, how they’ve overcome obstacles. It inspires me, it motivates me, and I love to hear stories about people who got to places where they are today. Those kinds of things are very interesting to me. RP: What kind of research goes into preparing for a role? TS: You know, I remember when I played Daddy’s Little Girls. I found a guy that was a drug dealer, so I remember asking him if he would meet with me, after a friend had connected me to this guy. And I was kind of nervous, so I asked him if he would meet me at the airport, because I felt like that was the safest place to meet a drug dealer. So I meet with the drug dealer at the airport, and I had, like, this one- or two-hour meeting with him. Asking him questions about why he does what he does, and why it is important, and what his belief system is, and I remember I made that my character’s belief system. Because she felt like it was good, that was the thing to do. So I’ll research everything. I remember playing a cop role, and I went out with the SWAT team. Everything! And that’s just part of the blessing of being an actor: you get to learn so many things about life. Tasha Smith is an actress who starred in several movies, including Couples Retreat, Jumping the Broom, and Why Did I Get Married? She can be seen on Tyler Perry’s hit show For Better or Worse on OWN. PHOTO: D’ANDRE MICHAEL ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 59

Interview: Maranda PlEasant

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I get to talk to the people who change the game.”

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Angie Martinez: I love what I do because I get to talk to the people who change the game: the influencers, visionaries who make things happen in music and culture. That’s inspiring to me. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? AM: Big decisions. My recent move from Hot 97 to Power 105.1 was hard for me but necessary for where I am in my career right now. It wasn’t easy to say goodbye to my Hot 97 family, but I knew that in order to really grow, I had to take the leap with Clear Channel. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? AM: “Do you. Just focus on being the best version of yourself that you can be every day, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else or worry about what they’re doing. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you really strive to be better.” MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

AM: I make time for myself and focus on new goals. Right now, I’m training for the 2014 NYC Marathon. I’m running at least five times a week! This is definitely something new for me; I’ve never been a serious runner, so it’s a serious challenge for me.

The Beat and the 2014 NYC Marathon, I’m also extremely passionate about healthy cooking. I have a website called Healthy Latin Eating and will be debuting a cookbook with chef Angelo Sosa featuring healthier versions of classic Latin recipes in 2015.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

I am also a correspondent for Extra here in New York. It’s as fun for me to be in front of the camera as it is to be on the radio.

AM: Always keep things in perspective. While I was making the jump to Power 105.1, Jay Z told me something that really helped me step back and reframe. He said, “Your future is ahead of you. Imagine the notion of the past fifteen years of your life being a blip in your story.” So true. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? AM: I’m actually running the NYC Marathon for PitCCh In Foundation, which was started by my dear friend C. C. Sabathia of the New York Yankees and his lovely wife, Amber, and gives back to inner-city youth. The CHALK center is also a great organization providing education on healthy eating and lifestyle for families in Washington Heights and Inwood. MP: Tell me about your yoga practice. What influence has it had on your life? AM: I never really had a regular yoga practice until recently, now that I’m training for the NYC Marathon. I’ve been doing a lot of yoga to help with my running, recovery, and mental clarity. It works great for me. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. AM: In addition to my new work on Clear Channel with Power 105.1 and Miami’s 103.5

MP: Why are these important to you? AM: For all different reasons! The projects I’m working on are all diverse, but each represents a different passion for me. I’m constantly looking to stretch myself.

Angie Martinez, known as “The Voice of New York,” has nearly twenty years of on-air experience and an interview roster that reads like a who’s who of today’s top players, including President Barack Obama, Jay Z, Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Naomi Campbell.

“I knew that in order to really grow, I had to take the leap.

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Laura Bell Bundy

BORN INTO MUSIC Interview: Robert Piper

I feel connected to a higher power when I’m making music or performing.

Robert Piper: What inspires you in life? Laura Bell Bundy: I’m inspired by having fun; I’m inspired by people. Different personalities inspire me as an actor. Especially quirky personalities, maybe people I wouldn’t normally get along with or be friends with—I find them inspiring for my work. I find sad emotions to be inspiring and stories of great people that kind of overcame odds. I’ve always sort of felt a little bit like I was on the road less traveled, so if I come across a story about a person who broke the rules, or did things differently and succeeded, that’s really inspiring to me. RP: How has music impacted your life? LBB: Well, my mother has always had music on, whether it was on a record player, eight-track, cassette tape—you name it. She loved music, and my grandfather was a radio DJ; that was how he started his career. And so he was a big lover of music, and he was also a singer, and my aunt, my mom’s sister, was also a singer. So we had music in the family, you know? We just had musical ability. I think Mom just assumed that, as a young kid, I was going to have the same musical ability. So she

encouraged me to sing. And I believe that if you sounded exactly like the record you heard, that meant you were doing it right, so I became really good at impersonating and mimicking. That’s kind of how I started to sing, which is interesting, because I give that advice to young people now if they’re wanting to sing. Try to sing exactly like an artist you hear, and then all of the sudden, you’ll feel what it feels like if you’re singing properly, depending on who you’re mimicking. As I got older, my tastes changed. I’m definitely inspired by music; I feel like I can express a part of myself, a part of my heart and my soul, that I can’t express just acting, by writing music or singing music. It takes the emotions to another level. I feel really connected to something else, you know. I feel connected to a higher power when I’m making music or performing. There’s a spiritual experience for me. Laura Bell Bundy is an actress and musician. She currently stars in the hit FX show Anger Management opposite Charlie Sheen and also has a recurring role in Hart of Dixie on The CW. Her new album, Another Piece of Me, from Big Machine Records will be released this fall.

PHOTO: JEREMY COWART / BIG MACHINE RECORDS 62 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

On nature, blessings, and seeing things positively Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Betsy Landín: For me, it is being close to nature, either by the beach or near the ocean. When I look around and see how small I am in comparison to all that surrounds me, it fuels me. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? BL: As actors, we have to be able to keep ourselves open to feel, and that’s a life lesson I think many people don’t get a chance to learn. In my personal life, I’ve learned to carry this lesson with me. Many people see vulnerability as weakness when it’s the only way to truly grow and truly love. Love makes me feel vulnerable. It’s like saying, “I’m an open book. Here are my flaws, my strengths, where I fall short, my dreams—and I’m choosing to share them with you.” MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? BL: “If everyone chose love, this world would be magnificent. Always choose love.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? BL: Talking to someone, meditating, praying, or just plain crying it out helps. The most important thing after doing any of these things is to let them go. I focus on all of the many blessings surrounding me and all those I love, instead. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? BL: My pups are the first to keep me in a morning routine, but I also take time to pray and read the daily devotional book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I also take time to work out by going to Bikram Yoga five to six times a week and hiking. Eating healthy and keeping hydrated does wonders; it centers my mood and helps me keep a sharp mind. PHOTO: JONATHAN TANTYPE

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? BL: Everything happens for a reason, and sometimes, that might be difficult to understand, especially when things don’t go the way we plan or expect. If we choose to see things positively and trust in God, he will fulfill his purpose in our lives. MP: What truth do you know for sure? BL: As Leo Buscaglia once said, “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be.” MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? BL: I’m working alongside my friend Dr. Juli Goldstein on the Stryder Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to provide emotional and financial support to animals and their humans

Many people see vulnerability as weakness when it’s the only way to truly grow and truly love.” during diagnosis and treatment of canine cancer. Later this year, I’m also hoping to get the opportunity to go to Africa to work with a local orphanage. It’s been something that has been in my heart for a long time. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. BL: I’m so happy to be back as Kat in Dolphin Tale 2! The movie opens nationwide September 12. I also got to work on this season’s Ray Donovan. BETSYLANDIN.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 63

Elayne Boosler

Opening minds with humor and joy Interview: Barbi Twins

Barbi Twins: You are a legendary comedian as well as an accomplished actress, writer, director, and producer. You are also a hard-core animal advocate, with your very own animal organization, Tails of Joy. How has comedy helped your animal causes? Elayne Boosler: Most people love animals, and most people

love to laugh. Combining the two makes both resonate deeper. Many animal rescue organizations hit with a hard-core, heartbreaking message. Their videos and stories can become difficult for average people to watch. By taking a more positive, heartwarming approach to animal rescue, I’ve been able to engage people and keep them engaged for years. Instead of selling the agony and misery—and sadly, there is no shortage of that—I start with the happy endings. I work backwards so the first message they get is joy and success due to their involvement. Opening the mind with humor and joy gets the rescue message in that much deeper.

BT: What inspired you to become a comedian, an animal advocate, and

a powerful voice as a female in politics?

EB: I didn’t get a high school diploma. I really didn’t have much of an

education, which left me open to educating myself throughout my life, without the limitations on intellectual curiosity a formal education can impose. I followed what interested me. I had no special gifts, had many jobs. Comedy seemed to stick, so I did that. I always had a connection with animals. I’m sure wanting to help the helpless stemmed from my helpless childhood. Every time we help an animal, we are healing ourselves, over and over.

ELAYNEBOOSLER.COM | TAILSOFJOY.NET 64 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

“Every time we help an animal, we are healing ourselves, over and over.” Touring as a comedian led me to meet many rescuers who came to my shows and asked for help in general, before I was even a rescuer. It was a true natural progression. As for being a voice in politics, I feel whether you are famous or not, busy or not, it’s incumbent upon every citizen to participate in this government in any way we can. Citizens are all equal in politics: we each have one vote.

BT: Tell us about your animal organization and any future projects ahead. EB: Tails of Joy is my nonprofit animal rescue and advocacy organiza-

tion. We are staffed completely by volunteers, so every dollar that comes in is used for animal rescue. Our goal is to make the world better for animals and their people. We raise funds for the smallest, neediest rescue groups across the US and beyond. We work for the passing and enforcing of anti-cruelty laws. And we rescue and re-home companion animals. Our next, exciting new project comes out mid-September 2014. Every year, New York Times best-selling romance authors come together for fun to put out a downloadable boxed set and choose a charity to benefit. This year, they chose Tails of Joy. I am so excited. Ten great new books by ten best-selling authors, and all to help animals.

“Animal Wisdom deepens our understanding of the sacred relationship between humans and animals.” ~ DEEPAK CHOPRA

“Animal Wisdom is a thoughtful and inspired exploration of the ways in which animals, if we will but watch them and listen to them, can help us to live our lives more fully.” ~ JANE GOODALL, PHD, DB

Combining a scientist’s clear knowledge with a deep spiritual understanding of the interconnectedness of all life, Dr. Linda Bender reveals the amazing power our pets and wildlife have to heal and enrich our lives. According to Dr. Bender, animals teach us marvelous lessons and offer profound wisdom if we choose to pay attention. Animal Wisdom reveals...

How animals help reconnect us with the source of all life and the power of love Cutting-edge research on the unexplained powers of animals How to hone your natural intuitive abilities and engage in communication with animals How to care for the earth & tips for what you can do to make a difference A portion of the book proceeds are donated to From the Heart, which funnels profits to organizations that directly benefit animals, their care and their habitats.

"Animals speak to us through the language of the heart and help us connect to the miracle of life." ~DR. LINDA BENDER www.AnimalWisdomBook.com

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 65

Sharon Gannon

Joyful food, joyful people Interview: Maranda Pleasant

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“Vegan food is not only good for you, the animals, and the planet, but cooking vegan can be simple, easy, and fun.”

Maranda Pleasant: I know you are a world-renowned yogini and an animal rights activist, but I had no idea you were an accomplished vegan chef and that you have your own restaurant in New York City, the Jivamuktea Café. And now you have written a cookbook! How did you come up with the great title, Simple Recipes for Joy? Sharon Gannon: I was riding my bicycle on the back roads of Woodstock, N.Y., when the title popped into my head. I’d been working on the cookbook for over ten years, experimenting with recipes. I was a bit naive and didn’t realize that a lot of cookbook writers compile their favorite recipes from other sources. But I had to do it the hard way: trial and error. Try a bit of this and a dash of that. Often, the meal would flop, but when it tasted good and my friends agreed, then I knew it was a keeper and wrote down the recipe. Over the years, I saved all those recipes and found I had enough for a book. I am a fast cook. I have to be, as I am a busy person with many responsibilities and don’t have a lot of time for cooking. I’ve gotten it down to one hour. If dinner takes me longer than an hour to prepare, then it is too complicated. So it has to be simple. MP: The cover of the cookbook certainly looks like you are having fun, a bit Wonderland and Mad Hatter tea party-ish.

Photos: Val Shaff (left), Derek Pashupa Goodwin (Above)

SG: It has been said that we are a bit kooky, and we do like to play dress-up. Didn’t the Mad Hatter tell Alice that because the world is so mad, you had to be even madder to make sense of it? One of the definitions for “mad” is “wild”; I’m certainly all for wild as opposed to domesticated. I think the cover conveys a light-hearted approach to vegan cooking, and I like that. It is true that veganism is a serious issue, but there should be fun involved. Why do anything if it doesn’t bring some joy at the end of the day? I’m totally into veganism and animal rights, but I’m not into being an angry and judgmental activist. MP: What’s the message of your book? SG: Vegan food is not only good for you, the animals, and the planet, but cooking vegan can be simple, easy, and fun. The most important thing to remember in life is to be kind. How we treat others will determine how others treat us, and how others treat us will determine who we are. We all want to be happy. The happiest person is the one who brings happiness to others. Being a joyful vegan is the best way I know to contribute to the happiness of others, ultimately ensuring our own happiness. Sharon Gannon is the cofounder of Jivamukti Yoga and author of Simple Recipes for Joy: More than 200 Delicious Vegan Recipes.

SIMPLERECIPESFORJOY.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 67

“Why do anything if it doesn’t bring some joy at the end of the day? I’m totally into veganism and animal rights, but I’m not into being an angry and judgmental activist.”

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FIND YOUR JOY with more than 200 delicious vegan recipes

DDD

from the world-renowned founder of the Jivamukti yoga method

“This book has the power to change your life; it may even save it.”

—Kris Carr,

bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Diet

“Sharon’s food nourishes AND enlightens.” —Darren Aronofsky,

award-winning director of Noah

“Sharon is my Guru—I like eating anything she’s dishing out.” —Russell Simmons,

godfather of hip hop, New York Times bestselling author of Success Through Stillness

Available everywhere books and e-books are sold

simplerecipesforjoy.com

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Divine Restlessness A Yogi’s Tale By Rod Stryker

PHOTOS: ROBERT STURMAN ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 71

as . It w ch joy her, that u m o s eac with to a t m and wisdo nnection, h the germ illing to t n e i t o ew wi anc is c r thos found gh th fected throu e fully in e which, fo asures not e n am I bec e cure—o , reveals pl his y on nd into t spite man oes y e l e s n t m i o a c y it to ss de ntrary. D n awa restle o follow world. ly bur after w world es to the c I doubt it. s o i l s h ld ion in t ue? ranc e. delus e wou appea e me uniq then decid ractic tachment, but the es also p f k o a d e t l re r l n m a i a a e f t r f a e e w e l t o th Th fire t af y ta yer ear m hmen er after la his sacred presence n with c r h a o t t b u t a s y d B wa s el to t tinue ing, ion, la that I ial treasure er delus . Adding fu nd the con , challeng I see r v , e e k t g l n a c a n a a i s i d a , re l, sent ife lesson ntimidat art hat m ing b woul i piring l thing. l Look tle sense t ow grand, g in my he , s n y n a i n , , a r c b m d h in che e rea enti the su o matter y the long uth. 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In the yoga eartedly, d s i a v , o s h pr ld b nes whole ging. e cou of stless me on n maze ly ritual ou, re ion as ther hat sent nding y e k h t n real lo w a gh dai So th g compan f you was nts. Respo very throu ing a .I ou elin ghted , maintain blossom ce o c v i a l a y r l o sit e r n l b t o a y em h that re at led me t isible I mo lights ing Spirit’s in case the ll m e , d d c n y h l r e i l ea gt t inv world d to unvei close, just ied and st t only s the stirrin e into tha erge and e f h e s t r n i t e e r t o s t v ee issa dev rsis ght m entu u wa ractic s left me d as that pe uld. to yo g and to v er and sou eternity. p d l e o t t i h k s in ll pursu they w d—ju morn where see and for a outer s in the en ulder said nce ain r o r , e r o s t s e e i h sat restl g on my s ogeth ng dis n rest t growi acher with tappi d n a a te itial me to embodied my in edly, tually led s s h e w l B e o n n eve ge, on factio e knowled sublim

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PHOTO: MAGNUS HASTINGS

l u f i t Beau en, wom h, ns, wealt o i at . s . n . e s ity br e cel sued I pur all.â&#x20AC;? them

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Ana T. Forrest On breathing, boundaries, and bravery Interview: HeatherAsh Amara

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Ana T. Forrest, medicine woman, creatrix of Forrest Yoga, and author of Fierce Medicine, talks to HeatherAsh Amara, author of Warrior Goddess Training: Become the Woman You Are Meant to Be and founder of Toci—The Toltec Center of Creative Intent, about power, codependency, and being a woman.

If our women take care of themselves first, they will bring a sense of fullness, instead of emptiness and resentment, to their other responsibilities.”

HeatherAsh Amara: What does

it mean for women to commit to themselves? How can they do that after taking care of everyone else?

Ana T. Forrest: Why should they

do it after taking care of everyone else? If our women take care of themselves first, they will bring a sense of fullness, instead of emptiness and resentment, to their other responsibilities. Women, are you sure you need to take care of everyone else? Let’s rethink that! Can you challenge yourself and commit to being in a healthy relationship? Redesign how you shoulder your responsibilities so they are not living in your cell tissue. Be willing to track and hunt where you are being codependent. This codependent behavior also trains our loved ones to be parasites. Everybody loses in this situation.

HA: How can women learn to be strong without being pushy, controlling, or mean?

ATF: First, choose to grow into our power

and integrity—make that an enticing priority. Next, experiment with redesigning your relationships, freeing yourself and loved ones from the codependent, demeaning patterns. The people living off us like parasites will be the ones complaining about us being pushy, controlling, or mean. Get ready! For example, the teenager or young adult that the mother is always picking up after. She is actually doing them a disservice. We need to teach our young adults to be accountable for their own mess or we perpetuate their inability to take care of themselves. This is unkind and shortsighted. Make building these skills part of your daily practice: Deep breathing, especially in challenging moments. Strong healthy boundaries. Skillful and graceful communication—build your courage by speaking the truth. Be devoted to living passionately. How’s that for a great role model? When a woman decides to change her participation in the power structure, she needs to be willing to negotiate and truthspeak a lot. The people around her will be confused and resistant until they understand

PHOTO: SOFIA VAN DER DYS, YOGA CLOTHES: KIRAGRACE

how to function in the new paradigm. My dear woman, this calls for you to step into “compassionate teacher.” As our women learn to be strong, they will also strike out in a reactive, annoying way. Accept this as part of the learning curve to becoming skillful and graceful. Though, sometimes, verbally bitch-slapping the people that aren’t listening to you is what they need for a wake-up call! When it feels like all the people in your intimate circle are nursing off you, growling and doing Lions is a very effective way to stop the whining, needy, grasping paws coming at you. These actions release enkephalin, a natural painkiller. This helps you feel good. Practice growling at every opportunity!

HA: What does true power mean to you?

ATF: Having the courage to embody my spirit. Explore and quest for living my life as my heart and spirit yearn for. To love wholeheartedly.

FORRESTYOGA.COM | WARRIORGODDESS.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 75

Kate Connor A storyteller’s P.O.V.

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

“I’ve learned that when you listen to that voice inside, good things happen.” KC: I’m very involved with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which seeks to rid the world of single-use plastic. I also support the Natural Resources Defense Council, which fights to protect the planet. MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Kate Connor: I’m inspired by great films, literature, art, and music. Traveling the world and the majesty of nature. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? KC: My work as an actor, writer, and filmmaker. To tell stories honestly and passionately, you have to go to those places that expose your vulnerability. But the process is cathartic, and the results are very gratifying. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? KC: “We only have this one little planet that we’re sharing together, so let’s please all do what we can on a daily basis to sustain it for the people and animals that will live here after us.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? KC: I talk to the people closest to me and value their counsel. I’ve also learned that crying releases cortisol, so instead of trying to hold in tears, it’s healthy to let them out. FORTMCCOY-MOVIE.NET 76 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? KC: I start the day with tea and do a little yoga or meditation. I try to end the day with a sunset hike in the mountains. It’s my solace and a wonderful way to catch up with friends and share uninterrupted conversation in nature. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? KC: I’ve learned that when you listen to that voice inside, good things happen. Humans are the only animals that deny their instincts. So when that red flag goes up, trying to tell you that something isn’t right, it’s best to listen. MP: What truth do you know for sure? KC: Life is fleeting, so try to live every day to the fullest. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about?

KC: My World War II film, Fort McCoy, is in theaters and will soon be out on VOD and DVD. I wrote and codirected it based on a true story of when my mother’s family lived next to a German POW camp in Wisconsin during the war. I play a role based on my real-life grandmother, and Eric Stoltz, who produced the film with me, beautifully portrays a role based on my grandfather. My next film, Piggy, is a comedy about a former valedictorian prom queen who has to save her family farm from a corporate-pig-factory takeover. Underneath the comedy is the very serious issue of factory farms. MP: Why are these important to you? KC: I wanted to tell the story of Fort McCoy not only because it’s part of my family’s history but because it’s a little-known piece of our country’s history. I hope that Piggy can expose the horrendous treatment of animals in factory farms, specifically hog confinements. In addition to the horrors inflicted upon pigs, hog confinements are devastating to the environment, and the health hazards to humans are frightening. MP: What is love for you? KC: Family.

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Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium probiotics have shown a remarkable cholesterol-lowering effect. L. acidophilus breaks up bile acids into free acids that are rapidly excreted from the intestinal tract. After this excretion, the synthesis of new bile acids from cholesterol lowers its concentration in the body. To a large extent, our health depends on the types of bacteria that make up our intestinal flora and the foods we feed them. Probiotics are flooding the market with all sorts of promises, but unfortunately, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that out of fourteen commercial probiotics tested, only one contained the actual species listed on the label. Many manufacturers don’t tell consumers what specific probiotics they are using and in what amount. Avoid products that list a group of ingredients in a paragraph with a single total amount in grams. Look for products that list the specific species of probiotics, followed by two letters and numbers. This means the manufacturer is using a specific strain of a probiotic species, and you can rely on consistent results.

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The Right to Follow Your Bliss Taking wisdom from Joseph Campbell to heart By Julie Carmen

s a teen, I had no idea what the self was. Changing skin like a chameleon came naturally to me, but the self felt like a plastic chair in an airport where I’d have to sit and wait for the next radical character to define who I’d be that season. Acting grabbed me by the gut. An actress friend gave me the name of her psychoanalyst, who introduced me to the concept of a “through line to self,” which sounded like a blind fishing expedition. After ten years of guidance in interpreting the symbols in my dream journals while free-falling through the lives of characters in scripts, I landed on my feet. I discovered my passion for listening to other people’s stories, for empathizing with their dilemmas, and for sitting with them as they excavated their pasts. In retrospect, intuition and luck guided me on the right path. I think of this as following one’s bliss. As The Power of Myth author Joseph Campbell said, “If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. . . . I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” What changed was my entire orientation to others. The hypersensitive antennas that used to tell me who I was supposed to be, when entering a room, now are helpful when assessing how to be of

PHOTO: JEFF HERRERA

What changed is that it’s not about me. We are exquisitely interconnected.” service. What changed is that it’s not about me. We are exquisitely interconnected. What terrifies me? When I read about plots of evil taking over the world and obliterating women’s hard-won rights. I want our children’s children to be free to walk safely down the street, girls to attend school, and women to work. I hope we continue to have freedom to wear what we want, worship how we want, study what we want, publish what we want while assuming personal responsibility for one’s moral character. I’d like to believe that following one’s bliss is a human right. Julie Carmen, LMFT, ERYT-500, is associate director of mental health at Yoga Therapy Rx at Loyola Marymount University. She has starred in films, on TV, and on Broadway for directors John Cassavetes, Robert Redford, Michael Mann, and Quentin Tarantino and can be seen in the upcoming film Dawn Patrol.

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waste my precious divine energy trying to explain and be ashamed of things you think are wrong with me.”

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Ani DiFranco Ani DiFranco Unflinchingly feminist Interview: Maranda Pleasant

8 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Maranda Pleasant: What are some of the things that make you feel vulnerable?

Ani DiFranco:

Oh, wow. Everything. Waking up in the morning and interacting with people. I am a thinskinned type. I am very sensitive, very emotional. Vulnerability is kind of always a part of my day. It’s trying to find that balance. I’m easy to cry. I’m out there. It’s kind of a hard way to be, as all of us sensitive creatures know. I can’t even remember how your question started, but vulnerability is something that I negotiate every day.

MP: What is love to you?

AD: I think I have explored and experienced many different types of love in my forty-three years. About ten years ago, I met

somebody who gives me unconditional love, and I have been hanging on to him ever since. It’s hard to define it. When we first started hanging out, I was always on the road. He would just hang out in the dressing room during the shows, and he wouldn’t even watch the shows. I was, like, “Do you think I suck? Are you even interested?” Then it sort of dawned on me that he was just there for me. His frequency and my frequency resonate. His inner person loves my inner person no matter what we do, and I have tested it plenty of times. F——g up and saying stupid stuff, and there it is still—his unconditional love. It’s something that I am capable of and I think everybody is capable of. He has been my great teacher. Ever since I met him, it’s my idea of love. Now we have two great kids and we get to pass it on.

MP: What are causes that you are passionate about right now?

AD: So many things. There are so many things that we have to be very concerned about. But I always come back to feminism. People

“At this point in my life, my feminism has evolved way beyond selfempowerment, and I see feminism as a path to peace on earth.”

look at me sideways now and are, like, “With everything going on, the destruction of the environment, these endless wars, this capitalism that has a stranglehold on our culture and our world, and you’re talking about feminism still?” At this point in my life, my feminism has evolved way beyond self-empowerment, and I see feminism as a path to peace on earth. The fundamental imbalance that is behind all of the other social diseases is patriarchy. I do believe. As men and women, together, I really long to feel my society evolve its understanding since we’re one of the leaders in the F-word. I want us to grow our idea of feminism collectively and get both men and women involved in undoing patriarchy. It’s huge. It’s a huge job. It’s the ground that we walk on, it’s where we sit, it’s the language that we use. It’s a difficult undertaking, but without healing that and creating more of a balance between the sexes, we will never have balance globally.

I feel like I am going deeper and deeper into this place where I came from that I barely understood. My mother was a feminist, and she gave me some tools of self-possession and self-empowerment, but now that I have lived here for forty-three years, it’s, like, whoa, there is just so much more to do, other than become myself. I’m still talking about it. I still drop the P-word, “patriarchy,” on unsuspecting people in everyday conversations.

MP: Will you please keep doing that?

AD: Oh, I will keep doing that at least and hope for the best. left photo: Shervin Lainez, Above photos: Patti Perret

RIGHTEOUSBABE.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 9

I still drop the P-word,

‘patriarchy,’

on unsuspecting people in everyday conversations.”

photo: Shervin Lainez 10 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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jH u dI iL t hL

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Passion for music and helping people Maranda Pleasant: What does your creative process look like? Judith Hill: My process involves reading books and magazines, writing outside, and moving around a lot. I like to pace around when I’m writing songs. MP: What inspires you? JH: Sunshine always inspires me. MP: What makes you come most alive? JH: I feel most alive when I’m singing along to old gospel music. MP: What are you passionate about?

“Fighting cancer is my mission right now. . . . I know too many people who are fighting for their lives.” PHOTOS: SMALLZ AND RASKIND

JUDITHHILL.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 13

JH: I am passionate about making music that feeds the soul and brings people together. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? JH: I would tell people to enjoy the present moment and the journey rather than the outcome. MP: What causes or organizations do you support? JH: Stand Up to Cancer, City Year, and International Medical Corps.

14 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

For many years, I’ve been passionate about helping people who have experience with disaster and traumatic events around the world. I believe International Medical Corps does a good job of meeting people’s needs during difficult situations.

“For many years, I’ve been passionate about helping people who have experience with disaster and traumatic events around the world.”

City Year is wonderful because it provides powerful mentorship programs for inner-city kids. I remember high school being a tough time, and mentorship was so important to me. Fighting cancer is my mission right now. The research and development of finding cures for this nasty disease is my passion. I know too many people who are fighting for their lives. MP: How can we support your upcoming work? JH: I’m very excited for people to hear my music. Please check in for news at all my “socials,” and come out and say hello when I’m on tour.

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Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Turning life into song Maranda Pleasant: What inspires you? Jo Dee Messina: Life. People who are passionate and believe in working hard. When a person is kind enough to go out of their way for someone else. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? JDM: My kids! They remind me every day how much I don’t know. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? JDM: “We’re all in this together. Choose love.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? JDM: It’s usually in stages. I first feel the shock, then curl up in a ball and cry, and then hold my head up and keep on moving. Songwriting is a great release as well. It helps me work through things. MP: Do you have a daily routine? JDM: The only thing I can count on daily is the unexpected. I usually try to start my day with a run before I even turn on my computer and clog my head with things to be done. It’s more routine when my children are at school. Wake up; work out; get kids up, dressed, fed; make their lunch; and then car line. Car line again at two thirty, home, dinner, kids in bed at eight, and spend the rest of my waking hours with my husband. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? JDM: There are a couple I talk about often. One, don’t sell out who you really are to make others happy. Two, keep those who truly love you close at all times.

We’re all in this together. Choose love.”

MP: What causes are you passionate about? JDM: I have a lot to do with St. Jude [Children’s Research Hospital], Special Olympics, The Salvation Army Christmas tree. I believe every childhood should be magical. MP: Why did you decide to call this album Me? JDM: Actually, the fans chose the title. It’s the name of a song on the record. The public chose songs for the record, as well as the title. MP: What is love for you? JDM: Patient, kind, able to be the glue when things are tough. Love is timeless and dependable. It’s a safe place where I can breathe. MP: Why did you choose to do the 21 Day Fix? JDM: I’ve been into fitness for years. Since my two-year-old, I haven’t been very fit. I decided to do the Fix to create structure with food and diet. Accountability to those doing it with me. I also have twenty-six pairs of pre-baby jeans in my attic screaming out my name. MP: What message did you want your fans to get from your single “A Woman’s Rant”? JDM: Exactly what it says. The craziness of a day trying to take care of everyone in your life. We all live it.

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PHOTO: KRISTA LEE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Patricia Arquette Interview: Maranda Pleasant

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On Boyhood, motherhood, and womanhood

work, and still a lot of countries are like that. But there’s a price to be paid for that when you’re expected to be the full-time caretaker and you’re expected to be the full-time breadwinner.

Maranda Pleasant: I feel like we’re superaligned on a lot of humanitarian, eco, and philosophical issues. You’ve inspired me over the last fifteen years. We have four national magazines, and most of the strong women here have received some inspiration from you, so I just wanted to start with that.

PA: Yeah, all of those things! I mean, mothering is one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I’m very grateful to have my kids in my life; they’re my greatest teachers. But to pretend it’s always easy is just not really true.

Patricia Arquette: Aw, thank you! MP: Was there some part of this film, Boyhood, that you really connected to on an emotional level? PA: When we first talked about watching a child—or, really, two children—starting first grade and graduating from high school, I’d been watching my friend grow up and seen how fast things go with him. And we started talking about mothering and motherhood, our experiences of mothers, me being a mother, his mother, my mother, friends who are mothers. It was also that we really hadn’t seen the story of this mother very often, a struggling single mother. Sometimes, when you briefly glance in Hollywood, there’s a tendency to play it in a very “Yes, she’s exhausted, and yes, she’s working, and yes, she’s taking care of her kids full time, and yes, she’s a mom, but she’s also in a great mood all the time.” I didn’t want to tell the story that way. I didn’t really think it was authentic, so I felt this very powerful connection to a lot of mothers who had done it alone for a long time. MP: I’ve been a struggling single mom for about fifteen years. But I don’t like to use the word “struggling,” because when they get older, there’s so much beauty in that. We get to do it our way, and then we have this special connection. PA: I think there can always be beauty in struggle. I mean, as far as childbirth, I had my son in the hospital, but then I had my daughter at home. There’s no doubt that there’s a struggling in birth, and a beauty and a horror and fear and joy too. Throughout history, the human species has struggled to some extent. Maybe less at this time in this country, but it’s part of us, as human beings, to provide better for our children and to try to do all these different things. The expectations have changed drastically, and thank God they have. Women have more rights, and women do have their own power in the world. There was a time when only men could provide or

MP: And expected to have some kind of love life or any time to actually take a shower!

MP: One thing I didn’t expect in mothering was all of the resentment. I don’t hear women talking about it, especially single moms who, a lot of the time, feel like they’re absolutely drowning. PA: Something interesting happened to me in the course of watching this movie. We shot it over twelve years, and I had a really beautiful lesson in resentment come to me at the end. Rick [Linklater], our director, would tell me, “Oh, Nathan Sr. [Ethan Hawke’s character] is going to come pick up the kids and take

“I’m very grateful to have my kids in my life; they’re my greatest teachers. But to pretend it’s always easy is just not really true.” them on a camping trip.” But until I watched the movie with an audience, I didn’t really know what happened on the camping trip. So even though, yes, this father didn’t really contribute equally in time, he didn’t contribute equally financially, even though my character had the burden, and the joy, of most of the responsibility of parenting, when my character saw the movie—which was strange, because usually as an actor, you have the script, so you know what happens in all the other scenes— my character got to see his quality as a father, what he was, what he did give those kids when she wasn’t around. It was so beautiful, who he was as a father and who they were as children, and part of that came from him as well. So it taught me a lesson about releasing resentment and having gratitude. MP: Isn’t it so funny when things are not the image of what we think they should be? Then we get older and it just seems so perfect. It all plays out.

PA: Part of what I love about getting older is realizing that there’s something perfect in the imperfection. It’s all very human. MP: What’s been one of your biggest struggles as it pertains to you personally, either in parenting or as a woman? I don’t know about you, but I have a grocery list of struggles. PA: Maybe finding the balance between being loving to other people, helping people that are in need or that ask for your help, but also having good boundaries about when I need to take care of myself or when I can say no. I’m learning how to say no. MP: That’s a really good one. I think I started isolating a long time ago because I couldn’t balance very well. PA: I definitely isolate, but I also always have people in front of me, and I have to be OK with that. I’m in a business where, on the set, you’re around two hundred people every day, and if you’re high on the call sheet, you sort of set the tone for the set. And you want people to feel appreciated, and you want to ask them how their kids are. You want to talk to people and invest in them and let them know that they’re appreciated and heard. But then I do like to just kind of withdraw. If somebody needs, like, a phone call every day or some kind of constant companionship, I’m not a really good friend for them. I can talk to my best friend every couple years and be really happy. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? PA: Love. Love is a vulnerable thing. Falling in love is like a great drug. But then to really be known and really let someone else be known is very vulnerable. It’s a weird thing. Just being an actress in Hollywood is very vulnerable. To let all these other people decide whether you’re really of value or not, you have to really be strong to know that, of course, they have a right to their opinion, but their opinion doesn’t matter as far as yourself. Maybe there’s also a big component of time. The film is not just the kids growing up but Ethan Hawke and me getting old, or older, on-screen. That’s apparently something you’re not supposed to do in Hollywood. You’re not supposed to age. You’re supposed to be in this nebulous state of youth. And I know that’s not true and I really want to see that shattered. MP: I would really like to see that shattered as well. I just hit my late thirties and I’ve finally seen my face change. It’s really funny seeing how our value is rated in a youth culture.

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PA: In particular for women, it’s really different. MP: It might be impossible to go totally unaffected by that. PA: Of course, a lot of courtship and dating is about sexual attraction. If you’re an attractive person, you have that sort of interest from people, whether you cater to it or not, but when you get older, that’s not really the leading thing anymore. All these questions apply to the movie and why I was interested. MP: What does love mean to you? PA: That’s a good question. What does it represent to me? I’m not sure, really, because I think, in theory, it represents more than I’ve ever given it, like total acceptance. I don’t know that I’ve ever really had that. I could maybe talk for a long time with someone who was racist, and maybe I could see how they became that way or the environment they grew up in or what, but I don’t know if I could love them if they had something diametrically opposed to me ethically. So I don’t know if I’ve ever really been able to love anybody all the way. Maybe I’ve been able to give away fractions of love. MP: What truth do you know for sure? PA: I know I love my kids and I know they love me. I know I have beautiful friends and a great family, and I know I’ve been really blessed in this life. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? PA: Well, I grew up in chaos. [Laughs.] I know when we were really little, my mom would say to me, “If you can, the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning, just get quiet and ask God, ‘Who is Patricia?’ You can feel your own nature and know who you are.” So I was raised by somebody with the perception of trying to allow me the

space and show me the importance of knowing who I was and figuring out who I was and appreciating who I was. There are a lot of parts of who I am that no one in the public has ever known, but the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve appreciated my own strange little self and come to terms with that. I also grew up with a lot of spirituality. It wasn’t necessarily organized religion, because my mom was Jewish and my dad was Muslim. I went to Catholic school. There was a lot of conversation about comparative religions. What I did find out because I grew up with a lot of chaos early on: sometimes, you’re born into a family, and their norm is already in your red zone of dangerous feeling or feeling too chaotic. You don’t get to really do anything about that when you’re a kid. And maybe you’ll be in some relationships where immediately you’re already in the red zone again, and you don’t even know what your own baseline is because you never got to know it. So I did find at one point in my life that it was really important to recalibrate and figure out what my own baseline of safety felt like, what my own boundaries were, and sort of go forward with that. It’s always beautiful to see people striving to grow. MP: You’re one of those kinds of women that . . . you think and you feel and you make space for a lot of us who are different or maybe even exceptional. Thank you for being one of those bright lights. PA: Thank you. I’m excited about the state of women’s spiritual life and interior life and who women are. I wish the political establishment would catch up, because we still don’t have equal rights in America; we still never passed the ERA. The fact that women don’t legally have equal rights in America, are legally paid less and that’s allowed, are legally charged more for insurance and that’s allowed. Older homeless people are more likely to be women, because they don’t have pensions and they are caretakers, so they withdraw from the workforce and end up having no pension if their husband leaves them, so the whole thing is just a nightmare. Things are very rudimentary as far as women’s rights really go here, and it seems fine, but once you start scraping the surface, you start to see the ripple effect of how not having equal rights is so detrimental and how many mothers are single parents trying to raise their families.

“Part of what I love about getting older is realizing that there’s something perfect in the imperfection. It’s all very human.”

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“Falling in love is like a great drug. But then to really be known and really let someone else be known is very vulnerable.”

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 21

Jonathan

Jackson

On gratitude, forgiveness, and genuine prayer

“Not judging people is the fastest way to peace.” Maranda Pleasant: Tell me about your latest projects. Jonathan Jackson: Our album is called Radio Cinematic. It’s an anthemic rock album about the loss of beauty in the heart and the search for its recovery. I also have a book about the arts that I’m finishing up. MP: What makes you come alive? JJ: Hearing stories of courage in the face of immense fear, and witnessing forgiveness. My wife and kids. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? JJ: The remembrance of mortality and how fragile all of us are. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? JJ: “I’m sorry.” MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? JJ: When I manage to keep my center, it’s usually because I’ve taken prayer seriously. When I’m off-balance, it’s usually because I’ve forgotten to engage in genuine prayer. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? JJ: That being joyful is a choice and that gratitude is the root of joy. Also, not judging people is the fastest way to peace. I don’t live these things perfectly by any means, but I’m striving. MP: What truth do you know for sure? JJ: That God is love. jonathanjackson.com 22 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

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“It’s important to be successful enough to be able to

keep doing what you

love.” —Lyle Lovett

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On Relationships:

On Sensitivity:

I’m fiercely independent, but I’m also terrified of being alone.

In real life, I am emotionally confused, which enables me to write songs. I’m a Pisces, and they say that Pisces are very sensitive. If men were just honest with themselves, they would see that they all have that side.

On His Body:

Yoga takes what you have and molds and sculpts it, which is a much more natural way to look and feel.

On Prosperity:

I do believe that I deserve what I have. I don’t think I’m entitled to it. That’s a big difference.

On Visualization:

Before I go on stage, I pretend that everyone loves me. Multiplatinum, three-time Grammy winner Maroon 5’s latest album, V, debuts on September 2.

On Yoga:

Playing a show before thousands of people is a highly unnatural state, and when I get on the mat to do an hour of yoga before the show, I come out physically relaxed. At any Maroon 5 concert, you’ll see a room backstage marked “Yoga.”

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Tied to consciousness are all positive qualities, so that ocean within is an ocean of unbounded intelligence, unbounded creativity, unbounded happiness, unbounded love, unbounded energy, and unbounded peace.

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interview: maranda pleasant

On creativity, design, and activism

Damian Kulash of

OK Go Maranda Pleasant: What does your creative process look like? Damian Kulash: It’s play. A lot of things get made this way: someone imagines what they want to make, then very carefully plans every step of the process, then sets about making it. That’s usually the efficient, reasonable way to get something done, but it limits you to ideas you can think of in advance. For me, it works best to plan just enough to come up with a good direction to head out in. Then I start down the path as soon as I can, without a very clear idea of what exactly I’m going to end up with. I try to leave a lot of time for flexibility and play and changing direction. My best ideas almost always come from winding up in unexpected places and stumbling across things I never could have imagined in advance. MP: What inspires you? DK: Smart people and people with good hearts. Good communicators. David Foster Wallace is a big idol of mine. His writing is so clear that for years I’d read him and think, My God, he is actually writing the way I think. He’s describing the thoughts in my head. And then I realized, No, wait. He’s just such a good writer, so transparent and articulate, that when he describes his thoughts, I think they’re my own. MP: What does love mean to you? DK: Trust. In the deepest way. MP: What are you passionate about? DK: I’m passionate about music, food, books, film, blah, blah. The same things everyone is passionate about, no? Love, sex, connection. Peace. Not f——g up our planet. Actually, here is something I’m passionate about that, looking around me, seems like the world at large must not care about as much as I do: craft. I can’t stand things that are poorly made or shoddily conceived. I feel like I’m being insulted when something is poorly designed, poorly made. It’s like whoever made that thing didn’t respect the rest PHOTO: ZEN SEKIZAWA

of us enough to do it well. Who is it who designed the interface to ondemand cable TV? Did they not ever try it themselves? MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? DK: Hmmm, that’s a tough one. I can’t imagine that everyone on the planet would want to hear something from me. If I thought they’d listen, I’d probably ask them to try to be nicer to each other, to try to be less scared of their differences. But honestly, if some dude I’d never heard of managed to broadcast a platitude like that to the whole globe, I’d probably just feel like I was being spammed. MP: What makes you vulnerable? DK: I can have fairly crippling self-criticism. It doesn’t really put me in a vulnerable state—I just get glum and intolerable—but it certainly is a vulnerability. What puts me in a vulnerable state? Beauty, wonder, surprise, mystery. Stuff like that. MP: What causes or organizations do you support? DK: I’m very active in pushing for net neutrality and an open Internet. There are countless other causes I support personally and privately, but I try to keep my public activism fairly focused. I think that artists and musicians can do as much harm as good for causes if they tie their names to lots of things, especially if they aren’t really doing much to meaningfully push their causes forward. If you have a lot of fans, you have a powerful soapbox, but you still have to have something to say when you’re on that soapbox if you want to make a real difference. MP: What makes you come most alive? DK: Coffee. MP: How can we support your upcoming work? DK: We’ve got a new album out October 14 and tour dates all through the fall. okgo.net ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 29

My best ideas almost always come from winding up in unexpected places and stumbling across things I never could have imagined in advance.

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“We waste a lot of our lives sometimes. There are people sitting across from us who would make the whole world better if we spent more time with them in it, but we can’t get across that gully.”

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ADAM DURITZ

COUNTING CROWS

Reflections on creativity, community, and connection PART ONE

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: Full disclosure: I’m on a tour bus. We’re sponsoring a tour with SOJA and Michael Franti and Brett Dennen. I’m actually having to interview you while hiding in the toilet on the tour bus, because it’s the only quiet place. Adam Duritz: Tell Michael I said, “Hi!” MP: You know Michael Franti? AD: Since we were kids, yeah. We used to play basketball together. My sister did a book of remembrances about my father, and this is what I wrote in it: My nineteenth birthday, I didn’t want to have a birthday party, because I hated birthday parties, so I said to everyone, “If you want to find me, I’ll be at The Ophelias’ and The Beatnigs’ show at the I-Beam.” The Ophelias was my guitar player David Immerglück’s band, and The Beatnigs was Michael’s band before Hiphoprisy, and I was a huge fan. I was friends with those guys. Almost none of my friends came, because they didn’t like those bands, but my dad came, strangely enough. I’ll always remember that about my dad, that he showed up for that. Again, Michael and I used to play basketball, full court, in North Berkeley every other day or so. We’ve worked together too. MP: He wanted to do this tour incorporat-

ing yoga and music. We were, like, “Let’s do it. Let’s bring yoga during the day and music at night. We just played Red Rocks [in Colorado] last night to nine thousand people—it was awesome. I think I saw your

PHOTOS: DANNY CLINCH

picture on the wall. You guys played Red Rocks?

AD: Many times, yeah. We did a tour a few years ago, The Traveling Circus and Medicine Show. It was Augustana, Spearhead, and us, and we all played together for four hours every night. There was no opening band. We’d just open the show with everyone onstage and we’d play “Caravan.” Then we’d kick into all the songs onstage, all of us playing “Remote Control” from Michael’s album, then it would turn into a Counting Crows set or an Augustana set with all of us guesting on each other’s song. It was really wild. We’d end up playing thirty to thirty-five songs a night. MP: I didn’t realize you were on that tour. I

have followed you since I don’t know how young, but I remember walking through a field and hearing “Omaha.” Very few artists can connect emotionally like that. I’d just like to get inside of you a bit. Can you tell me what are some of the things that make you really feel alive?

AD: Music mostly. I’ve been playing music most of my life. MP: What are some things that inspire you? I

listen to your music and it has so much depth to it. Where do you pull from? Do you channel it? Do you pull from pain?

AD: Just yesterday and today, really. You live through stuff, and it affects the way you feel about the world, and you write about it. Well,

that’s not totally true. I do think a lot of it just comes from life. You aren’t really writing about what you did; you’re writing about how you feel. Also, works of art, other people’s creativity—I find that really inspiring. I think I wrote “Rain King” in the middle of the night after watching Doctor Zhivago when I was a kid. Doctor Zhivago has nothing to do with “Rain King” at all, but I was very moved by the movie, and with all that emotion, I wrote a song about the feeling and about expressing emotion. I think my favorite thing I do in my life is The Outlaw Roadshow, the indie showcase that me and my friend Ryan Spaulding from Ryan’s Smashing Life [music blog] put on at CMJ and South By Southwest every year. It’s introduced me to so many other musicians. You know, when you’re young and you play music, you have a peer group, you come out of a scene. There’s a lot of people you know, and then you have some success, and it all goes away. It’s hard for the people back home to relate to you, and unless you want to hang out at the Grammys, there is no scene once you’re successful, so that kind of sucks. But the last four or five years with The Roadshow, meeting all these bands and putting on these shows, I’ve been getting to know all these indie bands. It’s like I’ve got a peer group again, albeit one that’s mostly younger than me, but still, it’s like we all do the same thing and it’s been great. I’ve been surrounded by musicians and so much incredible music that it just felt like it was when we started out. I think it’s one of the main reasons we’ve started writing again.

COUNTINGCROWS.COM | THEOUTLAWROADSHOW.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 33

MP: What are some of the things that make you feel vulnerable, as a man or as an artist? AD: People ask me if I have stage fright. I say, “God, no, I’m completely comfortable there. I have rest-of-the-day fright.” I mean, the nice thing about being onstage is it’s not that I know what to do, but I have a very clear feeling that anything I do is OK. All I’m up there to do is express how I feel. Any way I choose to do that is fine. But the rest of life, I have no sense of that. It’s one of the problems I’ve always had in my life: I have a lot of problems understanding connections between people and how to negotiate that. It makes everything hard offstage. MP: I’m on a bus, living with ten people, and I think you discover how awkward it can be. Navigating that is difficult. You start to feel like you’re the only weird one.

AD: Life on a tour bus—I understand what that’s all about. I had to learn

how to be in a band in the first place. A lot of life is about how you feel relating to dealing with this person or that person. If this person makes you feel good, then they’re a person to be around; if they don’t, they’re not. Being in a band is different. The group is the more important part, and you have to kind of shift the way you look at life when you’re in a group of people that you work with. It’s not so much, do they make you feel good when you’re around them all the time; it’s how can you make everyone feel comfortable together. How can you continue to make this bizarre working commune continue to function and live. So on a tour bus, you kind of have to think about everybody else from moment one. Like, you know what, these people are all f——g weird, but this is my life, and I can spend it with them, and later on, we’re going to play music, and it’s going to be amazing. But for now, it’s not all about me. Being in a band is about making the band the priority. That I understand. You are in a band right now.

MP: I have a new respect for all musicians. What are some of the things that break your heart?

AD: We waste a lot of our lives sometimes. There are people sitting across from us who would make the whole world better if we spent more time with them in it, but we can’t get across that gully. I mean,

“People ask me if I have stage fright. I say, ‘God, no, I’m completely comfortable there. I have rest-of-the-day fright.’”

34 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

I’m not a spiritual person at all, but I do think that the world doesn’t have to be as lonely as it is. But I think that, often, the people who can make you happy are right there, and having them in your life would make your life better, but you can’t see how to do it. Like a band, these guys I’ve been spending the last twenty-five years with, they’re not perfect, and there’s a lot of things I hate about them sometimes. But what I had to realize early on is, it’s not like the rest of my life where if I don’t like something about someone, I can just push them out of my life, because the truth is, having them in my life has made it immeasurably better. Having been together in this band, having made that the priority for all of us all these years has made all of our lives way, way better. That’s one opportunity in my life I did not miss. And it would have been very easy to, because it was very frustrating at times—all bands are. They’ll drive you up the f——g wall. It’s impossible having five, six, seven people in a room being creative together and not fight, because you want to fight. It’s the only way creativity works, if you all put your ideas in. But losing fights, or even winning fights, can be heartbreaking, and you can throw that away, but the truth is that it does make our lives better. I think the biggest, saddest thing that happens in our lives is that we just don’t embrace the things that could make it better because they don’t seem to make it better at any given moment or we can’t decide how to get across the aisle to that person. Over and over again in my life, I find closeness to other people and proximity to other people really painful; that’s part of my mental illness, social anxiety. Closeness to other people is really hard, but it’s also a shame because it’s all you want too. But it doesn’t always work.

MP: I think I have a PhD in “It doesn’t always work.” AD: I think the flip side of that—but it’s also the same side—is that there’s people who think what they need and what they deserve in their lives is a lot worse than what they actually do, so they get themselves involved in things that are needlessly painful: brutal relationships, abusive relationships. I find that truly heartbreaking, that, like, it’s such a common, constant thing in people’s lives—a brutal abuse of people by other people, and it’s just accepted. You don’t understand what makes you understand what makes your life better until you take something

that makes it so much worse and you embrace that. That’s my problem in my mental illness: I am abusive to myself. And that’s sort of how I do it to myself, the same way I’ve watched other people have it done to them.

MP: What are the current projects you’re doing right now that you’re excited about?

AD: We’re just on tour right now. We have a record that’s coming out called Somewhere Under Wonderland. That’s from the second song on the record that goes, “I was born again a little north of Disneyland. Somewhere under Wonderland and Hollywood. But then I had to go skipping and diving and bouncing back to New York City, straight through the

heart of America where all the wild things grow.” It’s the first verse of “Earthquake Driver.” This album has the best song I’ve ever written on it, and I love playing this record on tour. We’ve been opening the encore every night with the first song on the record, which is a hell of a place to put a song that nobody knows! It’s working pretty well, and I can’t help but think about what it’s going to be like when people actually know the song. They’re flipping their shit as it is when it goes on, but when they actually know the song, I imagine it’s going to be incredible.

place to meditate and think about the things you’ve said.

AD: Tell Michael I said, “Hi!” Tell him I said

that when we were young, I jumped on him repeatedly over and over when we played basketball, and the only reason he developed as a player is because he stopped playing with me. I used to crush him every day. Actually, he’s so much better than me, but I’d like to see the look on his face when you say it.

MP: Adam, I hope that our tour buses intersect

at some point. I could sit and listen to you talk for hours. I feel like I’m going to go and find a

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 35

36 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Daft Punk bassist

Music is his mission Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Nathan East: Creative people inspire me. Athletes also inspire me to come alive, especially my daughter, a competitive gymnast who works very hard, as much as six hours a day, on her gymnastics skills. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? NE: Earthquakes. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? NE: “Love one another.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? NE: I find that deep breathing and meditation help me handle practically any situation. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? NE: I begin and end each day with prayer, meditation, and thoughts about what I am grateful for. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? NE: I’ve learned that, as much as you would like to, you can’t trust everyone. MP: What truth do you know for sure? NE: I know that I am absolutely blessed beyond belief! MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? NE: Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, Parkinson’s research, ALS research, cancer research, Autism Speaks, any hospice organization. MP: Tell me about your yoga practice. What influence has it had on your life?

“All of the musical projects that I am involved with are near and dear to my heart and allow me in a small way to make a contribution to the world of music.” PHOTOS: KHAREN HILL / YAMAHA

NE: I practice yoga on a regular basis at my gym and when I travel. Yoga not only keeps me flexible, but I feel it enhance the quality of my blood cells through deep breathing. I also feel energized when I practice yoga, which helps me cope with my demanding schedule. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. NE: Apart from raising teenage twins with my wife, which takes top priority, I am involved with some cool projects at the moment, including a duo album with my Fourplay bandmate Bob James. I am honored to be the bassist for Eric Clapton’s current release, The Breeze: An Appreciation of J. J. Cale. I’m finishing production on new music for my long-time friend and collaborator Anita Baker. A new Fourplay silver-anniversary album is in the works, and I am continuing work on my follow-up CD, Nathan East: Vol. 2. All these in addition to finishing a new e-book! MP: Why are these important to you? NE: For the obvious reasons, furthering my children’s education and keeping my family healthy and thriving is my highest mission. All of the musical projects that I am involved with are near and dear to my heart and allow me in a small way to make a contribution to the world of music. MP: What is love for you? NE: For me, love is an enhanced state of kindness, compassion, service, respect, and humility, an emotion I feel we are all here to give and to receive. Nathan East is one of the world’s most recorded bassists, with over 1,500 album credits. He performed alongside Barry White, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, Daft Punk, and others for the last forty years before releasing his self-titled debut solo album in March on Yamaha Entertainment Group. NATHANEAST.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 37

In sync with the universe

38 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

“Whomever you love must enhance your life and make you a better person.”

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? LP: Great music. Great performers. Great movies. I am inspired by the art around me. It’s easy to become consumed by electronics, so it’s important to separate myself from technology during my personal time. Yoga helps me control my mind enough to be present. I feel most alive when I am conscious of the environment, living in the moment and appreciating the world around me. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? LP: Sharing my music for the first time. It’s scary putting out a record, because you don’t know if people will be receptive. My music is as personal as it gets; I am essentially sharing my most intense emotions with the world. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? LP: “Take care of this planet. Be kind. Love yourself.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? LP: Music. Yoga. Writing. Unfortunately, sometimes through vices. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? LP: I practice yoga four to five times a week or take walks. Usually, getting in touch with nature helps. I try to get quiet time in the morning. I will avoid electronics for a little while. I will never bring my phone or have a TV in my bedroom. The only electronic in my room is an alarm clock. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? LP: Letting things go. I’ve learned that it is better not to force things to happen or others to think a certain way. You cannot force yourself to be something you don’t want to be. You cannot interrupt the natural flow. MP: What truth do you know for sure? LP: Kindness isn’t always an immediate reaction, but the more love you put out into the universe, the more you’ll get back. MP: What influence has your yoga practice had on your life? LP: After I went on my first yoga retreat, I experienced stillness and was able to be present, which was a revolution. My yoga practice is a huge influence in my life. I wanted something that kept me fit but kept me fulfilled mentally and spiritually. I started practicing the same year I signed with my first major record label. Throughout the years, the inner strength yoga has provided has given me the power to overcome the toughest obstacles, like losing loved ones, bad breakups, and everything in between. It has helped me keep balance in my life, control my mind, raise my confidence. Yoga has a meditative quality I have yet to find elsewhere. Yoga helps bring me back to my strongest mental self. Yoga enables me to sync with the universe. MP: What is love for you? LP: When you’re in love with someone, they bring out the little kid in you, the purest form of yourself. When you feel that version of yourself PHOTOS: AMANDA DEMME

“My music is as personal as it gets; I am essentially sharing my most intense emotions with the world.” come out, that little kid, that’s when you know you’re feeling love. You can tackle any obstacle as long as you have love. Whether it is family, friendship, or romantic love, the little kid in you comes out. Everyone is looking for a safe haven. You don’t want to be worried about what others think. You cannot fully love without loving yourself. Whomever you love must enhance your life and make you a better person. Love is selfless, comforting, accepting, and freeing. MP: Tell me about your latest projects. LP: I am always working on music. Music is a constant in my life. My debut album, Forever for Now, is my latest project. This has been a very interesting project because it was unexpected. I didn’t expect to be an artist at this level. This album represents my transformation from a songwriter to a singer and songwriter. Forever for Now showed me I had a lot more inside me to share as an artist. I have found that yoga, meditation, self-expression through music all help me to sync with the universe. This record is a product of that influence. A lot of the songs, during the making of the record, helped me express my feelings and truly live in the now. MP: Why are these important to you? LP: When you store things inside, it is like a splinter in your soul. Getting a record out is like getting the debris out. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? LP: Nothing else is more important than taking care of the planet. LP’s debut album, Forever for Now, was produced by Grammy-winning producer Rob Cavallo. IAMLP.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 39

Robert

Plant Legend. Poet. Father. Clusterfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;k.

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters on tour now. New album, Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, debuts September 9.

40 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Robert Plant: Maranda!

MP: Yeah, I jumped in your car.

Maranda Pleasant: Hey!

RP: You’ll have to help me clean it before you get in.

RP: [Laughing.] I’m so sorry, my calculations were a bit adrift this morning. MP: I was, like, Oh, shit, I just woke up Robert Plant. [Laughs.] Not on my top-ten list! Sorry for calling you so early. It’s months in the making. RP: I remember meeting you near the coffeeshop parking lot in Austin.

MP: We finally have this conversation! RP: What were you going to talk about before? Really, life is life. You do a lot of different things and you have great adventures, but there’s not a lot to talk about unless you’re in the middle of an adventure at the time. Circumspection is not one of my better, favorite conditions, really.

MP: Do you want to jump right in? What is it that makes you feel alive? RP: Well, once you get the groove of your life, and you sort out the aspects of your life that you prefer, and you’ve performed all your responsibilities as a father and as a partner— and just discovery and the great adventure of having eyes wide open—there’s so much of this beautiful planet that is still actually spectacular and stimulating. There are so many amazing people that you meet along the way. By using my career as the wind in the sails of my adventures, I could see so many things and

I’ve allowed myself to be carried by other people’s enthusiasm into places where I’ve learned a lot.”

so many people that I might have missed had my career gone a different direction. MP: How is it that you maintain your center in the middle of chaos, in the middle of life moving so quickly? RP: Life isn’t moving quickly; time moves very quickly. But I don’t really have a schedule now that’s very challenging. I make the calls and I call the shots, so I feel reasonably centered. Sometimes, I wonder whether or not it’s even necessary to do concerts and stuff. Recently, I

met some people who help in an archeological project in the South Pacific, between sailing to the Marquesas, which is an island group not too far from Tahiti, and I think, Wouldn’t that be great? I have such a fascination with history and especially history in my own country.

MP: You spend a lot of time in Austin? My friend said he sees you when he walks his dog. I started the magazine in Austin. Are you there pretty frequently?

The idea of actually taking sharp turns left and right has always intrigued me, but I’ve never really been bold enough to do that. As musicians go, I’ve allowed myself to be carried by other people’s enthusiasm into places where I’ve learned a lot. There is no real tumult anymore. What I want to do, I do! I’m pretty fortunate.

RP: Austin—it’s a stimulating center. In this conversation, the very first two questions were talking about my kind of wanderlust and my adventures. Some people at my time in life travel forever. I don’t know whether it’s the British or the Australians—whoever it is, you can kind of stagger into some sort of far-off

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 41

I think I’ve danced a beautiful dance through it all, without becoming too much of a cliché.” bastion in the middle of nowhere, and you’ll find someone from Britain or someone from Australia or maybe an American. So I treat everywhere as being a center from which I can enjoy the surroundings. And so Austin is very stimulating. I’m familiar with a lot of very charming people who have brought a lot of color to my life and a lot of love. I come from a very small island which is packed with people. I mean, jam-packed with people. I’ve lived a life which has been pretty much full up with ambition, ideas, stimulus, creativity, some negativity, which I try to avoid. Austin is a great sort of stepping-off point, if you like. I’m from a temperate climate. We know that, right now in the U.K., it’s freezing cold and it’s the fourth month of year. I passed through the Hawaiian Islands recently on the way here, and I began my tour in Singapore. Everything is so different than what I’m used to. Austin is already all those things. And then beyond there, it’s something else too. It’s got a kind of rhythm to it; it’s great. It’s got a lot of musicians. It’s vibrant. It’s somewhere to walk other people’s dogs. MP: What is it that matters most to you right now in your life? RP: To maintain the connections that I’ve developed as time goes on. It’s funny, you know, time does travel pretty quickly and I do have good friends, and the further away I go from them in location, it matters that I keep on the same line and the same groove that I had and preserve that groove with people who I see seldom. Now that I do spend a lot more time away from the U.K., it’s important to me that I still feel the beat of the people that have been close to me for a long, long time. It’s also important that I have really strong and beautiful relationships which I wish to preserve. That enables me—or challenges me, ultimately—to get a Texas driving license! MP: So women can beat on your window. RP: Well, they can’t get very far, because the woman sitting next to me actually forms a very good fist. MP: Is she a Texas woman? RP: She thinks she is. I think she comes from colder climes. MP: What is it in life that you feel you have struggled with the most? RP: My sort of stability as a character—it’s never been one of my strongest attributes. I’m a bit of a clusterf—k. I get so many great ideas that I kind of mesmerize people with another plan before the previous plan is hatched out. People run away, pull their hair, go off in different directions, nodding their heads and going, “Oh, God.” I am slightly disheveled, I think. I’m really pleased that I am, because otherwise I could be in a really, really dull and boring place now, as a musician, at least. There’s that. And the passing of time. I struggle with that because I love my children very much, and even as they have children, I’ve come to terms with that. Everything changes there. I’m pleased for them, and I have a wonderful time with all my family, which is great. I’m like one of those firecrackers that goes off in your pocket occasionally. I’m not really struggling with it as much as the people around me. But at least I’m not doing too much damage to anybody or to myself. It’s just the condition I’m aware of. ROBERTPLANT.COM 42 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

MP: You just wrote my editor’s letter! RP: Well, you know, the thing is, I get offers. That’s a great title for my piece: “I Get Offers.” There’s so many things that I can do that—should I stop and smell the roses? Or should I do that for the next thousand years? I don’t know. MP: I love that. What is the one thing that you are most proud of bringing to this planet? RP: Beautiful children. They are a reflection of the love that you put into them. They have a great resonance and they’re spectacular. All three of them have got a great beat. I wouldn’t say that they understand me, but at least they are supportive. There’s a great mutuality and I’m really proud of that. In the middle of everything that I’ve done as a singer or as somebody who’s jumped on top of a few old books and turned ’em into songs about hobbits f——g Vikings, I think I’ve danced a beautiful dance through it all, without becoming too much of a cliché. I’ve enjoyed the two-step. It’s brought me great gifts. When I sit back there with my driver’s hat on and I look at my passenger, I think, Well, this ain’t so bad. MP: That’s really beautiful. You sound like a poet. What is your biggest regret in this life? RP: I can’t say that “regret” is a term that would be appropriate. Because if you do what you think is right for the benefit of everybody and everything and you make decisions, to go back and regret them afterwards, it’s a futile experience and it’s not worth thinking about. Because life just unfolds. Provided you do your best and you think you’re on the right track, you can only be right or wrong. But to regret it, I don’t think there are any huge errors or misdemeanors. You know, I should have hung out with Elvis a bit more. MP: There you go! RP: I can’t regret until the end. And I won’t regret then, either. MP: That’s beautiful. What is it that makes you feel vulnerable? Men really love this question. RP: The mirror. MP: Yeah. RP: Maybe a calendar, in fact. How ’bout that? Somebody gives you a diary for the forthcoming year and all the pages are empty, and you go, “Oh, my goodness. That means there’s another year! That means I’m never going to be Captain Cook.” There’s so many parts of your life, you know? People say that you don’t get any better after the age of about forty or something like that, as a performer. I find all that to be a misconception. I don’t feel bad about the way I present stuff. The calendar and the mirror—they’re bastards.

The calendar and the mirror—they’re bastards.”

I can’t regret until the end. And I won’t regret then, either.”

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Tom Petty & the heartbreakers

44 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

happiness,

marriage, and

“I don’t think it’s a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem.”

getting older

Q. What makes you happy? Q. Did you feel like you sold out? A. Go after what you really love and find a way to make that work for A. I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have you, and then you’ll be a happy person. made me feel cheesy. Q. What is success to you? Q. Do you consider yourself a rebel? A. Do something you really like, and hopefully, it pays the rent. As far A. I developed a problem with authority. Any time that authority was as I’m concerned, that’s success. what I interpreted as being unjust, I stood up to it, and that became my Q. What are your thoughts on marriage? A. What I’ve learned about marriage: you need to have each other’s back; you have to be a kind of team going through life. Q. What is magic to you? A. Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There’s not some trick involved with it. It’s pure and it’s real. It

moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things.

personality.

Q. How do you feel about wealth? A. I don’t think it’s a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem. Q. How do you feel about getting older? A. You hit your late fifties, people start falling like flies all around you. I don’t take life for granted anymore. I’m really glad to be here.

Do something you really like, and hopefully, it pays the rent. As far as I’m concerned, that’s success.”

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iratio p s n i l a b A glo 46 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

World-renowned composer, performer, activist Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you?

Yanni: I have been fortunate to have a career that has al-

lowed me to travel the world and come in contact with many different cultures and people. If you leave yourself open to learning, then you can benefit and enjoy an incredibly rewarding and insightful experience. These experiences are the driving force in my life, and they keep me alive and inspire not only my music but also my everyday life. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

There are so many messages and lessons that I have been taught that I would want to share with people. Perhaps one that is very present in my mind now is the concept that we are all living on this one tiny planet that we call Earth. It is very small and is not getting any bigger, but the amount of people living on this planet continues to grow at a rapid rate. We need to learn to get along with each other and learn how to help one another. Also, we need to learn how to love each other. If we cannot do that, then we need to learn to respect one another. If we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t manage to do that, then we must learn to tolerate each other. Right now, this concept may be seen as a luxury, but in the very near future, it will become a necessity. MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

I learned from my parents to do my best to not react to negative emotions. I try to think about what has happened and find the lessons that can be learned from these difficult experiences. I try to deal with

I love the interaction and connection I get with people when we perform live. Nothing is more rewarding for me.

these negative emotions right away because, if they stay inside, they can hurt and do a lot of damage. I release them as soon as possible so I can be free. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

I have a pretty regular routine that I follow while we are touring the globe. I tend to stay up very late at night, so I wake up later in the day. This allows me to be in the middle of my workday when I am onstage at night. I exercise rigorously every day and eat a very clean diet. Perhaps the most important contribution to me being centered in the midst of this chaos is my daughter, Krystal Ann. I am very lucky because she works with me and is responsible for many aspects of the business on the marketing side of my career. This allows us to travel together and experience life on the road, seeing the world. Having family with me is very important and grounding. MP: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

YANNI.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 47

Perhaps one of the most important lessons that I continue to have reinforced is to always have faith and believe in yourself. To never lose sight of who you are and to know yourself. There is an ancient Greek saying, “Gnothi s’afton,” which translates in English to mean “Know yourself.” MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about?

Y: I have been involved in many organizations and benefits that sup-

port children and education throughout the world, many of which are for the underprivileged and disabled. Recently, I have supported and visited a school for the blind in Oman.

I have also been an advocate and spokesperson for the World Wildlife Fund—in particular, panda preservation in China. Another passion of mine that has been very rewarding is my connection and involvement with the space programs of the USA, NASA, and Russia, Roscosmos, and their work with the International Space Station. I have had the opportunity to get to know a lot of the scientists and engineers, and I have been a spokesperson for these agencies. We are working together to incorporate my music into their programs.

The studio work that I do also allows me to connect with people around the world. You can’t perform live for everyone, so having the ability to share my creative vision with others is very important to me as well. MP: What is love for you?

In Greek, we do not use just one word for love. We have many words that are specific to each type of love. In the English language, I can love my car, or my house, or my daughter, or traveling, but in Greek and how I grew up, love is described with different words. The love I have for my daughter is completely unconditional, and it is the most important love in my life. I think that love is very important and exists in many forms for all of us. My mother, Feltisa, loved everyone she came in contact with. She always shared her love and was able to heal those around her with it. Yanni is a legendary composer and performer with more than forty platinum and gold albums. He is an advocate for the planet and its living creatures and works closely with organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund and NASA.

MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

My most recent studio project was the making of my newest album, Inspirato, which was released in April. I collaborated with Plácido Domingo, and we recorded an album using the best operatic voices on the planet put to some of my favorite songs. The album features Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, and many other great singers. Other than that project, I have just finished our most recent TV special on PBS, titled Yanni: World Without Borders, and we continue to tour and have live performances throughout the world. Recently, we performed in Tunisia to one of the biggest and most energetic audiences that we have ever seen. MP: Why are these important to you?

Continuing to create music and perform is so important to me for many reasons. I love the interaction and connection I get with people when we perform live. Nothing is more rewarding for me.

We need to learn how to love each other. above PHOTOS: KRYSTAL ANN 48 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Ruthie Foster Two-time Grammy nominee talks about love and music Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Ruthie Foster: When I’m learning something, I am truly inspired. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? RF: I’m vulnerable most when I’m in love. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? RF: “Love more and openly.” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? RF: I handle my emotional pain with music and old movies, preferably Westerns.

breathe when in a difficult situation. My daily routine includes prayer, workouts, and meditation. MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life? RF: Forgiveness. MP: What truth do you know for sure? RF: I know that everyone has been hurt in some way and that everyone is capable of learning and relearning how to trust again. Starting with themselves. MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

RF: My latest project would be my next CD to be released, Promise of a Brand New Day, and an instrumental healing and transforming music project that I’m working on with some special friends here in the Austin area.

RF: I obtain my center by remembering to

MP: Why are these important to you?

PHOTO: MARY KEATING BRUTON

“Love more and openly.” RF: These are important to me because one is a stronger continuation of what my music has been about and the other is an extension of another side of myself. MP: What is love for you? RF: Love is everlasting, ever growing, and ever giving if you allow it. Ruthie Foster’s last two albums, 2009’s The Truth According to Ruthie Foster and 2012’s Let It Burn, received Grammy nominations for Best Blues Album. Her latest, Promise of a Brand New Day from Blue Corn Music, was produced by Meshell Ndegeocello. RUTHIEFOSTER.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 49

Keith Murray of We Are Scientists

I nterview: M aranda P leasant

50 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Examining

life with

humor Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Keith Murray: I enjoy watching children interact with the world, the way they engage their environment without any filters, learned models, or cynicism. I often yearn to regress into a state that’s slightly more atavistic than my decades of conditioning generally allow, but it’s difficult to let go of those reins. If you hand an adult a lump of clay, they’re likely to respond by fashioning something representative out of the raw material. For the most part, they’ll simply forge an object that signifies something “real” in the world, even if that something is as abstract as an emotion or an energy. A child, on the other hand, will just as often produce something totally without semiotic meaning, a shape or a mass that represents nothing that exists outside of their imagination. Or else, they’ll eat it or throw it or ignore it, wholesale. That sort of freedom represents real creation, I think, and it inspires me, immensely, and it’s why I tend to not go to actual museums these days. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? KM: Seeing a photograph of myself is often pretty jarring. Why is it that the vision I see of myself in a photo is so different than the one I see in a mirror—not to mention the “self” that I see in my mind’s eye? Pondering it can pretty easily cast me into a vortex of self-doubt, wondering how the me that people experience—my voice, my personality, my creative expression—is regarded without my knowledge. It also makes me worry about photos of me that exist that I might not even know about. How do I appear in these unwitting photographs? Who is taking them, without my knowledge or consent, and from where? MP: How do you handle emotional pain? KM: I still haven’t found a terribly noble way to do it, to be honest, but I’ve evolved enough that I’ve learned to not subject others to the fallout of my own unhappiness. I think that’s a significant, hard-won behavioral leap that, sadly, a staggering percent of the population of folks I know haven’t quite mastered. But where do I go from there? If I’m not venting it or indulging in some sort of juvenile emotional transference, where does it go? Leibniz mapped the principles concerning the conservation of energy, but nobody has yet scientifically diagrammed the conservation of emotion—have they? How is this subsumed pain vented? Is it released in my art? I hope so, but I also suspect that it’s emitted in my sleep. My girlfriend says that I thrash throughout the night, for longer periods than are generally accepted as corresponding to REM sleep, and she often has to move to the couch to get any sort of rest before she goes to work in the morning.

I’ve evolved enough that I’ve learned to not subject others to the fallout of my own unhappiness.” ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 51

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? KM: A very close friend of mine recommended that I try Muay Thai, to which I had an initial knee-jerk aversion. That sort of presumably aggressive activity seemed hyper-stressful to me despite my friend’s assurance that the practice is as much about mental discipline as it is physical exertion. Anyway, I went down to his dojo—I know “dojo” is a Japanese word and that Muay Thai is Thai, obviously, but I really like saying “dojo,” and my belief that this would be the terminology used to describe the gym is part of what attracted me initially—and signed up for the class, and you know what? I really enjoyed it! I really enjoyed signing up for the class—the sort of rote, menial work of filling out the paperwork, the contracts and the liability waivers and stuff; it really appeals to me. It’s very centering. The person at the dojo suggested that maybe I’d be better off engaging in a practice that’s a little more meditative—maybe tai chi or yoga, or something like that. I haven’t pursued those at all—yet!—but I did dive into some overdue tax returns the other day, and that was really good and cleared my mind.

I enjoy watching children interact with the world, the way they engage their environment without any filters, learned models, or cynicism.”

MP: Tell me about your latest projects. KM: We released an album called TV en Français in March, and it’s definitely the album in our catalog that best represents us at the peak of our powers and at our most incisive. Emotionally, it’s far less manic than we normally present as; it’s stripped of artifice and anxiety and really is a cogent distillation of who we are and why we—not just us, personally, but all artists, all people—make art. I was wondering aloud recently if this album revealed as much about the essence of this endeavor that we represent in the musical form for the listener as we, the band, believe it does, and our label manager said yes.

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PHOTO: DAN MONICK

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Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Dani Neff of Megafauna

Riffing on music, yoga, and dancing again

54 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Love is the divine energy that permeates the universe. It is in each one of us, the earth, sky, air, and fire. It is infinite.”

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive or inspires you? Dani Neff: Making music, dancing, connecting, collaborating with inspiring people, being in nature. MP: What makes you feel vulnerable? DN: Long-term relationships, public speaking. MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be? DN: “You have the capacity to love and be loved!” MP: How do you handle emotional pain? DN: I sit with the pain rather than run away or distract myself from it. I might write my feelings down or express them creatively by writing a new song or playing music. Often, I’ll do yoga or meditate to ground myself. MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine? DN: I don’t really have a daily routine, though I’d like to adopt one. For a while, I wrote, photos: ANNA WEBBER

stream of consciousness style, every morning for a half hour. That was really helpful. I try to meditate, do yoga, exercise, and practice Reiki as often as possible.

on the earth. Yoga is a key part of my creativity. It keeps me grounded and balanced.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

DN: I have been working with my bandmates on new songs for the next album. This album will be longer than our last and will span more styles and emotions. I’ve also been dancing again after a several-year break. It’s been so liberating. We filmed a video recently with me dancing, for our song “Haunted Factory.” That was a fun project. We are also starting to incorporate dancers into our live show, and it’s been a blast.

DN: I’ve learned to follow my bliss rather than live according to the expectations of others. MP: What truth do you know for sure? DN: Humans have the ability to right our wrongs and save the planet. MP: What causes or organizations are you passionate about? DN: Environmental causes. Women’s reproductive rights, Planned Parenthood. Civil liberties, ACLU, EFF. Ending the drug war. MP: Tell me about your yoga practice. What influence has it had on your life? DN: I have been practicing yoga since high school. I take a class every week, mostly flow or yin, and also do yoga at home. I love doing it outside. It feels most powerful with my feet

MP: Tell me about your latest projects.

MP: What is love for you? DN: Love is the divine energy that permeates the universe. It is in each one of us, the earth, sky, air, and fire. It is infinite. Dani Neff plays guitar and sings for Megafauna, an Austin-based genre-bending rock band. It is known for its explosive, transformative live shows, unique songwriting, and Dani’s epic guitar solos and siren vocals. Megafauna has released Maximalist, its sophomore full-length album, and will be touring nationally in October. MEGAFAUNAMUSIC.BANDCAMP.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 55

Interview: Faith Hunter e you c i v r e test s rself. To a e r g e The ve is you meon o i s g p n l e ca e to h a position l b a e b ot in elves or n s i o ” wh thems repay you. p l e h r e to bly ev i s s o p

The Love King talks about—what else?—love

56 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

In April of 2014, I was invited by Essence magazine to speak at a Road to Essence Festival event and share my passion for yoga and healthy living. During the event, I crossed paths with the charming and talented three-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Raheem DeVaughn. Connected by our mutual commitment to service and devotion to love, we reconnected to talk about life.

u are ino, o y r he at Whet , black, L e to v white ian, we ha p pick or As ere to hel be th other up.” each

Q. Faith Hunter: What makes your heart A. Raheem DeVaughn: These days, it’s the humanitarian in me. Whether I’m feeding

sing?

the homeless, stopping by a high school to chat with teens, visiting a prison or local jail, I think that the greatest service you can give is yourself. To be able to help someone who is not in a position to help themselves or possibly ever repay you. Of course, music is still a passion for me, and my new sort of career doing radio is also a passion, but definitely to be able to put a smile on someone’s face. Or just waking up every day, trying to figure out how I can change a person’s life for the better.

Q. You have children. What legacy are you leaving for them? A. Definitely a legacy of a vast catalog of publishing rights to my music. I explain to my

sons that this is a family business. Real talk, just letting them be a fly on the wall, and let all aspects of what I do rub off on them. I would love for one of my sons to be able to run the nonprofit one day or handle my affairs. Most important are the lessons of being humble, being a giver, and generally being a loving and caring person for people. That is something that I am trying to instill in my kids and all the kids around the world.

Q. A. The LoveLife Foundation was sparked around urban growth and development. In

Tell me about your foundation and what inspired you to start it.

schools, many kids are asked, “What is your plan?” but many aren’t even thinking that far ahead. So it’s really to help them plan, strategize, mobilize, and let them know that they are the future. My future and your future are in their hands. It is about empowering the black community or bringing about community awareness and advocacy for things like health and global warming. So many in our community are unaware that there are power plants, steel mills, and other harmful agents killing our community, and it is right there in the hoods. Things like asthma and cancer

are on the rise, and it is directly related to air quality. We are living and consuming more than we need, and this impacts our survival. We also try to put a simple smile on people’s faces, whether we are feeding the homeless or helping people find a job. Many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and are only one step away from being homeless. Whether you are white, black, Latino, or Asian, we have to be there to help pick each other up. So we have to send a testament for our people.

Q. Amen, brother! What inspires your music? A. I am inspired by so much. I am inspired by women, of course—beautiful women. I am also inspired by not so beautiful things in the world. I call myself “The Love King” in all aspects. Poetically speaking, in the bedroom, I love, and in social conflict. Like with my first album, “living like we bulletproof.”

Q. Do you practice yoga? A. I try to work out more now. I have been really thinking about getting into yoga,

though. I can use that, believe it. Not that I have a huge amount of stress, but I believe stress can be a positive thing too. I give a lot of myself, so it will be good to release some heavy energy, and I know yoga deals with energy. So I definitely want to get into that. How do you say it? Stay worry-free. Show love and you get love.

Nice, I think you should totally give it a try. Let’s talk about life lessons. What’s one major life lesson you’ve learned over the years?

A. Patience is timing, just being humble and being the most quiet person in the room. Sometimes, it is best to listen, ask the super question, for ambition is hustle.

Q. A. What makes me cry? Anything bad related to my kids. The world. Sometimes, I see

“Ambition is hustle,” I like that! What makes you cry?

and hear stories, especially those that involve children, and I wonder if this is hell and we are trying to get into heaven. Some of the stuff that you hear, you can’t believe that it takes place, is allowed to take place, and it happens not only to this country but throughout the world.

Q. A. Definitely. I am working on my fifth album, A Place Called Love Land: Part Two. If

Is there anything else you want to add? Anything coming up, any new projects?

I had to describe that album in three words, I would say “love,” “sex,” and “passion.” I also have two more mix tapes that I put out, King of Loveland and King of Loveland 2. Both are available on LiveMixTapes.com. I also have other mix tapes on the site, and free downloads. Always doing stuff for LoveLife Foundation. And, of course, touring and performing.

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People’s Climate March in New York City: September 21, 2014

By Clara Vondrich

If you’ve been standing on the sidelines, waiting for the big moment to take action on climate change, this is it.”

re you ready to make history? This September 21, the largest climate action in the history will sweep the streets of New York City: the People’s Climate March. The date is strategic: just two days later, President Barack Obama and other world leaders will gather at the United Nations to debate nothing short of the fate of humanity: how to prevent catastrophic climate change. The message of the People’s Climate March is simple and direct: it’s time for action, not words. We’re not interested in more empty rhetoric. We want to see clear and bold action to transition us away from the polluting energy of the past—coal, oil, and gas—and towards the clean energy of the future. The task couldn’t be more urgent. Around the world, people are feeling the heat as climate chickens come home to roost—crazy rains, blistering droughts, rising seas and the towndrowning storm surge that comes with it, roaring storms, dripping glaciers, and so much more. The bad news is that it can always get PEOPLESCLIMATEMARCH.ORG 58 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

worse. The good news is that we can stabilize our climate and secure a bright future for all, but only if we act now. The vision behind the People’s Climate March has already galvanized over seven hundred organizations of every stripe. The usual suspects in the environmental movement are activated like never before. But the real magic is in the rainbow of unusual bedfellows that is also standing up: labor unions (because we demand clean, green jobs with a future), faith groups (because we have a duty to care for creation), social-justice activists (because our scorched-earth economy hurts the poor first and hardest), health workers (because carbon pollution is choking our kids, and extreme weather brings death and injury), students (because our future is on the line), parents (because our babies’ choices are being curtailed), and you. If you’ve been standing on the sidelines, waiting for the big moment to take action on climate change, this is it. This September, come to New York City and help us save the world. To change everything, it takes everyone. right PHOTO: MARILYN VASTA / 350NYC

This is such an amazing time to be alive, and as we step into our role as stewards of the planet, we feel that the universe itself is on our side.”

The Future of Energy : A Love Story interview: maranda pleasant

Ta k i n g c l i m at e c h a n g e i n t o t h e i r o w n h a n d s Maranda Pleasant: Your film is described as a story about the renewable energy revolution but also as a love story. First of all, is there an energy revolution happening, and what does love have to do with it?

The Future of Energy: We set out to tell a story of how renewable energy could help stop the climate crisis. We immediately uncovered this massive global revolution in which people around the world are taking climate change into their own hands by implementing renewable energy in their homes, businesses, and communities. But we realized it wasn’t just about solar panels. Renewable energy is empowering people and helping them to experience deeper love for each other and for the entire Earth community. As the Buddhist ecologist Joanna Macy points out, this energy revolution is really about a total transformation of consciousness and a reconnection to the ground of being: honoring our human and nonhuman families, bringing indigenous and diverse cultures into the conversation, and reestablishing a deeper relationship with the planet. This is a film about revolution, love, and the importance of our moment in time. MP: What surprised you most while making the film?

TFOE: First, none of us realized just how fast renewable energy is spreading throughout the world. Did you know that more than two-thirds of all solar energy was installed between 2010 and 2012? Crazy, right? Second, we learned that there are multiple plans to switch our entire infrastructure over to

renewables. These plans are not pipe dreams; they’ve been developed by some of the leading authorities in renewable energy in the U.S., many of whom appear in the film. And third, we learned that there are entire cities across the planet that are getting most or all of their electricity from renewable sources, including Greenburg, Kans., and Lancaster, Calif. MP: Do you feel an urgency to get this message out?

TFOE: After learning the seriousness of the climate crisis—that it’s escalating faster than what most people understand and that we have just a few years to shift our societies to a new energy infrastructure—we felt the need to act immediately and to get a new vision out into the world. Within the short time of just thirteen months, we hatched the idea, crowdfunded the initial resources, traveled around the country, and produced the feature-length film. Transforming the planet before it’s too late definitely brings a sense of urgency.

MP: Are you more optimistic about the future of humanity now that you’ve made a film about solutions to climate change?

TFOE: We went from pessimistic to radically optimistic. After every interview, we became more and more convinced that the shift is actually happening and that we can each participate in it. That excitement translates into the film. Now we’re excited to share this vision with others, to remind all of us just how beautiful and powerful we really are. This is such an amazing time to be alive, and as we step into our role as stewards of the planet, we feel that the universe itself is on our side. It’s definitely something to be excited about. The Future of Energy is a new documentary about the renewable energy revolution—and a story about communities falling back in love with each other and the planet. Visit TheFutureOfEnergyFilm.org for upcoming screenings.

MP: The film features a number of leading voices in the environmental movement, including Joanna Macy, Bill McKibben, and Jeremy Rifkin. What was it like working with them?

TFOE: Meeting Jeremy Rifkin was incredible. We’ve all been so inspired by his books The Third Industrial Revolution and The Empathic Civilization. Working with Joanna Macy was probably the most profound experience for all of us. Her life’s work is dedicated to bringing about the Great Turning and shifting our species away from the industrial-growth society of consumption and oppression, towards a new planetary culture of interdependence and self-actualization. THEFUTUREOFENERGYFILM.ORG ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 59

By Michael Brune

Keeping Oil Drills at Bay Sierra Club’s executive director talks about protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Along the way, we saw wilderness at its wildest, with the Brooks Range looming and golden eagles, tundra swans, long-tailed jaegers, and even snowy owls watching from above. Just like the caribou, though, we were making another kind of journey: from the part of the refuge that is safe from oil and gas drilling to the part that is not.

knew that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was big, but I didn’t really comprehend how big until we flew into it. For miles on end, we passed over one mountain, broad valley, and watershed after another. Such an expanse of untouched wilderness was inspiring, humbling, and breathtaking all at once.

The coastal plain where the caribou give birth to their calves each year has an odd name: the 10-02 Area. When the ANWR was expanded in 1980 as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, proponents of oil and gas drilling insisted on adding a section (10-02) to the bill that mandated an inventory of potential oil and gas resources. How much oil is there? No one knows for sure, other than that it’s not enough to affect global market prices. Undoubtedly, it would have a devastating effect on the caribou and other wildlife.

It’s not called a wildlife refuge for nothing, either. Animals from shrews to grizzlies call the refuge home. Every year, more than 160,000 porcupine caribou migrate 1,500 miles to their calving grounds on the coastal plain by the Arctic Ocean. That’s like walking from Boston to Miami. I wondered whether we would see the herd, but not for long. There must have been a thousand caribou in the grassy valley where our plane set us down. After exploring the valley under the midnight sun, we spent the rest of the week rafting down the Aichilik River to the coastal plain, winding up at the shore of the Arctic. SIERRACLUB.ORG 60 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

During the past four decades, we’ve come close to losing the fight to keep oil companies from invading the coastal plain many times. Somehow, though, we’ve always managed to keep the drills at bay—and by “we,” I mean the millions of Americans who’ve signed petitions, contacted their representatives, and otherwise played a part in, first, creating the ANWR and, then, in making sure that the oil companies stayed out.

When at last we reached the Arctic, waves lapped at the shore, with only a few small isolated icebergs offshore—a reminder that the climate in Alaska is warming more rapidly than anywhere else in North America. A decade ago, the sea ice would definitely have extended all the way to the shore. Our visit to the ANWR ended at the Inupiat village of Kaktovik. None of the local people I talked to were in favor of drilling, either offshore or on the coastal plain. Their main concern was to ensure they would continue to be able to do subsistence hunting to provide for themselves. None wanted the oil industry to move into the refuge. If that ever were to happen, we don’t have to wonder what it would look like. West of the ANWR lies the largest oil field in North America—a sprawling complex of oil wells, gravel roads, air strips, gravel pads, and equipment-storage sites that covers an area the size of Rhode Island. And where there is oil, there are oil spills. The largest was in 2006, when a corroded BP oil pipeline leaked about 267,000 gallons. Could that happen in the ANWR? Yes, as long as there’s still money to be made from selling oil and as long as the status of the coastal plain remains in limbo.

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We’ve always managed to keep the drills at bay—and by “we,” I mean the millions of Americans who’ve signed petitions, contacted their representatives, and otherwise played a part in, first, creating the ANWR and, then, in making sure that the oil companies stayed out.”

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Plastic PurgeÂ should be mandatory reading for our plastic-addicted culture --Portland Book Review

a vision for

south sudan A filmmaker recounts a medical mission to deliver eye care to the world’s newest country By Jordan Campbell

Jordan Campbell’s new documentary film, Duk County: Peace Is in Sight in the New South Sudan, premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride, winning the Moving Mountains Prize and the Indomitable Spirit Award. It has won a total of eight film-festival awards and was screened twice at the United Nations—all spotlighting the power of eye care in the developing world.

Flying into South Sudan is like cracking the first few pages of an Ernest Hemingway novel: you knew the adventure would be grand, the lessons timeless and important, and the story totally unforgettable. Seated next to me on this tiny aircraft are Dr. Geoff Tabin and Dr. Alan Crandall, superstars in how eye care is being delivered in the developing world. Tabin has spent years perfecting “eye camps”—temporary surgical theaters with modern and hygienic standards—in some of the most far-flung locations throughout Asia and Africa. Crandall, a leading ophthalmologist in North America, has been chasing the South Sudan opportunity for years. We’re headed into Duk County, where thousands of people disaffected by years of war struggle daily to obtain basic health care. Tabin and Crandall’s ambitious goal is to treat as many cases of unnecessary cataract blindness—rampant throughout the region—in a bold five-day mission. I had known of Sudan’s forty-year civil conflict, of millions killed or displaced, and how the country has emerged as an icon of Africa’s greatest challenges—disease, famine, corruption, and genocide. Despite South Sudan’s independence from the North in 2011, there is a new and looming concern: in the fog of decades of civil war, thousands of AK-47 rifles have fallen into the hands of South Sudan’s warring ethnic tribes. Deadly flashpoints of violence over cattle, land, and water can erupt without warning. In 2009, nearly three hundred tribesmen were killed over cattle in a massacre just twenty miles from our final destination. If South Sudan is a gaping hole for the blind and underserved, Duk County is ground zero. This medical mission represents a moral imperative to alleviate unnecessary blindness, but for me, personally, it marks a tectonic shift in my own adventure life. For more than two decades, I’ve been climbing mountains around the world. My international adventures have been magnificent privileges, but they’ve also spotlighted the broken and downtrodden human condition. Global

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PHOTOs: JORDAN CAMPBELL, top right: ace kvale

This astounding ten-minute procedure will provide near-perfect vision for the rest of Lonnie’s life.” stewardship—in this case, helping people left behind in the vacuum of war—has evolved into my next big undertaking. As we touch down on a dirt airstrip near the village of Duk Payuel, local villagers greet us enthusiastically. We make our way to the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, which treats everything from malaria to cobra bites and gunshot wounds. Within the hour, both Tabin and Crandall are ready for their first patients. Vultures crouch near the clinic entrance, while Dinka, Nuer, and other tribesmen from the surrounding villages of Duk County gather outside. The flow of patients begins with Lonnie, a frail Dinka man blinded from bilateral cataracts, who I gently lead into the clinic’s dark hallway and onto Tabin’s operating table. With cross-haired precision, Tabin peers through his microscope, fixed on Lonnie’s cornea. Using tiny metallic instruments, he delicately removes one of the clouded lenses that has slowly blinded the man for years. Lonnie has advanced cataracts—rarely seen in North America and Europe—but all too common in the developing world. Tabin masterfully replaces the now useless mass

PHOTOS: KHAREN HILL / YAMAHA

with a new synthetic lens. This astounding ten-minute procedure will provide nearperfect vision for the rest of Lonnie’s life, elevating another South Sudanese from total blindness—back into the light. The next morning is the seminal moment we have all anticipated. One by one, our doctors remove the bandages, and the miraculous gift of sight illuminates all our patients’ faces—288 in all. For Lonnie, he can see his granddaughter for the first time. These dedicated miracle doctors, with the support of our entire team, have given Lonnie and so many others in South Sudan their lives back. More days of hard work and long hours await, but for now, euphoria envelops me, and a deep sense of satisfaction runs through my veins. Author’s note: Just ten days after our team returned to the U.S., a devastating flash of intertribal violence erupted in South Sudan, killing thousands, including eighty-six people in Duk County. Sadly, among those killed during the conflict was our patient, Lonnie. For more information about Tabin and Crandall’s international eye-care programs, visit CureBlindness.org or MoranEyeCenter.org.

Jordan Campbell is an accomplished mountaineer and the founder of Marmot’s ambassador athlete program. For more than two decades, Jordan has been chronicling his international climbing expeditions through a blend of writing, photography, and film. His new documentary film is Duk County: Peace Is in Sight in the New South Sudan.

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The Feminine Rising: Women + Climate Women coming together across the globe By Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network International

The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International works to engage women worldwide as powerful stakeholders in climate change and sustainability solutions and to connect the activists, indigenous and business leaders, scientists, policy makers, and culture shapers who are at the forefront of the movement for social and environmental justice. Through women’s empowerment, advocacy campaigns, and onthe-ground trainings, WECAN International seeks to stop the escalation of climate change and environmental and community degradation. “Across the globe, women are coming together with a fierce resolve to address climate change, aware that current national and international initiatives are insufficient,” said WECAN International cofounder and executive director Osprey Orielle Lake, author of Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature. “We are calling for policies that protect life-giving air, water, soils, forests, and oceans. Violence against the earth, against women, and against future generations will no longer be tolerated.” This September, civil society organizations worldwide, including WECAN International, will mobilize in the days preceding the United Nations Climate Summit 2014, demanding that politicians end years of stagnation and

come to the table with innovative proposals and concrete commitments to climate action. WECAN International will commence its actions on September 9 with the release of the WECAN International women’s climate action agenda. Drafted by more than one hundred international leaders at the organization’s summit in 2013, the agenda analyzes the root causes of the environmental destruction and social injustice which threaten people and planet, presenting recommendations and alternative solutions to the climate crisis. “The agenda presents powerful recommendations and alternative solutions to the climate crisis, leaving no room for inaction as world leaders enter into climate negotiations this year,” Lake said. On September 21, a WECAN International delegation will join thousands in raising their voices at the People’s Climate March in New York City. The march, expected to be the largest climate action on record, seeks to “bend the course of history,” drawing global attention and exerting direct pressure on attendees of the U.N. Climate Summit. While in New York, WECAN International will additionally organize a Wall of Women action on September 21 and 22, linking in demonstration to convey guardianship of

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“WECAN International seeks to stop the escalation of climate change and environmental and community degradation.” the Earth while advocating for the rights of communities and nature. Allies across the globe are encouraged to involve their local communities on these days with similar actions, including creating signage conveying local climate issues and solutions. On the 22nd, WECAN International will host Women Leading Solutions on the Front Lines of Climate Change, an afternoon of female leaders joined in solidarity to speak out against environmental and social destruction and to present the diverse array of visions and strategies with which they are working to shape a healthy world. To culminate events, signatures from the WECAN International women’s climate declaration, along with thousands of other signatures collected by The Global Call for Climate Action, will be presented at the U.N. Climate Summit. WECAN International encourages all those interested in declaring a commitment to ending the climate crisis to include their signatures at WeCanDeclaration.org. PHOTO: OSPREY ORIELLE LAKE

Interview: Andrew Miller

Patricia Gualinga A Kichwa leader from the indigenous community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon talks to the advocacy director of Amazon Watch

Andrew Miller: What is critical about this moment in time?

which we ourselves decide the best options based on our worldview.

Patricia Gualinga: Indigenous communities already feel the impacts of climate change. Our elder wisdom-keepers warned us but weren’t listened to. They predicted problems if we continued preying on Mother Nature, causing impacts so great they won’t only affect nature but also humankind. We are out of time. Now is the moment for us to bet on life, as our existence depends on it.

AM: What is the greatest challenge you face?

AM: How did you become an activist? PG: I didn’t choose activism; it chose me. I started fighting to defend the rights of my people from Sarayaku. AM: What do you want people who aren’t close to your work to know or understand? PG: The protection of nature, forests, ecosystems, and beings is the responsibility of everyone. What happens will ultimately affect us all. “Beings” are the spiritual guardians of forests. They protect all living nature—animals, fish, lakes, streams. These beings are sensitive. With pollution, they die off or flee. This creates an Amazon different from what it once was, affecting humanity’s energy. AM: Can you describe the work you’re doing to protect the earth? PG: Within our indigenous territory, we will never allow oil drilling, mining, or any destructive activity. We want our own sustainable development model as indigenous peoples, in PHOTOS: CAROLINE BENNETT / AMAZON WATCH

PG: Getting our government and citizens to understand and respect our long-term worldview. The ongoing violation of indigenous

Nature, humanity, and spirituality together in community generate an energy that is unbeatable. peoples’ rights is sad. Construction of an alternative model is increasingly complicated given lack of understanding and persecution. AM: If you had the opportunity to motivate a community of people who are passionate about consciousness and spirituality, what would you say? PG: Spirituality is extremely important to us. It offers strength to confront adversities. Spirituality, hand in hand with activism, promotes an irrepressible force. Nature, humanity, and spirituality together in community generate an energy that is unbeatable.

AM: What are you working on right now? PG: As a community leader, I am vigilant that the government and corporations don’t lay traps for us. In September, I’ll be in New York for events at the U.N. general assembly, where governments discuss issues of transcendental importance for indigenous peoples. Often in these meetings, there is no progress. Our participation helps encourage some advancement. Cultural diversity is a gift for all of humanity. Many don’t see this; they just promote extraction of natural resources for the benefit of a few. AM: What can readers do to get involved? PG: Make a personal decision to care for the planet. Pay attention to those of us who fight back against the invasion of corporations and political persecution. Write letters when we send calls for solidarity. Join the fight to protect the Amazon, which regulates the global climate and is vital to maintaining Earth’s fragile balance. Visit AmazonWatch.com to take action now. And on September 21, join us in New York City to pressure governments around the world to take action on climate change. Participate in the People’s Climate March, which will be the biggest global climate action in history. More information is available at PeoplesClimate.org. AMAZONWATCH.ORG | PEOPLESCLIMATE.ORG ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 67

sally ranney

Interview: Chip Comins

CHairman of The American renewable energy institute

SR: Women in developing countries are on the front lines of climate change. Of all the household food, women in the Global South produce sixty-five to eighty-five percent. They are suffering because of severe droughts, floods, storms, and rising seas. They are displaced often, along with their families, becoming climate refugees, the numbers of which are growing yearly. Uneducated consumerism about food production and consumer goods is a huge contributor to CO2 emissions. Island nations, such as the Maldives, are being inundated because of the rise in sea level. Ice caps like the Tibetan Plateau are melting, threatening fresh water supplies to millions upon millions. The United Nations is the hope for an international governance agreement—a climate treaty which, hopefully, 193 countries, after twenty-one years of discussions, will sign on to in Paris next year at the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] climate negotiations. CC: What simple action can people take locally and globally to be effective on climate solution?

Chip Comins: What is your climate passion? Sally Ranney: Reducing CO2 emissions at the speed and scale equivalent to the urgency of the rapidly advancing climate crisis. I am passionate about the multitudes of solutions we have at our fingertips to abate climate-change temperature increases—they just need to be implemented. CC: How are you leading/advocating solutions to climate change? SR: I am president of the American Renewable Energy Institute, promoting and connecting the dots between policy, clean-energy economies, innovations, science, education, and social movements. As cofounder of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, I am working to build a constituency of women around the world. I am the board member of the Climate Accountability Institute, which is publishing breakthrough carbon-emissions studies. CC: How do you see imbalances in climate reflected in other realms of society, such as gender, governance, and race? AREDAY.NET 68 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

SR: Educate yourself about climate change so you can make informed decisions and live as low-impact as possible. Buy locally produced renewable energy, food, and products. Avoid imports. An example: Check labels to determine if palm oil is in a food product. Palm oil plantations are destroying forests in Indonesia at alarming rates, adding to deforestation CO2 emissions and seriously threatening orangutans. There are alternative ingredients that can be used, one produced from algae. Don’t ask Mother Earth to make you one more new thing. Buy clothes, furniture, and household items at consignment shops, and deposit at these stores the ones you no longer want. CC: How can we grow the economy and improve the environment by addressing the climate crisis as we enter the “Great Transition”? SR: The Great Transition will not be successful if there is not a shift in our value system. That shift must be underscored by values which support, nurture, restore, replenish, respect, and reclaim for longterm security and sustainability. This replaces the current dominant paradigm of using natural capital for short-term gains, which results in depletion, degradation, and destruction, which ultimately results in poverty, civil strife, and insecurity at all levels. PHOTO: CHARLES ENGELBERT

Michael D. Fitzpatrick

Musician Interview: Chip Comins

Chairman of the American Renewable Energy Institute

Chip Comins: What is your climate passion?

Michael D. Fitzpatrick: In musical terms, we can think of the earth as a note. For billions of years, this note has held steady in its pitch. With the introduction of the burning of fossil fuels in the late 1800s, however, the pitch of the planet has been gradually increasing. If we think of a stringed instrument, it is equivalent to turning the peg and making the string tighter and tighter: at a certain point, the string will break. In a very real sense, we are at that threshold where the string is in danger of breaking. The experts worldwide are indicating that the problem is an excess of carbon in the atmosphere, and a variety of solutions are ready to be implemented. By doing so, we can bring the pitch of the earth back down to its comfortable resonance and avoid the string breaking. Staying with the metaphor, my climate passion is tuning the planet. CC: How are you leading/advocating solutions to climate change?

MDF: Each of us is responsible for the climate within ourselves. As we give attention to tuning ourselves, we all participate in the tuning of the planet. Music can be the key ingredient to tune us in a way that we are able to remain calm, stay positive, and work collaboratively in composing a healthier climate state for ourselves and for our home, the earth. CC: How do you see imbalances in climate reflected in other realms of society, such as gender, governance, and race?

MDF: As a homeowner, we would never dump our refuse in our neighbors’ yards over an extended period of time, ignore their complaints, then make the neighborhood association and its members pay for the cleanup. That corporations do this on a consistent basis is unconscionable and inexcusable. Whether we like it or not, we are all bound together by the fact that we breathe the same air, so in a sense, we are all one big human family and we will thrive or perish based on how well we choose to get along. top photo: NOAH BERGER, right photo: TAMARA TOMORROW

CC: What simple action can people take locally and globally to be effective on climate solution?

MDF: We must inspire, inform, and act. A key in this process is active listening. Listening to the experts’ assessment of the climate realities; listening to the politicians and legislators to determine who is actively working to increase the climate of local, national, and global scenarios; and listening to the nature and the wind itself, tuning to the wisdom of nature, receiving its intelligence. CC: How can we grow the economy and improve the environment by addressing the climate crisis as we enter the “Great Transition”?

MDF: Redirecting resources to solar, wind, and emerging bio-healthy technologies opens up vast new economic opportunities which will couple nicely with intensive carbon-reduction efforts and proven bio-renewal initiatives. This will require an unprecedented effort of humanity working together for the common good of the earth. areday.net | MICHAELFITZPATRICK.COM ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 69

Cofounder and chair, Mothers & Others for Clean Air

Interview: Chip Comins, Chairman of the American Renewable Energy Institute

Laura Turner Seydel Chip Comins: What is your climate passion? Laura Turner Seydel: There is a Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” Annually, we pump out ten billion tonnes of carbon pollution globally, primarily from burning fossil fuels. The dire consequences are playing out today from permanently compromising a child’s lung function to adversely affecting the world’s climate and weather patterns. The key to solving these problems is addressing issues centered on the relation between water, climate, and energy. CC: How are you leading/advocating solutions to climate change? LTS: As cofounder and chair of Mothers & Others for Clean Air, I work to raise awareness of the undeniable connection between asthma and dirty outdoor air. I have also been committed to working with faith-based leaders in Atlanta. I was the chair of Atlanta’s Zero Waste Zones, which has been acquired by the National Restaurant Association. CC: How do you see imbalances in climate reflected in other realms of society, such as gender, governance, and race?

LTS: The poorest people living in the most environmentally degraded places are being disproportionately affected by global warming. Access to water and basic resources have become significantly more difficult. With the new weather extremes, crops have to be planted not once but twice, and sometimes even three or four times. Women are doing the majority of the farming, and young girls forgo attending school so they can make the long daily trek to search for water and fuel. Studies show that when the environment is degraded and resources are scarce, desperation ensues and violent crimes against women and girls escalate. CC: What simple action can people take locally and globally to be effective on climate solution? LTS: Anyone can begin making a difference just by adjusting their thermostat a little higher in summer and a little lower in winter. Start thinking about a daily water budget, because it takes energy to process and purify water. Refuse one-use throwaway plastics, like straws, whose primary ingredient is oil, that go straight from our lips to the landfill. Vote for elected officials who make climate and energy solutions a priority, and then hold them accountable. CC: How can we grow the economy and

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improve the environment by addressing the climate crisis as we enter the “Great Transition”? LTS: In Atlanta, there have already been amazing results in the city’s involvement with a nationwide program called the Better Business Challenge. Through this completely voluntary initiative, over two hundred building owners have agreed to register and commit to upgrade and retrofit their buildings to conserve twenty percent of water and twenty percent of energy by 2020. One of our Turner Foundation partners, the National Restaurant Association, launched their website Conserve in 2006, offering extensive how-to videos, best practices in resource reduction, more efficient equipment and fixtures, and waste reduction. In general, an average of fifty percent of restaurant operators have invested or installed water- or energy-saving fixtures or equipment. We know how important Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai’s efforts to plant millions of trees in Kenya was to cooling the earth and taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Peter Byck made a twelveminute film called Soil Carbon Cowboys that depicts three ranchers that have saved their failing ranching businesses through this method.

retired General

Wesley

Clark Co-chair of Growth Energy Interview: Chip Comins Chairman of the American Renewable Energy Institute

photo: brian clopp

Climate change will impact most heavily on the disadvantaged. If we don’t address these impacts, as well as growing income inequalities, we are marching blindly toward major breakdowns in security, governance, and public welfare.”

Chip Comins: What is your climate passion?

America’s growth, responsible development, and security.

Wesley K. Clark: Climate change is, over the longer term, our greatest national security challenge. We have to do all we can to slow it down and to prepare for and ameliorate its impact.

CC: How do you see imbalances in climate reflected in other realms of society, such as gender, governance, and race?

CC: How are you leading/advocating solutions to climate change?

WKC: I’m working with wind, solar, and biofuels companies as well as with organizations like ACORE [American Council On Renewable Energy], Growth Energy, and AREDAY to raise public awareness and seek practical technological solutions to reduce our reliance on fossilized carbon. My book Don’t Wait for the Next War will be out in October, where I will offer my prescription for

WKC: Climate change will impact most heavily on the disadvantaged. If we don’t address these impacts, as well as growing income inequalities, we are marching blindly toward major breakdowns in security, governance, and public welfare. CC: What simple action can people take locally and globally to be effective on climate solution?

WKC: The most effective solution is to vote! Vote the climate-change deniers out of

office. Then, for John Q. Public, it’s all about energy conservation: use less, because most of what we’re consuming is from fossilized carbon! CC: How can we grow the economy and improve the environment by addressing the climate crisis as we enter the “Great Transition”?

WKC: This is the question I’m addressing in my book. In the near term, oil is galloping ahead and leading our economy. We have to corral the “horse” and gradually reduce our dependence on oil and coal, in their present forms. Green-energy investment is inherently high-tech, and we could lead in the next-generation energy technologies, as we did and do now with oil and gas. All it takes is leadership! areday.net | GROWTHENERGY.ORG ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 71

Social Entrepreneurs:

startups to watch

David Reich, Assured Labor

Sydney Alfonso, Etkie

Sajan George, Matchbook Learning

Assured Labor leverages the power of mobile phones and the Internet to rapidly connect low-to-mid-wage job seekers with the best jobs in their area. With over 1.4 million job seekers and 40,000 employers, Assured Labor’s brands, EmpleoListo and TrabalhoJá, are among the fastest-growing recruitment services in the world.

Etkie is a social enterprise that provides financial stability for unemployed yet wildly talented Native American artisans through the design of luxury accessories. In partnership with Kiva, Etkie provides microfinance loans for women to purchase high-end materials and serves as a cohesive branding, marketing, and distribution platform.

Matchbook Learning is a national nonprofit charter-school management organization. It has a unique student-centered model of school that leverages technology to create an individualized “blended” learning path for each child, to meet them where they are and advance them when ready.

ASSUREDLABOR.COM

ETKIE.COM

MATCHBOOKLEARNING.COM

Rose Broome, HandUp

Katy Ashe, Noora Health

HandUp is crowd-funding for homeless people and neighbors in need. Online, people can donate directly to specific beneficiaries. One hundred percent of donations go toward basics like food, clothing, and housing. Beneficiaries redeem donations through nonprofit partners that offer case management and ensure productive use of funds.

Noora Health delivers high-impact health-skills training to at-risk patients and their families to enable them to take care into their own hands and homes. Leveraging human-centered design, Noora Health has developed a suite of services that can be implemented in both highand low-resource settings.

HANDUP.US

NOORAHEALTH.ORG

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T h e wo r l d ’ s l e a d i n g co n f e r e n c e o n i m pac t i n v e s t i n g a n d s o c i a l e n t e r p r i s e

socap14: September 2 to 5, 2014

Jacqueline Gjurgevich, Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery

Sophie Eckrich, Teysha

Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery places small grocery stores in urban areas to offer a local resource for fresh foods, meals, and grocery staples in communities that don’t have access to good, healthy food.

Teysha partners with traditional Latin American craftspeople to produce high-quality, customized, handmade leather shoes and accessories. Teysha is the Caddo word for “friend and ally.” The company’s mission is to bring people together across borders, economies, and cultures, fostering a global community based on respect.

STOCKBOXGROCERS.COM

TEYSHA.IS

Benzi Ronen, Farmigo

Ryan Levinson, Sunfunder

Jen Anderson, The Reset Foundation

Farmigo is an online farmers market that empowers people to eat better. It creates farm-to-neighborhood access to fresh and affordable food, benefiting local farmers and bypassing local supermarkets. Customers order online and pick up their delicious, natural food within forty-eight hours of harvest.

SunFunder is a solar investment platform for both private and crowd investors. The company provides debt financing to help solar companies scale in emerging markets and to create a solar finance ecosystem that will catalyze billions in financing into the off-grid and grid-deficit solar market.

FARMIGO.COM

SUNFUNDER.COM

The Reset Foundation is transforming the justice system in the United States by creating a results-oriented, education-focused approach to justice. Instead of going to prison, young adults serve their sentences at a Reset campus—a learning environment with 24/7 support in academics, career, and social/ emotional health. THERESETFOUNDATION.ORG SOCAP14.SOCIALCAPITALMARKETS.NET ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 73