Recently I was asked by one of my guests after we finished recording….

What was the inspiration behind creating the Edge of Everyday Podcast? Why did I feel called to the kinds of conversation I explore in each episode?

I appreciated her question and her curiosity.

Quite simply – I am captivated by paradox and I’m deeply committed to amplifying voices and stories, particularly those of women. What to say, how to say it, and why it matters is at the heart of everything I do, and everything I teach.

I decided right then to record an episode in which I shared the journey I’ve taken to The Edge of Everyday.

In this episode I share…

· Live recording of my song, Who’s To Say? written as an intention setting song, an opening invocation. Later you will hear about the show being structured as a ritual.

Lyrics: Sandra Bargman Music: Ian Herman

· Being called to seminary, and while there, having the inspiration to create my company, Sacred Stages, LLC, that synthesizes my performing background with my service leadership.

· Creating the “Caba-Ritual” – the background of The Edge of Everyday solo show – the impulse to create it, + structuring it as a ritual for a transformative experience.

· I said I would include a picture of my opening show outfit in the show notes but I’m unable to do so…check out the performance clips and pictures on my website, www.SandraBargman.com.

· The core message and concepts presented in the solo show. What are those concepts? Admitting complexities and exploring paradox. Being real. Truth-telling. Yes, truth can be ugly and raw, but the heartbreak of truth is a better experience than happiness from lies, fear, or delusion.

· “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off” – that marvelous quote by feminist Gloria Steinam, highlights the dual nature of truth: it can be both challenging and liberating.

· The decision to transition to doing a podcast during Covid.

· The live performance of Everyday People, by Sly Stone, with my “rap” spoken poetry, Lean In Edgy Ones, woven within.

· All this and much more. Thanks for listening.

Connect with your host Sandra Bargman:

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Hello listeners. This is a potent episode and I am so grateful to my guests.

We are #LIVEintheHIVE with Betsy Gaines Quammen, historian and award-winning author of American Zion + True West – and Tasha Adams, the ex-wife of Oath Keeper’s founder, Stewart Rhodes.

Betsy has previously been a guest on #TheEdgeofEverydayPodcast in June of 2022 and in that episode, we talked about both of her powerful and increasingly relevant books and the significant need to have difficult conversations across polarizing political views and differing cultural perspectives. You can find that episode at TalkRadio.NYC and on my YouTube channel, Sandra Bargman on The Edge of Everyday.

Betsy brings wisdom + engaging storytelling to her important work, and in these increasingly turbulent times under a clearly authoritarian administration, I knew I needed to have her on the show again. When I reached out, Betsy suggested that I also ask her good friend, Tasha Adams, to join us. Tasha’s ex-husband, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the right-wing militia, The Oath Keepers, had just been released from jail, having had his sentence of 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan 6th insurrection commuted.

Tasha’s story is deeply moving, a life lived under the thumb of an abusive, manipulative man, and finding the courage to plan an escape for herself and her 6 children. I could only imagine how she must be feeling upon hearing the news of his release.

This episode is NOT about the Oath Keepers, or Tasha’s role in it. There are podcasts and interviews and two documentaries in which to explore that information.

This episode explores the relationship between open spaces and toxic masculinity.

“What I knew then and feel more deeply now is that open lands inspire open minds. This is the open space of democracy”. - Terry Tempest Williams in NYT

• Betsy and Tasha shared how they met while Betsy was researching the BUNDY family and publicly owned federal lands for her first book. It’s all documented in her book, American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God, and Public Lands in the West.
• Then researching Western mythologies that create TOXIC MASCULINITY. Researched in True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America.
• The power of WOMEN friendships.
• The takeover of OPEN spaces of land out west and the open spaces of a closet – and of the mind – the complete MACRO + MICRO of toxic masculinity.
• Both women weigh on the abuse, vitriol and the TACTIC of DISORIENTATION for control by Toxic men.
• The very IMPORTANT exploration – that question that Tasha has received – that every trapped and abused woman has received – “WHY didn’t you leave?” Both Tasha and Betsy weigh in with extraordinary insight and information.
• “The tyranny over the weak” that toxic masculinity employs today.
• How is Tasha rebuilding and reclaiming today? She’s writing a MEMOIR!
• Betsy is working on a non-fiction book, DEAD RECKONING, that explores ancestral relations to haunted landscape, haunted houses and epigenetic trauma.
• All this - and much more.

Resources:

www.BetsyGainesQuammen.com @betsygainesquammen www.ThatGirlTasha.com @thatgirlTasha

https://www.nbc.com/king-of-the-apocalypse

@slim.vampire

#MaximizeU #TheEdgeofEveryday #TheEdgeofEverydayPodcast

Connect with your host Sandra Bargman:

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With our anti-science, anti-intelligence, chaos and cruelty driven administration, it’s hard not to feel completely hopeless about the climate emergency.

Today we are #LIVEintheHIVE with Harriet Shugarman, a US based university professor, multi-award-winning author, writer, economist and climate policy advisor with many years of experience working on our climate emergency. www.ClimateMama.com

We are still reeling from the catastrophic floods in Texas, with a death toll presently at 111 and another 172 people found missing. The climate crisis played a significant role in this flooding, and thanks to this chaotic and incompetent administration, staffing shortages at the National Weather Service contributed to the severity of the flooding. Climate disaster meets climate denial.

According to research, 77% of the global population want their government to do whatever it takes to limit the effects of climate change.

Where are we in our efforts to meet the climate crisis? How can we prepare for the growing climate instability? And most importantly, how do we hold onto hope?

As Climate Mama Harriet Shugarman says, “Tell the truth, actions speak louder than words, and don't be afraid."

In this episode we touch on…

• In these challenging times, Harriet recommits to leading with empathy.
• Only 90 days in, there are devastating cuts to U.S. climate research by the Trump administration. How are we meeting these setbacks?
• Climate.gov has been completely erased from the internet. However scientists saved this information and you can find it here: https://screening-tools.com/abou
• This 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP30), which will be held in Belém, Brazil, from November 10-21, 2025, is an important year marker during which countries must share and report on their climate contributions. We now have climate deniers in what the USA reports, so hopefully they will not be at the global table.
• How can we promote public awareness and engagement on climate change issues? Why are we so ineffective? The continued power of STORYTELLING. www.DearTomorrow.org | www.OurKidsClimate.org
• Climate grief and mental health. www.Ecopsychopedia.org
• What drives the global community to want their governments to take climate action? How can we be “good ancestors”?
• Her award-winning book, "How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate, Turning Angst into Action."
• More resources: www.InsideClimateNews.org | www.climatecommunication.yale.edu

Follow Micheal Mann + Katharine Hayhoe

www.artsandclimate.org

Full bio:

www.climatemama.com

@ClimateMama

Connect with your host Sandra Bargman:

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