by Betsy Fasbinder | Mar 15, 2023 | Podcasts
Arin Fugate is a survivor. From between the ages of 11-21, she was raised as a “resident” of a spiritual cult and deemed for a time the “ceremonial virgin” whose mother surrendered her child’s custody to the spiritual leader. Deprived of food, education, and freedom of thought, Arin was isolated from a world she’d been taught to fear and indoctrinated in the twisted spirituality of the leader. Arin emerged from the cult experience at 21 unprepared to identify abuse or protect herself from it. Perhaps her most challenging and enduring deficit is being unable to resist an authoritative voice, requiring her to exercise great care in selecting the people she can truly trust.
Having overcome addiction, anxiety, depression, and other limitations from years of abuse she is now dedicated to facilitating the rise of the Female Visionary. She serves on the board of Ride My Road, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping survivors of sex trafficking, founded by past Morning Glory Project guest, Lauren Trantham.
Arin is a mother of two daughters, wife, and a business owner. She knows how hard it can be for women to carve a path to their dreams. By sharing her passion for natural wellness, and entrepreneurship with inspired business owners, she helps women to find their strengths and to pursue their dreams.
by Betsy Fasbinder | Mar 1, 2023 | Podcasts
Isidra Mencos was born and raised in Barcelona when her home country was under the oppressive rule of Franco and strict religious teachings. Isidra spent her twenties experimenting with the new freedoms afforded by the end of Franco’s dictatorship, causing her to have a double life of “good girl” and “rebel.” She immersed herself in books and dancing, and working at various jobs. In 1992 she moved to the US to earn a Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American contemporary literature at UC Berkeley, where she taught for twelve years. After a ten-year stint in the corporate world managing teams in several countries, in 2016 she focused on creative writing. She tells of her journey in her memoir, Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir, published in 2022.
by Betsy Fasbinder | Feb 15, 2023 | Podcasts
It can be a helpless feeling to watch a loved one slipping away, becoming increasingly lost to mental illness, drug use, and even homelessness. In this very personal episode, the host of The Morning Glory Project welcomes a loved one, once thought lost. Using only a nickname to protect her privacy, Meesh, now stable, self-sufficient, and four years sober, shares her story of how the toxic cocktail of un-medicated mental illness and methamphetamine use dragged her from her life to the fringes of society—to homelessness, repeated incarceration. She’ll share not only the experience of being lost, but how even in her broken mental state, her psyche served to protect her and help her find her way to health.
by Betsy Fasbinder | Feb 1, 2023 | Podcasts
With over 6 million books sold (and counting), Kathia’s novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world. They’ve received starred reviews, have consistently earned Editor’s Picks for Best Romance, and have been featured by O, The Oprah Magazine. Kathia has written over 40 books and counting, some translated into several languages, all about hope and dreams and the bonds of friendship and family. In addition to writing, Kathia is an acclaimed artist and kung fu master. She wields both the paintbrush and the sword with great flare.
Underlying her prolific writing, her art, and her unabashed sense of adventure, what may stand out most about Kathia is her unrelenting belief in love. When she found and married her own “miracle man”, one who could support her career and share in her adventures, she thought she had it all. Later, however, betrayal not only ended the marriage, but posed a threat to her career and cost her the ownership of 19 of her published works! Has her view of love changed? Is she still a romantic? And how has she healed? That’s what we cover in this episode of The Morning Glory Project.
by Betsy Fasbinder | Nov 16, 2022 | Podcasts
In troubled times, what good is art of any kind, much less poetry? To many, poetry seems so much the purview of the elite, the dalliances of the fanciful. It can seem esoteric and out of reach for most.
Kirsten Casey, both as a poet herself and in her work with teen writers, has found that poetry is far more than fancy, that it can be not only accessible, but essential, and that engaging young people with poetry is a gateway to other meaningful connections. She shares this conversation with us on The Morning Glory Project.
In 2022, Kirsten is the poet laureate of Nevada County, California, a California Poet in the Schools, creative writing teacher, and the author of Ex Vivo: Out of the Living Body and Instantaneous Obsolescence in which she explores historical and literary characters struggling with social media.
