@livvonoelreich

The scene:

We are in Ladera Heights, Los Angeles, CA on a warm day in Liv’s backyard sitting on lawn chairs drinking tea. This sounds like we live gentle lives; yesterday we fixed her garage door by lifting it together and also road motorcycles all over LA. This is our normal. Our friendship has weathered many journeys and many miles on motorcycles. Join us in the garden for curiosity, laughter, and pre-psychotherapy.

Highlights:

• A Swede from Alabama
• Difficulty making female friends
• Babes Ride Out
• Clicking together quickly and easefully
• Seeking adventures together
• Attacking the stressor immediately = non-procrastination
• Being in the world, being curious, being in action
• The importance of having purpose
• Currently in her Masters of Psych at Pepperdine 
• Massaging is a lot of alone time with your own thoughts
• The body communicating different messages than the mind
• Rocking the body to see where the tension is holding on
• Being present with others
• Why do they scrub you wearing black granny panties at Korean spas?
• Near-death experiences that are hilarious
• Helping others transform their lives
• Weaving in experiences of acting, psychology, and massage
• Creating your life around physical freedom
• Seeing a wide horizon in your life
• Choosing newness to avoid stagnation
• Minimizing “making wrong”, blame, being fearful of the future
• Avoiding rejection by not proceeding
• Being 100% committed, AND detached from the outcome
• The Race to Alaska documentary
• The Women Riders World Relay
• Filming 12 women on motorcycles riding through Pakistan
• Transitioning from doing everything yourself to leaning into others
• Viewing your life as many projects
• Appreciation of others and listening 
• “You lose intention when you lose punctuation.”

A taste:
“Through the physical comes the emotional.”

“Sometimes I don’t move forward with things because I like the idea of what is possible with the idea and if I move forward with it, perhaps it’s not going to work out the way I wanted it.”

Favorite sayings:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” (The Serenity Prayer)

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” - Emerson

Thank you for listening!
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Love, Sagewolf xoxo

@arisjanigian
arisjanigian.com  

The scene:
We are sitting in the sun on a chilly Spring day just outside Aris’ living space, which is attached to his private library of 1 billion books (actually 5,000 ish). Aris begins the interview a bit withdrawn, perhaps shy, perhaps melancholic - like any truly great writer is expected to be - but warms up throughout and by the end is truly lively. It has taken me a moment to return to editing and releasing interviews. I saw Aris in yoga the other day and we shared that we had such fond memories of what a great interview it was, it is. Join us as we explore the human condition and how it is captured with words.

Highlights:

• Bestselling author of “Waiting for Lipchitz at Chateau Marmont”
• Moved to Fresno from LA eight years ago
• Began writing in the 5th grade. First book: “The Adventures of Hallelujah Harry”
• What makes a “gifted” writer?
• Two novels by the age of 25
• Writing because you have to write...you have something to say
• Began writing regularly his junior year of college, as a medicine
• Using writing to harness a self-destructive energy
• Why publish? > ego, being noticed, being seen, vanity, loving people
• Wanting others to feel the richness of their internal life
• Helping others find themselves
• Connection is the root of many creative endeavors
• Suffering is a character trait that serves writers well
• Patience/a long view is important when writing one book over many years
• Maturing out of immediate gratification
• Tragic humor and satire
• Embracing one’s own madness, coupled with self-compassion
• “Essentially we’re scripting our own lives continuously”
• No one can define great art, it has a transcendent quality
• Relying on the judgement of others to measure you
• Trusting informed readers for feedback
• We would be nothing without the love of other people
• Community makes you feel at home in the world
• Observing others as they journey through the world
• Conflict > Friction > Fire > Life, warmth, light…
• Writing “aggressive”, “racist”, “sexist” books
• Uncomfortability creates an opportunity to elevate consciousness
• The world is not static, we must constantly revise our approach
• “One should be happy to be confronted with a genuinely authentic new perspective”
• Yearning to be confronted by someone with your own flaw or bias
• We identify too much with our own thoughts and opinions
• Trained as a scientist - PhD in Research Psychology, specifically Social Cognition
• Taught college psych for 23 years
• Research him on Google scholar for his papers on human studies
• Advice to younger self: “Get help sooner.” (meds, therapy, yoga/meditation)
• 19 year yogi
• Play more
• Grieving when you can’t write
• Longest writing “slump”: current, 1 1/2 years…
• Novel writing comes from a different place, it’s like a puzzle

A taste:

• “We view our selves as western expansion does, an American cultural egotism that creates dynamism.”
• “Most of our rhetoric, our language, is oriented towards youth.”
• “The novelist mind requires that you see everything when you write one sentence.”

Favorite saying:
(He can’t remember. Ask his friends for the notes they take of the funny things he says.)

Thank you for listening!
Please subscribe to support this project.
Love, Sagewolf xoxo

@john_lofgren
@johnlofgrenbootmaker
johnlofgren.com

The scene:
We are in the private library of John’s friend Aris, surrounded by at least 5,000 books, in the Tower District of Fresno, CA on a sunny-cold winter day, bathing in the sunlight beaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. John has intentionally not listened to my other interviews, both of us wanting for each question to feel fresh and unrehearsed. We discover similar pasts in and ethical beliefs about fashion. Perseverance is a big takeaway. Join us in the speakeasy library for a value-driven conversation about dad-fashion and more important things.

Highlights:
+ Running a company in Japan (from the US)
+ Traveling for work and it feels like a vacation
+ Lived in Japan for 17 years
+ First went to Japan as a vintage buyer for a clothing co.
+ Yoga changed his life
+ We met through Keryn Nicholson the Hatter (episode 28)
+ Established his boot brand in 2010
+ An American buying US vintage for the Japanese market
+ Wearing replica vintage used to be scandalous
+ “Outdoor style” - function became fashion
+ Did not go to school (for fashion or shoemaking)
+ Insisted on “ethically made” from the onset
+ Where does the string that closes the bag that carries the boot come from?
+ But…where do the buckles REALLY come from?
+ Studied Cultural Anthropology
+ Doing it right is VERY expensive
+ Who are we giving our money to?  Who are we supporting?
+ Greenwashing
+ B Corp and “ethical verifications”
+ Doing something because it’s right (not for the credit)
+ Holding others accountable
+ Social responsibility
+ How to plant the seed to educate others to choose ethically made
+ The money you buy something with supports the government of the country it was made in (READ THAT AGAIN)
+ Our biggest vote in the world is with our dollars (Are we supporting regimes?)
+ Making the very best thing that you possibly can
+ The satisfaction of wearing something ethically untainted
+ Being painfully honest is helpful (low self esteem is unhelpful)
+ Dad was a farmer and did construction
+ Whatever you talk about doing is doable, but 99% of people don’t
+ Going broke…more than once (and being in real deep debt)
+ Losing everything in the 2011 earthquake tsunami
+ Looking for a lifestyle that’s a little less technology, a little more analog
+ Dear younger self: please do better in high school
+ You might know the language but if you don’t get the culture, you won’t last
+ Radical openness and radical listening

A taste:
“Maybe they sleep on it and maybe it’s like how that seed was planted in me when I was in Egypt when I was 21 years old, maybe sometime a little ways down the line they’ll think, ‘Hey, I’d like to see what it’s like to wear something that’s ethically made too, something that’s not tarnished with slave labor or child labor.” Even if it’s just one part of it - see what it’s like to own one thing that’s completely ethically made.”

“You’ve got to have some sort of personality trait that’s a little abnormal to do what we do, or everybody would do it, wouldn’t they?”

Favorite saying:
“The strongest of the fittest.”

Thank you for listening!
Please subscribe to support this project.
Love, Sagewolf xoxo