What Does It Really Mean to Show Up? In this episode, we speak with Rosemerry’s mentor and beloved friend Judith Jordan Kalush about how the way we meet our daily life intimately informs our creative practice. Are we listening? Are we distracted? Are we opening? Do we feel our connection to the rest of the world? What are we choosing to tune into? It’s a powerful episode with no platitudes, but with hard-earned deep wisdom that comes from devotion.Jude Jordan Kalush is an unpindownable wonder of a human who was raised in Brazil where her father was a Baptist minister and missionary. In 2005, she received her Master’s Degree in Creation Spirituality from Naropa University. As she says,” As far as I can tell the world is held together by a glue called LOVE. The oneness of everything.” She was the founder and director of Colorado’s performance poetry festival, SPARROWS, which was held 1999-2007 and now creates poetry videos for her youtube channel, PoetJude. For decades, she has led dreamwork circles and classes and in recent years opened a Fair Trade business. She and her wife, Micah, are presently living in California. Jude’s You Tube Channel Jude’s Go Fund Me for the hungry in BrazilDream worker Jeremy Taylor This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Emerging Form

Episode 52: What does it mean to show up? With Jude Jordan Kalush

“In our evolution, we are coming to understand nuances and in betweens are necessary to living a full life,” says poet and painter Wendy Videlock. She quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.” In this episode, we continue to explore how life itself is the greatest creative process and how we are asked to live and create in the messy middle, and how all of us, all of us, are makers.Wendy Videlock lives in Palisade, Colorado, on the Western Slope of the Rockies. Her full-length books of poetry include Nevertheless, Slingshots and Love Plums, The Dark Gnu and Other Poems. Her blog, Ghost Buffalo explores painting and poeming and life in the west. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Rattle, Terrain, Able Muse, New Criterion and many more. Her artwork, including alcohol inks, is sold in galleries around the West, and she teaches in a freelance capacity across the arts. She organizes poetry festivals on the Western Slope and is well respected in the formalist community.View Wendy’s beautiful art on her instagram Wendy’s website This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 51: Beyond the Binary with Wendy Videlock

In today’s bonus episode, Rosemerry and Christie discuss the poetry and music that have been getting them through this difficult time. Fall (Herbst) by Rainer Maria Rilke The Thing with Feathers by Chris BurskLet X=X, Laurie AndersonNo One, Alicia Keys*Photo by Finn Trommer This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 50 bonus: Finding solace in poetry and music

This is the most difficult episode we’ve ever recorded. In the span of two weeks, Christie and her family were thrown into a scary state of limbo and Rosemerry experienced an unthinkable loss. In this episode, we discuss what we’ve noticed about our relationship to creativity in this time of upheaval. Rosemerry explains how her 15-year practice of writing daily poems helped prepare her to meet this moment of grief, and Christie discusses her reluctance to solidify this experience by turning it into written words. We also talk about moving toward uncertainty and our heightened sense of noticing in this difficult time, and how to meet the tragedy and find the potential. Previous Emerging Form episodes mentioned:Episode 38: Kim Langley Episode 40: Cheryl Strayed Episode 45: Catherine Price *Photo by Finn Trommer This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 50: Creativity in times of trauma

In this week’s episode (recorded in late July), we jump right in with our delightful guest, Andy Offut Irwin. One of the most sought after performing storytellers in the United States, Andy has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival more than ten times. He has appeared fourteen times as Teller in Residence at International Storytelling Center. Among other gigs, Andy has been a Guest Artist at La Guardia High School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts in New York (The “FAME!” School); he has been a Keynote Speaker/Performer at the Library of Congress-Virburnum Foundation Conference on Family Literacy; a Guest Writer Performer with the Georgia Tech Glee Club; and a guest composer with the Amherst College Men’s Double Quartet.Andy has held a few almost-real-jobs that include: Artist-In-Residence in Theatre at Emory University’s Oxford College from 1991 to 2007. (He continues serving at Oxford from time-to-time as Artist-in-Just-Passing-Through). A very long time ago Andy spent five years as a performer, writer, and director for SAK Theatre at Walt Disney World.Andy is the recipient of many awards, but he is tickled as can be to have received the Oracle 2013 Circle of Excellence from the National Storytelling Network.It all that weren’t enough, he is also a world class whistler! Andy Offut Irwin This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 49: Storytelling with Andy Offut Irwin

Sometimes, telling a story can save you. In this episode, we speak with novelist, short story writer and journalist Charlie Jane Anders about her new book, “how writing helps us set rules, create frames, and surprise ourselves with what is possible. “Stories keep us alive,” she says. We also talk about writing and politics, writing the story you want to read, changing gears and creativity as a “saving grace.” Charlie Jane Anders is the author of Victories Greater Than Death, the first book in a new young-adult trilogy published in April 2021,along with the forthcoming short story collection Even Greater Mistakes, and the book we’ll be talking about today:Never Say You Can’t Survive, which  comes out in August. Her other books include The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. Her fiction and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate, McSweeney's, Mother Jones, the Boston Review, Tor.com, Tin House, Teen Vogue, Conjunctions, Wired Magazine, and other places. Her TED Talk, "Go Ahead, Dream About the Future" got 700,000 views in its first week. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.*Please note: this episode was recorded on July 20, 2021. ShownotesFor All Mankind Apple+ tv seriesNever Say You Can’t SurviveVictories Greater Than DeathCharlie Jane’s Ted Talk on Imagination and the FutureCharlie Jane Anders website This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 48: Never Say You Can't Survive with Charlie Jane Anders

Have you ever felt like an imposter in your own creative life? As if you are not truly as competent as others perceive you to be? In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk about imposter syndrome with violinist, award-winning author and scholar/associate professor Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman. Imposter syndrome is not always just your crazy brain telling you that you're not good enough — sexism and racism really does hold people back, she says. Her debut book, Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir, explores this theme, and much more that we touch on, including ambition, identity, what is fake vs. real, and what makes good art. Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 47: Imposter syndrome with Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

Failure is, of course, a big part of life, and learning how to meet it in healthy ways is a major part of creative process. In this episode, Rosemerry presents six or more ways we might fail, drawing from Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. Rosemerry and Christie talk through the different kinds of failure--their experiences and successful ways to move through each kind of failure. They also talk about second chances, change, public vs. private failure, and the importance of humility. Plus the importance of choosing titles and a two-minute creativity test. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 46: Rosemerry and Christie talk about failure

Two of the most important tools any creative has? Your experiences and your time to create. And your biggest impediment? Distractions. In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with author Catherine Price about how to strengthen “the muscle of attention,” how to set boundaries for yourself, how to give your brain space and how to change your habits. She focuses on our relationship with our phones—designed to be a tool, they are often our biggest distraction, stealing not only our time but also our ability to be fully present in our experiences, the raw material for making creative connections. This is an essential episode for anyone serious about their creative practice.Catherine Price is a science journalist, speaker, and author of numerous books including How to Break Up With Your Phone, Vitamania: How Vitamins Revolutionized the Way We Think About Food, and the forthcoming book, The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again. As a freelance journalist, her work has appeared in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Parade, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Self, Medium, Health Magazine, and Outside, among others. She's also the founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com, which is part of her mission to help people scroll less and live more. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 45: Protecting Your Creative Time with Catherine Price

Openness and curiosity--how do these attributes contribute to the success of creative endeavors? In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with science fiction and nonfiction author Annalee Newitz. They talk about back up plans, the relationship between luck and hard work, how writing for free can really pay off, how we frame our experience, challenging our expectations, and creating opportunities. Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of the book Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, and the novels The Future of Another Timeline, and Autonomous, which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a science journalist, they are a writer for the New York Times and elsewhere, and have a monthly column in New Scientist. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Popular Science, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among others. They are also the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Previously, they were the founder of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo. Annalee’s newsletter Our Opinions Are Correct, Annalee’s podcast with Charlie Jane AndersAnnalee’s booksTechsploitation, Annalee’s websiteChristie’s book proposal workshop This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 44: How a Creative Career Emerges with Annalee Newitz

Struggle. It’s an essential part of the creative process. How do we move past the desire to give up and find the energy and time to continue? In this episode, Rosemerry and Christie talk about recent projects and their longtime experience with how to stay with a project when we’d rather give up. We speak about going back to the beginning, how community helps, ways to create accountability, deadlines, finding “what’s at stake,” and how questions are sometimes the answer. David Petersen: Writing NaturallyGeorgia Frances King This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 43: Christie and Rosemerry on Learning to Sit with the Struggle

When creatives show up for their practice, they bring a lot of tools: perhaps books and pens and paper. Perhaps canvas and paint. Perhaps a camera or a script. But all creatives have one thing in common: they bring their bodies. In this episode, we speak with poet/teacher/dancer/zen monk Brooke McNamara about body awareness and creative practice. How did her own body awareness inform her practice and what might we all do to tap deeper into our physical bodies and let our “empathetic kinesthetic awareness” help lead us. Brooke McNamara, MFA, is a poet, teacher, and ordained Zen monk. She has published two books of poems: Bury the Seed and Feed Your Vow. She loves to create poems from 3 main ingredients: the raw material of everyday life, wholehearted and visceral listening, and the mind of meditation. For her poetry, Brooke is the recipient of the Charles B. Palmer prize from the Academy of American Poets. She has taught yoga studies at Naropa University and dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Brooke is creator and instructor of online courses in poetry, meditation, and creative practice, both solo and in collaboration with Lauren Beale and Lisa Gibson. She is a long-time lay Zen student of Diane Musho Hamilton, Roshi, and is empowered as a senior monk. Brooke lives with her husband, Rob, their two sons, Lundin and Orion, and two kitties, Sattva and Mowgli. Brooke’s website Science’s 2021 “Dance your PhD” contest winners, and the quite delightful 2019 winner.Philip Shepard: The Embodiment PresentEmerging Form Episode 10: The Power of Play with Sherry Richert Belul. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 42: Embodiment and Creative Practice with Brooke McNamara

How long must we wait for the form to emerge? Sometimes right up to the last minute! In this episode we speak with Kate Fagan, Emmy-award winning journalist and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author. We talk about her new book, ALL THE COLORS CAME OUT, a memoir about her relationship with her father and his death from ALS. Kate shares with us the differences between writing memoir and reporting the story of someone else, the importance of communicating with the people you love who will be in the memoir and how she wrote the real story vs. the story she wish it had been. And of course, we speak of emerging form, and how for this book, it continued to emerge until the last hour. Kate Fagan is an Emmy-award winning journalist and the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of WHAT MADE MADDY RUN, which was a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting. Her first book was the coming-of-age memoir THE REAPPEARING ACT, and her third book, ALL THE COLORS CAME OUT, comes out this month from Little, Brown. She currently writes for Sports Illustrated and co-hosts the podcast Free Cookies. Kate previously spent seven years as a columnist and feature writer for espnW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She was also a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn and host of Outside the Lines. Kate covered the Philadelphia 76ers for three seasons and played college basketball at the University of Colorado. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her wife, Kathryn Budig, and their two dogs. Kate on TwitterKate on InstagramKate’s website This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 41: How a memoir emerges, with Kate Fagan

Have you ever felt envious of someone else’s success? In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with Dear Sugar herself, Cheryl Strayed, and get practical, heart-opening, career-inspiring advice about how to meet this very natural and difficult feeling. We speak of abundance mentality, leaning in to our own heart’s desires, and the “all boats rise” when one of us succeeds philosophy. Strayed talks about times when she has envied and what it taught her, and she also speaks of being envied herself and how she handles others’ projection. Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, the New York Times bestsellers Tiny Beautiful Things and Brave Enough, and the novel Torch. Wild was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon. Tiny Beautiful Things was adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos in a play directed by Thomas Kail that has been produced in theaters around the world. Strayed's essays have been published in The Best American Essays, the New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, and elsewhere. She publishes the popular Dear Sugar column as a monthly newsletter and has hosted two hit podcasts for the New York Times—Sugar Calling and Dear Sugars, which she co-hosted with Steve Almond. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family.DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #69: We Are All Savages Inside (Cheryl’s advice to an envious creative person)Christie’s Oprah Magazine story about envy.Our previous episode about how envy brought Christie and Rosemerry together.DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #48: Write Like a MotherfuckerTo listen to our bonus episode with Cheryl next week, become a paid subscriber to Emerging Form at emergingform.substack.com. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 40: Envy, with Cheryl Strayed

Can envy help your creative practice? The origin story of this podcast would seem to offer a resounding yes! In this episode, Rosemerry and Christie recall the strange circumstances (Christie’s word is “mortifying”) in which they first met in 2008--lots of laughter--and how play and vulnerability are now at the heart of their friendship. Christie offers insight about envy and how it can be an invitation to live into your true wishes for yourself. We also talk about STTUC (sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison), Shine Theory, and why, as the poet David Lee says, it might be important for your creative practice to surround yourself with people better than you. What began as envy became admiration and inspiration and has grown and flowered into a mutually supportive friendship and this podcast, a merging of creative energies. Christie’s Last Word On Nothing post how she and Rosemerry met and yes, those envy poems.Rosemerry’s TEDx Talk: The Art of Changing MetaphorsChristie’s TEDx Talk: How Envy Can Guide Your Path to SuccessChristie’s Oprah Magazine story about the benefits of envy. After Having My Manuscript Rejected by Ghostroad Press, I Read the Bio of Christie Aschwanden, Award-Winning Writer and Phenomenal Nordic SkierComparison is the root of all unhappiness. —Michelle KodisNot only is the grass greener on her side,it’s also taller, thicker, more nitrogen rich,and more appealing to grazing deer.Her snow is whiter,her summers warmer,her sky more starry by night.I wish it were just the grass.Why do I bother to breatheknowing she breathes more deeply,more fully into her more fertile belly.And she’s published in O Magazine.So I tell myself: Fertilize your own front yard.Compost. Weed and feed.And I tell myself she probably seeded with Kentucky Blue,a selfish choice in this drought-prone land.And I tell myself, she probably didn’t.It’s probably an organic greener lawnand she’s a better gardener with a greener thumband she’d probably invite me over to her yard to playbecause she’s more nice, more generous, more willing to share.To hell with grass.I tell myself,I’d rather xeriscape.But man, it looks green over there.from Holding Three Things at Once  (Turkey Buzzard Press, 2008) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 39-Origin Story

Emerging Form is a podcast about the creative process in which a journalist (Christie Aschwanden) and a poet (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer) discuss creative conundrums over wine. Each episode concludes with a game of two questions in which a guest joins in to help answer questions about the week's topic. Season one guests include poets, novelists, journalists, a song writer, a circus performer, a sketch artist and a winemaker. emergingform.substack.com

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Emerging Form

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