The Quake City Portal features people from all walks of life. The intention is to have mindful conversations to inspire curiosity, creativity, and our explorative spirit. To help uncover the natural resilience within ourselves from all that is seen and unseen. To help each other become self-reliant individuals so that we may contribute in our own unique ways to the kaleidoscopic human experience.
Sophia Cassella is a 22-year-old brown belt from New Jersey, under Jason Rau. She’s trained with some of the greatest minds that helped change the sport today in what some people call the renaissance of Jiu Jitsu.
She commutes hours and hours every day from New Jersey to New York to train with some coaches and grapplers in the sport who are considered to be the best to ever coach and compete – John Danaher, Gordon Ryan, Gary Tonon, Renzo Gracie, and all of the greats that drop in there to train.
“No history, no self. Know history, know self.” -Jose Rizal
Many of us don’t know about the trauma that our parents harbor. As children of parents that immigrated to the United States, the same trauma they harbor could be passed on to us, and manifested in different ways.
Some of us might have these questions like –
Who am I?
Why do we speak this way?
Why do I not know anything about you, our grandparents, or relatives?
Why is it hard to approach my parents with these questions?
GUEST BIO
Our next guest, Stephanie Balon has taken the first giant steps to help answer these questions, and the countless others we have faced for generations. The idea of providing space, even if only for conversation, might provide a way to heal our forgotten, indigenous, colonialized ways of living – of being together in community. Or as we say in our native language – in Kapwa.
Stephanie Balon is a mental health clinician, an expressive arts therapist with a focus on trauma-informed care, narrative and cultural therapeutic approaches. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
With over 15 years in the non-profit sector, and her work as an activist, she helped raise awareness for the Filipina/o/x Community. As a co-chair for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County, she has received recognition for her community activism from District 5 supervisor, David Canepa. For congresswoman Jackie Speier, she served on the Asian American Advisory Committee to devise strategies for community engagement. Stephanie also helped raise over two and a half million dollars with the intention to co-found the first Filipino Cultural Center in San Mateo county that aims to provide mental health and wellness services for the Filipino Community.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here, and on all major platforms.
Meet our dear friends, Ria and Raul Pelayo. In their four years of marriage, they come forward with their struggles in starting a family due to recurring pregnancy loss. Despite the heavy topic of discussion, they bring such a cheerful, light hearted energy.
We are also joined by my wife, JoAnn. Both of us wanted to do an episode like this from the beginning of starting this podcast, but couldn’t conceptualize what, or how it could be done until Ria came forward with her forth miscarriage on social media. Together, we hope to provide a safe space to empower others to start their own conversations or seek help in dealing with grief, loss, trauma – the things that are hard to bring up casually, or are considered “downers” to bring up in conversation.
This is not a substitute for professional help, and we strongly encourage those who struggle with anything to seek help.
Ria and Raul have graciously offered to be a resource to those experiencing similar struggles on social media via Instagram:
Toño Ramirez is a free spirit, a truth-seeker, an explorer. I’ll stop there because he, in my opinion, is only bogged down by more labels. I first met him on a trash cleanup organized by Vince of RefuseRefuseSF.org (our first guest on the podcast).
Toño (alias used for privacy purposes) earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree from UC Berkley, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. All degrees in his background are in the field of Mechanical Engineering.
I was hoping to have a discussion to learn about engineering, and how they might apply to set goals, to create something actionable for me and whoever listens. However, I ended up keeping my notebook closed and tucked away because what follows is something more spontaneous, honest, alive, and profound in so many ways I never expected. This conversation touches on many topics and would be beneficial for those who currently struggle or who have struggled with loneliness, compulsions and addictions, depression, or anyone questioning their self-worth.
I hope you’ll hear Toño is someone that has done the work and is an example of if you look and let the universe do its thing, embrace your truth, embrace your truest self with love, that (in his words) “the universe/everything will conspire to reward you.”
Please enjoy this dip into a winding river of conversation with Toño Ramirez.
The Egg, a flash fiction story written by Andy Weir, offers a profound perspective on this age old question. If there is anything that can describe what The Quake City Portal is about, it can be found in this episode, and in stories just like The Egg.
I was deeply moved by this piece, seeing it first in video form, and then reading the story here. With so many aspects of life that fuel a divide among individuals, we need to share more stories that bring people together.
This is an essay I wrote inspired by this story, recorded in podcast form. The Egg sparked a deep dive into eye contact, my difficulties with it at times, and throughout my life. I wanted to answer the question – why is it (sometimes) hard to make eye contact?
In this episode of the QCP, Jon is joined by his best friend, Mico. They reminisce about a time before the dawn of the internet age. They also reflect on embarrassing moments in their short lived hip-hop careers. He shares his experience in sales, and how he overcame alcoholism/ addiction without support groups or rehab.
