Many years ago I was a professor at Butler University and lived for a year as the "faculty in residence" in the freshman boys dorm. During that time I took the kids out to restaurants that expanded their horizons, we went to cultural events on campus and in the city and I hosted jam sessions in my "apartment." At one point, they made shirts for the whole group with a cartoon version of my face on the front with a signature ear to ear smile that said "Hess's Heroes." Trust me, it is a rather surreal experience to be headed to class only to have a picture of your face walking toward you or even weirder on one of the students in your lecture class. Even though it was mostly a joke, those kids were right, many of them had amazing stories to tell, their peaks, their valleys and what they had done to make it to that point in their lives. In the end, I learned a lot about myself by learning about their lives. This site is about telling the stories of people, some well known, some less so, that inspire us, challenge the status quo, manage to overcome obstacles or have a lesson we all might benefit from. Here is the story of heroes.
Hey everyone, today’s episode is going to be a special one. When I was thinking of potential guests for this show, I kept returning to the idea that it might be a really fun opportunity to use it as a means to reconnect with someone in my past that I haven’t had a deep conversation with in some time. And I thought of my brother, who as you will see in this episode has led nothing short of an interesting life. That being said, I hadn’t really talked to him beyond superficially about his experiences and I certainly had not asked him about what some of the major lessons were that he has learned in his crazy journey to Japanese Zen Monasteries and how that has translated back into living back in the western world. Corey and I have shared so much in this life and I have loved being a part of his Odyssey, but it was both eye-and heart-opening for me to get a chance to sit down and talk to him about the wisdom he has gained throughout his trials and tribulations. Some specific highlights include his discussion of how to get over the struggles of meditation – pretty much everywhere you look these days, you hear about the benefits of mindfulness, but MANY people that I talk to have tried and pretty quickly given up – here is your chance to learn from a guy who says he has been in meditation gunfights! Corey also really talks about some of his mentors and how valuable it is to attach yourself to someone that inspires you. Above all, I think Corey’s is a lesson of patience and passion. Many that know him have wondered at times what he was doing with himself and where he was going. Let’s be honest, it is easy to get caught up in the normalcy of life expectations, but not everyone has the dream to be a lawyer or a doctor and who are we to stand in the way of anyone’s search for an outlet for their intensity – to put out the fire burns inside them? I have recently been enthralled by the solo and unaided journey of Colin O’Brady across the length of Antarctica. No doubt to most sensible humans this seems crazy and you couldn’t pay them enough to even give it a shot, but many, many people have been inspired by this adventure. There is danger in making these sorts of grandiose comparisons, but bear with me. I believe we can all find lessons from people who are willing to blaze their own trails, people like Colin O’Brady and people like my brother, who you look at now and see a great father, husband, citizen and perhaps most of all a teacher that just might inspire you to tune out some of the ubiquitous and often overwhelming outside influences of our lives and instead take the time to look inward and to trust your heart and mind to take you to where you belong – it has done just that for me. After listening to our chat, even if you aren’t in any hurry to rush out and join a monastery, I hope you get a lesson or two out of this discussion and if nothing else it encourages you to reach out to your loved ones in an effort to better understand them and reinforce the kind of special bond that can be shared by those closest to you. And forgive the background noise that is heard throughout this. We did this chat in person and I hope that the intimate nature of it makes up for some of the light traffic winding through Whidbey Island at times.
20 Dec 2018
Episode #1 - Brooklyn Castle
Welcome to the very first “Hess’s Heroes” podcast! I feel like there should be some sort of drum roll or fireworks going off in the background. The reason we are here is that a while back I was thinking about my own strengths and weaknesses and after fumbling around with some classes in machine learning and human-centered design that I thought would help me in my day job, I came to a realization that what I enjoy most is a good story, and so I decided to start a podcast about people’s stories that I personally find inspiring with the may provide a lesson or two for all of us and perhaps a little loftier maybe make us happier and perhaps better. There is a lot of negativity in today’s world and I hope this can provide people some hope.
To that end, my guest today is long time friend Nelson Dellamagiore, making him “Hess’s Hero” number one. Nelson was one of the first people that came to mind because he and his team, including his amazingly talented wife Katie have been making documentary films for some time that champion underdogs, inspire their audience and often manage to tug at your heart strings. You probably know their work best from the 2012 film Brooklyn Castle that documents the chess team from IS 318 in New York. I rewatched the film yesterday to get ready for this discussion and it validated every intuition I had about having Nelson on – it is a GREAT story with wonderful characters – I found myself choking up at several moments (I have become a total softy since becoming a father). You want so bad for these kids to succeed, hell I wanted to write my congressmen afterward to suggest greater allocation for after school programs (and we can perhaps talk about government funding later on). In short, Nelson is a great storyteller and I liked that it would be a little “meta” to have someone on that captures stories in a way that this show might aspire to. So welcome Nelson, I am sure that little diatribe only scratches the surface. Tell us a little bit about your background and perhaps what motivates you every time you get up in the morning.
4 Feb 2018
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