Gather Connect Create || (formerly Cream City Dreams)
Cream City Dreams is now Gather Connect Create!
New name, same host 👋🏼 Bite-sized episodes with big connection!
Join me weekly for inspiration, interviews and simple ideas you can use in your own community to create more connections IN REAL LIFE, no matter where you find yourself!
Episodes
215 episodes
Summer BONUS episode: What happens on a writing retreat?
Over the years, I've taken myself on many-a-writing retreat and each of them has been magical in its own way. On my latest retreat, however, one of my circle-sisters wrote a short story to share her experience and it was so fun, I knew I had to...
Goodbye for now ~ a Season 9 Finale
On today’s episode, I’ll fill you in on where I’m at and what my plans are for summer and for this podcast.For now, I’m on hiatus.I realized that I’ve been podcasting for the last 4 years - and specifically these last two years on...
8 Lessons I've learned from a YEAR off Social Media!
I wasn’t actually planning on this episode, I had intended to end the season today, but it dawned on me that it has been exactly one year since I gave up social media, and I thought that deserved an episode.(Social media = Fac...
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Sound bath 101 with Parisa Shirazi Chavoya
In an effort to continue sharing ways to gather, connect and create, I wanted to talk with Parisa Shirazi Chavoya, owner and Founder of Parisa Yoga Shala about this sacred experience of sound, where the instruction is simply to show up, put you...
Sun & Screen: How to find your summer balance
Before the checklists fill up and the calendar gets away from you, there's one question worth sitting with first: How do I actually want to move through this summer? Not just what you'll do, but how you'll show up, especially when it c...
What is Forest Bathing? With Megan Bollen of Juniper Trails
In this episode I sit down with my friend and certified Forest Therapy Guide Megan Bollen to talk about forest bathing — what it actually is (hint: it's not a hike), and what happens when people finally slow down long enough to let nature do it...
In praise of front porch season, in conversation with Dr. Jane R. Shore of School of Thought (part 2)
Front porch or back porch? It sounds like a trivial choice. But as Dr. Jane R. Shore unpacks this question in a recent Substack essay, that decision carries real weight, shaping who we encounter and how connected we might become in our own neig...
Why the future of learning MUST be human, with Dr. Jane R. Shore
What does it really mean to learn with people, not just from them? In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jane R. Shore, learning scientist, researcher, visual storyteller, and founder of a beautifully illustrated Substack, School of Tho...
Wait, There's a Club for That?
As kids we didn't need a reason to start a club. A treehouse, a secret handshake, a made-up name (as in my case, The Silver Binder Club) ... and that was enough. But somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves that clubs needed a...
When your nametag says "I am here to listen"
This week another short and sweet story about what it means to be a good neighbor. A full-circle story of gratitude, connection, and what happens when we share of ourselves with abundance. If you need a pick-me-up this w...
The Secret to (Great) Small Talk with Nydia Maurás-Jones
If showing up to a room full of complete strangers, or to a networking event, or to any situation where you must interact with people you've barely met gives you even the slightest amount of anxiety ... today's episode is for you.T...
The Whistling Fake Librarian Garden and Book Club
Now there's a podcast title that will gain NO SEO traction whatsoever. But it's worth it. It's a name my mother invented for my daughter, and you'll hear all about how it's run, how it got that title, and why I wanted to...
Wild Writing and the Practice of Being Human — with Laurie Wagner
Today on the podcast, I’m excited to introduce you to a small (but mighty) practice that has changed my life, and the woman who created it. Laurie Wagner is a writer, teacher, retreat leader, traveler, published author, and the founder and guid...
🇺🇸 50 States, 50 Gatherings, One Ambitious Relay, with Garrett Bucks
Garrett wears so many hats that we could have gone in so many different directions with this conversation, but in today’s episode, we talk about his latest undertaking: The Declaration of Interdependence Relay. (Or just The Relay, for short).
How to start a cookbook club with friends
In today's episode, my friend and neighbor Maura Flaherty, shares the secrets of her longstanding Cookbook Club. For the last 4-5 years, she and 6 other women have been meeting and sharing recipes from a rotating cast of cookbooks and (sometime...
Why do our screens evoke so much shame?
Today on the podcast, I'm reflecting on the last four episodes of the podcast, where I've talked at great length about screens. It's a conversation that isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so it's important that we keep talking about it. But if ...
An Amazing Teen explores The Amazing Generation (a book review and an example of the conversations we need to be having with our teens!)
Today on the podcast, I'm excited to introduce you to my niece, Sophia and my sister, Molly. In less than a week, Sophia will turn 13 and I wanted to bring her on the podcast so that - for this last episode of the February series on...
Three cheers for the teens who are teaching US about the boundaries they need
A few weeks ago, Thekla Brumder Ross and I hosted a live panel with last week's guest, Kat Zilka, Founder and Executive Director of Dis/Connect, and two of the high schoolers who are a part of the Dis/Connect movement. It was eye-op...
The Teens are NOT okay, but they CAN be, a conversation with Kat Zilka of Dis/Connect
Today's guest is the founder and Executive Director of Dis/Connect, a local non-profit attempting to create screen-free spaces for teens and young adults in our community. But let this conversation inspire you, wherever you live, to lo...
In praise of screen free childhoods (and the parents behind the movement!) with RECONNECT MILWAUKEE
In today's episode, Christina Dinur and Amanda Metropolus from RECONNECT MILWAUKEE talk about how and why they founded this group and what they hope to offer kids instead of endless (and mindless) screen time. A screen free childhoo...
In praise of the voice memo friendships!
If you've ever met someone and thought 'GAH I wish we lived closer, I'd love to be friends.' This episode is for you! It's also for you if you are tired of texting or emailing and want to put more emotion (and less emojis) into your...
How to host a women-only dance party in YOUR city! (sorry, guys!)
Another week, another way to gather and connect! Join me today as I talk with Rebecca Jankowski and Theresa Kopak of Interwovxn who alongside professional Event Planner Grace Fuhr are organizing quarterly dance parties for midlife w...
A standing dinner date with friends: A simple way to build community
I love this story of my friend Dorthy and her family, who share a meal, week after week, with the same family. They rotate houses, they cook the food, they share the meal, they put away the dishes and then they go home. It's simple. It's no fus...
An update on life OFF social media (and what I'm doing instead)
It's been over seven months since I've been on the socials! And it feels GREAT. AND ... also slightly disconnected from reality, from my community and from my creativity. So I'm back in a new way. Or, really, an old-school way. A bl...
In praise of wonder seeking with a professional Wonder Seeker, with Andrea Scher
Today I am SO excited to introduce you to the woman who has inspired me for the last two decades (at LEAST). I've been following Andrea Scher from her earliest blogs back in the early 2000s and have learned so much about creativity, wonder, att...
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