The Kyle Thiermann Show

Ryan Levinson is a sailor and known for his notable achievements in ocean adventure sports and emergency first response despite having an untreatable genetic disease that causes his muscles throughout his body to continuously weaken. He and his wife Nicole are currently in their fourth year of a voyage of discovery and adventure through the remote islands and atolls of the tropical South Pacific.  Ryan uses the attention his story receives and his popular YouTube channel “Two Afloat” to explore themes of adventure, environmental responsibility, love, culture, courage, and the other wild thoughts that cross his mind as he and Nicole explore the world’s ocean. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Christopher and his work have been featured just about everywhere, including: MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Times of London, Playboy, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Outside, El Pais, La Vanguardia, Salon, Seed, and Big Think.  A featured speaker from TED in Long Beach, CA to The Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House to the Einstein Forum in Pottsdam, Germany, Chris has consulted at various hospitals in Spain, provided expert testimony in a Canadian constitutional hearing, and appeared in well over a dozen documentary films. Even before co-authoring the New York Times best-seller, Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What it Means for Modern Relationships (translated into 15 languages), with his partner-in-crime (and wife), Cacilda Jethá, MD, Chris was on a wild ride. After receiving a BA in English and American literature in 1984 he spent the next two decades traveling around the world, pausing in unexpected places to work at decidedly odd jobs (e.g., gutting salmon in Alaska, teaching English to prostitutes in Bangkok and self-defense to land-reform activists in Mexico, managing commercial real-estate in New York’s Diamond District, helping Spanish physicians publish their research). In his mid-30s, Chris decided to pursue doctoral studies in Psychology. Drawing upon his multi-cultural experience, Chris' research focused on distinguishing the human from the cultural, first by focusing on shamanism and ethnobotony—studying how various societies interact with altered states of consciousness and the sacred plants that provoke them—and later, by looking at similarly diverse cultural perspectives on sexuality. His doctoral dissertation was a multi-disciplinary investigation of prehistoric human sexual behavior, guided by the world-renowned psychologist, Stanley Krippner, at Saybrook Graduate School, in San Francisco, CA. Chris is finishing a new book for Simon and Schuster tentatively called Civilized to Death: Why Everything's Amazing but Nobody's Happy, due out in 2017—and he puts out a weekly podcast, called Tangentially Speaking, featuring conversations with interesting people, ranging from famous comics to bank robbers to drug smugglers to porn stars to authors to plasma physicists. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Ben Kneppers is a Co-Founder of Bureo Inc., an emerging company operating between Chile and the California focused on creating innovative solutions to ocean plastic pollution. Through the team’s initiative, ‘Net Positiva’, Bureo has created Chile’s first ever fishnet collection & recycling program. Net Positiva provides fisherman with environmentally sound disposal points, while Bureo receives highly recyclable raw materials to create innovative products that bring net positive solutions to the world. Find out more at www.bureo.co Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

There are many reasons why improv theater has taken root in Santa Cruz and become a bona fide artistic tradition. Two of those reasons are named Clifford Henderson and Dixie Cox. Proud recipients of 2014 Gail Rich Awards. Clifford Henderson and Dixie Cox, founders of the FUN INSTITUTE, have a combined total of over 48 years experience teaching improv, acting, and team-building skills. They have taught workshops for high-tech businesses, university educators, retreat centers, psychotherapists, incarcerated women, a Zen community, stroke survivors, and the public at-large. Their home base is the Broadway Playhouse, in Santa Cruz, California. They are also the creators of the popular two-woman show, Detour Ahead: the Clifford & Dixie Show. Both were founders and coordinators of the popular Santa Cruz event, The Improvathon. They’ve played with troupes Sapphos Lapphos and Loose Cannon Theater starting back in 1993. Both are familiar faces on and off the stages of Santa Cruz. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Justin Davis has worked as a paramedic/firefighter at Station 14 in San Jose since 2007. From 1999-2006 he worked for Cal Fire and was part of the Helitack crew from 2005-2006. He has also been part of the Urban Search And Rescue Team (USAR) for the past seven years. Additionally, he is part of the Santa Cruz Marine Rescue Team. When he retires, he plans to circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat.    Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Malloy is an accomplished professional surfer and filmmaker. His films include 180 Degrees South, The Fishermans Son, Groundswell, Thicker Than Water, and A Brokedown Melody. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Hans Cole is the Director of Environmental Campaigns and Advocacy at Patagonia.  Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Velton Fry is an expert bow hunter and primitive arts teacher. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Greg Long (@GergLong) is 2X Big Wave Surfing World Champion.  Are Frapwell (@AreFrapwell) is a 16-year-old professional surf photographer from La Jolla, CA.  Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Carlos Duran is a radio host and expert in the plant medicine.  Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe