Weirdly Helpful (formerly The Best Advice Show)

Kathy Benjamin has worked as a writer and editor since 2009 for major sites including MentalFloss.com and ‪Cracked.com. She is currently a writer and editor for ‪Grunge.com. Offline, she’s contributed articles to mental_floss magazine and Reader’s Digest. Her specialties are history, royalty, Christianity, and death, but always with a dash of funny.In 2013, Kathy wrote Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever (Adams Media). She also contributed to Cracked.com’s publication The De-Textbook: The Stuff You Didn't Know About the Stuff You Thought You Knew (Plume, 2013). Her latest book, It's Your Funeral!: Plan the Celebration of a Lifetime -- Before it's Too Late (Quirk).Kathy has turned her hand to fiction with the recently completed Area 54, a humorous science fiction novel about disco, drugs, and aliens. She has also written four children's books, which are about absolutely none of those things.She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, Simon, and her dog, Briscoe.---Support Zak and the production of The Best Advice Show by becoming a Patron today! ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melanie Davenport is the Abbot of the Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple in Detroit and a therapist with  a psychodynamic, holistic, and mindfulness-based approach to healing.*This series is dedicated to the memory of Sam Woll. May her memory be a revolution.  ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode, a re-run from last year at this time, featured Rabbi Yoni Dahlen, Dr. Erika Bocknek, Michael Franti, Jaye Johnson, Shari Colton, Eric Colton, Caveh Zahedi, Rob Walker, Jessi Hempel, Kevin Kelly, Dan Messé, Ned Specktor, Holly Wren Spaulding, Jo Strausz Rosen, Erica Heilman, Grace Bonney, Rikke Houde, Laura Hawley, Lucy Anderton ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natalie is an 8th grader living in Texas.---Meal Planning with Dr. Michael StrauszLeavening with Dr. Michael StrauszHow to Achieve Easy Umami Flavors with Dr. Michael Strausz ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katie Triest is a bird educator and coziness expert living in Telluride, Colorado.  ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natalie Ruskin works work with purpose-driven people who want to thrive in work & wellbeing. At the heart of her work is the belief that transformation is possible. She hosts the podcast A Success Of Our Own. ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shelbby Jouppi is a freelance data journalist based in Denver, Colorado. She's here to help local newsrooms find creative ways to bolster their community reporting with data collection, analysis and visualization. ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gregg LeFevre is a longtime New Yorker with a passion for storytelling. Through writing, art, and conversations with friends and strangers he has always practiced the art of a good story. In his public art commissions, he has found ways to celebrate the collective stories of others, as well as sharing the personal stories he has lived. ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin Bicknese is a professional home organizer. She was last on the show talking about International Tell Your Crush Day. Hear that episode here. Work with Erin on nesting services to clear the clutter and center what's sacred to you!---Get Zak a Chanukah gift by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron today! ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abra Berens is a chef, former farmer, and writer. Her most recent book is Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking with Fruit. She believes that the meals we eat should change with the seasons and that their ingredients should come from nearby. She strives to make simple, delicious meals that champion the region.---Wanna help Zak continue making this show? Become a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow ---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices