GENERATION RIPE cover art

GENERATION RIPE

GENERATION RIPE

Written by: Wendi McLendon-Covey Dfernando Zaremba
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 A podcast for teenagers over 40! A GENERATION RIPE listener is someone who thinks of their age as an asset, not a liability. We are older people with young souls or younger people with old souls. We are a tribe of curious creatives who still embrace new experiences and aren’t afraid of taking risks. Whatever happens, good or bad, at least we’ll learn something new and get a good story out of it. If you’re lucky enough to have your bestie by your side to cheer you on, even better. Co-hosted by actress/writer/producer Wendi McLendon-Covey and photo art director/producer Dfernando Zaremba2022 Art Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • The Eighty-Ninth One… and Jacob Soule (The Plant Prodigy)

    The Eighty-Ninth One… and Jacob Soule (The Plant Prodigy)
    Aug 12 2022
    Episode 89 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is botanist, exotic plants expert and TikTok sensation Jacob Soule.When people ask Jacob Soule what he did during the COVID pandemic, he has a more interesting answer than most: he became TikTok famous. His @theplantprodigy account has almost 1 million followers and his short, entertaining, and informative videos about all things plants have over 26 million likes.  And it all started by sibling rivalry. “My brother told me that he was in a viral video that a friend had made. It got half a million views,” Soule said. “He was joking about being TikTok famous. I tried to get big on TikTok to prove him wrong. I didn’t have success at first, but after December 2021, I got the ball rolling.” Soule, who has autism, has long been interested in plants. He can remember picking daisies with his grandmother. When he was in second grade he read a book that piqued his interest in carnivorous plants and he bought his first one. “I got a Venus flytrap and a pitcher plant, but they all died,” he said. “They’re not that tricky if you know what you’re doing and I didn’t know what I was doing when I was 9 or 10 years old.” Like some plant species, his interest in plants went dormant in about 2015. But, it sprang back to life in 2017 when his current collection began to grow. He currently has over 100 plants ranging from philodendron micans to desert roses and hoya to several carnivorous pitcher plants, which he now grows quite successfully. TikTok was not his first foray into social media. He has always been interested in influencer culture and he first launched a YouTube Channel after being inspired by one of his favorite YouTubers. He created his Instagram in 2019. In his videos, he documents his own adventures as a plant owner, while also answering questions from plant parents who share videos of their droopy or browning plants. Some of the videos offer plant-related humor, such as when he stops his aunt from tossing the dregs of her wine glass into a plant pot or when he reacts with horror to atrocities such as people giving their Venus flytrap toothpaste. He’ll occasionally address issues such as negative comments about his voice or his lack of knowledge about some things with a disarming honesty, saying that his voice makes him unique and he’s proud of having room to grow and learn more. He hopes to parlay his TikTok popularity into a business of some sort, perhaps starting an Etsy plant shop. He is currently attending Kalamazoo Valley Community College with hopes of eventually earning a Horticulture Degree from Michigan State University. “Plants were popular before COVID. They exploded after the lockdown,” Soule said. “Why do people like plants? That’s hard to answer. Maybe it’s because of the idea of being responsible and taking care of something without having to put an animal or child’s life at risk. And many studies show that plants can help benefit mental health. Personally, I just like the idea of growing all kinds of unique plants.”Here are the plants Wendi references in the interview: Gymnarnphora, Trusmadiensis, Miranda, Robcantleyi, and Caesar.Watch Wendi and Dfernando and their Team GENERATION RIPE: Greg Covey, Shelley McLendon and Ponciana Badia on Season 7 Episode 2 of CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD - now on ABC OnDemand and Hulu and on the GENERATION RIPE website.  Follow us on our Instagram:Wendi McLendon-CoveyDfernando ZarembaGENERATION RIPE… and guest Jacob Soule, his TikTok, and his Twitter.  Remember to subscribe to GENERATION RIPEAnd rate & leave us a review by clicking HERE!Visit Dfernando Zaremba's website: dfernandozaremba.com
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    24 mins
  • The Eighty-Eighth One... and Pleasant Gehman

    The Eighty-Eighth One... and Pleasant Gehman
    Jul 22 2022
    Episode 88 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is multi-disciplinary artist, writer, professional dancer, actor, psychic, musician and painter Pleasant Gehman.  A Hollywood rock ‘n’ roll icon, during the 1970s, she was one of the first punks in Los Angeles, documenting the scene she helped create in her fanzine LOBOTOMY, which lead to writing for the top mainstream rock publications. During the 1980s, she toured fronting her three bands, all of whom released multiple recordings: Screamin’ Sirens, The Ringling Sisters and Honk If Yer Horny. Concurrently, she was the talent booker for the seminal Los Angeles “alternative” clubs Cathay De Grande and Raji’s.Since the early 1990s, under the stage name Princess Farhana, she has appeared internationally as a professional belly dance and burlesque performer and teacher, touring in Egypt, Turkey, China, Australia, and constantly across Europe, the United Kingdom and North America. She’s danced and acted in numerous motion pictures, in music videos and on television shows and has been featured in many documentaries on belly dance and burlesque, performing and as an interview subject. In 2009, she was the star of Steve Balderson’s feature-length documentary UNDERBELLY: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF PRINCESS FARHANA, released worldwide in theaters as well as on DVD. A practicing witch, her work as a psychic, intuitive Tarot reader and energy healer has been life-long; she currently shares her gifts with clients worldwide. From the age of sixteen onwards, Pleasant has been a journalist and cultural commentator with literally thousands of articles published nationally and internationally on everything from rock ‘n’ roll to the paranormal, from magic to homeless teenagers. Her memoirs, short stories and poetry have been widely anthologized and many works were recorded on her spoken word CD Ruined. In March 2020, she launched the  popular podcast THE DEVIL’S MUSIC, which explores the intersection of rock’n’roll and the occult. It is available across all podcasting platforms. Pleasant is the author and/or editor of eight books, including THE BELLY DANCE HANDBOOK and the memoir SHOWGIRL CONFIDENTIAL: MY LIFE ONSTAGE, BACKSTAGE AND ON THE ROAD.Her latest book ROCK ’N’ ROLL WITCH: A MEMOIR OF SEX MAGICK, DRUGS AND ROCK ’N’ ROLL, is a memoir of her astonishing life, where music and the unexplained have been constants for decades. Her supernatural experiences unfold to a soundtrack of old school punk, 50’s rockabilly, vintage blues, classic rock and girl groups. Stranger than fiction, her true stories of spirit encounters, synchronicity and her own psychic abilities are populated with the friends who also experienced them, including The Go-Go’s, The Cramps, The Germs, The Gun Club, The Blasters and many more. Her writing is riveting, loaded with humor and extraordinary details that will make readers question their own reality.She authored her own chapters in John Doe and Tom Desavia’s UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF LA PUNK and MORE FUN IN THE NEW WORLD: THE UNMAKING AND LEGACY OF LA PUNK. She currently hosts BELL, BOOK & CANDLE - an occult burlesque show at El Cid in Los Angeles that is held every third Wednesday of every month.  Pleasant lives in Hollywood, California, with four spoiled rescue cats.Also on Episode 88, Dfernando and Wendi celebrate his new status as a new Californian and their weekend attending the play TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST (at Los Angeles' Casita Del Campo) written by past guest Byron Lane and starring (another past guest) Tom Lenk.  And Wendi mentions she spoke on Lux ATL's MAKE IT HAPPEN VIRTUAL RETREAT.  Watch Wendi and Dfernando and their TEAM GENERATION RIPE: Greg Covey, Shelley McLendon and Ponciana Badia on Season 7 Episode 2 of CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD - now on ABC OnDemand and Hulu and on the GENERATION RIPE website.  Follow us on our Instagram:Wendi McLendon-CoveyDfernando ZarembaGENERATION RIPE... and our guest Pleasant Gehman, her Twitter, and her Facebook page. Remember to subscribe to GENERATION RIPEAnd rate & leave us a review by clicking HERE!Visit Dfernando Zaremba's website: dfernandozaremba.com
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • The Eighty-Seventh One… and Elisa Stancil Levine

    The Eighty-Seventh One… and Elisa Stancil Levine
    Jul 8 2022
    Episode 87 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is author and decorative artist Elisa Stancil Levine. Elisa Stancil Levine spent her childhood in a canyon on the American River, upstream from the site of the California Gold Rush. She left school at sixteen and as a single mother in Sacramento earned a degree in Library Science and studied Creative Writing. Working with partners she remodeled sixteen historic houses and was Home and Garden Editor and feature writer for SACRAMENTO MAGAZINE. At thirty-six she founded Stancil Studios, an award winning, nationwide decorative finishes company in San Francisco.Elisa’s second book, THIS OR SOMETHING BETTER, is a memoir and takes place in Northern California, Manhattan and Paris. In it she shares the story of “the making of a maker” where she explores the combination of surrender and decisive action, trust and wariness, solitude and human connection, intuition and painstaking self-inquiry, grace and sheer hard labor that lie at the heart of the great mystery of human resilience.Her essays have recently appeared in ENTROPY MAGAZINE, STIRRING: A LITERARY COLLECTION, THE PENMEN REVIEW, and THE WRITER’S WORKSHOP REVIEW. A third book is in the works.Elisa’s color and pattern design have been featured in every major American design magazine including TOWN AND COUNTRY, CALIFORNIA HOMES, LUXE, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, and VOGUE.When Elisa is not writing, traveling or consulting on color and pattern she and her husband spend hours immersed in nature, running and riding horseback on Sonoma Mountain.Also on Episode 87, Dfernando and Wendi have more GORGEOUS LIVING tips: ladies trimming their beards and a TikTok yogurt cake.  Plus, Wendi mentions her new water aerobics with the women in her family.Watch Wendi and Dfernando and their TEAM GENERATION RIPE: Greg Covey, Shelley McLendon and Ponciana Badia on Season 7 Episode 2 of CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD - now on ABC OnDemand and Hulu and on the GENERATION RIPE website.  Follow us on our Instagram:Wendi McLendon-CoveyDfernando ZarembaGENERATION RIPE... and our guest Elisa Stancil Levine, her Facebook page, and her Linkedln.Remember to subscribe to GENERATION RIPEAnd rate & leave us a review by clicking HERE!Visit Dfernando Zaremba's website: dfernandozaremba.com
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    55 mins
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