Detoxicity: By Men, About Men, For Everyone

DetoxPod Bonus Episode: Chris Calabrese Interviews Mike Joseph

This episode was supposed to be an interview with Chris Calabrese, who is studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey in the hopes of becoming a therapist. What it became turned out to be way more of a dialogue between Chris and I, in which I reveal much more about myself than I have in previous episodes. Since the show really isn't about me, I felt like it made more sense to release this episode out of sequence.
I discuss my upbringing in Brooklyn, constantly feeling "othered", why I'd feel uncomfortable accepting reparations, cultural identity, white privilege and more.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this episode.

DetoxPod27: Andrew Grossman

Andrew Grossman is a writer and a lawyer, originally from Kentucky but now based, like many of my guests, in NYC. Andrew is also a part of the reason Detoxicity exists, as he is a co-creator of the Facebook group Detoxifying Masculinity NYC. This group, like this podcast, aims to amplify the conversation around being better men and ridding ourselves of the toxicity often imposed on us by social constructs and conditioning.
Andrew and I have a typically wide-ranging discussion that covers subjective wokeness and premature work syndrome, the “Jewish” vs. “white” conundrum, and what makes one decide to become an attorney to begin with.

DetoxPod26: Bryan Carter

Bryan Carter is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, activist and educator originally from Illinois, now based in New York City. In this episode, Bryan shares his life experience, which includes growing up in the Baptist church, with a family of well-known religious educators and leaders. He also grew up with a keen interest in music, which led him to Juilliard School of Music and to eventually pursue a career as a musician. Bryan also discuss his experience growing up proud and Black in a majority White community (you might cringe when Brian discusses “slave day”), we talk about the experience with police brutality that informed the creation of his latest single "Dear Blue", and we talk about coming to terms with queerness as an adult and the positive and negative consequences that he’s faced for being out and educating others.

DetoxPod25: Eric Durkin

Eric Durkin is a director, producer and video editor based in New York City. In this episode, Eric discusses his bipolar diagnosis and the manic episodes that led to his diagnosis. Eric also talks about the trouble with "toxic positivity", being a "beta male" in a society that seems to promote "alpha male" characteristics, and the film he's working on in which he and his twin brother travel out West to spend time with their birth relatives. 

DetoxPod24: Ralph Jaccodine

Ralph Jaccodine has 4 decades of working in the music business working with artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Rush, Kiss to Livingston Taylor, Martin Sexton and Ellis Paul. He started promoting concerts in Allentown, Pa. and at the University of Notre Dame. Then after a career in commercial real estate, he started an indie record label and artist management company. He is the founder of the Boston Managers Group, a 150+ professional organization. Ralph teaches full time on the faculty of Berklee College of Music in the Music Business/Management department. 
 
This episode finds me and Ralph exploring teaching and mentorship, the things Ralph learned from the church, Mother Teresa and Bruce Springsteen, and the things that he tries to pass along to his students and his children. We also talk about the stresses involved with managing artists’ careers and how to keep the faith in uncertain times.

DetoxPod23: Dr. Daniel Block

Hey! Remember Episode 18, in which I interviewed musician and label co-owner Matt Block?  We talked a little bit about his parents; specifically his father, who is a psychiatrist. That conversation led to Episode 23, in which I interview Daniel Block, dad to three kids, including Matt and his brother Jacob (who designed the Detoxpod logo).
Dr. Block has been in private practice since 1993, and has won awards for his compassionate and patient-friendly approach.
Our chat covers the things that spurred him to practice psychiatry, and we go pretty deep into reasons why many men are resistant to getting treatment for mental health issues. We discuss the reasons mental and emotional issues are not often thought of in a similar light as physical health issues, and barriers to entry for people of color. We also go into detail about the value he sees in being an attentive and nurturing parent. And, we talk about what goes into self care for people who provide an outlet for others as a career.

DetoxPod22: Neil Taffe

Neil Taffe is an actor, singer, voice over artist and massage therapist based in Los Angeles. He starred for years in the touring production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe alongside Grammy winner Gladys Knight. Neil is also someone I’ve known since I was a pre-teen; we grew up together in Brooklyn. In this episode, Neil goes in deep on his journey, from his early days in the UK to struggling as one of four boys raised in a Seventh Day Adventist household by a single mother. Along the way, he stumbled into the arts, suffered the sudden loss of his youngest brother, discovered therapy and has kept his faith.

DetoxPod21: Ryan Bentham

As I was reviewing my inventory of episodes, I knew that last week’s episode, with author and educator Kevin Patterson, had to run back to back with this episode, if only for the fact that I met this show’s guest, Ryan Bentham, and Kevin through the same channels. Much like Kevin, Ryan is a sex and relationship educator. As ‘The Prof”, Ryan along with his wife Ginger, is a co-host of two podcasts; the Life on the Swingset podcast along with Dylan Thomas; and their own podcast called Intellectual Foreplay.
 
As with my previous guests who work in the sex and alternative relationship space, there’s much more to Ryan than those two podcasts. Ryan and Ginger are the parents of two young adult men, and we talk a lot about raising those children to be aware and empathetic people, especially in light of current events. Ryan also discusses how to be present as a male partner, intentional communication, and his own personal evolution as a man, an evolution that weathered a major storm a few years ago when Ryan suffered a traumatic brain injury.