A New Angle

Christina Henderson is the Executive Director of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She also teaches at the University of Montana College of Business. In today’s conversation we learn all about the important role the Alliance plays in economic development throughout Montana. We also discuss Montana’s changing economy, the growth of the technology sector, the influx of remote workers, the need for more home grown talent, and what the business community can expect from the Gianforte Administration. Full transcript available here: https://umt.box.com/s/4hzjmyr78k2s979icoc6e5t6026v6oki

Amy Allison Thompson is the Executive Director of the Poverello Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing food, shelter, clothing and other essential services to the hungry and homeless population in and around Missoula, MT. In today’s conversation we get the pandemic state of play from Amy’s perspective, debunk some of the pernicious myths about homelessness and learn more about Amy’s approach to leading a perpetually resource-constrained, yet vital community organization. Full transcript available here: https://umt.box.com/s/txi75jebod78rxacyc1rc31k51lzbwui

A New Angle turns 3 years old today! Thanks to all of you for coming along for the ride. In today's episode, Justin's monthly conversations with Bryce Ward continue. This time, the two speak with University of Montana Professor of Law Anthony Johnstone about our current state of disunion and ideas for how to move forward. For full transcript, click here: https://umt.box.com/s/sahsda70s21xkl9e67yuvnts30ai4ign

John Fiore is one of the first people I met when I moved to Missoula. His business, Sapphire Physical Therapy, has helped many of us overcome injury, launched many of the great PT’s in this town and sponsored many of the awesome events that bring us together. Sapphire was also one of the earliest supporters of A New Angle and we are eternally grateful. Transcript available here: https://umt.box.com/s/ipogayz66y6zi1mdxp34ob34awumdpbd About 5 years ago, John teamed up with serial entrepreneur Joe Jensen and then later Michael Gardner, to create Morphose Exercise Systems. Their objective was to improve the way physical therapy is delivered, increase patient compliance and improve outcomes. It’s a classic story of a market ripe for disruption.

Today we conclude our healthy sport series by examining how many of the questions and issues raised in the last two episodes exist at the highest level of sport - in this case, elite professional running. Matt Hart is a former professional athlete turned investigative journalist. His reporting on questionable practices by elite coaches, doctors and their runners produced front page stories in the New York Times, as well as his recently published debut book, Win At All Costs. Matt and I discuss the role of sport in our society, the risks and tradeoffs facing athletes and the abuse of coaching power at the hands of Alberto Salazar, former head coach of the Nike Oregon Project. Transcript available here: https://umt.box.com/s/8mlpccl1sncwhkb1aknmwx9h6asymgr4

Today's episode is Part 2 of our healthy sport series. In Part 1 we tried to define the problem; here we ponder some solutions. To do that, we speak with two important players in the Missoula athletics community. Courtney Babcock is a former collegiate and Olympic runner and now runs a highly successful coaching practice with a focus on wellness and longevity. For a variety of reasons we’ll talk about today, Courtney was able to successfully navigate the risks and pressures of an elite athletic career. Dr. Rob Amrine is a sports medicine specialist and an expert on the emerging science of Relative Energy Deficit in Sport (RED-S). He’s also typical of many Missoulians – he leads a busy, successful life while still crushing on the bike. Courtney and Rob share some important wisdom and offer actionable insights.

In part 1 of our three-part mini-series on healthy sport, Justin speaks with Jessie Thomas, Leah Versteegen and Anya Gue. This wide-ranging conversation considers our culture's strained relationship with athletics. Though a force for good in many of our lives, the pressure to perform in sport can lead to over-training, premature specialization and an unhealthy degree of self-identification with athletics. We consider the role of coaches, parents, and clinicians in this delicate balance and identify markers of dysfunction to look for in ourselves and others. Learn more about Jessie at www.sustainablewellness.net Learn more about Anya at www.endurancephysio.net Learn more about Leah at www.alpineptmissoula.com

Justin's monthly conversations with Bryce Ward continue. In this edition they consider how our country should conduct effective and ethical distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Vasu Sojitra is a professional athlete and activist based in Bozeman, MT. He is driving an important dialogue about diversity, equity and inclusion in the outdoor space. This conversation might push you to reconsider how you think about people with disabilities, conservation and inspiration. Conversations like this can be uncomfortable and that discomfort is important. Perhaps now more than ever we all need to seek out perspectives that differ from our own. That’s where we learn and grow, and hopefully come together to make society better. I learned a lot speaking with Vasu and I hope that you do too. Transcript available here: https://umt.box.com/s/e9vnmz9r2s8j80k4xboiv2htug4xm8w7

Sarah Coefield is an Air Quality Specialist with the Missoula City-County Health Department. Her wildfire smoke reports are mandatory reading for many of us here in Western Montana. Sarah is deeply passionate about air quality and how it affects people’s lives. That passion, along with some famously dark humor and whimsy make her writing unique and incredibly effective. It takes courage, talent and clarity to use humor when writing about serious topics. You might not expect humor from a government employee like Sarah, but you’ll find it at just the right moments, with just the right tone. Beyond her writing, Sarah is a fierce advocate for the communities and people affected by wildfire smoke. In this conversation we talk about her approach to communication, as well as her collaboration with Climate Smart Missoula to scrape together the funding required to get air cleaners to communities in need.

Meg Fisher is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, athletic performance coach, and motivational speaker based in Missoula, MT. She’s also a decorated athlete having won gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 2016 and 2012 Paralympic Games and accumulating ten world championship titles. At age 19 Meg was involved in a tragic car accident that nearly killed her and took the life of her best friend. She survived a coma and lost the lower portion of her left leg. In this conversation we talk about those experiences and how they shaped Meg’s approach to life and her work helping others achieve their health, wellness and performance goals.

Justin's monthly conversations with Bryce Ward continue. This month, the two are joined by New York Times Opinion Writer at Large, Charlie Warzel. They discuss the information economy, our collective failure to converge on truth and the potential consequences of that failure.

Five Valleys Land Trust is a conservation pillar of Western Montana. Whitney Schwab is the Executive Director of this great organization, and in this conversation she explains how land trusts work and the many ways Five Valleys helps make Missoula the special place it is.

We welcome back to the pod Ryan Tootell and Colter Nuanez of ESPN radio. We discuss their current edition of the Griz Greats series, a 25-part celebration of the 1995 University of Montana National Champion Football team. The series is fantastic! In today’s conversation we dig into some of the broader themes and lessons learned in the series, the characters involved and some of the bigger challenges and contradictions that reside within collegiate athletics.

Today I speak with Brendan Leonard, the man behind Semi-Rad. I started following Brendan’s Semi-Rad feed on Instagram several years ago and then his blog and then his weekly newsletter. He has a playful sensibility and an uncanny knack for making you consider the ordinary or obvious from a different perspective. Check out Brendan's work at: https://semi-rad.com/ and @semi_rad