Place and Purpose

Year Two: Episode Twelve - Armando Quintero, Director of California State Parks & Recreation

Greg and Obi invite Director of California Department of Parks and Recreation, Armando Quintero, onto the program. An experienced parks professional with expertise in park operations, outdoor education, equity and access, and diversity and inclusion in hiring and retention, Armando Quintero has a degree in environmental science and biology. He was executive director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California (UC), Merced, from 2014 to 2020, and served as director of development at UC Merced from 2008 to 2014. He was an elected member of the Marin Municipal Water District from 2008 to 2020. In 2014 he was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown as a member of the California Water Commission and served as chair of that Commission from 2015 to 2020. Quintero held multiple positions at the National Park Service (NPS) from 1976 to 1998, including chief of the Special Park Uses Group and district ranger at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, personnel staffing specialist for NPS, park ranger and supervisory park ranger at the Point Reyes National Seashore, and park ranger at the Sequoia National Park and at the John Muir National Historic Site. This episode originally streamed live on YouTube July 3 at 10am PT.

Year Two: Episode Eleven - Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann

When we embarked on the journey to create PLACE AND PURPOSE, our goal was simple yet profound: to immerse ourselves in the essence of a single location and use it as a lens through which to explore the complexities of our world. Now, as we approach our 23rd episode, we find ourselves reflecting on the incredible journey we've undertaken. We've asked countless questions, delved into a myriad of topics, and unearthed layers of understanding. In this episode, Greg and Obi not only reflect on what they've learned and gained but also look ahead to the uncharted territories of the future.

Year Two: Episode Ten - Manjula Martin, Author & Editor

Greg and Obi invite author Manjula Martin onto the show. Manjula is author of the national bestseller The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History. She is coauthor of Fruit Trees for Every Garden, which won the 2020 American Horticultural Society Book Award. Martin edited the anthology Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living, and she was formerly managing editor of the National Magazine Award–winning literary journal Zoetrope: All-Story. She was born in the Santa Cruz Mountains and currently lives beneath the redwoods in Sonoma County, California. This episode originally streamed live on YouTube May 2 at 10am PT.

Year Two: Episode Nine - Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann

Join us for an inspiring episode as our two esteemed hosts, Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann, dive into and explore Greg's newest book: THE FORGETTERS (Heyday 2024).

Year Two: Episode Eight - Layel Camargo and Niko Alexandre from The Shelterwood Collective

Greg and Obi invite special guests Layel Camargo and Niko Alexandre from the Shelterwood Collective onto the show.  ABOUT LAYEL Layel is Yaqui and Mayo of the Sonoran Desert. As a transgender and gender non-conforming person, they’ve dedicated the last decade advancing climate justice through storytelling by creating campaigns like ‘Climate Woke’ with The Center For Cultural Power and supporting media projects like ‘The North Pole Show’ with Executive Producers Rosario Dawson and Movement Generation, Justice and Ecology Project. They are the producer and host of ‘Did We Go Too Far’, a climate justice podcast. Most recently, Layel was named on the Grist 2020 Fixers List. They graduated from UC Santa Cruz with degrees in Feminist Studies and Legal Studies. ABOUT NIKO Nikola is a Black queer forester by training and by calling. Nikola was raised by the deserts of New Mexico and the alpine mountains of Southern France. After attending a nature-based healing gathering following the Pulse massacre, Nikola committed his life to healing through tending the earth and reclaiming land stewardship as a way of nurturing a future for the communities he belongs to. Nikola holds a Master’s of Forestry and Master’s of Business Administration from Yale University, and founded Conservation International’s Ecosystem Restoration Program.