This Person I Met

• On the Other Side of the Fence: A Reflection on Living Homeless

  Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I'm the host of this podcast.Jaenika, like many others in the Delonis shelter in Washtenaw County and shelters around the country, never had a chance to run from unstable housing because she was born into it. The homeless issue within the United States has only grown since the pandemic, surging to record highs in 2024 of around 770,000 homeless persons in the country. When I first saw Jaenika coming through the door to the interview room, I noticed she had a notepad full of notes she had taken to prepare and was ready by the first question, which surprised me, because most interviewees came empty handed except for the experts. She looked well put together and proper. She mentioned holding jobs in the medical field and having children who went to good universities and who had successful families of their own. To me, she seemed like a regular person I might meet at the supermarket. And yet, her story reverberated the simple message of empathy in a raw way that I admittedly have never truly opened myself up to to hear in such a light, and her words begged that humanity choose to be kind, to listen to others, and to help those who were never given the opportunity to help themselves.After our interview, I continued my conversation with Jaenika and I asked her if there was anything else people like me could do to help. She told me to listen. To see with my own eyes the struggle of others, and to hear the stories of those less fortunate. To give warmth not just through blankets and donations of food, but empathy. The simplest and most seemingly obvious answer that has been drilled into us since we were kids, one that we as a society have yet to embrace as not just a concept, but a necessity.

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• The Business of Being- Part 2

  Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I'm the host of this podcast. As you may have inferred from the title, this is the second part of "The Business of Being," our segment dedicated to a certain member of Unlock Highest Dimension, a nonprofit for "gathering people with spirit gifts around the world and opening their connection with the high dimensional wisdom of the Universe so they can complete their calling and return to the N-dimensional Universe," as stated in their mission statement. In this episode, we continue out conversation on the necessities of such an organization in a time where it seems as if modern beliefs trump spiritual ones and dive into the intricacies of both managing and enjoying being part of such an organization. This will be the final part of her story, closing off this unique segment.

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• The Business of Being

  Welcome back to this person I met! My name is Kayla, and I’m the host of this podcast. Recently, I had the chance to meet up with a close family friend. Upon first meeting her, it was easy to make assumptions in my head. She graduated from MIT with a degree in business. She’s worked with one of the largest investment banking companies in the US. She talks a lot about investing in stocks and advises me to start saving when I am young. By the end of our first few days together, I naively thought I knew her entire character. It turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. In this episode, she talks of her interest in the higher dimensions of the universe, as well as her role in the nonprofit “Unlock Highest Dimension,” which helps discover individuals with special gifts. As our conversation progresses, she dives into the idea of the “N-dimension,” as well as soul and spirit, which help forge the connection between our physical bodies and the infinite universe.Despite my months of work with this podcast, her story served as another reminder that I never truly know until I ask. As a quick heads up, due to the length of our conversation, this story will be split into two segments.

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• Journals, Jello, and the Psych Ward

  Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I’m your podcast host.I’ve known Salem for around two years now. Our shared trauma of endless marching band rehearsals and similarities with flute led to a quick, close friendship. You’ll hear in this interview that it’s clear Salem is one of the funniest people I know and their presence is immediate comfort to all their friends, including me. Not only do I consider Salem one of my closest friends and flute buddies, I look up to them for advice like they’re the village elder. A few months after we first met and became close, I came to learn of their more personal struggles, as all friends do with time. Personally, I think that the most beautiful part of a friendship is when your comfortability evolves into openness and a mutual understanding that you want to listen and learn, and your closeness makes room to do so. As you’ll hear in this interview, Salem is very open about their diagnosis with depression and constant battle with their mental health, which would eventually lead to their hospitalization at the CS Mott’s psych ward. Their story is a consistent reminder to me that no matter what, you never truly know what somebody is going through, and to always check up on the people that you love. As a quick content warning, this episode will deal with topics regarding mental health.

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• Why choose education?

  Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I’m your podcast host. There are more similarities between an electrician and a professor of mechanical engineering than you may think. In our interview, Solomon Adera told me of his parent’s lack of education, and how their lack would inspire him to take advantage of any opportunity to learn and use it as a tool to climb upwards, even going as far as to get a postdoctoral from Harvard. Solomon’s love of mechanical engineering didn’t start when he graduated with a PhD from MIT, pursuing a level of education greater than both of his parents combined, nor did it start when he first stepped foot into a school building. Instead, it started with his dad, a humble electrician pushing him to see education as a tool, and it continues through his legacy and mentorship that he offers as gratitude for having the chance to learn.

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