Voices & Community – Videocast Interviews
An Evening with Dr. Dennis Chernin, M.D., M.P.H. in Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Thursday, September 26, 2024 in the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
What’s on your mind these days, Dennis Chernin, what’s in your heart, what have you relished, what’s been really hard, what matters? One of the wise men of integrative medicine in this region, Dr. Chernin (and Dr. Lev Linkner) founded the Parkway Center, the original and pre-eminent clinic for practitioners of complementary, holistic, and integrative medicine in Ann Arbor. He also lectures at U-M Medical School and is the medical director of 3 county health departments.
He’s taught meditation and breathing techniques for over 40 years, is a certified yoga teacher, and the lead singer, harmonium player and co-founder of Ann Arbor Kirtan. Dr. Chernin is the author of books on meditation and homeopathy, and his most recent book is A Physician’s Journey: Yoga and Meditation to Holistic Medicine.
An Evening with Lisa Gottlieb, MSW, SSW in Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Thursday, October 10, 2024 in the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
What’s on your mind these days, Lisa Gottlieb, what’s in your heart, what have you relished, what’s been really hard, what matters?
One of Ann Arbor’s modern-era renaissance women, Lisa has been a leader in the community for decades. The co-founder and Operations Director for Selma Café, she’s been at the forefront of Ann Arbor’s organic food and farm-to-table culture, and in more recent years she’s been deeply involved in Nonviolent Communication, as a certified trainer, and as the Founder and Director of Compassionate Communication of Ann Arbor.
She works with individuals, couples and families through the lens of Nonviolent Communication to improve connection, reduce conflict and make it easier to understand each other. She is currently writing a book called Musings from a Snarky Empath: Life through the Lens of Nonviolent Communication.
An Evening with Dr. Jay Sandweiss, D.O. in Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Thursday, November 21, 2024 In the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
What’s on your mind these days, Jay Sandweiss, what’s in your heart, what have you relished, what’s been really hard, what matters?
Physician and skilled raconteur, Dr. Jay Sandweiss is one of the best-known and most respected integrative physicians in the region. Dr. Sandweiss is board certified by the American Osteopathic Association in neuro-musculoskeletal medicine and osteopathic manipulative medicine. He is also board certified in medical acupuncture by the American Board of Medical Acupuncture.
Dr. Sandweiss is extensively trained in the fields of Osteopathy, Applied Kinesiology, Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine. He’s been teaching nationally and internationally for decades.
An Evening with Gaia Kyle Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
Kile is a widely known Family Nurse Practitioner, Former Board President of the Peoples Food Co-op, and Community Activist, who has been for decades a leader in Ann Arbor’s holistic medicine, sustainability, healthy food/nutrition, cooperative living, personal growth, non-violent communication, and political activism subcultures in the region. His newly published book, Menu of Hope – Alternatives to the Food that is Destroying Our Planet, will be featured.
An Evening with Demo Rinpoche in Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Wednesday, October 22, 2025 In the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
A Public Q+A with the 44 year old Tibetan Buddhist monk and incarnate lama, who leads Jewel Heart, the Ann Arbor-based Tibetan Buddhist Center, recognized nationally and internationally as a center of Buddhist teaching. Demo Rinpoche has spent most of his life studying in monasteries in India with thousands of other monks, and under the Dalai Lama’s direct supervision, and he now lives on his own in a simple apartment in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is the nephew of the late Gelek Rimpoche, founder of Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. Since 2018, he has served as Jewel Heart’s Resident Spiritual Director.
An Evening with Mary Anne Perrone, Social Justice Activist and Spiritual Guide in Conversation with Moderator Bill Zirinsky of Crazy Wisdom
Recorded, Wednesday, March 25th, 2026 in the Crazy Wisdom Celestial Lounge.
Mary Anne Perrone has been doing a remarkable job of manifesting her deeply held spiritual beliefs with social justice activism in the community, and in the international realm. And also accompanying individuals on their own spiritual journeys.
For more than forty years, she has been involved with a variety of secular and faith-based projects to bring social and environmental justice to Central America, particularly to El Salvador and Honduras. “I want to be situated with the poor and oppressed.” She correlates "meaningless deaths on one continent to meaningless lives on another." She understands, and feels, the connections between what is happening in third world countries and what is happening in our own country.