Welcome friends, to The Art Box Podcast and our Harvest of Thought 2026.

Last year, our Harvest of Thought grew into something much bigger than we ever imagined. We gathered so many wonderful voices, poems, stories, and reflections that it took five full episodes to share them all.

Well, this year, we’re doing things a little differently.

We’re packing the entire Harvest into one very special episode.

Now, I’ll warn you it may be a little longer than your typical Art Box episode. But we think you’ll want to stay with us, because the next little while is going to be packed with some truly amazing poetry and essays from voices around the world.

Some will make you think.

Some may make you smile.

Some might tug at your heart.

And perhaps a few will cause you to stop whatever you’re doing and simply listen.

That, after all, is the wonderful thing about the spoken word. A few carefully chosen words, spoken in someone’s own voice, can travel thousands of miles and somehow feel as though they were meant just for you.

So wherever you happen to be listening today, get comfortable.

Settle in.

And join us as we celebrate writers, thinkers, poets, storytellers, and the simple power of sharing our thoughts with one another.

Sit back, open your mind and your heart, and enjoy the spoken word.

Welcome to Harvest of Thought 2026.

Our line up

1:45 - Lauren Camp – New Mexico Poet Laureate

3:53 - Ben Larson – Montana

8:56 - Monique Long – Mesquite, Nevada

9:48 - Tammy Bendetti – Grand Junction, Colorado

12:20 - Mike Cullinane – New Jersey

14:06 - Dawn Amundson Reading an Excerpt from Amy Irvine – Desert Cabal – Mesquite, Nevada

15:00 - Jessica Schley – Santa Ynez, California

19:50 - Larry Hilberg – California

20:37 - Kathy Smith – Ivans, Utah

23:29 - Steve Dudrow – Mesquite, Nevada

25:16 - Monique Long – Mesquite, Nevada

26:55 - Edie Dotan – Las Vegas, Nevada

34:45 - Steve Dudrow – Mesquite, Nevada

35:38 - Kathy Smith – Ivans, Utah

40:18 - Mike Cullinane, New Jersey

48:22 - Larry Hilberg, California

60: 24 - Kindall Fredricks – Houston, Texas

62:03 - Alex Harper – Alaska

63:08 - Leigh Ratterman – Arlee, Montana

67:52 - Sarah Kilgallon – Portugal

71:13 - Summer L. Wilson – Mesquite, Nevada

72:54 - Mike Walker – New Carrolton, Maryland

73:57 - Claire McQuerry – Peoria, Illinois

76:15 - Andrey Aleshintsev – New York

78:20 - Bob Dewhurst – Goldfield, Nevada

80:42 - Rayann Hijazzi – Reno, Nevada

82:13 - Kathy Smith – Ivans, Utah

85:41 - Ben Crenshaw – Mesquite, Nevada

90:29 – Daniel Brady – San Francisco, California

93:52 - Allison Bell – Moapa Valley, Nevada

94:14 - Roslyn Ellis – Mesquite, Nevada

94:34 - Allison, Delanie, Axel, Roslyn – UNR-4H Mesquite, Nevada

99:55 - Christine DeJuliis – Baltimore, Maryland

102:04 - Elizabeth Kuelbs - Lives at the edge of a Los Angeles canyon in California

103:41 - Jessica Schley – Santa Ynez, California

123:08 - Kaylea'Layah Whitefeather - St. George, Utah

132:55 - Sean Griffin – Reno Nevada – Nevada Poet Laurearte

What happens when one teacher sees something in a shy young student that she hasn't yet discovered in herself?

Our guest is Wende Killinger, drama teacher at Virgin Valley High School and one of the founders of Cactus Youth Theatre. Wende takes us back to junior high, where she was painfully shy until a teacher, Mrs. Lloyd, became the catalyst who encouraged her to step beyond small roles and discover the confidence of the stage.

We follow Wende's journey through a teaching career in Wyoming and eventually to Virgin Valley High School, where her greatest reward is watching her students grow—not just as performers, but as people. We also celebrate an extraordinary year for her students: winning Nevada's one-act title and traveling to Indianapolis for the national competition.

It's a conversation about theatre, great teachers, young people finding their voices, and how one person who believes in you can change the direction of a life.

What happens when a family legend turns out to be true? Author Kimberly Nixon grew up hearing that her grandmother had “robbed a train.” Years later, she discovered her grandmother’s 1925 felony conviction papers, stayed up all night reading them, and immediately began writing the novel Rock Bottom, Tennessee.

Kimberly joins us for a wonderful conversation about turning family history into historical fiction, the “ache and the triumph” of writing resilient women, and why preserving names and dates isn’t enough, we need to preserve the stories that tell us who we are.

We also talk about her newest novel, Cutie Pies by the Slice, set during Prohibition and the Great Depression, the idea of chosen family, her unforgettable mother “Look It Up Mary,” and the remarkable real people who continue to find their way into Kimberly’s fiction.

And yes—we even find time for pineapple pie.

Visit Kimberly's web site: https://kimberlynixon.com/

Writer and educator Kate McElderry joins us for a wonderfully wide-ranging conversation about creativity, learning, and the many different ways our minds work. Kate shares how childhood days spent exploring outdoors, sketching, journaling, and growing up around her mother’s art studio eventually planted the seeds for her novel Declan Someone.

We explore Kate’s own nonlinear approach to creativity, her work with young people, and Mind Brain Education (MBE), including how understanding the brain can change the way we think about teaching and learning. Kate also tells us how Declan Someone has moved beyond the page into classrooms, libraries, health centers, and her volunteer book and journaling program at the Baltimore City Detention Center. At the heart of it all are themes that emerged naturally through her writing: belonging, self-worth, resilience, and navigating life’s challenges.

It’s a conversation about writing, education, curiosity—and discovering that there really are many different kinds of smart.

You can find more about Kate at: https://katemcelderrywriting.com/

or on Instagram: @katemcelderrywriter

Artist, writer, and expressive arts facilitator Christine “Sunshine” DeJuliis joins Steve for a thoughtful conversation about creativity as a pathway to healing, presence, connection, and possibility. Through brilliant color, intuitive abstraction, symbols, mandalas, and the simple act of noticing, Christine explores how art can help us see both the world around us and something deeper within ourselves.

They talk about creativity in recovery, the power of making art together, finding possibility through color, and Christine’s belief that creativity belongs to everyone—not simply those who call themselves artists. For Christine, art is more than something we make or hang on a wall. It is a way of listening, connecting, healing, and perhaps finding our way home to ourselves.

Find Christine's art and inspiration at: https://www.sunshinetheartist.com/

Christopher Aguilar has been finding his way onto stages since childhood—although one of his earliest may have been the fireplace at his grandmother’s house.

In Episode 491, Steve sits down with actor, playwright, teacher, and creative force Christopher Aguilar for a conversation about a life spent discovering what it means to truly “own the character.”

Christopher talks about acting as a child, his training and professional journey, his upcoming performance as Hortensio and the Tailor in the Nevada Shakespeare Festival’s The Taming of the Shrew, and even his somewhat complicated relationship with singing, an aversion that, as it turns out, may not be quite as strong as he claims.

But some of the most memorable moments come when Christopher talks about the spaces between the words: learning to own the silence, trusting yourself onstage, and his wonderfully simple advice to actors—“Own the Character.”

We also explore Christopher’s work as an instructor at the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center in Las Vegas, where his Creative Expression and Senior Storytelling classes encourage people to step forward, tell their stories, and discover that the stage belongs to them, too.

From a grandmother’s fireplace to Shakespeare, Christopher Aguilar reminds us that sometimes the most important part of finding your voice is simply having the courage to take the stage.

Visit Christophers IMDB Page - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3024707/?_ssoLoop=1

Visit Christopher Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thechristopheraguilar/?hl=en

Winchester Dondero Cultural Center Senior Story Telling Showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqT22vO1m6Y

Writer, poet, nurse and mother Kindall Fredricks RN, ADN joins us for a fascinating conversation about what happens when a story refuses to travel in a straight line. Kindall uses unconventional spacing, formatting and punctuation as part of the storytelling itself, allowing the page to fracture as memory and time fracture. The result is writing with a tenuous relationship to time, where past, present and possibility can collide and a linear narrative can splinter into something much more interesting.

We also explore Kindall’s poetry collection I’ll Take My Body To-Go, her “semi-feral” Texas childhood, humor as a way of approaching difficult experiences, and her belief that reading is an exercise in empathy. And we venture into some provocative territory as Kindall discusses her short-story collection she is creating around AI and technological change.

You can find Kindalls work on Instagram: @poetrynhotsauce

You can find I'll Take My Body To-Go at: https://blogs.uakron.edu/uapress/product/ill-take-my-body-to-go/

On Episode 488, photographer and artist Marie Nygren joins Steve and Addie for a journey across Nevada, one photograph at a time.

Marie’s love of photography began when her grandmother gave her a Kodak Brownie as a child. Decades later, a photography class reignited that spark, and a first-place award helped convince her that the camera might become much more than a hobby.

Today, Marie wanders Nevada searching for changing light, forgotten places, old buildings, ghost towns, storms, landscapes, and those fleeting moments that make her stop and press the shutter. Her “17 Counties in Nevada: Phase Two” traveling exhibition features an image from every Nevada county and is being shown throughout rural Nevada.

We talk about photography, adventure, technology, the importance of documenting places before they disappear and why Marie believes photographs are “a time capsule of memories.”

From a little Brownie camera to a lifetime spent exploring Nevada, this is a conversation about curiosity, possibility, and learning to really see the place you call home.