Lies Between Us - Roger Ray Bird

We all face our own trauma. There is no measurable comparison of pain. I started this podcast show to openly discuss the harsh realities of life rarely spoken of.

Ray lived a happy-go-lucky life in his younger years, but his alcohol and drug addictions were keeping a meaningful life out of reach. Ray then decided to take his life back from the forces trying to kill him.

Buying a mountain bike and turning his back on his addictions, Ray built and opened the world's first indoor mountain bike park in Cleveland, Ohio USA. The massive indoor playground opened to instant success in 2004 and still thrives today.

As a skilled carpenter, Ray was able to merge his two great loves of biking and construction together into one. The park’s life-changing experience serves tens of thousands of people from all around the world.

The famous saying goes, “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”, although we can barely grasp the phrase. We struggle emotionally with the gap between likes and dislikes, wants, and don’t wants, needs, and desires. Many of us cannot remain mindful of our core life priorities and let loose of everyday drama.

Ray has been afforded the opportunity to see life from two opposing views. Almost three years ago, in September 2017, Ray suffered near-fatal injuries from an accident and now he is challenged in ways most of us could never even imagine.

Ray's great attitude and concern for others are as strong as ever. We discuss his new life in his wheelchair, making a difference in people’s lives, the gift of long-lasting friendships, and more. Please give us a listen and you will hear Ray’s kind heart come through in his words.

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11
Roger's social directory: HERE

My big-hearted and white-skinned cycling friend Dennis Dodson is an artist, has a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the New School for Social Research with a focus on culture and ethnography. His journey has been interesting, as he grew up in a racist working-class neighborhood of North Baltimore.

Dennis claims he has been obsessed with cycling since 1975 but he has only started long tours in the past nine years, mainly in the form of off-road bikepacking. This will be his longest ride to date.

At around 7 AM, Mountain Time, Monday, July 6, 2020, Dennis begins his 2000-mile bike adventure from his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. He will be flying a virtual flag as he rides.

Showing solidarity, and spinning his wheels, Dennis will be meeting with other people of conscience at a proposed “Black Lives Matter, March on Washington”, August 28, 2020. Dennis will also be raising funds and flying his flag for New Mexico Native American organizations to help with pandemic relief and social justice causes.

Please support Dennis’ brave and bold effort through GoFundMe here https://gf.me/u/x9zrhz and please listen to this deeply-emotional podcast episode as Dennis and I lay a bunch of $hit out on the table.

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11
Roger's social directory: HERE

Over 100 friends packed the room, and in excess of 250 joined the FB livestream.

Without discussion, we sit amidst an opioid and fentanyl epidemic. National suicide rates have reached true crisis levels. Alas, addiction and poor mental health casts their anguish upon us all. Eager to transcend the torment, chiefly we lack the comprehension of where or how to begin. Realities of outpacing the suffering lingers as a far-off fantasy, and a wealth of us are convinced there is no way out. Join author Roger Ray Bird and a cast of Bright Sparks for a demystification of the self-destruction. Roger shares his personal experiences as a user and drug dealer in Baltimore, and reads from his new book Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?

Bright Spark cast:

Shequila Hoye knows the all-consuming grip of addiction, having witnessed her mother's struggle for over two decades. Shequila shouldered the role of caregiver to her younger siblings while still a child herself. Her grandmother's apartment in the Allied Drive neighborhood, where she spent time with 15 other grandchildren, became a refuge for her. After being honorably discharged from the United States Navy, Shequila went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Social Work. Horrifically in 2020, her 20-year-old brother died of an accidental overdose. Shequila helped launch Madison's CARES team in 2021, providing an alternative response to behavioral health-related 911 calls. While working to break down barriers to mental health care, she soldiers on toward a Doctorate in Social Work.

Michelle Kullmann lost her son Cade Reddington to a single-pill fentanyl poisoning in 2021. As a dynamic mother and 30-plus years spent in the Madison business community, Michelle utilizes her learned experiences to advocate for fentanyl poisoning awareness and harm reduction. Michelle spreads critical information gained since Cade's passing on the opioid and fentanyl paradox so fellow families can learn from her family's tragedy and hopefully save lives. #forever18 #onepillcankill

Laura Bird is a Milwaukee native, and now lives in Madison with her husband, three teenagers, and small dog. She’s a middle grade author, an ambassador for the Wisconsin Book Festival, a board member for the Madison Public Library Foundation, and co-founder of the Great Midwest Book Group. She also freelances for BRAVA Magazine.

Tyler “TJ” Schmidt was an average Milwaukee teenager until drugs slithered into his world. After the U.S. government dramatically restricted pharmaceutical OxyContin pill production, Tyler switched to heroin. While partying inside his freshman college dorm room, TJ’s visiting uncle died of a drug overdose, and Tyler served prison time after being charged under the Len Bias law. Then however doubly tragic, in 2020 Tyler’s girlfriend died from drugs. Surviving multiple overdoses and several stays in rehab facilities himself, Tyler is now three and a half years clean, and aims to make his life purpose helping others find their path away from addiction.

Roger Ray Bird forfeited his mother to a Maryland mental hospital when he was four, and began abusing drugs at age 12. At 16 Roger became a national statistic, high school dropout. After surviving two overdoses, then exhausting a 13-year addiction, he traded drugs for a professional mountainbike race career. Following 20 years at Trek Bicycles, Roger now mentors young adults and their parents struggling with addiction.

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11
Roger's social directory: HERE

How do we even begin to define depression? Well, from where I sit it appears to be an unsettled emotional state that crosses over into a physical ailment, brought on by a belief of being held down or pushed aside.
Under mild conditions we are perhaps agitated, self-loathing, and unhopeful. Advancing then to moderate levels, a helplessness arrives, we seem to seek shelter in the negative, and even our once happy places are then shuttered, verifiably closed for the season. Moving then to extremes, we ourselves become a human snowball, mostly on autopilot and freefalling downhill. Earlier helpless conditions evolve to hopelessness, we abandon interest of self-care, and our internal voice begins a shutdown sequence.
Not all of us even survive level one of such darkness.
For me, this shit is as real as real can be, well, close enough anyway. You may have tuned in enough to know that I lost my dear niece Lexie on September 11th in 2017, when she turned a shotgun upon herself with accuracy, game over. Lexie was a ridiculously bright and sparkling star on earth for all her 25 years, now relegated to a flickering far-away entity in the night’s sky. She was way apart from crazy, operated soundly as a dynamic self-employed business lady, and held an advanced art skill. Lexie’s suicide note still presides on her Facebook wall, and such is a rather sensible however harrowing tale of her conscious search for solace after being pursued by monsters for much of her life.
Perhaps the acceptance and marketing I promote for depression is because the ultimate state of dark has brushed me threateningly close. Within this pod episode, I attempt to explain the what and the why of the previous sentence.
The very day when Lexie won the war against her monsters, I was actively pursuing a way out of my own misery. When my favorite middle sister Beth called me frantic with the news that Lexie was dead, I accepted it as a sign. Literally, I believed Lexie was inviting me to join her. Just months prior, two publicly famous individuals also took their lives in dramatic fashion, best friends Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, so once Lexie was gone, it felt to be the perfect storm and time for me to finally jump overboard and into the stormy sea, no life jacket.
By my accounts, Lexie suffered much because of trauma encountered in her early childhood. Knowing a thing or three about adverse childhood experiences myself, I see that much of my own unsteady footing is because of missing safety and love in my youth, meaning I entirely missed that shit under the age of eight.
So, after recently escaping the grasp of my seventh great bout with depression, I have chosen to open more on the subject. Here I divulge never shared detail, as well as uncover some of what affords me the tactics to NOT accept an early termination of my human operating system.
Once more and again, why do I do these things? Why, so to help, because some of our humanoid experiences contain crossover, or withhold some slight similarities that we can all learn from. And if one of us holds some insight, I believe it is best to give it away, even when unpopular or painful to do so.
But can we not just figure shit out on our own and skip the drama? Do we need such hard topics to be spewn out in front of us, isn’t this detrimental to our optimism and inner light? Maybe, but not for me. I would rather know too much than too little because I know how coming up short feels and it

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11
Roger's social directory: HERE

Episode 15 features JT Frank, on loan from his podcast show “Consequence of Habit”.

JT challenges us all with his statements, “Is there more to my existence than I’m living right now?” and that we are “Harming ourselves by making ourselves feel good in the short-term”.

The conversation runs the full spectrum in this episode:

Shame. Fear. Deception Manipulation. Struggle. Trauma. Pain. Regret. Addiction. Alcohol. Running away. Military. Pro athlete. Empathy. Awareness. Curious. Patience. Self-exam. Best life. Authenticity. Vulnerability. Compassion. Best self. Growing up. Accountability. Trust.

And our shared summary theme, “Let’s help each other”.
Listen in on JT's show here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/www-consequence-of-habit/id1510870867

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11
Roger's social directory: HERE