All About The Joy

Ready for a cleaner feed, clearer mind, and a steadier heart in 2026? Carmen opens the year with twenty unapologetic don’ts that cut through noise and nudge us toward a saner, kinder way to live. We move from civic basics you should know by heart—two senators, your House rep, your governor, your mayor—to the media literacy everyone claims and too few practice. Viral doesn’t mean true; three sources beat one influencer; and when you’re wrong, own it, fix it, and move on. The payoff is real pow...

Joy gets treated like a soft word online, but we use it like a backbone. We open with gratitude for the people who made this community real, then map how our small show grew into four connected formats that serve different needs without losing the thread. Friday Night Live brings the weekly neighborhood energy - unscripted, a little messy, and always welcoming. The Private Lounge offers deeper, slower conversations that let real stories breathe. Carmen Talk is where I think out loud, teach wh...

What happens when you sit down with the person who helped shape who you became — the friend who turned into family long before either of you had the language for it? That’s the heart of this conversation with my “brother from another mother,” William. Before he was a legendary performer, a beloved teacher, a devoted dad, or a cofounder of a design studio, he was the kid who, like me, found refuge and direction on a color guard floor. We start where our story begins: early competitions, long r...

What if the loudest stories in politics are really about insecurity, not strength? We start with the whiplash of overnight headlines and a White House obsessed with optics, then trace how petty theater bleeds into policy with life-or-death stakes. The thread is simple and sobering: when leaders reward cruelty, the most vulnerable pay for it. We dig into the targeting of gender-affirming care, the threats to hospital funding, and why deference to doctors and real expertise is a civic duty, not...

What if the story you tell yourself about being “not smart enough” is just a bad fit between your brain and a test format? We open up about growing up with the quiet fear of not measuring up, the panic of multiple-choice exams, and the surprising relief that came from changing the way questions were asked. When the puzzle layer fell away, knowledge finally had room to show up—no extra genius required, just a fairer way to think and respond. From there, we explore learning differences without...