Meagan Schultz
225 episodes listed below
Small gatherings, real connection, practical hope.
Megan Schultz frames connection as a repeatable practice, not a grand gesture. Episodes move between solo reflections and interviews with people turning ordinary objects, meals, books, and local spaces into reasons to gather.
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Gather Connect Create is a practical, warm show about rebuilding real-life connection one small act at a time. Megan Schultz presents community not as a personality trait, but as a practice that can be learned, repeated, and shared. The show is rooted in ordinary scenes. A standing dinner with another family becomes a model for durable friendship. A package of readers, whistles, scrunchies, seed bookmarks, gum, and a tiny stamp becomes the start of a whistling fake librarian garden and book club. A poetry and prose event in a brewery back room becomes a case study in how artists make room for strangers to listen together. The ideas are playful. The stakes are serious. Episodes frequently return to the pressure of modern attention, especially around social media, teens, screens, and the need for better boundaries. Schultz talks with Tekla Brumder-Ross about technology, addiction, well-being, mindfulness, and digital harm reduction. She also brings family conversation into the mix through Molly and Sophia, using a book discussion to show what adults and teens can talk about when phones, apps, and attention are on the table. Other episodes widen the frame. Garrett Bucks describes a 50-state relay built around gatherings, commitments, and a physical box passed from place to place. Andrea Shear brings wonder-seeking and creative practice into the show’s orbit. Dorothy Kulke’s weekly dinner routine gives the podcast one of its clearest recurring arguments: connection often works because someone makes it boringly consistent. Schultz’s voice is encouraging, but the copy of the show’s life is not sentimental. It favors doable invitations over grand fixes. It asks what can happen in a neighborhood, a kitchen, a school conversation, a book club, or a room with new authors and chairs pulled close. For PlayNext listeners looking for intimate civic optimism, it offers a steady supply of ideas that are small enough to try and meaningful enough to matter.
Made for: For listeners interested in friendship, neighborhood life, creative gatherings, family conversations, and healthier attention habits. It especially suits people who want concrete examples of connection rather than abstract self-improvement advice.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by turning modest real-world practices into editorially useful models: weekly dinners, seed-bookmark book clubs, poetry and prose nights, and social-media breaks. Its community-building lens stays intimate, specific, and repeatable.
Cream City Dreams is now Gather Connect Create! New name, same host 👋🏼 Bite-sized episodes with big connection! Join me weekly for inspiration, interviews and simple ideas you can use in your own community to create more connections IN REAL LIFE, no matter where you find yourself!
Megan Schultz turns screen fatigue into your next face-to-face plan.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A relay-style community project that treats ordinary gathering as civic work.
Garrett Bucks and Megan Schultz center a relay-style project that asks people to show up, make a commitment, leave something in a small compartment, and pass the box along. The episode works best when it stays with that plain, hands-on idea of community work.
A warm family conversation about teens, screens, and attention.
Megan Schultz frames a family conversation about teens, screens, and attention, joining her sister Molly and niece Sophia around The Amazing Generation.
NHPR's Jason Moon investigates the Bear Brook barrel murders and a New Hampshire wrongful-conviction case.
Megan Schultz interviews Dr.
Megan Schultz talks with Garrett Bucks about the Declaration of Interdependence Relay, a 12-month project that will move a wooden box through all 50 states as part of the 250th anniversary year.
Sophia says the book changed how she sees YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and the idea that "we're the product being sold."
Megan Schultz and clinical psychologist Tekla Brumder-Ross debrief a Maryland Avenue Montessori discussion with Kat Zilka of Disconnect about teenagers' relationships with phones.
Megan Schultz hosts Kat Zilka of Disconnect and psychologist Tekla Brumder-Ross on teens’ relationships with phones, social media, and addictive technologies.
Megan Schultz interviews Christina Deneur and Amanda Metropolis about founding Reconnect Milwaukee, which grew out of the Wait Until 8th pledge at their school, Milwaukee German Immersion.
Megan Schultz and Angie Wiseman say three or four weekly voice memos keep their long-distance friendship close despite rare in-person visits.
Host Megan Schultz interviews Dorothy Kulke about her practice of having weekly rotating dinners with another family, exploring how such rituals build lasting community connections.
Host Megan Schultz discusses her new word and reflects on seven months off social media, aiming to inspire listeners to build connections in their own communities.
Host Megan Schultz interviews Andrea Scher, a professional wonder seeker and artist, discussing how her inspirational work influences creativity and community building.
Host Megan Schultz introduces the podcast's mission to inspire real-life connections and interviews poet and community organizer Angela Voris-Hills about organizing Book Drop MKE.
Host Megan Schultz discusses her social media detox experience with clinical psychologist Tekla, offering tips for safely re-engaging with social media while maintaining boundaries.
Host Megan Schultz interviews Rita Bertrand and Marjorie Moon about founding Milwaukee's chapter of the Threshold Choir, a volunteer group that sings for people on the threshold of death and other life transitions.
Host Megan Schultz interviews Steph Salvia, executive director of Joy Engine, about their mission to amplify joy in Milwaukee through art, connection, and creative experiences.