Cali's Question Cafe
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Cali's Bio
In her fifteen years as a TV interviewer and producer, Cali Alpert has posed questions to such luminaries as Halle Berry, Robert Plant, Whoopi Goldberg, Warren Beatty, Kurt Russell, and Demi Moore. Beyond her celebrity Q & A’s, she has crafted a body of work featuring in-depth interviews with everyday people across a broad spectrum: from lifelong bulimics to prostitutes, the disenfranchised to the existentialist. Her probing and whimsical style has given a voice to people across all cultures, featured in the numerous stories she’s done for networks ranging from NBC to Fox, E! Entertainment to WE TV. Her gentle intimacy with the toughest of subjects has inspired her most touching interviews, revealing sides of the human psyche that distinguish her probing work. Cali was raised in Watchung, New Jersey. She earned a Bachelor of Science in telecommunications from Syracuse University.
CalisQuestionCafe
QUESTION #7 -- April 5, 2008
Happy Spring and thanks for your continued interest in building this question-asking community.
In pondering Question 6, I would definitely tell someone ten years my junior to remove all the distractions, get clear on what their heart desires, and pursue it. Maybe not full time because we all know how interruptive the practicalities of life can be, but slowly, until your bliss laps the mundane and flourishes.
Several of my friends have offered unsolicited explanations for why they don't respond to the questions here, and I was so glad to learn why. The reasons differed, from 'I think too much and just don't do it' to 'I'm not as strong a writer as the others'. I didn't realize this process in itself fosters bits of self-consciousness and self-criticism. Certainly if you're not moved by a certain question or don't feel inspired, understood. But I'm using these reasons to motivate...
QUESTION #7 -- WHAT MAKES YOU SHY AWAY FROM DIGGING DEEP/ANSWERING, BOTH HERE AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, IN YOUR LIFE?
PART DEUX: I'd love to hear what questions you might want to pose to this group. Bring em on!!!!
In pondering Question 6, I would definitely tell someone ten years my junior to remove all the distractions, get clear on what their heart desires, and pursue it. Maybe not full time because we all know how interruptive the practicalities of life can be, but slowly, until your bliss laps the mundane and flourishes.
Several of my friends have offered unsolicited explanations for why they don't respond to the questions here, and I was so glad to learn why. The reasons differed, from 'I think too much and just don't do it' to 'I'm not as strong a writer as the others'. I didn't realize this process in itself fosters bits of self-consciousness and self-criticism. Certainly if you're not moved by a certain question or don't feel inspired, understood. But I'm using these reasons to motivate...
QUESTION #7 -- WHAT MAKES YOU SHY AWAY FROM DIGGING DEEP/ANSWERING, BOTH HERE AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, IN YOUR LIFE?
PART DEUX: I'd love to hear what questions you might want to pose to this group. Bring em on!!!!
QUESTION #6 - March 19, 2008
So consensus says that posing new questions at two-week intervals works better for everyone. More time to ponder without feeling overwhelmed or obligated. So I'm going to try every other Sunday, today excepted. As for my answer to the last query, I have for a long time envisioned myself contributing to the world of disenfranchised souls around the globe. I have imagined foregoing all the everyday trappings to plunge into life at an orphanage afar, and I have fantasized having the right means and resources to build and oversee a big plot of beautiful land a few hours outside of New York City where all the lost, homeless, fractured and in need adults and kids alike can create a new family. We'll see.
As for QUESTION #6 -- IF YOU COULD GIVE ONE PIECE OF WISDOM TO SOMEONE SPECIAL IN YOUR LIFE WHO IS 10 YRS YOUR JUNIOR, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM THAT YOU YOURSELF DIDN'T KNOW THEN AND DO KNOW NOW?
As for QUESTION #6 -- IF YOU COULD GIVE ONE PIECE OF WISDOM TO SOMEONE SPECIAL IN YOUR LIFE WHO IS 10 YRS YOUR JUNIOR, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM THAT YOU YOURSELF DIDN'T KNOW THEN AND DO KNOW NOW?
QUESTION #5 -- March 4, 2008
Well, I broke my own commitment to Sundays this time, but for good reason, which I'll get to in a moment...
As for the last question, I think my dream accolade would be the 'Affected Lives for the Better' award, the statue being made of dark chocolate and gold leaf in the shape of something resembling the globe and a big heart if they were to morph. My loved ones, Oprah, Bono and Nelson Mandela would be gleaming in the front row, and the after party would feature shameless disco and food by Gordon Ramsey.
More importantly.....
I have learned over the years that the 'everything happens for a reason' thinking applies to my work, and that I get assigned precisely the stories I'm meant to do even if I don't see that at the outset. This past weekend I was sent to Cleveland to spend the day with a beautiful couple, Barbara and Tim Marlowe, who are now foster parents to 6-yr-old Teeba, the Iraqi girl featured in PEOPLE who was burned in a car bombing in her native town. This little girl is the most spirited, old soul being housed in the body and life story of someone that has seen more pain and tragedy than all of us collectively are apt to ever know. I could talk for days about how my time with them impacted me beyond the open heartedness, generosity, hope, and will I witnessed. I encourage you to read about them and if it feels right, send a contribution to the education fund that's been set up for Teeba, info below.
As for QUESTION #5-- IS THERE A CHARITABLE ACT, HOWEVER GUTSY, UNCOMFORTABLE OR FAR-REACHING, THAT YOU'VE CONSIDERED?
To make a contribution, make checks payable to:
Teeba Furat Fadhil Savings Fund
c/o National City Bank, 8537 Mentor Ave, Mentor, OH 44060
QUESTION #4 -- February 24, 2008
Your answers were interestingly varied for the last query, thanks for that. As for me, I'd have to join my dear crony in saying Oprah, mostly because of the orbit she's seemed to ascend to in terms of living her biggest life and all the gorgeous synchronicities and positive impact it yields on a regular basis. We all tap into that intangible flow at times in our lives when we seem to be living on a plane that's fluid and interconnected and where a bigger power seems reassuringly at play. At least I'm lucky enough to know what that feels like. But to be tapped into that intangible energy on a regular basis, and feel like most things you do are noticeably purposeful, is what I'd take for my own.
Now that we've waxed spiritual, let's get to something way more significant, the Oscars happening tonight. Red carpet, glitz, glam and lipo in full regalia. A good many of us have fantasized that acceptance speech. I for one still envision being up there one day accepting my 'Best Documentary' statue. But in the meantime let's expand beyond Hollyweird and ponder...
QUESTION #4 -- IF YOU WERE TO WIN ONE AWARD IN YOUR LIFETIME, WITH YOUR HERO SITTING IN THE FRONT ROW AND A CHANCE TO THANK GOD AND YOUR MAMA, WHAT WOULD THE AWARD BE CALLED AND FOR WHAT WOULD YOU WIN IT?
Now that we've waxed spiritual, let's get to something way more significant, the Oscars happening tonight. Red carpet, glitz, glam and lipo in full regalia. A good many of us have fantasized that acceptance speech. I for one still envision being up there one day accepting my 'Best Documentary' statue. But in the meantime let's expand beyond Hollyweird and ponder...
QUESTION #4 -- IF YOU WERE TO WIN ONE AWARD IN YOUR LIFETIME, WITH YOUR HERO SITTING IN THE FRONT ROW AND A CHANCE TO THANK GOD AND YOUR MAMA, WHAT WOULD THE AWARD BE CALLED AND FOR WHAT WOULD YOU WIN IT?
QUESTION #3
I continue to marvel at the honest and poetic responses you share. Thanks again.
As for me re: QUESTION #2: I would say I've got the global and local versions of what sates my ritualistic soul. My annual pilgrimmage to Burning Man is like returning home, the perfect place for my eclectic family of black sleep to descend onto one freakish, theatrical, communal place for a week a year. My other is my Yucatan 'home' which I visit most Decembers and indulge my expat, south of the border, wannabe salsa self. As for local ceremony, I love to have family and friends over for dinner, to hang out, bang on drums, dance to cheesy disco, whatever the mood dictates. Several times a week I try not to get out of bed until I've done a little white light visualizing/positive thinking/hippie juju and I definitely take at least 2 days a month to go on some 1-2 hr road trip involving a quiet river town/mountain and obnoxiously loud 70s rock/soul en route.
Moving on....
The other night I went out with two friends to a fun musical performance . Later in the evening the subject of fancying having someone else's life came up. My short answer was NO, that I don't wish to walk in someone else's shoes. That I know, despite whatever challenges, that I am meant to be walking precisely the path I am walking even if I often wished there were more roses and daisies lining its way. Not that I don't occasionally envy Angelina Jolie's access to the UN and some 20something on the street's ass. So I ask you...
QUESTION #3:
WHOSE LIFE WOULD YOU BORROW FOR ONE WEEK? AND WHAT SPECIFICALLY ARE THE QUALITIES YOU'D TAKE ETERNALLY FOR YOUR OWN?
As for me re: QUESTION #2: I would say I've got the global and local versions of what sates my ritualistic soul. My annual pilgrimmage to Burning Man is like returning home, the perfect place for my eclectic family of black sleep to descend onto one freakish, theatrical, communal place for a week a year. My other is my Yucatan 'home' which I visit most Decembers and indulge my expat, south of the border, wannabe salsa self. As for local ceremony, I love to have family and friends over for dinner, to hang out, bang on drums, dance to cheesy disco, whatever the mood dictates. Several times a week I try not to get out of bed until I've done a little white light visualizing/positive thinking/hippie juju and I definitely take at least 2 days a month to go on some 1-2 hr road trip involving a quiet river town/mountain and obnoxiously loud 70s rock/soul en route.
Moving on....
The other night I went out with two friends to a fun musical performance . Later in the evening the subject of fancying having someone else's life came up. My short answer was NO, that I don't wish to walk in someone else's shoes. That I know, despite whatever challenges, that I am meant to be walking precisely the path I am walking even if I often wished there were more roses and daisies lining its way. Not that I don't occasionally envy Angelina Jolie's access to the UN and some 20something on the street's ass. So I ask you...
QUESTION #3:
WHOSE LIFE WOULD YOU BORROW FOR ONE WEEK? AND WHAT SPECIFICALLY ARE THE QUALITIES YOU'D TAKE ETERNALLY FOR YOUR OWN?
QUESTION #2 -- February 10, 2008
Most importantly, I want to thank all of you for viewing, reading, commenting and supporting this new community. You contributed such heartfelt answers to Question #1. In the interest of taking this a step beyond frivolity, I'd encourage us all to honor those '3 things', and to figure out why they're not as integral a part of our daily lives as we fantasize them being.
In the interest of participating rather than just eliciting, here are my three:
1. Act more, ponder less (which is the reason I've been so unabashedly self promoting lately about my 'bliss' projects that have until recently collected more cobwebs in my brain than momentum in reality, so thanks for understanding)
2. Float openly around South America for an unlimited amount of time, ideally volunteering at an orphanage along the way
3. Extend this concept into a road documentary in order to cull as many answers for all of us before I leave this place
Onward....
I had a beautiful, spirited housewarming party last weekend filled with an eclectic mix of friends and family I am blessed to have in my life. Yesterday my neighbor, an older Italian woman who was surprised to have been invited, reminded me to 'appreciate the privilege'. It took me a moment to understand she was talking about cherishing the pool of love we're surrounded by that falls away as we age, simply by virtue of mortality. Last Sunday, I transformed into a sailor/cheerleader combo entranced by the Superbowl, viewed at a little New York City joint my loved ones and I have been visiting for years on 'big game day'. Another ritual that makes this non-sports gal morph one day a year more because of the company than the circumstances. So I pose to you...
QUESTION #2:
WHAT RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS -- BEYOND OBVIOUS BIRTHDAYS AND HALLMARK HOLIDAYS -- DO YOU ENJOY OR WANT TO BEGIN, JUST BECAUSE....???
In the interest of participating rather than just eliciting, here are my three:
1. Act more, ponder less (which is the reason I've been so unabashedly self promoting lately about my 'bliss' projects that have until recently collected more cobwebs in my brain than momentum in reality, so thanks for understanding)
2. Float openly around South America for an unlimited amount of time, ideally volunteering at an orphanage along the way
3. Extend this concept into a road documentary in order to cull as many answers for all of us before I leave this place
Onward....
I had a beautiful, spirited housewarming party last weekend filled with an eclectic mix of friends and family I am blessed to have in my life. Yesterday my neighbor, an older Italian woman who was surprised to have been invited, reminded me to 'appreciate the privilege'. It took me a moment to understand she was talking about cherishing the pool of love we're surrounded by that falls away as we age, simply by virtue of mortality. Last Sunday, I transformed into a sailor/cheerleader combo entranced by the Superbowl, viewed at a little New York City joint my loved ones and I have been visiting for years on 'big game day'. Another ritual that makes this non-sports gal morph one day a year more because of the company than the circumstances. So I pose to you...
QUESTION #2:
WHAT RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS -- BEYOND OBVIOUS BIRTHDAYS AND HALLMARK HOLIDAYS -- DO YOU ENJOY OR WANT TO BEGIN, JUST BECAUSE....???
QUESTION #1 -- Jan 19, 2008
In honor of the launch of a brand new year, one, incidentally, that has thusfar been very energetically weird for me and lots of people I know, I ask you:
IF YOU ONLY HAD ONE MORE YEAR ON THIS PLANET, (god forbid as 'my people' say), WHAT TOP THREE PRIORITIES WOULD BE PERCOLATING IN YOUR BRAIN TODAY?
Perhaps we can use this question to focus our intentions for 2008, get closer to fulfilling our bliss, and remember what really matters....
IF YOU ONLY HAD ONE MORE YEAR ON THIS PLANET, (god forbid as 'my people' say), WHAT TOP THREE PRIORITIES WOULD BE PERCOLATING IN YOUR BRAIN TODAY?
Perhaps we can use this question to focus our intentions for 2008, get closer to fulfilling our bliss, and remember what really matters....