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The One Way Ticket Show

The One Way Ticket Show

By: Steven Shalowitz
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Interviews with interesting people on where they'd go if given a one way ticket.(c) Steven Shalowitz 2012 Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Episodes
  • America's Pandemic School Closures - Natalya Murakhver on Teachers' Unions, Weingarten & Fonda

    America's Pandemic School Closures - Natalya Murakhver on Teachers' Unions, Weingarten & Fonda
    Jul 14 2026
    Natalya Murakhver is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and co-founder of Restore Childhood, a nonprofit focused on children's education, health, and parental rights advocacy. She directs and produces documentary films through Restore Childhood and as a fellow at Palladium Pictures. She also writes for the New York Post and her Substack. Born in the Soviet Union and raised in America from age six, Natalya came to filmmaking the way many of the best stories begin, from lived urgency. When New York City schools closed during the pandemic, she co-founded #KeepNYCSchoolsOpen and filed a lawsuit against Mayor de Blasio to reopen them. That fight became 15 DAYS: The Real Story of America's Pandemic School Closures — a forensic documentary investigation into how and why America's children were locked out of their schools, and what it cost them. Natalya was inspired to make the film in the tradition of Steven Spielberg's Shoah project, with the conviction that bearing witness to institutional failure is a moral obligation, not just a creative one. Her current mission is to getting 15 DAYS seen by every parent in America, and inoculating families with the truth so they can push back against indoctrination and reclaim their children's futures. On this episode of The One Way Ticket Show, we begin our conversation with Natalya's one way ticket back to 1980s Brooklyn, the world she was raised in after emigrating with her parents from Odessa. From there, Natalya dives into the documentary. She reveals the leaked March 2020 Zoom call where Teachers' Union President Randi Weingarten met with activist groups and Jane Fonda and declared how the pandemic will "fundamentally change our lives," (at a moment when we were told we needed two weeks to stop the spread). Natalya also highlights the moment Fonda was separately caught on camera saying COVID was "G-d's gift to the left." Further, Natalya breaks down the power of the teachers unions, the $189.5 billion they negotiated to reopen schools, why her lawsuit against Bill de Blasio mattered and more. Natalya's latest film is: "Uncancellable", the story of former New York City Public Defender and mother of four, Maud Maron's fight to unseat Alvin Bragg in 2025 for the position of Manhattan District Attorney. LINKS Restore Childhood / Natalya Murakhver • Substack: https://restorechildhood.substack.com • X: https://x.com/Rstorechildhood • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restorechildhood/ • Facebook (Restore Childhood): https://www.facebook.com/groups/restorechildhood • Facebook (Natalya Murakhver): https://www.facebook.com/NatalyaMurakhver • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/restorechildhood 15 DAYS Film • Website: https://www.15daysfilm.com/ • Linktree: https://linktr.ee/15DAYS Film Trailer • YouTube Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/restorechildhood (trailer is pinned) Websites • https://restorechildhood.com • https://15daysfilm.com Streaming — Where to Watch • Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0GMK76XVL/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r • Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/15-days-the-real-story-of-americas-pandemic-school-closures/umc.cmc.1s4x1ypd6ku4p1rk9c200pw6p • Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/15_DAYS?id=ukW8z3RV5Vw.P • Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefG1koZ4P4 UNCANCELLABLE https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/06/11/uncancellable.html
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    55 mins
  • The Tyranny of False Choices with Rey Ramsey

    The Tyranny of False Choices with Rey Ramsey
    Sep 3 2026

    One teacher saw what others had missed—and changed the course of Rey Ramsey's life.

    After being mocked in the classroom and labeled "Oblivious," Rey stopped raising his hand for three years. Then came along his sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Peiffer, who told him something no one else had: He was one of the smartest students in the school. That moment restored his confidence and helped ignite an extraordinary journey to becoming a CEO, social-impact leader, and author.

    In this powerful conversation with host Steven Shalowitz, Rey reveals how limiting expectations, false narratives, social pressure, and internal doubt can shape our choices without us realizing it. He shares practical insights from his new book, "The Tyranny of False Choices: A Guide to Authentic Decision-Making," on critical thinking, leadership, resilience, and reclaiming agency in a deeply divided world.

    The conversation also explores why algorithms reinforce our existing beliefs, how to disagree without dehumanizing one another, what humility, courage, and perseverance teach us about leadership, why Rey would take his one-way ticket to meet Socrates—and how one person's belief in us can transform an entire life.

    Now, let's raise the question: "What teacher, mentor, or unexpected person changed the direction of your life?" Do share your story.

    ABOUT THE GUEST

    Rey Ramsey is a social justice entrepreneur and boundary-crossing leader with more than three decades of experience spanning the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. He is President and CEO of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and Founder and CEO of Centri Capital.

    His distinguished career includes serving as Oregon's Director of Housing and Community Services, Chairman of Habitat for Humanity International, and founding CEO and Chairman of One Economy Corporation, a nonprofit provider of internet services to low-income homes.

    Additionally, Rey served as President and CEO of TechNet, a bipartisan network of tech executives representing two million employees and $800 billion in revenues. He has served as Chairman of the NAACP Futures Commission, and now serves as a director on numerous boards, including Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainability, MMGL Real Estate, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

    Rey is also the author of Tyranny of False Choices: A Guide to Authentic Decision-Making, published by Forbes Books on March 17, 2026.

    ABOUT THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATIOIN

    Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) is a multigenerational family foundation honoring the Jewish tradition of social justice. NCF is working to shift power structures to co-create a more just, vibrant, sustainable, and democratic society. We support movements, change makers, and social entrepreneurs who are crafting solutions that advance racial, economic, and environmental justice.
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    57 mins
  • From Hezbollah Fan to Arab Zionist: Rawan Osman's Journey & The New Middle East

    From Hezbollah Fan to Arab Zionist: Rawan Osman's Journey & The New Middle East
    Jun 16 2026

    Rawan Osman is a Syrian-Lebanese activist, writer, and content creator based in Germany. She's a research and diplomacy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, and she describes herself as a recovered antisemite and an Arab Zionist.

    On this episode of The One Way Ticket Show, Rawan highlights growing up in Lebanon and how she was taught to hate Israel and Jews, the panic attack she had the first time she met Jewish people (while in her mid '20s), how a shopkeeper's one small act of kindness changed the course of her life, going back to university to study Islam and Judaism, taking a DNA test that revealed her Jewish ancestry, her journey converting to Judaism and planning to make Aliyah, her unfiltered take on October 7th, Hezbollah's collapse, the Abraham Accords, the future of Lebanon and more.

    As for Rawan's one way ticket destination of choice? It's to 50 years into the future to see what the world will look like then.

    Follow Rawan Osman:

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawanosman2024/

    X: https://x.com/RawaneOsmane

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/osman.rawan

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rawan-osman-8b453745/
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    57 mins
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