Steven Schlah
July 9, 2013
Hosted by Jonathan J. Brower, Ph.D.
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Episode Description
Like so many everyday Americans, Jonathan’s guest today, Steven Schlah is anything but ordinary. Stevens life is filled with unique stories and experiences. Listen as Jonathan and Steven discuss his life and thoughts on “Human Behavior…What a Trip”. Steven Schlah was born on March 23, 1946 in So. Pasadena, CA. He was later adopted in August of '46, to Norman and Virginia Schlah and grew up in the Los Angeles, Inglewood, and Santa Barbara area. Steven dropped out of college and volunteered for service in the army but was denied due to medical reasons. Ironically 6 months later was drafted to serve in Vietnam where he worked on aircraft and as a Public Information Specialist. After being Honorably Discharged from the Army, he continued his education receiving his degree from UCSB in History and Political Science and also having completed the ROTC program. Steven decided not to pursue a career as an officer instead he elected to aid fellow veterans find employment through his position at the National Alliance of Business. “Jobs for Vets” program. Steven also aided in establishing self-help programs to aid veterans with PTSD. Steven has always found himself politically active and socially involved. Having both served and later protested the Vietnam war with friends like Ron Kovic (“Born on the 4th of July”). Steven shares his unique perspective having lost 13 of his high school classmates in the war and experiencing the “Survivor Guilt” from his time serving. He also had the pleasure of speaking with Ronald Reagan during the Republican Nomination Convention at his hotel. Later Steven would be encouraged to volunteer as a “reading tutor” which lead him to go back to school to become a teacher of Social Studies and has spent 18 years studying Ancient Egypt. He has also dealt with the challenge of researching his own biological family and was able to locate and make contact with his birthmother which coincidentally worked on aircraft as well (“Rosie the Riveter”) during WWII. Steven has also performed as a lead singer and performed with recognized Rock N Roll groups. Steven is one of Americas own.
Human Behavior – What A Trip
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel
Our show is all about human behavior. Most people are interested, to some degree, about human beings - themselves and others. Our topics run a large gamut and will cover anything and everything about humans and their behavior.
We will have guests on some of our shows, while some shows will involve people who call in and interact with me. Some shows will be a combination of both. We’ll hunker down and talk about human behavior.
Jonathan J. Brower, Ph.D.
Early in my childhood I experienced important people in my life being “nervous.” Not having the word "anxiety" in my vocabulary, what I experienced was very real and disturbing. In addition to the nervousness, some of these people also had low energy and were somewhat withdrawn from others.
As a ten year old I became a voracious reader of biographies and some novels that had to do with the struggles people attempted to overcome. I wanted to know about other people so that I could make sense of those in my personal sphere.
By the age of sixteen I was reading books by, and about, Sigmund Freud. I was utterly fascinated with the inner-working of the unconscious and how people suffer when they put up walls to avoid being conscious of their real feelings and impulses.
In college I was a psychology major, disliking many of the courses that were not about the human struggle toward optimal mental health. I changed my major to sociology where I began to understand the social psychology of emotions and relationships. This became my focus in graduate school as I earned my Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Human behavior is a wondrous and sprawling phenomenon. There are limitless boundaries to the way human beings can behave. For sure, people cannot not be doing behavior. On the contrary, people are always involved with behavior, whether sleeping or awake. Let's embrace the huge diversity of peoples' ways of behaving.