Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. I’m your host, James Navé.
Today’s conversation unfolds in a sunlit adobe room in Taos, New Mexico, where writer Rebecca Jarmas, also known by her pen name Alice W Meadows, joins me to explore the deep intersection of creativity, community, and resilience.
Rebecca shares her journey from a successful career in finance into the uncertain, demanding, and ultimately liberating world of writing. At the heart of our conversation is her lifelong experience with migraine disease—an often invisible, debilitating condition that has shaped both her life and her work. Out of that challenge, she’s created a children’s book designed to help young readers understand and communicate what they’re going through—something she never had as a child.
We talk about the power of writing as medicine, the role of community in overcoming creative paralysis, and how vulnerability becomes a gateway to authentic expression. Rebecca also opens up about starting a Substack, finding her voice later in life, and learning how to quiet the inner critic long enough to let the imagination speak.
This is a conversation about honoring the dreams we made as children, finding courage in the face of chronic struggle, and discovering that sometimes the very thing that holds us back becomes the source of our greatest creative offering.
What is Twice 5 Miles Radio with James Navé?
Twice 5 Miles Radio is a podcast devoted to candid, often surprising conversations with artists, thinkers, and cultural instigators who have something to say. Each episode explores the stories, tensions, and questions that shape how we live, create, and pay attention.
I’m James Navé—poet, storyteller, educator, and longtime host of Twice 5 Miles Radio. I hold an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and have spent decades teaching and working with writers and performers worldwide. I’m the co-developer of the Imaginative Storm Writing method with Allegra Huston, helping people access authentic voice through writing, speaking, and creative practice.
My most recent book, 100 Days: A Poetic Memoir After Cancer, traces healing through language and attention. I’m also co-author of Write What You Don’t Know and How to Read for an Audience.
At a time when the next decades will demand much of all of us, my hope is that this podcast offers meaningful insight for fellow travelers passing through. Thanks for stopping by.