Episode #19
Ep 19: 'The Tipping Point' w Josh Bloom
Today’s guest is Colin's A1, day1, bro montana, comrade, fellow Warriors/Niners/Giants fan, son of the Sucka Free City, and one of his closest friends for the last 25+ years, Josh Bloom. The two met at UC Santa Cruz as freshmen at the turn of the millennia, and C knew immediately when seeing Josh's Winamp playlist on his desktop PC when we met in the Steven Biko dorms via a friend (S/O Pauline!), that we would be friends. Joshua Bloom’s professional career began in the non-profit sector as a community organizer and advocate for young people. He spent much of this time in the Bay Area learning the concept of winning culture, as well as the foundational principles for building community and developing quality relationships. In 2026, his work revolves mostly around architecting the careers and campaigns of musical artists. He does this by providing high level oversight & management, as well as developing & executing creative marketing strategies. He's had success with some of the most talented and impactful artists in music, including Little Simz,, Lucky Daye, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Jenevieve, Tkay Maidza and threetwenty. Today we discuss Malcolm Gladwell's groundbreaking text, "The Tipping Point" (2000). The Paper Plane is a podcast created and hosted by Colin Masashi Ehara, where he interviews people he is blessed and honored to share community with, and asks them about a book(s) that have had a transformational impact on their lives. In a society where literacy rates are steadily declining and a growing number of podcasts hosted by cishet men, un/consciously champion expressions of masculinity that come at the expense of women, femmes, and LGBTQIA2S+ (especially BIPOC) folx, this space aims to operate as a counter-narrative. The Paper Plane is a space that intends to highlight the dire importance of relationships, community, dialogue, perpetual learning, honest expression as art, art as honest expression, and freedom for literacy and literacy for freedom. It speaks to planes of existence attached to the act of reading, but also as a metaphor for the “flights” we take as we sit in what Ta-Nehisi Coates calls “a one way interface” as readers, and how these “journeys” shape us...
