Deviate with Rolf Potts

“Savoring is attending to the moment.” – Stephanie Rosenbloom In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Stephanie discuss solitude versus loneliness (3:00); the joy of eating alone (14:00); the art of being a flaneur and savoring experiences (22:00); the joy of going to museums alone (32:00); the relationship between anticipation, experience, and retrospection (43:00); and exercising your travel muscles as part of everyday life (54:00). Stephanie Rosenbloom (@stephronyt) is a travel writer for The New York Times, where she has been a reporter for more than a decade, and the author of the book, Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude. For more about Stephanie, check out http://www.stephanierosenbloom.com.  Notable Links: Abraham Maslow (psychologist) AllTrails (website) Bella DePaulo (Professor of Psychology) Thích Nhất Hạnh (Vietnamese Buddhist monk) Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience, by Fred Bryant (book) The Lonely Guy (Steve Martin movie) Charles Baudelaire (poet) Sandro Botticelli (painter) The Birth of Venus (painting by Botticelli) Elizabeth Dunn (psychologist) On Photography, by Susan Sontag (collection of essays) Marcel Duchamp (painter / sculptor) LiveTrekker (app) A Philosophy of Walking, by Fredric Gros (book) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“Getting in touch with reality is literally the essence of spiritual life.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf remixes his interview from the Far Out Podcast, by Julie-Roxane and Alasdair. They discuss "Time Wealth," and vagabonding as a philosophy for life (3:00); sifting through mediated information, versus getting local information on the road, and "reality" as the essence of spirituality (13:00); appreciation versus achievement, embracing the possibility of travel, and how you get smarter about travel the more you travel (24:00); seeking to have an "option-rich" life, the freedom that comes with not having preconceptions about where to go or what to do, and the joy of being surprised on the road (46:00); travel as a way to find out what you value and love in life (58:00); and the importance of slowing down, on the road and in life (1:03:00). Julie-Roxane and Alasdair (Instagram: @thefaroutcouple) are travelers, entrepreneurs, guides, coaches, and co-hosts of the Far Out Podcast, where they chronicle their adventures in unconventional living. For more about Julie-Roxane and Alasdair, check out https://www.jrkrikorian.com and https://alasdairplambeck.com. Notable Links: John Muir (naturalist) Stoicism (school of Hellenistic philosophy) Platonic idealism (philosophical doctrine of ideas) Rolf on the Tim Ferris Show (podcast episode) The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (book) Henry David Thoreau (philosopher) Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman (poetry collection) Situationist International (French avant-garde movement) Dérive (experimental urban behavior) The best hostel ever, in Cairo (Deviate episode) Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (book) Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr (book) Antonio Machado (Spanish poet) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig (book) Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf's summer writing classes) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“That sort of fearlessness, and the assumption that the world is a good place – I like holding onto that idea to this day.” – Pam Mandel In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pam discuss the good that can come out of bad travel, and how Pam became a person who spent a lot of her teen years outside of the US (2:30); how Pam came to travel to Israel and work on a kibbutz as a teenager after high school (9:00); the magic of traveling while young, and Pam's experiences of hitchhiking across Europe (21:00); Onward travel to Egypt, Pakistan, and India, and how the assumptions of travel as a woman in certain countries are different from those of young men travelers (30:00); what it was like to write a book about experiences that happened 40 years ago (45:00); and how Pam now sees her coming-of-age travels as a complicated mix of good and bad experiences (51:30). Pam Mandel (@nerdseyeview) is a travel writer and co-founder of The Statesider, a travel newsletter. Her book The Same River Twice, comes out this November. For more about Pam, check out her Nerd’s Eye View blog.  Notable Links: Hippie trail (1960s and 1970s travel subculture) Kibbutz (collective community) Tony Wheeler (founder of Lonely Planet) Squatting (practice of living in abandoned buildings) Child marriage in Pakistan Fields & Stations (magazine) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"Beliefs are contagious. The stories we tell take on their own logic and become real, in a way. As travelers in another culture part of your role is to try and understand what narrative ecosystem you're a part of."  – Frank Bures In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Frank discuss "culture shock," and the origins of Frank's book (2:00); narrative ecosystems, "penis theft," and culture as a lens to view to the world (10:00); the form cultural panics and idiosyncrasies take in the West (23:00); and how to treat conditions that are both cultural and biological (30:00). Frank Bures is a writer and the author of The Geography of Madness, which Newsweek called one of the best travel books of the decade. His writing has appeared in such publications as Harper’s, Lapham’s Quarterly, and the Best American Travel Writing. For more about Frank, check out www.frankbures.com. Notable Links: Penis theft (culture-bound syndrome) Culture shock (cross-cultural anxiety) Korean fan-death (culture-bound syndrome) Traditional Chinese medicine (cultural pseudoscience) Anorexia nervosa (eating disorder) Bigorexia (body dysmorphic disorder) 1967 Singapore genital panic, by Frank Bures (article) Satanic Panic (moral panic in the 1980s and 1990s) 2016 "creepy clown" scare (viral panic) Chemtrails (conspiracy theory) Premenstrual syndrome (emotional disorder) This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"Nostalgia isn't rational, and just like Warrant's 1990 song "Cherry Pie" reminds me of 1989 more than the recorded sound of my own voice from 1989, watching the movie Dazed and Confused for the first time literally made me long for a time in life that was less happy than the time I was living in when I saw it." — Rolf Potts In this essay episode of Deviate Rolf talks about four recent factors in his life that have changed the ways he views nostalgia (4:00); how he may well could have been killed in a motorcycle wreck in Asia in 2019, and how the accident affected his way of seeing the world in the months after it happened (8:30); how the word "nostalgia" has conventionally been defined, in both the modern and premodern sense (18:45); Rolf's complicated memories of youthful interactions with movies like Star Wars, Dazed and Confused, and Before Sunrise (23:00); how Rolf met a traveler named Kristen Bush (aka "Kiki") in Kansas during the pandemic, and what factors made their connection unique (34:45); how Michel de Montaigne made sense of his near-fatal horse accident in the 16th century, versus how Rolf has come to make sense of his motorcycle accident in Asia (40:00); how Rolf has trouble intuiting his own past when he listens to his own voice on old cassette tapes (43:30); and how Rolf and Kiki have come to make sense of their past, present, and future together, and how this pandemic moment will one day feed its own nostalgia (48:30). Kristen Bush is an actress, known for Paterno (2018), Liberal Arts (2012), and Synecdoche, New York (2008). Her TV credits include The Affair, The Good Wife, Elementary, and Law & Order: SVU. She has performed onstage at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public, the Old Globe, Goodman Theatre, and Lincoln Center. Notable Links: "Turkish Knockout," by Rolf Potts (essay) "Laos in the time of cholera," by Rolf Potts (essay) Jonathan Yevin on no-baggage travel (Deviate episode) Schadenfreude (experience of joy in the misfortunes of others) Hyposmia (reduced ability to smell odors) Marguerite Yourcenar (French novelist) William Faulkner (American novelist) Starship Enterprise (fictional spacecraft on Star Trek) Woodstock (1969 music festival) Grunge (rock music genre) Bumble (dating app) "The Dark Side of Travel Romance," by Rolf Potts (essay) Ceylon lesser albatross (butterfly species) Howard Cosell (American sportscaster) Joan Didion (American writer) John Muir (naturalist and author) Josh Radnor (actor and filmmaker) Embracing "slow travel" by trekking (Deviate episode) Books, movies and TV shows mentioned: Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (novel) Stranger Things (TV show) Mad Men (TV show) Epic of Gilgamesh (ancient Mesopotamian poem) The Odyssey, by Homer (ancient Greek poem) Star Wars trilogy (first three films of the sci-fi franchise) The Wonder Years (TV show) Dazed and Confused (movie) Before trilogy (travel movies directed by Richard Linklater) "The Lady with the Dog," by Anton Chekhov (short story) The Essays, by Michel de Montaigne (book) Monday Night Football (sports TV show) Liberal Arts (movie) Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts (book) Music used in this episode: "Cherry Pie," by Warrant "Perpetuum Mobile," by Penguin Cafe Orchestra "Where is My Mind," by Maxence Cyrin "Breathe Me," by Sia "Ndima Ndapedza," by Oliver Mtukudzi "We Move Lightly," by Dustin O'Halloran "At the Hop," by Sha Na Na "Gnossiennes," by Erik Satie ""Comptine d'un autre été," by Yann Tiersen "All the Small Things," by Blink-182 "Svefn-g-englar," by Sigur Rós Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“There are the actual facts of what was happening in popular culture in the 1980s — and then there was this tantalizing notion that music played backwards was going to seed our minds with evil. Which was scary, but also kind of cool to a certain kid-like way of thinking.” — Rolf Potts In this rebroadcast episode of Deviate Rolf delves into the idea of "backward masking" in rock music, and how it came to influence notions of "Satanic Panic" in America over the course of the 1980s. Returning to the show for this musical deep-dive are Jedd Beaudoin (@JeddBeaudoin), who hosts the syndicated music show “Strange Currency,” and Michael Carmody (@Carmody68), a musician, record collector, and entrepreneur. Together they discuss preacher Jacob Aranza's underground-classic 1983 anti-rock book Backward Masking Unmasked and its idiosyncratic take on popular music (4:00); the history of rock and roll and American culture that led up to Satanic Panic in the 1980s (31:10); how rock acts exploited the idea of Satanism to sell records just as preachers, politicians, and pop-journalists fixated on its supposed dangers to attract followers (42:10); and the legacy of Satanic Panic and the seeming lack of evil in today's popular music (1:05:45). Rock and roll curiosities mentioned Backmasking (audio technique) Gene Simmons’ Tongue (Snopes article) Blood in KISS Comic Book (Snopes article) Paul is Dead (Beatles urban legend) Aleister Crowley (English occultist) Robert Johnson sold soul to the devil (blues myth) Sign of the horns (rock hand gesture) Eddie (zombie-like Iron Maiden mascot) Dark Side of the Rainbow (movie/album mashup) Acid rock (psychedelic rock subgenre) Judas Priest suicide lawsuit Ozzy Osbourne suicide lawsuit Norwegian black metal (extreme metal genre) Classic rock is not dead. Classic rock is undead (podcast episode) Hammer of the Gods (controversial book about Led Zeppelin) Movies and TV shows mentioned CHIPs “Rock Devil Rock” episode (1982) The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris documentary) Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (documentary) Rosemary’s Baby (horror movie) The Exorcist (horror movie) Trick or Treat (horror movie) Manic Pixie Dream Girl (stock movie character) Dream Deceivers (Judas Priest suicide trial documentary) Other people, institutions, and events mentioned Satanic Ritual Abuse (moral panic) Day-care sex-abuse hysteria (moral panic) James Vicary (subliminal advertising researcher) James Watt (Interior secretary under Reagan) Tipper Gore (senator’s wife and anti-rock crusader) Captain & Tennille (soft-rock artists) Bette Midler (singer-songwriter) Church of Satan (religious organization) Transcendental Meditation (spiritual practice) Dada (avant-garde art movement) 1 Samuel 15:3 (genocidal Bible verse) West Memphis Three (wrongfully convicted ritual-murder suspects) Shout at the Devil (Motley Crue album) Columbine High School massacre (mass shooting) The weird history of America’s national anthem (podcast episode) Manson murders (cult killings) Rock Devil Rock CHiPs TV clip Quincy punk-rock episode clip This episode was engineered by Torin Andersen of KMUW studios in Wichita. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“Face the fear, and go for it.” – Cory Lee In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Cory discuss what challenges disabled travelers contend with, and how Cory got started as a traveler with spinal muscular atrophy (2:30); good destinations for travelers with mobility issues, and what challenges present themselves on the ground for travelers with disabilities (10:00); non-traditional activities like adventure travel or volunteering for people with disabilities, (20:00); and what it's been like for Cory to write and blog about disability travel, and how it became his full-time job (26:00). Then, Rolf is joined by listener Zachary York to discuss what it's like to travel with Neurofibromatosis type I (32:00). Cory Lee (@coryleetweets) is the founder of Curb Free with Cory Lee, a travel blog sharing his experiences from a wheelchair user’s perspective. Cory is a 2-time Lowell Thomas Award winner for Best Travel Blog and was named the 2018 Person of the Year by New Mobility Magazine.  Notable Links: Spinal muscular atrophy (neuromuscular disorder) The Wheel Chair Singers (disabled gospel singing group) Accessible Travel Club (Facebook Group) Accessible Travel Online Resource Book (Travel Book) Americans with Disabilities Act (civil rights law) Volunteering for the Disabled in Northern Ireland, by Cory Lee (blog post) Saku Travel (Estonia tour agency catering to disabled travelers) Gatorland (Florida theme park) Zachary York (traveler with Neurofibromatosis type I) Mount Whitney (tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S.) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"Embrace your travel mistakes. You can't 'fail' at travel; you can only learn from travel." –Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, which excerpts a keynote talk from TravelCon, Rolf talks a bit about his background of growing up in Kansas and dreaming about travel, his earliest vagabonding travels, and his first forays into travel writing (3:30); then Rolf shares his "20 lessons learned from 20 years as a travel writer," (7:30). Notable Links: TravelCon (travel-media conference) ​Don George​ (travel writer) Rolf's ongoing travel writer interview series Eva Holland (travel writer) Bachata (Dominican dance style) Merengue (Dominican dance style) Omo Valley (tribal region in Ethiopia) Mursi people (ethnic group in Ethiopia) Ranong (town in Thailand) Gringo Trails (2013 travel documentary film) Podcasts and essays alluded to: Nomadic Matt Kepnes on travel (Deviate episode) Van Life before #VanLife (Deviate episode) A Trans-Siberian story (Deviate episode) No Baggage Challenge (round-the-world video series) The wrong town in Morocco (blog/video dispatch) Up Cambodia without a phrasebook (travel essay) Cowboys and Indians, Thai-style (travel essay) Going Native in the Australian Outback (travel essay) A Vagabond Finds a Home (essay) Toura Incognita (Conde Nast Traveler article) 20 lessons learned from 20 years as a travel writer 1) Relationships count more than platforms 2) Distinctive content counts more than self-promotion 3) If in doubt, ask for help 4) If in doubt say yes 5) There is always more to learn 6) Don’t postpone things 7) Be an expat at some point in your travel career 8) Take it slow 9) It's OK to make mistakes 10) Don’t set limits 11) Walk until your day becomes interesting 12) Meet people 13) Report back on the human world 14) Try something different 15) Actively learn new skills 16) Dare to be lonely, lost, and bored 17) Remember the ethical dynamic of travel 18) Develop a notion of home 19) Success is a matter of doing it long enough 20) Make the lessons last a lifetime This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“Sometimes we do things for ourselves in the name of adventure, without thinking about how this affects other people.” – Suzanne Roberts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Suzanne discuss what it means to be a bad traveler, and the ethical quandaries that come with being a tourist (3:00); examples from Suzanne's book about her interacting from a position of privilege with trekking guides during a mudslide in Peru, giving a Power Bar to a leper in India, or wanting to help underaged prostitutes in Nicaragua (12:00); burning-ghat tourism in Varanasi, and how places where death is more public make one confront the notion of death and "aliveness" in a more realistic way (23:00); sex, dating and relationships abroad (34:00); and the challenge of writing about sensitive cross-cultural topics, and the utility of "sensitivity readers" versus good on-the-ground reporting in travel writing (55:00). Suzanne Roberts (@SuzanneRoberts) is a travel writer, memoirist, and poet. Her books include the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award-winning Almost Somewhere, her new travel memoir Bad Tourist, and four collections of poetry. For more about Suzanne, check out https://www.suzanneroberts.net/  Notable Links: A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid (book-length essay) Postcolonialism (academic critical theory) White savior complex (trope applied to some travelers) Aguas Calientes (place in Peru) Ghats in Varanasi (riverfront area along the Ganges) Memento mori (artistic or symbolic reminder of death) Thomas Merton (Christian writer / theologian) Attar of Nishapur (Sufi poet) Sholeh Wolpé (Iranian-American poet) Favela (type of slum in Brazil) Poverty porn (media stereotype) Souvenir, by Rolf Potts (book) AWP Conference (American literary event) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“There is this arrogant assumption that the things we don’t know or understand must be bad, because if they were good, we would already know about them or understand them.” –Derek Sandhaus In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Derek discuss the culture and traditions of baijiu liquor in China (4:00); Derek’s introduction to China and baijiu, and how Sichuan, more than any other province, is known for making baijiu (15:00); the history of baijiu, its significance to Chinese culture, and the rules that surround its consumption at meals (22:00); how alcohol influenced Chinese culture and agriculture over the years, and how foreigners have interacted with baijiu (31:00); the challenge in introducing baijiu to the American market, how it has as many variations as different as vodka and tequila, and how to find and enjoy baijiu in the United States (36:30). Derek Sandhaus (@dsandhaus) is a writer, traveler, and author of several books on Chinese history and culture, including Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits and Drunk in China. He is a cofounder of Ming River Sichuan Baijiu and currently serves as the brand’s communications director. He is also the editor of DrinkBaijiu.com.  Notable Links: Baijiu (Chinese liquor) William of Rubruck (missionary / explorer) Marco Polo (explorer) Chengdu (capital of Sichuan province in China) Zhou Enlai (first Premier of the People's Republic of China) Chiang Kai-shek (Chinese politician) Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (Chinese scholars) Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup (Chinese scholars) Jiahu (Neolithic settlement in China) Henry David Theroux (author) Ernest Hemingway (author) Taoism (philosophy) Richard Nixon (American president) Ming River (baijiu brand available in the U.S.) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"​So many hate-filled​ things—whether on social media​ or just people talking—are based on stereotypes that are not accurate​. Too many people ​simply ​don't ​interact with people who are different from ​them." —Joe Rodriguez In this episode of Deviate, childhood friends Rolf, Kaye, Tony, and Joe discuss the racially specific nicknames people gave each other in high school back in the 1980s (7:40); how exactly their racial and socioeconomic situations influenced the way they grew up as young people (14:30); why it's important to respect specific aspects of other people's lives, even if you can't entirely relate to them, and how individual people don't necessarily represent everyone in a given group (37:00); what it feels like to be judged by strangers on the basis of your race, especially when you come from a minority group (51:30); how their race and the location of their neighborhoods affected their extracurricular lives as teenagers, and how diversity exists even within individual racial groups (1:06:00); how dating and marrying across racial lines can give you a deepened perspective on racial difference ​(1​:18:00); and how the personal experience of racial diversity is so much richer, more nuanced, and intertwined with "social capital" than the way it's discussed in the click-bait atmosphere of social media (1:30:00). Kaye Monk-Morgan is an Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wichita State University. Tony Johnson works with troubled youth as an intervention specialist with the Wichita Public Schools. A former newspaper journalist, Joe Rodriguez works as the Director of Development at Wichita's Holy Savior Catholic Church and Academy. Notable Links: Wichita North High School What it’s like to be a black police officer in America (Deviate episode) What it’s like to be a Latino police officer in America (Deviate episode) The power of small choices across decades (Deviate episode) On Political Correctness, by William Deresiewicz (essay) Wichita State Shockers men's basketball (sports program) Nico Hernandez (Olympic boxer from Wichita) Mike George (20th century professional wrestler) Lawrence Welk (20th century TV bandleader) Code-switching (linguistic "language alternation") Colin Kaepernick (American athlete and activist) Kansas Bureau of Investigation (criminal justice agency) Barry Sanders (former NFL running back from Wichita) James Jabara (Korean War jet ace from Wichita) Việt Kiều (Vietnamese diaspora term) Mullet (1980s haircut) Tiger Woods (American professional golfer) Grinnell (academically prestigious college in Iowa) Arapaho (Native American tribe) Art Deco (arts and architecture design style) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"The more we try to seize happiness, the more it slips from our grasp. Happiness is a by-product, never an objective. It's an unexpected windfall from a life lived well." --Eric Weiner In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Eric discuss why practicing (rather than just studying) philosophy is important (2:00); which philosophies make the most sense during pandemic, and Nietzsche's notion of "Eternal Recurrence" (10:00); aging versus staying young, and the similarities between Greek and Buddhist philosophy (21:00); how travel underpins the philosophical journey, and how train travel promotes deep thinking (31:00); how walking enables thinking and reflection, and the value or art and music (42:00); and loving life while also coming to terms with death (53:00). Eric Weiner (@Eric_Weiner) is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. His books include The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius, as well as the spiritual memoir Man Seeks God and, his latest title, The Socrates Express. Eric is a former foreign correspondent for NPR, and reporter for The New York Times. For more about Eric, check out https://ericweinerbooks.com/ Notable Links: Stoicism (school of philosophy) Friedrich Nietzsche (philosopher) Albert Camus (philosopher) Groundhog Day (film) Thích Nhất Hạnh (Buddhist monk) Epicurus (philosopher) Simone de Beauvoir (writer / philosopher) Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr (book) Henry David Thoreau (essayist / philosopher) Arthur Schopenhauer (philosopher) Adagio for Strings (string orchestra arrangement) Michel de Montaigne (philosopher) Eric Hoffer (philosopher) Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher) Bhagavad Gita (Hindu scripture) Socrates (philosopher) Plato (philosopher) This episode is brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"There are so many ways travel can change your life, in ways you could never imagine before you leave home."  –Daniel Neely In this episode of Deviate, Rolf reads his essay, Backpackers’ Ball at the Sultan Hotel (7:30) before he and Dan reflect on the international cast of characters they met at at the Sultan Hotel in Cairo, and how workaday activities can make the city more interesting than tourist attractions (36:30); the friendships you make in hostels and how they end up shaping your life (44:45); how smartphones may have changed the vibe of some hostels, and how interacting with strangers at hostels can change your life (60:00). A native of Arizona, Daniel Neely served as Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras in the early 2000s. He now works as a Senior Advisor in Emergency Preparedness at the Wellington (New Zealand) Region Emergency Management Office. He previously appeared on Deviate episode 42, "How to survive a natural disaster."  Notable Links: Backpackers’ Ball at the Sultan Hotel, by Rolf Potts (essay) Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, by Rolf Potts (book) Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour (collection of letters) Il signor Bruschino (Rossini operatic farce) Kuchuk Hanem (19th century Egyptian belly dancer) Johnnie Wadie Red Tabel (Egyptian spirit) Herodotus (ancient Greek historian) Hello America (2000 Egyptian movie) Saqqara (ancient burial ground in Egypt) Pyramid of Djoser (archaeological site in the Saqqara necropolis) Giza Necropolis (Egyptian pyramid complex) Djellaba (Arab robe) Keffiyeh (traditional Arabian headdress) Hijab (Muslim veil) “Kicking & Screaming” might be the best movie ever (Deviate episode) Kushari (Egyptian street food) Dahab (backpacker town in the Egyptian Sinai) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

“My ambition was not financial, but a creative ambition toward fulfillment and satisfaction -- and to be a better human toward those whom I loved.” – Brian Koppelman In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Brian discuss podcast fandom, and how listening to podcasts is intimate in a way other media is not (2:00); self-improvement and ambition versus fulfillment, and the cultural reach of what Brian has created (11:00); the influence of music, and how a single album or artwork affects you at certain ages or times of your life (22:00); and masculine emotions as they are expressed in music, and writing to music informs your creativity (41:00). Brian Koppleman (@briankoppelman) is a screenwriter and co-creator / showrunner of the television show Billions. His screenwriting credits include Rounders and Ocean’s Thirteen. He is also the host of The Moment podcast.  Notable Links: Grantland (sports and culture website) Bill Simmons (podcaster and sports writer) Wesley Morris on podcast fame (Deviate episode) Killing Yourself to Live, by Chuck Klosterman (book) This Is What They Want (Jimmy Connors documentary) "I Contain Multitudes" (2020 Bob Dylan song) The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss (book) Rolf Potts on Travel Tactics (Tim Ferriss podcast episode) Seth Godin (business executive) Scriptnotes (podcast) Ryan Lochte (Olympic swimmer) Neil Peart (musician) Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, by Neil Peart (book) Tracy Chapman (singer-songwriter) Exile in Guyville (Liz Phair album) Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney (novel) The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden album) Judas Priest (music artist) Stryper (American Christian metal band) Spoon River Anthology, by Edger Lee Masters The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

"Realizing that you will die greatly clarifies your vision of life, and stimulates opportunities for making the vision real.”  –Ed Buryn In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ed discuss the impetus behind Ed's first travels to Europe by van in the 1960s, and his early forays into self-printed and self-promoted books about the experience (3:00); how travel to Europe was different 50 years ago, and the joy and freedom that comes with not knowing what happens next (14:30); Ed's philosophies and influences, including living in "the now" (21:00); how travel allows you to reinvent yourself, and how meeting people is the best gift of travel (36:00); and Ed's ambitions for poetry and travel, and his advice to travelers in today’s world (44:30). Ed Buryn is an author and photographer who was one of the first to popularize the term “vagabonding” through the publication of his books Vagabonding In Europe and North America and Vagabonding in America. For more about Ed, check out https://edburyn.com. Notable Links: Kevin Kelly (writer, editor, and publisher) Tony Wheeler (founder of Lonely Planet travel guides) Bill Dalton (founder of Moon travel guides) Charles Plymell on the Beat Generation (Deviate episode) The Drifters, by James Michener (book) Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis (book) Henry Miller (author) CouchSurfing ((homestay and social networking service) Richard Halliburton (traveler and author) Tarot (playing cards used for divination) Nevada City (community in northern California) This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Carryology, and many other industry outlets. This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. AirTreks has employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.