At My Kitchen Table

Welcome to my third episode that features Glen Rock, PA! At my kitchen table this week is Ali Collier, owner of Brabble Hill Farms and owner / proprietor of Main Street Market in Glen Rock. My chat with Ali marks the first time that I sought a guest because of a topic – she and her husband own a micro farm, and I’ve become very interested in learning more about small, sustainable farming. Ali has...

Welcome to 2026, teabags! I’m back at my kitchen table this week with Rollin Apgar!  This is the second episode in what is becoming a short series of episodes that feature Glen Rock, Pennsylvania either as its center or as its backdrop. Local, small-town politics is fascinating to me because it feels like it's often ignored, but is the most impactful politics to our day-to-day lives. Rollin a...

Back at the kitchen table to say good riddance to the dumpster fire that was 2025 is my sister and first ever podcast guest, Angela Myers.  We tried to talk shit about the New Year’s holiday in a kind of minisode.  But we had a lot to cover, so it became a full episode. We send 2025 out with a whimper, yapping about what we think of this past year (it’s askew) and how we feel about things like New...

It’s almost Christmas, and having Adam Wright join me at my kitchen table this week is a gift!  I connected with Adam through our mutual friend (and friend of the pod), Jenn.  He’s the kind of person you feel like you’ve known forever when you’re five minutes into a conversation with him. Adam lost both of his parents to cancer, and we discovered that we have a mutual bond in that we both lost our...

We love a good passion project at the pod because we love it when someone says "fuck it" and tries something new on for size.  Today, I welcome back friend of the pod, Jason Hill, to my kitchen table to talk about his passion project, which is training to become a professional wrestler at the age of 43.  This was a lot of fun to get to be nerdy about particularly 90s Attitdue Era wrestli...

Jenn Rennie pulls up a seat at my kitchen table today, and chatting with her is like having both the tea *and* a sweet treat!  Jenn is a damn delight as she shares the story of how her experiences with cancer treatment and her care team brought the out the closeted writer in her and changed her career path to oncology nursing.  Jenn is one of those people who always tells the real-real of a story,...

Content warning: contains descriptions or mentions of drug use, OD, and suicidal ideations. Get ready for Hayley Reyes to join me at my kitchen table today! I'm really fortunate that Hayley trusted me enough to speak frankly about how she became addicted to drugs, what led to her recovery, and why it's important to challenge our perceptions of people who become addicted.  While her story...

It's Thanksgiving week, teabags!  I decided to do something a little different with the pod this week, so this won’t be a typical episode.  Since I’m not gonna have my three kids together for the holiday, I Zoomed with my family and did a twist on the At My Kitchen Table 3 good things about your week.  You get our bonus hot takes of best and worst Thanksgiving foods, you'll hear a couple...

It pays to be a nepo baby this week, as I welcome my offspring to my kitchen table (which is obviously her kitchen table as well)!  For anyone who follows my blog, you’ll know her as Kid 3; for those who follow my socials, you’ll recognize her as the Toots to my Bub in our #BubandToots.  My frequent travel buddy has been going through it lately and we talk about how she finally got through her doc...

Welcome back to my kitchen table, CJ McDermott!  CJ has a ton of wild stories about his childhood and growing up the middle child of parents who were addicted to drugs.  We barely scratched the surface, but we talk about the feral 80s, the life lessons his parents taught him, and the beautiful and diverse people he's met along the way.  CJ talks about his family with a lot of humor and sarcas...

Today's guest at my kitchen table is a friend of the pod and my friend in real life, Victoria Ribeiro.  Vic is a community builder.  She genuinely likes people and in her own words, just wants her epitaph to read "friend."  She loves to collect and connect friends, build community, and make the world around her better.  We talk about that and more as we cover a pretty fraught chapte...

My friend and former colleague Kristin Estrella joins me at my kitchen table today to take me on a journey through her autoimmune diagnosis of Antisynthetase Syndrome and the ripples of impact it's had along the way.  We chat about how she does NOT give youngest sibling vibes, her ASS disease, and the "yes, and" of women powering through hard things as she tells her story with equal...

This week at my kitchen table, I have a candid conversation with my friend, Mike Iorio.  Diagnosed with a stroke at 47 and colon cancer at 53, Mike gets real with me about the challenges of serious medical issues at relatively young ages, how his challenges strengthened his relationship, maintaining an "onward and forward" mentality through treatments, and being stalked. Intro riff by Da...

Get ready to steep in the fun, teabags!  This week at my kitchen table, I chat with my friends and fellow Pittsburgh-based podcasters, Jason Hill and CJ McDermott, creators of the You’ve Got Males podcast. As I mention early in the episode, AMKT doesn't exist without these guys, and I appreciate the hell out of how open and helpful they've been as I figured out my own podcast. I had a bl...

Shannon Reichel loses her podcast virginity at my kitchen table this week! Our chat began with her recounting her experiences raising a biracial child. But because we veered off-topic, she comments on ideology versus action, family dynamics, and the impact of secrets. Shannon ends up spilling a few drops of tea towards the end of our time as we veer down the family secret path! Intro riff by Dale...

Tim Gallagher, AKA Dirk Magnum, pulls up a seat at my kitchen table today!  Tim is the bass player and vocalist for Tongue 'N Cheek, an 80s band out of Wheeling, WV, that brings the decade of excess in full glory to every show.  Tim was very cool to be one of my early recordings when this podcast was all wishes and hopes. We talk about rock & metal, what it's like to be in a band for...

I welcome Connie Iorio at my kitchen table with an adult beverage this week to talk about understanding menopause through the rearview, which is the only view you have  when you go through it early but the doctors won't take you seriously!  She very candidly discusses what she calls her "crazy years" as we walk through what it feels like when you aren't believed by the people y...

Very excited to have EJ Post at my kitchen table this week.  I met EJ on threads, which is a plus in the "good" column of being on socials.  EJ is a Pittsburgh author, having published her first book Hiding Places in 2024.  She is one of those people who, when she sees a need, rolls up her sleeves and jumps in to fill that need.  She's deeply committed to the Pittsburgh community, a...

Angela Myers pulls up a chair at my kitchen table to talk about her experience with postpartum depression with psychosis.  From when she noticed things weren’t right to the wrong medicine to a hospital stay to finding relief in functional medicine, Angela candidly tells a serious story with great humor.  Also, she’s my sister. Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband). All content edited (I use t...

Coming soon and with weekly drops, join At My Kitchen Table to hear real stories from real people who do cool things, think fun thoughts, and have overcome big obstacles! Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband). All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.