The Regular People Podcast

A conversation with Kendall Karpinski. We talk about being in the National Guard, deployment and war games, basic training, shark attacks, how things have changed in the military, riot control, Kendall's college experience, Kendall's band Human Ant Farm, the importance of marketing, the need to always be doing something and whether we'd give up sleep, playing musical instruments and pl...

A conversation with stand up comedian RV. We talk about RV's experience at Full Sail University, The National Guard, video games as an art form, routine versus freshness in stand up, stand up comedy and RV's biggest bomb, the comic's life, why we laugh, big life changes, indecision, and "making it," teaching english as a foreign language, bars and bar fights, the impossibilit...

A conversation with Josue Peralta. We talk about Josue’s romance novel, trying to unlearn the need to always be productive, Josue’s travels, traveling solo, what Josue does for a living, Josue and my religious upbringings, when I left christianity, our schooling history and the impact of books on our thinking, what would it take for me to believe in god, my perspective on people who do believe in...

A conversation with Brian Ore. We discuss names and their meanings, sex and gender, whether children are being influenced to be transgender, how much of a say other people should have in one’s identity, memetics and the survival of ideas, untouched discussion topics and the consistency of people, trauma, the power of belief, and my changing feelings on therapy, eureka moments, drug-induced wonder,...

A conversation with Emma Handschke. We discuss social media and the commodification of authenticity, Instagram, Be Real, Tiktok, Reddit, advertising, artificiality, social media addiction, the negative effects of social media and technology, information overload, marathon running, the COROS watch, the dilemma of public gyms, people's hatred of winter, anorexia and sport, multi-day trek trails, wha...

A conversation with Aaron Taylor. Aaron has appeared on two previous episodes. To listen to those, check out episodes 11 and 24. In this episode, we discuss: Aaron’s thoughts on his previous two episodes, marijuana use and abuse, updates in Aaron’s life since the last time he was on, the line between keeping conversation friendly and pushing back against bad ideas, environmentalism and ecosystem c...

A conversation with Teage Allen. We talk about whether younger people have less interesting things to say, learning first-hand versus second-hand and the sphere of human knowledge, me and Teage’s learning trends, the difference between wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge, Teage’s backstory, multitasking and hearing differences between ears, withdrawing from the world and the global decrease of att...

A conversation with Will Koebel. Will is a fellow podcaster and UWM student. He runs the Milwaukee DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) podcast, called Cream City Social, and is in his last semester toward getting his master’s degree in electrical engineering. He also spends his time volunteering at the central library for Milwaukee narrating audiobooks. One of his goals is to be the public serv...

A conversation with Jarrad. We discuss economics, antibiotic resistance, boom and bust cycles, tyranny, geopolitics, pseudoscience, religion, ideological division, nature vs nurture, the intellectual dark web, free will, and many other things. I was considering titling this episode "Dangerously Close to Being a Conspiracy Theory at Nearly Every Turn." Books to read: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari Th...

A conversation with Christina. Christina has a doctorate in physical therapy (with a pelvic floor specialization) and that topic comprises the bulk of this episode. Our conversation includes some pre-episode banter followed by a discussion of Christina’s background, why Christina went to Marquette, ballet, when Christina knew she wanted to be a physical therapist, Christina’s college experience, v...

A conversation with Adrianne Pintar about anti-work, anti-consumption, and anti-natalism. We discuss: anti-work and $15/hour, absurd job qualifications, the r/antiwork subreddit, the pros and cons of working from home, the goals of anti-work and exploiting the understanding of your boss/professors, the pay gaps between CEOs and their employees, the (at least partially) democratic nature of capital...

A conversation with Kaden Endres. We discuss the untrustworthiness of memory, the recidivism rate of sex offenders, free will, determinism, and compatibilism, the overinflated danger of drugs, how a healthy social life provides resilience to addiction and criminal behavior, the evils of capitalism and individualism, communism, centralized economies, corporate lingo and speaking ironically, whether...

A conversation will Bill Krueger. Bill is a high school english teacher and hockey/baseball coach. We discuss Bill’s time in the air national guard, the ethics of joining the armed forces, what do you do in the national guard, why Bill left the air national guard, why Bill wanted to become a teacher, changes in society over the decades as seen through TV shows, why Bill got into english, the dispr...

A conversation with Brian Ore. We discuss live music, art, honesty, the difficulty of conveying your emotions to other people, the ethics of taboo subjects, and many other things. In order, we talk about: live music vs recorded music, Taylor Swift’s re-recordings, Summerfest and going on tour, how people and different generations connect to different music, how new slang comes about, why things be...

A conversation with Aaron. We talk about: why Aaron quit his job, working fewer than five days a week and making only as much money as you need, lifestyle creep, Aaron's new lifestyle, college debt and the possibility of student debt cancellation, how Aaron generates income, working less and going to college, environmentalism and a low energy society (lean economics), unplugging from technology an...

This episode kind of acts as a companion to episode 1. You don’t have to listen to episode 1 first in order to follow along, but you’ll get the most out of it if you do.  **I made a mistake at 0:38. I said “it’s going to be episode 22,” but obviously this is episode 23.**  We discuss: my new cat and animal domestication, suburban education vs urban education, whether giving more money to...

In this episode of The Regular People Podcast I'm joined by Leslie. Leslie has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Development and works for a Head Start program. We discuss (in order): a bit about Leslie, Leslie’s job working for a Head Start program, how low-income families need to somehow have open schedules to participate in Head Start, necessary social/emotional skills, speaking skills...

A conversation with fashion design student Rachel. We discuss fashion and creating, minimalism, Catholicism, and fitness. More specifically (and in order), we discuss: the struggles of coin-operated laundry, Rachel’s college experience, how much of a scam is college and how to get a good job, Rachel’s old job at a boutique, Rachel’s new job at an online fashion service, fashion marketing and desig...

A conversation with Brad Allen. We discuss Brad’s perspective, how we can’t avoid having opinions and Brad’s ideal of being without opinions, how your perspective shapes your reality, how we decide what is true in history and how our reality is shaped by what we’re taught, the ideal ratio of pride and guilt for history class, how your hatred for something grows in proportion to your love of it, th...

A conversation with Shiloh Cyan (formerly known as David). We discuss topics in the realm of nerd culture, modern mythology, memory and memory loss, reboot culture, and several other things. Specifically (and in order), we talk about: the artist-formerly-known-as-David’s new name, Shiloh’s past five years, animation and indie games, Star Wars, Bionicles and multimedia storytelling, how storytellin...

A conversation with Emma. The general topics we discuss are atheism, motherhood, birth control and abortion, fast fashion and sustainability, and veganism. Specifically, we discuss: A bit about Emma, the unwritten requirement of motherhood, Emma’s christian upbringing and her transition to being an atheist, how ignorance and conservatism go hand in hand, emotional manipulation at Christian summer...

*This is not actually a complete guide to atheism. It’s just a title. There’s much we didn’t talk about, many good arguments we didn’t make, many arguments we made poorly, and many theistic arguments we didn’t address or didn't address completely. Kaden and I discuss theism. Our conversation starts with definitions of god, then moves on to the following subjects: Mormonism, believing in belief, de...

A conversation with Quinn. Quinn has a degree in horticulture, is very interested in plants, and has two dogs. We discuss: Quinn's past five years, doing things even if you're not good at them, caged animals on the freeway, how Quinn became interested in plants, natural laxatives, that time I ate too many Ricola cough drops and that time I poisoned my 8th grade English class, tree-blindness, the d...

A discussion with Erin Lyddane. We talk about mythology, adoption, whether it's worse to find out you were adopted later in life or to always know, sex education and times our parents confronted us about sex and masturbation, the funeral industry, donating your body to science, death and mental health, bipolar disorder, being a brown person in a white catholic school, dads hating socialism, whethe...

A conversation with Adrianne Pintar. Adrianne has a degree in Journalism and Media Studies and works in advertising; she is also my girlfriend. We discuss multi-level marketing schemes, MLM parties, Vector knives, what makes an MLM an MLM, how MLMs are pyramid schemes, how MLMs don’t make sense in terms of market economics, Herbalife targeting poor hispanic women, Betsy DeVos and Amway, how MLMs t...