1storypod

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, raps as Yamz, works at a compost company, and makes a mean brown rice bowl (with kraut and stir fry, generally). He first read On Truth and Untruth this morning. Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900), the son of Lutheran pastor, was born near Leipzig, Prussia (now Germany). He wrote the titular essays in On Truth and Untruth in 1872–1873, at the age of 28–29, while still a profess...

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron, 26, grew up in Redding, Mass., writes free-verse poetry, and organizes labor unions. He first read Steppenwolf ten years ago, as a sophomore in high school, when recommended it by a mentor. Hermann Hesse (d. 1962) was born in Calw, a Black Forest town in the German Empire, in 1877. He began writing Steppenwolf in 1924, shortly after marrying the singer Ruth Wenger, whom he le...

PHILADELPHIA — Viva, 25, grew up in a treehouse in Santa Cruz, Calif., writes raps (as Yamz), travelogues, and aspires to revolutionize urban composting when not bike-(or skateboard-)couriering. He first read Food of the Gods circa 2014, while living full-time out of a Vanagon. Terence McKenna (1946–2000) first encountered psilocybin mushrooms – & fields of them – at 25, in the Colombian Amazon, o...

WEST PHILADELPHIA — Paul, 27, of Cambridge, Mass., writes literary science fiction, and, until recently, worked as a caretaker in a psychiatric ward. He first encountered The Castle of Crossed Destinies eight years ago. Italo Calvino (1923–1985), was raised in Siena, Italy. He wrote The Castle of Crossed Destinies between 1940 and 1969. Paul writes periodically at: https://ouroborosjormungandr.wor...