Deviate

“I thought that if things were hard it somehow meant that you shouldn’t be doing them. I think that was a youthful notion.” –Cynthia Sweeney Cynthia Sweeney ( @CynthiaDSweeney ) is an American author, whose debut novel, The Nest , was a New York Times bestseller. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf speaks with Cynthia about therapy and hugging (2:00); career changes, writing her first novel, and the...

“It’s helpful to have a thing that only exists in your imagination, as long as you are aware that that’s what it is. It’s only when you try to drag it into reality that it goes to a weird place.” –Jessa Crispin Jessa Crispin ( @thebookslut ) is an author, book critic, former editor-in-chief of the pioneering literary blog Bookslut , and current host of the podcast Public Intellectual . Her books i...

“The Sears Christmas Wish Book was, for me, a kind of foundational text — a secular counterpoint to the Bible stories I learned around that time in Sunday School. I paged through the holiday catalog’s 620 glossy pages as if they amounted to an intoxicating graphic novel of desire, rich with abundance and possibility.” – Rolf Potts, from “Literature of Desire” In this episode Rolf reads an audio ve...

“These travel podcasts are great because you just drive around talking, and people feel like they’re sitting in the back seat.” – Ari Shaffir Ari Shaffir ( @AriShaffir ) is a comedian whose standup special Double Negative recently debuted on Netflix. He is the former host of Comedy Central’s storytelling show This is Not Happening , the current host of the Skeptic Tank podcast, and the perennial h...

“If you go through your life expecting moral purity from every artist you love, you’re going to have a very lonely life, aesthetically.” – Tom Bissell Tom Bissell is an American author, journalist, and critic. He co-authored the book The Disaster Artist , which has been adapted into a movie starring James Franco, Seth Rogen, Dave Franco, and Alison Brie. In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tom di...

“The top of a mountain is just a pile of rock and ice, and it’s really not much different than being a couple hundred feet lower. What’s important are the lessons that you learn along the way when you’re fighting like hell to get up there. And then what you’re going to do with that information to be better going forward.” – Alison Levine Alison Levine ( @Levine_Alison ) is an American mountaineer,...

“You should write down what you would like your future to look like, because otherwise you will be on autopilot.” – Rolfe Kent In Episode 3 of Deviate , Rolf discusses music and the creative process with accomplished Hollywood film composer Rolfe Kent ( @rolfekent ), whose recent project, The Zen Effect , is available on iTunes. To download a free track from The Zen Effect , visit Rolfe’s website...

“Culture is cosmetic” – Ernest White In Episode 2 of Deviate, Rolf explores friendship and culture as he goes on a road trip with friend, travel writer, and storyteller Ernest White ( @ernestwhiteii ), whose new TV show, Fly Brother , comes out soon. Links: Media Links Gringo Trails , by Pegi Vail (travel documentary) The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration , by Isabe...

“If you never got paid for podcasting, would the skills and relationships you developed be enough to keep you doing it? If the answer is ‘no’, I wouldn’t pull the trigger.” – Tim Ferriss In the inaugural episode of Deviate, Rolf goes meta and talks about podcasting with bestselling author and lifestyle-design guru Tim Ferriss ( @tferriss ), whose newest book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice fr...