Deviate with Rolf Potts

“The act of creating is a way of stopping time.” – Major Jackson Major Jackson ( @Poet_Major ) is an American poet, professor, and author of four collections of poetry: Roll Deep , Holding Company , Hoops , and Leaving Saturn . He currently serves as the Poetry Editor of the Harvard Review . In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Major discuss the changing perception of time and how creation leads...

“ Travel feels like a generational signifier the way rock music was when I was a kid. The whole idea of having experiences as opposed to accumulating stuff feels like this planetary alignment, the way rock was in the ’70s .” – Jay Yuenger Jay Yuenger (@JYuenger ) is a rock guitarist best known for his work with the Grammy-nominated heavy metal band White Zombie . In this episode of Deviate ,...

“I can’t imagine what the Trans-Siberian train would be like if you knew what time it was. That was the ongoing fun of the experience — never really having any clue what time it was.” – Jonathan Arlan Jonathan Arlan ( @JonathanArlan ) is the author of the book Mountain Lines: A Journey through the French Alps and a recent Tablet  essay titled Off the Rails in Birobidzhan . In this episode of...

“If there is any revelation to be gleaned from spending several days on a single train, it will come from the bizarre details that lurk beneath the mundanity of the trip itself.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate , Rolf reads his essay On the Trans-Siberian Express (2:00) and then recounts, with Jonathan Arlan, the story behind the story, discussing his approach to writing about his experien...

“It’s better for characters if their arc isn’t a straight line. You get to see how far they will go for something. You get to test them.” – Latoya Morgan LaToya Morgan ( @MorganicInk ) is screenwriter who currently serves an executive producer on AMC’s Into the Badlands . Previously, she has worked on the shows Shameless and Turn . She is currently developing a drama for AMC based on Wesley Lowery...

“Punk is not a sound for me. It’s not a style of music. It’s not a look. It’s not even an attitude. For me punk is the free space: It’s the place where new ideas can be presented without having to hew to profit motives.”  — Ian MacKaye Ian MacKaye is the co-founder of Dischord Records and former front man for Fugazi and Minor Threat . He currently performs in the two-piece indie band The Evens wit...

“Social capital is as important as formal training when it comes to disaster response. We see in every event people who have never had emergency training playing critical roles.” – Daniel Neely Daniel Neely is the Manager of Community Resilience and Regional Recovery Manager at the Wellington (New Zealand) Region Emergency Management Office. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Daniel...

“There’s nothing that will stop white people from trying to do some black shit. It’s fundamentally baked into every aspect of American popular culture. It is the first thing that we invented that was entirely ours — white people dressing as black people and entertaining other people.” — Wesley Morris Wesley Morris ( @Wesley_Morris ) the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic at large for the New York Times...

“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. You can almost see a book like Backward Masking Unmasked as young-adult literature.” — Rolf Potts In this episode of  Deviate  R...

“We all have different priorities in life, and there is a place for each of us where we can live according to what those priorities are.” – Winona Dimeo Winona Dimeo ( @winona_rose ) is the managing editor of Livability.com , a website that ranks America’s most livable small and mid-sized cities. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Winona discuss what people are looking for in a place to live (2...

“The traditional black experience is not the traditional white experience, so until we recognize that I don’t think it’s going change. But I think that is the first hurdle—compassion and consciousness.” – Candacy Taylor Candacy Taylor ( @candacytaylor ) is a writer, photographer and cultural critic. She is the founder of Taylor Made Culture . In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Candacy discuss t...

“Once again road trips are becoming more about the journey rather than the destination and I see that as a very encouraging sign that maybe people are realizing the merit of enjoying the journey.” – Richard Ratay Richard Ratay ( @RichRatay ) is the author of Don’t Make Me Pull Over! , an informal history of the family road trip. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Richard discuss the history of...

“Travel should not be a checklist; it should be about having new experiences” – Catherine Price Catherine Price ( @Catherine_Price ) is a journalist and author of How to Break Up with Your Phone and 101 Places Not to See Before You Die . In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Catherine discuss digital distractions and their effects on our brains (2:00); reframing the way we think about our smartpho...

“Compared to the pop music that I was listening to at the time, there just seemed to be something deep and mysterious and enigmatic and sexy and scary about classic rock” – Steven Hyden Steven Hyden ( @Steven_Hyden ) is a music critic. He currently works as a culture critic for UPROXX where he writes about all things music and hosts the Celebration Rock podcast. His book, Twilight of the Gods , is...

“Every good story is two stories: the story of the place and the story of what happened to you as a result of being in that place” – Alden Jones Eddy Harris ( @EddyLHarris ) is a writer, filmmaker, and author of Mississippi Solo ,  Native Stranger , and Still Life in Harlem . Alden Jones ( @jones_alden ) is an author and writer of The Blind Masseuse . Thomas Swick ( @roostertie ) is an author and...

“John Hughes, and really all of best 1980s teen movies, were saying that the stories of teenagers are the stories of all of us. They have the same human need and longing that the stories of adults have.” —Kevin Smokler In this episode of  Deviate , Rolf discusses classic coming-of-age films with Kevin Smokler ( @Weegee ), author of  Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen M...

“The greatest blessing for me, from having all these losses, has been the otherworldly, supreme clarity about what’s important to me—about how much I love and how much I am loved.” – Heather Dobbins In this episode of Deviate , Rolf, Heather Dobbins, and Jamie-Lee Josselyn discuss personal loss, grief and mourning, including the importance of gestures over words (2:30); the rituals that surround l...

“All writing is trying to destroy a stereotype, and the individual that you’re writing about — the figure in the landscape — is actually the ideal.” —Paul Theroux Paul Theroux ‘s highly acclaimed novels include Blinding Light , My Other Life , and The Mosquito Coast . His 1975 book The Great Railway Bazaar is credited with revitalizing the genre of literary trav...

“I think the fate of humanity ultimately rests on how we conserve and protect that thin, magical layer of soil on this planet” – David Van Tassel David Van Tassel is a lead scientist at The Land Institute , a non-profit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and David discuss Agriculture 101 (3:00); the impact of agricul...

“I met people who would say, ‘I wish I had more time to travel like you do.’ They had more money than time, and I had more time than money. In terms of traveling it’s much better to have more time than more money. …If you have a chance to travel, just do it. You won’t regret it.” – Kevin Kelly Kevin Kelly ( @kevin2kelly ) is a polymath in the truest sense...

“My specializations come from who I am. I’m a little unusual in the therapy field because I state very clearly what my identifications are. Which is that I’m kinky, and that I’m poly, and that I identify as queer, and that I’m gender fluid, and that I’m a former sex worker.” –Dulcinea Pitagora Dulcinea Pitagora ( @KinkDoctor ) is a New York-based psy...

“Better or happier usually takes much less time than we think.” – Sarah Von Bargen Sarah Von Bargen ( @yesandyesblog ) is a writer, teacher, and business/lifestyle consultant. Her work focuses on goal-setting, work/life balance, productivity habits, money management, and the pursuit of happiness. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Sarah deconstruct her six principles for identifying, embracing,...

“All lessons are delayed. Very few of us actually receive the lesson right there, when it is delivered to us.” –Al Filreis Al Filreis ( @Afilreis ) is a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the founder and Faculty Director of The Kelly Writers House , a non-profit, community o...

“What we have found is that technologies are not prolonging human life. They are really just prolonging human death.” – Ann Neumann Ann Neumann ( @otherspoon ) is a visiting scholar at the NYU Center for Religion and Media and author of the book, The Good Death . In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Ann discuss what got her involved in the topic of death and dying (5:00); end-of-life care (13:00)...

“That’s the lovely thing about a souvenir: It’s a touchstone that reminds you of what you can do, and what you have done, and what you can be proud of. And what can make you laugh.” –Jeanmarie Theobalds To celebrate the debut of his new book  Souvenir , Rolf invited various writers, performers, and world-wanderers onstage at New York’s underground  Cornelia Stre...