Deviate with Rolf Potts

“ Essentially, a romance is a courtship story. And if you think about it, courtship stories are part of the foundation of human storytelling ” –Sarah Wendell Sarah Wendell ( @SmartBitches ) is an author and blogger whose work primarily focuses on the romance fiction genre. She is co-author of the book, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels . In this episode of Dev...

“My tattoo reminds me of who I was at that age. I was so fraught with the existential stakes—I wanted to have lived. I wanted to remind myself to be present in the world and not let youth slip” – Rolf Potts To celebrate the release of his new book Souvenir , Rolf welcomes back Ari Shaffir for a deep dive on the topic of souvenirs, their meaning, and their importance related to the experience of tr...

“This is a thing that journalists do—they take a ‘two is a coincidence, three is a trend’ sort of thing and try to manufacture an idea out of it.” – James Greer James Greer is a screenwriter, music critic, author, and former rock musician. He-wrote the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh’s film  Unsane , which is set for release on March 23rd. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and James discuss...

In the spirit of March Madness, Rolf brings us special episode of Deviate from the American heartland, where he tells us a basketball story about one of those “never before seen” sports moments. Notable Links: Kipp, Kansas (town) Aurora, Kansas (town) Schilling Air Force Base Donald J. Sobol (writer) Encyclopedia Brown , by Donald J. Sobol (book series) Encyclopedia Brown’s Second Record Boo...

“I think fear comes out of ignorance.” – Tim Cahill Tim Cahill is a journalist, author, and pioneering travel writer. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Tim discuss hooking the reader from the first line of a story (2:15); the start of Tim’s career and his early experiences in journalism (8:50); travel writing in the 1970s, and the evolution of travel writing (16:30); his relationship wit...

“I tell people that all the time. Just do it. Just dive in and figure it out. And you’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to fail. But I learned incredible things from that first experience…just from doing that first film.” – Rod Pocowatchit ” Rodrick Pocowatchit ( @rawd ) is a journalist, screenwriter, actor, and film director. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Rod discuss Native Ameri...

“When you are more focused with how other people are practicing their faith than how you are practicing it yourself, you have gone down the wrong path.” – Rany Jazayerli Rany Jazayerli ( @jazayerli ) is a Chicago-area dermatologist, sportswriter, and co-founder of the Baseball Prospectus website. In 1998 he developed the statistical concept of Pitcher Abuse Points (PAP), which evaluates the impact...

“You have to understand your own particular journey — and what you need as a writer, and who you are, and what you want out of the publishing process — because that’s what is going to help you make decisions.” – Sophfronia Scott In this episode of Deviate , Rolf speaks with Sophfronia Scott about her working-class Ohio upbringing, and the background behind her name (2:40); her be...

“The magic of history is that the simple, received wisdom we have turns out to be just one part of the story, and we discover a lot about ourselves when we go deeper into it.” – Mark Clague In this episode of Deviate , Rolf deep-dives into the Star Spangled Banner , covering topics including the origins and historical backdrop for the writing of Star Spangled Banner (9:20); the irony o...

“I want to be as clear as I can be on this. Mental health is one of the largest problems we have in society today.” – James Espinoza Lt. James Espinoza is a 25-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department. His father, John Espinoza, who came from a large Mexican-American family in Hutchinson, Kansas, was also a career police officer. James and Rolf attended Wichita North High School together in t...

“We have a lot of conflict in this world because we’re too busy putting ourselves into groups.” – Bear Manuel Jerry “Bear” Manuel is a detective assigned to the gang unit in the Wichita Police Department. Prior to his work as a police officer, Bear was a teacher at Head Start, which provides comprehensive early childhood education services to low-income children. He attended junior hig...

“I think in every era of music you can find stuff like this — and sometimes you’ll find that it’s superior to the music that really was making it big commercially.” –Michael Carmody In this episode of Deviate Rolf delves into a musical mystery — tracing the fate of ten rock and pop albums (found in a thrift store record bin) that evoke the quintessential l...

“To be creative, you have to live. You have to exist on this planet for a little bit” – Tod Goldberg Tod Goldberg ( @todgoldberg ) is an American author and essayist, best known for his novels Gangsterland and Gangster Nation , and the tie-in novels to the television show Burn Notice . He directs the UCR Palm Desert Low Residency MFA program in Creative Writing. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf s...

“Go forward, have strength in your own convictions, enjoy what you’re doing, and you’ll be fine.” – David Latt David Latt ( @DavidMLatt ) is the co-founder of The Asylum , which is the most prolific independent film studio in Hollywood. In this episode of Deviate , Rolf speaks with David about his path into B-Movies and the beginnings of The Asylum (8:30); independent filmmaking and &#...

“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, a...

“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 podca...

“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...

“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...

“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 Deviat...

“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 we...

“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...

“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...