Deviate with Rolf Potts

“The boundaries of life are responsible for the beauty of life.” – Pico Iyer In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pico discuss the people we become when we travel (4:00); what led Pico to travel (10:00); travel in the age of technology (20:00); finding the remarkable in the unremarkable (32:00); ping pong as a metaphor for life (40:00); the importance of impermanence (50:00); and the idea of being...

In this special, destination-oriented episode of Deviate , Rolf talks to his 2019 students at the Paris Writing Workshop about ways to experience Paris in a slow and counterintuitive way. This episode is designed to be used in tandem with TripScout , a travel app designed to help people dream about – and plan, in a concrete way – journeys to destinations worldwide. The app provides a portal for vi...

“If you think your thing is to write for an audience, write for yourself first and see what comes up.” – Lavinia Spalding In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Lavinia discuss the benefits of keeping a journal, and doing it by hand (3:00); the importance of writing what you feel rather than what you do (16:00); the beauty of spending time with your journal as a way of hearing yourself (24:00); and...

“It’s incumbent upon any screenwriter, who is adapting anything, to extract the moments and characters and events for a thematic purpose first and then for plot.” – Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kathy discuss the reason for the popularity of The Shawshank Redemption, including the script (3:00); the importance of good acting within the film (14:00); the skilled direc...

“It’s a recurring theme within the movie – the idea of taking these heightened, dramatic moments and mining humor out of the ordinariness of them.” – Jason Bailey In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Jason discuss the 1990s and the early influence of Pulp Fiction (3:45); set the context for the plot of the movie (15:30); deconstruct the first third of the plot (28:00); explore the idea of fate and...

“Don’t miss an opportunity to travel, if you have a chance. Decades from now you will always look back and be thankful you did” – Matt Kepnes In this bonus episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt discuss 19 lessons Matt has learned from a decade of travel. The entire list is included below.   19 Lessons from a Decade of Travel It’s not that hard You learn a lot of life skills You are never alone You mee...

“It’s the serendipity of travel that makes it so amazing” – Matt Kepnes In this episode of Deviate, Matt discusses what led him to travel, and adapting to life on the road (3:00); planning his first trip, and the early days of travel (13:00); the impact of travel, and the concept of being “interesting” (21:00); travel friendships and relationships (30:00); travel obstacles (39:00); and...

“For too long I had thought adventure was life. But, actually, life is the adventure. And that is not the same thing at all.” –Alastair Humphreys In this episode of Deviate , Rolf and Alastair Humphreys discuss Alastair’s history as an adventurer, beginning with his four-year bicycle trip around the world (3:00); Alastair’s new book, his fear of performing, and his ef...

“In the United States, failure is seen as a sin. In New Orleans we treasure our successes but we embrace life on its way down as well. Our failures come back home, and are afforded a respect they wouldn’t get anywhere else.” —John Biguenet In this episode of Deviate , John Biguenet and Rolf discuss the first three centuries of New Orleans history and how history influences the ci...

“What changed in my travels was my own realization of what our impact is as travelers.” – Pegi Vail In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pegi Vail discuss how art changes the way places are visited (3:00); backpacker culture and what can go wrong with it (14:00); the impact of travel on local people and promotion of responsible tourism (25:00); and how to protect local culture (38:00). Pegi...

“The reason to go to a place is not to have just been to that place…travel is not just a bunch of checklists.” – Seth Kugel  In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Seth Kugel discuss the danger of relying on TripAdvisor and the importance of getting off the beaten path (3:00); travelers versus tourists and the concept of organic travel (16:00); and Bucket Lists and the idea of authenticity (48...

“Before I do anything else, I ask myself what is the deepest truth about the story that I’m telling.” – Bettina Gilois Bettina Gilois ( @BettinaGilois ) is an award-winning screenwriter and author who has been writing in Hollywood for over twenty years. Her screen credits include McFarland, USA and Glory Road . In this episode of Deviate, Bettina discuss writing about real people (3:00); Bettina’s...

“Art is a human being wanting to express ‘I was,’ that ‘I existed.’” – John E. Roach John E. Roach is a television and film producer and screenwriter, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Straight Story . He is president of Roach , a video production and film production company. In this episode of Deviate, John discuss the origins of The Straight Story (3:00); Midwest culture and sensibilities (17:...

“We are all one seat away on the train from meeting the person that could change our lives.” – Kevin Smokler In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin Smokler do a deep-dive on travel movies, starting with a discussion of The Beach (2:00) before delving into what constitutes a travel movie (12:00); and their top travel and road movies, focusing on Into the Wild, Lost in Translation , and Before S...

“The movie does feel so dated…and yet, there’s a part of me that can relate to traveling across the world, landing somewhere, finding yourself surrounded by what’s all too familiar, and wanting something more. I think that sort of theme is still probably as relevant as ever.” – Jim Benning This episode of Deviate focuses on the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie that was based on Alex Garland&#821...

“Gun owners love their children too and don’t like this situation either.” – Dave Cullen Dave Cullen ( @DaveCullen ) is a journalist and the New York Times best-selling author of Columbine and Parkland . Dave has written for such publications as Vanity Fair , the New York Times , and Buzzfeed , and is known for his journalism on school shootings. In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Dave talk abou...

“Some of the most character-building and hilarious stories come from situations that did not necessarily work out according to plan.” – Sarah Von Bargen Sarah Von Bargen (@yesandyesblog ) is a writer, teacher, social media consultant, and course-creator. For more about Sarah, check out https://yesandyes.org/ , where she is editor-in-chief, or her Instagram .   In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and...

“Enjoy reallocating your energy into the experience [when you travel with no bags], because experience is the medium of our lives.” – Jonathan Yevin Jonathan Yevin is a travel writer known for his minimalist approach to traveling. He is recognized as a pioneer of “no-baggage” travel, having embarked on many voyages around the world with only a passport, money, phone, and toothbrush. He has written...

“The secret of the bucket list is that what’s on it doesn’t matter, because the doors that will open up once you’re out looking for your bucket list item will be more amazing than anything you could have dreamt up at home.” – Rolf Potts Sean Keener ( @SEKeener ) is the Cofounder and CEO of the BootsnAll Travel Network , a travel media network focused on planning complex, multi-stop, round-the-worl...

“The challenge is that we have to become philosophers ourselves, in a way. We have to learn to ask better questions and more questions than we had to before.” – Monica McCarthy Monica McCarthy ( @MissMMcCarthy ) is an actress, writer, and host of The Happier Hour podcast and live show, which aims to make philosophy useful and accessible. For more about Monica, you can check our her website or watc...

“In the end, you’ll have this [psychedelic] experience that people paint about, people write about, and musicians compose songs about.” – Ari Shaffir Ari Shaffir ( @AriShaffir ) is a comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor. He is the current host of the  Skeptic Tank podcast. For more information on Ari, visit his website , where you can read the Shroomfest Primer discussed in this episode. In the...

“The hashtag level of social media discourse can be really frustrating. It tends to bend narratives toward the hashtag slogan. But when we start sweeping everything into the same category, we begin to trivialize the core issue.” – Rolf Potts Ari Shaffir ( @AriShaffir ) is a comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor. He is the current host of the podcast Skeptic Tank . In the Season 1 Finale of Deviat...

“To me the term Beat was like, “Hey man I’m beat,” after all night on Benzedrine. I never considered myself a Beat. But my first book was published by Ferlinghetti and they all arrived at my doorstep when I lived at Gough Street, so I guess I became a Beat by osmosis.” —Charles Plymell Charles Plymell is a poet, novelist, and small press publisher. Plymell has collabo...

“How do we become who we are in the world? We ask the world to teach us.” – Pam Houston Pam Houston ( @pam_houston ) is an author and professor of English at the University of California, Davis. Her books include Cowboys Are My Weakness and Contents May Have Shifted , with her latest, Deep Creek , set for release in January 2019. In this episode of Deviate , Pam discusses her interactions with wri...

“I was unaware of my fear’s existence until the moment of its first absence.” – Andrew McCarthy Andrew McCarthy ( @AndrewTMcCarthy ), who rose to fame as an actor during the 1980s John Hughes teen-movie era, is a television director, travel writer, and author of such books as The Longest Way Home and Just Fly Away . In this episode of Deviate , Andrew discusses his transition into travel writing (...