This is My Thing

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Travis Smith about his love of sidewalk stamps! That term might not be immediately familiar to you, but you've probably seen them -- they're the imprints, usually of contractors' names, left in curbs, sidewalks, and driveways. They're not used much anymore, and most of us probably walk past them without really noticing them. But not Travis....

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Matt Jeanes about his love of vintage film photography. Matt's taken photos all his life, but a few years ago he made the switch back to using old-school cameras — the kind that use physical film. That quickly led to a hobby of collecting vintage and unique film cameras and a love of experimenting with different film, including some rolls th...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with David Karp about his love of crocheting and knitting (as any crocheter or knitter will tell you, those are two separate but related yarn-based arts). David kind of stumbled into the hobby, deciding to work on a crochet kit after his kids lost interest in it. Much to his surprise, he fell in love with yarn hard and fast. We'll talk about his...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Yael Ouzillou about her love of doodling. It's a practice she took up several years ago; she draws colorful and intricate designs, patterns and pictures to process events in her life and the world around her. We'll talk about why she started the practice, why she prefers to call it 'doodling' and not 'art,' how it's helped her to embrace imp...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Matthew Bey about his love of loquats. For the unfamiliar, loquats are small, juicy, orange fruits; they're native to China but also grow in the wild in Central Texas. Matthew discovered loquat trees and their fruit when he moved to Austin around the turn of the century and quickly became a big fan. We'll talk about how he discovered loquats...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Susan Hanson about her love of snorkeling. Every week, she puts on her gear and jumps into the San Marcos River to float a bit, take some photos, clean up any trash she sees, and occasionally recover a lost phone or wallet. We'll talk about her first river plunge, which parts of the world she's snorkeled in in the two decades since, the frie...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Steve Jackobs about his nearly lifelong love of model railroading. He discovered the hobby at age 10, when his father (after trying the pastime for himself and finding it wasn't for him) gave young Steve an HO scale train set. Trains very much were for Steve, and he embarked on a journey that's been going on for fifty-plus years so far. We'l...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Niki Hansen about her love for kickball. She refers to it as a 'recess sport,' and though she loved it as a kid (and, she says, she was pretty good at it), she put it away for years before moving to Austin a few years ago. Here, she discovered a vibrant kickball scene and decided to jump back into the sport. We'll talk about her childhood fo...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Michael Young about his love of ceramics. That relationship started over 40 years ago, when Michael needed to find a non-science course as an undergrad and took a ceramics class. After a 35 year hiatus, he rediscovered his love of clay and now has a ceramics studio in what used to be his dining room. We'll talk about how his interest in cera...

The 2026 Winter Olympics may be over, but that doesn't mean we have to stop talking about winter sports! This week we're chatting with Heather Cooke about her love of figure skating. She skated a bit as a kid, but never really fell in love with the sport until she discovered team synchronized skating decades later. In this type of figure skating (not an Olympic sport yet but one can hope), between...

If you're a keen-eared This Is My Thing listener, you might notice that you've heard this episode about curling before. It was originally released in April of 2025, but we're putting it into your feed again for a couple of reasons. One is that we're in the middle of the 2026 Winter Olympics, so curling is a little more top-of-mind at the moment. And another is that, if you're reading this before (...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Addie and Ben Ruth about their shared love of lightsabers and lightsaber choreography. We'll talk about all things Star Wars and lightsaber -- why they decided to start swinging pretend laser swords around, what sort of costumes they wear and what sort of characters they play. What does this hobby do for them and who are they doing it for? A...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz about her dedication to pole dancing. She had her first lesson seven years ago, and quickly fell in love with the sport. Now she’s at the pole studio four days a week. We'll talk about what the pole means to her, why she intends to keep doing it for the remainder of her life, and how it makes her feel. Plus, we'll hear...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Chuck Loesch about his longtime love of the barbershop quartet. Chuck was introduced to the singing style years ago, as a student at New Braunfels High School (which, we discovered during our conversation, we attended at the same time, though we never knew each other back then). After taking a break from barbershop for a quarter century or s...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Fran Rush about her nearly lifelong love of choral singing. Her connection to the art form began in 1950s Chicago, where she started singing in her school's choral group. She continued singing through college, then took a break for a couple of decades while raising a family. Then, in Austin, she re-embraced her love of group singing and neve...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Beth Rowan about her love of dragon boat racing. She took up the sport several years ago as a sort of physical therapy; dragon boat racing has been done in China for millennia but it's only in the past few decades that it's been realized to be excellent exercise for breast cancer survivors.  Beth is a member of Paddlers With a Purpose , Aust...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Jean Nelson about her nearly lifelong love of glass blowing. Her fascination began at age 10, but four decades went by before she was able to begin learning the art form. Now it’s her passion. I met Jean at Austin’s Ghost Pepper Glass, where she gave me a glass blowing demonstration while me making a lovely pair of drinking glasses. We'll ta...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we're talking with two members of the Austin Pen Club about their shared love of collecting, writing with, and just talking about pens, especially fountain pens. Craig Bond and Cindy Miller both fell in love with fountain pens over a decade ago, and we'll talk with both of the about their fountain pen origin stories, why they love these pens more than others,...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Becky James about her love of upcycling greeting cards. While downsizing to a smaller home after retirement, Becky realized she had dozens of old cards and stumbled upon a new hobby -- determined to keep those cards out of a landfill, she started turning them into new and improved cards and gift tags, giving them a second life. She's since e...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Theresa Bond Zelazny about her love of what she calls guerrilla art . That's her term for the hobby she developed a few years ago, which involves creating small pieces of art and distributing them in random places for strangers to find. She's put dozens of artworks around Austin, Texas, and also spread a few on her travels, taking them as fa...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Justin Kizzart about his love of sumo wrestling. Justin discovered the sport about a decade ago while visiting Japan with his then-girlfriend (now wife), who hails from Osaka. Justin had trained in other martial arts in the past, but he unexpectedly fell hard for sumo and it became his primary passion. Now, ten years later, he runs his own s...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with James Hughes about his nearly lifelong love of miniatures gaming. He discovered the hobby as a kid and has been an avid fan ever since. It's, in a way, three hobbies in one -- it's a collection, it's a creative outlet (because James hand paints all of his miniatures) and, of course, a game. We'll hear about how he fell in love with miniature...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with David Morley about his love of bike polo. For the unfamiliar, bike polo is a sport similar in many ways to traditional polo, with the key difference that players ride bikes instead of horses. David’s been playing for around fifteen years now, having started in San Marcos when both he and the sport were very young. We'll about how he discover...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Kim Reist about a relatively new hobby for her. During the pandemic lockdown, she started experimenting with fingernail art; to her surprise, she found the possibilities endlessly fascinating, and it’s become a great source of creative expression and stress relief for her. Kim’s in what she calls a ‘sub-niche’ of the nail art world, meaning...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Cory Squires about his love of whittling and woodcarving.  We'll talk with Cory about his whittling origin story (his grandfather handed him a knife and a block of wood when he was bored as a child), his history with the practice, what he likes to carve (mostly funny animals and pop culture figures), which parts of the house he's allowed to...