onefjef

Bernardo Pacheco grew up in a low neighborhood on the south side of Mexico City, the youngest of three, black sheep by temperament. We talked about the stories we keep telling ourselves about our upbringings, the difference between a word like mande and what it actually carries, how the Catholic Church is not Christianity, the two kinds of gringos, why most ideologies are a distraction from the in...

My friend Tim Waters came over two weeks before I moved to Mexico City, we sat in my living room with the lav mics I got for Christmas, and this is what happened. We get into growing up super religious and what happens when that falls apart, Duolingo streak psychology, unintentional black guitars, and how music—like discovering Green Day as a kid—can completely reroute your life. We also played so...

About a month in, I'm starting to admit that this is actually my life. Also: my sister and nephew visited, we went to a cooking class, watched a mariachi band play an inappropriate song, argued about whether Spanish 6 is a real class, and I had a breakthrough in my second Spanish lesson. There's also a story about two Ukrainian sailors, a Bob Dylan cassette, and a shirt I still own but have never...

My friend Nathan Fitch went from making skate videos to documenting Micronesian soldiers fighting in U.S. wars—and somehow that’s just part of the story. We talk about how he ended up in the Peace Corps, what he saw filming in Afghanistan, and how Island Soldier keeps finding new life years later. Along the way, we get into creativity, survival, and what it actually means to “make it” as a filmmak...

Two weeks into Mexico City and I'm getting by — mostly. A woman at the market walked me across the entire building to find a spatula I didn't need, I took my first all-Spanish yoga class and spent most of it thinking about bolster hygiene, I upgraded the shower head, I still haven't taken my garbage out, I had one real wave of expat loneliness, and I ended up at a Walmart Express surrounded by Ame...

I’ve lived in Mexico City for a couple weeks now, and I’m in that weird in-between place where some things feel easy and others still make no sense at all. But the weather is perfect, the garbage truck rings a bell. and there's a guy on a bike with a whistle who will sharpen your knives. And I'm going to stop reading the news, because knowledge isn't power and none of it makes sense anyway. Please...

Jack Hopkins (aka Jack Hoppy) is a bartender, filmmaker, and musician from Columbus, Ohio. We talk about growing up small and non-athletic in the suburbs, learning about life from movies, getting love-bombed by a Christian youth group, successfully avoiding sex for most of high school, a mushroom trip that spiraled into months of nihilism and two suicide attempts, and the offhand comment from a st...

Two months from buying a plane ticket to moving into an apartment in Roma Sur. This episode is the arrival — the last frantic packing at my mom's house, the delayed flight out of Cleveland, the Uber from the airport wondering what my apartment would be like, and then the first three days of actually living here. It ends on night three, at a gathering with expats and locals, when Mexico City finall...

My time in Columbus finally comes to an end, and this is what it sounds like. I threw away a living thing. I hid poker chips around my old house. I sold a mattress for $26. And the podcast finally got it's first voicemail. Episode 40 will come from Mexico City, which is about two-thirds of the way down. Now I need to pack. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra conte...

This is what it sounds like to dismantle a life. Packing tape. Gravel alleys. A crazy landlord stomping next-door. A going-away party with live music and rocks as door prizes. I’m leaving Columbus in two days, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm taking with me. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/one...

Selling garbage cans, packing chaos, Yannick Bertrand, and reflections on leaving a place that suddenly starts telling you how much you matter. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod X: @onefjef TikTok: @onefjefpodcast YouTub...

I welcome back the "Old Backup Plan," Chris Casey, for a wide-ranging, unedited February 2026 update. We cover everything from malfunctioning electric toothbrushes and the flakiness of Facebook Marketplace to the joy of Bad Bunny, the meaning of our "stuff," and the collapse of global systems. You can (and should) follow Chris' Substack here: Thank You For Existing Please show some support for the...

While I’m busy preparing to move, Feffrey kindly stepped in to host. His therapist did not approve. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod TikTok: @onefjefpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onefjef Email: onefjefpod@gm...

David Brown grew up moving between thirteen houses in Louisiana, taught to believe heaven was exclusive and his queerness was wrong. He survived Katrina, broke from his family, and somehow turned all that pain into the Harmony Project—a five-hundred-voice choir where everyone belongs. In this conversation, we talk about what happens when people who would never meet start singing together, why musi...

I’m selling everything, leaving Ohio, and moving to Mexico City in six weeks. This episode is a raw montage about fear, nostalgia, politics, anger, and why staying comfortable finally felt worse than leaving. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.f...

I talk with Essie Baird about anxiety, creativity, filmmaking, and the experience of realizing—years later—that a relationship with a teacher was abuse, what happened when she finally told her story, and the complicated aftermath of coming forward. Follow Essie on Instagram at @essielikethestar , and watch her films Red & Orange on her YouTube Channel @flood_me_up If you or someone you know ha...

Jesse Cale is a musician, poet, and the founder of hOm Sound Baths , whose work explores sound as a doorway into presence, healing, and altered states of awareness. In this conversation, we talk about his upbringing in evangelical Christianity, leaving the church, mental health, music as ritual, the rise of sound baths, money and meaning, community, and what happens when you build something from t...

A short bonus episode to ease my guilt about not releasing something every week, share my plans for 2026, and reflect on the universal admiration people have for my puffer coat. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod X: @onef...

A random Christmas episode about flawed Santa myths, childhood memories, unhinged holiday parties, and the pressure to find joy in a season that carries so much weight. And me singing! It's like Christmas morning, but in the form of a podcast episode. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Ins...

This episode is a cult-classic Christmas radio show I recorded while in film school in 2006. It’s performed in character and marks the first appearance of Feffrey, then called Nigel. Weird, unhinged, and very much a departure from my usual episodes. Listener discretion advised. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://...

This week’s episode is a conversation I recorded with Chris Ryan for his podcast, Tangentially Speaking . He let me share the full audio here. We sat outside his place in Crestone, Colorado and talked about desire, death, politics, art, Korea, hitchhiking, cancel culture, the weirdness of the moment we’re living in, and why connection feels so hard and so necessary Subscribe to Tangentally Speakin...

I turned 52 in Mexico City and recorded the whole strange week: biking through Condesa, wandering the Tianguis de Comonfort, drinking giant micheladas, eating the world’s least subtle tongue taco, and chasing the legendary camote man’s whistle across Parque México. Patricia joins me, of course, and tries to make me a braver eater. Airports, mariachi chaos, numerology, and one very pink gringo — it...

A short Thanksgiving episode about gratitude, perspective, and pausing to pay attention. Thank you to everyone who participated in this episode – I'm sorry I couldn't use everything. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Website: https://onefjefpod.com Instagram: @onefjefpod Substack: @onefje...

In this milestone episode, Chris Casey guest-hosts and interviews me about my life — my childhood in Ohio, discovering theatre, living in London & Korea, going to film school at SCAD, making Coverage and After You Left , getting into Sundance, editing in NYC, working for The Lincoln Project and then creating onefjef. A deep look at my creative path and how this podcast began. Here are links to...

I sit down with with my 14-year-old cousin Mia — a high-school freshman, wrestler, and alto sax player — to talk about what it’s like to grow up in 2025. We talk social media, family, school, friendship and Phantom of the Opera, and why adults don’t always get what it’s like to be a teen today. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patr...