This is My Thing

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...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Anna Kehl about her love of quilting, a topic she didn't know much about before attending QuiltCon several years ago. She became not just an avid practitioner of the art form but also an active member of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild. We'll hear Anna at work on a quilt at the Guild studio, we'll talk about her history with quilting and with...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with artist Carol Aaron about her love of encaustic painting. That's an art form that doesn't use the sorts of paints you're probably more familiar with (like oils or acrylics) but instead a mixture of beeswax, resin, and pigment. It's been around for a couple thousand years, but it's not very well known these days outside the art world. We'll he...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Bart Jacob about his decades-long love of the board game Go. He was introduced to the game in 1979 as a grad student and has been a dedicated player for nearly half a century. That's a pretty long time, but just a blip in the 3500 years or so that the game has been played.  We'll hear some audio of Bart at the weekly meetup of the Austin Go...

With this episode, we’re going back to the show’s beginnings; this was one of the earliest interviews we recorded, way back when This Is My Thing was just an idea for a show that we were hoping would make it onto the airwaves and/or podcast streams someday. It took a little while, but we’re happy to bring it to you now. On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Mitch London about hi...

Lesley Murray grew up as a competitive swimmer, so she was already pretty comfortable in the water when she decided (on a whim, she says) to take a Deep End Fitness class. She fell in love with the practice, which led her to Underwater Torpedo League. Now she loves the sport, which she finds both meditative and exciting (it's 'meditating on fire,' she says). We'll talk about her history with the s...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we're talking about a thing that's kind of three things -- the triathlon, a competitive sport that combines swimming, running, and cycling into one very challenging race.  On this episode of This Is My Thing , we’re talking with Tiffany Saunders and Caitlin Saunders about their shared love of triathlon. They met on a race (where they came in second!), fell in...

Several years ago, while looking for ways to improve at golf, Steve Merritt created a game on his property in Wimberley, Texas. Before long, that game had a name -- Cowboy Golf. And not long after that, Cowboy Golf had an annual event -- the Three Steves and a Dan tournament. As one might guess, that yearly tournament involves Steve Merrit, two additional Steves (Dehmer and Raatz), and a Dan (Vine...

This week we’re talking with Ben Rollman about his longtime love of LEGO. Like a lot of AFOLs (Adult Fans Of LEGO), Ben’s affection for the plastic brick began in childhood, then went through a ‘Dark Age’ when it loosened its grip on him. But as an adult, Ben's love of LEGO came back with a vengeance and now he builds LEGO sets, collects LEGO sets, creates his own original works using LEGO bricks,...

When Lyzz Donelson retired from her job as an Austin firefighter a couple of years ago, she knew she'd find other ways to keep busy -- she already had a few ideas on a list. But then she surprised herself by falling in love with something that wasn't on her radar at all: making permanent jewelry.  Now she attends artists' markets and private parties, looking to make connections with folks and brin...

On this episode of This Is My Thing , we talk with Rae Loos about aggressive roller skating! This episode comes to us from my friend Zahra Crim, who until recently was KUT’s Community Producer. Zahra’s moved on to go to grad school and new adventures, but before leaving, they worked on this piece for the show. It’s kind of a full-circle moment. The day I met Zahra, they were interviewing for the j...

Some folks like to watch trains or photograph trains or build model trains, but for Marc Opperman only the real thing will do. His love of trains led him to become a student conductor on a real, functioning vintage train, or what he calls '12 inch to the foot scale.'  We'll talk about Marc's lifelong love of trains, the responsibilities of being conductor (even a volunteer student conductor), why...

We're talking with Dan Schumacher about his love of tattoos and about the tattoo collection he's amassed on his person over the years. This episode of This Is My Thing comes to us from my friend and fellow KUT producer Juan Garcia. Dan was Juan's faculty adviser back in his college radio days, and they share an affinity for tattoos. This is My Thing is a listener-supported production of KUT &...

On this episode of This Is My Thing, we talk with Mendy Ouzillou about his fascination with meteorites and get a tour of part of his large collection. This is My Thing is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas. You can support this podcast by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org

You'll hear from Nancy Leeper and Linda Parrish. Nancy and Linda are two members of the Austin Ukuladies, a group of six friends who took up the ukulele in retirement. All six of the Ukuladies meet up every Wednesday afternoon to catch up, chat, and perhaps most importantly, play the ukulele together. Over the last few years, they’ve developed a large repertoire including some classic songs from t...

You'll hear from Dave Danenfelzer about his love for curling – ‘the kind you do on ice,’ as he puts it. Dave’s been curling all his life; he was taught by his grandfather as a kid and has been playing the sport ever since. When he moved from his native Wisconsin to Texas in the 1990s (‘I did it for love,’ Dave says), he thought his curling days were in the past. But he was wrong! It turns out othe...

You'll hear from JD Murphy about lumber milling! The milling of lumber doesn’t have to be a job and it doesn’t have to happen at a lumber mill – JD has spent the past few years milling wood right in the middle of his Cedar Park driveway (his neighbors have been mostly supportive of his hobby, he says, though he suspects the HOA doesn’t love it). For JD, it’s about giving new life to something that...

You'll hear from Anna Beard about her love of swords and sword fighting. For Anna, that love started early, through exposure to pop culture that featured swords made of lasers ( Return of the Jedi ) and steel ( Lord of the Rings ). “A book's not worth its salt unless somebody’s swinging a long sword at some point and talking about the name of their sword,” Anna says. Years later, that love of fict...