Episode 17—

I ask my friend, Ingo Antons, about the state of Germany in quarantine, conspiracy theories, getting married during a pandemic, and his and Janine's pet-sitting and WOOFing trip around the world last year.

Top photo by 贝莉儿 DANIST on Unsplash

Joy dispenses valuable knowledge and wisdom gained from the trenches of homeschooling 3+ kids before it was the thing everyone did. We talk about how she and her family decided to homeschool, how they structure their days, rules about screen time, her qualms with traditional schooling and takes on different flavors and curriculums of home education, including unschooling. Unfortunately, the quality is not great, but it's worth listening through the pops and crackles if you're deeply interested in the world of homeschooling and how its lessons apply to distance learning in the time of quarantine.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

In the first episode of our pandemic series, Matt Wood and family are coping with life in the time of quarantine by taking on backyard projects, enjoying their son's developing vocabulary, and trying to give and get enough space for one another.

We also get into their current thoughts, struggles, and research into the process of adopting a child.

Photo by Kristopher Allison on Unsplash

Listen as I, Nate, read aloud a short post I wrote about four years ago which consistently gets more reads on Medium.com than anything else I've posted there. I mean, not like a ton or anything, but you know. More.

We used to live near Walden Pond and that led to learning more about its historic hero, Mister H.D.T. himself (Henry David Thoreau for those of you not in the know).

This post was a deep dive on the overlap of two completely different topics, Thoreau and Fashion, for an issue of OCSPLORA focused on different elements of fashion, design, and clothing.

As it turns out, it is mostly quotes from Thoreau’s most famous work, Walden, and a few quotes from his contemporaries, so I really didn’t write it so much as assemble it.

Enjoy!

Episode 13—Cori and Jennie traveled the U.S. in a van, which they modified themselves into a tiny traveling home, with a small dog and a bird. They lived to tell the tale of their adventures, from Maine to Florida to California and back again. Here’s the story from Cori about how it all went down.

Follow their adventures on Instagram.

It’s a short episode—in which I mispronounced the word vomited many times (some of which you can hear in the cold open blooper reel intro)—but the story is one of my favorite pieces I’ve written.

In 2011, a few friends and I did a quick three day trip on the Trail. We planned everything perfectly…except for the possibility of rain.

Hope you enjoy!

Notes

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson on Goodreads.com

どうかしてる (Paste this into Google Translate to find out how to correctly pronounce Do Kashiteru, the name of the band that does the music I use for the show.)

Top photo by Mika Matin on Unsplash.

Top photo by Max Hofstetter on Unsplash. Sidebar selfie by Wendy Green.

In which I ask Jeremy Slough about running with the bulls in Pamplona, having malaria in an airport, and Pauly Shore, and in which he tells me about the California beach bum lifestyle, working with a non-profit in New Zealand for a few years, becoming a tour guide, building a travel tour business, Instagramming the world, working credit cards for frequent flyer miles and cheap travel, letting go of plans and comfort and security and just going for it, and more.

Enjoy this last episode of 2018 and have a very creative, adventurous, and generous new year!

Notes

Follow Jeremy on Instagram for beautiful photos from around the globe (highly recommend)

Check out his travel tour biz, Immeasurable Journeys

Learn the basics of travel hacking from Chris Guillebeau, travel hacking enthusiast

Learn the specifics of different credit cards and point programs from The Points Guy

Ed has lived and worked in Haiti for 23 years, going around with his guitar and making peoples' lives a little brighter.

He went on a couple trips to Haiti in the late 80s and got hooked on the country and the people, then finally moved there from the U.S. in '95.

We talk about corruption, danger, church missions trips, the 2010 earthquake, what Haiti needs, and Ed's hopes for his adopted country.

Notes

Ed’s Facebook Page

Missionary Ventures

Wikipedia’s Haiti Entry

I got to know Dusty at a school we both attended in Hawaii at the end of 2002, beginning of 2003. He was one of my favorite people there, really down to earth and humble, but very smart and capable and always up for anything.

7 years ago, Dusty and his wife, Amy moved from Montana to Casablanca with their kids. Dusty taught math at an international school and is now vice principal at the same school.

We talk about the big move, first impressions, struggles with language and culture, western education in a non-western country, raising kids in a foreign land, and the things Dusty misses about life in the States, as well as advice for people thinking about moving overseas.

Notes
George Washington Academy in Casablanca, Morocco

My friend Jake Ostreicher did, then he opened his own barber shop, The Chop Shop, in Milford, Massachusetts in 2011.

Seven years later, it's still going strong and growing every year.

Find out some of the tips and tricks he's learned and lucked into along the way, along with some of his backstory, including how he picked up the alias, 'The Hot Dog Bandit.'

It's a fun episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

2—Ryan and Stacey Ewasko talk about living their dream of an around-the-world trip, how they saved up and planned for it, and what it's like going nomadic.

Notes

The Four Critical Elements That Make Stories Popular

Outline a Short Story in Seven Steps

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist - Against Men

The Mythcreant Podcast

Nate and Wendy talk about the old year and the new—what went well, what didn't, and what we're hoping for from 2018. Nate talks about trying to evaluate and plan every year. Wendy talks about trying to be more creative.

And...

Nate interviews Suzanne Nolan Wilson, a photographer living in Calgary, Canada with roots in the UK and South Africa. They cover the difficulties and joys of moving from English city life to the Canadian countryside, building a business around photography, starting over again as a freelance photographer with no customer base, and some of Suzie's favorite cameras.

Part 2—Comics creator Mel Dale joins Nate to talk about his series, Your Cold Felt Heart, Muppets, writing, drawing, coloring, storytelling, idea keeping, progressing in your art and craft, and how to avoid making money as an artist.

Part 1—An interview with Doug Wilson, director of Linotype: The Film, on making the film, finding its story through all the minutiae of facts and details, and the benefit of naiveté in taking on an incredibly ambitious project.

Part 2 (Starts at 00:43:41)—A conversation 'twixt Nate and Wendy, husband and wife, on the art of hospitality. It's not life-changing, or focused, or energetic, but hey—it's the first episode! Nate mentions William Ury's TED Talk in which Ury talks about the Abraham Path—"A cultural route that celebrates a journey made 4,000 years ago."