Episode 348: Carl Hoffman

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By Brendan O’Meara

Carl Hoffman is here (@lunaticcarl and @carlhoffmanstories)! He’s the author of Liar’s Circus: A Strange and Terrifying Journey into the Upside-Down World of Trump’s MAGA Rallies (Custom House).

I read this quick, as most of you will, and it is a strange and terrifying dive into the virtual reality chamber of MAGA Trump supporters. Carl is a long-time travel writer, and he turns that gaze and immersion at our own country.

It called to mind a conversation I heard with Henry Rollins, who has traveled all over the world, where he said the place he feels most unsafe in the world is … America.

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Episode 347: Emily Fox Kaplan

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s been a long time since we featured a writer from the Pipe Wrench Magazine roster, so it was it nice to welcome Emily Fox Kaplan to CNF Pod HQ to talk about her piece “Searching for Zarahemla.”

It’s a trippy travel piece that has a very David Foster Wallace vibe to it, though Emily hasn’t read any DFW. Just as well. Far be it from me to be a the bro to say, ‘You gotta read him.’

But read his tennis writing …

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Episode 346: Lyndsie Bourgon

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By Brendan O’Meara

Hey CNFers, Lyndsie Bourgon (@lbourgon) is here to talk about Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods (Little Brown Spark).

This was a nice conversation that dug into the serendipity of reporting, getting our heads around organizing research, as well as the cultural identity that’s tied to logging and how that leads to timber poaching, a $1 billion “industry” in the U.S.

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Episode 344: Rachel Dickinson

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By Brendan O’Meara

Rachel Dickison is here to talk about her new book The Loneliest Places: Loss, Grief, and the Long Journey Home. It’s is published by Three Hills Press.

No way to sugar coat what this book deals with: Rachel’s son Jack died by suicide in 2012. He was 17. And this book stays within the boundaries of Rachel’s experience, her headspace, her grief.

Yes, her three daughters and her husband were deeply affected by this tragedy, but you won’t hear from them much, not really until the end of the book where Rachel interrogates her selfishness and withdrawal and, in some cases, abandonment. It would be easy to judge Rachel in this book, even her editor wondered how “likeable” she was as a character and that speaks to how honest Rachel was about her processing of this unthinkable experience. 

This is something I’ve never done before, but I think it should be brought up, as I have heard other podcasts do this. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts and may harm themselves, call or text 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. This will route people to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline where they can speak with a trained counselor.

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Episode 343: Kristina R. Gaddy

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By Brendan O’Meara

You know this, CNFers, always nice when we can welcome a guest back. So here’s Kristina R. Gaddy, back with her new book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History (Norton).

We talk about the late Philip Gerard, what she learned from Book 1 to Book 2, structure, and why do we even write books?

You could say I’m souring on writing books but like everything in my life I’m sure it’ll pass and I’ll be back to saying writing books is the ONLY thing that matters.

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Episode 342: Remembering Philip Gerard

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By Brendan O’Meara

Man, we lost another wonderful, brilliant, generous member of the writing community, CNFers. Philip Gerard passed away earlier this week.

A few weeks ago we lost Matt Tullis, a wonderful writer of narrative nonfiction, and a teacher of longform journalism. When he was working on what would become his memoir Running with Ghosts, he attended an MFA program out of Wilmington, NC, spearheaded by Philip Gerard.

Phil was someone who had always been one of those dudes I could call on if I had a question on writing, dating all the way back to 2008 when I wrapped up my MFA, right through 2017 and 2019 when he was one of the best guests on this very podcast. I never had him as a mentor in grad school, but he was always someone whose brain I liked picking. He never discounted you on wisdom and encouragement. 

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Episode 341: Isidra Mencos

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By Brendan O’Meara

Isidra Mencos (@isidramencos) lived in Spain during an incredible inflection point. Franco died and along with him his authoritarian regime. It gave way to democracy. It gave way to personal freedom, sexual freedom, bodily freedom. And that’s where Promenade of Desire takes off.

Isidra’s book deals with intimacy, or a lack thereof; of being invisible in a big family and finding visibility through love and salsa dancing.

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Episode 340: J.B. MacKinnon

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s that Atavistian time of the month! And this time we have J.B. MacKinnon, author of the feature “True Grit.”

This piece chronicles the harrowing journey a few feral cows made during a hurricane in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Let’s just say cows can swim … a LONG time if needed.

J.B. is the author or coauthor of five books of nonfiction. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in such publications as the New Yorker, National Geographic, and the Atlantic, as well as the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies. He is an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches feature writing.

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Episode 339: Jeff Pearlman

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By Brendan O’Meara

What a surprise! Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman), author of The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, came by the show to talk about writing biography (but don’t bring up the word craft, okay?).

This was a wonderful conversation from a brilliant writer and reporter, and a great advocate for the writing community at large. He’s the host of Two Writers Slinging Yang.

Writing this story was the hardest one he’d ever reported. He wrote it in backwards chronology, a la Memento. Did you know I did something similar back in 2016? True story. Jeff got $4 a word for his 3,000-word story; I got $200 for a 5,000-word story. That should give you an idea what kind of astral plane Jeff Pearlman works from. He’s a pretty cool dude.

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Episode 334: Katrina Miller

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s always fun when scientists come on the show. We’ve had a volcanologist on in Jess Phoenix. We’ve had a guy who studies meteors in Greg Brennecka. We’ve had a paleontologies in Steve Brusatte (and he’s coming back). Now we have a physicist/writer in Katrina Miller!

Katrina (@__katrinarenee) is a brilliant writer whose essay tracks her journey as a physics PhD candidate, along with other pioneering Black women physicists. It’s a beautiful piece and it’ll be great to see what Katrina comes up with next. She’ll be wrapping up her dissertation soon, but she plans on pivoting to more science writing vs. academia.

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