This image from my trekking journey in Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands figured into the recent Deviate episode wherein Ari Shaffir and I discussed the idiosyncrasies of travel onstage at KGB Bar in NYC. Specifically, we talked about the tourist desire to see a “pure” vision of distant cultures, and how years of working with travelers in…
Ari Shaffir and Rolf discuss the power of luck (and the peculiarities of Las Vegas)
Rolf and his online book club discuss quests, guidebooks, and other issues from The Vagabond’s Way.
Exactly 10,603 days days ago this week I packed a few belongings into a second-hand 1984 Volkswagen Vanagon (into which I’d built a homemade fold-out bed), and embarked on a journey across North America that wound up lasting eight months. Nowadays this endeavor is known as #vanlife, but in that pre-hashtag era it was (for…
From the Faroe Islands: translator Matthew Landrum on how place informs art
“”I wasn’t partying. I wasn’t relaxing on the beach. I was photographing – working – every minute of the day. That was a means to see as much as I possibly could. And to keep looking.” –Kevin Kelly In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin discuss the ambitions and connections that led Kevin to Asia…
By Irvin S. Cobb I. From time to time, as I stated in a preceding booklet of this series, it is customary for Bill Al White to strum his typewriter and burst into rhapsody on the merits of his State. “I shall sing a few stanzas A-touchin’ on Kansas,” he cries, or ringing words to…
A remix of Rolf’s first discussion of The Vagabond’s Way with The Nomadic Network book club
On the joys of getting lost, learning languages, and interacting with distant cultures at home.
One of the reasons I created my Deviate podcast was to occasionally explore cultural and intellectual themes that go beyond the travel issues I typically write about. Since I’ve been intrigued with sports since my preschool days on a summertime swim-team (and, later in my youth, soccer teams and running clubs) in Wichita, many Deviate…
Native American football star John Levi takes on the 1927 New York Giants
