Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of)

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Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of)
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“I wish I loved sports, and particularly football, a lot less than I do. It consumes too much of my memory and too much of my time.” – Chuck Klosterman In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about why he’s talking to Chuck Klosterman’s former roommate Michael Weinreb about Chuck’s book Football, rather than Chuck himself (2:00);…

Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches)

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Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches)
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“In teaching us to appreciate rather than accumulate – to seek awe rather than outcomes – travel can be an ongoing exercise in gratitude.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf remixes his interview from the All the Hacks podcast, with Chris Hutchins. They discuss the concept of “Time Wealth,” how it can be actualized…

Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places

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Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places
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In this feature-length video essay that explores the role places play in storytelling, Rolf examines how Kansas — his home state — has been imagined, distorted, and mythologized in cinema and television for more than a century. Blending archival film clips, historical analysis, and deeply personal narration, Kansas Never Plays Itself traces how cinematic shorthand…

Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)

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Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)
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“All the Light We Cannot See” novelist Anthony Doerr and Rolf talk about travel and writing (from 2012)

Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)

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Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)
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Note: This encore episode is dedicated to the memory of Alice Potts, who died on August 20, 2025, aged 81. “In America aging is often seen as an insult rather than an inevitable human process. We don’t celebrate getting older; we ‘fight’ age by pretending to be young.” –Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate Rolf…

An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir

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An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir
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Writing-craft lessons from Rolf’s would-be first book, ‘Pilgrims in a Sliding World.”

Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)

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Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)
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Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s

Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road

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Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road
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Journalist and broadcaster Ash Bhardwaj on the motivations of travel.

Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie

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Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie
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Kim Krizan, who cowrote Before Sunrise with director Richard Linklater, talks about the travels (and historical moment) that influenced the movie

Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie

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Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie
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Kim Krizan, who cowrote Before Sunrise with director Richard Linklater, talks about the travels (and historical moment)
that influenced the movie.

Mars on Earth: The world’s driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there

Deviate With Rolf Potts
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Mars on Earth: The world's driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there
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Mars on Earth: Wanderings in the World’s Driest Desert