Dear Stranger (and Friend)

On this episode of Dear Stranger and Friend, I talk to... You. The listener. I try to figure out what this podcast means to me and what it could mean to other people. I look back on how it started and talk about some of the people who helped along the way. I open up a lot about my mental illness and how it holds me back. There's a lot here. A lot of me, talking about... me. I hope you enjoy it.

This week, I'm talking to my friend Ben. Max and I stayed at his house during the last leg of our road trip and it was a pleasure to meet him. We had this conversation after I returned from the trip and we talked about home and the feeling that comes along with it. I'm really excited for you guys to hear this one.

This week, I'm talking to Jesse. An artist from Colorado. Max and I came across his bar after spending a somewhat stressful day being stuck in Dillon after a motor vehicle accident closed the roads. Finding Jesse's bar and meeting/talking to him made our day. It changed my perspective and made me believe in the "will of the road". I hope you guys enjoy this conversation about art, creativity, and "the process".

This week, I'm talking to my friend Rusty in New Mexico. We talk a bit about our struggles with addiction, what drives us to be better, and -- of course -- a bit of skateboarding. Meeting and talking to Rusty is something that I'll never forget and I feel so grateful for having the chance to talk to him and hang out with him while we were in NM. I hope you guys like this one.

This week's episode might be one of my all-time favorites. I had such a good time recording this with Sarah. I feel so fortunate to have met her. We chat a lot about our respective creative processes, emotional intelligence, and a whole bunch of stuff in between. I hope y'all like this one!

My cousin Marie is on the podcast this week and aside from having a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs, I tried my best to connect with her after not having the closest relationship with her growing up. Fortunately though, it felt easy and comfortable to sit and hang out with her. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

This week, Max and I make it to New Orleans where we met up with Marcus, someone I've only talked to for 2 minutes before meeting up with him in New Orleans. We share a mutual friend and figured why not meet up in a city we both just happen to be visiting? Marcus got me nice and drunk and we had a weird but beautiful conversation. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

Everyone who knows me, knows how important family is to me. But sometimes distance, whether it's age or actual miles, gets in the way of strengthening those relationships. That was definitely the case with my cousin Sarah. This week, we have a chance to talk about how we've gotten closer as friends and why we decided to make an effort to be in each other's lives going forward.

This week, I talk to Kelsey, who I met through Max after she invited us to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family while we were on the road. Now, I have to say, that's probably one of the coolest ways I've ever met a person. I'm glad we got the chance to have a one-on-one conversation after I got back to New York. I hope y'all enjoy this one.

The EMOTIONAL conclusion of Carly's two-parter is here. We both get into it a lot about our past relationships. And I might have shed some tears there towards the end. This one was hard one to listen back to for me but I don't regret putting it out there. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Season 4 is here! And I couldn't think of a better way to start it other than having this conversation with my friend Carly. We've hung out multiple times before this conversation but this was one of the rare moments -- if not the first -- where we sat and spent some time sharing and opening up to each other. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

A sneak peek into Season 4 of Dear Stranger and Friend

Being alone with myself has been something that's occupied my mind for the past couple of months (maybe longer) and this week, I talk to Paige about that exact thing. While I found myself somewhat trapped in my childhood home, she left the country to be alone with herself. We talk a lot about what that means and how to get there. We also talk a lot about being people of color while being a part of a scene that doesn't necessarily have a lot of people of color within it. It's a great "first conversation" and I couldn't think of a better episode to end the season. Thanks for listening.

It's always fun to catch up with old friends. That's pretty much an obvious statement. But it's always MORE fun to catch up with friends you traveled across the world with. This week, I'm talking to Vin about the fun we had in South Korea, video games, and how we might be responsible for bringing back Crash Bandicoot. I had a lot of fun recording this one and I hope you guys have fun listening to it.

I'm not big on traveling or maybe I haven't had a lot of chances to actually go out and travel. That isn't the case for my guest this week, Scott. He's spent most of his adolescent years all over the world. Even though we've known each other for a very, very long time, I never knew that he'd been to almost everywhere. We talk a bit about our friendship but a lot of this hour is all about where he grew up.

One question I continually ask myself is "How do I know if I'm doing the right thing?", and there really isn't a definitive answer to it (not for me anyway). This week, I talk with another former professor of mine (Patrick) about this very thing. How do you know what you're working on is what you should be working on? And how does that affect what you enjoy doing and what you consider work? I'm not sure if we find that definitive answer I keep searching for but we do share some thoughts on it.

Part two of Donald's episode is here and it only gets better. This week it's all about music. Making music, listening to music, and how it helps us out with our respective struggles. Talking to Donald over the course of these two hours was a really eye-opening experience for me. It meant so much and it was fun in a very specific way. I feel like we're closer as friends and I'm really glad he's a part of my life.

This week's Dear Stranger and Friend is pretty special to me. It's Part One of a two-part episode, my bud Donald is the guest (someone I've been trying to get on since the start), and we talk about a lot of interesting/heavy things. In this part we talk about growing up with brothers, remembering the early days of the Internet, and towards the middle, we talk about addiction and trying to quit our vices. I'm so glad and grateful that Donald was willing to be open and honest with me about what he's going through. It takes a lot of strength to talk about it privately, so for him to do it on a podcast is amazing to me.

Max returns to Dear Stranger and Friend to talk about his trip across the country in The Dream. It was really fun to have him back on, sit on the bus he drove all around this country, drink a couple of beers, and listen to him and his experiences. It was one of the best ways to spend an afternoon and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did when we recorded this episode.

This week, I talk to one of the most positive people I've ever met, Candice. I've known her for quite a long time and she never fails to reach out to say what's up whenever it seems like it's been a while since we last spoke. We talk a lot about our past, keeping it positive, and moving forward. I'm so happy she agreed to do this with me. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

This week, my friend of 17 years Rich, joins me to talk about his passion and his love for professional wrestling. It goes much farther than mine, he's actually in the process of becoming a professional wrestler himself. It's one of the most inspiring things to hear one of your best friends talk about their dreams while they execute on them. Hopefully, you guys find the same kind inspiration I did when we had this conversation.

This week, I'm talking to an old college professor of mine. He was one of the many educators I've had in the past who I definitely looked up to. Many of our early conversations had to do with music because, as it turns out, we had a very similar taste. This conversation though, we talk a bit about mixtapes, some about writing, but mostly about how music is a pretty important part of our lives.

On this episode of Dear Stranger and Friend, I talk to my friend Ted, who I've known for years but never really had a chance to talk to one-on-one. We talk a lot about the podcast itself on this episode, even though that's kind of weird. And we share a bunch of our favorite Jeff stories. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

A sneak preview at the next season of Dear Stranger and Friend starting 3/29/2017

Sometimes, when I hang out and drink with friends, I put down my phone and record bits of our conversation. This took place a couple of weeks ago before the New Year. I was very drunk and here you can really hear how self-centered I am and how much of an awful person I actually am. I hope you enjoy it. Also, thanks Rob for being a part of this.

This is a very special episode of Dear Stranger and Friend because my guest is neither a stranger or friend! It's my mom! We have a very laid back conversation about the holidays, movies we're going to see together, and about my years as a tiny, chubby baby. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

This week on Dear Stranger, I talk with my friend Jerry, who I have known for a very long time. He got me one of my first jobs, ever. There's also a pretty good moment where I say something and get called out on it and then feel horrible about it. So, there was that. I'm really glad we made this episode happen. It was a lot of fun. Also! Don't forget to follow Digital Recess on Instagram @digitalrecess and on Facebook!

This week on Dear Stranger, an old college friend of mine stops by and makes me laugh for about an hour! Hashim and I met years ago because we hung out around the same social circles and we eventually just became really nice, cool buds. It was such a pleasure talking to him about making music, all-ages shows, and that one really awkward thing about tumblr .gifs. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

This week, I'm talking to my friend Tanya -- who I met on Tumblr years ago -- for the very first time. I was really excited before we started recording and I'm super glad I had the opportunity to talk to her through the Internet. It was a really fun conversation with a lot of laughing and me rambling a bit (as I tend to do) but I hope you guys enjoy it!

This Week on Dear Stranger and Friend we're celebrating last week! In an episode that was supposed to be released on Thanksgiving, Me, My Brother, and Shane Kelly catch up and talk about last week's holiday. It's an intellectual and educational conversation... Eh, who am I kidding, it's a conversation that gets weird really fast. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

This week on Dear Stranger and Friend I'm talking to my friend Ben (who I haven't spoken to in over a year and a half)who always seems like he's doing something productive. We talk about his trips to Japan over the last year and his passion for photography. It was amazing to catch up with him again and if you want to follow him on social media you can do so by searching Tabletopography on the ol' Instagram!

This week, I'm talking to the very first actual stranger in my life, Kasey. When we first set this up to talk to each other I was nervous at first but this turned out to be one of the most rewarding "first conversations" I've ever had. Meeting new people is hard for me sometimes and I'm glad this podcast made it just a bit easier.

Dear Stranger and Friend is back! My oldest friend Shane Kelly joins us this week where we talk about everything from wrestling to our old band Look Hands, No Dad and I can't help but feel like this whole episode was a work on both of our ends. Who knows if we were ever serious about anything we were saying during this hour 'cause I sure don't.

In the last episode (for a while) of Dear Stranger, I talk with my friend Adri. For those of you who know me personally, you know that Adri and I were involved in a long-term relationship that had a bit of a messy ending. We're finally at a point where we can talk about those things with a bit of humor so, I hope you enjoy the episode. Regular episodes of Dear Stranger (and Friend) will return in October.

On the penultimate episode of Dear Stranger (and Friend), I talk to my old buddy, Kyle. I've known him for about 15 years and before having this conversation we haven't talked to each other in almost 2 months. He's slowly becoming one of the most travelled of all my friends and his most recent trip is something we talk about throughout the episode. I hope you guys enjoy this one

This week, I'm talking to a college buddy of mine, Dylan. We haven't spoken to each other in a couple of years but it was still great catching up. We talked a lot about comic books, movies, and a little about video games. It's a bit different than the last couple weeks but that isn't a bad thing by any means. I hope you enjoy.

This week, I talk to my friend Matt. We've known each other through almost all of our childhood and into our young adult lives. But we definitely haven't had a conversation like this in about 5 years. We initially started talking about some of our favorite video games and television shows. But somewhere down the line we started talking about topics that are a little heavier. I hope you enjoy this one.

This week on Dear Stranger, I talk to my old roommate Sinead. We talk a lot about race/gender in general as well as in the punk/alternative scene. We talk a bit about her band Moon Blood, a bit about her poetry zine, and a bit about being an artist. I hope you guys enjoy this episode as much as I did when we recorded it.

This Week, I talked to my friend Alex who is probably one of my smartest friends. We somehow found ourselves talking about video games then movies and how violence is depicted in both of these forms of media. It's a conversation I won't forget for a long time, and I hope you enjoy it.

This week, I talk to my very good friend Vince. He's been in Australia for the past 3 years so I figured I should get him on. This is one of the few conversations we've had this past year and it's one of my favorites (even though we spend some time talking about neo-nazis). I hope you enjoy.

This week, I talk to AJ from the band Houseleaks about being in a band, making music, making a scene, and just about everything related to music. I hope you guys enjoy, this is a good one.

In this Bonus Episode of Dear Stranger, I talk to my brother and ask him for some advice after the release of the first two episodes. But instead things get, well, pretty weird. I hope you enjoy.

How does your hometown affect you now? Is it a place you forget when you move away? Is it a place you hold close to your heart? Or can it be both? Max Johl from And the Traveler answers these questions on the second episode of Dear Stranger and Friend.

In the first episode of Dear Stranger and Friend, Lauren and I talk about almost everything. From pornography to our awkward experiences in Target, it's all (mostly) here.

Preview of Dear Stranger and Friend podcast.