Inciting A Riot

Kyne Santos uses social media to teach math subjects that range from simple addition and subtraction to more esoteric concepts about impossible objects or quantum mechanics. And he does it in drag. Because sometimes Kyne puts on a wig, drops the surname and becomes the Canadian Drag Race superstar alum Kyne who teaches us how math can be a living, breathing, interesting subject that both enriches and entertains.  Kyne's new book, Math in Drag, comes out March 5, 2024. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

2023 was great and terrible. There were technological marvels, horrible television, phenomenal movies, brilliant books, and more author drama than you ever thought possible. Come around the dumpster fire as Meg Elison and I build the year its funeral pyre.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Bonnie Klopfer is an actress and comedian whose videos have been loved by millions of people around the world. She's a stand up regular in LA and makes content online about finding the funny in mundane things, including a breakout series of shorts about product packaging. Find her here: https://linktr.ee/boobieklapper Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

We are often told to ignore anger, to repress anger, that anger has no value in a polite society. Anger gets us in trouble. Anger removes our ability to think rationally. Anger is always bad all of the time and we should never, ever feel it. Or, at least, that's what we've been told. Some researchers wanted to test that theory, and turns out it might not be true.  Dr. Heather Lench is a professor specializing in affective science, personality processes, and social & personality psychology. She recently led a team of researchers in publishing a paper that tells us what anyone who has ever washed the dishes after a fight knows: anger might make us more productive and better at problem solving. We might actually get more accomplished if we do it out of spite.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Hannah Robinson has been an editor at some of publishing's biggest houses. HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster—where we met—and now Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette. She primarily works with non-fiction, which is a massive slice of the publishing pie that seems to get all but ignored on social media. We had a discussion about what the job of an editor is, what it isn't, and whether they're the scary gatekeepers aspiring authors make them out to be.  And because I couldn't resist, we talk a bit about the making of The Dabbler's Guide to Witchcraft and why certain things did and didn't make the cut.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Jerry Saltz is one of the last real critics, the kind of critic that matters, whose voice is held in high esteem both by the art world and by the artists who make the world go round. He's been the senior art critic for New York Magazine since 2006. He also happens to be one of, if not the most, widely read critics in the world—possibly outranked by his wife. He is a former long-haul truck driver, a failed artist, and a Pulitzer Prize winner, and he is my guest today. We had a far reaching discussion about what makes good art, the democratization of critique, and whether he really is just a professional hater. Follow Jerry on Instagram here. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

My guest today is Diana Helmuth. She is an award-winning author of a book about hiking who decided to take a page, or several, out of the books of people who I look up to: AJ Jacobs, Mary Roach, Elizabeth Gilbert. Authors who spent time approaching a field as a complete novice in order to learn everything they could about it, to see how it might change them, to see what we can learn about ourselves through the challenge of transforming some integral part of our lives. Her project? The Witching Year, a book about becoming a witch and finding a bit of magic in a modern world.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Alicia Simpson is a registered dietitian and the Executive Director for Pea Pod Nutrition, a nonprofit dedicated to the nutritional health of Georgia families. She holds a Master's degree in Nutrition from Georgia State University and a PhD in public policy. For years she worked as a professor teaching these issues to college students, but for the past several years she has made it her mission to provide this vital information to children and families. I sat down with Alicia to have a conversation about why, exactly, food is so hard and whether it has to be.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

From best-selling novels like "Mexican Gothic" to blockbuster media hits like "The Last of Us," it seems like everyone is buzzing about fungi these days. Think of it as your houseplant's weirder, spongier, and creepier cousin. Fungi have a significant role in decomposition, which adds to their eerie reputation. However, they can also serve as food, a recreational drug, a source of medicine, and even a multi-story residence if you happen to be a Smurf. As we delve deeper into the world of fungi, things get even stranger. Did you know that the largest organism on Earth is a fungus? Fungi can have thousands of different genders, and they reproduce and communicate in ways that we are just starting to comprehend. Yet, there are dedicated individuals attempting to unravel these mysteries. Meet Dr. Leslie Holland, a mycologist specializing in the study of fungi. She joined the University of Wisconsin's Department of Plant Pathology in 2020, where she focuses on researching how fungal diseases impact fruit crops. With a teaching schedule that most professors can only dream of, Dr. Holland is the perfect person to demystify the fascinating world of fungi. Join me for an enlightening conversation with her as we separate fact from fiction when it comes to these remarkable organisms. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

When you think about what the ocean sounds like, what does your brain conjure up? Maybe the gentle ebbing and flowing of tides? Maybe you think of marine life? Perhaps the songs of whales or that clicking sound dolphins make. But what about the snapping of air bubbles created by thousands of shrimp in tide pools? What about the ambient noise of both the shallow and deep parts of the ocean? Have you ever considered those, and, more importantly, have you ever considered that what the ocean sounds like can have an impact on everything from conservation to energy to video games? Dr. Heather Spence is the living embodiment of every 90s kids' dream of growing up to become a marine biologist. But unlike most 90s kids, she didn't get there by dreaming of swimming with dolphins. She got there through sound. Dr. Spence is a cellist who became fascinated with the concept of sound in college, and that fascination led her all the way to the depths of the ocean. Now her research is in a curious field called Marine Bioacoustics, and her work is used both by the Department of Energy and video game developers. And lately she's even studying whether the ocean has a memory and how we can access it. We sat down for a conversation spanning the blue depths that make up the majority of our planet's surface. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Matthew Blake, better known as Flamy Grant, is a shame slaying, hip swaying drag queen from the Bible Belt who also happens to be a gospel singer. Her debut album Bible Belt Baby came out in 2022 and largely flew under the radar until she came under fire from a conservative preacher that decided to make her the target of an online hate campaign. The campaign backfired. Big time. Instead of sending the drag queen's gospel album off into obscurity, he put a massive spotlight on it which sent it rocketing up the gospel charts where it peaked at number 1. It should be noted that as of this recording, the album is still sitting comfortably in the top 100 at number 62.  I sat down with Flamy herself to talk gospel music, drag, and figuring out a space where both fit just fine. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Bonnie McKee is a singer, songwriter, director, actor, and world class DIYer. She's written numerous number 1 hits for artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Cher, and Katy Perry. She's also a pop star in her own right, having released the album Trouble, the EP Bombastic, and the single American Girl among many, many other indie hits. After a decade of writing smashes for everyone else in the music business, she's making a return behind the microphone with her much anticipated new album Hot City. We sat down for a conversation about the craft of songwriting, what the critics get wrong about pop music, and what it takes to make it in an industry built around putting people in boxes and keeping them there.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

As a lifelong geek I will preach the good word of all things niche and nerdy to anyone who will listen and even some who won't. I'm the kind of person who strongly believes that a good story can change your entire outlook, that a well-crafted game can be a balm for the soul, and that superheroes can save you even if they aren't real.  But there are a lot of aspects of geek culture that are still seen as far-fetched, laughable, even dangerous by authority figures, especially when it comes to the field of mental health. Geeks, gamers, and other folks with insular or niche interests oftentimes have to spend time explaining fandom dynamics or the concept of internet friendships or why they spend so much time reading and writing fan fiction to people who aren't always welcoming.  Enter Dr. Megan Connell, Licensed Psychologist & Therapeutic Dungeon Master with over a decade of experience in the field. She's an incredibly accomplished therapist, educator, author, and content creator in her own right who has turned her attention to creating a safe space for geeks who want to get serious about their mental health in a space tailored for them. She is the author of the upcoming book Tabletop Role-Playing Therapy.  She is a board member for Geek Therapeutics a training platform that develops professional programs teaching the inclusion of games in clinical practices. Dr. Connell speaks nationally on the intersection of gaming and psychology and on geek culture. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

This show is all about overlooked or misunderstood fields, and in 2023 I can think of no more misunderstood field than that of gender affirming care. It is the boogeyman of every conservative talking head and your transphobic aunt's Facebook feed. There is so much misinformation floating around social media and YouTube, oftentimes masquerading as fact-based or presented by experts.  So I wanted to talk to an expert.  Dr. Ashley Brandt is a board certified OBGYN with a fellowship in gender affirming surgery. She's a queer surgeon who uses her platform to help educate the public about gender affirming care and remove the stigma around those who provide treatment, those who seek it, and those who love them.  We have a broad, frank conversation about the myths and misconceptions of her work, the changes in technology, what it's like working with kids, and where the field is going. Please note that this episode does contain information, but it should not be taken as medical advice or opinion. Here's Dr. Brandt. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

David Archuleta began winning singing contests while many of us were learning how to ride a bike. He won Star Search at the age of 12. When he was 16 he auditioned for American Idol, and by the time it was all over he'd come in second, got a recording contract, and was whirled into a studio to create his debut album and smash single ‘Crush' at the age of 17.  In the blink of an eye he was suddenly in a cohort that featured the Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, and was duking it out in the charts with Rihanna for the number one spot. However, among all of that, he was still trying to be a good Mormon boy, which meant desperately trying to suppress his burgeoning queer identity.  Fresh off a number of tv spots, I sat down with David for a discussion about the perils of the spotlight when you're a child star, finding perspective when the eyes of the world are on you, falling in love with a career you might never have wanted, and the joy of finally living your truth.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Buy me a Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

We are in an era of remakes and reboots and revivals and retellings of stories that were just remade and rebooted and revived and retold less than a decade ago. An era of cinematic universes whose stories sometimes don't feel like they go together, characters that seem to suddenly change in power and personality. Sometimes it can be enough to make even the most chill movie goer wonder where all the new ideas are.     But, this isn't anything new in storytelling. The greek myths are pretty much the blueprint for the modern cinematic universe. The way we tell stories, hero stories, adventure stories, sword and sorcery stories, all stem from the gods of Mt Olympus and the lives they meddled in. The wars they waged and the petty grievances they exacted upon one another.     But these are more than just stories. They're the narrative of a very real people, the history - if often allegorical - of a very real place where these very real people still live. These gods still have worshippers from within that culture all around the world. And, these gods have worshippers from outside of that culture all around the world.     With thousands of years of their own retellings and reimaginings that have taken the stories of Greek gods and heroes out of their culture of origin and sprinkled them about as though they are their own, separate thing. This has led to some struggle as Greek scholars, Greek people, and Greek culture enthusiasts are all colliding in recent years to ask who these gods belong to and who should be centered in the telling of their stories.     Angelo Nasios is one such scholar. He has a Master's Degree in Ancient History, is an author writing about the history and practice of Greek religion, and is the host of the podcast Hearth of Hellenism where he explores this murky intersection in depth. And he is my guest today. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Ryan La Sala is a bestselling, award winning author of multiple queer books. His horror novel, The Honeys, is a love letter to queer folks who thought Clueless and The Craft should have had a crossover film. It was named the best book of 2022 by NPR, New York, public library, school library, journal Barnes & Noble, and publishers weekly. He's currently serving as executive producer on the film adaptation, but he took time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with me about writing in the current book ban climate, the creative process, the draw of horror, and how queerness is a superpower.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

The Writer's Guild of America is currently on strike in a union negotiation that has implications far beyond the city limits of Hollywood. Screenwriter Joshua Conkel (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Dead Boy Detectives) returns to discuss how streaming services are attempting to turn screenwriting into a gig economy job, why in the new "golden age of television" isn't so golden, and how AI became a central talking point. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Charles Lu is a Canadian fashion designer whose work has been seen in London, Dubai, and on the hit Netflix show Next In Fashion with Tan France. The child of Vietnamese refugees, he knew his entire life he was going to be a fashion designer. He will make you rethink your relationship to hoodies, and he is my guest today.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

96% of Americans claim to love cheese, according to one survey. The same survey said our love of cheese outranks our love of coffee, social media, national pride, and even our beloved cell phones. Americans' favorite dish? Mac & cheese. Almost every type of cuisine on the planet features at least one type of cheese. But what do we really know about this most beloved of foods? Emilia D'Albero calls herself the CEO of Cheesetok, and for good reason. Her educational videos showcasing the history, preparation, storage, and myth busting of cheese have been seen by millions of people. I sat down with the cheesemonger herself for a deep dive discussion to ask all the questions even I never knew I wanted answers to about this most supreme of foods.  For a brief time only, get signed copies of my book ‘while I wait to be a god again' here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/784773093/while-i-wait-to-be-a-god-again-signed Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Clarkesworld magazine is a publisher of short form science fiction with the distinction of providing its prospective authors a quick turnaround on submissions. This uniqueness is compounded by the fact that, unlike most other similar publications, the magazine is always open to submissions. All of that changed earlier this year when the Neil Clarke, the founder of Clarkesworld, made international headlines for closing submissions down for the first time in the magazine's decades-long history. Why? Because of ChatGPT.  I sat down with Neil to have a deep dive discussion about how legacy media is evolving with technology and accessibility, how the sudden onslaught of chatbot generated content has transformed the submission process, and where science fiction goes from here.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Chances are if you have a racist aunt with access to social media, you've come across the term DEI a lot lately. It's the new conservative boogeyman. It's the reason why SVB closed. The reason why drag queens read books to kids. And it's what happens when big companies get dragged on social media for being run almost exclusively by cisgender, heterosexual white men making 7-figures a year. But what is DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - education? Why has it become so synonymous with corporate training? What are its uses, if any, in the world at large? Tanorria Askew has spent decades as a passionate advocate for DEI, creating or consulting on a number of programs for an even larger number of companies. She's seen what happens when DEI training is done well, done poorly, and what promise it holds for future workers. She's also an accomplished chef - you may have seen her face alongside Gordon Ramsay on MasterChef. She's combined her background in DEI and her time in the kitchen to create Unity Tables - "a safe space for women of different races, cultures, and backgrounds to sit around a dinner table and share their heart as a way to create unity". Look for her cookbook Staples + 5: 100 Simple Recipes to Make the Most of Your Pantry everywhere books are sold. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

The internet allows all sorts of people to come together to share their love of musicians, actors, tv shows and movies, and...anything. Everything. There are communities who share a love even specific characters from a book series, and I've even recently come across a diehard community of people who share a specific love of Uncrustables - a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich snack.  But what happens when fandoms go too far? What happens when a group of people with a lot of big feelings, access to all sorts of personal information, and the anonymity of a screen name decide to turn on you? That's when fandom gets extreme.  I spoke to illustrator and researcher Sam Aburime about the rise of Extreme Fandoms. Sam kindly provided resources for you to use as a springboard if this topic interests you: Further Published Reading on Anti-Fans: "Jonathan Gray describes anti-fans as those who 'strongly dislike a given text or genre, considering it inane, stupid, morally bankrupt and/or aesthetic drivel' (Gray 2003, 70). He also acknowledges that 'fans can become anti-fans of a sort when an episode or part of a text is perceived as harming a text as a whole' (73). However, as his contribution to this collection discusses, anti-fan practices are varied and take a number of different forms." (Williams, 2020, Anti-fandom: Dislike and hate in the digital age) Symposium specifically related to Antis: Aburime, Samantha. 2021. "The Cult Structure of the American Anti." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.2147. Wikis:‘Anti-Shipper', (2023), Fanlore Wiki, May 12, https://fanlore.org/wiki/Anti-shipper Books & Articles: Click, M. A. (ed.), (2020), Anti-fandom: Dislike and hate in the digital age, New York: New York University Press. Gray, J. (2022), Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste, NYU Press. Gray, J. (2003), ‘New Audiences, New Textualities: Anti-Fans and Non-Fans.' International Journal of Cultural Studies, 6 (1), pp.64–81 https://books.google.com/books/about/Cultish.html?id=L-n8DwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Voice acting brings life to everything from corporate training videos to tearjerker holiday commercials to your favorite characters in animated movies or video games. But the daily grind isn't as easy as sitting down and reading a few lines. Tawny Platis is a lifelong actress who has found recent success behind the microphone, and she guides us through what it takes to make it in the cutthroat world of microphone jockeys.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

I think you should confront the things you fear. Not me, of course, but you definitely should. I hear it's great therapy. Me? I talk to experts about the things that I fear, and I cannot think of a creature that inspires for fear, misunderstanding, and general "icky" feelings than bats. But, maybe that's because I don't know enough about them. Alyson Brokaw is a behavioral ecologist and bat scientist who earned her PhD from Texas A&M University. She's a passionate advocate for not only education, but navigating the world around us. (Literally, her dissertation was on how bats use their sense of smell to navigate.) She uses her social media platform to teach the public about the fascinating truth behind one of the world's most maligned creatures.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

What's the difference between myths, legends, and folklore? Or...is there a difference?  The winter holiday season is chock full of magic and monsters and bits of folklore abounding in everything from the colors of the season to the foods that we eat. Folklore itself - as a topic of study and discussion - has had a bit of a moment this year. Plenty of voices have made a bit of a name for themselves bringing folklore to the masses via social media, but there's a lot of nuance when you scratch the surface of the topic.  So, I talked to my very favorite folklorist, Dr. Cory Hutcheson, about the study of folklore, its misconceptions, and what it teaches us about cultures past and present. We also talked about comic book mythology and what has to happen for the stories of today to become the folklore of tomorrow. Find out more about Cory on his podcast, New World Witchery, or by picking up his book of the same name. Brief housekeeping note: I'll be taking January off from producing new shows. Look for new episodes of Head On Fire in February 2023! Happy New Year everyone! Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

We know Christmas today as a time of Santa in a red suit flying around delivering presents. We know it as a festive holiday filled with plenty of food and gift-giving and light. However, throughout history, this time of year was a pretty dark time filled with mischievous spirits and ghost stories. On this throwback episode that originally aired in 2019 I speak with art historian Susan Owens, author of The Ghost: a cultural history, about how ghosts were seen throughout the centuries and how they became the specters we know today.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

"Didn't he just put out an episode about quantum physics?" you might be asking yourself. First of all, shut up. Second of all, yes. Yes I did, BUT when you come across an expert who can correct Hank Green on quantum entanglement and help me understand basic tenets of quantum physics using a pair of socks, YOU DO ANOTHER SHOW ABOUT QUANTUM PHYSICS.  Caroline R.Z. is a multitalented educator who uses her platform to discuss issues of culture, finance, physics, and gaming. (Just don't give her chicken in pasta.) If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Everyone is scared of "The Talk". We avoid it by using phrases like "the birds and the bees" instead of proper names for our bodies. Parents hope the schools do it but don't want the schools to do it and if the schools do it anyway they want to teach kids not to do..."it". And I get it. The intersection of sex education and children is uncomfortable, especially these days when children are being used as footballs by people who are more interested in scoring political points than making their lives safer and better. Not to mention the fact that when The Talk does happen, it tends to exclude folks belonging to LGBTQ+ or disabled communities.  Enter Kathleen Hema. She's a sex educator with multiple advanced degrees and years of experience teaching children, adolescents, teens, and young adults. These days she's helping parents and kids find better ways to have The Talk through social media and her fun, informative videos. We have a deep dive discussion that will, hopefully, help you get comfortable with this uncomfortable topic.  Not that I think it needs to be said, but this is a frank discussion of sex education. Correct names for body parts, discussions of sex, and other related topics will come up.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

By now you're probably aware there's a new Ant-Man movie on the way in the Marvel Cinematic Universe called Quantumania. In the MCU and other science fiction media, the word "quantum" gets thrown around quite a bit.  Why can you teleport? Quantum physics. Why can you shrink to the size of an atom? Quantum mechanics. Why can you walk through walls or travel the multiverse or bring someone back from the dead? Quantum entanglement. Quantum computing. Quantum. Quantum. Quantum.  At this point the word "quantum" paired with just about any other word is a stand-in for something like "science magic". It's the label slapped on a bit of plot to explain why the protagonist can do the thing. But this type of slapdash explanation isn't relegated to the silver screen.  Films like 'What the BLEEP do we know?' and books like 'The Secret' all maintain that our thoughts affect the world around us. The phrase "thoughts are things" gets bandied about. Oftentimes this is called the "Law of Attraction", or whatever you think about most often tends to show up in your life. These days other buzzwords float around and occupy similar space. Affirmations. Manifestation. And why does any of this work? Quantum physics. Quantum mechanics. Quantum entanglement. Quantum. Quantum. Quantum.  I'm no physicist, but I know enough about marketing to know that the same word cannot possibly mean all of these things at the same time. Or could it? I'm no physicist after all. Perhaps it can? I wanted to ask an expert.  Jed Buchwald studied physics and science history at Princeton University, and earned a PhD from Harvard in 1974. He taught at the University of Toronto for two decades, where he spent a year as the director of that university's Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Buchwald then became the director of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology and the Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Caltech in 2001. He has authored or co-authored six books in the history of science and, more recently, on the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. He edits or co-edits three book series for Springer, one for MIT, and two journals. Buchwald is a member of the American Philosophical Society, a member of the International Academy of the History of Science, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also a MacArthur Fellow (1995) and a Killam Fellow (1990–1991). Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Everyone has those stories from their childhood that are a mix of things that happened and things that didn't happen. This is one of mine.  It is a story of death and grief and loss and how a child processes those things.  But, it is also a story of an imaginary friend, a mostly forgotten Greek myth, and the stories families tell about themselves.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Dr. Eva Burke returns to provide an education on the value and cultural significance of horror movies.  Dr. Eva Burke is a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, and she both studies and teaches pop culture, genre fiction, crime novels, and, of course, horror. The official Head On Fire Horror Watchlist: Black Christmas (1974) Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) The Fly (1986) Candyman (1992) Audition (1999) Lake Mungo (2008) Suspiria (2018) Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Poetry has a weird reputation in literature. I cannot think of a time when it felt cool to like poetry. All sorts of other genres and styles of writing have had their heyday - seriously who would've thought that "dinosaur smut" would bring in such big bucks? - but poetry seems continually relegated to being that thing you had to get through back in school. Taylor Mali has been on a mission to transform the way we think about, read, listen to, and consider poetry. He has been featured in Russell Simmons' Def Poetry, as well as the documentaries SlamNation and Slam Planet. He has shared stages with Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg. He's published several books and been featured in even more anthologies, and he took time out of all that to have a conversation with me about bad poetry, good poetry, and all the poetry you aren't reading but should be. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

When you're into crystals as a kid that - at least for me - takes the form of "rock on the side of the road pretty, must take home". When you're into crystals as an adult it comes with all this extra baggage. What's the name of the crystal in your hand? Where does it come from? How much child labor went into getting it out of the ground and into your hands? Does it actually cure my migraines? Yinan Wang is a geologist and children's book writer. He is currently studying potential uses of new technology to aid the field of paleontology. He stopped by to have a conversation about the science and salesmanship behind pretty rocks. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

Ola Ojewumi is a force of nature. When she was nine she learned she had a rare heart condition and by eleven she was faced with undergoing kidney and heart transplants. She grew up navigating a complex world of intersectional privilege and challenge which was only exacerbated when, as a young adult, she was diagnosed with cancer and soon after became a wheelchair user.  She's a fierce advocate for the disabled community, having worked with Lady Gaga, Nancy Pelosi, Cory Booker, Steny Hoyer, and Barack Obama. She accomplishes more before breakfast than I do in an entire year. Today, she gives us a look at disability advocacy, the lyrical dust up involving Beyonce and Lizzo, and choosing our words more thoughtfully. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

You might have at one time said something like “I think if we ever met, I'd be really good friends with Dolly Parton.” Or thought if Chris Evans happened to come into the cafe where you work, he'd definitely go out with me.  Have you ever heard of a parasocial relationship? The term was created in 1956 by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl to describe a unique one-sided relationship in which a member of an audience believes a person they see on tv or social media is their close personal friend. That they're in a relationship with that person. I'm not talking about imagining meeting a celebrity in real life and then striking up a genuine friendship like in my initial examples, but believing that right now - without ever having met - you are in an intimate relationship of some kind.  These days social media has made all of these lines even more blurred. A celebrity liking a tweet or a famous author answering your question. Television, social media, these have given us ways to carry celebrities around in our pockets, to give us a false sense of intimacy with people we've never met. When parasocial relationships stay in the realm of hypothetical, or perhaps even in something like passionate adoration, that's fine. That's not a crime. But some people take it too far. They believe celebrities, influencers, authors, actors owe them something. Parasocial relationships have a proven link to negative body image issues, increased aggression, and a whole host of problematic behaviors all stemming from this one-sided false intimacy.  If you're a creative person who puts their work out for public consumption, there's one additional layer to consider. Ownership. Creative people - writers, actors, painters, etc - aren't just known as themselves, but as their work, too. And, as a result of parasocial interactions and the general toxic discourse existing in various corners of the internet, there are those folks out in the world who feel a sense of ownership over that creative person's work and career. They feel personally invested in its trajectory, taking losses as personal, and oftentimes expressing that they are owed something for wins and successes.  Meg Elison is an author who knows this terrain all too well, and she wrote about it in her new book Number One Fan. It's a breakdown of how social media blurs barriers between creator and audience, emboldens parasocial interactions, and acts as a cautionary tale for anyone who has ever summoned up a stranger by pressing a few buttons on their phone and then gotten into their car. While the story itself is fiction, the events inside it can be seen paralleled in news headlines on a weekly basis. Since recording this interview I can think of at least 3 times when I read or heard a story that shared shocking similarity to the plot being relayed by young women simply existing out in the world. This is a conversation about one-sided relationships, the specter of Stephen King, book consumption culture, niche internet communities, and who owns a creator's work once it is out in the world.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeadOnFirePod

We love talking about food, but we have a tough time talking about eating. For some reason we are allowed to almost fetishize food, salivating over perfectly aesthetic photos of food but the moment that food touches our lips we are judged for it. And, naturally, the more layers of intersectional oppression you experience, the more you are judged for your food choices.   Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. Her research explores the ways in which Black people engage their material worlds, especially with food and food cultures as well as historical legacies of race and gender (mis)representation. She has conducted extensive research throughout the United States in this area using intersectionality, cultural studies, popular culture, and more to inform our understanding of these phenomena. She is the author of the new book Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you. Hate ads? Consider joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod

Writing is a special kind of solitary torture. The only thing about it anyone ever sees is the end result, the finished, published work resting on shelves. In today's booktok culture, books are consumed at lightning speed and reviewers rush to deliver the most controversial hot take they can think of for engagement. Years of a person's life are spent writing the stories that become our blockbuster movies or our summer beach reads. Years spent alone in a room somewhere with a pen and paper or a keyboard tapping out scenes and dialogue only to scrap it all later and rewrite. Creating work, toiling over its perfection, and then navigating social media to spread the word is all part of the job of a writer these days, on top of all the other actual work the author must do to create something special. It's agony. It's glorious. And, for some, it's incredibly rewarding.  Ayana Gray's debut novel, Beasts of Prey, did something few debut authors achieve: it hit the New York Times bestseller list. Her follow up, Beasts of Ruin, is poised to do the same. (It's out today.) We sat down for a discussion on the work of writing, how that job has expanded, navigating how much of ourselves we give away, and how much we get to keep.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

Would you make a good cult leader? If not you, then you probably know someone who would. We're fascinated by cults. It seems like every day a new docuseries is dropped on some streaming service or podcast platform about yet another cult out there in the world taking people's time, energy, or money.  Jennings Brown is an investigative journalist with a penchant for investigating cults. He's reported on Teal Swan, the Fellowship of Friends, as well as a number of conspiracy theories, algorithm blackholes, scam artists, and assorted ways people prey on others. We have a discussion about what it takes to not only investigate cults and cult leaders but what it takes to simply be a journalist in the sociopolitical climate of 2022.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you. Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod

Pre-K pause. If you've been online in any capacity in the last year, that phrase probably conjures up the face of Tell Williams. He was a pre-K teacher for 9 years before resigning to pursue a Master's in social work. Along the way he accidentally found viral fame when a video he posted about the realities of being a teacher hit the algorithm jackpot. He's gone on to try his hand at stand-up comedy, being the face of a nail polish brand, and even act in the new show The Book of Queer that just premiered on Discovery+. Despite sitting atop the influencer game, we had a lengthy conversation about his offline life. What it means to be a visibly queer, visibly BIPOC teacher right now when every news cycle seems to both praise teachers and vilify them. What it means for content to be “age appropriate”, and just how much our kids actually understand at a young age. I do want to warn you, we do touch on the subject of school shootings, though we do not go into specific details about any one shooting, however if that topic is sensitive for you at this time please listen with care.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you. Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

Lots of people have lots to say about the Bible. Loads of conspiracy theories exist about it. Whether it's conspiracy theories about its creation, or lost books that didn't make the cut, or obscure interpretations seen by a select few as prophecy about our modern world, not a day goes by that someone, somewhere isn't holding the Bible up to the light and seeing if we missed anything.    Beyond that, so-called biblical literalism has been the basis of support for a lot of pretty heinous parts of our country's past and present. From regulating the sale of alcohol to vilifying interracial marriage and queer identity to demonizing immigrants to supporting slavery, supposed biblical scholars have found a way to twist the Bible in such a way that it is a timeless scapegoat for current hatred.    All of this turns a lot of people off from not just modern Christianity, but of religion in general. Few scholars wish to use their time, energy, and knowledge to combat the misinformation and vitriol online. But, thankfully, my guest today does just that.    Dan McClellan is a scripture translation supervisor for the LDS church, with a PhD in theology and religion. He ran for the State Senate as a Democrat in Utah. He is a fierce ally of the queer community, a debunker of conspiracy theories, and a Marvel fan. We had a lot to talk about.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

Witchcraft and magical practice has been an indelible part of the human experience throughout recorded history. Wherever there are people, there are people practicing magic. It shows up in all sorts of places: tv shows, fantasy novels, and the strange shop on the corner that smells of incense and has shelves lined with crystals. But what if I told you there is an actual, formal discipline of study when it comes to the history and practice of magic?   Owen Davies is a professor of history at the University of Hertfordshire whose career has been spent largely researching witchcraft, magic, and ghosts. He is the president of The Folklore Society in the UK, and the author of - as of this recording - 16 publications on the subject. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the study of witchcraft, and he took some time to chat with me about witch trials, the fact and fiction of real witches, and, of course, Taylor Swift.   If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Connect with me on social media @headonfirepod everywhere. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

Early mornings and late sunsets are a hallmark of the summer season. The extra warmth and daylight is a blessing for many of us that live in areas where it is cold, dark, and wet or frozen for much of the year. It is a time of year that calls many of us to go out in search of high mountaintops or deep canyons, verdant forests, and untouched landscapes. To get back to nature. But getting back to nature isn't without its pitfalls, which is where my guest today comes in.    Diana Helmuth is the author of How to Suffer Outside, a humorous guide for the beginning backpacker or hiker who would love to experience the great outdoors while keeping the agony to a minimum.    Diana also graciously sent along a list of organizations specifically operated and aimed at people who are queer, women, or people of color who want to seek out more resources or engage with the outdoors near you!  KweenWerk SheColorsNature (also great for advice for parents!) OutdoorAfro BrownPeopleCamping LatinoOutdoors WildDiversity UnlikelyHikers If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524  

Do you want to see a dead body? How about two? Would you like to see 1-2 dead bodies every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the next 20, 30, 40 years? If you said yes, you might have what it takes to do the job of my guest on today's episode of Head On Fire.  The preparation and care for our dead is not just a sacred rite, or a taboo subject, but for folks like Temple Ruff it's a job. One that isn't without its perks, I mean how much more job security can you get than death, right? Temple is a mortician and funeral director, and today she helps us scratch the surface on what it means to care for our bodies after we're done using them.  Temple Ruff is also the founder and COO of Idun Ruth, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help all those in her local North Carolina community who need access to personal sanitation items - such as diapers or menstrual products - get them. Idun Ruth offers inclusivity and anonymity to all. Please consider supporting this important local organization.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Connect with me on social media @headonfirepod everywhere.   Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

How much does the marketing industry know about you? You, specifically. Sure, you've heard all the horror stories - or maybe you've lived it - in which you're thinking about Pop Tarts and suddenly you see an ad on social media for Pop Tarts. That's freaky, right? But marketing existed long before the advent of modern technology and still seemed to somehow catch the pulse of what we all wanted to consume. Or did it? Maybe the truth about marketing isn't that it is reacting to what you're seeing or hearing, rather it is shaping it, shaping you. Helping you tell stories of how your life might look if you purchased this candy, went to see that movie, or, in the case of the United States, took this prescription medication.  Or perhaps you've seen an ad that seemed so incredibly ill-advised you wonder...how many people had to look at this ad and ignore all the blatantly problematic visuals or ad copy before it was sent out in the world? How many people thought this was a good idea?  Hayley Grant is a VP of Strategy for VaynerMedia, one of the country's largest and most influential marketing firms. She sat down for a deep dive conversation about the realities of the marketing industry. There were no topics off the table. We discussed how marketers decide who a product or service is for, how they develop a marketing strategy for them, and how they make us want things we didn't ever think we'd want. We discussed the taboos of pharmaceutical marketing and whether the US should change tactics to match the rest of the world. And, we discussed which piece of media the marketing industry is most like. (Hint: it's not Mad Men.) If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing regularly by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Connect with me on social media @headonfirepod everywhere.   Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524  

"Grief is a feeling made of feelings," says Mahlakai Rose, a death doula and co-founder of The House of Grief. We are all thinking about death lately. How we want to die, where and with whom we want to spend our final moments, and what we'd like to happen afterwards. But given how much our lives have changed in the last few years, we're also becoming clued in to the fact that death and grief happen more often than we'd like to think.  We die little deaths throughout our lives. Unexpected loss of a job. Moving across the country. The end of a cherished friendship. Mal has a lot to teach us about dealing with grief and demystifying the role of a death doula in both our deaths and lives.  Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

There's this urge to turn yourself into a brand online. No matter how specific your interests are, no matter how tiny you think the niche is, social media compels you to believe that if you want to participate in that culture you must become a copy of those who came before you.   If you come online hoping to research anything - how to be a writer, how to organize your home, how to exercise - you are instantly bombarded with people who are not only far more advanced at that thing than you are, but they've cultivated their social media presence in such a way that you think the only way to get where you want to go is to buy what they're selling. Surely they have the secret, right?    Minimalism is a movement that is quite literally about living with less, and yet if you go online to research minimalism you'll soon find that people are more than happy to sell you lots and lots of things in order to become a minimalist. Minimalist home organization supplies. Minimalist tables. Minimalist jewelry. Minimalist…refrigerators? (I googled it and the first search result is $4600.) Slap a branded label on it and suddenly you can sell a “minimalist decorative branch” for $250…for a stick you are going to lean in a corner of your room as decoration.    Christine Platt is an expert on minimalism, personal branding, and navigating this uncomfortable confluence of authentic exploration and capitalism. She's the author of The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less, and she says there's a way to live with less without buying more. It's all about creating an intentional life.    Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524

The last two years of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic have forced a lot of people to take stock of what is important to them. For many that has meant assessing whether they're in the right career or whether it's time to take a chance on forging a path for themselves. That's what Nikk Alcaraz - an actor, food artist, and DIY craft maker - did. He created Practical Peculiarities, a content creation brand under which Alcaraz inspires people to add a bit of magic into their dinner menus or around their home. If you haven't heard the name before you've surely seen one of his many viral videos. Hear how he took the skills he learned from his previous jobs and lifelong passions and turned them all into a magical career of his own making. 

What's important to you? What do you value? What makes you happy?  No matter how you answered I want to know: would your answers change if you were telling your significant other? A work acquaintance? Your boss? If I were there right now with a microphone and camera asking you on the record, would any of those answers change?    The answer is…probably…yes. Right? Yes, of course, we don't tell our bosses everything about our off-hours lives. We don't tell our coworkers all the smutty shows we watch or tell our relatives about the things we enjoy that we don't really want grandma asking us about around a holiday table.    I'm speaking, of course, about guilty pleasures. The bits of pop culture that are considered silly, juvenile, and are often spoken of with derision. Reality television. Pop music. Fashion trends. It is rare that these bits of culture are seen as areas of legitimate interest, and rarer still when they are given serious study and consideration.    My guest today hopes to change the discourse around so-called guilty pleasures. Her name is Dr. Eva Burke. She's a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, and she both studies and teaches pop culture. We open our discussion on the topic of guilty pleasures, and Dr. Burke had quite a lot to say on the matter. Social links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headonfirepod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/headonfirepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headonfirepod   Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonfirepod   Subscribe to the Head On Fire podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/head-on-fire/id337689333 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qTYYhCLMdFc4PhQmSL1Yh?si=5387b774ed6e4524  

An all too common problem for anyone in a creative field is other people's opinions. The folks who look over your shoulder and tell you that you should've painted something blue instead of red. The folks who take years of your life's work and turn it into bumper sticker commentary for easy engagement on social media. The alleged fans of a show that seem to take glee in tearing apart the thing they profess to love and ruining the lives of those who make it.  My guest today knows this intimately, having written for some of the biggest shows to come on Netflix in recent years. Joshua Conkel is a screenwriter behind some of your favorite scenes in shows like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and A Series of Unfortunate Events. We sat down to discuss the perils of listening to other people's opinions, deciding whose opinions matter and whose don't, how consumers of media feel a sense of entitlement and ownership of that media, and how to create through all that noise.  If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Share it with your friends on social media. You can also like, rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review. Reviews help recommend the show to other listeners like you.   Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by joining my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and a monthly book club! Sign up at Patreon.com/headonfirepod. Or if a one-time donation is more your speed, you can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/headonfirepod.   Connect with me on social media @headonfirepod everywhere.

A promotional trailer for Head On Fire.  "Seek illumination the way a man with his head on fire seeks water."  That's the ethos behind Head On Fire, a new podcast featuring deep dive conversations with experts in interesting, often overlooked fields. It's a search for meaning and answers to life's biggest and smallest questions. Join me, author and host Don Martin, every other week as we discuss everything from climate change and reproductive Justice to the cultural importance of reality television or the value of believing in monsters.  Head On Fire, every other week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Coming February 2022.