Podcasts about ghost church

Comedian, podcaster, author, and all-around delightful celebrity Jamie Loftus is in the process of rediscovering her love of NeoPets. She values the lessons they taught her about the stock market, war preparation, and the complexities of a capital-driven economy. She also likes that the electronic pets are impossible to kill. It's true, all you can do is completely, devastatingly bum them out. Listen to Jamie as she grapples with the liminal zones between pets, NeoPets, wake, and sleep. Then sleep.Listen to Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) and The Bechdel Cast, as well as Jamie Loftus's various podcast miniseries, wherever fine pods are cast. Learn more about Jamie and her book Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs at her website, www.JamieLoftus.xyz.Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you'd like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber? Email us at: sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org.Follow the Show on:Instagram @sleepwcelebsBluesky @sleepwithcelebsTikTok @SleepWithCelebsJohn is on Bluesky @JohnMoeJohn's acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.Join | Maximum FunIf you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you're the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member. 

Hi, Ghost Church listeners! iHeartPodcasts has geared up for a riveting new podcast called The Legend of SwordQuest. Hosted by Jamie Loftus, The Legend of SwordQuest started as a promotion for a new Atari game that would become one of the most controversial moments in ‘80s pop culture, with a central mystery that's consumed fans for decades: what happened to the missing SwordQuest prizes? Don't just take our word for it, though. Check out this trailer and start listening now! Listen to The Legend of SwordQuest on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we have the first of many programs from the 2024 American Writers Festival for you. In this episode, comedians Jamie Loftus and Chelsea Hood talk about Chicago hot dogs, comedy writing, and Jamie's cross-country journey to write Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs. Moderated by food writer David Hammond. This conversation originally took place May 19, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About the panelists: DAVID HAMMOND is the Dining and Drinking Editor for Newcity/Chicago, and a regular contributor of food/beverage-related articles to Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Men's Book, Plate, Wednesday Journal, and Where Chicago. Between 2010-2014, he wrote weekly “Food Detective” and “What to Do With” columns for Chicago Sun-Times; since 2010 he has written weekly restaurant and product reviews for Wednesday Journal. CHELSEA HOOD is a stand up comedian living in Chicago, IL by way of the comedy scenes in both Dallas, TX and Brooklyn, NY. You may have seen her on WGN, The CW Network's Eye Opener, or CW33's Nightcap. She was also featured on Stand Up Records' “Texas Mess” album recorded at SXSW. She was most frequently featured performer at Limestone Comedy Festival, one of eight chose as the Best of the Midwest at Gilda's LaughFest and a Comic to Watch at RIOT LA. JAMIE LOFTUS is a comedian, Emmy-nominated TV writer, and podcaster. She wrote and starred in her own web series for Comedy Central. She regularly works on viral videos for Super Deluxe. She has credits in The New Yorker, Playboy Magazine, VICE, Reductress, Paste Magazine, and many more. She writes and hosts popular limited-run podcasts—"My Year In Mensa" (2019), "Lolita Podcast" (2020), "Aack Cast" (2021), and "Ghost Church" (2022)—and cohosts, with screenwriter Caitlin Durante, a podcast on the How Stuff Works Network called "the Bechdel Cast."

Hi, Ghost Church fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, We the Unhoused — Created by Theo Henderson with the goal of uplifting voiceless citizens. The show provides an intimate look at the unhoused experience that began while Theo was living on the streets of LA for over eight years.  Listen here and subscribe to We the Unhoused on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamie Loftus (comedian, writer) returns to the show for a monumental 250th trip around the BP solar system, and perhaps unsurprisingly, we delve into her recent past in the world of hot dogs, as she gets extremely worried she's going to get blocked by hot dog eating legend Joey Chestnut after writing about him in her great book, "Raw Dog". It's a beautiful story that she's so eager to tell, she tells it during the social media update portion of the show. But who cares! It's a great episode that John is forced to record at a "podcast bar" in Calgary as he completed his move but his house does not yet have internet. We spend an awful lot of time discussing that situation, as well as Brockton, Massachusetts' own Rocky Marciano and the 24-foot statue devoted to him in his (and Jamie's) hometown, prompting a brief guest appearance from Jamie's dad, sportswriter Mike Loftus, in the form of a note to help place his career among the boxing greats. Plus, Stefan finally gets a great promoted post and we discuss vitamin overdoses and Mario Kart. If you want to overdose on Vitamin BP (Blocked Party), you can head on over to patreon.com/blockedparty, where $5/month gets you access to THREE bonus episodes every dang month. Coming out this week, Stefan made his triumphant return to the stand-up stage after a 13-year absence, and Dan captured the whole thing on video for your enjoyment. John's set will be on there too. Plus, Stefan Takes an L returns this month, and a donation gets you merch discounts, access to our Discord, and access to our entire back catalogue, which is over 100 episodes. Overdose indeed! Jamie Loftus is a comedian, writer, and podcaster, whose bestselling book, Raw Dog, is out now. You can also listen to her weekly on the Bechdel Cast, or listen to any one of her critically-acclaimed podcast series, the most recent of which was Ghost Church. You can follow her on Twitter at @jamieloftusHELP and on Instagram at @jamiechristsuperstar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one has it all: the afterlife, encyclopedia salesmen, evil stepmothers, Kickapoo princesses, New Yorkers with more money than sense, the Empress Alexandra, bigamy and fraud, ghost farts and spirit chickens. https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/a-good-thing-to-die-by/ Key sources for this episode include Mary E. Cadwallader's "Mary S. Vanderbilt: A Twentieth Century Seer", Mira Ptacin's "The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna", Phineas T. Barnum's "Humbugs of the World", and contemporary newspaper reports. This is What We Found: https://thisiswhatwefound.libsyn.com/ Ghost Church: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-ghost-church-by-jamie-lof-95721611/ Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/ Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/orderjackalope Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

Summer cometh: the grills get scraped clean, the buns are split, and hungry Americans get set to boil or broil their wursts, wieners, and sausages. In the summer of 2021, Jamie Loftus drove from coast to coast, tasting the vast array of hot dogs that America has to offer, consuming as many as four a day—and in one notable (or regrettable) instance, five. Chicago-style and the Coney Island special; drive-through and deli; chili and chile: Loftus devoured them all. Her ensuing book, Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs, brings the glory and the gory. It may be the first to detail not only the different genders of pickle jars one can buy at a gas station, but also the horrific treatment of animals and workers at slaughterhouses, conditions that got distinctly worse during the pandemic. Loftus—stand-up comedian, TV writer, and creator of such illustrious one-season podcasts as “My Year in Mensa” and “Ghost Church”—joins us to talk about the wild world of that iconic American food. Go beyond the episode:Jamie Loftus's Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot DogsProPublica's exposé of the meatpacking industry during Covid revealed awful conditions, and government collusionDelight your senses with PBS's classic A Hot Dog ProgramVisit our episode page for a list of the varieties mentioned in this episode Loftus's top five dogs are:Rutt's Hut in Clifton, New JerseyHot Dog Ruiz Los Chipilones in Tucson, ArizonaKing Jong Grillin in Portland, OregonThe hot dog carts across the street from the Crypto.com Arena, or near Union Station in Los Angeles, CaliforniaTexas Tavern in Roanoke, VirginiaTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you'd like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary This time on Live Like the World is Dying, we're talking about something crucial to surviving the apocalypse: playing games with your friends. And Killing God Kings. That's right, we have an actual play recording of us playing Penumbra city, the TTRPG that we've been working on over at Strangers for…a very long time. We are sharing this session of us playing the game in order to get you excited about our KICKSTARTER for the game, which is currently live. Right now! Unless it's no longer June 2023. So, before you listen to this recording go to www.kickstarter.com/projects/penumbra-city/penumbra-city Join a Doggirl, an Occultust, a Rat King, and a Patchworker as they investigate a string of disappearances including someone's missing date.  Find your friends. Live like the God King is dying. We will have a normal Live Like the World is Dying episode out this week as well. Guest Info Margaret Killjoy: World Designer. On Twitter @magpiekilljoy or IG @MargaretKilljoy Jamie Loftus: Host of Ghost Church. On Twitter @JamieLoftusHELP of IG @JamieChristSuperstar Bea Flowers: The Voice of Penumbra City. On IG @Crimebrulee Robin Savage: Game Ilustrator on IG @Missrobinsavage Inmn Neruin: Game Designer on IG @shadowtail.artificery Publisher This podcast is published by Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org or on Twitter @tangledwild. You can support this show by subscribing to our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness Our Kickstarter for Penumbra City can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penumbra-city/penumbra-city Host The Host is Inmn Neruin. You can find them on instagram @shadowtail.artificery Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

Summary This time on Strangers we have something very exciting on the channel! We have an actual-play recording of Penumbra City, the TTRPG that we've been working on over at Strangers for a very long time. We are sharing this session of us playing the game in order to get you excited about our KICKSTARTER for the game, which is currently live right now! Unless it's no longer June 2023. So, before you listen to this recording go to: www.kickstarter.com/projects/penumbra-city/penumbra-city Join a Doggirl, an Occultust, a Rat King, and a Patchworker as they investigate a string of disappearances including someone's missing date. Find your friends. Kill the God King. Guest Info Margaret Killjoy: World Designer. On Twitter @magpiekilljoy or IG @MargaretKilljoy Jamie Loftus: Host of Ghost Church. On Twitter @JamieLoftusHELP of IG @JamieChristSuperstar Bea Flowers: The Voice of Penumbra City. On IG @Crimebrulee Robin Savage: Game Ilustrator on IG @Missrobinsavage Inmn Neruin: Game Designer on IG @shadowtail.artificery Publisher This podcast is published by Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org or on Twitter @tangledwild. You can support this show by subscribing to our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness Our Kickstarter for Penumbra City can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penumbra-city/penumbra-city Host The Host is Inmn Neruin. You can find them on instagram @shadowtail.artificery Reader The reader is Bea Flowers. It can be found at https://www.voices.com/profile/beaflowers Theme music The theme song was written and performed by Margaret Killjoy. You can find her at http://birdsbeforethestorm.net or on twitter @MagpieKilljoy.

Bro. Erik Peavley preaching live from Still Water Baptist Church “preachers fellowship”

Hi, Ghost Church fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, Internet Hate Machine. Bridget Todd explains how bad actors use the internet to target and silence women, especially Black women. Excluding them from discourse and desensitizing us to sexist, racist attacks makes us all less safe. Bridget talks with women who have been the targets of coordinated attacks, activists who are fighting back, and experts to help break down the deliberate agenda behind it. Listen here and subscribe to Internet Hate Machine on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to October and Halloween on the Smellcast!  To start the month off we have a representation of sc episode 119: Toppie presents -- The history of the Spiritualist movement and the Fox sisters! Mentioned and recommended on today's podcast: Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus Write to Toppie at Smellcast@aol.com. Leave a comment on Toppie's blog!  Follow him on Twitter. Friend Toppie on Facebook by emailing him YOUR FB name and link, then Toppie will find YOU and friend you! Rss feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSmellcast

The Holy Ghost Church

Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, welcome back. We have perhaps never meant it to more??? Keeping Records is all the way back, with the new EJ and the old Shelby and all that record-making you love or hate or agree with or disagree with or tolerate. And could we have asked for a better first guest back than comedian/writer/podcaster-to-the-stars Jamie Loftus? No we could not. Finally all together in the studio, the gang puzzled over some really important questions like: Should you get a pet snake? (No.) Should one have sex with their car? (Only if the car is cool/souped up.) Why is Australia scary but New Zealand not scary? (Unsure.) And other questions that are really worth considering!!! Jamie's Artifacts Jamie's mom's 30th birthday video (Audio-visual) Lemony Snickett Books (Book Series) The Jinx (2015 Documentary Series) The Volcano Couple (Historical Figures) Going to the bathroom right before or after doing something significant and looking in the mirror and being like remember this!!!! (Feeling) The Court Scene From I, Tonya (Film Scene) The Hot Dog episode of How It's Made (Audio-visual) Follow Jamie on Twitter and Instagram be sure to listen to Ghost Church wherever you get your podcasts! Watch the video version of the episode Follow the show @keepingrecordspod Advertise on Keeping Records via Gumball.fm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're seeing this podcast, the universe has a message for you! Don't ignore this sign! Do you talk to the dead? Hit up the tarot deck? Keep crystals in your pockets? Does your spirit guide manifest in a cape? Well you might be a Spiritualist, or at least, might be interested in learning more about this uniquely American religion started in the mid 1840's by two teen girls the night before April Fools Day. Part parlor trick, part grief therapy sesh, part star spangled - if you describe yourself as "not really religious, more spiritual" you're about HALFWAY to becoming an American Spiritualist. Ghost Church podcast host & comedian Jamie Loftus joins V to talk about how the Spiritualist movement got started, influenced presidents, and promoted women's rights. We'll find out what keeps people seeking the truth even after a century of psychic mediums at the center of the religion being "debunked.”   Follow Jamie on Twitter @jamieloftusHELP and Instagram @jamiechristsuperstar Keep up with V on TikTok at @underthedesknews and on Twitter at @VitusSpehar. And stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Right now, in Jamie Loftus's childhood home in Brockton, Mass., there are dozens, maybe hundreds of notebooks in storage boxes. They're from second grade up through middle school and each of the notebooks is filled, cover to cover, with detailed descriptions of where she was and what was happening: who was there, what were they wearing, what was on the walls. The descriptions are all written in a shorthand Jamie developed and that no one else could read. At the time, the adults in her life thought this indicated that she was a budding reporter. But no, it was obsessive-compulsive disorder.Over time, her OCD would evolve into self-harm and put her in the emergency room. That's where she found a doctor who understood her and could help.Today, Jamie stays aware of her OCD tendency as she experiences a booming career in comedy and, yes, journalism, through her stage performances and podcasts. She says that she's able to better control the same world that used to be so much more chaotic.Find out more about Jamie Loftus's podcasts, comedy, videos, and writing on her website JamieLoftus.xyz. Follow Jamie on Twitter @jamieloftusHELP and on Instagram @jamiechristsuperstar.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you're part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

If you want to check of Jamie Loftus' podcasts we highly recommend: Lolita Podcast, My Year In Mensa, and Ghost Church.Write to us! Follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and check out or website. Merch available on Teepublic. We are not in any way associated with the show Criminal Minds, but sure would love to be. Email us at unsubspodcast@gmail.com.Abigail's podcast BSAS. Mac's podcast is YNA: The Podcast. Mac's Blog.Support the show

In the final episode of Ghost Church (for now), Jamie befriends a Cassadaga medium, reads a manifesto, and looks backwards and ahead to where American spiritualism goes from here. Thank you for listening, and abolish the Supreme Court bitch. Find Uncle Dennis Here: http://www.mysticallahan.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, friendly ghosts Caitlin and Jamie discuss Casper and remind you to listen to Jamie's limited series, Ghost Church! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ghost-church-by-jamie-loftus/id1619557591 (This episode contains spoilers) For Bechdel bonuses, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/bechdelcast. Follow @BechdelCast, @caitlindurante and @jamieloftusHELP on Twitter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have to disconnect the idea of good parenting from health and fitness. Because people don’t have a moral imperative to health.You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. Today I am chatting with Amanda Martinez Beck. Amanda is a fat activist, author and host of the Fat and Faithful podcast. She focuses on the ways that fatphobia and ableism have intertwined with American Christian culture. We are discussing Amanda’s second book, More of You: the Fat Girls Field Guide to the Modern World which came out this week.Some news: Beginning with today’s episode, I’m now able to pay every podcast guest a $100 honorarium, to compensate them for their time and labor. This will make it easier for the podcast to center the voices of marginalized folks (a goal I previously discussed here). And our incredible community of Burnt Toast subscribers is making this possible! So thank you so much, if you’re already subscribed, for helping me do this. And if you’re not, but want to hear more conversations like this one, consider joining us. (I also offer comp subscriptions—just email if that would be helpful to you.)PS. If you enjoy this episode, please also subscribe, rate and review us in your podcast player! That’s free and a great way to help more folks find the show. And: I wanted to note that Amanda and I recorded this conversation before news of the Uvalde school shooting broke, so you won’t hear us discuss it, though of course it is now all I can think about. As I said, all too recently, after the Buffalo shooting: Remember that gun reform is now a states issue. Everytown has a website that lets you see — state by state — what the laws are in each state. We know that electing new majorities in our target states will make it possible to pass gun safety legislation. The States Project helped flip Maine in 2018, and were able to deepen that new majority in 2020 — this was an outcome in their 2021 session. So this is, yet again, where the Burnt Toast Giving Circle can do some good. Join us, if you need a place to put your rage. Episode 45 TranscriptVirginiaHi Amanda, I’m so glad to have you on! And big congratulations on the new book. Why don’t we start by having you tell us a little bit about yourself, your work, and your family?AmandaOkay. I am a fat activist. My middle name is Martinez, which alludes to my Cuban background. My dad was a Cuban refugee, so I grew up in a home that was half Latinx, half white. My husband Zachary is a university professor and we have four kids, and they’re in bodies that don’t conform to societal standards, most of them. So I’m doing this work for myself and for my kids. I have a podcast called Fat and Faithful, which talks about fat liberation through a Christian lens. I wrote a new book, which we’re going to talk about. And I have an Instagram, which is called @your_body_is_good. In addition to my body image coaching that I do, that’s the work that I’m doing right now.VirginiaThat’s not a short list of work, so thank you for all of that. We met when I interviewed you for a story on how anti-fat bias was impacting the treatment of fat folks with COVID. You were in early recovery, at that point, from COVID. I would love, if you don’t mind, to talk a little bit about how that’s gone. How are you doing?AmandaI’m doing really well, but it has been a long road. I was hospitalized for 40 days and was on a ventilator for two weeks and lost the ability to walk, in addition to just all the respiratory things that come along with COVID. While I was in the hospital, I encountered fatphobia in some very glaring ways and some very systemic ways—you wrote a whole piece on that. But I am on a good path right now. I have been off of oxygen since October of 2021. I was on oxygen for about a year. My lungs are doing really well. And I have more mobility than I did even before going into the hospital. I credit that to a fabulous doctor who’s taken my post-acute COVID syndrome really seriously, or what we call long COVID, to help me with getting on the right medicines, and specifically, to help with the brain fog, to get on medicine for that, and I feel like a new person. Really.VirginiaI worried about you for a long time. I know there are a lot of us who have been rooting for you. I’m glad to hear you’re in a better place and also so grateful that you did share your story, because it was so important, I think, for us to continue to follow this path, past the initial COVID and through long COVID. I know when you’re in the middle of something like that, I know how much additional labor it is to share that and put that out there, so thank you for doing that. I’m curious to hear a little more about what misconceptions came up the most? What do you still find yourself having to challenge or correct with folks around COVID and weight?AmandaIn the beginning, I felt really guilty for getting COVID because there was definitely a narrative that fat people were at higher risk for developing complications from COVID. Even though those risks were correlated, not necessarily caused by, body size, I always felt like people were blaming me. I got blamed explicitly by people on social media for catching COVID in a fat body. I think that people still believe that fatness is an underlying condition or a precondition to getting COVID—which, it’s not. People of all sizes get COVID complications. And long COVID is affecting all types of people. COVID is an equal opportunity virus.VirginiaWe have so much work to do to reframe that conversation. People want to be able to say like, “Well, I’ll be safe, because I can blame this person for getting it. I don’t have the same risk factors,” or whatever, but it’s such a callous way to approach this global pandemic. AmandaFor sure. Not necessarily connected to weight bias, but I think one other misunderstanding about long COVID is the effect that it has on mental health. You remember watching update videos from me in the hospital, and I go back and watch those now and realize just how impaired COVID had me. I’m also encountering heightened mental illness in long COVID. I think that’s something that’s a part of COVID that people are still not taking seriously, which affects so many aspects of health.VirginiaAnd again, there’s the stigma. Anytime there’s a mental component to it, it’s very easy to stigmatize that as well. Well, somehow, while you’ve been doing both your own recovery work from COVID, and putting the story out in the world, you’ve also been writing a book.AmandaI have. VirginiaSo, let’s talk about that. The new book is called More of You. Tell us what inspired you to write this. I also do want to hear how you got it written during all of this.AmandaThe memory of writing is a bit of a blur, but I have a fantastic editor, who walked me through the process very graciously. So the book is called More of You: the Fat Girl’s Field Guide to the Modern World. Before I had COVID, I realized I’d stumbled through fatness, learning how to exist in my today body and how to take up space. I wished that I’d had some sort of guidebook that could walk through these different things before I had to experience them. And I didn’t have anything like that. And so I wrote More of You to be the guidebook that I wish that I had had, when I was first coming to accept my body and not wanting to take up less space. Specifically, I targeted it towards what I wish I had known in grade school: That I have the right to exist in my body today, that I have the right to take up space, that I have the right to wear what I want, and eat what I want, and that I have the right to compassionate medical care. And just stating those things, what I call The Fat Girl’s Bill of Rights, is transformative for me today. I can’t imagine how transformative it will be for my own children and the children who get to know these truths that their parents are trying to put into practice in their lives. I know that you’re doing that work, too.VirginiaOne of the things I find most valuable about the book is the way you hold fatphobia and ableism accountable for each other. I think this is a common tension in the disability rights and fat rights communities. We often see fat folks leaning into “But I’m healthy” as this defense against anti fat bias. I’ve certainly done it. And I would imagine there may be a parallel experience of wanting to perform being a “good” disabled person through your thinness. And we know that relying on health as this sort of marker of virtue is really problematic. How does this hold us back from making progress on both of these issues?AmandaSo I first encountered the idea of performative fatness, “I’m healthy, so I’m a good performing fat person,” in a web comic by the fat activist Stacey Bias called The Good Fatty Archetypes. And she has a list of 12 different ways that fat people can adapt to their environment to prove that they’re worthy of dignity. And one of them is the Fat Unicorn, where it’s like, “I am just fat even though I exercise all the time. I’m just, you know, a unicorn.”She talks about the different ways that you can perform fitness virtue signaling. And it’s setting up this idea that we have to earn our our position of dignity, to earn respect. That’s really a very capitalistic idea, which Stacy talks about in her comic. We don’t have to earn dignity, we possess inherent dignity. To be able to look at a fat body as morally neutral or even morally good takes digging below those good fatty archetypes of, “but I’m healthy, but I’m an athlete.” In a disabled fat body, there is inherent goodness. So we have to look at how assuming that someone’s health and ability is based on their moral virtue, how that is not a fair assumption. That’s actually ableism. I’m coming from a Christian lens, so we see this in the Christian scripture when there’s a man who was born blind, and the people asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” And Jesus is like, “Neither.” And so I really feel that for a parallel to fatness. It’s not a moral failing of anyone that someone is fat. It just is. And fat people themselves perpetuate this idea that “as long as I’m healthy, it’s okay to be fat.” I say, “If it’s not okay for everyone to be fat, it’s not okay for anyone to be fat.”VirginiaI’m just looking at how Stacy explains the Fat Unicorn here and she says, “What does it mean to seek legitimacy for the fat body on the basis of its capacity for health? Who gets excluded or silenced when we do so?” AmandaSomeone much wiser than me has said that ability is a temporary condition. We are all headed towards disability of some sort or another. We have to separate that from morality. In the same way we have to separate body size from morality. Because body size and ability are a lot of genetics, systemic issues, and societal issues. We can’t just say A plus B equals C when we’re looking at a body like that.VirginiaAnother line that really resonated with me from the book, is when you wrote that “Nobody has a moral obligation to be healthy, and we don’t owe health to our community or our families or our kids.” And that believing that you do is this cornerstone of ableism. I think this is often a line people come up against where they may say, Okay, i’s fine to be unhealthy. But of course, we we should all be trying to be healthy for our kids. And I think particularly for mothers, right? There’s this huge pressure that being a good mother is synonymous with being a mother who can chase your kids around the playground. AmandaThe question that I probably get asked most frequently, when I talk about being okay with my fatness is, but don’t you owe it to your kids to be healthy? To live a longer life to be with them? There’s two layers happening there. One, I’m accused often of being on the verge of death, like I’m just about to keel over—which, post-COVID, okay, there were some rough moments. But just because I inhabit a fat body does not mean that I am more susceptible to early death. The numbers actually show that people in the BMI category of overweight live longer than people in the normal category. People assume that I’m going to die young, which is really hard to encounter day in and day out. When I was young, someone I loved, told me, in tears, “I just don’t want you to die of a heart attack at age 20.” Which is a very emotionally manipulative thing to say to a teenager—and to anyone, because none of us is guaranteed another day. We’re all in the same boat. My life is lived, as as much as I can choose, in a morally upright way. And I define morality as treating my neighbors as I would treat myself. So, number one, it’s not good for mental health to live with that assumption. Number two: The claim that I can’t be a good mom, if I’m in a disabled or, quote, “unhealthy” body is really an ableist thing to say. Because there are parents of all stripes, with all different levels of ability, who are amazing parents. And just because someone’s in a wheelchair, we don’t automatically assume they’re a bad mother. But if I’m fat and walking with a cane, there is that assumption. And it is inherently ableist to say because you don’t have full capacity of your body, you cannot be a good parent. And this has real consequences, because children are being taken from their fat parents. It’s not something that we’re just fearmongering about. We have to disconnect the idea of good parenting from health and fitness because people don’t have a moral imperative to health.VirginiaIt’s such a narrow definition of good motherhood. And it’s implying that there’s only one way to love your kids. That there’s a right way to love your kids, as opposed to allowing for this diversity of experiences. I’m glad you brought up the issue of how it gets used around parental rights. I did some reporting on that for Slate and what I heard from lots of folks in the foster system is that it’s not always the top reason that parents lose parental rights, but it’s something that caseworkers know to look for. It’s something that they can add to the list when they’re building the case. That struck me as, in a way, almost more chilling. Because if you’re a parent going through a really hard time with mental health, addiction, whatever, the knowledge that your body will also be weaponized against you in that conversation is really scary. I admit I myself, in the past, have started and stopped at well, of course, I want to be healthy for my kids. But it’s just like, “of course, you want a healthy baby” without unpacking the ableism of that. Children are born with disabilities every day, and they are very worthy of our love. AmandaI think that we all have this innate desire for goodness. We’re looking to be good, to experience goodness. And I think a lot of people assume that to have a good body means to have a healthy and fit body. But I like to go old school and look at Aristotle. Aristotle says that a thing is good when it fulfills its purpose. So this is where the conversation about what is the purpose of my body comes to the fore. And when you say that the purpose of my body is health, then you have to also acknowledge that health is much bigger than just physical health—it’s also emotional health, mental health, and spiritual health. If you have an ATV four wheeler and you just pump up the air on that one physical health tire, it’s gonna be a rocky road. So, even if we agree at some point that health is the purpose of my body, we have to recognize that physical health or the way that we look cannot be the end all be all. But I say that the purpose of my body isn’t health or thinness or perfection. It’s relationship. My body can be good, no matter my ability or my size, because I can have relationship with anyone and it can be a fruitful and deep relationship. And that’s what really keeps me going with my kids. When I do feel that shame of sitting in my car when they’re playing on the playground. I know that the other 95 percent of the day, they’re with me, and we’re investing in our relationship. And it’s part of my relationship to let them go and experience things that I don’t have experience with.VirginiaI love reframing it around relationships. That’s so beautifully put.AmandaWhen we treat health as a moral imperative, we wind up applying individualistic “answers” to a complex, system-wide situation. Because if we see morality on an individual basis, which we do, then person A, person B, Person C all have the same responsibility to health, but they might have vastly different access to resources. We don’t have universal health care. That’s a big deal. And then the racism, transphobia, and fatphobia that exists in our current system makes it look like certain types of people are not being morally upright if they don’t achieve some sort of health level that we think they should. VirginiaYou also talk a bit in the book about the anti-fat bias you’ve experienced in the church, and as someone who’s not Christian, I would just love to understand this a little more. How do diet culture and Christian culture intersect? And how do we start to untangle them?AmandaI grew up believing that thinness was next to godliness. That the smaller I was, the more my body would reflect the submissive woman that I thought God was calling me to be. And there’s nothing small or submissive about me. I’m very big and my personality is big, my voice is loud. I take up more space than a lot of people. My journey of clawing my way out of a fundamentalist, elitist version of Christianity to find that that’s not what God is requiring of me showed me that diet culture and Christian culture in the United States have a lot in common. Number one, that idea that being smaller is morally better. Number two is purity rules. Christian culture is full of ways that you can be sexually pure, but also there’s this idea of being dietetically pure. In diet culture, we see that where we talk about “clean” and “unclean” food. We’re moralizing food. Bad and good food, that all that kind of language is religious language.VirginiaNow that you spelled that out, that makes total sense that that didn’t just begin and end with Gwyneth Paltrow, but has deeper roots. It’s fascinating.AmandaI’m reading the Christian New Testament, and there’s a scene where the The apostle Peter, who’s the first pope, right? This really important guy gets his vision of all these different kinds of foods, foods that he thought were unclean. And God says, “Don’t call what I’ve made clean, unclean.” And there’s this way that Peter applies it. “Oh, I can’t call people who eat unclean foods unclean either because God has made them clean.” And so what for whatever reason, there’s this thing that we do when we talk about clean and unclean foods, we apply it to the people that eat those things. VirginiaYeah, we go right to their bodies.AmandaWe go straight to their bodies, and that is classist AF. Because access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and what we our culture considers, quote, “good food,” it’s just inaccessible to a large swath of the population. It enables people to discriminate against the poor, those who live in food deserts, people who eat free lunches at school, like my kids. There’s there’s just a huge amount of classist behavior there—and of course, racist and fatphobic behavior. So really finding that all food is good food is has been something instrumental in my journey towards fat liberation.Butter For Your Burnt ToastAmandaI am lately obsessed with Jon Batiste, the musician. He is the leader of the band on the Stephen Colbert show, but he is much more celebrated than that. His album called We Are won Album of the Year at the Grammys this year, and he helped write, or did most of the writing for the soundtrack to “Soul.” the Pixar movie.VirginiaOoooh, excellent.AmandaAnd I’m just obsessed. I highly recommend his new album and also the Soul soundtrack.VirginiaAmazing. We have not watched “Soul” yet. My kids adore “Inside Out,” but I’ve been holding off on “Soul” because my four-year-old is in that phase of being very anxious about death. AmandaBeen there. Yeah, I have one sentimental kid who laments over the death of leaves. VirginiaThe other week, she picked a flower and said, “Can we put it in a vase?” And I said, Yes. And she said, “But will it die?” And I said, “Well, yes.” And she was like, “I don’t want it in the house then, it’ll make me too sad.”AmandaI feel you strongly.VirginiaBut I am dying to see “Soul.” And in the meantime, I can listen to his music. So that’s a great recommendation. My recommendation is a podcast. I just listened to the first episode of Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus. Sara Louise Petersen, who was on the podcast a few weeks ago, recommended it in her newsletter, and I checked it out. It is fascinating. She is investigating American Spiritualism, which is the tradition of communing with the dead. It’s a fringe religion, I guess, is the technical term. I just knew nothing about this whole world. And I think it’s always challenging with this kind of journalism, trying to understand a culture in a world that you don’t belong to, whether you’re going to come in and completely interrogate it and take it down, or whether you’re going to fall on that spectrum. And she walks the line really nicely. She’s very respectful of the people. She is herself, somewhat of a believer in some of the concepts, but also has a lot of questions. It’s a really well done exploration where you’re sort of allowed to draw your own conclusion. She’s not saying it’s all garbage. She’s not saying it’s all true.Well, Amanda, thank you so much for being here. I really loved this conversation. And again, cannot encourage readers enough to get your book. We covered some of the heavier aspects of the book, the book itself is a really delightful read. Amanda is a very light and fun writer. So I hope people will check it out. Tell us where we can find more of your work and support you!AmandaI am on Instagram as @your_body_is_good. I’m on Twitter at @AmandaMBeck. And I am on the interwebs on Facebook, too. I’m a millennial, so good Facebooker. I have a group on there called All Bodies Are Good Bodies. It’s a fat positive, body neutral space where people can have community apart from diet culture. VirginiaThank you for being here!Thanks so much for listening to Burnt Toast! If you’d like to support the show, please subscribe for free in your podcast player and tell a friend about this episode.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by me, Virginia Sole-Smith. You can follow me on Instagram or Twitter.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting independent anti-diet journalism. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode we drink a Pirate Weekend from Prairie Artesian Ales and Jones Soda ICEE Cherry Soda. RLXP includes a new phone and a Blackrocks Brewery visit. We played Super Mario Land (GB) and the Sega Channel (Genesis). Reccos this week are the Ghost Church and Witchever Path podcasts. Links - Witchever Path - https://www.witcheverpath.com/ Ghost Church - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ghost-church-by-jamie-loftus/id1619557591 GRPVG links - https://linktr.ee/grandrapidians --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/grandrapidians/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/grandrapidians/support

Today, we're listening to “Finn and The Bell” from the Rumble Strip podcast with Erica Heilman.  All the links:Rumble Strip: subscribe | website | follow @rumblestripvt on TwitterExtra podcast love recommendations: Lauren recommends Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus and Adela recommends The Lazy Genius Podcast. Here are all the ways to get in touch & get involved in Adela and Lauren's projects:Email Feed the Queue at feedthequeue@gmail.com Lauren on TwitterAdela on TwitterTink Media: website | twitter | instagram | Podcast The Newsletter | Podcast Marketing Magic Podcast Brunch Club: website | newsletter | join a chapter | Facebook Group | twitter | instagram This season of Feed the Queue is sponsored by Clever.fm, the podcast app that puts listeners first.

Hi, The Daily Zeitgeist fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, It Could Happen Here fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this unlocked-from-the-Matreon episode on The Da Vinci Code, Jamie and Caitlin discover that the Da Vinci Code is "apple." P.S. listen to Jamie's new series, Ghost Church, available wherever you listen to podcasts!  (This episode contains spoilers) For Bechdel bonuses, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/bechdelcast. Follow@BechdelCast, @caitlindurante and @jamieloftusHELP on Twitter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Behind The Bastards fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Bechdel Cast fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, My Year in Mensa fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Worst Year Ever fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Lolita fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, After the Revolution fans! Ghost Church is a weekly podcast hosted by Jamie Loftus, where she investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. About Ghost Church:  In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. Listen here and subscribe to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftuson the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamie Loftus investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sweeps Month comes to a rousing conclusion as Jamie Loftus (comedian/writer) returns to become best friends with Tony Hawk (just as we are) by being blocked by none other than the Olympics themselves. Jamie actually tracks down the IOC headquarters in Switzerland to try and get her Twitter account back in a valiant Block Tale and Stefan gets thrown back to his mock draft-ruining days with the listener Block Tale. After the longest intro ever, Jamie tells us about why she had to miss Trivia Party last week: because she was attending Ghost Church. We learn all about channelling spirits as Stefan and John decide to get into the slime business, and Jamie learns about the two ghosts that follow her around constantly. Plus, we wonder about the existence of a beach plum, Jamie wants a Nicole Kidman AMC ad supercut, and Stefan and John have weirdly symbiotic tweets about Elden Ring.   If you want to feel more in symbiosis with the pod, head on over to patreon.com/blockedparty, where $5/month gets you access to THREE bonus episodes every single month. Last week was a big one, as we released a Canadian Education episode on Matt Good with former fun. lead singer Nate Ruess, and the aforementioned Trivia Party makes its triumphant return with Branson Reese joining us. We've got lots of great stuff planned for March, plus merch discounts, an exclusive Discord, and more!   Jamie Loftus is a comedian and writer whose weekly podcast, The Bechdel Cast, can be heard wherever you get your pods. You can also seek out her three limited-run series, "My Year in MENSA", "Lolita Podcast", and "Aack Cast" and keep an eye out for her upcoming series on the spiritualist movement later in the spring. You can follow her on Twitter at @jamieloftusHELP.