Out Of Curiosity With Kt Mather

Another special edition of Out of Curiosity with kt mather! Chapters 10 - 17 of my forthcoming debut novel Rage Is a Wolf. Pre-order at ktmather.com

We talk Seattle vs Atlanta, the WTO protests 20 years later, sci-fi as a touchstone for what the world might be, her connections to the movie Rushmore, and a deep dive into genre-bending classic T2 Judgement Day.

In this week’s Episode of Out of Curiosity with kt mather, I chat with my friend’s brother and my Thanksgiving compatriot, Michael Rohde. We talk about my habit of long term couch surfing at his sister’s house, my habit of crashing his family holidays, his hosting a trivia night, how his sense of humor might ultimately drive away his beloved trivia night cohost, hiking the long trail, tents vs shelters, and then a deep dive into the book Into the Wild with a focus on both the story of Chris McCandless and Jon Kraukauer’s decades long obsession with McCandless life and death. 

This week on Out of Curiosity with kt mather I chat with my friend Eliza Stoughton about both being distantly related to Puritan witch judges / murderers, meeting in Montana, our quick & infrequent friendship, getting free drinks with magic, one of the reasons why I might’ve been wrong about trigger warnings, some of the things that make the new Little Women SO great, Eliza’s almost exclusively pie-based social media presence, and the path to becoming a professional actor. Plus we take a deep dive into the harrowing, Pulitzer Prize winning play by Paula Vogel about sexual assault, love, and forgiveness called How I Learned to Drive (including a look at Eliza’s own experience putting on the play). And finally, after we signed off, Eliza realized that we really needed to discuss her own experience with being betrayed by a trusted teacher, so the last 45 minutes or so of the episode is dedicated to that. 

In this week’s episode of Out of Curiosity with kt mather, I Circle Back with fan favorite Bill Tanner for a typical kt and BT rambler. We discuss my week of small town power-politicking, Bill’s love for Nike Air Jordans (and his inability to give himself permission to buy them), unity amongst Democrats (not going well), color bravery vs  color blindness, accidentally watching Fire Walk with Me with your mom (and as Catholics), pin-up calendars, the great job assholes like Rush Limbaugh did making Feminism a dirty word (it’s still not going to stop us...), 80s hair and swimsuits, plus a deep dive into the Feminist sailing documentary Maiden about the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World race. Note: do yourself a favor and watch the doc before you listen. It’s REALLY SO GOOD!!!

Special edition of Out of Curiosity with kt mather! Chapters 2-9 of my forthcoming debut novel Rage Is a Wolf. 

Ralph and I talk epic halloween costumes, dick-in-a-box, hiring someone to call you on your bullshit, how Ralph uses improv techniques to teach authenticity & a deep dive into the ever-fabulous comedy, Clue. Plus I retell a story Chuck and I heard last week from Shatner.

The county forester & I talk off-the-grid living, regenerative logging, the trouble with post-clear cut forests, the permanence of development, groundhogs (aka Prairie Grizzlies), the rights of the forest to exist, and we take a deep dive into a doc about Aldo Leopold: Green Fire. Plus I offer both an apology and a shout out to my high school biology teacher Art Ariens...

Yasmeen and I talk about her latest creative endeavor and mine as well as the trials, tribulations, and teachable moments of creating your own path. We also do a deep dive into the LOGISTICS of trying to bring a high-quality product into the world.

In honor of my website launch...A little book teaser. Rage Is a Wolf, by kt mather Published by whisk(e)y tit books. Read by kt mather Coming soon! Preorder link at outofcuriositypodcast.com, ktmather.com, or in instagram bio.

Tommy & I talk athletic conditioning, books he didn't read in high school, his tailor made college major, his somewhat delayed (thanks melanoma) move to LA which he is undertaking NOW!!! Plus a deep dive into the skeevy, but tantalizing movie Nightcrawler.

Ned & I catch each other up on our creative projects (his film and my book--links in show notes...). We chat about story-telling pronouns, the AP exam, and how Catcher in the Rye might be more relevant than ever. Plus a deep dive into Catcher (which Ned has been teaching for decades) and Franny & Zooey (which Ned was reticent to read, but which I convinced him of in the same way the he convinced me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ep. 21...) and which is totally part of my personal canon.

Chuck and I talk about who put the moves on whom, our Scrabble rivalry, shoutouts to the friends who made our union possible, our decision to move to rural Vermont, plus a deep dive into the sexy feminist classic, Romancing the Stone.

Francesca and I talk a little about her role as my birth doula, but mostly about her work as an end-of-life doula and the pioneering end-of-life doula training program she helped create and directs through the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. We talk about her book, Cultivating the Doula Heart, how to find a place of unconditional positive regard for people in their end-of-life journey, the difficulty of knowing and enacting the authentic self, how embracing the doula heart is not just for doulas, but also for parents, teachers, lovers, community members...basically any human with compassion and a willingness to sit together in both joy and suffering. 

In this week’s episode of Out of Curiosity with kt mather, I circle back with the delightful Emma Yardley to talk about her chance encounter waiting for buddies in a parking lot in the Colorado River that lead to a 15 day odyssey into friendship and the Utah desert. We talk love and heartbreak, the respectful way to break up with someone, kindred spirits, water rations, flash floods, arctic climbing vs desert hiking, $150k hips, champagne & salami, plus some parenting pro-tips.

Author and movie aficionado, Chris Tebbets and I, talk about his YA novel, Me, Myself, and Him (the gay Sliding Doors), the multiverse, deja vu, temporally overlapping selves, his work as a co-writer with James Patterson, our shared love of living in a (liberal!) small town, the use of macrostructures in writing, the limits of linear story-telling, and a deep dive into the still delightful and subversive movie, Harold & Maude. 

Katie and I chat about growing up in Alaska, a favor I did her in college, how much we both loved going to a college without Greek, what happens in rugby when you score the first time, her fascinating journey to being a single mom by choice, and then a deep dive into Sixteen Candles, Pretty Woman, and Dirty Dancing--I'll let you guess which one stands the test of time (and was written by a woman)...

Thomas Anderson and I chat about the delightful beginning of our friendship (feat. twinkle lights) which hit a bit of a rough patch when we started coaching soccer together, like last week's episode, we discuss traveling together, the time one or both of us got tore up from the floor up, teaching abroad, how kids apply to too many colleges these days, plus a deep dive into the book and movie, Call Me By Your Name.

Jenn and I chat about how cancer can bring out the best in friends, how traveling together in Amsterdam brought out the best in both of us (pro-tip, if you go to Amsterdam, take the ferry across the Ij river and bike into the small towns and farms up north), the FASCINATING things we learned about our b&b host, how I nearly destroyed her new suitcase by insisting on biking it, what I would do if I was trapped in London forever, Jenn's feelings about NASA, plus a deep dive into two David Sedaris stories.

This week on Out of Curiosity with kt mather, I chat with my former student Yasmeen Watson Sharif. We talk about long commutes to school, an uptick in photo ops when you hit multiple diversity demographics for a private school, Nantucket-level wealth, getting past the fear of screwing up so you can host someone from another culture and therefore deepen your relationship, the ”the more things change, the more they stay the same” conundrum of too many interesting ideas to pursue, water ice, skeevy dudes and whether it matters if they say it or just think it, plus a deep dive into the controversial movie The Joker that I went to see because both Yaz and Michael Moore recommended it and which I liked for some reasons and loathed for others.