Deviate
Rolf Potts
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Recent Episodes
S6E269 Designing a creative life on your own terms (with Cedar Van Tassel)
“A joke is kind of like a little life-lesson in addition to being funny. If your joke is really good, there's a little nugget of truth in it.” – Cedar Van Tassel In this episode of Deviate, Rolf…
S6E268 What movies (do and don't) show us about places before we travel there
“When we don't foster local filmmaking traditions, we end up making movies about what we think life is like in the cities we do see movies about.” – Jason Bailey In this episode of Deviate, Rolf…
S6E267 Exploring the idiosyncrasies of male friendship, with Andrew McCarthy
“I asked everyone if they were lonely. All the guys my age said 'no, I'm too busy; too much going on.' When I answer that quickly I'm either lying or it's something I'm afraid of.” – Andrew…
S6E266 Debunking the mythology of BEFORE SUNRISE, with co-writer Kim Krizan (in Paris)
"I think you have to pick your battles when you're collaborating with people." – Kim Krizan Kim Krizan (@kimkrizan) is the Oscar-nominated cowriter of the Before Sunrise movies, and the author…
S6E265 Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of)
“I wish I loved sports, and particularly football, a lot less than I do. It consumes too much of my memory and too much of my time.” – Chuck Klosterman In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about…
S6E264 Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches)
“In teaching us to appreciate rather than accumulate – to seek awe rather than outcomes – travel can be an ongoing exercise in gratitude.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf remixes his…
S6E263 Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places
In this feature-length video essay that explores the role places play in storytelling, Rolf examines how Kansas -- his home state -- has been imagined, distorted, and mythologized in cinema and…
S6E262 Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)
“I’m interested in writing because I don’t want to sleepwalk through life. I feel like we have an appallingly brief time on earth, and we’re here to see and understand and do as much good as we can…
S6E261 Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)
Note: This encore episode is dedicated to the memory of Alice Potts, who died on August 20, 2025, aged 81. “In America aging is often seen as an insult rather than an inevitable human process. We…
S6E260 An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir
“No endeavor to write a travel book is ever lost, since it gives you a useful perspective on (and intensified attention to) the reality of the travel experience itself. When embraced mindfully, the…
S6E259 Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)
“Realizing that you will die greatly clarifies your vision of life, and stimulates opportunities for making the vision real.” –Ed Buryn In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ed discuss the impetus…
S6E258 Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road
"No one motivation is ‘better’ than any other. We travel with different motivations at different times, and they sometimes overlap." –Ash Bhardwaj In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ash talk…
S6E257 Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie
"Time spent traveling on trains, just staring out the window: I don't think that's lost time. That's when we have our best ideas." –Kim Krizan In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kiki introduce…
S6E256 Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie
"Time spent traveling on trains, just staring out the window: I don't think that's lost time. That's when we have our best ideas." –Kim Krizan In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kiki introduce…
S6E255 Mars on Earth: The world's driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there
“If you're someone who's always dreamed of going to Mars but you don't have the time to become an astronaut, you can just visit the Atacama Desert.” –Mark Johanson In this episode of Deviate, Rolf…
S6E254 Why a chapter about "slum tourism" was edited out of The Vagabond's Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones)
“Travel does not require leaving your city or state or country, but it does require leaving your comfort zone. And that can happen a block or two away from where you live.” –Chloe Cooper Jones In…
S6E253 Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to slow down and save money on an extended global journey
“The most difficult part about traveling the world isn’t actually the logistics of a trip—it’s finding the courage to go in the first place.” —Matt Kepnes In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt…
S6E252 Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative
“We do a lot of writing alone, in our own space. But writing is not a solitary practice. The business of writing requires a community.” –Angelique Stevens In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and…
S6E251 How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves' life (and influenced Rolf's travels too)
“Anybody with curiosity and wanderlust can have their own Hippie Trail. They just need to get away from home, embrace the world, and have an adventure.” –Rick Steves In this episode of Deviate, Rolf…
S6E250 A travel writers' Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective
“My life has often forced me to watch the Super Bowl in unusual circumstances. The first Super Bowl found me in boarding school in England, huddled under my bedclothes with an illegal transistor…
Frequently Asked Questions
Deviate has published 233 episodes since November 2017, covering topics in Personal Journals, Philosophy.
Deviate is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 54m.
Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Deviate, including email and social media links.
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