As a journalist, I mostly cover business and the world of work—hiring, firing, corporate culture and all that. But last summer, I became really interested in people with unusual jobs.
VCU Magazine had asked me to write a profile of Dr. Luanne Freer, the physician who created the first (and only) emergency room at Mt. Everest Base Camp, the highest medical clinic in the world. She spent her days doing things most people never do, namely setting bones in a tent pitched on a cracking glacier.
At the same time I was thinking and writing about Dr. Freer, I was also taking a darkroom photography class at my local art museum. One evening, a classmate arrived and unloaded her water bottle on the desk in front of me. It was pasted all over with stickers, and one of them said Barefoot Puppets. I asked her if she was into puppets, and, in that way teenagers do, she told me with slight embarrassment that her parents run a traveling puppet theater. But really, she was more into circus camp.
I needed to meet this family right away, so I invited myself to their house.
Since then, I’ve been collecting people around me, people who do unusual things with their time. Find one original person and they will introduce you to more. I like people with strange jobs—people who made up their own strange jobs, stumbled into their strange jobs, or pursued their strange jobs with verve and decisiveness.
So, I decided to try a new kind of project (for me). How to Be Anything is a podcast about people with unusual jobs. Here’s a little more about what you can expect in season 1.
RSS: https://shows.acast.com/how-to-be-a-podcast
Original people are my favorite people, and I’ve gotten to meet a lot of them thanks to this podcast.
The trailer is out now, and episodes will publish later this month. See you then! :)