Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

Scotty Landes – TV comedy writer (Workaholics), horror movie writer (Ma), man about town – trades stories with Bridget about travel, odd jobs, and writing something weird enough to get a job offer out of it. They discuss the privilege of doing what you love for a living but the downside is that your muse becomes a mule, how to take notes on your writing, the escape of making up a world, and how Scotty’s retirement plan is to be an old man bartender with a Golden Girls kind of living situation. They cover how to talk about travel without sounding like a dick, Bridget’s moments of deep existential loneliness that always appear on the heels of unique moments of spectacular awe, recognizing the pivot points in life, the joys of road-tripping solo, and putting career before relationships. Chock full of inspiration for people following unconventional paths, Scotty offers advice, and encouragement, but is also realistic about the importance of setting deadlines when it comes to making dreams come true. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Josh Schollmeyer, co-founder, and editor of MEL magazine, talks with Bridget about the meaning of modern masculinity in a changing world, constructively channeling your rage, and how kids movies are more traumatizing for children than adult movies. They also cover Josh’s years working in a lumber yard to learn the value of hard work, how he got access to Hugh Hefner’s private scrapbook collection when he was in college, and how learning to be fine with being humiliated is a crucial part of success. Josh covers his years working for Playboy, how he tried to be an agent for change but was also complicit at a time when the brand was giving in to its worst impulses, and how the chip on his shoulder over the events that forced him out of Playboy became fuel for his drive to succeed. Now with MEL, Josh discusses figuring out how to talk to men in the wake of #metoo and that one of the big problems he sees is not just a battle of the sexes, but that men are not talking to each other. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Amy Alkon, Advice Goddess and author of “science-help book” Unf*ckology, drops in for a fascinating conversation with Bridget about living in the modern age with Stone Age brains, the evolutionary importance of social status and why “thirstiness” is such a turn-off, and how her career giving advice began as a joke when she stood on a street corner in New York holding a “Free Advice” sign and people began to line up. They cover the social importance of guilt and shame, getting comfortable with discomfort, that self-esteem is a monitoring system to help you figure out where you stand socially, and the fact that we’re living under mob rule and we don’t even realize it. Finally, don’t miss Amy’s theory that if you imagine the worst thing that can happen to you is your kitchen appliances coming to life at night and hacking you to death, you should be able to put small things like feeling awkward and looking stupid in social situations into perspective. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Liz Wolfe, managing editor for The Federalist and part-time editor for Reason, has an in-depth discussion with Bridget about why she thought college was a huge waste of money and wanted to drop out, how she managed to get her degree in two years, and the fact that most people have no understanding of the debt they are taking on when they take out student loans. They bond over being self-starters and hustlers and how it’s a skill that helps them find ways around the “gatekeepers” in life, how being from big families teaches you that life isn’t fair at an early age, and discuss why sometimes having low expectations about an experience is the best way to approach it. They coin the phrase “weaponized fragility,” lament over how being patriotic has somehow become a bad thing, and note that you’ll never change someone’s mind by calling them names. Liz offers fascinating insight into being raised in a home where her parents fostered children, and the hidden costs of that experience, and Bridget shares the name of the self-help book she wants to write, Laziness Motivates Me. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Rachel “Wolfie” Wolfson, comedian, writer, producer, and advocate for cannabis, sits down with Bridget to discuss her disdain for bitcoin, their shared desire to do VR stand-up shows, and why she believes colleges are like engagement rings – expensive and unnecessary. They cover everything from why machines will eventually wipe out humans because of our extreme inefficiency, to a belief that mental health will be the biggest problem this country faces in the near future, to the fact that the dangers of weed should be taught the same way as the dangers of alcohol, to what it takes to create change in the world and in society. Rachel is an advocate for cannabis, but doesn’t necessarily recommend it for everyone and believes that having a healthy relationship with weed requires approaching it as a medicine first. Meanwhile, Bridget hopes she’ll live long enough to see the first sex robot kill a human. You can find Rachel on Twitter and Instagram @wolfiecomedy.For questions, comments or topic requests contact us at: walkinswelcomequestions@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Sydney Benner is the creator of the revolutionary new fitness program, FLIGHT!  She has devoted her life to connecting people together through movement. Sydney explains her calling to create spaces and places for people to gather that feel inclusive, supportive, and where they can be authentically themselves. Sydney and Bridget discuss finding the balance in all the imbalance, the grind of being a personal trainer, overcoming injuries, magic, and why you must choose your mindset every day. Syndey shares how loss of her father and step-brother within 3 years of each other helped teach her the preciousness of every moment, how she manages to rally and motivate others when she’s in a tough place, the importance of showing up – no excuses – no matter what’s going on in your life, and why you should never put your happiness in someone else’s hands. It’s the motivational podcast we all need right now. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Brittany Schmitt, stand-up comedian and entrepreneur, talks with Bridget about filling the void within yourself, the dark side of comedy, getting a DUI and how it changed her life, and the decision behind getting sober – realizing she was wasting her life. Don’t miss their worst stand-up bomb stories, why giving in to the desire to do nothing can sometimes be healthy, how sitting in sadness and defeat can allow you to build grit and resilience, and why you should never doubt your ability to make huge changes in your life. They discuss the fact that enough is never enough and the desire to always want more is evolutionary, but if you start your day asking what you can give rather than wondering what you can get, you will change your life. Be sure to check out Ho2Go, Brittany’s new company, a kit for when you go hard, but don’t go home – taking the shame out of the walk of shame.For questions, comments or topic requests contact us at: walkinswelcomequestions@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Art Tavana is a conservative, libertarian columnist at Playboy and contributor at National Review. An Armenian refugee from Iran, Art talks about how Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties indoctrinated him as a conservative early in life and why being a conservative writing for Playboy is only okay because he’s a person of color and not a white MAGA bro. He and Bridget discuss the strange fad of corporations caving to the mob and apologizing every time someone gets “offended”, his perspective on gratitude as an immigrant living in America, the freedom of having nothing to lose, and why they both hate being branded as activists. The conversation ranges from mourning the death of contrarians, to dissecting why populism needs to go, to predicting that our totalitarian leader is going to come from the left, to why you shouldn’t ever join a group to solve your problems. Finally, don’t miss Art’s explanation of why Atlas Shrugged is the most feminist thing he’s ever read.For questions, comments or topic requests contact us at: walkinswelcomequestions@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

Melissa Monte is a mindfulness coach, certified yoga teacher and reiki healer. She and Bridget reminisce about how they met on a party bus of 40 women heading to Vegas and reflect on surviving a series of rock bottoms from sexual assaults to eating disorders, to the loss of loved ones. Melissa shares her insights into why trying to fix a terrible relationship was a way of trying to prove her own self-worth, the felony charge that path led her to, and the fact that you can’t cushion somebody’s rock bottom without going down with them. Melissa and Bridget discuss why they’re both so grateful for the twists and turns in their lives that knocked them off their straight & narrow paths in their youths, how it led them to the journeys of self-discovery they’ve been on, the amazing things that life experience can teach you, and retraining negative thought loops. Melissa explains the importance of understanding that the message you’re bringing to the world is not going to be for everybody and that what matters is the people you’re connecting with. Check out her podcast Mind Love, in which she discusses mindset shifts, energy frequencies and modern mindfulness. She pursues her passion of helping people become their best selves on her website mindlove.com.For questions, comments or topic requests contact us at: walkinswelcomequestions@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show

James A. Lindsay is a co-author of the Grievance Studies, a project designed to expose the politicized corruption within social justice geared humanities scholarship by creating bogus academic papers and submitting them to academic journals in the areas of cultural, queer, race, gender, fat, and sexuality studies. He and Bridget have a fascinating discussion about the dogmatism of atheists, the Feminist Glaciology paper that radicalized him, the assault on science, the fascism creeping in from both sides – the left and the right, and why everything we think we know about reality might be wrong. James explains post-modernism and why fitting in matters ten times more to people than being right. Bridget expounds upon why the idea that language is violence and a tool of oppression that must be regulated, strikes terror into her heart. And together they lament the isolation and loneliness of thinking for yourself in today’s culture of ideological tribalism. This is a brilliant deep dive into why intersectional social politics are a toxic way to look at the world and lead to competitive victimhood, the corruption in scholarship that’s fueling the whole social justice, progressive, activist universe, and the doomsday cults of the far left and the far right.For questions, comments or topic requests contact us at: walkinswelcomequestions@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribeSupport the show