“We do not just keep and collect things. We trouble ourselves to repurpose, create, and invent things just to carry, a little easier, those stories we cannot live without.” —Kendra Greene
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf speaks to the directors of two very different museums — Dawn Hammat of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home in Abilene, Kansas, and Greg Long of Long’s Collectible Showplace & Gift Shop in Salina, Kansas (0:00); what people are drawn to in a given museum, and how a kind of nostalgia drives what people look for there (5:30); the ways all museums change and adapt over time, and how museums can surprise their visitors (12:00).
Notable Links:
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.
Triumph in the middle of nowhere: The most 1980s underdog story of the 1980s
On the road with the superstars of Negro League baseball, 100 years on
Notes on the philosophy (and deeper meaning) of travel, with Emily Thomas
Pam Houston on home, and the beauty of our pared-down lives [encore]
Long-distance hiking at home: The art of journeying out of your own back door
Pico Iyer on the creative task of travel across the world and deep within [encore]
What it’s like to take your kids on a three-month journey in the Himalayas
The joys and idiosyncrasies of global train travel (with Monisha Rajesh)
Five Travel Lessons You Can Use at Home (a road-trip intro to Deviate Season 4)
Life changing travel experiences (with Ari Shaffir): Walking across Israel
How to write a travel memoir (and how failure is the best teacher)
Strategies and arguments for the simple life (from an off-grid perspective)
American Pilgrim: Revisiting Rolf’s lost Travel Channel Thanksgiving special
Solo travel: Celebrating the pleasures of (and strategies for) journeying alone
Vagabonding audio companion: Time Wealth and the spiritual texture of travel
Coming-of-age on the road as a dirtbag backpacker (with Pam Mandel)
On penis theft, creepy clowns, anxiety, and how culture tells us what is real
Pandemic love, cheating death, & cassette tapes: A personal history of nostalgia
A folk history of Satanic Panic, backmasking, and rock music in the 1980s
What it’s like to travel 37 countries (and counting) in a wheelchair
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