Dr. Waffle & Friends

Our guest writer this week is the fabulous Mary Miller, who reads a short essay that appeared in McSweeney's—all about how her uncle was maybe not as famous as she had always thought. She and Dr. Waffle discuss music, fame, writing, ambition, big families, the South, storytelling, and storytelling in the South.TAGS: Cliff Thomas Trio; Lloyd Price; Elvis Presley; Graceland; Sun Studio; American Bandstand; Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; Jerry Lee Lewis; George Eliot; possums; Southern storytellingSpoilers: Who wrote “Stagger Lee”; what happened to Jerry Lee LewisLinks:Lloyd Price’s version of “Stagger Lee”The Cliff Thomas Trio page at Sun RecordsMary Miller’s websiteMary’s story “Outage” in the Oxford AmericanCool review of Mary’s work in the LA Review of BooksThe entry on Mary Miller in the Mississippi Encyclopedia!Fat Possum RecordsTom Lake, Ann Patchett’s most recent novelMelissa Ginsburg’s Doll ApolloThanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please rate, review, subscribe, and share so more folks can find us.FOLLOW us @drwafflepod on Instagram, X, and FacebookEMAIL us at [email protected] WEBSITERead DEANNA’S ESSAYS at doctorwaffle.substack.com

It's a brand new season of Dr. Waffle & Friends! (In case you haven't noticed, a "new season" usually means that a few months of extreme busyness has kept Dr. Waffle from making any new episodes for a while....)We're kicking off Season 4 with a corker -- a timely episode about New Zealand (for all those thinking about repatriating for any reason) and a Special Mystery Guest Friend! You won't want to miss this one!TAGS: New Zealand; extreme sports; caving; accents; kiwifruit; kiwis; Kiwis; bats; possums; Māori language; rugby; haka; residential schools; guns; Edmund Burke; Rotorua; ADD; misogyny; cigarettes; Jacinda ArdernSpoilers: introduction of mammals to New Zealand; current prime minister of New ZealandThe Coast to Coast raceDee’s essay about her mother-in-law’s lettersThanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please rate, review, subscribe, and share so more folks can find us.FOLLOW us @drwafflepod on Instagram, X, and FacebookEMAIL us at [email protected] WEBSITERead DEANNA’S ESSAYS at doctorwaffle.substack.com

Guest writer Cannon Schmitt reads an essay about becoming a surfer later in life, and Dee and Cannon discuss the spiritual aspects of sports, what it means to give up on mastery, parallels between surfing and writing, and so much more!TAGS: surfing; William Finnegan's Barbarian Days; spirituality; Baptist Church; Georgia; writing; academia; Buddhism; Nicholson Baker; the Levenger catalogueSpoilers: Dee’s second academic book projectThanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please rate, review, subscribe, and share so more folks can find us.FOLLOW us @drwafflepod on Instagram, Twitter, and FacebookEMAIL us at [email protected] WEBSITERead DEANNA’S ESSAYS at doctorwaffle.substack.comCannon can be reached at [email protected]

In this episode, Dr. Waffle welcomes another guest interviewer, close friend (and baker and pianist extraordinaire) Maura Glennon. Dee and Mo discuss the pains and pleasures (and pains) of home ownership, dealing with repair people, the fear of being an asshole, some light politics, and the difficulties of building community.TAGS: Vancouver; Oxford, Mississippi; Carnegie Hall; Florence Pie BarSpoilers: The saga of 1616 Grant Street; the fate of Colin the Boiler RepairmanThanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please rate, review, subscribe, and share so more folks can find us.FOLLOW us @drwafflepod on Instagram, Twitter, and FacebookEMAIL us at [email protected] WEBSITERead DEANNA’S ESSAYS at doctorwaffle.substack.com

Dr. Waffle welcomes her first guest writer, Melissa Cole! In this episode, Melissa reads an essay about writing an essay that appeared in Newsweek and the blowback that ensued. She and Dr. Waffle discuss women’s bodily autonomy, the right to privacy, the public personas of authors, the writing process, and so much more!TAGS: Newsweek; Sandra Tsing Loh; Roe v Wade; Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization; SCOTUS; public education; SRAs; Dickens; horror filmsThe Haunted States of America, with Melissa’s story about North CarolinaMelissa’s most recent short story, “The Liminality of a Decent Couch,” in the Fall 2024 issue of Slippery Elm Literary JournalRead about Daniel the Emotional Support DuckDeanna’s essay in which she chats with her postal carrierThe Dickens UniverseDan Blank’s Substack, The Creative ShiftThanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please rate, review, subscribe, and share so more folks can find us.FOLLOW us @drwafflepod on Instagram, Twitter, and FacebookEMAIL us at [email protected] WEBSITERead DEANNA’S ESSAYS at doctorwaffle.substack.comCheck out Melissa’s website and Instagram