Hi everyone –
This is an audio reposting of Friday’s live session as an audio podcast, which a few folks requested. Just a heads-up: my wife and I are really only heard, not seen, even though Sandalore and Jeffrey both look fantastic on video.
And thanks to both Jeffrey and Sansolore for making it happen.
Still, it’s a bit weird having half my head floating around for an hour. But if you’re into that kind of thing, the original video went up on April 25th—feel free to check it out.
Some quotes that stood out for me
I could explain more, but it’s best to listen to the conversation.
"I’m not French, but I’m not really that American anymore either. I'm just in this weird liminal zone between cultures." —Sandolore
Home is… "Florida, but not the real one. The real Florida doesn’t have that home feeling anymore." —Jeffrey
"Living abroad broke apart every assumption I didn’t even know I had." —Keith
"Sometimes lonely, but not always lonely. It’s about being comfortable with the aloneness." —Quin
"Language is very somatic. When I speak fluently, it’s not just words—it’s a feeling in my body." —Jeffrey"Home keeps evolving. Sometimes it doesn’t exist anymore, and that’s not a failure." —Sandolore (via Sue's comment)
a captured conversation
I like these interviews to feel more like open conversations than polished Q&As. Today’s episode is no different—more like an open door into one of those talks you didn’t realize you needed until you were already deep in it.
We didn’t come in with a script. It’s just a few of us—my wife Quin Charity, Sandalore Sykes, and Jeffrey Wade Gibbs—talking about what it actually feels like to build a life outside the place you once called home.
We get into all the messy, surprising stuff: the weird loneliness of living between cultures, what it’s like when you can't fully be yourself in a second language, the funny little ways your body and brain adapt when you’re somewhere new. Earthquakes come up. Scarves come up. It's that kind of afternoon.
If you’re someone who’s ever left a place, missed a place, or wondered if you still belong somewhere you thought you did—you’re going to hear pieces of your own story in here. Thanks for listening.
K
Culture, music, history, conversations 3x a week!
Dimanche à Orly by Gilbert Bécaud 1963
Dimanche à Orly by Gilbert Bécaud is a bittersweet, quietly cinematic song that captures the lonely, suspended feeling of spending a Sunday in an airport, watching people come and go while you yourself stay stuck between departures and arrivals.
It’s such a groovy track in places, sliding back and forth from modern groovy sounds to wistful moments - a rare performance recording of this track. It ends with a bizarrely trippy Bécaud, all of a sudden.
If you like what you hear, subscribe, leave a review, tell a friend, tell your neighbor, tell that one guy who still insists New York bagels are overrated.
(They are, a bit, but don’t worry about that right now.)
You can also share the episode if you think someone else might need a reminder that home is... complicated. Or just needs a good scarf tip—I now know several easy scarf knots.
New knowledge, right there.
And lastly, let me know how to do my job!
If you want more live sessions and interviews like this, let me know: make comments. These discussion are a bit tricky to coordinate, but a lot of fun. Thanks for being here.
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