hindsight 20/something: Recent Episodes
Austin Beaton
Life in your 20s can be crazy. Writer and Producer Austin Beaton sits down with a new 20something each episode, from an ex-barista grad school applicant to a philosophy professor, to a videographer who delivers Teslas and a music producer who lives in a sound studio. We’ll catch up with writers from last year's book. We’ll meet new friends. We’ll answer and ask together, what does it mean to be a 20something in 2019? Don't worry: your quarter-life breakthrough is almost here (we think).
You wake up at 4am and you’re excited. “Mo Bamba” is playing because it’s your alarm clock, in fact it’s been your alarm clock for 4 months and it still hasn’t been ruined for you. Then you grab the 230 lb. tire from your backyard, prop it up on its side, and roll it for 2-4 hours around town, stopping and talking to people about life, business, struggle, anything they want to, really. After that you work on your catering business you founded at age 23, along with your nonprofit organization, the Keep Rolling Campaign.
This is how each day starts for 27 year old De’Andre Wilson.
I met De’Andre on Twitter. He lives in Evansville, Indiana, a town Donald Trump has visited twice. Once I saw the video of him describing his story, I knew I had to get him on the podcast. But, he beat me to it—De’Andres asked to be on the show, as part of his podcast tour for the documentary being made about him…sorry, forgot to mention the documentary.
Stay tuned for the most exciting episode of hindsight 20/something, yet. Learn why the hell De’Andre pushes that giant tire, how he wants to leave a legacy, and the way in which he continues to believe in baby steps.
PS the audio quality could be better, as De’Andre was calling from his home, in Indiana. But, believe me, the content is so, so worth it.
Let’s go.
Dimitri Voytilla is branching out like it’s perpetually spring--so says his Instagram bio, Twitter, bio, and a line from one of his spoken word poems I saw him perform the night before we recorded this episode. Dimitri is 25 and he does things big: his energy, his smile, his curly-ass hair. Despite his youth, Dimitri’s lived a lot--traveling, photographing, doing social media for the Laugh Factory, delivering Teslas, giving massages. Don’t miss Dimitri getting excited about Nordstrom moms, getting excited about my questions, and getting excited about not getting too excited about the destination, but the path leading to it.
Pavan Sohal is a hilarious badass. I met Pavan a year ago. Over our friendship she started making me laugh so much that I made a Twitter profile for her, quoting only a small percentage of the funny shit she’d say. Pavan is a graphic designer by trade, but is going back to school to be a therapist. In this episode you’ll hear Pavan’s take on children, why she has an olive branch tattoo, and how she gets asked how she gets her skin to look like it does (spoiler for the white people listening: by doing nothing).
Kyle Erickson accepted his first job out of college because it was close to his home in Thousand Oaks, California. Kyle is laid back, blonde, has an In-N-Out tattoo--you know, typical Southern California stuff. One of his first weeks they sent him to Chicago in January for a 2 week training. That suitcase he packed for 2 weeks turned into his closet--Kyle had been assigned to stay 80 minutes north of Chicago for a couple more weeks. Those 2 weeks turned into a month, that month turned into half a year. Kyle was there indefinitely.
Well, shit. What then?
Kyle is a pure play renaissance man. He’s a biomedical engineering consultant, a musician, an athlete, a photographer. But you might not know that when meeting him--the dude dresses real California chill and is built like a talented football lineman...because he is. When I first met Kyle it was at my house before an open mic night. I knew someone in the group of 3 guys I’d just approached was a late addition to the lineup, so I asked the artsiest looking one, “hey I hear you’re performing tonight, where in the lineup do you prefer--”
“Oh god no,” he said, “I’m not going up there, he is,” and he pointed to Kyle--a tall, burley, wearing a San Diego Chargers hat. Kyle’s performance wrecked the audience.
In this episode you’ll hear about how Kyle acclimated (and didn't) to his unexpected midwest move, how he’s trying to do better with change, and how his relationship to trust has evolved.
Let’s go.
What if you were laid off at 22 years old? Would life end? Would failure be tattooed on your eyelids in all caps forever? Camille Clark can answer that. Camille is hella chill, hella being her word of choice, not mine (okay, maybe sometimes mine--damn you Bay area friends). She grew up in the East Bay city of Newark, California (no, not New Jersey) and is an Enneagram type 9, which means she’s well, hella chill.
I can confirm this. I’ve been friends with Camille for long enough to know that she’s always down to hang, always down to eat anywhere, and always down to support herself and others.
Camille is now 24 and almost 2 years removed from that day she was laid off, which was only 6 months after graduation.
Since then, Camille moved home and back in with her mom, and went through EIGHT rounds of interviews to get her paid internship, which eventually turned into a full time gig. Now she lives on her own, contemplating whether she should get a dog and how she can discover her passion.
Listen to find out how Camille keeps so positive, why she wants to live to 100, and how a Barney piñata ruined her first birthday and scarred her to this day.
Or those could be your thoughts. The early 20s are a cliff. hindsight 20/somethingis a chronicle of quarter-life crises—stories of getting laid off, losing a lover or your mind, renting a house with a urinal in the living room.
hindsight 20/something is what I would’ve wanted when I was 22 and scared.
My name's Austin Beaton. I'm a poet, writer, and video editor. The year I turned 23 was the worst year of my life. But, that year inspired me to found hindsight 20/something and publish our first collection of essays on Halloween 2018.
hindsight is a living room of older friends, vulnerably telling you that it’s probably not okay right now…but that’s okay. Each episode I'll sit down with a new guest , from an ex-barista grad school applicant to a philosophy professor, to a videographer who delivers Teslas and a music producer who lives in a sound studio.
We’ll catch up with writers from Season 1. We’ll meet new friends. We’ll answer and ask together, what does it mean to be a 20something in 2019?
Interested? You can learn more about the project at hindsight20something.squarespace.com.