Weirdly Helpful (formerly The Best Advice Show)

A meandering stroll through some of Zak's favorite walking episode featuring Natalie from Toronto, Rob Walker, Phoebe McIndoe, Mordechai Gildenstern, Dave Leins and Bianca Giaever.

READ: Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit

What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

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Weirdly Helpful is so excited to share an excerpt of Hillary Frank's suspenseful and bingeable new original audiobook, Wedlocked.

GET IT HERE!

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Hillary Frank is the creator of The Longest Shortest Time, a popular parenting and reproductive health podcast, where she has covered topics ranging from birth injuries to transgender pregnancy to the sex lives of parents. The show has been named a Top 50 Podcast by The Atlantic and TIME and has won awards from the Third Coast International Audio Festival, The Webby Awards, The Academy of Podcasters, and New York Festival’s World’s Best Radio. Hillary's work has aired on a variety of acclaimed radio shows and podcasts, including This American Life, Marketplace, Studio 360, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition. She is also the author of Weird Parenting Wins, an NPR Best Book of 2019, and her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and CNN.com.

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If you're a longtime listener to Weirdly Helpful, you probably know that Jonathan Goldstein is my hero. He hosts what I think might be the best podcast of all, Heavyweight. Every episode starts with a real person and something from their past that has stayed with them, and then Jonathan gets involved to help people finally have conversations or closure that they never thought they'd have.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

If you're a longtime listener to Weirdly Helpful, you probably know that Jonathan Goldstein is my hero. He hosts what I think might be the best podcast of all, Heavyweight. Every episode starts with a real person and something from their past that has stayed with them, and then Jonathan gets involved to help people finally have conversations or closure that they never thought they'd have.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

If you're a longtime listener to Weirdly Helpful, you probably know that Jonathan Goldstein is my hero. He hosts what I think might be the best podcast of all, Heavyweight. Every episode starts with a real person and something from their past that has stayed with them, and then Jonathan gets involved to help people finally have conversations or closure that they never thought they'd have.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Anna Holmes is an award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. Her new book is The Power of No.

Check out this episode from the WH archives, Saying No with Aaron Handelsman

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Hawleyis a Weirdly Helpful correspondent, artist and therapist, living and giving balls away in Philadelphia.

What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

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In this episode, Whitney Henry-Lester shares weirdly helpful approaches to overcoming personal baggage through playful experiments like Tensies which you should follow here.

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katie Stone is the host and producer of The Children's Hour radio show and podcast. They launched a new series of “Shorts”, featuring teensy engaging episode highlights from their award-winning programs paired with ready-to-use learning guides to make teaching easy and fun. There are 2-minute episodes about stuff like balloons, being yourself, refugees…all the topics are picked by the kids. Check 'em out!!!!

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Margaret Glaspy is a New York-based singer/songwriter. Her newest album, I Am Both, is essential. She might be coming to a town near you.

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⁠⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.⁠

What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

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I love Zoolander so much. If you do too, you're gonna love today's episode which comes from the podcast That Aged Well. Come join hosts Erika and Paul as they re-experience this wild ride of a movie, filled with male models, assassins, and, of course, orange mocha frappuccinos!

More about the show: Feel conflicted about the movies you loved as a kid? Paul and Erika guide you through all that beloved garbage we watched...after all, nostalgia is more fun when you aren't the only one embarrassed by it. Come dive into yesterday's pop culture today. An 80s kid? A 90s kid? A horror aficionado? A musical singalonger? That Aged Well has got a little something for all on their website.

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Steve Kamb is the founder of Nerd Fitness and the author of HOW TO TRY AGAIN. The book he referances is... Start Ugly: The Unexpected Path to Everyday Creativity by David duChemin

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This episode's archival cousin: Aiming at Meh with Brian Selfon

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Clio called the Weirdly Helpline with her shenanigan and you should too @ 844-935-2378.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn! | The Wind in the Willows | Full Episode

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Jan Worth-Nelson and Ted Nelson are writers and editors from Flint, MI. More about Sheldon Kopp's, An Eschatological Laundry List.

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⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

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Rebecca Garza-Bortman is a designer, musician, writer, & mother living in Berkeley. This episode features WH listeners Julia, Lauren, Erica, Meredith, another Lauren, Katie and Mike.

I never want to stop hearing your shenanigans. Call the Weird Helpline @ 844-935-2378

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Evangeline Garreau is a queer ADHD gemini and a creative project coach who accompanies artists of all kinds on their creative journeys, helping them get unstuck and put in the work to bring their visions into reality. Check out her newslettter, Belly Spark. It's so good. You can work with her too!

What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mallary Tenore Tarpley is the award-winning author of SLIP and an assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication and the McCombs School of Business, where she teaches journalism and writing. This episode was inspired by Mallary's recent piece, Embracing the lost art of people-watching published in Neiman Storyboard.

If you liked this episode you'll also like God is in the Details or Why Listening to Strangers on the Train is Fantastic Raw Material for your Storytelling with Craig Finn from The Hold Steady.

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annie Sim is the CEO (Chief Eating Officer) of The Table Less Traveled

Evan Stern is the host of Vanishing Postcards

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Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/weirdlyhelpful

Call Zak on the hotline @ 844-935-2378

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Ann Larson is the author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register.

Her writing on education, debt, and low-wage work has appeared in The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fast Company, and The Nation, among other publications. She is coauthor of Can’t Pay Won’t Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition and is a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven D. Cohen is an award-winning professor, author, and coach who empowers you and your team to communicate with influence, inspire your audience, and achieve your leadership potential.

Express yourself better with Toastmasters

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful and/or what shenanigan do you practice!? Call me and tell me all abou it @ 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharon Mashihi is the creator of the serialized audio mindtrip Appearances. Her new project is available on Audible and called 30 Days To Rediscover Your Creativity.

If you like today's episode you might like this one about creative appetizers and procrastination.

Sharon was last on the show talking about structured walking.

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What do you find Weirdly Helpful? Call me at 844-935-2378

⁠⁠THE WEIRDLY HELPFUL MERCH STORE!!!!⁠⁠

⁠⁠Become a WH Patron and listen to the show ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices