Why Am I

Imagine if you will having 60 minutes to free a hostage or perhaps to interrogate the suspect. Your heart is racing, you start sweating…your body is flooding you with adrenalin. Now take a step back and remember that you are in the Boom Room experience created by Joe Lawther. This series of unique experiences are designed to help you learn to think clearly under pressure by the only means that actually works, which is live exposure therapy. This is a fascinating conversation with an extremely interesting fella. I hope you enjoy this chat with Joe.

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What happens when a fantasy meal is built from Amazon coconuts, Himalayan survival snow, train-station samosas, and pumpkin pie blessed by the gods? Ryan Estrada brings wild travel stories, near-death meals, and unforgettable bites to the Fantasy Restaurant. I hope you enjoy this meal as much as I did 🙂

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A man with a 1920s typewriter writes poems for strangers on the spot, and sometimes changes their lives. In this episode of Why Am I, Sean Petrie shares how Typewriter Rodeo turns fleeting moments into something people carry forever. Sean came along right when I need him, and who knows, maybe it’ll be right in time for you.

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In the warmup for the Why Am I Podcast, the Fantasy Restaurant, anything goes. Fatal1ty builds his ultimate meal, from a vodka soda lime to a filet with a serious green bean backstory. Help us find the perfect beans LOL.

What happens when “anything goes” in a fantasy meal? Ken builds a menu of coconut seltzer, calamari, grilled fish, and a perfectly balanced dessert—while casually revealing he’d eat almost anything. This one gets unexpectedly philosophical (and hungry).

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What happens when a bug cookbook author builds their dream meal? It gets weird in the best way. From camp-style “bug juice” to grasshopper appetizers and a surprisingly relatable lobster debate, this Fantasy Restaurant goes places.

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A sweet tea start, a nerdy old fashioned debate, and a main course straight out of fantasy lore. In this episode of Fantasy Restaurant, Colton builds a meal that somehow goes from Southern comfort to mythical creatures without missing a beat.

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What happens when grief turns into a mission to make the world kinder?

In this episode of Why Am I, I talk with writer, filmmaker, and pie maker Beth Howard about losing her husband, traveling the world with pie, running a pie stand at the real American Gothic House, and why sharing something simple can bring people together.

It’s a conversation about grief, connection, and the surprising power of baking something for another person.

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What does it take to draw a revolver and hit a target in under half a second?

In this episode of Why Am I, I talk with Cal, better known in the sport as “Quick Cal.” He’s been competing in fast draw shooting since the 1960s, winning world championships and helping build a sport where competitors in western gear race to quick-draw and fire wax bullets in less than half a second.

We talk about reaction time, the psychology of competition, and the culture behind cowboy fast draw, a sport built around family, integrity, and what its members call “the cowboy way.

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In this episode of Why Am I, I sit down with Elizabeth Bromstein, a writer, marketer, perfumer, and tarot reader who made a late-career pivot after realizing the old path wasn’t sustainable anymore. We talk about identity in midlife, ego checks, career humiliation, addiction, skepticism, belief vs. disbelief, behavioral psychology, AI anxiety, and why tarot might be less about divination and more about self reflection.

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