Doug Reads With Friends

Doug Reads With Friends is a podcast built around good books, good people, and the pleasure of a thoughtful conversation. Each episode, Doug invites a friend to bring a book and see where the conversation leads. Along the way, they talk about reading, work, friendship, curiosity, and the strange, meaningful ways stories shape how we understand the world and each other. The book is the excuse. The friendship is the point. Buddies. Books. Banter.

Doug Reads With Friends is a arts podcast hosted by Doug Cutchins, with 12 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Doug Cutchins hosts Doug Reads With Friends, a arts show with 12 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #12

  Ep 12: Remembering Steve Langerud

  Jun 26, 202641 minS1

  <p>This is a very different episode of Doug Reads With Friends. Steve Langerud was supposed to be my guest. He had chosen the book, I had read it, and we were trying to schedule the recording when I learned that Steve had passed. So this episode became something else: a tribute to a dear friend, mentor, advisor, colleague, and world-class laugher. Rachel Bly, Thomas Crady, Meg Jones Bair, Joyce Stern, and Amy Nelson join me to remember Steve’s kindness, humor, loyalty, wisdom, love of Grinnell, commitment to helping people find their way, and gift for making life better ju...

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• 

  Episode #12

  Ep 12: Remembering Steve Langerud

  Jun 26, 202641 minS1

  This is a very different episode of Doug Reads With Friends. Steve Langerud was supposed to be my guest. He had chosen the book, I had read it, and we were trying to schedule the recording when I learned that Steve had passed. So this episode became something else: a tribute to a dear friend, mentor, advisor, colleague, and world-class laugher. Rachel Bly, Thomas Crady, Meg Jones Bair, Joyce Stern, and Amy Nelson join me to remember Steve’s kindness, humor, loyalty, wisdom, love of Grinnell, commitment to helping people find their way, and gift for making life better just by being in the room. Steve’s obituary: https://www.smithfh.com/obituaries/steve-langerud Memorial donations may be made to the Mayflower Community Human Needs Fund, Imagine Grinnell, the Prairie Burn 100, or Drake Community Library. Music licensed through Soundstripe AMITPZ6ZV3H5MFFK Chapters: 00:00 Intro: a very different episode 03:54 Rachel Bly and MAGBRAHS 07:44 "That did not disappoint" 09:59 Thomas Crady: "That's just Grinnell" 13:11 Defining rock & roll 15:57 Meg Jones Bair: "An unwavering commitment to positivity" 19:07 April Fools! 23:16 Joyce Stern: "How can I make your life better?" 26:58 The best advisor 30:19 Amy Nelson tells the Ursinus story 36:35 Steve wins 38:54 Thank you, Steve

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  Episode #11

  Ep 11: Hope, Radical Care & The Parable of the Sower (with Graciela Guzman)

  Jun 5, 202644 minS1

  <p>In this episode of Doug Reads with Friends, Doug talks with Illinois State Senator Graciela Guzman about organizing, public service, community care, and Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower. The conversation moves from Graciela’s path from Grinnell to healthcare policy to elected office, into a powerful discussion of fear, hope, burnout, survival, and what it means to care for people when the world feels like it is falling apart.</p><p></p><p>Music by Eiren Caffall. Please check out her music on Spotify and visit her website at https://www.eirencaffall.com/.</p><p></p><p>Ch...

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  Episode #10

  Ep 10: Start Small, Grinnell Mornings & Pride and Prejudice (with Erik Simpson)

  May 29, 202646 minS1

  <p>In this episode of Doug Reads with Friends, Doug talks with Erik Simpson, Professor of English at Grinnell College and one of Doug’s dearest friends from his years in Grinnell. Erik chose Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, giving Doug a long-overdue first read of one of the most beloved novels in English. Their conversation begins with Erik’s work in book arts, paper engineering, teaching, bird photography, and the strange habits of professional readers, before turning to Austen, rereading, Darcy’s listening, Elizabeth’s changing judgment, whether the novel is feminist, and why Charlotte Lucas may be one of the...

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  Episode #9

  Ep 9: Do Hard Things, Favorite Teachers & The Longest Race (with Tammy Draughon)

  May 11, 202644 minS1

  <p>Tammy Draughon joins Doug to talk about The Longest Race by Kara Goucher, but the conversation quickly becomes about much more than running. Doug and Tammy look back on nearly 30 years of friendship, beginning as young teachers at Enloe High School, and talk about teaching physics, coaching high school runners, doing hard things, surviving the Boston Marathon bombing, parenting, faith, and the responsibility coaches have to the young people in their care. Then they turn to Goucher’s memoir and its account of abuse, power, silence, and finding one’s voice inside the Nike Oregon Project. It is a conv...

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