Ola Ojewumi is a force of nature. When she was nine she learned she had a rare heart condition and by eleven she was faced with undergoing kidney and heart transplants. She grew up navigating a complex world of intersectional privilege and challenge which was only exacerbated when, as a young adult, she was diagnosed with cancer and soon after became a wheelchair user. She's a fierce advocate for the disabled community, having worked with Lady Gaga, Nancy Pelosi, Cory Booker, Steny Hoyer, and Ba...
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr 2 min
You might have at one time said something like “I think if we ever met, I’d be really good friends with Dolly Parton.” Or thought if Chris Evans happened to come into the cafe where you work, he’d definitely go out with me. Have you ever heard of a parasocial relationship? The term was created in 1956 by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl to describe a unique one-sided relationship in which a member of an audience believes a person they see on tv or social media is their close personal friend. That ...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr 3 min
We love talking about food, but we have a tough time talking about eating. For some reason we are allowed to almost fetishize food, salivating over perfectly aesthetic photos of food but the moment that food touches our lips we are judged for it. And, naturally, the more layers of intersectional oppression you experience, the more you are judged for your food choices. Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Par...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 134
Writing is a special kind of solitary torture. The only thing about it anyone ever sees is the end result, the finished, published work resting on shelves. In today's booktok culture, books are consumed at lightning speed and reviewers rush to deliver the most controversial hot take they can think of for engagement. Years of a person's life are spent writing the stories that become our blockbuster movies or our summer beach reads. Years spent alone in a room somewhere with a pen and paper or a k...
Jul 26, 2022•59 min•Ep. 133
Would you make a good cult leader? If not you, then you probably know someone who would. We're fascinated by cults. It seems like every day a new docuseries is dropped on some streaming service or podcast platform about yet another cult out there in the world taking people's time, energy, or money. Jennings Brown is an investigative journalist with a penchant for investigating cults. He's reported on Teal Swan, the Fellowship of Friends, as well as a number of conspiracy theories, algorithm blac...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 132
Pre-K pause. If you’ve been online in any capacity in the last year, that phrase probably conjures up the face of Tell Williams. He was a pre-K teacher for 9 years before resigning to pursue a Master’s in social work. Along the way he accidentally found viral fame when a video he posted about the realities of being a teacher hit the algorithm jackpot. He’s gone on to try his hand at stand-up comedy, being the face of a nail polish brand, and even act in the new show The Book of Queer that just p...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 131
Lots of people have lots to say about the Bible. Loads of conspiracy theories exist about it. Whether it’s conspiracy theories about its creation, or lost books that didn’t make the cut, or obscure interpretations seen by a select few as prophecy about our modern world, not a day goes by that someone, somewhere isn’t holding the Bible up to the light and seeing if we missed anything. Beyond that, so-called biblical literalism has been the basis of support for a lot of pretty heinous parts of our...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 130
Witchcraft and magical practice has been an indelible part of the human experience throughout recorded history. Wherever there are people, there are people practicing magic. It shows up in all sorts of places: tv shows, fantasy novels, and the strange shop on the corner that smells of incense and has shelves lined with crystals. But what if I told you there is an actual, formal discipline of study when it comes to the history and practice of magic? Owen Davies is a professor of history at the Un...
May 31, 2022•57 min•Ep. 129
Early mornings and late sunsets are a hallmark of the summer season. The extra warmth and daylight is a blessing for many of us that live in areas where it is cold, dark, and wet or frozen for much of the year. It is a time of year that calls many of us to go out in search of high mountaintops or deep canyons, verdant forests, and untouched landscapes. To get back to nature. But getting back to nature isn't without its pitfalls, which is where my guest today comes in. Diana Helmuth is the author...
May 17, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 128
Do you want to see a dead body? How about two? Would you like to see 1-2 dead bodies every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the next 20, 30, 40 years? If you said yes, you might have what it takes to do the job of my guest on today's episode of Head On Fire. The preparation and care for our dead is not just a sacred rite, or a taboo subject, but for folks like Temple Ruff it's a job. One that isn't without its perks, I mean how much more job security can you get than death, right? Temple ...
May 03, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 127
How much does the marketing industry know about you? You, specifically. Sure, you've heard all the horror stories - or maybe you've lived it - in which you're thinking about Pop Tarts and suddenly you see an ad on social media for Pop Tarts. That's freaky, right? But marketing existed long before the advent of modern technology and still seemed to somehow catch the pulse of what we all wanted to consume. Or did it? Maybe the truth about marketing isn't that it is reacting to what you're seeing o...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 126
"Grief is a feeling made of feelings," says Mahlakai Rose, a death doula and co-founder of The House of Grief. We are all thinking about death lately. How we want to die, where and with whom we want to spend our final moments, and what we'd like to happen afterwards. But given how much our lives have changed in the last few years, we're also becoming clued in to the fact that death and grief happen more often than we'd like to think. We die little deaths throughout our lives. Unexpected loss of ...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 125
There’s this urge to turn yourself into a brand online. No matter how specific your interests are, no matter how tiny you think the niche is, social media compels you to believe that if you want to participate in that culture you must become a copy of those who came before you. If you come online hoping to research anything - how to be a writer, how to organize your home, how to exercise - you are instantly bombarded with people who are not only far more advanced at that thing than you are, but ...
Mar 22, 2022•47 min•Ep. 124
The last two years of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic have forced a lot of people to take stock of what is important to them. For many that has meant assessing whether they're in the right career or whether it's time to take a chance on forging a path for themselves. That's what Nikk Alcaraz - an actor, food artist, and DIY craft maker - did. He created Practical Peculiarities, a content creation brand under which Alcaraz inspires people to add a bit of magic into their dinner menus or around th...
Mar 08, 2022•52 min•Ep. 123
What’s important to you? What do you value? What makes you happy? No matter how you answered I want to know: would your answers change if you were telling your significant other? A work acquaintance? Your boss? If I were there right now with a microphone and camera asking you on the record, would any of those answers change? The answer is…probably…yes. Right? Yes, of course, we don’t tell our bosses everything about our off-hours lives. We don’t tell our coworkers all the smutty shows we watch o...
Feb 22, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 122
An all too common problem for anyone in a creative field is other people's opinions. The folks who look over your shoulder and tell you that you should've painted something blue instead of red. The folks who take years of your life's work and turn it into bumper sticker commentary for easy engagement on social media. The alleged fans of a show that seem to take glee in tearing apart the thing they profess to love and ruining the lives of those who make it. My guest today knows this intimately, h...
Feb 08, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 121
A promotional trailer for Head On Fire. "Seek illumination the way a man with his head on fire seeks water." That's the ethos behind Head On Fire, a new podcast featuring deep dive conversations with experts in interesting, often overlooked fields. It's a search for meaning and answers to life's biggest and smallest questions. Join me, author and host Don Martin, every other week as we discuss everything from climate change and reproductive Justice to the cultural importance of reality televisio...
Jan 07, 2022•58 sec•Ep. 120
Goodbye. Today is the very last episode of Inciting A Riot. And the last time I'll be speaking to you as Fire Lyte. Sometimes growth means putting yourself back together, and in 2022 I am going to embark on a more personal, more authentic journey. As myself. I hope you’ll come along with me. The antagonistic, pointed energy of Inciting A Riot is going away as it no longer serves me. In its place will be a new title and a new me. The real me. The me that my friends and loved ones know. No more ma...
Dec 31, 2021•58 min•Ep. 119
Queer as Folk's Peter Paige on the legacy of his career, stepping behind the camera to craft queer-centric television shows and movies like The Fosters and The Thing About Harry, casting cishet actors in queer roles, and where Hollywood goes from here. Connect with Peter Paige here . If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. Help keep th...
Dec 14, 2021•55 min•Ep. 118
The witch is a curious figure, existing in a uniquely liminal space of both fact and fiction, this world and the next. Many practitioners of magic walk a path that carefully stays in that middle ground, but a few heed the call to peek beyond the hedge, to walk amongst ancestors and spirits and gods and beings for which we don’t yet have names. It can be daunting, to leave that comfortable middle path, but Christine Grace’s book The Witch at the Forest’s Edge provides a gentle, encouraging hand t...
Nov 30, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 117
When I wrote an article for Writer's Digest about witches in stories , I said that the best stories aren't about the magic but about the power. In science fiction and fantasy writing, I've found that a superpower or access to magic or a special tool that grants an ability - whatever it is - isn't nearly as interesting as the power that it grants the user. The ability for magic to level a playing field, to allow the righting of wrongs. In her latest graphic novel, Squad (illustrated by Lisa Sterl...
Nov 16, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 116
The Day of the Dead, El Día de los Muertos, is a celebration originating in Mexico. It's been gaining visibility and popularity in the United States and beyond thanks in part to films like Book of Life and Coco. However, a lot of misconceptions surround this cultural event, such as it being a "second Halloween". Too often elements of the celebration are taken piecemeal by those from outside the culture and used as costume or in ways that remove the context or history behind it - such as calavera...
Nov 02, 2021•54 min•Ep. 115
Every year around Halloween, I gather together a collection of stories, poems, and songs from around the magical world to help bring a bit of magic to your Samhain season. This year's Hallowed Riot features the following works: The Lockkeepers's Door - original short story by Vinna Harper Dawn of Maw - an excerpt from Taylor Narváez Claman Love Letter to Hades part 2 - a poem by Lauren Theresa travel - a poem from the book while I wait to be a god again read by Cory Hutcheson Verity Vox & Ki...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 114
Being a femme presenting person in an online space is to constantly walk a minefield of harassment, intimidation, and abuse. To have your authority questioned and your opinion overlooked in favor of a man's. Things aren't better behind the screens either. Earlier this year a lawsuit against one of the world's biggest game makers, Activision Blizzard, brought to light a long-standing "frat boy" culture that permeated all levels of the company and promoted a culture of harm. My deepest gratitude t...
Oct 19, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 113
Recently I was asked to define some important rules to remember when writing about witchcraft, especially in fiction. My response was to keep in mind that it's never about the magic but about the power that magic provides. For many of us who are drawn to the witchy characters in fiction and folklore, we're often drawn to the witch's ability to level the playing field in an otherwise unfair society using some form of magic. In the new book Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis, this dynamic is playe...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 112
Being an author shares a lot of similarities with being a witch. Much of the work we do is alone, toiling away at improving skills or deepening our knowledge about obscure topics. Should we work in groups it's typically in very small circles of trusted peers. The other way that witches and authors are alike is that the general public has a lot of very wrong opinions about what it's like to be one. So, that's why Thorn Mooney, author of the new (phenomenal) book The Witch's Path and I sat down to...
Sep 21, 2021•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 111
In recent days a new law went into effect in the state of Texas prohibiting access to an abortion after 6 weeks. 6 weeks after what, though? Conception? Your period? Something else? And why so restrictive? And why are so many organizations setting up websites to gather tips about patients, providers, and those that aid them? This conversation requires an expert to guide us through the nuance, and I'm grateful that Dr. Leah Torres returned to lead us through the thick of the issues. Follow Dr. To...
Sep 10, 2021•47 min•Ep. 110
Shadow Work is a trend that seems to have come out of nowhere in the last two years. One cannot explore much of witchy social media these days without seeing recommendations to “do your shadow work”, which seems to mean anything from “go to therapy” to “meditate more” to “write your feelings in a journal”. As with many trends, plenty of people are trying to commodify it with spiritual advisors selling shadow work services alongside tarot and astrology readings, sometimes inserting it into a read...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 109
Have you ever seen those food videos on YouTube where a chef or a food scientist tries out a series of “food hacks” found in those viral videos by places like 5-minute crafts or Blossom? The “hacks” as they’re commonly called showcase a new, easier way of cooking in well-edited videos lasting only a few seconds per recipe. Ostensibly, this is to help folks who don’t have a lot of cookware on hand or prior skill make something delicious in a way that’s cheap, accessible, and easy. Making brownies...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 108
The International Panel on Climate Change - otherwise known as the IPCC - just released their Sixth Assessment Report and it is pretty much all the various news outlets, politicians, and talking heads can discuss. But, it's a big report. The full report is thousands of pages long with hundreds of authors and well over 10,000 source citations. When all the headlines seem to say is something like IPCC Report Confirms We're All Gonna Die , it can be difficult to parse out what is important, what is...
Aug 13, 2021•51 min•Ep. 107
