Notes on America’s awkward adolescence

Early in the Trump years—before I left Oregon for another bout of California —our collective predicament was known as America’s Difficult Adolescence. The upheaval was that in my mind, at least. The nickname still works, even though my ol’ brain frequently reminds that it had pictured an acne and dateless dance nights phase, not serial drunk-driving and public masturbation.

When Green Scenes author Lauren Yoshiko Sojourn guested in early March, we were was just six weeks in. One full week into Tariff Town. Our media consumption habits came up early in the talk. Chatting frankly from Portland, Yoshiko unintentionally made it clear that every episode for our foreseeable future would be at least be a little about DJT.

And I need not tell you, That fuckin’ sucks yo.

Nevertheless, with this year’s guests’ help, cohost Lev Anderson and I are trying to make sense of what’s happening. Today’s Sojourn has us revisiting conversations with Yoshiko, well-traveled culture writer Dan Epstein, even more well-traveled comedian Ngaio Bealum—a Northern Cali legend—and culinary cannabis leader Chef Maverick, whose deliciousness is known from Los Angeles to Atlanta and certainly points beyond.

Constitutional law scholar John Yoo was last week’s guest and is the first that we go back to. (My buddy with wild baggage was a Wall Street Journal podcast guest yesterday; Yoo’s affect was far less relaxed than on here.)

People talked about her episode in a way that made me shift this Sojourn’s tone.

Major shout-out to the great Grant Stolle, aka DJ Verbz. The former Weedweek podcast guest had me on his Crate Diggers podcast a gazillion years ago and, more importantly, taught me about Northwest hip hop from the ground up. Stolle also invited me to his durably fly Thesis hip hop showcase while the enterprise was young.

On today’s check-in, Lev and I failed to discuss the Vancouver, Washington native’s excellent visit because… well, sometimes I go too far with cannabis. Like all of our guests this year, however, below Stolle tells a far-from-ordinary story that affirms one’s sense of free will.

May we all come into adulthood together.

The elusive nature of style comes to mind when I think of Chef Maverick. We have never met in person, but I feel a sense of intimacy with her because I have tasted her food. It’s kind of fantastic. Every time I talk to Mav, I debrief the food artisan a little bit more on getting one’s soul into the work.

And it is starting to feel like a never-ending story.

So. One of my very favorite pot reporters forced me to realize the impending ubiquity of 2025’s political steamroller. It would make all of the sense for my psyche to blame any resulting anxiety on the Sticky Bits writer. Traumatized people blame messengers, right?

Turns out that a diligent reporter with a strong “bedside manner” can make bad news go down better. Subscribers talked about this episode in a way that shifted my Sojourn’s tone.

When you gift a West Coast Sojourn subscription, you share a pleaser present.

How much harder can I ride for the project that Grant Stolle and Mac Smiff founded during the Obama administration? If you’re familiar with either PDX’s history of harassing hip hop clubs out of existence or the Chris Rock “Grand Opening / Grand Closing” routine, you automatically know what a feat it is that The Thesis remains a pure and beautiful thing.

The West Coast Sojourn tech situation has come a long way since an under-consumed conversation ricocheted between this San Francisco native, an award-winning cartoonist and humorist, and me. I’m certain, however, that the content on this Substack has never been funnier. Unless you count the print version.

Warning: That 2024 episode contains 90s nostalgia, though not the gross kind.

Epstein and I were in the trenches at LA CityBeat, one of the last analogue, “shoe-leather journalism,” alt-news orgs to grace this town. More like him are in my booking chamber. The people whose stories are going to begin living behind the West Coast Sojourn paywall from now on? Oooh, I cannot begin to tell you.

It’s a matter of extreme luck that I have loads of fascinating friends and acquaintances. As the audience grows for what we’re up to, the guests should only become more compelling. For now though? I want to say how proud I am to have offered Dan Epstein’s rock insights without making folks pay. My man really classed up the joint.

Fun and beauty are her jams, but Sophia Sky seriously raised the bar for serious people stepping into this space.

I take sex seriously. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be enough. The complexity of issues emerging sex and gender issues can overwhelm me, and not always in a good way. In the event that mores and practices are washing over you also in ways that aren’t comfortable—that are interfering with your ability to purely enjoy—the woman behind May’s Seattle Erotic Art Festival has something for you.