Shame Spiral Spiral On!

Hi Shame Spiralers! I'm briefly emerging from our mid-season hiatus just to drop this very special bonus episode with comic, writer & actor Jes Tom! (Our Flag Means Death, Less Lonely.)

Jes is one of my favorite comedians and you can and SHOULD drop everything you're doing and go see their one-person comedy show Less Lonely at the Greenwich House Theater in NYC, from now through January 6! 
This hilarious, poignant show is written & performed by Jes, presented by Elliot Page, and has been described as "an exploration of sex in the face of death and gender transition on the brink of oblivion."  Tickets available now, GO GO GO! 
 
It was such a pleasure to spiral out with Jes this week. We talked perfectionism and failure, fear of being sociopaths, the shame of self-promotion, the relationship between judging oneself and others, career angst, what we want in a therapist, fear of getting in trouble , our very deepest, darkest traits and SO MUCH MORE. And not only was this episode a pleasure for me, it was also AN AGONY- as Jes turned the tables on me, reading me to filth and legitimately making me  SQUIRM.  It was horrifying for me, but I'm pretty sure it makes for a damn good episode. 

Follow Jes on IG @ jesthekid and Twitter @jestom, and you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes. 

***SEASON TWO UPDATE*** I'm currently cooking up some exciting mysterious stuff for Season 2, so it isn't dropping quite yet. BUT it will be worth the wait! I'm recording amazing eps in the meantime, and will keep you posted on the launch date as soon as I can. While you wait, please  catch up on old episodes, and email me your own twisted shame game scenarios- if it's sufficiently dark and disturbed you might even get to hear me haunt one of your fave funny people with it.  Can't wait to be back with you all weekly soon, and thank you so much for listening! 

Audio Engineer/Editor:  Theresa Gaffney, IG @theresagaff
Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde
Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa
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This week I spiraled out with psychotherapist, OCD specialist, writer & content creator Alegra Kastens! We talked OCD origin stories and the thoughts that broke our brains, the obsessive struggle to discern if you don't like someone because you're not into them or because there's something wrong with you, fear of being cancelled and social media trolls, the idea of "harm," and what it really means to harm someone, obsessing about finding a partner and worrying about your eggs dying,  the dangerous proliferation of unlicensed TikTok mental health "coaches" and the messages they disseminate, the intersection of trauma, shame and OCD, how being a therapist can actually make things MORE difficult for you in dating, love and life, and SO MUCH MORE! 

Plus, Alegra shares a relatable and vulnerable shame story about being in a dark place in her life and ending up hospitalized for one night- and the shameful aftermath that ensued. And I shared with Alegra a little *casual witchcraft* that I employed when I was looking for love....I promised her the full spell and haven't recovered it yet, but when I find it, trust I will share it with all of you potential witches out there! 

Alegra is an incredible, radical force of change on social media, sharing openly  and often hilariously about her own experience with OCD and doing the good work of  shattering the debilitating stigma that comes with mental health struggles. Follow her NOW if you don't already on IG & TikTok @alegrakastens! And stay tuned for news about the upcoming BOOK she's writing!

As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes. 

*** special note! After over a year of weekly episodes, this is the FINAL EPISODE OF THE EXTREMELY BULKY SEASON 1! I'm taking a few weeks between seasons to record new eps and recalibrate, and will be back to launch Season 2 shortly. Thank you so much for listening this year- your support for the pod means everything to me, truly!  Stay tuned for news of official Season 2 drop date, and in the meantime catch up on old episodes, and please review, subscribe, and leave those five shining stars.  

Audio Engineer: Sarah Gabrielli, IG @cruisingpod 
Editor: Theresa Gaffney, IG @theresagaff
Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde
Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa
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This week I spiraled out with writer, illustrator, podcaster & professor Nicole J. Georges! (Calling Dr. Laura)  We talked shame and recovery from harmful family dynamics, making amends to yourself & others, the important of zines and yahoogroups for isolated young 90's queers, shoplifting, vegan betrayals, gossiping, gaslighting, writing memoir when you know your family won't be happy about it, and SO MUCH MORE.
Plus, Nicole shared several incredible shame stories, including a true showstopper: a moment in which she may have accidentally shamed one of the best women of our time who we agreed deserves not a SINGLE iota of further shaming: MS. MONICA LEWINSKY HERSELF.

Nicole has published several amazing and award-winning graphic novels, including Calling Dr. Laura and Fetch: How A Bad Dog Brought Me Home, and she has a new book out RIGHT NOW called Dog's Breakfast! It's an anthology of diary comics, which includes twelve issues of her zine Invincible Summer, and more than a decade's worth of rare and never before seen stories about love, loss, teaching, being a grouch, drawing graphic novels, dog death, and starting over.  You should ALSO check out Nicole's fantastic podcast Sagittarian Matters, and follow her on IG & Twitter @nicolejgeorges. 

As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes. Thank you so much for listening! Please review, subscribe, and leave those five shining stars. 

Audio Engineer: Sarah Gabrielli, IG @cruisingpod 
Editor: Theresa Gaffney, IG @theresagaff
Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde
Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa
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instagram.com/podshamespiral
instagram.com/elykreimendahl
tiktok.com/@elykreimendahl
twitter.com/elykreimendahl

This week I spiraled out with writer, poet and lovely person LaToya Jordan! We dug deep into her recently published novella, To The Woman In The Pink Hat, and some of the issues it explores: medical racism, infertility, white feminism, the Women's March, and uterine transplants (?!?,) and also spiraled about twenty-something alcohol-induced regrets, the struggle to "make the first move" in attempting friendship with adults and fellow parents, and how sometimes the right amount of shame just affirms you're not a sociopath. 

Plus, LaToya shared a vulnerable , poignant and retrospectively hilarious shame story about being "outed" as a lesbian on her high school track team (in a horrible, homophobic way, and DESPITE not actually being a lesbian!!!) 

Follow LaToya on IG @latoyajordanwriter and Twitter @latoyadjordan, and buy her novella!!!!!!! It is such a good read and despite the heavy topics, manages to be truly  IMPOSSIBLE to put down.  https://www.aqueductpress.com/books/978-1-61976-236-7.php 

And you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes.  AND if you want to hear me spiral LIVE, the next Gay Shame comedy show is next week! 10/30 at 7:30pm at Union Hall in Brooklyn, and in honor of Halloween it is HOCUS POCUS-THEMED, WITCH!!!! tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gay-shame-tickets-722973672717

Thank you so much for listening! Please review, subscribe, and leave those five shining stars. 

Audio Engineer: Sarah Gabrielli @therealsarahgabrielli @cruisingpod 

Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde

Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa


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This week I spiraled out with brilliant television writer, showrunner and co-creator of YELLOWJACKETS (!!!!!!) Ashley Lyle!
We talked nicotine and being 90s teens, the moment you realize you can hurt your mom's feelings,  caring too much about what people think of you at the expense of the people who truly care, the vicious procrastination cycle and ADHD, anxiety & shame intertwined, unhinged goth childhood behavior, feeling replete with humiliation on CELEBRITY FAMILY FUED,  and so much more! I also gave Ashley two Yellowjackets- specific shame game scenarios, which she was an incredible sport about (even though they fully elevated her heart rate- sorry Ashley!!!) 

If somehow you have not yet seen Yellowjackets, WATCH IT NOW!  IT IS INCREDIBLE, TOP TIER TELEVISION!!!! Now that the strike is over, you can finish it and join the rest of us in waiting with bated breath for season three! Ashley has also written on Dispatches From Elsewhere, Narcos, The Originals, and more. Follow her on Twitter @ashannlyle!  
And you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes.  And if you're enjoying the pod, please rate, review and subscribe! If you do, I will SPIRAL-but in the good way.  

Audio Engineer: Sarah Gabrielli @therealsarahgabrielli @cruisingpod 

Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde

Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa
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instagram.com/podshamespiral
instagram.com/elykreimendahl
tiktok.com/@elykreimendahl
twitter.com/elykreimendahl

This week I spiraled out with hilarious and deeply relatable novelist, television writer & painter Ali Liebegott!   We talked regret, people pleasing and the shame of saying no,  making mistakes and accepting your own and others' flaws , accidentally farting on a stranger in a grocery store, taking your students to a casino, wishing your childhood fish was more like a dog and SO MUCH MORE.   

Ali's published a handful of incredible award-winning books, including : The IHOP Papers, The Beautifully Worthless, Cha-Ching!, and The Summer Of Dead Birds. She's also written for television,  including on amazing shows like Transparent, The Sex Lives Of College Girls, I Love That For You, and The Connors.  And Ali is also a painter- check out her gorgeous work on aliiebegott.com, and follow her on Instagram @friendofducks. 

You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @elykreimendahl, and the pod on Twitter and Instagram @podshamespiral, where I'm regularly posting fun video clips of especially juicy or hilarious moments from the episodes.  And if you're enjoying the pod, please rate, review and subscribe! If you do, I will SPIRAL-but in the good way.  

*In the episode, I tell Ali a shameful story involving me, her, and an Eminem song....if you must know, this is the song in question: https://open.spotify.com/track/1HR2CTi0ytRJIcik1QKdOa?si=700c6968828942a0

Audio Engineer: Sarah Gabrielli @therealsarahgabrielli @cruisingpod 

Original Music: Shadwick Wilde, Instagram and Twitter: @shadwickwilde

Cover Art: Cassidy Kulhanek, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @heavenlygrandpa
twitter.com/podshamespiral
instagram.com/podshamespiral
instagram.com/elykreimendahl
tiktok.com/@elykreimendahl
twitter.com/elykreimendahl