Doug Reads With Friends

Doug Cutchins
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Books

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.

  1. Sep 22

    Ep 16: Compassion, The Beirut Marathon & A Man Called Ove (with Jad Nachabe)

    Doug talks with his friend Jad Nachabe, a Lebanese endurance athlete he met through the Beirut Marathon. Jad reflects on growing up between Lebanon and Dubai, the complicated question of where home is, and why he resents describing Lebanese people as resilient when they never chose the hardships that demanded it. They also discuss Jad’s transformation from the kid picked last in school sports to an Ironman, the confidence and community he has found through endurance, and what keeps him moving forward. Eventually, they even reach Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove and its lessons about understanding other people, extending compassion, and allowing some of that compassion for ourselves. Music for Doug Reads with Friends is by Eiren Caffall. Learn more about her work at https://www.eirencaffall.com/. Chapters: 00:05 — INTRO: Lebanon, endurance and A Man Called Ove 01:32 — A Beirut Marathon friendship 04:33 — Two places called home 09:39 — Resilience he never chose 15:00 — From picked last to Ironman 19:10 — Community, solitude and finding his why 26:46 — OK, now the book: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 32:18 — Compassion for others—and yourself 37:48 — The book, the movie and reading beyond yourself 42:52 — OUTRO: A fundamentally decent human being

  2. Sep 5

    Ep 15: The Empty Chair, Zimbabwe Education & Chasing Freedom (with Rebecca Zeigler Mano)

    Doug talks with longtime friend Rebecca Ziegler Mano, founder of Education Matters and USAP Community School in Zimbabwe, about a life spent connecting talented young people with opportunity. They discuss why Rebecca has made Zimbabwe home for nearly 30 years, the complicated roles of language, race and privilege in education, the pressures students carry when they leave home, and the increasingly difficult realities facing African students studying abroad. Then they turn to Simukai Chigudu’s Chasing Freedom, a memoir that opens up questions about colonial history, diaspora, identity and belonging. Music for Doug Reads With Friends provided by Eiren Caffall. 00:00 Rebecca Zeigler Mano, Zimbabwe & a Life in Education 04:12 A One-Way Ticket, $1,000 & an Unexpected Life in Zimbabwe 08:14 Finding Talent, Creating USAP & Building a School 13:26 Visa Bans, Language & What It Means to Educate Zimbabweans 18:13 Why Stay? Thirty Years of Life in Zimbabwe 20:53 Race, Privilege & Feeling “of Zimbabwe” 24:57 The Empty Chair & Preparing Students to Leave 30:33 OK, now the book: Chasing Freedom by Simukai Chigudu 33:13 Expectations Too Vast, Diaspora, Identity & a Life in Books

  3. Aug 29

    Ep 14: Getting Nosier, Posse Therapy & The Invisible Ache (with Javon Garcia)

    Doug talks with Javon Garcia, a clinical social worker in Chicago and former member of the Grinnell Posse Doug mentored, about therapy, masculinity, community, and The Invisible Ache by Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Robin L. Smith. Javon reflects on becoming a therapist, why representation matters, the pressures Black men face around vulnerability and mental health, and why self-care is not enough without community care. They also talk about virtual therapy, Posse as accidental group therapy, shame, faith, and why maybe we should all be a little nosier. Music for Doug Reads with Friends is provided by Eiren Caffall. 00:05 INTRO: Javon Garcia, therapy, and The Invisible Ache 01:51 From law school dreams to clinical social work 09:25 Who are you as a therapist? 17:13 Virtual therapy, rural Illinois, and the Posse connection 21:24 Politics, fear, joy, comedy, and what keeps Javon going 25:13 Javon as a reader 26:22 OK, now the book: The Invisible Ache by Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Robin L. Smith 29:43 Self-care, community care, and being a little nosier 34:19 The man box: race, masculinity, shame, and barriers to therapy 39:55 Taking off the mask, Posse travel, and what comes next

  4. Aug 21

    Ep 13: Mutual Aloha, Peace Corps Piranhas & When No Thing Works (with Jeff Yamada)

    Jeff Yamada and I met in 1995 as Peace Corps volunteers in Suriname, and thirty years later our friendship has survived marriages, divorces, career changes, and plenty of ridiculous stories. We revisit a lunar-eclipse mud fight, Jeff’s run-in with a piranha, and what Peace Corps taught us about community and connection. Jeff chose Norma Wong’s When No Thing Works, which leads us into seven-generation thinking, “mutual aloha,” his work with Liberation Pathways, and what we owe the people around us—and those who come after us. Music for Doug Reads with Friends by Eiren Caffall. 00:05 — INTRO: Jeff Yamada, 30 years of friendship, and Peace Corps Suriname 03:15 — Peace Corps, village life, and learning to improvise 08:40 — Mud fights, blood moons, and a piranha bite 15:36 — Lutheran Volunteer Corps, divorce, and friendship across decades 19:32 — Land-based healing, Indigenous wisdom, and becoming the forest ranger after all 23:27 — OK, now the book: When No Thing Works by Norma Wong 30:20 — Seven generations, future stories, and building in the cracks 35:28 — Mutual aloha, belonging, and the modern village 40:20 — Returning to Suriname—and imagining where friendship goes next 42:14 — Next time: Another friend, another book

  5. Jun 26

    Ep 12: Remembering Steve Langerud

    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

  6. Jun 5

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

    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. Music by Eiren Caffall. Please check out her music on Spotify and visit her website at https://www.eirencaffall.com/. Chapters: 0:00 INTRO: State Senator Graciela Guzman and Parable of the Sower 1:34 AmeriCorps, healthcare, and finding the policy path 4:45 Organizing, governing, and redefining public service 8:52 Running as herself and representing her community 11:29 ICE, rapid response, and community care in crisis 14:30 Working with opposition and staying in relationship 17:54 Grinnell, trusteeship, singing, and reading as imagination 25:21 OK, now the book: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler 27:28 Pessimism, hope, survival, and teaching through fear 36:26 Caring, burnout, and staying whole for the long haul 39:52 Mac Field, radical care, and changing each other’s lives

  7. May 29

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

    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 book’s most important characters. Along the way, Erik does what great teachers do: he takes a sentence, a small moment, or a strange detail and opens it up into something much richer. Next time: Graciela Guzman and The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Music by Eiren Caffall. Please check out her music on Spotify and visit her website at https://www.eirencaffall.com/. Chapters: 0:00 INTRO: Erik Simpson, friendship, and Pride and Prejudice 2:13 Paper engineering, book arts, and making books physical 8:42 Reading on paper, ebooks, and audiobooks 11:35 Birds, photography, and becoming a cliché 13:11 Start small, start strange: Erik as a professional reader 18:08 Growing up with books and becoming an English professor 20:11 OK, now the book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 25:31 Darcy listens, Elizabeth rereads, and Austen’s slow romance 34:19 Feminism, neurodivergent Darcy, and Charlotte Lucas’s choice 41:04 Bath, rereading, and a future Austen reunion 43:48 Next time: Graciela Guzman and The Parable of the Sower

  8. May 11

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

    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 conversation about endurance in every sense: in classrooms, on race courses, in families, in faith, and in friendship. Music by Eiren Caffall. Please check out her music on Spotify and visit her website at https://www.eirencaffall.com/. Chapters: 00:05 — Tammy Draughon and The Longest Race 01:13 — Thirty years of teaching, physics, and finding a calling 07:42 — Running, coaching, and becoming California Coach of the Year 11:29 — Do Hard Things 16:46 — Coaching herself, marathon training, and Boston goals 20:09 — The Boston Marathon bombing 24:56 — Family, faith, and the empty nest 27:11 — OK, now the book: The Longest Race by Kara Goucher 30:10 — Power, abuse, and finding your voice 35:18 — Reading Kara Goucher as a woman, runner, and coach 39:33 — Boston dreams and racing together

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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Doug Cutchins
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Doug Cutchins