Call It Whatever

Spencer Jenkins
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Personal Journals

Spencer Jenkins is going through it. Spencer’s old life blew up in spectacular fashion: addiction, crime, homelessness, and prison. Now, navigating recovery and reentry with a little hindsight, a whole lot of humility, and a microphone, Spencer is rebuilding—brick by absurd brick. Call It Whatever lives somewhere between where we’ve been and wherever we’re going: work, relationships, identity, faith, family, friendship, intimacy, and all the ridiculous little disasters happening in the meantime. Some of it is serious. A surprising amount of it is funny. None of it is going as planned. And maybe that’s the point.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    Planes, Chains and Questionable Meals

    Forty days, countless buses, two trips aboard Con Air, and an alarming number of questionable sandwiches. Spencer revisits the winding journey from his arrest in Philadelphia to federal prison, finding absurdity, unexpected kindness, and an ill-advised tattoo along the way. Recorded November 3, 2026—the eve of Freedom Day—this episode closes one chapter and looks ahead to whatever comes next. Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  2. Oct 26

    Dishes, Doors & Dinosaurs

    What does it mean to start over without a home, a door, or a dish? This is the story of how a successful lawyer with a Manhattan zip code and a Wall Street office lost almost everything he had as he lost himself—and the people who found him again. Oh, and a dinosaur is involved. Nominally. For anyone who's having trouble making it home, literally or figuratively, this episode is for you. Welcome to Call It Whatever. Content note: Contains discussions of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  3. Oct 19

    Can Someone Get Me A Human, Please?

    In this episode, Spencer explores the difference between community and connection, and our need for both. With help from an unexpected friendship forged in difficult circumstances, and from the ever-present but sometimes questionable benefits of a virtual office full of AI chatbots, Spencer finds that the best thing we can do is to get out and find connection among real people. Research and survey data quoted in this episode came from the following sources: Stanford University, “AI Companions May Worsen Loneliness for Vulnerable Users” (Stanford HAI): https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-companions-may-worsen-loneliness-for-vulnerable-users-stanford-study-findsZhang et al., Nature Human Behaviour (2026), study of Character.AI users: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02516-2Fang et al., MIT Media Lab and OpenAI, “How AI and Human Behaviors Shape Psychosocial Effects of Chatbot Use: A Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Study”: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/De Freitas, Oğuz-Uğuralp, Uğuralp & Puntoni, “AI Companions Reduce Loneliness,” Journal of Consumer Research: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaf040De Freitas et al., Nature Human Behaviour (2026), grief following AI companion model updates, as reported by the Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/09/chatbot-attachment-issues/Chu et al., “Illusions of Intimacy: Emotional Attachment and Emerging Psychological Risks in Human-AI Relationships”: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11649“Tool or Companion? Reframing Conversational AI to Prevent Psychological Harm” (on “structurally asymmetric” interaction): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13561399/Dohnány et al., “Technological folie à deux: Feedback Loops Between AI Chatbots and Mental Health,” Nature Mental Health (2026): https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19218Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  4. Oct 12

    Wait, Who Am I Again?

    What's in a name? Apparently, an entire identity crisis. This week, Spencer tackles the complicated business of figuring out who we are, who we used to be, and who we become when life decides to rewrite the script. Along the way, there's Batman, a few aliases, and the realization that reinventing yourself doesn't necessarily mean leaving your old self behind. Because sometimes the hardest person to introduce yourself to is… yourself. Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  5. Oct 7

    Now, Where Was I?

    Spencer is back for Episode 2, and this time he’s wondering what happened to all those plans he made before life took a rather spectacular detour. From an unfinished Boston Marathon to a very questionable tracksuit, a brief stint with a deity complex, and the dreams that somehow survived all of it, Spencer takes inventory of the things he once wanted—and asks which ones still belong in the life he’s building now. Because sometimes starting over doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Sometimes it just means asking: Now, where was I? Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  6. Sep 29

    Let’s Start a Podcast. Take Two.

    In the first episode of Call It Whatever, Spencer takes us back in time—to a Philadelphia loft, a Blue Yeti microphone, and the audacity to conceive of starting a podcast while living through meth addiction and an imminent federal criminal indictment. Now, recently released from prison, sober, and taking on the daily challenges of rebuilding, Spencer is open about how he got from there to here—and why he’s finally making the podcast he imagined years ago. Along the way, he considers the identities we build, what happens when we lose them, and what it means to start again when you don’t yet know where you’re going. There are no answers neatly tied with a bow. Spencer is still very much in the messy middle. Welcome to Call It Whatever. Get In Touch With Fan Mail Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins New episodes every week.  Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com  © 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Spencer Jenkins is going through it. Spencer’s old life blew up in spectacular fashion: addiction, crime, homelessness, and prison. Now, navigating recovery and reentry with a little hindsight, a whole lot of humility, and a microphone, Spencer is rebuilding—brick by absurd brick. Call It Whatever lives somewhere between where we’ve been and wherever we’re going: work, relationships, identity, faith, family, friendship, intimacy, and all the ridiculous little disasters happening in the meantime. Some of it is serious. A surprising amount of it is funny. None of it is going as planned. And maybe that’s the point.

Information

  • Creator
    Spencer Jenkins
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Call It Whatever
  • Show Website
    Call It Whatever

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