November 19, 2020 • 23 mins
In the first of our “be the change” stories — stories about people who are being the change they want to see in their own communities — we talk with Matt Marasch, former infantry paratrooper and green beret turned potter and healer.
A couple of years ago, having lost a number of veteran friends to suicide and struggling to reinvent himself, Matt started looking for a way to bring veterans together to learn new skills and build the kind of close relationships they missed from their days in the military — and Veteran Potter’s House was born.
Veteran Potters House on Facebook
Veteran Potter's House on YouTube
Theme music: Fragilistic by Ketsa
licensed under CC BY NC ND 4.0
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Marasch (00:00):
Everything that's beautiful and close to you
doesn't last forever.
To me, that's what this projectis about.
It's about finding beauty inwhat's broken.
I could care less if they becomepotters.
It's not about pottery.
It's about finding and lovingthe new you.
(00:20):
And as you have differentchapters in your life, you can
only hang out your hat on beinga veteran for so long.
There's gotta be something moreto you.
And I have to hope that formyself.
How anticlimatic is my life now,right?
I was on top of the world when Iwas in my mid twenties.
I'm in trouble.
Kelley Lynch (00:49):
Hi, I'm Kelley Lynch.
Welcome to a new normal, apodcast about re-imagining a
future that starts with each oneof us.
So here we are with the first ofour, Be the Change stories.
Stories about people who arebeing the change that they would
like to see in their owncommunities.
(01:09):
You'll notice that these storiesare formatted a little bit
differently, and we're going totry and keep them a bit shorter
than the other podcast episodes.
This week, our guest is MattMarasch, a former infantry,
paratrooper, and green Beretturned potter and healer.
Starting a few years ago, Mattbegan losing a number of his
(01:31):
veteran friends to suicide.
And while he was struggling toreinvent himself, Matt decided
to start looking for ways tobring veterans together, to
build the kind of closerelationships they once felt
with their military brothers andsisters and Veteran Potter's
House was born.
I have to tell you, I love thisstory and it's not only because
(01:55):
this warrior turned artists andhealer narrative seems so
unlikely.
I love that as a guy whosesuccesses in life have had
nothing to do with living fromhis soft side, Matt is among the
most humble, sensitive, open andvulnerable people I know.
(02:15):
I also love this story becauseMatt is kind of like a younger
brother to me.
He was our neighbor in themountains, outside Boulder,
Colorado, and one of mybrother's best friends.
These days, he lives inMinnesota, but he's still a
member of my virtual communityand my extended family.
And finally, I love this storybecause it illustrates so much
(02:38):
of what I'm learning from thisplan Be podcast project.
In an evermore on your owndisconnected and polarized
America and at a time when somany of us can feel isolated
from others, both physically andmentally, Matt story reveals so
much about the good that cancome from connecting with others
(03:02):
and the healing that comes whenwe tip the scales from me back
towards we.
Matt Marasch, welcome to thepodcast.
Matt Marasch (03:13):
Thank you.
Kelley Lynch (03:15):
You and I have been talking about this venture
for a couple of years now.
Maybe you could start by tellingus a little bit about yourself
and then we'll move into talkingabout what you're building.
Matt Marasch (03:29):
I've been working with databases for just over 20
years now for a company in theMinneapolis area.
And previous to that, I was inthe army and I served with the
82nd airborne division as aninfantry paratrooper during
desert storm desert shield.
(03:51):
And then soon after getting backfrom Desert Storm, that's when I
met my wife was a great changeand still with her after 28
years.
And I tried out for specialforces about the same time that
I met her.
And the first three years of ourmarriage, I was around for all
(04:13):
of about six months at the time.
And the rest of it, I wastraveling around South Central
America or in school.
After I got done with specialforces, decided to get out and
get back to college and that'swhen I went into technology.
So what, transpired is a fewyears ago, something about, you
(04:38):
know, knowing a lot of combatveterans and seeing, you know,
how, as we all age, we fightwith reinventing ourselves
because you were brought in andyou had a lot of success being
the warrior.
It was pride.
It was your physical presence.
It was being the protector.
(04:59):
And that really made you who youwere as a person, but as you age
your body, can't keep up withthat either mentally or
physically anymore.
And I noticed that there were alot of people that seemed like
they had great lives and thingswere going good for them that
were committing suicide withinmy veteran network.
(05:22):
So that really concerned me.
And it also concerned me justknowing as a veteran that you
miss the really closerelationships that you had with
the people that you served with.
And I noticed that veterans tendto, you know, when you meet
another veteran, there's aninstant respect.
(05:43):
You break through a lot ofbarriers really quick with each
other.
So I was trying to think of agood way to bring veterans
together.
And initially I was thinking ofknife making and doing artwork
with metal.
And I had a friend that wasdoing that in Wisconsin, who had
just left his day job and hemade beautiful, beautiful
(06:04):
knives.
His name was Scott Warren, andhe owned the airborne knife
company.
I had a friend that was doingblacksmithing, and I thought
that was the answer for gettingveterans together.
And then I realized howphysically hard that is and I'm
like, Hey, maybe that's not agood idea as I'm getting old.
I might not be able to do thattoo long without getting
(06:26):
blacksmith elbow or somethinglike that.
So I was searching forsomething.
And not far after that, myfriend Scott Warren passed away,
got the news.
And he was another one that fellto suicide.
Kelley Lynch (06:40):
Isn't that your friend who was making the
knives?
Matt Marasch (06:43):
Yes.
He did some beautiful work.
He had orders lined up.
And so, you know, I was stillsearching, trying to find
something and it dawned on me,my parents both did pottery
while I was growing up and Ithought, well, why don't I start
with pottery?
And pottery was the perfectsolution in my mind, because you
(07:08):
can learn hand building, you cando carving, you can do
sculpture, you can do glazing,you can get lost and spend years
in the chemistry part of it.
You could also just be happyfiring the kiln and working on
that aspect of it.
Two years ago in September wasmy first pottery lessons.
(07:29):
So I started classes at EdinaArt Center in Edina Minnesota
taking a class or two a week anddid that for about a period of a
year.
And I found that after a w hilewith the classes that really I
needed more time behind thewheel.
So I found another art studio, Ipay a membership fee and I get a
(07:49):
key, so I can come and go as Iwant.
I've been there for exactly ayear now.
And it's a great community, lotsof artists to share stories with
and share, uh, you know,different experiences with
pottery and help each other outto inspire each other.
The other thing that's reallygreat about pottery is the
(08:10):
social interaction.
As a Potter, you know, I can goand talk to other artists of all
sorts of different backgroundsand beliefs.
There's people that are justpolar opposites with me
politically.
And we come together and we knoweach other are totally different
in all these areas and we'llhave a discussion.
(08:35):
They laugh because they knowwhere I'm coming from and we
laugh.
We're going to disagree our way.
Yeah, I think so.
You don't see them the next dayand we're still friends.
We're able to share those, thosedifferences and able to
communicate some different waysof looking at it, but we all
have a love for pottery and, youknow, finding that connecting
(08:58):
point and that common ground, itjust opens up so many different
areas for communication.
Kelley Lynch (09:08):
Tell us more about what you're looking to set up
and what you hope that it willdo.
Matt Marasch (09:14):
So what ideally I'd have is a 12 wheel studio
where we have 12 potter's wheelsand also some slab rolling and
some other equipment and aglazing area and several kilns.
And what we would do is start byproviding a place for veterans
(09:35):
to learn pottery and to go andassist with the different areas
of the pottery from the sales tothe sitting down and throwing
pottery together and teachingeach other, and also work on the
social interaction of bringingthem out into the community.
(09:56):
Also bringing a community insideof the studio so that we can
provide a place for art therapywhere certified counselors come
in and also by interacting withdifferent churches.
And one of my ideas is to bringthe pottery i nto churches for
(10:17):
sales, instead of art showswhere we, you d on't have a
circuit of different churchesand then a percentage of all of
the sales then goes back tosponsoring a youth group or
support groups, 12 step programsand such where they can come in
for one night a week for thematter of a couple months.
(10:38):
And that would be sponsored bythis group of veterans who have
learned skills and crafts withinpottery in that area.
And it helps provide them thenwith a place within the
community where they're activeand they're making a difference
in the lives of others andfinding a different mechanism
(10:58):
other than, you know, just beinga veteran to relate to others in
the community.
And there's also the mentorship,right.
Okay, how do we take it the nextlevel?
How do I go and mentor the nextperson so that, you know.
It's about a bunch of peoplecoming together mentoring each
other, and that creation reallydoesn't stop with just the
creation of a nonprofit.
(11:20):
It's the creation of therelationships and bonds and the
mentoring and encouraging peopleto do more for others.
Kelley Lynch (11:30):
Is there something about the medium that you think
will help people addressspecific challenges that they
may have?
Or is it really just about theopportunity to be creative?
Matt Marasch (11:43):
I think there's something about being creative
and I think that it's also justvery challenging.
I mean, and it's very grounding.
There's so many parallelsbetween pottery and life as it
exists.
One is, you know, you have to becentered, right?
Just like in your life you haveto be centered and that
(12:06):
centering means, you know that,yeah, you've gotta be physically
active.
You've gotta be mentally active.
You've gotta be spirituallyactive.
You can't have a higher purposewithout a higher power.
You need to eat right.
You need to find that center.
And that's much like centering apiece of clay.
(12:27):
It's also, there's somethingabout when you eat or drink out
of a utensil that you made, it'svery centering.
There's nothing like the feelingof pouring a cup of coffee and
having that and holding it inyour hands with something that
you made that started off as apiece of dirt.
(12:48):
And even when you start potteryand you're first doing it, and
it's a very basic, there's stillsomething about this is
something that I created and Itake pride in it.
And there's something about thatbecause it forces you to find
beauty in imperfection.
And that to me is the key tofinding peace in life.
(13:25):
There's a lot of veterans outthere.
A lot of them are very highfunctioning in society, and
nobody would ever think thatanything's not perfect in their
lives, but there's such a herdmentality and you're part of a
bigger group.
It's like a pack of wolves,right?
And the minute that you leavethe service, you leave your pack
(13:50):
and you really can struggleyears and years not finding a
pack again.
Many of us, we are, you know, mywife, I've been with her for 28
years, have a wonderfulmarriage, but she doesn't get me
like my veteran friends get me.
(14:11):
And there's just thatcamaraderie that is missed.
And I think that is one of the,one of the most important
things.
A nd this gives us an excuse todo that over something that's
not going to the VFW or theAmerican Legion and not alcohol
centered.
(14:33):
You know, as I look back now,when I got back from Desert
Storm and Shield, just how numbI was processing some of that,
you know, how youcompartmentalize things.
It takes years to do that.
And you find success in being asa ranger and an ex-Green Beret,
(14:55):
you know, Matt's soft side,that's not what made me
successful.
But you know, as I've gottenolder, it's like, I welcome that
part back.
It's part of me.
It's back to being a kid andthat's how I was created.
And it's a beautiful thing tohave weakness and that's how I'm
meant to be.
You know?
So that's just one small exampleof something that's taken years
(15:19):
for me to deconstruct and beable to figure out that that's
okay and that being sensitiveand in touch with your feelings
is actually healthy.
Life sometimes hands you somehard things.
You know, there's some toughjagged pills that you gotta
swallow and, and, you know,there's good support groups out
there.
And there's people that haveexperienced things similar to
(15:40):
you, and it's very important touse them and very important to
have that network and, you know,very important to focus on
self-improvement.
To me, it's about getting in aroom, spending time with people
and being able to be not justlike a pottery mentor, but a
life mentor as well.
Kelley Lynch (16:02):
So I guess you could say you also want to work
as a healer.
Matt Marasch (16:08):
Yeah.
And it's, it's reallyinteresting because I'm not
going to mention my firstmentorees' name, but, you know,
we, we talked and he said, uh,people just don't understand me,
Matt.
To be connected and know thatthere's somebody that you can
(16:28):
tell anything to no matter howdark it is and that there won't
be judgment for it.
There's something special aboutthat.
And it is healing.
And somebody that can relate tohaving had hard times that are
out of their control, you know,and how did you deal with it?
There's power in that.
(16:48):
And there's power in communityand the silent killer really is
being alone.
It's isolation.
Sometimes it's not physicalisolation, but just mental
isolation.
Nobody relates with me.
So I'm not going to share whatI'm really feeling.
(17:10):
I couldn't figure out what toname this.
And I wanted it to be somethingspecial.
So I took it to the Bible andout of Jeremiah 18, it says,
"This is the word that came toJeremiah from the Lord, go down
to the Potter's house.
And I will give you my message.
So I went to the Potter's houseand I saw him working at the
(17:31):
wheel, but the pot he wasshaping from the clay was marred
by his hands.
So the Potter formed that intoanother pot shaping it as seemed
to best to him.
Then the word of the Lord cameto me.
He said, can I not do with youIsrael as the Potter does?
declares the Lord.
Like clay in the hand of thePotter.
So you are in my hand Israel."So that to me was like, this is
(17:57):
it's about transformation.
It's about transformation of theindividual.
It's about transformation ofwhat you're doing with their
hands.
And furthermore, it's aboutfinding beauty in what's broken.
Everything that's beautiful andclose to you doesn't last
forever.
(18:18):
To me, that's what this projectis about.
I could care less if they becomepotters.
It's not about pottery.
It's about finding and lovingthe new you.
And as you have differentchapters in your life, you can
only hang out your hat on beinga veteran so long.
(18:38):
There's gotta be something moreto you.
And I have to hope that formyself, because how
anti-climatic is my life now,right?
I was on top of the world when Iwas in my mid twenties.
I'm in trouble, you know, butit's like, okay.
Yeah.
I'm like Green Beret and now Igo to Ranger School and I'm
(18:59):
like, you know, what, how am Igoing to push myself further,
you know?
At some point in time in yourlife, you need to find peace and
you can't do that withouttransforming, you know, your
reality and to me, that's whatthis project is really about.
Kelley Lynch (19:27):
Do you have any particular timeframes for all of
this or is this just somethingthat you will evolve as you go
along?
Matt Marasch (19:37):
So I think there's a little bit of both that
realistically of, you know,evolving and my timeline is I
would ideally like in five yearsto have this be my full-time
thing, but I don't know thatI'll be ready financially in
five years.
I don't know if the communitywill be ready to support me in
(19:59):
five years.
There's a lot of pieces to it.
So really right now, I just wantto enjoy the path.
Kelley Lynch (20:09):
This has obviously been a long road and there's
still a lot of road left totravel.
So what advice do you have forpeople who might be considering
setting up something in theirown backyard?
Matt Marasch (20:28):
I would say number one, start simple.
Don't go for everything all atonce.
And number two, network andcommunicate.
Talk to others about it.
Pray about it and be carefulbecause you will find a lot of
(20:52):
people in the community thatwill want to partner and want to
talk you into a bigger role in abigger enterprise and be very
mindful of what's healthy foryou and keep it simple.
That's great advice.
So Matt, where can people findyou, your work?
(21:18):
I mean, who knows, maybesomebody wants to buy your work.
Maybe some other person wants totalk to you about mentoring or
whatever the case may be.
Where can people, how can peoplefind you?
The best places on Facebook atVeteran Potter's House?
That's the best place right now?
(21:38):
I don't have an Etsy store setup yet.
That's on my to do list.
And there's some great videos onYouTube under Veteran Potter's
House.
Some of the firing process thatI do is a Raku firing process.
It's a Japanese for.
The Zen Buddhist used to use itfor tea ceremonies.
(21:58):
And it's really cool becauseyou, you go and you fire it to
just under 2000 degreesFahrenheit and you open the kiln
and you pull it out while it'scherry hot and you transferred
onto organic material in asecondary chamber trashcan,
(22:19):
basically lined with some firebricks in the bottom and you
have to drop it on newspaper andyou end up with really beautiful
effects.
Kelley Lynch (22:30):
All right, Matt.
Well, thank you so, so much fortalking with us today and for
sharing all of that reallyappreciate it.
Bye.
Hey, it's me again.
(22:52):
I really hope that you enjoyedMatt's story.
And if you know somebody who hasa great story that we should
feature on the podcast, I reallyhope you'll get in touch.
You can find our contactinformation along with
everything else at our website,a new normal podcast.com.
Check it out.
(23:12):
It's Thanksgiving next week.
So we won't be here, but we willbe back the following week with
another episode, we'll see in acouple of weeks.
Bye.
Everything that's beautiful and close to you
doesn't last forever.
To me, that's what this projectis about.
It's about finding beauty inwhat's broken.
I could care less if they becomepotters.
It's not about pottery.
It's about finding and lovingthe new you.
(00:20):
And as you have differentchapters in your life, you can
only hang out your hat on beinga veteran for so long.
There's gotta be something moreto you.
And I have to hope that formyself.
How anticlimatic is my life now,right?
I was on top of the world when Iwas in my mid twenties.
I'm in trouble.
Kelley Lynch (00:49):
Hi, I'm Kelley Lynch.
Welcome to a new normal, apodcast about re-imagining a
future that starts with each oneof us.
So here we are with the first ofour, Be the Change stories.
Stories about people who arebeing the change that they would
like to see in their owncommunities.
(01:09):
You'll notice that these storiesare formatted a little bit
differently, and we're going totry and keep them a bit shorter
than the other podcast episodes.
This week, our guest is MattMarasch, a former infantry,
paratrooper, and green Beretturned potter and healer.
Starting a few years ago, Mattbegan losing a number of his
(01:31):
veteran friends to suicide.
And while he was struggling toreinvent himself, Matt decided
to start looking for ways tobring veterans together, to
build the kind of closerelationships they once felt
with their military brothers andsisters and Veteran Potter's
House was born.
I have to tell you, I love thisstory and it's not only because
(01:55):
this warrior turned artists andhealer narrative seems so
unlikely.
I love that as a guy whosesuccesses in life have had
nothing to do with living fromhis soft side, Matt is among the
most humble, sensitive, open andvulnerable people I know.
(02:15):
I also love this story becauseMatt is kind of like a younger
brother to me.
He was our neighbor in themountains, outside Boulder,
Colorado, and one of mybrother's best friends.
These days, he lives inMinnesota, but he's still a
member of my virtual communityand my extended family.
And finally, I love this storybecause it illustrates so much
(02:38):
of what I'm learning from thisplan Be podcast project.
In an evermore on your owndisconnected and polarized
America and at a time when somany of us can feel isolated
from others, both physically andmentally, Matt story reveals so
much about the good that cancome from connecting with others
(03:02):
and the healing that comes whenwe tip the scales from me back
towards we.
Matt Marasch, welcome to thepodcast.
Matt Marasch (03:13):
Thank you.
Kelley Lynch (03:15):
You and I have been talking about this venture
for a couple of years now.
Maybe you could start by tellingus a little bit about yourself
and then we'll move into talkingabout what you're building.
Matt Marasch (03:29):
I've been working with databases for just over 20
years now for a company in theMinneapolis area.
And previous to that, I was inthe army and I served with the
82nd airborne division as aninfantry paratrooper during
desert storm desert shield.
(03:51):
And then soon after getting backfrom Desert Storm, that's when I
met my wife was a great changeand still with her after 28
years.
And I tried out for specialforces about the same time that
I met her.
And the first three years of ourmarriage, I was around for all
(04:13):
of about six months at the time.
And the rest of it, I wastraveling around South Central
America or in school.
After I got done with specialforces, decided to get out and
get back to college and that'swhen I went into technology.
So what, transpired is a fewyears ago, something about, you
(04:38):
know, knowing a lot of combatveterans and seeing, you know,
how, as we all age, we fightwith reinventing ourselves
because you were brought in andyou had a lot of success being
the warrior.
It was pride.
It was your physical presence.
It was being the protector.
(04:59):
And that really made you who youwere as a person, but as you age
your body, can't keep up withthat either mentally or
physically anymore.
And I noticed that there were alot of people that seemed like
they had great lives and thingswere going good for them that
were committing suicide withinmy veteran network.
(05:22):
So that really concerned me.
And it also concerned me justknowing as a veteran that you
miss the really closerelationships that you had with
the people that you served with.
And I noticed that veterans tendto, you know, when you meet
another veteran, there's aninstant respect.
(05:43):
You break through a lot ofbarriers really quick with each
other.
So I was trying to think of agood way to bring veterans
together.
And initially I was thinking ofknife making and doing artwork
with metal.
And I had a friend that wasdoing that in Wisconsin, who had
just left his day job and hemade beautiful, beautiful
(06:04):
knives.
His name was Scott Warren, andhe owned the airborne knife
company.
I had a friend that was doingblacksmithing, and I thought
that was the answer for gettingveterans together.
And then I realized howphysically hard that is and I'm
like, Hey, maybe that's not agood idea as I'm getting old.
I might not be able to do thattoo long without getting
(06:26):
blacksmith elbow or somethinglike that.
So I was searching forsomething.
And not far after that, myfriend Scott Warren passed away,
got the news.
And he was another one that fellto suicide.
Kelley Lynch (06:40):
Isn't that your friend who was making the
knives?
Matt Marasch (06:43):
Yes.
He did some beautiful work.
He had orders lined up.
And so, you know, I was stillsearching, trying to find
something and it dawned on me,my parents both did pottery
while I was growing up and Ithought, well, why don't I start
with pottery?
And pottery was the perfectsolution in my mind, because you
(07:08):
can learn hand building, you cando carving, you can do
sculpture, you can do glazing,you can get lost and spend years
in the chemistry part of it.
You could also just be happyfiring the kiln and working on
that aspect of it.
Two years ago in September wasmy first pottery lessons.
(07:29):
So I started classes at EdinaArt Center in Edina Minnesota
taking a class or two a week anddid that for about a period of a
year.
And I found that after a w hilewith the classes that really I
needed more time behind thewheel.
So I found another art studio, Ipay a membership fee and I get a
(07:49):
key, so I can come and go as Iwant.
I've been there for exactly ayear now.
And it's a great community, lotsof artists to share stories with
and share, uh, you know,different experiences with
pottery and help each other outto inspire each other.
The other thing that's reallygreat about pottery is the
(08:10):
social interaction.
As a Potter, you know, I can goand talk to other artists of all
sorts of different backgroundsand beliefs.
There's people that are justpolar opposites with me
politically.
And we come together and we knoweach other are totally different
in all these areas and we'llhave a discussion.
(08:35):
They laugh because they knowwhere I'm coming from and we
laugh.
We're going to disagree our way.
Yeah, I think so.
You don't see them the next dayand we're still friends.
We're able to share those, thosedifferences and able to
communicate some different waysof looking at it, but we all
have a love for pottery and, youknow, finding that connecting
(08:58):
point and that common ground, itjust opens up so many different
areas for communication.
Kelley Lynch (09:08):
Tell us more about what you're looking to set up
and what you hope that it willdo.
Matt Marasch (09:14):
So what ideally I'd have is a 12 wheel studio
where we have 12 potter's wheelsand also some slab rolling and
some other equipment and aglazing area and several kilns.
And what we would do is start byproviding a place for veterans
(09:35):
to learn pottery and to go andassist with the different areas
of the pottery from the sales tothe sitting down and throwing
pottery together and teachingeach other, and also work on the
social interaction of bringingthem out into the community.
(09:56):
Also bringing a community insideof the studio so that we can
provide a place for art therapywhere certified counselors come
in and also by interacting withdifferent churches.
And one of my ideas is to bringthe pottery i nto churches for
(10:17):
sales, instead of art showswhere we, you d on't have a
circuit of different churchesand then a percentage of all of
the sales then goes back tosponsoring a youth group or
support groups, 12 step programsand such where they can come in
for one night a week for thematter of a couple months.
(10:38):
And that would be sponsored bythis group of veterans who have
learned skills and crafts withinpottery in that area.
And it helps provide them thenwith a place within the
community where they're activeand they're making a difference
in the lives of others andfinding a different mechanism
(10:58):
other than, you know, just beinga veteran to relate to others in
the community.
And there's also the mentorship,right.
Okay, how do we take it the nextlevel?
How do I go and mentor the nextperson so that, you know.
It's about a bunch of peoplecoming together mentoring each
other, and that creation reallydoesn't stop with just the
creation of a nonprofit.
(11:20):
It's the creation of therelationships and bonds and the
mentoring and encouraging peopleto do more for others.
Kelley Lynch (11:30):
Is there something about the medium that you think
will help people addressspecific challenges that they
may have?
Or is it really just about theopportunity to be creative?
Matt Marasch (11:43):
I think there's something about being creative
and I think that it's also justvery challenging.
I mean, and it's very grounding.
There's so many parallelsbetween pottery and life as it
exists.
One is, you know, you have to becentered, right?
Just like in your life you haveto be centered and that
(12:06):
centering means, you know that,yeah, you've gotta be physically
active.
You've gotta be mentally active.
You've gotta be spirituallyactive.
You can't have a higher purposewithout a higher power.
You need to eat right.
You need to find that center.
And that's much like centering apiece of clay.
(12:27):
It's also, there's somethingabout when you eat or drink out
of a utensil that you made, it'svery centering.
There's nothing like the feelingof pouring a cup of coffee and
having that and holding it inyour hands with something that
you made that started off as apiece of dirt.
(12:48):
And even when you start potteryand you're first doing it, and
it's a very basic, there's stillsomething about this is
something that I created and Itake pride in it.
And there's something about thatbecause it forces you to find
beauty in imperfection.
And that to me is the key tofinding peace in life.
(13:25):
There's a lot of veterans outthere.
A lot of them are very highfunctioning in society, and
nobody would ever think thatanything's not perfect in their
lives, but there's such a herdmentality and you're part of a
bigger group.
It's like a pack of wolves,right?
And the minute that you leavethe service, you leave your pack
(13:50):
and you really can struggleyears and years not finding a
pack again.
Many of us, we are, you know, mywife, I've been with her for 28
years, have a wonderfulmarriage, but she doesn't get me
like my veteran friends get me.
(14:11):
And there's just thatcamaraderie that is missed.
And I think that is one of the,one of the most important
things.
A nd this gives us an excuse todo that over something that's
not going to the VFW or theAmerican Legion and not alcohol
centered.
(14:33):
You know, as I look back now,when I got back from Desert
Storm and Shield, just how numbI was processing some of that,
you know, how youcompartmentalize things.
It takes years to do that.
And you find success in being asa ranger and an ex-Green Beret,
(14:55):
you know, Matt's soft side,that's not what made me
successful.
But you know, as I've gottenolder, it's like, I welcome that
part back.
It's part of me.
It's back to being a kid andthat's how I was created.
And it's a beautiful thing tohave weakness and that's how I'm
meant to be.
You know?
So that's just one small exampleof something that's taken years
(15:19):
for me to deconstruct and beable to figure out that that's
okay and that being sensitiveand in touch with your feelings
is actually healthy.
Life sometimes hands you somehard things.
You know, there's some toughjagged pills that you gotta
swallow and, and, you know,there's good support groups out
there.
And there's people that haveexperienced things similar to
(15:40):
you, and it's very important touse them and very important to
have that network and, you know,very important to focus on
self-improvement.
To me, it's about getting in aroom, spending time with people
and being able to be not justlike a pottery mentor, but a
life mentor as well.
Kelley Lynch (16:02):
So I guess you could say you also want to work
as a healer.
Matt Marasch (16:08):
Yeah.
And it's, it's reallyinteresting because I'm not
going to mention my firstmentorees' name, but, you know,
we, we talked and he said, uh,people just don't understand me,
Matt.
To be connected and know thatthere's somebody that you can
(16:28):
tell anything to no matter howdark it is and that there won't
be judgment for it.
There's something special aboutthat.
And it is healing.
And somebody that can relate tohaving had hard times that are
out of their control, you know,and how did you deal with it?
There's power in that.
(16:48):
And there's power in communityand the silent killer really is
being alone.
It's isolation.
Sometimes it's not physicalisolation, but just mental
isolation.
Nobody relates with me.
So I'm not going to share whatI'm really feeling.
(17:10):
I couldn't figure out what toname this.
And I wanted it to be somethingspecial.
So I took it to the Bible andout of Jeremiah 18, it says,
"This is the word that came toJeremiah from the Lord, go down
to the Potter's house.
And I will give you my message.
So I went to the Potter's houseand I saw him working at the
(17:31):
wheel, but the pot he wasshaping from the clay was marred
by his hands.
So the Potter formed that intoanother pot shaping it as seemed
to best to him.
Then the word of the Lord cameto me.
He said, can I not do with youIsrael as the Potter does?
declares the Lord.
Like clay in the hand of thePotter.
So you are in my hand Israel."So that to me was like, this is
(17:57):
it's about transformation.
It's about transformation of theindividual.
It's about transformation ofwhat you're doing with their
hands.
And furthermore, it's aboutfinding beauty in what's broken.
Everything that's beautiful andclose to you doesn't last
forever.
(18:18):
To me, that's what this projectis about.
I could care less if they becomepotters.
It's not about pottery.
It's about finding and lovingthe new you.
And as you have differentchapters in your life, you can
only hang out your hat on beinga veteran so long.
(18:38):
There's gotta be something moreto you.
And I have to hope that formyself, because how
anti-climatic is my life now,right?
I was on top of the world when Iwas in my mid twenties.
I'm in trouble, you know, butit's like, okay.
Yeah.
I'm like Green Beret and now Igo to Ranger School and I'm
(18:59):
like, you know, what, how am Igoing to push myself further,
you know?
At some point in time in yourlife, you need to find peace and
you can't do that withouttransforming, you know, your
reality and to me, that's whatthis project is really about.
Kelley Lynch (19:27):
Do you have any particular timeframes for all of
this or is this just somethingthat you will evolve as you go
along?
Matt Marasch (19:37):
So I think there's a little bit of both that
realistically of, you know,evolving and my timeline is I
would ideally like in five yearsto have this be my full-time
thing, but I don't know thatI'll be ready financially in
five years.
I don't know if the communitywill be ready to support me in
(19:59):
five years.
There's a lot of pieces to it.
So really right now, I just wantto enjoy the path.
Kelley Lynch (20:09):
This has obviously been a long road and there's
still a lot of road left totravel.
So what advice do you have forpeople who might be considering
setting up something in theirown backyard?
Matt Marasch (20:28):
I would say number one, start simple.
Don't go for everything all atonce.
And number two, network andcommunicate.
Talk to others about it.
Pray about it and be carefulbecause you will find a lot of
(20:52):
people in the community thatwill want to partner and want to
talk you into a bigger role in abigger enterprise and be very
mindful of what's healthy foryou and keep it simple.
That's great advice.
So Matt, where can people findyou, your work?
(21:18):
I mean, who knows, maybesomebody wants to buy your work.
Maybe some other person wants totalk to you about mentoring or
whatever the case may be.
Where can people, how can peoplefind you?
The best places on Facebook atVeteran Potter's House?
That's the best place right now?
(21:38):
I don't have an Etsy store setup yet.
That's on my to do list.
And there's some great videos onYouTube under Veteran Potter's
House.
Some of the firing process thatI do is a Raku firing process.
It's a Japanese for.
The Zen Buddhist used to use itfor tea ceremonies.
(21:58):
And it's really cool becauseyou, you go and you fire it to
just under 2000 degreesFahrenheit and you open the kiln
and you pull it out while it'scherry hot and you transferred
onto organic material in asecondary chamber trashcan,
(22:19):
basically lined with some firebricks in the bottom and you
have to drop it on newspaper andyou end up with really beautiful
effects.
Kelley Lynch (22:30):
All right, Matt.
Well, thank you so, so much fortalking with us today and for
sharing all of that reallyappreciate it.
Bye.
Hey, it's me again.
(22:52):
I really hope that you enjoyedMatt's story.
And if you know somebody who hasa great story that we should
feature on the podcast, I reallyhope you'll get in touch.
You can find our contactinformation along with
everything else at our website,a new normal podcast.com.
Check it out.
(23:12):
It's Thanksgiving next week.
So we won't be here, but we willbe back the following week with
another episode, we'll see in acouple of weeks.
Bye.
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