Illustrating Life’s Adventures: From Meeting Obama to Cartooning & Exploring the World EP61

Welcome back to the 61st episode of the Rumbling Facts Podcast, where we dive deep into the stories that challenge the norm and explore life from unexpected angles. Today, we’re joined by Peter Moore, a man who has spent his life blending travel, storytelling, and art into a career that’s as unpredictable as it is inspiring.Peter has worn more hats than most people could dream of—editor, writer, illustrator, animator, and media personality—with over 2,000 appearances on TV, radio, and podcasts. He’s been at the helm of Men’s Health, The Colorado Sun, and NPR, ghostwritten three New York Times bestsellers, and built a dedicated audience through his wildly popular Substack.In this episode, we explore the wildest travel stories, the power of cartooning as a storytelling tool, and how Peter’s experiences—whether meeting Matt Damon in India, visiting the White House with Barack Obama, or even pissing into a volcano—have shaped his perspective on life. We talk about the importance of humor, the art of reinvention, and why keeping a journal can change the way you experience the world.But we’re not just talking—we’re seeing Peter’s work in action. I took the time to add 170 of his cartoons and sketches throughout the episode, so we’re not only hearing about his creative process but experiencing it in real time. As Peter shares his stories, we break down his art live, making this one of the most interactive and visually engaging episodes yet.This conversation is packed with laughs, deep insights, and stories you won’t believe. Peter’s ability to capture life in ink and words makes this one of the most unique episodes yet.Tune in now, and let’s dive into the mind of a man who has truly seen it all.

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http://petermoore.substack.com

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LinkedIn URL

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-moore-r2e

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, one time I'll tell one story.
So it was in Denver airport, which is the one that's nearest
to us, and this guy was walking around with a dog who was
sniffing absolutely everything. So I walked over to the guy and
I said, yeah, what's going on with that dog?
Are you, are you sniffing? Is the dog sniffing for drugs?
And the guy cuts me a look and he says, buddy, I've got much

(00:21):
bigger fish to fry than that. So welcome back on the Rumbling

(01:05):
Fax podcast where we dive into uncomfortable truths and stories
that sometimes don't even make the headlines.
I'm your host, Sam, and today we're going to break down the
walls of conventional thinking and we're bringing you a
conversation that's as unpredictable, unpredictable as
insightful. Whether it's travel, humor, or
life, life, most unexpected lessons, we're exploring it at

(01:28):
all. This podcast isn't just about
stories. It's about growth, learning and
seeing the world from angles that probably you did not
consider before. Today's guest is is someone
who's made a career out living life to the fullest and sharing
his experience with the world. Peter Moore has worn more hats
than most of us can count. Editor, writer, illustrator,

(01:50):
animator and even TV guest. He appeared in over 2000 shows
and podcasts, and his work spansfrom everything from man's
health to NPR. With the three New York
bestseller under his belt, Peters stories are insightful as
much as colourful of his career.Currently, he's a columnist, a

(02:12):
cartoonist for the Colorado Colorado Sun, and a commentator
animator for NPR. Petersburg continues to shape
the media landscape, from sketching cartoons to talking
about his travels. Peters journey is one that you
don't want to miss. Peter, walk up to the Rumbling
Fast podcast. How you doing?
I'm doing great and thanks for that nice warm up.

(02:33):
I'm not sure I recognize myself in there, but you know, I'll,
I'll try to live up to it, man. There's a couple people that
said something like that. They're like, damn, that's a,
that's a hell of a, an intro. I'll take it too.
So Peter, you lived like such a dynamic life.
If you could describe your journey so far with one

(02:56):
unbelievable moment that captures who you are.
Yeah, so when I was the editor of Men's Health magazine, I, I
was about to go out for a run one day at lunch, and I thought,
you know, I bet if I wrote the White House an e-mail that
Barack Obama would agree to be on the cover of Men's Health.

(03:19):
So I, you know, look up the White House press office, take
what I thought was a very convincing e-mail and sent it
off and went out for my run. When I came back from my run,
the White House had already responded and said, yeah, when
would you like to talk with them?
And on top of all that, in the by play back and forth, it

(03:41):
turned out that they wanted me to talk to Michelle Obama, too.
So over the course of, yeah, a couple of weeks in the, in the
summer of cash, it must have been 2008.
I went to the White House twice and you know, it was, it was one
of the amazing experiences of mylife to be, you know, sitting in

(04:04):
the in an office in the White House with a couple of staffers
there. And then they got a phone call.
And I looked down the hallway tomy right and I could see this
tall, lanky black man leaning against a a desk down this very
long hallway. And I realized, like, holy cow,
that's the president of the United States.
And believe me, it was a very long walk down.

(04:27):
That all the way when Barack Obama stood up and prepared to
shake my hand and welcome me to the White House, it was it was
an amazing moment. As surreal as we think, like
going into that building for thefirst time.
Yeah, You know, I was, of course, you know, I had a
whatever, I had an appointment for 3:00 in the afternoon.

(04:48):
So I showed up in a park right across from the White House
probably an hour before that andjust sat there staring at that
facade and the, you know, the high fence and the Secret
Service guys. And I was thinking, there's no
way they're going to let a jokerlike me through that gate, but
they did. So.
So I was thinking, OK, this thiswill go down as a life highlight

(05:10):
for sure. Absolutely.
There's not a lot of people thatare allowed to go to the White
House. We need to so much requirements
to be allowed to show up there so.
They did a very careful check onme before I went.
In Yeah, I know, just a cartoonist people.
Back in my in my editing days, OK, you know, I, I do carry a

(05:34):
pocket knife. I was just fishing for it to see
if I could pull it out for you. But because of pocket knife is
always part of what I carry. When I went through the metal
detector in the White House, I still had it in my pocket.
And the guy said, what kind of person are you that you would
bring a knife into the White House?
And I had to say I'm the kind ofperson who carries a pocket

(05:55):
knife. And really, if I was trying to,
like, murder the president with that knife, it would have been
very difficult, especially because Barack Obama is quite an
athlete. He would.
Yeah, he he could. He could take care of me if he
needed to. Uh, you had so many adventures
that can you share a one travel story that is so wild that it's
hard to believe it happened? Well, here's another one that

(06:19):
happened when I was at Men's Health, I guess, you know,
again, innocently sitting at my desk.
And the phone rang. I picked it up.
It said my name. And the guy said, yeah, I
represent Matt Damon, and he's going to be going to India in a
month to visit villages for his charitycalledwater.org.

(06:42):
And he wonders if you would liketo join him there.
And it's like, would I like to go to India with Matt Damon?
Let me think about that. Yeah, I, I would like to do that
for sure. So the craziest thing about it
was that in order to get my visain time to go to India, I had to
sneak in the back door of the Indian consulate in New York

(07:05):
City because I really, I had to get my visa so that two days
later I could actually fly to India.
And you know what? The line I was in was 300 people
long. It was clear I wasn't going to
make it to the end. So instead, I went up the back
staircase, 8 floors, knocked on the door.
Somebody opened it and said, yeah, I said, yeah, I have to

(07:26):
get in here. So I walked in the door that
way, jumped the line of 300 people, got my visa.
And a few days later, I was having breakfast with Matt Damon
in India. And, you know, we flew around on
his private jet. And you know, again, it's one of
those experiences where you say,how did that ever happen that my
life would would bring me in thedirection that I'm flying around

(07:49):
with in India with Matt Damon. But it was cool.
I did a cover story about it forMen's Health and it remains one
of my awesome memories to this to this moment.
Even imagine you explaining it down there that why you need
your passport before that. It's like you guys understand.
I got Matt Damon, he's inviting me.
I gotta show up. People like fuck that.

(08:12):
This family there go see their grandma for the last time, but I
gotta go see. Yeah, You know, I hope I didn't
exclude anyone bringing their grandma.
I like to think that it all cametogether for me and Matt and for
them and their grandma. What's the most unexpected thing
you've learned about yourself while travelling the continents

(08:32):
like Europe, Africa and and the and the States?
Boy, you really hit me with the big questions here.
There's no warm up. You're really.
Wow, you're fucking bombs one after another.
Exactly. Unfortunately I have some
answers. So the most surprising thing
that that has happened to me in my career, you know, for a lot
of us, COVID was, you know, a career disaster.

(08:55):
I had a lot of big freelance jobs going at that time.
Magazines were folding left and right.
I was actually hired to launch aa magazine about cannabis and
health, which also folded duringthe pandemic.
So I was, you know, like, what am I going to do now?
And I was talking with some friends about it, and they said,

(09:16):
well, you know, you've been going on and on about writing a
memoir. Why don't you just stop talking
about it and do that? So, you know, there wasn't any
other kind of writing that I wasdoing at that time.
So I thought, OK, fine, I will. I will begin working on this,
this scrap of a memoir that I had in mind.
One thing you should know about me is that in addition to all

(09:37):
these life experiences I, I had,I've had, I keep a journal.
I take a journal entry every night.
And I've been doing that for 30 or 40 years now, so about
6,000,000 words worth of journalentries.
It's literally every night sinceOctober 12th, 1978.
So one of my, one of my thoughtswas that there was a very

(10:00):
important time in my life right after I graduated from college
where I was studying French at the Alliance Francaise in, in
Paris. And that was also when my
journal began. So I thought, well, maybe this
time in Europe when I was kind of coming of age and trying to
figure out what my life was going to be all about, Maybe
that would make a good memoir. So I, I wrote 100,000 words of

(10:22):
that during COVID time, but it was, I've also been a big fan of
the, of the novels of Charles Dickens.
And one of the cool things aboutDickens novels is that every
chapter has a frontispiece to it, which is a piece of artwork
which sets up the characters in the action that's going to
that's going to follow. So when I was writing this

(10:44):
memoir, I thought, oh, well, I love Dickens novels and I love
that artwork. And, you know, and I have some
skill as a as as an artist. I knew that I did back then.
So I started doing these sketches for the to go in the
memoir. And pretty soon the memoir
turned into a graphic memoir, meaning equal parts drawings and

(11:06):
text. And once I started doing that,
then all of a sudden it hit me. It's like, oh, maybe this is
what this is what I've been meant to be doing my whole
career is mixing my writing ability with my artistic
ability. And that, you know, that was
well, we know, we all know when COVID was.
So, you know, this has all been,you know, in the twenty 20s that

(11:28):
I realized I was an artist, realized that I could mix images
and words, you know, to good effect.
And my career is completely turned around since then because
I've become a cartoonist and an animator in addition to all the
writing that I was doing. And, you know, really, it's the
most fun I've ever had in my career.
And it's a huge surprise to me that anything like this happened

(11:50):
because I was so used to considering myself as a writer
and editor rather than as an artist and writer.
And that has been a great turnaround for me.
And it really changed everythingat COVID.
And you took it in stride on theon the right path.
You're like, fuck it, I'm going to roll with it.
And it forced you to get in yourbook that you weren't sure how

(12:12):
to start. You were like, what the hell
else am I going to do? So might as well to start that
book. You know, it's like, it's the
thing that we're all trying to do, right, is to find that thing
in our career that we love and that we can make money at the
same time. And so, you know, between the
memoir and the illustrations andthe cartoons, you can see that

(12:34):
my my sub stack is also something came along early on in
this process where I wanted to experiment with mixing cartoons
and drawings with writing and, and I've got nearly 10,000
subscribers for my sub stack now.
So it's going from being like just this tiny little thing with
basically, you know, my family and friends on it too, having a,

(12:57):
you know, an international reachto it.
I mean, I've got people in 45 countries who are following my
adventures, which, you know, again, is, is a, a huge surprise
to me. But it's also so much fun to be
hearing from those folks. You know, whenever I show up for
a family reunion, everybody knows absolutely everything that
I've been up to because it turnsout they're all reading it too.

(13:20):
So it's this, it's this, it's a way of getting feedback on my
work that I never had before. Even when I was working for a
giant magazine, you know, Men's Health was in 40 different
countries, I never got the same feedback as I did for things I
did for Men's Health, as I do now for the weekly sub stack

(13:40):
that I published, which is, you know, a thrill.
And I'm so grateful that I foundmy way there.
Because I, I think that magazine, you would only get
feedback if it's negative, not positive.
So so. Not necessarily.
You know, Yeah. I, you know, Mental health was a
magazine that prided itself on improving the lives of its
readers. OK.

(14:00):
So, so, you know, the things that I did for Men's Health did
impact people positively. I, you know, I may look healthy
to you now, but when I was just over 40 years old, I had a, a
very nearly had a heart attack that could have killed me.
And it was just one of those things.
I was super fit, but I also had a blockage in my left anterior

(14:22):
descending artery in my heart. So that was that was all the
saga in it, you know, in its ownright.
Yeah. But the.
But the cool thing about it was that while going through
treatment, I realized that this could be very instructive for
the readers of Men's Health. And that story actually did get
a big response when I wrote about it.
The editor of Men's Health had aheart problem.

(14:44):
And you should look out for yourown heart, too.
So. So that was, that was a great
moment for me and my career and also, you know, really helpful
to a lot of men's readers. But it's not the same as like.
So when I was working for Mens Health, I was mostly an editor.
I wasn't writing articles all the time.
Now I now I publish every week and I don't have to wait for

(15:07):
somebody to look like some stupid editor to tell me it's OK
or to prove my story idea. It's what I want to do.
It's driven entirely by me. And the response has been
terrific. So.
I'm sure, I'm sure talk about your story, about your heart
problem literally in the magazine.
Well, instead of them saying just, uh, the cartoonist, well,

(15:30):
they see the human behind it. And I think that really captures
a lot of people. Yeah.
Well, you know, it wasn't even acartoonist then.
It was a, you know, the cartooning thing is just cropped
up in the last several years. But, you know, back then I was,
I mean, I was a good writer. I knew that.
And I was editing a very large magazine, so I know it was good

(15:51):
at that too. But there was this whole
untapped side of me, which is, you know, I'm not on here just
like, oh, aren't you special because I'm an artist now It's
more what I'm hoping that the people are watching this are
saying, Hey, you know, what untapped skills do I have that I
could explore? What adventures are ahead of me
that I haven't dared to even dream about, but I can go after

(16:14):
now. And you know, those are those
are the things I feel super privileged in my life to.
I've not only had the dreams, I've managed to find ways to
pursue them. And, you know, I really hope
that for the people who are watching this, you know, that
that they will look around them and say, hey, what adventure
have I always wanted to have that I haven't had yet?

(16:34):
And how am I going to work that out?
That's a great question for anyone to ask themselves.
Absolutely that that is so true.That's why I have that sign
right here. Find something that you would
die for and live for every day, no matter if you're you're,
you're doing it free at the beginning, but a certain point
maybe you can get paid for it. Like I wasn't expecting to get

(16:54):
1,000,000 when I was starting torelease my music in January last
year. And terribly, I just made 300
bucks in a year and that's 200,000 lessons people.
And it's like you can't expect that rich for the data next, but
at least going to your passions every day and taking that step

(17:15):
is just that those first steps. A lot of people are so scared of
getting out their fucking comfort zone and trying
something new and really pushing.
Go tell that boss that you want that raise.
Go like go try those things. But a lot of people are so just
unpause just scared of. But life is short.
Like you realize then that we got to appreciate our life that
we have. You know, I also think that, you

(17:38):
know, people don't give themselves permission to do what
they love. It's like, if you love it, it
must be like over in the corner and you're not allowed to do it.
You know, you're not worthy to do that thing.
You know, in the beginning, especially when I was, you know,
taking a bunch of art and drawing classes, I was always
like, you know, apologizing for my work or saying, you know,

(18:01):
this drawing isn't very good, but I like this part of it and
not feeling like I was entitled to do the work that I loved.
At a certain point it was just like, you know, it seems like
fuck it is one of your favorite things to say.
And I finally said, fuck it, I'mgoing to do this because I love
it and it makes me feel good when I do it.
And burrowing down into it in into that thing that you love,

(18:25):
that you're self motivated for that, you know, you don't even
need to be paid the $1,000,000 to do it.
It makes you feel like 1,000,000bucks to do that thing.
You recording your music, me with my artwork, meet with my
memoir and mixing it with, you know, with the drawings that I
did. All those things are
tremendously satisfying to me. And, you know, I keep up my

(18:48):
freelance work too. It's that's not all I'm doing,
but I find that my freelance work can subsidize the the more
adventurous work that I'm doing.And who knows?
I'm hopeful someday that memoir will sell.
You know, graphic novels and memoirs are a big aspect of
publishing these days. I'm hoping that my passion is

(19:11):
leading me in a direction that eventually will mean that I'm
getting paid for it. But betting getting paid for it
isn't even the key thing. The key thing is I discovered
what I loved and started doing it, and I wish that for
everybody who's watching what was watching this.
Absolutely. And I took 21 years before
releasing my music for the firsttime because exactly that we, we

(19:31):
put a, a restraint on ourselves like, oh, we're not worth it.
We're we're not, it's not perfect enough or whatever.
But when you start doing it likereleasing like I did for the
first time, right, right after Ireleased the first one, January
2nd, I told my, my friend, my producer, I'm like, oh man, we
got to release another one. Like in three weeks.
I, I feel like something else. And then you, you finish this

(19:53):
one and you want to get on the other project.
And it's a ball that just fuck, it starts.
And the inside of you as well. The gratification of achieving
that, those little goals and moving forward, It is at those
big steps that we need to take. You know, and the other thing
that I think people get hung up on is, you know, they're waiting
for the muse, the striker, they're waiting to be inspired.

(20:15):
For me, the way I work is I'll have a little scrap of an idea
and then I'll start working on it.
And it's while I'm doing the work that the best ideas come to
me. You're probably the same thing
in the studio. It's like, oh, we need to lay
this this track underneath here.Or I just came up with, you
know, these great lyrics that that I want to put in there or

(20:36):
however you do your work. It's like when you're doing the
work, that's when the inspiration comes.
But the first thing is to start the doing it and then, you know,
let yourself become like, overwhelmed with that and let
the ball start rolling. And once it's got its own
momentum, it's amazing. The stuff that can, you know,

(20:57):
pop into your brain, pop out of your fingers, pop onto a
soundtrack, all that stuff is a thrill.
And you can't do it unless you are doing it.
You need to put aside your doubts, put it outside your
questions. Do start doing the work and then
the work starts doing you in a certain sense.

(21:17):
Absolutely. And most books I read to fight
my procrastination that they allsaid quite the same thing as you
just said, Like take two minutes.
That's it. Don't, don't ask yourself more
than that. And during that 2 minutes, well,
maybe you can get inspired and, and move forward.
It's always like that. I write songs like I'm going to
tell myself, oh, I'm just gonna write for 5 minutes, but then

(21:39):
I'm there for four hours. And sometimes there's just two
minutes and a half and nothing'sworking.
But it's all good. I sign point at will it.
We just gotta push forward. Are you aware of the concept of
flow? Do you know that word?
I think, I think I heard about it, but go ahead.
Yeah, so there's this this theorist named, I think his name
was Constantine Chick sent me. Hi.

(22:00):
He was a Polish guy who was teaching at the University of
Chicago and he wrote a book called Flow.
And but the flow state is, is a creative state that you get
yourself into where your synapses are firing, your
inspiration is huge. Time disappears.
You're just roaring down the highway of your creative

(22:21):
endeavor, whatever it happens tobe.
And you know, what you were justsaying is that you look after,
you look up after 4 hours and it's like, where did that
afternoon go or where did that night go?
Or Oh my God, it's 3:00 in the morning and I'm working.
You know, those are all symbols of the of the state of flow.
When I feel flow is when I'm drawing or when I'm writing and

(22:42):
time goes away. It's all just a creative
process. And you know, the more flow you
can live in life, the more exhilarating it is.
The more productive you are, thebetter your creation because so
we all need to be seeking that state of flow out.
Absolutely. I realized that food tells a
story about about each place in life.

(23:02):
What's the best meal you've everhad and how did it capture the
culture of the destination you were in?
I was, I took an assignment for a, you're not going to believe
this. I was a magazine, actually, for
professional waiters and waitresses.
And it's kind of a yeah, that was back in the day in the
magazine industry when such a thing existed, I guess.

(23:24):
And I guess now it would be a blog post or a newsletter.
Anyway, what they wanted me to do was to go to a restaurant at
the Dorchester Hotel in London and go out to dinner with an
academic man who had studied thesocial hierarchies of life in
restaurants. So it was a crazy experience.

(23:46):
This guy was trying to set up the evening like the fanciest
restaurant in London in a way tosubvert the social hierarchies
of this restaurant. So typically a man would make
the would be the host and he would be, you know, guiding his
guests through the evening. Well, he had his wife call in

(24:09):
and make the reservation. So that was the first thing that
upset things. And then from that point onward,
all of the evenings should have flowed through the person who
made the reservation, his wife. But instead they were asking,
you know, this professor, like what the wine choice was, all
that. And then when the bill came, I

(24:29):
was the one who paid it because I was on, I was on expense
account for this $1000 meal thatwe had that night.
So not only was it an amazing meal in one of the most amazing
rooms back in the day in London,but I got all this amazing
material for the article that I wrote about it.

(24:50):
So it was this very rich experience of great food,
terrific company, really interesting goings on because we
were studying the social hierarchy of the restaurant.
So, you know, you could say thatworking by through that my way
through that meal was really a way to ruin a good meal because
I was working while I was doing it.

(25:11):
But it remains one of the most singular meals I've ever had in
my life. You've written for the New York.
You wrote for three of the New York Times bestseller.
How do you How does storytellingand books compare to captivating
moment compared to captivating moments and travel or cartoons?
Yeah, so here's The funny thing about that.

(25:33):
When I was working as the editorof Men's Health, people kept on
coming to me to ask me to write books for them.
So what we're really talking about is my career as a
ghostwriter. And the crazy thing about it was
that at the time I was working as a ghostwriter, diet books
were all the craze, right? So people were were looking to

(25:54):
experts to find out, you know, how they could lose 1520 thirty
40 lbs. You know, I've never weighed
more than £150 in my life. I've never been overweight.
I have tremendous sympathy for people who do because I know
it's a, if it's a problem for you, it's a hard 1 to wrestle
with unless you get the right prescription these days.

(26:14):
But so those 3 New York Times bestsellers I wrote were all
ghost written books and they were all about how to lose
weight, which I've never had to do in my life.
So that's kind of crazy and it was one of the reasons why I was
looking for some other directionto go in my life because I do
want to work on books. I've written books before.

(26:35):
I've had success at it, but it hasn't been my story.
It's been someone else's story. So, you know, I have no regrets
about that. The books were successful.
They helped me pay for my kids college educations, which, you
know, I'm really grateful that Ihad those assignments.
But I never need to write another one because, you know,
it's gotten to be about time in my life where I paid attention

(26:58):
to what I want to write and whatI know and what I need to
express rather than what somebody else needs to express
for themselves. And that I'm just a vessel to
produce that for them. Yeah, for sure.
Being behind a veil when you canbe in front because yeah, you're
quite skilled. Might as well be in front.
From working men's men's health to your current sub stack,

(27:20):
what's the most challenging story or article you have ever
written for you? Yeah, it was.
It was very difficult. And I mentioned the article
about my, my heart problem. That was a very difficult one
for me to write because, you know, I was staring my own
mortality in the face. It could have very easily killed

(27:42):
me. At the time, you know, my sons
were probably 12 and 10, and he was a scary thought for me to
think that I, I might have lost my entire life with them and
then with me. So it was a very emotional
process to work on that. But it was also super

(28:05):
interesting because because of my position at Men's Health,
there were a lot of people who wanted to talk to me and help me
with what my problem was. So at one point I was flown out
to the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH, obviously, and
some of the best heart docs in the world were considering my

(28:25):
case. So I was super fortunate because
I was the editor of a very big magazine that they wanted to
deal with me. So I got this multimillion
dollar healthcare for free because I was writing an article
about it. So if anybody was going to guide
me in ways that ensure that I would spend lots of more time in

(28:45):
my life with my with my wonderful sons and my wonderful
wife, that was the place to be. The Cleveland Clinic.
So it was, you know, equal partsscary and difficult.
I actually stood over a a heart surgeon shoulder while he
performed a valve repair on a man who would have died had he

(29:07):
not had that done. And believe me, when I walked
into that operating theatre in my in my scrubs and stepped up
on the little stool and looked over this guy's shoulder and an
into an open heart cavity, that was that was a freaky
experience. And I was in, you know, I wasn't
sure at the moment whether or not I would just, you know,

(29:28):
like, fall over in a faint looking at that.
But somehow I managed to maintain consciousness and it,
you know, it made this amazing scene in the story.
So no regrets there. And I totally understand that
that that story is probably the hardest one for you because the
story of my addiction and the story of my dog that passed away

(29:50):
are my MY2 songs that were the the hardest to write.
Both of them took over four years to write.
And there's some of my songs I write in like 2 hours and I'm
done. Uh, those two strong since
they're so personal. You so want to make it like
perfect and it perfect is never enough almost.
It's crazy. And I I totally understand you

(30:10):
in that. Regulations on on your fight
against addiction. And I'm so sorry that your dog
passed away. I understand.
Like that's a deep one when thathappens.
For sure, because it's like family for a lot of people.
Cartooning and animating seems like unique ways to capture
memories. How has drawing influence the

(30:32):
way you see the world now? You know, one of the reasons why
I began doing it was that in my life at Men's Health magazine
and at other magazines worked for.
I spend all day like talking andwriting.
It's like all this verbal communication, all this written
communication, and at a certain point I was just thinking, I

(30:54):
wonder if there's something I can do in my life that would
just allow me to shut up, Just shut up and, and do the work and
pay attention in a different waythan I do when I'm yacking all
the time. So I started taking art courses
because I wanted to take a breakfrom all the writing and, and
just non-stop talking I was doing.

(31:16):
And, and I found that those, youknow, it's like the two or three
hours that I'd be in a drawing class, not saying anything to
anyone and looking at the world with a new kind of attention.
The kind of attention that an artist pays toward things was a
complete revelation in my, in mylife and a wonderful
opportunity. So I actually, I do a lot of

(31:37):
work for Backpacker Magazine in the, in the US and I was, I was
editor of it for a while and I pitched them on what's the best
5 oz addition you can make to your backpack?
And the answer, of course for mewas a pencil.
And what I wrote the story aboutwas how you interact with nature

(32:00):
in a completely different way ifyou just take the time to sit
down on a rock, pull out a pieceof paper and a pencil and
attempt to render it on a page. And that the truism there is
that unless you really stop to look, you'll never see what, you
know, what's in front of you. And, you know, I think in my

(32:22):
whole life, I was just sprintingfrom one place to the next, one
experience to the next. And, you know, really those were
great times, but the fault in there was that I wasn't paying
as close attention as I needed to when I was in beautiful
places, interesting places. So the whole, the way that I've,

(32:45):
you know, the pencil that I bring along with me, the
sketchpad that I bring along with me gives me an excuse to
stop and look and really take things in.
And, you know, it's another reason I'm so grateful that my
art career has taken off is thatI have some more, more time to

(33:05):
experience that delight of slowing down, looking carefully,
thinking hard about what I'm seeing, and rendering just the
details that capture that scene.And that's been a tremendous
gift as well. And it's one that I've only
allowed myself to take on in thelast few years.

(33:25):
Absolutely, a lot of people nowadays have so much trouble
living in the moment and even you with that fast life for sure
that taking the time to just sketch what you're feeling, what
you're thinking or you're surrounding probably appreciate
way more of the little moments and especially after your heart
problem, those low, low things in life.

(33:46):
We so taken for granted and whenour, our life is close to the
brinks and then we come back, it's like every moment after
just hearing it, the birds outside, I appreciate it.
And that breath in that first breath when you go outside and
fucking take that nature in for the first time, like just like
really tell yourself this is airI'm taking in.

(34:07):
And that moment of you just thinking that, well, it really
aligns you more with life and and nature and appreciation,
appreciating those little moments.
Yeah, it's like, you know, as much as I love my iPhone for
sure, I get lost in it too, justlike everybody does.
And you know, like, after I've been like going around and

(34:28):
checking sports scores and, you know, reading about how my
favorite teams are doing and then like ducking into the news,
which is a major headache for me, I realized that I'm really
not. It's not living that I'm doing.
When I'm looking at that phone, it's like I hit pause on my life
and I stare at this device. But but the device needs to

(34:51):
needs to go away. And you know, one of the things
that's been interesting is that as, as my career has developed
with, with artwork, I have gone digital with my artwork.
So, you know, I do most of my drawing on an iPad now, my
professional drawing, the ones, the ones that I'm paid for.
But that's been a good thing toobecause I'm focusing on a

(35:13):
device, yes, but I'm using it for very specific expressive
purpose. That means a lot to me.
So it's not like devices and technology are evil.
I mean, here we are. We're podcasting right now.
So I'm not going to complain about that.
You have a very impressive microphone there.
Yeah. But so I'm not saying that tech

(35:35):
is evil, but you have to make sure you're using it to enhance
your own life rather than, you know, to satisfy some algorithm
or to, you know, get a number oflikes for some producer who's
not you and who's making money off of you because you're giving
them the precious gift of your attention span.

(35:56):
Your attention is all you've got.
You know, you don't need to surrender that to someone else.
Attention to what matters to you.
And then you never know where that's going to lead to.
But at least you'll be living anintentional way, paying, you
know, paying homage to the things that are important to
you. That's where you need to go with

(36:16):
your life. And that's ultimately, I feel
what's going to be satisfying inlife.
I forgot who said this, but he, he said, let's say if aliens
would come to Earth today, people, he's like, they would
look around and go back down there and the their leader would
be like, OK, so what's their leader?
Oh, their leader, their God. Oh, it's simple.

(36:38):
It's it's this they're, they're just all like this walking in
the street. I think if we could take control
of those electronics, I think wegot it, man.
I think it's that simple. And that's crazy because we're
in this world now that people are going to say, see example,
example, an amazing musician andperson.
Well, no, they're actually living behind their own screen

(36:59):
watching the the the show from their phone.
It's like you're there. Can't live the moment.
People live the moment. You know, it actually has been
one of the cool things I think that has happened in music
recently. I'm not sure that every
performer would agree with me, but I would say that, you know,
I listen to a lot of music in mylife.
And I also happen to live in a part of the world where there

(37:20):
are amazing clubs and concert venues.
So since my wife and I moved to Colorado seven years ago, we see
so much more live music than we ever did in our old lives.
And I feel like I've had so manymagic moments, you know, really
feeling a connection with performers who I love in venues

(37:42):
that are, you know, large, small, it doesn't matter, you
know, if if you can experience music, you know, live with other
people. It's not that.
It's just like funneling throughyour headphones.
It's more like I'm living the music now with this amazing
creative person and that's been a great aspect of my life too.

(38:05):
Now, I don't think I'm ever going to follow you down the
road of producing my own music, but I love music and I love
performers and whenever I can, Itry to be in their presence so I
can really soak up with the the energy and the vibe and the
ideas that they're putting out. Absolutely.
Yeah. A live performance is so, uh,
so, uh, completely different than the, it's like paintings.

(38:29):
I find. It's like, you can watch all the
paintings you want online there,but literally going to our
exhibition and having the painter himself there explaining
his painting and everybody wanted, it's really, I never
thought I would love those kindsof stuff.
And when I went for the first time, a girl was wanting to
bring me there and I was like, oh boy, this is going to be a
long night just to just have sexwith her.

(38:51):
Actually, I had a great time. I, I, I was asking more
questions than anybody I saw down there.
I was like, I had so many questions about everything.
And seeing people that are passionate about why they
painted this a particular way. And wow, it's a, it's as amazing
as the music because it's still art at the end of everything.
So we're all artists in our own ways.

(39:13):
And the good news is you probably really impressed the
girl you're with. OK, So, you know, it shows.
It's a beautiful thing when you get that reward of being that
engaged, inquisitive person who's really, you know, alive to
the possibilities. That's, you know, that's the
most attractive quality anybody can have.

(39:33):
And, and I'm so glad that they, you know, your time in the
gallery, like woke that up in you, because that's a great way
of, of interacting with, you know, with the artwork, with the
artist in, you know, downloadingsome some life ideas that can be
wonderful for you. It's like I went to a yoga 2 for

(39:55):
a girl and Oh my God, I was like, I don't want to go down
there and during it was so physical like me and my friend
were were having trouble to follow these girls.
I was like, wow that this is this is oppressive and I I'm OCD
and. Me, those that moment of an hour
and a half, I'm not even thinking about nothing else but
how much trouble I'm having right there.

(40:16):
Nothing else, no bills, no, no, what I need to do later.
And normally my mind's rolling 16 different ways and I was just
just zoned in. I was like, wow, it's really a
trying new things and we learn so much.
And that gets to my next question.
So you have a huge bucket list, probably of destinations and
what are one that you didn't cross off yet that you really

(40:39):
want to get off your bucket list?
Wow, you know, I've, I've been all around the world and and I
love that I actually just a couple months ago, I crossed off
a really big one. I had never been to Istanbul
before. And, you know, it's just like I
can still remember when I was a little kid in elementary school

(41:01):
and reading about Constantinopleand the crossroads of
civilization. Like, even as a second grader, I
was saying, I'm going to go there someday.
And, you know, and finally we made it there, and it was every
bit as amazing as I thought it was going to be.
Have you ever, have you been to Istanbul?
Do you know it? Just went to the States and it's

(41:23):
because my grandfather was a trucker, so it was like, oh,
we're going to Detroit today, soget in the truck.
Detroit has its own charms. It's actually, it's, it's not
quite Istanbul, but just the whole idea of, you know, born
and raised in the US, the whole idea of going to Turkey, you
know, being in the middle of, you know, you know, a place

(41:46):
that's half in Europe, half in Asia, being able to take a ferry
between two continents. I'm, I'm a major food guy, you
know, as we were talking about. So sampling, you know, the many
cuisines of the many cultures that gather together in
Istanbul. You know, I think that

(42:07):
especially in the States, we have this kind of an insularity.
It's a big, it's a big country. We think that our 315 million
people are the, you know, the most important ones in the
world. I personally don't believe that
I am much more of a pluralist, much more of a, you know, I have
this feeling that people of all sorts of different cultures have

(42:28):
so much to offer and so many interesting perspectives on life
that I wouldn't get as a kid born in Bridgeport, CT, unless I
go out and seek those things. And it's Stambul as a crossroads
of many civilizations and as a, you know, what are the world's
great cities was a place I wanted to go to, you know, step

(42:49):
back with my, you know, Americanidiot instincts and learn about
the culture. Learn about the culture and
everything down there. I think it like that again,
yeah. There, there.
I still exist. I'll keep.
You can still hear me when my screen goes off, right?
OK, good. Who wants to look at me anyway?

(43:12):
It's all good, you look great for your age, don't you worry.
You worked at so many different industry from the cannabis to
fitness. How does one go about a sex
successfully reinventing themselves for the second or
maybe third? Career, you know, that's such a
it's a great question and it's so important in people's lives

(43:33):
now and when I was in in college, being an English major
was still a thing. It's not anymore.
So I feel really grateful that I, I got to do that for four
years and thank you dad for paying for it.
But I've always felt like the thing that was great about the
course of studies I had in college was that I was getting

(43:54):
ideas from from lots of different writers.
I took a lot of economics, I took some biology, I took art
history. I, I was an English major, so I,
I read all the best stuff that they're, that there has ever
been written, or a lot of it anyway.
And I always feel like my careersince then has been the career
equivalent of that education I had in college.

(44:16):
Meaning it's not so much what that one thing is that you're
doing. It's like how well you are able
to Burrow into it, understand it, appreciate it, seek out the
brightest ideas in it. And so I've had a lot of
different jobs in my career, butthe but the through line in

(44:36):
there and the thing that's consistent between all of them
was that I was covered covering a subculture that had a lot to
teach me and the enthusiasm I brought to like learning about
the movies. I was the editor of a movie
magazine once. I was an editor of a magazine.
I was an editor at a magazine about technology in the future.

(44:57):
I was an editor of Playboy, which was its own like mind
blowing experience, and then then Men's Health, Backpacker,
the cannabis magazine. You know, a lot of different
subjects, but the key here was that I fully invested myself in
learning those subjects while I was working on those magazines.
And it was my ability to study up enthusiastically and throw

(45:21):
myself into those which has beena driving force for my career.
Should I be curious and life andthere's so much to learn.
Honestly, I, I, I sat down with homeless people just talking
about their story and learning stuff and, and it's like anybody
in life can teach you something.And there's a feeling of

(45:42):
gratification and a high that weget from gaining knowledge and,
and acquiring. I tell people we're like
Inspector Gadget. You just don't know which gadget
you can use yet. So by getting in knowledge up
and now you got the scissors here.
Now we can do this there. It's you need to gain knowledge
because knowledge is power, because then you you choose the

(46:05):
direction you want to go, but with your thoughts by taking
good here, this there and do youhave do you do you have some
dues and don'ts and traveling atwith cannabis?
You know, I don't want to get your the people are watching
this in trouble. But let me just say that I have
never had a problem and I've traveled all around the world.

(46:27):
So that isn't to say that you're, you know, the people who
watch this podcast, you know, they could very well up end up
in prison for, you know, 20 years and that that would make
me feel bad if they, you know, did that based on my advice.
But you know what I I feel? Well, one time I'll tell one
story. So it was in Denver Airport,

(46:49):
which is the one that's nearest to us, and this guy was walking
around with a dog who was sniffing absolutely everything.
So I walked over to the guy and I said, yeah, what's going on
with that dog? Are you, are you sniffing?
Is the dog sniffing for drugs? And the guy cuts me a look and
he says, buddy, I've got much bigger fish to fry than that.

(47:10):
And this is in Denver, like the capital, the cannabis capital of
the. State illegal.
Yeah, so you know what, I think everybody has their own
tolerance for risk. I worked it out for mine.
And you know, I guess the other thing I would say is cannabis
comes in many different forms and some of them are very easy

(47:30):
to conceal in a bag of candy through that.
Through that, what's the secret to thriving on a cruise and is
it the is it the right travel option for everyone?
You know, honestly, I've, I've been on two cruises in my life
and, and I'm both of them peoplewere my age or older.

(47:53):
So, you know, I guess there are cruises you could go on like
somebody your age could go on and have a lovely time and, and
you know, have it be more of a wild experience with the DJ's
and, you know, naked hot tubs and all the rest.
That hasn't been my experience. And you know, it depends on what
you're after when you're when you're on the road.

(48:16):
It's certainly not the least expensive way to travel, but
there is a certain beauty to, you know, unpacking your
suitcase once and seeing all of Alaska like I did on a cruise
ship, or cruising from Budapest to to Istanbul or near
thereabouts. Or Bucharest.

(48:38):
I guess it was on a cruise boat.I felt like it was a way to
experience the world that made it easy for me to engage with
people. And, you know, every time I got
off the boat, I felt like I was meeting, you know, the people
who lived there and, and, and downloading a piece of their
lives. So, you know, I'm not sure it's

(49:00):
for everyone. You know, there are a lot of
people who would just as soon beon a party boat in the
Caribbean. That isn't the way I chose it.
I went to places that I was genuinely interested in.
And there are a lot of ways to do that, you know, if you've got
some money in your pocket and some time to spend.
And I happen to have both of those.
So I was lucky enough to do it. But I'm not sure it's for
everyone. Or maybe, maybe not people at

(49:21):
your time in life anyway. What What would be the ultimate
guide to tell people to make themost of out of a destination
that they go to? You know, I always have a book
that I read when I'm on, you know, when I'm going to a
destination. So Orhan Pamuk is a Nobel Prize

(49:43):
winning novelist and memoirist. And before I went to Istanbul, I
read his book that was called Istanbul.
So I got the full story of, of his childhood and, you know,
coming of age as a writer when he was living in Istanbul.
But it also gave me a feel for who the people who live in the

(50:04):
city are, what is history is. So I'm always combining, you
know, a really good book with a really fascinating place to be.
And, you know, so I kind of feltlike when I was in Istanbul, I
was traveling there with the Nobel Prize winner.
And that's a good way to do it. Your substance is now widely

(50:25):
successful. What advice would you have for
writers looking to grow their loyal online audience?
Because I realize that there's some that that are incredible,
but that that can't get a following.
Yeah, I, you know, at a certain,OK, at one point I hired a guy
who I used to work with in my magazine career who was the

(50:48):
circulation director of Men's Health magazine.
Very smart guy, knows a lot about circulation, meaning how
to attract an audience for a magazine, whatever, a website, a
newsletter. And one thing that he told me
was that with publications of any kind, the hard thing is, you
know, he was doing a metaphor with gears.

(51:10):
And the hard thing is to get thegear to turn around once,
meaning to gain enough momentum that people are starting to
notice what you're doing. So, you know, for the first
whatever year, year and a half, I was, you know, like struggling
along with 300 subscribers and then I would get the 311 and

(51:33):
feel pretty good about that. And then at a certain point I
noticed that the subscribers were coming on not one at a
time, but six at a time. Then they were coming at 20 at a
time and then 40 at a time, which meant that, you know,
whatever algorithm sub stack uses they they were, they could
see that I was gaining popularity and that meant that

(51:55):
they were pushing it out in places where there wasn't being
pushed out for. So I think that's part of it.
But I also, you know, I realize now that because of the kind of
work I do, there are lots of ways that I can share it.
Yeah. So, so you know, blue sky,
Instagram, Facebook in LinkedIn coming on podcasts like yours, I

(52:19):
mean, there are a lot of places that I can reach an audience
that hadn't even occurred to me when I started doing my sub
stack. But the key there was that I was
doing something that I love and people who engage with it could
tell that I loved it. So, you know, 100 times I've had
people write to me and say, gosh, Peter, it sure does seem

(52:40):
like you're having a lot of fun doing this.
And that fun is infectious. And it's.
Funny I chose this people. But if I'm having fun doing it,
that's going to radiate off of the page.
So, so I would say that, you know, you don't do a sub stack
just to do a sub stack. You do a sub stack because you
have a very specific idea of a, of a, of a sub stack that you

(53:04):
would like to read yourself. And if it satisfies your needs
as a passionate producer, then with any luck, other people are
going to be interested in it too.
So, you know, that's how I, that's how I went from, you
know, 300 readers to 10,000. So you never have paid no
marketing for that. Oh sure, I've been active in
that too. Is it really worth it?

(53:28):
You know, ask me again in five years, I'll tell you it has
been, you know, it has been worth it to me.
It's been an it's been an investment.
I'm making money on it now. I didn't always and you know,
I'm fortunate to be at a time inmy life where, you know, I've
had a lot of big jobs and I havemoney to invest in something
that I love. So I have no regrets about that.

(53:48):
And, you know, no apologies either because somehow you have
to get the word out there. So there's a, a website
calledrefined.com that I've beencollaborating with on and
finding readers and they've beenvery helpful.
But even, you know, the the bestcollaborator isn't going to help

(54:09):
you. If people look at your look at
your newsletter and think that it sucks.
Clearly people have been lookingwhat I do, engaging with it,
subscribing to it, responding toit.
And that's, you know, as I said,that's just been so gratifying
and fun for me. And like you and me, me too at
the beginning, like I didn't payone marketing yet to my music

(54:32):
because it's like I'm not makingmillions yet, like or I'm not
making any sense yet really. So I'm not gonna start investing
at that 100 bucks a song there. So I I'm still waiting on on
just the more time. And like you said, me, I say it
like a ball of snow going down ahill.
It starts small by a certain point, it's going to pick up.

(54:54):
So we just gotta wait for that moment.
I actually wanted to pick up on that because you used the
snowball metaphor before. You know, I live in Colorado
where there's a lot of snow and there are a lot of avalanches.
And you think about how an avalanches start.
You've got a pristine side of a mountain with the snow setting
on it. Then one guy tracks across with

(55:15):
his skis and suddenly the snow starts to slide and pretty soon
you have 47 tons of snow going down the side of a mountain.
Your initial efforts and whatever your creative endeavor
are that first ski along the slope.
Once the snow starts to slide, then it gains a momentum of its
own. With any luck, you don't die in

(55:36):
the avalanche, but you ride it to someplace new and unexpected
and great. So what you wanted, what your
viewers want to do, is touch offthe right avalanche for them and
write it, not get killed by it. And after it just staying
constant, right when you stay constant after that, after it
started, oh shit, shit goes welder and I like I learned that

(55:59):
piston a volcano. So.
What was going through your mindand how did you learn a bigger
lesson through that experience? So I was visiting a friend of
mine, friends of mine who were serving in the Peace Corps,
Peace Corps in Congo and in Africa.
And when I was with them, we started hearing reports that
this volcano had erupted 40 miles from where they were

(56:23):
serving in the Peace Corps. So we thought, you know, how
many chances in life are we going to have to be on an active
volcano? Exactly.
Let's go down there. So we hopped on a truck down a
dirt Rd. took us all the way, you know, down to the to the
near the site of the volcano. We still had a five mile hike to
go in there. So we hiked into the volcano and

(56:45):
like, we were literally, you know, covered with ash.
The flames were like lighting upthe clouds overhead.
And, you know, so we, we one daywe walked in to get most of the
volcanoes that we could really experience, feel the heat, see
the lava flowing and all that. But of course, we had had our
coffee that morning for breakfast.

(57:05):
And you know what happens when you drink a cup of coffee,
You're going to have to pee. So before we actually climbed up
to the top of the volcano, we were standing next to this
stream of lava that was going by.
We thought we were far enough away from it.
But anyway, nature called. So I unzipped and, and let loose
his stream. And, you know, he's watching it.

(57:26):
It was, you know, the urine. This was seeping down into the
volcanic ash. I thought, that's weird.
It's not puddling. Like a few seconds went by and
then this cloud of steam hit me in the face was the steam from
my own pee. And it was because, you know,
5-6 feet below the surface, it was molten lava right there.

(57:49):
And it was just like, I think what I learned from that is be
careful about how close you get to a volcano.
Fortunately, I didn't fall in, you know, no lava splashed on my
head and ate a hole in it. But it was, you know, again, one
of the most amazing travel experiences of my life.
What's been the one of the biggest failures or mistake

(58:12):
about your traveling or something you encountered that
you're like, damn, I'm probably not going to do that twice?
You know, honestly, I, I think I, I traveled as an entitled
American for way too long in my life that it was like, yeah, you
people are here to entertain me.So let's get it going right?

(58:33):
As opposed to, you know. Trying to live the culture and
it's. Not it's like it's not about me
impressing my culture on anybodyelse.
It's more what can you show me that I never would have expected
or enjoyed before? So, you know, it's, it's taken a
while in my life for me to come to the Enlightenment that I need

(58:55):
to, to be a better traveler. And you know, I totally get it
when, you know, countries decidethey're going to ban Western
tourists because they just come in and fuck up their countries.
What I want to do is to go into a place, be as respectful and
non disruptive as possible and engage with people rather than

(59:16):
seeing things. And you know, I'm a big fan of
museums. We were talking about that
earlier. I go do that too, But it's more
the hole in the wall restaurant,the person you encounter on the
street. Those are the those are the
people who are who give you legitimate travel experiences as
opposed to, you know, going to Broadway and seeing The Lion

(59:37):
King. You know, it's like that.
I mean, that's entertainment in its own right, but it's not real
engagement between people. And that's the mistake I try to
avoid making now. You know, when when we were on
this crew cruise down the Danube, one of the things that
stood out for me was that the people on either side of that

(59:58):
river are still living through some very difficult times in the
memory of war is very is very recent for them.
You know, we weren't that far from the border of Turkey and
Kiev and Kiev when in Ukraine. When we were there, I was very
aware that. This region we're traveling
through was experience is experiencing war now had

(01:00:21):
experienced it in the recent past.
And that's what I wanted to takefrom it was how do you look at
that now? How did it affect you?
How did it affect your family? You know, being able to ask
those questions and find the people who really want to give
you a good answer that feels like a legitimate travel
experience because it's it's an enlightening you and educating

(01:00:44):
you on how the world actually works.
Rather than, you know, having a nice meal in a restaurant and
then, you know, staggering back to your hotel room.
Like did you ever see the movie The Beach with Leonardo
DiCaprio? Oh, on the beach.
No, the beach by Leonardo di Caprio.
I'm not sure I ever. Did but he gets given a map
about secret island and he decides to go there and live

(01:01:06):
there. I guess there's this urban myth
going around here at the moment.It's about a beach.
This secret beach. On an island that no one can get
to, somewhere paradise must exist.
I just feel like everyone tries to do something different but
they always wind up doing the same damn thing.

(01:01:28):
I don't know. I think in miles, not kilometers
from American. So what else do you need to
know? Stuff about my family or where
I'm from, None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and
cut yourself loose looking for something more beautiful,

(01:01:49):
something more exciting. Yes, I admit something more
dangerous. So after 18 hours in the back of
an airplane, 3 dumb movies, 2 plastic meals, 6 beers, and
absolutely no sleep, I finally touched down.
Wanna drink snake blood? Did you say snake blood?

(01:02:11):
Ohe yeah, not thanks. What is wrong with snake blood?
I just don't like the idea. Well, maybe you're scared,
Afraid of something new. No, I just don't like the idea.
That's all You wanted all these say, Just like America.

(01:02:33):
So never refuse an invitation. Never resist the unfamiliar.

(01:02:54):
Oh. Never fail to be polite,
gentlemen. That was excellent.
Never else stay. Welcome them.
Well, before going, you hear himand marinate narrowed, eighting
apart and there's a fucked up people beside him and they're

(01:03:16):
like, oh, this is the the the shots were taken and they're
red. And he's like, what the hell is
this? Like snake blood?
He's like, and you hear him nowadays, he's like when
somebody from a different country gives you something to
drink or eat, you take it, you swallow it and you say, thank
you lived, lived experience the highest degree.
And another reason I brought this movie in, it's because you

(01:03:40):
talked about a lot of people like fuck up those places.
Well, the movie The beach was sobig because of Leonardo that the
place initially that they put itat, well, a lot of people were
going there. And it's been banned for people.
It's been four or five years because they've been putting
shit everywhere. That's, and I regret that, as

(01:04:00):
you know, as a, as a frequent traveler, I'm sorry, I've been,
I've been a part of that and I'll admit that.
But you know, what we can do in our lives is, is learn and try
to do things differently. And and that's what I tried to
do as a traveler now. I got three more quick one than
that. That's going to be.
It's OK, OK, perfect. From national parks to busting,

(01:04:24):
busting cities, what's your favorite destination of all time
and why does it stand out for you?
Wow, boy, that's a that's a hardone.
That's why I take four or five hours to write my questions.
Well, thanks to your care on that.
You know, one of the great things that I've ever done was
spend time in New Orleans right before the pandemic.

(01:04:47):
And I was actually there like asthe pandemic was blooming.
And one of the reasons why I love New Orleans is that it's
such a Stew of humanity. It's like people from all walks
of life, all races, you know, they're bringing their cuisines
and their music and their life experience.

(01:05:07):
And you can and you can live through all that, you know, one
block to the next. Life changes in in New Orleans,
so it took me a long time to make it there.
You know, at a certain point I had been to Kathmandu in Nepal,
but I hadn't been to New Orleans.
So I finally made an appointment.
I'm kind of like, it's about time I went to New Orleans and I

(01:05:29):
love the place. I love the food, I love the
people. I love the mix of humanity that
you run into there. So off the top of my head,
that's one of the highlights forsure.
That's where a little a little Wayne is from and when the black
movement was moving there gonna put little Wayne on TV's or
saying like, oh, you live through racism.

(01:05:51):
And he's like, no, ma'am, I did not live racism.
And she tries to push him. So he admits that he did.
And he's like, no, well, you don't understand.
I got I shot myself at 11 years old.
That's what he tells her. And he's like, and there's
officer that ran over him in thehouse and there's one white cop
that saw him is like, hey, there's an 11 year old boy dying

(01:06:12):
right here. He picked him up and saved Lil
Wayne and he's like, so don't talk to me about racism.
I'll say don't exist, but don't try to put me in your fucking
script. And New Orleans, I always wanted
to go there because the little Wayne is one of my my idols and
it seems such like a beautiful place.
Exactly, exactly what you said. A lot of cultures.
That's what I I saw online as well.

(01:06:35):
From there and you know it's it's a.
Very. It's like Atlantic City.
You can get richer Atlantic City, or you could leave with
nothing. Yeah, exactly.
So yeah, well, I hope you make it sometime.
What role does humor play in your life, especially when
you're facing challenges or mishaps on your Rd.
You know, it's, it's been one ofthe fun things that's happened

(01:06:56):
since I started drawing and cartooning is that it gives me a
filter to put things through. So just before the election in
the US, I did a cartoon for the Colorado Sun.
I'm talking about all the thingsthat won't change in my life
because of the election. And they were silly things like
the rate at which my my hair grows.

(01:07:18):
And it was like, so the point I was trying to make is we're on
the verge of a major switch overin the United States, and you
better be ready for it. So I filtered that anxiety I had
over where the world is going into a cartoon series, which was
very popular in the Colorado sun.
So that was fun. That's why I do it.
Music too. I, I, I bring a piece of what

(01:07:41):
I'm living here and try to report it so people understand
it more. And my insecurities, I, I pass
it through my music as well. You've worked with so many
different media formats, writing, drawing, editing,
speaking. What's the What's the medium
that feels the most authentic toyou, and why?
I feel very fortunate to be living in an era when you know

(01:08:05):
the graphic. The graphic novel has a graphic
novel, graphic memoir. I was just looking so I've been
reading a lot of graphic novels and memoirs recently and I feel
like that combination of of words in contractures and
drawings can be super expressiveand each can comment on the

(01:08:27):
other. The first graphic memoir that
ever read was Fun Home by AlisonBechdel and it tells the story
of her upbringing. She actually Fun Home stands for
a Funeral Home. And her father was a mortician,
also a closeted gay man. And she's telling the story of
what it was like to grow up not only in a Funeral Home but with

(01:08:49):
a father who was wrestling with his identity as a gay man when
he had, you know, three kids. So when I read that, it was part
of my realization was, oh, there's a lot that we can do
here if we can combine the wordsand images in a way that hasn't
really been done before. And, you know, obviously, comic
books have been around for a long time, and I'm not

(01:09:11):
denigrating those. But it feels like the whole
graphics world has made a turn in the last 10 years toward you
can write a serious piece of literature and have it be
illustrated. And you know, that's my dream
right now. I hope that's the path I'm on.
But even if I'm not, I'm having a really good time, So what the
hell. Well working everybody find you

(01:09:33):
your social medias and and everything.
Yeah, everything I do, I funnel through sub.
Peter moore.substack.com, it's on the screen there.
I'd love to have some of your, the people who are watching this
check it out. If it's your kind of thing, go
ahead and subscribe. You can be a free subscriber,
but I especially love my paid subscribers.
For sure. So thank you for coming on this

(01:09:55):
week. It's been it's been a pleasure
to have you and see you guys next week.