This Is Your Afterlife

It's part 2 of my first two-episode week, celebrating my new favorite book, Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072. M.E. O'Brien is the book's other co-writer (along with Eman Abdelhadi), and our conversation stems from an email in which she told me her practice of a religion with "a very elaborate idea of the afterlife" might make for a less interesting podcast. Suffice it to say, she was wrong!

Content warning: suicide, Tibetan Buddhism, the lack of kindness in leftist spaces, absolutely refusing to Relive 1 Memory.

Show your love for This Is Your Afterlife at patreon.com/davemaher. Here are reasons it is good:

• Subscribers get extended episodes, aftershows, and shoutouts in future episodes.
• It's the same cost as a nice coffee or a cheap meal.
• You're part of making independent art outside of corporate backing.
• I need literal insulin.

Read Everything for Everyone (and buy it from the publisher, Common Notions, here). Then let's talk about it!

Follow M.E. O'Brien on Twitter: @genderhorizon

Support her on Patreon: patreon.com/meobrien

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Eman Abdelhadi co-wrote Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072, my favorite book in the longest time. I love it so much I'm doing the podcast's first ever two-episode week featuring separate episodes with Eman and her co-author, M.E. O'Brien. So stay tuned!

Content warning: banana peel violence, Islam, being a "bad" Muslim, polycule drama, the literal most idyllic Relive 1 Memory segment ever.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Follow Eman on Twitter, @emanabdelhadi, and Instagram, @eabdelhadi.

Read Everything for Everyone (and buy it from the publisher, Common Notions, here). Then let's talk about it!

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Take a moment with me to celebrate 100 episodes of This Is Your Afterlife!

Content warning: surprises, dreams, evolution, lessons learned, 50/50/50 rule, white vs. non-white afterlives, how to use the sidewalk properly.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

My mother, Katie Maher, came prepared to EPISODE 100 of This Is Your Afterlife. The first guest to bring notes! She shares her experience during my coma and her strong beliefs about the afterlife. I share a piece about her from the one-man show that gave birth to this podcast. And the episode ends with the funniest five minutes of the show so far.

Content warning: medical trauma, faith, dating, cinnamon rolls, The Bible, Uvalde, thoughts and prayers, lots and lots of paper towels.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Thanks to Al Church for the music in "Mom's Darkness." Stream his music (Night Games is incredible), and buy it on Bandcamp.

You can read "Mom's Darkness" in my newsletter, Definitive Answers. Subscribe for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Joanna Jamerson (The Neo-Futurists) records the most scatological episode of This Is Your Afterlife yet while leaving the door open to becoming a very devout Christian by the end of her life.

Content warning: depression, Steve Harvey, Fifth Harmony, the curse of empathy.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, fund the show for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Joanna on Instagram: @noanna_namerson.

Go see The Neo-Futurists live in Chicago 50 weekends a year, and take their classes!

Joanna recommends Mishkan Chicago, the synagogue where she teared up at the bar mitzvah while doing videography.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Bummer-pop artist Meredith Johnston (aka Warm Human) and I go back many years to our improv comedy days, and that rapport allows me to give her the shit she deserves for her love of butt rock and nu metal. Meredith's a great storyteller, charismatic, complex, dark, and painfully honest about the twists of her brain. Her willingness to display all these facets of herself makes for an intense episode AND one of the most entertaining.

Content warning: eating disorders, physical abuse, (drug/alcohol) addiction, Meredith likes Imagine Dragons, Cream Cheese Hot Dog.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Meredith/Warm Human on Instagram, @lovechunkz, and Twitter, @w000rm.

Buy Warm Human tunes on Bandcamp, and stream on Spotify and everywhere else.

See Warm Human on September 3 at Sleeping Village in Chicago.

Check out her podcast, Sobriety Sucks.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Pool Kids songwriter, guitarist, and singer Christine Goodwyne talks to me about why Christian heaven seems unrealistic and the mushroom trip she intentionally used to change her life. I love Pool Kids' new album, and this convo was a breeze. What aspects of our personalities survive huge changes, and is it good that they do?

Content warning: toxic Christianity, mushrooms vs. Lexapro, poorly laid out grocery stores, full-on ego death.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Stream Pool Kids on Spotify and everywhere else.

Buy their new, self-titled album on Bandcamp. It's fantastic.

Go to poolkidsband.com for dates and tickets to their fall tour.

Follow Pool Kids, @poolkidsband: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

I talk to Em Gonzalez (Liberation Library, Chicago Abortion Fund) every day. They're a teacher, a transformative and restorative justice practitioner, a fierce abolitionist organizer, and one of my closest friends. So it was a distinct pleasure to have a different kind of conversation for the podcast. This is one of the most accessible political conversations I've ever had, examining abolition, accountability, and self-esteem through the lens of the Hot Bimbo Genius.

Content warning: amateur witchcraft, Florida Water, not getting dick jokes, wiping your feet on someone's towel, community accountability.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Em on Twitter: @small_meatball

Learn more about and donate to Liberation Library and Chicago Abortion Fund.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Mike Brunlieb (Joe Pera Talks With You, South Side) is one of the greatest improvisers of his and my generation of Chicago comedians. We dig into the reasons behind his love for playing both bullies and cucks. But performance is just the tip of this conversational iceberg.

This is a particularly intimate conversation for 2 reasons: 1) Mike's a close friend, and this was the first time we'd seen each other since pre-COVID, and 2) his daughter Nina slept against his chest for the duration of the interview.

Content warning: crying, having a daughter, pressure to say something smart in college, Nietzsche, heaven, forcing funeral attendees to play improvisational theater games, trying to isolate to find yourself.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs ! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

Chris Santiago is a hilarious, odd, and one-of-a-kind comedian and an exceptional visual artist. He cares so deeply about creativity he taught high school art for 20 years. Is it true "those who can't do, teach"? Hell no, dude! What are you even talking about? Listen to wise, sweet Chris.

Content warning: stability, space, binge-watching humanity 'til its end, dreams falling through and changing, working at the mall.

If you think This Is Your Afterlife is worth the price of a nice coffee or a cheap meal, please consider joining my Patreon for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher. Subscribers get my full convos with guests, the companion podcast This Is Your Aftershow, and shoutouts in future episodes.

Leave a voicemail, and I'll play it on the show! Call (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Follow Chris on Instagram: @chrisobscura

Listen DAILY to the Chris Obscura Voicemail Podcast (working title) ONLY BY CALLING (773) 234-2784.

See Chris live in Chicago at the monthly TORNADO show at the Hideout. This month's show is "Loppalapooza: Official Pre-After Party Show, Presented by TORNADO," Wednesday, July 27 at 9pm. Tickets here.

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and cultural essays, plus music recs ! And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"