Wildly Unplug

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a nightmare follows you for five years—and starts stealing the color from your world? Author Mark Benson returns to Wildly Unplug to talk about his new young adult horror novel, The Scattering, a story inspired by a real nightmare he couldn't forget. The novel follows James, a gifted young painter plagued by the same terrifying dream every night: his family is murdered while he watches helplessly from beneath the floorboards. Even stranger, the nightmare has...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a challenge about rejection turns into a lesson about monarch butterflies, conservation, burnout, and knowing when to say no? In this week’s Wildly Rejected: Becoming the Bison, I’m continuing my journey toward 1,000 rejections—but I’m realizing that making 1,000 asks doesn’t mean chasing every opportunity that crosses my path. After another week of balancing podcast interviews, editing, painting, running Wild Developments Studio, and trying to hit my 10 w...

Send us Fan Mail Seeing the World Through an Octopus’s Eyes with Angelique Allen What does the world look like through an octopus’s eyes? In this fascinating episode, Lauren talks with marine scientist and science communicator Angelique Allen about octopus vision, cephalopod brains, animal perception, and the science behind how octopuses see and interact with their underwater world. Angelique studies how octopuses process visual information and how their brains create a picture of the world a...

Send us Fan Mail What if rejection isn’t the end of the story—but part of the transformation? In this episode of Wildly Unplug, Lauren returns to her 1,000 Rejection Challenge, inspired by Gabby Carr’s rejection challenge, and shares what happened after stepping back into the arena and making 10 new asks. One rejection stung—an artist residency at a Frank Lloyd Wright house. But then an unexpected email arrived: Lauren had received a Guy Harvey Foundation Educator Grant. There was just one pr...

Send us Fan Mail The Wheeland Brothers have built their signature sound around surf rock, reggae, acoustic music, and a life spent chasing waves, adventure, and a little more time off the grid. In this episode of Wildly Unplug, brothers Travis and Nate “Frog” Wheeland join Lauren Connolly for a conversation about music, surfing, nature, burnout, creativity, and what happens when you step away from the noise long enough to actually be present. The brothers share how Jimmy Buffett inspired adv...