Office Hours with Grant Schwab

This episode features Ian Callahan! Ian and I recorded this episode on May 20, the night of my graduation from UVA. It was very cool, and ceremonious, to record with him (my first-year roommate) on the same day of commencement. Full circle, ya know? Ian's wicked smart, a big sports guy, excellent roommate, and a good friend. We were easy friends back at the start, and we've stayed friends since. In this episode, we talk about how Ian has changed or stayed the same throughout college, emotional balance, career paths and his even-keel outlook on the future, and we look back on lots of stories from back in the day. (Good times, go Hoos.) This is the episode all you Ian Callahan lovers out there have been waiting for, so no need to hold in that excitement any longer.

In a reversal-of-roles, episode 17 of the Office Hours podcast features me - Grant Schwab - as the guest! The wonderful Kerry Reichhardt had the idea months ago of getting my perspective on the last four years as a guest on the show, and she volunteered to host too. I had a great time doing this, and it was cool to sit on the other end of the program. In her intro to the episode, Kerry describes my (apparent) New Jersey accent for certain words and my propensity to talk high praise about people behind their backs. In the episode itself, we talk about facing uncertainty, my sort of weird desire for criticism, our shared love of Spongebob, each year of my college experience represented by a bagel, and much more. An enormous thanks to Kerry for doing this, since this was a great experience. I hope you enjoy / make sure to shout out Kerry for being an awesome host.

This episode features Zack Ackerman! You know him, you love him, and you've surely been waiting for this one. Zack came by to do a real episode over graduation weekend (his first stop on the show doesn't count). The bromance previously has been fairly well documented, but we took it up to 11 (or something). In this episode Zack and I talk about what he'd do differently at UVA if given the chance, we talk about masculinity and how he's gotten more comfortable with himself at UVA, we go into career paths a bit, I profess my love for him, and more. Embrace the pod, enjoy the pod, and enjoy this episode of the pod with Zack.

BONUS: This episode is a final project from this past semester in a class called "Black Fire" - essentially black history of the University of Virginia from the 1960s until now. The short version: Trevor Hinkle and I conducted a series of interviews with black members of our fraternity to get their perspectives on race within UVA's historically white Greek system. We did interviews with Alexandre Fall (3:25), Jordan Lassiter (33:15), Byron Thompson (57:45), and Khari Williams (1:24:00). We talk about race as it pertains to party culture, the recruitment process, regular ol' daily joking, and more. Good ep to share with friends concerned about racial topics/issues, and as always, feedback/commentary encouraged.

HOMIES: This episode of the Office Hours podcast features Kate Donovan! Kate is one of my close friends since way back in the Shannon days, and she means a whole lot to me. She's always there to listen, has lots of love in her heart, works damn hard, and giggles a lot. In this episode, Kate and I delve deep into what her extracurricular activities mean to her, we talk about her potential calling in life, her family, the wonderful friends she has around her, and more. This one's a good'un, so I hope you enjoy!

PART TWO, of the two-parter. In Pt. 1, you got to know Breanna DuFour and Katherine Wilkin, two of the very first friends I made at UVA. Listen to this ep' to hear the conclusion to our conversation. This time around we talked about family, Bree's experience as a baton-twirler, Katherine's experience with journalism and environmentalism, and we look ahead to the future. Enjoy, smile, and listen to Pt. 1 if ya haven't already!

HISTORY IN THE MAKING, friends. This episode is part one of a two-part conversation I had with Breanna DuFour and Katherine Wilkin. Bree and Katherine are two of the very first friends I made at UVA. We met at orientation, lived in Shannon together, and here we are 3+ years later. Bree is the social extrovert yin to Katherine's more hermetic introverted yang, and I love both of them. In part one we talk about how we met, reminisce on first-year experiences, discuss their lives as working-people throughout college, and more.

BACK FROM HIATUS: This episode features Zach Stoller and Chris Porter! For those of you that don't know them: Zach is the living embodiment of goodness and friendship, and Chris is an international man of mystery. (How's that for a tagline?) The three of us became friends from our time with Greens to Grounds, but the friendships now extend far beyond that. In this 'sode we talk about Greens to Grounds, motivations and feelings that steer the two of them, how they've changed since high school and throughout, and we even chat some about environmental activism.

This episode features Dawson Hodges! Dawson isn't the type to talk about himself a lot, but he's one of the best friends I've made in college. He's like family to me and - if life's a boxing match - then I'm really lucky to have him in my corner. In this 'sode: We talk about first-year life, Dawson gives a zen outlook on careers and the future, we talk about the passing of Dawson's father two years ago, and we remember an old list we used to keep of awesome moments. Don't mind my bad jokes; just enjoy some Dawson-style wisdom.

This features Shea Kearns! Shea's an all-around great person, a great Delta Sig, and a great friend. I lived with him in our fraternity house last year, where we played lots of the ol' Super Smash Bros. In this episode we talk about his experience transferring to UVA, stress and work-life balance, family dynamics, we try to understand Bitcoin, and we look ahead to the future. Check out this episode, because it is indeed, magically delicious.

This episode features Joy Fan and Sarah MacAdam! Joy brought Sarah along to sit in on the show, so we got her on the horn too. Joy and Sarah are roommates, and they're also in the same sorority. Joy and I have been friends since early in our UVA days, and she's been a pal to share angst about relationships, about friendships, about our futures, etc. In this episode, we talk about Joy's relationship to dance, how Sarah and Joy both changed in college, about Joy's connection to everyone in my first-year dorm, study abroad experiences, style trends, Greek Life, and more.

This episode features Marcus Liebowitz and Ty Saunders! Marcus and Ty are UVA / Delta Sig alums who are two years out, but they were in town for the weekend and wanted to get on the pod. Marcus, if I'm not mistaken, is the first person I ever met at UVA. Marcus is an excited dude, very nice person, great Delta Sig. Ty is another role model Delta Sig for me. He always cared a lot about getting to know younger guys and was (/is) a role model for the great friendships he has within his pledge class. In this episode Marcus gives some dental advice and fun facts, we talk about our fraternity, the two share some thoughts on postgrad life and keeping up with friends, and more. Lightly edited, but heavily awesome.

This episode features Drew Kiser and Elise Huppert! They're hilarious and smart and meeting them last semester has, without any doubt, made my year better. We even make waffles together sometimes! Drew and Elise both live on the Lawn, and they've been close friends since middle school. This time around we talk about their relationships to improv comedy, our experiences with the Lawn, balancing self-doubt with self-praise, parents, and more. It was a blast recording this, so just enjoy the crap out of this episode.

This episode features Chris Schopper! Chris is a good friend of mine that I got to know (primarily) through Greens to Grounds. One of my favorite things about Chris is that he's a great listener. He wants to hear others' stories and perspectives, and he doesn't need to be the one driving any moment or conversation in his life. He also cooks a mean salmon. In this episode we talk about Kanye (again), we talk about his first year at UVA when he went out all the time, we get into how his thoughts on intimate social settings vs. group ones, we ponder the future, we talk about laughing in church, we talk about fainting in church, and we even talk about hip hop horns. Enjoy!

IN THIS EPISODE, Trevor Hinkle stops by to chat. I've known Trevor since the spring of our first year at UVA since we both joined the same fraternity. He's a big lanky dude who is the butt of endless jokes in Delta Sig. That said, he's one of the guys in the fraternity I'm closest with and admire the most. He's a smart guy who's into most of the liberal nonsense I like, similar music taste, etc. In this episode, we talk about Delta Sig, Trevor's experience in the business school here, how he's become more critical since he got to UVA, comfort with uncertainty, and more.

Disclaimer for this episode: Just don't listen to it. It's an 80-minute long extravaganza of non-topical nothing-in-particular-ness. Nevertheless, this episode features one of my best friends, Zack Ackerman, who you probably have heard me and others allude to many times already. We planned to record an episode on Sunday, but when I woke up without a voice, we decided on the next best thing: an aimless conversation under the guise of a podcast. Some topics from this episode include: Red Light Management, our sky-rocketing listener base across the world, Kanye West, Greek Life, and the Super Bowl. For your own sake, do something else with your time.

This episode of the podcast features Tiffany Truong! As you'll hear us allude to on the show, Tiffany and I have known each other basically since day one at UVA. You'll also hear that she's been criticizing me and shrinking my head from that point onward. Tiffany's a caring, smart, and driven person and even though - or maybe even because - she's so critical of me, I consider her sorta like family. In this episode, we talk about change and moving on, how she emotes (or maybe doesn't emote), about how she really didn't like this place for a while, about how lucky we got with our friend group, and more.

Episode 3 features Kelsie Ponder! She's a riot (she sometimes reminds me of Maria Bamford, for any comedy people who are listening) and she's part of the squad that lived in Shannon back in the day. Her and I have been close since the beginning of college and, even though I see her far less now, she's still one of my favorite people to be around. In this episode, we recount stories from first-year and talk about Kelsie's old nickname, Kelsie embarrassing herself (a lot), and the marriage pact that we have.

This episode of the Office Hours podcast features the incredible Kerry Reichhardt! There's so much good in every last cell of her heart, and she's really funny, and this episode was a blast to record. Some of the talking points for the episode include Pitbull, reusable cucumbers, and some more serious discussion about understanding who we are and where we've come since our first year at UVA. Send over some feedback, send this to your friends, and find the podcast page on Facebook.

Eli Maskin stops by as the guest for the first (!) official episode of the OH podcast. Eli is a smart/thoughtful/funny guy, and he's one of my best friends in the world. In this episode, we talk about the Grand Budapest Hotel, dorm life, a brilliant Snapchat spinoff, and Eli's original musical titled "Aporia" (which is really really cool). Give the episode a listen and give some feedback!