Send us a Text Message. I don't know her actual name, but she goes by Mary Welcome. And she is easily one of the most fascinating and welcoming people I have ever met. And an artist and civic engineer who I connected with instantly, and who I envy for her vision and follow through. Take, for example, this: God Bless the USPS A long-term project in …

Send us a Text Message. Patricia Arnao is a multimedia visual artist who was one of the first artists -in-residence at our art space in Turkey. Then I started a new one and I invited her to be first because she's Number 1!!! Pat showed up in West Virginia fresh off her most recent trip to Sicily, where she was taking care of legal business as part …

Send us a Text Message. Sibel Horada is an artist from Turkey. She is also my friend. A friend who calls me from the supermarket in Ankara (Turkey) to show me what kinds of chips they have! Sibel has been making sculptures from found styrofoam that has washed ashore on Turkey's beaches. In a nod to the Chips, she bought some Puffed Rice cakes becau…

Send us a Text Message. In the absence of live Polish friends available for "Chip Talk"--I instead reveal my ignorance about my relative, the esteemed and honorable Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. The only thing I knew about the Cardinal before researching for this episode is that he is the spitting image of my Grandfather, Floyd Weshinskey, and my neph…

Send us a Text Message. In 1989 my husband, Árni Gu∂mundsson , accidentally burnt down the sculpture department of the Swedish Royal Academy of Art .** He recounts the trauma of that experience on the occasion of our anniversary. Our last anniversary episode involved trigger warnings, and so does this one: there is mention of police violence, sexua…

Send us a Text Message. Why did I think it was a good idea to collect potato chip bags? I asked ethnologist, Charlotte Hagström about that, and she told me that it is a normal impulse . . . if I were a child . . . or an artist :) As a Senior Professor at Lund University in Sweden, Charlotte has done research on Swedish Fredagsmys (Friday Coziness),…

Send us a Text Message. Quilling is the ancient art of paper rolling. Quilling Mistress and painter, Josie Jenkins,, tells me I have it ALL WRONG when trying to 'quill' two bags from my Chinese collection: Kimchi and Lay's Kyushu Seaweed Josie's Quilling site: https://josiejenkinsquilling.wordpress.com/about-josie/ Josie's Painting and Project site…

Send us a Text Message. The last time I saw Holly Treddenick I was dressed in a nude leotard. Things like this can happen when you take part in circus incubators, and other creative events that are concerned with communication between artists and audiences. Also, the last time I saw Holly Treddenick in Toronto, I bought some bags of chips: 2 differ…

Send us a Text Message. It takes more than one onion to make a collection of onions. Ludvig Ödman is a collector from Sweden whose favorite chip flavor is "Triple Onion" (because one isn't enough!) Ludvig collects belly button lint, and various bodily sheddings--but his most recent and important collecting work involves selling prints of his drawin…

Send us a Text Message. Last episode I spoke with the "Yes Lady" Lindsay Anderson in Taber, Alberta about the strange path that led to her starting a soup business. Today, we get crackin' on writing our own obituaries, or at least talking about some of the obituaries in Lindsay's collection! Kettle Brand Apple Cider Vinegar Chips from Niagara Falls…

Send us a Text Message. The first part in a series of conversations with Lindsay Anderson--the woman who likes to say 'Yes". In this episode, Lindsay tells the unlikely story about how she started her soup business--which sounds like it would be boring--but because it is Lindsay--it isn't! Chips Flavors purchased in Toronto, Canada: Savoursmith's B…

Send us a Text Message. Chatting over chips about the unparalleled Berea College with my recently graduated nephew, Avery Fair, his brother Silas Fair (a sophomore at Berea) and three of their friends: LaMonika Dent, Robert Emmill, and Yer Mama. I mean Luke. Berea College makes promises: Berea is the only one of America’s top colleges that makes a …

Send us a Text Message. My conversation with healer Orlene Carlos sparked an idea to create a real tarot deck out of potato chip bags--but that is for later. For now, Orlene and I discuss our time in China training umbrella foot juggling, circus performers as healers, and Swedish Roasted Garlic and Sea Salt-flavored potato chips. Orlene Carlos the …

Send us a Text Message. While negotiators meet today in Turkey to discuss a potential end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world hopes for some progress. And I remember a performance video I made in our neighborhood in Istanbul that played with the ideas of patriotism and nationalism and my discomfort with flag-waving. "Perşembe Pazarı Pride…

Send us a Text Message. This episode's guest was supposed to have been Anastasia Polubotko from Ukraine--talking about mushroom-hunting in Sweden and Swedish and Polish mushroom-flavored chips bags. But then a war rearranged our priorities, and instead I am talking about Nastia, about mushroom hunting with her, and how the Stoic philosophy can mayb…

Send us a Text Message. This episode's two flavors: Gourmet Red Pepper and Feta and Lay's Burger King Flame-Broiled Hamburger have nothing in common except that I got them both in Turkey. And also that they reminded me of Sevinç Gürmen Hall and her stage persona, Joy G. Wild. "Sevinç" is Turkish for "Joy"--as in the Joy of Pole--the studio where sh…

Send us a Text Message. Valentine's Day special (WTF?!) Although this is the first time we decided to 'celebrate' Valentine's Day, we get really into it by talking about what surprises us about our relationship now as compared to what we expected at the beginning. The conversation if prompted by three bags of Lay's potato chips that we collected to…

Send us a Text Message. My co-host this episode is Nia Pushkarova from Sofia, Bulgaria. Nia and I met at the same artist initiatives meeting in Istanbul, Turkey where I met my husband. Mine and Nia's friendship is no less enduring. In fact, since 2015 the three of us have been trying to link together the cities of Pernik, Bulgaria and Charles Town,…

Send us a Text Message. Where do I start? How about with this episode's bags, which were collected by me in China in 2014: *Lay's Sichuan Pepper and Chicken Flavor *Lay's Spicy Green Peppercorn Fish *Lay's Numb and Spicy Hot Pot *Lay's Cheese Lobster *Lay's French Chicken *Lay's Kyushu Seaweed *Ridge Barbeque Skewer I met with Dr. John Flower--a fr…

Send us a Text Message. On December 30, 2011 my husband Árni Guðmundsson and I were married in Round Hill, Virginia. On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, we recorded ourselves telling the story of the night we met in 2009! This story features three bags of potato chips from Turkey, but you won't find out which ones until the end of the story. F…

Send us a Text Message. Julie Upmeyer and I are artistic collaborators who ran an art space together in Istanbul, Turkey (Caravansarai). We also both had jobs collecting data for a market research company called Datamonitor. Sound boring? Well, does a Turkish-Swedish Meatball Eating Competition sound boring? Or a fake charity supplying much (not re…

Send us a Text Message. Danish "hygge" (coziness) is sooo pre-pandemic! A new cozy marketing trend making is its way to the U.S. from Sweden and it's called, "Fredagsmys"-- The Friday Cuddle . . . and it involves lots of potato chips. I spent a Fredagsmys with my "plastic sons", Oskar, Adriaan, and Julius -- who grew up and live in Sweden -- and ma…

Send us a Text Message. Happy Thanksgiving! Richard Bartle is a fantastic artist and exquisite host who stuffed us full of heavy British delicacies when we went to visit him in Sheffield, England--where he runs Bloc Studios. During that trip, I acquired the following crisps bags: Mackie's Turkey and Stuffing Walkers Turkey and Stuffing ASDA Turkey …

Send us a Text Message. If anything good comes from this podcast, it is that it gives me an excuse to meet and chip out with one of my personal talent crushes--Sarah Cohen of Route 11! In this episode, Sarah unleashes the roundabout origin story of my favorite local potato chips, and we go off on how chips companies develop their flavors and how la…

Send us a Text Message. "Xi" (Dr. Jessica Kendall, PhD) and "Nan" (me) together again! The first ever bag of chips in what ended up being a collection of chips bags gathered from shops, grocery stores, gas stations and (in this case) an abandoned gift shop in a train station in the small town of Wuqiao in Hebei Province, PRC. Wuqiao is known as the…

Send us a Text Message. My college roommate, Erica Heilman (Rumble Strip Vermont) joins me to reenact the potato chip's supposed "invention" by George Speck (or Crum) at the Moon Lake House in Saratoga Springs, NY. And to discuss other things we know nothing about. Which is almost everything. Special thanks to Route 11 Potato Chips in Mt. Jackson, …

Send us a Text Message. My name is Anne (or Anika, or Nan) Weshinskey, and this my attempt to make sense of a senseless collection of hundreds of used potato chip bags from around the world. Who would do such a thing? And why? This is not a podcast about hoarding, or about the potato chips themselves. It is a hopefully humorous and sometimes enligh…