American Fantasy Author and Bookstore Owner Emma Straub on Why Book Swag Is Everywhere

How to Decorate a Jail Cell and What Items Are and Aren't Allowed While Serving Time with Kari Ferrell

In the late 2000s, Kari Ferrell become infamous online when she was dubbed the “Hipster Grifter” in the media for scamming men out of money in Brooklyn. While the sensationalized version of her life grabbed headlines, behind the scenes, a lot more was going on. Ferrell’s memoir, You’ll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist, explores what led up to her illegal exploits, from her upbringing as a Korean adoptee in a Mormon family in Utah, with few Asian American peers, to mental health struggles, embracing her queerness, and exploring her multi-faceted identity. Eventually, Ferrell’s exploits caught up with her, and she wound up on Utah’s most wanted list. Ferrell documents what her jail stint was really like, from prison riots and relationships to how she and her fellow inmates used what was available to them to decorate their jail cells, and themselves, turning towels into swans, using candy wrappers to make bouquets, and improvising makeshift makeup. She writes honestly and humorously about this time: “We made do with what we had to in order to make things feel a little more like home. I was like a law-breaking Martha Stewart. Oh, wait.” In this episode of Finder and Keepers, Ferrell goes in-depth about having to part with her suitcase of possessions, how she adapted to the strict rules about which items (and how many of them) were allowed and which were restricted, the creativity fostered by that mandated minimalist environment, and how her relationship with her belongings changed once she was done serving her sentence. Ferrell also discusses the reasons behind the often draconian rules about belongings behind bars, where even books are closely monitored, the dehumanizing intent of these restrictions, her prison reform activism, and the items she is now most grateful to have access to. About our guest: Kari Ferrell is a producer, writer, speaker, activist, and creator. Her work is centered around incarceration and the justice system, mental health, human rights, adoption, and other issues. Kari’s memoir, You’ll Never Believe Me, received a rave review from the New York Times, a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and was named a Goodreads Readers’ Most Anticipated Book of 2025. She is developing a scripted television program with Warner Brothers Discovery and Mindy Kaling’s Kaling International, and is the co-host of the Asian culture podcast Disoriental alongside Youngmi Mayer and Henry Bae. Kari Ferrell’s website [https://www.madewithoutwax.com/] Instagram: @hotdoghandjobs [https://www.instagram.com/hotdoghandjobs] Memoir You’ll Never Believe Me [https://bookshop.org/a/116429/9781250288226] Disoriental podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disoriental/id1896186599] Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com [findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com] or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers [http://speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers] For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/object-ives] and Stuff-ed [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/stuff-ed] sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com [http://opensecretsmagazine.com/], where you can also submit your own essays. Open Secrets Magazine is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

American Fantasy Author and Bookstore Owner Emma Straub on Why Book Swag Is Everywhere

To promote her new boy band cruise novel American Fantasy, novelist Emma Straub, who co-owns Brooklyn bookstore Books Are Magic, went all out with swag. Partnering with VistaPrint, Straub created promotional items tied to the novel’s theme, featuring things vacationers would need on a cruise, including a Boybands Are Magic hat (her favorite item), a water bottle, sunscreen, breath mints, and playing cards. What motivated Straub to get so extra with her offerings, an expansion from her previous swag? Partly, her past job working for the band The Magnetic Fields and seeing how eager fans were to buy merch, along with her bookstore experience, where merch has become more popular than she ever expected. Her history as a Blockhead (aka, a major New Kids on the Block fan) also played a role. In this episode of Finders and Keepers, Straub discusses her past novels and their attendant swag, and why American Fantasy, whose research included attending a New Kids on the Block cruise, is different, why she loves stuff that represents her interests (and which NKOTB items she still owns from childhood), and the larger rise of BookTok and social media influencers on book swag and merch. She also delves into the surprising role merch has played with regulars and visitors to Books Are Magic, thanks to the design skills of her husband, bookstore co-owner Michael Fusco-Straub. Mentioned in this episode: VistaPrint [https://www.vistaprint.com/] The Magnetic Fields [https://www.houseoftomorrow.com/magneticfields] Boybands Are Magic hat [https://booksaremagic.net/item/nQhV0zs_31GPsEOXX0P86Q/lists/LRuDNzlF1pHc/] Books Are Magic hat [https://booksaremagic.net/lists/LRuDNzlF1pHc] About our guest: Emma Straub’s website [https://www.emmastraub.net/] Emma Straub’s Substack [https://emmastraub.substack.com/] Instagram: emmastraub [https://www.instagram.com/emmastraub] TikTok: emmastraubwriter [https://www.tiktok.com/@emmastraubwriter] American Fantasy [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786144/american-fantasy-by-emma-straub/] Books Are Magic [https://booksaremagic.net/] Books Are Magic online merch store [https://booksaremagic.net/merch/all-merch] Instagram: @booksaremagicbk [https://www.instagram.com/booksaremagicbk] Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com [findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com] or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers [http://speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers] For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/object-ives] and Stuff-ed [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/stuff-ed] sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com [http://opensecretsmagazine.com/], where you can also submit your own essays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Why Fly Fishing Is the Ultimate Sport for Hoarders with Angling Educator Nick Parish

Host Rachel Kramer Bussel didn’t even know what fly fishing was when author and angling educator Nick Parish reached out to proclaim that fly fishing is the ultimate sport for hoarders. Since Finders and Keepers is all about our emotional attachments to our belongings, Rachel felt compelled to learn more. Parish, who’s based in Portland, Oregon, runs what he calls a “fly fishing media empire” online at Current Flow State Fly Fishing(tagline: “Learn to fly fish, change your life”), which includes classes, events, a newsletter, and resources, including an essential gear guide. He gave her an education into what fly fishing is, why people become fly fishers and enjoy the sport, which gear you do and don’t need to get started (and why many people go overboard on buying gear), and the benefits of fly fishing. Because Nick was so detailed in his pitch, we’re going to share the heart of it here: “There’s an incredible amount of fiddly equipment, multiple rods (I don’t keep count of mine, because it’s scary), reels, lines, tools, apparel, etc. And that’s not even counting tying your own flies, which entails a mini-Michaels-level commitment to buying threads and fur and feathers and hooks and all sorts of new sets of tools to start a little cottage industry devoted to making more gear for yourself. The average fly angler spends $1,200 a year on gear, and that’s not even starting to count all the hand-me-downs from parents and aunts and uncles. If this is at all interesting I’d love to explore this with you. I think the broader themes are: a) Buying stuff as a fantasy and substitute for actually fishing, e.g. I can buy a $120 fly line today, and get a fantasy of fishing, even if I only ever fish with it once or twice months from now, or even if it never leaves the closet. b) The notion that limited experience in the sport (i.e. I only go fly fishing for one week a year in Belize) induces a sort of “must have everything to be ready” mentality, which is a kind of weird inverse scarcity mindset, an acquisition pattern that’s fear-based, versus “eh, we’ll figure it out, we don’t need to bring everything”. I’ve heard this described in survivalist circles as “Two is one, one is none.” c) Competitive aspects tied to being “the best.” When I used to go to Montana every summer growing up with the Michigan Fly Fishing Club, there’d be two informal prizes: Top Rod, for who caught the most fish, and Top Wallet, for who spent the most money. The same sort of acquisitive mindset that drives people toward quantities of fish catching drives them to consume more gear. d) A “horses for courses” false need for precision tools based on mostly industry hype. Golfers can have one set of golf clubs that work around the world, at every golf course, give or take a few clubs. But I’m told I a different rod / reel / line setup to fish for trout in the Catskills, salmon in Newfoundland, bass in Oregon, musky in Wisconsin, carp in Oregon, etc. I’m interested in this because a younger generation of anglers are re-evaluating this over-acquisition pattern, fishing the same sorts of spots closer to home rather than going abroad, and there have been subsequent industry moves to think more sustainably about all this.” We get into all of this and much more in the episode. Whether you’re an experienced fly fisher, curious about finding a new hobby, or just want to hear about a sport where people can spend large amounts of money before they’ve even gotten started, we hope you enjoy this conversation with Nick Parish. About our guest: Author, editor, and angling educator, Nick Parish has helped dozens of people to catch their first fish on a fly rod. Born in the Great Lakes state, worked in a series of media jobs at the nexus of the Hudson and East rivers before heading west to the Columbia River drainage and greater Cascadia. He leads fly fishing instruction at Portland Community College and writes a weekly fly fishing newsletter at Current Flow State [http://www.currentflowstate.com./]. Current Flow State weekly newsletter [http://www.currentflowstate.com/subscribe] Essential gear guide [https://www.currentflowstate.com/essential-fly-fishing-gear-for-beginners/] Instagram: @currentflowstate [https://www.instagram.com/currentflowstate] Bluesky: @nickparish.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/nickparish.bsky.social] Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com [findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com] or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers [http://speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers] For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/object-ives] and Stuff-ed [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/stuff-ed] sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com [http://opensecretsmagazine.com/], where you can also submit your own essays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

How to Make Miniatures with Sara Schaefer

Sara Schaefer is a comedian who’s appeared on or written for shows on Comedy Central, Apple+, Netflix, MTV, and more, and is the host of Crafting Through It on YouTube, where she, in her words, “infuses the handmade with the humorous.” In this episode of Finders and Keepers, Sara introduces us to the world of miniatures, from how to make a mini comedy club set to just how much math is involved, where to find materials, and why miniatures are so popular. In our conversation, she talks about her lifelong relationship with miniatures, what drew her back to the hobby during the pandemic, and how humor and tiny things turn out to have more in common than you’d think. Note: This interview was conducted in spring 2025. Here’s more of what you’ll find in the episode: 1. The past has a way of finding you again Sara’s obsession with miniatures started in childhood, where she used to play with her sister’s dollhouse. Around age eight or nine, she got her own dollhouse and spent years collecting miniatures but, over time, she became too busy, though the dollhouse lived with her for her whole life. But then, in 2020, she and her partner downsized, and she was finally forced to deal with the crumbling childhood dollhouse she’d been carting around for decades. Instead of tossing it, she decided to renovate, and that’s when something cracked open inside her. Within months, she was building miniatures from scratch, opening an Etsy shop, incorporating tiny scenes into her standup show, and launching her YouTube series. That falling-apart dollhouse she couldn’t bring herself to let go of was the gateway to a whole new facet of her career. 2. Removing the audience changes everything Sara has spent her career making people laugh via everything from live storytelling shows to standup specials to late night TV and Emmy Award-winning writers’ rooms. She knows what it feels like to perform and be judged. Miniatures, she says, feel nothing like that: “I feel way less pressure doing miniatures than, say, writing or being funny because I’m just doing it for me really, and there’s no audience.” That freedom is what lets her voice come through most clearly. Without the pressure of a live room, she started making things with actual social commentary, like a miniature murder board complete with string and thumbtacks, and a tiny comedy club with hand-framed headshots on the wall. The audience, or lack thereof, gave her the opportunity to dive deeper than she would have been able to otherwise. 3. What we can’t let go of tells us who we are When Sara moved cross-country, the question wasn’t just what would fit in the moving truck, but also what was too important to risk losing forever. For her, the answer was a handmade quilt sewn from her late mother’s clothes. That same instinct that kept her from throwing away a ruined childhood dollhouse has her saving every padded envelope to reuse for Etsy shipments and still holding onto miniatures her sister owned before she was born. These collections are about so much more than the objects themselves, but what they’ve meant to her, and what they might become someday in another form. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear about this and much more! About our guest: Sara Schaefer is a critically acclaimed stand up comedian, writer, and artist. Her Comedy Central Stand Up Presents half hour special debuted in November 2019 and she was the co-host of MTV’s late night show Nikki & Sara Live. Sara published her first book, Grand, in 2020 with Simon & Schuster. She has written for numerous television programs including Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Would I Lie To You, and The History of Swear Words. She won two Emmy awards for her work at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In recent years, Sara’s satirical sketches have been viral hits, and The New York Times called her new solo show Going Up “ambitious and nimble” and “a feat of comedy.” Her new show, Crafting Through It, debuted on YouTube in 2025. Sara Schaefer website [http://saraschaefer.com/] CraftingThroughIt.biz [https://craftingthroughit.biz/] Miniature making tutorials [https://craftingthroughit.biz/tutorials/] Instagram: @saraschaefer1 [https://www.instagram.com/saraschaefer1/] TikTok: @yaysaraschaefer [https://www.tiktok.com/@yaysaraschaefer] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSaraSchaefer/] Online shop [https://craftingthroughit.biz/shop/] Crafting Through It YouTube show [https://www.youtube.com/@CraftingThroughIt] Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. Please rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com [findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com] or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers [http://speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers] For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/object-ives] and Stuff-ed [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/stuff-ed] sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com [http://opensecretsmagazine.com/], where you can also submit your own essays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

What to Do with Things We Inherit and How We Preserve Our Children’s Earliest Moments with Emily Hessney Lynch

Emily Hessney Lynch, host of the podcast It’s a Lot, joins us to discuss two topics that are emotionally heavy and very much a lot: how to handle items we inherit from family members when we’re not sure why we’re inheriting them or what role they might play in our lives, and how to preserve memories of our children’s earliest moments. Emily shares why an apple juice bottle plays such a pivotal role in her son’s first months, and she and host Rachel Kramer Bussel explore the legacies we want to leave our children, who are currently toddlers, via our belongings. Additionally, we discuss her assorted collections from childhood to adulthood, and how the act of collecting everything from buttons to rocks and beyond has changed for her over time. About our guest: Emily Hessney Lynch is a digital strategist, content writer, and the founder of Serve Me the Sky Digital. She has more than 14 years of experience working with nonprofits, higher ed institutions, and businesses on sharing their stories through engaging digital content. In addition to her consulting work, she is an adjunct professor at Nazareth University. Emily is also the creator and host of It’s a Lot, a podcast about social media, parenthood, and other things that are a lot. When she’s not working, you’ll find her reading, visiting local libraries, or chasing her toddler. servemethesky.com [http://servemethesky.com] It’s a Lot podcast [https://itsalot.captivate.fm/] Instagram: @servemethesky [https://www.instagram.com/servemethesky] Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Please rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com [findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com] or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers [http://speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers] For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/object-ives] and Stuff-ed [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/s/stuff-ed] sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com [http://opensecretsmagazine.com], where you can also submit your own essays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe [https://opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]