The Back Half Podcast

Landyn Pan: Trans Fitness, Body Image, and Gender Euphoria

Landyn Pan (they/them) is a transmasculine, non-binary fitness and nutrition coach whose mission is to help queer and trans people build strength, confidence, and long-term, positive relationships with their bodies through strength training. After transitioning, Landyn discovered that lifting gave them not only physical transformation, but also gender alignment, routine, and a sense of autonomy. As the founder and head coach of Landyn Pan Fitness, they lead an all queer and trans team of coaches supporting clients across the United States and around the world. Sean Bugg first met Landyn in 2014 when they were 18 and participating in the Next Generation Leadership Foundation LGBTQ youth leadership program in Washington, D.C. A decade later, Landyn has built a thriving coaching business and become one of the leading voices on trans fitness and body image. In this episode, Sean and Landyn talk about Landyn’s personal journey through transition and how fitness became central to their sense of self, the unique relationship trans and nonbinary people have with body image and gym culture, what healthy masculinity actually means, navigating fitness spaces as a trans person, cis passing privilege and the current political climate, and why Landyn walked away from a media career to build something more meaningful. Find Landyn: Instagram @fitlandyn | landynpanfitness.com [http://landynpanfitness.com] Watch the video version: youtube.com/@seanbugg Subscribe to The Back Half newsletter: backhalfbugg.com [http://backhalfbugg.com] Get full access to The Back Half at www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe [https://www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Growing Up Southern

Born in the South just after the end of Jim Crow, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the legalization of interracial marriage, Sean Bugg and Trey Graham discuss growing up as gay white Southern boys, encountering issues of racism, class, and religion. Sean and Trey both came to Washington, D.C. — a.k.a. Chocolate City — as young journalists, where they gained a clearer (if imperfect) understanding of how systemic racism had shaped them. Using their own experiences as a lens, along with the short stories of famed Southern writer Flannery O’Connor, they revisit what they’ve learned and how far they have to go. Trey Graham is a D.C.-based journalist who covered theater for the Washington City Paper for two decades. He received the George Jean Nathan Award for distinguished drama criticism in 2004. He currently covers theater for the Washington Post. His newsletter, “In Good Company,” is on Substack (treygraham.substack.com [http://treygraham.substack.com]). An Oral History of D.C.’s Gold Coast: Chapters 00:00 Exploring Southern Roots and Race 02:10 Awareness of Racial Identity 07:16 Cultural Differences in Racial Perception 11:34 Confronting Personal Racism 16:30 Navigating Racial Dynamics in D.C. 23:22 Exploring Ethnic Backgrounds and Class Dynamics 26:47 Literary Influences: Flannery O’Connor’s Impact 33:59 Revelation and Self-Reflection in O’Connor’s Work 40:28 The Intersection of Religion, Class, and Race 47:25 Cultural Reflections: The South’s Complex Identity 50:48 Introduction and Context 51:06 Navigating Difficult Conversations 51:54 Closing Thoughts and Reflections Get full access to The Back Half at www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe [https://www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Flashback to Amazing

Welcome to Flashback, where we revisit the age of New Wave science fiction and fantasy — the stories that came after the Golden Age of Science Fiction and before cyberpunk conquered the world. This episode we’re diving into one of the magazines that shaped me as a reader and writer, the famed Amazing Science Fiction Stories. By 1982, Amazing had been on an extended rough patch, losing readers in a shrinking market for short genre fiction. This issue highlights some of the strategies the editors tried to attract new readers — big names in the genre and classics from the past — along with some of the weaknesses that plagued the magazine, like bad art and abysmal copyediting. So, join in as we take a trip to the early ‘80s, complete with Nazis, sequelitis, and simmering racial tensions. Sound familiar? Get full access to The Back Half at www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe [https://www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Habit of Reading

Some of us caught the bug early, others later in life, but once you fall in love with reading books there’s no going back from a lifetime of stories. But habits do change over time. Perhaps our tastes move from genre page turners to the classics shelf. Maybe the pressures of career and adulthood chip away at our free time to dive into new narratives. But books are always calling. If you’re like me, they’re calling from the many, many “to be read” tomes stacked around the house or clogging up the e-reader. Louis Bayard [https://www.louisbayard.com] — bestselling author of The Wildes, Jackie and Me, The Pale Blue Eye, and more — joins me on The Back Half to talk about a lifetime of reading, from our earliest forays into books to how we see our reading habits evolving in the future. Plus, how being a professional writer means you’re also a professional reader. Listen here on Substack or via Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-back-half-podcast/id1764366150] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1KWpV6l0CDXKq8jB4XGmoO?si=916d6d63c10c4dfa]. Get full access to The Back Half at www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe [https://www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

On the Podcast: How Science Fiction Helped Get Us into this Mess

Don’t have the time to read the newsletter? Here’s the podcast version you can listen to anywhere! And, if you’re more visually inclined, I’m also on YouTube: As they say, like and subscribe! The Back Half is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Back Half at www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe [https://www.backhalfbugg.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]