age

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. Ep. 26: Cyborgs, Augmentation & The Fear We're Upgrading.

The trash can said cyborgs, and this week there was no guest in the fourth chair to blame it on.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, on their own for once, start on Universal Soldier and Black Mirror and end up on what actually makes a person reach for the upgrade.

In this episode:

■ What does a birth-control implant have to do with feeling like a cyborg?

■ How do you get from full-size machetes at eigh...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. Ep. 25: Stoicism, Art & The Peace We're Practicing.

The trash can said stoicism. A former guest left it there with five quotes from Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus written underneath, and the room admitted it wasn't sure how to pronounce half of them.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs, Mary Greene and guest DeWayne Barton of Hood Huggers International start on art as therapy and end up on who actually gets to lose their cool.

■ What does a YouTube rabbit hole do to an ancient philosophy?

■ How did one...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. Ep. 24: Government, Theater & The Fights We Don't Finish.

The trash can said government. The room had joked that politics and religion were the two topics it avoids, and then spent an hour and a half on one of them.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs, Mary Greene and guest Anthony Abraira start from the idea that government is a show put on over deals already made, and end up somewhere nobody planned: arguing about how a marriage survives a fight.

In it:

■ Is government a performance st...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word. No idea where it goes. This week the word was ALWAYS ON.

It started with vintage headphones from Japan and an electric bill that lists everything in the house that never turns off. An hour later the room was asking whether the problem was ever the phone, or how much we care.

Mary Greene, Reggie Tidwell and Tim Scroggs, with Nicole Thiel.

In it:

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word. No idea where it goes. This week the word was IDOLS.

It started on American Idol and a five-year-old who says Moana is a chief, not a princess. An hour later, three people who build brands for a living were calling their own job idol-making, and arguing about whether being original is an idol too.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with Linsey Gray, fine artist and designer at Linsey Gray Creative.

In it:

■ Can you be close to someone yo...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word. No idea where it goes. This week the word was SEXUAL ORIENTATION.

Ninety minutes later they had worked out that none of them learned who it's okay to love from a label, and the host with the least to confess had asked the most questions.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with Hannah Cole, founder of Sunlight Tax and author of Taxes for Humans.

In it:

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word. No idea where it goes. This week the word was ANONYMITY.

An hour in, nobody was asking whether you should be allowed to hide anymore. The question was who gets to decide when a company has done enough good to stop being watched, and the room did not agree on the answer.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with Craig McAnsh, founder of Native Marketing, who had the McDonald's story ready before the question was finished.

In it:
■ A gas truck th...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word. No idea where it goes. This week the word was CANCEL CULTURE.

Seventy-five minutes later one of us had argued that you have to be willing to get cancelled before you can find out who you actually are, and the room had taken that apart while he sat there.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with Will Canady, who has run the audio on every episode of this show and had never once been in front of the camera.

In it:
■ A...

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word, no idea where it goes. This week the word was HUSTLE CULTURE.

Sixty-four minutes later we had established that we can all explain the science of rest in some detail, and that not one of us is doing it. One of us has the blood pressure to prove it.
Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with George Awad, who produces theatre in Asheville and has done something to a ticket number he is not proud of.

In it:

age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one word, no idea where it goes. This week the word was SEARCH ENGINES.

Seventy minutes later we had established that the search engine nobody has figured out how to game does not have a website, and that most of us have been paid to help wreck the other kind.

Reggie Tidwell, Tim Scroggs and Mary Greene, with Liz Williams, who runs the art program at an Asheville LGBTQ nonprofit and pulled the word out of the can.

In it:

■ A search engine yo...

Welcome to age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one topic, and whatever happens next. This week: Youth.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and guest host Jordan Duvall pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets reflective. Jordan talks about color palettes and warm seasonal vibes and how we don't appreciate aging the way we should. Reggie flashes back to his kids as portals to his younger self. Mary appoints herself spokesperson for the youth and wonders whether kids aren't soft so much as starved of anyone's undivided attention. And Tim reflects on P.O...

Welcome to age, the podcast from 40 Hearts. One trash can, one topic, and whatever happens next. This week: Art Theft.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and guest host Nicky Balachandran pull the topic from the can and immediately the room shifts. There’s talk of AI stealing music and how 40% of songs uploaded to streaming platforms might be AI generated, intellectual property and who really gets hurt when art is stolen,The Thomas Crown Affair and how cool art theft looks in the movies, and sampling, remixing, and whether anything is truly original anymore.

They dig into ow...

Welcome to age, the podcast from 40 Hearts where four people pull a topic from a trash can and see where it goes. This week: Materials.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and guest host Cat Slater pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets philosophical. Cat talks about quality over cheap synthetics and her dream of becoming a cobbler. Mary flashes back to Japan and the cultural reverence for natural materials. Reggie goes back to his BFA in graphic design, where finishings and materials were the whole game. And Tim reflects on his time as a furniture...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Materials.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and guest host Cat Slater pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets tactile. Cat talks about quality fabrics and her dream of becoming a cobbler. Mary flashes back to Japan and the difference between real materials and vinyl wallpaper. Reggie thinks about raw materials in their purest state, before they become something. And Tim reflects on his never-washed Japanese denim and the cult following of craft.

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Nostalgia.

Reggie, Tim, and guest hosts Juan Holladay and Alyssa Downey pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets warm. Juan talks about the late 90s as the peak of human existence, the moment before everything shifted. Alyssa admits she wouldn't want to go back to those years but can't stop thinking about them. Tim flashes back to his big CD case and all the memories it held. And Reggie reflects on...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Crying.

Reggie, Tim, and guest hosts Jeannie Adair and Ricardo Tejeda pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets tender. Jeannie calls it heartwater, a release that keeps us soft. Ricardo admits he was a cry baby as a kid but learned to shut it down. Tim reflects on a childhood moment when crying felt so good he knew it was bullshit to hold it in. And Reggie wonders if crying is...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Influencers.

Reggie, Tim, and guest hosts Jenn Maer and Camille Kurle pull the topic from the can and immediately the room gets tense. Jenn admits she has a visceral response to the word, like cereal getting soggy. Camille talks about gluttony and the unrealistic lifestyle influencers flaunt. Tim realizes he's been using AI to write his emails and someone used AI on him. And Reggie reflects on how influencers might actually be democratizing a system...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Social Media.

Reggie, Tim, Dylan, and guest host Lauren Moody pull the topic from the can and immediately the energy shifts. Lauren does social media for Cultivate Climbing, so naturally the trash can delivers exactly what's needed. She admits social media scares her even though it's her job. Tim gets heated about being forced to create content just to survive in business. Dylan talks about photo dumps as digital archives and how her generation gets...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week:same cloth, different font.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the phrase from the can and immediately the room gets philosophical. Mary starts thinking about self expression and calibration. Dylan wonders if it's about independence or just a new way to say we're all different. Tim tries to figure out if it's about the remix culture we're all living in. And Reggie reflects on a lifetime of choosing cars nobody else had, from a British...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Vlog.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can and immediately things get uncomfortable. Dylan admits she's a product of the vlog, consuming them like oxygen. Tim recoils at the word itself, harboring a resentment that runs deeper than anyone expected. Mary tries to find middle ground between art and marketing. And Reggie just wants to know if TikTok videos count.

They dig into what vlogs actually are, whether they're...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Roots.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can and immediately the conversation goes deep. Mary starts thinking about family lineage and the stories we inherit. Dylan talks about the Boller gene and generational DNA passed down through eggs. Tim reflects on a childhood moment of grief, realizing he'd never be that little baby again. And Reggie shares his grandpa's story, written by his grandma, and wonders why he never knew these...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Obesity.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can and immediately the air gets heavy. Dylan clamps up. Mary starts sweating. Reggie admits he's been struggling with his own body in ways he never thought he would. And Tim tries to figure out where health ends and marketing begins.

They dig into GLP-1s and Ozempic face, the fat free movement that lied to us all, why Serena Williams' body...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Homeschool.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can and immediately things get personal. Reggie drops a bomb from his past that he completely forgot about. Dylan admits she probably would've been a degenerate if she'd gone that route. Tim wrestles with what connection really means when you're learning through a screen. And Mary tries to figure out if homeschooling is a quiet luxury or just another broken system.

They...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Improv.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can and immediately the room shifts. Dylan admits she's intimidated by people who are good at improv. Tim flashes back to improv nights at actual game night and realizes he's been improvising his whole life. Mary talks about the golden rule of “yes, and”, and how it changed the way she works with clients. And Reggie shares a story about being the guest on an i...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Remote.

Tim, Mary, and Dylan pull the topic from the can while Reggie's on vacation, and they bring in special guest Adrienne Muken to hold down the fourth chair. Dylan flashes back to high school COVID lockdowns. Tim thinks about literal remote controls piling up on his couch. Mary reflects on the freedom and isolation of working from anywhere. And Adrienne shares how remote work brought her from New York City to Asheville and changed...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Improv.

Reggie, Tim, Mary and Dylan pull the topic from the can and quickly realize improv isn't just a theater thing. It's a life thing. Your twenties? Pure improv. Client meetings? Improv with guardrails. Fashion crises? Improv in front of a mirror. There's talk of delusional creativity—the kind that makes you believe you can pull off the impossible, drive the wrong car to the right meeting, or pitch a client an idea so big it...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Remote.

Tim, Mary, Dylan, and special guest Adrienne pull the word from the can and realize remote isn't just about working from home. It's about distance, connection, culture, and how we've all become a little bit untethered. They dig into remote work, remote school, remote control remotes, and what it means to be remotely connected to ideas, people, and places we've never physically been.

They get into introverts versus extroverts, the myth of...

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Theatre.

Mary, Tim, Dylan, and Reggie pull "theatre" from the can, and things get real fast. Mary shares her background as a stage manager who thought she'd spend her life in production. Dylan admits everything she knows about theatre comes from Shrek the musical. Reggie talks about his cousin on Broadway and how he's always been a performer at heart. And Tim? Tim tries to find the line where play feels effortful vs effortless.

Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Labels.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan start with the obvious stuff—branding, logos, North Face knockoffs made with Sharpies—but it doesn't stay surface level for long. They get into identity, the pressure to scale, what it means to be ruthlessly authentic, and whether entrepreneurship is even the dream we think it is.

There's talk of quiet luxury, YA dystopias, cancel culture, and why sometimes loving people at work feels like a radical act...