In the most recognizable terms, Scooping Sanity is a podcast and blog that provides a unique perspective on trying to live, raise kids, be a decent person, and eke out some enjoyment in a society that seems hostile to all these things.

If we have a core belief it’s this: When life pushes us down, society should have mechanisms to pick us back up rather than smashing our heads deeper into the gutter.

Sure, we get into politics and culture, but we’re just as likely to delve into home repair, fun projects and activities with kids, sports, books, television, gardening, and whatever else peaks our curiosity. A lot of what we write and talk about will actually be useful to you!

Whenever possible, we tell stories and we invite you to share your take on them as well as tell your own stories.

However, we can’t ignore that the stories of our lives are deeply influenced by people who make an ungodly amount of money from business models that necessitate human misery. As a general rule, these folks aren’t all that interested in systemic change and they devote unimaginable amounts of money to convincing us that things aren’t all that bad and we just need to work a little harder.

Meanwhile, our planet speeds toward ecological catastrophe and our societies edge toward chaos spawned by radical inequality and the desperation it breeds. We created Scooping Sanity to combat this psychopathic reality by:

• educating ourselves about systems that redistribute wealth upwards and attempt to divide us along lines of race, gender, sexuality, language, religion, and geography;
• imagining social and political alternatives capable of uplifting humanity instead of encouraging us to prey upon each other;
• taking aim at our would-be overlords and saviors at the top of the economic hierarchy by ridiculing the absurdity of late-stage capitalism and its most fervent believers;
• better understanding the norms of public life and the large institutions within which powerbrokers make decisions that affect our lives;
• getting equipped to become powerbrokers ourselves so we can take concrete action to bring about social transformation.

While we despise baseless optimism and we acknowledge that shit is generally pretty bleak, we refuse to accept a world where people’s lives are systematically destroyed by the forces of greed, fear, selfishness, and willful ignorance that dominate our lives. Like many of our heroes, we’re convinced that nothing short of a new reality is needed.

Do we know how to bring this about? Nope. We’ve got some ideas, but we definitely need your help. So please keep this tab open on your browser, become a Scooper [LINK “become a Scooper” TO MEMBERSHIP FORM], and let’s work it out together.

Who’s behind this?

The editors are either a couple of normies masquerading as freaks, outcasts, and misfits or a couple of freaks, outcasts, and misfits masquerading as normies. You decide because we sure as shit don’t know. As we prioritize facts, logic, and empathy, neither Scooping Sanity nor the editors fit neatly into an existing political category.

From Chris and Jørn

Like many of you, we’ve been socialized to accept unearned privilege based on skin color, economic class, gender identity, and other characteristics our society deems important. We’ll challenge ourselves to counteract these dispositions and we encourage you to do the same. In that vein, we work hard to earn the contempt of those who are comfortable with paternalism, privilege, racism, and dissembling.

Chris Kolb

Hi, I’m Chris. I’m frequently trying out different things in life. Sometimes I approach success, often I don’t. Most of what I’ve done doesn’t really matter. I’m an anthropologist for whatever that’s worth. I taught at small universities for 16 years. I live in Louisville, Kentucky. I’m in my second term on the school board of Jefferson County Public Schools. I have a handyman business and some other ways I try to make money. I have a partner, a couple of kids, and a dog. I love to write.

I grew up somewhat Catholic and gave it a shot as an adult but just can’t be a part of it. My church is community and political organizing. Jesus was a badass who wants his followers to take aim at the rich who exploit others and the powerful more concerned with their own prominence than actually helping people. I learned this from multiple priests, among others, so I guess religion isn’t all bad.

I like a lot of different stuff: home repair, good books, great coffee, TV and film, trivia, music that doesn’t suck, learning, studying French, hanging out with friends and family, profanity, a few video games, and sports (University of Louisville, St. Louis Cardinals, and Liverpool are my truly deranged rooting interests).

If, for some reason, there’s anything else you want to know about me, feel free to ask. [LINK TO CONTACT FORM]

Jørn Earl Otte

Hello. My name is Jørn Earl Otte. Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce it correctly — neither can I. My first name sounds like “Yawn” except when it doesn’t, and my last name was said “Ahht” until it wasn’t. [Hear it.]

I’m the son of a Danish immigrant father and an Appalachian-Greek mother, raised sometimes by them and often by my grandparents.

I write. Some of it is pretty good.

Despite suffering from Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, and other neurodivergencies, I’ve been with the same loving spouse for more than a quarter of a century. Together we have two grown children who, I must say, are exceptionally bright and surprisingly well adjusted.

Got my BFA from Goddard College and MFA from Lesley University. I believe in friendship, hugs, true political activism, and in challenging our white, cis, heteropatriarchal late-stage capitalist nightmare.

I also believe in hygge and flødeboller. 

Denmark is my spiritual home, but I live and work in Beckley, West Virginia, a neglected corner of the Divided States of America.

Click here to learn more and to get my recipe for the world’s best æbleskiver. [MAKE THIS A BLOG POST TO LINK TO]

If this all sounds good, or at least intriguing to you, please become a Scooper today! [LINK “please become a Scooper today!” TO MEMBERSHIP FORM]