Everything and Anything…and a bit gay Podcast Zachary Randles-Friedman

Are you actually happy — or just really good at staying distracted? In this week's Gay Bit, Zach gets real about the difference between being busy and being fulfilled, the noise we use to drown out our own thoughts, and why slowing down might be the most radical thing you can do right now.

Zach explores how full calendars, constant plans, and social media highlight reels can mask a deeper emptiness — and shares his own honest self-audit, from skipping concerts he bought tickets for months ago to his husband Andrew calling him "busy drag queen" for building a cat scratcher mid-episode of Euphoria.

In this episode:

The viral "are you happy?" TikTok format — and why the answers hit so hard

Why busyness is easy, and fulfillment takes actual intention

Social life in the LGBTQ+ community vs. straight couples with kids

The friend who can't sit in silence — and what she said that stuck with Zach

Andrew's "activity vs. dinner" divide and their new rule about buying local concert tickets

FOMO, overthinking, and the song that won't leave your head at 2am

Dr. Bradley Nelson's work on emotional energy and trauma

What it actually means to come back to yourself

Connect with Zach:

🌐 everythinganyanythingpodcast.com

📸 Instagram: @TheRealZachRe

Everything & Anything…and a Bit Gay — new episodes weekly. Subscribe so you never miss a Gay Bit Friday.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tim Bair is the author of Ever Near, a memoir and spiritual account of his ongoing relationship with his late wife Marilyn, who passed away from gastric cancer in 2017. Beginning just one week after her death, Tim began hearing Marilyn's voice — first audibly during a walk, then through what became a practice of writing letters together. That collection of letters, now numbering over 400, forms the foundation of his book series.

In this episode, Tim talks about how their bond transcended physical life, how Marilyn helped him through years of chronic pain from a spinal injury, and what she has shared about her experience on the other side — including teaching classes in the spirit realm on how to communicate with living loved ones.

Tim also offers a gentle framework for anyone who has lost someone: starting with grief, moving toward nostalgia, and simply allowing the possibility that connection might continue.

Ever Near is available on Amazon. Tim is currently working on his second book in the series. https://a.co/d/08eLmOkq

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Peggy is the author of Surviving the Family Kingdom: A Memoir of Growing Up in a Mom's Cult, Escaping and Reclaiming a Life, available now on Amazon. A psychotherapist of more than 20 years specializing in trauma, she sat down with Zach to talk through her extraordinary story — from the violent men and instability of her early childhood, to the gradual systematic indoctrination that began around age 11, to the "domino effect" that finally collapsed the kingdom when she walked away. We get into the four trauma responses (and why children most often "fawn"), the lasting toll of chronic cortisol stress on the body, deprogramming from beliefs about destiny and demons, radical acceptance, forgiveness, and what it meant for Peggy to raise her own children with a voice she was never allowed to have. If you've ever survived a controlling environment — a cult, an abusive relationship, a toxic family — this one is for you.

📖 Get the book: Surviving the Family Kingdom on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Family-Kingdom-Escaping-Reclaiming-ebook/dp/B0GMKLM4FW 

💬 Leave a comment and tell us what you think — and please leave Peggy a review on Amazon.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Grant Ginder is the author of six novels, including The People We Hate at Weddings (adapted into the 2024 film starring Kristen Bell and Ben Platt) and his latest, So Old, So Young — a story that drops in on six college friends across five parties over twenty years. A University of Pennsylvania grad and former Washington speechwriter, Grant now teaches in the MFA program at NYU.

In this episode:

• Welcoming baby Celia via surrogacy — and the woman who made it possible
• How Frankie the dog became the world's gentlest big… er, little-sister supervisor
• The So Old, So Young structure: five parties, twenty years, six friends
• Writing (and wanting to burn) his first novel at 23 after a brutal breakup
• The millennial reckoning with homeownership, kids, and the markers of "real" adulthood
• Sipping gin and tonics through a Watch What Happens Live taping with Erika Jayne and Elizabeth Perkins
• The Long Island Railroad wine binge that birthed The People We Hate at Weddings
• Meeting husband Mac (and the handshake that almost killed it)
• Phones, performance culture, and why we were "so lucky" to grow up offline

📚 Grab So Old, So Young — https://www.grantginder.com  🏳️‍🌈 Catch Grant at East End Books in Provincetown this September, including an event with John Glenn for his queer Arthurian retelling The Lost Book of Lancelot.

Chapter Markers / Timestamps

00:00  Welcome — meet author Grant Ginder

00:30  Surprise! A brand-new baby (not a horse)

02:58  The surrogacy journey & their "hero" surrogate

05:31  So Old, So Young — the book

06:00  Getting tipsy on Watch What Happens Live

08:45  Five parties, twenty years: the book's structure

11:35  Laguna Beach to UPenn to speechwriting

13:00  Writing a novel at 23 after his first heartbreak

14:41  "How did I get to 40?" — the passage of time

17:50  Why millennials hit adulthood differently

20:36  The People We Hate at Weddings

21:55  Four bottles of wine & the train ride that started it all

23:48  The 2024 movie (Kristen Bell & Ben Platt)

24:08  Meeting husband Mac — and the dreaded handshake

29:11  Phones, performance & a Swedish Lapland digital detox

31:40  How Frankie the dog took to baby Celia

32:54  What's next: new book + a September in P-Town

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The rainbow flags are missing this June — and the silence is telling. In this Pride Month episode, Zach goes deep on rainbow washing (a.k.a. rainbow capitalism): what it is, where it came from, how it took over Pride, and why corporations are now retreating in record numbers.

From the 1969 Stonewall riots to Subaru's coded 1990s lesbian marketing, from the Bud Light and Target blowups of 2023 to the six-figure sponsorship shortfalls hitting New York, San Francisco, and Seattle Pride right now — this is the honest conversation about what corporate Pride was really about, what we lose when it leaves, and why this painful moment might be the most clarifying one our community has had in decades.

Because Pride didn't start as a party. It started as a protest. And it's finding its way back.

⏱️ Chapters 

00:00 Where did all the rainbow flags go? 

02:00 Stonewall: Pride started as a riot, not a party 

03:30 How corporate America got into Pride 

07:00 What rainbow washing actually is 

09:30 The 2023 turning point: Bud Light & Target 

13:00 The 2026 numbers: a staggering corporate retreat 

15:00 The community fights back: Twin Cities Pride 

18:00 What real allyship actually looks like 

19:00 Where this leaves us

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.