Hey everybody my name is John, I’m 46, disabled wheelchair user, husband, parent, community radio DJ, small business owner, podcaster with multiple sclerosis and trigeminal neuralgia. I made the What’s The Matter With Me? podcast to share what I’m going through.
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July 31, 2026Episode 429 min
Cooking To Meet Yourself Where You Are
Yewande Komolafe
Pragmatic approaches to accessible cooking in “How Losing My Limbs Turned Me Into a Different Kind of Cook,” an article by chef and food writer Yewande Komolafe and “Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (and Love My Microwave): A Cookbook” by David Chang and Priya Krishna. Plus, Chris Fleming, Farkle, various and sundry other things.
shoutouts: Rocky, Joe, cousin eric aand tracy, tall john and my mom and to my wife
send me an email and I’ll send you the biggest shout out probably the best shout out
Chris Fleming
chris fleming dance comedy
Farkle
I’m playing a lot of farkle with the family
“By Night In Chile,” Roberto Bolaño
reading with one hand: amazon kindle to avoid damaged book bindings. missing the codex, but reading time is improved
Priya Krishna and David Chang
cooking while disabled – Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave): A Cookbook by David Chang (Author), Priya Krishna .using no recipe is freeing if the constraints of the recipe are unattainable
Cooking To Meet Yourself Where You Are
Chapter List
00:00:01 – Intro
00:01:24 – Chris Fleming
00:02:00 – Farkle
00:02:22 – Making reading more accessible using a Kindle
00:03:32 – By Night In Chile
00:04:24 – Cooking at Home
00:23:32 – Yewande Komolafe
June 3, 20268 min
Vulnerable Population
Synopsis
In “Vulnerable Population.” riding county paratransit service in my wheelchair. Matt gets uneasy around the other parents. Who’s more pathetic: the Peace Advocate or the I.T. Guy?
Selfie
I’m back
March 6, 2026Episode 221 min
War
In “War,” remembering my dad as an antiwar veteran and trying to make sense of current international relations. Record reviews: Magic Fig, Wet Leg, and Geese. Reading Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s new book “Your Name Here.”
Magic Fig, “Valerian Tea”
Wet Leg, “Moisturizer”
Geese, “Getting Killed”
When I saw this a moviegoer died in the middle of the picture
Your Name Here
War
Chapter List
00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:36 – Broken Wheelchair
00:02:10 – War
00:02:39 – Melian Dialogues
00:03:39 – Guy Died At Born On The Fourth Of July
00:04:56 – Shoutouts
00:05:36 – Magic Fig, Valerian Tea review
00:08:42 – Wet Leg, Moisturizer review
00:11:29 – Geese, Getting Killed review
00:12:52 – Your Name Here book review
00:18:52 – Outro
February 19, 2026Episode 115 min
X.1: “I Regret Almost Everything”
In this episode, the season premiere of Season Ten, the podcast returns from a rather long hiatus with a review of “I Regret Almost Everything,” a memoir by New York City restaurant man Keith McNally, leading us into a little meditation on science and humanity.
October 28, 2025Episode 720 min
Imaging The Disabled Body
Intro — Repeat Prints — Imaging the Disabled Body — Know Thyself — Chair Update — New Hope For Argumentative Life — Kids Dox You — Wife Went To Japan — “The Blue Mask” Lou Reed LP — Dad Time — Dad Food — Mom Called Me — John’s Debut — Outro
Repeat Prints
JWHMan Repeat #5
New Hope For Argumentative Life
https://youtu.be/kj1EedLqXBI
Back on the pod to discuss various topics including Saying My Age, A Conversation With My Brain, the Mortal Husk (Canto XIII of Dante’s Inferno), Falling, A Place For Us, By Us, the Argumentative Life, New Hope For Patients With MS and Other Neurological Disorders, and My Son’s Resolution.
“The Blue Mask” Lou Reed LP
Lou Reed “THE BLUE MASK: (1982)
Lou Reed and Robert Quine
Imaging the Disabled Body selfie
Selfie
Imaging The Disabled Body
Chapter List
00:00:01 – Intro
00:01:03 – Repeat Prints
00:03:25 – Imaging the Disabled Body
00:08:06 – Know Thyself
00:08:55 – Chair Update
00:09:16 – New Hope For Argumentative Life Cartoon
00:10:24 – Kids Will Dox You
00:10:37 – Wife Went To Japan
00:12:06 – The Blue Mask LP Lou Reed
00:14:06 – Dad Time
00:16:20 – Dad Food
00:18:05 – Mom Called Me
00:19:05 – Johns Debut
00:19:49 – Outro
October 8, 2025Episode 624 min
New Hope For Argumentative Life
Saying My Age — Conversation With My Brain — Mortal Husk (Canto XIII) — Fell Against The House — A Place For Us, By Us — Argumentative Life — New Hope For Patients With MS and Other Neurological Disorders — My Son’s Resolution
Shout outs
To Rocky, Sandman, Jersey Girl
A Place For Us, By Us
‘A Place for Us, By Us’: San Francisco’s Disability Cultural Center Breaks New Ground
KQED Story about a first-in-the-nation disability community center in San Francisco, featuring Deborah Kaplan, Alice Wong, and others.
New Hope
Crossing the blood-brain barrier
Wheelchair Breakdown
My son’s resolution for a perfect world
This Week’s Selfie
“New Hope For Argumentative Life” Selfie
New Hope For Argumentative Life
Chapter List
00:00:11 – Saying My Age
00:01:39 – Conversation With My Brain
00:02:36 – Mortal Husk (Canto XIII)
00:04:44 – Fell Against The House
00:06:40 – Shoutouts
00:07:34 – “A Place For Us, By Us” KQED Story
00:13:07 – Argumentative Life
00:14:47 – New Hope For Patients With MS and Other Neurological Disorders
00:22:10 – My Son’s Resolution
September 5, 2025Episode 523 min
Animated Representation
The iconic line, “It’s alive! It’s alive!”
is spoken by Dr. Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) in the 1931 film Frankenstein. This famous line is actually an addition to Mary Shelley’s original novel, where the creator reacts with horror and flees from his creation.
Birthdays
Mom, Freddie Mercury, Gordon Harrison Hull
Put It On The List (House shows)
Polka band, Ghast,
Bard with lyre
we need a bard with a lyre to compose a theme song about foot wars that occur over the middle thing on the nook with the bridge about ‘can you stop?’
Man-O-Sphere Alternate Names
Shipping Fraud Odyssey
Seemingly endless meaningless Sisyphean conflict
Animated Representation
“It’s alive! It’s alive!” is spoken by Dr. Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) in the 1931 film Frankenstein. This famous line is actually an addition to Mary Shelley’s original novel.
Outro
Animated Representation
Chapter List
00:00:17 – Birthdays
00:04:25 – Put It On The List
00:09:50 – Man-O-Sphere Alternate Names
00:13:57 – Shipping Fraud Odyssey
00:17:11 – Animated Representation
00:22:32 – Outro
August 29, 2025Episode 45 min
Ghost On Sabbatical
Is this thing on?
Seeing what still works.
This Week’s Selfie
Ghost On Sabbatical
Chapter List
00:00:16 – Is This Thing On
00:00:35 – Ghost On Sabbatical
00:01:34 – Advanced Visualizing
00:02:27 – Maybe
March 19, 2025Episode 332 min
The Tamis
Boom (explosive)
Everybody in the house say What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast! Doesn’t really roll exactly? In “The Tamis,” we’ve started down a road and we aren’t looking back behind us. The episode finds us rolling the chair around Berkeley, thinking molecular gastronomy and cooking while disabled.
Shoutouts
To The Sandman, Etan Rechra, Tall John and Rocky
Cal Performances Scene
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
creeped out my wife
The “Walker” fiasco
Are Marshmallows Molecular Gastronomy?
Turns out, they’re like foam
Burning Up
I burnt my elbow on the BBQ again. I stumbled and my arm touched the lid.
A Paucity Of Heat And Warm Water
Our furnace broke.
Netflix Is Middlebrow
We signed up for Netflix. We’re watching “Killing Eve” and “Shameless” and it’s garbage.
Kitchen tools I own but can’t use anymore
The Tamis
Making Rice Crispie treats isn’t the best for one hand either.
Parting Shots
If you get one cherry in your Manhattan, it’s a reminder that you should love someone but if you get two it’s a message that you are loved
Peter Coyote, the life actor and San Francisco Digger was a big part of the inspiration for It Can Change, a guerilla art troupe that I was involved with in college.
The Tamis
Chapter List
00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:45 – Shoutouts
00:01:43 – Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Cal Performances
00:04:54 – Ticket Subscriptions
00:09:03 – Berkeley Scene
00:10:12 – Walker Fiasco
00:13:14 – Are Marshmallows Molecular Gastronomy
00:14:27 – Elbow Burn
00:16:20 – Broken Furnace
00:17:15 – Netflix Is Middlebrow Entertainment
00:20:14 – Killing Eve Review
00:20:54 – Shameless Review
00:22:43 – HBO Is More Highbrow
00:23:18 – The Tamis
00:24:37 – E. Dehillerin Cookware
00:26:35 – One Hand Rice Crispie Treats
00:27:32 – The Meaning Of Cherries
00:29:05 – It Can Change
00:30:50 – Outro
March 2, 2025Episode 230 min
Cooking
Whoomp! (Here It Is)
Party on, party people: let me hear you touch the ground! In “Cooking,” What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast has all the pots on, the gas is burning and we’re ready to go. This episode touches on cooking through limitations, self-imposed or otherwise (like a disability), with a trip to the military-industrial grocery store we know and love as Target, cooking @christinatosi with the kids and watching @majordomomedia food TV.
Word From Sponsor
Check Out Hoppin Hot Sauce On Amazon
Shoutouts
to Rocky
Shopping List
We’re getting ingredients to make Rocky Road Sandwich Squares and some blondies from Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar: Kids Only book. We changed plans and instead of our trip to the market in Berkeley, we headed to the desiccated old mall in San Leandro, to hit the Target for our military-industrial shopping list:
2 bags mini marshmallows (10.5 oz each)
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 bag white chocolate chips
At Target, there is aisle signage calling out the marshmallow section, where it’s marshmallows floor-to-ceiling.
Correction
The Marlon Mullen show is at MOMA in New York, on 53rd Street in Manhattan.
New Wheelchair
in December, I got a new wheelchair. It’s got a lot of good things about it: better fit, faster and more rugged. As with anything, there is a learning curve, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to use it.
baby back ribs grilled indirectly. baked beans in the instant pot
Majordomo Media Is Food TV Done Different
For those interested, whether by absolute necessity or purely whimsical flights of fancy, in taking a different look at food, I recommend majordomo media and it’s warren of YouTube channels. They make stuff with extremely unpretentious approaches, some of which are more-or-less accessible. At least. it’s a different type of food tv, a bridge between daytime cooking shows and food influencers. It’s refreshing.
Otherwise you’ll have to watch the I love Diet Coke guy.
Hip Hop Journalism
I wend to the San Leandro Public Library and scored some hip hop books. I put the Chronicles Of Doom on hold, and it recommended the others, so I bagged ail three.
dilla time, by Dan Charnas
Chronicles Of Doom by S.H. Fernando
Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity from the Lyrical Genius by Rakim
Sizzle plate lunches
Stale bread lunch. Broiling stuff together on a sizzle plate. is easy and I can accomplish it with one hand.
About last night
“Last night for dinner” journal is back.
Blank Faceless Underwear
I bought a postapocalyptic 4 pack of underwear from Costco, boxer briefs, black, blank. Faceless and nameless, unidentified remains, here I come.
Selfie
Cooking
Chapter List
00:00:00 – Mic Roll
00:00:19 – Hoppin Hot Sauce jingle
00:00:27 – Intro
00:00:55 – Shoutout
00:01:14 – Target shopping list
00:01:59 – Christina Tosi Milk Bar
00:02:31 – Bake Club
00:03:33 – Milk Bar Kids Only
00:10:36 – Correction
00:11:05 – New wheeelchair
00:14:20 – Wheelchair Excursions
00:16:15 – majordomo media
00:19:03 – Cooking through limitations
00:20:33 – I love Diet Coke
00:21:06 – Book review time
00:21:22 – Dilla Time by Dan Charnas
00:23:09 – Chronicles Of Doom by S.H. Fernando
00:24:15 – Sweat The Technique by Rakin
00:25:29 – sizzle plate lunches
00:26:59 – Last night for dinner
00:27:48 – Socks And Underwear
00:29:34 – Outro
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