Michael Lentz  — a former Calvin student who graduated in spring of 2017 and campus co-editor for Chimes — has been busy since graduating this past May. Apart from teaching in a high school classroom, scheduling high school chapels and assisting with technical aspects of the school’s play, Mike is also producing a podcast with his friend Austin MacCubbin — who’s from Annapolis, Md. —  entitled “Rough Draft Podcast.”

The premise of “Rough Draft Podcast” is simple: on alternating weeks, MacCubbin or Lentz will write their own original short story — roughly 1,000 to 2,000 words each. They will take turns reading it on the air and then discuss it for their listeners — what they liked about it, what the themes were and then offering whatever critiques or criticisms they may have. After the show is over, the writer will return to the story to edit it and then post the final product to their website. Examples include anything from quiet interactions at a donut shop to stories from childhood.

“I always liked when I was doing school assignments or writing articles for Chimes where I had to interview people,” said Lentz, when talking about the inspiration for the podcast.

“I really like that formal opportunity to ask people specific questions then see where the conversation might twist and turn and eventually lead into.”

The theme music for the show comes from Cotter Koopman, Kendra Kamp (‘16) and Jordan Petersen (‘17)’s band Sleepover. The song is called “Little League,” it was featured in Dialogue, and Sleepover started as one of Calvin’s Pop Music Guild bands.

The idea first came to Lentz during a field trip in urban sociology class during the second semester of his senior year. He pitched his idea to Austin, who was immediately excited about the potential.

Now, the duo will typically record in Lentz’s basement, and they also produce and edit each episode themselves. Their episodes regularly generate anywhere from 60-120 listeners per show.

The stories can either be based on real events or pure imagination — Lentz has a tendency to write more fiction, while MacCubbin tends to stick more towards non-fiction.

“The stories feel like fiction because of how the way we craft our descriptions,” said Lentz. “But I know that for Austin and I, we’re both really interested in memory — how it works to shape identities and positions in life. The way we think about life is often shaped by the experiences we had. So a lot of our writing is nonfiction in that we’re writing about things that really did happen, but we also are willing to take an original memory and alter it.

There are currently nine episodes of the “Rough Draft Podcast,”  which Lentz is calling their first season. Mike hopes the second season, which is in early stages of development — will feature guest writers, in order to get different voices and perspectives. Ideally, they’d like the second season to be female-led — meaning each of the stories would come from different women who are willing to share their stories.

“We are really interested in branching out and not just having our stories,” Lentz said. “So especially if you’re somebody who’s looking for a way to get some sort of conversation going with your writing with a broader audience — all you Chimes readers, you — feel free to reach out to us. There’s a comments section on our website and we’d love to hear from you, even if you don’t know me or Austin.”

The show is available to listen to on SoundCloud, Apple Podcast, Google Play or their website, roughdraftpodcast.com.