Wild Card with Rachel Martin: Jason Reynolds (Update)

Release Date: November 27, 2025
Podcast: Wild Card with Rachel Martin (NPR)
Guest: Jason Reynolds, author and poet

Episode Overview

This heartfelt and probing episode of Wild Card features celebrated writer Jason Reynolds in a wide-ranging conversation about childhood, family, creativity, vulnerability, rest, and the complexity of caring for loved ones. Through spontaneous prompts from Rachel Martin’s deck of questions, Reynolds displays his signature honesty and humility, sharing stories laden with humor, pain, insight, and humanity. The episode, re-aired as a listener favorite, concludes with an intimate, newly recorded conversation centering on what it means to model independence and grace for the next generation.

Main Themes

• The anchoring power of childhood memories and rituals
• The influence of parents—both seen and unseen
• Art, music, and imagination as survival strategies
• Vulnerability and emotion, especially for men
• Restlessness, ambition, and the challenge of self-care
• Caregiving and the holiness of service
• Modeling individuality (and grace) for children

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Anchoring Memories: Turkey Wings & Turbulence

Timestamp: 02:54–06:23

• Jason's mom’s turkey wings: a nightly, humble meal, became an emotional anchor through the chaos of childhood—divorce, loss, shifting family.
  • "Those turkey wings were there every night. Right. And there's something... you don't see it at the time. But as an adult, I look back and I'm like, God, they were an anchoring point." (06:02, Jason Reynolds)
• Simplicity counterbalanced complexity; he now sees that sense of safety as a form of love.
• Therapeutic reflection: brings up nostalgia and acceptance of change.

2. Parents’ Influence: From the Bhagavad Gita to Fast Cars

Timestamp: 07:00–12:29

• Rachel’s flip: Jason asks Rachel about her parents’ imprint.
• Reynolds' mother imparted spiritual curiosity (Eastern and Western practices), work ethic, and emotional openness; his father brought vibrance, rebelliousness, and a joy for life.
  • "My mother taught me how to think about the world and my father taught me how to be in the world." (08:18, Jason Reynolds)
• Embracing chosen belief as a practical tool, not a blind faith, is central to his worldview.

3. Artistic Expression and Community

Timestamp: 14:01–20:02

• Soundtrack (Reynolds’ latest project): An original audiobook about young musicians finding belonging in NYC’s subway.
• Music as the “most potent form of self expression,” more universal than even language or food.
  • "You can have dementia, but you will remember your favorite song." (15:55, Jason Reynolds)
• Affection for jazz and a gratitude for his father’s eclectic musical influence (from Miles Davis to Nirvana).
• A nostalgia for the shared, suspended moments of listening to subway buskers before everyone had phones—a metaphor for being present amid chaos.

4. Solitude, Imagination & Creative Process

Timestamp: 21:01–23:36

• Reynolds treasures solitude: daily baths (sometimes two!) are his sacred space.
  • "I just sit there until the water is cold. And I just think, or I just be and breathe or I imagine and daydream." (21:45, Jason Reynolds)
• Imagination, once effortless, must now be sought out: “It taps into a part of my youth and my playfulness and my childish—my childlikeness and sometimes my childishness, which are not the same things.” (22:30)

5. Vulnerability & Crying: Freedom from Toxic Masculinity

Timestamp: 23:42–26:16

• Reynolds is “a crybaby of all crybabies”—and proud of it.
  • "It is my favorite thing about myself. Why? Because it reminds me that the expectations of masculinity didn't get me, that I avoided it, that somehow, some way, I was able to maintain a sense of freedom." (24:01, Jason Reynolds)
• Public or private, he welcomes tears as a sign of emotional integrity and freedom.
• Writing was a canister for his overwhelming feeling as a child, initially to comfort his mother during hard times.

6. Restlessness, Peace & the Weight of Privilege

Timestamp: 26:25–27:43, 29:40–34:05

• What does Reynolds long for? “Rest. Yeah, rest.” (26:25)
• Admits being “restless”—“Some of us are just restless. Our lives are circuses forever.”
• Feels it would be “irresponsible” to rest too much, given his opportunities and others’ lack thereof.
  • "Rest feels a little bit irresponsible. It feels a little disrespectful to all the people who want to be sitting where I'm sitting… For the people who deserve to have their stories told, but for whatever strange reason won’t get their moment." (31:59, Jason Reynolds, quoting his prior sentiment from earlier in the episode)
• Shares advice from LeVar Burton: don’t “live like someone is chasing you.”

7. Legacy & Judging a Life

Timestamp: 29:40–31:43

• Hopes his life is judged by effort, not just results or intentions.
  • "He gave it everything he had. I'll take it." (30:36, Jason Reynolds)
• Effort, especially toward helping children feel loved, is central.

8. Relationship with the Past and the Future

Timestamp: 34:15–37:48

• Loves projecting into the future, imagining himself and his cohort growing into legends—but isn’t anxious about it.
  • “Do you have the stomach to be effortful for the long haul?” (30:36)
• Relishes the present but feels pressure to seize each day, instilled by his father.

9. Acts That Feel Like Prayer: Caregiving

Timestamp: 38:10–43:09

• Caring intimately for his aging mother—bathing, dressing, supporting—feels like prayer: sacred, humbling, painful, grateful.
  • “I’m praying at the only creator that I’ve ever actually physically known. Right. Your mom, my mother…I’m bowing at the feet. I’m washing the feet of the only God I’ve ever physically touched.” (39:25, Jason Reynolds)
• Recalls doing the same for his father as he died.
• Describes the beauty and difficulty of this reciprocal care.

10. Memory Time Machine: A Final Joy Ride with His Father

Timestamp: 43:18–47:05

• The moment he would linger in: racing his new Porsche with his father and sharing a laugh, right before his dad revealed he didn’t have long to live.
  • "If I could extend a moment, me and the old man, we would have driven a lot longer. We would have taken a road trip… Because it was the last time that I saw my father alive… the last time I saw that thing in his eye that reminded me of who he was and what he had given me." (44:05–47:05, Jason Reynolds)

NEW: Follow-up Conversation (Postscript)

Timestamp: 47:05–57:44

• The viral impact of Reynolds's description of caring for his mother.
  • "It felt like a communal moment where a lot of people could then say, ‘me too, me too. I’m also dealing with this, or this helped me think about these things differently…’" (48:36)
• New wildcard question: What do you find most difficult to model for children?
  • It’s hardest to model letting children be fully themselves—even if their independence or choices frustrate you.
  • "What I'm trying to model just by default will bite me. It will get me right. And I'm okay with it. But I have to control myself in those moments to then tap into… another thing that I must model, which is grace." (51:25, Jason Reynolds)
• Shares story of his own mother supporting his dream to write, even after early resistance—mutual respect for individuality.
• “Guide from beside”—not telling children which way to go, but standing next to them to help them see where the dangers are.

Notable Quotes

• On vulnerability:
  "It is my favorite thing about myself. Why? Because it reminds me that the expectations of masculinity didn't get me." (24:01, Jason Reynolds)
• On restlessness and legacy:
  "Rest feels a little bit irresponsible. It feels a little disrespectful to all the people who want to be sitting where I'm sitting..." (31:59)
• On caregiving as prayer:
  "It feels like I'm praying... I'm washing the feet of the only God I've ever physically touched." (39:25)
• On letting children grow:
  "Guide from beside. I think we spend so much time sort of leading the way, and I think sometimes it's best to just guide from beside." (52:10)
• On imagination:
  "I think we really underestimate the importance of imagining... Everything's a go if it's just inside your brain." (22:30)
• On living life robustly:
  "My father... believed that you have to chase your life down. Don't wait for life to come get you. Go get it right. Chase your life down. And I do feel that way." (36:34)

Memorable Moments & Emotional Highlights

• Jason’s visceral memories of childhood dinners and the emotional resonance of what was once mundane.
• Tearful admiration for being allowed to cry openly, in defiance of society’s expectations for men.
• His poetic metaphor of bathing his mother as prayer—"the hallelujah of all hallelujahs." (39:25)
• Anecdotes about music, father-son bonding, and the bittersweet joyride that marked the end of an era.
• Rachel’s and Jason’s mutual vulnerability and respect, as peers and as parent/child echo chambers.

Significant Timestamps

• Turkey wings and safe spaces: 02:54–06:23
• Parent influences & spirituality: 07:00–12:29
• Soundtrack & music’s role: 14:01–20:02
• Subway buskers and communal pauses: 17:29–20:34
• Solitude & creative process: 21:01–23:36
• Crying and masculinity: 23:42–26:16
• Restlessness and privilege: 29:40–34:05
• Legacy and effort: 29:40–31:43
• Past, present, and future: 34:15–37:48
• Caregiving as prayer: 38:10–43:09
• Memory machine/father’s last joyride: 43:18–47:05
• Postscript—parenting, modeling, and individuality: 47:05–57:44

Tone & Style

Reflective yet playful, emotionally open, with equal doses of nostalgia, humor, and raw honesty. Reynolds blends poetic introspection and everyday realism, while Rachel Martin skillfully creates a space for depth and connection. The conversation feels like eavesdropping on two friends—wise, sometimes weary, but always fully present.

For Listeners

Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, artist, or just a human muddling through love and loss, Wild Card with Jason Reynolds offers wisdom, wit, and a sense that our struggles—and small joys—are shared.