Interview with Kylie Unell
Contents
Kylie Unell is a Ph.D. student in Jewish Thought at New York University. She is also the founder of Models of Faith.
Immanuel Kant and Joe Rogan
Max Raskin: Do you have any rituals before bed?
Kylie Unell: I'm just now really learning how important routine is. I've known theoretically, but I've never felt like I could commit because I thought to myself if I create one, I can just get out of it. Why am I going to do this routine thing when I'm just tricking my mind into thinking that I'm following something? Now, I kind of actually get that there's value to this – more so in the morning than in the evening.
Honestly, I will just be on my phone in bed. I actually have a good skincare regimen that’s a part of my routine.
MR: Can you tell me about it?
KU: Yeah. I have all of these different products like niacinamide and vitamin C, and put retinol on.
MR: Is there a place you get your products from?
KU: Yes. Paula's Choice. It is a good price and the highest quality and it's so consistent. They always have 20% off and a free full-size serum or something. I wait until they have a sale and something that goes with it, and then I just get a lot of product.
MR: Do you floss?
KU: I don't floss. I'll do it occasionally. I'd say probably like once every three weeks, which I feel is actually better than the average American. I should floss.
I find that I have to if I'm going to sleep well, I really have to get a lot of energy out during the day. I think I also get energy out by watching things and taking things in. Last night I was watching a lecture on Kant, which sounds ridiculous, but I'm taking a Kant class right now.
MR: Whose lecture was it?
KU: This guy Robert Paul Wolff. It’s pretty good. I’m taking a class with a great guy named Thomas Teufel.
Or I’ll watch part of a Joe Rogan interview. I’ve been watching a lot of Impractical Jokers recently.
MR: Do you have a favorite Joe Rogan interview?
KU: He has two interviews with Kevin Hart that I love. They are just the most practical life interviews.
MR: How does your routine mesh with Judaism? Do you say the Shema before bed?
KU: Oh yeah. So now that I'm thinking about it, yeah, I do have a routine. I've been saying Shema since I was a child. I didn’t grow up orthodox, I just grew up traditional and then became more religious. But saying Shema and three things we’re grateful for before we go to sleep is something that I’ve done since I was as young as I can remember
MR: What did you say last night?
KU: I don't know if I said the things I’m grateful for last night.
MR: Is Shema the last thing you say out loud before you go to bed?
KU: I really try and make Shema the last thing I say. I’ll sometimes have a conversation with God.
MR: Have you ever read Nachman on hisbodedus?
KU: No.
MR: I’ll send it to you.
KU: It’s so important. I think it solves all your problems.
MR: What’s three things you’re grateful for?
KU: Growing up, I said three things I was grateful for. I think it was Oprah in like 2011 –
MR: Oprah? Which rebbe is that?
KU: From Hungary – she was way ahead of her time as a rebbe in Hungary.
So Oprah said something on some Super Soul Sunday about how she writes five things she's grateful for and five things she wants. I did that religiously before I went to bed – I think I was probably superstitious about it a little bit. Like, if I don’t do this, the day will be terrible. As I've gotten older, I've gotten away from being as on top of that, but I did try and do that. I was so rigid about writing, I really felt like writing was my main source of expression, and I didn't value any other source of expression. And spoken word is just as important, and just as valuable. I think I was very scared about preservation.
Last night, I watched some Impractical Jokers. I haven't laughed so much in a while, not because there’s anything bad, it’s just hard to find things that make you laugh. And that has been consistent in making me laugh.
MR: Any clips you would recommend?
KU: There is there's one where Sal is going into a haunted house.
MR: When do you go to bed?
KU: If I’m doing really well, between ten and eleven – that’s ideal. But lately it’s been twelve, one.
MR: Do you sleep through the night?
KU: No.
MR: How many times do you think you get up through the night?
KU: Once, but for like a two-to-three-hour stint.
MR: What do you do during that time?
KU: I'll watch more videos. I try and take time to shut my brain off. That's the problem – my brain is just active. Sometimes I’ll be hungry. If I work out, I find that I need to have a lot of protein in the day to feel I can be comfortable and get through the night without waking up hungry.
The last few months have been a lot of time working on my self. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll do that. I did that last night, and it's really heavy. Sometimes I worry that I just think too much.
MR: What about exercise?
KU: I run and I do strength training.
MR: Do you listen to music when you run?
KU: I listen to “Bad Girls” by M.I.A. Lately it’s been a lot of Lemonade by Beyoncé. There’s three songs on that album – “Hold Up,” “Freedom,” and “Sorry.” Kind of depends on my mood.
MR: Can you check what your most-played songs on Spotify were last year?
KU: “Blue World” by Mac Miller, “Mothaland Bounce” by Nissim Black, and “Good News” by Mac Miller.
Nissim Black – I adore him. He’s someone everybody should know about.
MR: When do you usually wake up in the morning?
KU: Between seven and eight.
MR: Do you pray every morning?
KU: I do.
MR: Do you say Modeh Ani every morning?
KU: Yeah, I try to. I think as a human being, you're not going to do everything consistently every single day.
MR: But you’re gentle on yourself? You’re not obsessive about Judaism?
KU: I used to be because I used to be superstitious about it. I used to think you have to do things the right way or else God will judge you, and judge you negatively . . . and who knows what's going to happen if you get a negative judgment. I have since moved away from that. I've really come to understand, I think what the purpose of Judaism is is a system that was created to make balanced people. To just ensure that people are balanced and have all of their needs met and creating a system where we don't engage in a kind of excess. We're not stingy with things – it’s an Aristotelian-Maimonidean concept.
770
MR: Do you snack during the day?
KU: I love pretzels.
MR: What kind of pretzels?
KU: Snyder's sourdough nuggets or whatever.
MR: Not whatever. Since I was a kid, I take pretzels very seriously.
KU: What’s your pretzel?
MR: Right now, primarily Martin’s, but also Uncle Henry’s and Uncle Jerry’s. I call them up and I’ll order two big cases every month or so.
KU: I aspire to that. I’ve never thought of pretzel connoisseurship.
MR: Are you a connoisseur of anything?
KU: I don't know if I can officially consider myself that but I'm very into coffee, wine.
MR: How much coffee do you drink during the day?
KU: One to two cups.
MR: How do you make it?
KU: We have a Moka pot right now. I grind my beans.
MR: Where do you get your beans from?
KU: Porto Rico Importing Co. on Bleecker Street – best spot for coffee. Good price. They roast on the spot.
MR: How do you take your coffee?
KU: Black.
MR: What else do you drink during the day?
KU: Kombucha.
MR: What kind of kombucha do you like?
KU: Aqua ViTea – it’s made in Vermont. They had Bluebernie – that’s how Vermont it was.
MR: What food do you order in the most from?
KU: I've started ordering in a little bit more lately from Deli Kasbah only because they're owned by these Chabadniks. They have these sale codes that are like “770.” If you go in and say a vort and you just speak some Torah, they’ll give you a free dessert. They have the [Lubavitcher] Rebbe playing on TVs all around.
Miley Kylie
MR: Do you have any pets?
KU: I have a dog. She’s a bichon poodle. She is eleven years old. Her name is Miley.
Crazy thing – if you say my name and her name together, you’ll find that they rhyme.
MR: My dog's name is Herschel Lefkowitz – it doesn't rhyme with anything.
Do you listen to jazz?
KU: I do like jazz a lot. This morning I was up at like 5:00 a.m. and I was watching this Instagram channel called Jazz Estate.
MR: New or old?
KU: Old – all these old clips of like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. There's a performance that Sarah Vaughan gave where she was just in the audience somewhere and somebody called her up.
MR: Who’s your favorite female jazz singer?
KU: I think for me, everything is kind of mood based. I don't think you can go wrong with Ella Fitzgerald.
MR: Do you have a favorite album of hers?
KU: No.
Over the last 24 hours I’ve been listening to Ray Charles and Betty Carter singing “Every Time We Say Goodbye” on repeat.
MR: Who is the musician you think you’ve seen most in concert?
KU: Kate Davis. She is a singer-songwriter. She's made the transition to more alternative rock style. I saw her for the first time at the Time Warner building – she was performing outside H&M.
MR: Do you have any heroes now?
KU: I don’t think in terms of heroes. Stevie Wonder had a huge influence on me. Booker T. Washington is a hero of mine, I guess.
MR: He’s so much older than you – I mean people today.
KU: First of all, I’m a Ph.D. student in Jewish philosophy. Odds are my heroes are going to be dead.
I don't think in terms of heroes. Who I look up to changes because I feel like I’m always changing. It’s a very vulnerable thing to say – I don't really want anybody to know I look up to them. There’s three people who I admire right now. Ira Glass, Mark Oppenheimer, and Josh Feigelson. It's just this type of person who is interesting and smart. Lately, I’ve had a lot of insecurities around being multifaceted, having different interests, being able to do different things and like committing to one thing.
Sour
MR: Do you have a favorite fruit?
KU: Blueberries.
MR: How do you eat them?
KU: I wash them, and I put them in my mouth.
MR: So no freezing or anything?
KU: Oh, God no. Blueberries were always the fruit that you made it in life. We didn’t grow up buying blueberries, and not because we were poor, we just didn’t get them. But for some reason it just became associated with money. Blueberries to me became an expensive luxury fruit.
MR: Do you like them sweet or sour?
KU: Sour. Oy. A sweet blueberry is not a blueberry. I love sour. I love raspberries too – they were also a luxury fruit.
MR: Do you like sour candy?
KU: Yes! Back in the day when I used to eat non-kosher foods, Trolli sour gummy worms. But now there are comparable kosher sour foods. Kline's has these sour lips. Those are my favorite.
I loved lifesaver mints. I love a good dinner mint. I love starlight mints. I love, loved mints growing up. There are three things that I love: mints, pickles, and pretzels.
I would go to McDonald's and get a side of pickles. Wherever I went I would get a side of pickles. People thought it was weird. They literally just put pickles in a cup for me.
MR: Do you ever drink pickle juice?
KU: No.
MR: Do you ever have picklebacks?
KU: Not as often as I think I should.
MR: How often do you think you should?
KU: Once a month.
MR: What’s your favorite mint?
KU: Lifesaver.
MR: Have you ever cracked them and see the fluorescence?
KU: What!?
There’s these mints at Trader Joe’s – they’re in these blue and black containers. They’re fantastic. I pound mints. I can really go through a container.
Sprout
MR: Do you play an instrument?
KU: I played piano for a long time. I have one embarrassing story about that. I was with somebody who I wanted to impress, and I said that I play piano. And he was like, “Oh, we have a piano here.” And I played one song I had memorized from when I was 12, and messed it up.
MR: What song was it?
KU: [Sings it] -- but I have never been able to find it.
MR: Ask Sammy, Sammy will know.
KU: Does he know classical music?
MR: He does. He’s a talmid chacham.
MR: Where do you get your news in the morning?
KU: I don’t get any news in the morning.
MR: How many hours are you on your phone on average a day?
KU: This week it’s three hours and two minutes, but that’s because there was a holiday on Monday. I’m usually at 4 hours.
MR: I feel that’s the best objective measurement of my mood.
KU: I think that's right.
MR: Is there something that’s online that you put up that you’re embarrassed about that you don’t want people to look at.
KU: Well if I say it here, they’re just going to look at it.
MR: Well, your warts are part of you.
KU: That’s very true. I have a really hard filter on myself, which makes it harder to actually do things because I’m so afraid of regretting things that I do. I did one interview with a South African radio show that I only heard once, but I listened to it and I just wasn’t prepared for it. I just hold myself to a high standard.
MR: Is there anything you’re really proud of? Something that’s a good representation of what you’re thinking and who you are right now.
KU: Yeah, there's this podcast that I did called Sprout. I just felt really good about it – I was just very genuine and authentic and present for that interview. And I really like it. I also just published an article in the journal Sapir.
MR: Do you like sprouts?
KU: In a salad.
MR: But you won’t just eat them?
KU: No.