Emergence Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Lord God Bird: Apocalyptic Prophecy & the Vanishing of Avifauna – Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

As the existence of the famed ivory-billed woodpecker is increasingly left to the realm of myth, Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder explores the widespread disappearance of birds in the narratives of apocalyptic prophecy that run through our collective consciousness.

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Sweet Breath from Another – Crystal Wilkinson Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

Crystal Wilkinson is the author of The Birds of Opulence; Water Street; and Blackberries, Blackberries, and an Associate Professor of English in the Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Kentucky. At a time that is punctuated by the loss of breath—when we are increasingly gripped by the profound understanding that the right to breathe is the right to life—this essay from Crystal contemplates the intimacy of breathing as she considers how we live, die, and love.

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Courting the Wild Twin – Martin Shaw Jun 26, 2020

Show notes

As part of our recent series of online conversations with our contributors, mythologist and storyteller Dr. Martin Shaw joined us to read from his new book, Courting the Wild Twin and talk about his recent op-eds for the magazine on the mythical response to the pandemic. In the moderated discussion that followed with Emergence executive editor Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Martin answered questions from the audience and shared his thoughts on initiation, agency, and the move into the mythical. Our task now, he said, is to look at the prayer rug of our own lives as the mythic ground that we each stand upon.

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The Other House: Musings on the Diné Perspective of Time – Jake Skeets Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

In this narrated essay, poet Jake Skeets explores apocalypse, time, and futurity from a Diné perspective. While colonial frames foretell a final apocalypse that will arrive in linear time, Indigenous people have experienced many beginnings and many endings. As he observes the grief that has arisen in his community during the coronavirus pandemic, he considers how hope might be reimagined.

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Beginning with the End – Roy Scranton Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

In this narrated essay, Roy Scranton asks what we mean when we say “the world is ending.” Examining the nature of the narratives we tell ourselves about the future, he explores what revelation may be before us. Roy Scranton is the author of I Heart Oklahoma!; Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature; We’re Doomed. Now What?; War Porn; and Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization.

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And God Laughs – Amaud Jamaul Johnson Jun 09, 2020

Show notes

Amaud Jamaul Johnson is the author of Darktown Follies, Red Summer, and Imperial Liquor. In this essay, Amaud explores the loneliness and fear that arise in the wake of inexplicable tragedy where personal losses highlight histories of suffering and the deep uncertainties of our time. This fact has always been true, but feels more so in the midst of a pandemic, massive job losses, food insecurity, climate chaos, and the national uprisings provoked by ongoing racial injustice and police brutality in the US.

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Pickled Limes – Kalyanee Mam Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

During the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Kalyanee Mam’s mother nourished and sustained her family with umami soups, chicken rice, and fried noodles. Years later, as Kalyanee cooks for her husband and mother-in-law who have fallen ill during the pandemic, she reflects on food as a conduit for healing and love.

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Life in the Time of Cholera: Lessons on a Pandemic – George Prochnik May 26, 2020

Show notes

As sirens fill the streets of London, George Prochnik recalls a revolutionary poet’s account of the 1832 cholera pandemic that unfolded in Paris. While watching history repeat itself in devastating refrain, George wonders: What is hysteria? What is necessary passion and courage? How can we respond both lucidly and compassionately as this disaster progresses?

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Sanctuaries of Silence May 19, 2020

Show notes

Since lockdowns began, there has been an unprecedented reduction in human-created noise. Our movements have lessened, the circle of our existence is closer, we are more still. As the din of human activity has quieted down, the sounds of the living world have come to the forefront. Around the world people have reported hearing an increase in the songs of birds, the chirping of insects, and the myriad sounds of non-human life. A newfound silence is pervading many of our environments as cars, planes, and industries have increasingly been brought to a standstill.

A couple of years ago, we spent a few days filming a virtual reality project in Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest with acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. Gordon has traveled the globe documenting the impacts of noise pollution on the natural world. His work has revealed that silence (which he describes as the absence of human generated noise) is on the verge of extinction and that even the most remote corners of the world are impacted by the noises of modern life.

The virtual reality piece we created, Sanctuaries of Silence, shares Gordon’s story and takes you on an immersive listening journey into the Hoh, one of the largest temperate rain forests in the United States. Pacific tree frogs, Roosevelt elk, northern spotted owls, and pacific wrens are among the many creatures who call the forest home. It’s far from main roads and development, making the Hoh one of the quietest places in North America.

In response to the pandemic, we’ve adapted Sanctuaries of Silence into a podcast that we hope might help us to reconnect with silence at this particular time and listen for the value and wisdom that is present within it.

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Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane May 12, 2020

Show notes

As part of our recent series of online offerings, the Emergence Magazine Book Club spent the month of April reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s celebrated, best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. For the Book Club’s last meeting, Robin joined us in a vibrant live video zoom conversation, hosted by acclaimed writer Robert Macfarlane. Responding to questions asked by readers from around the globe, Robin discussed dandelions as global citizens, the role of the writer as a conduit for story, and the spirit of reciprocity that lies at the heart of our relationship to place. It was just a conversation that was too rich not to be shared on our podcast.

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