Far From Home

Latest Episodes:

Winging It Nov 19, 2024

Show notes

I'm still working on my next episode, where I'm asking listeners around the world to send me short voice memo recordings from their phones, talking about how people where they live have reacted to the recent American election results and how they think a second Trump presidency would impact ordinary folks in their country. If you have any thoughts or observations you'd like to share, please email me at info@farfromhomepodcast.org.

In the meantime, I know a lot of new listeners have joined me for this 4th season of Far From Home, so I'm popping into your feed to introduce myself and share a little about my background and how I got to where I am today.

On this episode, I'm featuring an excerpt of an interview James Hammond conducted with me a few months ago for his “Winging It Travel Podcast.” It was a really great conversation, and we delved into some interesting topics that I haven't discussed on Far From Home in the past, so I wanted to share it with all of you.

You can visit Winging It's website to read a nice article James wrote about me and listen to the rest of our conversation, or simply search for Winging It Travel Podcast in whatever podcast app you use (note that this interview originally ran back in May, 2024)

On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian reports fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org

Canadian Cuisine Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

If you travel around Canada, you’ll find lots of regional dishes, but there isn’t really a strong national culinary identity the way there is in Italy or Mexico, for example. So I embarked on a quest to figure out how exactly to define "Canadian cuisine" beyond the stereotypical maple syrup, poutine, and butter tarts. The answer turned out to be much more interesting than I ever could have imagined!

A version of this piece originally ran on Here and There, a Canadian Geographic travel podcast. Thanks to Liz Beatty and Black Cabin Studios for permission to share this story with the Far From Home audience. Canadian listeners might also appreciate my documentary reexamining the legacy of the Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven painters.

Christiania bonus episode Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

In the course of reporting my documentary about Freetown Christiania -- Copenhagen's famous anarchist commune -- for the 99% Invisiblepodcast, I took two trips to Denmark and recorded many hours of interviews that unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor. In this bonus episode of Far From Home, I present some of the highlights as well as some additional context and backstories of the people I interviewed. [N.B.: This episode contains some explicit language.]

If you enjoy this podcast, please post about it on social media and tag @farfromhomepodcast (on Instagram or Facebook), and also consider texting or emailing a friend!

On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org

Freetown Christiania Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

In 1971, a group of squatters took over an abandoned military base just across the harbor from downtown Copenhagen, Denmark. They created a politically autonomous anarchist zone -- in other words, a commune -- with its own flag, marching band, and consensus-driven governance process, and they decided to call their community Christiania. The thousand or so residents were free to do pretty much whatever they wanted as long as it didn't infringe upon the rights of other people. There were just a few rules: no private ownership of land or housing, no weapons or violence, and no vehicles. But as the years went on, Christiania faced a number of challenges, and now -- more than half a century later -- it's at a turning point where some people question how much longer it will be able to survive.

This first episode of Far From Home's 4th season was produced in collaboration with 99% Invisible. Thanks to my editor Joe Rosenberg and the rest of the 99pi team for their assistance. Be sure to listen to my companion bonus episode that I'm releasing simultaneously with this episode, containing more content about Christiania that I didn't have room to include in this documentary! Also, in case you missed it, check out the last story I produced for them a few years ago about the peace walls separating Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists in Northern Ireland.

Season 4 Trailer Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

In this era of wars, conflicts, and polarized politics, talking to strangers has never been more important. A new season of episodes launches Tuesday, October 8th.

(Thanks to Ali Lemer for editorial support)

Eclipse Chaser Apr 21, 2024

Show notes

After missing the opportunity to see the last total solar eclipse in the United States back in 2017, I decided to add this experience to my bucket list and vowed I would do whatever it takes to see an eclipse in the future. A few weeks ago, I got my chance. Joined by my brother Drew and his friends Jeremy and Claire, I drove up to the woods of northern New Hampshire, and together, the four of us witnessed an event that far surpassed whatever expectations any of us had had. Here’s an audio postcard from our trip.

Visit my website at farfromhomepodcast.org to view more photos and videos!

Every Country Without Flying Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

Thor Pedersen always felt like he was born too late. He grew up in a world where other people had already done most of the amazing things, like venturing to the North and South Poles, climbing the highest mountains, following the longest rivers, and exploring the depths of the deepest seas. But in 2013, at the age of 34, he discovered one record that no one had yet managed to achieve. So he went to the store, bought a map, and began marking it with a blue pen and a red pen. Before long, he hatched a plan to make history and get his name “on page 506 in some little book,” as he saw it: he would travel to every country in the world without flying, in a single, unbroken journey.

On this episode of Far From Home, he tells the story of that journey and how it turned out to be way longer and more difficult than he ever imagined it would be.

Check out Thor’s blog, where he documented his entire, decade-long trip.

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Prison Rodeo Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

After releasing my last episode where I shared stories from my time in Oklahoma many years ago, I came across one more short radio piece in my archives that I thought some of your might enjoy. It’s about another cultural phenomenon unique to Oklahoma that I experienced: the world’s only behind-the-walls prison rodeo. Before a stadium of 9000 cheering fans, a hundred inmates from around the state competed in events like calf roping, steer wrestling, a wild horse race, and “Money the Hard Way,” a competition where people tried to grab a $100 bill that was tied between the horns of a charging bull.

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Stories From Flyover Country May 27, 2023

Show notes

Two decades ago, I was just starting out as a public radio reporter, applying for literally every radio job opening I saw, and somehow I ended up getting hired by a small station in Norman, Oklahoma. Given that the culture, politics, and geography were so incredibly different from anything I’d been exposed to up to that point. moving there from my home state of New Jersey almost felt like going to a foreign country. Yet despite any initial reservations I had, it turned out to be a really great experience, and the five years I spent there ended up making me a better journalist and a better person.

On this episode, I’m sharing a couple of my favorite radio stories I produced during my time in Oklahoma, to give you a small sense of the culture of this region that many Americans on the coasts simply regard as “flyover country.” First, I get to experience the traditional sport known as catfish noodling. Then I go on a rattlesnake hunt in southwestern Oklahoma.

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18 Years in Rome (with The Bittersweet Life) Mar 13, 2023

Show notes

If you listened to my last episode, you heard the story of my friend Jamie Yuenger, an American who moved from New York City to the Netherlands and was struggling to make the transition and figure out how to fit in. Following up on that theme, today I’m sharing a recent episode from my friends at The Bittersweet Life podcast, where co-host Tiffany Parks looks back at the past nearly two decades she’s spent in Italy and discusses the milestone she’s just reached of having now officially lived in Rome longer than she’s lived anywhere else.

If you enjoy this conversation, you can find The Bittersweet Life wherever you get your podcasts or delve into their archives of nearly 500 shows on their website, thebittersweetlife.net

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