Radio Curious

Concepts of “reality” have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting, and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present or  and future.  This is especially true for cultures which cherish and practice the oral tradition and thrive among an abundance of flora and fauna, like those located in the Amazon basin of South America.  In Ecuador the knowledge of the effects of the various plants in the Amazon basin is held by Shamans.

Dr. Juan Martinez, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is a Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador.  He’s studied, written and lectured about Shamanic practices in the Ecuadorian jungle and the medicinal and spiritual effects of the plants native to the eastern portion of the Amazon basin.

Professor Juan Martinez and I visited in his office in Cuenca, Ecuador on November 17, 2005.  He began by describing the relationship of the people of Ecuadorian jungle to their worlds, the spiritual world, and the world in which they live on a daily basis.

The book Juan Martinez recommends is “Amazon Worlds,” a collected work published by Sinchi Sancha, an indigenous foundation based in Ecuador.

Originally Broadcast: December 5, 2005.

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Journalism and civil disobedience is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest is Mendocino County journalist, Will Parrish, a graduate of UC Santa Cruz with a major in Sociology and Social Change and a minor in Journalism. Currently, he describes himself as a “social change activist/journalist.”

In this interview recorded in the studios of Radio Curious May 27^th, 2013, Will Parrish describes some of his past experiences as a journalist and continues with his story of why he sat in a tree for a week near Willits, Ca as an act of civil disobedience to protest the building of a highway.

The book Will Parrish recommends is “The Merry Adventurers of Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle.

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You too may be a naturalist, as we find out in this interview with Deborah Edelman, holder of a Master’s Degree in ecology from the University of California at Davis, and Adina Merenlender, holder a doctorate in biology and a University of California Cooperative Extension Specialist.  Together, along with Greg de Nevers they wrote “The California Naturalist Handbook.”  This handbook is an easy to follow guide as well as a text for anyone with interest in nature.

Deborah Edelman and Adina Merenlender visited the studios of Radio Curious on May 17, 2013. We began our conversation with Adina’s description of what a naturalist does.

The books Deborah Edelman recommends are “Story of Stuff:  The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better,” by Annie Leonard, and “The Forest Unseen:  A Year’s Watch in Nature,” by David George Haskell.

The books Adina Merenlender recommends are “The Song of the Dodo:  Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction,” by David Quammen, and “The Weather Makers:  How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth,” by Tim Flannery.

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The more than 20,000 crows that inhabit the largest metropolis in the world, have come to be an imposing and sometimes harassing influence on the daily lives of the people with whom these clever birds share the city of Tokyo, Japan.

“Tokyo Waka: A City Poem” is a film poem about these crows and their people. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with filmmaker Kristine Samuelson, a Professor of Humanistic Studies in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. She is the co-creator, along with her husband John Haptas, of the film “Tokyo Waka.”  Their website is Stylofilms.

Our visit with Kristine Samuelson from her home in Berkeley, California on May 3, 2013 began when I asked her to describe the nature of their film poem.

Kristine Samuelson recommends two films: “Oblivion,” and “Underground Orchestra,” by Heddy Honigmann, a Peruvian born Dutch filmmaker.

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One of the greatest early conservationists of America was a Scottish immigrant named John Muir who, as a young boy, went first to Wisconsin and then later, as a young man in the 1860s, he moved onward to California. A friend of president Theodore Roosevelt, he successfully sought to preserve the spectacular Yosemite Valley and the Sierra Nevada range, it was joy in his lifetime. Yet the loss of the equally spectacular Hetch Hetch Valley to a dam to provide water for San Francisco was his greatest sorrow. John Muir founded the Sierra Club and is credited with founding the National Park system in the United States.

I visited with John Muir in the person of Lee Stetson in the studios of Radio Curious in October of 1995 and discussed his life and observations.

Originally Broadcast: October 1995.

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The buffalo that for most of the year inhabit Yellowstone National Park may be the only genetically pure buffalo population in North America.  They still follow their migratory instincts and are the only buffalo to have continuously lived on their historic habitat since prehistoric times.  Until the mass slaughter of buffalo that began in the mid-nineteenth century, tens of millions of these creatures roamed North America.  Today the fewer than 4,000 wild buffalo that exist are under constant attack by livestock interests.

In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Mike Mease, the coordinator of the Buffalo Field Campaign, based on West Yellowstone, Montana, at the front end of his journey to Oregon and California in the fall of 2012.  Mike Mease and others from the Buffalo Field Campaign are prepared with stories, video, music and activism inspired by the Yellowstone Bison in their efforts to protect America’s remaining buffalo.  Mike Mease and I spoke by phone during the campaign’s first stop in Newport, Oregon, on September 17, 2012, and began our visit when I asked him to describe the current circumstances of buffalo in Montana.

The Buffalo Field Campaign will visit the Mendocino Recreation Center, 998 School Street, in the Village of Mendocino beginning at 7 p.m. on September 27, 2012.  For more information call 707 937 4295.

The book Mike Mease recommends is “Confederacy of Dunces,” by John Kennedy Toole and Walter Percy.

You may contact the Buffalo Field Campaign at PO Box 957, West Yellowstone, MT 59758, telephone (406) 646-0070.

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This edition of Radio Curious is dedicated to Gerard “Tiger” Hill and those who died, when Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans in 2005.  Our guest is New Orleans Artist, Alex Santiago, who lived through the hurricane and eleven days later sought protection in the New Orleans Convention Center.  In a conversation recorded in his kitchen in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, Alex Santiago shared his memories with Radio Curious Assistant Producer Christina Aanestad on August 15, 2012.

The book Alex Santiago recommends is “A Better World,” by Eckhart Tolle.

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