Culture War: Home of the Blues

I’ve been driving around talking to people in the Mississippi Delta, small towns like Clarksdale, Sumner, Greenwood, and Elaine. I heard a lot of stories that I should have known already. People were very friendly.

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The Mississippi near Mayersville.

Near Onward, Mississippi.

The courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where the men who killed Emmett Till in 1955 were found not guilty. That’s a monument to the Confederate Soldier.

Culture War: St. Louis

The Missouri River meets the Mississippi River a few miles north of St. Louis. The river is like a half mile wide at this point with tug boats pushing long barges to oil refineries and railroad shipping yards. I was in St. Louis the first couple days after the Breonna Taylor decision came down in Louisville. I went to Ferguson where Michael Brown was killed by police in 2014 and no charges were brought. But it was difficult to find people who would talk to me.

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Culture War: Creeped Out

After following the Missouri across the low plains, I have come to a better understanding of Trump supporters.

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Culture War: Standing Rock

I’m following the Missouri River now, heading south down through the Dakotas. I stopped at Standing Rock and talked to some people about the protest four years ago.

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Along the river/reservoir at Standing Rock.

Culture War: Trump Country

I’ve been following some roads through deeply red voting districts in Wyoming and Montana. I thought I would not enjoy talking to Trump supporters, but I was wrong.

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The Yellowstone River near the confluence with the Bighorn River in Montana.

Culture War: Introduction

I’m starting a new series of reports from a long trip across the country. I think we used to have a cultural divide, now we have a cultural war.

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The Round River

I went fishing in some beautiful mountains I first visited in 1968 when I was a Boy Scout. When I was older, we took our kids there so they could see it as well. It’s still very beautiful, but things have changed due to global warming.

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Time To Get My News From A River

My thinking has been off, my approach has been wrong, I need to go fishing for a while.

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Coming To Ground

I recorded these interviews with my family two weeks ago, before George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. Now they seem unimportant, like from another era. Except that in my family it’s the younger folk who have been mostly fucked by the virus pandemic, and it’s been young people, mostly, who’ve been out on the streets protesting. I hope their efforts lead to real change in our society.

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Coming to Ground: Introduction

Following the news is like watching a competition for the worst case scenario and I’ve grown weary of all the blaming and shaming. Now we can’t trust anyone, not even ourselves. But at some point we’re going to have to come together in order to survive.

I’m working on a story where I interview people in my family about how they’re coping with the pandemic. Not everyone is doing well, and it’s pretty emotional for me, so I need to take some more time putting it together.

In the meantime, thanks very much for your support.

A link to an excellent documentary about Alex Caldiero.

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The Neighborhood

It seems more of us are paying attention to our neighborhoods lately, so perhaps this is a good time to replay this story, produced in 1988. I still live in the same neighborhood, but it feels different now. It’s like there was a tall tree in my front yard but now the tree is gone and only a stump remains. I am stumped. I used to depend on trust—standing or sitting close to strangers and holding a microphone less than a foot from their faces. Now that’s not going to happen again for a while.

In the meantime, here’s to remembering the good old days.

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Echo People by Trent Harris

My friend Trent Harris has a problem caused by the coronavirus. It’s not a big problem compared to a lot of other things that have come up recently, like the possible collapse of the economy and thousands of people dying. Trent’s problem is more like a temporary embarrassment. Basically, his reputation is on the line.

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Swackhamma tells Harvey a secret.

Echo People Episode One on You Tube.

Echo People Episode Two on You Tube.

Trent Harris’ website is called the Echo Cave.

Here’s the This American Life episode about Trent’s film, the Beaver Triology.

The cast and crew of Echo People, with Mystery Mountain in the background.

Harvey Harris upon seeing Mystery Mountain.

Trent Harris wondering what he has done.

Our Show by Erica Heilman

My friend Erica Heilman has a podcast called Rumblestrip. She drives around Vermont and talks to people about their lives. Last week she was sitting at home, like everybody, trying to figure out what to do, and she decided to ask her listeners to send her audio recordings of what and how they’re doing under self isolation. A lot of people responded, quickly, and within a couple days Erica posted the first episode of a series she’s calling Our Show.

If you’d like to send Erica an audio recording of what’s happening where you are, here’s the email address: rumblestripourshow@gmail.com.

Rumblestrip website

The song at the end is Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen, performed by The Band.

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Looking out Erica Heilman’s apartment in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Recording ambience from Erica Heilman’s window in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

The Dry Wall

This story was originally broadcast on All Things Considered in 1993. The ground was shifting under my feet back then and I had to figure out what to do. Now it’s shifting again, this time everybody’s in it together. There are things we can do, stories to tell, that can make us feel better.

Thanks for listening and supporting this show.

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Anti-War Stories: Adrienne Kinne and Douglas Peacock

Adrienne Kinne, 2020

I should confess that I have a personal interest in listening to veterans talk about how they recover from war. I was never in the military, but I spent some time overseas as a war correspondent for Esquire, Harper’s, and Mother Jones magazines. I was never in a battle or close to a bomb going off. I saw the aftermath—bodies on the ground, neighborhoods turned to rubble, people silent and in shock. The main thing I have to deal with is knowing that a couple times people who were helping me with my stories were punished, severely, after I left. I got to fly home to America and they had to stay there and suffer the consequences for helping me. I carry this guilt. So when veterans speak of their experiences recovering from war I listen very carefully.

Check out the Veterans for Peace website.

Here’s a link to Doug Peacock’s website. And a link to Save the Yellowstone Grizzly.

And the link to the video of Brandi Carlile performing live on KEXP.

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Douglas Peacock in 1967

Douglas Peacock south of Ajo, Arizona, 2020

Anti-War Stories: Elliott Woods

Today I have a conversation with Elliott Woods, a veteran who is also a very fine writer. He served a year as a combat engineer in northern Iraq. Then he came home and went to school at the University of Virginia, graduating with a degree in English literature. He thought about staying in school and becoming a professor, but he decided he wanted to go back to war, this time as a journalist.

Check out Elliott’s website.

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Elliott Woods as a journalist in Afghanistan, 2009

Elliott Woods at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, 2019