HBM042: Deers

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Still from the short film Deers by John Summerson

Still from the short film Deers by John Summerson

 

Andy Wilson and Ryan Graves are best friends, despite having very different opinions on the hierarchy of human and animal life. The two come face-to-face with those differences after a fatal encounter on a frigid winter day in northeastern Idaho when Andy's dogs chase a deer into Lake Chatcolet.

Today, Andy is happily married (celebrating his year anniversary next week), working as a fine woodworker at Renaissance Fine Woodworking, and living in Pullman Washington. He now has three brown dogs and Quincy (the brown dog from the story) knows the word "deer" - but is less likely to chase one in his 11th year.

Ryan works as a nurse in Pullman Regional Hospital and lives just outside of town.  His duck died last week, but he's looking forward to the five Muscovy ducklings he's going to acquire soon. And he's looking forward to deer season.

This episode is heavily adapted from a short animated film also called Deers (embedded below), produced by John Summerson.  His film received support from the Princess Grace Foundation USA. 

Bethany Denton produced this piece for Here Be Monsters, with editing help from Jeff Emtman and Nick White.

Music: Flowers ||| Lucky Dragons ||| Flower Petal Downpour

 

Ryan Graves walking the hills of the Palouse.

HBM041: Crossing the River, Feeling Watched

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A mountain in the North Cascades of Washington State. Photo by Jeff Emtman

A mountain in the North Cascades of Washington State. Photo by Jeff Emtman

 

In his junior year of high school, HBM host Jeff Emtman left his home and everything he knew to live and study in a tiny village nestled in the Cascade Mountain range of Washington state.

An outsider among outsiders in a tight-knit rural community, it wasn't long before Jeff felt the unmistakable feeling of being watched.

This episode is the first in our 4th season of shows.  We recently joined KCRW.  If you'd like to know what that means for the show, you can read a little bit about our acquisition.

Music: Swamp Dog ||| Serocell ||| Flowers <--.NEW!

This episode was produced by Jeff Emtman and Bethany Denton.  Our editor at KCRW was Nick White.

 

We've joined forces with KCRW!

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We're honored to announce that Here Be Monsters is now a podcast of KCRW's Independent Producer Project!

Why KCRW?
We chose KCRW because of their commitment to unusual and impactful programs. KCRW has a strong lineup of both on-air shows and podcasts, including: Strangers, Unfictional, The Organist, Left Right and Center, and Morning Becomes Eclectic.

What does this mean for the show?
HBM now has a fantastic editorial and tech team supporting the show. Also, Jeff and Bethany will be able to cut back (and eventually quit) their dayjobs to focus more on bringing you stories of the unknown.  It also means that you're able to subscribe to us via our page at KCRW and listen to us on the KCRW app.

What does this mean for you?
Only good things. Our 4th season will have 20 episodes, starting Wednesday. We'll release a new episode every other week for the next 9 months.

KCRW just published an interview with Jeff Emtman about the upcoming 4th season of Here Be Monsters. 

See ya soon!

 

Fear of Silence

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HBM producers Jeff and Bethany are having more and more trouble bearing silence.

On this episode, Jeff calls back crow researcher Kaeli Swift and asks her what it was like to sit in silence with a stranger. And Bethany explains the differences in the anxieties that she and Jeff have towards silence.

Music: The Black Spot

Please note that there are some delicate tones in this podcast.  If you're listening in a noisy environment, you might miss them.  That's not necessarily a bad thing...just pay attention to the sounds around you.

Season 4 of Here Be Monsters will begin in June.

 

Forty Monster Bites

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Here's a little gift for you.  It's clips of every episode of Here Be Monsters.  You can use this page as a hub to your discovery of HBM.  As each clip plays, a comment will pop up in the bottom of the player.  Click that comment and a new tab will open with a link to the full episodes.  Pretty neat, right?

Just because we're on break doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you.  Please, let us know what we're doing right and wrong, like us on facebook, and subscribe/review us on iTunes. 

2015 will be a great year for this podcast!  We'll keep you posted about the exciting developments that are happening behind the scenes right now, including the first ever HBM Live show in NYC.  Happy New Year!

 

HBM040: The Reformation Bible Puritan Baptist Church

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HBM040.jpg
 

Eric Jon Phelps knows a lot of things.  He knows that the Pope controls the world.  He knows that it was the Jesuits who poisoned him in Tampa.  And he knows that we can avoid the Vatican's plans to incite global race wars is to keep the races separate. Eric is the pastor of rural Pennsylvania's Reformation Bible Puritan Baptist Church.

Content Note: Explicit content including bigotry, historical inaccuracies and language.

The strange thing about Eric is that he's completely open he is about his views--and he doesn't shy from criticism.  He's exceedingly knowledgeable about the Protestant Christianity which makes him a fantastic and outspoken preacher.  However, the teachings of his church have landed him a spot on the Hate Map of America, which is where HBM Producer Emile B Klein found him.

In this episode, Emile visits the church to investigate the story of Eric's rise and fall in the bizarre, radical, niche world of anti-papal internet talk radio and finds out how Eric's upbringing in the Civil Rights Era informed his views on white supremacy.

Emile also speaks with Mark Potok, who is a Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who thinks that Eric should be ostracized and shunned by society.

This episode, more than any other in our archive, is morally troubling, for many reasons.  One resource on that Emile recommends as supplementary reading for this episode is Jonathan Haidt's wonderful book, The Righteous Mind

The Righteous Mind was essential for Emile's epiphany [spoiler alert] that hating hate is unproductive.  Emile says:

"All in all, I know that I am taking a pretty unlikable stand, but it's a stand I think is decent in the long run."

 

Eric Jon Phelps in High School.

Eric Jon Phelps speaking about the dangers of The Vatican at a conspiracy theory convention while wearing a black, hooded cloak.

 

This episode contains a 6 minute excerpt from a roundtable intervention between multiple First Ammendment Radio hosts. It has been highly edited for time.  The original intervention lasted 2 hours and can be heard in its entirety right here.

We tread on some pretty delicate subjects on this episode, please let us know how we're doing.

Emile B Klein and Jeff Emtman co-produced this piece.   Emile is a radio producer and a painter who’s been touring the country by bike for the last 4 years.  He is the Director at You’re U.S., which is a non-profit that highlights the qualities that tie together modern Americans through arts and craftsmanship. 

This episode is Dedicated to Roy Silberstein, who always fought for the underdog.

Music: The Black Spot, Olecranon Rebellion, Serocell, Cloaking, Lucky Dragons

 

UPDATE

 
 

We asked for your responses to Episode 40, and many of you wrote in. 

In this episode, listeners Elle Farmer and Anise Hotchkiss offer their thoughts on the show. One argues for justified hatred and the other argues for compassion in every circumstance.

In her letter to the show, Anise offers the example of Rabbi Weisser and former KKK leader Larry Trapp, who managed to create a friendship formed out of compassion. You can read that full story from the New York Times or listen to Re:Sound

Keep your thoughts and questions coming. We're on our season break right now, but still answering emails.