Hard Knox with Amanda Knox

Years after giving birth to his child, Jessica tracks down her anonymous sperm donor and they embark on an unexpected journey. In this episode of Labyrinths, we interview Jessica Share and Aaron Long as they unravel their totally backward love story. Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/knoxrobinson www.knoxrobin...

Between our usual Labyrinths episodes, we sit down to debate something serious or silly and ask you “Who’s Right?” Imagine if renowned actor Tom Hanks was exposed for drinking the blood of children– would "Forrest Gump" ever be the same? Could Mr. Hanks be redeemed? Luckily there are no such allegations. (Stay cool, Tom Hanks!) In this episode, we playfully debate whether artists can be appreciate...

We are now routinely faced with a dilemma: News breaks that an artist beloved has done something horrible. How does that change our experience of their art? There’s no one better to help us explore this thorny territory than Claire Dederer, author of "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma." Get a copy of Claire's book at: https://www.powells.com/book/monsters-9780525655114 Get early access to ad-free episodes...

Is suicide ever justifiable? Can you go out on a high note? Is it always a result of mental illness? The content warning should be obvious on this one and it should go without saying that this theoretical discussion does not endorse suicide. https://988lifeline.org/ Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/knoxrobins...

Our local death doula, Susan Pitiger, brings light to the process of dying and what you can do to prepare for the inevitable. Are all your affairs in order? Are all our affairs in order? In this episode, we're asking you and ourselves: "How do you want to die?" Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/knoxrobinson ww...

The emergency room and the ICU are not just emotionally draining and traumatic environments for patients, but for healthcare workers as well. ER doctor Kat Moore tells us how Zen Buddhism is working its way into emergency rooms to improve the wellbeing of both patients and doctors. Learn more about the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship at: https://zencare.org/contemplative-medicine-fellowship/ Get...

Despite the best efforts of healthcare professionals, medical errors are responsible for tens of thousands of annual deaths. Today, Richard Pallardy, a freelance writer from Chicago, tells us the story of the medical odyssey his mother went through in the fall of 2015.  Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/knoxro...

Valentine's Day...Is it good or is it whack? Is love at first sight a thing? How does love last, or get lost? And what about that tricksy thing: self love? Episodes of Who's Right?--our series of playful, personal, and philosophical debates--are normally only avaialable to our patreon subscribers, but in the spirit of free love, and because we've gotten such a warm response from our patrons, we're...

"Trauma" has become a controversial word in the current culture wars. It's a point of pride for some, an excuse for others. But trauma is undoubtedly real, and it effects the body. Dr. Christy Gibson, author of The Modern Trauma Toolkit, has studied the neurophysiological effects of trauma and how we can alter the body's reflexive responses to find post-traumatic growth.  Get early access to ad-fr...

A few months into the pandemic, in the early morning on July 5th, Nicole Ivie woke up to the sounds of gunfire. She would soon discover that six men had come to her house, that her son had been badly beaten, that her husband had brought a gun into the equation, and that her son was the shooter. From that moment on, nothing would ever be the same. Surveilance video of the fight and the shooting: ht...

Dr. Kari Nixon studies the intersection of death, disease, and community, and how illness impacts identity. It's a topic she pursued without even realizing that she herself was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which despite the flashy true crime narratives, often manifests in much more subtle ways than you might expect. Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supp...

Amanda and Chris reflect on what they gave up for 2023, what they'll give up for 2024, what their focus words are for the coming year, and what they're optimistic about and dreading for society. It's going to a be a turbulent future. How can we keep our balance? Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/knoxrobinson w...

Why do people believe what they believe? Are religious convictions any different than believing that aliens have visited earth? Dr. Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, host of The Michael Shermer Show, and author of many books, most recently Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, helps us calibrate our skeptic's compass and find our way through the labyrinth of b...

17 years after her arrest in 2007, Amanda is still, somehow, on trial in Italy... Her conviction for criminal slander was overturned in October, 2023, and she was sent back for retrial. What exactly led to this charge in the first place? What will the scope of this new trial be? And what does Amanda think about the recent news that Rudy Guede, the man who killed Meredith Kercher, was just charged...

A year shy of turning 40, Minda Lane realized she wasn't happy in her marriage, and she proposed to her husband Jack that they try out polyamory. She didn't antipate how this would dredge up her old trauma, and force her to reckon with who she really was. Minda Lane is the author of "Men, Myself, and I: Revelations of an Opened Marriage," available on her substack @tenderhuman and on Amazon. Get e...

In August of 2023, we took Labyrinths LIVE to THING Festival in Port Townsend, WA. In front of a packed house at the Wheeler Theater, we chatted with Chris Ballew, lead singer from The Presidents of the United States of America, the man behind Caspar Babypants, and one of our favorite contemporary musicians who's been putting out jammy psychedlic solo records for the last few years. But these new...

There's some wisdom you can only find when you're lost, which has led Kevin Kelly, senior Maverick and co-founder Wired magazine, to get lost intentionally through decades of travelling. Along the way, he's collected some gems of wisdom and invented many of his own. Kevin Kelly is the author of Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier. Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonu...

Musician and podcaster John Roderick's most unenviable accomplishment was becoming Twitter’s main character from January 3rd through January 5th of 2021. We’re cracking open that can of beans to get the real story, and to talk about surviving cancellation, losing friends, and what we can learn about broader cultural trends. Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supportin...

Author, blogger, and cartoonist Tim Urban of WaitButWhy.com helps us dissect what's causing the political, social, and tribal dysfunction in our society with the help of golems, genies, the thought ladder, and the speech curve. Check out Tim's new book, What's Our Problem? Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. www.patreon.com/knoxrobinso...

Kristen and Ville Jokinen bought some bicycles and decided to go for a ride. They weren't experienced cyclists at all, so they thought, why not start in Alaska and bike all the way to the southernmost tip of Argentina? What could go wrong? Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. www.patreon.com/knoxrobinson www.knoxrobinson.com Twitter: @a...

After very publicly advocating for the innocence of a man named Jens Soering, who spent over 30 years in prison for a double murder he says he didn’t commit, we encountered new information that gave us serious reason to doubt his innocence, and we found ourselves in ethical dilemma. This led us to connect with journalist Andrew Hammel to give a fair heaing to the case for Jens Soering's guilt. Bef...

Todays guest is an actor from our home town of Seattle. You may know him from Community, The Soup, The White House Correspondent's dinner, or his newest show Animal Control! We dig into dyslexia, pediatric heart surgery, and the ethics of comedy.  Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more by supporting Labyrinths on patreon. www.patreon.com/knoxrobinson www.knoxrobinson.com Twi...

Megan Phelps-Roper is the author of the book, Unfollow: a journey from hatred to hope, about her upbringing in and departure from the Westboro Baptist Church. Megan is also the host of the podcast series The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, produced by The Free Press, which dissects the backlash against Rowling from a perspective informed by Megan's own experience on both sides of vitriol, as sender...

Justin Brooks is the author of You Might Go To Prison, Even Though You're Innocent. He is also the director of the California Innocence Project, which has freed 36 wrongly convicted people from over 570 years of wrongful imprisonment. But what sort of toll does that work take on the people who do it? And what do you learn along the way?  Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and mor...

In part 5, the final installment of Blood money, we're looking to the future to ask: how can true crime be more ethical? What does true crime with a conscience look like? Many of our previous guests, and few new ones like Mark Olshaker and Jon Ronson offer some thoughts on where the genre is heading, and how we might all shape it for the better. Get early access to ad-free episodes, bonus content,...