Last Born In The Wilderness

Alex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and author of The End of Policing. In this discussion, Prof. Vitale describes the current state of policing in the US and provides a historical and sociological context as to why policing functions as it currently does. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/alex-vitale // Sustain + support: https://www.patreo...

Tom Aiello is the founder, owner, and lead instructor of the Snake River BASE Academy, based in Twin Falls, Idaho. Twin Falls is nestled up against the Snake River Canyon, and spanning the canyon is the Perrine Bridge. Due to the lack of legal restrictions and its location, the Perrine Bridge is an optimal fixed structure for BASE jumping, attracting countless people from all over the world to thi...

John Perkins is the best-selling author of several books, including the well-known Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and his follow-up book, The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman, released last year. Perkins spent the 1970s working for the strategic consulting firm Chas. T. Main as Chief Economist, where he and his staff advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, F...

Sean McFate is an author, novelist, and expert in foreign policy and national security strategy. He is deeply critical of the ongoing privatization of military operations by the US government, as well as Erik Prince, former president and founder of Blackwater, and his proposals to dramatically privatize military operations in Afghanistan. These types of grandiose plans Prince proposed to the Trump...

Just like David O'Hara's book Downstream, this episode is about so much more than fly-fishing. O'Hara imbues the conversation with great knowledge and wisdom, and speaking with him was a great pleasure in and of itself. The topics touched on in this episode are broad: fishing the rivers of Appalachia; empathizing with other creatures; studying and observing reef ecology in Belize; enduring and rec...

Jerry Brown is the co-author of The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity. He and his wife and co-author Julie Brown began their journey into the psychedelic history of early Christianity after noticing telling depictions of psychedelic mushrooms on display in the frescoes and architecture of the many chapels and cathedrals that exist across Europe. Jerry tells t...

Dr. Kevin Trenberth is a Distinguished Senior Scientist in the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In this interview, Dr. Trenberth explains the effect anthropogenic climate change is having on our weather systems, regarding the catastrophic record-breaking flooding in Houston this month, as well as the Category 5 Hurricane Irma that wrecked havoc on Florida a...

Spencer Sunshine is a researcher, journalist, activist, and political consultant regarding far-right movements. We discuss the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a collection of various loosely affiliated white nationalist groups, along with elements of the so-called "Alt-Right," attempted to produce a cohesive platform to unite under. Spencer was on the ground in Charlottesville, a...

Stuart Pimm is Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, and is a world leader in the study of present day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. His research covers the reasons why species become extinct, how fast they do so, the global patterns of habitat loss and species extinction, and the management consequences of this research. His commitment to the interfa...

Rhyd Wildermuth is co-founder and managing editor of Gods&Radicals, a nonprofit pagan anticapitalist publication. Rhyd identifies as a Pagan and an anarchist, and as we go over in this episode, those are not mutually exclusive terms. Rhyd gives a description as to why Paganism, in the Americanized sense, has lost touch with its radical anticapitalist roots, and through his work and writings, Rhyd...

In this episode, I speak with Jeremy Lent, author of The Pattering Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, and founder and president of the Liology Institute. The premise of The Patterning Instinct is that culture shapes values, and values shape history. Through this exploration, Jeremy examined various cultures and societies and determined the underlying premises of their c...

David Skrbina is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan and is the author of the books Panpsychism in the West and The Metaphysics of Technology. He has become well-known for being the so-called "pen pal" of Theodore Kaczynski, having communicated with Kaczynski for some time. Skirbina eventually published Kaczynski's anti-tech philosophy, elaborated in his letters, essays, and his...

The guest on this episode answers the question: Why do we tend to have so many issues with our teeth and jaws? How many of us have had teeth pulled, such as our wisdom teeth, and have had braces that align our crooked teeth? If we look at other mammals, we don't see these issues at all. We can even look to our closest relatives, the chimp and the bonobo, and we see that there are very few issues t...

Darcia Narvaez is a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, where she studies flourishing and compassionate moral development and ecological attachment in children and adults. She is the author or editor of dozens of books, chapters and articles. Her recent book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, won the William James Book Award fro...

Perri Gardner, instructor of Political Science at the College of Southern Idaho, speaks with me about the US political system and government in the age of Trump. We discuss the cognitive dissonance political leaders have regarding Big Government vs. Limited Government, the decline and disintegration of the Great American Experiment, the recent British election, and the "Oh, shit" moment. // Episod...

This episode features a conversation with Danielle Billing, teacher at the Idaho School of the Deaf and Blind. At first, we begin discussing our love for pets, and our revulsion regarding the breeding practices of dogs, the anthropomorphizing of animals, and then the conversation moves into our education system and teaching in our contemporary society. Eventually, we get to the crux of the convers...

In this episode, I speak with Brandon Scott Tesch. Brandon is known for a few things (such as being a fantastic hairdresser) but has more recently been making a name for himself as Ursula, his drag queen persona, in local theater productions that have only become more successful as the months and years have gone by. We discuss the challenges of growing up and coming out in this area, embracing his...

We start this episode off with Danielle Billing, a teacher at the Idaho School For The Deaf And Blind, relaying a story about providing basic sex education for her students. We go on to discuss sexuality more broadly, covering such subjects as Freud, Puritanical guilt, growing up with anxiety and depression, coming out, as well as the Dietrich High School court case. *The opinions expressed in thi...

Liyah Babayon is an Armenian refugee, activist, entrepreneur, and business owner of Ooh La La consignment boutique in Twin Falls, Idaho. I first became familiar with Liyah after she was featured in a Slate article that explored the upsurge of anti-refugee activism in the city of Twin Falls, Idaho. I approached her to do a podcast with me, and what resulted was an in-depth and fascinating discussio...