Walden the book & Concord the Town

Announcing a new podcast project slated for April 2024. A walking tour about the anniversary of the Shot Heard Round the World and Concord’s role in history. Everyone’s invited to the party!

Here is the end of the 2 years, 2 months and 2 day marathon, my friends (12/12/20-2/14/2023) The end of the book, but not the end of the TranscendentalConcord.com projects & podcasts. I hope that you will write your own version of Walden, there is more day to dawn!

What has Henry learned? What have I learned? What have you learned? Travel, but don’t do it to escape yourself-travel inside yourself. And don’t get into a rut.

Dramatic transition from -20 degrees to springtime weather. Additional commentaries are recorded at Walden Woods Stonehenge & the replica Cabin. (I had recorded some down on the beach itself in the rain but WiFi or Spirits didn’t want it to process properly, lol)

It’s Spring, finally, but HDT dwells on the melting ice and the transformation of sand & clay into melted forms. Deep Cut is described perfectly. And he fights with his downstairs neighbors, the red squirrels.

Ice ice and more ice! Ice cutting and ice ending up in India. Also, the dangers of phrenology and using pseudoscience as bad metaphors.

He awakens to a question and then realizes the answer is right there. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Henry talks about his winter observations. The squirrels performing for an unseen audience, the hounds who suddenly understand a mystery. And how Walden is a restless sleeper & bedfellow.

Winter Visitors Section: I'm a hiker and spent many days cronching through the leaves, just like HDT did through the snow. Who visited him? Can you guess? Emerson, Alcott and Channing-but can you tell who they are by his descriptions? You'll be surprised. 

HDT discusses the African Americans living in Walden Woods before he built his hut. If you want more info, find Black Walden by Elise Lemire which offers a much deeper context and lots of research about the people who don’t usually get mentioned in the histories about Walden.

Henry falls in love with his fireplace. “You can always see a face in the fire”

Henry gathers food for the winter & builds his chimney out of second hand bricks. Recycling & eating wild apples before it was trendy!

Henry writes a mini-play! Plus the history of the War of the Red Ants vs the Black Ants & his “loony” antics with a bird neighbor.

Thoreau discusses hunting, fishing, eating animals and not eating them. Is this chapter about vegetarianism or morality? Give a listen and see for yourself!

Happy tree descriptions as he runs through the forest. Then he visits an Irish Family & tells them how to save their money if only they’d stop buying Starbucks. Well, kinda. It’s a difficult chapter that shows quite a bit of arrogance. See for yourself!

Henry dives deep into what it is like to live in relation to Walden. A huge body of water as your immediate neighbor, how sacred, and how it gets profaned.

Henry finally gets to the main character of Walden, the Pond itself!

Henry walks to town, runs the gauntlet of gossip from the townspeople. Once, he even got arrested!

Henry gets his hands dirty while contemplating what it means “to know beans”. Sarcasm alert!

Thoreau tells us about the people who come by his Cabin by the Pond

Henry talks about how he's never really alone. You can be alone in a crowd. Are you really alone when you are focused on work-studying or out in the field, or gardening? Be sure to listen for the line about his Pine Needle friends. ;)

Henry talks about the sounds (snd smells) of civilization entering into his world by means of the trains. Also, owls, birds and frogs haunt him at all hours.

Henry discusses what it is like to let the woods tell its own story to him. He sits and lets the world go by, the trains, the animals, the pinnate leaves on the tree. What would it be like if we listened to the world WE are in?

Ancient Greek and Latin are Henry’s starting points. A great chapter for book nerds and those who believe we should keep learning our whole lives!

One of the most dense sections, he touches upon time, trains, the news, the post office, and how to simplify, simplify, simplify!