This podcast explores the development of the book, Boy and Island by Andrew Hurst which centers on the Three Mile Island (T.M.I.) nuclear power accident that occurred near his childhood home in Middletown, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979—the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. Boy and Island examines T.M.I.’s impact on local citizens by unveiling the previously untold story of his family’s incredible journey in search of sanity and justice on the frontline of a nuclear nightmare. Hurst was six-years-old when the accident occurred, while his father, James Hurst, was a founding member of PANE (People Against Nuclear Energy). PANE’s mission to hold T.M.I.’s owners and operators accountable for psychological and emotional trauma went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In waging this war, the Hurst family found themselves in an astounding series of circumstances that uprooted their lives and led them to seek refuge in strange places, leading to encounters with remarkable people. Hurst’s first-person account of these experiences is sensitively crafted with poetic insights from his insider’s perspective and loaded with rare, unpublished photos and archival materials. Boy and Island also examines the ways the T.M.I. experience has impacted Hurst’s creative instincts as an artist and how it has shaped his character as an adult. Ultimately, Hurst sees Boy and Island functioning as a story that transcends the confines of the T.M.I. issue by mining the tragedy for unconventional wisdom and forward thinking about place, family, and social justice. Read more about Boy and Island at www.boyandisland.com
After a routine medical procedure goes awry, sending his father Jim into a months-long health crisis, Hurst embarks on an esoteric ponderance on the nature of errors that includes the zen wisdom of composer John Cage, Brian Eno's “Oblique Strategies,” the roving spirituality of walking, the pleasures and terrors of misunderstood song lyrics, the tragic convergence of mechanical and human error at the center of the accident at Three Mile Island, and more!
In honor of Women's History Month, this episode contains a very special interview with my mother, Anne Hurst in which we reflect on the 44th anniversary of the accident at Three Mile Island with a revealing and heartfelt discussion on the trials and tribulations of caregiving amidst a nuclear catastrophe, the true spirit of activism and much more!
In this final part of Episode 2, the question; "How did Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant wind up in my backyard?" is finally answered through ruminations on violence as spectacle, the brilliant and turbulent early history of Radioactivity, from its inspired discovery at the dawn of the 20th century, to its weaponization by the U.S. Military in World War 2, and much, much more!
In this episode, Hurst weighs in on Meltdown the Netflix documentary on Three Mile Island, and continues his deep dive into Deja Vu and its ubiquitous presence in the modern popular psyche through revealing personal insights on The China Syndrome movie, his disturbing eyewitness account of the attacks on 9/11, the concept of Militainment, "wild history" and more.
In Part 3 of this multipart episode, Hurst continues to explore the question, “how did the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant wind up in my back yard?” Topics include the deception of photography, DADA's transformation into surrealism, and Deja Vu on a mass scale in the turbulent years between WWI and WWII.
Hurst offers a candid glimpse into his mindscape during the 2021 Christmas and New Year holiday season. Including revealing audio snapshots of impromptu explorations of psychogeographic sites from his youth as well as updates on his father James' current health struggles.
Amidst the festivities of the Thanksgiving holiday, Hurst ponders the connective tissues that bring people together. Topics include: the intriguing circumstances that link Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered King Tut's tomb and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father” of the atomic bomb; the international communion of savagery that was World War I; and the eclectic assortment of artists and poets spurned forth by revolt who called themselves DADA.
In part 1 of this 3 part episode, Hurst embarks on a journey that traces the mystical impulses and political intrigue that lurks within the technological discoveries that eventually led to the existence of the domestic use of the atom, embodied by nuclear power plants such as Three Mile Island.
In this episode Hurst commemorates the 42nd anniversary of the accident at Three Mile Island, with thoughts on rethinking victimhood, the past and future legacy of the nuclear power industry, the psychological similarities between the pandemic lockdown and his experiences during the TMI evacuation, and more! For more on Boy and Island, visit www.boyandisland.com
Introducing the Boy and Island podcast, a companion to the forthcoming book by Andrew Hurst. This podcast follows Andrew's creative dissection of the tragic events that occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, and retells the narrative from an insider's perspective.
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