Home of the Brave

A photo-journalist's account of the first days of the war in Ukraine.

I'm going to take a break for awhile, at least until the pandemic is over. Thanks very much for your support and letters. I will be back with more stories soon.

Alan Chin describes what it was like at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.

Part Two of a trip across the country two months before the 2020 election.

Interviews from a road trip across the country.

The seventh and final report from a long trip across the country before the 2020 Presidential Election.

The sixth report from a long trip across the country.

The fifth report from a long trip across the country.

The fourth report from a long trip across the country.

Third report from a long road trip across the country.

Second report from a long trip across the country.

A new series of reports from a long trip across the country.

I went fishing in some beautiful mountains I first visited in 1968 when I was a Boy Scout. When I was older, we took our kids there so they could see it as well. It’s still very beautiful, but things have changed due to global warming.

My thinking is off, my approach is wrong...time to go fishing.

I recorded these interviews with my family two weeks ago, before George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. Now they seem unimportant, like from another era. Except that in my family it’s the younger folk who have been mostly fucked by the virus pandemic, and it’s been young people, mostly, who’ve been out on the streets protesting. I hope their efforts lead to real change in our society. Donate

Following the news is like watching a competition for the worst case scenario and I’ve grown weary of all the blaming and shaming. Now we can’t trust anyone, not even ourselves. But at some point we’re going to have to come together in order to survive. I’m working on a story where I interview people in my family about how they’re coping with the pandemic. Not everyone is doing well, and it’s pretty emotional for me, so I need to take some more time putting it together. In the meantime, thanks very much for your support.A link to an excellent documentary about Alex Caldiero. Donate

It seems more of us are paying attention to our neighborhoods lately, so perhaps this is a good time to replay this story, produced in 1988. I still live in the same neighborhood, but it feels different now. It’s like there was a tall tree in my front yard but now the tree is gone and only a stump remains. I am stumped. I used to depend on trust—standing or sitting close to strangers and holding a microphone less than a foot from their faces. Now that’s not going to happen again for a while. In the meantime, here’s to remembering the good old days. Donate

My friend Trent Harris has a problem caused by the coronavirus. It’s not a big problem compared to a lot of other things that have come up recently, like the possible collapse of the economy and thousands of people dying. Trent’s problem is more like a temporary embarrassment. Basically, his reputation is on the line. Donate Swackhamma tells Harvey a secret. Echo People Episode One on You Tube.Echo People Episode Two on You Tube.Trent Harris’ website is called the Echo Cave.Here’s the This American Life episode about Trent’s film, the Beaver Triology. The cast and crew of Echo People, with Mystery Mountain in the background. Harvey Harris upon seeing Mystery Mountain. Trent Harris wondering what he has done.

Shana from Achterarder, Scotland. My friend Erica Heilman has a podcast called Rumblestrip. She drives around Vermont and talks to people about their lives. Last week she was sitting at home, like everybody, trying to figure out what to do, and she decided to ask her listeners to send her audio recordings of what and how they’re doing under self isolation. A lot of people responded, quickly, and within a couple days Erica posted the first episode of a series she’s calling Our Show. If you’d like to send Erica an audio recording of what’s happening where you are, here’s the email address: rumblestripourshow@gmail.com.Rumblestrip websiteThe song at the end is Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen, performed by The Band. Donate Looking out Erica Heilman’s apartment in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Recording ambience from Erica Heilman’s window in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

This story was originally broadcast on All Things Considered in 1993. The ground was shifting under my feet back then and I had to figure out what to do. Now it’s shifting again, this time everybody’s in it together. There are things we can do, stories to tell, that can make us feel better. Thanks for listening and supporting this show. Donate

Adrienne Kinne just after basic training in 1994. Adrienne Kinne, 2020 I should confess that I have a personal interest in listening to veterans talk about how they recover from war. I was never in the military, but I spent some time overseas as a war correspondent for Esquire, Harper’s, and Mother Jones magazines. I was never in a battle or close to a bomb going off. I saw the aftermath—bodies on the ground, neighborhoods turned to rubble, people silent and in shock. The main thing I have to deal with is knowing that a couple times people who were helping me with my stories were punished, severely, after I left. I got to fly home to America and they had to stay there and suffer the consequences for helping me. I carry this guilt. So when veterans speak of their experiences recovering from war I listen very carefully.Check out the Veterans for Peace website.Here’s a link to Doug Peacock’s website. And a link to Save the Yellowstone Grizzly.And the link to the video of Brandi Carlile performing live on KEXP. Donate Douglas Peacock in 1967 Douglas Peacock south of Ajo, Arizona, 2020

Elliott Woods as a soldier in Iraq, 2004 Today I have a conversation with Elliott Woods, a veteran who is also a very fine writer. He served a year as a combat engineer in northern Iraq. Then he came home and went to school at the University of Virginia, graduating with a degree in English literature. He thought about staying in school and becoming a professor, but he decided he wanted to go back to war, this time as a journalist.Check out Elliott’s website. Donate Elliott Woods as a journalist in Afghanistan, 2009 Elliott Woods at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, 2019

Garett Reppenhagen in Iraq, 2004 I believe that sometime in the future, sooner or later, people in the United States will admit and accept that we have lost the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and demand that our troops be brought back home. Now we are in denial, which is dangerous because when you’re in denial you keep making the same mistake over and over again. I believe we need to talk about what we’ve done, the mistakes we’ve made, the crimes we’ve committed in order to move from denial to acceptance and then figure out how to change the way we respond to terrorism. This interview is the first in a series with veterans who fought in our wars and now are working for peace. Here’s a link to Veterans for Peace. Donate Garett Reppenhagen, 2008

Last spring I was invited to speak at the Oorzaken Audio Festival in Amsterdam. I remember seeing leaves come out on the trees along the canals and tulips blooming on the bridges. The first night I was there i was interviewed on stage at the Torpedo Theater by the hosts of the Podcastclub, a Dutch podcast hosted by Lieven Heeremans and Misha Melita. This time I’m the one answering the questions. Donate

His real name is Alissandru Francesco Caldiero, born into the old world on the island of Sicily, he came to the U.S. on a boat when he was nine years old, sailing past the Statue of Liberty. When I first met him, nearly 30 years later, he was screaming a Dada poem at a sandstone wall in southern Utah—repeating the same line, “This is not it,” over and over, faster and faster in a near epileptic seizure. In that moment our lives became intertwined.I think of this story as a song, a lament for not fitting in and feeling like you can’t make sense of the world around you, which is how I’ve been feeling lately. The story was originally broadcast on NPR’s Day to Day in 2003, right around the time we went to war in Iraq.To learn more about Alex Caldiero, check out this excellent documentary, The Sonosopher. Photos by Ashley Thalman. Donate

I’ve been in Armenia teaching a podcasting workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department. I think it went well, overall, and the students were exceptional. Perhaps I will write about it someday, but not now. I’ve come back to impeachment week before Christmas, a double whammy to go with my jet lag. So I’m going to re-play The Rebel Yell, a story about the 2004 Republican Convention in New York City, first podcast on this program in April of 2015.Music by the Icelandic group Mum (We Have a Map of the Piano, The Land Between Solar Systems, Slow Bicycle) and Kid Rock (All Summer Long). Donate

My operating hypothesis is that our cultural divide is a function of our oligarchic government. If a relatively few super-rich people control our wealth and power then it would be in their interest to keep the masses angry and blaming each other, fighting amongst themselves. In this way Donald Trump is a tool of the oligarchy, dividing us by twitters—so efficient and profitable and addicting—he incites fear of the other. So, if this is true, the most effective method of fighting oligarchic control might be to give up our fear of the other. I’ve been trying to practice this method by driving around Trump Country and talking to people, listening to people, because I find that listening dissolves fear. Donate

I was driving around rural western Colorado, near the border with Utah, near where Jack Kerouac saw a vision of God in the clouds that looked like Pooh Bear. I was looking for people I was a little afraid of—Republicans, Trump supporters—and there on the side of the highway were three signs that made me think I was in the right place.Music: Main Theme, Soundtrack for To Kill A Mockingbird by Elmer Bernstein Donate

It’s not easy for me to walk up to people and ask if they want to be interviewed for my podcast. I’m afraid they will think I’m a fool, or an idiot, or be suspicious of the whole thing—fake news, etc. But on this trip, more often than not, it was other people who came up to me. Pretty much everybody wanted to talk about the cultural divide. Donate

Yellowstone Lake, August 2019 This show is a request for funding, a responsibility for which I am ill-suited. I’m not interested in marketing and promotion. I’m opposed to advertising. I’m against monetizing my product. I don’t want my stories to go viral, I want them to go fungal like the underground network of mycorrhizal fibers that connect the roots of trees and plants in a forest, sharing food and information, a natural internet of physical connections on a cellular level. I’d rather think of my audience as trees than as data points on a graph, I’d rather grow my audience by word of mouth than by click bait. Home of the Brave is 100% funded by listener contributions. Please donate a one-time contribution through Stripe (below), or subscribe with a monthly donation through Pay Pal (in the menu bar above), or maybe you’d like to shop for a very cool Home of the Brave t-shirt or patch (in the the menu bar). Thank you very much for listening and supporting this show. Music by Bob Moss and Pat King, recorded in 1991. Donate

Solidod in Bozeman, Montana, 2012. Photo by Jake Warga. Larry met Solidod by chance, or happenstance. He happened to be in Florida on vacation and he happened to be walking through an apartment complex in Vero Beach looking for another guy and he ended up meeting Solidod. She invited him into her apartment and then she told him her life story and they became friends. Shortly after that, Larry and Solidod went into a recording studio and made this story for Hearing Voices. Solidod in the recording studio, Bozeman, Montana, 2012. Photo by Jake Warga. The cover of Solidod’s e-book, available here. Solidod and her husband, by Solidod. My Indian, by Solidod. Solidod’s wedding belt. Solidod makes beaded belts and bracelets. She asked me to post her phone number so you can call and order a special design: 772-538-9701.

I wanted to see the place where a war between the United States and Iran may begin. It turned out people over there couldn’t talk to me on tape because they live in countries without a tradition of free speech and they all feel they are being watched, and I didn’t want to get anybody in trouble. So this is a travelogue, a story about what it’s like to be there.The psychedelic Persian Gulf surf music is by Hayvanlar Alemi (he’s actually from Turkey). Here’s the link to his website. Donate Abu Dabi Workers taking a break in Khasab, Oman. On the boat heading out to the Strait of Hormuz. Near Kumzar, Oman, in the Strait of Hormuz. Fujairah, UAE. Tuna and Sardines, Muscat, Oman. Muscat, Oman The call-in-for-spiritual-advice show. She has a white pen in her hand. In the dunes near Dubai, UAE.

Alan Chin talks about his experience covering wars since 9/11.

For the solstice, the sun tunnels in the West Desert of Utah. Stories about going to war come from the top down, from media corporations that manufacture consent for war among the people. Stories about not going to war move from the bottom up, starting in conversations between family and friends, people speaking out for no money but just because they feel obligated to speak. In this approach there’s a shift in context where fear is taken out of the narrative—we are not being attacked, maybe these people are not our enemy. Maybe the real enemy is our government and our media that are being controlled by the military industrial complex. I believe bottom up stories can break apart the power structure coming down from above, so this is one of them. Donate Scott Carrier and William J. Astore on the house raft in Woods Hole Harbor.

Maybe like the Phoenix rising from the ashes following a drawing by M.S. Escher.

Interviews with taxi and ride share drivers from New Orleans to Jacksonville.

I just got back from speaking at two radio conferences in Europe. I saw the leaves come out on the trees along the canals in Amsterdam. I woke up in Ireland next to a pasture with four wooly alpacas, one just a baby. I spent days talking about how podcasting works from the bottom up, forming a lattice of connections that reach around the skin of the earth. This is better than the top-down fear-mongering of the corporate media. I said these things with confidence, because of you. I get letters from every continent including Antartica and they all sound like they were written by the same person...because we’re all in the same lattice.For more music by the Mermen click here. Donate

This is a story I produced last summer for The New Yorker Radio Hour. It’s about a controversy over one of the newest long-distance hiking trails in the United States. It was a difficult story to cover and explain, but I had excellent help from the NYRH producers and editors. I’d like to work for them again. Donate Ron Strickland, father of the Pacific Northwest Trail. The PNT crosses the Kootenai River Valley, north of Sandpoint, Idaho.

A day inside the gang-ridden community of Chamelecon, Honduras. Donate The ceiba tree in the park where the rap battle took place. Chamelecon, Honduras. The playing field under the tree. Rapper 23 is “Yosie,” who reads history for inspiration.

Donate

An introduction to a series about social conditions in Honduras

Ruth Pena and her daughter, from El Salvador, at the beach in Tijuana. That’s the border wall in the background. Donate The outfield at the ball park in Tijuana. Near second base at the ball park in Tijuana. Scar from eight bullets on the thigh of one of the Honduran men. Leaving the ball park. Standing in line for breakfast outside the ball park. Inside one of the Evangelical refuges in the hills surrounding Tijuana. Outside one of the Evangelical refuges in the hills surrounding Tijuana.

A sticker on one of the steel columns of the border wall south of Las Cruces, NM. Donate Another sticker on the wall,south of Las Cruces. Katie Davis and Molly Molloy at the wall south of Las Cruces.

Juana and Estela talk about why they left their homes in Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States.

Immigrants crossing the border near Agua Prieta, Sonora, 2005. Photo by Julian Cardona. Welcome to Season Two of Home of the Brave. This is the first of a series about the US/Mexico border and the present immigration situation. For background, I replay an interview with Charles Bowden recorded just a couple hundred yards from the barbed wire fence separating the two countries in the spring of 2005. Donate Migrants from Mexico crossing into the United States at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge near Sasabe, Arizona, 2005. Photo by Julian Cardona. The best place for books by Charles Bowden is Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City. They ship all over the world.

I need to take a break so let's call this the end of season one. And I'd like to play the second story I produced for the show, an interview with Alex Chadwick. Thank you very much for your support. I'm going to turn off the subscription service (Pay Pal), but you can still donate and buy tee-shirts, tote bags, and patches. I hope to be back soon. Music: Slow Bicycle by Mum.

In 1812, the United States reignites war with the British!  Andrew Jackson fights the Battle of New Orleans and Francis Scott Key composes a poem at the Battle of Baltimore.  This is the final episode in Book One: The Republic!  

Thomas Jefferson is elected President and the nation goes to war with the Barbary Pirates!  Lewis and Clark explore the West, as tragedy strikes back East.

The United States has finally won its Independence, but the challenges of establishing a government are only just begining.

The British attempt cut the colonies in half, as Benjamin Franklin negotiates an alliance with France.

The American Revolution heats up as the Continental Congress declares Independence!