The Tooth & Claw podcast meets Against Everyone with Conner Habib! I talk with Wes Larson about why people are fascinated by animal attacks on AEWCH 261!

23 Apr

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

Dear friends: Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.

Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.

Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts.

You can also buy my novel Hawk Mountain (and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!)

Friends,
This is the second episode in a series of episodes on science and how science intersects with our lives in surprising ways. Across these episodes, we’ll be considering the healing and connective powers of the void of space, terrifying encounters with predators, the development of the concept of nature, reflections on our own animalistic violence, the truth and complications of the scientific method itself, and the ways in which we connect at the tiniest layers of existence. These episodes are not “scientific” episodes per se, but they aren’t scientistic either. Each one is an exploration of what science can bring into our lives. 
The first episode in the series was AEWCH 260, on which I talked with Marjolijn van Heemstra about connecting with the expansiveness of space to understand the challenges we face today.

This is a very different episode… and it’s about animal attacks!

It’s an exciting and interesting for me on many levels – not the least of which is that it’s with WES LARSON, wildlife biologist and co-host of one of the only podcasts I listen to on a regular basis, THE TOOTH AND CLAW PODCAST,  which he hosts with his brother Jeff Larson and their friend Mike Smith!
Every week is just a different horror show, where the guys tell a true story about animals attacking people. As a longtime listener,  I did have to ask myself, as any reasonable person would: Why am I so interested in animal attacks? Why is anyone, for that matter?

It stirred up, well, quite a bit actually! So Wes and I talk about all that and more at length.

I’ve got to say, I don’t often get a chance to talk with my favorite podcasters, so I’m so excited to share this episode with you.

Also: Be sure to support the The Tooth & Claw Podcast patreon. I’m a longtime patron myself!

BOOK LIST
Since Wes doesn’t have a book out yet, a few good books that tie into this episode are:

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New series of science-themed podcast episodes! First up, AEWCH 260: How can a cosmic perspective help us meet the challenges of our time? with Marjolijn van Heemstra!

16 Apr

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

Dear friends: Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.

Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.

Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts.

You can also buy my novel Hawk Mountain (and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!)

Friends,

A new journey. This is the  first episode in a series of episodes on science and how science intersects with our lives in surprising ways: through the healing and connective powers of the void of space, terrifying encounters with predators, the development of the concept of nature, our own animalistic violence, the truth and complications of the scientific method itself, and connection at the tiniest layers of existence.

Just as the connections are surprising, so, I hope, will be the picture of science. I don’t mean science in the dull and deadened way science is spoken about, mostly today; that is, a science drained of its vitality through economic and political struggle. Because right now, science primarily finds our way into our consciousness through confrontations: whether they’re about pharmaceuticals or AI or climate change, science lives most squarely in tensions and the low hums of everyday anxiety.

Instead, this is a science that is completed by our engagement with it. A science that connects its offerings with our moral impulses, with love, and with enthusiasms.

When I was in grad school, I studied science primarily in small in organismic and evolutionary biology seminars with the great and groundbreaking scientist Lynn Margulis. The most important thing my science education gave me was the ability to be critical of science. But the second most important thing was the inspiration of loving it.

So these episodes will not be “scientific” episodes, exactly, but they will be about science without falling into the merely scientistic.

To kick off the series, I’m joined by the poet laureate of Amsterdam, novelist and nonfiction writer Marjolijn van Heemstra, whose newly translated book, In Light-Years There’s No Hurry: Cosmic Perspectives on Everyday Life, gives a portrait of the vital necessity of seeing space and the sky differently, offering an illuminating and helpful darkness.

Marjolijn and I talk about the ways in which the overview effect – that is viewing earth from space – can be brought into our lives. We discuss the power of walking in the night – in fact Marjolijn runs night walks in the Netherlands – and the way it connects those with disparate political beliefs  We talk about the fragmentation and the whole of existence, the Hubble telescope, and the need to be expansive, not just contracted or even only “mindful” in our moment to confront and live along with the challenges facing us.

Marolijn also reads from her book and also a poem, “The Middle”.

I’m so happy to share this first episode on how the sciences find their ways into our lives.

CH

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Are consent and trauma useful enough concepts to help navigate violation and healing? I talk with psychoanalyst and author AVGI SAKETOPOULOU on AEWCH 259!

9 Apr

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

Dear friends: Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.

Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.

Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts.

You can also buy my novel Hawk Mountain (and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!)

Friends,

The world is a generator of mass future trauma. Of course, it always is, but it has rarely been as obvious in my lifetime, and probably yours, as it is now. We anticipate a future of people dealing with the violence done to them, or having done violence to others, or having witnessed violence.

So it is more important than ever to ask: is our view of trauma and healing up to the task of helping so many cope with the fallout of the trauma being created today?

What if we require a whole new understanding of trauma? Not as something healable, even, but as something to work with, think with, move with?

Furthermore, because one of the ways trauma can be generated is through violation, and the framing of that violation is often a frame of a breach of consent. But… is our model of consent useful is relating to trauma and violation, or even in protecting us from it?

I’ve talked about these topics on the show before, but the conversation runs particularly deep on this episode with my guest, psychoanalystAVGI SAKETOPOULOU. Avgi is author of Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia and co-author (with Ann Pellegrini) of Gender without Identity, two excellent books that confront therapeutic/psychoanalytic status quo views of desire, queerness, and trans life in both clinical setting and the public conversation at large. Her thinking offers a strong defense of queer and trans self-determination, as well as powerfully nuanced perspectives on sexualities.

I’m so happy to share this episode, and all its challenging directions, with you.

MORE ON AVGI

Here’s Avgi’s website, which has a comprehensive list of her publications and links to other interviews, including her talk with one of my very favorite writers, Adam Phillips. I also recommend her challenging books, Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia and, with co-author Ann Pellegrini, Gender without Identity.

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What do we do after the end of the world? I talk with Srećko Horvat, Una Mullally, and Mark O’Connell on AEWCH 258!

3 Apr

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

Dear friends: Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.

Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.

Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts.

You can also buy my novel Hawk Mountain (and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!)

Friends,
On Thursday, March 28, myself and journalist & organizer UNA MULLALLY, presented the event THE BEGINNING IS NEAR in Dublin, where we talked about the end of the world and what comes after that with frequent AEWCH guests: philosopher and activist SREĆKO HORVAT, and cultural critic and writer MARK O’CONNELL.
The event marked Srećko’s first speaking engagement in Ireland, and also my first attempt at creating an “AEWCH event” in Ireland. I’d love to do many more.

The night was broken into halves: first, we talked about apocalypse. Then we had a short break and spoke about renewal.* What arose was a challenging set of indications and prospects, failures and pathways.

Some questions that came up:

  • Is the apocalypse always happening?
  • What does the esoteric tell us about how to live beyond apocalypse?
  • What is the role of art in renewal?
  • Why is it important to evade the political realm?
  • What is the use of hope?

I’m so proud to have set up this event with Una and to share it with you!

*We also engaged with the audience via exercises which I may bring to the show down the line, but which are edited out here… So if you want the full experience, come to the next event in person or via online! I’d love to see you there!

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Can I change the world with my own spiritual development? Lisa Romero returns to AEWCH on episode 257!

26 Mar

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

Dear friends: Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.

Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.

Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts.

You can also buy my novel Hawk Mountain (and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!)

Friends,

The way the world seems to come in again and again in our time is like a wave to beat us down. For some of us the wave is unbearable. In fact it is a killing wave – But for many of us, most of us actually, the wave is knocking us about. We see the swells and currents from different vantage points, and the tides at different times. Perhaps the flood started for you back in 2001, witnessing the shattering of a sense of global security; or you’re seeing water in your dreams again and again in ways that impacts your psyche; or you feel you’re drowning in responsibilities or washed out by the exhaustion of debts.

What so many share is a recognition of the unceasingness of world intensities, coming ashore and pulling away again.

The resul? We can feel pulled in our lives away from who we really are. Like when you leave your spot on the beach and walk into the ocean, only to look back a bit later and see you’ve been carried so far from the spot at which you entered.

I’ve definitely been going through this for a long time. Of course there are things in my life that I am happy about, but so much of who I am is being transformed by the waters of my life, and the life we all share. Maybe you’ve sensed it in my voice on the show?

So that leave me – like it leaves anyone else, trying to figure out what to do.

Questions arise:

  • How does my self-development match my spiritual development?
  • How do I develop with the other in mind?
  • How do I meet another person in a way that actually assists my self development?
  • And finally, how does all that lead to my spiritual development helping the world?

I talk about all of this with spiritual teacher and writer, LISA ROMERO.

Lisa starts with a question* with her own: How can I give my will to your thinking?

This is a personal, spiritual, and worldly episode. It uses events in my own life to discover how how turning point in our lives, and our relationships, can offer opportunities to help the world’s development… if we work through them properly.

MORE ON LISA:
Lisa has a YouTube channel that features her in conversation with younger people on the spiritual path. It’s called the ASTRAL ARC, and she is just about to discuss the virtues Lisa is offers courses on the festivals throughout the year. If you’d like to check into some of Lisa’s other books, they’re all on here site, where she also has a short audio clip detailing the books and her work. Lisa has also been on the Duncan Trussell Family Hour, my pal Duncan Trussell’s podcast.

*Lisa opens the episode with a question, and concludes the episode with a poem, which I’ve also included here:

DIG HERE THE ANGEL SAID
by St. John of the Cross

She caught me off guard when my
soul said to me,
“Have we met?”

So surprised I was
to hear her speak like that
I chuckled.

She began to sing a tale: “There was once a hardworking man
who used to worry so much because he could
not feed and clothe his children and
wife the way he wanted.

There was a beautiful little chapel in the village
where the man lived and one day while
he was praying, an angel
appeared.

The angel said, ‘Follow me.’ And he did out into an ancient forest.
‘Now dig here,’ the angel said.  And the man felt strength in
his limbs he had not known since youth and with just
his bare hands he dug deep and found a
lost treasure, and his relationship
with the world changed.’

Finding our soul’s beauty does that–give us
tremendous freedom
from worry.

“Dig here,” the angel said–
“in your soul,
in your
soul.”

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On the vision vs practical action in activism in art with SARAH SCHULMAN on AEWCH 256,

21 Mar

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

AEWCH is now on its way to 300 episodes!

AND: It receives no money from sponsors or advertisements, it is entirely listener supported.
Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.
Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.
Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts + buy my novel Hawk Mountain and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!

Friends,
This episode of the show, with novelist, essayist, playwright, and organizer Sarah Schulman, connects to a quote that inspired the very first episode of AEWCH. It’s from Christian philosopher and writer G.K. Chesterton:

When the business man rebukes the idealism of his office-boy, it is commonly in some such speech as this: “Ah, yes, when one is young, one has these ideals in the abstract and these castles in the air; but in middle age they all break up like clouds, and one comes down to a belief in practical politics, to using the machinery one has and getting on with the world as it is.”… But since then I have grown up and have discovered that these philanthropic old men were telling lies. What has really happened is exactly the opposite of what they said would happen. They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election… the vision is always solid and reliable. The vision is always a fact. It is the reality that is often a fraud.”

Right now, various states’ refusals to mediate in terms of Palestinian liberation have amplified both vision and the practical action. The vision is clear: total liberation from war and state violence. And the practical actions are brought into focus each day: tactics and strategies to demand governments support ceasefire.

The movement for peace in Gaza is bridging the visionary and the practical. It is teaching us the lesson that both are vital, but that those in power generally want to diminish the vision and reduce us to what they define as “practical.”

It’s not just the political realm that benefits from keeping the vision in play while figuring out the right practical steps to take.

There are overlapping questions, also, in art: How do I tell a story but stay true to my imagination? How do I innovate but communicate through the mediums that others understand? How to I express through the astral realm of the unconscious but keep the conscious mind in play?

Sarah Schulman’s life expresses a unique movement between the vision and the practical. She is a great articulator of concepts that are often deeply felt and held but not easy to communicate. This talent is on full display in two of her best known books, Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repairand The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination. She’s also on the advisory board for Jewish Voice for Peace.

I hope this episode offers strength to you.
Best,
CH

MORE ON SARAH
Sarah is a prolific writer,Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT Up New York, 1987-1993, and perhaps most relevant books to this episode are Israel/Palestine and the Queer International and her novel The Child. There’s also a new book of good interviews with Sarah, Conversations with Sarah Schulman.

Mural in Dublin by Emmalene Blake

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What comes after the collapse of everything? What will we draw strength from? I talk with Una Mullally about death and strength on AEWCH 255!

14 Mar

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

AEWCH is now on its way to 300 episodes!

AND: It receives no money from sponsors or advertisements, it is entirely listener supported. Does this podcast offer you inspiration? If so, do support the show on patreon. Give a one–time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you. Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts + buy my novel Hawk Mountain and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!

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Friends,
In this deeply personal episode, my friend – journalist, artist, and organizer, Una Mullally – and I look at how proximity to death and collapse in our own lives can renew our commitment to and understanding of truth. It’s especially important now, with the sense of claustrophobia and the real world deaths happening on the screens in front of our eyes. How do we see the image of death, feel the presence of violence against others, and bring that into a project of renewal?

This is, in a way, a partner episode to my upcoming event with Una, Srećko Horvat, and Mark O’Connell, THE BEGINNING IS NEAR which is an immersive discussion on apocalypse and renewal happening in Dublin AND online. The in-person tickets are basically dold out, but you can still by streaming tickets and be a part of it, as well as watch a recording after if you’d like.

BUY TICKETS HERE ONLINE STREAMING TICKETS are only €15 or about $16.00.

Enjoy the episode friend, and come to the event!

Best,
CH

MORE ON UNA
Una has a weekly, challenging, column in the Irish Times. Some of Una’a other great appearances on AEWCH include AEWCH 230 on how to stop catastrophizing, and AEWCH 192 which featured us speaking about my novel Hawk Mountain and fiction more broadly.

A BOOK YOU SHOULD READ
in conjunction with this episode is Susan Sontag’s excellent Regarding the Pain of Others.

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EVENT: THE BEGINNING IS NEAR! CONNER HABIB + SREĆKO HORVAT + UNA MULLALLY + MARK O’CONNELL – MARCH 28 IN DUBLIN AND ONLINE

7 Mar
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THE BEGINNING IS NEAR: An immersive discussion on apocalypse and renewal
Dean Arts Studio, Dublin 2, Thursday March 28th, 7pm – 9.30pm + Streaming Online
€15-€35 (pay what you can afford, ticket includes a complimentary refreshment) + ONLINE STREAMING TICKETS

BUY TICKETS NOW 

Feel like everything is collapsing and decaying?
What would it feel like to consider everything is about to begin and flourish?

Join me and a host of AEWCH guests – Croatian philosopher and organizer Srećko Horvat,  journalist and activist Una Mullally, and Mark O’Connell, for a unique opportunity to dissect and create new pathways amidst both global turmoil and solidarity-building!

War, and the nihilism of over-consumption, are in a fever-pitch struggle with visions of peace, contentment, and connection. In THE BEGINNING IS NEAR, our four speakers will explore the polar opposites of disaster and renewal, inviting the audience into the discussion to create a broader vision for Dublin, Ireland, and the world at large.

THE BEGINNING IS NEAR marks Srećko Horvat’s first speaking engagement in Ireland. His knowledge in philosophy, school-building, and political organizing, conjures a spirit of resonance, which reveals what feels like ‘the end’, across so many fronts, can also mark a real beginning.

TICKETS are available on a sliding scale: pay what you can at €15, €25, or €35.
Space is limited, buy your tickets early!
Complimentary beverages provided.

LIVESTREAM TICKETS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE to watch the event remotely for a flat fee of €15 (about $16.50 USD), and comes with limited-time access to a recording of the event. When you buy a livestream ticket, you will receive the link 12-24 hours ahead of the event via the email you supply at point of purchase.

All ticket holders will receive access to a recording of the event for a limited time.

Join us at the edge of death and birth, truth and love.

BUY TICKETS NOW

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What does an anarchism of peace look like, and how can we apply it today? AEWCH returns, with SHULI BRANSON!

5 Mar

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

AEWCH is now on its way to 300 episodes!

AND: It receives no money from sponsors or advertisements, it is entirely listener supported. Does this podcast offer you inspiration? If so, do support the show on patreon. Give a one–time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you. Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts + buy my novel Hawk Mountain and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!

Friends,
After a small podcasting break, AEWCH is back with a (sort of?) new ep, a crossover episode with a new and excellent podcast, THE BREAKUP THEORY, hosted by SHULI BRANSON.
When Shuli and I spoke a few weeks ago about Palestine on their podcast, I was so in excited about where we went. I also wanted to link people up with The Breakup Theory. So I’m crossposting that episode here. I’ve never done this before (and probably never will again) – but this was a special occasion, an episode about politics and spirituality that encounters the challenges of our moment.

Shuli is an organizer and the author of Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life, which is clear, easy to read, and fun. They’re also the co-editor of Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies.

Shuli and I last spoke on AEWCH 228, about how to see the world through the lens of anarchism. Obviously, a lot has happened in the world since then, and so the conditions and directions of the conversation are new here.

The episode starts by touching on a deep cut of my show, AEWCH 9 – which I later reposted as AEWCH 132: HOW TO BREAK UP WITH THE STATE. It’s an episode that iinspired some of Shuli’s thinking (and maybe the name of their podcast?). The primary question being: Why do we stay in relationships with states that obviously don’t have our interests in mind. Then it goes… well, lots of places.

Some questions that come up:

  • Should we be practicing good politics or anti-politics?
  • How are we baited by elections?
  • Is nonviolence effective?
  • What does a spiritual politics that doesn’t turn into theocracy look like?
  • Are a non-abstract politics possible?
  • How does the state trick us into discussing and envisioning things on its terms?
  • Why do we wait for tragedy to take action?
  • What are everyday practices of resilience?
  • How do limits in love relationships teach us about politics?
  • What do we do with the fact that people have different desires?

This was such an expansive conversation. I love talking with Shuli, and I hope you love listening!

MORE ON THIS EPISODE

MORE ON SHULI
Please support Shuli’s/The Breakup Theory’s patreon here. And subscribe to the show here.

An episode of AEWCH that you can pair with this one:
AEWCH 248: HOW CAN I FIND PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR?

Some books that go well with this episode:
No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred by Klee Benally
The Subversive Seventies by Michael Hardt
The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich

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So… you want to publish a novel? Well, there are some things you should probably know. I talk about the BIG FICTION industry with Dan Sinykin on AEWCH 253!

8 Feb

LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD ABOVE OR:  Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker

AEWCH is now on its way to 300 episodes!

AND: It receives no money from sponsors or advertisements, it is entirely listener supported.
Does this podcast offer you inspiration?
If so, do support the show on patreon.
Give a one-time annual or monthly pledge to Patreon.com/connerhabib to connect to and give economic life to something you find value in. Thank you.
Also, please do subscribe to the show, give it a 5 star rating and warm review on Apple Podcasts + buy my novel Hawk Mountain and give it 5 star rating and a positive review on Goodreads!

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Friends,
I love reading and I love buying books. I’ve come to learn that those are two separate pursuits, but both are highly mediated by forces that are unseen to most of us, even if we’re writers or avid readers.

How was the literary landscape in America formed? 

Why are there so few big publishers not owned by multinational corporations? 

How do those merges affect what we read and how genres are created? 

Why do so many prize-winning novels suck?

I wanted to get a handle on all of this, so I invited Professor of English and scholar of books and publishing, DAN SINYKIN onto the show! 

Dan is the author of the excellent book Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature.You might think this bookis just a niche concern, but it’s a page-turner, filled not just with theories, but name-dropping, gossip, surprising turns of history, and determined individuals. It also an important book for writers to read.

I hope this episode gives you a better view of the infernal… or, okay, at least crazy Rube Golberg-esque inner workings of a favorite activity.

MORE ON DAN

Dan’s website is here. Dan is aso the author of American Literature and the Long Downturn: Neoliberal Apocalypse and many scholarly articles, including his essay on Danielle Steele (who features in Big Fiction in a big way). He’s also hard at work on a new book about close reading, which I am very excited for.

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