“Can walking build connection to place? How can I connect to the places I move through, if I’m only an ephemeral traveler?” We discuss these questions with Henry Fletcher and Jay Simpson, who have guided wilderness treks and trail restoration trips in the Westfjords of Iceland. Their guiding has led them to find practices of listening and engagement that seek deep connections to place.

Henry Fletcher, forthcoming co-author of Walking & Wayfinding in the Westfjords of Iceland, trained facilitator, storyteller, and guide working on a trail project in Iceland, ocean education in the UK and development of worldwide trails Film Festival through the World Trails Network.

Jay Simpson, a walking collective member and Henry's longtime collaborator and co author, Jay is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer Grantee and digital storyteller trained in anthropology. His work focuses on our understanding and relationships with wildlife and land.

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Episode Credits

Produced by Augusta Thomson, @augusta_x_thomson
and Jay Simpson, @tboltkid
Production Assistance by Sam Kellogg, @sampkellogg
Music by Annie Garlind, uccharlo.bandcamp.com
Podcast funding by Gallatin Resource Fund at NYU.

Walking Collective website: walkingcollective.xyz
Walking Collective Instagram: http://instagram.com/walkingcollective
Contact us walkingcollective.xyz@gmail.com

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The Walking Collective

Ep.02 Connecting to Place in Iceland

Joe Whittle is a photographer, writer, seasonal US Forest Ranger, and enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and descendant member of the Delaware Nation of Oklahoma. Follow him on Instagram at @joewhittlephotography. Our episode page features an image of Joe's friend, Kanim, as gathers wild cous roots (aka cous biscuitroot) in a garden that was tended by his ancestors for over 15,000 years (Nimiipuu Territory).

Additional Information

During our conversation, Joe references statistics about the rate at which Native Americans are killed by law enforcement officers. For more information, see https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/10/us/native-lives-matter/index.html

To read Joe's story in the Guardian, go to https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/18/oregon-lifestyle-wild-native-american-ancestors

Additionally, we encourage our listeners to use native-land.ca to start learning about whose land you’re on. 

Contact information for the three federally recognized US bands of Lënapeyok:

http://delawaretribe.org/

https://www.delawarenation-nsn.gov/

https://www.mohican.com/

Detailed history of the Lënape removals and diaspora:

http://delawaretribe.org/services-and-programs/historic-preservation/removal-history-of-the-delaware-tribe/

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Episode Credits

Produced by Jay Simpson, @tboltkid
Production Assistance by Sam Kellogg, @sampkellogg
And Augusta Thomson, @augusta_x_thomson
Music by Annie Garlind, uccharlo.bandcamp.com
Podcast funding by Gallatin Resource Fund at NYU.

Walking Collective website: walkingcollective.xyz
Walking Collective Instagram: http://instagram.com/walkingcollective
Contact us walkingcollective.xyz@gmail.com

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Ep.01 Walking on Native Land

Hi! We're very excited about this new project of the Walking Collective! Our first full episode is coming your way soon.

Note: A full transcription of this episode can be displayed using the web-player on the episode page.

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Trailer Produced by Jay Simpson & Augusta Thomson
Original music by Annie Garlid, https://uccharlo.bandcamp.com

Follow our Instagram @walkingcollective
Email us walkingcollective.xyz@gmail.com

Supported by the Gallatin Resource Fund at NYU
walkingcollective.xyz

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Ep.00 Introducing the Walking Collective Podcast

GreatGuides.Org

Talking is a Major Thing: Radio by Children (Co-produced with Rachel Bray)

The presence of coyotes in New York City may seem contradictory, as wild animals living in such a densely populated city might be hard to believe. However, numerous packs of coyotes have been able to thrive across the city’s pockets of green space. 

In this episode, “Following Coyotes,” Jay Simpson (artist-researcher and National Geographic Explorer) tells a story about coyotes, soundscape ecology, and how to listen to a landscape. Drawing from his research and sensory ethnography practice, Simpson leads us along coyote paths that run throughout Pugsley Creek Park, along Westchester Creek, and throughout Ferry Point Park in the Bronx. We’re able to hear the extent of noise pollution within these environments, and the ways coyotes and humans can co-create city spaces. What can we learn about New York City, about our notions of a “wild” nature, and about environmental change as we walk along the pathways of coyotes? 

All proceeds from this episode will be donated to the Gotham Coyote Project, a collective of researchers, educators, and students working together to study the ecology of the northeastern coyote in New York City and the region.

Further Resources
Everything Sings: Maps for a Narrative Atlast, Denis Wood 

"Queer Ecology" by Catriona Sandilands from Keywords for Environmental Studies (Eds. Joni Adamson, William A. Gleason, and David N. Pellow) 

More About Jay Simpson

Ep.01 Walking on Native Land

Walking Collective

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